Originally posted by Ian_Hawkmoon

Originally posted by Sarr

Originally posted by patrikd23

WoW they won ? Then they should have atleast half of World of warcrafts players then about 5 million + accounts?

 

Nope. That's not needed to win. WoW players not necessarily love Blizzard as MMO game studio. Even less love them, so they probably didn't even care to vote for Blizz.

And this shows how players love and rescepct Turbine, even while their games are little, ranging to much smaller. They actually cared to vote for them, and that's a huge thing.

If you want to express how you like something and vote, that means it matters to you. Seems like players of other MMO Studios didn't care much, even if they play their games now. And in great numbers. Players of Turbine - care and voted. This confirms why they won, and that's a well deserver award.

So once again, congratz Turbine!

It may also be saying that more Turbine players use this place than any other.  Or it may be that Turbine urges their players to go vote for them.  I know they have in the past.

Sorry, but not this time. Maybe Turbine players visit this place more than other games players, but I doubt it. Just compare the number of posts in WoW, AoC and WAR forums with Turbine games. It wouldn't be so huge difference in %, even if you were right.

And Turbine didn't say a word about mmorpg.com, even now. They may even be unaware of this award, if noone told them. No mention on DDO forums.

Face it, these were real, normal votes. MMORPG isn't even the most LotrO, and especially, DDO-friendly site. DDO section is almost dead. unlike the one on TenTonHammer and Massively.com.

Originally posted by patrikd23

WoW they won ? Then they should have atleast half of World of warcrafts players then about 5 million + accounts?

Nope. That's not needed to win. WoW players not necessarily love Blizzard as MMO game studio. Even less love them, so they probably didn't even care to vote for Blizz.

And this shows how players love and rescepct Turbine, even while their games are little, ranging to much smaller. They actually cared to vote for them, and that's a huge thing.

If you want to express how you like something and vote, that means it matters to you. Seems like players of other MMO Studios didn't care much, even if they play their games now. And in great numbers. Players of Turbine - care and voted. This confirms why they won, and that's a well deserver award.

So once again, congratz Turbine!

Originally posted by Dr.Rock

Gratz to Turbine, generally excellent studio.

What is Lotro doing in the thread title? I thought we were voting for a Studio not one of their games.

Exactly, why is an award for Turbine with three great games put in the LotrO section?

I liked LotrO very much, but it's hard to take my friends from "WoW, what a grind". Hopeless examples of carrot and stick, got fooled already - milions of flies can't wrong, eat wow and pay.

But still, I think the best of their games is DDO. Really shows how great and innovative this company is, and just wait, great things are in store for this game. Mod9 could be the biggest (or one of the biggest...) mods to date. I don't say it because of the number of quests and raids - we don't know it - but because of many changes which have been announced are still announced almost each day. On their forums, by Devs in normal discussions, in people's threads.

So congratz Turbine, and bring it on with DDO!

[quote=Rokurgepta]I think DDOs Dungeons are better and more complex than GW and having played both feel I can give that opinion.

GW you can get through almost the entire game with some smarts and the hirelings. DDO takes more human skill to get through. Now maybe DDO gets hirelings to the point where you can basicly go through the game with just them but I hope not. To me one of GWs weaknesses was the fact that very little of the game required other people when the hirelings tended to do their role in a group better than most people.[/quote]

No, I've tested their versions from last hireling event :). And I can assure you that they won't be able to replace players in a dungeon.

Using hirelings in DDO isn't as automated as in GW, where you can focus only on yourself. DDO hirelings are more relying on your own skill in using them. So, DDO just got another level of complexity, but I don't mean that controlling a hireling is hard ;). It's pretty easy as soon as you've learned how they differ from GW version.

One DDO unique thing: the traps :). Hireling will fall into almost every trap if you won't command him appropriately. This means, if you don't know a dungeon (doing it first time), you will have to learn from your mistakes and be careful like you were solo. It's easy to die in DDO if you're rushing like in Quake or Diablo, and it's as easy to die for a hireling.

But, commanding hireling to wait while you sneak ahead and maybe pull monsters is a great tactic. I particularly love this one: I sneak as a rogue to the door, living my hireling with command "Stand Ground" and with "Active" stance in the middle of a room. Then, staying on the side of the door, I open it and activate "Sneak" again on my rogue (opening door deactivates sneaking, so I switch it on as soon as door is open).

