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View Full Version : Top 3 Reasons I Don't Play Much Anymore



suitepotato
07-31-2011, 02:41 AM
The top 3 reasons I don't play much:


Petulant childishness about not being there to buff or heal others, about kiting being a right, and so forth.
It's a multiplayer game with a definite structure and format based on races and classes with specific skills and advantages, designed to compliment each other. It's designed a priori to be played to type, not for playing any way you like in a group, forcing others who expect cooperation to put up with your egotistical nonsense. I'm tired of getting into groups where all but one or two play along, especially on quest chains, and the group breaks up as those who did play cooperatively try to be polite by claiming to need to go to bed, or have some errands. I'm tired of particularly hard quests being practically impossible to get pugs for because there's so high a chance of selfish freestyle play forced on the rest of the group. I'm sick of it, it's no fun, I deal with enough childish people as it is, and don't come to an online game to have more of it. Just because you can play your own way, doesn't mean you need to. In a group, you're there to play your **** role, and no one is going to appreciate your insistence on doing whatever you like no matter what the cost to the party. If you don't like it, go solo. I know I am sick of soloing to avoid bad groups. It's time the selfish players went soloing. I've given away enough SP pots to have made a half billion plat on the AH. Given it away like candy. Poured it like water. Just to have an increasing number of SP users refuse to use their SP on the group.
Content staleness.
The content is simplistic, with a total lack of creativity and depth. I'm sick of blasting through quest chains either solo or with a group and feeling like I just got ready for an olympic event and instead was greeted with a game of tic-tac-toe. It goes stale faster than celebrity rumors on the Internet.
Crafting and Other Systems Either Abandoned or Malformed
The supposed complete crafting system is just plain malarkey. We have to grind, grind, grind, to get weapons to deconstruct, to get ingredients, to make weapons that we have a very high chance of finding randomly generated during the grinding. There's a circular Russian statement about coal, ore, and machines that comes to mind. Other crafting systems are created, but go nowhere. Like the Stone of Change. All this time and not a single upgrade to it. Not a single improvement. Upper tiers of upgrades practically shout themselves. But, it seems it is abandoned. Epic Crafting is scattered between special events and epic quests, and again, a grind, grind, grind situation. Why even bother?

Between these top three things, I've found nothing to spark any desire to play in months. I log in maybe every two weeks on one character and then quit again. I can't blame the other VC members for feeling the same. I used to wonder why they log in once a month to once a year. Now I've finally gotten it. There's practically no hope of improvement.

No quests of any real complexity, storyline, or intellectual depth. Certainly none that we asked for such as a no-flagging no-pre-req sequel to Tempest Spine (which I think was asked for about one month after it went live and has been asked for every since with deafening silence being the result), or crafting that wasn't total WoW grindage. No real sights to stir the emotions, no real story to draw you in, nothing to hold your attention and get you into the spirit.

No quests to encourage and reinforce team playing. If anything, Robotron 2084 style run around and kill everything independently play is the name of the game lately.

Not a single game mechanic to discourage kiters. Anyone notice how often our instinctive empathy leads us to get slaughtered while the kiter who made the mob encounter a clusterfrak gets away? There really needs to be something introduced to discourage it. Perhaps quests where some monsters have a protective spell on them that causes a certain percentage of arrows to rebound and hit the archer. Or enemies who chase them at warp speed and pound them into pudding.

Not a single good idea in crafting. How hard could it be? Not hard as any game designer or RPG person knows. Grind, grind, grind, if you want, but don't you tell me, that it's fun no... (with apologies to Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson). Seriously... weird ingredients for unnamed high level recipes? Things put in that won't be used for two to three updates, IF they aren't simply abandoned? Requiring us to trash enough loot to make a billion plat on getting near a high enough crafting level to make items we're going to have run into in a random drop? Did any of this get thought out, or was it just more ADHD follies?

This is not a going away post. This is not a leaving post. This is an "I'm giving up on ever hoping for anything to change" post. I've got no hope, no faith, I'm just hanging on for the special events in the graveyard and the cove and that's all. That's sad, but so is DDO. We can debate for eternity why Turbine is doing it, or why the player base is letting petulance run rampant, but it doesn't change that this is what is going on and shows no sign of changing.

If I log in, I log in, I don't care anymore.

issiana
07-31-2011, 02:46 AM
yip, I hear you. i got bored midway through life 4. sorry same old stuff with same old issues just got a bit much.

