Make Expansions Great Again

[ThomasHunter]

I loved the first two DDO expansions. In fact, it took me many months to work through all of the content and many more to be finally comfortable with the content (mostly). Things that I loved about the expansions that I hope we see again in some way, shape, or form:


"Bridge" quest series - both had them and I thought both sets were and are still enjoyable (Lords of Dust and Shadow of a Doubt series)!
Pet - Yeah, still a sucker for a fun pet!
Fun consmetics - both had some really cool cosmetics of which the golden goggles might be my favorite. Give us more!
Pre-order fun - both had some cool pre-order goodness that was included. Let's see more of this! My $100 is ready to go!
Adventure zones - yes please! Big and fun!
Alt-sensation stuff - Every toon of mine receives 2x+3 skill tomes. They each get tomes of learning as well. YES! Something like this for the alt-aholics please!
New race or class - MOTU had druids and Shadowfell had the Iconics. All excellent additions to the game. This would be icing on the cake!


This list probably isn't complete, but the hype of the pre-expansion quests and the pre-order goodness are really high up on the list of "YES" stuff please.

I so look forward to this content.

Oh, one more thing, I really thought that having the Wheloon and Storm Horn quests at different levels was nice. I believe Sev talked about all the heroic quests being level 10. Maybe split them half and half between 10 and the other half at 12? Would love to continue to fill in some new quests at those levels.

Happy adventuring!

[Uska]

Neither was great the first was ok the second was terrible and a rip off

[Cantor]

Neither was great the first was ok the second was terrible and a rip off

I still love the content of MotU. Great quests. Great detail in some of the settings/graphics/etc/ the way the underdark was without goggles before they nerfed it. Great raid other than sp drain great loot, just too long with terrible drop rates on comms. Powercreep just ramped up so fast...

Second has some good quests too. WGU is amazing. Second expansion really has a bad rep because 1) no raid 2)unlike MotU (EDs) the system change that came with it was free so people consider it not really part of the expansion, thus perceive getting less for the money. My only real complaint is that WGU end fight is visually difficult in the shadowfell with post on. Loot was amazing when cap was 28, wonderous items gave a real random loot chaser. We had that for a short time after last loot update until slavers outdated it all.

[KoobTheProud]

Shadows was not terrible at all. It brought us Iconics, which were a huge step up for vets tired of low level TR's, and it gave us several good quests plus Wheloon Prison which was a decent explorer area with multiple objectives.

MotU was better but Shadows was a decent x-pac. I hope Ravenloft is better than both because right now DDO needs to hit one out of the park if they want to grow the subscriber base instead of watching it continue to decline.

[bjones0064]

I loved the first two DDO expansions. In fact, it took me many months to work through all of the content and many more to be finally comfortable with the content (mostly). Things that I loved about the expansions that I hope we see again in some way, shape, or form:


"Bridge" quest series - both had them and I thought both sets were and are still enjoyable (Lords of Dust and Shadow of a Doubt series)!
Pet - Yeah, still a sucker for a fun pet!
Fun consmetics - both had some really cool cosmetics of which the golden goggles might be my favorite. Give us more!
Pre-order fun - both had some cool pre-order goodness that was included. Let's see more of this! My $100 is ready to go!
Adventure zones - yes please! Big and fun!
Alt-sensation stuff - Every toon of mine receives 2x+3 skill tomes. They each get tomes of learning as well. YES! Something like this for the alt-aholics please!
New race or class - MOTU had druids and Shadowfell had the Iconics. All excellent additions to the game. This would be icing on the cake!


This list probably isn't complete, but the hype of the pre-expansion quests and the pre-order goodness are really high up on the list of "YES" stuff please.

I so look forward to this content.

Oh, one more thing, I really thought that having the Wheloon and Storm Horn quests at different levels was nice. I believe Sev talked about all the heroic quests being level 10. Maybe split them half and half between 10 and the other half at 12? Would love to continue to fill in some new quests at those levels.

Happy adventuring!


It needs to be hard at the most requirement unsoloable. I would love to see things as simple as more locked doors requiring a rogue, higher Dr and PRr for monsters requiring teamwork to complete the quest. Huge amounts of traps on doors especially after the quest is over make us hunt down a random loot droo in the quest to slow down. Farming out the gear. Also trap the **** out of the rooms and loot.

[bjones0064]

[QUOTE=bjones0064;5973313]It needs to be hard at the most requirement unsoloable. I would love to see things as simple as more locked doors requiring a rogue, higher Dr and PRr for monsters requiring teamwork to complete the quest. Huge amounts of traps on doors especially after the quest is over make us hunt down a random loot drop in the quest to slow down. Farming out the gear. Also trap the snot out of the rooms and final end game loot.

