Wilderness areas need to go

[JonD]

Now, I would mention one thought I had on XP Boosters is to remove the timer aspect and instead make them a set number of XP Events. This would remove this from being a deterrent to running to quests in explorer areas.

I suggest altering "XP Events" to "Quest Completions"; if XP Boosters had a set number of uses, I don't think anyone would want one of those uses to be burned up on a rare mob in a wilderness.

[Enoach]

I suggest altering "XP Events" to "Quest Completions"; if XP Boosters had a set number of uses, I don't think anyone would want one of those uses to be burned up on a rare mob in a wilderness.

Fair assessment, maybe different types. Expand options in store. One for Wilderness Events and One for Quest Events. Why I go with events is these optional items. But because of that, I believe that should be considered in the # of Events. Also, since these are optional in many cases the xp/min would not be affected as they already avoid the event.

@Paragoons
I don't agree that Wilderness is outdated which is why I suggest improvements and agree with adding unique incentives. As for not worrying about "Falling off a Cliff", I've been in many PnP quests in the last 40 years where the environment had its own challenges, be it over plains, mountains, desserts, or large bodies of water - Even had a few dealings with flight. It is the immersion that some players enjoy. Maybe not every time but remember, not everyone stays on one end of the spectrum or the other, they can change based on their current mood or situation.

[Paragoons]

Fair assessment, maybe different types. Expand options in store. One for Wilderness Events and One for Quest Events. Why I go with events is these optional items. But because of that, I believe that should be considered in the # of Events. Also, since these are optional in many cases the xp/min would not be affected as they already avoid the event.

@Paragoons
I don't agree that Wilderness is outdated which is why I suggest improvements and agree with adding unique incentives. As for not worrying about "Falling off a Cliff", I've been in many PnP quests in the last 40 years where the environment had its own challenges, be it over plains, mountains, desserts, or large bodies of water - Even had a few dealings with flight. It is the immersion that some players enjoy. Maybe not every time but remember, not everyone stays on one end of the spectrum or the other, they can change based on their current mood or situation.

Yes but in pen and paper you have creative solutions you don't lag out and run off a cliff then have to find a nearby 1 minute run pathway to get back

[Enoach]

Yes but in pen and paper you have creative solutions you don't lag out and run off a cliff then have to find a nearby 1 minute run pathway to get back

Have you ever ended a session on a Cliff hanger?

[Zeleron]

Yes but in pen and paper you have creative solutions you don't lag out and run off a cliff then have to find a nearby 1 minute run pathway to get back

That 1 minute pathway probably still faster then the DM describing every pimple on a hags face blocking the way back up.

[thegreatcthulhu]

To survive, DDO must attract and cater to the needs of many kinds of players, not just one. There is no need for players to fight and insult one another over this issue when simple compromise solutions will allow everyone to coexist, peacefully. The people at Standing Stone Games know what those solutions are and can implement them at will.

It would help immensely if players would stop fighting amongst themselves and agree to a compromise solution such as the one implemented for Ravenloft.

I must replay quests, sometimes many times over, in both heroic and epic levels. My characters cannot comfortably complete most quests on elite difficulty. Reaper mode remains a distant dream. I skip many quests because they are difficult to solo, or excessively complicated, or difficult to reach, or in a quest pack I do not own, or simply not fun. My finances do not allow for subscriptions so I do not get a +10% bonus on everything, nor do I benefit from the many subscriber weekend boosts. I cannot afford experience potions. Quite a few of my characters lack one or both experience tomes. It gets ugly after the first go round.

However, I completely agree that all wilderness areas would greatly benefit from always available wilderness guides to quests. Over the years, I have asked for them many times. I was the number one proponent of those guides during the run up to Ravenloft. For years, I have asked for a dungeons launcher like the one in The Lord of the Rings Online. I am far slower than someone like you but I still go as fast as I can and want things faster still.


I try not to get angry. The fact they added mounts means they recognize the issue and want to offer relief. If they just wanted experience potions to burn down while traversing wilderness areas, they would not have done that. For some reason, they feel at least some wilderness run time sink is necessary. I doubt even one developer could offer a rational explanation for it. I would bet money it is driven by pure emotion on their part.

As usual, well said. And I'll throw in that some of us could do reaper if we wanted, but the high stress (on certain dungeons) it entails, isn't always FUN.

As for the subject at hand - I suspect it's partially emotion. SSG and their prior incarnation (Turbine) seemed to take a lot of pride in the way they built the dungeons and wilderness areas, and I suspect that at the end of the day, it's definitely because of sentiment. Still, I think they should consider the Ravenloft / 3BC solution.

I still think though the other problems, mainly monster density, is something they need to also address at some point. The riding to dungeons thing really doesn't bother me as much as the annoying way wilderness areas do not have an option to adjust the difficulty / monster numbers.

[cmecu]

Wow. Of all the things in this game to rage quit over. I would not have even put this one in the top 20.