So i'm off on a break elsewhere. i'll be back soon enough, but right now I just need a break.

Letrii
07-31-2011, 02:50 AM
Game mechanics should not be changed o curtail playstyles. If you don't like it, add them to a do not group list.

Philibusta
07-31-2011, 02:57 AM
I havent been playing nearly as long as the OP, and I'm already beginning to feel the bit of point #2. Repeat repeat repeat.....yeah it gets old. fast.

Just one thing though, OP:

I could be misinterpreting what you meant in point #1, but that part sounds to me like another one of these "oh my god they went and let wizards be actual wizards! I've lost my personal buffbot! what next, wizard players might actually start having fun?!?! this must be nerfed!!" posts. Just sayin.

wootvenu
07-31-2011, 03:25 AM
One solution for lack of roleplay and bad pugs, get into a organized guild(its not that difficult) with considerable guild size....You will feel lot better.

Boredom yeah it can happen, WHat i did was went into helping mode: getting others flagged, walkthroughs, etc

On crafting: no comments!

Quests: Playing on melee, caster, healer, specialist on same quest is a different experience for me (intellectual depth, etc not a issue so far).

jaegarnel
07-31-2011, 11:05 AM
1. Personally I haven't noticed an excess of selfish play all that much. In the vast majority of my PUGs, melees stay with the group and only charge when there are mobs to charge at, rogues stay a bit ahead to do traps and back off to avoid getting aggro on mobs, divines heal, buff the party and do whatever else they want to, arcanes buf, and use a combination of nuking, CC and insta-kills.
Getting anything more complex in terms of teamwork than that is a bit unrealistic in a group where people don't know each other, though.

2. What you find stale others may enjoy. Of course, if you're repeating a quest for the 50th time it won't be fun. But have you tried every quest in the game 50 times, or have you just sticked to the most popular one?
In the end, Turbine only provides you with a frame, it's still up to you to create your own fun, simply because with a big customer base you can't please everybody at once.
If you want difficulty, why not try to do quests below level on elite? Why not impose some restrictions on yourself? If you want roleplay, why not join a RP guild and have fun with that?

3. Crafting is boring and bugged, no doubt about it. It's still in beta, though, so we can hope for improvements. As for it not being hard to do a good crafting system, could you point out to me all those games that have a good one with about the same number of recipes and the same complexity as DDO, because I don't know of any.
All crafting systems in all MMOs are about grinding, one way or the other.

ShanxTadeu
08-01-2011, 02:57 PM
Sry i don't agree with you. Just cause im Wiz i vent to always buff the entire pt. Some guys like to be a support ppl, some dont (my case). Eventually buffing i could agree with u , but ALWAYS couldnt. If you want to be buffed always, u ve two choices: buy an arcane hireling or put some skills points on UMD n buy Wands. THE END.

U sounds like a guy who lose respect for the others when they doesnt act in ur way. :\ like Philibusta said.

Gratch
08-01-2011, 03:13 PM
1) Sounds like a grouping problem for you personally that you could experience in any/every game. In theory you'd be in a guild with similar ideas as yours on how to "adventure through quests". Interesting that you play on G-Land which I've noticed recently has more and more "zerging", "fast run", as well as the reverse "new players", "going slow", "staying together" tags on LFM's. Don't know that you should complain at the devs for not forcing players into one playstyle or the other. There's actually been a lot of recently released content ("the xorian pair of packs") that has extra "group" optionals or more linear scripted dungeons... which seems to be your goal from this game.

2) The current content release is so much faster than two years ago for this game. It is currently lacking in raids, end-game since they off'ed Epic, and capped level quests since they decided to release new packs as monotonically increasing starting at L4 a year plus ago. But at least the raids and high level pack issues should be taken care of with U11,12,13 (in theory). Epic is still splattered on the floor.

3) Crafting... eh... w/e. I won't defend or trash on it since it's not really my thing.

Maitland
08-01-2011, 03:20 PM
Sorry to hear about your troubles..Myself..I love this game..
Take care wherever you end up.

Bluntt

herzkos
08-01-2011, 03:20 PM
Sry i don't agree with you. Just cause im Wiz i vent to always buff the entire pt. Some guys like to be a support ppl, some dont (my case). Eventually buffing i could agree with u , but ALWAYS couldnt. If you want to be buffed always, u ve two choices: buy an arcane hireling or put some skills points on UMD n buy Wands. THE END.

