New player feedback

[paragoon]

I invited 2 new players and they are having a bunch of fun but here is their negative feedback, other than that they love the game and are both subscribed players and have bought expansions. So they definitely have the best investment into the game


1. Sorcerer being unable to change spells that's a bit one, wizard having way too little SP early on and no good spellcaster subclasses unless you want to go feydark or melee build sorc.
Which I kind of agree with its 2022, do we really need to think about that old-school mentality of penalizing players for not knowing the metal perfectly seems like a weird flex.

2. Some quests don't feel balanced exp wise for the difficulty they present even for a 3 player group. 1-5/6 gameplay takes too long and is not as fun as after.

3. Movement speed in quests is far too slow in quests if you don't have expeditious and even with that it is, which I even as a player from 2010 agree. 10-15% more movement will make the game more fluid. Maybe a higher cap if you want to balance it since a bunch of other classes have extra move boosts.
I personally don't think that more movement would be bad.

4. The rewards from quests feel really unrewarding. In my opinion we need more exp crystals, or some tokens or something a bit more worthwhile. If the game is based on 300 past lives lol, then a bit more exp gem rewards would be nice or maybe crystals to craft some stuff like barovia or some rewards that are a bit worthwhile.
Or maybe better stuff to buy with platinum, maybe shards lots of possible solutions.

[LeoLionxxx]

1. Sorcerer being unable to change spells that's a bit one, wizard having way too little SP early on and no good spellcaster subclasses unless you want to go feydark or melee build sorc.
Which I kind of agree with its 2022, do we really need to think about that old-school mentality of penalizing players for not knowing the metal perfectly seems like a weird flex.


From what I hear Wizard Necromancer is in an okay state, though might not be everyone's cup of tea. Indeed, the Archmage tree is in sore need of an update!

Just FYI, sorcerers can change their spells by talking to a class trainer; that's not totally obvious of course, and there's a timed limit unless you drink dragon's blood.



3. Movement speed in quests is far too slow in quests if you don't have expeditious and even with that it is, which I even as a player from 2010 agree. 10-15% more movement will make the game more fluid. Maybe a higher cap if you want to balance it since a bunch of other classes have extra move boosts.
I personally don't think that more movement would be bad.


From what I hear, physically keeping up with other players as they race ahead is a common problem new players have!

IIRC, movement speed is very close to being too high for the engine(?) to handle, so giving more speed is much out of the question.

IMO the base movement speed should be increased by something like 20% and then speed items/enhancements are just scaled back accordingly so we end up in the same place. (i.e. a +30% striding item would instead give +10% so you end up at that same +30%)

[archest]

Playing the game is all perspective on how you relate to the game vs others like diablo.

power leveling or exploring in turn what level your exploring and how fast or slow you need to explore to complete the game without dying.
controlling the fight. using your team talents or solo abilities to control the flow of the battle
running elite on quests that are 3 levels under you characters runs the elite quest at your current level.
you can even run r1 at that level. 1st life adventurers since your vip you dont need an opener.

I hate playing catch up and have dropped from groups because of it.

speed is the worse game feature there is.
bank any low level speed gear 15% use haste spells and pots and still you will be playing catch up.
get horses from the keep feathers or buy one from the store. I bank boots myself. I have a pair level 14 30% that you cant not get anymore at that level.
everyone wants better end chest rewards always.

"Sorcerer being unable to change spells that's a bit one, wizard having way too little SP early on and no good spellcaster subclasses"
dont know why part of the lore of the class? they can but must wait 3 days between changes or use dragon blood for unlimited changes for 30 min ?
really have to plan your build and understand what your getting into and the limitations you need to overcome to play that particular class and or race.

ddo class in google https://ddowiki.com/page/Classes

[Fauxknight]

1. As mentioned sorcerers can change spells, but they aren't meant to be able to do it on the fly. The option to change spells for a sorcerer is in case they find a spell not as useful as they thought it would be or Ieveling invalidates the usefulness of a spell. This is in accordance with how Sorcerers work in 3e/3.5 D&D.

1. Wizard is a bit tricky. The wizard Pale Master and Eldritch Knight trees function fantastically for what they were designed to do, whilst the Archmage tree is more meh (at least it does do things that help a pure caster). Wizards can't throw fireballs all day, so they tend to focus more on DC based spells, crowd control and insta kills. If one good spell ends the fight then you don't need the mana to throw 3 fireballs. Wizards tend to function well in groups where they can cast a CC like Mass Hold Monster and then let the party barbarian clean up the helpless enemies.

