Why DDO Would Be Better Without D&D

By Ralsu

I've given you a few days to mull over our DDO Top 10 lists for Reasons to Play DDO and Things Turbine Should Fix. Before I address my sensational title for this editorial, I want to recap the points made by Zed and Darkgolem, respectively, in case you missed them. I will also add my commentary.

Zed's Top 3 Reasons to Play DDO

Voice Integration
Zed says:

I'm not 100% sold on the voice chat. I agree that the concept is solid, but that may be as far as it goes for me. I remember well the Founder's Day, when Ten Ton Hammer the guild formed on the Sarlona server. I hopped online and got into a group with Darkgolem himself. We ran through some quests together with a handful of our guild mates and had a blast. We used the voice chat as much as possible. After that first day, I never found much use for voice chat again. Here's why:

• I like to role-play DDO. I seldom role-played my previous MMOGs, but DDO is the MMOG manifestation of the granddaddy of role-playing, for goodness sake! Voice chat breaks the immersion of crafting witty lines for our characters. Proponents for voice chat argue that having to type on a keyboard does more to damage my immersion. I don't know what to tell you folks; I simply find that players break character very frequently over voice chat.
• The integrated chat is lacking. So many people had problems with it in the early going that they abandoned it. Others found its quality lacking and went back to the old standbys or just used their keyboards. I could use DDO's chat, but it took an unpleasant amount of time to configure for me.
• People don't know how to use voice chat politely. Some gamers refuse to use the “push-to-talk” feature. Thus, I get the joy of hearing the dog bark in the background, the pull-top on the beer can pop, and the children whining about having to go to bed. No thanks. /voice chat off!

Active Combat
Zed says:

I agree with Zed on this point. Preference plays a big part here, so I won't tackle the issue of turn-based vs. active combat. I will say that I believe Turbine accomplished its goal in creating a combat system that keeps players involved. If you've been searching for a MMOG that doesn't bog down with a plodding combat system, DDO is a great solution.

As it turns out, I enjoy turn-based combat (but I'm not going there—don't worry!). The thing that drew me to DDO was nothing less than…

It's Based on Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) Rules
Zed says:

Again, Zed hits the mark. So many aspects of DDO cause nostalgia flashbacks that D&D fans literally “squee.” I've never made a MMOG based on D&D, but I imagine it's pretty hard. I think Turbine did a good job, but see below.

Darkgolem's Top 3 Things Turbine Should Fix

Finish Races
Darkgolem says:

Along with Darkgolem's plea to finish standard D&D and Eberron classes and introduce psionic force to DDO, this problem represents the fundamental flaw with any game based on D&D: it's hard to copy perfection perfectly. A game that does D&D has to go all the way. To only partially incorporate D&D risks alienating the D&D fans and confusing the uninitiated.

Balance Quests
Darkgolem says:

Darkgolem addresses a game design flaw with DDO. Say what you will, but it should take longer than a week to reach the level cap in a game that depends on monthly subscriptions for solvency. So long as any quest gives too great a reward for the risk involved, people will gravitate to it and fly through the levels. While I think Darkgolem was right that quests need tweaking to prevent “groove” leveling along the same path, I also think that only scratches surface of a larger issue. That brings us to…

Fix Design Approach
Darkgolem says:

I don't envy Turbine's challenge. How does anybody hope to keep content flowing for the gamers who chew through levels? No matter what Turbine's original target audience once was, the company must deal with the audience it has. D&D fans want more D&D elements added. Other subscribers just want more content. Turbine tries valiantly to retain customers from both camps.

My Conclusions

Is DDO a cool game or not? Does the good outweigh the bad? Just what am I saying?

DDO is a cool game. It crams a lot of fun and intense action into its package. Honestly, it feels more like an action game than a MMOG to me—one that could have been a single purchase with a lobby for online gaming.

I think the good aspects of the DDO merit giving it a try. Long-term, I have an idea what Turbine really needs to do to fix this game: give up on the D&D concept.

Hear me out, folks. Some of DDO's biggest problems stem from it being a D&D game. Consider the following:

• Turbine creates mid-level content like Litany of the Dead and the unlockable drow to keep gamers at the level cap on the subscription roster playing new characters.
• Turbine must use this tactic because anybody can hit the level cap within 2 weeks.
• People level so quickly because quests give too much XP.
• Quests give too much XP so that you don't have to repeat them all 20 times to hit the level cap.
• The reason you'd have to repeat quests is that there are too few of them.
• There are too few quests because Turbine developers lovingly and painstakingly crafted each one by hand.
• Dungeons are handcrafted to preserve the D&D feel of the game.

Or how about the complaints of D&D fanatics?

• Turbine needs to add all of the core D&D and Eberron races.
• Turbine needs to add all of the core D&D and Eberron classes.
• DDO needs to add more D&D monsters.
• A group of 12 Level 10 adventurers should not kill a dragon. The dragon should be changed to a dragonling.
• The ridiculously hard nature of the dragon and warforged titan raids promote static character builds.

Try very hard for me to imagine that you had no clue that DDO had anything to do with D&D. Here's what we might see:

• With no need to handcraft dungeons to preserve DDO's role-playing heritage, Turbine could implement randomized dungeon layouts.
• Ditto with monster and trap locations.
• Turning over dungeon rendering to the game engine would allow Turbine to crank out more dungeons.
• More dungeons would allow for lower XP awards on all dungeons.
• People wouldn't level as quickly or have to repeat quests.
• People would not think any races were missing (even if they said the game needs more). They wouldn't feel the game was missing part of what it claims to be.

So there's my crazy idea for DDO Top 10 Week. DDO would be better without D&D, relying on the novelty of its core to make it a fun game. I'm sure that's one of the top 10 craziest ideas you've heard about DDO!

---