D&D Online Forum » The Rusty Nail (General) » Is DDO worth playing now that it is F2P ?

Absolutely!  

As F2P, what do you have to lose? [If your time is sooo valuable, get off your ass and DO something - don't sit on it playing videogames! <anticipating response>]

Upsides:

• FREE to play - are you going to be able to run more than 20% of the total content for free? No, but you can see if you enjoy what IS offered, then either buy more of the content, get a guest pass for it from someone who has it, or keep running the same.
• My GUESS is that people who "play well with others" will be offered Guest passes now & then by VIPs/people who have paid for the content.  Asshats will play the free stuff for a bit, then fade away as they won't be offered passes.
• Closest MMO to d20 ruleset [if you enjoy the d20 rules]//Some, myself included, really like the way combat is done [others may not - again, try it for FREE]
• 6 month subscription is $60 - one calculation on the boards at ddo is that it five years [plus a few months] is the break even point between subscribing at that rate and just buying all the content [all adventure packs/10 character slots/all races & classes]
• More exposure/influx of new players - MAY pump new life into the game for vets.

Downsides:

• F2P means influx of asshats - regardless of age
• Most of the best dungeons beyond the starter area [Korthos] will cost $ - either as a subscriber or in macrotransactions
• which leads to -> prices are STILL out of whack:  some of the best areas are cheaper than some not so good areas; cosmetic stuff [hair dyes] are way overpriced; Turbine Points are based on some currency other than USD [currently $6.50 for 400TP] <Not Korean or Australian - anybody able to figure out a currency that is close to that ratio?>
• Brand new system added to beta [NDA has been lifted!] to reduce lag has made some dungeons unplayable via zerging. [this may not be such a bad thing, though one dungeon in particular - Stealthy Reposession - may be nearly impossible to do at anywhere near level.  I have not yet tested this myself, I am just speculating]

Bottom Line:  Is FREE worth it to TRY DDO?  Hell yeah!

Originally posted by uncus

• Brand new system added to beta [NDA has been lifted!] to reduce lag has made some dungeons unplayable via zerging. [this may not be such a bad thing, though one dungeon in particular - Stealthy Reposession - may be nearly impossible to do at anywhere near level.  I have not yet tested this myself, I am just speculating]

What do you mean by that? Why would reducing lag make anything unplayable?

Originally posted by Aganazer

Originally posted by uncus

• Brand new system added to beta [NDA has been lifted!] to reduce lag has made some dungeons unplayable via zerging. [this may not be such a bad thing, though one dungeon in particular - Stealthy Reposession - may be nearly impossible to do at anywhere near level.  I have not yet tested this myself, I am just speculating]

 

What do you mean by that? Why would reducing lag make anything unplayable?

A system created to reduce lag being implemented on the beta server currently causes characters to move more slowly depending upon how many MOBs are aggroed.  There are 4 levels - no skull for very few aggroing [<5 iirc], green skull for 6-??[depends on dungeon - usually 12-15]: to be patched to warning only, yellow skull - about 15-20-25 - character slows to 50% move [affects attack & spells now also, but is a bug], and red which slows movement to 10%.

If you will re-read what I posted [and you quoted] I said "unplayable via zerging" and gave an example of a low level dungeon that MAY be greatly affected by this.  Currently, the best tactic for completing this dungeon at near level is to use a combination of sneaking when possible, sleep/hypnotise when discovered, then Invis to re-hide/sneak...usually combined with "run like hell" when it doesn't work.  If you are slowed to 50% or 10% of movement speed [haste etc are dispelled when the skulls appear, so you can't use them to keep going], you cannot "run like hell".

Originally posted by uncus

Originally posted by Aganazer

Originally posted by uncus

• Brand new system added to beta [NDA has been lifted!] to reduce lag has made some dungeons unplayable via zerging. [this may not be such a bad thing, though one dungeon in particular - Stealthy Reposession - may be nearly impossible to do at anywhere near level.  I have not yet tested this myself, I am just speculating]

 

What do you mean by that? Why would reducing lag make anything unplayable?

 

A system created to reduce lag being implemented on the beta server currently causes characters to move more slowly depending upon how many MOBs are aggroed.  There are 4 levels - no skull for very few aggroing [<5 iirc], green skull for 6-??[depends on dungeon - usually 12-15]: to be patched to warning only, yellow skull - about 15-20-25 - character slows to 50% move [affects attack & spells now also, but is a bug], and red which slows movement to 10%.

