Meridia is a great example of a small vocal minority screwing up the game.

[Mr_Ed7]

I like the runs. Gives the feel of a real D&D game to me...and some of us have teleport.

Worse comes to worse, bind in the 12 and run directly to the quest...

[Xalted_Vol]

Whats more upsetting is buying a teleport wand at the store this gives Turbine an incentive to make longer runs you watch.

[Thrudh]

It's not a big deal for people like me that are good at this game, but for the over 40 crowd....

Who are you calling "You people" ??!?

[Talon_Moonshadow]

Having to take an extra hour to get to a quest is not fun.

It's even more not fun when you are alone joining a quest in progress.

It's really really not fun when you don't know the way.

And unbelievably not fun when it's Chains of Flames.

But
I like the explorer areas. Especially now.
And I love having something to do while waiting for a group to fill.

Bring them on!

But....
They all need shrines next to the entrance IMO.

And there should be a safe route to follow IMO too.

Of course, one of these years people will learn the benefits of Invisibility and/or stealth.

I find it almost humerous to watch people struggle to get to a quest in the new content....while my chars walk around with practicle immunity.
All because I take those potions of Invisibility out of the chests.

[Sweyn]

[krud]

If you EXPLORE the explorer area first, you will

-probably get as much if not more xp than the quests
-figure out how to get to the quests, and do it efficiently
-figure out how to deal with mobs you will most likely meet in the quests
-won't get zero xp, as you do when you fail a quest.
-can leave at any time without losing xp.
-can explore at your leisure.

getting to the quests after all that is hardly a chore.

[Hafeal]

If you EXPLORE the explorer area first, you will

-probably get as much if not more xp than the quests
-figure out how to get to the quests, and do it efficiently
-figure out how to deal with mobs you will most likely meet in the quests
-won't get zero xp, as you do when you fail a quest.
-can leave at any time without losing xp.
-can explore at your leisure.

I agree with all that but disagree here:

getting to the quests after all that is hardly a chore.

Some areas, as has been pointed out, like the Desert and GH, have a PIA runs which are easy for players who do not run them regularly, to get lost trying to find. I know vets who steer clear of 3BC because they get lost after it was upgraded.

[Oreg]

Running for the sake of running is stupid. If I can run from the gates of Gianthold to whatever quest without killing anything then I would have rather ported there. However if you want me to run from Freeport to the plains of Karana in EQ then hell yeah that run was **** exciting and you had to kill ****. Oh and it took about an hour the first few months EQ was open (yeah, yeah I know years later it was trivial but it wasn't always)

My point is - if you want us to run from point A to point B, give us something to kill, loot or see on the way (not just the first time), otherwise give me the easy port.

I find it hard to believe this was posted in seriouseness btw by a founder. Seems like more of a complaint a nub would have.

[Nyvn]

Compared to other MMO's DDO takes almost no time to travel. If you spend more than 3-4 minutes running from any point in DDO to any other point in DDO, then you might want to look into a few options that will help reduce that.

1) UMD for Teleport/Word of Recall
2) House P Amulet
3) Haste Potions/Clickies
4) Sprint Boost


Compare a few minutes to 10+ in WoW, or even more ungodly times from Everquest.

[krud]

I agree with all that but disagree here:



Some areas, as has been pointed out, like the Desert and GH, have a PIA runs which are easy for players who do not run them regularly, to get lost trying to find. I know vets who steer clear of 3BC because they get lost after it was upgraded.

That is what this is for
http://ddowiki.com/page/Maps

if someone has the time to b*tch about it here on the forums, they probably have enough time to find and print one of these. Follow the map once or twice while exploring and the run becomes much easier to figure out.

[Asketes]

Do not argue about the small stuff. Is running in a mmo to and from one place to another FUN. RUNNING FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER IS NOT FUN. so killing stuff isn't fun? IN GIANTHOLD YOU CAN TELEPORT.yell louder, i can't hear you in the little mousehole In each house there are teleporters. Early on in this game they realized people would much rather teleport........how about the bracelet of teleporting friends? ......then you had a small bunch of people screaming about static loot and no open places. I have been here from the very beginning I KNOW:all about whining, yes. Those people whined until we got what we have today. Get your striders on because your gonna need them and be prepared to grind out quests because static loot is gone. I have been here from the start and watched the changes.i guess you're really just looking for attn b/c if you really didn't like it that mnuch, you'd have left by now

solution to the OP's problem: play a first person shooter? it's one big dungeon, you never have to leave it?

+1 rep to myself for that one

[sirgog]

If you EXPLORE the explorer area first, you will

-probably get as much if not more xp than the quests
-figure out how to get to the quests, and do it efficiently
-figure out how to deal with mobs you will most likely meet in the quests
-won't get zero xp, as you do when you fail a quest.
-can leave at any time without losing xp.
-can explore at your leisure.

getting to the quests after all that is hardly a chore.

XP is much lower in explorer areas, particularly compared to zerg runs of actual quests.

Plus, there's no sense of achievement, and it is incredibly disruptive to a quest when a person joins a group that's in progress and doesn't know how to find the quest. Every time that happens, I have a choice - boot them from group, or seriously disrupt the flow of the quest (and the XP) to fetch them.

As a result, you get a large number of newbie-unfriendly LFMs that look like "Chains norm, in progress, know way" or more problematically "chains norm, no noobs".

[Hafeal]

That is what this is for
http://ddowiki.com/page/Maps

if someone has the time to b*tch about it here on the forums, they probably have enough time to find and print one of these. Follow the map once or twice while exploring and the run becomes much easier to figure out.

I hear ya - but as we know, only a small percentage of the player pop. actually comes here. And some of the maps, as much as I like them, only get you to the general vicinity of the quest and I still see people get lost or request a guide, especially in the Desert and GH. And for some areas, the maps don't show the various levels because they a 2D v. 3D, which also confuses many who are not familiar with the terrain.

[Lakeland]

Running for the sake of running is stupid. If I can run from the gates of Gianthold to whatever quest without killing anything then I would have rather ported there. However if you want me to run from Freeport to the plains of Karana in EQ then hell yeah that run was **** exciting and you had to kill ****. Oh and it took about an hour the first few months EQ was open (yeah, yeah I know years later it was trivial but it wasn't always)

My point is - if you want us to run from point A to point B, give us something to kill, loot or see on the way (not just the first time), otherwise give me the easy port.

I find it hard to believe this was posted in seriouseness btw by a founder. Seems like more of a complaint a nub would have.

One difference between EQ and DDO, in EQ if I found a safe spot I had regen that would fill my mana and hit points back up, that doesn't happen in DDO. That's huge when going to a quest where you need all your health and mana.

Makes more sense for a founder to post this honestly, when DDO first came out there was very little running around "outside" like there is now. To a newbie it's just the way it is, to someone playing from start it's a change, there are people that dislike change.