Happy Birthday DDO!

[Glin]

Happy 7th Anniversary DDO Nation! We’ve been together a long time now; in some US states we’d be common law married! With that, my name is Erik Boyer, also known as ‘Producer Glin’ and I am the Senior Producer on DDO. I myself am starting on my seventh anniversary here at Turbine, working on DDO. I have worked with an amazing team over the years as we took DDO thru its many evolutionary changes and recently expanded into the Forgotten Realms. Supporting both the Eberron and Forgotten Realms’ Campaign, we now have a vast array of options for stories and environments and we are excited to continue delivering classic D&D adventures for you for another year.

This is going to be another amazing year for DDO and I am excited to get to share with you some big news on our plans. Just last week, we launched Update 17 where we got the chance to go back to Gianthold and give it a refresh. We managed to put some giants into Gianthold, not to mention more dragons and that infamous Dracolitch we’ve been talking about since year one. It’s challenging but also exciting when we get the chance to update beloved DDO features to make them even better, and you’ll see that happening on a few different fronts this year. On that topic, I know what you all want to hear about! And yes, its true, – we’ll be overhauling our bug reporting tool with updated functionality to help us capture even more of your problem details and feedback, and process them more efficiently. With that news, I know now, you are thinking, “that sounds really good… but I was sort of thinking of the rumors of an updated character enhancements system.” And I also have great news to share on that!

Work on the new enhancement system is well underway and it will be heading to its first public beta this spring. In its current iteration, each class has at least two prestige class paths. The UI, similar to the Epic Destiny tree, will be a long awaited simplification to planning your character build, but more importantly, the goal is to make better choices more accessible for both new and advanced players in the heroic levels. We are planning an extended beta for this one. We’ll be doing multiple trips to Lamannia and lots of player events to give us all an opportunity to try it on various characters and gather lots of feedback.

Another area where you will see several changes is in the introduction of more uses for Astral Diamond shards throughout our game. Volume 3 of the monster manual, which is now available as of Update 17, not only offers a chance to earn your own beholder pet, we also now let you earn direct-to-pocket Astral Shards. In the near future we will add more ways for you to earn free shards as well as some compelling new ways to use them to enhance your DDO gaming experience.

As I have always said, one of the strengths of DDO is great adventures to undertake and that is why I am most pleased to announce DDO’s second expansion titled ‘Shadowfell Conspiracy’ coming this summer! We are turning our attention back to the Forgotten Realms and we are taking you to some new regions in Cormyr. We will be taking brave heroes, level 15 and up, to a foreboding prison city to the south east of Eveningstar called Wheloon, and high up into the Stormhorn Mountains, north of the high road.

Shadowfell Conspiracy will have more than just new quests and regions, we will also be raising the level cap to 28 and providing something often requested by fans: faster access to the Forgotten Realms! With a new prestige character feature we are calling Iconic Heroes; we think we have an innovative solution that will get you right into the Forgotten Realms starting at level 15. Each of these Forgotten Realms born characters will start as a race class combination with new racial abilities. I can’t wait to tell you more about these characters in the coming months.
Later in the year we have some other great stories planned and we plan to focus our attention on the True Reincarnation options and update the system to work for Epic level players. Epic True Reincarnation would also introduce a new completionist track. What would two more stat points do to your TR character? Well, stay tuned this summer for an update on our development progress!

There’s a lot more to talk about, and my heart races as I am selectively sharing just hints of what we already have in development! This year is going to be another great year for DDO - with a big, cool new storyline, new D&D monster varieties and powerful new character abilities. We will start communicating more about enhancements and other content very soon. Of course I can’t end without one last bit of awesome upcoming news: I have seen the first rendition of the owlbear monster and I can assure everyone this thing will go from mysteriously acquired pelt to fully animated encounter before long.

Thank you for the many years of fun and feedback, and especially for the many PUGs you may have run with me during that time, and in advance for the next ones.

Happy birthday DDO and community

~Erik Boyer

[Memnir]

Another expansion. Nice. And, I like that FR is being opened up to lower levels.

Happy Birthday, DDO!
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http://i.imgur.com/5pLTdwg.gif
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[Maxallu]

Let the speculation begin!

[catmamor]

Another expansion. Nice. And, I like that FR is being opened up to lower levels.

Happy Birthday, DDO!
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http://i.imgur.com/5pLTdwg.gif
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Happy birthday DDO, we haven't been together long but it is a wonderful relationship all the same!

But this cake ^ THIS CAKE!

[SableShadow]

Work on the new enhancement system is well underway

Yay! \o/



we will also be raising the level cap to 28

Hmmmmm ....




starting at level 15. Each of these Forgotten Realms born characters will start as a race class combination with new racial abilities.

:P



Epic True Reincarnation would also introduce a new completionist track. What would two more stat points do to your TR character?


Guess I need an otto's box now.



we’ll be overhauling our bug reporting tool ...

Yay! \o/



... with updated functionality to help us capture even more of your problem details and feedback, and process them more efficiently.

:rolleyes: Too much spin.

[bhgiant]

– we’ll be overhauling our bug reporting tool
- Work on the new enhancement system is well underway and it will be heading to its first public beta this spring. In its current iteration, each class has at least two prestige class paths
- more uses for Astral Diamond shards
- DDO’s second expansion titled ‘Shadowfell Conspiracy’ coming this summer!
- raising the level cap to 28
- Iconic Heroes... get[s] you right into the Forgotten Realms starting at level 15. Each of these Forgotten Realms born characters will start as a race class combination with new racial abilities.
- Epic True Reincarnation
- owlbear monster
for brevity

[Battlehawke]

Jaw dropping...

[GeneralDiomedes]

Sounds very exciting. I will have to read all about Wheloon.

A couple of questions .. by expansion do you mean another paid expansion?

Will there be any content releases between now and summer?

[Memnir]

by expansion do you mean another paid expansion?Since the terminology was specifically used, by that I mean second expansion, I think it'll be paid content again. Probably with multiple price-point tiers with a lot of the satellite-goodies like Iconic Heroes thrown in at various levels.


After the quasi-letdown of MotU, though... it'll be hard for me at least to justify something like the Collectors Edition again. My wallet is very DDO gun-shy at the moment.

[Missing_Minds]

I hope "beta" of the enhancement system only lasts 3 months max (not including tweeking that will doubtless be needed) vs.. lifetime of game like myddo.com

Another expansion... amusing. So given the fact you want another expansion this summer... can we have bi monthly bug fix updates till then in addition to standard updates? Seriously the more live is aligned with development the safer you are going to be given your code management process does NOT work.

LOTRO is getting a player council. When can we get one? And I'd advise you keep it separate from Mournlands.

[Cyr]

2 prestige classes per class? I was under the impression since the beginning of this that the plan was for three.

As for epic TR give players details early and often about that one as it develops as it will change players plans just like the enhancement revamp and the best way to get players to quit is to make them feel like you wasted their time when you end up changing something major that involves grind.

[Battlehawke]

Oh, and Happy Birthday DDO! Here's to seven more years!!

[Siftrant]

So are you gonna rip-off VIPs again by making us pay for the "expansion"?

[NexEverto]

On that topic, I know what you all want to hear about! And yes, its true, – we’ll be overhauling our bug reporting tool with updated functionality to help us capture even more of your problem details and feedback, and process them more efficiently.

Okay, I'm lost for words. :D

[Ape_Man]

What does 3 more levels get us? The power is in the EDs and without more ED power we'll get some more HP and maybe a feat?

That's about it . . . look at the level 24 quests versus the MoTU stuff. Massive increase in mob power compared to the PCs. What will make us more powerful to compete?

Will we see some more ridiculous stuff like CR80 bosses?

[Charononus]

So are you gonna rip-off VIPs again by making us pay for the "expansion"?

You do realize that every single mmo on the market charges for expansions right?

[rest]

Since the terminology was specifically used, by that I mean second expansion, I think it'll be paid content again. Probably with multiple price-point tiers with a lot of the satellite-goodies like Iconic Heroes thrown in at various levels.


After the quasi-letdown of MotU, though... it'll be hard for me at least to justify something like the Collectors Edition again. My wallet is very DDO gun-shy at the moment.

They're not gonna get another $75 from me. I'll just wait 2 months and pay $5.

[SableShadow]

What does 3 more levels get us?

A longer run for the epic TR bonus.

[Memnir]

They're not gonna get another $75 from me. I'll just wait 2 months and pay $5.
Indeed.

Fool me once, and all that.

[Kylstrem]

Can you make Founder's Helms available for Cannith Crafting?

That would be a great birthday present.

[Kylstrem]

And I see you guys have banned Fernando from making these posts. After the "Take paralyzing off a weapon and put on another weapon" and the "we have a new raid coming" that both never appeared, that's probably a good thing.

:D:D

[Ape_Man]

Considering we've been waiting over a year for this ENH pass it would be really nice if we got some MOAR details to chew on.

[Missing_Minds]

Considering we've been waiting over a year for this ENH pass it would be really nice if we got some MOAR details to chew on.
But this is "why they stopped the WDA"s. This way the higher ups had something to talk to us about. :rolleyes:

[DanteEnFuego]

*Dracolich

/DDO is Dying Threads... Happy about more 15th level quests, but would love more 12s and 13s so I don't grind out GH before epics.

Thanks for the news! Take my money! Pre-order bonus pets again?

[parowan]

/DDO is Dying Threads... Happy about more 15th level quests, but would love more 12s and 13s so I don't grind out GH before epics.

You need to read more carefully. A year from now and the lvl1-14 game will no longer exist, except for those feeling nostalgic enough to solo forgotten content.

[Truga]

Work on the new enhancement system is well underway and it will be heading to its first public beta this spring.Yay.

Another area where you will see several changes is in the introduction of more uses for Astral Diamond shards throughout our game.Yawn.

Shadowfell Conspiracy will have more than just new quests and regions, we will also be raising the level cap to 28yawn.

You do realize that every single mmo on the market charges for expansions right?Hey guys, those other people are ripping people off, we should do it too.

[arkonas]

So are you gonna rip-off VIPs again by making us pay for the "expansion"?

seriously? wow i dont like players that think like this. you think your measly 10 bucks a month can pump out expansions and not pay for it. ugh you don't know how other games work do you? so many of them even charge extra for an expansion. whether you like it or not a lot of people paid for it. Dont want to fork out the money early on Dont.

i will because i want to be in there first day with goodies.

[Cyr]

You need to read more carefully. A year from now and the lvl1-14 game will no longer exist, except for those feeling nostalgic enough to solo forgotten content.

IDK, sounds like 'iconic heroes' are pre-made toons (which have been horrible in the past) and every other time we have had a skip levels from the start option it did not work with TRs.

Either way it seems likely that TRs will not be using it...at least on their final lives.

[patang01]

Man, this sounds awesome. Hope this cake ain't a lie.

[arkonas]

Yay.
Yawn.
yawn.
Hey guys, those other people are ripping people off, we should do it too.

see this puts you in the same boat with another person i responded too. if you really think games should pump out so much content without you paying more money then there is something wrong with you. how on earth do you think these games survive? this is a business and jobs for people. if we want them to make stuff we need to pay them money not just 10 a month.

[Kaytis]

i would like some thought put into reducing the TR grind. The high xp requirement belongs to an era of little content and the need to give people "something to do". With the introduction of a new type of TR on top of the recently added classes there will be enough to keep non-basement dwelling people busy for years. So how about dropping the crazy 4.38 million down to something less painful (and utterly boring) please? I loathe taking my top tier toons out of commission to do that grind.

[Missing_Minds]

IDK, sounds like 'iconic heroes' are pre-made toons (which have been horrible in the past) and every other time we have had a skip levels from the start option it did not work with TRs.

Either way it seems likely that TRs will not be using it...at least on their final lives.
Sounds like my thoughts also. Reminds me of Crytpic CO archtypes. But we'll see just how good they really are. Who knows, maybe it will be a fast way to get to a 2nd life if you can TR them into "free form"

[Colon_Cancer]

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i478/MownDown/takemoney_zps521d30b0.jpg

[Maxallu]

Epic completonist and heroic completionist? I don't understand. Epic tr? They are generic levels. How does one tr only epic levels? Another 60 million do to grind?

Details man, details!

[SableShadow]

this is a business and jobs for people. if we want them to make stuff we need to pay them money not just 10 a month.

Where is 'enough money'?
20/month? 50? 100? 200?

[Hambo]

Can you make Founder's Helms available for Cannith Crafting?

That would be a great birthday present.

Throw in all the various pre-order items (+1 armor necklace for me) being upgradable and this would be great!

[Raoull]

Hurm.....

I can't believe they are upping the level cap so soon. We still haven't recovered from the last one.

Upping the level cap spreads out the people and who they can group with. Upping the lvl cap from 25 to 28 means that there will be about 1/8th less LFMs that you qualify for at any point in time. Sure, far less of a hit than the 1/4 that struck us with U14, but it doesn't seem like we've even recovered from that one.

At is isn't only puggers who suffer. Whether you get your groups via guilds, channels or what have you, you still need to find people about your level to play with. The more levels.... the less people.

Not good for the game at all....

[psteen1]

Looks fun!!!!

(where did Fernando go?)

[apocaladle]

Yey stuff!

[HungarianRhapsody]

I am most pleased to announce DDO’s second expansion titled ‘Shadowfell Conspiracy’ coming this summer!

You got me to buy the first expansion with cash.

You're not going to fool me again.

[SableShadow]

Hurm.....

I can't believe they are upping the level cap so soon. We still haven't recovered from the last one.

Upping the level cap spreads out the people and who they can group with. Upping the lvl cap from 25 to 28 means that there will be about 1/8th less LFMs that you qualify for at any point in time. Sure, far less of a hit than the 1/4 that struck us with U14, but it doesn't seem like we've even recovered from that one.

At is isn't only puggers who suffer. Whether you get your groups via guilds, channels or what have you, you still need to find people about your level to play with. The more levels.... the less people.

Not good for the game at all....

I think they need to dump the entire leveling penalty for all quests lvl 20+ in the interest of grouping. ED's are going to have a bigger impact than actual character level, and the system doesn't check ED's.

[nibel]

Level cap 28. MotU quests are 21-23. Can't party with capped characters anymore. High Road is borderline playable on Hard.

I was expecting the enhancement revamp and the second expansion somewhat between this year and the next, but I was NOT expecting another level cap raise. Veteran level 15 characters might also kill one part of DDO that I love. This might be the point that break DDO for me. Let's wait and see how they handle it.

[Zzevel]

You thought under equipped level 16 toons were bad.. wait till you get freshly created level 15 toons running around the Vale...

I agree Im not spending $75 for all the buggy code coming, I'll wait 2 months and buy the patched 'kinda working this time' stuff for $5

[RedDragonScale]

And I see you guys have banned Fernando from making these posts. After the "Take paralyzing off a weapon and put on another weapon" and the "we have a new raid coming" that both never appeared, that's probably a good thing.

:D:D

From what I have heard from some insiders of the gaming industry, I believe Fernando is no longer in charge of DDO.

[techwench]

Later in the year we have some other great stories planned and we plan to focus our attention on the True Reincarnation options and update the system to work for Epic level players. Epic True Reincarnation would also introduce a new completionist track. What would two more stat points do to your TR character? Well, stay tuned this summer for an update on our development progress!

What? What?

[Arddhu]

Happy Birthday and great news... now, GIVE US DRAGONSCALE OUTFITS!!!

[Dragon.Star]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!

Look forward to these changes.

[Kalevor]

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i478/MownDown/takemoney_zps521d30b0.jpg

Was looking for this. Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bugaroo]

very cool for the things to come ,level cap to 28 nice keep up the good work ."D

[Marmaduke]

Not interested whatsoever in another expansion. Fix your bugs and deliver the promised enhancement overhaul before pumping out more broken content and level 50 umbral rats.

[Musashiclaw]

Not happy about the Level increase
Not happy about the current XP TR Grind.(probably why they added 50% xp pots)

Happy about new content
Happy about the enhancement overhaul.


Not sure about the Epic TR
Not sure about the "Other TR Options"
Not sure about the starting at level 15.

I am concerned there are not enough LFM's out there as it is.
I am concerned this is causing the game to become alot more anti social than the game I started playing 3+ years go.

Are we going to have two sections of DDO "Games" and players?
Those that TR at 20 and start over at 1?
Those that Epic TR at 28 and start over at 20?
Wish they would add a feature where you can group with anyone at any level for quests and the game auto scales you to the quest level for lower level quests. Harder to implement, easier to have exploits with but it would help those of us who are working on certain characters group our friends and guildies who are leveling lower level characters.

[Daemoneyes]

IDK, sounds like 'iconic heroes' are pre-made toons (which have been horrible in the past) and every other time we have had a skip levels from the start option it did not work with TRs.

Either way it seems likely that TRs will not be using it...at least on their final lives.

I can live with Premade Chars aslong Tarlov is one of them ^_^

[FobtheMob]

I feel that is too early for another expansion. After the epic letdown that was MOTU, I doubt very much that people are willing to pay for another one. It left a bad taste in my mouth for sure.

[AZgreentea]

I am both terrified and interested. Thanks Glin!

I wish it was in Eberron, since I like that realm better, but what is sauce for the goose....

[Gkar]

And yes, its true, – we’ll be overhauling our bug reporting tool with updated functionality to help us capture even more of your problem details and feedback, and process them more efficiently.

Can you make sure that with the new tool people who have banned forum accounts but are paying members of the game (VIP/Premium in good standing) can file bug reports (right now they can't, they get a "you are banned from the forums" page)

I'm a little worried about new L15 premade characters. Turbine doesn't have a good history of designing premade characters that actually work (or equiping them properly). That however can be judged when the beta releases, maybe this one you got right.

I'm not happy with another paid expansion. What you basically appear to be saying is that you are no longer honouring VIP and the the only way to get meaningful new content is by paying extra so you basically want people to quit their VIP members. As my renewal is Feb 27, I just took your advice and cancelled my VIP membership and take some time to figure out what, if anything, I should do about playing this game in the future.


http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv16/Tuvya/Capture_zpsf0b24070.gif

Oh, and I see you got rid of your VIP exit questionaire...I wonder why...

[Avenging_Angel]

Not happy about the Level increase
Not happy about the current XP TR Grind.(probably why they added 50% xp pots)

Happy about new content
Happy about the enhancement overhaul.

Not sure about the Epic TR
Not sure about the "Other TR Options"
Not sure about the starting at level 15.

