DDO or Neverwinter

[Perceval]

The review is not accurate, 4 different types of currency is misleading, there are 3 basic currencies, Gold, Astral Diamond and Zen. Gold is used for daily needs (heal pots and dungeon kits), astral diamonds are used for the AH and Zen is used for high end convenience and decorative items. Only Gold and Astral Diamonds can be earned free in game, Zen must be bought, much like TP but can be purchase through the ZEN Broker with Astral Diamonds earned in game, so there is no need to ever drop a single dime on the game.

DDO is a better game all around if you are a team/guild player but the solo/once in a blue moon partier. Then NWO would probably be a better choice because all players in NWO are self sufficient since healing pots are staggered by level, drop for free or cost very little relative to what you earn, and way out class the healing spells. The low level pot heals for 1000 HP while the spell equivalent might hit for 100 if your cleric is lucky and fully geared to amp it.

[Zagstrum]

Graphics - eyecandy is a little above so so, cranked at max but basically looks a lot like a combo of GW2, DDO, and Terra - oh and no way to set full screen at 1920 - yup sticks itself in window mode. although you really dont notice it after a while.
Quite of abit of things not syncing up and tearing from movements. But other than that, it does beat DDO's outdated graphic engine.

You got vertical sync on? I think its off by default

Controls and layout - This is typical of what MMO games have become, its a rehash of GW2 button setup, No customizable anything, you are limited to what you can immediately use, so macros? dont even think about it. If any of you have ever played Age of Conan, yup thats about it. Even WoW had a better set up than this. Your screen blacks out when you go into inventory or any other windows.
Props DDO we can run and have window open and a near unlimited bar space for macros and clickies.

While the limited layout is visually like GW2 I would say mechanically the game plays like Terra. What I mean is the camera forces you to lock yourself into a forward facing to actually do anything, if you have the camera turned for perspective view you can't attack, interact, do anything. Its horrible. Effectively you have 55 degree field of view in a game toting mobile combat. For someone who wants perspective vision and full control over my characters functions I'd give the controls a 2 out of 10 for effort.

Enemies and AI - DDO kobold union workers.... its either they stand around while you hit them or they stare at you trying to drool on you, very very low AI, they wont even run at you if you are close to line of sight, so archer away and you will win the day. most places respawn the same enemies within 2 minutes of death or less. So what you will but DDO AI is a load lot better.

Yep, kinda weak and after the time i've spent playing and watching my housemate (who already has a character at cap) I think whats worse is the limited variety in the AI's, I've seen 2 big guy AI types and maybe as many as 5 little guy AI types. Thats it. I've already nicknamed one of the big guy AI's as the "ima step on u guy". Guess what he does. Hes got like 6-7 skins but they all do it ;p
The thing with DDO is not that the AI is amazing but that spells and environments mix up the game enough to keep it interesting. Neverwinter lacks this.

Microtransaction - sheesh you thought Turbines inclusion of astral shards was bad, Neverwinter has 4 different currencies including *gasp* Astral shards. After seeing this I had to see if Cryptic studios was owned by WB or Turbine subsidiarity. Its not.

Steed costs like $30?

------------------
I agree with you verdict, the only thing I see going for it is possibly the foundary but i'm yet to try it too see how robust it is.

[~moriedheliwas]

I'm a little reluctant on comparing a 7(?) year old game with a game currently in beta when it comes to both graphics and class/quest diversity. It's kinda obvious which game has what.

DDO still has better combat IMHO, that forced dodge mechanic in NWO is useless since you have to stand still to attack, and need to interrupt your attack chain to dodge.. if you can.

On customization DDO wins hands down right now, we'll see what happens after the enhancement pass...

NWO has more options to keep you occupied though, PVP and unlimited quests from the Foundry are certainly interesting. If developers would spend more time creating quality content instead of useless updates, buggy content and new -pay to bypass arbitrary restrictions we invented- schemes there would be no competition. But as it is...

[Chai]

I'm a little reluctant on comparing a 7(?) year old game with a game currently in beta when it comes to both graphics and class/quest diversity. It's kinda obvious which game has what.

DDO still has better combat IMHO, that forced dodge mechanic in NWO is useless since you have to stand still to attack, and need to interrupt your attack chain to dodge.. if you can.

On customization DDO wins hands down right now, we'll see what happens after the enhancement pass...

NWO has more options to keep you occupied though, PVP and unlimited quests from the Foundry are certainly interesting. If developers would spend more time creating quality content instead of useless updates, buggy content and new -pay to bypass arbitrary restrictions we invented- schemes there would be no competition. But as it is...

