2012 player's predictions (please post yours)

[Hafeal]

My interpretation:




lol

wait... were you serious?

LOL, I deserved that, I failed my typing skill roll ... not the first time! +1

[GeneralDiomedes]

...

[Vordax]

I focus on the broken promises. I have 3 kids, 17, 8, and 4. The one thing they have been taught their whole life was that if you make a promise, you keep it. They learn well, the 2 older ones don't make promises as a rule now.

Got 4 myself, 17,14,12 and 8. Promises are important, I would agree. But kids will be kids and they will indubitably break some.

What promises from Turbine though? Druids? That was a really old promise and very few people exist at the company that were responsible for that one.

There is far less than 99.999% of the game that is [not] broken/non functioning. I would say 85% of the actual game play functions, and that is being generous. There are other issues behind the scenes that also suck a person's will to play the game as well.

So only 85% of the quest can be completed? 85% of the skills work? 85% of the spells work? 85% of the classes work? 85% of the level advancing works? Only 85% of the items in the game work? I think the 85% is a bit exaggerated don't you?

GM's that are at best, consistently inconsistent. A policy to more or less assume that a player is lying when they open a ticket to say that items disappeared from a bank/inventory and tell them to file a bug report without even bothering to open a chat with them.

I have only had good experiences with GM's. If the GM cannot return items, why bother opening a chat? The only thing that would result from that is the GM being yelled at by the customer. Sort of pointless when it is not the GM's fault that they can't help the customer. Now I do agree with Madfloyd, that they need to give the GM's the capability to look into lost items and replace them when possible.

Leading the players on for how many years about a DDO file defragmenter before MajMal finally came out and told us it had been abandoned, presumably long ago.

According MajMal it was abandoned because it was no longer necessary.

And the icing on the cake is the leadership. There seems to be a serious lack of direction, flow, and leadership at Turbine. Seems to be I say.

You don't actually know this, they just choose to keep this internal. Could they do more externally? Maybe, but if they go to far, the player base will just whine about broken promises.

I am just to the point that I have no hope that they will keep their promises anymore. Every update we hope for more PrE's, we hope for a class or race that has been asked for for YEARS and get something sub-par to what we asked for (Although the release of 1/2 Orcs was the last time I was REALLY excited about a content release and wanted to spend money on it)

Druid is the only class that I can remember them promising, and it was like "next year". No firm date/update.

It is time for me to get away, go play something else for awhile, and hopefully I will realize what I am missing before to long, and come back with a new appreciation, but I somehow won't hold my breath about it, I really can't see anything but more broken promises down the road. Brutal honesty is much better than broken promises in my opinion.

Probably a good idea. I have done this before, several times. Things get stale and you need to take a break.

Vordax

[Missing_Minds]

umeannothing...

Games are for fun. And like most things they WILL lose their shine and luster. When that happens, we can either go out bitter and upset, trying to make those around us feel the same way to make us feel better about our own feelings... or...

be mature and realize you had your fun, and it is either time for a break or time to say good bye. It happens.

The question is not if you will die, you will. But will it be with dignity or just malcontent? Most if not all of the posts I've read by you are filled with nothing but complaints. Is how you act all the time, what you teach your children? (you were the one to bring them into this, not me.) I hope you do not, and I doubt that you do act in that fashion all the time. But on the forums, this is the only side we've seen of you. To what end?

I doubt I'll survive 2012 to 2013 myself, but then... I've been here a long time. I've definitely had my fun and many a good time.

[Phemt81]

umeannothing...

Games are for fun. And like most things they WILL lose their shine and luster. When that happens, we can either go out bitter and upset, trying to make those around us feel the same way to make us feel better about our own feelings... or...

be mature and realize you had your fun, and it is either time for a break or time to say good bye. It happens.

Is how you act all the time, what you teach your children? (you were the one to bring them into this, not me.)

I think i can get your point, cause you have one.

But, and you could say it's not my business here, there was no need to make it personal. Realize we are talking about a game and we can't judge how other people educate their children starting from here...

Just saying loud my honest opinion.

[Luis_Velderve]

The Human Race will be removed from Eberron, clerics will follow them closely since most of them are human.

Fighters will retire to take cake of their grandkids because they can not shine in DDO.

Rangers will go to the deep forest in a long search for those Druids that someone said ¨coming soon¨ and will be returning with one willing to teach them more spells. The DRUNK is going to be the next new flavor.

Half Elves are going to wear masks forever.

RIFTS will open in the marketplace pouring 100´s of gnomes and psionicists.

