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  1. #1
    Community Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
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    15

    Default Permanent Endgame Content in newby-fiendish game?!

    Hello Standing Stone Games,

    I am here since... since the level cap was 10, I had to pay a monthly fee to play and the "inspired Quarter" was the actual harbor. The Server-Consolidation has eaten my former account but it IS quite a long time since I am here.
    With lots of breaks I was coming back ever and ever again. Now I invited some friends that never have seen DDO. And listen to what they say while we where talking.

    But first things first: Can you tell me, why you don't care anymore about the game?
    This "Update XY - Again new endgame content!" announcements going to make me angry more and more.

    The game itself is in a horrible shape. And everything that happens is: More endgame Content.
    I know that DDO is not the "Find a good group and go on an adventure" game anymore.
    Its more about: "I will TR tomorrow and go my farm route while zerging through the quests."

    But even these guys that constantly TR dont see your "new Engame Content". New players will never play until that point.
    Because even the Character Generator is still 2006. It is ugly, confusingly and bugged. And it is still in a screen resulution for monitors, that you cant buy since 10 years anymore, because they are too old.
    Then the former very popular Quest-Chains: Waterworks, Catacombs, Shan To'Kor and even Sharn Syndicate.
    This is payed content, but the Unique Loot hasnt updated in decades! Lets try to imagine:

    A new player register to DDO and install the game (if he is a english-speaker native, otherwise, even this will be a disaster because you still hand out 10 year old installers that wont work anymore)
    Then he log in, see the character generation.
    He see that there is not much he can do, because almost everything is payed content right now.
    But what he seeing is, that everything is big and bold and stretched because his Screen is a normal standard screen (since almost 7 Years now) with 1920x1080 Resulution.
    That is the first big part he will dislike.
    But then he is going further. Playing and enjoying Khortos Island.
    What now? Groups? Groups are dead. The only Kind of grouping is "BYOH", "R1", "EE Harbor Zerg" etc.. nothing a new player should ever join. Especially not if he like to communicate with other players.
    He will face an extremly hard time, doing harbor quests solo. I know that most TR's have forgotten how to play a normal not spoiled char from level 1. And some know exactly how hard it is.
    But then think of: What if he is a new player and dont have much D&D knowledge and maybe comes from WOW or other games that care about their usability
    The inventory screen is making our new player sick. This kind of tiny symbols in tiny squares kind of inventory was already old fasioned as DDO was pressed on CD's with an access code and "1 Month of Gametime" key inside.
    Then the map that you cant zoom in.. still. The Tutorial messenges that pop in the whole screen while you are in trouble. WAAAAAY to big and still in a screen resulution that is not been used anymore since anno 2008.
    Lets say, our new player made his way through all the harbor-stuff. While he is facing the "Buy this Content"-Sign more and more, he decide to buy catacombs and the druid class.
    Bummer! Catacombs can be a very hard quest chain for a new player who is solo and level 4/5.
    The druid pet is not working most of the time. (As the Shadowfell package comes out, all pets and hirelings where working perfectly. But for some reason, you broke them to uselessness).
    Then he actually made it to finish catacombs. And all the uniqe quest rewards are level 1-3. And.. very bad level 1-3 Items as well. Because they where good back in time before the random loot was revamped and revamped and revamped.
    Now, even a new player can consider this as "trash".

    So he spend money for 2 things. One is not working anymore (ok you can play a melee druid. But if you like the caster tree, you are doomed.) and the other thing gives you a final-quest-reward that is more bad than a Khortos Island random chest.
    What do you think how long he will play this game and how much more money this player will spend?

    All the level 1-7 Quests gives out trash-rewards. Even those you have to buy.
    Play Shan To'Kor solo with a new, not TR'ed, not premium-race char. And watch what the end rewards will offer you.


    So my suggestions in a nutshell:

    1. Bring the WHOLE game to 1920x1080
    2. A total revamped Character Generation (A detailled description of what you will get if you choose this race, class etc. Also a drop-in window with the possible class enhancements, so you can pre build for that.)
    3. A new UI. No more tiny icons that represent an Item in tiny squares. Also a hint with "You already have this bonus on one of your items, they will not stack" if you put on something that match this beginner-mistake.
    4. Tutorial messages smaller and somewhere, they dont disturb. (f.E. The message "You are low on health" is not helpfull in the middle of the screen when you are in a deadly fight).
    5. Rework the Unique-Quest loot for lower levels to fit them into todays game-mechanics. And level this things up! It is a shame that you get nothing out of very hard quests.
    6. Explain new players why they should smash any crate, any vase and any barrel in a quest. Real Roleplayers wouldnt do that. And real Dungeon Masters wouldnt reward you with a XP bonus for this. So a word would be helpfull for new players.
    7. Delete the multilingual-Installers that have Languages that are no longer supported. I am from germany and back in time the game was avaible in german. I still get the german installer. And it is not working anymore. It is for windows 98 or something in this corner. But on my windows 10 pc, it is not working.
    8. 25 DDO points for a certain amount of ingame favor dont match anything that is called "Free to play" nowadays. This times, noone will go farming 30 Month to be able to buy a single minor Adventure pack. 100 Points would be accurate. Not just because this tightfisted amount is outdated, but even because new players wont advance far enough in the game, at its current condition.
    9. Fix the hirelings and pets! I can't belive that this is not gonna happen in the actual U41.
    10. Delete or rework quests like "Memoirs of an Illusory Larcener", "The newcomers" and all the other quests that have been made by... a trainee I guess? They are Free2Play and so ugly and have a such a BIG lack of creativity that it is a shame to show this to players. especially to free players. I dont want to be mean, but they look like you havent payed the mapmaker and this is his revenge.
    11. Add rogue hirelings for level 1-3. New players will die instantly in a trap. And since this no longer a group based game...
    12. Hold back a bit with "Pay here, Buy there" signs.. the guys that I invited havent even made a single char in this game before the message "Buy new character slots for x% off here" pops up in their face. I never was a free player nor I be one today. But accordingly to my mates, the game must be plastered with this signs everywhere. To much is to much! And dont forget: Noonoe will buy anything, If he is seeing that the devs dont care about early game and player guidance. No reward for new players, no reward for Standing Stone Games, its that easy.


    Thank you for reading.
    Last edited by BinaryS; 12-05-2018 at 02:28 AM.

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