Zed
Rogue Chimp
Okies, people are problably thinking what will make this stand out from other MMO's - I could point you to the Dev post summary but theres a lot there and its simpler to give you an overview of the game.
1. What is DDO?
Basically as close a replication of the Dungeons and Dragons Pen and Paper 3.5 rules set that you can get for an MMO.
2. Is this good?
Yes, and no. No - because many pnp players will have a preconcieved notion of how the game should work. Thats easily seen if you spend time reading the forums especially since the threads on Spell points recently mentioned.
Yes - for the first time you clearly can see how the game might work, the classes - the class progressions and the spells, skills and feats you can get as you progress. Effectively if you look over www.d20srd.org you pretty much have the grasp of how most of DDO will work.
3. Okay so its DnD. What world will it be set on?
Its set on Wizards new setting Eberron. Specifically on the Continent of Xen'drik. The home town of all players will be Stormreach.
4. Stormreach - everyone?
Correct. Stormreach has 7 wards. What theses are or how they work has yet to be released. However we know that inns will be important for healing when outside of an instance.
5. Instance? Like in WoW?
Yes essentially. ALL questing space is instanced. There are two types of instance: Private quest instances where you and your group of 5 elf fiddlers can go and fiddle in private. Or there is an area called a Hazard Zone. These have been described as Raid zones for ALL Levels where all players (grouped or not) share a common set of objectives.
But its important to note there is no overland travelling. No running to Glendon Wood and getting Pwned by an Uber monster ;0)
6. Right, you mentioned inns and healing....so I dont regenerate?
No. Or so it seems. We know in instances you do not regain hps over time, so no point sitting on your fat arse thinking itll go back up. Instead you have a rest point in the private instances (not known if they exist in hazard zones) These rest points are one shot use for the part and instantly regenerate your Health and Spell points.
7. Spell points? Er is that Mana?
Yes. Essentially. The Pnp Magic system would pretty much piss people off especially at the early levels when a typical wizard might have 2 spells she can cast between rest points. Since you typically have 12 - 20 encoutners per rest point that leads to some boring game play for a mage. So spell points are being used. The basis of which is from the 3.5 book : Unearthed Arcana. However recent posts have indicated the number is at least X10.
8. 12- 20 encounters? OMFG!!
If you play pnp and your dm gives you 12 - 20 encounters between rests you are going to get fuxxored. However 4 encounters / Rest / rinse, repeat would be dull in an MMO environment so they increased the number of encounters.
However - an encounter isnt just a hack and slash affair. It could be a puzzle, a trap, or you might be able to sneak past the sleepy creatures and avoid the encounter totally. Each of these methods - even avoiding encounters totally would grant experience when the objective is completed.
9. Wait a minute: Experience for objectives? I get Exp for killing monsters right?
No. Experence is awarded purely for the completion of an objective, quest, sub quest. This allows for creativity in ways of getting past something, as well as having actual traps that will be more than just silly exploding chests - though I bet they'll be in - afterall something has to guard the treasure.
10. Yay Phat Lee7
Only from Chests. So far the understanding is treasure doesnt drop from monsters but is found in chests. However this is currently under debate on the forums at the time of this post. No Dev has confirmed either way (yes or no to corpse loot). Each player will get a pull from the chests when found. This will stop Dart knicking all the crap and running off.
11 Right. So what race can I be?
Elf, human, halfling, warforged, Dwarf.
12. Warforged?
Aye. Think of it as a cylon ;-) its a sentient construct. Pretty nifty but its major drawback is no natural healing and only half healing from healing spells apart from the new arcane cure construct line of spells.
13. Okay Robbie the Robot. So what class can I be?
Fighter, Paladin, Cleric, Bard, Ranger, Barbarian, Wizard, Sorceror, Rogue. Only monk and druid will not be available at release. Prestige classes will also not be in at release.
14. Prestige classes - what are they?
Additional classes that you can take levels in (assuming you qualify) to improve your character. For instance the Shadow dancer is a prestige class dealing with darkness and hiding. If it where available you could be a Rogue lvl 6 and take 10 levels in shadow dancer to be a Rogue6/shadow dancer 16 and have 4 more levels to do with as you please.