Sword and Board will yield 70% DPS compared to a THF and Divines and Arcanes will benefit from it because fighters retired.

Paladins will turn to clerics because is the sensible thing to do after THE HUMAN RACE EXODUS from eberron.

[Missing_Minds]

But, and you could say it's not my business here, there was no need to make it personal. Realize we are talking about a game and we can't judge how other people educate their children starting from here...

Just saying loud my honest opinion.

To me, children are personal. If he felt the need to bring them up to prove a point, then I'll use them to make a point. Indeed, we are acting about a game, but sometimes that fact is lost sight of and we end up behaving in manners that don't actually reflect how we are.

I have no idea how umeannothing is outside of these forums. But I seriously doubt what I've seen of his behavior here is any consistent reflection of how he acts on a daily bases. This is the last I'll say on this matter as it is way off topic from the op.

[umeannothing]

umeannothing...

Games are for fun. And like most things they WILL lose their shine and luster. When that happens, we can either go out bitter and upset, trying to make those around us feel the same way to make us feel better about our own feelings... or...

be mature and realize you had your fun, and it is either time for a break or time to say good bye. It happens.

The question is not if you will die, you will. But will it be with dignity or just malcontent? Most if not all of the posts I've read by you are filled with nothing but complaints. Is how you act all the time, what you teach your children? (you were the one to bring them into this, not me.) I hope you do not, and I doubt that you do act in that fashion all the time. But on the forums, this is the only side we've seen of you. To what end?

I doubt I'll survive 2012 to 2013 myself, but then... I've been here a long time. I've definitely had my fun and many a good time.

In my case it isn't with malcontent in the least.

It is with sorrow. As far as making others feel anything at all, I apologize if I come across this way. I just want to get out there my reasons in a post that a Turbine rep I had the utmost respect for was watching I guess, and I also suppose to let Memnir know he is not the only disillusioned person out there, in some convoluted way.


Even WoW holds no excitement for me, I wouldn't even be there wasting my time if this mostly enjoyable game I do truly love like none I have played made me feel that player contributions (in the form of feedback, especially on the 'test' "preview" server) mattered.

I really and truly feel any more that the player is regarded as a second rate cash cow by this company. I really feel that the player is getting tossed a half chewed bone every once in awhile with some communication, but ONLY after a huge public outcry, I cannot recall when I last saw this company all on their own initiative ask for player feedback without a bunch of snarling gamers out there.

I feel that old content has been placed out of my reach as well, I spent several years learning the game before going to L20, just to get there, and, have the rules change, so to speak, as far as content difficulty goes.

I predict great things for DDO in 2013, but for 2012, I predict more and worse of the same we have already had.

I think 2013 is when Turbine is going to realize that maybe they should listen to the players and attempt to devise some content with player feedback as the driving force, Turbine lays out an idea, and lets the community give it's feedback.

I also feel that feedback survey's of many types from the store, to recent content releases, to GM support will be instituted in 2012, but not until late into the 4th quarter, it may be a survey is too complicated a system for them to design.

I also feel it is just time to stop logging into the game, for any reason, Turbine has nothing to lose there if I do, in fact, Turbine will come out ahead of the game as far as what I spent, and what time I used it is concerned.

But then there are people such as you missing, people who's posts I genuinely look forward to reading when I see them, people like Mem, and many, many others. I think above all, at the end of the day, it is the players of this game, and the community on the forums that will have me coming back in the long run.

[umeannothing]

To me, children are personal. If he felt the need to bring them up to prove a point, then I'll use them to make a point. Indeed, we are acting about a game, but sometimes that fact is lost sight of and we end up behaving in manners that don't actually reflect how we are.

I have no idea how umeannothing is outside of these forums. But I seriously doubt what I've seen of his behavior here is any consistent reflection of how he acts on a daily bases. This is the last I'll say on this matter as it is way off topic from the op.

I would +1 you for this if I could.

[red_cardinal]

I told him not to post until we get back....but he got all excited and well...look at it this way, he has all the time in the world to read everything now.
Edit: Let me just say he cares a ton, and in all my years is one of the most intelligent, and compassionate (when he isn't pulling pranks anyway) developers I've worked with.

Nobody is expecting you to care and NOT DO ANYTHING. Nobody is expecting pranks also, do pranks when you get the job done.

Hope is a frostitute, but in 2012:
=> Finish missing prestiges!
=> Buff up rarely used feats - slicing blow, whirlwind attack, etc.
=> Fix things on the known issues list!

[umeannothing]

Nobody is expecting you to care and NOT DO ANYTHING. Nobody is expecting pranks also, do pranks when you get the job done.