If you will re-read what I posted [and you quoted] I said "unplayable via zerging" and gave an example of a low level dungeon that MAY be greatly affected by this.  Currently, the best tactic for completing this dungeon at near level is to use a combination of sneaking when possible, sleep/hypnotise when discovered, then Invis to re-hide/sneak...usually combined with "run like hell" when it doesn't work.  If you are slowed to 50% or 10% of movement speed [haste etc are dispelled when the skulls appear, so you can't use them to keep going], you cannot "run like hell".

Thanks, I know the quest you're talking about. I didn't know how the lag code works. Thats kind of strange. I guess it could make kobolds a lot more dangerous now.

Originally posted by Aganazer

Originally posted by uncus

Originally posted by Aganazer

Originally posted by uncus

• Brand new system added to beta [NDA has been lifted!] to reduce lag has made some dungeons unplayable via zerging. [this may not be such a bad thing, though one dungeon in particular - Stealthy Reposession - may be nearly impossible to do at anywhere near level.  I have not yet tested this myself, I am just speculating]

 

What do you mean by that? Why would reducing lag make anything unplayable?

 

A system created to reduce lag being implemented on the beta server currently causes characters to move more slowly depending upon how many MOBs are aggroed.  There are 4 levels - no skull for very few aggroing [<5 iirc], green skull for 6-??[depends on dungeon - usually 12-15]: to be patched to warning only, yellow skull - about 15-20-25 - character slows to 50% move [affects attack & spells now also, but is a bug], and red which slows movement to 10%.

If you will re-read what I posted [and you quoted] I said "unplayable via zerging" and gave an example of a low level dungeon that MAY be greatly affected by this.  Currently, the best tactic for completing this dungeon at near level is to use a combination of sneaking when possible, sleep/hypnotise when discovered, then Invis to re-hide/sneak...usually combined with "run like hell" when it doesn't work.  If you are slowed to 50% or 10% of movement speed [haste etc are dispelled when the skulls appear, so you can't use them to keep going], you cannot "run like hell".

 

Thanks, I know the quest you're talking about. I didn't know how the lag code works. Thats kind of strange. I guess it could make kobolds a lot more dangerous now.

This new systen will make the Deleras Tomb series suck.

Originally posted by signetring

Well I have been actually trying out the Beta to see if the free play is going to be worthwhile and I really have to say it's a mixed bag. There are some good and there's some bad. Unfortunately the bad points make it almost not worth trying.

 

A) Too many things "cost" points - if you are a returning player you should have content unlocked up until the point where you stopped paying. You can't tell a customer that the money they spent on the game in the past is not of any value now. This is what Turbine is doing by making familiar quests such as Shan to Kor and Tangleroot now suddenly 'paid content'.

 

Its absolutely unthinkable that Turbine would do this to returning players. New players I could understand why they would do this. If you have favor for a certain mission already - it should be unlocked. Period. It currently is not... which means that players like me who have given Turbine hundreds if not thousands of dollars a real bad taste.

 

B) The game looks really really dated. Walking around the harbor you see the horrible font used for text chat and floaty names still in use is absurd. Why they have not updated that is beyond me. The stale, dated graphical feel of this game is not a strong point at all. They get an F for "visual appeal".

 

C) Repeating quests over and over and over and over loses its luster fast. Sorry gang, nothing's changed here. Turbine putting whipped cream on shit yet again.

 

Sad to see ... it really is.

Are you playing the DX9 version the Dx10 version looks amazing to me it uses the same engine as LOTRO does.  Yeah the floaty names look weird but who cares thats not a big deal to me.

But the thing that I thought sucked about the F2P is that you have to pay to get access to areas and I think I you can only get to lvl 4 with F2P so its pretty much like a free trial but you can play in that area unlimited amount of time.  Unless they change that you might as well just keep paying for the game.

Originally posted by cukimunga

Originally posted by signetring

Well I have been actually trying out the Beta to see if the free play is going to be worthwhile and I really have to say it's a mixed bag. There are some good and there's some bad. Unfortunately the bad points make it almost not worth trying.

