Why does no one role play??

[Gomezy3k]

I have been playing DDO for a while now and usually do solo adventures because being in a group pretty much sucks. I am used to playing the pen and paper game where the thief searches for traps and disarms them and then the fighters go forward and fights if there is a need to, the Cleric heals and if needs be fights and the Mages stay in the rear and cast spells. Everyone cooperates and works together.

In DDO it is like a foot race with everyone scattering all over and it is very chaotic. There is little to no cooperation between party members, it is pretty much everyone for themselves. DDO is an excellent game, but it is ruined by people who have no clue what REAL dungeon and Dragons is and how to play it.

One huge problem is running all the time. There needs to be a walk and run which are separate. The groups I joined, every time I went to a door and searched for traps, some twit would run up and open door and run through. My thief might as well have not even been there. I tried to play like a real thief but ended up way in the back of the group since they were rushing all over the place with no thought of doing things right.

It is sad that a fine game is ruined for me. I am debating on going to go back to RuneScape and Oblivion where I can play solo and not have to worry about groups. If I do play DDO it will be solo with hirelings, and not other PC's.

[GeneralDiomedes]

This is the exact reason people founded Permadeath guilds.

[Milamber69]

I role play. Just the other day my I was pretending to be a mexican apple thief who couldnt speak a word of english. I was stealing from my girlfriends fathers farm. She was collecting bundles of hay when she saw me, instead of telling her Pa, she chased me into the barn and one thing lead to another. Role playing is great.

[Gomezy3k]

I role play. Just the other day my I was pretending to be a mexican apple thief who couldnt speak a word of english. I was stealing from my girlfriends fathers farm. She was collecting bundles of hay when she saw me, instead of telling her Pa, she chased me into the barn and one thing lead to another. Role playing is great.

LOL So I take it you have never played the pen and paper D&D and have no idea what I was talking about. You should try it some time...

[Fafnir]

The instances are in general quite easy. With no risk, why co-operate? In PNP, if you don't co-operate, you die and that's it. In DDO, it's pretty hard to die the way most people run the instances.

[Memnir]

There are some groups per-server who role play, most are the perma-death guilds as noted. Instead of leaving the game, I would suggest looking over the Guild forum of each server until until you find a PD or RP guild that sounds good to you - and get in touch with them. You stand a good chance of finding like minds that way, who like to game as you do.

And, as an FYI, there is a Walk key - you just need to put in a key to bind it to since it does not have a default. Look under your Options/Key Binding menu in the Movement section.

Good luck to ya, and I hope you find your DDO Happy Place soon.

[Pfamily]

Perhaps, rather than complain about the way others play the game, you should seek out players with similar ideas to your own.

There are many permadeath and RP players out there, and several guilds set up for just those types of players.

Like everything else, this game is what you make of it.
:cool:

[Lorien_the_First_One]

there are rollplay guilds. Most of us however think RP is not fun in this environment.

[Jasimine]

I have been playing DDO for a while now and usually do solo adventures because being in a group pretty much sucks. I am used to playing the pen and paper game where the thief searches for traps and disarms them and then the fighters go forward and fights if there is a need to, the Cleric heals and if needs be fights and the Mages stay in the rear and cast spells. Everyone cooperates and works together.

In DDO it is like a foot race with everyone scattering all over and it is very chaotic. There is little to no cooperation between party members, it is pretty much everyone for themselves. DDO is an excellent game, but it is ruined by people who have no clue what REAL dungeon and Dragons is and how to play it.

One huge problem is running all the time. There needs to be a walk and run which are separate. The groups I joined, every time I went to a door and searched for traps, some twit would run up and open door and run through. My thief might as well have not even been there. I tried to play like a real thief but ended up way in the back of the group since they were rushing all over the place with no thought of doing things right.

It is sad that a fine game is ruined for me. I am debating on going to go back to RuneScape and Oblivion where I can play solo and not have to worry about groups. If I do play DDO it will be solo with hirelings, and not other PC's.

I am sorry that you did not have a positive grouping experience. However, to say they were not playing the right way and comparing it to PnP is a false hood. Sorry but thats the blunt truth of it.

