Exploring Eberron: Winds of change

Writing Exploring Eberron is always a bit of a challenge, because last year's free-to-play switch created a distinctly divided player base. On one hand, you've got the hardcore, longtime Dungeons and Dragons Online players. They've been around since well before F2P, are often DnD fans from way back, and have a thorough understanding of all the intricacies of the game. On the other hand, you have relatively new players who love the game just as much, but really only heard about the game and got involved within the past year.

This is not a bad thing, by the way. The DDO in-game community is easily one of the best I've ever come across. On any given day you'll see questions in the advice channel from players who installed the game about five minutes ago, and they are always answered in a friendly and helpful tone. It's a community that almost unfailingly welcomes new players with open arms.

The challenge comes in offering enough information that everyone can find something helpful or interesting. Veteran players don't need to be told why items in their inventory are different colors, but it's something that needs to be explained to a player who just downloaded the game last week and is trying to use a weapon with a red icon.

With that in mind, I decided to change the focus of this week's column -- and the ones to come -- a little bit. Follow along after the jump to find out more.

So much to say, so little time

I had a fantastic time and learned plenty in the developer tour earlier this week, but it made me think. Developer tours are all about new content: what's in the game that hasn't been there before? What's exciting? What are they bringing to the table? With this in mind, the vast majority of my time with the Turbine crew was spent visiting the newest adventure pack, the airship showroom, and a couple of active airships. We chatted a bit about some of the changes coming to the UI and game mechanics, but it was a brief summary at the end of the tour. This isn't any sort of failing or attempt to neglect information on the part of Turbine, it's just how things work in the time frame and format available.

Update 5 goes way beyond the new content, though. Skill changes and item changes are coming, we're already getting a look at update 6 (underwater combat!), and there's generally an overwhelming amount to discuss. Even if my tour had included a look at all of these things, space constraints would have forced me to end my fangirling at a reasonable point. Luckily, I have Exploring Eberron to fall back on, and can dig a little deeper each week.

Exploring Eberron has always been geared more toward the casual players, but with update 5 less than two weeks out and update 6 hot on its heels -- it's planned for roughly one month after the release of update 5 -- I want to widen the focus a bit. Exploring Eberron's main focus will remain on the players who are still learning, but I'll be devoting some space to some of the more in-depth things as well.

The intent here is to provide a resource for the community, so I want to hear what you're interested in discussing. Hit the comment button at the end, and don't be shy -- what's important to you in DDO?

Combat changes

One of the hottest topics surrounding the upcoming update is that of combat changes. For you number-crunchers, there is an official forum post explaining the reasoning behind one of these changes. The explanation is a bit more technical than usual, and the 3,600+ posts that follow this can be a little bit dizzying if you've not been following along. Opinions on the entire issue are heated and wildly varied, and experienced players all have something to say on the issue.

The -- extremely -- simple version is this: DPS lag is enough of an issue in high-level content that it affects gameplay, and Turbine wants to fix it. The solution involves what is essentially a nerf to two-weapon-fighting. Some view it as an unacceptable, overdone nerf; others view it as no big deal.

This is just one of many changes that will come with update 5. The release notes are current as of yesterday, and it's well worth your time to scroll down to the combat section and familiarize yourself with how things are going to change.

OnedAwesome

What about OnedAwesome? Don't worry, I haven't forgotten Massively's guild. We cruised through the Depths quests out of Hammersmith's Inn this week and followed up with the Archer Point and Gladewatch Outpost quests. Next week we're going to continue working through the free-to-play content with a visit to House Jorasco. We'll pick up Redwillow's Ruins from Jandul d'Jorasco slightly west of the Open Palm Inn, Mirra's Sleepless Nights from Mirra Parthilcar inside the Drowning Sorrows Tavern, and Dead Predators from Acolyte Hestair inside the Open Palm Inn.

As OnedAwesome grows, many members have taken to playing together outside of our regular Wednesday night group, and requested a site where they could plan events with a bit more organization. One member was kind enough to do some research, and the Massively DDO guild now has its very own website.

As always, it's never too late to jump in and join us in OnedAwesome. We're on the Cannith server, and meet every Wednesday at 9PM Eastern time. You can send a mail message to my character Rubialina, or catch me in-game for an invitation -- we'd love to have you on board. The guild is growing by leaps and bounds, and while the main player group is in the 5-7 level range, you'll find a fair amount of lower-level alts and a few higher-level characters who are always up for adventuring most days.

In the meantime, don't forget to let me know what you want to see covered in Exploring Eberron, and I'll see you in-game!