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Massively previews Dungeons & Dragons Online's Module 7
Dungeons & Dragons Online continues to hold their own in a quickly-growing MMO world. When DDO first showed up as a licensed MMO of the grandaddy of roleplaying games, their main goal was just to meet expectations -- so many people have been a fan of the pen-and-paper game for so long that putting it into MMO form was no easy task. But since release, the DDO team has made improvement after improvement, and added so much content to the game that it's moved beyond the license to stand on its own as a very singular kind of MMO.Massively got a chance to sit down with the team and take a look at the latest update, Module 7, due out on June 3, and currently in public testing. In addition to some extended playtime with the new Monk class, we got to see updates to the lower level Three Barrel Cove area, a shrine to recently passed-on D&D creator Gary Gygax, and the new raid area under the destroyed Marketplace tent, as well as a few new monsters and raid bosses that can be found down there.To start your tour through Module 7, just roll a d20 and click on through. To jump to any section of the walkthrough (including directly to our exclusive video preview, if that's what you're looking for), hit the links after the break.%Gallery-23551%
Learn how to be a Monk from the Dungeons and Dragons Online masters
Tomorrow on the Dungeons and Dragons Online test server (otherwise known as Risia) masters of the ancient martial arts will be forming sparring parties in the taverns of Stormreach. As a kickoff to "Monk Week" and a preview of the upcoming Module 7 release for the game, players can hop into test for an old fashioned kung-fu brawl or two. These locations will be playing host to the ancient Masters: The Wayward Lobster, located in the Harbor The Hammersmith Inn, located in the House Deneith ward The Open Palm, located in the House Jorasco ward The Phoenix Tavern, located in the Marketplace Interested players can head there to form parties and try out their new abilities against each other in head-to-head PvP action. Commemorative headgear will be handed out by the GM participants, who will also be forming sparring teams. Make sure to get there early to avoid the rush. Instructions for getting onto Risia are avaiable on the official DDO site.
Player vs. Everything: Game-hopping like a madman
Chances are good that if you read Massively, you either currently play or have played multiple MMOGs in your life. Whatever your reasons are, you're one of those players for whom "MMO" is a genre instead of a game. Not all players are like this. A lot of players get their start somewhere and then stick to that game for years, denouncing all other games as being incapable of being better than their chosen virtual playground. I used to be like that with EverQuest (can you tell?). For four years I played it pretty much exclusively, not even trying other games. But eventually, I got bored. Thus started my lengthy and storied history of game-hopping. Traveling from world to world like some sort of virtual nomad, fueled by my love of the online massively multiplayer game, I sampled much of what the genre had to offer. While I eventually found a new home and anchor in World of Warcraft, it only served as a nice place to return to every few months. I still ventured out into each new and exciting world that various companies served up to me. They all had things I liked and didn't like about them, and I honestly have yet to play a game that I couldn't find something good to say about. Every online game has its own cool quirks that are pretty neat from a design standpoint. This is why it's tough to identify an objectively "best" game -- they're all so different! I thought today I'd talk a little bit about what I've played over the years and how I ended up with the many and varied opinions on the MMOG genre that I have.
ION 08: Taking an MMO community from pre-launch to live, page 2
Onto everyones favorite topic: "Fuckwads!" They're usually absolutely negative, but can they be converted?Katie says, "You can convert them!" She's rather optimistic as her URU Live experiences have taught her that anyone genuinely interested in a game can be turned to the light side. Apparently back in Katie's URU Live days there were three guys who "vehemently" disagreed with each other, but did agree that the game was broken. These three guys had an incredibly impressive discussion in a thread, so Katie invited them all into a chat room one day. She told them how impressed she was with their ability to articulate their complaints and issues. So she asked, "Do you want to be moderators?" and they agreed! In the end these three players ended up being huge advocates of URU Live. Two of them even did some tech support for the game.Identifying what a person is trying to accomplish through their behavior is also key, says Victor. Some of these people are just trying to get some attention unfortunately. Time can be wasted on the wrong people, so being able to locate and invest in people who can be brought over from the completely negative is an important skill.Meghan brings up the ones who are hopeless. There was a poster in the Lord of the Rings Online forums (a LotRO Scholar) who took great pleasure in beating people with his intellectual epee. This person eventually had to be banned, but since he'd developed a niche group around him he did take some people with him. However, it truly was the best choice for the community.If they're not a true "fuckwad" who's just trying to beat people with their intellectual epee then give them an NDA and beta access, says Craig. Letting them see the game -- and try the