Things we use to do when the game was hard- list

[Hafeal]

And another thing - when you recalled out of a quest, you did not get a full mana bar or hp. Those end of quest shrines were important, or you would run back to shrine (if you could), before exiting into an explorer area.

Getting back to town would mean a friendly Cleric, Bard or Paladin, would heal you up or remove your curses. Clerics would "park" in the Wayward Lobster casting Remove Curse, Remove Blindness and Healing players who stumbled in. More "emoting" back then for sure.

[CrispySlim]

I think this thread should have been named "Things we use to do before epic destinies-list"

ED's = Godmode = No Difficulty = No Teamwork

[MeliCat]

I have been playing DDO for 6 years now and it was NEVER HARD. Unless you have played something that truly was head bashing throw your PC into a wall frustratingly hard, don't complain about this forever soft-core game being easy. Its always been easy.

I found it amazingly frustratingly hard and confusing - that was my experience which is always going to be different from your experience. A lot of my difficulty came in it being my first MMO, and just not a lot of it being very intuitive for me.

Possibly because of it's difficulty (for me anyway) I'm still finding it interesting. I enjoy what I perceive as the complexity of it and of the variation of parts that I can control (doing some quests and ignoring others, doing quests slightly different ways, amazing amounts of character and build customization)

What about you swap the word "hard" for "when we didn't used to just run past everything and ignore it?"

[Thayion516]

I found it amazingly frustratingly hard and confusing - that was my experience which is always going to be different from your experience. A lot of my difficulty came in it being my first MMO, and just not a lot of it being very intuitive for me.

Possibly because of it's difficulty (for me anyway) I'm still finding it interesting. I enjoy what I perceive as the complexity of it and of the variation of parts that I can control (doing some quests and ignoring others, doing quests slightly different ways, amazing amounts of character and build customization)

What about you swap the word "hard" for "when we didn't used to just run past everything and ignore it?"

That is a fair point MeliCat. I have played several though the years and was a huge fan of console RPGs (Zelda,FF,Ultima,ect) when I was a kid so I was well indoctrinated.

"hard" has got to be the most subjective word in the MMO industry................ or "Balanced" ... meh...

[Zraack]

When the amount/quality of loot was a fraction of what it is today. My first toon pulled his first magic weapon at level four. It took me about five months to cap at level ten.

[DarthCaedus]

Could care less about other games and what they do or did. I play DDO. In relation to today's DDO, the game was harder.

Because you didn't understand how crush the content back then - few did - but for the people that did it was no different than now. The way you describe your tactics in eDA proves to me you didn't really master the end game back then. Anyone that farmed eDA hundreds of times would understand.

[Ayseifn]

Because you didn't understand how crush the content back then - few did - but for the people that did it was no different than now. The way you describe your tactics in eDA proves to me you didn't really master the end game back then. Anyone that farmed eDA hundreds of times would understand.

It was different, some classes were incapable of soloing epics but added some solid raid DPS. More people meant more faster, dungeon scaling slows you down sometimes now. Cheese reigned supreme, now you can play your toons more like they were meant to be played, FoD works in epics, assassinate works in epics, bows aren't niche, etc.. No longer do you spec as a hold bot, heal bot, raid DPS barb or the like, just play whatever gimmick build floats your fancy and EDs will likely cover the rest. Raids were harder and there were more of them that had worthwhile loot, sure eventually we were multi boxing ToD elite and eVoN but took a while to get there, also not many people could solo those level 20 cap raids until some power creep crept in.

Being able to wade into 20+ EE mobs on a paladin and start cleaving away is much easier than back then when I had to watch aggro, don't have to hope the cleric is watching my HP bar anymore either, don't have to worry about SP management at all really so can self heal whenever I feel like it rather than try to optimize my limited pool as well as the clerics. UMD heal scrolls are free to anyone now too, don't have to build for them or get the gear it just happens, same with greater resto scrolls and the like. Monsters that used to be threatening to certain builds no longer pose much danger as anyone can just power through.

Not that it's harder but don't have to optimize AC, to-hit, PRR(to some degree), etc. much either, just build whatever and take whatever and you'll be good enough, character building even got easier. No hard to get items to make your build really shine just turn in some comms from the forest and you're 90% there, then at cap if you want to stay there for some insane reason just farm EN quests/raids like everyone else, why challenge yourself?

