Been gone a looong time

[Quasimojo]

I played for a couple of months when DDO launched. If I were to take another look at DDO today, would it make any sense to install it from my original discs and patch from there, or should I just go ahead and download from scratch?

A couple other questions:

One reason I left is it seemed like a bit of a grind. People were mostly interested in zipping through dungeons as quickly as possible, and all the dungeons looked very similar. Has anything changed in this regard?
Is there more to the game these days than there was at launch? Back then, it was mostly dungeon crawl after dungeon crawl. Have they shaken things up in any way?
I'm a fairly slow-leveling player who enjoys playing different characters at different times. Is there a particular server or guild that would be a good fit with my play style?


Thanks in advance.

[Thuriaz]

Download from scratch, and like all MMO's there are parts of it that appeal to different people, I tend to look for "Power leveling groups" to hop up in levels, but I rarely want to LEAD those. It is mostly just dungeon crawling, but party dynamics change it up a lot. As a solo game, it's terrible, worse than that, just simply awful IMHO. As an MMO though, group dynamics are what makes it fun and I'll group with anyone so long as their build is filling a basic role or enhancing a basic role.

[xanvar]

Pretty much the same game with a lot more quests to Zerg through. I would just download the game and install from there.

[Enir]

Yes, most of the old 'dungeon crawls' are present. There are also many new quest areas with interesting storylines (if you take the time to read them) and varied objectives.
I personally love the Carnival quest chain (The Hill Giant is hilarious). The Red Fens and Lordsmarch quests are a true change of pace. Three-Barrel Cove was completely re-designed a couple years ago.
Several high-level quest areas have been added. I hate those drunken beholders in The Twelve!
Game mechanics have been twinked. Banks have been expanded. The DDO Store, Half-Orcs, favored souls, monks, and the list goes on.
I PUG quite often and have NOT found many 'zergers'. I have found enjoyable and effective teamwork.
Welcome back; enjoy!