Thoughts on Returning

[Orratti]

I miss my characters. I haven't played since 2012 I guess and I was years behind on equipment goals and months behind on tring goals. I see the game hasn't met DOOM!!!! and I see that some of those prophets of doom are still here. One thing I noticed in looking over the forums is a lack of the old this or that is overpowered threads. That has to be nice in game.

I would love to come back but I was years behind on grinding when I left and that was a long time ago so the problem is exponentially compounded. I'm just too **** lazy to do all that work. I'm not all that sociable either so I'm not likely to make lots of friends that would help me out. I do miss playing my characters though.

[mr420247]

Ravenloff gear op as f and fast farms come back have fun

[Orratti]

I got sucked into the game like a crack addict for 6 years. It was all I thought about. I was a good player too but never good enough to suit myself. Nah. I left for a good reason. Too much work to get where I wanted to be and it is only a game. My focus is better off staying in real life.


I still get that urge to get a fix every now and again though. Just a little taste. I don't regret those years. I had a blast playing too despite the eventual frustrations.

[LazarusPossum]

I have come back after three years, and find the crafting changes (levels and binding) suit my characters much better now. With a two-weapon assassin, my inventory was becoming extremely cluttered, but now I can swap out many BtA items between him, my acrobat, and my mechanic to keep the junk factor low. I also enjoy the higher ability numbers compared to what used to be, which makes soloing a little easier.

The only gripe I have is that the crafting halls themselves are still just as buggy as always. My assassin got stuck in the grinder for about 15 minutes last night, and finally got free just before I was going to force a hard logout. He doesn't even wear a tie.
When working next to other players, I often find myself having to reopen the machine for every action, which is irritating. To top it off, after converting all the essences I had, I can't see or count the converted ones. Essences passed from my alts show up just fine, but my main/crafter has to log out and back in for the machine to recognize that I have many essences, but I can't see them in my bags or know how many there are. All I can do is craft a shard and hope there's enough.

[xberto]

Welcome back! This is the original DDO. It’s just evolved a lot. What this game needs, like any MMO, is more players. Stick around please and enjoy! I’d love to see the streets bustling with activity. I don’t agree with many of you points and if ya stick around I think your opinion might change. There are plenty of things need fixing but overall I still love playing this game.

[Applefritter]

I was going to contend your first point regarding required grouping but it seems others have already done so. That said, I've read somewhere that reaper was intended to foster grouping. The self-healing penalty in reaper seems to support that assertion.

The collectible system is perhaps the largest sore point for me in an otherwise excellent game and will whole heartedly aggree that the collectible system is a complete "Cluster". The collectible drop rates and required materials to craft items are so low and high, respectively, that you either:
A - Craft nearly nothing until you are ready for max level gear, making the system a waste for the majority of the leveling curve
B - Grind the same missions for hours and hours (and more hours) for collectibles, probably on a high level farmer toon, just so you can craft a couple pieces of gear. What fun!

Now some will likely level accusations of "entitlement" and impatience for wanting fewer hours of mindless, unvaried grind. Unlike running full missions completely there's nearly no variation, or entertainment, in running a quarter mile to click on a few nodes, recalling or finishing out and repeating ad nauseum. Some grind is acceptable and even welcome, and we all know there is consideralble variance in individuals' grinding tolerances. However, this system is so at odds with the rest of the game design, ostensibly built around players actually having fun, one can only presume it exists as an attempt to frustrate players just enough so that they purchace collectible boxes, but not enough that they quit, like most freemium models. Also, before others remind everyone that Standing Stone is a business and exists to make money. That's completely true, but that's why some pay subscriptions and others purchase ddo points for adventure packs, cosmetics and convenience items. The crafting system however, feels like mobile freemium game levels of exploitation. Good thing the other game mechanics appear to be designed with player fun as a higher priority. If there was one thing I'd vote to change about DDO, it'd be to relax the collectible system, even before server merges.

[Hydian]

DDO never had forced grouping in quests, save for the few that required multiple players to throw levers.