Hope is a frostitute, but in 2012:
=> Finish missing prestiges!
=> Buff up rarely used feats - slicing blow, whirlwind attack, etc.
=> Fix things on the known issues list!

For 2012 damp dreams, this statement would sum it up. In it's entirety from the first letter typed to the last.

I had more to type, but let's just leave it right there, Red Cardinal said all that needs to be said, especially the opening sentence.

[karl_k0ch]

I hope for a better Lammania. I hope to rename it too, because I can never remember if it is 2 N's or 2 M's...

Well, duh. It's two L's, of course!

[Targonis]

You should know that how people respond to things can change based on their own life experience and current situation. The more stressed out someone is, the more of a need to relax and get away from work. If someone is in a good situation in their lives, they will be more inclined to see what is going on around them and to offer help, advice, and respond to questions.

Some people really love staying in touch with customers, and customer service is just a part of what they enjoy doing, when it doesn't deal with a lot of negativity. That is what I suspect you see going on when the employees post. If there are a lot of negative posts, you won't see as many responses, and constructive comments and questions have a greater chance to get a response, since those in development will see a chance to engage in a positive dialog about what they love doing.

So, take it for what it's worth. It is the holiday season, and with some extra time off, or at least, a less hectic work environment, you will see some people putting in extra effort, or reaching out, or just being more friendly. Then again, those who know what is going on with the development of DDO may not be able to talk about what is planned for 2012, but if they know fixes for long standing problems are due "soon", and many complaints will be addressed in the next few updates, they WILL feel better about the situation.

I know that when you feel helpless when it comes to an issue, there isn't much they can say, and "we know about it, but have no idea if/when it will be fixed" being an unpopular response will also build a sense of frustration. So, some of the positives we are seeing MAY be due to many of the complaints already being addressed, and Turbine just waiting for the next update or two for the solutions to be released.

Maj, again, major props for your communication. You have become the cult hero of these forums, no doubt.

That being said ...



Here is what is frustrating. No one denies Mad's vaca time. God bless him, he no doubt he deserves it AND needs it. But was it lack of foresight or a knee-jack reaction to quiet the forums that he started those threads? Did he not think they would generate a ton of interest and response? That it looks bad to start a thread and let it sit for his entire vaca time without acknowledgement? Either from him or anyone else onthe dev team?

The thread is not meant for the fanbois, they are going nowhere. The thread was for those in various stages of discontent. Again, it troubles me that those threads were started and players are excited to participate in it, whether fanbois or not, and no one, and I mean no one from Turbine can even step in and say, hey look, we appreciate the responses and we'll particfipate in these threads in the New Year. That is the respect of 'acknowledgment.' No response indicates that these threads will go down in the deep well of being ignored that the suggestion threads seem to all too often disappear into.

Why did it take my post to get your response? It shouldn't be that way. Perhaps DDO can dial up the WB PR department for some training.

[Ungood]

No offense to anyone, but I am not going to read the last 6 pages,because it seemed things went in all kinds of unfun directions.

Now, I think we as Gamers, should have 2 ways to look at things when a thread like this comes up.

• What we think will happen, In the realistic sense based on what we have seen in the past
• What would like to happen in the future based on our own personal grasp of the game what directions it could take. Or even directions we would take it in, if it was out choice.

Now. Given these two criteria, my first prediction will be based on what I think will actually happen.

New Races:

Look in Review: Given Half Elf and Half Orc were put in, in 2010, and despite some of the reviews about them with people making fun of the fuglyness of the half elf, and the missing combat animations for the half orc, they were two very good races added to the game, that I feel gave a lot to the dynamic of play. I also believe they were good sellers, as I see them around all the time. Every raid I have been on has at least one of them in it. In that regard, and since it will have been 2 years since a new race was put, I believe that a new race will be added sometime in 2012 to spice things up.

Personal feelings on this: I do not think it will be gnomes, as they do not bring much to the table as per an MMO environment (No offense to people who really like gnomes), so I feel it will be a more dynamic combat driven race, in that regard, I have no early clue what is under plan.

