Some suggestions...

[Greatsaga]

Now, I know that this game is not World of Warcraft, and the GM's probably don't want it that way. But there are a few things that I got from World of Warcraft that would be nice in Dungeons and Dragons Online.

1. For instance, the ability to be able to see the gear people are wearing or using. As of right now, the only "Information" you get on players is level, class, race, path, and the buffs they have on them. Having an option to see what gear they have would help pinpoint what gear you might need, or possibly what gear setups you can look for to improve your own character. It would also be nice to see how much damage a group member's weapons are doing (provided if they were melee) because I have seen some melees out there not doing a lot of damage, and you could help improve their characters.

2. I also think it would be nice to be able to see a player's level somewhere with their class icon on the party bar, which would save having to find them and hover over their character, you could determine a lot quicker who is qualified to be in the group you are trying to currently build. I have seen so many players join my LFG requests that were not even under my requirement settings ( level, class, etc.) and I understand that sometimes that might be good, but sometimes they are too high level and you get penalties in dungeons for that, and it would be nice to be able to ask them to leave before you get in the dungeon and have to find another group member to start. ( BUT it would also help curiosity. Sometimes I forget what level people were when I added them, and it would be nice to just be able to look at the party bar and be like "Ah, yeah that's what level they are.")

3. This is more of a minor suggestion, more of a preference of mine but I want to state anyway. I think that when you go into the LFG interface, the button to show quests you are not eligible for should be defaulted off. It gets annoying having to turn it off everytime to sometimes find only 2 quests you are eligible for. I would rather only see those, then go look in the others (which doesn't make sense to me anyway, because if the person that put out the LFG request set it up so that you were not eligible, why would they want you to join their group in the first place?)

4. Now this might be a step up from what the GM's want to do with this game, and might even make the UI a little too much, but being able to see buffs next to your group member on the group bar would be interesting. It would eliminate having to find the character or asking in chat to determine who needs buffs again. ( after posting this suggestion, I realized it was stupid. it would indeed overload the UI, but what you could do is create a windows to show buffs by clicking on a party members name in the party Slots)

5. Being able to move individual party slots would be nice too, it would allow you to make your UI a little more customized. I have been wanted to line the names up horizontally on the top of my UI, but I cannot find anyway to do that.

6. As of right now, there really isn't much in the game for customizing your character. There is a pretty nice range of facial features and hair and whatnot, but not so much in the abilities and feats. For one, if your path cannot use a certain skill, I think you should be able to filter out the ones you can't use, until you cross-classed for use of that skill (if you wanted to.) There are filters for active and passive skills, adding one more button to filter out cross-class skills would be nice. As far as feats go, I see a lot of feats that I started out with my whirlwind fighter that I just won't ever use. Sneak, shield profiency (general), and tower shield profiencey are among the few that I won't be using, yet I cannot get rid of them. As a whirlwind fighter, the main thing is dual-wielding, so there is no room for a shield, thus I do not need that feat. It would be extremely nice to be able to choose the feats that you start with. You sort-of do now, but that's only what feats you want for your class that you get bonus from a race. If I build a wizard, I would boot out sneak for sure, and then replace it with another. You could make a new window in the character building screen to show your current feats with a button to take it off your character build, and then all other feats that are for your level of 1, and have a nice tag on all of them showing what class uses this feat, and feats that can be used for multiple classes and then have a button to add it to your character.

7. *NEW* I also think they should up the difficulty a bit on hard. I noticed that going from normal to hard doesn't make TOO much of a difference, but going from hard to elite makes tons of difference. I don't suggest taking Elite down in difficulty ( hell maybe even up that a bit too) but there is a big jump from hard to elite, but only a small jump from normal to hard. I feel like I am still on normal when I do dungeons on hard.

Those are all I have at the moment. I have a few more, but cannot remember them right now, and will update this when I remember them.