This.

Provided NWO doesnt have lots of downtime, it will be more of an attention grabber for a bit of time. Even if NWO turned into another DDO where raids are beaten handedly a few hours after release, the Foundry is the ace in the hole for perpetual new content creation which will prevent the game from becomming stale.

[My2Cents]

Hahaha!

So I figured, Ok, everyone's chattering about this Neverwinter Online - I wonder if they'd support my legacy display hardware like DDO does....might as well check it out.

So I spend a few hours trying to download it. At least once the download process seemed to lockup on my PC, a few times there were unexplained download errors and the message "try again later", I tried to download it to my USB drive and that was way too slow, so I did eventually download it. Went to install it where it gleefully copied the 3GB of compressed files I just downloaded to another folder then installed and updated. (And I'm on a fast, solid wired connection.)

After trying several times to pick a name, because so many were taken, I finally found a 14 character name that at least I could remember even if it wasn't very desireable. Figured out to use my email to login rather than that name, went through configuration screens, etc..etc.

Finally I could PLAY,.but just when I was about to see what Neverwinder really was like:

SERVER UNAVAILABLE.

Sheesh. Too much trouble. Guess it will remain a mystery for another day.

I haven't checked out their forums yet, either.

(Yes, I know its in beta, and yes I have seen worse, I just found the whole thing rather amusing given all the hype I've been hearing...)

[~moriedheliwas]

Hahaha!

So I figured, Ok, everyone's chattering about this Neverwinter Online - I wonder if they'd support my legacy display hardware like DDO does....might as well check it out.

I wouldn't have high hopes, depends what you mean by legacy... then again I haven't had the need to double relog or had any kind of memory leak crashes yet in NWO So props for not needing to buy an SSD and 8 gb of ram to play decently for more than a few hours, I would call that supporting MY legacy hardware lol

[remember1]

I read DDO game population has been increasing.

DDO's updates = new content so ok here

DDO must try to stick to dnd rules, not only 3.5 but using ideas from 4th and Next, for instance, there will be an increase cap this summer to 28 and thats good (4th edition goes until 30th level), but a 60th level character in dnd doesnt make sense to me!

[~hallenbeck]

I wouldn't have high hopes, depends what you mean by legacy... then again I haven't had the need to double relog or had any kind of memory leak crashes yet in NWO So props for not needing to buy an SSD and 8 gb of ram to play decently for more than a few hours, I would call that supporting MY legacy hardware lol

I played just fine with an old 7900 gt nvidia card. I think it has 2.0 shaders on it. It was the new thing back years ago. Duel core amd athlon 5000 with an anchient 7200rpm 16mb cache HDD and 2 gigs of ram.

I mean it's on middle low graphics wise but still ok. I did jack graphics up all the way and it looks nice. I have to stand still or all hell breaks lose but it's a nice background picture.

After playing a bit more ive confirmed this is really kind of like an old hack and slasher. From the graphics to the gameplay. Which isn't to bad cause the graphics actually work for it. (Well if your an old gamer the past decades generations that jammed out on arcade machines and the nes/genesis.)

[wesclough]

I downloaded all the neverwinter stuff and managed to log on and make a character, but couldn't wait through the long qeue to try out the game because it was too late that night and I had to get up early the next morning... since then I have not been able to get on no matter what time of day I try (the update server is overloaded or something according to the threads I looked at on their message boards). I am done trying... if they are gonna half-ass it on launch week, I am not going to bother seeing how they do it later on.

[Ykt]

I currently have a lvl 37 Cleric on NW.

- very few spells: you have 2 At-will spells, 3 Encounter spells and 2 Daily spells that you pick from a total of 20 or so different spells. 7 Spells compared to a few dozens that you pick from hundreds in DDO.

- no customization: pretty much every cleric is the same, with similar HP, DPS and spells

- money grabbing: epic purple Lockboxes (like chests in your inventory) that have a chance to give you a nice reward, but you can only open them with a Key that you have to buy for $1 each. They deceive players by making them think lockboxes are rare and cool, when they are actually quite common and only have a small chance to give a good reward.
You have to identify equipment with Identification Scrolls you purchase with Astral Diamonds.
You can buy the best equipment, enchantments, hirelings and mounts with Astral Diamonds and Zen (the TP equivalent).

- grouping: there is no way to advertise a LFM, by default everyone is advertising LFM, even solo players. SO you can't put a group together as easily as in DDO. You have to ask in chat "lvl 37 cleric LFG" or "LF 1 fighter for epic dungeon", it's stupid in a 2013 game.