2. I love love love the 1-6 gameplay, it's absolutely fantastic, you level put of it too quickly. I do agree not all quests have the same risk vs reward though, but playing through the quests is how you learn which ones you prefer.

3. Movement speed in most quests seems fine to me, particularly for newer players who aren't going to blitz through them at breakneck speeds.10-15% speed boots are usually one of the first things a character should be looking out for, including not just as drops but on the auction house.

4. You can either Cannith craft custom gear or farm for the specific items you need in the proper dungeons. If what your character needs or wants is available in the game then you go get it.

[Fauxknight]

From what I hear, physically keeping up with other players as they race ahead is a common problem new players have!

Somewhat common when joining random groups, not always though, I find certain players are bad apples in this regard. If playing with friends this should never be an issue, and of course there's plenty to do solo as well. DDO is great at letting people play within their own comfort zone, you could even create a group in the group finder and label it with your preferred style of play such as "casual", "newbie", or "speedrun".

[slarden]

1. Sorcerer being unable to change spells that's a bit one, wizard having way too little SP early on and no good spellcaster subclasses unless you want to go feydark or melee build sorc.
Which I kind of agree with its 2022, do we really need to think about that old-school mentality of penalizing players for not knowing the metal perfectly seems like a weird flex.


At least my experience leveling an alt on a full free-to-play account with no hand-me-downs, plat-passing, purchases, etc. is that a new player should really avoid casting classes unless they are part of a static group. if they are going to be pugging or soloing I would stay away from them. If a person is willing to buy tomes, etc. it's a bit more workable, but still not the easy button that other classes are.

I found the absolute best first-life ftp build for soloing was paladin. Some self-healing, unyielding sovereignty for plague reaper emergencies, really great aoe and single-target dps.




2. Some quests don't feel balanced exp wise for the difficulty they present even for a 3 player group. 1-5/6 gameplay takes too long and is not as fun as after.
There are always exceptions, but in general newer quests are harder than older quests of the same heroic level. Experience is also not very consistent for the time investment.

If someone is focused on maxing favor xp almost doesn't matter because even without any xp boosts running all the heroic quests will get you to 20 and you will be losing xp running some quests while already maxed out.



3. Movement speed in quests is far too slow in quests if you don't have expeditious and even with that it is, which I even as a player from 2010 agree. 10-15% more movement will make the game more fluid. Maybe a higher cap if you want to balance it since a bunch of other classes have extra move boosts.
I personally don't think that more movement would be bad. The first thing I do on hardcore is farm shield clickies and expeditious retreat boots from korthos.

Part of the problem is most vets have 30% from quiver form 10th anniversary gift, but with several expeditious retreat clickies you should be able to keep up.



4. The rewards from quests feel really unrewarding. In my opinion we need more exp crystals, or some tokens or something a bit more worthwhile. If the game is based on 300 past lives lol, then a bit more exp gem rewards would be nice or maybe crystals to craft some stuff like barovia or some rewards that are a bit worthwhile.
Or maybe better stuff to buy with platinum, maybe shards lots of possible solutions. I think saga reward lists should include an option for a bankable xp crystal. For example, you can take 200k immediately or 80k bankable (some % of the immediate xp).

I agree with the statement, but I don't think loot revamps for named heroic gear is going to happen on a global level. Remnants if the main questing currency so providing some more interesting rewards at heroic levels might be a way to solve the problem.

[paragoon]

From what I hear Wizard Necromancer is in an okay state, though might not be everyone's cup of tea. Indeed, the Archmage tree is in sore need of an update!

Just FYI, sorcerers can change their spells by talking to a class trainer; that's not totally obvious of course, and there's a timed limit unless you drink dragon's blood.



From what I hear, physically keeping up with other players as they race ahead is a common problem new players have!

IIRC, movement speed is very close to being too high for the engine(?) to handle, so giving more speed is much out of the question.

IMO the base movement speed should be increased by something like 20% and then speed items/enhancements are just scaled back accordingly so we end up in the same place. (i.e. a +30% striding item would instead give +10% so you end up at that same +30%)

Why is there a time limit is this 2007? just let people change things, even dnd 5e allows you to change stuff pretty easily. Make it an hour or a day 3 days is crazy

[paragoon]

1. As mentioned sorcerers can change spells, but they aren't meant to be able to do it on the fly. The option to change spells for a sorcerer is in case they find a spell not as useful as they thought it would be or Ieveling invalidates the usefulness of a spell. This is in accordance with how Sorcerers work in 3e/3.5 D&D.

