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Exploring Eberron: DDO 101 and why it's still needed
Dungeons and Dragons Online is an old game. I'm not saying that in a negative context -- if a game has been around for a long time, that means it's had time to work through the bumps in the road that come with launch and the first six months or so, as well as to build a strong community of players. DDO recently celebrated its fifth anniversary, so it's one of those MMOs that's had time to settle, grow, and become established as a reliable game. This is a great thing with one downside: A long-running game has a tendency to run short on content for new players, both in and out of game. This isn't due to any deliberate oversight or desire to exclude on behalf of the development team or the community; it's just that over time, the majority of the community naturally shifts to high-level and endgame content. It makes sense to focus largely on content and news directed at the largest part of the community in order to keep them interested -- and spending. However, that new community still exists. Due in large part to the organic nature of MMOs, the new community continues to exist even as new players advance, learn, and become veteran players. New players (hopefully) are constantly arriving, and game mechanics and content are constantly shifting and updating. Ideally, there is always a part of the paying customer base that is new and confused. Follow along after the jump to see why this is on my mind this week and what Turbine is doing about it.
Exploring Eberron: Of crafting, guild runs, and Crystal Cove
We've had several exciting pieces of news in Dungeons and Dragons Online this week! New details on Update 9 came from PAX East, and an encore of our most recent game event is here. I've got the details on those and my thoughts on what they'll bring to the player community, but before we get to that, I want to take a quick look at what OnedAwesome has been up to. The guild has moved to a more casual schedule over the past few months, still maintaining informal Wednesday night adventures but generally playing at any day and time that works for members in various time zones. Wednesday night, six members of OnedAwesome revisited Stormcleave Outpost, a House Deneith fortress that's been overrun by enemy giants (and other ill-tempered creatures). The adventure was such fun, and not just for the great company -- although that was definitely the highlight! It's a great illustration of the replayability of DDO content. It's a level 8 adventure that we've all been through before, and all of our characters last night were in the 10-11 level range. We simply pushed it up to elite difficulty and still found a challenge. We've still got room in Massively's official DDO guild, so if you've got questions about joining us on the Cannith server, feel free to send a tell or in-game mail to my character Rubialina, or simply shoot me an email at rubi@massively.com. Now, on to the updates!
Exploring Eberron: You can go home again
It's less common these days, but it used to be that many of the Massively staff's friends, family, and readers thought we had a great gig because we got paid to sit around and play games all day. Thankfully, that assumption comes around less and less nowadays -- most of the Massively staff finds very quickly that the job reduces our gaming time rather than allowing us free rein. So wait, what on earth does this have to do with Dungeons and Dragons Online? Well, my schedule has cramped my DDO time so severely lately that it could very well be called a hiatus. Recently, my husband had the day off work, so I assigned him full parenting duty, locked myself away, and logged into DDO for some uninterrupted playtime. OnedAwesome officers Aunwiira and Tebraen joined me, and Brian "Psychochild" Green jumped in partway through to join the fun too. I enjoyed some great playtime with some great company, and it started me thinking about the Massively DDO guild as well as the implications of rejoining an MMO after time away. Follow along after the jump for more!
Exploring Eberron: Spooky fun, Turbine news, and making a new character
My gosh, what a week! I've got to start by sending a huge congratulations to Jerry Snook of DDOcast, who is closing down his long-running podcast. If that doesn't sound like something to celebrate, then you have not heard Jerry's news: he's been hired by Turbine and today's episode of DDOcast will be the last. Jerry, you deserve it and we at Massively are thrilled for you (and your new coworker!) OnedAwesome, Massively's Dungeons and Dragons Online guild is continuing to work with a floating schedule, scheduling groups and quests as various schedules permit. This has opened us up quite a bit to players who could not previously join on Wednesday night. Want to see what we're up to? Join our forums and check out the scheduling forum to see what's going on. As always, you can send an in-game tell or mail to Rubialina, Aunwiira, or Tebraen to add a character to the guild. It's been a busy week in other areas of DDO-land as well, and I still want to focus on character stats a bit, so follow along after the jump and lets get started!