What I would Do: First and Foremost, I would add a New Race of Warforged (a scout race) and make it it's own race, not a "gender" option. They would offer the same immunities that a normal War-forged have but look more human like (even having a gendered look to them) these Scout War Forged have opted to beat to their Swords to Plowshares and could fit into the lore of the Cannith War (Secrets of the Artificers The attack of the Lord of Blade) expansion pack, where the War-Forged race wanted to move forward from their Battle-Robot roots towards peaceful coexistence with the living beings, and thus starts with taking a step away from being traditional War-Forged and moving towards being more "life-forged" (Spare my lack of imagination at this point). To refelct this, they no longer get enhancements like: Construct Thinking, Brute Fighting, additional toughness enhancements, and a few things long those lines, but they would get new abilities like "New Life Versatility" which would really be just Human Versatility renamed. More Healing Amp Options, and things to move them into a more versatile role as opposed to a role of being a great fighter. They would also get a +2 con, and a +2 Dex to reflect their changes in body form, they would be lighter more agile then their predecessors, but still as hardy in the sense they are living metal and wood.

Why would I put this in? Well first off, I would hope it would be an easy implementation. I would not need to add in new animations, as they would use the same animations and docents/armor art as existing war forged. They would offer players more choices for War-Forged like races, allowing a move in that direction I think would be fun. And I think more players would be moved to buy this race. I feel many who want to play war-forged and even people who like war forged would like to able to get some variable flavors to a race that is for lack of a better term, malleable.

New Quests:

Look in Review: New Packs, new Quests, new expansions get players playing, this is the bread and butter of an MMO in many ways, and what extends their life expectancy. Quest packs keep the player base occupied, and busy doing something and having fun, as such, if not several smaller packs and adventures put in, at the very least, one larger one needs to be added in. Now, they just slapped up a level 20 adventure pack into the mix, in fact, 2, (if you include the challenges) so I feel that the next move would to be put in more mid level quests to fill the sparseness of the level 13 - 17 range of quests.

Personal Feelings on this: I think it would be a great idea to add in more quests, to build out the game so that a TR2 can do each quest only once on elite and be 20th by the time they finish their last 18th level non-raid quest. As it stands their is a bit of tightness in the mid levels and that just builds upon itself as the exp demand climbs so too does the demand to grind quests again and again. So this will be welcome.

What I would Do: Ok this is where you get your torches and pitch forks and get ready to hunt me down. but If I was to have control here, I would add in a while new line of challenges designed and targeted at solo play, in much the same way Raiding the Giants Vault, or Solo Quests are built, I would put a focus on the challenges to be there for people who may have limited time to log in, and want to run a fixed 10 min quest by themselves without the need for a group at any level. With the challenges they would have this open to them, log on, check to see if anything you want to do is up, if nothing strikes you, jump into a solo challenge quest and just play around. No worries that you end up with a 200 min run of a quest because that was all you saw, and end the night feeling totally discouraged. Solo Challenges would be a great way in my humble feeling, to give players some "mess around" time, they can log in for 20 min and feel like they had got some game time on, or an outlet for when we are wondering what to do next.

Note: yes I am well aware that many people can solo the current challenges, more power to them, but those people are not the norm, they are the upper level players, maybe not the top tier, but most adamantly they are a cut above the norm.

Bug Fixes:

A Look in Review: There are a great many issues with bugs, and Turbine seems to have a hankering for fixing all the bugs that don't bug us soo much and leaving the ones that seem to be infesting our entire game life. I do not think this will change as fixing the larger bugs takes more time and looks less impressive on the work sheet then fixing a buncha of small infinitesimal bugs that make it look like you did a metric ton of work.

Personal Feeling on This: The people who make this game, need to play it. They need to think about this from a gamers view of the game. The people who write the program for MS Word, use MS Word. The people who make a product should use it so they know what the customer wants, and the best way to know that, is to be your own customer. In many ways, where I work, I need to ask "What good will this do" and that becomes important, each day I am faced with choices of what I can get done, and what needs to be done, and I need to make a decision as to what will be the most impacting thing I can get done today. The developers and programmers need to apply that thought when they bug fix.

What I would Do: First and Foremost, I would put a stop gap on all new content to ensure it that was as bug free as I could make it, before it got added in. Nothing says unprofessional like needing to go back and redo your work after you said you were done with it. Case in point to the developers: They have lives, homes, cars, and things that break. Imagine if they needed to keep bringing their car back to the mechanic because he never quite fixed the car, and their was always something left undone. Or if you called a plumber to install your shower but it leaks when they said they were done? What does that say about their work ethic? About their quality? About their Skill?

This is a no-brainer here. Everyone knows what good work is, progrmabers do not live in fantasy land regarding this, just because it is complex is not an excuse, the human body is very complex, but I expect my doctor to fix me when I break it or at the very least, do the best they can. Would you go to a doctor that left things 'unfinished" when they worked on you? Come on! This is common sense, everyone wants the people they are paying to provide it. So, in that front, I would first focus on making sure all new content was clean, clear, crisp and policed to a shine and finished, that way, I save time and money on not needing to revisit it later on. being able to say :Good Job" to my staff and it actually be a good job, would build a positive ethic of the staff and company to make a quality finished product, this should be the motto about new content "Do it right the first time". Equally so, that would also allow for more time to be attributed to fixing older content and other bugs that was not given the proper care it needed at the onset.