[ShinobiKitten]

Personally, the last big update i genuinely enjoyed was MotU. I own ALL content but have to this day never completed the Wheloon quest chain, Thunderholm quests, none of it. if it came out after MotU, i own it, and have yet to complete it in its entirety (except slavelords which i spent 3 different gaming sessions at heroic lvl 2-manning and never stepped foot in that hellhole again). I HATE the introduction of iconics and i HATE the introduction of warlocks and i HATE the introduction of lvl cap 30 lol my highest level character is still sat at level 28 because, to be quite honest, i havent played epics too much since the cap was raised to 30 and its not because i dont want to try the new content persay either
1) from the new content i ~have~ tried, i can't solo it. nor can i 2 man it with a guildy. so i end up stuck because if i post an lfm saying i need a guide, no one joins. if i post one just in general for the quest, the people who join zerg through the quests all fast and i dont learn it then when it comes to getting to the next quest, NO ONE will slow down to help me get there so i end up lost and just going to do a different quest because no one will come out of the quest to guide me lol
2) most people only want to do ee/r and, at least for the chains that are available in heroic levels, id prefer to run it at heroic level. but since its near to impossible for me to find a group to even do it at heroic, that hasnt happened either
3) so much of the new content is SO **** LOOOOONG. like i said above, slave lords took me 3 different gaming sessions on 3 different days. about 3 hours for each quest, give or take and i made it through about 2 optionals in toee pt1 before giving up and those took me an hour to find and complete. i am someone who comes home from work and plays the game till i go to bed which is usually about 5-6hrs a night and i dont want to spent nearly the entirety of my time online slogging through the same **** hallways. (because lets be real here, as far as slave lords is concerned, all 3 quests look exactly the same for the entire time except the end fight at the very end which is complete and utter bs)

i want to love the new content but i just cant seem to find a way to learn it. what does one do when they cant solo and cant find a group to go slow enough that the newbie to the quest can keep up and learn it lol and im also not a person who takes 12x running a quest to get it - i usually can find my way around a quest the 2nd or 3rd time i do it. i just literally cant even do that 1st time which is really unfortunate. Im hoping with the switch to ssg that maybe the next update will either be complicated enough for ~everyone~ to have to be in a party and go slow to complete it or easy enough that i can shortman or solo it without getting my booty handed to me in the first 30-enemy mob lol (because in recent content i feel like its just hallways with giant mobs halfway up now. i want more than that :c



however! i do agree with other things you said. i love the cosmetics, the creature companions, and the tickets i get on every alt i make with skill tomes so i hope that something like that happens with the next update too. especially the cosmetic piece hehe i'm a sucker for looking cool in games!

(sorry that got kind of rant-y.)

[Connman]

...

i want to love the new content but i just cant seem to find a way to learn it. what does one do when they cant solo and cant find a group to go slow enough that the newbie to the quest can keep up and learn it ...

When I get new content I want to explore it alone myself. I don't want to be distracted by other people, aside from my wife.

We will typically try elite first to see how it goes. If that is too hard for are current builds we will:
a. Pause bravery bonus and try a lower difficulty, or
b. level a few times and try again.

Although I think I only ever had to use b on TOEE.
Just about anyone should be able to clear every hallway and kill every mob on casual with a hireling of some type.

[phillymiket]

Location, location, location.
Having a good idea for a chain is what makes it good.
MoTU feels like an interconnected sprawling epic, that's why it's great.
I can't think of a single piece of gear that I'd use from that pack but I still love it.
I prefer that over something like Necropolis that makes my eyeballs bleed.

I gladly run chains like Phiarlan Carnival, MoTU, and The Path of Inspiration even if they don't have the best xp/min because it is compelling storytelling.
What I don't prefer is cut n paste dungeons like Therenial or Tangleroot.
Or chains that feel like you are trapped in the same spot fighting the same thing, like Whealon or Druids Deep.
I don't like needless obstacles, like too much slayer areas to run through over and over like Sorrowdusk, or silly flagging mechanics like Refuge in the Storm.
I also don't prefer quests that have nebulous and confusing story-lines like <redacted to avoid people explaining the storylines>.

Take me somewhere challenging where I've never been and give me a reason to be there and I'm happy.

[Thrudh]

Neither was great the first was ok the second was terrible and a rip off

MOTU was great. Shadowfell was good.

The stories were good in both. Some quests were great, some were good, some were just okay.

The explorer areas in both expansions were amazing. The voicework for the explorer spots and the graphics for the different environments (especially Demonweb and Stormhorns) is top-notch. I cannot praise them enough.

More please.

[Thrudh]

1) from the new content i ~have~ tried, i can't solo it. nor can i 2 man it with a guildy. so i end up stuck because if i post an lfm saying i need a guide, no one joins.


i want to love the new content but i just cant seem to find a way to learn it. what does one do when they cant solo and cant find a group to go slow enough that the newbie to the quest can keep up and learn it lol and im also not a person who takes 12x running a quest to get it - i usually can find my way around a quest the 2nd or 3rd time i do it. i just literally cant even do that 1st time which is really unfortunate.

Solo or two-man it on normal or casual. That's one way to learn a new quest. I rarely play a new quest on elite or with a group when it comes out; I almost always start with hard and do it solo, just to enjoy the new quest. I would never run a brand-new quest with a PUG who are likely to be zerging through. My first time through, I want to check everything out, and read all the dialogue, and enjoy the story.

[zehnvhex]

Shadow's content was fine. Charging as much as they did for it however was what made it not worth it. When it's on sale for 85% off, that's about how much it's worth and even that's stretching it.