Exploring Eberron: Community and community division
It's been an interesting week for me in Dungeons and Dragons Online, and while that's obviously just a personal perspective, I've come away from it with some observations on the community. Executive Producer Fernando Paiz told me at PAX that Turbine will start turning its collective eye back to the veteran players, and it looks like Update 7 is the first step in that direction. My Update 7 tour set me thinking, as did Wednesday night's outing with OnedAwesome, Massively's DDO guild. Follow along after the jump as I take a look at what these factors have told me about the community in Dungeons and Dragons Online.
Exploring Eberron: Happy Halloween, here's a giant dragon
Welcome to October. It's time for ghouls, ghosts, things that go bump in the night, and shambling undead. Halloween events are a grand tradition in nearly every MMO, and Dungeons and Dragons Online has something special this year. The developers have really scaled things up for this holiday, but how well will it work? Fernando Paiz and the team teased us with hints of the event last month at PAX, showing off a creepy red sky in Delera's Graveyard. Unfortunately for this curious DDO fan, the tour stopped there, leaving me to wait and wonder. Yesterday my wondering was over, because we spent some time during my tour of Update 7 to explore the event. If you were in the area Thursday and noticed a sudden spawn of pumpkins, undead, and collectors in the graveyard, that was courtesy of Fernando. He was kind enough to turn the event on briefly and give me a little tour of what the holiday will have to offer. Follow along after the cut for my thoughts on the good, the bad, and the creepy of the upcoming DDO Halloween event. Don't forget to check the link at the very end to see what OnedAwesome, Massively's DDO guild, is up to next week too!
Exploring Eberron: Stromvauld's Mine and your character's alignment
Last week I talked a bit about Beholders and why they hurt so much, and I promised a look at an offshoot of that conversation this week: alignment. If you weren't a PnP player before Dungeons and Dragons Online, alignment is probably something you didn't pay much attention to on your first character. The system of alignment has its roots in Dungeons and Dragons and can seem a little complicated at first, but it's not too difficult once you have the basics. Follow along after the jump to see what the big deal is and to see what Massively's DDO guild has been doing lately!
Exploring Eberron: The eye of the Beholder
You've not heard much lately about OneDAwesome, Massively's Dungeons and Dragons Online guild, but it's still going strong. In fact, we've spent the past weeks taking on our most ambitious project to date: Vault of Night. Vault of Night is a story arc that consists of six quests and culminates in two raids, one of which pits you against Velah, The Red Dragon. Given that the guild has a fair amount of newer players, it's been an interesting experience for many of us. More than one guild member learned exciting words like "Deathblock" and "Beholder" and "ouch." I want to take a moment to give a huge round of applause to the members of the guild -- they deserve the public kudos. My schedule for the past five weeks has been a mess. Between the back-to-school-and-sports insanity with my children, PAX, and the subsequent illness, I was an absent leader more often than not, and the members of OdA stepped in and exemplified what's great about MMO communities. They offered well wishes and kept things active and fun when I couldn't -- they're an example of what every guild should be. Well done, you guys. OnedAwesome will be taking on its first raid next week as we tackle the (almost) end of Vault of Night. As always, we'll meet up at Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. EDT on the Cannith server, and the more the merrier, so join us! As I was thinking on what to talk about this week, my mind wandered to the fun and frustration the guild has had over the past weeks. We've learned a lot and had a great time, but many of us learned a painful lesson. Follow along after the jump, and I'll see if I can save you the pain of learning it the same way.
Exploring Eberron: My shopping cart
Today I was hoping to open up my full purchase history at the Dungeons and Dragons Online store and do an analysis of everything I've bought since the store was put into the game. Unfortunately, I've since discovered that -- short of saving each and every confirmation email that Turbine sends me -- there's no accessible store history, either in the game or outside of it. Clicking "View Purchase History" in the store simply showed me a couple Turbine point buys, but that's it. That makes me a sad panda barbarian. So pushing aside the issue of why Turbine doesn't want me to see my order history ("Perhaps so you don't question future purchases," the quiet cynic inside me whispers), I'll have to do this via questionable memory. I've been a subscriber since the DDO F2P switch, which nets me a portion of "free" TP per month, but I've also dropped additional money -- perhaps three times -- to beef up my TP reservoir so that I could get a couple big ticket items. So seeing as how I don't have to worry about purchasing adventure packs, on what have I been spending my allowance? Hit the jump to find out!