 

A) Too many things "cost" points - if you are a returning player you should have content unlocked up until the point where you stopped paying. You can't tell a customer that the money they spent on the game in the past is not of any value now. This is what Turbine is doing by making familiar quests such as Shan to Kor and Tangleroot now suddenly 'paid content'.

 

Its absolutely unthinkable that Turbine would do this to returning players. New players I could understand why they would do this. If you have favor for a certain mission already - it should be unlocked. Period. It currently is not... which means that players like me who have given Turbine hundreds if not thousands of dollars a real bad taste.

 

B) The game looks really really dated. Walking around the harbor you see the horrible font used for text chat and floaty names still in use is absurd. Why they have not updated that is beyond me. The stale, dated graphical feel of this game is not a strong point at all. They get an F for "visual appeal".

 

C) Repeating quests over and over and over and over loses its luster fast. Sorry gang, nothing's changed here. Turbine putting whipped cream on shit yet again.

 

Sad to see ... it really is.

Are you playing the DX9 version the Dx10 version looks amazing to me it uses the same engine as LOTRO does.  Yeah the floaty names look weird but who cares thats not a big deal to me.

 

But the thing that I thought sucked about the F2P is that you have to pay to get access to areas and I think I you can only get to lvl 4 with F2P so its pretty much like a free trial but you can play in that area unlimited amount of time.  Unless they change that you might as well just keep paying for the game.

Turbine has said you can level to 20 and never spend a dime, so your level 4 F2P limit is wrong.
 

To the OP. DDO has always been worth playing, really.

Any other mmorpg has it's foundation in a commercial enterprise, such as LotRO.  DDO was designed to be a depth and breadth of game-play level of entertainment that transcends the commercial smack a button grinds; DDO has much more to offer than than.

it still stands as one of the most challenging and avatar creative mmo's, not to mention better story mmo's with their live voice narratives, than any mmorpg delivered in the past few years.

Whats great about this game, among many things, is that you can't be everything, but you can be many things, or a specialist.  DDO is a brilliant mmo that wont appeal to the mind-set that everytime I hit a mob, like in LotrOL, WoW, etc., candy rains down as though it was a pinata; that's not how this game works.

Edit: And as an edit.  Levels also just aren't handed out in this game like you were on welfare in the good ol US of A.  Levels have to be earned, and gaining levels is an accomplishment, and whats earned needs to be thought about where your going to put those points, based on what you want to be.

If you didn't like the game before I find it difficult to beleive the game has fundamentally changed enough to think you'd like it know, unless the cost was the issue. I've got the box from buying it at launch, so I'm hoping that'll get me started playing FtP for free, but I doubt it'll hold me. Personally I don't like the idea of playing a video game with my wallet in one hand. I don't want to have to think about finances once I'm in game.  What breaks immersion more than reaching for your CC?

Originally posted by Rokurgepta

Originally posted by cukimunga

Originally posted by signetring

Well I have been actually trying out the Beta to see if the free play is going to be worthwhile and I really have to say it's a mixed bag. There are some good and there's some bad. Unfortunately the bad points make it almost not worth trying.

 

A) Too many things "cost" points - if you are a returning player you should have content unlocked up until the point where you stopped paying. You can't tell a customer that the money they spent on the game in the past is not of any value now. This is what Turbine is doing by making familiar quests such as Shan to Kor and Tangleroot now suddenly 'paid content'.

 

Its absolutely unthinkable that Turbine would do this to returning players. New players I could understand why they would do this. If you have favor for a certain mission already - it should be unlocked. Period. It currently is not... which means that players like me who have given Turbine hundreds if not thousands of dollars a real bad taste.

 

B) The game looks really really dated. Walking around the harbor you see the horrible font used for text chat and floaty names still in use is absurd. Why they have not updated that is beyond me. The stale, dated graphical feel of this game is not a strong point at all. They get an F for "visual appeal".

 

C) Repeating quests over and over and over and over loses its luster fast. Sorry gang, nothing's changed here. Turbine putting whipped cream on shit yet again.

 

Sad to see ... it really is.

Are you playing the DX9 version the Dx10 version looks amazing to me it uses the same engine as LOTRO does.  Yeah the floaty names look weird but who cares thats not a big deal to me.

 

But the thing that I thought sucked about the F2P is that you have to pay to get access to areas and I think I you can only get to lvl 4 with F2P so its pretty much like a free trial but you can play in that area unlimited amount of time.  Unless they change that you might as well just keep paying for the game.

