LET'S TALK: Introduction

[MadFloyd]

Hi all,

For those of you who don't know me, I'm the Design Director for DDO. I manage the 'content' team and the 'systems' team. I don't get to make all the decisions of what we do, but I participate in and influence those decisions to the best of my abilities. :-)

I'd like to get your feedback on a number of topics and to that end I will be starting separate threads on each of them. The idea here is to make sure we're hearing your wishes, get constructive feedback on past updates as well as some future plans, and being able to drill down and ask some specific, but important questions.

Our update cycles require us to be developing/implementing and planning simultaneously. We're deep into both for 2012 updates but I want to be sure that we're targeting the right things and not overlooking the obvious. In short, I want as much overlap between your expectations and ours.

This is going to be somewhat tricky for a number of reasons. I'm not at liberty to divulge all our plans. There's always a high risk for misinterpretation. I expect some degree of controversy. I expect some cynicism and anger and I expect to be humbled at times.

One thing that is exceptional about the DDO community compared to many other MMOs is the level of maturity. Most of you are highly passionate about the game and can articulate your thoughts and ideas extremely well. I hope to see these attributes shine through in your responses and that we avoid non-constructive behavior, rudeness, etc. As usual, if you don't feel comfortable sharing your thoughts in these threads, feel free to PM me.

2011 has been an interesting year, but definitely bumpy in many respects. We need to do better in 2012.

Some of the topics on my mind are:
- class balance
- overall difficulty of content
- bugs
- AC
- Ranged combat
- Challenges
- True Reincarnation
- Strengths & weaknesses of the game
- where we're headed

I'm sure I'm forgetting some at the moment. These threads won't all happen at once, but I hope to get them going as soon as possible.

Thanks in advance for your constructive participation!

[somenewnoob]

(grabs pitchfork and torch) .....BURN THE.........wait.....oh......you want feedback from......uh.....from US?

[Pank]

2011 has been an interesting year, but definitely bumpy in many respects. We need to do better in 2012.

Thanks for that, a lot, really.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some at the moment. These threads won't all happen at once, but I hope to get them going as soon as possible.

Can't wait. I have learned a lot in this forums about the game and how to play (and i'still a newb), I think we can all learn, even the Dev Team, from the experienced players. This kind of thread surely is a good start and please, please make it worth.

[whereispowderedsilve]

This *may* not be the appropriate place for this which I duly apologize for. *but/however* at least for Canada/USA

we should have a *toll free* 1800/1888 phone# to call. This is a slippery slope as DDO is played all over the world.

It should be taken under consideration though. With VOIP it shouldn't be a terrible expense for the company.

[Aashrym]

I am always happy to get and give feedback. A few teasers or general goals from development might be helpful tho.

[Gratch]

Thanks for the communication restart Madfloyd.

Instead of just posting a thread saying: What do you think about AC or such... can you give a high level blurb on where your teams see it going or known limitations so we have something to shoot at... err construct at?

-Gratch



Dear Mrs Sharp English Teacher,
Sorry about ending my sentence with a preposition.

[Dandonk]

/cheer

I really look forward to this. I think it has great potential.*




* for both good and bad, but let's stay positive here

[MsEricka]

I've gotta say it. You've got guts.

There's a lot of people on the forums with a lot of issues and they're going to tear you a new one.

Good luck, it's been nice partying with you.

[madmaxhunter]

Thank you Mr. Floyd. This is exciting news, just you posting here proves that the Devs DO listen to the forumites.

I have one suggestion, could the Major get a promotion? I think he's due for the rank of Lt Col. Of course Lt Col Malphunktion doesn't have the same ring.

[Zess-wolf]

Nice move mad Good to see that you are trying to hear our..."screams" almost 2 years of DDO and i know that the staff can do really good!

Cheers

Zess

EDIT: Would like to make a sugestion, how about the specific topic: Raids...some of them are quite unplayable lately, not sure if its general opinion, but thats the way i see...(At least elite shroud and Abbot)

[Ironforge_Clan]

MadFloyd...thanks for taking this on...it is long over due.