1. Wizard is a bit tricky. The wizard Pale Master and Eldritch Knight trees function fantastically for what they were designed to do, whilst the Archmage tree is more meh (at least it does do things that help a pure caster). Wizards can't throw fireballs all day, so they tend to focus more on DC based spells, crowd control and insta kills. If one good spell ends the fight then you don't need the mana to throw 3 fireballs. Wizards tend to function well in groups where they can cast a CC like Mass Hold Monster and then let the party barbarian clean up the helpless enemies.

2. I love love love the 1-6 gameplay, it's absolutely fantastic, you level put of it too quickly. I do agree not all quests have the same risk vs reward though, but playing through the quests is how you learn which ones you prefer.

3. Movement speed in most quests seems fine to me, particularly for newer players who aren't going to blitz through them at breakneck speeds.10-15% speed boots are usually one of the first things a character should be looking out for, including not just as drops but on the auction house.

4. You can either Cannith craft custom gear or farm for the specific items you need in the proper dungeons. If what your character needs or wants is available in the game then you go get it.

To respond 1. yea they were trying archmage seemed not to flow too well. And the issue is honestly that the game as no cantrips to cover basic damage or wants scaling with stuff so you can do more, maybe not as big of a damage but some would be nice.

3. I personally agree with my friends even at 25% movement with expeditious retreat, the game can feel like its wasting your time especially if you forgot a key because your inventory is full because it happens ALL THE DAMNED TIME and u have to run back, or one lever lagged or one puzzle piece lagged and turned one too few or too many or turned after. And even for general movement in most quests its fine but there are some walking quests are hyper annoying with just running about or running from place to place. 10% more seems to be ideal.

2. Things don't have to be just bad, and you learn not do the bad thing, that is a very bad mentality to have as a designer when developing a quest challenging sure bad.. that's bad. Why not make quests be equal the reward for their challenge, it seems like simple adjustments, its not like those quests have super good loot either. It feels really bad as a new player to just challenge yourself and overcome it for really bad rewards that waste your time in a sense when you could have been doing something else. Make everything a bit more fun, the game has 300 past lives lol we can spare 1000 or 500 exp on top.


4. I have no idea what this point is about

[Fauxknight]

4. I have no idea what this point is about

You mentioned wanting to be able to craft useful gear, there is a system in place for that.

Also there are 159 past lives last I checked...well short of 300.

[Chacka_DDO]

I invited 2 new players and they are having a bunch of fun but here is their negative feedback, other than that they love the game and are both subscribed players and have bought expansions. So they definitely have the best investment into the game


1. Sorcerer being unable to change spells that's a bit one, wizard having way too little SP early on and no good spellcaster subclasses unless you want to go feydark or melee build sorc.
Which I kind of agree with its 2022, do we really need to think about that old-school mentality of penalizing players for not knowing the metal perfectly seems like a weird flex.

her I must say I don't see a way to change that unless you want a fundamental change, a sorcerer is meant to have fewer spells who are an innate part of the sorcerer and for this reason, it is even relatively easy to change the spell for a sorcerer but the question is on the other hand if a spell-change should be more difficult than the change of your enhancement or destiny who are basically also meant to be an innate part of a character ... hmmm
And a sorcerer is because it is an innate part of him/her also more familiar with a spell, its a part of his "nature" so to speak and for that reason, he can cast it faster and more often and exactly because of this a sorcerer has more spell points and for this reason a wizard has less and I think that's in general good as it is (it can be of course different en detail but this is a developer decision)


2. Some quests don't feel balanced exp wise for the difficulty they present even for a 3 player group. 1-5/6 gameplay takes too long and is not as fun as after.

also here it is disputable how the developers should balance the experience, personally, I'm quite ok with that but this might be just a result that I'm used to the status quo.


3. Movement speed in quests is far too slow in quests if you don't have expeditious and even with that it is, which I even as a player from 2010 agree. 10-15% more movement will make the game more fluid. Maybe a higher cap if you want to balance it since a bunch of other classes have extra move boosts.
I personally don't think that more movement would be bad.

For the movement speed, I think the developers should drop the idea that a lower-level item gives less movement speed than a higher-level item, all items and buffs who increase movement speed should give 30% and that's it, and only movement speed bonuses based on your class and boosts extend that "cap".
This would give new players a lot of options to get the "standard" 30% like striding buff from druid or ranger (currently only 15%) or expeditious retreat from arcane spells (or the boots you get in Korthos) and you would find relatively fast an item with 30% movement speed the same as you find relatively early an item with feather fall now.