Turbine has said you can level to 20 and never spend a dime, so your level 4 F2P limit is wrong.
 

Someone stated that you need to farm for an item drop to level past each 4s, and that they are a remote chance, and you need multiple of it.  Someone stated it would take 51 weeks? or something stupid to be able to get them all.

Originally posted by SaintViktor

Is DDO worth playing now that it is F2P ?

That is completely subjective to your tastes. It's going to be free to play, so it won't cost you anything but time to go find out for yourself... which is probably what you need to be sure if it's worth it or not for you anyhow.

Originally posted by Swanea 

Someone stated that you need to farm for an item drop to level past each 4s, and that they are a remote chance, and you need multiple of it.  Someone stated it would take 51 weeks? or something stupid to be able to get them all.

OMG!  Did someone actually say that the game is challenging? That I can't achieve an end-game win in 3 weeks?!?!?! That I have to actually progress through greater depth of game-play to accomplish another achievement?! 

I will not stand for this.  To heck with the smartly and complex system of ddo gaming. Im sticking with WoW, only to press the same button repeatedly and without governing, or my sequence of solo win buttons that make my general practioner, whose treating me for carpal tunnel, damn proud of me.

Originally posted by Obamaonics

Originally posted by Swanea 

Someone stated that you need to farm for an item drop to level past each 4s, and that they are a remote chance, and you need multiple of it.  Someone stated it would take 51 weeks? or something stupid to be able to get them all.

 

OMG!  Did someone actually say that the game is challenging? That I can't achieve an end-game win in 3 weeks?!?!?! That I have to actually progress through greater depth of game-play to accomplish another achievement?! 

 

I will not stand for this.  To heck with the smartly and complex system of ddo gaming. Im sticking with WoW, only to press the same button repeatedly and without governing, or my sequence of solo win buttons that make my general practioner, whose treating me for carpal tunnel, damn proud of me.

 

 

 

Both my beta characters got the 5-8 leveling sigil even before hitting level 2 as quest rewards. i guess the ones for higher levels will be harder to get but they seem pretty cheap in the store so you can probably gain enough poins by playing the game to buy them.

Originally posted by Obamaonics

Originally posted by Swanea 

Someone stated that you need to farm for an item drop to level past each 4s, and that they are a remote chance, and you need multiple of it.  Someone stated it would take 51 weeks? or something stupid to be able to get them all.

 

OMG!  Did someone actually say that the game is challenging? That I can't achieve an end-game win in 3 weeks?!?!?! That I have to actually progress through greater depth of game-play to accomplish another achievement?! 

 

I will not stand for this.  To heck with the smartly and complex system of ddo gaming. Im sticking with WoW, only to press the same button repeatedly and without governing, or my sequence of solo win buttons that make my general practioner, whose treating me for carpal tunnel, damn proud of me.

Hehehe, that's abvious irony . My friend got leveling sigil to 8th level on his first quest after he leveled up to 4 : ). I was playing with him, so I know.

Now my ViP sub run out, and I won't be resubbing at least until beta turns to final - in F2P it's still plenty of content and no problem with playing at all.

Originally posted by signetring

Well I have been actually trying out the Beta to see if the free play is going to be worthwhile and I really have to say it's a mixed bag. There are some good and there's some bad. Unfortunately the bad points make it almost not worth trying.

 

A) Too many things "cost" points - if you are a returning player you should have content unlocked up until the point where you stopped paying. You can't tell a customer that the money they spent on the game in the past is not of any value now. This is what Turbine is doing by making familiar quests such as Shan to Kor and Tangleroot now suddenly 'paid content'.

 

Its absolutely unthinkable that Turbine would do this to returning players. New players I could understand why they would do this. If you have favor for a certain mission already - it should be unlocked. Period. It currently is not... which means that players like me who have given Turbine hundreds if not thousands of dollars a real bad taste.

 

B) The game looks really really dated. Walking around the harbor you see the horrible font used for text chat and floaty names still in use is absurd. Why they have not updated that is beyond me. The stale, dated graphical feel of this game is not a strong point at all. They get an F for "visual appeal".

 

C) Repeating quests over and over and over and over loses its luster fast. Sorry gang, nothing's changed here. Turbine putting whipped cream on shit yet again.

 

Sad to see ... it really is.

