Interview with Ian Currie - Game Banshee

[GoldyGopher]

http://www.gamebanshee.com/interviews/100032-dungeons-a-dragons-online-eberron-unlimited.html


As demonstrated by the six updates they've released in the past year, Turbine has made good on their promise to deliver plenty of new Dungeons & Dragons Online content following the game's switch from a purely subscription-based to a free-to-play hybrid business model. A seventh update is just around the corner, and based on what we know about it so far, it looks to be the most ambitious content patch they've released to date.

To get a better idea of the changes and additions the U7 patch brings to the game, as well as how the team intends to handle some of the game's current issues, I chatted up design director Ian Currie:

[AestorTheKnight]

Thanks for linking this! :)

[AbsynthMinded]

Ian: Players have been asking for a low level raid for some time and we felt it was a great idea to get players earlier exposure to one of DDO’s greatest strengths. We had a concept that we thought was a fantastic match for such a raid and we went for it. We’re very happy with the results. We realize that many players have been hoping for another high level raid so we did add an epic difficulty mode (epic is restricted to level 20 characters) for those who enjoy those types of challenges. Our next raid will be high level.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I would love to see the evidence of this, and I can certainly dredge up forum post after forum post asking for higher level content and complaining about all the low end stuff piling up. Good save though assuring that the next content addition will be in the higher range..

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Ian: Improving lag is a never-ending process. There are many types of lag and various causes. Update 7 includes a few important fixes which should fix the most common causes of lag we’ve been able to find on the live service. I don’t know that we’ve found anything with Dungeon Alert. Dungeon Alert was designed to help reduce one type of lag. What it does is show players when they made many monsters in a dungeon active at once. At that point, we want players to kill the monsters off rather than running around and waking up more. As always we encourage players to use the in-game bug reporting tool to send us data on any causes of lag that they believe they may have found.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

DA + Bad Dungeon Design = Stupid

Please disable DA in Amrath or Fix the Dungeons in Amrath. Further we have long used the bug reporting systems, and fail to see any significant improvements. We have little to no faith in the reporting tools. The general lag situation has only increased in severity. The AM backups making it a pain, prime time being a pain, it's all painful all the time over the past several weeks. On Thelanis Codeshaper claiming Hirelings were at fault, saying he was going to do something about that, and now fell silent with no significant improvements.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Ian: At the present time we don't think the endgame demands high AC (e.g. 70+). Some of us are running high level characters with 50 AC and are not finding it to be an issue and certainly partial damage mitigation can make the job of your party’s healers significantly easier. One of the most important changes to epic difficulty that has already been made is that minions have -1d20 to hit on every roll. This was intended to widen the range of viable AC, and we think it worked very well. That said, we're always analyzing the mechanics of the game with an eye to improving balance and need to remain open to further changes when necessary.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

There is some serious disconnect here as players seem to disagree strongly about what AC is required to be effective. Further the common notion is that if you can not reach 50+ AC base, then you might as well play in Robes or naked.. The concept of purely Dex based AC is obsolete.

Much of the other comments are pretty good, if they are to be believed. I do not trust Turbine to be honest with us.

[Razcar]

Interesting:

GB: Have you given any thought to letting players break down their Shroud-crafted items back to their original shards or base ingredients? Between crafting mistakes and some items being outperformed by epic loot, I'm sure I'm not the only one who has a couple of Shroud items that I'd like to deconstruct. You could even make it a DDO Store only perk, if necessary.

Ian: Yes we have thought a lot about this. In fact, at one point we were working quite seriously on it. We had a prototype of the deconstruction portion a while back, but we never had time to fit the rest of the crafting changes into one of our recent updates and we decided that it made more sense to release a more comprehensive feature at a later date.

[Uska]

Ian: Players have been asking for a low level raid for some time and we felt it was a great idea to get players earlier exposure to one of DDO’s greatest strengths. We had a concept that we thought was a fantastic match for such a raid and we went for it. We’re very happy with the results. We realize that many players have been hoping for another high level raid so we did add an epic difficulty mode (epic is restricted to level 20 characters) for those who enjoy those types of challenges. Our next raid will be high level.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I would love to see the evidence of this, and I can certainly dredge up forum post after forum post asking for higher level content and complaining about all the low end stuff piling up. Good save though assuring that the next content addition will be in the higher range..

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Ian: Improving lag is a never-ending process. There are many types of lag and various causes. Update 7 includes a few important fixes which should fix the most common causes of lag we’ve been able to find on the live service. I don’t know that we’ve found anything with Dungeon Alert. Dungeon Alert was designed to help reduce one type of lag. What it does is show players when they made many monsters in a dungeon active at once. At that point, we want players to kill the monsters off rather than running around and waking up more. As always we encourage players to use the in-game bug reporting tool to send us data on any causes of lag that they believe they may have found.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

DA + Bad Dungeon Design = Stupid

Please disable DA in Amrath or Fix the Dungeons in Amrath. Further we have long used the bug reporting systems, and fail to see any significant improvements. We have little to no faith in the reporting tools. The general lag situation has only increased in severity. The AM backups making it a pain, prime time being a pain, it's all painful all the time over the past several weeks. On Thelanis Codeshaper claiming Hirelings were at fault, saying he was going to do something about that, and now fell silent with no significant improvements.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Ian: At the present time we don't think the endgame demands high AC (e.g. 70+). Some of us are running high level characters with 50 AC and are not finding it to be an issue and certainly partial damage mitigation can make the job of your party’s healers significantly easier. One of the most important changes to epic difficulty that has already been made is that minions have -1d20 to hit on every roll. This was intended to widen the range of viable AC, and we think it worked very well. That said, we're always analyzing the mechanics of the game with an eye to improving balance and need to remain open to further changes when necessary.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

There is some serious disconnect here as players seem to disagree strongly about what AC is required to be effective. Further the common notion is that if you can not reach 50+ AC base, then you might as well play in Robes or naked.. The concept of purely Dex based AC is obsolete.

Much of the other comments are pretty good, if they are to be believed. I do not trust Turbine to be honest with us.



only thing I have to say againt what you have said is many people have asked for a low lvl raid other than that there is more call for high lvl content over low lvl content.

[AbsynthMinded]

only thing I have to say againt what you have said is many people have asked for a low lvl raid other than that there is more call for high lvl content over low lvl content.

I stand corrected on that point, thank you. Although, I cant seem to find much in the way of forum posts asking for a low level raid either, I did search for a bit..