It's too Short...            

By Shayalyn

---

Yeah, I bet you get that from all the girls, right?

Well, if not, congratulations; consider yourself blessed. But Dungeons & Dragons Online is not similarly blessed--players are saying it's too short. Those who get past the heavy petting stage find that their MMO suddenly and disappointingly lacks the depth to hit the sweet spots.

Maybe that's the wrong analogy for you guys, but you see where I'm headed. Bear with me.

Thing is, due to lack of planning or foresight or both, Turbine failed to realize that their game would be quickly consumed by the power gamers, who got to the end and went, “Is that it?” Enter the dragon; or rather the Dragon's Vault, DDO's first free content module. These new high-end quests were supposed to keep the power-gamers occupied for a while, but by now even some of the moderate gamers were beginning to grow restless repeating the same old quests on their steady grind toward the level cap.

You see, 10 levels, even with ranks, wasn't enough. And, perhaps more alarming, the high end game consisted of enough lather-rinse-repeat tedium to bore those who made it there fairly quickly. Give a gamer enough of the same ol' same ol', and he's going to leave eventually.

DDO isn't the only game afflicted with too-short; too-shallow syndrome. When I played City of Heroes back in the day I remember feeling much the same at higher levels--it was all same Bat time; same Bat channel; or...another day, another warehouse. But at least CoH had bad guys out on the streets that I could stalk, protecting innocent citizens from their evils (I never did figure out what those old ladies were doing out on the streets so late, swinging their purses around).

It costs money to produce an MMO. And the game doesn't begin to earn back that money until it launches, or at least goes to pre-order. This results in a push to get the product to market as soon as possible. But the recent premature launch-ulation of DDO resulted in a rather flaccid end-game performance. This could have been remedied in part if the first content module, the Dragon's Vault, had been part of the game from day one, while newer content was developed and implemented within months after launch.

DDO is going to have to keep the free content modules flowing to keep its power gaming club satisfied. If these gamers can't get no satisfaction, there are plenty of other new and intriguing MMOs entering the market soon, and one of them is sure to cause even the most faithful to stray.

---

Does DDO Measure up? Am I all wrong? Share your opinion here!