Oh noes! They want me to PAY if I want to have all content! I must pay my old sub then, or spend few bucks on those premium dungeons I do play often!

Damn you Turbine, I though you're a charity company!

In other words, you won't be missed much. For me this game is worth my money (the best MMO out there), for you it's not - farewell! Maybe Runes of Magic or Free Realms have better value?

Originally posted by Swanea

Originally posted by Rokurgepta

Originally posted by cukimunga

Originally posted by signetring

Well I have been actually trying out the Beta to see if the free play is going to be worthwhile and I really have to say it's a mixed bag. There are some good and there's some bad. Unfortunately the bad points make it almost not worth trying.

 

A) Too many things "cost" points - if you are a returning player you should have content unlocked up until the point where you stopped paying. You can't tell a customer that the money they spent on the game in the past is not of any value now. This is what Turbine is doing by making familiar quests such as Shan to Kor and Tangleroot now suddenly 'paid content'.

 

Its absolutely unthinkable that Turbine would do this to returning players. New players I could understand why they would do this. If you have favor for a certain mission already - it should be unlocked. Period. It currently is not... which means that players like me who have given Turbine hundreds if not thousands of dollars a real bad taste.

 

B) The game looks really really dated. Walking around the harbor you see the horrible font used for text chat and floaty names still in use is absurd. Why they have not updated that is beyond me. The stale, dated graphical feel of this game is not a strong point at all. They get an F for "visual appeal".

 

C) Repeating quests over and over and over and over loses its luster fast. Sorry gang, nothing's changed here. Turbine putting whipped cream on shit yet again.

 

Sad to see ... it really is.

Are you playing the DX9 version the Dx10 version looks amazing to me it uses the same engine as LOTRO does.  Yeah the floaty names look weird but who cares thats not a big deal to me.

 

But the thing that I thought sucked about the F2P is that you have to pay to get access to areas and I think I you can only get to lvl 4 with F2P so its pretty much like a free trial but you can play in that area unlimited amount of time.  Unless they change that you might as well just keep paying for the game.

Turbine has said you can level to 20 and never spend a dime, so your level 4 F2P limit is wrong.
 

Someone stated that you need to farm for an item drop to level past each 4s, and that they are a remote chance, and you need multiple of it.  Someone stated it would take 51 weeks? or something stupid to be able to get them all.

Someone is wrong end of discussion.

Originally posted by Rokurgepta

Originally posted by Aganazer

Originally posted by uncus

Originally posted by Aganazer

Originally posted by uncus

• Brand new system added to beta [NDA has been lifted!] to reduce lag has made some dungeons unplayable via zerging. [this may not be such a bad thing, though one dungeon in particular - Stealthy Reposession - may be nearly impossible to do at anywhere near level.  I have not yet tested this myself, I am just speculating]

 

What do you mean by that? Why would reducing lag make anything unplayable?

 

A system created to reduce lag being implemented on the beta server currently causes characters to move more slowly depending upon how many MOBs are aggroed.  There are 4 levels - no skull for very few aggroing [<5 iirc], green skull for 6-??[depends on dungeon - usually 12-15]: to be patched to warning only, yellow skull - about 15-20-25 - character slows to 50% move [affects attack & spells now also, but is a bug], and red which slows movement to 10%.

If you will re-read what I posted [and you quoted] I said "unplayable via zerging" and gave an example of a low level dungeon that MAY be greatly affected by this.  Currently, the best tactic for completing this dungeon at near level is to use a combination of sneaking when possible, sleep/hypnotise when discovered, then Invis to re-hide/sneak...usually combined with "run like hell" when it doesn't work.  If you are slowed to 50% or 10% of movement speed [haste etc are dispelled when the skulls appear, so you can't use them to keep going], you cannot "run like hell".

 

Thanks, I know the quest you're talking about. I didn't know how the lag code works. Thats kind of strange. I guess it could make kobolds a lot more dangerous now.

 

This new systen will make the Deleras Tomb series suck.

Yeah it will.  This system is really poor design IMO.  I am quite disappointed in Turbine.

If it uses hardcoded number ranges it will be massive fail.  It is a massive fail anyway though on multiple levels.  Complete hack design.  As a computer professional it makes me cringe.

I don't sub to DDO anymore so personally I don't care but it raises my professional hackles.  Just plain icky idea.