U sounds like a guy who lose respect for the others when they doesnt act in ur way. :\ like Philibusta said.

to me it's not about buff bots or not: it's whats best for the party. no you don't need (and shouldn't imo) to keep
the party hasted for the entire quest but if you're in a fire happy quest then please drop a resist on some folks.
cast a heroism on a rogue or a melee. you don't need to buff the entire party with everything but knowing
the quest and making it easier for everyone is always a good plan.

if you join a group with the total intention of doing it "your" way, don't join the group, solo it. the other
5 people aren't there to adapt to your playstyle. everyone needs to adapt their playstyle to the current
group they are in.

LordMond63
08-01-2011, 04:05 PM
A few random observations on the OP:

1) I'd agree that it sounds like you fell in with the "wrong crowd", i.e. players whose playstyle does not closely match your own. That can add a level of unnecessary frustration (as opposed to 'necessary frustration' I guess) that can make what should be an enjoyable diversion into an ordeal.

I think I'm going on 18 months as a player whichy probably makes me in the middle of the pack as far as time played so I have no concept as to what it was like at the beginning. I have been in on the ground floor of other games and it would not surprise me if DDO followed more or less the same maturation process: wonderment leads to repitition leads to grind. DDO has been around long enough to be a "mature" game; many players have multiple capped characters across multiple servers and the feel, rightly or wrongly, that there is nothing new under the Eberron sun for them. I can emaphatize, even though I'm not to the "grind" stage yet.

When it comes to characters I play, you get whatever buffs I routinely hand out (blur, elemental resistance or protection, stoneskin, death ward, etc.) and I'm always open to situational-specific requests (jump, for instance). I have had other players chide me for buffing when they do not consider it necessary, to which I reply that it is a force of habit on my part- a good habit, I'd argue, since buffs should make things at least a bit easier for all. Being that I have gotten this reaction more than ionce, I can't say I am surprised that you're encountered it (and worse) as well. Those folks are part of the "wrong crowd" I referenced above.

On the subject of content, I have to disagree with you. There has been quite a bit of new content introduced over the past six months to a year, both in terms of quests as well as features (crafting). Obviously, some new content has been better received than others. I really enjoy the new chains (Missing, Attack on Stormreach, etc.) and find them to be creative and, better yet, humorous ("A scepter of unimaginable evil power? YUM!!"). The loot is nice without being unbalancing or too easily gotten. As for whether it is particularly challenging, well that depends at least a bit on the party and how many times people have run it, but I find new wrinkles just about each time I run it. One can always want new content, but I think Turbine has done pretty well in this area.

On crafting being broken, though, I think you are absolutely right. For Turbine to make its player base Beta test Cannith crafting and pay for the privilege of doing so is simply unconscionable in my opinion. Isn't that what Lammia is for? All of the bugs, exploits and whatever else that were found by players on the live servers SHOULD have been found by players on the Test server and fixed. Maybe another game has had such a major content package released and then had to walk back that release but, if it's happened elsewhere, I can't think of an example. Major, major blunder on Turbine's part and one that they darn well should have seen coming.

Terminusz
08-01-2011, 04:06 PM
I don't wanna sound rude here but experience tells me that most (key word being most here) of what you're feeling is not the game's fault as it is the amount of time you've spent on it.

Trust me, I've been there on other MMO's aswell and I do understand your pain, 'cause DDO is prolly a game you still love and/or grown used to being part of your life. Either way, and as most things in this life, sometimes we have to realize it's time to say goodbye and move on. I too had a hard time quitting other games (one in particular) that I was feeling absurdly unhappy with every single thing on them.

Once you do, and I believe you're already on that path, (thought it might take a good while 'til you're used to the idea of never logging in DDO anymore) you'll look back and laugh at how silly it was that it took you ages to quit, not to mention to realize it was actualy you not having fun anymore/won at the game already, as opposite to the game decaying on its quality.

Sincerely hope this helps, as I've said before, I too found myself in such situation in the past.

Best wishes

Dolphious
08-01-2011, 04:13 PM
I, and most of the people I know, think most of the recent content is a lot of fun. Sure more content would be great, but it's been coming out at a pretty reasonable pace, and I'm certainly happy with the quality of both the Lordsmarch chain and the Xorian chain.

