Introduction and Development Plans

[FrostBeard]

PLEASE READ
------------

Just on the bug reporting thing, us the players are happy to inform you of what we find, but it would be greatly appreciated if we had a fully functional in game tool for this.

The current ticket system is pretty **** poor and isn't really designed for reporting bugs, its more for urgent player help like broken quests or being stuck etc.

Normally if you do find a bug or what looks like one, and try to use the ticket system you get palmed off to your website outside of the game filling out a bunch of forms.

Nobody wants to waste there time filling out a form in a browser during play time.

Some sort of main menu option that grabbed the players account details and the details of the bug and sent it to a database in game would go a long way to helping both the players and make your work a lot easier.

Have a look at Rift or World of Warcraft they have fantastic intuitive in game bug reporting tools.

[Robai]

If only a small percentage of characters have maxed out storage space, that tells them that if they add more storage only a small percentage of players will be purchasing it. So they're comparing that number vs. the number of other things that are purchased by the player base to determine what will return the most bang for the development buck.

Why the number of characters matters?
I have like 70 characters atm, but only play like 4-5 toons.
I'm sure that at least 80% of players, who actually play this game will buy more BtC space for their main toons (unless additional BtC prices will be too crazy).

[dunklezhan]

Don't know if they're keeping an eye on this, but an observation, for the downtime:

Everyone I know who runs the TR train always, always, always, holds L19. That is, they take 18, and then don't take 19 until just before (or if the timing works out badly, just after) L20. I'm told this is because of a dearth of L17/18 content in particular, which of course thanks to BB and additional XP requirements they want to be running first time on elite if they can (though I think there's a fair bit these days). This is maddening for me. I hate holding levels, and I hate repeating quests. I feel like there's enough there for each life, and that the quests are quite runnable at level on elite if they want. However this is so non optimal in terms of efficiency the idea of running quests on elite first time that aren't a base level of character level-2 is anathema. I find this is a big problem for grouping too - people aren't as willing to take you in groups for regular questing when you're L19, and of course you can't join epic quests because you're not 'epic'.

I don't know what the answer is. I mean, I don't know if this demonstrates a need to tweak BB, or boost XP from quests, or reduce XP requirements at those levels for TRs (again). But I do know one sure fire way to combat it - more L17/18 content. More L15 content wouldn't go amiss either. By all means make any new quests always have an epic version (ideally involving different mobs and story rather than just inflating HP/saves/damage of existing mobs), but please make sure that there's more heroic content at those levels.

Personally I want more content at L10-13, but that's because I don't actually like a lot of the existing content at those levels, not because there isn't plenty. So I feel the game needs more 15-19 content. Not as badly as it once did, certainly, but it could still do with some more concerted effort.

I also agree with the plans to keep revamping lower levels and areas like Harbour to make things easier for new players to get sucked in - but I think more content higher up is of equal priority.

Oh. And ideally these would be Eberron quests, not FR. I don't WANT to get to L17 and then feel like its time to switch to eveningstar. I'd like the option of continuing to run primarily in Eberron at least until epic levels. Thats when I feel it's appropriate to start Realm hopping.

[Robai]

... I don't know what the answer is. I mean, I don't know if this demonstrates a need to tweak BB, or boost XP from quests, or reduce XP requirements at those levels for TRs (again). But I do know one sure fire way to combat it - more L17/18 content. More L15 content wouldn't go amiss either. By all means make any new quests always have an epic version (ideally involving different mobs and story rather than just inflating HP/saves/damage of existing mobs), but please make sure that there's more heroic content at those levels. ...

More content will also mean that there will be less players to group with since they will be scattered.
It may sound weird, but yeah, you should never be at level 19 (except when you have almost enough xp for lvl 20).
There are a lot of quests at lvls 17-19 actually, will mention some packs:
Eberron:
Reaver's Reach
Reign of Madness
Path of Inspiration
Dreaming Dark
Secrets of the Artificers
Devils of Shavarath
FR:
Druid's Deep
High Road
Storm Horns
Motu (Murder by Night, The Riddle)

Some of them has terrible xp, but there is more than enough xp if you do them just half of them (actually I usually just farm Vale + Reaver's Reach).