The effect? Monsters see only my hireling (I prefer Warrior or Paladin), and run to attack him. As soon as monsters get really close, he starts to defend himself, and I'm right behind every monster's back! :D So, being in stealth mode (sneak), I can sneak attack monsters for great damage, while my hireling tank concentrates their blows. This way they don't even know I'm killing them from behind, because they don't even get to see me - real backstabbing like in PnP ;).

No, it's not because of 'problems' with population . They did it just because many people solo even now, and mostly because new players who don't know the game like to solo before they get confident enough to group - or like to solo in other games.

There's nothing wrong in this, as there's no way that someone wouldn't like to group in DDO later ;). That's just more efficent and rewardnig, not mentioning better fun.

DDO is in better and better condition, and just hear what DDO developers, Turbine, have in store for DDO's future:

www.massively.com/2008/11/12/massively-speaking-podcast-episode-31/

As you can see, DDO will get marketing push after all 'wrinkles' have been tended. This is the case with hirelings too - these events now are to gather feedback and allow players to help them test it for bugs etc. There will be more such event, because they constantly work on them. I have found some bugs already and reported them to Turbine.

So, seems like bright future is ahead for DDO :).

I suppose I can try to create a video of running through a couple different outdoor areas with my lvl 16 Sorcerer.  Unfortunately it's not going to be posted overnight. :(

I'll work on a solo Vale rare spawn loot run.  This area will also showcase some of the lushness of having DX10 while there's upwards of 16 rare boses each with their own chests!

Please be patient 'cs it might take me a few days, but I'll try to have it uploaded by Saturday the 8th.  ;)

Wow, I'm waiting too . There's too few DDO DX10 videos on youtube, please do something about it guys ;).

We at DDO Europe still wait for Module 8 being ported to us, so can't help you yet. But there's only 2-4 videos od Module 8 right now on youtube, and that's a shame! .

Support DDO, advertise it guys. We need to show others how much they miss not playing DDO ;P.

Originally posted by todeswulf

It's sad, it took so long for Turbine to repair what Ken Troop did to the game, now that it's ready...its just too late to gain any significant subscription base. Meanwhile LOTRO is doing astoundingly good, WAR nor AoC really affected it's sub base, and honestly I don't see anything in the works that will tear players away.  I think we will contine to see LOTRO make steady growth, while DDO sadly declines further.

I don't thinks so, because now it looks like Turbine brings more attention to DDO. Rember GenCon? DDO was main Turbine game there, LotrO was second. I don't say we'll see DDO instantly rising 'to power', but knowing that developers made a plan to revamp probably all of this game, it must mean something.

There is Mod9 in the works even now, half-orcs coming together with half-elves, then druids. And there's this mysterious project Turbine keeps in secret development, called, nomen-omen, "Vast and Mysterious". All this, along with new Turbine staff and quality revamp going up from lowest levels, builds up an impression that something's changing.

We'll see. DDO is a tricky and probably most advanced MMO out there, I don't think Turbine would want to lose such a gem. And they put it straight - DDO teams has grown since the start, and no one thinks about closing the project. Yeah, it looks like this for me now.

That's ok Toord . I will have to check it at higher levels. But with these new hirelings, I think it will be much easier. The only problem which I had was the lack of healing. I bought many pots, and then it's great. But it's very expensive sometimes, if you play wizard. But now, you can take a healer with you, and this can change gameplay entirely.

And if I need strong arm (tank), to just stay away from big damage dealers and blast them with spells, I can hire warrior / barbarian .

I'm not that sceptiacal too. I think, at least in DDO EU, there is large number of newcomers. When Mod8 will come live on EU, I don't think opening new servers will be just 'wishfull thinking'.

Firstly, I believe in the power of Community. If you love this game, just say it. Don't discourage anybody, because there's something you don't like (as everywhere). Others may love it .

You know, the biggest problem of DDO now is the lack of 'commercial' advertising. Seems like Atari's problems totally stopped it. Turbine, DDO developer, do what they can on gencons, on sites like this (mmorpg.com), but that's not paid space. So I think only Atari has the right to spend money advertising DDO. Or WotC, but I don't understand why they wouldn't do it if they could. License is license.

DDO is great game already. The biggest problem is that people don't know about it, or think it's some WoW clone like WAR or LotrO. And finding out that it's totally different can be too hard for WoWers.