Dungeons and Dragons Online is a completely different beast than Pen and Paper D&D, and I should know. I've been playing PnP since the red and blue boxed sets, you know, the rules that existed before Advanced got tagged onto the name. The play style here is, for the most part, different. This is caused by a few things. One, this is not a tactical, turn by turn , combat game. It is real time combat, more akin to a FPS than combat from table top gaming. Secondly, you re run dungeons over and over through out your gaming career here. This means in time you learn were to go, were not to go, were to rush, were to move slowly. Unlike a pen and paper campaign were the traps are never in the same place twice, they are in the same place, two, three, four, add infinity times. People learn were they are, how to dodge them (suprise! Rogues are not needed for disarming traps 24/7. You can dodge them with practice.), or how to just not go there at all in some cases. With this repitition the need to stop at every door and check for traps is not needed.

Like wise, stopping at every... single...door... and searching for traps will not get you props from anyone other than a select few player types (I'll get to this in a moment). As a rogue you most likely will have spot as one of your trained skills. I personally suggest keep it maxed, but many rogue builds do not for the reasons stated above about traps. What this spot skill does for you is give you a sixth sense. You walk near a trap, secret door, or stealthed enemy and you will get a cue that you have. For traps a little message will flash across the top middle area of your screen saying you sense danger nearby. Secret doors much the same except that you sense a door/passage. With enemies you will see faint outlines of them as they move in stealth. This means you don't have to stop and randomly search for traps. You will generally know there is one if you pay attention. That is being a good rogue, and good player in general. Not wandering around searching aimlessly.

Now, what it sounds like, to me atleast, you are wanting is a group that will treat each and every instance of going into a dungeon as a first time experience. They don't spoil the story, they don't start jumping around going trap here trap here, they don't zerg around killing monsters and finishing quest objectives on their own. Yea okay, so the last one you can get with the right PuG's, just make a group and type "No Zerging; Team players only" in your message part of the LFM. Then if someone runs around like the mad hatter and you don't like it, you can boot them after the quest. However, I would suggest you look into role playing guilds as well. They tend to play through dungeons more like a table top group will. This might be what you are looking for. Thelonis and Sarlona are the two heaviest RP servers that I know of.

So anyways, do not assume that other people are "playing wrong" just because they are not conforming to your style or your conception of what is right. I personally detest zerging 90% of the time. Some times I will, if the group is so over powered for the quest that zerging actually just kind of happens. But people that run off on their own zerging and then complain when you tell them to slow down and wait for the party, those people I cannot stand grouping with. It does not make my play style, slower, methodical, more cautious, any better than theirs, as fast as you can go, complete as quickly as you can. It just is different.

[Mazeratti]

Dont leave the game without trying out Permadeath.

Roll up a character on Sarlona and look out for Extreme Explorers.

Our guild website is in my sig.

Although we dont "roleplay" persay (we have occasionally :rolleyes:) we are much slower, and methodical with teamwork and strategy as a rule (not always) we only Zerg occasionally.

We are a fun, friendly group, and the long term members know the quests more thoroughly than longtime vets we only group as a guild so you dont suffer the PUGing blues.

We also have less strict rules than many others, so its a good testing ground.

Seriously the thrill can be amazing when you know you cant die.

Only the other day I finished a quest with only one hit point to spare, talk about heart-pumping stuff.

I luv it, luv it luv it and you simply have to try it out b4 you pull the plug.

DDO is one of the best games I believe you just have to find a group/guild you are compatible with.

/cheers
Maz

p.s tell em Kyora sent you ;)

[Gomezy3k]

Awesome thanks for the info. I will definitely look into the RP guilds. I have my thief's Spot as high as I can at all times, it is the first thing I put points into. And also stealth and have been able to sneak right up to monsters and attack with no problem at least playing solo. In the groups I have been in, stealth is a useless skill since if I am sneaking, I get left behind and have to run to catch up... LOL

I guess I didn't express it correctly, I wasn't trying to say that those who play were not playing correctly, it is just that the game was not what I expected and therefore was not used to the way many here play. I was expecting more of a RPG D&D environment. I started playing D&D back in 1982 and have been playing pretty much steadily since then. Unfortunately I have not been able to play the new 3; 3.5; & 4 edition game since those I play with refuse to buy the books so we have stuck with the old 2nd edition AD&D instead.

Thanks again.

[donfilibuster]

Also remember to put tags like "no-zerg" "exploring" "normal" "first try", etc. to your party ad or join a party that will not rush through it as in "speed run", "favor run", etc.
(default attract all sort of players to the pug)

Beside perma-death i have seen party ads explicitly asking for roleplayers, and even pnp chat.

[CE2JRH123]

I role play with a Saturday night group, and enjoy it.
I play DDO on and off during the week and enjoy it too.

Simply; they're different games. I don't complain because DDO isn't like my RL group, and I don't complain because my RL group isn't like DDO.


