By Arkenor, 4 months and 9 days ago

DDO: Grazing Hits, or why even small amounts of DR matter a lot.

DDO, for the most part, follows D&D’s paper rules quite closely, but there are a few glaring exceptions that can catch folks out. Such is the case of grazing hits.

Grazing hits occur when you have not managed to roll high enough to beat your opponents AC, but have still rolled fairly high. Players do grazing hits on a roll higher than 10, but far more important is that monsters also do grazing hits.

How often a monster does a grazing hit depends on the dungeon difficulty. The threshholds have been tweaked a few times, but at the moment appear to be:
Normal: 17 or higher
Hard: 15 or higher
Elite 13 or higher

As you can see, on Elite, 40% of monster attacks are going to do you some damage, no matter how high your AC is, (as a roll of 20 is an automatic proper hit).

A grazing hit only does base weapon damage, such as d6 for a shortsword, even if it’s a +5 shortsword of flaming, it still does just d6. If it’s a greatsword, it’ll be 2d6. Some monster’s physical attacks are very substantial, even when just considering base weapon damage.

Fortunately, players get some respite from grazing hits, as we are born with a feat that reduces our damage received by 50%. Shields and centred monks also get a % reduction in grazing hit damage. These reductions take place after Damage Reduction has been applied.

However, especially on elite, if you are being stabbed at by several enemies, each of whom is going to score a grazing hit if they roll 13-19 for half base weapon damage, you are in very real danger of being rapidly nibbled to death.

While we might argue over the maths, at the least it is very useful to all to have some source of damage reduction, as even a single point of DR can make a very real difference to how well you deal with the regular smallish amounts of damage from grazing hits.

You can read more about this subject here, and here.

By Arkenor, 5 months ago

Profits and Prophecies: DDO and EQ2, and their money-making schemes.

By all accounts Free to Play (F2P) Dungeons and Dragons Online has been a roaring success. In my own investigations I have found multiple packed low level instances filled to the brim with folks asking foolish newbie questions. Counter-intuitively, DDO subscriptions are up 40%, presumably because the F2P model allowed players enough time and content to get a bit hooked, and be sure they liked what they’d be getting. Myself, I am sticking with an F2P account, though I confess I spent some money to buy enough Turbine Points to unlock the Warforged and Monk, and grab a couple of adventure packs. I shall be endeavouring not to spend any further cash, and perhaps the free points you get during gameplay and the free content will be enough to keep me in adventures for now.

To my mind DDO has been brought back from the dead, with a second chance at glory. It had a lacklustre launch with insufficient promotion, never really making the splash it deserved. An awful lot like Everquest 2, in fact. Both games have been hiding in WoW’s shadow for far too long. I can only hope that the influx of money to Turbine will be put to good use feeding an ever-expanding DDO live-team. I’ll give Turbine one hint: If you’ll finally sort out Gnomes, and their Dragonmark, I’d be willing to spend a few points on unlocking that.

There was a time when EQ2 also sold adventure packs. Sundered Splitpaw, Bloodlines, and the Fallen Dynasty (the Isle of Mara) were all sold as online-only mini expansions for the price of $7.99 (if memory serves me right) These days they come as part of your core install, and they were sizable chunks of content worth their asking price. At some point, SOE realised that they could get that much money for a single appearance-only hat, which took a lot less effort. There have been no adventure packs since Legends of Norrath and the Station Cash shop opened.

Recently there has been a great deal of unhappiness with a new development in EQ2’s love affair with RMT (Real Money Transactions). In the next set of Legends of Norrath cards, there will be a loot card which grants one-time access to a special dungeon. Given how difficult it will be for anyone to get that card, it must be pretty awesome in that dungeon.

In DDO when you buy an adventure pack, which grants you access to a set of dungeons forever, you know exactly how much it will cost you. Everquest 2 expects you to gamble, buying packs of cards until you are lucky enough to get the one you want. I do not know the exact odds, but my experiences with getting loot cards from my free packs suggests you would need to buy a great number to stand a good chance of getting the specific loot card which opens the dungeon. This will restrict the number of people who get to experience this dungeon to the extremely lucky, and the obsessively addicted.

It is about time that Everquest 2 ended the charade that most people buy Legends of Norrath to play the card game. They do it for the loot cards, and it is a cynical exploitive way for SOE to make money. They should just remove loot cards from LoN, add them to the shop, and sell them honestly with upfront pricing, rather than forcing its customers to buy lottery tickets in the hopes of getting to experience new content. It should be noted that EQ2 also has a subscription fee. I do not think that having both extreme RMT AND a mandatory subscription charge is sustainable. I’d be happy for the RMT to go away, but I think that is not the way the MMO winds are blowing these days

Given the success of Free Realms, I have a feeling that EQ2 may be making the leap to being Free to Play, supported by RMT, with an optional subscription like Free Realms and DDO have. The streaming technology used by Free Realms has been adapted for use in EQ2 (and was responsible for the dreadful memory issues many people experienced after Live Update 53), and will be enabled at the time of the next expansion to make for a smoother new player experience. We have been promised that there will, at that time, be a great influx of new players, and I doubt that’s going to happen just because they get to start in Halas. My prediction is that Everquest 2 is going F2P. Feel free to poke fun at me if I turn out to be wrong.