I am concerned there are not enough LFM's out there as it is.
I am concerned this is causing the game to become alot more anti social than the game I started playing 3+ years go.

My feelings exactly.

[ka0t1c1sm]

I'm pretty wary about pre-made lvl 15's as well. How about a free LR with those?

Either way, I'm sure I'll be there with credit card in hand for the expansion. A junkie's gotta get his fix.

[Ovrad]

Hurm.....

I can't believe they are upping the level cap so soon. We still haven't recovered from the last one.

Upping the level cap spreads out the people and who they can group with. Upping the lvl cap from 25 to 28 means that there will be about 1/8th less LFMs that you qualify for at any point in time. Sure, far less of a hit than the 1/4 that struck us with U14, but it doesn't seem like we've even recovered from that one.

At is isn't only puggers who suffer. Whether you get your groups via guilds, channels or what have you, you still need to find people about your level to play with. The more levels.... the less people.

Not good for the game at all....

^ This. Raising the level cap so soon seems very short-sighted. Some changes will be necessary to keep things working, be it reducing xp penalties from lvl differences, repeat penalties that fade away with time, or something else...


More details on Epic TR would be much welcome as well. Because I sincerely hope it's not that we'll have to TR a lvl 28 in all classes again, that seems like a terrible idea.


Most of the rest sounds great, although like many others, I'm concerned about another buggy expansion, we still have a lot of bugs from the last one..

[palmate]

What you basically appear to be saying is that you are no longer honouring VIP and the the only way to get meaningful new content is by paying extra so you basically want people to quit their VIP members. As my renewal is Feb 28, I'll be taking your advice today and cancelling my VIP membership and take some time to figure out what, if anything, I should do about playing this game in the future.



I guess I can see your frustration.. but what you are reading into a "teaser post" is a bit dramatic...

You get plenty of stuff for your VIP dues. Monthly stipend of TP's, character classes, new content (did you pay for Highroad, druids deep, or the Monster Manual? or how about the new Gianthold content and raid?) seriously, to say with a straight face that you don't get anything for your 10 bucks a month is a joke, and I can barely believe that you were able to type that without a smiley face or a "j/k" tag.

cancel your account, and "take some time" but realize that you get a good deal with VIP, and if you don't see that, then by all means cancel. Either quite the game or buy the individual pack as they are released. Either way the whining is getting old.

Palmate

[FZTopaz]

Can you make sure that with the new tool people who have banned forum accounts but are paying members of the game (VIP/Premium in good standing) can file bug reports (right now they can't, they get a "you are banned from the forums" page)

I'm a little worried about new L15 premade characters. Turbine doesn't have a good history of designing premade characters that actually work (or equiping them properly). That however can be judged when the beta releases, maybe this one you got right.

I'm not happy with another paid expansion. What you basically appear to be saying is that you are no longer honouring VIP and the the only way to get meaningful new content is by paying extra so you basically want people to quit their VIP members. As my renewal is Feb 27, I just took your advice and cancelled my VIP membership and take some time to figure out what, if anything, I should do about playing this game in the future.


http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv16/Tuvya/Capture_zpsf0b24070.gif

Oh, and I see you got rid of your VIP exit questionaire...I wonder why...

Oh dear lord...another person complaining that they have to buy an expansion. IT'S AN EXPANSION. You still get all adventure packs for free (as evidenced by the three you got since the last expansion) and it's more than just an adventure pack. It includes a lot of stuff.

I seriously don't get you people who think you are owed something. I'm VIP as well, been playing a long ass time. I understand that an expansion, something that comes out in all other MMOs that you have to PAY for...is not free. Even games that have a subscription model only have paid expansions...we at least get a lot of free content as well. Stop complaining that a company is trying to make enough money to pay it's workers and maybe, i don't know, turn a profit instead of just handing over the keys of the kingdom to you because you pay a measly $15 a month.

[UurlockYgmeov]

Since the terminology was specifically used, by that I mean second expansion, I think it'll be paid content again. Probably with multiple price-point tiers with a lot of the satellite-goodies like Iconic Heroes thrown in at various levels.


time to get another job and get ready for that collector's edition (which am still very happy with first!)

Thanks for the updates, the teasers, and the hard work! Now go enjoy your battle box before the kobold's repossess it! :P (OOOOOHHHH!!! SHHHIIIIIIIINNNNYYYYYY)

[Gkar]

I guess I can see your frustration.. but what you are reading into a "teaser post" is a bit dramatic...

You get plenty of stuff for your VIP dues. Monthly stipend of TP's, character classes, new content (did you pay for Highroad, druids deep, or the Monster Manual? or how about the new Gianthold content and raid?) seriously, to say with a straight face that you don't get anything for your 10 bucks a month is a joke, and I can barely believe that you were able to type that without a smiley face or a "j/k" tag.

cancel your account, and "take some time" but realize that you get a good deal with VIP, and if you don't see that, then by all means cancel either quite the game or by the individual pack as they are released. Either way the whining is getting old.

Palmate

I didn't say I didn't get anything, but the entire point and sales pitch of VIP was that you wouldn't have to keep buying packs. That core reason to be VIP is what they appear to be trying to eliminate.

GH I would have gotten if I owned GH as a premium, it wasn't a new pack.

The monster manual is pretty trivial.

The new content we did get free we got only if we purchased a pack, so not free.

[mrtweakin]

I am a little worried about a level cap increase so soon but we will see how it plays out. The rest sounds great. I can not wait for the enh pass.

[DanteEnFuego]

You need to read more carefully. A year from now and the lvl1-14 game will no longer exist, except for those feeling nostalgic enough to solo forgotten content.

Your assumptions and flawed logic do not equate to any reading failure on my part. Thank you for your opinion on the effects of the changes, for which we are lacking any meaningful details at this point. I hope that you turn out to be wrong.

/game on...

[FZTopaz]

The new content we did get free we got only if we purchased a pack, so not free.

If you are VIP you don't have to buy anything to play Druid's Deep or The High Road packs....both were free to VIP.

[ka0t1c1sm]

The new content we did get free we got only if we purchased a pack, so not free.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you don't need the expansion pack to access the Forgotten Realms, just the 3 quest chains and CitW that came with the pack. VIP's would still be able to get to Faerun and the content from updates 15 and 16.

[Gkar]

If you are VIP you don't have to buy anything to play Druid's Deep or The High Road packs....both were free to VIP.

Could you get to them without buying the expansion pack?

[DeadRabbat]

Thanks Glin. Good news and better then previous years of..incorrect news.
Really looking forward to enhancement pass (well, sorta...prestige's, yes) & new expansion sounds cool.
I am..not sure on lvl15 start... like others posted about gear.
Owlbears, awesome.

This should at least stop the doomsayers of "DDO is dieing man!" threads... but instead we replace that with the "Money for Expansions, Forum Grief for Free" groups now.

Thank you peoples at Turbine working hard to make our addictions continue...bugs and all. :)
Looking forward to it all. Thanks and Happy Birthday DDO.

[samthedagger]

Put me down as not being on the bandwagon for the level cap increase. It is too early. However, I might be convinced if they give us other means of increasing power (aside from gear with higher minimum levels). But beyond expanding the Epic Destinies to three additional levels as well, or at the very least giving us 4 more ED points for each additional character level, those character levels do practically nothing for us. I don't need +1 feat, +1 stat, +3 skills, and +30 hp. That represents a very small fraction of what makes my characters effective.

[Deadlock]

i would like some thought put into reducing the TR grind. The high xp requirement belongs to an era of little content and the need to give people "something to do". With the introduction of a new type of TR on top of the recently added classes there will be enough to keep non-basement dwelling people busy for years. So how about dropping the crazy 4.38 million down to something less painful (and utterly boring) please? I loathe taking my top tier toons out of commission to do that grind.

/not signed

Greater Learning Tomes and 30% pots are more than enough. If you get an XP event on, then it's all gravy. I'm not a fan of the 50% pots, but if people choose to then that's up to them.

Actually lowering the bar would only be to cater for those unwilling to commit the time and effort needed. If you want to get a new level every 20 minutes then why not try Neverwinter? It'll give you that easy-no-effort-reward feeling all day .... for a few weeks anyway until you tire of it and get bored.

And your logic is fundamentally flawed. There's more content than ever, so it's easier than ever to gain levels without being forced to grind the stuff you don't want to.

[ArcaneArcher52689]

I think they need to dump the entire leveling penalty for all quests lvl 20+ in the interest of grouping. ED's are going to have a bigger impact than actual character level, and the system doesn't check ED's.

Back in MOTU beta, the dev's had wanted to implement the system to use ED levels instead of character level. Unfortunately, the nerd rage shot them down.

[FZTopaz]

Could you get to them without buying the expansion pack?

Yes. You don't need the expansion to access FR (you just need to complete the free quest line Spinner of Shadows and the free quest Beyond the Rift.) Then you have access to FR, and if you are VIP, access to the Druid's Deep and High Road packs.

[Zenako]

I think the point was, the "goodness" of the deal of being a subscriber aka VIP keeps getting diluted from the original promises that were touted back when F2P was first brought to the table. VIP would get everything in the game, "forever" for only that monthly fee. Well as we have seen, that implied promise has been altered over the past few years and each alteration takes us yet another step farther away from the starting point of the whole dialog. People made long term decisions based on those promises. That they could count on being able to play the game for that level of outlay from then on. When new content or features would appear that those would be part of that outlay and not require the same fees a F2P/Premium player would have to pony up.

I have a pretty good perspective on both sides here with a VIP, 3 Premium and 2 F2P accounts in the household. Those Premium have picked up pretty much all the quest packs and areas over the years. The VIP sprang for the Expansion, although I grumbled a bit, however the special boons in the advance pack were very appealing to our playstyles. That VIP account has my first characters on the 2006 account on it and something like 24 character slots now. DDO has gotten a very nice chunk of change from my household over the past 7 years and I suspect will get more down the road. However it is hard to deny the commercial success many MMO's have from releasing periodically a new expansion and charging to get to add it to the play area for your game.

As always the devil with be in the details as the year pans out. Many of the things talked about by Glin seem very interesting, but frought with peril if poorly implemented in the game. The level gaps are one of some concern, and I agree that some more latitude should be in place at the higher end of the scale for penalties. A penalty of (highest level - your level)/your level would be one way to do it.

Lvl 28 - lvl 20 = 8 / 20 = 40% reduction, down at lower levels, that gives for example these numbers instead.

lvl 12 - lvl 4 = 8 / 4 = 200% reduction or NO experience for the low level.

lvl 20 - lvl 12 = 8 /12 = 67% reduction in experience. All three have an 8 level delta but the impact gets significantly lessened as the base levels rise.

[MnaSidhe]

Happy 7th Anniversary DDO Nation! We’ve been together a long time now; in some US states we’d be common law married! With that, my name is Erik Boyer, also known as ‘Producer Glin’

Where is Fernando... und why doesnt he want to talk to us?

[Matuse]

I'm not happy with another paid expansion. What you basically appear to be saying is that you are no longer honouring VIP and the the only way to get meaningful new content is by paying extra so you basically want people to quit their VIP members.

It's been very obvious since Update 1 that Turbine had no interest in VIP members.

As for the expansion, honestly I look at this with almost nothing but dread. There are SO many bugs right now, and they just keep going on and on and on, and rather than fixing anything, every time there's a patch it's just something else getting broken. When this expansion launches, it will have been a year that you've only ever gotten 1 token fragment from running epic Offering Of Blood...will that ever get fixed? Faerun is still littered with spelling mistakes and string table errors. My ingredient bag slider constantly resets to the middle every time I take an item out, forcing me to scroll around constantly. It's been like that for at least 2 years now. These are such a tiny things, and they never get done. Why should we have ANY FAITH WHATSOEVER that real fixes will ever happen?

3 more levels? That will just thin out the LFGs even more as you're less and less qualified to group with anyone. What will these levels give? A feat and a stat raise?

From everything I could see, the MotU pre-order was a huge success. But Turbine has used up every ounce of goodwill, and without some huge changes in the development process of the game, I'd be amazed if you got even 20% of the same level of participation this time around. I certainly have no intention of paying any more money for sight-unseen content that will barely work, throw the entire game out of balance, and break half of what worked already.

Want to fix it? Make Update 18 consist of 3-400 lines of nothing but bug fixes and quality of life improvements. Oh, and nothing new gets broken. Not so much as a typo. Also, when U18 is on Lamma, when people make a 5 page thread detailing all of the problems they find, those problems should not make it live 3 weeks later.

[THAC0]

Wow...I have been here since long before the day 1 of release. I remember +Sporkfire and other Devs spawning all sorts of critters in the Harbor teasing us and testing server load prior to launch. Ahh...the memories and good old days.

The details of this letter are interesting to say the least. I am hoping they address the bugs and issues ahead of this new expansion...and not compound the problems. Looking forward to more details and info.

Happy birthday.

T.

[jillie]

I'm not happy with another paid expansion. What you basically appear to be saying is that you are no longer honouring VIP and the the only way to get meaningful new content is by paying extra so you basically want people to quit their VIP members. As my renewal is Feb 27, I just took your advice and cancelled my VIP membership and take some time to figure out what, if anything, I should do about playing this game in the future.
.

I've cancelled my VIP membership as well. I'm not thrilled with the changes outlined by ProducerGlin, and have become progressively less happy with the game as a whole, from lag to bugs to unfulfilled promises. I think it might be time to look around and see what else is out there that isn't trying to run on a 7 year old engine.

[FZTopaz]

I think the point was, the "goodness" of the deal of being a subscriber aka VIP keeps getting diluted from the original promises that were touted back when F2P was first brought to the table. VIP would get everything in the game, "forever" for only that monthly fee. Well as we have seen, that implied promise has been altered over the past few years and each alteration takes us yet another step farther away from the starting point of the whole dialog. People made long term decisions based on those promises. That they could count on being able to play the game for that level of outlay from then on. When new content or features would appear that those would be part of that outlay and not require the same fees a F2P/Premium player would have to pony up.

When I started VIP for my wife and myself, I did it fully expecting any expansions to be something I paid for out of pocket on top of my VIP subscription....because that's the way video games have always worked. The deal of VIP is still there....I feel I get a lot for my money...and all adventure packs are still free to me!

[catmamor]

see this puts you in the same boat with another person i responded too. if you really think games should pump out so much content without you paying more money then there is something wrong with you. how on earth do you think these games survive? this is a business and jobs for people. if we want them to make stuff we need to pay them money not just 10 a month.

I understand what you're saying, but there are an awful lot of people paying $10 a month - it adds up to millions a month.

[die]

why do i get the impression that the new Enh. line is going too be a Dumb down tree like the neverwinter online game. and really no update till summer? i mean GH was just a rehash so imo0 thats not even worthy of update statis other than the raid and any that say it is either works for DDO or just a fan boy

[Hokiewa]

I understand what you're saying, but there are an awful lot of people paying $10 a month - it adds up to millions a month.

Lol, in theory but not reality. That would mean at least 200k Vips (you did say millions). There is not a chance that this game has that many subs.

[FranOhmsford]

I understand what you're saying, but there are an awful lot of people paying $10 a month - it adds up to millions a month.

If a thousand people are paying $10 a month - That's only 10,000 dollars.

You'd need a Hundred Thousand People paying $10 a month to get 1 million dollars!

You said Millions a month!

No! Just no!

[SirShen]

Happy Birthday DDO. Im i the only one that has 70% of there toons with no Battle Box? Is this going to be fixed or will these toons just not get one?

[Ovrad]

Where is Fernando... und why doesnt he want to talk to us?

He said you guys were mean to him. :D

[Zenako]

When I started VIP for my wife and myself, I did it fully expecting any expansions to be something I paid for out of pocket on top of my VIP subscription....because that's the way video games have always worked. The deal of VIP is still there....I feel I get a lot for my money...and all adventure packs are still free to me!

Oh I don't disagree with that perspective, it was just not the way things were discussed and pitched on the forums and in threads with the developers and game people back when the game was being converted from just the subscription mode. I had multiple subscriptions from shortly after we started in 2006. Based on the information given back then, I keep one as VIP (since it appeared we would get "everything" with VIP) and let the other one lapse to premium, and intended to only get content that was "good" or when I needed to dual box if no other guildies were around or interested. Soon thereafter 4 more accounts were started, two "paid" premium (for older household members) and 2 left just as F2P for the youngest in the house to mess around with.

I think only players from before the change really have a perspective on the tone of those threads and posts (alas pretty much all lost to the great forum purge/dump some years back). There is a fundamental difference however between the psychology of a VIP subscriber and a Premium. The VIP looks at the game as an ongoing expense where the game itself needs to justify that monthly outlay. A premium made a purchase decision and once done, that is a sunken cost, so whether they play a lot or little or never again, that sunken cost is one and done. The VIP is constantly looking at the ledger and asking, is it worth another month or not? I keep the VIP for few reasons like Elite opening (which was diluted via the Store), early access (although that is diluted by the previews on lamaland), and a few other things that matter to me in some fashion.

[patang01]

I'm not cancelling my VIP subscription even if there's a new expansion. I have a choice to get it or not - why would I cancel my VIP 'cause I have a choice of another expansion?

I look at how any game does it and there are subscription models that still have you buy expansion. Maybe I'm missing something here? But I agree with a lot of people who points out that increasing the level cap again might be a bad idea considering that there's not nearly enough Epic content to unlock all the destinies especially since the repeat penality is starting to hit hard. There has to be some kind of repeat decay just like there's a ransack decay. We don't level the same way as we did years ago. Remove the penalty completely and add a decay on it instead - like 5 or 7 days to go away completely. People who TR won't wait until the penalty is gone to re-run the same quests and it makes no sense to have the penalty in regards to destiny leveling.

Come on - I don't mind new content, new ideas, but lets first blow away all the garbage features like BTC mats, penalties and such that are boat anchors to most players.

[DarkPassionPlay]

Work on the new enhancement system is well underway and it will be heading to its first public beta this spring. In its current iteration, each class has at least two prestige class paths. The UI, similar to the Epic Destiny tree, will be a long awaited simplification to planning your character build, but more importantly, the goal is to make better choices more accessible for both new and advanced players in the heroic levels. We are planning an extended beta for this one. We’ll be doing multiple trips to Lamannia and lots of player events to give us all an opportunity to try it on various characters and gather lots of feedback.

Glin,
There are times I will create a character and go the way of a custom build, but as a very casual player, there are times I will just take the pre-made paths when creating a character. How does or will this affect the pre-made paths when the new enhancement system is in place? If so, will there be any changes to the paths?
Thanks.