DDO is an excellent game, but it is ruined by people who have no clue what REAL dungeon and Dragons is and how to play it.

There is an implied that somehow "REAL" dungeons and dragons (ignoring the equivocation, by the way, I have a story about a real scotsman) is moving slow in DDO but not moving fast. "REAL" dungeons and dragons doesn't exist in DDO, regardless of how slowly you move.


Even a permadeath roleplay slowmove guild that walks is only going to reach an approximation of "REAL" dungeons and dragons.

[DoctorWhofan]

I role play. Just the other day my I was pretending to be a mexican apple thief who couldnt speak a word of english. I was stealing from my girlfriends fathers farm. She was collecting bundles of hay when she saw me, instead of telling her Pa, she chased me into the barn and one thing lead to another. Role playing is great.


LOL So I take it you have never played the pen and paper D&D and have no idea what I was talking about. You should try it some time...

Oh, he knows what you are talking about...he was being funny.

[Milamber69]

Oh, he knows what you are talking about...he was being funny.

Glad someone got it

[Talon_Moonshadow]

While few actually role play here, not all groups are like you described.

But I discovered a long time ago that Rogue can have a lot more fun if they just don't think about traps much, and enjoy the kill.

It also helps to zerge faster...so you have more time to get the traps.

Today I ran through a very deadly trap Invisible. Jumped up in the air to the right of thd boss and his pet, hit the ground in sneak mode...circled behind them wide, and back to the trap box (knew where it was) and got the trap...

While the other rogue in the party followed me and got plastered by the end boss.

For once the party waited, knowing quite well how deadly this trap was on elite.

Just gotta make the opertunity sometimes.

[7-day_Trial_Monkey]

There's a skill called spot.. get some. If you have it, and search anyway when you're not spotting a trap.. well that's just one big waste of other people's time.

Why would you think it's ok to waste other people's time?

[KualaBangoDango]

I guess I didn't express it correctly, I wasn't trying to say that those who play were not playing correctly, it is just that the game was not what I expected and therefore was not used to the way many here play. I was expecting more of a RPG D&D environment.It may help you to adjust, or understand them better, if you look at the player make-up of this game like this...

Probably the large majority of players are here to play an mmo first and foremost. Many of these indeed came to this game specifically because it was based on D&D, but it was the fact it was an mmo that was the main factor, since if playing the most accurate form of D&D was what was important to them they'd stick with actual pnp D&D or online D&D gaming groups. Also, many players here are totally new to the D&D rules and have no D&D experience...they just wanted a fun mmo to play. Most of the players in this group have little to no interest in RP or trying to play DDO in a pnp D&D manner.

The next group would probably be those players who just wanted to play a D&D based PC game. They may have played the Baldur's Gate series, Neverwinter Nights games, Planescape Torment, Temple of Elemental Evil, Ruins of Myth Drannor, etc, etc, and were looking for something newer. They may never have even played mmo's before, or knew what they were, they just wanted a D&D computer game. Most of the players in this group tend to be very knowledgeable of the D&D setting and rules, but they mostly don't want to RP, they just want to play in the setting.

The final group I can think of is probably the smallest. Those players who were mainly pnp D&D players, may have played only only a couple, if any, PC games and who may have had no interest previously in mmo's (or knew what they were). They may have expected it to be a literal translation of D&D, just in an online 3D environment. This is probably the group that is the most into trying to RP in DDO, treating each dungeon like they would in pnp D&D. You will find most of these types of players in the RP and Permadeath guilds.

These are the 3 groups I can think of, and of course many players are a mixture of two or more of them. The reason why I mention these groups is so that you see the larger part of the players you'll run into may not play how you expect them to. They are treating it first as an mmo, then as a game in the D&D setting, and while they may want to take it slow the first few times through a dungeon, once they've been through the same quest dozens of times on several characters they simply want to get through it quickly for the xp, the chest loot, and the quest reward.

That's my input.

[issiana]

Glad someone got it

more than one person got it ;)
Was very well done :)


op, maz was on the ball re the permadeath thing.
do a search in the guild listings on the servers until you find "RP" taged guilds, then look them up in game. they do exist :)

[transtemporal]

Your best bet is to join a roleplaying guild. Expecting everyone else to change the way they play to accomodate you isn't gonna get you far.

