Neverwinter put a spell on Me

I am not going to lie, I have been playing Neverwinter more than DDO of late, but that is not to say that I like one game over the other.
I find that at least up to now, I get something different from each.

DDO makes it way easier to group with folks so it has more of a party and D&D feel that Neverwinter which could be labeled just another World of Warcraft clone by some. Yet to do so would be doing the game a great disservice as I feel that it does utilize some of the D&D lore to offer a good mmorpg experience, especially now that they have partnered with Wizards of the Coast during the Tyranny of Dragons event.

As far as DDO is concerned, I posted this query to the forums the other day:

When I made my warforged Barbarian, I didn't pay much attention to things like feats and skills or even paid attention to a guide like this one
 
I  like my character and has advanced to level 9 but I am not sure he has the optimal feats and skills needed for best results, I never fully researched the requirements and I feel like rolling a new character and starting all the way from level one, except I don't much feel like going through the early content and quests once more.

Is it really necessary to acquire all the recommended feats and skills and what if I don't have them? Should I stop playing my character and re-roll??? 

I got varied responses from the very attentive and kind community but I decided to re-roll so that I could make the build correctly and named my new character son of Doomar (since my original was Doomar a warforged Barbarian.)

I read that a warforged sorcerer was a good build for someone new to the game, well I am not exactly new but I will be with this new character and since I am not used to playing casters, it will be a good experience for me.

I also wanna personally apologize to the folks at Cryptic when I said that DDO completely pawns Neverwinter. Actually, it is like comparing apples to oranges since each game is different and each one brings some good things to the table.

The main problem I have right now with Neverwinter is I transported to what appears to be a high level zone and unless I group, there is no chance of me surviving it. DDO leveling is slower than most mmo games by design so I feel pretty good about my progress in that game.

My goal is to reach level 15 before the end of the summer which I think is very doable. I may also purchase some upgrades so I can explore the Forgotten Realms content as I have restricted myself so far to the Eberron setting.

I also tried out the D&D 5th edition starter set last week with my friends. It was a very slow session with the pregen characters and module found in the box, but mostly because we were all getting used to 5th edition rules and trying to figure out spells. When you have a caster in the party, things can get a bit confusing, but I hope to sort it all out before our next session. Players still had a blast killing goblins in the city of Neverwinter which is all you can ask for.Maybe I will post a vid of one or our sessions, or elaborate on the pregens and the pros and cons of the starter set adventure for those of you yet to try it.

An Exciting Time to be a Dungeons and Dragons Fan

It is an exciting time to be a Dungeons and Dragons fan at the moment. In addition to two D&D online games, the D&D Fifth edition rules set was rolled out a few weeks back by Wizards of the Coast. It can be downloaded at their official website. I spent the last couple of weeks looking at both the basic rules and at the premade campaign, Lost of Phandelver in preparation for a 5th edition campaign I will be running for friends.

I won't get into many of the new rules changes here as they are thoroughly analyzed all over the web by now. The highlights however include:

Changes in proficiency bonuses. This is a bit different a little than previous editions. There is now a proficiency bonus of +2 for a first level character. Your proficiency bonuses applies to many of the numbers you will be recording on your character.

There are also some changes to the xp system of leveling characters and the basic set allows you to level up to level 5.

Racial chages include no penalties for ability scores. A dwarf speed is not reduced by wearing heavy armor and elves now get dark vision. Dwarves are basically proficient with axes and hammers. Humans get a +1 to all ability scores if they are not using feats.

Backgrounds are also made available for characters. There are the Acolytes which will be popular with Clerics, soldiers and many more.

There is the usual starting wealth, weapons and equipment but there are also some minor changes to armor. For medium armor, bonus to AC is capped at 2. There are also no dexterity modifiers for those wearing heavy armor.

If you are looking for a good summary/rundown/review of the basic rules, I think that Questing Beast provided a concise and good one (scroll to top)

As for DDO, I have been doing house K quests in an effort to level my Barbarian Warforged. Ran the Forgotten Caves, Taming the Flames and Tear of Dhakaan, among others over the double xp weekend and had a blast. I also changed guilds to a new guild that provides me access to level 85 buffs.