[Connman]

One of the things I used to do that I don't bother with anymore are test builds. I would build a toon as a test for my next TR so that I would have some grasp of what it looked like in game. Side note I am one of those weirdos that majored in math, so my toons are either super uber because of great maths, or super fail because paper maths vs in-game maths tend to differ. I don't really land in the middle. Min max is one of those Pass/Fail scenarios lol. So I wanted to make sure that it wasn't going to be a miserable ride to 20.

One of my test builds was Elvin AA wizard. 6 con. I went with 6 con because i new exactly how many more hit points I would have with the extra build points of 36 vs 32. I wanted to test out the damage potential from the AA.

I took this toon all the way to cap, was a functioning AA and was even involved in an Elite AA only shroud run. This was when the cap was 20. I had to post my Arcane Arrows to prove I was an AA lol. So it was after they introduced that wonderful mechanic (<-not sarcastic). I looked and looked but could not find the screen cap, it was awesome 11 rangers and me on my gimpy Wizzy. The point? If you want to develop some "don't die" skills, i would suggest 6 con. It's easy to live with 2000 hp, try 200!

Oh yeah on that note. when showing someone your weapon or armor or whatever meant you had to open a trade and throw it in the trade window. Or post a screen cap.

[dunklezhan]

Some early dev or two was mad at the shield blocking in Tangleroot among other quests, as I recall - made it "too easy". Quest design went on to have many fewer doors where shield blocking was a viable strategy.

I thought it was Von3 again - people blocking the marut at the end.

O! Dear VoN3! How many nerfs, and how much forum rage, have you caused?!

[Qhualor]

Because you didn't understand how crush the content back then - few did - but for the people that did it was no different than now. The way you describe your tactics in eDA proves to me you didn't really master the end game back then. Anyone that farmed eDA hundreds of times would understand.

haha you didn't farm EDA back then because there was epic timer. you obviously don't know anything about the game back then. good try.

[Psiandron]

haha you didn't farm EDA back then because there was epic timer. you obviously don't know anything about the game back then. good try.

or he could have windowed it... just sayin'

[Singular]

Think deeply about build choices.

Oh, and play.

[Aletys]

- Always ask if there were any new players in the quest, even simple 6 man jobs, and explain the quest if there were.

- Wait at the start for the majority to enter the quest before running off.

- Wait at the start for Buffs, even if you didn't really need them, to respect the Buffer and respect the party.

- Re-run pt 1 so the new party member could get the chain reward.

- Make sure everyone could make it through the trap before going to the next part.

Actually, most of the groups I run with do this today. There are exceptions of course.

[staples]

The game never really mattered...getting tells from people you have played alongside for years "to go get yer gimp"...

That's why the game sucks now.

[der_kluge]

It looked like this:

[scipiojedi]

I have found memories playing with my brother in 2010...we would do Rest for the Restless and die in the fire traps, recall and heal then re-enter, get through the fire traps to the final boss fight and have to jump across the chasm to kill the skeleton mages while My brother tanked Nepethne. We would also do the dog one in the Cerulean hills on our rangers and sneak around ranging and pulling orcs from afar because the patrols were too powerful if we just rushed in. That was the game I fell in love with

[Hara]

I thought it was Von3 again - people blocking the marut at the end.

O! Dear VoN3! How many nerfs, and how much forum rage, have you caused?!

I think there were quite a few quests where shield blocking was essential for a relatively pain free end. My primary memory was the end fight of STK, form wall in corner of room to protect the wizard who then spammed magic missile because no one had a weapon that could damage the giant.

[Kalevor]

Sorry but I don't miss the old days.

For example:

I do not miss being limited to 4 or 5 types of "acceptable" character to get into a party or don't be kicked off, I like the flavor toons.

I don't miss to farm capped some said quest for get a sigil to unlock 8-12 lvl char and end up buying in the store for pure frustation.

I don't miss log in queues...

I don't miss to wait 1 hour (of my free time!!) to enter a quest, that has a highly chance to wipe, to end up disbanding the party because there was no healer online and people got sick of waiting.

I don't miss elite jerks... still there.

But it's true that i miss past, when i was younger i was faster and durable.

[UurlockYgmeov]

[Sisma]

I do remember quite well the time when in a 6-man group a victory was a collective achievement, but a wipe or failure was only on the healer's head... How many times my first life cleric was asked to join parties (to the point of becoming anonymous to avoid badgering) and blamed for party wipes! It was surely my fault, I had a first lifer to take care of zergers and questionable tactics...
I have to admit I miss my cleric...