[Ashurr]

Just don't try to mix Mil's version of Roleplaying with PnP's whilst playing DDO with a hot mic. * shudders at bad grouping experiences with extended "AFK's"*

[DoctorWhofan]

Just don't try to mix Mil's version of Roleplaying with PnP's whilst playing DDO with a hot mic. * shudders at bad grouping experiences with extended "AFK's"*

I dunno, there members of his party who would enjoy that AFK. Cuz they would have to take an AFK shortly after...:cool:;):p

[Ashurr]

Now there's a new one for an LFM - " Level 15 Sorc and spouse seeking Barb's of any level, must have lotion and give good "phone" LOL

[giveuptg]

I keep seeing people gripe about how unlike PnP DDO is, and it's really beginning to irritate me.

Do you realize how much smaller the playerbase for this game would be if people played it like PnP? I sure as hell wouldn't want to play it.

It's marketed like an MMO because that's what it is, an MMO. It's a relatively fast-paced computer game, not a drawn-out, lengthy series of in-person board game meetings.

The games are played completely differently. To even assume that an online computer game is going to be similar to PnP in anything other than a handful of play mechanics is pretty naive, in my opinion.

[Telwyn]

Well DDO is definitely more rollplay than roleplay, but like any PnP group pacing is important. Don't stop to 'smell the flowers' every 5 seconds unless the group is all doing that. As for avoiding the zergfest runs I'm 100% with you there, just be clear what group you want in LFG and avoid groups with 'rush, vet-only etc' in their tags...

Having a good guild is *very* important for this - The Guild of Legends I'd recommend on Thelanis for instance.

[Kralgnax]

I Many words to little purpose.

It isn't true at all that no one (else) roleplays, though it certanly is true that most of us (including me) don't. Find a group of like-minded people and get with what you want to do, rather than whining at the rest of us. If you read the forums, you'll see that there are RP staic groups, guilds, chat channels & whatnot.

Welcome to DDO!

[calvinklien]

well, i have seen a FEW LFM's up for RP'ers. it's rare though. and i'm not going to tell you that DDO isn't condusive for RP. Nor will i say, "RP is unneccessary" cuz DDO is what ya make it. you pay for it, you can create your own RP guild, lay down the rules, and see what happens. i think that most of us though are into the #crunching aspect of building characters and doing either good damage, good tanking, good crowd control, or good healing/buffing.

[barecm]

I joined a role playing group once in DDO. I said I had never done the role playing things and I needed a little guidance. The group leader suggested I act upon character traits or develop a biography or story for the character and act as if that is my story. I said fine, but how do I role play "awesome"? I guess that was why I got booted from the group.

[Zlingerdark]

Awesome thanks for the info. I will definitely look into the RP guilds. I have my thief's Spot as high as I can at all times, it is the first thing I put points into. And also stealth and have been able to sneak right up to monsters and attack with no problem at least playing solo. In the groups I have been in, stealth is a useless skill since if I am sneaking, I get left behind and have to run to catch up... LOL

I guess I didn't express it correctly, I wasn't trying to say that those who play were not playing correctly, it is just that the game was not what I expected and therefore was not used to the way many here play. I was expecting more of a RPG D&D environment. I started playing D&D back in 1982 and have been playing pretty much steadily since then. Unfortunately I have not been able to play the new 3; 3.5; & 4 edition game since those I play with refuse to buy the books so we have stuck with the old 2nd edition AD&D instead.

Thanks again.

Yes, as others have already suggested find yourself a good dungeon crawling guild. They are out there. There are also some very large guilds with all kinds of play-styles. PD, Raids, Flagging, Crawling, Zerging...Many will have their own website with calendars of events that are scheduled to coordinate players and playing times. PermaDeath Nights, Static Groups runs, which is what I would recommend for you in this case. Static groups are the most player friendly groups, as everybody in the group are bound to the group and generally forbidden to group with others. Certainly no PUGing. Because of this, they are more team oriented and tend to flesh out the roles of the characters for the group. In addition, you usually end up with a couple of experienced vets that make a point to educate new players during a quests. Thus, they are less likely to Zerg. Doesn't mean that there aren't times where they do zerg areas, but they will not generally run off away from the group.

As for the rogue, and sneaking... well, hiding only seems work when you are either soloing, or you are in a group that will allow you to pull off hiding sneak attacks, before they engage the enemy. However, that is usually not a very good tactic while in a group, and hiding as you know is very slow moving. Instead of hiding while grouping just stay out in the open, and follow closely behind the intimitank and let them draw the aggro, while you just time your shots and get in those sneak-attacks. Be careful to not draw aggro, or sneak-attack bonus will not be applied to your attacks. So you really do not need to be hiding to gain the sneak-attack bonuses, just not having aggro is important.

