Leaving DDO, had a great time but moving on

[Naso24]

It's been a long run for me, since just after the game went live. But I am finally ready to say goodbye to the DDO community. I've simply lost interest in the game. For those of you that are enjoying it, I wish you the best.

For those curious, here's why I lost interest (read way below if you are interested in the free stuff):

1. Tired of the grind. When expansions were more frequent, quests didn't have to be run over and over and over. Now with all my mains capped for quite some time, and my experimental alts capped as well, all there is left to do is grind out the same quests, with only the possibility of getting equipment that will make my characters 0.5 percent more effective.

2. Weakness of the caster classes. My favorite classes to play are the wizard and cleric. Compared to PNP DND, the characters are weak for their level. Damage is nearly meaningless at high content. Spell variation is limited. Spells that do exist are underpowered or non functional.

3. Lack of variation in monsters and quests. While that last major mod did add some nice scenery, it lacked real content. Gianthold was the last mod that was really impressive. It seemed big and added lots to do aside from the several quests. The shroud and vale were nice, but that was quite some time ago. The newest additions mainly recycled the same content with slightly different skins and outfits.

4. Crafting is not really crafting. What you can make is a real grind and only makes a slight difference.

5. Monsters scaling. It's absolutely ridiculous how much HP our enemies have relative to their CON. Pretty much all spells that have HP cutoffs are a waste of coding. Summoned monsters are all weak compared to their counterparts.

6. Changes in the game that make character designs obsolete. I really wouldn't care much, except there is no opportunity to reroll your character. New content is coming out that could not be anticipated 6 months or a year ago. I am tired of starting over just to try something out. If I make a mistake in leveling or the game changes underneath me, it just isn't fun anymore to regrind or live with a character that is flawed relative to the potential.

7. I found something else that really has my interest. I am talking about LOTRO. All the content in DDO would fit into one of the many areas in LOTRO. The graphics are better. The game seems to have much less downtime. Crafting is extremely diverse and useful. It's almost impossible to mess up your character, unless you wanted a different race. The endless combination of virtue, class, racial, and epic traits can be swapped (these and equipment are what sets a character apart) simply be visiting a bard (and paying some coin). The game has so many awesome details that make it truly immersive. I didn't understand what I was missing until I played for a week. LOTRO also has great class balance. While it may not be "perfect", it seems like groups can be effective with quite a few different combos, and there are no situations where a specific class is needed or the quest is bust.

I wouldn't be posting this if I didn't have a certain appreciation for DDO and the people that made it a rich experience. I love the game and the fun I had. It was the best MMO game I had ever played. I still think it is a great game for those who are not burnt out or don't feel the same about the issues I have with it.

For those of you I have grouped with, thank you for the many great times. For those interested in my gear, I will be giving it away. I don't have a ton of uber stuff, but do have 3 WOPS, a superior potency VI kama, a docent of defiance, vorpals, paralyzers, greater banes, large ingredients, small ingredients, medium ingredients, large bags, and all the loot of value that someone playing for 2+ years has spread across 11 characters covering almost every class. For the big ticket items, I will be giving them away to guildies and others on my friends list - they will be going by roll off at a time within the next few weeks I have yet to determine.

So here's a plug for my guild - if you are looking for a group of cool people to play with, join The Black Knights of Templar - Fernia. Anybody in the guild will be eligible for the free stuff if you've been in and running quests with other guildies for at least a few days. I really liked running with the Black Knights, who had few rules (actually, I'm not sure there were any), just wanted to help each other out, have fun, and B.S. with each other. They are a mature group of gamers that don't take things too seriously. Hopefully with this plug, at least a few new people will check them out - I owe them so much for great times and wish to leave them with some new recruits.

For those interested in LOTRO, a few friends that have moved over have started up a Kinship, The Black Knights of Templar. We are on Landroval. We are looking for similar players - easy going, mature, thick skinned, don't take things too serious, have lives outside of the game. If you are interested in checking it out, Turbine is running a free trial right now, and we'd be happy to send a founders invite (special benefits) to any DDO transplants. Characters - Horgarim, Losimur, Aylwynn.

Finally, thanks to all who have quested with me and made the game enjoyable.

My characters:

Margolie Vestrom
Beaar Bunnycatcher
Beaaar Bunnycatcher
Bareskin Rugg
Manbearpigg
Gwynneth
Relle Evant
Blastbot Battletoaster
Decap Itate
Aluzia
and a few others

My wife's characters:
Femmabot
Vainessa
Lainie
and a few others

[Uska]

goodbye and good luck I tried the other game and I just dont like the game play there but I hope you have a great time.