4. The rewards from quests feel really unrewarding. In my opinion we need more exp crystals, or some tokens or something a bit more worthwhile. If the game is based on 300 past lives lol, then a bit more exp gem rewards would be nice or maybe crystals to craft some stuff like barovia or some rewards that are a bit worthwhile.
Or maybe better stuff to buy with platinum, maybe shards lots of possible solutions.

The reason why I promote already for yeas an item system where you find items you can use at any character level is exactly this, you should be able to find good items in a level 1 quest the same as in a level 30 quest (but you should not be allowed to fast farming items with a level 30 character in a level 1 quest)
Random loot could do exactly this and I made already suggestions and try to continue to promote the system I currently have in my mind which is for sure not "perfect" but I think the idea goes in the right direction and DDO would be better with items you can use at any character level (and you find in any quest level)

[Oxarhamar]

Why is there a time limit is this 2007? just let people change things, even dnd 5e allows you to change stuff pretty easily. Make it an hour or a day 3 days is crazy

To sell bypass

Also welcome

[Chilldude]

I invited 2 new players and they are having a bunch of fun but here is their negative feedback...


Sorcerers can change their spells. 1 spell every three days from a trainer, or all spells for 1 hour with a blood of dragons. The best way to learn spells and casting for someone completely new to the game though is on a wizard... all the same spells as sorc and completely interchangeable at every shrine.

XP is certainly a mess. The devs do everything in their power to continually nerf the high XP/min quests to keep people buying elixirs and XP stones. They like to say they are buffing XP, so they give quests with extremely low XP a 10% buff (like 3000 XP becomes 3300) and then nerf the high XP quests by 10% (like 20,000 becomes 18,000). It's a HUGE net loss in XP for players, but they like to act like they are helping us out. One could argue they aren't willfully malicious, they are simply just terrible with math, I think both are true.

If you feel like you can't run fast enough in quests then you might want to turn up the difficulty. Elite isn't an accurate descriptor anymore, turn up the skulls and you won't be steamrolling packs of mobs as you run down the hall.

Treasure chests should have their names changed to trash cans. You collect the empty bottles in the trash cans, take them to a vendor and recycle them for plat. If it's not a named item from one of the new expansions it's not worth using. It's a shame, but the way they've painted the game into a corner there isn't much that can be done at this point. Just look at chest looting and vendoring as just another chore to do along the way.


DDO was once a great game, now it is what it is. You just grind as fast as you can so that you can acquire more power to grind at a slightly higher difficulty until one day you have all the power and you've won DDO. Your reward is to come to the forums to complain about the game being too easy.

[paragoon]

Sorcerers can change their spells. 1 spell every three days from a trainer, or all spells for 1 hour with a blood of dragons. The best way to learn spells and casting for someone completely new to the game though is on a wizard... all the same spells as sorc and completely interchangeable at every shrine.

XP is certainly a mess. The devs do everything in their power to continually nerf the high XP/min quests to keep people buying elixirs and XP stones. They like to say they are buffing XP, so they give quests with extremely low XP a 10% buff (like 3000 XP becomes 3300) and then nerf the high XP quests by 10% (like 20,000 becomes 18,000). It's a HUGE net loss in XP for players, but they like to act like they are helping us out. One could argue they aren't willfully malicious, they are simply just terrible with math, I think both are true.

If you feel like you can't run fast enough in quests then you might want to turn up the difficulty. Elite isn't an accurate descriptor anymore, turn up the skulls and you won't be steamrolling packs of mobs as you run down the hall.

Treasure chests should have their names changed to trash cans. You collect the empty bottles in the trash cans, take them to a vendor and recycle them for plat. If it's not a named item from one of the new expansions it's not worth using. It's a shame, but the way they've painted the game into a corner there isn't much that can be done at this point. Just look at chest looting and vendoring as just another chore to do along the way.


DDO was once a great game, now it is what it is. You just grind as fast as you can so that you can acquire more power to grind at a slightly higher difficulty until one day you have all the power and you've won DDO. Your reward is to come to the forums to complain about the game being too easy.


its not an issue of difficulty, its not 2004 anymore. Have u see the speed at which modern games like warframe, path of exile or even wow are played at?