[Hafeal]

Happy Birthday DDO and thanks for the news, Glin.

I will reserve judgment on the changes to come but as of now, they are a bit underwhelming. :(


What you basically appear to be saying is that you are no longer honouring VIP ... my renewal is Feb 27, I just took your advice and cancelled my VIP membership

Welcome to the Dark Side ... ;)


You get plenty of stuff for your VIP dues.

Value is in the eye of the beholder. IMO, the longer you stay, the better off you are to go premium. For a year or less foray into the game and check it out, ViP all the way.


Where is Fernando... und why doesnt he want to talk to us?

Do we really want that? :cool::D


It's been very obvious since Update 1 that Turbine had no interest in VIP members.

Indeed. Some of us were just slow learners. :D


I understand what you're saying, but there are an awful lot of people paying $10 a month - it adds up to millions a month.

Ah, thank you, such naive innocence cannot but bring a smile to the face. :)

[kingfisher]

Work on the new enhancement system is well underway and it will be heading to its first public beta this spring. In its current iteration, each class has at least two prestige class paths. The UI, similar to the Epic Destiny tree, will be a long awaited simplification to planning your character build, but more importantly, the goal is to make better choices more accessible for both new and advanced players in the heroic levels. We are planning an extended beta for this one. We’ll be doing multiple trips to Lamannia and lots of player events to give us all an opportunity to try it on various characters and gather lots of feedback.

you mean you are gonna come this far and not let us know if the 'current iteration' has the same ridiculous 3 tree limit as the 'last iteration'? mean, just mean.


As I have always said, one of the strengths of DDO is great adventures to undertake and that is why I am most pleased to announce DDO’s second expansion titled ‘Shadowfell Conspiracy’ coming this summer!

paid expansion, as in more money for the not-so-vips? poor form. boo.


Of course I can’t end without one last bit of awesome upcoming news: I have seen the first rendition of the owlbear monster and I can assure everyone this thing will go from mysteriously acquired pelt to fully animated encounter before long.


OWLBEARS!!!! fantastic. best news of your post. and its about **** time.

[ArcaneArcher52689]

why do i get the impression that the new Enh. line is going too be a Dumb down tree like the neverwinter online game. and really no update till summer? i mean GH was just a rehash so imo0 thats not even worthy of update statis other than the raid and any that say it is either works for DDO or just a fan boy

Because,(based on your post) it appears you are a pessimist, and that you don't accept any opinion but your own as valid?

And update 17 was about GEAR far more than it was about epic gianthold. If you consider that they upgraded a few hundred items, then yes, i consider that an update.

[Aashrym]

Work on the new enhancement system is well underway and it will be heading to its first public beta this spring. In its current iteration, each class has at least two prestige class paths.

That's disappointing. One of the benefits of the new system was to be full PrE paths. :(

[Dragavon]

Yay.
Yawn.
yawn.
Hey guys, those other people are ripping people off, we should do it too.

I you feel ripped off, just stop paying, stop playing and ****.

[Glin]

I wanted to mention Epic TR in the letter because we do have plans for it. We will not be trying to accomplish that for the expantion pack release.

[barecm]

I like the new content ideas and the frequencey. However, before charging us for the 2nd expansion, how about getting the first one to work right? I am still waiting on several EDs to be fixed that I paid for....

[Seikojin]

That's disappointing. One of the benefits of the new system was to be full PrE paths. :(

How is that different than http://ddowiki.com/page/Enhancements ? Artificer is planned to have 2, so that is the stated minimum = at least two... Doesn't mean they won't flesh out and put in the missing planned ones.

[Yvonnel-1]

Another expansion. Nice. And, I like that FR is being opened up to lower levels.

Happy Birthday, DDO!
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.
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http://i.imgur.com/5pLTdwg.gif
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O M G


plz memnir, tell this is not .....


a BLACK LOTUS CANDLE ?!?!!!??

[Ivan_Milic]

I wanted to mention Epic TR in the letter because we do have plans for it. We will not be trying to accomplish that for the expantion pack release.

So no date for that?

[RD2play]

Great really looking forward !!

just a few
Will arti and clrc get their ED's ??
Will there be a new playable race with wisdom as main stat ??
Is more "old" content going to be Epicified ?? (Epic Shroud YaY!)

With the lvlcap increase will we get another way to increase power, something like devine powers granted by a god, where the choice is linked to your race and/or alignment (would be nice to be forced not to be True Neutral for a change).

many thanks

[Eelpout]

Happy 7th Anniversary DDO Nation! We’ve been together a long time now; in some US states we’d be common law married!

I think we are working closer to a common law divorce, since we are celebrating by you taking the gift you gave me back (no birthday box) and the clothes of my back (outfits anyone?)!

I am kind of kidding...

Thanks for the community chat and update though.

[fco-karatekid]

And I see you guys have banned Fernando from making these posts. After the "Take paralyzing off a weapon and put on another weapon" and the "we have a new raid coming" that both never appeared, that's probably a good thing.

:D:D

That was the FIRST thing I thought :D

[HatsuharuZ]

That's disappointing. One of the benefits of the new system was to be full PrE paths. :(

Consider that currently, some have only *one* PrE path. Others currently have 3. It's a step up, really. Of course, I'm assuming that classes that currently have 3 PrE paths will still have 3.

[ka0t1c1sm]

In its current iteration, each class has at least two prestige class paths.

I just want to point out that Glin is saying there will be AT LEAST two, not ONLY two. I take that to mean most or all of the existing PrE's will still be around, while other classes that have only one (Artificers, Favored Souls) should be getting at least one more PrE.

EDIT: Ninja'd

[fco-karatekid]

...you think your measly 10 bucks a month can pump out expansions ...

nope, nor even working regular content, apparently

[Propane]

Happy Birthday!

I hope the LV 15 is a one / acount - something for new people to use to play the new stuff.

Having LV 15 for everyone / all the time / in the store would be a mistake.

People need to learn to PLAY the game -

Maybe make all the LV 15 be pure Dwaven Cleric's - great way to learn the game and have more healers around :D

[toaf]

fix the last mess before making a new mess the I D 10 T errors are getting old

[soulaeon]

You do realize that every single mmo on the market charges for expansions right?
Untrue.
Runes of Magic and Allods are always free. There's probably more.

[Jakob_MG]

I've been playing since right around Free Release. It's not that I'm cheap, it's just I don't believe in "you MUST subscribe, or you can't play" mentality that most MMO's have. I feel, if you want to pay, you can, but shouldn't be forced. I LOVED this game when I first started playing it. I used to Table Top editions 1-3 as a kid, and enjoyed it. It took a whole lot longer to properly level to level 20 in PnP. People complaining about the vast amount of XP needed after TRing, I can kind of understand, since you do have to repeat a lot of things to make it go by rather well, but again, option to pay to make it go by faster is there.

I've been Premium for a long time, made that choice within the first month or two after they removed the Level Sigils (remember those horrible things? ;) ) I'm sure I've paid in more than $400 since then, buying points, and getting the MotU Expansion (although, didn't get it until it was already out, and like 75% off, didn't have money at time of Pre-order) I have enjoyed the money I've put into this game, and i'm sure some of my guildies back me up on that.

Speaking of Paid Expansions... People need to stop complaining. It's a choice to spend on this game or not. Your call. I choose to be Premium, never VIP, others choose to keep paying monthly. A Paid Expansion happens, no matter what. Whether it's a Free to Play game (DDO, etc...), Buy to Play (Guild Wars, etc...), or Pay to Play (That horrible excuse for an MMO, WoW, etc...), 90~% of them all have Payed Expansions, on top of what they ofeer, and have the mentality of, if you don't want to pay for it, don't. I see nothing wrong with it.

On a Final note, the Top 4 things I would love to have happen, before the next Expansion, is
#1: A MASSIVE bug/ease of life fix/update thing. Just fix these old and new issues already, it will make Veterans like me, and all the Newcomers realize, it's still a fun game when it works properly.
#2: Do more updates/revamps like you did with Gianthold. They don't all have to have Epic added to them, for some already have it, but I would like to see a Revamp/polish of Sentinels of Stormreach, since the Epics in that don't live up to par with what can be obtained elsewhere, and it not even be Epic items. A few other packs polished would be nice, I like the new Graphics in Gianthold, and LOVE FR graphics, would love to see more upgrades like that.
#3: Better/More Character customizations. (NOT talking about pay things, like Armor Kits, and Hair Dye) I mean more at creation options, all the guys look old, and there just isn't enough to change on the faces. Just more Customizations, please, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!
#4: Fix our Outfit problems, some of us had an Armor Kit on them, and losing them Whiped Money off of us. Either compensation, or return of the oufit would be nice, since I miss the Kit, and don't want to have wasted money. :/
Now that i'm done Rambling, Thank you for taking the time in reading this, and I hope everyone enjoys what I had to say.

Have Nice Day :cool:

[DarkPhoenix888]

Let's say I have TR'ed multiple times in the past to get the completionist feat. Let's also say that I've Tr'ed into most classes 3 times each to get maximum advantage of the passive past life feats.
With the introduction of this new Epic TR will I have to do this unimaginably long and tedious road again?!!?
By all that is holy and just please please please let the answer to this question be NO.

[heneli627]

I hope the new updated bug reporting tool helps in reporting the crippling lag in game.

[OldCoaly]

I am Cautiously optimistic.

Glin's posting history is promising. He doesn't seem to over-promise.

He also seems to have a pretty good clue about the game and what the players want as well as the mechanics of the game.


Surprise and Delight us, sir!


Please no more of the same predictable disappointment and avoidable self-punishment.

[BlacktigerEU]

First off: Happy Birthday DDO!! I've been with you since the beginning, through good times and bad.

Now to my complaint :)

This is very good news and some of things you guys have planned sound awesome.
My one big reservation though is that I'm assuming the new expansion you mentioned will be charged for again whereas in previous updates when the level cap was increased we got that for "free". Is there going to be a discount for VIP players? Will VIP players get special "extras"? I ask this because I keep getting the distinct feeling that the line between a VIP and a premium player is getting blurrier and blurrier.

I didn't mind paying for the MotU Expansion because it actually was an expansion: giving us Forgotten Realms, a whole new world to explore. In my eyes, new content for an existing realm shouldn't be classed as an expansion but rather as an update. If you recall when Gianthold was first released we received a level cap increase as well as new quests and yet we didn't have to pay for that update. Now, I'm basing the fact that this next "update" will be charged for because you labeled it as an Expansion so I'm really hoping you come back and tell us the new content won't be charged for.
If you were giving us Ravenloft, just using it as an example, then I would happily pay for it.

:confused:

[Riggs]

To sum up my reaction from reading this..

*good stuff coming,
*more good stuff coming,
*great stuff coming,
*Enhancements finally yay!

...level cap raised to 28.

***. Again?

All the work that went into balancing things for epic level 21-25, all the gear designed with level 21-25 versions, monsters, etc...all going to change - again.

Destinies - all the 'epic moments' cap out at 25 - so now everyone who is 25 is going to lose their top level abilities? Get renamed to 'not-quite-final-epic moment, just wait for an even bigger epic moment'? Three more levels of destinies...because 3000-5000 points crits with an axe are not enough still?

EE is already silly - stuff hits for 300 damage multiple times - what will level 28 monsters hit for? 500-600x6? (EE Marilith in Pop for example) People can already be dropped from 600 down to 0 in a split second as it is, or even from 900hp - how much more difficulty is really needed? Are players getting 1000+ more hp at level 28? Will need 80-100 saves in everything to save vs anything?

Normal/Hard/Elite - so we tried out level 21-25 with challenges - went back to 'Epic Normal/Hard/Elite' "Well some loot drops on level 21, but not 22, or 26, but not 25, some is anything over 23, but the REAL gear will be only level 28." Hmmm time for the spreadsheet to be able to figure out how to loot...awesome.

So once again, for the umpteenth time - everything people have right now is going to be rendered nearly useless once again by a massive new increase in power of monsters, gear, twinked players..."Oh your a first life level 21 'epic?', you might as well just bring a level 9 character in, slash death, and be carried to the end in a backpack'.

.....

So to sum up;

"Happy 7th year! See some great new stuff! And get ready to once again have to completely redo, regear, and probably TR every character you have to be able to handle the yet again huge bump in power - enjoy!"
.....

Yeah I am over-reacting a bit. Maybe it is the repeated massive game changes making characters obsolete that gets really irksome. And pretty much every single time the game has raised the level cap the power creep was far more than the extra 2-4 levels would rationally explain(Oh the cap when up by 2, players got +2 to hit and saves, +30 hp - so lets make monsters +15 levels higher and have 3x the hp as before!!), so adding in 3 more epic levels just screams "get ready to respec and regear - everyone".

More DDO store options to bypass levels and buy upgrades being added in 3...2...1...$$$

[jakeelala]

I like the new content ideas and the frequency. However, before charging us for the 2nd expansion, how about getting the first one to work right? I am still waiting on several EDs to be fixed that I paid for....

Have you played MoTU at all? Spent any time enjoying it? Any of the ED's? New content?

I mean, it was 70$ and I'm wondering, are you a regular player? If so, have you mostly avoided MoTU content? Have you refused to claim an ED and play through them?

My guess is no, and that you've spent innumerable hours of your life you will never get back enjoying the monumental change to the game that MoTU was. I am not arguiing if MoTU was good or bad for DDO, if it was buggy or if it had it's issues.

I am arguing that you spent money on something you did consume and enjoy, potentially for many tens or hundreds of hours. That sounds like it was money pretty well spent to me Mr. Sourgrapes.

[Aashrym]

How is that different than http://ddowiki.com/page/Enhancements ? Artificer is planned to have 2, so that is the stated minimum = at least two... Doesn't mean they won't flesh out and put in the missing planned ones.

Because completed PrE's using 3 trees was one of the benefits previously discussed as part of the overhaul. At least 2 is less than all 3 as previously discussed and I feel disappointed that at least 3 are not planned. Artificer was planned to have 3 trees like every other class under the new system.


Consider that currently, some have only *one* PrE path. Others currently have 3. It's a step up, really. Of course, I'm assuming that classes that currently have 3 PrE paths will still have 3.

Yes, and those with only 1 PrE that might only have 2 trees when all were to have 3 is still a disappointment because it's less than anticipated regardless of whether some might have more PrE paths than before.

The difference between 2 trees and 3 trees is a lot of enhancements on top of actual PrE benefits. I'm sure it can be covered with a multiclass or racial PrE to even out but I still find it a bit disappointing.


EDIT: Also.... HAPPY BDAY DDO!! :)

[Riggs]

Oh yeah.

The fact that it already takes a bunch of quest juggling to get to cap without adding in repetition penalties on epic quests you actually would like to run for ED xp...

Now everyone gets to grind out a few more million xp, per character, just to get back to cap so they can keep getting xp if they want more than 1 or two ED twists.

Not looking forward to that at all.

[Shanzookie]

yeah well, im not going to buy any more "expantions", been VIP forever, dropped 80$ and two months later if not sorter in the time spand it was 50% off. Huge waste of money, i could of used that extra 40$ for food, gas, or part of some bill, if i knew they where going to pull that.

[Glin]

A few replies have touched on the 'start at level 15' feature of Iconic characters and I think a little more info will be helpful at this time.

We recognise that some players can build a specific character more to their liking than some of the options in the character generator, there are so many race/class options that they are not equal in specificity or power across all levels.
Moreover, DDO is a superior MMO* when it comes to character creation and we will not be taking that option away from you... 'you' being, you daring number crunching heroes off the paved path.


* :) veiws expressed here are my own.

[Cyr]

I must say that given the current state of development quality the idea of another xpack strikes me as a very poor decision.

I mean maybe if stuff from the xpack was still not noticably broken and recent releases went off smoothly, but that is clearly not the case.

On the plus side with a level cap increase I know that the already underwhelming loot out there is going to be even less exciting so I can pretty much ignore endgame for a while and focus on my TR.

[Buggss]

.....Moreover, DDO is a superior MMO* when it comes to character creation and we will not be taking that option away from you... 'you' being, you daring number crunching heroes off the paved path.


* :) veiws expressed here are my own.

That's the reason (along with the community) you have so much loyalty among the players.

[Cyr]

A few replies have touched on the 'start at level 15' feature of Iconic characters and I think a little more info will be helpful at this time.

We recognise that some players can build a specific character more to their liking than some of the options in the character generator, there are so many race/class options that they are not equal in specificity or power across all levels.
Moreover, DDO is a superior MMO* when it comes to character creation and we will not be taking that option away from you... 'you' being, you daring number crunching heroes off the paved path.


* :) veiws expressed here are my own.

I presume the information will be forthcoming in another post/thread?

[rdasca]

First, thank you for taking the time to post this.


Happy 7th Anniversary DDO Nation! We’ve been together a long time now; in some US states we’d be common law married! With that, my name is Erik Boyer, also known as ‘Producer Glin’ and I am the Senior Producer on DDO. I myself am starting on my seventh anniversary here at Turbine, working on DDO. I have worked with an amazing team over the years as we took DDO thru its many evolutionary changes and recently expanded into the Forgotten Realms. Supporting both the Eberron and Forgotten Realms’ Campaign, we now have a vast array of options for stories and environments and we are excited to continue delivering classic D&D adventures for you for another year.

Hi to you as well, of course I am one of those "awful" Sept 2009 players so I am not married to you yet, just a really long engagement. :D


This is going to be another amazing year for DDO and I am excited to get to share with you some big news on our plans. Just last week, we launched Update 17 where we got the chance to go back to Gianthold and give it a refresh. We managed to put some giants into Gianthold, not to mention more dragons and that infamous Dracolitch we’ve been talking about since year one. It’s challenging but also exciting when we get the chance to update beloved DDO features to make them even better, and you’ll see that happening on a few different fronts this year.

Gianthold has always been fun, and more so now; however, things like the funky flagging and other issues still need to be fixed.


On that topic, I know what you all want to hear about! And yes, its true, – we’ll be overhauling our bug reporting tool with updated functionality to help us capture even more of your problem details and feedback, and process them more efficiently. With that news, I know now, you are thinking, “that sounds really good… but I was sort of thinking of the rumors of an updated character enhancements system.” And I also have great news to share on that!

Great news, I only hope it actually works this time as we have been told before it was being fixed.


