| ESRB:Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited General Article: DDO - Past, Present, Future
MMORPG.com's Michael Bitton recently got the scoop from Design Director Ian Currie with a little bit of information on the game's past, present and future.
By Michael Bitton on April 12, 2010
We got a chance to meet up with some of the Turbine crew at this year’s PAX East for a demo of the “Sentinels” Adventure Pack that launched with Update 4, as well as a glimpse of what the future holds for Dungeons & Dragons Online in 2010. On hand for the demonstration were DDO Producer Erik Boyer and Design Director Ian Currie.
We were first brought up to speed on some of the additions DDO has seen since its relaunch as a hybrid Free-to-Play/Subscription game last year. The game has since seen growth of a million new players and the switchover has also helped boost actual subscription numbers, which have more than doubled.
The Past
Update 3 removed leveling sigils from the game, allowing free players to get to the cap without having to fork over any cash. Update 3 also introduced casual difficulty levels which were implemented to give solo players and small groups who were having a hard time tackling some quests at Normaldifficulty a way to progress. Of course, the casual difficulty does mean you earn less rewards. For those who are looking for a challenge, Epic difficulty has also been added to select dungeons, allowing for level 20 players who have completed certain content at Elite difficulty the ability to go back and kick things up a notch, earning even greater rewards. Epic difficulty also allows players to upgrade their named items to new levels of power. More recently, a DDO Player Feed Facebook application has been launched that will update your friends on Facebook with your in-game accomplishments and even let them know if you are online. Looking ahead about a month, Erik Boyer mentioned that Turbine will also be making available DDO Store point cards at retail outlets.
The Present
Getting to the main event of the demonstration, we were introduced to the “Sentinels” adventure pack that just released with Update 4. Sentinels is a level 6-8 adventure pack that sees players teaming up with the mercenaries of House Deneith to rout the Blood Tide pirates that are assaulting Stormreach. The Blood Tide pirates aren’t your everyday garden variety pirates either: they’re zombie pirates! This really throws a wrench into the whole Pirates vs. Ninjas conundrum. Sentinels is now available on the DDO Store for 450 points, and includes Epic Mode right out of the gate.
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During our demo we followed Design Director Ian Currie as he explored the depths of a Blood Tide stronghold as a fireball slinging wizard as part of one of the early quests of the Sentinels adventure pack. When we reached the top of stronghold we witnessed how the crafty zombie pirates were assaulting Stormreach. Not to be content with simply sailing in on pirate ships, or even ghostly pirate ships, instead the zombie pirates were dropping in through the use of truly magnificent looking airships. The quest ended with Ian setting the airship on fire, resulting in a fight with the ship’s Captain who was not-too-happy about this.
The Future
Following the demo we spoke to Erik and Ian about the future of DDO, which certainly sounds promising! In a recently released State of the Game letter, DDO Executive Producer Fernando Paiz announced that DDO will feature guild housing as part of an update to be released later this year, but what we didn’t know is what form said guild housing would take. To that end, Erik and Ian were excited to share with us that guilds will establish their bases in airships, which will be fully customizable on both their interior and exterior. You’ll even be able to add amenities such as banks and auctioneers to the airships, and upgrade the ships crew. Guild airships will also serve as transportation, allowing guilds to unlock transportation points so that they can quickly travel throughout the game world, including being quickly whisked away to DDO’s various dungeons and raids. Guilds will participate in a new guild leveling system in order to access and upgrade guild airships, and the system will scale for both small and large guilds. The leveling process was described as being similar to earning favor, just on a guild-wide scale. Interestingly, airships will also be viewable in public spaces, as the developers are emphasizing the ability for guilds to show off their creations.
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Looking ahead a bit further, another new adventure pack is in the works, which is said to be designated for characters around level nine. The pack will feature underwater combat, and an entirely new wilderness area. A new race will be available for play in DDO later this year, as well. In the aforementioned State of the Game letter, Fernando Paiz announced that Half-Orcs will finally become a playable race in DDO this year, but we were able to find out just a teensy bit more about the new race at PAX East, learning that Half-Orc’s will be one of the game’s strongest races, coming out of the gate with a +2 STR racial bonus. Half-Orcs will be available as both females and males, and will allow for a good level of customization. The new race will not be based on either the 3.5 or 4.0 editions of D&D, but will instead be a bit of a hybrid of the two. Rounding out our glimpse into DDO in 2010, we also learned that players can look forward to a bevy of new cosmetic items, including hats and shields that will be available exclusively in the DDO Store.