[Marshal_Lannes]

Movement speed is possibly the #1 problem for first-life characters. On HC everyone commiserates over how darn slow we move at first. It's annoying. It makes the game less fun. So much has been added to the game addressing the simple mechanic that characters move too slow it would take a major loot/system revamp to address this so I'm not sure there is an easy solution. The current Dev inherited this problem.

As pointed out, sorcerers and wizards are not good starting classes. They are heavily reliant on tomes and spell meta. A superior option for those who like slinging spells is Bard or divines. FVS is the most popular class on HC for a reason.

I'm not sure how experience can be a problem for first-life characters. You're hitting level constantly. Maybe they come from games where there are a lot more levels? There are only 30 here. Per the loot - some quest chains have amazing low-level loot. In particular the Gatekeeper's quests in the Cerulean Hills and Feywild. Saltmarsh loot is good as well, but not as good as the Feywild (and the set bonus isn't as nice) and the quests are harder.

[Epicsoul]

I couldn't agree more with the running speed. Ideas to make things better for new players:
- The 30% run speed one get's from items should be the standard run speed, no item required
- All current speed items should just give melee and ranged alacrity
- The Iconic Tiefling past life should be alacrity instead of run speed (5% per past life)
- Expeditious Retreat should give a 10% unique bonus to run speed for 15 seconds
- Haste should give a 5% unique bonus to run speed, in addition to alacrity

[Oxarhamar]

Movement speed is possibly the #1 problem for first-life characters. On HC everyone commiserates over how darn slow we move at first. It's annoying. It makes the game less fun. So much has been added to the game addressing the simple mechanic that characters move too slow it would take a major loot/system revamp to address this so I'm not sure there is an easy solution. The current Dev inherited this problem.

As pointed out, sorcerers and wizards are not good starting classes. They are heavily reliant on tomes and spell meta. A superior option for those who like slinging spells is Bard or divines. FVS is the most popular class on HC for a reason.

I'm not sure how experience can be a problem for first-life characters. You're hitting level constantly. Maybe they come from games where there are a lot more levels? There are only 30 here. Per the loot - some quest chains have amazing low-level loot. In particular the Gatekeeper's quests in the Cerulean Hills and Feywild. Saltmarsh loot is good as well, but not as good as the Feywild (and the set bonus isn't as nice) and the quests are harder.

Movement speed can be addressed just boost it at base and remove it from items and from enhancements done there's no reason for it

[Nebless]

Movement speed is possibly the #1 problem for first-life characters. On HC everyone commiserates over how darn slow we move at first. It's annoying. It makes the game less fun.


I couldn't agree more with the running speed. Ideas to make things better for new players:
- The 30% run speed one get's from items should be the standard run speed, no item required

I'm of the opposite opinion, I'm just fine with the slower movement speed. I don't zerg, I don't group with people that zerg and I'm not on the TR treadmill and feel I must blow through content as quick as possible.

I DON'T see it as a race and enjoy just going through content at a slower pace, 'sniffing the flowers' along the way.

I get that others don't play like I do, but couldn't tell you if I'm in the minority or majority. That being the case I'd have no problem if (like in some RPG's with the walk, trot, run symbols) they added a toggle where you could increase your speed, but DON'T force it on those of us that don't want it.

[Nebless]

I invited 2 new players and they are having a bunch of fun but here is their negative feedback,

1. wizard having way too little SP early on and no good spellcaster subclasses

3. Movement speed in quests is far too slow in quests if you don't have expeditious

1. Have either of them played D&D in the past? If not than you should take the time to explain the reason why that is, how all characters are considered to be 'fresh off the farm' and just learning their trade so of course they'll be weak.

3. Is this a factor because THEY want to blow through content? OR because you have movement buffs equipped and they can't keep up with you? Some of these dungeons and what's in them are really nice to look at and I guess it goes back to if they've played D&D before, but creeping through the dungeon, listening for stuff and hearing the DM speak is what it should be about for a 1st timer.

[LurkingVeteran]

It's a fair point that low level running speed can be a divider. There are some temporary clickies but I guess some might miss those as well. Giving everybody a permanent 10% enhancement (non-stacking) already at start might make sense to reduce this divide without removing the utility of existing spells, items and gear. Ranger Farstrider might be buffed 15->20% if you want to maintain its relative power. It's kind of weak anyway since most vets have more.

[Roonfizzle]

3. Is this a factor because THEY want to blow through content? OR because you have movement buffs equipped and they can't keep up with you? Some of these dungeons and what's in them are really nice to look at and I guess it goes back to if they've played D&D before, but creeping through the dungeon, listening for stuff and hearing the DM speak is what it should be about for a 1st timer.