[Fillivan]

There is a way to see gear and etc... click on the myddo icon and there is a search engine for characters... write the name of the char and look at his gear, levels, exp, stats and etc

[Nysrock]

1. Already been stated, look in MYDDO for the gear worn.

2. When a character hits your LFM it will pop up a message saying "So and So Level 13 Cleric wants to join, Accept or Decline". So if they are too high a level then just decline.

3. They leave it on as default because you can sometimes talk the PL into letting you join when the LFM doesn't have your class/level showing.

4. Please no! The new UI for party bars is already way too big. Any more and some people won't be able to see enough to play.

5. That idea wouldn't be bad. I would enjoy being able to move them around more.

6. Sorry but certain classes and races will ALWAYS have certain basic skills. I mean look at dwarfs. They have +2 bonus on Search checks: The Stonecunning ability gives a dwarf a sixth sense about stonework. That is a natural dwarven ability all dwarfs have. Sure the +2 search doesn't help a dwarf fighter but they still get it. Allowing a player to drop that feat for another is taking away basic race abilities.

[Praya20]

There is a way to see gear and etc... click on the myddo icon and there is a search engine for characters... write the name of the char and look at his gear, levels, exp, stats and etc

Only problem is they have yet to fix the bugs with MyDDO and some characters do not update therefore you cant view this correctly.

[TekkenDevil]

There is a way to see gear and etc... click on the myddo icon and there is a search engine for characters... write the name of the char and look at his gear, levels, exp, stats and etc

Implying MyDDO is a working piece of technology that always updates faithfully and correctly.

[smeggy1384]

Request #2.. Really? Did you not notice you can set it up to filter out the levels and classes you don't want in the group? As the leader you can set it to level 1-20 or level 1-2 if that's what you want joining. If you do not want exp penalties for higher levels you just don't accept them, the tools are already there for that.

#3 isn't a big deal, the button to toggle it is nice and easy.. and if you have alts and spot a group that's perfect for them you can switch and run whatever. Once you log a char in this stays toggled until you relog it.

#4 With ship buffs alone mine can stretch from one side of the screen to the other, throw in some resists, protection from elements, maybe a few more.. that's two lines of the screen occupied by just my buffs. Now imagine if that happened for 6 people.

#5 Pretty good idea.

#6 This is based off of Dungeons and Dragons, classes and races get some bonuses, changing that i doubt is ever going to happen. You can just drop them from the hotbar. All free.. you're not spending a feat to gain these things.

[Silverwren]

There is a way to see gear and etc... click on the myddo icon and there is a search engine for characters... write the name of the char and look at his gear, levels, exp, stats and etc

This is broken. See many, many other threads regarding this subject.

I could sign on to everything except #4. The last thing I need on my screen are MORE icons.

[Greatsaga]

I understand that it's probably tradition to have characters have set feats, attributes, skills, and bonuses, but you could do so much with that. Take two level 1, just starting out, human whirlwind fighters. Both of them have EXACTLY the same stats. Now depending on what feats they choose, and what they choose to spend their action points on, they will end up having some differences, but you strip the feats and action points, and then you have to same character again. I think it would make the game that much more interesting, and the character building process would be loads funner, to be able to choose where your attribute points go, what feats you start with, and skills. You wouldn't have to change much to the character creation screen, except add another option. One to build a custom character. Meaning you start with a set amount of attribute points you can spend, and put into whatever you want, choosing what skills you use and which ones you do not, and choosing what feats you start out with, and then choose a class that is the basis of your character, or you could choose individual things that the character would have, spell points, ki, no spell points, etc. After that, you could add one trainer to every place that has trainers called "Custom Class Trainer" of which you would choose all of the bonuses you get from leveling up, and also could choose from any of the pool of things you could spend your action points on based on being a melee class, a monk, or a caster class ( one with spell points) like say you had a fighter, you would have access to all the feats of that any of the fighter classes could get if you chose a base class for your character, or you would have access to all of the feats of melee types if you only chose certain parts of your character. You could choose to build a character with no spell points, no ki, and no spell capabilities, and then pick from the range of feats and action points that a character with that type of build could have, or you could choose the basis of your character to be a cleric, and only have access to feats and action points that a cleric (in any path) could take. Thus creating a more customized atmosphere. Perhaps that is going to overboard, but to me I think it would make the game that much more interesting to play. Knowing that you can log on to a character that is being built just the way you want them to be built. As far as race bonuses go, you would have to keep the bonuses, because if you had the ability to exchange a race specific bonus for another race specific bonus, it would eliminate having to choose what race you wanted based on your build, thus making races only what you wanted to look like. The cool thing about this idea is that people could still go in, pick a class, pick a path, pick a race, and pick their facial features, and then go play like nothing ever changed, and others could go into creating their very own character.