Havnt read all the posts but I think its in the end of the summer its turning f2p.
I have tried it on trial I beleive, but was not for me. But I will give it another try when its turns f2p cause of my boringness.

Originally posted by gestalt11 

Yeah it will.  This system is really poor design IMO.  I am quite disappointed in Turbine.

If it uses hardcoded number ranges it will be massive fail.  It is a massive fail anyway though on multiple levels.  Complete hack design.  As a computer professional it makes me cringe.

I don't sub to DDO anymore so personally I don't care but it raises my professional hackles.  Just plain icky idea.

They can vary the new system quest by quest.

I actually quite like the concept, dungeon zerging has always been one of DDOs weak points, straight running be the worst of the worst. The actual mechanism needs tweaking, but from the posts it is clear they are listening and making large changes to it.

Originally posted by Dr.Rock

Originally posted by gestalt11 

Yeah it will.  This system is really poor design IMO.  I am quite disappointed in Turbine.

If it uses hardcoded number ranges it will be massive fail.  It is a massive fail anyway though on multiple levels.  Complete hack design.  As a computer professional it makes me cringe.

I don't sub to DDO anymore so personally I don't care but it raises my professional hackles.  Just plain icky idea.

 

They can vary the new system quest by quest.

I actually quite like the concept, dungeon zerging has always been one of DDOs weak points, straight running be the worst of the worst. The actual mechanism needs tweaking, but from the posts it is clear they are listening and making large changes to it.

A system applied debuff based upon amount of aggro is simply bad design either way. 

I can understand something like the CoX code that limits how much aggro one person can get for anti-herding.  But this variation, especially given the designs of certain dungeons is simply wrong.

It is an incorrect design.  Square peg meet round hole.

Originally posted by gestalt11

Originally posted by Dr.Rock

Originally posted by gestalt11 

Yeah it will.  This system is really poor design IMO.  I am quite disappointed in Turbine.

If it uses hardcoded number ranges it will be massive fail.  It is a massive fail anyway though on multiple levels.  Complete hack design.  As a computer professional it makes me cringe.

I don't sub to DDO anymore so personally I don't care but it raises my professional hackles.  Just plain icky idea.

 

They can vary the new system quest by quest.

I actually quite like the concept, dungeon zerging has always been one of DDOs weak points, straight running be the worst of the worst. The actual mechanism needs tweaking, but from the posts it is clear they are listening and making large changes to it.

 

A system applied debuff based upon amount of aggro is simply bad design either way. 

 

I can understand something like the CoX code that limits how much aggro one person can get for anti-herding.  But this variation, especially given the designs of certain dungeons is simply wrong.

 

It is an incorrect design.  Square peg meet round hole.

Why is it bad design? Are there rules of design somewhere? I like this new system, but we might see many changes to it along the way. It's very possible that at least some debuffs will be taken out, as many players don't like it.

But it's not some debuff working instantly as you get skulls. Monsters have a chance (on yellow 15% from behind you) to debuff you, so it works almost like other debuffs from monsters.

Originally posted by gestalt11

Originally posted by Dr.Rock

Originally posted by gestalt11 

Yeah it will.  This system is really poor design IMO.  I am quite disappointed in Turbine.

If it uses hardcoded number ranges it will be massive fail.  It is a massive fail anyway though on multiple levels.  Complete hack design.  As a computer professional it makes me cringe.

I don't sub to DDO anymore so personally I don't care but it raises my professional hackles.  Just plain icky idea.

 

They can vary the new system quest by quest.

I actually quite like the concept, dungeon zerging has always been one of DDOs weak points, straight running be the worst of the worst. The actual mechanism needs tweaking, but from the posts it is clear they are listening and making large changes to it.

 

A system applied debuff based upon amount of aggro is simply bad design either way. 

 

I can understand something like the CoX code that limits how much aggro one person can get for anti-herding.  But this variation, especially given the designs of certain dungeons is simply wrong.

 

It is an incorrect design.  Square peg meet round hole.

To me that is just detail, you are getting a speed debuff which is supposed to be because you are getting surrounded on all sides and the mobs are actively trying to slow you down. Now that sort of makes sense as long as it is restricted to run speed and not attack speed. The mobs getting powered up makes sense as well. The knockdown was stupid, but they removed that.

