» Matojo’s Adventures in DDO

Matojo’s Adventures in DDO

So, while I wait to get my account back, I’ve been poking at a game I’ve been wanting to try for a while – Dungeons and Dragons Online.

The gameplay is interesting and some aspects are rather clunky compared to WoW, but it’s enough to keep me coming back. I mean, I’ve wanted more D&D experience for a while and since I can’t get into tabletop around here, I figured, why not? Maybe I’ll have to check out some of the other single player games, too (the Forgotten Realms versions, I guess that’s all that’s out there?).

For a newbie like me, working with the targeting system is a little unwieldy. It does operate on D&D rules and requires more movement to be effective than what WoW does. The skill/feat system is different, too, with some classes not having much in terms of buttons they can hit until much later in the game.

I have mixed feelings on the DDO Store that mainly stem from the idea of how difficult the information is to even find at first. Prices aren’t too bad for store points, but I dont’ know how earning them via the Favour system compares yet so I can’t comment that way. I have no problem paying for some game features (like Drow and Warforged).

My suggestions to anybody that tries to pick up the game are: Pay attention to tooltips, read the tooltips on your character sheet, pick up a little D&D info before you start and adjust the keyboard turning speed/mouse look speed before going too far – the starting values make movement slow, unwieldy and almost made me drop the game. Also? Don’t try to play the game in windowed mode – DDO’s windowed mode is horrible.

Also, Jesus Jumping Murphy do not start with a bard.

I’m not used to mob killing not contributing to experience, either, so THAT is a bizarre thing for me.

At the moment I’m running a Wizard (Tuhina Dawngarde), Rogue (Kerriganne Shadowfoot), Fighter (Erbin Warglaive), Paladin (Greenshanks) and Cleric (I forget, no seriously). I don’t have much rogue, paladin or cleric experience but I am a big fan of the wizard and fighter’s pewpew.

TL;DR – DDO, though clunky and it feels more like a single-player dungeon crawl than an MMO, is still interesting enough to keep my attention while I wait for my WoW account to come back. I MISS MY HARBIES. ;_;

Durrr-hurrr Moments, My Other Mount is a Troll, Sometimes Mat Plays Other Games, WHARRGARBL | admin | June 22, 2010 2:05 pm

3 Comments

By Marianne, June 22, 2010 @ 3:35 pm

I actually play DDO on Monday nights with some friends who moved out of the area. I’ve toodled a bit with Bard and Barbarian (and had fun with both, though neither were solo characters) and play a cleric in our regular party.

Most of my DDO problems relate to the fact that I’m playing DDO with the RL friends who I couldn’t stand playing WoW with… Love ‘em to pieces, great to game with tabletop, but they’re the stuff of pug horror stories… (Why did I agree to heal for them again? /whine)
By Vervain, June 23, 2010 @ 9:35 am

Which server are you on in DDO? The husband and I poke around at it every so often but we’ve never gotten a character very far.
By Matojo, June 23, 2010 @ 11:44 am

@Marianne: I’m too chicken to try group play outside playing with Kar (@karethdreams on Twitter), so fully support-oriented characters scare me right now. >.> … Soon though. Soon.

@Vervain: Sarlona! My page on DDO.com is here: http://my.ddo.com/furiey/