[Airgeadlam]

I think I'm not getting it... When you create a character there's an option to do it "custom"... then you can choose what your stat points will be. Is that what you meant?

[GoMeansGreen]

I understand that it's probably tradition to have characters have set feats, attributes, skills, and bonuses, but you could do so much with that. Take two level 1, just starting out, human whirlwind fighters. Both of them have EXACTLY the same stats. Now depending on what feats they choose, and what they choose to spend their action points on, they will end up having some differences, but you strip the feats and action points, and then you have to same character again. I think it would make the game that much more interesting, and the character building process would be loads funner, to be able to choose where your attribute points go, what feats you start with, and skills. You wouldn't have to change much to the character creation screen, except add another option. One to build a custom character. Meaning you start with a set amount of attribute points you can spend, and put into whatever you want, choosing what skills you use and which ones you do not, and choosing what feats you start out with, and then choose a class that is the basis of your character, or you could choose individual things that the character would have, spell points, ki, no spell points, etc. After that, you could add one trainer to every place that has trainers called "Custom Class Trainer" of which you would choose all of the bonuses you get from leveling up, and also could choose from any of the pool of things you could spend your action points on based on being a melee class, a monk, or a caster class ( one with spell points) like say you had a fighter, you would have access to all the feats of that any of the fighter classes could get if you chose a base class for your character, or you would have access to all of the feats of melee types if you only chose certain parts of your character. You could choose to build a character with no spell points, no ki, and no spell capabilities, and then pick from the range of feats and action points that a character with that type of build could have, or you could choose the basis of your character to be a cleric, and only have access to feats and action points that a cleric (in any path) could take. Thus creating a more customized atmosphere. Perhaps that is going to overboard, but to me I think it would make the game that much more interesting to play. Knowing that you can log on to a character that is being built just the way you want them to be built. As far as race bonuses go, you would have to keep the bonuses, because if you had the ability to exchange a race specific bonus for another race specific bonus, it would eliminate having to choose what race you wanted based on your build, thus making races only what you wanted to look like. The cool thing about this idea is that people could still go in, pick a class, pick a path, pick a race, and pick their facial features, and then go play like nothing ever changed, and others could go into creating their very own character.

Take a writing course, or English 101

your ideas are bad, wow is bad... nothing personal, you just need to UN LEARN what you have LEARNED

and format your posts, paragraphs, etc...

[Greatsaga]

Take a writing course, or English 101

your ideas are bad, wow is bad... nothing personal, you just need to UN LEARN what you have LEARNED

and format your posts, paragraphs, etc...

so if they are bad, why did you post? Instead of badgering a player, maybe you should think about explaining why they are bad. Are you trying to make me feel bad?

[smeggy1384]

I'd go through that wall of text and point out what's in game.. but that's hard to read. I skimmed it, and it sounded like you want the custom creation that's already in game. Each class has 3 paths plus custom. Paths auto choose, custom you pick at the start your own stats, skills, and feats, which also helps qualify you for the enhancements you will want. Is there something beyond that you have hidden in the wall of text?

[bigolbear]

First off welcome to ddo and the forums, secondly let me say congratulations to you for leaving wow and coming here - enjoy your stay.

addressing your points.

