I just downloaded the f2p version and as a european i am playing on US servers. I'll update people here about my adventures and my opinions about the game, my main game is currently Aion.. I never played D&D online before, it was the only major fantasy MMO missing on my list.

I created a character and was planning on either a monk or a favored soul, just to find out that both classes require you to pay extra money, so far for f2p, its just another kind of payment, we should ban the word f2p as nothing is really free. Don't flame, as i think they have come up with a good and healthy system by letting people play for adventures and such. Its just not f2p.

I was pressently surprised to find D&D 3rd edition was working good for this MMO, character creation was okay, enough options... espescially the paths you can choose for your characters where a good addition for newbies

I liked the conversations with NPC's, makes the game play like a single person MMO. The first Dungeon was a pleasant surprise, with some NPC's playing an active part in my party. I loved it.  Much better done then the heroes and henchman from GW.  Also the traps and hidden doors make the game feel like reading a book and living a story instead of killing as fast as possible for as much XP as possible...

Would this be the game that allows me to really live my character ?  we'll see on that, i am currently in the first town and lets see whats going on there

TO BE CONTINUED...

While the NPCs in that first dungeon do an awesome job that is the only time in the game you get that kind of help. The hirelings, which are the ones to actually compare to heroes in GW, pale in comparison at this time. The AI is being improved but henchmen and heroes in GW are far and away better then what you actually get in DDO. But Turbine should look at how they react in that quest and make hirelings more along those lines in the future. Until then GW version is much more useful in game.

Originally posted by Rokurgepta

While the NPCs in that first dungeon do an awesome job that is the only time in the game you get that kind of help. The hirelings, which are the ones to actually compare to heroes in GW, pale in comparison at this time. The AI is being improved but henchmen and heroes in GW are far and away better then what you actually get in DDO. But Turbine should look at how they react in that quest and make hirelings more along those lines in the future. Until then GW version is much more useful in game.

I can see this now, i have found out about hirelings, but there was no need for them as the dungeons had solo versions, Maybe in every town there could be an assortment of hirelings and other heroes that can come to fill the spots in your parties. If it works like the first dungeon that would be awesome.

I have played 3 more solo dungeons now and i really like the mellee combat, no more auto attack, love it, tough i missed the challenge in these adventures uptill now.

Originally posted by Lord.Bachus

Originally posted by Rokurgepta

While the NPCs in that first dungeon do an awesome job that is the only time in the game you get that kind of help. The hirelings, which are the ones to actually compare to heroes in GW, pale in comparison at this time. The AI is being improved but henchmen and heroes in GW are far and away better then what you actually get in DDO. But Turbine should look at how they react in that quest and make hirelings more along those lines in the future. Until then GW version is much more useful in game.

I can see this now, i have found out about hirelings, but there was no need for them as the dungeons had solo versions, Maybe in every town there could be an assortment of hirelings and other heroes that can come to fill the spots in your parties. If it works like the first dungeon that would be awesome.

 

I have played 3 more solo dungeons now and i really like the mellee combat, no more auto attack, love it, tough i missed the challenge in these adventures uptill now.

As you play more you are likely to want to do quests on Normal or hard or elite, favor and EXP plus better loot come from the higher difficulties. You will likely need hirelings in those quests at some times. The cleric ones, with a little practice are generally worth their cost. Unfortunately they are not scripted like the first dungeon and have to be controlled, the good news is you can give them some instructions, they tend to do what you ask pretty well.

You can also only hire one unless you buy the special hirelings from the DDO in game store. Good news though is one hireling and smart play can get you through lots of the content.

I have reached Stormwind Harbor in a breeze, the main story on the island was great. Combat is still fun and the fact that D&D (espescially Faerun) is still my favourite fantasy world keeps me going from quest to quest... from story to story.

I allwasy tought that D&D rules where not fit for an MMO, Turbine has me proven wrong by now. Its a great system for an MMO and has the depth i miss in many other MMO's.

But also some things that worry me...

- The dungeons untill now all made me open valves to get access to other area's sometimes i get the feeling the dungeon game should be named "Open the valve, find the door" this could get cumbersome in the future, a little variation would be great.

- I have some mellee abbiltiies that have no special annimations.

- Its hard to get a community feeling in this game, i never meet people out in the wild, i really miss this allready, i have not bothered to find any groups yet.

But i haven't thought about Aion since i first logged in....

One more questions

Since ariving in the Harbor, i have done a lot of little Quests, but are there also EPic story telling quest chains that draw me deep intoo the stories behind this world?

Originally posted by Lord.Bachus

- Its hard to get a community feeling in this game, i never meet people out in the wild, i really miss this allready, i have not bothered to find any groups yet.