[harry-pancreas]

Don't know if they're keeping an eye on this, but an observation, for the downtime:

Everyone I know who runs the TR train always, always, always, holds L19. That is, they take 18, and then don't take 19 until just before (or if the timing works out badly, just after) L20. I'm told this is because of a dearth of L17/18 content in particular, which of course thanks to BB and additional XP requirements they want to be running first time on elite if they can (though I think there's a fair bit these days). This is maddening for me. I hate holding levels, and I hate repeating quests. I feel like there's enough there for each life, and that the quests are quite runnable at level on elite if they want. However this is so non optimal in terms of efficiency the idea of running quests on elite first time that aren't a base level of character level-2 is anathema. I find this is a big problem for grouping too - people aren't as willing to take you in groups for regular questing when you're L19, and of course you can't join epic quests because you're not 'epic'.

I don't know what the answer is. I mean, I don't know if this demonstrates a need to tweak BB, or boost XP from quests, or reduce XP requirements at those levels for TRs (again). But I do know one sure fire way to combat it - more L17/18 content. More L15 content wouldn't go amiss either. By all means make any new quests always have an epic version (ideally involving different mobs and story rather than just inflating HP/saves/damage of existing mobs), but please make sure that there's more heroic content at those levels.

Personally I want more content at L10-13, but that's because I don't actually like a lot of the existing content at those levels, not because there isn't plenty. So I feel the game needs more 15-19 content. Not as badly as it once did, certainly, but it could still do with some more concerted effort.

I also agree with the plans to keep revamping lower levels and areas like Harbour to make things easier for new players to get sucked in - but I think more content higher up is of equal priority.

Oh. And ideally these would be Eberron quests, not FR. I don't WANT to get to L17 and then feel like its time to switch to eveningstar. I'd like the option of continuing to run primarily in Eberron at least until epic levels. Thats when I feel it's appropriate to start Realm hopping.

i agree, if you take 19 you're condemned to solo. And level 13 characters need another really good chain besides the sands and necro 3 IMHO, the rest are stand alone quest that are ok for a few times but they get old at 2nd/3rd run (whisperdoom, made to order, etc)

[Waaye]

[...]help the developers get the feedback they need to properly take DDO where everyone wants it to go!

- PurpleFooz

Greetings and welcome, PurpleFooz!

History shows that consensus is not a good idea.

The Ariel motorcycle company built a bike that everyone said they wanted but nobody bought and Ariel went bankrupt.

Most people said they did not want video recording machines or pocket-sized tape recorders but Sony built them anyway and Sony thrived.

The trick is not making what customers say they want but figuring out what they will desire in the future but do not yet know it.

One simple thing that could be done now, though, that would help many players would be grouping players by speed. Most public groups move way too fast for slower players to keep up. Fast players do not like slow players falling behind but slowbies don't like flying through quests without a pause. The root cause of many player conflicts can be traced back to differences in playing speed.

Better speed matching in groups should help to retain more players.

Anyway, good luck with your projects.

[mkmcgw17]

Hi everyone, following ProducerRowan’s letter, it seems like an opportune time to re-introduce myself to the community. You probably already know a bit of me from the dungeons I’ve created: Partycrashers, the Delirium dungeons, Blockade Buster, Undermine, I Dream of Jeets, Schemes of the Enemy, and Belly of the Beast (proper credit should also go to Keeper and Enosity for the visuals they made.)

I was lead of the content creation group while making some of those dungeons, but earlier this year I also became the lead of the design group as a whole.
As lead, I work with Producers Rowan, Glin and Vyvyanne to figure out the strategies of who works on what and when. That’s a bit tricky, since we know that some players want nothing but content, while other players advocate new classes, or enhancements, etc. It helps that we have so many developers that are so proficient in their specialties – rather than having all the developers tripping over each other by working on the same thing, we’re organized into different teams to work on different features at once.

So here are what the different teams are working on:

• Enhancements & Epic Destinies
  
  
  • The developers who specialize on character advancement systems are concentrating on addressing the Enhancement issues that the community's submitted through the bug-tracker. There are currently developers spending all of their time addressing these bugs. Looking at the numbers of enhancement bugs we're fixing compared to what's coming in through the bug reports, we're hopeful that enhancements will soon reach a point where the vast majority of players feel it’s stable and complete.
    
    
  • We know that for a lot of players, “complete” means more enhancement trees. We have goals to make more trees for specific classes - we just released the Eldritch Knight for example. While we’re trying to fix as many enhancement bugs as we can for each release, we’d like to make sure we take the time to create each enhancement tree correctly, so you’ll see the trees trickle out at a slower rate.
    
    
  • And, we’ve already started a similar process to crush Epic Destiny issues. There are multiple developers working on fixing the reported ED bugs, and we’re planning out how to finish out remaining trees for everyone to feel that the system is complete. Piloto has already made posts to poll the communities for ideas on the next ED.
  