Happy holidays and get some rest you're going to need it!

[grodon9999]

Is this actually going to be a discussion (as in you take in our feedback) or a lecture where you just tell us how things are going to be?

[dkyle]

I'd like to get your feedback on a number of topics and to that end I will be starting separate threads on each of them. The idea here is to make sure we're hearing your wishes, get constructive feedback on past updates as well as some future plans, and being able to drill down and ask some specific, but important questions.

Sounds good! Looking forward to this.

Initial thoughts on those topics:

- class balance: Casters (both Arcane and Divine) render dedicated melee classes almost entirely obsolete. Each should have their own place, as more than just one or two per party. The biggest problem is U9 took away melee's formerly major advantage in sustained DPS.

- overall difficulty of content: Overall, reasonable. I'd like to continue to see higher difficulty rewarded with higher droprates, and thus, less boring grind.

- bugs: Not much I can say on this end as a player. There do seem to be more and more than there used to be.

- AC: Don't be afraid to lose the D20. Try to make all AC count for at least something.

- Ranged combat: Full-on Ranged DPS should be less than full-on Melee DPS, but still useful. 10% less over time seems reasonable. Caster DPS should either be truly non-sustainable, in actual practice, or less than Archer DPS.

- Challenges: Good idea, but some problems. Scaling is a bit extreme, discouraging grouping. I absolutely despise the Pay2Win stuff, though.

- True Reincarnation: Ideally, TR shouldn't be something that interferes with our end-game progression. We should be free to TR when we want, without losing more than the XP. As it is, we're encouraged to either TR serially, until we're "done", then get tomes, and Raid completions. That's not as much fun as being able to mix end-game advancement and TR freely. To that end, don't kill Raid tomes on TR, and don't reset Raid completions.

- Strengths & weaknesses of the game: Strengths: Active combat, varied and interesting build options, well designed quests. Weaknesses: Too grind heavy, too much Pay2Win (and a disturbing trend towards more), and class balance is out of whack.

- where we're headed: I'm most worried about the business side. More Pay2Win, more money-grubbing tactics like the initial Arti release.

[sebastianosmith]

MF, you and your department have a hella-hard road ahead. I wish you all the best in this endeavor and would like you to know that I, for one, genuinely appreciate developer participation. It's not an easy task by any means.

Good luck!

[danotmano1998]

Hi all,

For those of you who don't know me, I'm the Design Director for DDO. I manage the 'content' team and the 'systems' team. I don't get to make all the decisions of what we do, but I participate in and influence those decisions to the best of my abilities. :-)

I'd like to get your feedback on a number of topics and to that end I will be starting separate threads on each of them. The idea here is to make sure we're hearing your wishes, get constructive feedback on past updates as well as some future plans, and being able to drill down and ask some specific, but important questions.

Our update cycles require us to be developing/implementing and planning simultaneously. We're deep into both for 2012 updates but I want to be sure that we're targeting the right things and not overlooking the obvious. In short, I want as much overlap between your expectations and ours.

This is going to be somewhat tricky for a number of reasons. I'm not at liberty to divulge all our plans. There's always a high risk for misinterpretation. I expect some degree of controversy. I expect some cynicism and anger and I expect to be humbled at times.

One thing that is exceptional about the DDO community compared to many other MMOs is the level of maturity. Most of you are highly passionate about the game and can articulate your thoughts and ideas extremely well. I hope to see these attributes shine through in your responses and that we avoid non-constructive behavior, rudeness, etc. As usual, if you don't feel comfortable sharing your thoughts in these threads, feel free to PM me.

2011 has been an interesting year, but definitely bumpy in many respects. We need to do better in 2012.

Some of the topics on my mind are:
- class balance
- overall difficulty of content
- bugs
- AC
- Ranged combat
- Challenges
- True Reincarnation
- Strengths & weaknesses of the game
- where we're headed

I'm sure I'm forgetting some at the moment. These threads won't all happen at once, but I hope to get them going as soon as possible.