[Silenoz]

a toast to a leaving comrade.....remember you from back on Fernia and the good times we had (still have you in my friends list).......you will be missed mate

[SlipperyPete]

1. Tired of the grind. When expansions were more frequent, quests didn't have to be run over and over and over. Now with all my mains capped for quite some time, and my experimental alts capped as well, all there is left to do is grind out the same quests, with only the possibility of getting equipment that will make my characters 0.5 percent more effective.

50% more effective is pretty substantial, no?

[FluffyCalico]

50% more effective is pretty substantial, no?

LMAO he said .5% not 50%. roll 1d20 yep failed your math roll

[Naso24]

0.5 percent = zero point five percent = half a percent = 0.5%, not 50%

An example. How much grinding is necessary to obtain ingredients for a Tier 3 Lightning II khopesh versus a Tier II. It may not be a lot to some people. But it is a lot of time. The effect is 2% of the time, you get a large amount of damage from the strike. Overall, this only bumps the DPS by a small percentage - more than 0.5 but cerrtainly not a huge amount.

Another: Grinding for a +3 tome from a +2. Add 1 to a character with 33 STR. This will only add 1 to a d20 roll, and will only make a difference if the difficulty is in a certain range. At best, 5%.

0.5% is probably an overexaggeration, but it seems like the reward for endless grinding is not worth it. This does bring up another issue I have...there is so little variation in weapons that you can define the best gear for most classes or situations. The players mostly tend to gravitate towards the same stuff. Ah well.

[Naso24]

a toast to a leaving comrade.....remember you from back on Fernia and the good times we had (still have you in my friends list).......you will be missed mate

Thanks Silenoz. Still have you on my friends list as well. Good times. Take care!

[ToKu]

While I hope you find fun again in other MMO's dont expect an mmo w/o a grind, it doesnt exist. Eventually everything becomes repitition, if your lucky the face of it changes occasionally.

To ppl giving him grief for leaving a post, I think its good, maybe somewhere someone took note of the reasons he left, because if enough people leave for the same reason, it may be worth looking into.

There may be people who care about him as well, I would say if you are one who doesnt, then dont bother spending time posting on it.

[Justicar]

Dont think I knew you but take care anyways man. Keep you stuff and maybe come back sometime for a visit.

[Hafeal]

Well thought out post.

Best of luck. Have fun. Hope to see you back in the future. :)

[hannika]

gl on the other side hun, but i hope to see you back. you should keep your stuff, the 20 cap is comming up and i don't know *anyone* who played LOTRO after playing DDO that wasn't bored as **** after a few weeks. myself included.

[Bashear]

Keep your stuff. Im sure you have thought about leaving for a while now, but there have been a lot of people who have given everything away, then realize they miss the game. Talk about having to grind just to get your old stuff back. Keep it!!!!

[uhgungawa]

Yet another victim, When will Turbine take it seriously?

http://www.addictinggames.com/kittencannon

This is what is stealing all the players :eek:

[shores11]

50% more effective is pretty substantial, no?

0.5 would be 1/2 of 1% not 50%.

[Strakeln]

****, your post rings so true with me that I'm considering quitting (well, aside from the LoTRO part, at least).

[Nevthial]

Sorry to see you go. More players leaving :( Come back when they raise the cap. I'm staying at least until then myself.

[UnderwearModel]

None of your characters ring a bell, but I am pretty sure I played with your spouse's character Femmabot a couple of times awhile ago.

[SlipperyPete]

Thank you for all the math lessons. I'm lucky to be surrounded by such a wealth of knowledge.

It was freaking 6am and the word "percent" didn't register. EXCUUUUUUUUUUUSE ME!

Sorry to see you go Naso. I know how you feel though, haven't been playing much myself.

[Wizzly_Bear]

[snip]
i feel your pain and agree on 1-6. #7 for me is more console games lately. ive tried several other mmos and dont like them nearly as much, and certainly not enough to learn a whole new system. im still hoping they get the game back on my good side. i to am probably leaving fairly soon, but i will keep an eye on it and return from time to time to see if its been rejuvenated.

[muffinlad]

Good luck on your quest!

I have friends that play on LOTRO, and they love it, so I hope you enjoy it.

