Now is the time to ramp up advertising for DDO.

[wolfy42]

I have always felt that DDO has not recieved the recognition it deserves as the MMO with the best combat system currently available (Along with other good traits as well). When the game first came out there was some issues that I think made it hard for many average/random players to really enjoy the game or experience the full fun of the combat system (lack of solo missions/zerg parties everywhere/Lvl cap that was easily reached in a month of fairly casual play etc).

These issues for the most part have been resolved with solo content and outdoor areas allowing casual players to level up even if they can rarely party, plenty of quests for everyone and a much higher lvl cap that takes quite a decent amount of time to max out.

Meanwhile at least in my opinion no other MMO has come close to making as good an action combat system as DDO and 2 have made claims to doing so already. Hellgate london which is not considered an MMO but had many people looking forward to the D2 MMO, and now Age of Conan (which hyped up it's combat system big time). While Hellgate london at least had a similar combat sytem to DDO (but not nearly as good) AoC instead revolves around the same type of system as WoW with just a few new tweaks. It is not nearly as good or immersive as DDO's combat system.

That leads me to why DDO should advertise their combat system right now....have comercials out on TV again and pop ups on video game web sites. There are many players who have been waiting for AoC (I'm in the beta) and the ones that expect an action combat system are going to be dissapointed. They may in fact look around for another MMO that actually offers what they were promised.

I think DDO fufills the promise and more.

I love DDO and I often have a hard time playing another MMO even to try it out without coming back to this game. I had to force myself to test out AoC when I really wanted to be playing my rogue/barbarian halfling some more. The speed of movement in DDO, the great combat interface that includes dodging attacks, spells, positioning, team tactics, flanking, tumbling etc is addictive even after playing it for thousands of hours.

In a way it has ruined other MMOs for me until someone else comes up with another similar combat interface.

I think now is the time to get people interested in DDO when they may be dissapointed with other MMOs that are coming out and many are burnt out on WoW.

I do take breaks from DDO, but I keep coming back. In fact I have come back to DDO more times then any other MMO out there and many have been around far longer.

I doubt that I am the only one who loves the combat system, and I think if more people experienced it they would become fans as well.

[Pellegro]

I couldn't agree more, which is why I posted a similar thread a few months back.

Conan is doing all the work for Turbine in advertising "active combat". Well, guess what? We've had it here for 2 years now....

Monks ... active combat .... best community in MMOs ... D&D ... Really, this game should be making bank.

[Xaxx]

atari.... all but bankrupt.... kinda ends your discussion right there

[Hambo]

According to the DDOcast this week Atari has just been purchased in it's entirety by Infogrames.

Good news? Bad? Only time will tell.

OTOH, another item mentioned was that Turbine has recieved 40 Mil. in "Private Investment" funding... Jerry's personal speculation is that the funding may be for a new product or moving into the console arena... I would like to be stingy and hope that the money will be used to free DDO from the oppressor. :D

[wolfy42]

Hambo are you waiting for monks with baited breathe? (alot of your names seem to be monk like:)

I would love to see a large expansion for DDO go into the works, maybe working on epic levels after we reach the 20 cap and adding in prestige classes or something.

I am in beta for AoC and with everyone complaining so much I have been mentioning DDO alot (one of the largest complaints is the combat interface). It's amazing how many people have not heard of DDO after 2 years, or heard only negative things about it and didn't try it.

I think when DDO came out WoW was still just getting rolling and drawing in the zillions of players it ended up having, but now so many of those players are bored with WoW and looking for something new and different.

I think DDO is the best MMO out there and could nab many of them with enough advertising.

[Impaqt]

WoW Was already VERY established as "THE" MMO well before the introduction of DDO.

If TUrbine was gonna go heavy advertising they should of with the Introduction of Mod6. They had SO much free Pub from that Expansion it was a Shame to not see some advertising come out of it.

A Heavy advertising campaign of a Core class that just being introduced 2 years after the games released seems counter productive.

[wolfy42]

That is my point, when DDO came out WoW was really just hitting it's stride and still rapidly expanding.

It broke new ground and got many new people to try an MMO.

Now those people are bored and looking for something new.