The CoX design was pathetic, you can only aggro 14 (?) mobs, which meant you could aggro two groups and then jump in to a third and they would actually stand there like lemons until you had killed enough for them to become active. It did however eliminate the conga chains of stupidity and gathering everything to nuke that happened before it. Actually the spawn groups in CoX made no sense anyway they never responded to another group being attacked or any other triggers, other than proximity to the second group. 

But it's not some debuff working instantly as you get skulls. Monsters have a chance (on yellow 15% from behind you) to debuff you, so it works almost like other debuffs from monsters.

That is actually quite clever, so sort of a deliberate attempt made by the mob to slow your progress. I personally would have made it 100% on a glancing blow with a roll against Balance, but all details.

Originally posted by Dr.Rock

But it's not some debuff working instantly as you get skulls. Monsters have a chance (on yellow 15% from behind you) to debuff you, so it works almost like other debuffs from monsters.

That is actually quite clever, so sort of a deliberate attempt made by the mob to slow your progress. I personally would have made it 100% on a glancing blow with a roll against Balance, but all details.

Yeah, those were numbers revealed some time ago, so every change is possible. You've mentioned attack speed - attack speed is normal, only movement is slowed down. In other words, it pretty much makes sense : ).

Oh, for those who haven't it to date. Jerry from DDOCast has preview and "review" of new quests available in Martekplace. Pretty interesting ones in my opinion, some new elements and more rpg-like story than ever before:

www.youtube.com/watch

You can see Green Skull from this "Dungeon Alert" system in some parts of the vid.

Other than that, I've suggested on beta forums that DDO would benefit from having some more RPG-like, Baldur's Gate or NwN-like quests. I mean, different endings, choices based on your alignment, etc. That it would be phenomenal for D&D feel again prettty much unique to DDO...
And what ? Tolero or Eladrin (can't remember) said they're experimenting with it for Mod 10! They're evaluating how much it is worth their time and effort, and how valuable it is for gameplay and fun for players - it takes more time to create such quests. But I think there ARE ways to make it almost the same development-wise, while giving some options for classes, alignments or just different endings. So... Lets hope Turbine adds those D&D-like choices to new quests. I'd love to see even old quests done differently, dending on whether a rogue does something or paladin. Such things could make HUGE impact on repeat-ability of DDO quests and their fun factor...

Originally posted by Dr.Rock

Originally posted by gestalt11

Originally posted by Dr.Rock

Originally posted by gestalt11 

Yeah it will.  This system is really poor design IMO.  I am quite disappointed in Turbine.

If it uses hardcoded number ranges it will be massive fail.  It is a massive fail anyway though on multiple levels.  Complete hack design.  As a computer professional it makes me cringe.

I don't sub to DDO anymore so personally I don't care but it raises my professional hackles.  Just plain icky idea.

 

They can vary the new system quest by quest.

I actually quite like the concept, dungeon zerging has always been one of DDOs weak points, straight running be the worst of the worst. The actual mechanism needs tweaking, but from the posts it is clear they are listening and making large changes to it.

 

A system applied debuff based upon amount of aggro is simply bad design either way. 

 

I can understand something like the CoX code that limits how much aggro one person can get for anti-herding.  But this variation, especially given the designs of certain dungeons is simply wrong.

 

It is an incorrect design.  Square peg meet round hole.

To me that is just detail, you are getting a speed debuff which is supposed to be because you are getting surrounded on all sides and the mobs are actively trying to slow you down. Now that sort of makes sense as long as it is restricted to run speed and not attack speed. The mobs getting powered up makes sense as well. The knockdown was stupid, but they removed that.

The CoX design was pathetic, you can only aggro 14 (?) mobs, which meant you could aggro two groups and then jump in to a third and they would actually stand there like lemons until you had killed enough for them to become active. It did however eliminate the conga chains of stupidity and gathering everything to nuke that happened before it. Actually the spawn groups in CoX made no sense anyway they never responded to another group being attacked or any other triggers, other than proximity to the second group. 

If the Mobs are not actively keeping up then they should not slow me down. Turbine is once again wasting time on a system that is simply unneedede. Even as Sarr says they are making changes because MANY players do not like it. Personally I see this as an attempt to get vets to leave because Turbine figures they can make more money if the vets are not here to screw up all the new players flooding in to try to F2P. Of course this requires enough people coming in and paying to make losing them a profitable experience.