Work on the new enhancement system is well underway and it will be heading to its first public beta this spring. In its current iteration, each class has at least two prestige class paths. The UI, similar to the Epic Destiny tree, will be a long awaited simplification to planning your character build, but more importantly, the goal is to make better choices more accessible for both new and advanced players in the heroic levels. We are planning an extended beta for this one. We’ll be doing multiple trips to Lamannia and lots of player events to give us all an opportunity to try it on various characters and gather lots of feedback.

I seem to recall it was supposed to be three per class, broken promise again or misinformation or did I recall wrong? Still looking forward to seeing this and hopping it works correctly, and does not produce a drive towards cookie cutter builds.


Another area where you will see several changes is in the introduction of more uses for Astral Diamond shards throughout our game. Volume 3 of the monster manual, which is now available as of Update 17, not only offers a chance to earn your own beholder pet, we also now let you earn direct-to-pocket Astral Shards. In the near future we will add more ways for you to earn free shards as well as some compelling new ways to use them to enhance your DDO gaming experience.

Meh … I dislike the whole astral diamond/shard thing as it is, I would rather the monster manuals give TP like 1 and 2 do and let me decide what I want to get, not be force fed a system I strongly dislike. But “Yeah for the beholder pet.”


As I have always said, one of the strengths of DDO is great adventures to undertake and that is why I am most pleased to announce DDO’s second expansion titled ‘Shadowfell Conspiracy’ coming this summer! We are turning our attention back to the Forgotten Realms and we are taking you to some new regions in Cormyr. We will be taking brave heroes, level 15 and up, to a foreboding prison city to the south east of Eveningstar called Wheloon, and high up into the Stormhorn Mountains, north of the high road.

This announcement I find the most disheartening, it is way too soon for another expansion, we have not even digested all the changes to this game from the last one, not to mention all the new bugs it created that are still in the game. Add to the fact that you are undoubtedly going to be charging a premium for it barely after a year of charging a premium for the last one, leaves me feeling more like a walking wallet than a valued customer.


Shadowfell Conspiracy will have more than just new quests and regions, we will also be raising the level cap to 28 and providing something often requested by fans: faster access to the Forgotten Realms!

Way too soon for a cap increase, again people are still sorting out the ramifications from the last one. Add in the fact of the level issues between players is already a problem for PUGs and even some guilds, I really dislike this.


With a new prestige character feature we are calling Iconic Heroes; we think we have an innovative solution that will get you right into the Forgotten Realms starting at level 15. Each of these Forgotten Realms born characters will start as a race class combination with new racial abilities. I can’t wait to tell you more about these characters in the coming months.
Later in the year we have some other great stories planned and we plan to focus our attention on the True Reincarnation options and update the system to work for Epic level players. Epic True Reincarnation would also introduce a new completionist track. What would two more stat points do to your TR character? Well, stay tuned this summer for an update on our development progress!

I will have to wait for more information about any of these things, though 2 more build points, so 38 point builds?


There’s a lot more to talk about, and my heart races as I am selectively sharing just hints of what we already have in development! This year is going to be another great year for DDO - with a big, cool new storyline, new D&D monster varieties and powerful new character abilities. We will start communicating more about enhancements and other content very soon. Of course I can’t end without one last bit of awesome upcoming news: I have seen the first rendition of the owlbear monster and I can assure everyone this thing will go from mysteriously acquired pelt to fully animated encounter before long.
Thank you for the many years of fun and feedback, and especially for the many PUGs you may have run with me during that time, and in advance for the next ones.

Happy birthday DDO and community

~Erik Boyer

Cool an Owlbear … :)

Questions not answered or even addressed;
Where is the epic voice and mantle?
What about MyDDO any plans to actually fix it or pull the plug and put it out of our misery?
Bug fixes that are seriously hurting the game, like people losing their ED XP?
Or the TP never delevered to my account from the refer a friend promotion?
A thousand other questions that could have been addressed have gone unanswered.

As for the rest, wait and see time.

[Atremus]

Is turbine abandoning the epic destiny system so soon after release? Did you not think this through last year? You operate like the government.... More money needed, worse service provided

[SableShadow]

a BLACK LOTUS CANDLE ?!?!!!??

"Stygian, the best!"

[Gkar]

A few replies have touched on the 'start at level 15' feature of Iconic characters and I think a little more info will be helpful at this time.

We recognise that some players can build a specific character more to their liking than some of the options in the character generator, there are so many race/class options that they are not equal in specificity or power across all levels.
Moreover, DDO is a superior MMO* when it comes to character creation and we will not be taking that option away from you... 'you' being, you daring number crunching heroes off the paved path.


* :) veiws expressed here are my own.

Now that's good to hear.

[emptysands]

Consider that currently, some have only *one* PrE path. Others currently have 3. It's a step up, really. Of course, I'm assuming that classes that currently have 3 PrE paths will still have 3.

Actually they have stated that Hotd and Kotc might merge in some fashion.

[MnaSidhe]

Quote:
Originally Posted by MnaSidhe
"Where is Fernando... und why doesnt he want to talk to us? "

Do we really want that? :cool::D

The point is, that after all this time... well we knew what we were getting with Fernando.

How am I supposed to understand what the new guy says? It might take years to figure out!

[kierg10]

we will also be raising the level cap to 28

my jaw was dropping the whole time but this.......holy ****, already?

[KakkoVenezuela]

And thank u so much for this amazing and funny game! :D /dance3

[bbqzor]

This is the least positive I've felt about the future of DDO in a long time.


It’s challenging but also exciting when we get the chance to update beloved DDO features to make them even better, and you’ll see that happening on a few different fronts this year
More retro-changing of core game play and unwanted item "updates'. Cynical, sure, but I feel like they keep removing the things I enjoy, like clicky items. I'd rather see big fixes, instead of redoing old things to try and make them new but really just messing about.


we’ll be overhauling our bug reporting tool with updated functionality to help us capture even more of your problem details and feedback, and process them more efficiently
It is extremely hard to believe the issue with all the bugs is that you don't know about them. There are multiple lists on the forums, and to anyone whos been playing awhile they are plainly obvious in game. Updating the bug reporting tool won't really mean anything, unless you stop pushing out new content at a too-rapid pace, and go fix whats broken. Does this mean a bug-fixing overhaul as well?


Work on the new enhancement system is well underway and it will be heading to its first public beta this spring.
Implying that there will be multiple public betas? As in, you wont release it until its been through several beta phases? I'll believe that when I see it.


In its current iteration, each class has at least two prestige class paths.
Then the current iteration is fail. We have been promised at least three paths per class for years. Yet another promise broken and fell short, never to be gone back over and fixed up like everything else in DDO. Why would you do this; go back and make it right, add at least three each.


The UI, similar to the Epic Destiny tree, will be a long awaited simplification to planning your character build
I don't recall anyone ever wanting or clamoring for "simplification of character builds". In fact, Im pretty sure the complexity and variety of character builds is one of the most touted facets of the game. Hopefully this was said in passing only.


We are planning an extended beta for this one. We’ll be doing multiple trips to Lamannia and lots of player events to give us all an opportunity to try it on various characters and gather lots of feedback.
This means you would have to actually fix things reported on lamma. And do character wipes to allow "various characters" to be moved over. Frankly, it just requires more action and being "on top of it" than lamma tends to be. Any plan of more staff, or having a guy whose only job it is to cover this? Or are we going to just get "buggy destiny 2.0, the heroic version". By the way, those destines? Still bugged all over.


Another area where you will see several changes is in the introduction of more uses for Astral Diamond shards throughout our game ... as well as some compelling new ways to use them to enhance your DDO gaming experience.
I know you mention ways to earn them for free, but lets be honest the track record of that is that getting things through gameplay is either very long, or the rewards are too small to cover much. This is basically saying, we want you to spend more money on turbine points (which is okay) so we are artificially adding a new mechanic that pushes that (not okay). Sigh.


I am most pleased to announce DDO’s second expansion titled ‘Shadowfell Conspiracy’ coming this summer!
Sigh. Another expansion? Before bug fixes? At about the same time as the enhancement pass? This sounds like the same situation as last expansion, with features pushed off and unfinished... like the Enhancement overhaul itself was last time. I'm all for new great content but... will we ever see a huge bug fix pass? Let alone an expansion and enhancement overhaul in the same six month time frame amidst all the current bugs? Yikes.


we will also be raising the level cap to 28
Fail. Way too soon, and just looks like copying the pattern of other games for money's sake. DDO doesn't need a level cap raise every year. In fact, you just had devs make posts about balancing EE being too hard... raising the level cap is going to destroy that existing balance... what gives.


and providing something often requested by fans: faster access to the Forgotten Realms! With a new prestige character feature we are calling Iconic Heroes; we think we have an innovative solution that will get you right into the Forgotten Realms starting at level 15. Each of these Forgotten Realms born characters will start as a race class combination with new racial abilities.
So by "prestige feature" you mean "bought on DDO store" right. And it just rolls up a new lv15 guy, like Super Veteran Status. And they start in FR instead of Eberron. But the tradeoff is, you don't build them, they come in a pre-made pattern. This sounds less like a move to strengthen the game, and more like a move to get more money from fan boys. Is there a huge need for pre-built lv15 noobs running around in quests not designed to be forgiving of new players? Nope, but I bet it sells well. Sigh.


we plan to focus our attention on the True Reincarnation options and update the system to work for Epic level players. Epic True Reincarnation would also introduce a new completionist track. What would two more stat points do to your TR character?
Really? We are going to redo more lives, now epic ones presumably, for 2 more stat points? All this does is add repeated grind of old content and create mudflation. I don't think DDO needs more distance for casual players to play catchup on, and it certainly doesnt need anymore mudflation.


Thank you for the many years of fun and feedback, and especially for the many PUGs you may have run with me during that time, and in advance for the next ones.
This makes me want to start telling every random pug I join about whats bugged just in case I wind up talking to you. Sorry in advance other pugs. Sigh.


Honestly, looking over the whole thing, I want to like it. I do. I like DDO, I think anyone whos been playing this long and says they dont isnt being honest. I just dont feel good about it. I have zero desire for more retro-change/nerfs. I dont want to see an enhancement overhaul that just clones whats out there, failing to include classes promised for years. I dont want more uses for astral shards, in fact I would like the UI to be fixed so Im not prompted to buy them anytime I click on my Inventory window wrong. I dont want another expensive paid expansion when the first one is still broken and has only one unappealing raid. I certainly dont want another level cap raise. Or more lv15 clueless new players playing drizzt learning DDO the hard way at the high end. And I really, really dont want to reincarnate all my guys a lot more.

I desperately want bug fixes, but you guys repeatedly have trouble "hearing about them" which is just ludicrous. Theres multiple forum posts where people consolidate them. I can rattle off dozens just from route experience at epic. This bug report tool better come with a side of bug fixing. Maybe two sides.

And the enhancement pass... why? Why not just wait until its ready with three classes per side? Why rush it? Oh, because your paid expansion is the next release after it, and you are cutting short time on enhancements to get a paid expansion out. I just dont know what to say. If youve really been here for so long Glin, you know how long weve been waiting on this. Please dont shortchange it.

I guess thats all I have to say. Just one opinion among many, and certainly not much of a positive one. I hope it is apparent that I still have just that, hope, and want to see it done right. It just doesnt sound all that appealing. Guess we will see when it goes live; theres always other games out there. Cheers.

[Daemoneyes]

Hey
Thanks for the Informative Post, still that one leaves a big question open.
I would like to know what Turbine comes up with for Quest repeating penalty problem.
Because following the xp rate 20 to 25 took we will need seriously more xp for 25 to 28 then even with a couple of new Quest packs would be available.

Will the repetition penalty get kicked out?
Or will it get an reset Timer? (like people suggesting since a few months, because always keeping track of what quests you have tackled with char xy is not fun)
Or will there be any other Solution?

[RD2play]

/dance3

now there is something i would spent TP on :)

[murf201]

Yes the game is changing !!! it's getting bigger faster !!

As a long time player im pretty excited seeing that theres a new expansion coming , and more levels = awesome !!

I burnt through motu quick , and egh is ok i guess not much i want out of it but by the time the new stuff comes i will have exhausted those packs .

Thanks old but new producer !!!

[Systern]

Glin,

To me this feels like a cash-grab, death-spiral. We went 6 years before an expansion, and now there's 2 in 2 years. You can fleece a sheep many times, but skin it only once.

Last year, Fernando told us that there'd be a bigger emphasis on bug-fixes, and while there have been some each iteration breaks just as much as it fixes. Turbine also has a record of not actually managing their bugs. I don't know if it's a limitation of Perforce (which I don't think it should be, since it's GIT compatible) but there are numerous instances of things like, in path 15.2 "I'd like to remain on the ship a little longer" was fixed - for 2 days before a hotfix from an earlier branch over wrote those changes and you never bothered to go and re-fix them.

There's countless systems in the game that are 80/20% complete, and abandoned, and never to be updated again. New initiatives obsoleting old ones is the norm. Even most recently the astral diamonds to astral shards conversion still leaves Lordsmarch crafting un-updated.

Every update, you release new, flashy, sexy loot that sells and you consistently fail to realize that at most a character has 216 storage spaces for all these things. It's nice that update 17 went back and made some old abandoned loot somewhat desirable. But it's shameful that the new augment system was released with no thought to storage. This is a mistake that FoS has made in the past with the eveningstar challenges, and component reward requirements exceeding storage of bags. New stuff is great. Where do you expect us to put it?

Turbine fails to learn from their mistakes, nor finish what they start.

[Sonos]

Not gonna lie, I read the letter and Channing'd all over my Tatum.

Of course, then I read where Epic Completionist/TR will not be available at expansion and that left me at 3/4 Tatum but I'm still excited that the game is expanding faster than I can consume it.

Happy Birthday Eberrbody!

[Grosbeak07]

It's all sounds good.

This is a game, and its entertainment and it still entertains me (a bit too much!)

Kudo's on not giving a firm release date like you did for MoTU, this means if it needs a couple of extra weeks of polish... you guys can push it back without getting the masses all riled up.

[Mryal]

Another expansion..Okay.Better payment options for pre ordering this time right?
Same ones i get from buying TP Right? Im not gonna have to contact turbine support about that and recieve a reponse telling me the only option is the (Crappy) digital river store.

Aside from that.Sounds good.Level cap increase sorta crazy thought.Make or break it there.Breaks unless the powerlevel penalities for 20+ are removed, as well as the -% exp due to beign 4+ lvls higher than the quest.Not to mention elite streaks.Why dont we remove all that, so for epics (and epics only), a lv 28 character is considered the same as a 20 in terms of penalities or anything.
Anyways devs are promissing some kinda of 'U18'.That doesnt seems to be expansion.My guess is, a free to play quest pack preluding the expansion plot, like last time?

Regarding new characters at 15 pre-made.Okay.They'll probably suck, only usefull for starting the game.No need to have all that fuss you guys are making about it btw, producer guy did not mention you can jump your TR to 15.Its just for newly created characters.

Epic TR and epic Completionist? Now we're talking.This i wanna see.

Enhancement pass is really coming hey.I always thought that was a fake promisse.I tell that to everyone that asks about it even :P Well, obviously after this pass nothing will ever be like it was.I do not see what is wrong with the current system.But please make sure that the new system has 100% or more multiclassing compatibility than the current ones.The early ideas of selecting up to 3 trees and selecting trees from multiclassing would consume a tree from yours were....Scary.To say the least.Do not go down that road.

[Olgar]

DDO Dev #1: Hey, should we make sure everything in our most recent expansion pack is working correctly? I mean, it's been like 9 months since we released it?

DDO Dev #2: Heck, no! Let's just release another paid expansion!

[Drak]

What does 3 more levels get us? The power is in the EDs and without more ED power we'll get some more HP and maybe a feat?

That's about it . . . look at the level 24 quests versus the MoTU stuff. Massive increase in mob power compared to the PCs. What will make us more powerful to compete?



In PnP there are 10 epic levels and 10 destiny levels (I have been led to believe).
Therefore It would only make sence that L28 comes with L8 for destinies also. 12 more points in the tree should be useful to all.

[Purkilius]

Happy 7th Anniversary DDO Nation! We’ve been together a long time now; in some US states we’d be common law married! With that, my name is Erik Boyer, also known as ‘Producer Glin’ and I am the Senior Producer on DDO. I myself am starting on my seventh anniversary here at Turbine, working on DDO. I have worked with an amazing team over the years as we took DDO thru its many evolutionary changes and recently expanded into the Forgotten Realms. Supporting both the Eberron and Forgotten Realms’ Campaign, we now have a vast array of options for stories and environments and we are excited to continue delivering classic D&D adventures for you for another year.

This is going to be another amazing year for DDO and I am excited to get to share with you some big news on our plans. Just last week, we launched Update 17 where we got the chance to go back to Gianthold and give it a refresh. We managed to put some giants into Gianthold, not to mention more dragons and that infamous Dracolitch we’ve been talking about since year one. It’s challenging but also exciting when we get the chance to update beloved DDO features to make them even better, and you’ll see that happening on a few different fronts this year. On that topic, I know what you all want to hear about! And yes, its true, – we’ll be overhauling our bug reporting tool with updated functionality to help us capture even more of your problem details and feedback, and process them more efficiently. With that news, I know now, you are thinking, “that sounds really good… but I was sort of thinking of the rumors of an updated character enhancements system.” And I also have great news to share on that!

Work on the new enhancement system is well underway and it will be heading to its first public beta this spring. In its current iteration, each class has at least two prestige class paths. The UI, similar to the Epic Destiny tree, will be a long awaited simplification to planning your character build, but more importantly, the goal is to make better choices more accessible for both new and advanced players in the heroic levels. We are planning an extended beta for this one. We’ll be doing multiple trips to Lamannia and lots of player events to give us all an opportunity to try it on various characters and gather lots of feedback.

Another area where you will see several changes is in the introduction of more uses for Astral Diamond shards throughout our game. Volume 3 of the monster manual, which is now available as of Update 17, not only offers a chance to earn your own beholder pet, we also now let you earn direct-to-pocket Astral Shards. In the near future we will add more ways for you to earn free shards as well as some compelling new ways to use them to enhance your DDO gaming experience.

As I have always said, one of the strengths of DDO is great adventures to undertake and that is why I am most pleased to announce DDO’s second expansion titled ‘Shadowfell Conspiracy’ coming this summer! We are turning our attention back to the Forgotten Realms and we are taking you to some new regions in Cormyr. We will be taking brave heroes, level 15 and up, to a foreboding prison city to the south east of Eveningstar called Wheloon, and high up into the Stormhorn Mountains, north of the high road.

