Garthilk
01-10-2006, 07:54 PM
Remember, we don't allow any flaming or bashing of a developer or their product. However, if you have something to share, feel free to do so in a constructive manner.
Overall Impression
A good timefiller. The game to me is a decent timefiller. Without trying to analyze whether or not it sticks to the pen and paper version, I think the game will fill a decent amount of time for me. Abstractly the game plays a lot like Diablo 2 with D&D rules attached. Sure, you dodge the spell by moving your character, but you also end up trying to circle strafe your opponent. There are a lot of ups and plenty of downs to the game, but overall it's moderately fun and will likely be reciving my subscription dollars. If for any other reason, there's nothing better to play.
Wag of the finger - aka. Cons.
1) Instancing. Every mission, every quest, everything is instanced. Which means you never really get a sense of any community. Sure, there are certainly communities in D&DO, but those communities never reach the proportions or arguably quality of more persistant world MMO's. Too much of a good thing.
2) Repeat Quests. The designers of the game intentionally have designed the game so that you end up repeating the same quests multiple times. Every Quest has a difficulity modifier (normal, hard, elite) that you can adjust to yield more experiance. This is necessary because each time you repeat a quest, you recieve less experiance. The idea being, that players enjoy "mastering" the quest and thus enjoy doing them over and over again. Unfortunately sometimes this leads to players simply grinding the same quests (the ones that yeild the most experiance for the least work) over and over again.
3) Class Balance - Invariably converting a fully developed pen and paper RPG to an MMO has it's share of translation issues. Mechanics on the table top don't always translate to the desktop. This leaves some players favorite classes essentially either gimped, or overpowered. Rangers for example, don't track and don't have their animal companions. Overall they've done a fair job of implimenting the classes that they have. My only concern is when the invariable nerf's come. Since players have so many defineing choices through the games progression. A change to any of those skills or feats mechanics, drastically changes how a class is played. We'll see what happens down the road.
4) Retarded AI. You can essentially defeat almost any creature by moving out of it's attack range. If it's a melee creature, just stand on a box, thereby elevating your character above the creature, and use a ranged attack to defeat it. It just stands there and takes the beating.
5) Traps. If your going to have traps in a game. They need to be random in nature. Right now since your replaying quests multiple times, odds are someone in your group knows where all the traps are already. This allows you to master the level and A) avoid the traps with pre-existing knowledge of the quest, or B) walk through the traps because they are mostly harmless due to the pre-existing knowledge.
6) Utter lack of RPG. The lack of roleplaying really dissapointed me. The game boils down to rushing through the quest as fast as possible, breaking boxes, killing monsters. The rewards for going slower, exploring the quest, finding secret doors, disarming traps, is lack luster. More mini quests should be added, things like finding lost charms and returning them to their owners, locating the remains of a lost adventuerer, etc, etc. Unfortunately, everyone knows where the secret doors are, and everyone knows where the traps are, so really it's a mad rush to complete those obsticles.
Tip of the Hat - Pro's.
1) Graphics. Good. Graphics make a game. I hate to say it, but they do. The graphics are good and they run well. Since they don't have display a lot of people on the screen at once, they're allowed to bump up the quality and show off the pixels. Overall art direction is fitting, and I'm quite happy.
2) Traps. They have em! Finally an MMO impliments traps. They give a rogue a real purpose of unlocking doors, and disarming traps.
3) Lack of Solo play. Kudo's to turbine for not watering down D&D to solo stuff. There are missions that can be completed solo. However, by and large you need a group in 90% of all cases.
4) Overall conversion. When it comes to pen and paper to MMO conversions. This one ranks fairly good given the scope. A lot of things have to be changed, but still have to fit the vision. They did a fairly good job at it. Certainly there are arguing points on all sides. But overall, I think they did decent.
Closing
It's going to fill my time. What it comes down to, is that there isny't anything else to play. Lastly, excuse me as I do not wish to mislead you. This game is not an MMO. At least not like I've ever played before. This game is more like an online game akin to Diablo 2. So don't go in expecting an MMO. Again, these are just my opinions, and you are free to make your own as well.