game -- for itself can alleviate many fears.How do you balance the smaller fansites with the big PR-fueled media outlets?"It's hard." laments Katie. Meghan chimes in with agreement, "I love the grass roots." she continues, "they're the people supporting you for basically nothing." They do it purely out of love and passion. "You can't not appreciate that." admits a solemn Meghan. Still, the truth is that developers need marketing and PR. "Sometimes you want to give the smaller sites screenshots, but you just don't have them." It's a tough place to be.Something that Craig points out is that simply showing up letting small sites know that, "Hey, you guys rock!" is all the validation most of them need. It's easy and very important.Katie mentions that she filters the smaller sites through her by taking their questions and answering some of them to the best of her ability. Then, she takes these answers to the PR folks, who of course just have to improve them (can you see the high-level trickery here?) before giving them back to her. This is a great way to reward the smaller sites.Someone in the audience suggests that big sites have passionate writers who are hired for that very fact. "Big sites aren't all completely soulless." remarks Steve.A trick that Craig makes use of is quietly suggesting to smaller websites to pay attention to news feeds over the next hour or so. This way the big sites still get that sexy press release while the small sites are able to talk in-depth about it right away. Katie brings up the problem of there being so many smaller fansites that tipping even several can make others feel like there is preferential treatment going on. She did however invite a local fansite to attend office events, purely because said fansite was nearby.Steve asks about hanging the big carrot stick in front of players so they'll be good in order to earn a early beta slot. He asks if the panelists have been any good or bad uses.Immediately Craig chimes in with, "Such as using a website where you have to play for membership to download the beta?" A square upper-cut to the jaw if I've ever seen one. Another thing to keep in mind is that giving beta keys to smaller sites so they can give them away in contests is tricky. The contest has to be incredibly fair and nigh un-cheatable. Also, it's important not to announce the names of the winners in beta slot contests, because while that may sound cool it's only really announcing the 999,999 other people that they lost.Of course the risk of letting influential individuals from the community into the game early on is "unexpected results". There's a lot of excitement about a game between the moment it's announced and the day it launches. Many players can't touch or feel the game out for themselves, so there's a risk of players building up a game in the mind that's completely different from the actual title. Craig says that it's also important to clarify what's really going into a game with the game's lead. Otherwise you'll end up over-promising, which is of course very bad. "Yes you're going to have unicorns that poop Pegasuses!" exclaims Craig. He something else well-worth remembering, saying "Once you say it, that's it. It's for real now. Somebody from the company said it and that's it."Next is the topic of dropped features which have been previously promised.We don't talk about something publicly until we see it, says Meghan. Most of the panelists have learned this lesson in the most bitter of ways as all heads are nodding in agreement. "Don't talk about it until you see it." goes the mantra.Katie says to be honest and genuine, admit that you were told to say it and so you said it, then apologize. Craig chimes in to say clear communication is incredibly important in all things. "It almost never happens, but there are times when you are told to go and say something by someone in the company." Craig reveals a bit surprisingly, to me at least. "I don't say this very often," begins Victor, "Part of our job is to advocate for the customer." A community manager sometimes needs to remind upper management that their reputation with the community literally relies on what they say. Craig also recommends trying not to say something that was dropped will be in a patch or expansion unless a lead developer commits to it."I like getting paid, so at the end of the day I'm going to do my job." notes Craig. It's best not to lose your job over it. Hopefully -- if you're lucky -- the company you work for respects the role that a community manager plays in the success of the game.Meghan brings up the fact that it's a good idea to slowly break the news to the community when you do make the post. Make it an open discussion and lead up the breaking the bad news slowly."Hey, we cut that feature!" yells Craig while giving two thumbs up.In all seriousness, a community manager has to speak to the large audience first. If there happens to be small pocket of players that are complaining loudly it's ideal to attack it and find out their issues. However, the general audience does come first. Meghan adds, "Just making sure that players know you're working on it helps."Another fun story from Katie, this time about a player they recently let into the "Friends and Family Alpha" for Stargate Worlds. This player literally could not get into the game. They ended up getting in touch with a developer through an instant messenger and figured out what the issue was together. Bringing the right players intimately close with developers and making them a part of problem solving is a huge part of the overall success equation.How do you handle negative buzz coming out even with an NDA in place?Even with an NDA there will be a point when information gets leaked out. Victor