I think a break is a good idea. Might I suggest a first-person shooter to work through some of your irritation?

hehe I wonder if the OP ever played Everquest. Now that was a game that took time to get around in.

[kmoustakas]

I was thinking about playing the game 3 times today but then was thinking huh do I want to run for 30 mins plus around the isle of dread to do the quests just aimlessly staring at the screen and my answer was no...
Either make wilderness area exploration somehow more valuable or just let us teleport to quest, this is such boring bs especially on MY 17 TH LIFE
You make us reincarnate and then make us run around to repeat the same pointless thing that is not even gameplay its just staring at the screen until arriving at destination.

Just going to use my VIP sub until its close to expiration and unsubscribe until this if fixed, I came back after 8 month break, probably not coming back until this is gone, just wasting everyone's time

No. Wilderness is probably the only thing DDO has done right since it's inception. What we need is more raid wilderness areas with high mob density and wider level limits.

[Oxarhamar]

No. Wilderness is probably the only thing DDO has done right since it's inception. What we need is more raid wilderness areas with high mob density and wider level limits.

True indeed

[Sylvado]

No. Wilderness is probably the only thing DDO has done right since it's inception. What we need is more raid wilderness areas with high mob density and wider level limits.

That is along the lines of what I was thinking, the challenge of the Wilderness areas is far below the challenge of the quests in the area.

[Dex80]

Let us lvl 1-30 in wilderness areas, scale the xp differently

[Oxarhamar]

Let us lvl 1-30 in wilderness areas, scale the xp differently

Epic areas are mostly pretty good with some that have low slayer count

I agree about heroic areas

[Anuulified]

Wilderness areas are missed opportunities in DDO.There is so much more they could do, make them challenging and dangerous with ample rewards. But they homogenized them every time.

[capsela]

Nothing shows that devs are tone deaf like this issue.

Ravenloft method of teleportation near quest entrance is universally praised. Having to run to quest entrances for the umpeenth time is a frequent complaint.

How literally hard would it be to add a teleporter to IOD, Feywild, Gianthold, Underdark, Saltmarsh, Orchard? And not someone who requires you have been there before or requires astral shards.

Cmon Tolero, Put this one in your spreadsheet

I love ravenloft so much. I praise teleport system there too. I despise running around Masterminds of Sharn: The Cogs. That's like the worst wilderness ever. Punishing.

[Dejvid]

for a filthy casual like me, i enjoy most of the wilderness areas the way they are. the only ones that annoy me have quest entrances way out of reach for a quick quest session. like that chains of flame quest thats so far away, it feels like a waste of time to even ride towards it.

and im saying this as someone who also plays lotro, and over there i love the wide and open fields and expansive zones. but they dont force you (most of the time, looking at you mordor) to retread known grounds over and over.
thats something ssg does really well. their world design is top notch! but in ddos case its sometimes a little hit or miss due to the nature of the game.

thats why i love the teleporter system. ideally it should give you a fast travel point relatievly close to the questgiver once you have finished the quest at least once, so that the wilderness is not "wasted". barovia is one example that did it both right and oh so wrong. it has this huge zone (albeit samey and mostly empty), that at the end of the day, nobody has to play because you have access to teleportation right from the start.
wheloon (as already mentioned in this thread) and stormhorns did it quite good, but both had some issues in other areas. paying for the travel was a big big nono!

smaller wilderness zones like cerulian hills or even korthos are honestly more to my liking. they have more of the samey "duration" an actual quest has, so no teleportation required, and you usually grab enough enemies on the way to get a small xp reward. saltmarsh on the other hand is medium sized, but encourages you to go search the rares because chests are actually worthwhile with their rewards.

cogs was fine, had teleportation evenly spread out. but the zone itself was not really that big in the first place, so the addition of teleportation is still a fine qol feature.
feywild would require one or two ports too for the out of their way questentrances to be honest.
but at the end of the day, as long as questentrances dont feel like they are wasting your time traveling for 5 minutes avoiding all enemies on their way, wilderness zones are a thing that should remain in ddo.

(ps: i did wish we had more districts in stormreach or eveningstar with a bunch of quests, the feel of questing in a big city is always the best)

[Uska]

NO WAY maybe teleports to quests once you have all explorers

[Paragoons]

NO WAY maybe teleports to quests once you have all explorers

yes

[Oxarhamar]

NO WAY maybe teleports to quests once you have all explorers

That’s pointless players want teleportation to get to the quest faster and less running around the explorer area not more time running around the explorer area

[Stimulus]

all I really want is the big XP button

Yes.

I want this, too.

It should give one h or epl and make a fart sound every time I push it.

[Paragoons]

Yes.

I want this, too.

It should give one h or epl and make a fart sound every time I push it.

I love how in a game with literally hundreds of reincarnations, somehow SOMEHOW more exp is bad