bjj hero said:
Good summary. What are the system requirements?
Also how varied are the missions? Assassin/bughunt/Retrieve/escort?
Are there puzzles? Item creation? PvP? None combat skills? How balanced are the classes? In a hack and slash surely the fighter is the daddy
Im not picking fault, just interested.
System Requirements... just about any store bought can play it. Just like any store bought can play FPS. The better your system the better your game play ability and experience.
Just be forwarned that DDO is one of the MOST graphic card intensive game on the market if not THE most intensive. If there is something wrong with your card or system, you can cook your card easily. If your card is setup correctly, and you have proper ventilation, you've nothing to worry about.
How varied are the missions...
First off, each quest is instanced. So there is no ganking of loot other than what drops out of breakables. (and that stuff is rather minor). Every player gets their own pull from monster drops, from chests, etc. You can not ninja loot from a chest. It is yours.
Because each quest is instanced, there is no run here, run there, run everywhere like there is in WoW. However, you may have to run (less than 3 min normally, and that is if you are really slow) to get back to the quest giver to get your end reward, or to get to the next quest giver in the chain.
Retrieve missions: See the paragraph above.
Assassin/bughunt: This DDO does have.. sort of. We have instanced "landscapes that have explorer points, kill count, and kill named monsters. The "Adventure areas" as we call them, as stated are instanced, so only the people in your party get the rewards/chests/etc. They do not respawn here either. So if the named you are looking for didn't show up. Hop out, regroup (to reset the instance faster) and try again. All instances exist for a long as a player is in the quest. If all players hop out of the instance, you have 5 minutes (I think it is) to get back in to keep the instance alive.
escort: There is only one such quest. It is a beginner solo only quest... oh wait. There is that jerk named Coyle.. never mind. There are 2. You'll WISH you could kill the second one.
Are there puzzles? Yes, there are puzzles, a fair number of them, but rather similar in logic for the most part.
Item creation? Of common stuff? No, there is no true crafting in the game. *grumblebitchgrumble* But there is raid loot crafting, and item enhancmenting (limited) in the game.
PvP? DDO is primarly all PvE. However, tehre are bars that have areas for PvP, and Mod 9 will be bringing PvP such to where you can challenge other people. I think that is more traditional.. I'm not certain. I don't do PvP.
None combat skills? How balanced are the classes? Well.. each class has their own "style" as it were. But ultimately, a spell is a spell and a weapon swing is a weapon swing. As for class balancing... *chuckles* The classes are mostly balanced, but as it is based on DnD, don't expect wonderfully beautiful balancing. Such just doesn't exist in any game if you ask me.
In a hack and slash surely the fighter is the daddy. Well.. your barbarian (esp the frenzied Berzerker coming mod 9) and the Tempest flavored ranger would probably shread your fighter to pieces.
DDO once claimed to have no grind. Well.. this is no longer exactly the case. To enter some quests you have to "gather" enough "stuff", but the grind is really minimal. There is no requirement to ever do the stuff either. So it still could be said there is no grind. Personally, I find there is a grind, but only so much of a grind as to what YOU the player let it become.
As stated near the beginning, DDO is instanced based. So only in the main marketplace and houses will you see many other people. The max running time to get from quest to quest seems to be about.. 5-10 minutes. I can come up with worst cases near 20 but as they are worst case, that is extreme. To gain XP and loot all you have to do is just be in that quest/adventure instance. You can just SIT there if you wanted to and get the credit. The XP is given out at the end of the quest, or when you reach the goal in an adventure area.
One drawback I have with the game currently is that depending on your server, you may end up looking like everyone else. This is because what you wear for your armor, is what will show in your character. Note I said armor, gloves, boots, cloaks, etc. For get them. We can show helmets... *crickets cheerp* yeah.. what they said.
Oh, yeah, one final note. If you are worried about Role Play as this is DnD... phhffff.. RP if you want to. No one is going to force you. If you want to get in and kill, drink a few beers, and chat with your friends... more power to you and have fun doing it!
That is the point! It is a game! Have fun playing, and to quote one of the regulars in DDO...
-See you in Stormreach.