Exploring Eberron: Soupdance!
Although my wife doesn't know it yet, if we ever have another child, there's now a very real chance that we're going to call him or her Brawnpits, after my new favorite character in DDO. I think our entire group became enamoured with that name, but can you blame us? I don't think you can, especially after you meet Mr. or Ms. Pits (I have a theory it's a "she") in the first quest of the new Phiarlan Carnival chain that came in Update 5. On Wednesday night, our Massively DDO guild OnedAwesome set aside time to conquer this module, mostly because I was bouncing on the tips of my toes saying, "Can we? Please? Please? Pleeeeeeease?" until everyone capitulated just to shut me up. One of the things I love about DDO is that these newer quests are pretty innovative and varied, and I don't think you can get much different than a thespian giant, an illusionary pig, and toilets that double as rest shrines. Let's take a quick trip through the first two chapters of The Maleficent Cabal quest chain to see if it's worth your time -- and money. I say it is, if only to experience the majesty and jaw-dropping awe that is soupdance.
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.
Exploring Eberron: Update 5 and Delera's Tomb
This week's Dungeons and Dragons Online Nights of Eberron outing was an ambitious one: We took on Delera's Tomb, wading through hordes of skeletons, wraiths, and ghasts to help Delera rest peacefully. Delera's has some great loot at the end, but is also one of the lengthier adventure packs for its level, so most of us played a bit later than usual. It was well worth it, however -- everyone had a great time and many of us have a shiny new Voice of the Master for our troubles. Next week OneDAwesome will be venturing back into free-to-play land thanks to House Kundarak. The Ever-Full Flagon in House K has a series of F2P quests in the level 5-6 range that are just too good to miss. We'll be running through four medium-length quests: The Chamber of Insanity, The Forgotten Caverns, Ruined Halls, and The Lair of Summoning. We'll wrap up the evening with Taming the Flames, a longer, much hotter quest. If you've got resist fire potions weighing your bags down, make sure you don't leave them in your bank vault for this quest! We'll meet in the Ever-Full Flagon on the east side of House Kundarak -- look for the little green mug icon -- at 9:00 PM Eastern time. As always, if you're interested in joining OneDAwesome on the Cannith server, just send a /tell to Rubialina in game and I'll send you the invite. With that taken care of, let's take a look at what else is new with DDO. Follow along after the jump for all the latest!
Exploring Eberron: Turbine's downtime and what's next for OnedAwesome
This week's Nights of Eberron was a hit, with one glaring exception. Poor Orvidos ran afoul of one of the lesser-known quirks in Dungeons and Dragons Online, and wound up spending some quality time with Jeets in the tutorial -- something he did NOT want to do. He has a point, by the way. Does anyone really want to listen to "Oi! Can you move? Speak to me!" more than once or twice? Aside from that little glitch, things went swimmingly as we took on Searing Heights. In the rest of the Dungeons and Dragons Online world, the community was buzzing over Wednesday's server downtime and the subsequent account downgrades. So what happened with that, and just as importantly, what's next for OnedAwesome? I've got news on both fronts, so follow along after the jump for all the details.
Exploring Eberron: We need a favor
Well, okay, we need some favor. The latest Nights of Eberron in Dungeons and Dragons Online was a bit of a free-for-all -- OnedAwesome got the opportunity to group up and choose any paid content they wanted to do for the evening. Guest passes were handed out for anyone who needed one and the guild was off and running. The evening was a bit of a last crazy hurrah before we settle into pursuing some larger goals. The Massively guild is finding its rhythm quickly, but there are still challenges in such a large and diverse group: new players join every week, older players aren't always interested in moving at the group's relatively slow pace, and instancing presents a much different scenario than a persistent world. The great thing about DDO, however, is that it allows for this sort of thing. With repeatable quests and four difficulty levels for almost all of them, the instancing system is almost an advantage for this type of group. We can have 40 guild members all doing the same quest at the same time while still maintaining a pace for every type of player: specialized groups for those who want to do epic difficulty, those who want to play on normal, those who want to zerg through it, new players who want to take their time and learn -- you name it and we can form a group for it. Our next goal will be to pursue favor and start gaining some rewards. Follow along after the jump to see how the favor system works and what we'll be doing next week!