DDO in my opinion is more complicated then most MMO's and therefore is a bit hard for absolute new players to this type of game. Players that have already played WoW though and know the basics can adapt far easier and would probably really enjoy DDO at this point.

And I'm not saying publicize the new monk class primarily (although certainly add that in there). I actually suggest concentrating on the combat system, have a comercial showing various clips of combat fighting large enemies, dodging rays etc, the best parts of DDO.

That was never really done in the previous comercials.

The game has changed and evolved drastically since it was released and I think a much wider audience could enjoy it now. I also think there is a far larger group of people who are looking for a new MMO now then 2 years ago (because of WoW mainly).

That is why I think advertising the game now would be a good idea.

[Mockduck]

According to the DDOcast this week Atari has just been purchased in it's entirety by Infogrames.

Good news? Bad? Only time will tell.

OTOH, another item mentioned was that Turbine has recieved 40 Mil. in "Private Investment" funding... Jerry's personal speculation is that the funding may be for a new product or moving into the console arena... I would like to be stingy and hope that the money will be used to free DDO from the oppressor. :D

Thanks for the mention! I'm not sure how good a job I did on that discussion as I was pretty tired when we recorded the show. Ya know - that's interesting....

Even if that 40 million is going to be used for a new property (I'm assuming that's the case), surely they could spend one million of its on a pretty large advertising campaign.

I can see it now...

[barbarian-like fighter advances towards the screen]

Announcer: Real combat. Real action. Welcome to Age of...

*SLASH*

*Fighter drops as a warforged behind him cuts him in half*

*warforged laugh*

*Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach* - splashes across the screen

Real combat. Real action. Real Dungeons and Dragons.

Announcer: Two years strong. Join the battle!

###

I know, why pick on rivals. Just thought it'd be fun.

[Impaqt]

That is my point, when DDO came out WoW was really just hitting it's stride and still rapidly expanding.
Wow is Still Expanding.

It broke new ground and got many new people to try an MMO.
Broke Ground? No, Not really.... SWG Broke Ground.. EverQuest Broke Ground.... Diablo Broke Ground....

Now those people are bored and looking for something new.
No... THey really arent..... The same people who threatened to quit 3 years ago are still doing that today

DDO in my opinion is more complicated then most MMO's and therefore is a bit hard for absolute new players to this type of game. Players that have already played WoW though and know the basics can adapt far easier and would probably really enjoy DDO at this point. Transistions from Click and Wait to Real time Combat is far more difficult that coming into an MMO without any previous experience.

And I'm not saying publicize the new monk class primarily (although certainly add that in there). I actually suggest concentrating on the combat system, have a comercial showing various clips of combat fighting large enemies, dodging rays etc, the best parts of DDO. Your average MMO Player isnt about Twitch Gaming. Neither is your average PnP Player.

That was never really done in the previous comercials.

The game has changed and evolved drastically since it was released and I think a much wider audience could enjoy it now. I also think there is a far larger group of people who are looking for a new MMO now then 2 years ago (because of WoW mainly).


That is why I think advertising the game now would be a good idea.


they need to get the game BACK ON SHELVES before theystart any sort of advertising campaign. SOme sort of Gold boxed edition with a Few SPiffs wouls be nice, but I'd much rather see some sort of Expansion.

Expansions Are what drives all those other MMO's . SHelf Space is another. DDO Has Neither. Advertising that fact wont help.

[wolfy42]

I didn't realize it wasn't on shelves anymore:(

That is sad.

Still it is an online MMO and people can buy it online, so advertising would still help (and might cost less then releasing more boxes).

WoW is expanding MUCH slower then it did, and there are indeed many people who are bored with it and looking for new games (As I have recently seen in the AoC beta and on the boards like gamefaqs where players are dying for a new game to play).

DDO has everything AoC promised but failed to provide, so now is the time to let all those masses know that.

They may end up playing AoC out of desperation, but if they knew a REAL action MMO was available they would probably try it.

Many who I have talked to from AoC are trying DDO, thats why I made this thread. They were complaining about the combat interface not being what was promised so I told them about DDO and they tried it.

There are going to be many people like that, and advertising the fact that DDO is exactly what they are looking for could only be a good thing.