Honestly, my hope is that the U35 quests were just Torc remembering how to do things and them letting some intern mess with the dungeons. As it stands newcomers is a pile of garbage from start to finish and Black/Blue is only worth it for the 3 people in the game that don't have full Tempest Spine sets. The raid is tuned for people in Slavers gear but drops stuff that is categorically worse.

I'm honestly not terribly optimistic at this point. Unless they through blatantly broken OP gear at us it seems like they've completely forgotten how to make good quests. The last 'decent' one was search and rescue but most of that dungeon is tied up in an optional that gives bupkis for XP so it becomes cost prohibitive to run now that they've committed 100% to the TR treadmill.

I mean here's hoping but if things like Tower of Frost, Newcomers and whatnot are what we can expect...

[Mr_Helmet]

Neither was great the first was ok the second was terrible and a rip off

Oh come on, MOTU was awesome. Shadowfell was good content, just not an expansion.

[odheon]

MOTU was amazing.

What I expect for new expansion:
- Collectors Edition like MOTU, a lot bonus contents
- Quest with group mechanics, puzzles...
- New feats
- New Monsters
- Quest in the dark that need a torch or lighting items like Rainbow in the dark

[Drevok]

Well it will be ravenloft so if done well should be very interesting.

I think the expansion may have 1 or 2 new races perhaps included in the deluxe package.

For adventure areas having very rare unique items such as in the desert on top of whatever else would be a big plus.

Having tomes for every alt definitely made a difference for me picking up a higher package than I would otherwise have picked. Not sure what tome it will be thus time but I'd guess +1 racial AP with +2 for the highest end (+1 min level 10, +2 level 20?).

New cosmetic items i might like, new pets I expect others may like.

A very good bridge quest or 2. Motu had some excellent ones, but shadowfell not too good.

For heroic, having half the quests at level 10 and the rest at level 11 would be very nice.

Pricing, motu was a bit expensive but was overall ok (preordered everything). So with that expwrience, i did the same for Shadowfell, wow did I feel ripped off. Now i would need to see good value before considering a preorder. (let alone 4 pre-orders as would be for family)...

[dunklezhan]

Both MOTU and Shadows are great - but only MOTU felt like an 'expansion', assuming you accept the premise that the word "expansion" and DDO should go together in the first place (at least as far as VIPs are concerned).

Shadows - especially Stormhorns - really didn't bring anything new to the game systems-wise, at least MOTU on the other hand brought EDs and introduced iconics... nah, for me, Shadows is more like a couple of updates and account packs smushed into one and called an expansion - albeit a very pretty set of updates, certainly can't fault them on immersion and craft, although Wheloon was the first sign they were embracing the "millions of mobs = fun challenge!" with enthusiasm rather than the one off in the underdark they threw into MOTU.

And FR doesn't interest me as a setting, mores the pity. Ravenloft less so. I want to see more of Eberron.

So, anyway, Ravenloft does need to work to justify that 'expansion' label as far as I'm concerned. I'm hoping "Intelligent" weapons are just the start of it.

[Uska]

MOTU was great. Shadowfell was good.

The stories were good in both. Some quests were great, some were good, some were just okay.

The explorer areas in both expansions were amazing. The voicework for the explorer spots and the graphics for the different environments (especially Demonweb and Stormhorns) is top-notch. I cannot praise them enough.

More please.

Anything involving the realms can never be more than ok to me I loathe the realms and everything about them so saying first expansion was ok is high praise from me.

[Uska]

Oh come on, MOTU was awesome. Shadowfell was good content, just not an expansion.

No it wasn't awesome I almost quit over it extreme power creep plus the realms ????

[The_Human_Cypher]

Quest in the dark that need a torch or lighting items like Rainbow in the dark

Yes! This would be a great feature in one of the Ravenloft quests or in some part of the Barovia explorer area.

https://db4sgowjqfwig.cloudfront.net/campaigns/123943/assets/586148/barovia.jpg?1462488233

[phillymiket]

No it wasn't awesome I almost quit over it extreme power creep plus the realms ????
I was viewing that separately.
The devs probably had a team working on EDs, and another creating the quests.
You make a good point about when the power creep became a power tidal wave, true.
But whoever made the quests was doing a good job.
I think they're fantastic, (despite Elminster's "ye")


Yes! This would be a great feature in one of the Ravenloft quests or in some part of the Barovia explorer area.

https://db4sgowjqfwig.cloudfront.net/campaigns/123943/assets/586148/barovia.jpg?1462488233

That picture is making me salivate. Ravenloft sounds like a great idea.

[Uska]

Yes! This would be a great feature in one of the Ravenloft quests or in some part of the Barovia explorer area.

https://db4sgowjqfwig.cloudfront.net/campaigns/123943/assets/586148/barovia.jpg?1462488233

Not really a Ravenloft fan but that looks cool and I do work with blood and am married to a girl from Transylvania with bonus of being a psycho killer in a low budget film

[Kaisheng21]

Maybe they could start by making sure the expansions *actually* give you Premium after you buy them.