I finally got my wife to humor me, and dabble into DDO, AND got an older, spare, PC to run the game. I'm newish, but have played enough to know some of the quests, and the obvious mechanic things. Right now we're taking advantage of the recent Vet 3, to tool around in Ravenloft on Normal or Hard, to get a feel for the game, and decide if this is something she wants to commit to more. Currently playing on Wayfinder, with the plan of our mains being somewhere else, to pick up low hanging favor fruit.

We both are D&D Vets, and MMO Vets. She asked "What class do you recommend playing first" So I'm playing a Bard/rogue 8/2 to handle locks/traps, and she's rolling in with a Greatsword Kotc Pld that I built.

Primary play style? I follow her around while she runs around blindly, poking into every corner, flower sniffing, and occasionally cast a spell when there's a pack of mobs behind us, or a larger pack gets pulled. I cast buffs, she's got some buttons to click, and she goes to town. I'm back up, not guide (OK, I lead both Castle quests, cause I'm ... starting to learn my way around ... otherwise it'd be a mess). I take it at her pace, and there haven't been any complaints about movement speed, even though it's not what we're used to in other MMO's movement speeds.

The points this person I quoted brings up are really important. This game is SUPER dense/crunchy, Speed is actually one of the least important things for a new player. Heck, they might have trouble MOVING still, depending on what their other gaming preferences are... There is a lot that a vet can do to make someone's dipping their toe in fun. There is also a lot that can RUIN it unintentionally. (Not saying that you are, nor discounting the wonderful discussions in this thread, just pointing it out as something to reflect on, in case it's on how much you are throwing at them.)

[cdbd3rd]

I'm gonna side-step most of the movement speed debate, simply adding that if you're playing with friends, they *should* be willing to adjust their speed to the slowest member. Some newer map designs can be frustrating in that if you blink, the people you're running with have disappeared thru a portal'ed door to some distant unconnected spot... somewhere. [I hadn't grouped in years til this HCL and am finding how bad this has become in recent years.]


As I said, I haven't grouped in years. Just a choice. But this HCL, I've been reminded again how little info there is for people to find locations for a first time.

The Adventure Log list. Playing solo, if I can't find a location, I shrug and move on. Joining others, otoh, becomes an issue when you're trying to find where to go with no help from the maps or logs. If you haven't already found a quest entrance/giver, there is basically ZERO info there to help someone new find it. Some even list a different house location than the quest and giver are even in. AFTER you've found them then you get some help with map arrows and such, but by then you've already found it... :/

Click a quest you haven't found yet, and you only get the ever-so-helpful message "You have not started this quest", or something to that effect. Well, yeah, no fishpoo. Can't start it if ya can't find it. THAT needs help. Better info on the Adventure Log quests to help people find where they begin.

[Credinus]

I'm gonna side-step most of the movement speed debate, simply adding that if you're playing with friends, they *should* be willing to adjust their speed to the slowest member. Some newer map designs can be frustrating in that if you blink, the people you're running with have disappeared thru a portal'ed door to some distant unconnected spot... somewhere. [I hadn't grouped in years til this HCL and am finding how bad this has become in recent years.]


As I said, I haven't grouped in years. Just a choice. But this HCL, I've been reminded again how little info there is for people to find locations for a first time.

The Adventure Log list. Playing solo, if I can't find a location, I shrug and move on. Joining others, otoh, becomes an issue when you're trying to find where to go with no help from the maps or logs. If you haven't already found a quest entrance/giver, there is basically ZERO info there to help someone new find it. Some even list a different house location than the quest and giver are even in. AFTER you've found them then you get some help with map arrows and such, but by then you've already found it... :/

Click a quest you haven't found yet, and you only get the ever-so-helpful message "You have not started this quest", or something to that effect. Well, yeah, no fishpoo. Can't start it if ya can't find it. THAT needs help. Better info on the Adventure Log quests to help people find where they begin.

This is the main complaint I am getting from a friend that is trying the game out as well. There's not a lot of direction on where to go and what to do at each level, by modern standards anyway. Even aside from quests, I'll get questions like "how do I find the marketplace" and such. The adventure log and hub maps could certainly use some updating to help guide new players more effectively.