But these are just my thoughts.

[Riggs]

I predict Memnir should get a lifetime vip membership.

I predict Turbine should actually get serious about implementing base classes and Eberron specific races.

It is not launching a rocket to the moon - it is making a graphic on a computer change into a different looking, and maybe slightly larger, graphic on a computer (Druid shapeshifting, Shifters). Turbine can make all the claims it wants - but until the leadership actually puts some resources and targets on stuff that should have been released 3-4 years ago, and was either promised or toned down to merely hinted at, to dead silence now - pretty hard to take anything seriously.

[Flatliner57]

I predict U13 will be "delayed" meaning, it won't come out in the normal schedule after u12 like it should (Early to mid January) though the devs will never say anything, and so ppl will endlessly argue back and forth about whether its really on schedule or not. Then in February, Cove will be reactivated with a few minor bug fixes. Ppl will argue endlessly about whether that is an update or not. And then come April, there will be a large update, with lots of small additions of things that have been asked for for years and probably a new PRE added that completely buffs a class, probably cleric, and ppl will argue endlessly about whether it really needed buffing or not. Then they'll do some fixes to the lag, that ppl will then come on the forums and argue endlessly with some ppl saying that nothing has changed, and they are just as laggy as before and others will say that everything is perfect for them and that the problem ppl just need to get better computers.

After, the rest of the year will be back and forth. There will be less content (than last year), with ppl complaining about how the game is going downhill, but there will be a lot more fixes to minor bugs, though a few major ones will stick around, and probably at least 1 other major one will appear. Lifetime VIP will be added late in the year, causing some to scream Dooo000m, and others to be like "oooh, I get to save money now!"

Oh, I also expect there to be a new major raid added next year (Either April or Juneish updates) that is fairly casual, and has really nice loot for endgame, but doesn't really replace anything, essentially attempting to become the next Shroud. The hardcore endgamers will find it worthless though, and therefore not really play it after the first few weeks, and the lack of good leaders will make it so lfms for the raid only appear once an hour or so, but fill up really quick. There will be lots of fails at first, which might kill it for the playerbase, until about 3-5 months pass and the casuals start getting good at it.

[stoerm]

I predict U13 will be "delayed" meaning, it won't come out in the normal schedule after u12 like it should (Early to mid January) though the devs will never say anything, and so ppl will endlessly argue back and forth about whether its really on schedule or not. Then in February, Cove will be reactivated with a few minor bug fixes. Ppl will argue endlessly about whether that is an update or not. And then come April, there will be a large update, with lots of small additions of things that have been asked for for years and probably a new PRE added that completely buffs a class, probably cleric, and ppl will argue endlessly about whether it really needed buffing or not.

ROFL! Mark these words. I'd just predict the associated doooom threads will contain the words vast and mysterious.

[Mudcnd]

I predict a whole bunch of Ferd threads in 2012....

[Thrudh]

People will look back on the content released in 2011, especially the challenges, and realize that Turbine's actually added quite a bit of fun content to the game. This will shock many forumites who were under the impression that Turbine suxxored all year long.

People that have or play with people using massive amounts of gear, past lives, and skill will continue to complain about class balance. Turbine will listen to the complaints and buff arcanes and artificers.

Turbine will continue to have QA issues that have little to do with their QA and lots to do with management, release schedules, and priorities. Buggy code will continue to get pushed out the door despite QA protesting that things need fixed.

We will get Druids in time for Christmas but the shifting will either have a massive bug or a massive exploit. If it's a bug people will kvetch for months but nothing substantive will come of it. If it's an exploit then Turbine will have no choice but to disable shifting on their new pay-only class which will cause apoplectic seizures from a sizable portion of the forumites. These collective seizures will be the catalyst that brings on the Mayan apocalypse of 2012 in which zombies come out of all of the Mayan tombs to spread their zombie contagion over the entire world.

Pure awesome +1

[slimkj]

But oddly, WoW couldn't pull off real time combat...hrm.

Not wishing to sound like a suck up, but this is what's kept me playing for so long despite the disappointments along the road. Fiddling with SWTOR now and whilst some of it's ok, the combat sucks compared to DDO. Such a good base and why I'll be back.

Bit of a shame some of the direction lately (*cough*UI*cough) but the core engine is still the best out there.