State of the game, sep 2022

[holdmyale]

The original title was a typo. I fudged the title, whoops. My apologies. Attempted to fix it. Looks slightly better I think. :-/

This post is not to be confused with other posts of similar title, like:https://forums.ddo.com/forums/showth...te-of-the-Game or https://forums.ddo.com/forums/showth...te-of-the-game

It's my intention to draw attention to the areas I feel relevant to keep this game moving forward.

These are some rough ideas I was able to jot down while in our DDO Discord server, which is located: https://discord.gg/Zbu62zjyH6

These ideas are not really formalized or anything, just how i was able to voice my concerns into words that make sense to me.

DDO is not gonna make it huge. (Unless they make drastic changes to the game and marketing efforts.)

other games like Everquest (also owned by daybreak, like ddo / Purchased in Dec 2022 for 300 Million) have zone revamps included in patches.

The micro-transactions need to be expanded to encourage growth.

We're not getting new players like we should. when was the last time you actually saw an advertisement for the game?

the tutorial is an issue, it teaches new players just enough to get their feet wet, but ultimately cripples them because it shows them that generic builds can be successful, which is sadly untrue. people end up with bricked builds and end up buying reincarnation stones. most of the time, they don't know what they're doing until they've already spent too much messing up the build even more.

the standard character build process is too complicated for someone who's never played a rpg before. There needs to be something similar to an iconic, no multi-class, but they can't reset the build, they have to play it all the way to 20 through a guided path of leveling, before they can change it or reincarnate.

inventory system, be able to put items in bags, so we can mass farm. veteran players from other games would flock to this one if we added that. This would solve various storage issues. Why must you only save certain types of items in certain types of bags? Why is there no cosmetic storage? Why can't you store armor or quest items in a generic bag?

How npc's spawn in quests should be more randomized, to really embrace the instanced nature of the experience. To make it more challenging and interesting.

I would also like to implement the hounds from hardcore season 6 as a regular thing for reaper difficulty.

Middle of the game, mid-game leveling seems normal, it's at the beginning and end game where players are lost or loose interest. However, Most DDO vets view hosting an LFM as a hindrance to their speed

raids feel small compared to other mmorpgs. i think we can all agree the raids need more depth and the loot tables are depressing.

if you agree or disagree, make your voice heard by comments. If you can expand on these concepts, please do. Thanks in advance.

[KoobTheProud]

I'm all for making the tutorial more new player friendly and expanding it. I'd take the in-town Korthos quests and make them a chain straight from the Grotto with each of them directing to the next and adding more tutorial items. I would move the Keep on the Borderlands transport from the current location to the Korthos docks to make it less likely that a new player decides to skip Korthos.

I would expand marketing to Twitch with ads running in the Games channels. I would specify a minimum viewers of 1000 for an ad to run. The catch in Twitch ads is that often only non-subscribers to the channel in question see the ads. This is because streamers and especially large audience streamers try to milk their casual viewers who are not paying money to watch the stream for extra revenue. Many streamers take ad breaks where everybody sees ads, generally when they are on a short break themselves. However it is not necessarily bad that most of the views will be by non-subscribers to the channel. These are people not economically committed to the stream and they may be persuadable to commit elsewhere.

New players are the lifeblood of any online game. As much as you can prioritize older customers and revenue you won't last forever on that.

[Stoner81]

I would also like to implement the hounds from hardcore season 6 as a regular thing for reaper difficulty.

On every level NO! Those **** things should have never been on Hardcore let alone any place else! Bring those to the main servers and the game will be dead in a matter of weeks/months.

Stoner81.

[GeneralDiomedes]

Hounds are quite awesome for HCL, except for that fact I am probably getting a stress disorder from them lol. I could see maybe adding the mechanic to a couple of Feywild quests just to make soloing/zerging more interesting, but definitely not pile them on top of Reaper.

Honestly graphics are the main thing holding this game back in my opinion. Gameplay is fun, tons of content, character building is without parallel.

Even Isle of Dread - the wilderness area looks good, some quests have pro-level graphic design (All Hail the King) but so many others look amateur-ish.