Other than that, the same issue for a new player exists that has been around for as long as I can remember: almost all groups are zerg groups. There's nothing wrong with zerg groups, I appreciate them myself, but they're detrimental to new players who don't know what they're doing and don't really get to experience the game if they join PUGs. The primary reason for zergs is because of either loot/time efficiency or xp/time efficiency, both of which are encouraged by the only boosts for those being time-based boosts. My recommendation:

Add a new type of loot and xp boost potions that instead work on a number of chests/quests rather than working for a certain length of time, and for XP specifically, make them exponentially better when you fulfill optional quests, cunning bonuses, ransack bonuses, etc. to encourage full completion of a quest rather than rush to the end and move to the next one before your XP elixir wears off. Keep the current elixirs as the are now, don't replace them with this type of option, but make this type of option grant much higher benefits (for example, have it triple xp bonuses from optionals/cunning/etc). Groups will generally still zerg, but this could curb the level of zerging a bit and might create more group opportunities for new players where they get to see what's actually going on in the dungeons.

[Bjond]

3. Movement speed in quests is far too slow
Yeah, the first thing I truly farmed hard in DDO was a Quiver of Alacrity; got lucky and ran into a really nice monk that could solo the jumps and seemed happy to run repeats. Ended up doing a full 20 runs to get one.

I would not be averse to simply setting the base run speed for all characters to the current 30% maximum. Wouldn't make me feel cheated of the quiver in the least. 'Course I also wouldn't be averse to deleting Heroic completely and giving all new characters L20 + Full Racial + Full Heroic PLs. It would close the power gap and deepen the LFM pool, but I suspect the player base would squeal over something that drastic.

BTW, 20 Abbots is pretty tedious. It's likely faster and more fun to do 3x Scoundrel lives.

[archest]

yes it would be nice if the quest entrance was the same name as the listing on the adventure quest journal so when you highlight it in the map is is the same .

[Aelonwy]

This is the main complaint I am getting from a friend that is trying the game out as well. There's not a lot of direction on where to go and what to do at each level, by modern standards anyway. Even aside from quests, I'll get questions like "how do I find the marketplace" and such. The adventure log and hub maps could certainly use some updating to help guide new players more effectively.

New players could use some NPCs that in addition to feeding the player some story also serve as a guide for a particular district/house. And it would be helpful if each such NPC indicated where to go next and where to find other such guides. For instance what if Harbormaster Zin greeted you beside Baudry and told you about Stormreach, and through various dialogue options could indicate that help is needed in the warehouse district of the harbor, in the sewers, in Gatekeeper's grove off the Cerulean Hills, and if we feel we've outgrown the Harbor go see NPC XYZ in the Marketplace at such and such location. Then NPC XYZ could tell you about the Catacombs, Sharn Syndicate, Shan to Kor, and direct you to the guides for the Houses. The guides could have a flashy name or map symbol to attract attention to them.

Perhaps an overarching tab in the quest journal that leads you from one guide to the next, perhaps just perhaps new dialogue options opening up with the guides when you approach the appropriate level and something in the guide tab indicating you should go back to them. So for instance at level 12 maybe you get a message to return to Zin and he tells you about new problems in the harbor.

[dredre9987]

Wouldn't this be better said by the "new players" you ascribe this to? I mean I don't see them, just you.

[Artos_Fabril]

Wouldn't this be better said by the "new players" you ascribe this to? I mean I don't see them, just you.
You don't want new players on the forums. It's the fastest way to suck all the fun out of the game.

[dredre9987]

You don't want new players on the forums. It's the fastest way to suck all the fun out of the game.


If they have something to say, I certainly do

[slarden]

Wouldn't this be better said by the "new players" you ascribe this to? I mean I don't see them, just you.

We've had several new players come to our public raids on Sarlona over the past year. We have a few new players in our guild as well that were invited by other members.

I think the default server gets most of them, but if Sarlona is any indication some do join other servers.

[Oxarhamar]

New players could use some NPCs that in addition to feeding the player some story also serve as a guide for a particular district/house. And it would be helpful if each such NPC indicated where to go next and where to find other such guides. For instance what if Harbormaster Zin greeted you beside Baudry and told you about Stormreach, and through various dialogue options could indicate that help is needed in the warehouse district of the harbor, in the sewers, in Gatekeeper's grove off the Cerulean Hills, and if we feel we've outgrown the Harbor go see NPC XYZ in the Marketplace at such and such location. Then NPC XYZ could tell you about the Catacombs, Sharn Syndicate, Shan to Kor, and direct you to the guides for the Houses. The guides could have a flashy name or map symbol to attract attention to them.