Exploring Eberron: Grouping is king
Wednesday night's Nights of Eberron in Dungeons and Dragons Online was fun for all, as usual. We welcomed quite a few new members into OnedAwesome, even managing to get one through some Korthos Island quests at light speed to catch up with the rest of the crew. Once we got settled, OnedAwesome descended on House Phiarlan to make our first foray into premium content: Tangleroot Gorge. As a level 3-7 Adventure Pack with a huge explorable as well as a popular series of dungeons, it fit our group nicely. Since it offered more than one method of play, each group was free to do whatever they liked: hunt down rare encounters, pursue the slayer title, or head straight for the dungeons. It's becoming the norm in OnedAwesome for guild chat to scroll madly at the beginning of the evening as we chat among ourselves, share information about the evening's planned activities, and sort ourselves into groups. As the level of actual gameplay rises, guild chatter settles down and goes quiet as everyone gets involved in their activities. Last night's guild channel went silent very quickly, broken only by the occasional greeting as someone logged on or an announcement of an achievement -- much fun was had by all. In the month that Nights of Eberron has been up and running, I've noticed a recurring comment among those participating. Follow along after the cut as I take a closer look at what it is and why they say it.
Exploring Eberron: Getting the most from dungeons
Wednesday's night out with OnedAwesome was...well, awesome, per the usual. Massively's Dungeons and Dragons Online guild ran through five quests taken from the Leaky Dinghy and Stormreach Harbor. We patted Durk on the head and told him that his secret was super special and he was too, busted some evil gambling tables of evilness, fetched an item for House Phiarlan that we are almost certain it was okay for them to have, and walked the Butcher's Path. Things are settling down a bit in OnedAwesome, but certainly not through a lack of activity. The guild is quickly evolving from a random group of people scrambling to figure out what is happening and who is grouping with whom. It's becoming an organized guild where everyone has a bit of a feel about where they fit, and people sorted into groups very quickly Wednesday and were off having fun in record time. I'm very excited to see everyone next Wednesday -- I won't tell you quite yet what our plans are, but I have a bit of a surprise that I hope everyone will love. We'll meet Wednesday evening at 9:00 PM EST, but I'll be around from 8:30 on to field any questions, requests, and guild invitations. So feel free to /tell Rubialina a bit early if you need anything. In the meantime, follow along after the jump for some tips and tricks. This is another one devoted to our newer players, and hopefully this will get you navigating dungeons like a pro in no time.
Exploring Eberron: What is all this stuff in my inventory?
Wednesday night's Nights of Eberron was its usual crazy success, and the diversity of player types makes for an interesting mix. "Interesting" is a very good thing in this case, as the guild is made up of players on every part of the spectrum from those with several years of experience in Dungeons and Dragons Online to people who are rolling their very first character. For those new players, or even those who gave the game a brief try back when it went free-to-play, it can be a bit confusing. I'm going to spend some time in this column going over things for the newer players, because Dungeons and Dragons Online offers some pretty handy items that you don't want to miss out on. OnedAwesome, Massively's official Dungeons and Dragons Online guild, ran through the Waterworks Wednesday night, killing an absolutely ridiculous amount of kobolds and picking up some handy loot. It was our first foray outside of Korthos, and at the end, there were lots of things in our inventory that were a mystery to many players. Follow along after the jump as we take a look at what they were.
DDOn't miss out on Massively's Nights of Eberron
Remember when Massively's Choose my Adventure visited Stormreach? It was fun, but all good things must come to an end, right? Well, not in this case. Justin and I got to chatting about Dungeons and Dragons Online recently, and decided it would be great fun to play the game together. But two is not a full party and hirelings are terrible conversationalists, so we turn to you guys -- won't you join us? We'll be logging into Dungeons and Dragons Online every Wednesday at 9:00 PM EST beginning this week, and we'd love to play with you, our readers. Join us on the Cannith server with a new character and we'll begin our journey on Korthos Island just after the tutorial. We've rolled our respective characters, so add Syp and Rubialina to your friends list (Hey, we save our creative thinking for work), and we'll see you Wednesday night!