Shadowfell Conspiracy will have more than just new quests and regions, we will also be raising the level cap to 28 and providing something often requested by fans: faster access to the Forgotten Realms! With a new prestige character feature we are calling Iconic Heroes; we think we have an innovative solution that will get you right into the Forgotten Realms starting at level 15. Each of these Forgotten Realms born characters will start as a race class combination with new racial abilities. I can’t wait to tell you more about these characters in the coming months.
Later in the year we have some other great stories planned and we plan to focus our attention on the True Reincarnation options and update the system to work for Epic level players. Epic True Reincarnation would also introduce a new completionist track. What would two more stat points do to your TR character? Well, stay tuned this summer for an update on our development progress!

There’s a lot more to talk about, and my heart races as I am selectively sharing just hints of what we already have in development! This year is going to be another great year for DDO - with a big, cool new storyline, new D&D monster varieties and powerful new character abilities. We will start communicating more about enhancements and other content very soon. Of course I can’t end without one last bit of awesome upcoming news: I have seen the first rendition of the owlbear monster and I can assure everyone this thing will go from mysteriously acquired pelt to fully animated encounter before long.

Thank you for the many years of fun and feedback, and especially for the many PUGs you may have run with me during that time, and in advance for the next ones.

Happy birthday DDO and community

~Erik Boyer

Thank you for a great game and happy birthday :D

[Maxallu]

Here's to 7 more years!

[Morlen]

Happy Birthday DDO!

I didn't read through all seven pages to see if anyone else said it, but one thing I noticed was a LACK of statement about RACIAL prestige enhancements. Two per class is great and all, but I'm really looking forward to the promised Racial Prestige...

[Raiderone]

Well I'm happy about an Expansion. I remember many threads back around Update 9.
"Oh please give us paid expansions!"

Another thing folks have asked for many times is new Cities. Looks like it'll be a new City? New Races?

I don't mind paying for new expansions.
I have two Premium FTP accounts. I'll buy it on both.

What I don't do is spend 50 bucks on an Otto's box.

[rnor6084]

Welp, at this point i think DDO has officially left me behind.

I just do not play enough to be able to keep up with the new content and lvl cap increases.

It's my fault and no one elses of course. Real life has gotten in the way of gaming which is more important to begin with.

I will not be purchasing anymore expansions as i will probably never see the content nor be able to hit the cap.

[Missing_Minds]

Welp, at this point i think DDO has officially left me behind.

I just do not play enough to be able to keep up with the new content and lvl cap increases.

It's my fault and no one elses of course. Real life has gotten in the way of gaming which is more important to begin with.

I will not be purchasing anymore expansions as i will probably never see the content nor be able to hit the cap.
Perfectly reasonable. I'm the same way in lotro.

[emtp]

I love the mask and panther from the last xpac but the epic items from the f2p side of xpac bugged drops and broken once made epic, a raid that is so dishearting that I have never bothered to complete flag for it on live. Iam still missing outfits and 250 tp, Wail dosent work and impotion sometimes doesnt either. I upgrade system for loot that makes you do all quest on elite and then do the most hated raid many times........... or fork up plat to those who have got a system down and skip the raid like i have done. There are many more items that need attention. the new gainthold loot system is great, Agment crystal seem to be okay. I cant say too much on them as i havent spent too much time in Epic Gh as my two mains are a PM and clonk the clonk is way weeker snice xpac and pm now cant wail and lets face it That is a major part of a pm. So yes i look fowrad to the new xpac, but PLEASE fix some of the old before you bring out the new.

[MeliCat]

woah! This sounds awesome. I really enjoyed MotU so this sounds great.

Level 28 makes me whimper a bit... but hey.... this means more fate points right?

[Imatotalnoob]

Well congrats on the birthday.
It looks like 2013 will be your year ddo.
Update 17 had a really nice, well put together feeling.
Good job.

It looks like you guys have turned a corner from the complete
Fails of update 14 15 16.
You really turned it around.

Well except the birthday present, which was lame.
I'll do you a deal, you deliver the enhance pass and I'll VIP
my two accounts again and get my guildies to do the same.

Atm the guild has only one VIP'r so we can open elite for the rest of us.
We as a guild like to buy the content as premium players to say thanks.

Cheers

[HatsuharuZ]

Yes, and those with only 1 PrE that might only have 2 trees when all were to have 3 is still a disappointment because it's less than anticipated regardless of whether some might have more PrE paths than before.

The difference between 2 trees and 3 trees is a lot of enhancements on top of actual PrE benefits. I'm sure it can be covered with a multiclass or racial PrE to even out but I still find it a bit disappointing.



What's coming out is the beta version, though, not the final version. It's likely that they have enough stuff/ehancements built that they can release a beta version for testing. Hopefully, the 'missing' PrEs are being worked on while this is occuring.

[Cauthey]

But - what about game performance issues? What about the horrible lag / rubber banding / freezes for 20 minutes on end?

:(

[Sirgleno]

Great!

Now can we take EVIL ALIGNMENT please?

Also, Eve doesn't charge for expansions, though 10-15$ per month (or in game currency) is spendy in a different way.

[Cauthey]

Glin,

To me this feels like a cash-grab, death-spiral. We went 6 years before an expansion, and now there's 2 in 2 years. You can fleece a sheep many times, but skin it only once.

Last year, Fernando told us that there'd be a bigger emphasis on bug-fixes, and while there have been some each iteration breaks just as much as it fixes. Turbine also has a record of not actually managing their bugs. I don't know if it's a limitation of Perforce (which I don't think it should be, since it's GIT compatible) but there are numerous instances of things like, in path 15.2 "I'd like to remain on the ship a little longer" was fixed - for 2 days before a hotfix from an earlier branch over wrote those changes and you never bothered to go and re-fix them.

There's countless systems in the game that are 80/20% complete, and abandoned, and never to be updated again. New initiatives obsoleting old ones is the norm. Even most recently the astral diamonds to astral shards conversion still leaves Lordsmarch crafting un-updated.

Every update, you release new, flashy, sexy loot that sells and you consistently fail to realize that at most a character has 216 storage spaces for all these things. It's nice that update 17 went back and made some old abandoned loot somewhat desirable. But it's shameful that the new augment system was released with no thought to storage. This is a mistake that FoS has made in the past with the eveningstar challenges, and component reward requirements exceeding storage of bags. New stuff is great. Where do you expect us to put it?

Turbine fails to learn from their mistakes, nor finish what they start.

Well stated, and +1. I really hope that someone who actually cares is willing to read this and take it to heart without dismissing it.

[LightBear]

We’ve been together a long time now; in some US states we’d be common law married!
~Erik Boyer


I want Half! (http://vimeo.com/28965130)

[Jay203]

sigh, can we get proper epic levels?
i'm sick of generic epic levels =\

[Marc]

Oh good, more bugs.

Yay.

[Elation]

why do i get the impression that the new Enh. line is going too be a Dumb down tree like the neverwinter online game. and really no update till summer? i mean GH was just a rehash so imo0 thats not even worthy of update statis other than the raid and any that say it is either works for DDO or just a fan boy

Thats right because anyone who disagrees with you is wrong.... LOL You even state its your own opinion then imply it should be everyone elses so in general take your opinion and well you get the idea and if you say other wise your just a fanboi or an egotist. lol

[PsychoBlonde]

OMG level 28? New completionist track?

YOU PEOPLE CRAZY.

[Kylstrem]

And yes, its true, – we’ll be overhauling our bug reporting tool with updated functionality to help us capture even more of your problem details and feedback, and process them more efficiently. With that news, I know now, you are thinking, “that sounds really good…

I am not entirely sure that this should be something that a software company should be trumpeting as a selling-point feature.

Instead of spending developer time re-tooling a feature that lets your customers report its shortcomings more efficiently, how about releasing a produce that doesn't require your customer base to report its shortcomings, or at least not have to report bugs on a scale as large as would require spending developer time and resources for this "feature".

"Coming Soon from Apple: A single button on your Iphone that allows you to call us and tell us badly broken the product you bought from us is"

"Coming Soon From Ford: When you discover a problem with your vehicle, you can now reach us immediately and tell us about the problem... because you will definitely have problems"


Okay.. I'm ready for the backlash from those who believe that it is the customer's duty, nay imperative, to find and report bugs. Go!

[ddobard1]

DDO is getting awesome!

Follow the customization path! Always!

Happy birthday DDO!

[Cyr]

I am not entirely sure that this should be something that a software company should be trumpeting as a selling-point feature.


LOL, even funnier it comes after years of them claiming to have 'fixed it'.

It is indeed an embarrasment that the state of DDO requires them to talk about their bug reporting tool in a major announcment thread about what is coming out next.

However, that is the state of DDO. Denying it only makes them look worse.

[arkonas]

ok while some people in the forums have some valid points and concerns i want to say my feelings on this topic. I really like where its going honestly. I think motu was brilliant and it worked. so many people forget all games are bugged and some get fixed fast while others take time. most people i talked to freaking love the content, love high roads and epic gh.

I love they have tried to fix some of the bugs in the game. I have noticed lot's of improvements in the game as the months go by. Sure some things get broken but if people would freaking calm down it will be attended too. I think the worst part about customers is they demand perfection 24/7 and constant challenges/content blah blah blah. Ok we need to look at this from a bigger picture and not snotty little brats from the customer point. DDO has to evolve to keep up the the other contenders out there like WOW, rift, SWOTRO, aeon, etc and all of the mmo's out there. They know there will always be a new big game coming out like Elder Scrolls Online. So from the Turbine's point of view they need to keep people interested in the game or bring new qualities to the ever changing market.

I welcome these changes with open arms because i know DDO needs to do this to survive and not end like City of Heroes which lived for only 6 years. Sure DDO will lose people to other games or changes they made. If the changes were for the better they will get more clients from other games or just new people in general. Expansions work in other games. Motu sold. So yes it worked. most things got fixed. Some things grew weaker because it was a little strong while others gained power. that is the life of a mmo.

So now for the concerns some people have. EE will always be difficult for most players. I think epic gh is perfect example of where it should be. people have issues with gear % in EE raise it from 5% to 8-10. dont let people upgrade ehard stuff to ee. let feather of the sun work on crafting as well as other items in the game like lordsmarch or other systems.

as for the items i would love to see augments go back into the bags or maybe see some of the bags get a few more spaces. even expanding the bank more would be awesome. Rift has a thing on the bottom of their bank that you pay plat to unlock a storage bag spot that holds more stuff. Even ddo could do something like that to hold the new stuff we are acquiring or making.

either way i look forward to these changes because games change. so DDO lets see what ya got planned.

[axan]

More info here plus new logo

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/163/view/news/read/26897/DD-Online-Shadowfell-Conspiracy-Expansion-Announced.html

[Momsboys]

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i478/MownDown/takemoney_zps521d30b0.jpg

This, This will be me once it comes out. Right now I'm kind of skeptical...

[sirgog]

Not a fan of another level cap increase.

Level cap increases in MMOs almost always effectively delete all the old content.


Pre-MOTU DDO endgame consisted of the following:
- Entry to endgame: Normal Shroud/VOD/HOX/TOD/Amrath walkups/some of those on Hard/Epic Carnival. All content aimed at players that are new to level 20 play on first life poorly equipped and poorly built toons.
- The accessible endgame: Elite Shroud/VOD. Heroic Norm/Hard LOB/MA, Epic VON6, Epic Chronoscope, most non-Desert 6-person Epics. All content that is widely beaten by PUGs but maybe not on the first try and you'd not want the weakest 10% of players in your group.
- The harder endgame: Epic LOB, Epic MA, Desert 6-persons on Epic (and a couple of other epics), and a few other seldom run things of comparable/higher difficulty (elite TOD part 1, elite Stealer of Souls, elite Gianthold Tor dragons). All things that were punishing of mistakes.


It's taken until U17 for DDO's endgame to recover to that level of variety after MOTU launched, and that's only occurred because Gianthold has changed the old 'Epic Hard is super-easy, Epic Elite is hard with nothing in between'. (Epic Hard is non-trivial in Gianthold in general).

[IronClan]

You do realize that every single mmo on the market charges for expansions right?

Nope, it's a thing around here, and probably other free to play MMO's they tend to get players who have zero experience with how PC games work, or typical conventions like paying for expansions. It's also why we get so many posts asking how they could possibly release updates with any bugs at all. I think F2P brings in lots of players who actually think game developers can provide them with years of entertainment for free, because you know; they don't need to eat, own a home, or feed their families...

Things that are normal to some of us, are unthinkable outrages to others.

I can't count how many 60 dollar games I've played for 1 or 2 months and loved... How many expansion packs I've paid for that I got a month or 3 weeks out of...Alternately some of them lasted years (multiplayer) I own the original NWN, the Gold version, a platinum version and a DIAMOND version barely played the expansions, mostly played online (loved single player Undrentide module though) admittedly because it was cheaper to buy the bundle on sale at that time than to buy the separate packs.

MOTU is what 10 months old? Summer is as much as 5 or 6 months off depending on when in summer they release? 15 months is not exactly a crazy release schedule. Personally I hope they put this expansion on retail shelves and advertize... new players are welcome.

[danotmano1998]

More info here plus new logo

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/163/view/news/read/26897/DD-Online-Shadowfell-Conspiracy-Expansion-Announced.html

Taken from that link...

gain new epic feats and spells

Did they say epic spells?
Yes virginia, yes they did.

[fool101]

Taken from that link...


Did they say epic spells?
Yes virginia, yes they did.

my thoughts exactly!?


Also I like the direction they are going with the wilderness quest descriptions. Sounds like fun.

[IronClan]

Indeed.

Fool me once, and all that.

Wow so you've never seen a 6 month old game that you paid full price for in the bargain bin for $9.99?

I would find that shocking for anyone who's played more than one or two MMO's or three or four PC games. I bought one of Ultima Online's expansions for $5 and it contained free game time worth I think $20... Never saw anyone angry about it because they bought it the day it came out probably 8 months earlier for $59.99... Some of them bought the $79.99 cloth map version... Which these days probably sells for $500 on ebay or something.

[AnubisPrime]

I look forward to the new expansion!

[Bolo_Grubb]

Level increase? 38 point builds? Expansion? I don’t think I am ready for any of those.

Maybe by the time they actually come I will be but it does seem a bit soon to me right now.

The last level cap increase reduced the number of different characters I play. Another cap increase in likely to reduce the number of characters I play even more. I just don’t have the time to work that many character to cap and then cap their epic destinies. At least enough to get the twist of fate I want for each character (mostly tier 1s).

Start at level 15? Not sure what to think of that. Might be nice to try certain builds at high level quickly but again I already have more characters then I have time to play.

I guess I will just have to wait and see.

[phillymiket]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DDO!

/raise
/drink
/pour another

The new stuff kinda looks interesting.

I will have fun, i think, using the extra flexibility of 3 extra epic level to further make wierdo builds.


*Dracolich

Yeah, I think "Dracolitch" is the similar but legally distinct name most other games use who don't have the rights for the proper "dracolich".

Kinda like "halfling"

/show tin foil hat on

DDO IS LOSING THE RIGHTS TO D&D!!!111!

/show tin foil hat off
.

[Davelfus]

The new lvl cap is pretty meh... still don't like how epic lvls are handled... but anyways

what really worries me are the new "iconic heroes"... if that mmorpg.com info can be trusted:

"Introducing Iconic Heroes -- Jump into the action of DDO with these new prestige characters that start in Forgotten Realms at level 15 and feature unique looks and skills. Each of these classic D&D heroes is a paragon of their race and class and features custom iconic gear, appearance options and new abilities to enhance their power."

- unique skills
- unique new abilities?

yeah... don't like how this sounds...

[Taojeff]

Not a fan of another level cap increase.

Level cap increases in MMOs almost always effectively delete all the old content.


Pre-MOTU DDO endgame consisted of the following:
- Entry to endgame: Normal Shroud/VOD/HOX/TOD/Amrath walkups/some of those on Hard/Epic Carnival. All content aimed at players that are new to level 20 play on first life poorly equipped and poorly built toons.
- The accessible endgame: Elite Shroud/VOD. Heroic Norm/Hard LOB/MA, Epic VON6, Epic Chronoscope, most non-Desert 6-person Epics. All content that is widely beaten by PUGs but maybe not on the first try and you'd not want the weakest 10% of players in your group.
- The harder endgame: Epic LOB, Epic MA, Desert 6-persons on Epic (and a couple of other epics), and a few other seldom run things of comparable/higher difficulty (elite TOD part 1, elite Stealer of Souls, elite Gianthold Tor dragons). All things that were punishing of mistakes.


It's taken until U17 for DDO's endgame to recover to that level of variety after MOTU launched, and that's only occurred because Gianthold has changed the old 'Epic Hard is super-easy, Epic Elite is hard with nothing in between'. (Epic Hard is non-trivial in Gianthold in general).

I have to disagree, I find most of GH EH to be trivial. In fact I think the raid needs to be harder.

[Taojeff]

Level increase? 38 point builds? Expansion? I don’t think I am ready for any of those.

Maybe by the time they actually come I will be but it does seem a bit soon to me right now.

The last level cap increase reduced the number of different characters I play. Another cap increase in likely to reduce the number of characters I play even more. I just don’t have the time to work that many character to cap and then cap their epic destinies. At least enough to get the twist of fate I want for each character (mostly tier 1s).

Start at level 15? Not sure what to think of that. Might be nice to try certain builds at high level quickly but again I already have more characters then I have time to play.

I guess I will just have to wait and see.

I am excited about all of them.

[fco-karatekid]

I am not entirely sure that this should be something that a software company should be trumpeting as a selling-point feature.

Instead of spending developer time re-tooling a feature that lets your customers report its shortcomings more efficiently, how about releasing a produce that doesn't require your customer base to report its shortcomings, or at least not have to report bugs on a scale as large as would require spending developer time and resources for this "feature".

"Coming Soon from Apple: A single button on your Iphone that allows you to call us and tell us badly broken the product you bought from us is"

"Coming Soon From Ford: When you discover a problem with your vehicle, you can now reach us immediately and tell us about the problem... because you will definitely have problems"


Okay.. I'm ready for the backlash from those who believe that it is the customer's duty, nay imperative, to find and report bugs. Go!

+1 - You come to San Antonio, I'm buying you a drink.

[oradafu]

I'm not sure I like alot of what I'm hearing in this announcement.