1. A feature called MyDDO exists to fulfill this purpose. Its still in beta, its works for most people but not all. Personly tho id say comparing wow to ddo, ddo is far more oriented around player skill and character build than gear, not that gear isnt important. Its also VERY common to swap gear a lot in ddo. most experienced players will have a few diferent examples of all 'gear slots' for diferent situations so expect results from my ddo to not always be sensible. simple example, I almost always have at least 2 pairs of boots on all characters 1 for feather falling and 1 for something else. Best bet to understand peoples gear is to ask.

2. plenty of ways to do this. Targeting some one will show u their lvl in the focus orb, the groups lvls will show in the lfm pannel, targeting and 'examine' default Z will reveal lots of info.

3. some would prefer it defaulted ON, theres no reason it cant keep your preferences tho and it should.

4. As you say there are dificulties - but a mouse over or click menu would be excelent.

5. always a /signed for more customisation.

6. your points here point out your relative newbyness. nothing to be woried about tho - we were all new once.

RE feats: Many of the feats you talk about are granted to ALL characters, infact they simply exist as feats to allow you to drag them to your hotbars and are often tied into skill use (stealth for example). Its not a feat selection simply somehting that any one can atleast try to do and as cannot be removed and is granted to all. Trust me, whether your a whirlwind fighter (one of the paths i take it) or not, as a fighter there will come a time you should be using a sheild. say your blocking a door way for example. ITs not that you should have one out all the time, but you should carry one and use when apporpriate. Were back to gear swapping again.

RE skills:cross class skills are often well worth getting, dont underestimate cross class skills. for example balance and umd could both be very helpfull on a 'whirlwind fighter'.

RE customisation: Id advise you to check out the custom option when making a character rather than selecting a pre designated path, id also suggest multiclassing on this character too. It will probably be a mess but i'll bet you will learn a lot from the process and you can then start making more powerful builds(one of the true skills in DDO)

7.this is quite dependant on the dungeon, lvl and party sise. I will however applaud you for not being a 'casual nooby' but I can tell you the dificulty curve picks up a fair bit in later lvls (16+) and raids are a different matter again. This game used to be prety darn tuff but it drove the customers away, cant have yer cake and eat it i guess.

in conclusion:
Ye got promise, and your thinking about builds and gear and all round i think your gona like it here when u get your head around a few ddo concepts. *put on a silly old ancient mystical voice* you must unlearn much of what you have learned only then can you master the power that sleeps within.

See you in the character building forums in a month or so i hope

[Pintail]

I think, not sure about it, that the OP wants the ability to create a character completely from scratch. That way he could change all the stats, skills, and feats that are automatically granted at this time. I think that would be not so good.

[cedad]

1) About gear and other people's stuff : No thanks, there's already MyDDO for that and that's already too much of a griefing tool.
2) When somebody answer YOUR LFM, before you accept them, you have their class detail presented. If you at least check who answer before clicking yes, your problem is solved, no need to overload the already big UI.
3) When I connect to play one of my many HL toon, I like to be able to check all LFMs in order to know on which one I will play. Plus, if I connect around noon Europe (6 am ddo time), there's not always a LFM up for all range, with all LFM appearing, that solve the problem to know if something is wrongcause there's always at least one LFM even if I don't qualify for.
4) just select said character and press W. What would be interesting would be for running artificer buff to appear there too.
5) That is a nice idea, as a light monk, i'd like to be able to set the healers and tanks as f1-4 in ToD and not search what number are they again.
6) Sneak is not really a feat, it's the possibility to use the skill. Each and every class gives you free feat relevent to that class, if you could swap out this feats :
a) this wouldn't be DnD anymore
b) this could cause a lot of long term dammage to one character
c) Class are already not pigeonholed to one role. Do not ask for too much.
Oh and do not follow a path, and there's plenty customisation on the way.
7) Difficulty are nice as they are (I don't like what they did with raids and epic, but that's an other story. The idea is simple, you find hard too easy, play elite directly. ViPs and TR have the ability not to have to do the other difficulty first. And having done a "streaker" recently, I can confirm that there's far too much XP for a 1rst life with the new streak feature (you can't even play all adventure before you out level them (even with 2 levekl banked) till fat in the game. So play whatever you like at the difficulty you like, but let the others enjoy their difficulty.