I echo the "keep your stuff" comments....it would be worth it to check out the changes when they raise the level cap, and deal with mob hit points differently....

regs,

muffinonliner

[ChadMan]

dont think ive run with you before but sry to see you go.....and like all the other people are saying keep you stuff you never know when turbine bine relize that a lot of people are leveing and change the problems and add some fun and cool stuffs.

sry to see you go

come on turbine wake up

[Bronko]

Farewell Bear. We had some fun times leveling up in Gianthold and generally running around making life miserable for the evil denizens of Stormreach. :)

I don't want any of your stuff. I always ask good people to hang onto their toys in hopes that they will one day return. But if you should find that your heart takes you elsewhere I sincerely wish you and you wife all the best in your future gaming endeavors.

- B.

[Tomalon]

7. I found something else that really has my interest. I am talking about LOTRO. All the content in DDO would fit into one of the many areas in LOTRO. The graphics are better. The game seems to have much less downtime. Crafting is extremely diverse and useful. It's almost impossible to mess up your character, unless you wanted a different race. The endless combination of virtue, class, racial, and epic traits can be swapped (these and equipment are what sets a character apart) simply be visiting a bard (and paying some coin). The game has so many awesome details that make it truly immersive. I didn't understand what I was missing until I played for a week. LOTRO also has great class balance. While it may not be "perfect", it seems like groups can be effective with quite a few different combos, and there are no situations where a specific class is needed or the quest is bust.



Go back to when Mod 4, GH came out and you will find The turbine staff that is currently working on LOTR. When Turbine took on LOTR they pulled all their top talant off DDO and put them on LOTR, thur starting the slow downfall of DDO to what we see now-a-days.

[adamr09]

dam sucks to see a fellow Fernian leave. only grouped with you a few times a long while back in fernia but i remember it was a treat. thanks for the fun times and i hope you have fun over in lotro (btw let me know how the combat system is there. still gonna stick with ddo but its nice to have a backup just incase ;)

[Arkat]

Yet another victim, When will Turbine take it seriously?

http://www.addictinggames.com/kittencannon

This is what is stealing all the players :eek:


2,683 feet!!!!!

[Venar]

Have fun in LOTRO.
I must say that i disagree with the caster thing.
I have played many many many MMOs, and nowhere, NOWHERE, are caster as good as in DDO. In fact, i can't ever play a caster in another game again.

[Dracolich]

As other have said, goodbye friend. Keep your stuff. I left a few times and was glad I kept all my stuff. I will look for you in LoTRo.

[tman]

Hey,

Sorry to see you go, but definately KEEP YOUR STUFF!!

I've played Lotro, Conan, EVE, and others, and keep coming back to DDO. I agree they are not moving new content fast enough, but keeping your stuff gives you options. At least keep one toon equiped so if you come back, your ready to see new content immediately.

My 2 cents,

Tman

[Gratch]

Go back to when Mod 4, GH came out and you will find The turbine staff that is currently working on LOTR. When Turbine took on LOTR they pulled all their top talant off DDO and put them on LOTR, thur starting the slow downfall of DDO to what we see now-a-days.

We lost Graal to LOTRO, though that may have been after Mod 5. Sporkfire and H. Sinclair went to City of H/V/Champions. I didn't see where our dev who did the original Abbot ended up though given the amount of flack he took from that raid, I would have left as well. They've added a few into development as well to replace some of the lost spots. Go listen to the DDOCast 100 to hear some of the new ones.

[Naso24]

Thanks all! I'm going to follow the advice of others and just hold off dismantling the characters. I'll probably hop in when Mod 9 comes to check it out, but LOTRO definitely has me hooked. The amount of content is unbelievable.

I agree that casters are powerful in DDO, but I really feel the variety of spells is limited and a lot of the spells that should be decent are junk due to not scaling (particularly when they are HP limited). One telling sign that there are not enough spells is that sorcerers that can cover all the bases without giving up much at all. That's probably why there are so many now as opposed to the first few mods where lower levels had many spells per spell level.

In LOTRO, my kinship, made mostly of other friends from DDO but quickly growing, is going to buy a kinship house in a few weeks. While you can solo to level 60, it's a lot more fun to group.

The combat system in LOTRO is fast paced for everyone in the group. It is quite different than DDO though so probably wouldn't appeal to some. DDO is more click to swing. Lotro is more click once to select your target and click for attack skills and maneuvers.

I like that you can have lightning and special effects as a fighter that are not tied to your equipment. In DDO, you can get a weapon that drops lightning 2% of the time after you spend a ton of time farming all the ingredients on the same quest. In LOTRO, you have skills that you can train as you level up that have all kinds of combat maneuvers. In LOTRO, pets are actually useful. In LOTRO, you can get horses. Although DDO does not require horses since most of the game is instanced dungeons or quests.

Both games have a lot of appeal. I hope DDO comes out with a ton more content and class options. I also hope crafting gets further developed. 'till mod 9.