First, the Enhancement revamp seems to be getting the short end of the stick, again. Now classes are getting at least 2, instead of 3, trees. Blah! It's bad enough that the Enhancement system was pushed back because of the Epic Destiny, when the new Enhancement system should have been pushed out prior to the Epic Destiny. Now it looks like the new Enhancement system is being cut by 1/3 for some classes to revamp the Epic Destinies and/or add the Epic TR system.

So what are the consequences for having less trees in some classes? If players are only allowed 3 class trees and 1 racial tree, this might alter the power than some classes have vs other classes, whether they multi-class or are pure. As others have mentioned, there's no mention of racial trees. This could just be an oversight in the announcement. Or more worrisome, the racial trees have been dropped also.

Second, I don't might Expansions being added to the game, but the Shadow Conspiracy as it stands now doesn't meet what I'd call Expansion worthy right now. As it stands now, Expansion 2 seems to consist of Shadow Conspiracy quests/wilderness(es), Iconic Status and maybe something else, so there are more than just quests with the expansion. That's fine. Except for me an Expansion should consist of something that expands the "universe" of the game, such as MOTU did. Going into a different D&D setting is expansion worthy but this seems to be just an extension to MOTU. Heck, I'd even an expansion that brought players to Sharn in the Eberron setting would be acceptable since it would/should be a large new city.

Third, a level 16 quests and a wilderness area is something that is needed in the game and in the Forgotten Realms area. However, the Devs should have really done that with MOTU. The first set of quests and King's Forest should have been available for upper tier heroic players while the rest of the expansion should have been reserved for for epic players only. So it now appears that the Expansion stuff will take place after MOTU but available to play there prior to the MOTU storyline. Sloppy.

Fourth, I'm going to have to side with others who believe the level cap being raised is way, way, way too soon. Much like Epic levels being introduced prior to padding levels 12 to 20 with more quests/XP, there's still a bit more padding needed in the epic levels in quest/XP. I'll call again for raising the XP in the upper Heroic levels as a short term solution. If the XP for Amarth, House C and MOTU heroic quests had comparable XP to the early Epic quests, the segregation of Heroic and Epic players wouldn't be as stark since Epic players would have a good reason to run those quests.

I'm sure I have more to say, but I can't remember. Well, these are my first impressions of the announcement. Oh, and horray for Owlbears. Gobins are still missing though, right? Booooo!

[9Crows]

like many others i am leery about the expansion ...i probally wont buy it knowing i can get it at half price a month or so later...and i am surly not the only one who feels that way.... i was very dissappointed in the last expansions explorer areas ..while very pretty...

they dropped nothing but random loot and comms from encounters so they barely got ran past the initial wow phase..

if you have 3 hrs to play are you going to run the dungeons that can drop you the rare items you want? or run explorer areas that just drop random loot ...you get more than enough comms and xp grinding quests for items(bad drop rates) that you dont need to do encounters for xp or comms

if you want players to assign time to run your explorer areas you need to give them a reason to cross a quest off thier runtime list

[rdasca]

Introducing Iconic Heroes -- Jump into the action of DDO with these new prestige characters that start in Forgotten Realms at level 15 and feature unique looks and skills. Each of these classic D&D heroes is a paragon of their race and class and features custom iconic gear, appearance options and new abilities to enhance their power.


errr .... WHAT???

"classic D&D heroes" as in NPCs from FR? Like one of the seven sisters, or some such? If so no thank you.

Please let me be wrong, so far I am more than just a bit apprehensive, this does not sound like something that I would ever want in the game.

I realize you [Turbine] have already dropped the bombshell with the news of the new expansion pack, level increase, and iconic heroes, so there is no way you will listen to any post in this forum about what a bad idea any of these have the potential to be, but please for the love of Lolth do not ever make lore NPCs playable.

And while you are at it if these iconic heroes get "unique" skills, gear, and power, does that mean our toons now become second best, and all the work we have put into them is going to be less than worthless?

I realize I am speculating and lack of information is a major problem right now, but I really, really, really hope I am misunderstanding this.

[rsking]

HAPPY Birthday
http://i52.tinypic.com/2mwe3r7.jpg

any chance the monks can get trap the soul on a named handwraps? the only items that can have it are shields, armor, green steel and one epic item from the red fens.

[sirgog]

You do realize that every single mmo on the market charges for expansions right?

EVE has not had a paid expansion in ten years.

[sirgog]

I have to disagree, I find most of GH EH to be trivial. In fact I think the raid needs to be harder.

By non-trivial I mean PUGs can't zerg it. PUGs can definitely complete it easily, but not at extreme speed.

Mainly due to mobs having high enough saves that you can't easy-button the content with Wail or Implosion, and enough HP that you can't obliterate rooms with one Energy Burst, and on top of that they hit hard enough that you can't ignore them.

[ka0t1c1sm]

A few replies have touched on the 'start at level 15' feature of Iconic characters and I think a little more info will be helpful at this time.

We recognise that some players can build a specific character more to their liking than some of the options in the character generator, there are so many race/class options that they are not equal in specificity or power across all levels.
Moreover, DDO is a superior MMO* when it comes to character creation and we will not be taking that option away from you... 'you' being, you daring number crunching heroes off the paved path.


* :) veiws expressed here are my own.

If this means we can build a level 15 character from level 1 just like we do with level 4 and 7 Veteran Status, then bring it on.

[ka0t1c1sm]

From the MMORPG.COM article:



Two New Forgotten Realms Adventure Packs -- Featuring gorgeous new wilderness areas packed with new D&D monsters, dangerous encounters and a host of challenging dungeons.
Wheloon: Horrors from the Shadowfell pour into Wheloon, a prison city full of irredeemable criminals and traitors to the Crown. In this place, Netherese agents conspire to forge an army out of the Kingdom’s enemies. Masquerade as a traitor to infiltrate the Prison City, fight marauding criminal gangs, and destroy the army before it marches – all the while battling creatures made out of the very shadows.
Stormhorns: Deep in the Stormhorn Mountains, the Netherese Empire prepares to unleash its secret weapon against the Kingdom of Cormyr. Brave treacherous mountain passes through griffon territory and overcome cunning harpy ambushes. At the peaks of the mighty Stormhorns, overcome an alliance of giants and monstrous creatures – only to have to contend with a terrible Netherese secret weapon.
Introducing Iconic Heroes -- Jump into the action of DDO with these new prestige characters that start in Forgotten Realms at level 15 and feature unique looks and skills. Each of these classic D&D heroes is a paragon of their race and class and features custom iconic gear, appearance options and new abilities to enhance their power.
Attain Epic level to 28 -- Master your destiny and gain new epic feats and spells with three new Epic levels of advancement that let you reach new levels of power.


Griffons? Yay! MOAR MONSTERZ!

[IronClan]

Not a fan of another level cap increase.

Did you really think they would keep it at 25? Or is it that the other cap increases took a long time (years) in between?

Personally I expect them to go to level 40 not in a year or anything, but as an eventual D&D fitting (AD&D) max...




Level cap increases in MMOs almost always effectively delete all the old content.

Not really, most people are average skill, by definition. Enough so that not gearing every few levels means they have a harder time leveling... if you're running about with ML7 stuff at 16th level chances are you're either pretty good and blazing through content anyway, or you're dinging a lot, and you start looking for gear to bridge the gap...

Reaver is a level 14 raid, gets run all the time. Nothing in their is uber, but a lot of t is useful to bridge the gap. Granted the latest update probably changes this dynamic. but this is just one example.

Personally I'm using "bridge" equipment on almost every toon. Also you have a lot of people with characters that want X item because that's the ideal item for the specific build. For example Madstone Boots, or Epic Midnight's Greetings on an Assasin... Bloodstones still sell for 300k. There's plenty of gear that is usefull if you're not on a cookie cutter build that has it's gear load out all set in stone or very little variation. And plenty that simply doesn't have a "end game" named uber item the makes it obsolete.

My FvS AA is after Abbot seals to upgrade her Quiver (30% striding and a freed up boots slot is more important to this build than extra Bow damage from the new Poison quiver, because the bow is just there to fill in the gaps between 300-500 damage light SLA's) She wears Burning Embers, because it's hard to get Arcane lore when you're holding a bow in both hands, and her Armor is better than Blue Scale (though she will probably graduate to Flawless blue, freeing up her neck spot from Embers), that all takes time and raid repetitions, and some of us don't like to suck while we wait for a specific piece of gear that "completes" the build, so we EVOLVE our gear towards the goal. Some of us (I would argue most) aren't skilled enough to raid using ML9 AH gear when running some decent quests for XP can also give us some decent loot to bridge the gap.

I've got gear on every single toon, that has lasted longer than I ever thought, becvause it was either more useful than "min maxing" would make it seem to be, or it is taking so long to get it's "ideal" replacement item.

Anyway IMO there's plenty of room for gear that is not end game, and phrases like "effectively delete all the old content" are only true for strictly end game focused players who do builds that only use the most uber items, and somehow manage to get those uber items while naked :eek:

[AnubisPrime]

EVE has not had a paid expansion in ten years.

?


Unless 2011 is 10 years ago? It has expansions...and Eve is SUBSCRIPTION only... but i get what you are saying.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expansions_of_Eve_Online

[IronClan]

From the MMORPG.COM article:



Griffons? Yay! MOAR MONSTERZ!

Invisible stalkers? Roc's, Chimera's?

[Mryal]

Iconic Heroes, Elminster

You have followed the footsteps of Elminster, granting you special iconic skills.
Class level : 15 wizard or 15 sorcerer

Special Abbilities :
Stand with the Pike : every 10 seconds standing still grants you +2 to all ability scores and spell penetration checks as well as spell DC's.This abbility stacks up to 50 times.Moving, jumping,casting a spell,switching gear,talking in chat, browsing your guild or friends list, or any action that requires movement of mouse or pressing a key causes you to lose all stacks.

Annoying way of talking : You've mastered the strange and annoying Elminster way of talking.Any form of greeting you say is replaced by 'Yark!' and any attempt to adress someone is replaced by 'Ye'.

Master of Piking, Requires lv 20.
You've mastered the abbility of standing there doing nothing.As long as you have a /AFK message active, you are invulnerable to all forms of damage.This does not work if you typed a /afk message.

Discuss.

[Phemt81]

Epic True Reincarnation would also introduce a new completionist track. What would two more stat points do to your TR character?

This is...

http://killingtonzone.com/albums/G-smashed/homer_drool.gif


Invisible stalkers? Roc's, Chimera's?

Goblins? Manticore? Displacer beast?

[Davelfus]

but please for the love of Lolth do not ever make lore NPCs playable

think it is exactly this actually...

official turbine drizzts builds for everyone! unique ability? only ranger with a animal companion ;)

[Thar]

Raising cap to 28... that will make it harder on lower level epic players to get groups due to quest/level discrepancies. Higher level people will not want to run that and if they drag 20s into 28 content then it will be farmed out. Disappointing.

[IronClan]

Raising cap to 28... that will make it harder on lower level epic players to get groups due to quest/level discrepancies. Higher level people will not want to run that and if they drag 20s into 28 content then it will be farmed out. Disappointing.

It will no more do this than 25 does it to 20 level quests. There will always be "loot runs".

[Musashiclaw]

Want to make it easier on people build in a character builder into the UI when you log in.
Guys can log in. Build their character from the creation screen and when they level it will auto assign their skills and enhancements based upon what they chose.

People can upload templates and people can choose certain templates to apply to their characters.

or some such idea.. still fleshing it out..

[Phemt81]

Raising cap to 28... that will make it harder on lower level epic players to get groups due to quest/level discrepancies. Higher level people will not want to run that and if they drag 20s into 28 content then it will be farmed out. Disappointing.

Yes the PUG scene may suffer in the new scenario, maybe lessen the xp malus for epic quests would be a solution?

[THAC0]

A few replies have touched on the 'start at level 15' feature of Iconic characters and I think a little more info will be helpful at this time.

We recognise that some players can build a specific character more to their liking than some of the options in the character generator, there are so many race/class options that they are not equal in specificity or power across all levels.
Moreover, DDO is a superior MMO* when it comes to character creation and we will not be taking that option away from you... 'you' being, you daring number crunching heroes off the paved path.


* :) veiws expressed here are my own.

Ah...thanks for clearing that up. :) So start at 4, 7 or 15... build your character as you see it...OR, use a pre-made Turbine Character template.

:)

[LeoLionxxx]

While I love the idea of making a charecter from the Forgotten realms, i'm not a fan of starting them out at level 15. That's skipping a lot of low-level content, which is a big, meaty chunk of the game. Vetren Status II already does that.

[Thrudh]

Let's say I have TR'ed multiple times in the past to get the completionist feat. Let's also say that I've Tr'ed into most classes 3 times each to get maximum advantage of the passive past life feats.
With the introduction of this new Epic TR will I have to do this unimaginably long and tedious road again?!!?
By all that is holy and just please please please let the answer to this question be NO.

You don't have to do anything you don't want to. And how is unimaginably? You did it, so I'm sure you can imagine it.

[Thrudh]

woah! This sounds awesome. I really enjoyed MotU so this sounds great.

Level 28 makes me whimper a bit... but hey.... this means more fate points right?

Yeah, I'm excited too... I'm not so sure level 28 is a good idea, but I'm willing to see how it plays out.

[Failedlegend]

Lots of amazing stuff PG :D


we’ll be overhauling our bug reporting tool with updated functionality to help us capture even more of your problem details and feedback, and process them more efficiently.

Honestly this is really cool..some people won't think so but I'm always for QoL improvements and DDO could use them (ie. I can't wait for the various cosmetic syustem updates FoS said he's working on)




, “that sounds really good… but I was sort of thinking of the rumors of an updated character enhancements system.” And I also have great news to share on that!

Work on the new enhancement system is well underway and it will be heading to its first public beta this spring. In its current iteration, each class has at least two prestige class paths. The UI, similar to the Epic Destiny tree, will be a long awaited simplification to planning your character build, but more importantly, the goal is to make better choices more accessible for both new and advanced players in the heroic levels. We are planning an extended beta for this one. We’ll be doing multiple trips to Lamannia and lots of player events to give us all an opportunity to try it on various characters and gather lots of feedback.

Greatly looking forward to this...hoping its early spring (see next month) as opposed to late spring (see late june) the fact that its "similar to epic destinies" worries me your still going with the 3 Tab system but I won't say anything more until I see it



Another area where you will see several changes is in the introduction of more uses for Astral Diamond shards throughout our game. Volume 3 of the monster manual, which is now available as of Update 17, not only offers a chance to earn your own beholder pet, we also now let you earn direct-to-pocket Astral Shards. In the near future we will add more ways for you to earn free shards as well as some compelling new ways to use them to enhance your DDO gaming experience.

*drool* Beholder Pet *drool* when, where, how...earning Astral sounds osun ds cool assuming its not another offer wall...hoping its a cool way to incentivise stuff like Ron's Character Planner or w/e



As I have always said, one of the strengths of DDO is great adventures to undertake and that is why I am most pleased to announce DDO’s second expansion titled ‘Shadowfell Conspiracy’ coming this summer! We are turning our attention back to the Forgotten Realms and we are taking you to some new regions in Cormyr. We will be taking brave heroes, level 15 and up, to a foreboding prison city to the south east of Eveningstar called Wheloon, and high up into the Stormhorn Mountains, north of the high road.

Bleh more FR stuff...sorry I hate this setting Ebberon is so much better but I'm sure others will love it.




raising the level cap to 28

Awesome news...but it seems I'll never hit level cap lol stupid altitis




and providing something often requested by fans: faster access to the Forgotten Realms!

Much appreciated :D




With a new prestige character feature we are calling Iconic Heroes; we think we have an innovative solution that will get you right into the Forgotten Realms starting at level 15. Each of these Forgotten Realms born characters will start as a race class combination with new racial abilities. I can’t wait to tell you more about these characters in the coming months.

I may be reading this wrong but my guess is that you get to be a character built like iconic FR heroes...Cattibrie, Drizzt,etc. bring on the bastardized dwizits again. Also yeah not a fan of FR so I'm a bit biased.




Later in the year we have some other great stories planned and we plan to focus our attention on the True Reincarnation options and update the system to work for Epic level players. Epic True Reincarnation would also introduce a new completionist track. What would two more stat points do to your TR character? Well, stay tuned this summer for an update on our development progress!

Not much info here but looking forward to w/e your doing




I have seen the first rendition of the owlbear monster and I can assure everyone this thing will go from mysteriously acquired pelt to fully animated encounter before long.

Woot Owlbear

[IronClan]

Where is 'enough money'?
20/month? 50? 100? 200?

That's the beauty of how these games work, you determine how much the game is worth to you, and you pay that, if the expansion is not worth it to you you don't buy it, simple.

Somewhere in their they either make enough money to keep the servers going , and pay the 80,000 a year average industry salary to each of their employees, the tens of thousands in leasing costs per month for workspace, and the tens of thousands in hardware purchases for the development enviroment, the who knows how much for the server farm and hosting, with enough profit to keep the suits from shutting it down... Or the free loaders and "I wont support them on principle, but I will keep playing the game" outnumber the paying players and the game fold up.

It's really amazing how few MMO players seem to grasp that Turbine provides Jobs, and has huge costs it must pay for... I think sometimes people think Games are made by magical game gnomes or maybe games are what Santa's elfs do during the slow summer months?

[IronClan]

Okay.. I'm ready for the backlash from those who believe that it is the customer's duty, nay imperative, to find and report bugs. Go!

Kinda like saying you're ready for the backlash from those who don't expect the sun to come up purple polka dotted, because you keep expecting that to happen....
bah never mind :D

[rsking]

Want to make it easier on people build in a character builder into the UI when you log in.
Guys can log in. Build their character from the creation screen and when they level it will auto assign their skills and enhancements based upon what they chose.

People can upload templates and people can choose certain templates to apply to their characters.

or some such idea.. still fleshing it out..

the only problem with that is if you have a new player (by that i mean literal fresh meat) and you let them choose all there base stats, then when they get that done they may start selecting feats, increasing unnecessary stats, spending AP on stuff that they don't need, and even putting points into the wrong skills.

though they do that already..... they won't be able to fix their build if they mess up. on top of that you will have people that upload completely terrible and unplayable builds with that system.

[Aashrym]

Yeah, I'm excited too... I'm not so sure level 28 is a good idea, but I'm willing to see how it plays out.

My first guess is at least another feat slot and stat point. Now we'll have 8 commoner levels. :D

[IronClan]

Yeah, I'm excited too... I'm not so sure level 28 is a good idea, but I'm willing to see how it plays out.