So, this should be advertised, but WISELY. DDO has some clear, very strong points, and IS an original game. So whoever can advertise it, could interest people in the "DDO MMO way". In other words, show how this game is better than WoW clones and why we it has as dedicated player base, as it has. This really means something and I think, making DDO very popular is really doable... but needs some marketing investment.

Hi guys. As a 'still not very experienced' player (max character level 5 , but I play more than one character), I want to address some topics which you spoke of - soloing in DDO and 'this is party game' thing. Why? Because I never had any problems with it :).

You know, I solo very often. From various reasons - I'm not antisocial and love playing in groups. I just don't have much time to play, sometimes. I'm a former and long time Guild Wars, WoW, Ultima Online and many other MMOG player, and... DDO is totally owns these games for me ;). I even played WAR and can play it still, but I prefer DDO. WAR is no match to DDO, for me - even PVP doesn't impress me in WAR.

I play on DDO EU. My first character was Wizard - if you want to solo, this is a class for Pro Gamers ;). If you like challenge, there you go. Off course, with these new hirelings everything will be much easier (DDO EU will get Mod8 in 1-2 weeks, probably), but I 'm level 5 and solo even on Elite sometimes ;). And I don't see why I couldn't solo up to max level cap. But I love grouping even more, so there's no need.

But when you play, for example, a Ranger... Soloing is like bread and butter to me :). It's fun, and challenging on higher difficulties (in DDO you can unlock difficulties from Solo up to Elite, and get better loot each time).

Mod 8 to me looks awesome. But that's not all... Turbine officially revealed that they intend to revamp all the levels of experience. So, now we have starter area and revamped Harbor (lev 1-4 max), but in future, they will revamp areas for next levels. And so on. That's their plan. And showing how they improve quality now, I can't wait for future revamps, especially while they add high level content at the same time.

So, don't think much, just come and play :). It IS different to WoW clones. But once you get it, you'll never need any WoW clones :). Turbine is probably most 'adventurous' and innovative MMO company out there, so be prepared for unexpected.

PS: My friend is leaving WoW for DDO today :).

Originally posted by Sevenwind

I'm asking because it takes a damn long time to patch from my install CDs. I downloaded mod 6 entire game and put on a DVD for later incase I need to install. That came to 3.5 gigs. I do not like Turbine's patcher. For me it goes extremely slow and if they release the mod on Fileplanet again I can snag that fast.

Hi! The game updates very fast now, at least in DDO EU :). But DDO US will complete hardware server modernization on Monday, so it might get much better ;).

Come on guys and play! Module is on Wendesdey in DDO US, and maybe 2-3 weeks later in DDO EU. But DDO EU has new trial system open even now!

See you in game, Sarr from DDO EU.

Hi :). DDO will have Module 8 with hirelings and DX10 support, as well as some major bug fixes and high-level content on Wednesday :). Trial for US will be up probably at the same time. They also modernized their hardware, probably in preparation for big numbers of new players, which come to us even now, before the premiere (!).

But if you want to jump and check this game right now (as it has changed Much), I invite you to DDO EU, where I play. As an experienced MMO player I can say we have one of the best and most friendly communities (in DDO EU), great discussions and news regularly on forums, etc. Something what WoW never really had ;). Very friendly and dedicated fan base, overall. Maybe not everyone, but that's always this way, right?

Module 8 will come to DDO EU maybe 2-3 weeks after DDO US has it (EU client must be translated), but probably you can get as many trials as you want, if you have some e-mail accounts ;).

So, I really invite you to the best MMORPG game I ever played. Which turned out to be DDO :).

The only thing of advice to newcomers - if you'd like to solo and have some fun, wait for Module 8 with new character generator and hirelings. If you don't get the 'classes', 'races', 'stats' etc. I would encourage you to wait for it too. The whole experience for new players will change dramatically with Mod8.

I'm also looking to DX10 with Mod8, as I use Vista for a long time and never had problems with it. Just remember it's 'beta' of it, so many more effects will be added with upcoming updates.

Thanks for information! It's a great feature. DDO is probably the most welcoming and fun community from all MMOs. And this weekly thread helps to keep up with what's going on.

We lost WDA - weekly development acitivity information, so not everybody is happy. But for, it's much better to be surprised than to know what Devs do every week. Also, that gives Devs more room for changing good new features in favor of even better new features, it they find them. Previously, this would cause inconsitency and disinformation in community.

Long live DDO .