Standing Stone Games isn’t the first developer to work on Dungeon & Dragons Online (DDO). Since being named the developer for DDO and Lord of the Rings Online in 2016, SSG has made numerous updates to DDO. And now, with the launch of a new 64-bit server, SSG is attempting to solve one of DDO’s biggest issues: crippling lag. It has been several months since my last visit to DDO, so I figured it was time to plop down $15 to get the VIP subscription needed to access the new server and see if the new upgrade has impacted gameplay. It’s been less than two weeks, and I’m having a great time starting a new character, but that doesn’t mean the new server is solving all of DDO’s problems.
A Little DDO History
Dungeons & Dragons Online has always been the middle child of MMORPGs—it has plenty of potential but is stuck living in the shadow of its siblings. Originally titled Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach, most of DDO’s early press coverage was lost in the wake of the launch of another MMO you may have heard of: World of Warcraft. Still, even with the growing success of WoW and other MMOs, including Everquest, Dark Age of Camelot, Lineage, and City of Heroes, to name a few, DDO: Stormreach was chosen by MMORPG.com’s readers as 2005’s Most Anticipated MMO.
When it finally launched in 2006, DDO: Stormreach did well, but again, other MMOs overshadowed it. Much of this can be attributed to Turbine, DDO’s original developer, who attempted to make DDO an authentic Dungeons & Dragons experience. Many of the decisions made during development - choosing the setting of Eberron and Stormreach instead of the much more popular Forgotten Realms, trying to adapt the D&D 3.5 ruleset to a real-time combat system, going PvE only, creating a nearly a 100% instance-based world, and a pseudo-action-based/tab-target hybrid combat system, can all be considered sub-optimal given the popularity of the “traditional” MMORPGs that ruled the era. And I say that as someone who played (and paid for) DDO non-stop for nearly six years.
At launch, DDO: Stormreach struggled to live up to the expectations (warranted or not) of a game with Dungeons & Dragons in its name. For years, Turbine continued to update systems and put out expansions to grow content. A switch to a Free-to-Play with an optional subscription model and a name change to Dungeons & Dragons: Eberron Unlimited in 2009 was met with an influx of players. The acquisition of Turbine by Warner Brothers soon followed in 2010. Another name change to Dungeons & Dragons Online coincided with the addition of content based on the Forgotten Realms (and later Ravenloft) campaign setting garnered additional positive reactions. Even so, DDO continued to “underperform” and finally found its way into the hands of publisher Daybreak Games and developer Standing Stone Games in 2016, where it still resides today.
Throughout all 18 years of operation, DDO has continued to improve. To this day, SSG continues to put out quarterly updates for DDO, including new content, system reworks, and balance passes, with the August 2024 release of Update 69 giving adventurers the chance to visit the iconic setting of Myth Drannor.
Despite the changes, one of DDO’s most prominent issues over the years has been lag. It doesn’t matter how much you enjoyed the gameplay, whether you play because it’s the best D&D MMO (my opinion, sorry Neverwinter fans), or started playing DDO because you needed something to do during the pandemic, you can’t deny that lag is a constant problem.
We’re not talking about some minor stuttering or infrequent rubber-banding due to slow or unstable internet connections. We are talking about periods of extended screen freezes and non-stop rubber banding caused by something in the coding or game engine. The main reason I quit DDO way back when was that we literally overwhelmed the system during raids. During boss fights, ping and packet loss would skyrocket, leaving everyone’s screen frozen while the game engine chugged along in the background. We all had to pause attacking so the game engine could catch up, hoping we didn’t wipe to enemy attacks before the player-side client resynced with the game server.
Over the years since I quit DDO, I periodically jump in to see how things are better. Unfortunately, they seem to have worsened. I can play for 40 or 50 minutes, sometimes longer, without a hitch. But sooner or later, even solo questing ends with constant rubber banding and freezes. I don’t claim to be an elite player, but I die more to the lag monster than I do anything else. Lag has turned my favorite MMO of all time into a miserable experience that I am unwilling to pay for (yes, I’m still willing to go VIP to get access to all of my alts).