[Halo_572]

I don't feel the need to roleplay as I have chosen a permadeath chaotic good wizard and started a CG permadeath guild. You do what you want, when you want for what you want, which being as it is only me at the moment suits me fine. That is me anyway, so I don't need to roleplay him other than myself.

All my characters will be chaotic good as this is the only alignment I feel comfortable playing.

Don't leave the game without trying self imposed rules. My page is here - http://my.ddo.com/halo_572/ and guild here - http://my.ddo.com/guild-orien-you_only_die_once_permadeath/. I am recruiting if anyone actually cares.

You will also have to consider going premium or VIP to get the most out and dig past the layer of free players that you are encountering. You need to work a little bit to uncover what there really is in this game, it isn't just laying on the surface, it takes some time and likely money to uncover it.

See my Sharn review that I will be posting, a really great pack that f2p players will never get to experience.

[Pfamily]

Glad someone got it
Yep, got a chuckle here too...

[Wren666]

To Gomezy3k the OP, if you enjoy Oblivion you should try Fallout 3. Pretty much blows everything away in terms of immersion.

We have a role-playing guild on Cannith but we hardly ever got together to actually play, and it's been months since I've been on DDO now :(

[tango44]

I tried the RP thing once about 2 years ago. It was fun to a point. Never had a dwarf brother before. :D. After about 3 months I realized I'm a power gamer and not a RP'er where DDO is concerned.

Only reason I'm bringing it up is because I undestand his need to "get into character". And I undestand it because a couple of weeks ago while running up my True Res'd character with a couple of buddies we had a "rogue" in group who kept referring to his toon as a thief. Once we got in quest I realized why...the first thing outta him once in quest was and I quote ......

"hold up guys, I see a barrel, I'm in to investigate."

I got a good chuckle out of it, and despite our pleas for him to catch up, we ended up finishing the quest without him with us.

[Chai]

I role play with a Saturday night group, and enjoy it.
I play DDO on and off during the week and enjoy it too.

Simply; they're different games. I don't complain because DDO isn't like my RL group, and I don't complain because my RL group isn't like DDO.



There is an implied that somehow "REAL" dungeons and dragons (ignoring the equivocation, by the way, I have a story about a real scotsman) is moving slow in DDO but not moving fast. "REAL" dungeons and dragons doesn't exist in DDO, regardless of how slowly you move.


Even a permadeath roleplay slowmove guild that walks is only going to reach an approximation of "REAL" dungeons and dragons.

True, but there is a reason why the term "dungeon crawl" exists and it is not called "dungeon sprint".

I dont think either one is "wrong", but it definately is 2 completely different styles of gaming, and throwing a group of 6 random people together is likely going to get you a few of each type in most cases.

[Red_Knight]

Put points in Spot, and the notification of secret doors and traps is your 'searching carefully'.

But yeah, I only dive through traps if I'm playing a high reflex save character with evasion. There use to be a plethora of barbarians and fighters who would ignore calls of "trap!" and just run through the trap. Frequently they would get slaughtered or heavily damaged by the trap too.

Of course, once I got to laugh as our rogue spotted a trap in the area. He stopped to search for the trap box. He then got one shotted by the blade trap that he was standing on top of.

[Dargante]

Another suggestion that I haven't encountered so far in the thread is the ability to challenge yourself. I also come from PnP D&D but also have a background in MMO's (EQ *shudder* and WoW being primary). Now, I may not have been at this as long as some of the vets (cheers to you 90 year old SoB's who still play videogames) but I have certainly played long enough to encounter MANY things about tons of different games that I don't particularly care for. In DDO the ability to completely zerg just about any instance of your level (yes even solo and yes even as a wizard) makes the game super easy IMHO. But then, like I always do, I took a step back and tried to figure out how I could make it feel more like DnD that I was looking for.

That being said, my cure for the OP's main problem was to challenge myself. The one thing I did notice, however, was the challenge I set forth was too tough to do solo, so unfortunately you have to find some other peeps who feel the same way you do. The best thing for me was to do quests 1-2lvls higher and do the toughest difficulty I can. If you find 2-3 other people who also don't like zerging but enjoy the game and like a challenge, group up and throw down on some quests that are higher lvl. This also eliminates grouping with nubs because if you try to zerg an elite quest that is 1-2lvls higher than you, you die and everyone else gets a good luagh out of it.

