where have all the classes gone?

[Drfirewater79]

can we get some conformation that any new classes are being worked on .... i dont need specific dates but knowing that launch for some new classes and races or an expansion with such things in it this year 2008 is at this point information that without i dont think many will stic around.


hope that you tae this seriously cause i think they way you answer might even bring back old players .....

the time for secets has long passed the time for answers is upon us

[slumbering_dragon]

monk in the near future and druids are in the works as well, that is all the devs has told us

[EinarMal]

Sadly development of this game has slowed greatly in the past year. At this point it seems very unlikely we will ever see any new classes beyond Monk (which who knows when this will actually happen).

There just aren't a lot of programmers working on this game anymore. It would be awesome to get 4-5 new base classes, and 8-10 real prestige classes. No doubt this would be a huge shot in the arm to the game. At this point they don't seem willing to risk the development cost for something like this.

The best you could get for a question like this that I have seen is the famous "we are looking into this" or "at some point we might think about adding these"....

[Scarecrow]

Sadly development of this game has slowed greatly in the past year. At this point it seems very unlikely we will ever see any new classes beyond Monk (which who knows when this will actually happen).

There just aren't a lot of programmers working on this game anymore. It would be awesome to get 4-5 new base classes, and 8-10 real prestige classes. No doubt this would be a huge shot in the arm to the game. At this point they don't seem willing to risk the development cost for something like this.

The best you could get for a question like this that I have seen is the famous "we are looking into this" or "at some point we might think about adding these"....

Well said, Einar. Druids and Monks seem to be a major difficulty in getting out. My hope was that they could get us some base classes that would be easier to implement, classes that use mechanics that are already in the game, such as the Favored Soul, the Warmage, Ninja, Hexblade, Swashbuckler, etc. Getting new classes would really reinvigorate this game, even if they aren't the druid or monk. But the lack of communication combined with the slowed development seems to say that we won't be getting any new classes anytime soon.

[Drfirewater79]

personally i am shocked that they put any money into development of DDO since LOTR

i think prestige classes are a must at this point really they where a must when they added them for bards and then half a year goes by and there is still nothing for casters or fighters or clerics where is my true necromancer or ultimate magus damd you developers do something with your time.

classes are needed even more and i have on many different posts listed the easier to implament classes with short details as to why they are easier to implament but i refuse to waste the 3 hours of reseach and typing it took to do it again lol

the thing that really grinds my gears is that i can do this research in 3 hours with only 30 books at my disposal they have WOTC sponsoring there mmo (hence the dungeons and dragons name) they have Atari (known for there great work in class and race options at launch NWNI and II) and they cant figure out these things on there own ? monks and druids should have been the first problems they looked at for classes before launch ... now its to late develop monks and druids while launching other easier to implament classes then maybe come out with a new fighting system like you came out with the new casting system that will be perfect time to introduce monks (this way you can implament grapple a fighters only way to hold monster) and coup de graz ... i am sorry but if the guy is held still and i am not in any kind of threat taking 20 to coup de graz should be an issue

i will tell you how to do it make it even easier

make it a click thing like cleave like stun make it a 10 second animation that is interuptable that way people arent using it in battle only once everything is held or stoned.

[MysticTheurge]

Jeez, the man asks for a pointer to some Dev Comments and gets a wagonload of BS Doom and Gloom.

The forums sure are fun these days.

[QuantumFX]

Jeez, the man asks for a pointer to some Dev Comments and gets a wagonload of BS Doom and Gloom.

The forums sure are fun these days.

Word!

Firewater: Bad Firewater! Bad Firewater! You haven't watched the video on GameSpy yet?!?! They were showing off the pseudo kung-fu ninja spin kick animation! Since Turbine has a limited art budget you'd think they would save the animation stuff until near the end of the design process.

A more important issue is: are monks going to have PrE's from day one? You know people are dying to play a drunken master!

[EinarMal]

Jeez, the man asks for a pointer to some Dev Comments and gets a wagonload of BS Doom and Gloom.

The forums sure are fun these days.

