Allow a "spectate" option.

[Trillea]

This would probably be a VERY hard thing to program, but may well be worth it in the long run.

The way I see it is this:

New player has NO idea how to get through a quest, and is reluctant to just hop in and try it out for themselves. Well if there is an active group going through the quest, a "spectate" option will be available at the quest entrance. This would let a person enter a quest as a ghost (invisible to the 6 people in the quest) that could not interact with anything, could go through any door that any player has already been through at least once, and could follow the group around seeing what strategies are used in the quest.

What do you all think?

[Lorien_the_First_One]

Horrible idea. Join a group if you want to learn.

[Cedwin]

Spectator mode belongs in games like CoD, and Battlefield, during death matches; or in sporting games. The best way to learn a quest in DDO is to either explore the area yourself (casual mode is an option now), or start a pug and ask for a guide.

Another option is to look at MrCow's threads on quest times, I'm pretty sure he has a video of just about every quest up now.

[budwise09]

Or watch MrCow.

[SableShadow]

Or watch MrCow.

Cow Powah!

[Kistilan]

Or, use the video walkthrough of every quest hosted on youtube. Muchos Kudos to Spyderwolf and his guild, Caffeine. The Last Harbormasters has your quest guides linked, fyi. Thanks heaps!

[Fusiox]

Well, the problem with the spectate option is how it conflicts with the nature of a game such as DDO; it works for CoD, Bad Company, and such that rely more on the player's reflexes, but DDO is a game, both PnP and virtual, that requires much more thinking and strategy (heck, you can aim your character completely away from the target but still be able to hit it as long as you can see it) than reflex and skill.

Having a "spectate" option would most likely ruin the challenge for players as they would probably learn exactly what to expect, when to expect it, and how to counter it in a dungeon without facing the unpleasant consequence of death.

Since in most FPS games the maps are exactly the same no matter how you play it, having a spectate option doesn't really matter because chances are that the player already knows where the sniper spots or the enemy spawn area is, and is just watching to see how the other players play or to formulate tactics to use in the next game.

I know what you're getting at; you want to make the game more fun for the new players who are confused (and probably frustrated) at the mechanics of DDO and the differences it has to many fantasy games (like Assassin's Creed I and II, Dragon Age: Origins, the Elder Scrolls series with Oblivion and the Shattered Isles, etc.), although maybe they're slightly familiar if they've played WoW or other MMORPGs like it. But having a spectate option would ruin the suprise and the satisfaction of hacking through two-hundred orcs and finding that +5 Fearsome Plate they've been searching so long for, or finally having a rogue in your party and figuring out what that room with a million fire and spike and axe traps really has.

(Besides, why would any new player want to watch a group in a dungeon when most DDO players are fairly tolerant of new players and would probably allow them to tag along and get the good loot and xp, so long as the newbie asks politely?)

[Yshkabibble]

How about folks just grow a pair and develop a bit of an adventurous spirit? IMO the first time you go through a quest is usually the best. Why runin the sense of discovering something new by demanding that you have a guide?