My recurring dream metaphor of playing DDO

[Novalis]

I step into the arena and everything is familiar. I've fought here many times before. Bigger, stronger, more powerful, overwhelming numbers. I've taken some defeats but my victories have been much more numerous and the glory far outweighs any shame. I've fought deadly ogres with treacherous hobgoblin & bugbear cornermen. Slain lone dragons released to feast on my bones. Minotaur armies that underestimated my prowess thinking I would be an easy stepping stone to the next prize. Wizards, sorcerers and other mages using every trick up their sleeve. That was always pleasing to me, because I had some of my own and their compatriots were dead before they hit the ground and the ones left standing were paralyzed by fear before they could gabble anymore diablerie.

This time the recurring dream feels different. There is a heaviness in the air & almost lifeless. The crowd in the stands is significantly smaller. As I await my opponent I steel myself up. No matter whom I face, it has always been done with honor. I then see men walking towards the gate entrance wearing strange and disgustingly clean and nearly identical clothing with the words TURBINE and the symbol WB. They make it clear they didn't want to even be near the common rabble. They had other work to do. Then they sent in their champion.

At first glance he looks like the swill bucket boy. Then he resembled something like a dwarven dretch half breed with skin so blinding white I almost thought someone spilled glitterdust. The only thing he was wearing was a glowing crown over his head, padded gloves that looked like the palps on a giant spider and a generous overhanging belly. At first many thought this was a mistake, a jest perhaps. Then the pod men come up to him with whispers through the cage in his ear and a permanent smile overcame his face.

The arena judge gives the signal joining battle and I step in. This champ struts in as if he's almost asking to get stabbed. I decide to end this mockery & make his end swift and as painless as possible. I shadow jaunt toward him & move in to attack only to find him behind me. But it appears I have remained in the same place. I am blasted with the weight of Khyber itself from out of nowhere and my opponent is smiling across the other side of the arena. Gravity seems more heavy as I'm moving like molasses in January. I attempt to move only to be frozen in the air as his blows find their mark. I know I can only stand 4 or 5 hits at most like this. But this wasn't coming from my opponent. Somehow the arena & the environment has been altered.

The champion saunters up to me and I unleash my deadly combo guaranteed to kill. I find it is as if someone stole my time and put it on a shelf as I hit nothing. I am then left to just swinging away and luckily I connect but only to find I am being overwhelmed effortlessly by this champion of the pod men. I steal away but for a moment to gather my resources and try giving myself another chance.

I grab my sacred healing tonic waiting for it's soothing effect to wash over me. It was as if time stood still as my flask was drunk dry by someone else and it brought nothing to me but hopelessness and mistrust. One more strike and I would be finished but this new enemy was back in his corner smiling surrounded by the cheers of the pod men. It seemed as if he wanted something else from me. As the magic flask filled I did something I never did before. I asked the gods to please allow this to give me enough strength, just a chance to know why this wretched end came to pass. **** the victory.

I swing out with familiar precision when I notice my arms fall to my side and it seemed the room is spinning around. But in reality it was me spinning around for no reason and unprompted. I was not in control of anything. The pod men behind the cage were not casting spells. They were not even cheering their champion by this time. They were busy counting astral shards and making banners reading "Come to the Latest Arena Expansion" I call out to my cornerman only to see him running off and getting torn apart in a blade trap. I try to ask the arena judge to explain to me what is happening. He says I must submit my issue in writing and I won't get an acknowledgement if it's considered or even read. I scream to the crowd and the peasants start asking me, "Did you take...?" "Do you have...?" "Why did you...? Then with no chance of resolution I decided to make one last stand.

I cast all my best defenses and summon my greatest offenses and make my charge. I strike and connect. He swings and I dodge. I'm actually doing damage on the champion when I unleash a trusted method of attack. He is blinded and dumbfounded, but then he turns his head with that face wide smile and comes over the top with a haymaker. How could this happen? I shadow jaunt away as he is still standing. I go to the center of the arena to gather myself and also to observe what had made this come to be. Then the champion rushes at me, and in an eyes twinkle, I am dashed to the ground never seeing what blow came nor from whence it came.

As I lift my face up from the dirt I'm slowly getting enough strength to pick myself up again. He could kill me with a mere thought it seemed. But no, he had something else in mind. I just have to wait for it. "How did you do all this?" I asked.

He chuckles. "Just like your fortification, I ignore alot of other things." I'm down for good and the champion saunters up and says "Get up..."

I attempt to get up and I'm driven to the ground again. "Stay down!"

He then stands over me stretching out his hand & says out of his smile "OK, you can get up."

I feel the air to see if anything is waiting for me. Just as I'm about to put a foot down my face again hits the ground. "STAY DOWN!"

The deck was stacked. Was the dice loaded? Like a nightmare, the harder I swung the slower I would be and the harder my enemy would hit me. This was it. "I GIVE UP."

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! OK OK... It's over, truly now you can get up."

"Before I possibly make a fool of myself once again with the false hopes and your false pretenses, just tell me what this really is..."

The smile melted away from the champions' face into a smug grin gloating over me, and with a magical sneer he spewed...