The 64-bit Era
Update 70: Lantern of the Mists was released on October 23rd, ushering in a new era for DDO. Although its namesake refers to a special event that has you defeating “Mist Stalkers” that randomly spawn in regular quests and adventure zones, Update 70’s primary focus is finally bringing DDO into the modern era by updating the MMO to a 64-bit server. A 64-bit client has been available since Update 45 was released in 2020, so it’s nice to see SSG finally attempting to bring the servers into the modern 64-bit era.
Starting a new character on Cormyr
SSG has created a single 64-bit server, Cormyr, as an initial test environment. Access to Cormyr has been limited to players with the VIP subscription. Although this may seem like a move rooted in greed (they got my $15 so I could check out the server), it really is an intelligent way to gather valuable data. VIP veterans generally have a deep understanding of the game mechanics, making them uniquely qualified to identify improvements or issues with the new server.
VIP players also spend more time playing than casual gamers, and they can tear through content at a maddening pace. This is important because SSG has made Cormyr a fresh-start server. Starting with fresh level one players that lack the gear and reincarnations (DDO’s progression system for long-term players) is the perfect way for SSG to get a fresh data set on the new server that could potentially identify performance issues caused when players reach milestones and game mechanics as they progress their new characters.
64-Bit Server. Is It Working?
By using a 64-bit server, Standing Stone Games hopes to bring technological improvements to DDO. Players have taken this to mean improvements to DDO’s most significant issue: lag. After a couple of weeks, the verdict is still out.
Day one of Cormyr saw the server grind to a halt as VIP players stormed the beaches of Korthos Island. Players complained of crippling lag worse than that found on the free-to-play servers. Performance issues are always a part of new servers regardless of the MMO being played, so it wasn’t a big surprise that the Cormyr server was turned off on launch day as SSG investigated the issue.
The server came back up the following day, and although players were able to make it into Korthos Island quests, there were still complaints of constant game freezes that lasted 30+ seconds. I finally made my way onto Cormyr on Day 3 and experienced similar issues. I could play unhindered for 20 or 30 minutes, but sooner or later, I would experience quest-ending lag.
Since Cormyr’s launch on October 23rd, lag continues to be an issue. Some periods are better than others, and as the player base has spread out, things do seem better most of the time. There are still some bad times, but I played several hours over the weekend with lag no worse than what I experienced on the 32-bit servers.
64-Bit Server. Is It Worth It?
I don’t think two weeks is enough time to determine if the Cormyr server will solve DDO’s technical problems; it can take a month or more for a new MMO to dial in all of the server settings and fix crippling bugs, so why would we expect Cormyr to be any different? But Standing Stone Games hasn’t been able to pinpoint the root cause of DDO’s lag problem in over half a decade, so you really have to ask whether a 64-bit server is the answer or is it just another layer being added to the problem?
With 18 years of updates, upgrades, and reworks of multiple game mechanics, all done by multiple development teams, it isn’t hard to believe that SSG will never find the cause of the extreme lag in DDO. The fresh start environment hasn’t seemed to help, begging the question of whether or not the problem is simply an inefficient game engine and poor game design that dates all the way back to its initial development.
If that is the case, it doesn’t matter how many bits you throw at the problem. The only way to fix a bad engine and 18 years of poor coding is to start over. Does SSG have the resources and time to take on a task like that? Are the players willing to wait five to ten years for a DDO 2.0? The answer to both questions is probably not.
Final Thoughts
Less than two weeks in, I’ve already concluded that 64-bit servers aren’t the holy grail we were looking for. Even if SSG is able to eke out some performance gains on the new server, who knows what will happen when they open the floodgates and let the free-to-play players in? And should SSG ever allow players to transfer in their old characters, there’s a good chance that there won’t be any improvements until they have enough time to upgrade more of the code to take advantage of the 64-bit environment.
