Producer's Letter - 5/21/15

[Severlin]

Greetings!

It’s been extremely busy and fun for us here on the DDO team this year and we feel the time is right to provide an update on some of our plans over the next few months.

We’ve made some excellent strides to reduce lag and improve stability, and we are continuing to work towards these goals. One of the larger projects that we are working on is a transfer of our game servers and other hardware to a new data center. The new facility will provide both Dungeons and Dragons Online and our friends over at The Lord of the Rings Online with more stability, greater CPU power, and a better networking capability. This will complement our ongoing efforts to reduce lag. It’s a big project and as the year progresses we will be working toward a date where we will migrate to the new datacenter.

Update 26 is coming in June, and it will focus mainly on a new class; the Warlock! Warlocks make pacts with powerful otherworldly patrons and channel that eldritch power into powerful blasts and arcane spells. The Warlock can choose a pact with Fiends, Archfey, or even a Great Old One. The Warlock will also have three enhancement trees; the Tainted Scholar, the Souleater, and the Enlightened Spirit.

Update 27 will follow in July. It includes an all-new adventure pack that returns to Shavarath, showcasing the Archons’ side of its endless war. With your help the Gatekeepers have gathered enough Mysterious Remnants to continue their research. They’ve tracked the Remnants back to Shavarath, the Plane of Battle. You need to travel there to recruit the help of the Archons in unravelling this mystery. The Archons, however, will only aid those who are worthy, and you find yourself embroiled not only in their tests, but in their eternal struggle with the Devils and the Demons. This adventure pack will include three new dungeons and a new raid, and as usual will be free to VIPs.

We've also been hearing your feedback that you'd like an improved experience when using the DDO Store, and we're happy to say that we'll be introducing a new store in the near future! We expect the updated DDO Store to offer a streamlined experience when making purchases and many other improvements. We're planning to start rolling out the new DDO Store to players later this summer. You will still be able to purchase Turbine Points with a credit/debit card, PayPal, and a wide selection of alternate payment methods. We'll have more to say about the DDO Store as we get closer to its launch.

We'll have more updates this year as well, of course. Players will be able to increase their character level to 30. We’ll have more adventure packs for you. We’ll have an Epic and extended version of our popular Shroud raid and a new adventure pack that relates to the Vale of Twilight. Players will be able to use an updated and epic version of Greensteel to craft more powerful gear. We are excited to bring this content to you!

Thank you for being a part of the Dungeons & Dragons Online community, and we love hearing your feedback. It's been a pleasure to talk to everyone here, and we hope to see you in-game for a long time to come.

Robert “Severlin” Ciccolini

[dunklezhan]

Greetings!

One of the larger projects that we are working on is a transfer of our game servers and other hardware to a new data center.

Dooooooom!

Good luck!

all-new adventure pack that returns to Shavarath, showcasing the Archons’ side of its endless war. With your help the Gatekeepers have gathered enough Mysterious Remnants to continue their research. They’ve tracked the Remnants back to Shavarath, the Plane of Battle. You need to travel there to recruit the help of the Archons in unravelling this mystery. The Archons, however, will only aid those who are worthy, and you find yourself embroiled not only in their tests, but in their eternal struggle with the Devils and the Demons.

Drool... lore....

This adventure pack will include three new dungeons and a new raid, and as usual will be free to VIPs.

Drool...

We'll have more updates this year as well, of course. Players will be able to increase their character level to 30. We’ll have more adventure packs for you.

Drool... slurp

We’ll have an Epic and extended version of our popular Shroud raid and a new adventure pack that relates to the Vale of Twilight. Players will be able to use an updated and epic version of Greensteel to craft more powerful gear. We are excited to bring this content to you!

*wipes drool* I await details with trepidation. I'm not someone who particularly likes the Greensteel loot system for various reasons I've explained many times in other threads and I really don't want to spoil an otherwise drool-filled reaction

Thanks for the update Sev!

[stoopid_cowboy]

Dooooooom!

I'm not someone who particularly likes the Greensteel loot system for various reasons I've explained many times in other threads

Strange response...
Greensteel is and has always been the best and most widely used crafting system in game. How could someone not like greensteel? Let me guess, you are a fan of the LoB crafting system?

Epic vale might actually get me to keep my VIP status active.

[Drakos]

Strange response...Greensteel is and has always been the best and most widely used crafting system in game. How could someone not like greensteel? Let me guess, you are a fan of the LoB crafting system?Epic vale might actually get me to keep my VIP status active.