[Greatsaga]

Okay people, my ideas are ****. I would delete this thread but I can't find a way to. So just quit posting on it.

[GoMeansGreen]

a good try

this game can be a lot of fun, but it has problems like any other game, mmo's specifically
leveling is a chore, not the first time, playing Misery's peak for the first time was a blast, but the 33rd time? cmon

what happens is, you make a bad character, figure that out a few levels into it, so you delete and start again, over and over, till you get it right, which basically means copying someone else's build, who already did that, but you wish you could be unique, but it isn't really possible, unless you want to play solo, cause nobody wants to play with a gimp, so you try again and again, character after character, playing to at least 100 favor for the free TP (Turbine Points) I unlocked several adventure packs this way. But the questing becomes really tedious and boring so,

you end up powerleveling, running the short list of quests that give the most exp the quickest, over and over, till they no longer give at least 1k experience, minimum... and you just run through as fast as you can, just to level up to the more interesting stuff, or even to "TR" your character

TR was the most disappointing thing I discovered about ddo

basically you delete your character, but in return for your time and money (mostly the money) you get a new character that is a little taller and wider, with a couple bonus stats and bonus feats. I'm not sure what the exact figures are, but you get a little tougher with each deletion cycle... you have to get to 20 before you delete, then you get the bonus on your next character.

So, you wind up playing the same old quests over and over again, but you have a little tougher guy/gal with wings next to his/her name. So you can lord it over the people who dont have the wings and treat them like the dirt they really are for thinking they could possibly be able to 'compete' with you in dungeon clearing. And that's all that you are, a dungeon clearer, farming for xp, mainly, so you can get to 20 and delete your toon again, and start another new one with a couple more points than before, and a couple of inches taller.

what a sad joke this turned out to be

it wouldn't be so bad except for the attitudes on the players who are into this sort of thing. Game No Sees, blinded by the game, they can't see the other players, they only see their own quest for glory, whatever that means to them, idk.

and by No Sees i mean something harsher, but in the interest of diplomacy I have refrained from using certain words. They are very sensitive.

So, give it a chance, but don't raise your expectations very much at all.

It does have a nice combat system, though. Except for the lightning, but there is always at least one stupidity per situation.

I'm checking out other games. I went here from wow, and stayed quite a while, not playing anything else, though I did check out Champions, out of nostalgia for their pnp game in the 80's. Basically wow with superheroes instead of orcs and goblins.

Another nice thing about DDO is you have to jump over the mobs or opponents, you can't just move through them, though I haven't played enough pvp to remember if that is true about player opponents. PVP sux in ddo.
They should definitely make it impossible to move through other players, that would really spice things up.

But, they don't listen. They just shout down anybody who tries to say anything remotely controversial.

So, have fun, maybe spend $5 on the game, just to be friendly, or nice, or charitable, your call. I just spent $5 on City of Heroes, as they recently went F2P/Premium/VIP, just like DDO, but you only get 2 character slots, period, not per server. Oh, well. It also is rather like wow with superheroes. But, you can't move through mobs OR other players, which is really, really neat! DDO, take a hint from CoH!

I plan on trying conan, and a few others. There is a new one coming out based on the real world and various secret societies like Illuminati. You are one of 3 secret society types, one other is Templar, the other is Dragon i think? Then it gets into intrigue, all set in today's world. Oh, and every NPC is voiced and animated, like a real video game! It isn't out yet, though, and I need a better computer. So, back to school, maybe CNA or Phlebotomy, haven't decided yet. CNA i think, for the patient interaction. Those needle pushers are so cold, generally, from personal experience.

To the mods, get over yourselves. You should be compiling lists of crup jerks like me posts and actually making improvements based on our input, cause we know what we are talking about. And don't bother deleting this cause I am saving a copy and will post it in response to every post on the forum if you do. Just kidding, we have had our ups and downs, mostly downs, but you try.