suggests taking as much control of the situations as can be taken and to look for the right people to help you spread your message. Allowing people from the community to write up a personal blog post and then send it through PR to "OK" it is smart. Combat fire with fire, essentially.Katie laments that, "There is always a vocal minority.""SOE has a crack team of ninjas." Craig says in response to the NDA question."Your team is on crack?" queries Katie. "Yes." says Craig with a great deadpan voice. Or maybe he's not kidding. Who can tell with Grimwell?What we do know -- or Craig knows, at least -- is that when NDA discussions are leaking out into the Internet it's a sign that these people didn't have a provided place to vent these problems. Without any place else to go they simply post out on their own blogs or forums.How do you deal with a buildup of negative-focused communities?"Send them lots of cupcakes." Advises Craig, most wisely. (We finally know the secret to getting SOE to send us lots of cupcakes!) The truth is that these players -- or groups of players -- aren't really interested in your game, they're just interested in being a part of the hate club. It's fun for them to be hateful and spiteful. They simply don't want to do anything else but be angry.The panel finished with lots and lots of different topics being covered, all of which continued to show me why these people are so important to the successful launch of an MMORPG. Every one of these community managers seem incredibly good natured. That's saying a lot when you consider that this is a group of people who constantly sit between the ire of fans and the supposed apathy of a developer. It's a tough job, but somebody has to constantly remind us that we're all just passionate people who all love online games.%Gallery-23015%
ION 08: Taking an MMO community from pre-launch to live
Yesterday was the final day of ION 08, but that didn't mean there weren't some incredbly great panels to attend. "Taking Your Community From Pre-Launch to Live" was just one of these panels and to make things even better it included some previous speakers I quite enjoyed hearing from.This time around the moderator was Steve Danuser (38 Studios) while Craig Dalrymple (Sony Online Entertainment) took a panelist seat along with Katie Postma (Firesky), Meghan Rodberg (Turbine) and Victor Wachter (Cryptic Studios). It's important to point out that all the panelist are in fact community managers, as opposed to Steve Danuser who is the lead content designer and director of community development for his company. However, Danuser was previously a community manager for EverQuest II.%Gallery-23015%
ION 08: Focusing on the community manager
One of the strengths of MMOs are their communities. The stronger a community around an MMO is the more likely that game is to last into the foreseeable future. "Successfully Managing a Community Emergency" was a panel at ION 08 full of the people in charge of the communities we all take part in. Fittingly enough all of these men and women have their own friendships based on their shared experiences as well, which makes for a kind of interesting mirror effect. It was like watching the same group of people who post on these forums talk about them -- except with a bit more maturity than you'd expect. Though don't get me wrong, there was a lot of goofing about as they tackled different forum emergencies.The panel consisted of Katie Postma (Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment/Stargate Worlds), Victor Wachter (Cryptic Studios/Champions Online), Alan Crosby (Sony Online Entertainment), Meghan Rodberg (Turbine/Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online) and was moderated by Craig Dalrymple (Sony Online Entertainment/EverQuest, EverQuest 2, Free Realms).%Gallery-22796%
Turbine lands a $40 million investment
The website Private Equity HUB is reporting on a big development for Turbine, the makers of MMO titles Asheron's Call, Dungons and Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings Online. The company has acquired a new investment of $40 million from Granite Global Ventures and several other previous investment groups. According to the site, this makes a total of $90 million at Turbine's disposal. The company has only 'pulled down' $25 million of that money.peHUB goes on to speculate that the company will soon be announcing some major shift in business strategy. It offers up the possibility that one or more of its games will be making the jump to a console platform. Another possible future for the company: mobile gaming somehow tuned to the MMO marketplace. Whatever the news, Turbine's strategy is expected to be unveiled within the next two weeks.[Via Gamasutra]
Panel of MMO developers discuss the industry at Comic-Con
Over at New York Comic-Con 2008, Ten Ton Hammer assembled a group of respected MMO developers to answer questions about the future of the industry, and just to talk shop in general. The members of the panel were: Age of Conan Game Designer Jason Stone, Warhammer Online Senior Producer Jeff Hickman, Turbine Vice-President of Product Development Craig Alexander, 38 Studios Vice-President of Creative Development Scott Cuthbertson, and EVE Online Game Designer Matt Woodward -- phew, that's a lot of capitalization.There are two videos to watch, one in which the questions come from TTH, the other being an audience Q&A. Combined, the videos take the better part of an hour to watch, but you'll find some interesting and differing viewpoints on various topics, such as business models, world-altering events, product placement, sci-fi versus fantasy MMOs, winning market share from World of Warcraft, and community features in and out of game.
