Anyone playing this? Saw Turbine made it free to play, figured I'd drop in and try it out, either that or Lord of the Rings Online.

Play it by clicking this, so I get referral credit please!

http://my.ddo.com/referral/Midknight00711

 

Yeah I'm going to download it, although I've never played before.

 

I gave DDO another shot a few months ago. It's a pretty good game if you have some guys to level up with. The whole game is very much based around grouping up and heading into a dungeon and while solo play is much more supported than it used to be, trying to play on your own is a great way to hate the game.

LotRO is by far the better game, but that doesn't go free for another three weeks (September 10th). That'll absolutely be worth playing once all the inevitable post-patch server instability bullshit dies down.


And a word of advice for anyone who hasn't played this kind of microtransaction-based game before - make sure you can keep a very tight grip on your spending habits. It's far too easy to get carried away one night and spend a ridiculous amount of money buying shit you don't need from the in game store.

 

Is this the Eberon version you're talking about? Or original D&D online? If it's the original, I'm interested in playing it. Where can I download it? I tried Eberon but I don't like it.

 

So I'm looking at this and it looks like a slightly more complicated and slightly less plot driven Neverwinter Nights, is that about right?

 

I'm going to assume so, seeing as NWN really is just a different form of it. Like Baldur's Gate. I'm looking for the download link to the original D&D and not Eberon.

 

Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach? That was taken offline, refitted and then put back online as Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited. They're essentially the same game but with different payment models. Now that Codemasters have shut their European servers down, I'm pretty sure you won't be able to play Stormreach anymore.

Pretty much that. I've heard people compare it to Guild Wars too, though I don't know if that was about the gameplay or just because most of the action takes place in private instances for you and your party.

 

So is D&D:Eberon the only playable version out there? I'd like to play something else. Eberon I just don't like.

 

Whats the difference between Eberon and Stormreach? And yeah the Free one is Eberon Unlimited.

 

Oh. Nevermind then. Eberon I think sucks. It doesn't catch my interest.

 

I was a big Lord of the Rings Online player, joined in beta, played at launch and pretty much did the whole top end 'hardcore' MMO Raid style play. Played it for 2+ years nonstop, from launch through to the Moria expansion and then to the Dol Guldur expansion.

I very rarely play it nowdays (and I got a new computer so I need to reinstall + download like 10gb on patches, and on Australian capped internet? No thanks) but I'll probably hop in when the newest expansion is released, which should be shortly.

I really liked LOTRO, it can be pretty generic MMO fare at times but the Lord of the Rings story is THE high fantasy story to have as your setting, which can do a lot to relieve the a lot of the generic MMOness. If you're big on your Lord of the Rings lore, your inner nerd will sometimes just bask in running around the Lone Lands and climbing Weathertop. I played on Gladden, which I always felt was a pretty good server in terms of number of players.

If you have more questions about LOTRO feel free to ask away in thread (though that may be a derailment) or PM me.

 

The games?

As far as actual settings... Eberron, as far as D&D goes, I think is more of a steampunk/magicpunk kind of thing... Like Medieval settings with trains, mechanical golem shit with Magic...

I don't think they made any actual changes to the settings in the game... D:

 

Eberron is steampunk, set in the swashbuckler age as opposed to the Darkening of the Middle Ages. It doesn't have guns (Solomon Kane - Eberron 1-0) but it has intelligent constructs, high magic, lots of dungeons and (obviously) dungeon crawling. However, that's all there is to it unless you Pay/Donate/Reach into your wallet in order to become better than the player that refuses to play. That's the worst part of it, as well as its repetition.

Dungeon crawl, dungeon crawl, dungeon crawl. Huzzah I unlocked the Drow race. Crawl crawl crawl... Monk... Crawl crawl... I still suggest you see it for yourself, but these are the main problems with the game.

Also, you can play solo or with friends as far as dungeons are concerned (for each quest there's an 'instance', if you know what I mean), which somewhat offsets the monotony.

 

Gonna give it a try then until KOTOR comes out.

 

I've looked at this game a few times, but the heavy emphasis on teams put me off because I wasn't sure how easy it would be to get a bunch of other people together. If some DLPers were going to pick this up and start playing -possibly around the same time, and on the same server- i'd be interested in playing with some intelligent gamers.

That being said, i'm not as familiar with the DnD combat system, or universe in general as i'd like. How sharp is the learning curve? Does the healer-tank-dps trifecta exist?

 

I gave it a try.

I got bored trying to farm points for Drow.

Yeah, the game IS free... But you have to grind for hours upon hours with several characters on several servers to unlock the content. Simply put, if you wanna go to 20, you'll be forced to grind points on several characters. That can get very boring, fast.

Still, the combat is refreshingly unique and interactive, but even it can be boring. You have to be conservative with your magic X_X. Character planning is almost as deep and involved as D&D tabletop. Majority of the mid-game quests are party quests, and trying to find a party can sometimes be a bit iffy. Still, the servers are blooming right now with the massive influx of f2p noobs.

Likewise, I could start again, possibly, if DLP gave it a whirl.

Learning curve isn's very steep. As usual, easy basics, but very hard to master. When you click your mouse, you either swing your weapon, or start casting your spell. You have to manually target, like in FPS games, and your swing has to connect. You can, and should, move around to dodge attacks and such. Important thing here is to learn how various monster AIs behave, and the easiest way to beat them. The hard part of the game is designing your character, which is rather complicated with stat and skill distribution. Still, you can just check the forum stickies and do a basic, but relatively powerful, cookie-cutter build.


Oh, and never play the EU version - it's dying out p2p model, and USA is f2p. A little more lag is worth it.

 

I remember now why I hate fucking D&D based games. The game so far seems okay, although the interface leaves much to be desired. But I fucking hate the whole 1d8 +1 saving roll of 3 bullshit. It's confusing as shit, and too much to think about.

I want to find shiny things and kill cool looking stuff, not run a spreadsheet to game. Will continue playing, so far it looks alright, but the sheer numbers is staggering. I also really, really don't appreciate how much stuff they make you pay for, it's seriously insane.

 

I started playing this a while ago(the free version). Fairly decent, I like the levels on instances. However, it is really hard to play because the servers are USA. Want to cast burning hands? Too bad they are actually over there!(either that or I just suck).

 

Kinda torn with my opinion of it. I'm a dwarf 1cleric/1fighter and I'm rocking pretty much everything with my summoned dog and a fighter hireling when I need him. I've run almost all the start quests on elite, and the only one to really give me trouble is the collaborator in the start, due to how much shit they throw at you.

I get cleric are strong soloers, but I don't really see how making the starting levels harder by playing another class would be more interesting. The wilderness area seems too small, and sectioned off by large walls to make it appear like it's larger. Too many rest areas as well. Some of the dungeons are well layed out, with puzzles, and decent lore, but I havent come across one yet that I'd actually want to bother to group on. Not getting exp in real time rather pisses me off as well. If I kill something I want to see the little bar fill up. It's a progress type thing.

Is there ever an open world type major area? In their first game, Asheron's Call, Turbine made a zone less (except for dungeons) world, where you could spend 2 days running North to South or East to West across the map, it was that fucking huge.

The current lvl cap is 4, without buying or finding sigils to go further, but they're lifting that restriction soon. I found a few guides on their f2p forums that explain how to unlock a ton of shit without paying for anything, but it's a bit of grinding.

 

Found a referral option, click through to make your account

http://my.ddo.com/referral/Midknight00711

And give me a hand with some free points from you playing the game plz =P