You won't meet people in the wild (I assume you mean explorer areas) as all areas in the game are instanced for your party. So if you go into an area alone you'll be the only person in that area. DDO is all about PvE group experience. If you haven't bothered to find any groups, you are missing out on what makes the game fun IMO.
 

Servers are down, (maintenance)

and i am clicking every 5 minutes to see if they are up again, i feel like a little child wayting on santa claus, this feeling has been gone so long and its great......  Seems i am hooked in less then 2 days. 

I am planning my character all day long, planning to invest money in the game and can't concentrate on my day job...

Most of the quests with story arcs are part of the pay to play areas, many people tend to just blow through the quest text to get to the killin' though :)

  There are several story arcs going on in the background that are continued in the mods though. There are several quest chains in The Necropolis that span about 10 levels leading up to the Abbot raid, they were released over the course of about a year in 3 separate mods.  The Vault of Night raid had info about the Stormreaver (the giant in the intro video who's painting is found all over the game) who shows up in a later raid. The white dragon from Korthos makes another appearance at the higher levels.

  The latest mod was continuing the Devil Invasion storyline which started with mobs spawning in the marketplace for a week, the event ended with the destruction of the old marketplace tent in a live event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HdehbHjiIM

I spend my first few coins, as i went with Favourite soul for my final choice.... And no regret yet, FvS and a +1 longsword (could not resist) to start out with. I just love to assist people.....

Now i am thinking about subbing to VIP status to get access to all those great adventures with story arcs...

But will those adventures get me in groups with more grwon up people, or will i even have a harder time finding groups

Today my first quests on hard,

And suddenly i find that those kobold shaman are casting dark clouds of smoke, if i walk intoo it i am blinded and everything around me is turned dark....

It makes me remeber my first time blinded in EQ... boy was i surpised back then, as i was now..

Combat is fun, and the world feels like a true fantasy world, all this fun makes me wonder why this game failed in the first place. The Dungeon adventures with sproken (GM like) hints tell a story of them selves. I still have no clue what this world expects from me, everyone wants something from me... but its far from Epic...But then this may change soon.

By now i canceled my Aion subscription...

Originally posted by Lord.Bachus

Today my first quests on hard,

 

And suddenly i find that those kobold shaman are casting dark clouds of smoke, if i walk intoo it i am blinded and everything around me is turned dark....

 

It makes me remeber my first time blinded in EQ... boy was i surpised back then, as i was now..

Combat is fun, and the world feels like a true fantasy world, all this fun makes me wonder why this game failed in the first place. The Dungeon adventures with sproken (GM like) hints tell a story of them selves. I still have no clue what this world expects from me, everyone wants something from me... but its far from Epic...But then this may change soon.

By now i canceled my Aion subscription...

 

 

Yea the low levels are not very "epic", alot of kobolds and sewers ;) but I guess thats what D&D is like.

At lvl 10 you will be fighting dragons, giants, beholders, mind flayers and thoer scrzy stuff... And then you are just halfway through the leveling ;)

Also keep in mind that the Free quests are for the most part j ust single quests, the longer quests lines and epic stories are found in the adventure packs.

Have you done any grouping yet?

Originally posted by Papadam 

Yea the low levels are not very "epic", alot of kobolds and sewers ;) but I guess thats what D&D is like.

At lvl 10 you will be fighting dragons, giants, beholders, mind flayers and thoer scrzy stuff... And then you are just halfway through the leveling ;)

Also keep in mind that the Free quests are for the most part j ust single quests, the longer quests lines and epic stories are found in the adventure packs.

Have you done any grouping yet?

 

Yes,

I loved the grouping... first group was a bunch of noobs and they all ran in all directions..

But when i got intoo a better group the game showed how much fun this game is, Monster AI is far beyound any other MMO's...

Originally posted by Lord.Bachus

Originally posted by Papadam 

Yea the low levels are not very "epic", alot of kobolds and sewers ;) but I guess thats what D&D is like.

At lvl 10 you will be fighting dragons, giants, beholders, mind flayers and thoer scrzy stuff... And then you are just halfway through the leveling ;)

Also keep in mind that the Free quests are for the most part j ust single quests, the longer quests lines and epic stories are found in the adventure packs.

Have you done any grouping yet?

 

 

Yes,

 

I loved the grouping... first group was a bunch of noobs and they all ran in all directions..

But when i got intoo a better group the game showed how much fun this game is, Monster AI is far beyound any other MMO's...

 

I've just started playing DDO myself recently, and yes, the monster AI is pretty cool. I love how, by and large, if you see them, they see you. No walking up to range gettign yourself ready and initiating the fight. Oftentimes I find myself being plugged by arrows or spells and not have a clue from whence they came.

Plus, the way they try to get back to range, but will melee till a friend comes, then run back to reange while you're locked in melee.