I'm not a fan of greensteal crafting either. I prefer Canith crafting system.

[dunklezhan]

Strange response...
Greensteel is and has always been the best and most widely used crafting system in game. How could someone not like greensteel? Let me guess, you are a fan of the LoB crafting system?

Epic vale might actually get me to keep my VIP status active.

Not really, it's more this:

I'm not a fan of greensteal crafting either. I prefer Canith crafting system.

And also I simply dislike intently the grind per item of greensteal. I know I said I wasn't going to go into it but briefly:

-The general drop rates require bazzillions of runs of the raid (always took me at least 2 x 20th rewards to finish an item), which just doesn't happen anymore, even with a new raid. And frankly, it wasn't fun when it did used to happen (not the raid, just the needing to run it 40+ times per item, per character).

-Rerunning the flagging quests each time,

-The byzantine nature of the system which in and of itself is not a problem then combined with how easy it was and still is to mess up your end item as you move through the tiers, even with the new interface,

-And always and still especially because of the fact that it's impossible to know what order to do things in to get the end result you want without going out of the game to a community driven system.


In particular, that last one should be discoverable in game by now without trial and error.

There's room to tweak all of that and make it better - I'm not saying I hate the results, and I'm not saying the various tools the community has created don't now make it easy to work out. I just dislike it as an overall implementation.

I haven't even done any of the raids since CITW because by the time I was ready to think about it, everyone had run them dry and wasn't posting pugs anymore (unless it was "BYOH know it" type pugs). I don't mind if it takes a month of so running on a 3 day timer to finish an item on average, but if your problem is people finishing raid items too fast, the answer is to not let raid timers work on it, not make the mechanic offputting for people who don't use raid timers.

I know its a business, but I also know Sev doesn't want it to be unfun.

Anyway. I guess that's probably more useful feedback for Sev than any number of lengthier posts I've made on the subject so I'll leave it there!

[Drakos]

And also I simply dislike intently the grind per item of greensteal. I know I said I wasn't going to go into it but briefly

Agreed. I disliked this enough that of my 30+toon I have exactly one with greensteel items.

[Saekee]

The stuff about the archons got me really excited. LOVE the devil battlefield, with arrows peppering the ground as the trace of the conflict.

I guess the archons are unlike kobolds--they will forget about that little incident in the vale?

[Amodaios]

Strange response...
Greensteel is and has always been the best and most widely used crafting system in game. How could someone not like greensteel? Let me guess, you are a fan of the LoB crafting system?

Epic vale might actually get me to keep my VIP status active.

Greensteel is entirely to complicated with a bunch of mindless grinding for the materials. Sure greensteel is way overpowered at the level you get it but the amount of stuff involved just to make one useable item is ridiculous. To be honest all the crafting systems need revamped and consolidated into one easy to use system with one crafting station.

[zerit2002]

Greensteel is entirely to complicated with a bunch of mindless grinding for the materials. Sure greensteel is way overpowered at the level you get it but the amount of stuff involved just to make one useable item is ridiculous. To be honest all the crafting systems need revamped and consolidated into one easy to use system with one crafting station.

LOL greensteel is complicated? How hard it it to use the planner and print out instructions to building your item?
Then you just check-off things from the paper as you acquire the ingredients.
And when you got everything checked-off, go to the altars in a guild airship and follow the instructions from the paper.
It's really, reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaly easy! And now you even have that fancy trader UI in the altars!

I do agree however, that they should reuse existing crafting systems in new packs because we have enough work managing our storage as it is.

[Cleanincubus]

So no new quests for Update 26? Seems a little strange to have 2 updates in a 2 month period. Why not wait for July to release Warlock, along with the Shavarath content, and call that Update 26? It'd even give more time to refine Warlocks. Does this also mean that there won't be another update in the Fall or Winter (one of them removed), or is U26 just in addition to the regular 4 updates a year schedule?

Have Sentient Weapons been scrapped?

[Severlin]

So no new quests for Update 26? Seems a little strange to have 2 updates in a 2 month period. Why not wait for July to release Warlock, along with the Shavarath content, and call that Update 26? It'd even give more time to refine Warlocks. Does this also mean that there won't be another update in the Fall or Winter (one of them removed), or is U26 just in addition to the regular 4 updates a year schedule?

We want Q/A fully engaged with the Warlock release, and our attention fully on Warlock once it goes live because a new class is a big deal for us.