[Annex]

The Lord of the Rings Online is currently receiving a graphics update, a completely new level 1 to 20 area, the introduction of more micro-transactions, a serious overhaul of player versus player combat, and undergoing class simplification. A while back, more customer service people were hired and it appears they are making headway on tickets. A while back, more technical people were hired and they continue to simplify game mechanics to reduce lag. That pretty much demonstrates what the people at Standing Stone Games consider most important for keeping a game going in the long term.

In DDO we have seen numerous efforts to reduce lag, some benefit from hiring more customer service people, and a new storage system. When the people at Standing Stone Games have enough confidence in the new system, storage will expand. Keep on the Borderlands introduced a new starter area two years ago. About a year ago, the free quest pack coupon was offered to increase population. Hardcore continues to draw back players although this season seemed less successful than others.

We could see an overhaul of Korthos.

They will not have budget and technical people for a graphics overhaul until they finish with The Lord of the Rings Online. Even then, the cost may exceed the projected benefit.

More micro-transactions is a sure bet. I shudder to think what that will bring. It sure won't be more clothing. Asking for more micro-transactions is like asking for someone to stab you and take your purse.

I do not expect much on the raid front since the game currently offers many relevant raids. There are never enough for some players but if I were in charge, I would look at the usage statistics, not complaints in the forums.

Putting hounds on the main servers would seriously set back people trying to catch up so that may well happen.

The people at Standing Stone Games pretty much continue to give players what they asked for about a year ago. That year represents the time necessary to identify a problem, hash out a solution, and implement it.

*shrug*

[Bunker]

On every level NO! Those **** things should have never been on Hardcore let alone any place else! Bring those to the main servers and the game will be dead in a matter of weeks/months.

Stoner81.

Much the the Wolf Rider in Borderlands wilderness, just have all reapers ride in on a Hound, once the hound is defeated, the Reaper is left and you battle them.

[KoobTheProud]

I don't think it is the graphics. If you dramatically overhauled the graphics you would also dramatically increase the minimum specs required to play DDO.

I think the game presents very well for a real MMO/FRPG in 2022. The problem is that there are not a lot of MMO/FRPG's still going of the last generation and the next generation has not yet released. So DDO is in competition with a lot of single player FRPG's that have great graphics and it is also in competition with a lot of last generation MMO's that tend to have similar graphics.

I would look more towards expanding the game laterally with content that is only loosely connected to the existing content. I really like the idea of fixed scenario instances that can be played almost like an FRPG with fixed characters running through an instance tailored to challenge them and do some story-telling along the way. These could be run solo or with a party depending on player preference and what the LFG/LFM produced. SSG already has something similar to this in the LotRO Epic storylines where the player adventures as themselves alongside iconic figures from the trilogy.

Imagine being Drizzt Do'Urden for an hour in an adventure designed to challenge him while telling a tale of the forgotten Realms. You could tie these iconic adventures to DDO characters that reaped the benefits, favor or otherwise, from running them. One advantage of this approach is the the devs could tailor the instance to the characters involved and make gameplay compelling and largely unexploitable in this process.

[Enoach]

When I first started playing DDO back in Summer of 2006 one particular feature I enjoyed was the Tutorial Zone (We now see it in its converted form as the Crystal Cove Event)

It had tutorials for each aspect, how to do roguish stuff, swing a weapon, tumble, change and cast spells etc.

I think it was a poor decision to remove an area like that.

[cdbd3rd]

Much the the Wolf Rider in Borderlands wilderness, just have all reapers ride in on a Hound, once the hound is defeated, the Reaper is left and you battle them.

This gave me the ROFLs!

...as a non-Reaper player, of course.

[Memnir]

The game has always needed to advertise more/better, and that got my vote.

I would also like to implement the hounds from hardcore season 6 as a regular thing for reaper difficulty.

No.

[noinfo]

I would also like to implement the hounds from hardcore season 6 as a regular thing for reaper difficulty.
.

There should be a check box on each dungeon for participation in events like that. I would love to see things like devil invasion etc or some other event, but there should be an option to not have it on live.

[SoVeryBelgian]

Hounds in Reaper hm? Maybe all HC Champs become available in "Mythic Reaper" Difficulty? The fabled R11 perhaps?

/kek/


Anyway, I voted for Bank/Storage expansion. There's too much to collect without a good place to put em. I don't like alt spamming for banks.