At lvl 4 on my wizard I joined a group of lvl 6-7's and did one of the harbor quests (can't remember what it was called but the objective is to destroy the pirate ship, sorry I know i'm new) and we did it on elite. Now, the gents I went in with were awesome and not at all disuaded by the fact that I was too low lvl to be in there AND new to the game. If you are a good player (or hell you don't even have to be good, just willing to learn) you'll find you can meet the right type of people and play this game exactly how you want it.

Granted this experience was WAAAY too hard, we went retardedly slow and i STILL got 1 shotted twice haha but it allowed me to see the other extreme of this game. Now I find myself happily in the middle, running hardmode quests solo (some elite if they are same lvl or maybe one below) and tearing into some tougher quests with a small group of like-minded people.

Just my 2cp, wanted to encourage you to keep playing.

[SquelchHU]

I have been playing DDO for a while now and usually do solo adventures because being in a group pretty much sucks. I am used to playing the pen and paper game where the thief searches for traps and disarms them and then the fighters go forward and fights if there is a need to, the Cleric heals and if needs be fights and the Mages stay in the rear and cast spells. Everyone cooperates and works together.

In DDO it is like a foot race with everyone scattering all over and it is very chaotic. There is little to no cooperation between party members, it is pretty much everyone for themselves. DDO is an excellent game, but it is ruined by people who have no clue what REAL dungeon and Dragons is and how to play it.

One huge problem is running all the time. There needs to be a walk and run which are separate. The groups I joined, every time I went to a door and searched for traps, some twit would run up and open door and run through. My thief might as well have not even been there. I tried to play like a real thief but ended up way in the back of the group since they were rushing all over the place with no thought of doing things right.

It is sad that a fine game is ruined for me. I am debating on going to go back to RuneScape and Oblivion where I can play solo and not have to worry about groups. If I do play DDO it will be solo with hirelings, and not other PC's.

So what you really mean is that people are not cooperating which is not the same thing. You're low level right? There's no need for teamwork there, you could solo it fairly easily, so groups end up being six people soloing it very easily. Stop fighting kobolds and you'll see an improvement, though people will still go fast.

Also, most of the permadeath groups don't bother with roleplaying. Reason (paraphrased)? They don't want people too busy oogling the elf to do their jobs and save the party's life. They do cooperate more though for obvious reasons.

[unionyes]

I role play. Just the other day my I was pretending to be a mexican apple thief who couldnt speak a word of english. I was stealing from my girlfriends fathers farm. She was collecting bundles of hay when she saw me, instead of telling her Pa, she chased me into the barn and one thing lead to another. Role playing is great.

Sometimes too much RP isn't so good.

I was RP'ing the pizza delivery guy and she was RP'ing the babysitter. Once the lights were back on, I was all like 'who the hell tore all the sheets off the bed?!?!'.....

[KKDragonLord]

Another one of these threads? Whats going on lately?

i hope you guys forgive me from quoting myself from the post i made on the other one:



Computer RPGs are Video Games, there is no other mentality for them and there cannot be, roleplaying with your friends work because of the social contract involved inherently in it. Roleplaying with strangers require the same contract to be made, i.e. joining a guild or a group of roleplayers. Everyone else cannot be expected to act according to your expectations.

Obviously, the more people there are in a game, the more unlikely it is to establish a social contract that determines a roleplaying pattern of behavior. And games are made to be sold to, and played by, as much people as possible. Therefore, you will not see any game that requires people to act "in character" ever being made for a big audience.

But, there are certainly people who think like you do, and there always were, since the age of MUDs, chat rooms, now MMOs, and virtual reality graphical layers sometime in the future perhaps. All you need to do is to find them.

I suggest you seek out this project http://www.alandfaraway.org/. They have been trying to accomplish precisely what you want for a long time. Roleplaying is required and DMs go around creating campaings for unwitting adventurers, very few people manage to fit in there, but the experiences are quite positive with the ones that do.

If you think that Dungeons and Dragons is the place where Video Gamization shouldnt ever happen, i advise you to take a look at 4 edition D&D, its even more "Video Gamized" than DDO in a lot of things.

PS: sry if it doesnt apply, you title was misleading.

Playing roles is still important in DDO, you just need to know when it matters and when it doesnt, if you dont like the Zerging form groups asking for "No Zerging". Tadaa!

Btw, playing solo can be an excellent experience to improve your abilities and survivability, just be tenacious and use any and all advantages you can get.

[Longrath]

Another one of these threads? Whats going on lately?

i hope you guys forgive me from quoting myself from the post i made on the other one:



PS: sry if it doesnt apply, you title was misleading.