Not me, it's just more levels same stuff any D&D DM has been dealing with since D&D went up to 40 in the AD&D days.

The thing that scares me is this "Iconic Heroes" deal...

Ding...
Your Party member Drizzt Do'urden, has died
Ding...
Your Party member Drizzt Do'urden, has died
Ding....

[decease]

until enhancement are confirmed, i will not spend a single penny more on this game. if it end up to be "soon" again, then this will be the last of me here..

[zebidos]

I just hope Eberon won't die, motu was ok but I love the steam punk themed Eberon vs every other fantasy game. I thought house C was getting an expansion soon?

[Lauraliane]

Nice things here. That being said two points:

- Raising the level cap right now is indeed too early.
- I am a Game Designer and I know what you are doing with the "Iconic Characters" and it is a bad idea, but obviously if you made the announcement it is already too late.

What you are doing is trying to compete with the upcoming "Neverwinter" MMO, who is Forgotten Realms right from the start and even has "Renegade Drow" race, allowing for all those little Drizzt to be created.

They have what people wanted for so long: A Forgotten Realms MMO (whoever had the brilliant idea to make Eberron the setting for DDO was stupid btw)

So you only had three solutions:

1) Create a massive amount of new content in Forgotten Realms, allowing to create a character from level 1 there directly and thus slowly make Eberron obsolete
Issue: Very costy to do and would make too much content obsolete, you don't want that.

2) Allow for people to create character directly at level 15, like some kind of super veteran status
Issue: Only some people would have access to it, or it would be costly to buy, and in every case would feel unfair to people who leveled to 15, as well as again making a tons of content obsolete, also you want to attract new players, and leveling a character directly to 15 is quite complex.

3) Create "Pre-Made" characters that start at level 15 in forgotten realms, make them easy to understand and use, more "mainstream" in the hope that you will grab players that want a fresh start in DnD universe and especially Forgotten Realms. Making the level 1 Eberron Characters a kind of "Expert Mode", allowing for more powerful and complex characters if you take the time to understand the mechanics and to level them.

Issue: You might separate your community into 2 different one, the Iconic vs the Expert, thing is the two won't play nicely to each other, and you also run the risk to alienate your devoted player base.

So here is why it is a bad idea:

It might seem a good "business" decision to try to attract Forgotten Realms afficionados and especially take advantage of the publicity Neverwinter is putting on the DnD universe right now, but you are taking a MASSIVE risk here, the risk to lose and alienate the players who are here because DDO is providing an experience that no other MMO can match, as you said it "Superior character creation and customisation", builds, TR, enhancement, that complexity is the reason the game survived, you are a niche game admit it, embrace it, capitalise on it, because that's what makes you strong.

If you try to go "mainstream", you might lose your current player base, then be compared to the "mainstream" monsters like WoW and of course you won't win a fight against them.

In conclusion, you are doing something really really risky and the chance that you successfully pull it off, gaining both more subsbribers from the mainstream market and keeping your current one, are close to 0.
Basically you want to be among the "big MMOs" but you have absolutely no way to survive up there, if you are not careful you will simply end up being another generic fantasy F2P mmo and die a slow and painful death.

Btw, the best solution was the first one, costly but done smoothly, little by little, in the long run, that would have been the best.

[Aashrym]

They have what people wanted for so long: A Forgotten Realms MMO (whoever had the brilliant idea to make Eberron the setting for DDO was stupid btw)

I think the choices were limited but disagree anyway. I like the Eberron setting and don't believe I'm the only one.

[Zenako]

I think the choices were limited but disagree anyway. I like the Eberron setting and don't believe I'm the only one.

Turbine was pretty much told by WotC to use Eberron or nothing back when this thing started so yah, they had no choice.

[Lauraliane]

I think the choices were limited but disagree anyway. I like the Eberron setting and don't believe I'm the only one.

I'm not saying some people don't like it, but lets be honest, if we did a popularity contest FR would win 10 to 1.
Even wizards of the coast brought back FR on the front lines in DND 4e.

Why do you think the new MMO is called Neverwinter and giving Drizzt race in their founder pack?

You are more than entitled to like Eberron, but FR is potentially the most profitable business wise.

Btw that whole expansion, the iconic characters etc are obviously 100% business and money driven, I m pretty sure there are no game design will behind this and the DDO development team itself probably think it is not such a good idea.

But when your boss say: The FR expansion sold well, we want more money and to take advantage of that Neverwinter MMO publicity, do another expansion now and find a way to "steal" their players. You shut up and do it.

That being said, if the dev team is as passionate as they seem to be, they will still do their very best to keep the game awesome and unique, despite the money grabbing moves the direction impose them, so there is definitely hope :)

Good luck dev, I know what you feel, trust me.

[rsking]

ok to all those complaining about VIPs and what they get the EULA sates:

Changes to Agreement and Game: Turbine may update this Agreement at its sole discretion, and you will be asked to review and agree to the revised version of the EULA once it becomes effective. If you do not agree to a revised EULA, you will not be permitted to continue playing the Game. If at any time you are no longer able to comply with the terms of the then-current EULA, you must terminate this Agreement pursuant to Section 2 and immediately stop using the Game. Turbine may change, modify, suspend, or discontinue any aspect of the Game at any time. Turbine may also impose limits on certain features or restrict your access to parts or all of the Game without notice or liability. You have no interest, monetary or otherwise, in any feature or content contained in the Game.

if you would have read the Agreement then you would know that they can restrict access to any and all players, VIP/premium/Free to play. hell IF they wanted they could only give VIPs access to selected areas but not the quests, extra character slots, the races, classes, or the 500 TP you get every month

[mystafyi]

pay the 80,000 a year average industry salary to each of their employees

if past results are any indication, they are making min wage for the quality of work provided.

[Snapdragoon]

Hmmmm, this all seems to be very big and very fast. . .

this would not have anything to do with the launch of Elder Scrolls Online around the same time as your presumed release dates and enhancement pass beta would it.

gotta try and hold onto players i supose. . .

[SableShadow]

Ding...
Your Party member Drizzt Do'urden, has died
Ding...
Your Party member Drizzt Do'urden, has died
Ding....

I think it would be hysterical if the set included him as a gold seal hireling.
"Drizzt, go pull that lever ..."

[Missing_Minds]

Not me, it's just more levels same stuff any D&D DM has been dealing with since D&D went up to 40 in the AD&D days.

The thing that scares me is this "Iconic Heroes" deal...

Ding...
Your Party member Drizzt Do'urden, has died
Ding...
Your Party member Drizzt Do'urden, has died
Ding....

............... Why the heck would that scare you? I'd be fracking encouraging it!

[fco-karatekid]

Want to make it easier on people build in a character builder into the UI when you log in.
Guys can log in. Build their character from the creation screen and when they level it will auto assign their skills and enhancements based upon what they chose.

People can upload templates and people can choose certain templates to apply to their characters.

or some such idea.. still fleshing it out..

I like where that is going - upload a build and call it custom path.

[fco-karatekid]

the only problem with that is if you have a new player (by that i mean literal fresh meat) and you let them choose all there base stats, then when they get that done they may start selecting feats, increasing unnecessary stats, spending AP on stuff that they don't need, and even putting points into the wrong skills.

though they do that already..... they won't be able to fix their build if they mess up. on top of that you will have people that upload completely terrible and unplayable builds with that system.

They already do.

EDIT: sorry, missed your last sentence! Sure they could - prompt for "continue upon my custom path" or "change my path" upon level up - already done on the Heart of Wind... just reuse it. This is a phenomenal idea, IMHO.

[Uska]

Nice things here. That being said two points:

- Raising the level cap right now is indeed too early.
- I am a Game Designer and I know what you are doing with the "Iconic Characters" and it is a bad idea, but obviously if you made the announcement it is already too late.

What you are doing is trying to compete with the upcoming "Neverwinter" MMO, who is Forgotten Realms right from the start and even has "Renegade Drow" race, allowing for all those little Drizzt to be created.

They have what people wanted for so long: A Forgotten Realms MMO (whoever had the brilliant idea to make Eberron the setting for DDO was stupid btw)

So you only had three solutions:

1) Create a massive amount of new content in Forgotten Realms, allowing to create a character from level 1 there directly and thus slowly make Eberron obsolete
Issue: Very costy to do and would make too much content obsolete, you don't want that.

2) Allow for people to create character directly at level 15, like some kind of super veteran status
Issue: Only some people would have access to it, or it would be costly to buy, and in every case would feel unfair to people who leveled to 15, as well as again making a tons of content obsolete, also you want to attract new players, and leveling a character directly to 15 is quite complex.

3) Create "Pre-Made" characters that start at level 15 in forgotten realms, make them easy to understand and use, more "mainstream" in the hope that you will grab players that want a fresh start in DnD universe and especially Forgotten Realms. Making the level 1 Eberron Characters a kind of "Expert Mode", allowing for more powerful and complex characters if you take the time to understand the mechanics and to level them.

Issue: You might separate your community into 2 different one, the Iconic vs the Expert, thing is the two won't play nicely to each other, and you also run the risk to alienate your devoted player base.

So here is why it is a bad idea:

It might seem a good "business" decision to try to attract Forgotten Realms afficionados and especially take advantage of the publicity Neverwinter is putting on the DnD universe right now, but you are taking a MASSIVE risk here, the risk to lose and alienate the players who are here because DDO is providing an experience that no other MMO can match, as you said it "Superior character creation and customisation", builds, TR, enhancement, that complexity is the reason the game survived, you are a niche game admit it, embrace it, capitalise on it, because that's what makes you strong.

If you try to go "mainstream", you might lose your current player base, then be compared to the "mainstream" monsters like WoW and of course you won't win a fight against them.

In conclusion, you are doing something really really risky and the chance that you successfully pull it off, gaining both more subsbribers from the mainstream market and keeping your current one, are close to 0.
Basically you want to be among the "big MMOs" but you have absolutely no way to survive up there, if you are not careful you will simply end up being another generic fantasy F2P mmo and die a slow and painful death.

Btw, the best solution was the first one, costly but done smoothly, little by little, in the long run, that would have been the best.

Not everyone likes the better they were forgotten realms but they would have a been a bonus for some people since if they had started the game in that horrible unoriginal place I wouldnt be here.

[Daine]

<shrugs> last expansion/collectors I paid for and I got many hours enjoyment out of it and still play the content, looking forward to a new one.

...I have to say though, I've looked at Mem's awesome cake more than I've read the announcement!

[oradafu]

I think it would be hysterical if the set included him as a gold seal hireling.
"Drizzt, go pull that lever ..."

As funny as that sounds, I really hope that its a gold seal Kobold Shaman. As others have pointed out, Witch Doctor Korba can really kick butt when you bribe him.

[Mirvar]

Moar Forgotten Realms!

I´ll buy it!
I was actually about to quit just before the MOTU camed , never been a EBERRON fan really.

Happy anniversary DDO !

Regards

[Todesnymphe]

1.
I like Eberron. I hope it won't be forgotten. On my part there never had to be MOTU. On my part do with the realms what they're about - forget them! I like the quests actually, but I'd have preferred an expansion of similar size solely with Eberron content.

On the other hand, I understand why Turbine goes the FR road. I am not happy with it, but it's nothing that'll make me quit playing. More content sounds good, whereever the quests take place, because it's better than no new content.

2.
I am wary of the increased lvl cap, but it's too early to say. I do think, however, that epic lvls really don't matter. The power is in the ED's and everyone knows that. Chances are, higher lvl content will be unplayable for characters without ED's and I wonder if and how the ED's will be changed, because it seems a bit strange being able to max an ED before having maxed the epic lvls.

3.
I'd pay for a new expansion. I understand that a new expansion is done for the (probably sole) reason of getting a new quick cash influx. There's nothing wrong with that and anyone expecting an expansion to be free has failed their reality check.

Considering how many hours I've played since MOTU came out, it was well worth the pre-order money. Sure, a few months later, MOTU got a lot cheaper, but that happens with every game out there, so that's no reason to feel "cheated" in any way.

Besides, I totally adore the panther !

4.
THE BUGS SUCK A LOT. Maybe this time Turbine'll do it right, but I don't believe it. Chances are there will be more bugs than ever and things that previously worked will become broken. Turbine has a history of that happening and hope/trust that this is going to change is not warranted at the moment. I don't give them the benefit of the doubt anymore.

So whether I'll pay for a new expansion will depend a lot on how many old bugs get fixed before that. If that doesn't happen, I'll keep playing, because I still like the game (yes, even with the bugs), but I won't spend any more money. If Turbine wants to earn cash, they first have to prove they know what they're doing. If they do, I'll most likely pre-order again.

[silisav]

The changes seems nice and promising. But I remember that you have promised quality of life upgrades and yet with update 17 more things are broken than when you promised those things. My client suffers from memory leak and every 4 or 5 loading screens it crashes. I hope that you realize that this is unacceptable ... It is high time you start fixing things...

[Mryal]

Well i know zero of DnD lore at all.All that ive learned was playing this game.
Honestly i fail to see why is forgotten realms so good over eberron.Forgotten realms is just a classical RPG world with a little planes added in.Gives me that whole 'meh ive seen that before' feeling.The expansion is good thought,i like it.
But forgettig Eberron would be a mistake, Eberron is a more creative world, and theres so many unfinished plots on it.
What happens to all these guys that escape when youre in the end of TOD?
What about the green hag in Siegebreaker?
And the LOB, where did he go? He gave up?

Recently the epic GH update came.That finished one plot.While the quests are more of the same (wich wouldnt have been a problem to anyone if they werent introducing a new storyline), the raid is awesome.
Eberron is our home folks.We want to see Epic Abbot.We want to see a back to Shavarath expansion featuring devils, demons and Archons.I personaly wanna see like a Epic Tempest Spine too :)

I think that what differs this game from the Neverwinter ones (wich were always inferior) is the fact that we are on Eberron! We lose that identity if we leave Eberron behind.

[Chaos000]

I just hope that race/class combination of forgotten realms born will not be as random as when the cant see effects until applied rune system for dragontouched armor first came out. Made it one of the least run content. Random and unpredictable (outside of maybe moving trap boxes) doesn't resonate with players I would like to point out the cannith challenges as a prime example.

As for simplifying the enhancement system please avoid what swtor and wow did by making clear distinctions on class roles. The most enjoyable aspect of ddo is the sheer number of customization to redefine the roles we choose to take.

[Truga]

see this puts you in the same boat with another person i responded too. if you really think games should pump out so much content without you paying more money then there is something wrong with you. how on earth do you think these games survive? this is a business and jobs for people. if we want them to make stuff we need to pay them money not just 10 a month.

Well, EVE online features a sub, and you get an expansion every 6 months for free. VIPs should get all content for free. They are VIPs for a reason, they already pay $15/mo for access.

Edit: Also, "Turbine should rip people off because blizzard does it as well" isn't really an argument. And I'm premium, so they're not even ripping me off, and I still feel this is dumb.

[Eistander]

Been a diehard for DDO for a long time (this was the second account I had back in '06, since made into the sole account a long time now), and enjoyed the everloving heck out of it. However, burnout creeps up on the best of us, and I have been finding it hard to come back in to play the same content after 7 years. However, seeing the announcement of another level cap raise does worry me in any case.

Level 25 was a huge step for the game.. the long awaited Epic levels. With it, we experienced such a surge in overall player power through EDs and twisting. The gear itself was more powerful to be sure, but it pales in comparison. With 3 more levels, it does nothing much save for slightly shinier possibilities, another feat and a stat point. Almost seems redundant. Post-expansion, we have been getting more bugs than ever before, some interesting, new content in the new Realm in the Forgotten Realms (something that was speculated at for a while and came to fruition, with mixed results) that became, to me, trivialized with the Epic Destiny leveling in conjunction with trying to hit that 25 cap through repetition and the like, and nearly being unable to use the older content we may have used to try to level our TRs up before all the boosts that came along. Sure, TRing again was an option, but I just couldn't keep doing it,

Epic GH was something we knew about for a while and when it finally dropped, I was excited. Then I went through it and realized that it was just a fresh coat of paint on old content, like other epic level quests in the Ebberon side of things, save for the new raid. Rekeyed and checked out the new raid in a span of an afternoon. Back to square one, waiting for something new, hoping and waiting for these bugs to be addressed, item fixes to finally drop (too many BTC ingredients, hell, too many ingredients period as an example).. not to mention I am echoing the cautionary tale of the whole expansion idea itself.

TL;DR: burned out, concerned about the very game I have spent all-too much time with focusing on all the wrong things.. guess I'll be back after it drops. Maybe.

[Failedlegend]

2 prestige classes per class? I was under the impression since the beginning of this that the plan was for three.

To clarify he said "In its current iteration" and "We are planning an extended beta for this one" so I read it as...its not entirely ready but you've all been begging to see it so we'll give you what we have but it will be on Lammania for a LONG time.



As for epic TR give players details early and often about that one as it develops as it will change players plans just like the enhancement revamp and the best way to get players to quit is to make them feel like you wasted their time when you end up changing something major that involves grind.

Yeah so many of my characters have been put on hold (either at 20 waiting to TR or not bothering to roll them up) until the new enhanced system is released...at least on lammania



Level cap 28. MotU quests are 21-23. Can't party with capped characters anymore.

uh....so? people doing Vale quests can't party with capped people anymore either...hell IIRC the level cap used to be 10...they can't party with level cap either. I fail to see how that matters...like at all.



Veteran level 15 characters might also kill one part of DDO that I love. This might be the point that break DDO for me. Let's wait and see how they handle it.

I'm really hoping were all misreading this and their actually just releasing "Iconic Heroes" as Perm Gold seal hirelings in the DDO Store. Possibly even GSH that level up with you (starting at lvl 15)



this would not have anything to do with the launch of Elder Scrolls Online around the same time as your presumed release dates and enhancement pass beta would it.


ESO is a threat to no one they basically removed EVERYTHING that makes it ES...it's essentially every WoW ever except with the ES races.


Well, EVE online features a sub, and you get an expansion every 6 months for free. VIPs should get all content for free. They are VIPs for a reason, they already pay $15/mo for access.

Edit: Also, "Turbine should rip people off because blizzard does it as well" isn't really an argument. And I'm premium, so they're not even ripping me off, and I still feel this is dumb.

uh...charging for expansions =/= ripping people off...first off the price everyones quoting was the "collectors edition" you don't have to buy that second...its an expansion its fairly normal.

