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Module 7 and More: A Chat with Kate Paiz

By Keith Cross on Apr 16, 2008

News Manager Keith Cross recently had the opportunity to speak to Kate Paiz, Senior Producer for Dungeons&Dragons Online. It was our regular monthly chat with the folks at Tubrine and coming into the interview I was concerned that there wouldn't really be anything to talk about, with the GDC and Codemaster's connect events being so recent in our memories. But in the fast paced world of game development there's always something new to talk about, such as Module 7 and the Monk, the recent Shavarath invasion, and a few hints at Module 8.

Module 7 for Dungeons and Dragons Online is looming on the horizon with its May release, and the free content expansion is full of features that DDO fans have been looking forward to for a long time. Module 7 will include improved crafting and new eldritch rituals, a high level wilderness area and two new raids, a revamp of Three Barrel Cove, and the big one, the Monk will finally make its debut.

The last time anyone form MMORPG.com spoke to the folks at Turbine, the monk was in the alpha testing phase so my first question to DDO Senior Producer Kate Paiz was how far along is the Monk now? She said that Monk development is locked down and now they’re in the balance and bug fixing stage from a design point of view, and the art department is busy fine tuning the animations.

In version 3.5 of the D&D rules the monk is one of the more moderately difficult classes to use, being a little more complicated than a fighter. I asked if this would also be the case for the monk in DDO and Kate responded with a no. They have had to reduce the complexity a bit but that’s inevitable when transferring a complicated class from a pen and paper RPG to the medium of MMORPGs. The bottom line is that veterans and new players alike should be able to enjoy the monk.