Masochistically Solo Player: How DDO Encourages Parties

By Ralsu

World of Warcraft (WoW) broke the mold on massively-multiplayer online games (MMOG). It is common to hear tales of players who solo from Level 1 to Level 60 in WoW. In fact, many WoW veterans say they prefer soloing their way to 60 before raiding in the brainchild-made-international-success of Blizzard. The success of WoW has meant that every new MMOG to launch since its release must be compared to Blizzard's juggernaut. Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach (DDO) is no exception. Never mind that DDO and WoW are two very different animals. We must compare. One of the logical questions that arose from the easy nature of the solo journey to 60 in WoW is,  "What does the game do to encourage an multiplayer experience?" This week all across the Ten Ton Hammer network, we are examining exactly that question.

Recall that Darkgolem addressed just how gruelingly hard it can be to solo in DDO last month in Going it Alone. In case you've never tried it, read his article. Then log onto DDO and form a party because the solo thing isn't happening. Well, yes, there's NeoFight's chronicle of his solo adventures on the DDO official forums, but that guy has a very special level of patience that most of us don't have. Thus, at first glance I felt this topic just wasn't valid for DDO. But I said I'd write an editorial, and so I sat down to do it. I started by making a list of the ways DDO encourages the party experience, and suddenly I hit on something: Turbine knows how to encourage groups!

First, let's start with a basic game mechanic of almost all MMOGs--heal over time (HoT). In EverQuest Live, a person needs only to stand still for a bit to regain his hit points (HP). Granted, healing from death's door to full HP with nothing but HoT is a slow road, but it does eventually work. Even in dungeons in most MMOGs, HoT will heal you to full health if you stand still long enough. Turbine knew that HoT has no place in Dungeons & Dragons lore and DDO. The only places where HoT works in DDO are  taverns. Otherwise, you must find a rest shrine. Remember, that only works once per shrine per dungeon.

Assuming a player in other MMOGs doesn't have time to wait for HoT, he can play a class that learns healing spells. If he runs out of spell points? Well, those same MMOGs with HoT usually have a version that restores spell points, too. We called it power over time (PoT) in EverQuest Online Adventures (EQOA) for the PS2. Need your PoT or HoT to work faster? Most MMOGs let you sit down to meditate. With a judiciously used heal, a player could solo for a bit before healing and getting back to work. He would get to continue his way through the dungeon/zone and meditate one or two good times before logging off for the night. As with HoT, PoT only works in taverns in DDO. Otherwise, you must find a rest shrine. Remember, that only works once per shrine per dungeon.

Someone with little time to wait for either HoT or PoT might buy food or drinks in EQOA. Food and drinks could be used anywhere (with some minor restrictions). Just hide in a safe place and have a bite to eat in EQOA. Your health will refill 2x to 10x faster than normal depending on the level of food you buy. On top of that, the food is cheap. My level 59 rogue could buy a maximum stack of food for 25K, an amount I could make on drops in a single play session. Again DDO differs from the pack. Cure potions are prohibitively expensive and only cure one hit (or less!) per quaff. DDO Cure potions do not provide HoT. The number of Cure potions a player would have to buy to solo from Level 1 to Level 10 would make her a very broke player. So potions in DDO have limited use because of their cost. Otherwise, you must find a rest shrine. Remember, that only works once per shrine per dungeon.

Another big factor in player's choice to solo or join a party in a MMOG is the ease with which he finds groups. My EQOA rogue could spend hours (literally) registered as "Looking For Group" (LFG). Why? Several factors contributed to this situation actually. For one, it was far easier to level a caster than any other class in EQOA. Plus, EQOA only allows for four people in a group. The glut of casters on the LFG competed with my rogue for the two spots usually filled by damage dealers. Moreover, the armor of some of the monsters most groups hunted resisted physical damage, making the spells of casters a better strategic addition to the group. Finally, the EQOA LFG system was not very advanced. I had no way of letting people know that I needed to work on a certain quest or just wanted to go out killing for the loot.

DDO has a very clean social system that advances the tool for the MMOG genre. Let's take a look at its components.

Party of 6
DDO parties consist of up to 6 players. This is pretty standard among MMOGs, so I won't make such a big deal about it. I will say, however, that all DDO classes have their place. As our Zed pointed out before DDO even launched, the game breaks the holy trinity mold of tank-healer-crowd controller. Groups want a healer (bard or cleric), but the rest is up for grabs. Rogues are popular for their utility, and the other classes all contribute damage.

The LFG Screen
DDO allows you to make comments for yourself in the LFG screen. Party leaders know at a glance what kind of adventure you seek. Additionally, party leaders looking to add another player can sort by class and/or level. Need a rogue to get rid of that annoying fire trap? Just check the LFG and find one of the appropriate level. Want a roleplaying group? Just make a comment by your name in the LFG that says "RP only."

The Looking for More (LFM) Screen
Parties with only one or two spaces empty often decide to start a quest, but that doesn't mean they don't want the extra help you might offer. So they can makes notes about their party in the LFM screen. From the moment you log in, you can open the LFM screen and start looking for a party to fill your needs. The LFM screen shows what quest a party is working plus their comments and what classes they seek to fill their slots. A clickable button on the screen allows you to request an invitation to the party. The leader sees a prompt and just clicks to add you. It's very fast and very efficient.


Guilds
Of course, most people enjoy playing with someone familiar. Eventually, most people join guilds to have a convenient pool of players who share their thoughts about how the DDO experience should be. Guilds are easy to make. A person needs only to create one. He doesn't need to be in a party. He doesn't need to spend gold. He merely creates the guild. The absence of limitations on minimum members and finances to start a guild make it easy to create one. Creating guilds so easily makes it easier than normal to fill a guild quickly.

Friends
Another component of the social tool in DDO is the Friends Screen. This is your buddy list for those really cool people who already belong to a different guild than you. After the recent updates, this once-buggy DDO feature is very handy. A glance at the screen lets you tell whether or not each friend is online. You'll be thankful for this since tells to people who are offline or mistells to the wrong spelling of a friend do not generate an error message (a rant for another day). The updated social tool also alerts you when a friend comes online (like most instant messengers do). Even if you have already started a party and a dungeon, you can grab that friend the moment she comes online. This also makes it easier for you to find a party, as you might be the friend who just logged on to get a tell for a party invitation.

The Old-fashioned Way
Since HoT and PoT happen only in taverns, people actually use them. The result is that it is very possible to meet another DDO player in a tavern and head out on a quest together. Since most of the rest of the game takes place in instances, taverns are the one place you can count on finding a large number of players at any given time. Just walk in and start talking to some people. You'll find yourself a group in no time!

Final Thoughts
DDO's social system gives players a plethora of streamlined ways to find a party. The mechanics of the game greatly encourage players to cooperate on adventures. The economy surrounding Cure potions and their low potency discourages solo runs through any dungeon. My final note is that DDO is inspired by the pen-and-paper experience that has us all sitting around a table interacting. DDO is designed to bring that experience to the personal computer. I think it does a great job.

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