I played D&D for the first time in High School in the late 70's early 80's and nothing has ever come close to the feeling I got from that experience. The feeling of comraderie I had during those play sessions are synonymous with my most fond memories as a youth. Platform: PC
Since then, gaming has always been a part of my life. I guess I will always be a kid at heart. I have also been programming and building computers since high school, even though I am educated as a Mechanical Engineer. So, there you have it, two of the biggest passions in my life are computers and gaming. It's no wonder why MMO's have interested me so much since they were introduced to the world.
I guess the first Graphical MMO I played was Xenimus, after that was EverQuest and "Earth and Beyond", more recently "Starwars Galaxies" and "Everquest 2". I played those games for quite a while but I always ended up quiting out of shear boredom. I hate the repetition of games, grinding for exp, camping for that uber mob, and long travel times through areas that you have been one thousand times before. That to me is not fun at all and that is why I quit and will most likely never play those games again.
"DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: ONLINE" This is an editorial on MMOG's and "DDO" in particular.
MMO's are in their infancy and they need to grow with the times. There are too many clones out there now. The argument of "dont fix what isnt broke" ideology, is fair; however, the genre will never grow unless you try new things.
DDO has alot of good things going for it:
First off , we don't have to grind exp by killing the same thing over and over and over. Sure, in those other games, when you level up you get to go to new areas and see new monsters, but it's the same thing, essentially. Instead of kill one million gnolls to advance, it is now kill one million goblins. The only difference is what the mobs look like, but the grind is still there.
Secondly , we don't have to camp for that uber mob for hours and hours, since the adventures are all instanced, the mob that you are looking for will always be there. I just don't find it fun to wait a week for a mob to spawn and find that another group got to him first. I don't even want to wait an hour. I have better things to do with my life.
Thirdly , the travel times are done away with. You get the quest and travel a short distance to the instance and you are there, without the repetition of running through half a dozen gigantic zones to get to where you want to be. I really don't want to waste 30 minutes running from one zone to the next till I can finally start having fun.
Lastly , the adventures are alot more fun. The puzzles require that you figure things out before you can proceed. The traps also require that you use your wit to continue through the dungeon. It's a thinking man's game, and this very much appeals to me. Mindless repetition of the same thing over and over again will never keep my attention for long.
Many of the MMO's out there lack any real depth to them. I think it's because game mechanics suffer due to the shear scale of the zones. I don't know why, but many single player games seem to have a great deal more intrigue to the storyline, game mechanics, and gameplay. I think it's because the designers can concentrate on each area of the game and make sure that it is fun. A single player game that lasts 50 hours to complete would be considered well worth the money, if the gameplay is good. MMO's have to do the same thing, only on a much larger scale. The fun get's spread too thin.
I think DDO has taken what makes a good single player game and applied it to an MMO. Now we get superior game play with the added bonus of playing with other people. Each adventure instance is fun! No more grinding, camping, or long boring travel times!
Here's a quote from a post I made on the stress test boards:
In my short time during the stress test, I have found that the quests are fun and each one was different. I love the fact that I can distribute my skill and attribute points how I see fit. This gains a huge replayability score in my mind.
I am not sure if I am so geeked about this game because it is that good, or just because fond memories of D&D from decades ago are coming back to me. I do know that I am going to give it a try, because they have done away with so many things that I hated about other games.
See You On Launch Day!
Hamarabi
New MMO's are always compared to the well established kings of the genre, and people judge accordingly. While, this may be a valid way of deciding whether you want to play a game or not, it is not without flaws. The most popular MMO's out there just have you grinding XP by killing thousands of the same mobs over and over again. They have you camping mobs for hours and weeks. They have you traveling for 30 minutes before you get to the fun. This kind of content was made to stretch it out as long as possible. Content? Yes. Quality Content? Definitely NOT!
Just because other games take longer to get to the level cap, does not mean that there is more content. It just means that the developers made it so you had to grind longer in order to see everything.
DDO has quality content, by that, I mean it is fun and interesting. The fun is just an instance away and I don't have to camp for hours (Waste Time) to kill a certain mob! I agree there is not enough of it, but if you took away the obvious time sinks of other games, I think you'll find that there isn't that much to do there, either.
DDO does have it's own time sink; however. You have to repeat the same quests over and over again at higher levels, and I grow weary of it, just as many others have.
I do hope that we can all hold out a little longer and give them time to create the quality content (Minus the Bugs), that we know they are capable of. D&D Pen and Paper, is by far, my all time favorite game, but that won't keep me playing DDO. I like DDO alot, but I won't continue to PAY to do the same thing over and over again. So, I am rooting for them to do what everyone wants, create quality content on a steady and frequent basis.
I give it an 8 out of 10, but against other MMO games, this deserves a much higher score. Except for the lack of content at the highest level, this game is superior to others in the genre. That's because, it eliminates so many things that are bad about MMO's.
Anyways, I hope this review was useful to you and if you havn't played Dungeons and Dragons Online yet, you should definitely give it a try! Personally, I think the rogue is the most fun class to play, because it is more challenging. I say that; even though, I normally play a fighter / warrior type character. Give it a shot!
Cheers!
Hamarabi |