It’s looking to be a stand-out years for Dungeons & Dragons Online in 2010, so be sure to check back at MMORPG.com for all the latest developments! We’d also like to thank DDO Producer Erik Boyer & Design Director Ian Currie for their time.
Hmmm.... airships, huh?
Sounds cool might start playing again :)
I'm a little confused as to the usfulness of an airship in the game. I get the guild housing aspect, but the way the world is set up, its not as though flying around is an option.
I guess I will have to wait and see how they implement it.
Sounds cool though
It really just seems like a creative way to implement instanced Guild Housing.
Shades of Failjammer...err I mean Spelljammer...in any event they could make so many players happy by just offering visible cloaks, true Animal Companions for Rangers..and concintrate on the less lame aspects of the Ebberon setting. But whatever.
Word has it that the Neverwinter Nights MMO will be announced soon and it won't be going to Turbine, coould we finally get a D&D MMO that is D&D?
God i hope so. I hate eberon but its still d&d so i enjoy it but skip the story (way to lame to bother)
Many of us knew about the Neverwinter Nights project last year... You're not going to be happy to find out who's hands it's in.
Nice to see that they add new content, but i always miss information about new free to play content, if there is any (new). Can't really complain about, as it's free, but would be nice.
I nearly bought some adventure packs/a subcription, just waited for a good offer, but then i ran out of free content, so i played it less and less...
With Cryptic doing it, it will be as far from D&D as it can possibly be judging be their previous work.
Eberron is actually a great setting, and somewhat unique with its steam-punk technology combined with high-magic. Almost like the brilliant single player game - Arcanum.
Sounds pretty cool!
meh, I would rather play in a foundation world such as Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms even if those worlds have suffered change due to copy right issues. They are what most feel best repesents the D&D franchise. I see Dragonlance, Dark Sun and Eberron as nice alternative game settings to the other foundation worlds. I guess it doesn't matter too much to WotC as they have so changed the different products with each Ed. of the game.
As has been reported, DDO has expanded its game space to a wilderness (with instance dungeons) so there would much use from Airship travel.
Looking good!
Starting to see some real benefits now for the success of the F2P Model.
I continue to be disapointed by no UI Revamp, it really does drag the visual side of the game down =[
end games just BLAW . once your 10th toons lvl 20 and full geared what are you to do? buy more slots . ok did that 2 times ! 12 toons lvl 20 full geared now what ? buy more toon slots? no thanks .
low lvl content there is already plenty , for those that have been playing for years , well .
There are a few not so bad mods out there, but the customization is very low so far.
On another point I wish LotRo would get that much luvin' I'm going to put a candle so Turbine goes F2P with LotRo too.
I have to say that whatever I might feel about F2P games; it's working for DDO if they have truly doubled subscription numbers and made as much money as they claim off the model. And there's no reason to think that they are lying.
I was watching a friend of mine play over here the other day on his account. I was struck by how interesting things seemed to me since I have been gone for a couple of years - they were running the popular "Vault of Night" (or VON) series of dungeons and the game looked physically beautiful on one of the i7's here with a Radeon 5850, graphics turned up to the max, etc.
I can see where the F2P model works here in a way that it wouldn't in a game like, say, Warhammer. Something still seems really cheesy about it to me - I can't put my finger on it, but when my friend and his group were having a hard time in one of the dungeons, they popped over to the "DDO Store" to purchase a "Portable rest shrine" with "Turbine Points" or whatever; essentially, a currency you get to spend on items at the store through either paying real money or playing the game. As you might gather, it's a lot faster to accrue Turbine Points by paying, ahem, real money than actually playing the game, trying, failing, and trying again as I played it 3-4 years ago.
So this relatively low-level group of adventurers playing a "game" - not a challenge of skill, certainly, but simply a challenge of who has the "Turbine Points" - got past a dungeon with a ragtag group of characters that never could have completed the adventure years ago, which once required a highly skilled group of six balanced characters to beat at the "elite" settings. No longer. Now you can pretty much buy your way through challenges.