After waiting for so long, and seeing the pace of Mods slow, and from the looks of things contain no more or maybe even less than previous updates it is far from BS to say that the game development has slowed.

You can hide your head in the sand all you want, but when monks do finally come it will be about a year later than they originally planned for. Last time I checked kung fu animations shouldn't take that long lol... I had a game called mortal kombat in like 1995 that managed to pull it off....

Either they have 3-4 developers at most working on this game or they need to find better programmers.

[QuantumFX]

You can hide your head in the sand all you want, but when monks do finally come it will be about a year later than they originally planned for. Last time I checked kung fu animations shouldn't take that long lol... I had a game called mortal kombat in like 1995 that managed to pull it off....

Green Screened Sprites != 3d animations.

They also need to animate at least 12 body types and not make it look chintzy.

[EinarMal]

Green Screened Sprites != 3d animations.

They also need to animate at least 12 body types and not make it look chintzy.

That takes a year!!! I don't know man that seems pretty crazy to me, there are plenty of 3-D games I could have named from 2000 as well It is simply fighting game stuff that has been done a million times in dozens of games. It is actually much easier because you do not have a million combo moves but 5 static animations. So, 1 year for essentially 60 animations. I think Madden 2008 has hundreds if not more animations and they manage to add many more in a year, and a lot of other things.

[Drfirewater79]

http://www.ddo.com/article/845

this article maps the time that they said they would be done

the problem is there is no feedback from developers ever .... ever

we hear from players what they think and when the devs do open there mouths it usually starts and ends with time delay BS

you want to say turbine doesnt have the budget .... then why would they waste our time and money with a LOTR online game

if turbine doesnt have the developers then why would they start a new mmo?

it doesnt make sence its all bs to keep the positive sheep lead by the crook of the ever Lazy Developers ... and if laziness is not the issue then the numbers are so hire some people fire some people and get this game back on track.

this is not a suggestion this is a must.

[Drfirewater79]

ps

just watched the gamespy thing


its cool to hear now out of the horses mouth april as the launch date of monks

april which is year two aniversary basically and the only think they could show us is a jump kick

you are really satisfied with that?

crafting is the coolest thing they have implamented in basically two years and it should have been there since launch

i would love it if the devs took it upon themselves to start threads with video links to ideas like that on a regular basis

pps

lol anyone else think the ddo producer is just to hot lol sorry couldnt make another post without saying it lol

[QuantumFX]

That takes a year!!! I don't know man that seems pretty crazy to me, there are plenty of 3-D games I could have named from 2000 as well It is simply fighting game stuff that has been done a million times in dozens of games.

Think about what I said earlier - animation happening at the end of the development process. Remember the stories about the evolution of Wall of Kobold into Wall of Fire? And making fighting animations look good isn't a simple process. Each race/gender has it's own center of gravity, you have to minimize clipping and your work is still going to get messed up with the armor/robes. This is why MK looked so good when it came out. Nature did all the animation, a camera just captured it.

[QuantumFX]

april which is year two aniversary basically and the only think they could show us is a jump kick

you are really satisfied with that?

Yes, it shows me that they're not just blowing smoke about the class being in development. We're getting a glimpse of over a year's worth of work. Core engine changes to include a more robust Hand to Hand fighting style. Having to fix evasion (something that 2 head developers felt they couldn't fix.)

[Drfirewater79]

Think about what I said earlier - animation happening at the end of the development process. Remember the stories about the evolution of Wall of Kobold into Wall of Fire? And making fighting animations look good isn't a simple process. Each race/gender has it's own center of gravity, you have to minimize clipping and your work is still going to get messed up with the armor/robes. This is why MK looked so good when it came out. Nature did all the animation, a camera just captured it.

i agree that the animation takes a long time i understand that ... what i dont understand is why they devs would say something is ready to be launched and just now are working on the animation ... they said fall now they say april .... that is half a year to clean up the animations? that is right if they said launch fall that means the animations should have gone through there innitial testing and completed.

no one is expecting everything come out on time but we do expect to know why things dont come out on time what is the cause what can we do to help

everyone who plays this game wants it to be the last mmo they ever play ..... because its got that kind of potential

if only the dev team felt the same way us hardcore DDO'ers feel

[Hafeal]

http://www.ddo.com/article/845

this article maps the time that they said they would be done

the problem is there is no feedback from developers ever .... ever

If you are going to be critical, at least get your facts straight. I would say especially within the last 3 months, the devs have been great about feedback, in fact, I invite you to check out this thread:

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=129667

which also has a related page to google docs with a summary of the many issues raised by players with dev responses.