The Monk and more in DDO
Dungeon & Dragons Online's upcoming free content expansion, Module 7, is fast-approaching it's May release date, and we couldn't be more excited about the goodies we have in store for us. The fine folks at MMORPG.com were able take this opportunity to chat with DDO's Senior Producer Kate Paiz about more details on what was previously reported about this expansion as well as future expansions.Module 7 will introduce us to an improved crafting system and new eldritch rituals, a high level wilderness area with two new raids, a revamp of Three Barrel Cove, and something DDO players have been pining after since release: the debut of the Monk. Reportedly, the Monk is in the balance and bug-fixing stage with some minor artistic fine-tuning going on before it's release.
April Fools' in DDO
The pranks continue with the last place you'd expect to see bling: Dungeons and Dragons Online. Fans of tricked-out rides can now get their smoove on in DDO with 'Pimp My Warforged'! That's right, no longer do you have to labor under the drab and dull colors of battle-hardened plate mail and boots so dusty you could write 'wash me' in them; get classy!But not only will you look good; you also get bonuses to gameplay with your pimpin' character: try out the new Skill: Pneumatics -- it lets you go up and down! Or the new enhancement Slow Your Roll, that keeps your 20-sided from tipping over onto the 1! It's all there for your reading pleasure. Just make sure you have the cash to pay for all this -- ground effects ain't cheap!
April Fools' Alert #14: How the MMOs get their prank on
With only so much time left in the day, we thought we'd fit in a handful of the gros amount of April Fools' pranks found in the various MMOs today. Age of Conan announces the Elf class (If you think this is real, check out the creation video) Guild War turns everyone into stick figures, making us pine for a Xiao Xiao MMO Dungeons & Dragons Online introduces Pimp My Warforged The Battle for Middle Earth gets their chicken on World of Warcraft developer Blizzard does their usual thing Speaking of WoW, our Azeroth-obsessed sister site converted to Hello Kitty Insider for a day of mass coverage (30+ posts!). Here's what their front page looked like today.
Massively interviews Kate Paiz of Dungeons and Dragons Online
Dungeons and Dragons Online continues to plough on as a successful (to its players, at least) little MMO based on the official, original pen-and-paper board game. Just off the release of Module 6 and the recent second anniversary of the game, Massively got to interview their senior producer Kate Paiz. She talked to us about the upcoming Module 7 (including a little tip that lower level players will enjoy), the main goals of her dev team as Wizards of the Coast heads toward the release of the pen-and-paper game's fourth edition, and, oh yeah, that Penny Arcade comic that Ms. Paiz featured prominently in.The interview starts right after the break, so grab your masterwork Vorpal blade, your +4 Shield of Blocking, and wade on in by clicking below.
Kate Paiz interviewed for DDO's second anniversary
To mark the second anniversary of Dungeons and Dragons Online, RPG Vault interviewed the game's senior producer, Kate Paiz. The interviewer asked Paiz to give a basic explanation of the game, and to comment on the state of the game at launch compared to where it's at now, on its second birthday -- RPG Vault described the overall feel of the reviews that DDO received at launch as "good but not oustanding". Paiz said that she did feel that the launch reviews were fair, but that much has been improved now, especially the significant additions of PvP and solo gameplay.Paiz is also asked to look forward, to tell us what is coming in the future, and to say what makes DDO a game that people should try if they haven't before. She brought up Module 7, which includes the Monk class as well as some new low and high level content, looking after both veterans and newbies. At the end of the interview, she asked to hear from the players of the game about what they'd like to see added, with particular interest in any guild features that people have ideas for -- she mentions the importance of guilds in bringing new players to the game, and wants to make sure that things are kept interesting for these groups.
Under The Hood: Puzzling Developments
There's an interesting counterpoint to the increasing amount of games following the traditional MMO mechanics layout. No, I'm not talking about space MMOs and the mechanics they follow. We covered those last week! I'm talking about the gradual seepage of puzzlers into the genre. It's a budding paradigm, and has both failings and virtues. Naturally, it's time to dissect them.