This is not true. Prior to DDO going FTP, it was all but impossible to solo quests. I know this because I used to do it and there were only a handful of quests where it was at all possible and none where it was a good use of your time.

I mean...unless your definition of forced grouping doesn't include needing a group to complete the quest in which case, sure, you weren't forced to group. You were more than welcome to sit in the tavern with a LFM up while you waited for a healer or a rogue so you could actually go do something. But unless you were a glutton for punishment like I was, you weren't going into a quest by yourself and if you did, chances were close to 100% that you were coming out with less than you started with.

[Hydian]

1 - Forced grouping is what led to the demise of the original DDO. The lesson from history is apparently being ignored. Yes, I know, PnP is a group game. One simply cannot depend on always finding an appropriate group, or keeping a group together, in DDO, which is not a game one can play weekly, with solid world friends, around a table, while partaking of one's favorite vices.

This has already been touched on, but let me add to it. I was a pretty hardcore player prior to FTP, but I have been very casual since coming back after the game went free. I've got a few dozen different builds, nearly all first life, at all different levels and in the game's current state soloing is dead easy. A decent first life build can easily handle both Heroic and Elite Hard solo. I recently reincarnated a couple of characters and have been playing with hirelings (which I normally don't do) and they have been handling 1 Skull Reaper without much trouble. I don't even have their gear maximized or anything. Outside of one or maybe two quests and raids, there is no actual grouping requirement. Just don't get caught up in the need to push for difficulty levels that are beyond your skill and/or build capabilities. I know that I could be doing Epic Elite on a few of my builds, but I do Epic Hard instead because I don't find EE to be any more fun or challenging...just more of a slog. There are only a few quests that I don't run and that is simply because I don't enjoy them...and I solo exclusively so when I say that it can be done, I mean it.

2 - The new Cannith Crafting system is poor, at best.

Overall, it is a vast improvement over the old system. I do miss a lot of the effects that are gone, but I am in the minority (I think I'm the only person to ever craft stability armor). The collectables thing is starting to become a pain for me, but I was always a packrat and am only now starting to burn through all of my stuff. Overall, that is an improvement too, as it is easier to predict where they can be found and farm for them.

3 - I can see and appreciate the reasons for the Reaper difficulty in quests. The addition of the Reaper Enhancement tree makes running at that level, in groups, worthwhile for those who enjoy such play and can always find groups. Refer to point 1 for those who don't like forced grouping.

You *can* solo low reaper. Most of these people are going to tell you that it is simple and you are a loser if you can't do it. What they aren't telling you is that is only after a lot of past lives and grouping reaper enough to get a lot of reaper XP. You can do R1 with a hireling though. It just isn't going to be easy at first.

4 - The addition of crowned mobs to Hard and Elite quests level 5 and above is a bother, to say the least. Refer to point 1.

Champion mobs are the most overrated addition to the game in terms of difficulty. Even at their worst and when people whined about them constantly, they were nothing special. They are a larger sack of hitpoints with a couple of buffs/debuffs. All they do is change your target priority. They are just as susceptible to crowd control as they normally would be, so easy enough to park until you can get to them. They just take a few more seconds to burn down and they tend to hit a bit harder. I've always loved them.

6 - The latest revamp of Enhancements leaves somewhat to be desired over what was in existence when I left a few years back. Monks are rather limited in design, which nerfs them a bit, imo.

Enhancements are much better than they were. Monks are rather limited in their design, by design, and as they should be, but they are currently one of the most powerful melee classes so it isn't hurting them any. Most trees could be better, but only a few of them are in real need of a revamp.

[slarden]

Reaper doesn't really force grouping. If you want to solo you can ignore it entirely and I've solo'd alot of reaper and if anything I solo more because of reaper rather than grouping more because of reaper. You just need to cover the self-healing aspect, have enough hp/prr/mrr to avoid one-shots and have a plan for dealing with some of the reapers and bad champs - with cc being the easiest way.

The crafting system is great until you get to 28 where named items are generally better. The collectible cost is too high in general so it takes longer to make your items.