Playing roles is still important in DDO, you just need to know when it matters and when it doesnt, if you dont like the Zerging form groups asking for "No Zerging". Tadaa!

Btw, playing solo can be an excellent experience to improve your abilities and survivability, just be tenacious and use any and all advantages you can get.

I will be trying DDO now that it's free to play. I would appreciate any leads to guilds that are RP.

I was about to suggest NWN2 for roleplayers. Even NWN1 if graphics aren't a worry for you.
Also find www.neverwinterconnections.com

[Gomezy3k]

Another one of these threads? Whats going on lately?

i hope you guys forgive me from quoting myself from the post i made on the other one:
PS: sry if it doesn't apply, you title was misleading.
Playing roles is still important in DDO, you just need to know when it matters and when it doesn't, if you don't like the Zerging form groups asking for "No Zerging". Tadaa!

Btw, playing solo can be an excellent experience to improve your abilities and survivability, just be tenacious and use any and all advantages you can get.

I suppose I didn't write my original post quite as clear as I wanted. I know that online and PnP are not similar. But I guess what I was bringing up was, my thief has been in several groups in DDO and really there was no need to even be there. My character "noticed" something so when I did a "Spot" the rest of the group was two hallways away by the time I was through and found something. Or if I detected a trap, I would be down disarming it, and the rest would blow by, set it off and keep on going. By "roll playing" I meant, let the thief do thief stuff, the cleric do cleric stuff, etc. From what I have seen there really is no need for a thief unless it's solo play.

I will have to do the "No Zerging" thing. I think "Walk" should be the standard move with "run" as an option, it would make it a lot easier. And make it easier to keep everyone together.

Thanks for the input...

[Lorz]

Also remember to put tags like "no-zerg" "exploring" "normal" "first try", etc. to your party ad or join a party that will not rush through it as in "speed run", "favor run", etc.
(default attract all sort of players to the pug)

Beside perma-death i have seen party ads explicitly asking for roleplayers, and even pnp chat.

or the ever popular and well known "Flower-Sniffer" tag.

Seriously letting people know this is the type of game you are looking for will help relieve some of these issues.
Sure some people like to play that way....and a lot (if not most) prefer to run at full speed. After you have done a quest a hundred or thousand times...you have to make your own challenges.

[Lorz]

I suppose I didn't write my original post quite as clear as I wanted. I know that online and PnP are not similar. But I guess what I was bringing up was, my thief has been in several groups in DDO and really there was no need to even be there. My character "noticed" something so when I did a "Spot" the rest of the group was two hallways away by the time I was through and found something. Or if I detected a trap, I would be down disarming it, and the rest would blow by, set it off and keep on going. By "roll playing" I meant, let the thief do thief stuff, the cleric do cleric stuff, etc. From what I have seen there really is no need for a thief unless it's solo play.

I will have to do the "No Zerging" thing. I think "Walk" should be the standard move with "run" as an option, it would make it a lot easier. And make it easier to keep everyone together.

Thanks for the input...

Dont get upset please...realize so far you havent experienced much of the game...on elite those same traps will kill those zreging ahead (or some of them)....on epic you will be a requirement! The thing is learn what you enjoy and seek out those who enjoy that style of play. Yes you will endure many a bad pug group....this does not change...but you will find friends who think and play like you. Just takes time.

[Kaganfindel]

Dont get upset please...realize so far you havent experienced much of the game...on elite those same traps will kill those zreging ahead (or some of them)....on epic you will be a requirement! The thing is learn what you enjoy and seek out those who enjoy that style of play. Yes you will endure many a bad pug group....this does not change...but you will find friends who think and play like you. Just takes time.


That said, there aren't going to be many people out there who will stand around while he searches every door in the dungeon for traps whether he spots them or not. To put that kind of thing into a PnP perspective, it'd be about as annoying as the new guy wanting to haggle with the merchants over every piece of equipment when the group was stocking up to go out into the wilderness.

[Gamedog]

Honestly OP, what I do when playing a rogue is, when everyone is 'zerging or whatever, I make it a point to find any and every trap possible....for the extra xp at the end of the quest. That is how I contribute to the party.

If other characters want to run through traps...so be it....laugh when they die because of it. Just always know that the trap won't get you.

And the last thing...if there is a locked chest or door to open.....they will wait for ya then.

I love the PnP D&D also, but since this is a great game, had to change my way of thinking so I could truly enjoy this video game version of D&D.

Hope you find your place and get to enjoy it!!!