I'm sad I bought the $60 founder pack and spent some extra $ to buy the lockbox keys.

[chance2000]

Both have a place.
Now I have been playing DDO for 5 years and lots of hours. You can see that by my Signature and the toons I have.
In DDO I have 2 yearly paid accounts.
Yes DDO is still my game. NWO I did buy the founder's packs and get to log in right away.
Both are fun My Smigit in NWO is now level 22 and rides either a war horse or a spider.
Been playing a drow cleric and level 28 and has both mounts.
NWO is way more hank n slash than DDO.
The only real area NWO beats DDO hands down is memory leakage.
If I were to rate the two games on a ten scale with 10 being the top DDO is a 7 and NWO is a solid 5.
Now NWO I can play with my laptop hooked up to my TV with no issues. DDO I can but it tends to lag after an hour or so.
I did create my guild in Neverwinter also. Will I leave DDO for NWO? NO!
Will I play NWO? Yes. Now I have problems with my eyes and could not play WOW it made my head hurt.
Neither DDO or NWO hurt me to play. Now Neverwinter has already had like 5 down times that I know of.
Well so has STO Star Trek Online they are the same company "Server system" One cool thing is if you have friends on STO you will see them on your friends list in NWO and can type chat with them.
The NWO forums like DDO forums have all kinds of haters.
There is just no pleasing some folks.
Well I have even been playing a bit of STO just can't play it much at a time is does make my head hurt.
Well I did suffer a closed head injury in Dec of 96 putting me in a coma for 34 days.
Well I say there is room for both games. All I care is they are both D&D which I first played in 1976.
They way I see it they just have different DM's. Where Turbine is locked into 3.5 NWO is not locked into any one type of D&D.
Looking at gaming sites they say DDO stays much closer to 3.5 rules.

[~wellpers]

I bought a pre-purchase package for NWO so the lowest I have been in the queue is 5 and the longest I've had to wait to load is about 20 seconds. So I guess the VIP status in NWO actually works unlike DDO where it is solely a marketing thing.

I like both games. I like the fact that I don't ever have to spend a $ in NWO unless I choose to. All the quests are free to play. I think the biggest benefit of DDO is the TR option which lets you re-run content without creating a new character and you still get something permanent from it.

I don't like the lack of customization in NWO, but then again I don't like the fact that there is so much customization in DDO and the # of actual viable builds is quite small for EE end game.

If I put all the differences aside and rate on these 2 things:

Fun I had playing
DDO: 8
NWO: 8

Lack of negative/frustrating experiences
NWO: 8
DDO: 6

So despite the fact that I can name so many things I like about DDO better, for some reason I enjoy playing NWO must as much and I experience less of the negatives. I won't be quitting DDO completely by any means, but I am carefully considering whether to spend any money because I think Turbine is acting like a company that is going to shoot itself in the foot with a machine gun. So I am viewing anything I spend as very temporary.

[phillymiket]

Well, I've played NWO for a good bit today.

I tried all the classes, leveling one to 10.

While it looks great and the manner you move through the environment is smooth, I just find it boring by comparison.

Mostly because you have very little choice in how you build your character.

Also the objectives are so spelled out for you.

There is literally a sparkly path that leads you around from place to place.

Follow sparkly path to lever, pull sparkly lever, new sparkly path leads to gate, follow sparkly path to mobs, etc, etc.

Maybe it will get interesting but so far I'm not to into it.

I have yet to encounter rubber banding and Q's but I hear complaints.

The forums seem quite active and there seem to be a lot of folks on.

[~Grumpycat]

After saying how bad NWO is in this thread, I had to go try the free beta. It's as bad as it was. Very minimal player controlled character development, *follow me* lines to everything, must run quests (most are must run where as here you can skip most if desired), pay chat, and more. The only pluses are the environment being very rich. For me to spend money, game play comes first. And NWO is a sad disappointment in compared to it's 2 previous releases.

Condensed version... Even with all it's problems, DDO is a much better game than anything out there

[Chai]

This is where I fit in. Beforee DDO launched I tried WOW. Was curious about the whole mmorpg thing. Couldn't even make it past the 30 day trial before getting rid of it. DDO comes out and I am completely hooked. Others mmo games come out. I try them. Nothing has kept me around like DDO. Some come across as playing WOW dressed in the theme of whatever game you are playing. Nothing loses interest faster than leveling up a toon simply by running around for a few hours collecting 5 of this and killing 5 of that. The only other mmo I regularly play as much as DDO is Star Trek Online. The biggest reason for that is not from any stellar gameplay and such, but more I just like Star Trek games in general.