Maybe a BANK TOON purchase? Instead of an Alt slot, you expend one to add <universal space> available to all toons on an account/per server. Dimensional Bag? House K Bank Vault for personal use?



But I also think improving the graphics/render-load somewhat would definitely bring the game outta 2006-2010... Not that they haven't improved... half-elf doesn't terrify anymore and Tabaxi/Dragonborn/Tiefling actually function pretty well animation wise.

[Pandjed]

To expand for new players, we need a good way to first get players into the mechanics of the game. Would use a three-pronged approach.

First, redo character paths. They're really outdated, and one of the funnest ways to do it would be to make a DDO-contest, with the community creating character paths based on effectiveness and ease of use (so having dozens of actives will deduct points, same with endless weapon swaps or sudden playstyle changes when a certain level is reached).
These paths would also give with each level up a note (as an BTC item) how to spend enhancement points and what to look forward or new stuff to remind, written by the contestors.
The reward would be a mention of the creator and some DDO points.

Second, introducing of more solo quests. While Korthos is a nice startpoint to get into the game right away, it also doesn't explain even half of the mechanics. By making an optional tutorial area full with solo quests that can only be visited by first and second lifers that uses special mechanics like buffs to show how they affect the game (like a 50 PRR buff midquest), new players can get a hang of the mechanics.
Add a reward item for each of them of an appropriate cannith craft level that will use same mechanic (sheltering item on the PRR/MRR quest) will not only make this one not easier to remember, but also give those players a good base line of gear that will help them to party with more experienced players without lacking a third of their character strength.

Third, give more bridges for free and new players mid to end heroics. LFMs are often over the place, that's why new players tend to get stuck here. They have problems getting their gear up, they have problems with getting enough Tokens for a heart, etc.
For itemization, just give the vendors some level stuff. A goggle for every level, using the same bonuses, just scaling. Can be base CC and be BtC by aquire, just make them affordable, new players lack gold. Give an option for a free heart of wood for first and second life characters, also BtC to avoid exploits.
In addition to that, more quests that can either be soloed or just solo quests with decent XP return, so that new players don't get stuck. Use an overarching story that will lead to explain heroic reincarnation. Maybe about a villain, who did reincarnate a lot and will use this mechanic one last time, to become a fabled "Completionist".

[cmckronos]

It seems there are two kinds of things going on in this thread. As far as the original poll, IMO quite a few things are missing from it, but hey...

The other was talking about new players and getting them into the game. Having gone through this with a few friends and trying to get them to play and with a few new guild members who are also new to the game...

1) Make the game easier to get into.
1a) A new player is greeted with all the player paths that are all woefully out of date, so what should be an easy button to get to a playable character quickly is prone to producing full on dumpster fires.
1b) There have been *so many* changes, even within the last year, that have made many feat and character choices bad ones and that make the builds that are in the forums maybe no longer ideal (if they were ever ok for a first time player is also questionable though I do like that many have 'new player' friendly mentions). How the hell should a new player even have a rough idea about it and why should they have to leave the game and spend how ever much time just to get a non-**** character rolled up for playing? Perhaps maybe take some of the more solid, new player friendly builds and make those the new paths. Minimal effort there...
1c) Maybe in the tutorials be better about mentioning what kinds of things can be bought with platinum in game. I was stunned to see some of the new players i have tried to help spend DDO points to buy quivers...i mean come on...
1d) Have the tutorials mention hires. It isn't an obvious thing but should be.
2) Everyone still jumps into Korthos, at least to start. I think the tutorials there are still fair, but the graphics are pretty dang dated. For people I have tried to recruit to play, that is almost always their first comment, quickly followed by for the love of god why am i so slow and why is this running so slow? Then the crystal one, hell i can't tell you the number of times i have tried to play that one and depending on the class having a hard time controlling the mobs and keeping them away from the glass jawed crystal. If that is your first impression of the game....
3) Lack of an over-arching story. If for some reason any of the new people stayed around long enough to get off Korthos, they immediately get to stormreach and are left with an abundance of options and not real clear guidance on now what. I seem to recall that used to be more organized but that seems to have fallen away now. Anyway, usually at that point the interest largely waned even when they were playing with all the packs free.

I think the devs could do quite a bit more to make it a more friendly experience for new players and I think it would be well worth their time to do so with interest likely to increase whenever that D&D movie releases...