D&D online

[Kermit]

A few of my friends have started playing D&D online. I think I'm going to pass on World of Warcraft for a few months and see how it goes on the geekier side.

So far, other than the lack of AOE spells, messed up feel of the combat system (which I'm starting to get used to) and the crappy graphics, it's not too bad. One feature WoW should definatly add is party voice chat. No passwords, no 3rd party software configuration, no writing down IP addresses of servers or different "rooms". Just join a party and the voice chat works.

If anything changes in the next few months I might be back. And I will still lurk around the WoW forums to make sure I'm not too far out of the loop.

[Creole Ned]

My biggest issue with DDO is twofold:

1. It apparently leans very heavily on grouping and while that might make it fun if you have regulars to play with, it makes it a lot less so if you don't (obviously Kermit has this part covered, playing with friends). I also think forced grouping is a MMO mechanic whose time has passed. But DDO was designed around it, so it might work there. Still puts me off, though.

2. High fantasy setting. Like we need yet another. I am enjoying Oblivion and to a lesser extent WoW but the whole medieval theme is pretty played out. DDO might be "the real thing" but it's still swords 'n sorcery. Can't blame the game for sticking to its source material but it turns my crank not.

I suspect if I ever jump to another MMO it will probably be one more like CoH - that is, not set in a high fantasy world.

All that aside, I am curious to see what you and Orion think of DDO over the next while, so feel free to share your experiences. :)

[Sir Lucius]

One feature WoW should definatly add is party voice chat. No passwords, no 3rd party software configuration, no writing down IP addresses of servers or different "rooms". Just join a party and the voice chat works.



For some reason, I can only imagnie the bad of this rather than the good.

[jackrabbit]

and being a member of Archon, Luci has plenty of experience with "the bad" in terms of voice chat.

*mic fart*

[Kermit]

Oh, it's definitely a niche game. It will never have a quarter of the subscription base that WoW has. The fact that you pretty much have to group to get anything done, confusing interface, complex D&D 3rd edition rules, the focus on mission collection/dungeon crawling, lack of PvP, and the shitty ass® graphics have insured that.

But it has everything I need in a game and that is good enough for now.

I am notoriously hard on new things... games, DVR's/Ipods, PC hardware/software.
I will report back with my other findings, once I've have a chance to delve deeply into it.

[Circuit]

The screenshots I've seen of the game didn't look "shitty". Is the animation just really bad or something?

[Paladin]

Of the MMO games that I know about now, I think my next one will probably be space based... either Star Trek or Stargate, whichever comes first. Although by then, I may be tired of monthly fees entirely, or simply having too much fun with Hellgate London and GRAW multiplayer. :)

[pogozorro]

I was in the Alpha and Beta and...man. The release was nearly identical to the early "test" versions. It has no real substance to it, not to mention it only uses the 3.x rules at its leisure. Can we say "regenerating mana bar?"