Yes, this is my last post. I'm sure most of you are in tears, but to those of you happy to see me go. I am happy you are happy with your pathetic TR grinding experience. Maybe you can actually make a difference in someone's life with your little golden wings.

So long, joy suckers. On to better things.

Oh, if you make a DDO2, i will give you money. Till then,

;>'

[GoMeansGreen]

I was gonna edit the above, so it would still be my last post, but the edit button disappeared (hmm!)

because there was this one guy, on another post who thinks there shouldn't be weapon speed ratings in ddo, and there aren't, but there are (or were, anyway) in pnp dnd, definitely in original edition AD&D, it was key

but he really thinks a longsword (though I was using the example of greatsword) is as fast as a dagger, in fact he said 'blindingly' fast, i think... I mean really, you can swing a longsword fast, but they just aren't as light and small as a dagger. The physics just aren't the same, or at least not equal. But he went on a rant just to tell me they are the same. IDK but it was just a bit much.

You remember the game with the knife and the hand/fingers on the movie 'Aliens'? The android could do it really fast. Now, try that with a longsword (or greatsword)... hahaha... I'm sure this guy thinks it could be done, maybe even faster than with a dagger. Yes, they used a simple knife, not too small, for this game on the movie, not a dagger. But, cmon, there were speed ratings in the original AD&D rules for a reason. Good reasons. Why are you so dead set against it? I confess I quit reading after you described your friend swinging his sword, actually timing the swings, blindingly fast... it was just too much.

And this describes the attitude of the players I am talking about in my 'last post' above. I suppose the word I have to use is idiotic. But they are so disgustingly offensive. Insane works. Anyway, I'm sure there are equally insane people in all walks of life, but I don't have to know them, or associate with them. I believe I will find less such insane people in other games.

Perhaps you could consider speed ratings for your weapon system, DDO? The greatsword people won't like it, but I'm sure the dagger users (wait, people actually use daggers?) will be happy.

My god... the stupidity... remember the movie 'Apocalypse Now'?

The horror... the horror...

(yeah, i was deleting my watched threads, but had to look one last time at this particular thread on weapon speeds... my mistake, it wont happen again)

;>'

[jamvaru]

I was gonna edit the above, so it would still be my last post, but the edit button disappeared (hmm!)

because there was this one guy, on another post who thinks there shouldn't be weapon speed ratings in ddo, and there aren't, but there are (or were, anyway) in pnp dnd, definitely in original edition AD&D, it was key

but he really thinks a longsword (though I was using the example of greatsword) is as fast as a dagger, in fact he said 'blindingly' fast, i think... I mean really, you can swing a longsword fast, but they just aren't as light and small as a dagger. The physics just aren't the same, or at least not equal. But he went on a rant just to tell me they are the same. IDK but it was just a bit much.

You remember the game with the knife and the hand/fingers on the movie 'Aliens'? The android could do it really fast. Now, try that with a longsword (or greatsword)... hahaha... I'm sure this guy thinks it could be done, maybe even faster than with a dagger. Yes, they used a simple knife, not too small, for this game on the movie, not a dagger. But, cmon, there were speed ratings in the original AD&D rules for a reason. Good reasons. Why are you so dead set against it? I confess I quit reading after you described your friend swinging his sword, actually timing the swings, blindingly fast... it was just too much.

And this describes the attitude of the players I am talking about in my 'last post' above. I suppose the word I have to use is idiotic. But they are so disgustingly offensive. Insane works. Anyway, I'm sure there are equally insane people in all walks of life, but I don't have to know them, or associate with them. I believe I will find less such insane people in other games.

Perhaps you could consider speed ratings for your weapon system, DDO? The greatsword people won't like it, but I'm sure the dagger users (wait, people actually use daggers?) will be happy.

My god... the stupidity... remember the movie 'Apocalypse Now'?

The horror... the horror...

(yeah, i was deleting my watched threads, but had to look one last time at this particular thread on weapon speeds... my mistake, it wont happen again)

;>'

[edit: and they took away my {Earthfirst's} ability to post, without each post being approved by a moderator... shame, shame... ]