Additionally, I played a few hours of Neverwinter on Sunday. This game is so different from DDO, still fun but more of a traditional mmorpg with a D&D skin. You can do questlines from quest hub to quest hub and occasionally do some PVP to break up the grind. Though I enjoyed the zones a character battles in with other players, I find it easier to group in DDO than in Neverwinter and the fact that the latter game has more of a unique feel (Neverwinter feels closer to Everquest 2 and other fantasy themed mmorpgs) keeps me logging on to Eberron more than Cryptic's game. I do like PVP though, so this feature may save Neverwinter from falling off my radar altogether.

Wizards of the Coast Release Core Rules for D&D 5th Edition

 

It has been almost exactly a year since I last updated my DDO blog. But now that I am playing more DDO and Neverwinter, this blog will serve as my inclusive online presence for D&D matters once again.

Speaking of D&D, DDO would not exist without its table top counterpart. Over the long holiday weekend Wizards of the Coast revealed their D&D core rules for 5^th edition, or what they are calling D&D Next. Going over the 110 page document, I quickly noticed that Tieflings and Dragonborn are left out of the playable character races.

Furthermore, Paladins, Rangers, Warlords and Warlocks are left out of the character classes. The new rules set is hitting the stores next week on July 15, but we get a little preview to get familiar with this rules set. I have noticed that this is simplified from 4^th edition quite a bit. I wondered why they feel a need to dumb down the game, it is supposed to be complex. My friend Chris feels the new model for games is that they need to be fast to learn the basics and difficult to master all of the nuances. Euro board games in particular have moved to this model. He feels that seems to be one of the models they are following and I guess that appears to be the case.

Some have observed that the basic rules feel like a throwback to the “red box” in the unified modifiers. The red box was an amazing product indoctrinating hundreds into this role playing game and making it easy for the masses to get into table top RPGs, we can only hope the new basic set is just as engrossing and just as groundbreaking but I am not holding my breath.

Meanwhile, I am left wondering what this means for 4^th edition. I just recently found enough free time to digest the Player’s Handbook and to try and get back into the game, surprise surprise, they go and change the rules on me! I heard a lot of people complain about 4^th edition back in 2008 the last time they switched editions on us. Back then the biggest gripe was that it felt too structured, that the role playing elements was heavily missing, replaced instead by a combat heavy, miniature driven game some dubbed table top World of Warcraft.

I can see how some of those perceptions came about but I don’t agree that it diminished the quality of the game or that it stamped out the fun factor. If my local hobby store was any indication, people were still having fun running 4^th edition campaigns, and isn’t that the ultimate goal of a game? For folks to have fun playing it? We can only hope D&D Next follows in this tradition.

 

Monsters! Monsters! Monsters!!!

Beholder from DDO 

Apologies for the lack of updates. Seems I have only been able to update after holiday or on holiday break, but as we move deeper into summer I hope to get a chance to play more. My dwarf paladin joined a guild last night!!

Lately I have been reminiscing about my youth as I dusted off my old 1st edition D&D books from the garage, it brought back a lot of old memories, some of these memories are the reason I play D&D video games today, and fantasy themed games and mmos like World of Warcraft and Dark Age of Camelot.

I can vividly recall sitting in the front yard of my parent's house as a boy, as I attempted to DM adventures for my brother, cousin and junior high school buddies, later carrying the hobby into my high school years, even though it was mostly a secretive activity back then. The jocks and popular kids would have branded you a nerd or geek and never spoken to you had they realized you were a DM, running strange adventures, much the same way geeks had been ridiculed these days, until the mass media started cashing in on the geek lifestyle through super hero movies and other ways to make money off the masses.

Well, one thing I think is lacking in DDO and which would make the game more fun is to incorporate some of the old classic D&D monsters into the game. I can't speak about later editions of D&D as I never really played them, but at least from the classic first edition Monster Manual and from Monster Manual II, even though I have encountered some of these monsters and foes in the game, like kobolds, Bugbears and even the epic beholder, a lot more from these classic pages penned by Gary Gygax should be incorporated into the flavor of the game in my opinion.