Perhaps an overarching tab in the quest journal that leads you from one guide to the next, perhaps just perhaps new dialogue options opening up with the guides when you approach the appropriate level and something in the guide tab indicating you should go back to them. So for instance at level 12 maybe you get a message to return to Zin and he tells you about new problems in the harbor.

And some bigby hands guiding the way when you grab an option from those NPC

[Roonfizzle]

And some bigby hands guiding the way when you grab an option from those NPC

Bigby's hands guiding you to your party leader .... always, would be awesome. SOMETHING. Particularly if you are joining a quest mid run, and they're inside and you didn't catch WHERE they went in the 10 seconds they were visible. (My pet peeve from when I join a new to me quest). I've run "Many" quests, I still have SO MANY I don't know.

[CSQ]

If they have something to say, I certainly do

That's kind of a problem with this forum. There are two reactions new players often get when they offer feedback:

1. "Yeah, but that's only a problem when you're new." That advice isn't helpful because there's nothing they can change about being new except sticking around, and why would they with that reaction? If they're just "stuck" with their problems and difficulties and other players are unwilling to listen to them, then why would they participate.
2. "No, actually, you're wrong about everything, you'll understand when you've been here for 10 years."

As someone who has played DDO for literally over a decade at this point, these forums are 100% a trap for new players. Although it is not as toxic now as it has been at some points in the past, it's still toxic to some extent and several people here (with little to no repercussions) have consistently talked down to newbies, ignored other opinions, and invalidated the experiences of other players. I've literally done an hour of math to prove a point about something several times (mostly balance related) and gotten "Nah, in my experience, it doesn't work that way. Never mind the fact that I'm (grossly overestimating my performance/leaning on a billion past lives/not even playing the class right) and ranking the performance of the other thing by other players who are way (better/worse) than I am creating an unreliable testing environment. All numbers and logic are meaningless because I *feel* some way." If I get that kind of response with literally paragraphs of clear and documented math and examples, any new player who so much as reaches out to type a response is going to get their hand bitten off by the "I've been here longer" crowd. Never mind the fact that a lot of the "been here longer" crowd (myself included) are wrong about things all the time. I've trashed on classes or builds then tried them and loved them, or vice-versa.

New players could and should offer meaningful feedback on the game and older players should listen, but that just doesn't happen because hardly anyone on the forums is willing to compromise. I feel bad for the devs having to slog through some of this ****. For every "useful" forum post there's about five "I just gotta say my bit" posts that are negative, knee-jerk, or pure opinion presented as fact- and if someone mentions they're new, it's like chumming the sharks.

[krimsonrane]

I invited 2 new players and they are having a bunch of fun but here is their negative feedback, other than that they love the game and are both subscribed players and have bought expansions. So they definitely have the best investment into the game


1. Sorcerer being unable to change spells that's a bit one, wizard having way too little SP early on and no good spellcaster subclasses unless you want to go feydark or melee build sorc.
Which I kind of agree with its 2022, do we really need to think about that old-school mentality of penalizing players for not knowing the metal perfectly seems like a weird flex.

2. Some quests don't feel balanced exp wise for the difficulty they present even for a 3 player group. 1-5/6 gameplay takes too long and is not as fun as after.

3. Movement speed in quests is far too slow in quests if you don't have expeditious and even with that it is, which I even as a player from 2010 agree. 10-15% more movement will make the game more fluid. Maybe a higher cap if you want to balance it since a bunch of other classes have extra move boosts.
I personally don't think that more movement would be bad.

4. The rewards from quests feel really unrewarding. In my opinion we need more exp crystals, or some tokens or something a bit more worthwhile. If the game is based on 300 past lives lol, then a bit more exp gem rewards would be nice or maybe crystals to craft some stuff like barovia or some rewards that are a bit worthwhile.
Or maybe better stuff to buy with platinum, maybe shards lots of possible solutions.

1- no comment.
2- certainly. some quests are very unbalanced and xp should be amped up across the board.
3- The way its set up makes sense to me. A new character must invest in umd for scrolls or use haste pots. your speed continually increases as you level and get new gear.
4- rewards suck. all the way up the chain. 90% of the time we save the world for berries and nuts as rewards. it incentivizes a ridiculous grind that ends with player burnout.

[axel15810]

I'd also be OK with just giving everyone 30% movement speed as the base. I can't think of any downside of doing this. At low levels it does feel really slow. And it's pretty tedious going through most of heroics clicking expedious retreat clickies. It'd be a nice QoL thing.

[Oliphant]

I support all getting fast movement speed and I guess we can make it a toggle for the one person that says "they" want to run slow.