This pretty much sums up DDO...

Well, until the first dragon was put in.

[brohawk]

the main thing I didn't like about DDO was you had to group to do anything. If it was more solo friendly, I probably would still play it.

[Imfir]

Originally Posted by brohawk

the main thing I didn't like about DDO was you had to group to do anything. If it was more solo friendly, I probably would still play it.

yeah unfortunaly D&D could never be played solo, and they wanted the Online version to be as close as the pen & Paper game, and that happens to be, you need more then one.
I never played DDO because they were using a different version then what I was familiar with, and I found I was but a few on the Official forums that had played the game since when there was only version1 available

I like to team/party . but only with the same players, and when they are not on, I want to play still, if I can not solo in a game, then I end up finding another game to play.

[brohawk]

it actually is a good game at least from the standpoint of how the dungeons are laid out and the combat, but yeah, no solo features worth mentioning really. They have a few at the lower levels, but that is the extent of it and even then they aren't much to speak of.

I tend to solo alot actually, but DDO was a very good game if you had regular players you could group with.

[Ashin]

It was the lack of solo-ability that killed it for me as well. I like to group sometimes but then again sometimes I like to just go out and do a few quests/missions/whatnots alone and enjoy the story if there is any.
DDO killed the solo part and when people I didn't now were not on to group with, it was a very boring game.

[Imfir]

DDO, may been better as a online game, not played on a MMO.

it is played on a server, that the whole wide world can play on ??
Turbine dumping AC2 and just strictly going with DDO in it's place I think was not a good move. I do not doubt it is a great game to play, even if it was based on a version I am unfamiliar with, it is still D&D . . kudos for Turbines Effort to try and make the Granddaddy of RPG games into a MMO, but it just not possible to get the amount of players to play at the same time. But as a online game where, you host the server, it . . I believe would have worked better, actually either way, but it would have been less $$ coming from Turbine to maintain servers.
only way I think that MMO Type games work, that do not have solo playing content are the games that are strictly PvP, and your either on one side or the other.
As I said this was a game i had planed and was looking forward to playing, but did not, questions were asked about solo-ablity in the game, and Turbine said . ."NO"
my whole argument about have solo type activity, was "what about those moments, there is no one available to team up with" , Not that I wanted to solo the whole game, but everyone could not see that, they only saw, that the game should not be played solo.
Been a while, but I think they said, you can solo, but you'll just die, or something to that effect.

[brohawk]

the stuck with the canon of D&D being a group game, which isn't entirely true, you can solo in D&D and any other p&p RPG if you want to, and I did, but that was their decision. In an interview recently with Bioware on the upcoming TOR, they stated that 40% of MMO players solo, so they are creating a lot of solo content.
when I did play DDO initially, there were plenty of people, though I don't like PUGs much, I did get to the cap (lvl 12) and had a lot of fun, but Turbine started swinging the nerf bat hard and alot, which tee'd off a lot of people and then it was tough getting groups, so I got another account, but that isn't a whole lot of fun either and only useful for holding open an instance or getting some heals since you can only rest at certain locations within a dungeon.
if they had solo content, I would still be there. I think their dungeons are the best, combat was very involved, and the overall gameplay was fun. too bad we couldn't get a regular group together, but being spread out all over doesn't help.

[mindspat]

Originally Posted by Imfir

yeah unfortunaly D&D could never be played solo, and they wanted the Online version to be as close as the pen & Paper game, and that happens to be, you need more then one.
I never played DDO because they were using a different version then what I was familiar with, and I found I was but a few on the Official forums that had played the game since when there was only version1 available

I like to team/party . but only with the same players, and when they are not on, I want to play still, if I can not solo in a game, then I end up finding another game to play.

Turbine has added Hirelings (ie, hencemen) and there are plenty of areas that you can solo the content as intended. A lot of the lower level quests (below lvl 6) have an option for "Solo" for those who don't have the time to find a group. The outdoor adventure areas (11 or more total) can easily be solo'd and have good replayability through loot, exp and collectible rewards. The higher level area's collectible rewards system can be cashed in for some pretty nice stuff. It's possible to spend anywhere from an hour to 3 exploring, killing and locating rare spawning named mobs that give treasure chests once they've been defeated.

I am only familar with the old school AD&D which DDO is anything but. It's only loosely based on 3.5 rules (what ever that means) and most of the changes are game play related then pnp oriented. What I like about DDO more then anything else is the incredible amount of diversity and uniqueness a player can build a character. For instance: My Sorcerer has Feats for Profecientcy of Light Armor and Weapon Finness, uses a shield and is based around heavy nuking while including decent ToHit scores so its melee attacks apply debuffs. Quite unique, has a trade off, and you'll be hardpressed to find another MMO that gives this type of sandbox approach to character development.

Currently, I play a lvl 16 Sorcerer in the game (server: ghallanda; mindspat) and solo ALL of the outdoor areas. The Vale is a level 14-16 adventure zone with up to 16 randomly spawned bosses which tend to drop some pretty good loot. The newer outdoor areas (5 were added in module 8.) are mostly smaller, only have up to 3 chests, but are visually awesome while remaining to be a little challenging.

Module 9 is currently in Q&A and will increase the level cap to 20, add presitge classes (A thing from 3.5, 4.0 rules, I suppose) and include many modifications geared directly towards you types who like to run content solo or not be dependant on finding a party. There's supposed to be other adjustments made that faciliate "short man" groups and soloists.

There's also a new player experiance that's been released in Module 8, Korthos Island, which has around 6-7 quests and an outdoor adventure zone. If you like soloing and thought DDO had some good possibilities then the chances are it's improved upon them and you might like it more then before.

Feel free to hit me up if you have any questions and don't hesitate to add me to your friends list if you also play on Ghallanda.

p.s. I quit DDO 1 month after it launched. The content was limited, the mechanics did not seem fun and basically sucked. Coming back a year later gave me an entirely different feeling and the improvements made since makes it an unsung hero in terms dynamics and directed content.

[brohawk]

interesting, hmmm.... I might give it a go as I really did like it. Not sure what server I was on though. Do we have a ToG prescence at all or are you a lone wolf like I was...

I do agree the character development is pretty customized, and if you don't min/max you can come up with some really nice builds. Some even take 1 to 4 levels of cleric just for heals and wands. I liked my 2 ranger/10 fighter, but after level 12 the game lost a lot of players and so I left soon after the crowd dispersed.

[tinman_au]

Turbine didn't dump AC2, Microsoft did. MS sold the rights to AC1 back to Turbine, but I'm not sure if they ever did for AC2.

DDO is a "Sunday night" game where you and your D&D mates log on, drink a few beers and do a dungeon crawl together (effectively a PnP substitute). It shouldn't really be called a MMO as that's slightly misleading to what people nowadays think of as an MMO.

If you want a game where you have a group of mates that like getting together for a "session", DDO is great.