"I'm the NEW DDO. I will break you, rend your efforts worthless, turn your precious gear to garbage, take your previous experiences just to make them hollow, your entire world is now upside down and inside out, and you will STILL be happy to pay for it...." Then he picked me up, brushed me off, gave me a pat on the back and said "Oh by the way, on your way out be sure to buy our stuff that you will need for the rematch when you come back!"

"Come back!? Rematch...?" I say back. "Does that mean the arena will be fixed & back to the same way it was before so everything is functioning equitably and properly work as intended?"

"OoOOHHHHhhh @#$% NO!!!!!" Bellows the champion shaking his head. "Of course it will be the same rules & environment. Except you get to be "stronger".... He says smiling his biggest smile as he barely spits out past his lips "And you have to pay for this service." as the pod men gather behind, joining him in deep laughter.



At this point it's time to wake up.

[Lemdog]

Tl;dr

[Qaliya]

Tl;dr

If someone takes the time to create something, and you can't even be bothered to read it... then do the rest of us a favor and don't be bothered to rudely post about it either. Nobody actually cares if someone else doesn't read something. It's not clever, it's just obnoxious.

[Wizza]

That was a nice read!

[Novalis]

I appreciate the ones taking the time out to read. I hope some get a sense they're not the only ones with multiple sources of frustration within DDO.

[viktorserak]

If someone takes the time to create something, and you can't even be bothered to read it... then do the rest of us a favor and don't be bothered to rudely post about it either. Nobody actually cares if someone else doesn't read something. It's not clever, it's just obnoxious.

I agree with the person you quoted and that you are now schooling.

Tl;dr in my eyes is a critique. I read it as: the thread sounds interesting, but the wall of text is so huge, that it is not worth my time to read it. It may be good, but the chance is too small (statistically) to risk wasting my time.

Now, you (OP, not actually you) can ignore my/our Tl;dr, or you can shorten it, or just say make an extract from it. Or dont. Depends if you want to target less people who are willing to risk wasting their time, or if you want to make "demo version" to lure more ppl.

Both variants make sense.

Being obnoxious about someone saying Tl;dr doesnt.

[Novalis]

I agree with the person you quoted and that you are now schooling.

Tl;dr in my eyes is a critique. I read it as: the thread sounds interesting, but the wall of text is so huge, that it is not worth my time to read it. It may be good, but the chance is too small (statistically) to risk wasting my time.

Now, you (OP, not actually you) can ignore my/our Tl;dr, or you can shorten it, or just say make an extract from it. Or dont. Depends if you want to target less people who are willing to risk wasting their time, or if you want to make "demo version" to lure more ppl.

Both variants make sense.

Being obnoxious about someone saying Tl;dr doesnt.

When it's easier to destroy rather than create.

[Braegan]

Pretty weak read to be honest.

You tried to be compelling and story telling. However grammar in points and immersion breaking details in others left your story failing.

Your attempt at being edgy, creative, and jabbing at the games devs just falls flat. I see what you are trying to do. But, your attempt was weak. For all those words (which I did read the whole OP) I really expected more. Talk about a whole bunch of nothing. If you are going to be a critic be somewhat amusing in the process or at least take less time getting to the point.

Sorry man, I am not one of the all is well crowd but your post is pretty bad.

[IronClan]

Tl;dr in my eyes is a critique. I read it as: the thread sounds interesting, but the wall of text is so huge, that it is not worth my time to read it. It may be good, but the chance is too small (statistically) to risk wasting my time.

I read TL;DR as someone on the internet (an almost entirely written medium) admitting their own cognitive shortcomings and attention span issues.

To me the logical response to TL;DR should be MT;TV? "Maybe Try; Television?"

IMO TL;DR is an extension of the celebration of ignorance and being dumb that was popular in public school when I was young, being smart was a sign of being uncool and nerdy... this is pre-internet of course before being a geek became a positive thing. As evidence of this I see TL;DR used more on car and truck forums (I'm a Mustang and Jeep guy) way more than anywhere else, and these places tend to be populated by a predominance of 40-something Bro-dogs, hicks and rednecks who still think being a "jock" or a "bro" is the way "cool people" act. not realizing that the tables turned about 15 years ago and they are the ones being made fun of these days.

[Loromir]

Tl;dr

too bad...it is mildly intersting.

[Lemdog]

Well, It looks like I upset a few people with my comment above. I did read it this time.

[Chai]

The mobs having huge HP totals was an issue long before champions were implemented. Years before.

The issue with fortification bypass is not that it no longer protects against all crits, but that it did protect against all crits for so long that people got used to never being crit on and it became the status quo. When that status quo changed, people reacted negatively.

Is there a chapter in the novel where people invis run past 99% of the mobs, kill the boss by perching on an object the hero can jump up to but the boss cannot, and the mob stands in the firewall patiently awaiting its own demise, then make shard donations to the gods to change the loot in the chest three times, come up with nothing but garbage loot, then the hero heads to the town forum to warn anyone in listening range that they have done this 50+ times and have nothing but this pile of garbage to show for it?

[Kawai]

creative: check
interesting: check

g'job Op, for simply taking the time.

don't sweat our lovely Trolls.
they'll b gone soon...
-WalMart is hiring Greeters.

[Vellrad]

Tl;dr

/signed