  
• Treasure improvements
  
  
  • Simultaneously, we have a different team dedicated to treasure features. They’re currently focused on resolving the “ghostbane” issues. Some of you may already have seen DrOctothorpe’s posts on that topic. He and the rest of the treasure team are making changes to address as much player feedback as they can for patch and Update 21, and then they’ll move on to develop new treasure to go along with the new Update 21 content.
    
    
  • Some of the guys are overlapping with the character advancements team to look at the number of Commendations of Valor we’re giving out. We know that there are complaints that we’re giving out too few, and we’re working to address that. Some of what’s making it complex is that we want to give out the right number not only for the immediate short-term, but that it’ll stay the right number 6 months from now or 2 years from now.
  
  
• New dungeons
  
  
  • Yes, we also have a whole separate team busily making brand new content too, as well as fixing bugs in old content. We know this is the bread & butter of DDO, so this is our largest team.
    BTW, I haven’t stopped working on new dungeons. I’m about to go back and put some more work into the Haunted Halls of Eveningstar. Working with Ed Greenwood has been a blast, and he’s certainly set an ambitious target. The Haunted Halls already has more gameplay than what I put in any of my previous dungeons and there’s still much more to go!

Aside from the efforts going into those priorities, there is also planning and setup work going into the future features that ProducerRowan mentioned. Don’t worry, it’s not our intent to simply ignore systems such as Housing or Crafting either – we’ll get to those once we’re through with our current pushes with core features like Enhancements and Epic Destinies .

A final thing before I head back into dungeon work – we’re really trying to keep the flow of communication going. Over the next few weeks, developers from each of the disciplines will be talking about what’s happening in their particular specialties. This is to give the players the information you’re asking for, but it’s also to help the developers get the feedback they need to properly take DDO where everyone wants it to go!

- PurpleFooz

Cool I really like blockade buster and acute delirium very cool quests. I honestly would like to see a reduction in the amount of rule changes such as enhancement trees and character builds I liked the game better before epic and as for the new enhancement system its easier to use but its there are several issues with the new system I think need to be addressed before we start adding more trees that done exist in dungeons and dragons. More content less fluff please. Rule changes are fluff cheaper and easier than making content though id wager. Thanks for taking the time to receive input.

[mkmcgw17]

Cool I really like blockade buster and acute delirium very cool quests. I honestly would like to see a reduction in the amount of rule changes such as enhancement trees and character builds I liked the game better before epic and as for the new enhancement system its easier to use but its there are several issues with the new system I think need to be addressed before we start adding more trees that done exist in dungeons and dragons. More content less fluff please. Rule changes are fluff cheaper and easier than making content though id wager. Thanks for taking the time to receive input.

Any chance at all of making some first edition content come to life? Maybe some real old stuff Judges Guild or early TSR. Dark Tower. Tegal Manor. Tomb of Horrors. Id gladly buy all those. Probably a lot of legal issues involved though. Again thanks for taking the time to ask for player input.

[whiteline]

Skill points need to be based on toons main ability score not Intel

[Kir1]

We avoid nerfing things unless there’s a game-breaking issue or the vast majority of players agree something needs to be changed.

Vast majority is playing monchkers, why would somene think that this same vast majority of cause would ask to nerf them?

This is same situation where vast majority farmed only Von3, of cause vast majority would never asked to nerf exp for this quest (i am grateful you still decide to adjust exp for it).

[Brendael]

Hi PurpleFooz,

First off nice work on the list of quests you've designed. They're among some of the better ones in the game.

I'm also glad to hear you're taking loot seriously and I'm hoping that you can get it back to where it should be.

Finally, I have a suggestion. Even if it is a once-off quest. I'd like to see an Epic Diplomatic Impunity where the goal is to go down to that bloody beach and beat the snot out of the Droam army there. Even if it is just a straight arena battle amongst the siege weapons against overwheming odds. There could also be a few battles against Droam champions, etc.

[Singular]

Wow, fantastic - thank you for increasing communication!

[mkmcgw17]

Hi everyone, following ProducerRowan’s letter, it seems like an opportune time to re-introduce myself to the community. You probably already know a bit of me from the dungeons I’ve created: Partycrashers, the Delirium dungeons, Blockade Buster, Undermine, I Dream of Jeets, Schemes of the Enemy, and Belly of the Beast (proper credit should also go to Keeper and Enosity for the visuals they made.)