[DoctorWhofan]

they need to get the game BACK ON SHELVES before theystart any sort of advertising campaign. SOme sort of Gold boxed edition with a Few SPiffs wouls be nice, but I'd much rather see some sort of Expansion.

Expansions Are what drives all those other MMO's . SHelf Space is another. DDO Has Neither. Advertising that fact wont help.

Actually, that's a great idea. On the shelves means we can buy it for presents.

As for the twitch vs. WoW style. Agreed 100%. When Iwas playing WoW, I literally got up and got a drink during combat. Nice but it got boring quick. The oppisete (as you say) is true. WoW players tend to think DDO combat system is "too hard" to use so therefore a "stupid game"

Patience isn't a virtue in the MMO. Unfortunally.

[ArkoHighStar]

this is from an interview with Jim Crowley CEO of Turbine with VentureBeat


VB: I had heard that Dungeons & Dragons Online was a disappointing launch. The numbers associated with that game made it unclear if it was a sustainable ongoing project, where as the Lord of the Rings Online had a better launch at around 200,000 subscribers. That was meeting the expectations. Have you characterized those?
JC: We don’t talk about numbers, being a private company. You did hit on a couple of things I can amplify. Organizationally, we think both Dungeons & Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings Online were spectacular launches both in terms of what they accomplished, the scalability and smoothness of the launch, and the player communities that are out there. Having said that, we learned a lot from our Dungeons & Dragons Online launch. Those learnings were incorporated into Lord of the Rings Online and other things going forward. The Dungeons & Dragons Online is not the size of a world as Lord of the Rings Online. But there is a tremendous amount of activity and growth curve and we have interesting news to come out with. I suspect there is a very long and enjoyable and most importantly fun-filled future for everything around Dungeons & Dragons Online.

The author makes the following prediction at the beginning of the article based on his discussion


From what I see, here is a logical theory. Turbine has raised $40 million, partly to expand the Lord of the Rings Online around the world more quickly; Crowley says the Asia expansion alone will bring millions of subscribers to that game. Turbine also wants to fund the expansion of properties like Dungeons & Dragons Online, which on its own isn’t generating enough revenue to fund expansion.

[Hambo]

Hambo are you waiting for monks with baited breathe? (alot of your names seem to be monk like:)



Marti al Arts and Tsing Tao are Monks-in-waiting.

Hambo is currently pure Wizard, Hei Yu (my first Drow) is all Wizzie with a splash of Rogue..

The rest are all Rogues. :D

[maddmatt70]

I don't think DDO has much long term sustainability. It is clear that D&D with its upcoming 4.0 edition will eventually look to encroach/enter the computer online gaming market. They may not be able to begin to do this for a year or two or even 5, but will eventually. Obviously online gaming and computer gaming is a huge market much larger then the gaming market WOTC is in so this is a sound business decision. When WOTC finally makes that step putting them squarely in the computer gaming market DDO loses its viability as a game because a core member of its subscription base are D&D players.

DDO failed at launch quite simply. It was not ready for release (should have been held back another 6 months) because not enough content and features of all types were in the game and it was poorly marketed. If they would have held back the game and marketed it properly the game would have looked far different now. I do not feel a paid expansion would generate much of an interest spike right now and really in terms of branding and the like an expansion would have to look like a totally new product because that is what you are doing is selling a new product because to online gaming consumers ddo hasn't existed for a long time and is far removed from their minds..

[Mindspat]

they need to get the game BACK ON SHELVES before theystart any sort of advertising campaign. SOme sort of Gold boxed edition with a Few SPiffs wouls be nice, but I'd much rather see some sort of Expansion.

Expansions Are what drives all those other MMO's . SHelf Space is another. DDO Has Neither. Advertising that fact wont help.

Digital Distribution is more then suffecient for a "niche" game. When was the last time EVE Online had a box on a shelf?

Being proactive has the best payoff. Word of Mouth is still key in advertisement. Talk about it, gripe about it, express the direction and development that's been had. Sugar coating and gloss will *NOT* attract new subscribers.

MMORPG.COM brings in quite a bit of users. I'd advise becoming a regualr there if you want to benefit this game's direction.