Overall Impression
A good timefiller. The game to me is a decent timefiller. Without trying to analyze whether or not it sticks to the pen and paper version, I think the game will fill a decent amount of time for me. Abstractly the game plays a lot like Diablo 2 with D&D rules attached. Sure, you dodge the spell by moving your character, but you also end up trying to circle strafe your opponent. There are a lot of ups and plenty of downs to the game, but overall it's moderately fun and will likely be reciving my subscription dollars. If for any other reason, there's nothing better to play.
Wag of the finger - aka. Cons.
1) Instancing. Every mission, every quest, everything is instanced. Which means you never really get a sense of any community. Sure, there are certainly communities in D&DO, but those communities never reach the proportions or arguably quality of more persistant world MMO's. Too much of a good thing.
2) Repeat Quests. The designers of the game intentionally have designed the game so that you end up repeating the same quests multiple times. Every Quest has a difficulity modifier (normal, hard, elite) that you can adjust to yield more experiance. This is necessary because each time you repeat a quest, you recieve less experiance. The idea being, that players enjoy "mastering" the quest and thus enjoy doing them over and over again. Unfortunately sometimes this leads to players simply grinding the same quests (the ones that yeild the most experiance for the least work) over and over again.
3) Class Balance - Invariably converting a fully developed pen and paper RPG to an MMO has it's share of translation issues. Mechanics on the table top don't always translate to the desktop. This leaves some players favorite classes essentially either gimped, or overpowered. Rangers for example, don't track and don't have their animal companions. Overall they've done a fair job of implimenting the classes that they have. My only concern is when the invariable nerf's come. Since players have so many defineing choices through the games progression. A change to any of those skills or feats mechanics, drastically changes how a class is played. We'll see what happens down the road.
4) Retarded AI. You can essentially defeat almost any creature by moving out of it's attack range. If it's a melee creature, just stand on a box, thereby elevating your character above the creature, and use a ranged attack to defeat it. It just stands there and takes the beating.
5) Traps. If your going to have traps in a game. They need to be random in nature. Right now since your replaying quests multiple times, odds are someone in your group knows where all the traps are already. This allows you to master the level and A) avoid the traps with pre-existing knowledge of the quest, or B) walk through the traps because they are mostly harmless due to the pre-existing knowledge.
6) Utter lack of RPG. The lack of roleplaying really dissapointed me. The game boils down to rushing through the quest as fast as possible, breaking boxes, killing monsters. The rewards for going slower, exploring the quest, finding secret doors, disarming traps, is lack luster. More mini quests should be added, things like finding lost charms and returning them to their owners, locating the remains of a lost adventuerer, etc, etc. Unfortunately, everyone knows where the secret doors are, and everyone knows where the traps are, so really it's a mad rush to complete those obsticles.
Tip of the Hat - Pro's.
1) Graphics. Good. Graphics make a game. I hate to say it, but they do. The graphics are good and they run well. Since they don't have display a lot of people on the screen at once, they're allowed to bump up the quality and show off the pixels. Overall art direction is fitting, and I'm quite happy.
2) Traps. They have em! Finally an MMO impliments traps. They give a rogue a real purpose of unlocking doors, and disarming traps.
3) Lack of Solo play. Kudo's to turbine for not watering down D&D to solo stuff. There are missions that can be completed solo. However, by and large you need a group in 90% of all cases.
4) Overall conversion. When it comes to pen and paper to MMO conversions. This one ranks fairly good given the scope. A lot of things have to be changed, but still have to fit the vision. They did a fairly good job at it. Certainly there are arguing points on all sides. But overall, I think they did decent.
Closing
It's going to fill my time. What it comes down to, is that there isny't anything else to play. Lastly, excuse me as I do not wish to mislead you. This game is not an MMO. At least not like I've ever played before. This game is more like an online game akin to Diablo 2. So don't go in expecting an MMO. Again, these are just my opinions, and you are free to make your own as well.