That said, I'm a bit depressed that grouping means finding dungeon grinders/zergers to race through the content with. It could very well be D&D brought to life, except that no one seems to want to treat it that way.

There are lots of people taking their time and enjoying the quests PhelimReagh, they just avoid general pugging :).  Go to the official forums and check out the guild listings to find groups of like minded players.  You can also form your own group with something like 'dungeon crawling', 'no zerging', or 'new player' in the LFM to find other players that want to take their time.

Originally posted by PhelimReagh

Originally posted by Lord.Bachus

Originally posted by Papadam 

Yea the low levels are not very "epic", alot of kobolds and sewers ;) but I guess thats what D&D is like.

At lvl 10 you will be fighting dragons, giants, beholders, mind flayers and thoer scrzy stuff... And then you are just halfway through the leveling ;)

Also keep in mind that the Free quests are for the most part j ust single quests, the longer quests lines and epic stories are found in the adventure packs.

Have you done any grouping yet?

 

 

Yes,

 

I loved the grouping... first group was a bunch of noobs and they all ran in all directions..

But when i got intoo a better group the game showed how much fun this game is, Monster AI is far beyound any other MMO's...

 

 

I've just started playing DDO myself recently, and yes, the monster AI is pretty cool. I love how, by and large, if you see them, they see you. No walking up to range gettign yourself ready and initiating the fight. Oftentimes I find myself being plugged by arrows or spells and not have a clue from whence they came.

 

Plus, the way they try to get back to range, but will melee till a friend comes, then run back to reange while you're locked in melee.

 

That said, I'm a bit depressed that grouping means finding dungeon grinders/zergers to race through the content with. It could very well be D&D brought to life, except that no one seems to want to treat it that way.

Actually many of us treated it that way 3.5 years ago. Your best bet is do not group with vets who are running said quest for the 150th time. Look for new players or mention in your LFM no zerging.

Originally posted by PhelimReagh 

That said, I'm a bit depressed that grouping means finding dungeon grinders/zergers to race through the content with. It could very well be D&D brought to life, except that no one seems to want to treat it that way.

Aye... how i hate these people that try to push everything to max, they play for max XP/hour instead of having fun. I hate this attitude more then Wzizzards trying to mellee or healers forgetting to heal..

I play this game for fun, and thats  not zerging, so i think some of the tips on your comments will help us both out...

Vaszal ; "Healer lvl 4 looking for fun group, no zerging"

that would be me from now on.

Originally posted by Lord.Bachus

Originally posted by PhelimReagh 

That said, I'm a bit depressed that grouping means finding dungeon grinders/zergers to race through the content with. It could very well be D&D brought to life, except that no one seems to want to treat it that way.

 

Aye... how i hate these people that try to push everything to max, they play for max XP/hour instead of having fun. I hate this attitude more then Wzizzards trying to mellee or healers forgetting to heal..

I play this game for fun, and thats  not zerging, so i think some of the tips on your comments will help us both out...

Vaszal ; "Healer lvl 4 looking for fun group, no zerging"

 

that would be me from now on.

 

 

 

Not nice to hate us for not going slow in a quest we have seen too many times. For some max XP per hour is part of the fun.
 

Originally posted by Rokurgepta 

Not nice to hate us for not going slow in a quest we have seen too many times. For some max XP per hour is part of the fun.
 

I don't hate you or the players, just the attitude... It can be quite overwhelming for people trying to get hold of a new game...

For me XP is nothing more then a number that indicates some advancement.. I play these games to have fun in my adventures, To hear the stories of the world and to find some challenging fights...

Replayabillity of an MMO is over rated, as is currently end game content , as all it is comes down to rinse and repeat. And thats not my idea of fun.

DDO keeps managing to surprise me, as i level it looks like the fights keep getting more and more interesting... Spellcasters add diversity to every encounter. Never any fight is the same. And mobs react like mobs should react... Inteligent beings attack me when they see me. Every fight is fun. I currently solo my adventures on normal and thats quite challenging. If i get the chance i try grouping, but thats still hard on european times, i am actively looking for a earopean guild on Cannith.

Thanks for the feedback folks.

And Lord.Bacchus, there seem to be quite a few Europeans on American servers because of the F2P option. I asked someone on Sarlona from Denmark about any latency issues, and she said there are none.

So you might consider rolling a toon on one of the servers that allow F2P players.

Originally posted by PhelimReagh

Thanks for the feedback folks.

 

And Lord.Bacchus, there seem to be quite a few Europeans on American servers because of the F2P option. I asked someone on Sarlona from Denmark about any latency issues, and she said there are none.

 

So you might consider rolling a toon on one of the servers that allow F2P players.

Yea I have no problem playing from Sweden, and there are lots of people on during EU primetime (atleast on some of the servers)