A note about the multiple currency issue. To me that is a Cryptic thing. STO has always had large amounts of forms of currencies. They did a consolidation pass one time admitting that they had to many but I think it was a cop out excuse because they are right back where they started just different forms from the original.

I close beta tested NWO and have to say that it did not suck me in enough to spend any money on it and I had actually been saving specifically for this game since it was first announced for development. I ended up putting some of that money towards Marvel Heroes, which I am also in closed beta.

I have stated this before, and this is pure opinion on my part,the decision for Turbine's new expansion this year, I feel is coming from wanting to make sure they keep their players interested in DDO over NWO. I felt this way last year when MoTu was announced and Neverwinter had not been pushed back yet. I also stated that I feel DDO has nothing to be worried about.

I agree with you about the comparisons between the two types of games. Most of the industry does not however...which is why WOW hit 13m subs, is floating at around 11m right now, while most niche games like this have a few hundred thou players tops.

I find it kind of odd that players who support convenience based gaming over grinders, say the biggest drawback is NWOs lack of customization, when that very lack of customization is the epitomy of convenience itself. No need to reroll 3-4 times before figuring the game mechanics out. No trial by fire. This is what the current MMO industry is all about - the days of punishing players for failure with time consmption being the fee levied are over. The days of easy leveling and gear acquisition being handed to players on a silver platter are here.

[~Teho]

NWO
+ inventory - no bags for crafting needed
+ better looking city ^_^, less instanced feeling
+ combat isn't a total bust, + for shield blocking, but other than that, its pretty basic MMO diablo II style
+ environment looks, feels and reacts slightly better
+ more lore
+ a skirmish window - if I got only a little time, I can join a skirmish (and hope others are available too) and the quest will start as soon as all players click ok, no running around and gathering players or waiting for them to get buffed etc.

- class restricted equipment, this is bad imo
- no multi classing or character customization, other than what gear and what combat feats u choose
- D&D is only for the name and to draw in "Drizzters"

DDO
+ amazing character generation, customization and variability, a big plus
+ has at least a bit of D&D feel
+ XP mechanic, not much kill this many mobs etc.
+ most quest can be done in groups

- well... bugs?
- player base is getting thin
- quest scaling depending on party

[~Eris_Discordia]

Tried both, enjoyed both....

A) For all those who say DDO has more of a D&D feel I have one thing to say: Ain't seen no stupid robots in neverwinter so far.

B) It is obvious DDO is breaking.

C) DDO devs are forced to work on things like stupid pets and ribbons for memorials instead of things like fixing guild decay and/or actually making things work properly. Not cool.

D) Oh yeah. If you don't like the sparklies in NW, turn em off. Problem solved.

I'm willing to give NW the benefit of the doubt; I know some of you remember exactly how much DDO sucked when it was released, and I wonder where NW will be in 7 years...

I'm gonna guess DDO is gonna be filled with newbies using otto's boxes and the new expansion tools to start at level 16, cause a lot of us are angry at the changes that have come, or not come, to this game. In 7 years, will the enhancement pass finally be done? I'm guessing MAYBE; but it will of course, be released full of bugs that we get to pay for.

Here's to hoping someone else actually makes the D&D name worth playing again....

[~Teho]

Tried both, enjoyed both....

A) For all those who say DDO has more of a D&D feel I have one thing to say: Ain't seen no stupid robots in neverwinter so far.

oh yeah, forgot to add

DDO
+ wf battlebots *_*

[nibel]

A) For all those who say DDO has more of a D&D feel I have one thing to say: Ain't seen no stupid robots in neverwinter so far.

1) Warforgeds are not robots. They are more akin to golems.

2) "so far". Remember 4e Forgotten Realms also have Warforgeds, and they might show up sooner or later (But I believe dragonborns will come first)

[~Eris_Discordia]

1) Warforgeds are not robots. They are more akin to golems.

2) "so far". Remember 4e Forgotten Realms also have Warforgeds, and they might show up sooner or later (But I believe dragonborns will come first)

Geee thank you I had never, ever heard before that some people consider warforged to be golems and not robots.

When 9 out of 10 people who watch me play D&D Online ask me why it has robots in it, it has robots in it.

If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck....

The point being, NW is immediately obvious as being a Dungeons and Dragons game, this world Eberron is not. It will appeal to some, just as some just 'put up' with the eberron world here, as there is no other choice.

Seems there is now a choice; you can play two types of dungeons and dragons... with and without robots.

(so far... and who knows where NW will be in a few years time)