Of course, some might argue that the initial problem was that DDO is set in Stormreach, therefore precluding a wide range of baddies from popping in,simply due to the nature of the setting. Fair enough, but now that DDO is being expanded into the Forgotten Realms and beyond with the new expansions, there is ample opportunities to populate the game with some more of these classic creatures.

The developers did incorporate a bestiary in game a while back, which I thought was a magnificent addition to the game. In one handy resource, a player can look at the creature he has encountered in game thus far, and see how many of these kinds of creatures he has slaughtered by himself or with a party. DDO wiki also has this list of creatures currently found in the game. I can tell you that I have already taken down a great number of zombies myself through my DDO travels in Stormreach. What was significantly satisfying playing those old D&D modules back in the day, was each brought its own flavor and style to the given campaign being run. For example, "The Lost City" adventure module by Tom Moldvay introduced banshees, Cynidiceans and Werefoxes, which was not uncommon given the theme of the module. DDO needs to be able to renew itself and adding classic D&D monsters into the mix will give new players an introduction to these creatures and will make long time players such as myself feel nostalgic therefore more attached to the game. It's a win, win!!

Shadowfell Conspiracy Causes Dissent Among Some DDO Vets

Well just as I was getting ready to fully jump back on DDO this summer, there appears to be a minor controversy brewing regarding the new expansion The Shadowfell Conspiracy, essentially the game's second expansion (following the Menace of the Underdark) and specifically having to do with Turbine's new DDO iconic characters.

From the Turbine Developer Diaries, here come the DDO iconic heroes!

What the heck is an iconic character you say? Thanks to Youtuber Pr8Dator1 we have a video detailing the new Bladeforged and Owlbear permanent hireling. (See embedded video footage) but according to DDO's developer diaries, there will be four iconic heroes: The Bladeforged, Morninglord, Purple Dragon Knights and Shadar-Kai. These start at 1evel 15 and have their own race and game restrictions. (True Reincarnation etc.) More of their stats and detailed info can be found here, but what I find most interesting is the uproar their introduction has caused in some of the game forums, especially among veterans, with at least one polarized enough to call it quits, and dramatically calling it "the death of DDO"

Essentially this is a seven year old game and in order to compete with the barrage of game options and mmorpgs out there, including that other D&D mmorpg, Turbine is upping the ante on their Forgotten Realms adventures, while re-imagining their game with new character creations, new builds and a host of other features.

Source VG 24/7 had the scoop on all the new features to the game's third expansion due to launch on Aug. 19:

• Two New Forgotten Realms Adventure Packs — Featuring new wilderness areas with new D&D monsters, dangerous encounters and challenging dungeons.
• Wheloon: Horrors from the Shadowfell pour into the prison city where Netherese agents conspire to forge an army out of the Kingdom’s enemies. Players will masquerade as a traitor to infiltrate the Prison City to out the agents, and fight loads of monster.
• Stormhorns: Deep in the Stormhorn Mountains, the Netherese Empire is preparing a secret weapon to use against the Kingdom of Cormyr. Players will need to make it through the griffon laden territory and deal with harpy ambushes along with giants and other creatures.
• Iconic Heroes: New prestige characters that start in Forgotten Realms at level 15 and feature unique looks and skills. Each of these classic D&D characters are a paragon of their race and class and feature custom gear, appearance options and new abilities.
• Level 28: Player will gain new epic feats and spells through three new Epic levels of advancement.

Again, I am more concerned with the community reaction, and not all of it is good. Turbine asked players to discuss and give feedback on the iconic discussion thread of their forums back in October last year, but players were confused about what the discussion should entail as no concrete details about the expansion had been given at the time. "If we are not able to TR, why should we even be interested in them" chimed in one player. Blogger Gamer Geoff in his blog, posted that he thought prebuilt characters sounded like it was "dumbed down" from the existing system and had this to say: "I personally think that this is the wrong direction for the game, I truly believe it has survived and thrived precisely because it isn’t simple and streamlined. There are lots of other MMOs out there that are simple and streamlined but only one clunky, complex, Dungeons & Dragons-based DDO."