Yes, things get delayed. So be it. If you can't enjoy the now in DDO, go find something else which fulflills you.

[Drfirewater79]

If you are going to be critical, at least get your facts straight. I woudl say especially within the last 3 months, the devs have been great about feedback, in fact, I invite you to check out this thread:

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=129667

which also has a related page to google docs with a summary of the many issues raised by players with dev responses.

Yes, things get delayed. So be it. If you can;'t enjoy the now in DDO, go find something else which fuflills you.

thank you very much for that post i think it solved most of my issues as far as finding a post that the devs actually reply too

i understand that things get delayed just want to know that they are just delayed and not swept under the carpet so much gets swept under that its hard to tell what is actually going on in the development of the game .... i mean if you dont care about the future why talk about it on the forums ...... enjoying the ddo in the now doesnt fix tomorrows issues the point of development discussion is not to bask in the now its to lay the rose peddles on the path towards the future.

[MysticTheurge]

i understand that things get delayed just want to know that they are just delayed and not swept under the carpet

They've been very up-front about the fact that they weren't going to hit their "hope to have monks out by" date of "the fall" for quite some time now.

I find it difficult to understand criticism like this when people clearly don't take the time to read/watch/listen to the dev communication that's out there.

[Mercules]

i agree that the animation takes a long time i understand that ... what i dont understand is why they devs would say something is ready to be launched and just now are working on the animation ... they said fall now they say april .... that is half a year to clean up the animations? that is right if they said launch fall that means the animations should have gone through there innitial testing and completed.

They had other things to do. Not everyone agrees they were needed, but Turbine thought so. Monks probably were not worked heavily upon UNTIL fall.

everyone who plays this game wants it to be the last mmo they ever play ..... because its got that kind of potential

if only the dev team felt the same way us hardcore DDO'ers feel

Everyone who has realistic expectations understands this will not be the last MMO we play. Instead they hope that others take note of the things that Turbine did well and incorporate them into games in the future. The active combat system and the LFM mechanics of DDO are well ahead of most MMOs, for example. I hope DDO sticks around for a while as I enjoy playing it, but the whole, "Last car you'll ever drive!" buzzword worthy line puts me on edge.

[Milolyen]

After waiting for so long, and seeing the pace of Mods slow, and from the looks of things contain no more or maybe even less than previous updates it is far from BS to say that the game development has slowed.

You can hide your head in the sand all you want, but when monks do finally come it will be about a year later than they originally planned for. Last time I checked kung fu animations shouldn't take that long lol... I had a game called mortal kombat in like 1995 that managed to pull it off....

Either they have 3-4 developers at most working on this game or they need to find better programmers.

How has the pace of mods slowed down? What ... you calling those monthly updates mods now? HAHAHA It has pretty much always been 3 to 4 months between the mods with the exception of mod 5 due to its delays. As far as mod 6 is concerned ... the full version is not even on risia yet so exactly how are you comeing up with your conclusions? As I have said before IMO they are adding content to this game faster than any other MMO I have seen. The others seem bigger because to get from point A in the far south to point B in the far north you have to cross all that is inbetween. Here all our quests are instanced and no waiting on others to finish up getting what they need so you can take their spot. If you were to add up the map space of every quest in this game you would realize that this game is MUCH MUCH bigger than it appears. You just have access to all the content 24/7 where you don't with the other games and therfore is easier to burn out on the content.

*to no one in particular*
Also ... if it is so easy to create new content and add the classes and shouldn't be that hard to do this and that ... then GO DO IT. Create your own game and put it out there cause odviously you can do a better job.

Milolyen