News Manager Keith Cross recently had the opportunity to speak to Kate Paiz, Senior Producer for Dungeons&Dragons Online. It was our regular monthly chat with the folks at Tubrine and coming into the interview I was concerned that there wouldn't really be anything to talk about, with the GDC and Codemaster's connect events being so recent in our memories. But in the fast paced world of game development there's always something new to talk about, such as Module 7 and the Monk, the recent Shavarath invasion, and a few hints at Module 8.

Module 7 for Dungeons and Dragons Online is looming on the horizon with its May release, and the free content expansion is full of features that DDO fans have been looking forward to for a long time.  Module 7 will include improved crafting and new eldritch rituals, a high level wilderness area and two new raids, a revamp of Three Barrel Cove, and the big one, the Monk will finally make its debut.

The last time anyone form MMORPG.com spoke to the folks at Turbine, the monk was in the alpha testing phase so my first question to DDO Senior Producer Kate Paiz was how far along is the Monk now?  She said that Monk development is locked down and now they’re in the balance and bug fixing stage from a design point of view, and the art department is busy fine tuning the animations.  

In version 3.5 of the D&D rules the monk is one of the more moderately difficult classes to use, being a little more complicated than a fighter.  I asked if this would also be the case for the monk in DDO and Kate responded with a no.  They have had to reduce the complexity a bit but that’s inevitable when transferring a complicated class from a pen and paper RPG to the medium of MMORPGs.  The bottom line is that veterans and new players alike should be able to enjoy the monk. 

Read more here.

Might actually give DDO another shot once the Module is released.

Not going to give this a try until housing is in.

Originally posted by Arawon

Not going to give this a try until housing is in.

Two games which have the most dyanmic character development systems are Dungeons & Dragons Online and EVE Online.  Star Wars Galaxies would be a close second if the pre-cu version was still present. 

I did not like DDO when it first launched and it's now one of the better online games availble. Obviously there's always room for growth. 

Don't stop now Turbine, you're finally doing this title justice!  ;)

Not many games with housing where the player is actively using the house either.

email me when they implement user generated content.

LOL!!

Originally posted by mynameisben

email me when they implement user generated content.

Of coarse, YOU'LL have to design all your own dungeons [nothing has been said by Wizards afaik about being able to share user-designed dungeons nor whether the content designed will be persistant, though I think that should be a given]  and you'll be paying a subscription for each player for what amounts to IM whiteboard...  Then again, you'll have all the pretty virtual mini's [instead of buying them!] and a virtual table-top to play with them on.

On Topic:  What now worries me a bit is that the "deconstruction" will again inflate the AH...Why dump for some newb to buy when you can deconstruct and hoard the parts?  On the otherhand, if the parts can only be used to make Newb level gear, it might work out better [except for the one rare part needed to make...proof vs poison item, disruption item, smiting item <ok last 2 are not Newb level, but you get the point!>]