[thalion]

As "In Character" Roleplayers are often a minority please consider playing on one of the old unofficial Roleplay servers Sarlona or Thelanis.

On Sarlona I would suggest you lookup either of the guilds "Rest in Pieces" or "Roleplayers of Sarlona".

[Talon_Moonshadow]

I think there are ways to role play in this game, without really role playing...and without needing anyone else to participate.

But I was never a real role player even in PnP.

I tend to make NG chars, since I see that as my RL alignment.
And My chars (at least my main) is as close to fantasy hero me as possible.

So role playing that kind of char is just using my real personality.

But a few sugestions:

Creative bio.
Armor and weps chosen for appearance.
Spell selection chosen to go along with your RP idea for the char.
Heavy use of emotes. And custom emotes (text only)

A couple of specific examples.

Drkpriestess AlmostEvilBattleClr
Is CN Drow Clr with enhacenments for cause wounds spells, and memorises all cause wound spells.
She also has enhancements for alignment spells so she can get extra damage from Unholy Blight.
Usually has Poison, Cause Disease, Bestow Curse, Slay Living....and similar "evil" spells memorised.
I sometimes say "bow to me" when casting greater command.
She had armor and shields with skull patterns on them. Also several sceptors that look like a skull on the top.
But also uses Short Swords since they are the chosen weapon of her god.

She refuses to use goody spells like Bless. Or weapons that are holy or rightous.


Khanari a CC specced Cor.
Is too noble to sully her hands by actually killing things. Although if a low class common monster dares to hurt her she has been known to give it the finger.

Typically, she will stone a charging monster inches from her face, then pretend nothing happened.....not even acknowledge the petty thing's existance.
If for some reason her companions leave the area without kinng it, she will turn her back on it, and slowly walk away.....than cast a firewall on it with a wave of her hand over her shoulder....and go off to join her friends.

Snowprincess a Halfling Brb 15 uses Handaxes, because they look cool.
And has max ranks and enhancements in Jump.

Due to game mechanics, Halflings can jump several times their own height.
She will charge into a room, jump in the air, and emit a cute little war squeak as she floats across the room, to land on a monster's back and wail on him.
When I play her I am constantly jumping around for the visual effect.

I lke WF with the Samarai style helmet. And if you make their face right, it looks like Samarai face plate. And I have a preferance for swords with the Katana graphic.


things like that. :)

[Crysto]

Topic is a little old, but I feel like postin anyway.

The reason I think you don't see much role playing is because people who are publically seeking groups, are usually those without previously establish friends/guilds to go to. This means its going to be newer players or solo players who happen to group once in a while.

I believe that many newer players are like myself in that I don't give two ***** about Dungeons and Dragons as a brand or universe or whatever. We came to DDO because it was a free game with actiony mechanics that are a step above most other offerings and two steps above most other free offerings. What I care about is playing a fun MMO game. This could be Sesame Street: Elmo's Quest for Love, and if it used the same game mechanics, I'd still play it. What DDO is is a computer game. Not your pen and paper role playing game. Since it uses the DnD branding its going to attract DnD players too, but a free MMO game targets a much wider audience than DnD players, it targets anyone with an interest in RPGS and a computer.

DDO is a fun computer game. I don't feel the need to roleplay in Team Fortress 2 or Guild Wars or Titan Quest, other computer games, why on earth would I start now? This mindset of "just another game" is where I think the lack of RP comes from.

That said, now consider this from a RP's standpoint. Would you want to try to roleplay with random people like me? I would never do it, and I think its stupid, but I would consider roleplaying to be a slightly more intimate activity than something you do with random people. Do I sound like the kind of person that would make for a fun place to roleplay? In private groups, you can roleplay all you like, so find that guild or group of friends so you can have fun free from the players like myself.

[Malazarti]

Pay no heed to Lorien - he's actually really good at roleplaying a troll :P


Here's a fine example of quality role-playing in my books:
http://spla.sh/bp/roleplaying_files/bone2.htm


Fare thee well!

[Phidius]

I role play. Just the other day my I was pretending to be a mexican apple thief who couldnt speak a word of english. I was stealing from my girlfriends fathers farm. She was collecting bundles of hay when she saw me, instead of telling her Pa, she chased me into the barn and one thing lead to another. Role playing is great.

Don't remember who has this in their signature, but I've always liked it...


"I only role-play with blondes dressed as cheerleaders... and even then I zerg"

[Captain_Wizbang]

Tough to play this game in a RP fashion.

Thelanis Thursdays, Phoenix Tavern to meet people of a similar mindset OP.