DDO Top 10

Wish List for Santa

By Ralsu

In August 2006, Darkgolem made a list of the Top 10 Things Turbine Needs to Fix in Dungeons & Dragons Online. In the 14 weeks since he made his list, Turbine has made changes that solve or improve half of the situations Darkgolem described. I was right there with Darkgolem for the things he thought needed a fix, and I wish that Turbine will get to them all.

On the subject of wishes, my family attended a holiday party last night where children could sit in Santa's lap and make wishes. In a daydream, I hopped on Santa's lap and made a few wishes for DDO. Here's what I came up with in that daydream:

10. Take Me to New Locations

Module 3 does a fantastic job of taking me to new places. And I'll get there much more affordably once I get around to completing The Desert Caravan quest! Still, I think DDO could really benefit from some more scenery. Show me more than dank dungeons and sandy jungles. I want to see some snowy mountains or maybe--dare I say it?--another city.

Don't get me wrong: I see the name Stormreach in the title of the game. In understand that the campaign is centered on that city. I just want to see something new. Perhaps another city could come to the leaders of Stormreach to request aid against an assault of some kind. Or perhaps a powerful wizard in one of Stormreach's prominent houses could teleport us to another city to serve one of his brethren. Something. Anything. Just help me get out of town for a vacation!

9. Give Me Even More Cool Monsters

I recently described my 10 favorite DDO monsters. The game already has some pretty cool monsters, but I'm greedy; I want more! Without naming any specific monsters, I'll just say that I'd like Turbine to include some of the great plant monsters from the tabletop game. They're not necessarily my favorites, but they are pretty cool. Besides, they'd fit nicely into those new locales I wished for in #10!

8. Gnomercy!

I don't think I have ever truly recovered from the fact that I could not play a gnome when DDO launched. I played a gnome rogue in EverQuest Online Adventures, and I might've have wanted to do that in DDO, too. I've also always wanted to play gnome illusionist...which brings me to my next wish.

7. Allow Specialization in Schools of Magic

I'd love to be able to make a wizard who specializes in Enchantments to be the best crowd control caster possible. And it'd be fun to roll a sorcerer who specializes in Evocation to have a glass cannon extraordinaire!

6. Add Cleric Domains

If Turbine were to implement arcane specializations as I wished for in #7, they'd be remiss not to add cleric domains. In fact, my first DDO character to hit the level cap was a cleric 5/wizard 5 designed to be a buff machine. People were hesitant about him at first but loved him once he joined the party. He kept everyone buffed for maximum efficiency, did top-off or emergency healing, and was just plain versatile. I salivate when I think about how much cooler that build could be if I had access to cleric domains and specialization in the transmutation school of arcane magic!

5. I Want the Druid

As much as I love feeling useful with half of my levels in cleric, it sucks that clerics are the only healing class. And don't try to count bards, paladins, or rangers. They don't get enough spell points to heal in the end game. If I want to do damage, I can play a fighter, barbarian, or ranger. If I want to tank, I can play fighter or paladin (and sometimes barbarian). If I want to use magic, I can play bard, sorcerer, or wizard. If I want to heal, I have to play cleric. The druid, with its healing spells and nature-themed buffs will be a welcomed addition to DDO.

4. Raise the Level Cap to 16

The increase in the level cap that accompanied Module 3 did not last very long. Regular players easily reached the new milestone and are back to where they were in October 2006: they have a sense of having "completed" DDO. No massively-multiplayer online game should ever let me feel as if I finished it. I should always be steadily increasing only to find a new milestone waiting for me once I have achieved the last. To get more mileage out of a cap increase, I'd like to see Turbine bump it up to 16. This would also bring in a new set of spells.

3. Make Damage Spells Efficient

While I'm on the subject of spells again, I sure would like to see damage spells be more efficient. The tabletop game made Fireball feel like a real weapon. In DDO, I am not so sure I feel that way. I always have to ask myself which is more efficient: using crowd control and letting the melee kill or burning my spell points to kill something myself. Sorcerers, especially, should not feel this way. One way to fix damage spells in DDO is to up their damage beyond their tabletop counterparts. This would balance out the inflation of all monster hit points and armor class in DDO. Obviously, another way go is to grant my wish #2....

2. Remove Enhancements and Scale back the Inflated Numbers

That's right. I'm on board with this ship. The inflated numbers in DDO overcomplicate things and result in me having to make wish #3. If Turbine would just remove the insane melee boosts granted by Enhancements and scale back the hit points and armor class of enemies, we'd be playing Dungeons & Dragons (D&D)....Online! D&D has been working just fine with the smaller numbers for decades. I bet it would work in DDO, too!

1. Release an Expansion that Does All of This!

Finally, my #1 holiday wish for Santa is for Turbine to announce an expansion that does everything on my wish list. I know what you're thinking; I've seen the DDO expansion for sale on those online gaming retailer sites, too. But the last word I had from Turbine in November 2006 stated that they "haven't confirmed any plans for an expansion pack." Maybe Santa Claus can make it happen for me. Hey, a guy can daydream, can't he?

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