Crafting may be a mess, but it's completely optional, it really shouldn't negatively impact your experience.

As far as people's attitudes go, finding the right people to play with is always going to be a challenge. You have to be willing to make some effort to find and make friends with the type of people you want to play with. If you're pugging, you just have to embrace the chaos and accept that not every group is going to be to your liking.

Kiting: although I don't completely agree with most of your post it at least made since, but your complaints about kiting sound like nonsense. Archers kiting causes fails and is therefore OP? huh? There are a few fights where it works to kit a monster around (usually to keep it busy), but is there really a problem with people burning through content by running around in circles sniping at mobs?

Andilor
08-01-2011, 04:59 PM
I feel your first point has some merit in the case of asking for buffs and the caster says, "You should have gotten ship buffs, or bought pots." I was really onboard when guilds first came out, but now I feel that they are destroying the role-playing aspect of the game.

The classic Wiz King lfm that says "Must be able to solo your tower." is an example of a player that has lost the reason we started playing D&D. Those players are the problem, but I feel that Turbine has created them by releasing weak content that never requires new players to build their skills or a balanced party, and adding features that make the strong, stronger.

What's the fix? I have no idea, it's just my two cents on why I think we are seeing more players that really want to solo a quest, but they know they need atleast two other players at one spot in the quest.

Brainstorming:
1. traps that can kill one level above the quest level.
2. challenge players with average gear one level above the quest level.

ShanxTadeu
08-02-2011, 09:18 AM
Herzkos,

I respect ur opinion but...

Thats why Bard was included in DDO. The bard main focus is buffing, the wizard focus is kill, like the sorcerer. If u need some buff then call a bard, n if u need some inst kills n nuke call a wiz or a sorc.

The arcanes can eventually buff? Hell yeah, like i said in my previous post. I always buff my pt folks when the moment asks to, but the arcane spell points ve to be used to kill things. If the wiz/sorc uses his/her sp to buff all the time, theres no sp to kill important mobs in the end. What i disagree is when some divine casters asks to buff them with GH after i buff some fighter, whatta fuk? Divine casters ve GH, why ask me to cast? Or even when a bard is in the pt?Oo Eventually apply buffs on non-arcane/non-divine folks its ok to me, but apply buffs on magic users is abusive.

maddmatt70
08-02-2011, 09:29 AM
I agree with alot of what you say OP. I think this game has gone further and further away from team play. It really is not as much a player issue as it is more about the way DDO is made now it is everybody can heal themselves and buff themselves and etc, and now even ship buffs too. I do not understand why the devs think that is an improvement because it just makes the game more about soloing and less about teamplay. D&D is all about teamplay and its about playing your role in a group.

I agree that crafting in DDO is so very disjointed its multiple different systems when the reality is Turbine should probably have just chosen one system from the beginning and kept improving upon that system. We keep hoping that the next version of crafting will be the final system so we can invest in that crafting only to find their is a new crafting system coming. How about Turbine just stick with a crafting system and invest in it?

I disagree on the quality of the content and actually think the last three modules have been high quality so I do really understand what you mean by content staleness.

JayChuck
08-02-2011, 09:38 AM
Sounds like it might be time to try permadeath, where death matters and DDO is a team sport.

Memnir
08-02-2011, 09:42 AM
Take a break or find a pressure-valve distraction, would be my best advice.
I'm playing DDO less at the moment - but a lot of From Dust (awesome, awesome game) and TF2. Every so often, I need to step back from DDO a bit. I've found that when I'm ready to play DDO more earnestly again after such breaks or distractions - the things that were bothering me no longer do so quite as much, and the game is a lot more enjoyable as a result.

Schmoe
08-02-2011, 10:25 AM
It honestly sounds to me like you're ready to move on to something else. My suggestion? Do it. Find another outlet for a while. Get into wargaming. Get into movies. Get into rock climbing. Get into something else. Walk away from DDO and forget about it. It's ok, honestly. I've walked away from many games and moved on to many different activities, and each time I found enthusiasm for something new.

After "forgetting" about the game, maybe in a year or so (:eek:), log in again. If you still like the game, the time away will have renewed your excitement and enthusiasm. If you go "meh," then walking away when you did saved you the frustration of dragging out an unsatisfying experience. Either way, leaving the game for a while will have been the right decision.