That said Turbine...please forget about FR I understood having to add it in to appease the Drizzt-Philes but like PvP you don't need to do anything else with it...the point is its there they've been appeased now you can forget about it and come back to Ebberon.

[Ziindarax]

1.
I like Eberron. I hope it won't be forgotten. On my part there never had to be MOTU. On my part do with the realms what they're about - forget them! I like the quests actually, but I'd have preferred an expansion of similar size solely with Eberron content.

On the other hand, I understand why Turbine goes the FR road. I am not happy with it, but it's nothing that'll make me quit playing. More content sounds good, whereever the quests take place, because it's better than no new content.

2.
I am wary of the increased lvl cap, but it's too early to say. I do think, however, that epic lvls really don't matter. The power is in the ED's and everyone knows that. Chances are, higher lvl content will be unplayable for characters without ED's and I wonder if and how the ED's will be changed, because it seems a bit strange being able to max an ED before having maxed the epic lvls.

3.
I'd pay for a new expansion. I understand that a new expansion is done for the (probably sole) reason of getting a new quick cash influx. There's nothing wrong with that and anyone expecting an expansion to be free has failed their reality check.

Considering how many hours I've played since MOTU came out, it was well worth the pre-order money. Sure, a few months later, MOTU got a lot cheaper, but that happens with every game out there, so that's no reason to feel "cheated" in any way.

Besides, I totally adore the panther !

4.
THE BUGS SUCK A LOT. Maybe this time Turbine'll do it right, but I don't believe it. Chances are there will be more bugs than ever and things that previously worked will become broken. Turbine has a history of that happening and hope/trust that this is going to change is not warranted at the moment. I don't give them the benefit of the doubt anymore.

So whether I'll pay for a new expansion will depend a lot on how many old bugs get fixed before that. If that doesn't happen, I'll keep playing, because I still like the game (yes, even with the bugs), but I won't spend any more money. If Turbine wants to earn cash, they first have to prove they know what they're doing. If they do, I'll most likely pre-order again.

At #2: I think they should either expand the Epic Destinies to have 10 levels each, or make it so we can have two or more destinies active... maybe earning the ability to have a second one active upon hitting level 25?

As for the rest, I agree. Turbine should fix their bugs before they start trying to market Expansions (or even New Updates).

[Michele]

Dear developers,
DDO game is fantastic and the new developments are cool...

...
but
...

the game is unplayable, slow, laggy, and the performance become worst and worst on every new update.
I don't read anything to improve the performances of the game (it should be your first objective).



But - what about game performance issues? What about the horrible lag / rubber banding / freezes for 20 minutes on end?

:(


I hope the new updated bug reporting tool helps in reporting the crippling lag in game.


I've cancelled my VIP membership as well. I'm not thrilled with the changes outlined by ProducerGlin, and have become progressively less happy with the game as a whole, from lag to bugs to unfulfilled promises. I think it might be time to look around and see what else is out there that isn't trying to run on a 7 year old engine.

Guys, nothing will be done to solve these problems that don't depend from our computer.

[HalfORCastrator]

Work on the new enhancement system is well underway and it will be heading to its first public beta this spring. In its current iteration, each class has at least two prestige class paths.

~Erik Boyer


2 prestige classes per class? I was under the impression since the beginning of this that the plan was for three.
Not only did they delay the enhancement pass by more than half a year(and looking to be a year or more) of when they said it would be out, but now they're not even going to be filling the character customization out with the stated 3 PREs per class, even if not fleshed out or balanced(which can be done later, after players have had a chance to play around with it a bit to work out the kinks or bugs).

On top of that, they're putting out another expansion pack(with an untimely level increase) before the enhancement pass. Disappointing.



Have you played MoTU at all? Spent any time enjoying it? Any of the ED's? New content?

I mean, it was 70$ and I'm wondering, are you a regular player? If so, have you mostly avoided MoTU content? Have you refused to claim an ED and play through them?

My guess is no, and that you've spent innumerable hours of your life you will never get back enjoying the monumental change to the game that MoTU was. I am not arguiing if MoTU was good or bad for DDO, if it was buggy or if it had it's issues.

I am arguing that you spent money on something you did consume and enjoy, potentially for many tens or hundreds of hours. That sounds like it was money pretty well spent to me Mr. Sourgrapes.
Well stated. Getting new content around 2 months after is a huge loss of time to advance, especially with such grand changes to the game.

[GermanicusMaximus]

/DDO is Dying Threads

Really?



To me this feels like a cash-grab, death-spiral. We went 6 years before an expansion, and now there's 2 in 2 years. You can fleece a sheep many times, but skin it only once.

It seems you were unduly optimistic :D

Apparently, all it takes is one Turbine employee to type "Expansion!" for some people to have visions of purple unicorns poofing glitter from their posteriors as they prance through butterfly filled meadows. (Memnir pic needed here....)

In reality, a press release does nothing to address the the real issues which confront the game. Two of those issues come to mind immediately: (lack of) quality in the code base and declining player populations.

Details so far are sparse, but it seems likely that we are looking at one of two scenarios:

1) Expansion: An increase in the size of the game worthy of that designation.

Prior to MotU, the code base was far from error free, but at least seemed viable. MotU was a bug riddled disaster, from which the game has been struggling to recover ever since. The development team seemed to be making some progress on that front over the course of 2012. The release of Update 17 has called a lot of that progress into question.

MotU had the advantage of being built on top of a reasonable quality code base. Expansion #2 will be built on top of what we are seeing for Update 17. Absent some truly amazing improvement in Turbine software engineering practices, the quality implications are beyond scary.

Based upon the quality downsides associated with this scenario, this is actually the worse of the two possible scenarios.

2) "Expansion": An update labelled as an expansion to goose revenues, including making VIPs pay for access.

The reality is that the game has failed to grow revenues from growing the player base, and has even been unable to sustain the current revenue level by offsetting player attrition with an equivalent influx of new players. DDO needs to find a way to generate more revenue per player, or be unable to chug along as it has been doing.

An "expansion", probably one per year, is one way of doing so. Removing volume discounts on store potions was recently tried, and for now, abandoned.

The downside to increasing revenue per player is that it will cause some players to drop out, exacerbating the declining player population issue. This is really just a case of "kicking the can down the road" in an attempt to buy some additional time.


If the DDO team can actually overcome these issues, they will indeed deserve some congratulations. However, a press release by itself just isn't going to cut it. Believing the press release is the equivalent of prepurchasing MotU sight unseen, and then doing the same for Expansion #2.

[iRexxar]

i Didn't like the new level cap thing, it worrys me alot. First like some1 said already : What will happen to the old content? DDO was a game where u always could enjoy almost all the content not mattering ur level. B4 MoTU came out u had many things to do that were challanging at least. We had many hard epic raids ( being edq , echrono and evon the easyest | eLoB and eMoA the hardest ) , plus other raids like hox, vod , shroud , tod etc etc that in Elite diff were very hard (and werent pathetic on hard dificulty like raids are now , hard looks like casual -.-). Not to mention u had many epic quests to do that were basecly 1 time a day ( 13 hours cd to reenter ) so u had to enjoy ALL THE CONTENT in order to maximize ur farm for token/epic quests.

Now you almost dont see house p/d runs, wich is understandable sicne most of its epic itens got outdated , but come on , they turned like 99% of their itens into uselss ****, that didnt need to be that way lol.

Now with egh u have bring us more things to do, fixed a little of the end game content , imo just need to make hard diff HARDER :P , and elite a lil bit weaker , so ppl try more elite pugs and make them atleast be organized for hard pugs....

Anyway what i am realy worryed about is the way this new level cap will affect current game. As the same person who posted about endgame content ( all my post was about endgame content b4 and end game content now ) i'd like you to not forget the old content. Dont make new itens that will out date all the farm we are doing now , ofc u'll make better thens , but dont make every single item better... its very sad to see my abishai itens and malerith in the bank cuz it got dated by easy itens to get now (pdk prime example). My hope is that you will make new contents w/o destroying the old contents like other ORDINARY MMOs do(spetialy wow).

Re-work more old content that arent used ( hox , vod , titan awake and other forgoten content ) will be VERY NICE.

PLEASE DONT FORGET ABOUT OLD CONTENT , DONT START MAKING NEW ITENS EVERY UPDATE THAT WILL OUTDATE EVERY OLD EPIC ITEM , DONT TURN DDO INTO A COPY OF OTHER STUPID MMOS THAT MAKES PPL ADDICTED BY NEW ITENS AND NOT BY THE GAME ITSELF, PLEASE :D :D :D

thanks :]

[SableShadow]

Apparently, all it takes is one Turbine employee to type "Expansion!" for some people to have visions of purple unicorns poofing glitter from their posteriors as they prance through butterfly filled meadows. (Memnir pic needed here....)


http://onlyhdwallpapers.com/thumbnail/robot_unicorn_attack_desktop_1680x1050_hd-wallpaper-493819.jpg

[Braegan]

Wow,

Alot going on it seems, and I have to say I am not nearly as happy with this announcement as I was to hear last years'. And no, it's not me being burnt, etc on the game.

- Level Cap Raise, I feel it's far too soon. Unless something is done about the current system of repeat penalties for XP it would not be fun at all in exchange for some marginal power.

- Enhancement, I feel it's far overdue. We've been waiting on this quite some time now, of anything announced I really want to see this make it.

- Another Paid Expansion, On the fence. If it actually feels like an expansion I have no problem with it. Motu came with like a dozen quests, a raid, a new class, EDs, etc. That was an expansion. So far, this doesn't really seem like an expansion to me.

- Reworking Trs, Epic Completionist, etc. Really going to depend on how it's down. At this point I am pretty leary of it.

- An Iconic Hero, not even sure about this. Really going to depend on what special abilites/powers these newly created level 15's will get. Will they overshadow a character seven years old with many past lives with the swipe of a credit card?

So no doom crying yet, I really want some details before all that. But, at this point I am not really impressed nor happy about nearly everything coming out.

[Davelfus]

http://onlyhdwallpapers.com/thumbnail/robot_unicorn_attack_desktop_1680x1050_hd-wallpaper-493819.jpg

new artificer pets?

[PLUGintoTHEpowerLINE]

I don't like the new expansion coming so fast. Are you going to make the same mistakes you did with LotRO?

Basically, are you going to make every other addition to the game an expansion, which you can milk even the VIPs for, and, instead of fixing stuff (in LotRO, it was itemization, and handling the overhaul to one main stat per class), just up the level cap? Shiny new carrots are fun and all, but that doesn't mean you don't need to go back and fill the potholes in the road.

Learn from your mistakes, Turbine ... and for God's sake, don't tell DDO that they're getting 3 raids, and deliver them one raid with three wings.

It is beginning. Winter is coming. Learn from your mistakes.

[Auralana7214]

new artificer pets?

OOOOOH! Then I would totally get an arti!

[Aashrym]

On top of that, they're putting out another expansion pack(with an untimely level increase) before the enhancement pass. Disappointing.

Enhancement pass hits Lamma this spring and the expansion is for this summer. I would expect the enhancements to hit live first or at roughly the same time.

[Fernando]

Hi everyone-
Just wanted to drop in to say Happy Birthday to DDO and thanks to everyone for continuing to play and support our game. Also congratulations to Glin on his first big producer letter! Erik and the rest of the DDO team have some great additions to the game coming with this expansion and we are excited to start sharing information with you.

I wanted to touch on the topic of bugs and product quality that I have seen brought up a lot in this thread. First thing is to say that we recognize that there have been some lingering issues from both the U17 deployment and our recent billing system migration. Fixes for the major issues introduced with these changes are being readied now and hopefully will get deployed as soon as tomorrow. So birthday gifts and missing monk outfits will hopefully be fixed tomorrow (look for an official announcement soon). We would have gotten this out sooner, but we have a fix for some new causes of server lag and disconnects that will be part of that patch also and that needed some extra bake time.

We know also that there are significant bugs that have been in the game a lot longer – particularly some remaining issues in Epic Destinies. We have made some important fixes at the end of last year but we know there is still work left to do. Our plan is to prioritize the fixing of these issues alongside our bug fix time for the enhancements and other systems changes planned for the expansion. Thanks in advance to those of you who will help us try features on Lamannia in the coming months and identify the issues most in need of fixing. We are committed to gathering your feedback and working to ensure that we leave both Destinies and Enhancements in better shape by the time Shadowfell Conspiracy ships.

Last thing I wanted to respond to is the discussion on the VIP plan. We are always striving to offer a great value to our VIPs and we think of this as more than just getting access to new content. While our VIPs will continue to receive regular new content and features outside of expansions, we will also be adding other valuable benefits to the program. For example, we already have a change coming for the next patch (as a belated birthday present maybe) which will add 10% boost to all earned XP for VIP accounts. We can’t make every player always decide it is worthwhile to be a VIP, but we will continue to do what we can to make the program a good deal for our most ardent players. We will share more details on these changes as they are solidified.

Happy 7th birthday, DDO! Here is to 7 great years and many more to come.
-Fernando.

[Stanley_Nicholas]

Wow. Fernando, everything you just said sounds great! Please make sure you do everything you can to live up to those expectations. And that 10% VIP bonus xp tidbit puts a smile on my face.

[Aashrym]

We have made some important fixes at the end of last year but we know there is still work left to do. Our plan is to prioritize the fixing of these issues alongside our bug fix time for the enhancements and other systems changes planned for the expansion.

Other planned changes beyond the recent AC changes, spell power changes, weapon changes, and upcoming enhancement changes? I'm scared to ask, but what else is getting over-hauled?

[Loromir]

Last thing I wanted to respond to is the discussion on the VIP plan. We are always striving to offer a great value to our VIPs and we think of this as more than just getting access to new content. While our VIPs will continue to receive regular new content and features outside of expansions, we will also be adding other valuable benefits to the program. For example, we already have a change coming for the next patch (as a belated birthday present maybe) which will add 10% boost to all earned XP for VIP accounts. We can’t make every player always decide it is worthwhile to be a VIP, but we will continue to do what we can to make the program a good deal for our most ardent players. We will share more details on these changes as they are solidified.




As VIP, I am happy to hear about this, but....I know the weeping and gnashing of teeth will soon follow as non VIP will cry foul.

[rest]

Permanent 10% XP for VIPs? If so, AWESOME! Assuming it stacks with all other forms of XP bonus.

[CaptainSpacePony]

...will add 10% boost to all earned XP for VIP accounts. We can’t make every player always decide it is worthwhile to be a VIP, but we will continue to do what we can to make the program a good deal for our most ardent players.

That does add value to VIP, but smells a bit of P2W. Not sure where I stand on it.

Might I also encourage you to take a look at the thread in my signature line for some thoughts on some fast and easy bug fixes?

[Cyr]

While our VIPs will continue to receive regular new content and features outside of expansions, we will also be adding other valuable benefits to the program. For example, we already have a change coming for the next patch (as a belated birthday present maybe) which will add 10% boost to all earned XP for VIP accounts.

/sigh

More pay2win but this time only for one account type.

[Phoenix-daBard]

For example, we already have a change coming for the next patch (as a belated birthday present maybe) which will add 10% boost to all earned XP for VIP accounts.

As a premium player I say this is a good change.

[Loromir]

That does add value to VIP, but smells a bit of P2W. Not sure where I stand on it.

Might I also encourage you to take a look at the thread in my signature line for some thoughts on some fast and easy bug fixes?

I would define P2W as...you can't succeed (Win) without paying RL money. This isn't pay to win...it is pay to win faster.

[Saravis]

That does add value to VIP, but smells a bit of P2W. Not sure where I stand on it.


Nah, its really no different from purchasing xp pots from the store. As a non-VIP I'm perfectly cool with something like this.

[kierg10]

For example, we already have a change coming for the next patch (as a belated birthday present maybe) which will add 10% boost to all earned XP for VIP accounts.

Happy 7th birthday, DDO! Here is to 7 great years and many more to come.
-Fernando.

<3

Thank you so much, this is amazing.

[Gkar]

Hi everyone-
Just wanted to drop in to say Happy Birthday to DDO and thanks to everyone for continuing to play and support our game. Also congratulations to Glin on his first big producer letter! Erik and the rest of the DDO team have some great additions to the game coming with this expansion and we are excited to start sharing information with you.

I wanted to touch on the topic of bugs and product quality that I have seen brought up a lot in this thread. First thing is to say that we recognize that there have been some lingering issues from both the U17 deployment and our recent billing system migration. Fixes for the major issues introduced with these changes are being readied now and hopefully will get deployed as soon as tomorrow. So birthday gifts and missing monk outfits will hopefully be fixed tomorrow (look for an official announcement soon). We would have gotten this out sooner, but we have a fix for some new causes of server lag and disconnects that will be part of that patch also and that needed some extra bake time.

We know also that there are significant bugs that have been in the game a lot longer – particularly some remaining issues in Epic Destinies. We have made some important fixes at the end of last year but we know there is still work left to do. Our plan is to prioritize the fixing of these issues alongside our bug fix time for the enhancements and other systems changes planned for the expansion. Thanks in advance to those of you who will help us try features on Lamannia in the coming months and identify the issues most in need of fixing. We are committed to gathering your feedback and working to ensure that we leave both Destinies and Enhancements in better shape by the time Shadowfell Conspiracy ships.

That all sounds quite reasonable, thank you for the feedback and information.


Last thing I wanted to respond to is the discussion on the VIP plan. We are always striving to offer a great value to our VIPs and we think of this as more than just getting access to new content. While our VIPs will continue to receive regular new content and features outside of expansions, we will also be adding other valuable benefits to the program. For example, we already have a change coming for the next patch (as a belated birthday present maybe) which will add 10% boost to all earned XP for VIP accounts. We can’t make every player always decide it is worthwhile to be a VIP, but we will continue to do what we can to make the program a good deal for our most ardent players. We will share more details on these changes as they are solidified.

/Blinks
/Reads again
/blinks

You have no idea how welcome that news is, and you really mean ALL earned XP for VIP accounts? Heroic and Epic? Stacking with everything else?

I can't wait to see what else you are thinking about for VIPs.

I think I'll take back my complaints about treatment of VIPs and resubscribe to that membership I cancelled yesterday, at least for 90 days to see what gets released :o

[Sonos]

For example, we already have a change coming for the next patch (as a belated birthday present maybe) which will add 10% boost to all earned XP for VIP accounts.
-Fernando.

You Dropped a Bomb on Me (http://youtu.be/17lkdqoLt44)