Well Done

[Aspenor]

For all the complaining people have done over the years about Turbine, I want to give them some kudos. Having retired from DDO over a year or so ago, I feel I can look at this with a comparatively objective point of view. There are a lot of things said on this forum that are just flat-out wrong, and I want to set the record straight on a few things.

I retired from DDO to focus on graduate school and my career. I have been playing 3.5 instead, meeting weekly with a small group of friends. I have performed the role of both player and DM. However, after my foray into D&D as an MMO, some of the habits of powergaming have crossed over. This has caused me to gain perspective on DDO, interestingly enough, and just how well the developers have done.

DDO as Monty Haul
This one is a big one that bothers me. People talk often about how overpowered items are in DDO. This is wrong. I can grant that you do not get the same power level from items in PnP, but DDO also does not give the same power level to characters themselves.

DDO has made most monsters more powerful, in general. Specifically, they have more hit points. In order to compensate, gear must be balanced against hit points. The increased power level of gear in DDO gives players the ability to compete.

Furthermore, gear in DDO must compensate for the simple fact that DDO characters are weaker than their counterparts in 3.5 PnP. People make inaccurate assumptions, such as that PnP characters cannot do things like deal over 1,000 damage on a hit. In all reality, a well-built PnP melee can deal quite a bit more than this using a simple +5 weapon by utilizing charging damage multipliers. These things in PnP are a part of a character's build, rather than a function of their gear. Just because people are not knowledgeable about how to do these things in PnP does not mean that they cannot be done, and aren't done in actual games.

DDO Imbalance
For years people argued about this or that character type being overpowered, or imbalanced. In MMO terms, this was true. However, in a true sense of game imbalance, it was not. Turbine has done a very good job of balancing the classes against each other.

Unlike a typical PnP game, all character classes are usually useful in DDO. Turbine has made melee characters such as rogues, barbarians, rangers, paladins, and even monks into useful classes that add to their parties. In PnP, these classes are comparatively useless. You have no reason to play one when you can instead play a druid, cleric, or wizard. All three of these classes melee better, deal with traps better, deal with social situations better, etc. In a typical PnP game, you would never find a party saying "we need another melee." In fact, a party full of powergamers would instead look for one of the big 5 (the three above, +artificer and erudite). There is nothing that a melee can do in PnP that one of these classes cannot do.

Turbine has successfully made what are traditionally incredibly weak and undesirable classes into useful characters. That is a huge statement, and shows that Turbine has balanced well between adherence to PnP rules and balancing classes for an MMO.

The Balance of Magic
DDO has balanced magic comparatively well. I remember all the complaints about boss immunities, and they make me think of how anti-climactic a PnP fight can be. Fighting through a high level dungeon only to get to the end and one-round the boss...is that fun?

The complaints about damage over time, while applicable in an MMO sense, do not apply when comparing DDO to the actual 3.5 game. While in DDO a spellcaster can cast Wall of Fire and run around in it, in 3.5 the spellcaster instead casts one or two spells and then dances around the dead bodies of his enemies.

Turbine has done a fairly good job of balancing spellcasters vs. melees. Spellcasters in this game are often support type characters. While a good player can accomplish more with a spellcaster than with a melee, in PnP a good player can blow the game into dust with a flick of the finger.

Maybe this post is pointless. I don't really care though, I am bored and home alone for once on the weekend since the gal has gone home to Long Island. After explaining some bits about DDO on a PnP board, another poster made a comment about how DDO seems to be incredibly balanced compared to 3.5.

Food for thought, I guess. I was often a critic of Turbine, but I must say that overall they have done a good job. Could things be improved? Probably, but that's not what this post is about.

[DoctorWhofan]

meh.

Stop lurking and get your buttocks back. I came back, so you can.

PS: Kargon even came back.

[Aspenor]

PS: Kargon even came back.

Shenanigans!

[Ungood]

Nope.. He's back, for really real.

[Aspenor]

Meh, DDO vs. relationship....girlfriend wins.

Not that I was given an ultimatum or anything, I just don't have the time for DDO. Full time work, master's classes, and my better half take precedence.

[katz]

and his my.ddo shows him active as recently as...20 minutes ago

teh bestemest barbarian ever

[Ungood]

Meh, DDO vs. relationship....girlfriend wins.

Not that I was given an ultimatum or anything, I just don't have the time for DDO. Full time work, master's classes, and my better half take precedence.

Anyone else but me feeling a strong urge to make a joke about McDonalds getting picker about who they hire these days?

(In case I need to add this in, YES, this is a JOKE!)

[Aspenor]

My master's thesis is on advanced burger flipping. Your point?

[Postumus]

DDO as Monty Haul[/B]
This one is a big one that bothers me. People talk often about how overpowered items are in DDO. This is wrong.

If DDO were PnP, it would be the DEFINITION of Monty Haul. The reason talk about how OP items are in DDO is because they are.

[Orratti]

While I agree that turbine has made a great game and I too thank them for it I disagree a bit.

DDO has given monsters more hit points to compensate for gear not the other way around. Most progressing updates have more powerful monsters to compensate for more powerful players.

DDO has done a decent job of balancing classes on the whole then given you the opportunity to unbalance them as far as you want with money. I can see that this makes sense for them and will not bother to argue with it.

All the equipment, ship buffs, store bought items, Tr benefits and crafting that works at almost any lvl make the game much easier and give it that monty haul, easy looting, uber god of destruction feel once you start getting to the lvl where those things are available to you.

I don't bother doing most of that stuff and still get more of that feeling than I am looking for. That is all my problem though and no one else's.

In the end it's just good to see you posting again.

[Rydin_Dirtay]

My master's thesis is on advanced burger flipping.

I was wondering why you never posted anymore. Now...what about Borro0 or however he spelled it.

Sometimes I think all professions are just variations on burger flipping. Professional violinist? Sizzle out that Mozart.