I use voice chat 100% of the time if possible.  Typing for me kills the fun and makes it more of a hassle.. add to that the annoying as hell abbrevations that have popped up over the years and I often just want to turn my text off. 

I too use headsets because I have children that don't need to hear some of the trash that comes out of teen's mouthes.  However, since quitting WoW, I have become much more selective about my guilds/outfits and pretty much only group with 20+ year old folks (or youths of equal maturity) and it has been MUCH MUCH MUCH more pleasent with regards to cussing and bragging garbage.  Of course the games I am currently playing are action packed and if you stop and type you often get splatted (DDO & PS).  I am hoping AoC and Huxley and TR require the same amount of focus and not being able to type away while tanking the Big Bad Dragon.. which is ridiculus if you think about it.

<crosses fingers and toes>

Good luck fellow geeks!

The only thing that bothers me about zoning is using them to run.  This was very very annoying in EQ2 in pvp when someone could just zone and if they had a faster system they could either zone BACK while you were zoning once or get away from you.  Also this led to the "train" issue at zone lines for EQ1.  I think you shouldnt be allowed to "zone" if something or someone is attacking you.

Now planetside and DDO have it done pretty well.  You zone when you change areas and it is not used as a defensive move.  Planetside actually does a good job mixing seamless and zoning IMO.

I have a nice alienware rig that is a bit better, but I play alot of PS with my kiddo and one of us has to play on a much lesser system which chugs thru big fights.  Would be nice if we both had solid systems 8)

1) What is your main MMO you are currently playing?
Planetside with a side dish of DDO

2) Why are you stuck to this MMO as your main game?
Action orientented FUN gameplay.  No large time commitments (just say no to 3+ hour raids)

3) What MMO are you looking forward to and why?
AoC-- new combat and pvp

4) What do you feel the MMO industry is lacking these days?
Mostly innvations to the basic play model of target, mash buttons, level up.  This has been done to death and needs to change.

My Norton blocked Trojan.Anicmoo on this site this morning.

Messy site lately

I get the occasional monster that looks  like it is ice skating but that's about it for the engine.  I really enjoy the collision detection, height differences, dodging projectiles and such this engine allows.  And of course the blocking and tumbling and such.  I just installed the hi res a few days ago and.. wow nice difference.  So much sharper I gotta up my graphics rating a bit.  The studs on your armor gleam it is so nice lookin!

Animations could use a bit "smoothing" and characters look a bit stiff.. which is pretty typical of turbine.

The fact is D&D, as well as any other pen & paper RPG, is what you make of it.  Any DM can create his own world with his rules and can bend them at will.  The handbooks are simply a guideline for play, not 100% law.

Personaly I enjoy DDO and the non traditional world that it is.  Would I enjoy the DDO game engine in a Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms, or Dragonlance.. HELL YA I would.  But in the current crop of MMO's you gotta take what you can get.

Originally posted by paulscott

here is how the market works:

Once a unstable/bug infested/resource sucking game always a unstable/bug infested/resource.

enough said

The problem with most real time melee games is that strafe and running backward speeds are just stupid.  If they actually make them a bit more realistic with strafing and moving backwards then you won't be able to kite the axe wielding barbarian charging at you.

There is no way I would play this if they nerfed the combat system.  I am so sick of the traditional combat model I could puke.  DDO is fun to fill the time and I play PS alot as well.. i just love fun games!

If it wasn't for the fact that I have been playing clones of the same game I started back in 1999 and I'm totally freakin sick of the clones, I would probably play LOTRo.

For people new to the genre I'm sure it's a fun game, for those of us jaded veterans we want something new and different.

Originally posted by shae

I really like L2's combat and pace. It's fast, furious, spell affects are amazing, you really get into it. Unfortunately the limited movement and camera style that L2 uses makes you feel confined. Otherwise IMHO it's probably the best RPG style combat made to date, very well suited for pvp.

I loved the concept for the combat in MxO it was just very poorly implemented at launch and brutalized even more at combat 2.0.

EQ2 and WoW both have super combat systems, I tend to tip the hat to EQ2 because of chain spells but I find the movement fluidity of both systems lots of fun.

Everything else is pretty much copies of copies with minor differences of -/+. RPG fighting/combat is what it is, it's the nature of the beast in many instances, not much you can do.

Your last line there is totally untrue and I think, sadly, that is what alot of designers feel.  RPG combat DOES NOT need to be dull and repetative!!!!  It can be fun and involved!  95% of the interaction in these games is by combat so make it hella fun !

DDO is a great example of making the combat fun, although it is far from a perfect game.  AOC looks to make it a bit more fun as well.

(btw the !! are not directed at you Shae, just the concept that there is nothing you can do about the combat system model.)

The vast majority of MMOs have HORRIBLE combat systems right now, very little change from EQ in 1999.  Target monster, mash buttons.. repeat.

DDO is the one that stands out as different to me.  It is very active and "twitchy" which I like.  You can see the dice roll and can figure out the mods that help you hit or miss.  For example, moving while swinging incurs a penalty so you miss more often, flanking an enemy gives +2 to hit and it shows that.  The combination of tactical combat that involves skill, gear, and position combined with pure axe swinging spell slinging chopping up hordes of kobolds is impossible to beat in the current market.

I'm playing planetside as well because, obviously, the combat is not button mashing 8)

I am sick and tired of the same essential combat model for the last 8 years and I refuse to play games that do not challenge me.  Thus I'm waiting on AoC and maybe TR and tiding myself over with the carnage of DDO & PS.

<< All of the above represents my retarded opinion ONLY, I do not pretend to represent all gamers  >>

You are gonna have a hard time finding a non quest MMO right now but still some out there.  I think EQ2 is a pretty good non quest MMO since you can do dungeons without quests and get great exp & items in that manner.  DDO is 100% quest/instance driven with some new outdoor type areas, it is also designed to be nearly 100% grouping.  It does have the most exciting gameplay in MMO's at the moment which is why I'm playing it.

Hrmm I'll have to boot up Half Life I didn't even know it had bloom.  Maybe that is when it is done right, you don't even notice it hehe.

I think DDO looks horrid with bloom btw, much more clean and sharp without IMHO.