Thanks in advance for your constructive participation!

Thank you!!!

I will look forward to the community and Turbine (you?) working together.

[Solmage]

I'm a bit ... shocked.. pleasantly.

I'm looking forward to some of the discussions. Well, actually, I'm not looking forward to some of the discussions, but I am looking forward to providing you the developer with feedback.

[Scraap]

All ears.

[Solmage]

S
- class balance: Casters (both Arcane and Divine) render dedicated melee classes almost entirely obsolete. Each should have their own place, as more than just one or two per party. The biggest problem is U9 took away melee's formerly major advantage in sustained DPS.

Yes, and that's why most raid parties in non-dedicated guilds are usually made up of 10 casters and 1 token melee ... oh wait.

Want me to post some LFMs for you?

No, what we need, ACTUALLY, is for the group leader to be able to take eleven PEOPLE and for the raid to succeed well if those people are competent. If they are on competent melees, no problem, if they're on casters, no problem. U9 got very close to that, and that was awesome. We've since strayed from that, unfortunately. LOB once again forces the group makeup of 1 or 2 token arcanes, rest the useful classes.

That is NOT balance.

[Ganolyn]

*rubs eyes* Is this the light at the end of the tunnel?

I have one suggestion, could the Major get a promotion? I think he's due for the rank of Lt Col. Of course Lt Col Malphunktion doesn't have the same ring.

They could promote him all the way up to General Malphunktion and keep the same ring.

[Targonis]

I'll give a short version of my thoughts on these here, in the hopes that they may help gel some thoughts on these topics:

Class balance is difficult, but the thing that makes it VERY difficult is the "insta-kill" nature that dominates the balance discussions. From that perspective then, if you remove insta-kill from the balance discussions(I know you can't really), then you have to look at damage output, both in the long term, and short term. If mobs have too many hit points(30,000 or more), then looking at caster damage vs. melee damage output per second means nothing, since a caster could do what, 2 mobs at most without being out of spell points? Insta-kill in some ways will fix that, but then you have the "how many casts should it take for insta-kill to work?" question, and then how well are the classes balanced? It's nasty, and then you add epic difficulty, where everything can be turned on its head.

One thing there, why are there very few mobs that have a low number of hit points but a super-high AC? If that were done, then you don't need mobs with 30,000 hit points to balance out the very high damage output from melees.

That's it for now on class balance, but a caster mob in pen and paper may be high level, but will have very few hit points compared to a melee...we don't have that in DDO.

I will leave most of the game mechanics discussions out for now, but challenges...not a bad idea really. It would be nice if the trade-in for the "ingredients/rewards" were done so we would be able to pick which to trade for. Mansion to Lava Caves to Island ingredients to extra-planar ingredients implies that mansion is far easier to get, so if you PREFER that one, then you have to go 4:1 or 6:1 to get the ingredients you really want to trade for. I personally love the Rushmore's Mansion challenges, and am far from thrilled with the kobold island ones, especially Disruptor. More variations on challenges would be nice, not just variations one the ones that are currently in the game.

As far as the direction the game is going, I would like to see more follow-up to the stories in the QUESTS. There is some of that in the game, but more would be better, and not just cameo appearances, but more on the order of quests that follow-up on previous quests, and not just in raids. Other things that could be done would be to further flesh out existing areas. The Waterworks for example could be more of a hub for harbor quests(Invaders SHOULD be inside, perhaps down a newly opened section of tunnels), and Steam Tunnels could have a lot of stuff down there, not just Shan-to-Kor. The Depths series under House D works, but why not have more of a foundation to the city, and that would give more depth to why some buildings seem to be self contained, while others seem to invite monster invasions?

I would also LOVE more Xoriat themed quests like Delirium that really are a bit...insane. Fun stuff.

Finally, one thing that would be nice would be for flavor NPCs in the city(or outposts) to have more variation based on what the player or players in the group have done. What would have happened if the character had not helped on Sorrowdusk Isle? Or alternate reality quests(alternate versions of the prime material plane).