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E: Top 10 Things Turbine Needs to Fix
Posted August 12th, 2006 by Darkgolem
DDO Top 10: Things Turbine Should Fix
By Darkgolem|
|
Dungeons & Dragons Online (DDO) is a great game, but it definitely has its flaws. I am not saying that the developers at Turbine are all bad or anything, and I know they work very hard at their game. It's just that in playing DDO, I see little (and some big) things that I think should be on top of their list. So today, I thought I would share that list with you.
10.
Item Generation
I understand that you're not always going to get the item you want, but
when a wizard pulls a +5 shield from a chest, it makes you scratch your
head. Worse than that, people will find items in high-level chests that
are of little value indeed. Tailoring items to the class getting the
loot, based upon what Feats and classes the person has, is something
that Turbine really needs to do. And more balanced treasure value
wouldn't go amiss either, frankly.9.
Fix ranged attacks
Ranged rate of fire, and the value of ranged combat is under-emphasized
in DDO. I might consider going into a dungeon without a cleric, without
a rogue, or without a wizard or sorcerer, but you won't ever see me
without at least two guys in plate mail and a sword somewhere nearby.
And who could blame me? They can get about a 40 armor class with the
right equipment and Feat choices. I am not saying melee builds
shouldn't have their place, but make not having one an option, at least.8.
Add more Tile Sets and Scenery
The number of tile sets is somewhat limited. Design needs both
different sized spaces, and different kinds of spaces. For example, I
don't remember if I have ever seen a small room. Giants did not make
everything in Xen'drick. More tile sets are being added now of course,
but more definitely needs to be done. Perhaps Turbine should consider
weather aside from rain and lighting aside from sunset. Night in
Stormreach would be interesting.7.
Add more monsters
Right now monsters are being added at a fairly slow rate. Perhaps
adding some goblins, orcs, ANY sort of animal besides canines, any sort
of fae, and so on would be good. After all, diversity is the spice of
life.6.
Add Psionics
Psionics is an integral part of Eberron. Turbine needs to add them, and
soon. No further emphasis is necessary.5.
Fix spells
So many bad spells! I understand that Obscuring Mist is operating just
like it is supposed to in DDO when compared to classic Dungeons &
Dragons (D&D). It stinks there too, developers. Either don't add it
(too late) or just make it worthwhile. Even now casters can target you
without seeing you, despite the clash of sword and spell all round
them. And while you're at it, Glitterdust? So many others scattered
across the classes need some TLC.4.
Finish Classes
I understand no druids, and I understand no monks to start off with.
There are whole new creatures to design for anything involving shape
changing, and monks involve complex animation and collision detection.
But the game needs them; they are a part of the Eberron and (in fact)
any D&D setting, and DDO won't be a full D&D setting until
these classes are added. And artificers are missing from Eberron?3.
Finish Races
Kalashtar, Shifters, Gnomes? Gnomes are a big part of D&D as a
whole. And Shifters and Kalashtar are integral parts of the Eberron
setting.2.
Balance Quests
Some quests are easy and give overly good experience. Other quests,
such as “Clearing the Air,” give poor experience and are very hard. A
few days after the drow
race was made available, 10th level drow already were made. It is
time to take a good hard look and do some data mining because something
is wrong when this happens. Find out what quests no one plays, and find
out what quests everyone plays multiple times. You're doing some of
this now, but more needs to be done.1.
Fix Design Approach
At this point, the design approach to DDO appears to be increasing the
amount of time spent using accounts, with customer enjoyment and
satisfaction not goals themselves, but instead tools to reach the goal
of people keeping subscriptions longer. Now it's of course fine for
Turbine to want people to keep accounts a long time, and something
players should want if they want to keep playing DDO into the future.But customer satisfaction and enjoyment shouldn't be tools to reaching this goal. They should be the goal of the company in and of itself. By doing this, people will play longer because they are walking away satisfied and having fun.
A great example of this is the Drow race. The Drow race is unbalanced, without some sort of penalty. Drow will dominate bards and rogues and be the majority of sorcerers, wizards and paladins as the race selection for these classes. But the penalty for playing with this race is not the experience penalty found in traditional D&D; instead, players must unlock drow as a playable race by earning favor.
What does this mean? It means that Turbine is willing to accept a city full by at least half with drow in return for encouraging people to play quests often. This does not fit into the Eberron setting (since a place like Stormreach would not be awash with Drow), nor does it fit into the Dungeons & Dragon setting where drow are rare races to be played.
The number one thing Turbine needs to fix in DDO is change design approach from “encourage logging hours” above customer satisfaction and game quality to putting the latter two first.
Now consider bouncing over to read Zed's Top 10 Reasons to Play DDO.
Genre: Fantasy
Status: Published
Release Date: February 28, 2006
Fee: P2P
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