I should not confirm that U26 is an additional release, and that our plan is to still release three more content packs this year since our plans may have to change.

Sev~

[ThomasHunter]

We want Q/A fully engaged with the Warlock release, and our attention fully on Warlock once it goes live because a new class is a big deal for us.

I should not confirm that U26 is an additional release, and that our plan is to still release three more content packs this year since our plans may have to change.

Sev~

Great additional updates on the sly...

[UurlockYgmeov]

We want Q/A fully engaged with the Warlock release, and our attention fully on Warlock once it goes live because a new class is a big deal for us.

I should not confirm that U26 is an additional release, and that our plan is to still release three more content packs this year since our plans may have to change.

Sev~

and must give props to Sev for handling the 'additional information' beautifully - TV lawyers couldn't have done better!

SO we get U26,27,28 AND maybe even U29!! W00T!

[esojiul]

We want Q/A fully engaged with the Warlock release, and our attention fully on Warlock once it goes live because a new class is a big deal for us.

I should not confirm that U26 is an additional release, and that our plan is to still release three more content packs this year since our plans may have to change.

Sev~

70 % of complaints are caused by 30 % of the problems . If you are willing to attack first lag (new server etc etc) and introduce a new class meanwhile, is the right way.
Then you can introduce more quest, balance the classes etc etc.

[Lanadazia]

That pretty much sums it up - just make DDO2. Why the heck not?

if they made it new, they had to redo all of the coding. maybe the IP is identical, but its a different, new game.
a new game takes ~2 years to be coded, also they'd use another graphic engine and then they had to re-do all of the graphics ingame.

"just make ddo2" sounds quite easy, and even if it was it'd take a few years for it to be playable.
so nope. no ddo2

they'd rather put up a complete new game, that is nothing like ddo. like a completely other setting, and not eberron or forgotten realms.
still, very unlikely that this will happen

[Delacroix21]

Greetings!


Update 27 will follow in July. It includes an all-new adventure pack that returns to Shavarath,
Robert “Severlin” Ciccolini

Yep this is what I was afraid of with all the warlock focus. I wish the warlock was coming in July and Shavarath in June. Players havent been leaving DDo due to a lack of classes/races to play, but due to a lack of end game content. I know you guys say you are "aware" of this, but it doesnt feel like the message has really sunk in yet.

[psteen1]

So... since the servers are moving anyway, how about cutting their number by 50% to consolidate the player base?

What? Dead horse? What's that?

Also post above me... I have come back for the warlock, so might want to check your data.

[Delacroix21]

So... since the servers are moving anyway, how about cutting their number by 50% to consolidate the player base?

What? Dead horse? What's that?

Also post above me... I have come back for the warlock, so might want to check your data.

Well I play with a large guild with several partner guilds, who share a teamspeak server and have all been playing another mmo. So a handfull (at best) of players coming back for a new class doesnt mean diddly squat. "Data" remains the same. Besides, what made you LEAVE ddo? I doubt it was a lack of the warlock class. So as I said, they need to fix the reson players are LEAVING.


Top 3 Reasons players are leaving DDO=
1. Lack of endgame content
2. Lag
3. Bugs



Will we roll warlocks to try them out for a few weeks? Sure... Then we will go back to the other MMO that actually has new content for us to play.

[Wizza]

This is one of the most..boring? producers letters ever. Honestly. I'm not even mad/sad or anything in particular, this just made me say "ok".

Also nice! No quests in U26! I did ask to stop having only 1 quest per update but I meant I wanted MOAR than 1, not less! I was misunderstood

As for U27, 3 quests and 1 raid. Eh, okay. Was hoping at least 4-5 quests + 1 raid.

[Talon_Moonshadow]

This is one of the most..boring? producers letters ever. Honestly. I'm not even mad/sad or anything in particular, this just made me say "ok".

Also nice! No quests in U26! I did ask to stop having only 1 quest per update but I meant I wanted MOAR than 1, not less! I was misunderstood

As for U27, 3 quests and 1 raid. Eh, okay. Was hoping at least 4-5 quests + 1 raid.

I disagree.

While I am no fan of Warlocks, many people asked for them.

I am a fan of Shaverath(sp), and glad to see new content is coming with it... and Archons.

New servers (eventually) will be good for the game. (and shows the game is still being supported and invested in financially)
(but.... growing pains will be very painful I am sure....)


Long-term plans seem to be lacking from the letter though...
(additional hints at Rgr and Ftr passes coming....)

Long Live DDO!