Is this a bad thing? Something feels inherently sleazy about it to me, in all honesty. I will admit, I see a lot of my old guild members there along with a lot of new faces. General chat in the upper-tier levels has a slightly nasty tinge to it if a party believes you're not "contributing" enough, be it DPS or healing or whatever your role should be; perhaps a bit moreso because people are spending time/cash for individual adventures or campaigns as opposed to having a more casual stroll through the game. Especially in adventures with a "time limit" it's all too easy to head over to the DDO store and pay for some healing to get through the adventure if that's what you want...
I'll tell you one thing, it isn't D&D - not 3.5 or the new 4th edition. Or any other incarnation. I've ran games at conventions across the country as well as in my own home, and the spirit of D&D definitely isn't here - for me - like it once was, when the game was more challenging. That having been said, it is MUCH more playable by "casual" players now, or people with money to burn that prefer this playstyle - a few bites of play at a time, here and there, with you spending a $5 or $10 occasionally if you feel like "pwning" (a laughable term when you're paying for it but...) the adventure.
It will be interesting to see if anything is ever done with 4th edition D&D in an MMO setting. 4th edition seems tailored to a more casual/easy play style than 3.5 ever was, and it's certainly easier to pick up and learn. Perhaps DDO will be the future of online D&D with a... cash shop... when the going gets tough, or perhaps 4th edition will break through with a brave new game that warrants the box fee and subscription price, no questions asked. I know when I easily pay $30 for a new hardcover 4th edition rulebook, I'd gladly pay twice that to play the game I love in a setting I love with a familiar feeling to an actual game of roleplaying and skill; not an (albeit successful) business model designed to fleece every last bit of cash out of the gaming populace for the "maximum" effect.
Just saying. It was an interesting visit back.
I fail to see how this is any different to any other MMO out there.
Even sandbox's like Eve become about capturing systems, losing systems.. Making ISK, losing ISK..
The advantage of an MMO over a normal game is that it expands... granted, the expansion for DDO has been slow but now its F2P model is successfull we appear to be getting more content much faster!.. Personaly I was very suprised to see an Update 4 so soon after Update 3.
Wow. That is the most accurate and eloquent description of the business model I have seen yet. If there is a way to give you props for it, I shall find it and do so.
I played DDO with some friends for a while. I just couldn't get into the idea of this game being Dungeons and Dragons. There seemed to be a vague attempt at including the core concepts, d20, basic races and classes, and even a few terms, like "Attack of Opportunity", but it was really just a fantasy MMO. There's no roleplaying, which is something very pitiful for a derivative of the original Role-Playing Game.
As for the business model, it works. And that means people will keep using it until it crashes and they get their heads back on straight. When that happens, maybe they'll start producing games that are meant to be fun again.
Thanks. I thought hard for a bit before writing that, trying to really take in what the experience was like for me, seeing my friend play on Sarlona (one of the original DDO servers) again.
The old guild was there; a lot of the old people were there. Something was different, though, and I was trying to place my finger on it. Like I said, the business model works and maybe there isn't enough of a "niche market" of us tabletop-D&D lovers left to really warrant making such a game.
I hope I'm wrong.
I'd rather see a 4th ed MMO done than more DDO stuff that isnt really D&D or Eberron for that matter. The real world of Eberron as shown in the tabletop books is far more interesting, engrossing and fun than being forever stuck in a watered down Zen Drik and Stormreach could ever be.
It would have been more interesting to have been able to explore the whold world of Eberron than being stuck to Zen Drik. I love Eberron but I also agree that Forgotten Realms would have been a better choice. It's been around longer, has more material and has more fans.
This was actually my primary reason why I originally detested D&DO, it was so far from D&D that I was utterly dismayed. Following from that was other things about the game itself I disliked.
However, now DDO is just a much better 'Game' in the respects of things that a video game can deliver, It is still failing to be a true D&D game but I have to conceed that making a video game poses considerable challenges when converting it from a PnP system, it can never be as fluid and interactable.
Anyway, I jumped on last night and found a group doing an elite quest I wanted.. this ended up being a long 6 hour gaming session litterd with many elite difficulty dungeons being completed, I have to say the system for finding groups now is brilliant with the quests being engaging, challenging and a great deal of fun.
Wow seems the candle had an unexpected effect... Warner Bros!