15. Does that mean I can multi Class?
Yes. Think of FFXXXXIIIIII where you can have 1.5 classes in effect at once. This allows for a number of classes to run over time each giving full effects of the class to the level you have it. For instance if your 10th level you have 10 character levels you can split amongst a number of classes. So you could be a lv l5 rogue and a lvl 5 Wizard. Or a fighter4/bard3/Ranger3 or a Barbarian2/fighter2/Cleric2/Sorceror2/Rogue2 etc. The limit of multiclassing has yet to be announced but it will be hard coded. Devs have mentions 3 and 5.
16. Does the class progressions match Dnd then?
Yes, as much as possible. Paladins suffer badly - we know they wont have a mount, nor will they have Detect evil. There is an indication as well that Sorcerors cannot swap out 2 spells every even level. Some class abilities will be tweaked to accomadate a shift to real time.
17. Feats as well?
Yes. Some feats will not be in the game, some will be changed. To date no firm list has been made. However the monster profiles give you some idea as do various dev comments on how things like Dodge, cleave, greater cleave are working.
18 complicated then to build a character?
Definate DnD experience helps as you will know the terms .. Character gain new feats every 3rd level from lvl 3, an attribute increase every 4 levels from 4 and a number of hitpoints each level as well as skill points. Skill points we assume will work exactly as DnD.
19. Ive heard a rumour that combat is twitch?
Absolutely. Somewhere betweeen the stand still and mash keys 1,2,3 until the monster is dead or you are and a FPS game where your running like mad. We kow that a weapon has to physically connect to initiate the to hit roll process. We know you can move out of the way of blows, block with shields as well. Dieing can no longer be blamed purely on the healer..
20 Uh hoh you said healer. Holy Trinty?
DnD classes are difficult to categorise. I honestly believe that a class might happen in the first months of retail as pure MMO players join expecting the holy trinity. Whilst the Cleric is the healer, a well built cleric can tank as well or better than a fighter. A wizard could with the right equipment and spells available tank as well. You can multiclass which also breaks the mould. (is a figher/wizard a nuker or a tank?) But the Sorceror will excell as either a nuker or Crowd control due to its exessive spell points....
....
There you have it - a brief Zed over view of DDO. Ill add more or answer questions as you post them
1. What is DDO?
Basically as close a replication of the Dungeons and Dragons Pen and Paper 3.5 rules set that you can get for an MMO.
2. Is this good?
Yes, and no. No - because many pnp players will have a preconcieved notion of how the game should work. Thats easily seen if you spend time reading the forums especially since the threads on Spell points recently mentioned.
Yes - for the first time you clearly can see how the game might work, the classes - the class progressions and the spells, skills and feats you can get as you progress. Effectively if you look over www.d20srd.org you pretty much have the grasp of how most of DDO will work.
3. Okay so its DnD. What world will it be set on?
Its set on Wizards new setting Eberron. Specifically on the Continent of Xen'drik. The home town of all players will be Stormreach.
4. Stormreach - everyone?
Correct. Stormreach has 7 wards. What theses are or how they work has yet to be released. However we know that inns will be important for healing when outside of an instance.
5. Instance? Like in WoW?
Yes essentially. ALL questing space is instanced. There are two types of instance: Private quest instances where you and your group of 5 elf fiddlers can go and fiddle in private. Or there is an area called a Hazard Zone. These have been described as Raid zones for ALL Levels where all players (grouped or not) share a common set of objectives.
But its important to note there is no overland travelling. No running to Glendon Wood and getting Pwned by an Uber monster ;0)
6. Right, you mentioned inns and healing....so I dont regenerate?
No. Or so it seems. We know in instances you do not regain hps over time, so no point sitting on your fat arse thinking itll go back up. Instead you have a rest point in the private instances (not known if they exist in hazard zones) These rest points are one shot use for the part and instantly regenerate your Health and Spell points.
7. Spell points? Er is that Mana?
Yes. Essentially. The Pnp Magic system would pretty much piss people off especially at the early levels when a typical wizard might have 2 spells she can cast between rest points. Since you typically have 12 - 20 encoutners per rest point that leads to some boring game play for a mage. So spell points are being used. The basis of which is from the 3.5 book : Unearthed Arcana. However recent posts have indicated the number is at least X10.