I was lead of the content creation group while making some of those dungeons, but earlier this year I also became the lead of the design group as a whole.
As lead, I work with Producers Rowan, Glin and Vyvyanne to figure out the strategies of who works on what and when. That’s a bit tricky, since we know that some players want nothing but content, while other players advocate new classes, or enhancements, etc. It helps that we have so many developers that are so proficient in their specialties – rather than having all the developers tripping over each other by working on the same thing, we’re organized into different teams to work on different features at once.

So here are what the different teams are working on:

• Enhancements & Epic Destinies
  
  
  • The developers who specialize on character advancement systems are concentrating on addressing the Enhancement issues that the community's submitted through the bug-tracker. There are currently developers spending all of their time addressing these bugs. Looking at the numbers of enhancement bugs we're fixing compared to what's coming in through the bug reports, we're hopeful that enhancements will soon reach a point where the vast majority of players feel it’s stable and complete.
    
    
  • We know that for a lot of players, “complete” means more enhancement trees. We have goals to make more trees for specific classes - we just released the Eldritch Knight for example. While we’re trying to fix as many enhancement bugs as we can for each release, we’d like to make sure we take the time to create each enhancement tree correctly, so you’ll see the trees trickle out at a slower rate.
    
    
  • And, we’ve already started a similar process to crush Epic Destiny issues. There are multiple developers working on fixing the reported ED bugs, and we’re planning out how to finish out remaining trees for everyone to feel that the system is complete. Piloto has already made posts to poll the communities for ideas on the next ED.
  
  
• Treasure improvements
  
  
  • Simultaneously, we have a different team dedicated to treasure features. They’re currently focused on resolving the “ghostbane” issues. Some of you may already have seen DrOctothorpe’s posts on that topic. He and the rest of the treasure team are making changes to address as much player feedback as they can for patch and Update 21, and then they’ll move on to develop new treasure to go along with the new Update 21 content.
    
    
  • Some of the guys are overlapping with the character advancements team to look at the number of Commendations of Valor we’re giving out. We know that there are complaints that we’re giving out too few, and we’re working to address that. Some of what’s making it complex is that we want to give out the right number not only for the immediate short-term, but that it’ll stay the right number 6 months from now or 2 years from now.
  
  
• New dungeons
  
  
  • Yes, we also have a whole separate team busily making brand new content too, as well as fixing bugs in old content. We know this is the bread & butter of DDO, so this is our largest team.
    BTW, I haven’t stopped working on new dungeons. I’m about to go back and put some more work into the Haunted Halls of Eveningstar. Working with Ed Greenwood has been a blast, and he’s certainly set an ambitious target. The Haunted Halls already has more gameplay than what I put in any of my previous dungeons and there’s still much more to go!

Aside from the efforts going into those priorities, there is also planning and setup work going into the future features that ProducerRowan mentioned. Don’t worry, it’s not our intent to simply ignore systems such as Housing or Crafting either – we’ll get to those once we’re through with our current pushes with core features like Enhancements and Epic Destinies .

A final thing before I head back into dungeon work – we’re really trying to keep the flow of communication going. Over the next few weeks, developers from each of the disciplines will be talking about what’s happening in their particular specialties. This is to give the players the information you’re asking for, but it’s also to help the developers get the feedback they need to properly take DDO where everyone wants it to go!

- PurpleFooz

Hi I have been playing ddo since 2009 and have decided to stop playing. I am a old first edition paper player and have played almost every computer version that has come out. I started losing interest in ddo when epic came out and really lost interest the new enhancement system changed the way the game was being played. Role playing and team play is not encouraged like it was in the paper game and the main goal seems to be to become as powerful as you possibly can. To me dungeons and dragons was about creating a character a persona with powers and flaws and playing that persona as it went through life. Advancement is a very important part of the game but is not the only part. I did really like the game until recently even with its lack of content. The real straw that broke the camels back is I keep getting personally attacked for wanting to play older style characters and keep getting declined for groups because im playing a straight fighter. Apparently if you dont have monk ranger or paladin level and arent self healing you cant play with groups. I thank you very much for the game im going to try a different one that is closer to the original version of dungeons and dragons. Paladins and Monks cant multiclass. Rangers cant be Lawful. And since just the creation of undead is an evil act if your undead your evil. Thank you have a nice day.

[Iwant_DiabloThree]

Haunted Halls I hope is the first of many old school revamps. I would really like to revisit the real old modules ala EOTB, Menzo ect.
There is awesome content just waiting to be rediscovered....... Menzo would be pretty freakin cool