Well said, I had the same reaction when I first heard about these characters, but I am willing to give the devs the benefit of the doubt, because as I mentioned already, with so much competition and choice, Turbine has to try to keep their game fresh. Another player said it was sad that they were trying to get away from their campaign setting to focus players into the Forgotten Realms. You would not expect an mmorpg to start you off in Eberron for example, and then shuttle you off to say Azeroth.

What do the rest of you think? Are iconic heroes a mistake on Turbine's part or a good thing for DDO? 

House P adventures for the not so faint of heart

Bogwater Tavern in House P. A lonely place until you have found someone to run hard and elite with you 

Wow has it really been 3 months since my last update? Well since my first year in grad school officially came to an end earlier this week, if my internship does not take too much time away, I may be able to make more progress with my warforged this summer and advance in the ranks of DDO and also update this blog once more with more frequency.

To this end I logged on earlier this evening, determined to pick up some XP and concurrently completing some of the House P quests that I have been wishing to run. I should preface this by saying that I had been trying to log on for days but Turbine's launcher was highly unresponsive, but I attributed this to the fact that the game may have been updating itself in anticipation of the Shadowfell Conspiracy.

So I ran: Rest for the Restless and Purge the Heretics, the latter initially in hard since we had no elite opener and then in elite once we finally found an opener and a trapper. Best part, after two hours of bashing skeletons and running through these House P quests, I found out that my new PUG friend actually belongs to a static along with some Canadians on the Sarlona Server. So this blog may focus on whatever toon I roll on that server from now on, while still occasionally trying to get Doomar (my current main) to level 20.  Wondering if I should bother dual speccing for extra healing? At the very least I will try to continue to improve my WF on Orien, my current server until I get him ready for some prime level capped action.

Playing again on Tuesday, so stay tuned for updates from my new static group adventures, and a lot more.

 

Doomar the Uberstrong WF and his new PUG buddy about to take on the perils of the dungeon.

The eternal question: Sandbox vs. themepark

Lieutenant Morkag-Khor

First, my apologies for not posting sooner, grad school has eaten a large chunk of my playing time. I hope to blog more steadily now and into summertime. Second, I have been following the debate over what elements should be incorporated into the upcoming mmorpg Camelot Unchained by famed DAoC developer Mark Jacobs. In fact, the discussions over whether it's wise that it feature only RvR (3 faction pvp like in DAoC) and gloss over PvE elements has also sparked the old debate of themepark vs. sandbox mmos.

My inbox has been flooded of late from posts and bloggers who have weighed in on the issue, but that's one of the things that I love about playing ddo, Turbine has taken care of making the gameplay radically different than most mmos, but not too different that it won't satisfy a fantasy action junkie like myself. What makes DDO unique in the sandbox vs. themepark debate is that it doesn't neatly fit into any one category.

Since DDO is mostly composed of instanced dungeons with wilderness areas and no significant pvp to speak of, one would be tempted to say that it's mostly a themepark, you do follow a linear pre-designed pattern, i.e. starting off in the Korthos island tutorial and early level content before graduating to Stormreach Harbor. However, DDO has some sandbox elements. For example, you don't have to do quests in order, per se, although I suppose you do if  you want to progress onto capping a character, but seeing as you have relatively more freedom to quest in Stormreach either solo, with a party, or engage in other activities such as collecting, etc, DDO feels less like a linear quest hub to quest hub than World of Warcraft to me.

Last night I decided to finish some of the quests I had not yet completed in both the Harbor and House P. After unsuccessfully going after Lieutenant Morkag-Khor and party wiping in elite in the tear of Dhakaan quest, (we came ever so close) I managed to do a few more quests, including going back to the Harbor to run "Kobolds assault" in elite. Had a blast earning a few more ranks on my warforged Barbarian, which I seem to prefer playing over the spellcaster, mostly because I am still not as adept at wizard game mechanics in ddo. What can I say? I like to wallop stuff in melee.

So say what you will about DDO, but I don't think that I can firmly place it anywhere in the Sandbox-themepark continiuum with absolute certaintity, but I don't think that is at all a bad thing. 

Our party gathers at the Harbor after a long quest chain