8. 12- 20 encounters? OMFG!!
If you play pnp and your dm gives you 12 - 20 encounters between rests you are going to get fuxxored. However 4 encounters / Rest / rinse, repeat would be dull in an MMO environment so they increased the number of encounters.
However - an encounter isnt just a hack and slash affair. It could be a puzzle, a trap, or you might be able to sneak past the sleepy creatures and avoid the encounter totally. Each of these methods - even avoiding encounters totally would grant experience when the objective is completed.
9. Wait a minute: Experience for objectives? I get Exp for killing monsters right?
No. Experence is awarded purely for the completion of an objective, quest, sub quest. This allows for creativity in ways of getting past something, as well as having actual traps that will be more than just silly exploding chests - though I bet they'll be in - afterall something has to guard the treasure.
10. Yay Phat Lee7
Only from Chests. So far the understanding is treasure doesnt drop from monsters but is found in chests. However this is currently under debate on the forums at the time of this post. No Dev has confirmed either way (yes or no to corpse loot). Each player will get a pull from the chests when found. This will stop Dart knicking all the crap and running off.
11 Right. So what race can I be?
Elf, human, halfling, warforged, Dwarf.
12. Warforged?
Aye. Think of it as a cylon ;-) its a sentient construct. Pretty nifty but its major drawback is no natural healing and only half healing from healing spells apart from the new arcane cure construct line of spells.
13. Okay Robbie the Robot. So what class can I be?
Fighter, Paladin, Cleric, Bard, Ranger, Barbarian, Wizard, Sorceror, Rogue. Only monk and druid will not be available at release. Prestige classes will also not be in at release.
14. Prestige classes - what are they?
Additional classes that you can take levels in (assuming you qualify) to improve your character. For instance the Shadow dancer is a prestige class dealing with darkness and hiding. If it where available you could be a Rogue lvl 6 and take 10 levels in shadow dancer to be a Rogue6/shadow dancer 16 and have 4 more levels to do with as you please.
15. Does that mean I can multi Class?
Yes. Think of FFXXXXIIIIII where you can have 1.5 classes in effect at once. This allows for a number of classes to run over time each giving full effects of the class to the level you have it. For instance if your 10th level you have 10 character levels you can split amongst a number of classes. So you could be a lv l5 rogue and a lvl 5 Wizard. Or a fighter4/bard3/Ranger3 or a Barbarian2/fighter2/Cleric2/Sorceror2/Rogue2 etc. The limit of multiclassing has yet to be announced but it will be hard coded. Devs have mentions 3 and 5.
16. Does the class progressions match Dnd then?
Yes, as much as possible. Paladins suffer badly - we know they wont have a mount, nor will they have Detect evil. There is an indication as well that Sorcerors cannot swap out 2 spells every even level. Some class abilities will be tweaked to accomadate a shift to real time.
17. Feats as well?
Yes. Some feats will not be in the game, some will be changed. To date no firm list has been made. However the monster profiles give you some idea as do various dev comments on how things like Dodge, cleave, greater cleave are working.
18 complicated then to build a character?
Definate DnD experience helps as you will know the terms .. Character gain new feats every 3rd level from lvl 3, an attribute increase every 4 levels from 4 and a number of hitpoints each level as well as skill points. Skill points we assume will work exactly as DnD.
19. Ive heard a rumour that combat is twitch?
Absolutely. Somewhere betweeen the stand still and mash keys 1,2,3 until the monster is dead or you are and a FPS game where your running like mad. We kow that a weapon has to physically connect to initiate the to hit roll process. We know you can move out of the way of blows, block with shields as well. Dieing can no longer be blamed purely on the healer..
20 Uh hoh you said healer. Holy Trinty?
DnD classes are difficult to categorise. I honestly believe that a class might happen in the first months of retail as pure MMO players join expecting the holy trinity. Whilst the Cleric is the healer, a well built cleric can tank as well or better than a fighter. A wizard could with the right equipment and spells available tank as well. You can multiclass which also breaks the mould. (is a figher/wizard a nuker or a tank?) But the Sorceror will excell as either a nuker or Crowd control due to its exessive spell points....
....
There you have it - a brief Zed over view of DDO. Ill add more or answer questions as you post them