Download the full Dungeons and Dragons Online soundtrack
Music in Massively Multiplayer games gets a bad rap. Just in this latest issue of Games For Windows Magazine, a discussion of game packaging made a pretty disparaging crack against the soundtrack CDs that come in MMO collector-edition boxes. We might be in the minority, but everything about online games make us happier people. From fantastic art to the glories of actual gameplay, Massive gaming has it all.If you feel the same way, if you enjoy the music put together by folks like Jeremy Soule or Jason Hayes, then you'll want to check out a cache of files the folks at Turbine have made available on the official Dungeons and Dragons Online site. That cache represents the official soundtrack for DDO, released in honor of the game's second anniversary. Our picks for best tracks include "Tavern Rock volume 1", "House Jorasco" (gotta love those haflings) and "Ye Be a Pirate". Arr!
Connect08 Wrapup: LotRO lowdown, Jumpgate juicies and D&D delights
Codemasters' Connect08, held last Friday and Saturday in Birmingham, was an interesting event in a number of ways. We Europeans rarely feel much love from Stateside publishers -- we're shuttled off on to our own servers, we have to wait longer for patches and news, and we're even not sure we're even being listened to half the time. That's why it was great to see not only an event for European players (I met people who'd travelled from Italy, Holland and Germany to be there) but also a major news announcement on my home turf.Of course, Codemasters aren't the only ones doing this -- NCsoft have a blockbuster event next weekend, and have held others in the past, plus Blizzard occasionally run the odd knees-up in that Gallic pays du vin to the south. Here's hoping we'll see more of the same.Connect08: The coverage you don't want to miss Lord of the Rings Online Volume II, Mines of Moria, was announced; we investigated the teaser site, got you more information (including pixplz) and topped it off with a Q&A and interview with producer Jeffrey Steefel. Jumpgate EvolutionWe previewed this upcoming title from NetDevil and quizzed president Scott Brown on the game. More on its way in coming months! Dungeons & Dragons OnlineAll your burning Monk desires are sated with the player Q&A and preview, which also talks about the crafting changes. Tonsure-tastic! %Gallery-18531%
DDO Q&A: Mod 7, the Monk and more
Kate Paiz, senior producer of Dungeons and Dragons Online, sat down with players today at Connect08 to demonstrate the new Monk class -- upcoming in Module 7 -- and answer a number of questions about future plans for the game.Photography wasn't permitted so we just managed to grab this quick snap of the character creation screen (above), showing a new armor design to accompany the new class. There's another month of development time left before the module goes into alpha, so expect more polish further down the line.During the demo of the Monk we saw the basic character animations -- they're very much in a martial-arts style (apparently inspired by Shaolin monks) with kicks, punches and even a backflip. The movement is graceful and smooth, and unarmed combat feels natural.
Weekly DDO dev activities list gives Module 7 details
Want to see what the developers of Dungeons and Dragons Online have been up to? The Weekly Developer Activities list on the official forums keeps you in touch with the latest happenings behind the scenes at DDO. It's also the place to look to see some of the things that are coming with Module 7, as that's the next big chunk of game that the devs are spending time on at the moment. This week you'll find a number of changes and additions to the game's spells, feats, enhancements, items, and quests, and some other miscellaneous updates. Check out the full list at the forums.
Kate Paiz discusses DDO's Module 7; Monk demo at Connect 08
Ten Ton Hammer recently had the chance to talk to Dungeons and Dragons Online producer Kate Paiz, and learned about some of the things to expect when Module 7 is released. During the interview, she said that the Connect 08 event that will take place in just a few days time now will showcase one of the main features of this content update, the brand new Monk class. This will not just be a video -- there will be a playable demo available to attendees as well.Apart from the Monk, Module 7 will bring a new high level wilderness and raid based in Shavarath, and some improvements to the crafting system, with more crafting love promised for the future. TTH also asks Paiz about how the 4th Edition D&D Ruleset will affect DDO. Without going into all the detail here, she basically says that they will work out what fits with DDO only after the Wizards of the Coast iron out the new feature set, which is not set in stone just yet. Check out the full interview for more on that and Module 7, with just a hint of Module 8 at the end.
One Shots: A D&D tribute
For those who may not have heard the news -- according to his publisher, the well-loved Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax passed away this morning. In honor of the memory of Gary's vision and the game that has helped set many imaginations on fire, we'd like to bring you a screenshot from the MMORPG, Dungeons & Dragons Online. It is a land, game and concept that would likely not have existed without Gary's imagination and determination. We here at Massively would like to send out our heartfelt condolences to Gary's friends and family at this time. His contributions to the world of gaming -- both online and offline -- were enormous. He will be sorely missed, but his vision will live on with those of us who have been influenced by his passion for gaming. %Gallery-9798%[Updated to fix PEBKAC error]