By Arkenor, 2 years ago

Of one thing I am certain. There are polyhedral dice in heaven.

MILWAUKEE, Wis. (AP) — A sad day for fans of role-playing games: The man who co-created Dungeons & Dragons is dead.

Gary Gygax died Tuesday morning at his home in Lake Geneva, Wis. His wife Gail says the 69-year-old had been suffering from health problems for several years.

Gygax and Dave Arneson developed Dungeons & Dragons in 1974 using medieval characters and mythical creatures. The game known for its oddly shaped dice eventually was turned into video games, books and movies.

It’s considered the grandfather of fantasy role-playing games and has inspired legions of adoring fans. Gygax’s wife says he always enjoyed hearing from them. – Associated Press

Here’s the great man at his best:

Goodbye Gary. The only time our lives directly intersected was that time you commented on that DDO related Youtube post I did (Sadly taken down by the authorities :( ), but you gave my generation the chance to use our imaginations in ways that had never been possible before. Your work will live on. I’ll be rolling some dice in your honour this Thursday, and my cleric will strike down evil in your memory.

By Arkenor, 3 years and 8 months ago

The Riddle of Redwillow’s Rock

The Green Lodge took our first trip to Redwillow last night, and we were most impressed by it. Not least because of the sheer number of chests we found! It’s nice to come out in profit. We met our first giants. Meeting a new monster is always a cause for excitement for us, and we were right glad that half of us were dwarves.

While searching for a lever to open a chest I couldn’t pick, poor Jorreck, bane of all poisons, got solidly stuck behing a rock and had to recall. Later, when turning in the items we were questing for, we had a horrible time. We couldn’t find the research scrolls that we had most definitely picked up (but we weren’t sure by who), and so couldn’t continue with the quest. We must have spent 20 minutes searching for them, and poking the NPC. Finally our ingenious bard, Flere, realised that they must have been left behind the rock when Jorreck recalled out, and of course no-one had looked behind there for fear of getting stuck.

So hurrah, we managed to continue. It made me think about how quick we are to label things bugs, when sometimes it’s just misfortune, or not knowing (forgetting in our case) how the game-world works. Of course, getting stuck behind things (though thats the only time we can remember it happening), and chests that are unopenable, really are bugs.

We shall be returning, I am sure of that. While looking for details on the chest we couldn’t open I came upon a list of the rare loot that can be found in Redwillow, and I think we can find homes for all of it.

By Arkenor, 3 years and 8 months ago

In This Week

Been a busy week. After the DnL debacle, I was still thirsting for a world based MMORPG to supplement DDO.

I was persuaded by some good friends on the DDO irc channel to give the new Everquest progression server a try. It’s a new sort of server, where each everquest expansion has to be unlocked by the players, usually by someone raiding the nastiest enemies of the previous expansion.

What I found out: That I have no idea why I ever found it fun. It’s ugly, laggy, and as for corpse runs, well, I don’t know why we ever put up with that nonsense. I just find myself getting horribly bored. I will persevere for now though.

Seeing as I was going to break my vow of never touching another SOE game (They keep buying everyone else anyway. At this rate I’d never play a MMORPG again.), I figured I might as well go for the Access account option, and have a little poke around EQ2. The game has changed a great deal since April 2005 when I quit, and I found I had no idea how to play my existing characters, at least not without doing grave harm to their kills to deaths ratio.

So I decided to start a new character on the newest servers. These happened to be PvP ones, but I figured, hey, it’ll make being a questaholic more challenging.

What I found out: That non-consensual PvP sucks horribly. If I step out into Antonica, within a minute I’ll be dead from some stealther sneak-attacking me. Given the feebleness of my reaction times, and my utter lack of killer instinct, this is not going to be a long lived experience. Nevertheless, until I stepped out into Antonica, I was having fun, so I shall keep my eyes open for a fresh regular server being opened. That seems pretty rare though, unfortunately. A shame, as there is nothing like the delicious taste of a clean start. Til then, my much mistreated Access acount will be put back into it’s state of suspended animation. Probably. Unless I get really bored.

I am anticipating DDO’s Module 2 with something akin to the feeling I get when someone waves a bag of pork scratchings before me (Sadly an all-too uncommon event). If QA clear it in time, it’ll be this week.

By Arkenor, 3 years and 8 months ago

Live Transcript of the DDO Dev Chat


Brannoc: We'll begin with a brief introduction from our guests and then proceed with the chat. Now would be a good time to send those questions to [QT]Sprite!
Sporkfire: Hi, all. I'm Victor Wachter, Community Relations Manager for DDO. Glad to see you all here!
Samera_DDO: Hi there. Samera here. Community Relations Specialist.
Nereid_DDO: Hello, I am Nereid, Producer on DDO
Solas_DDO: Greetings. I'm Solas, DDO Gamesystems.
Gubtug_DDO: Hi, I'm Gubtug, Art Director on DDO.
Graal_DDO: Howdy, I am a game mechanics designer
GelatinousCube_DDO: *jiggle*
Codog_DDO: Howdy. I'm Codog, a Senior Game Systems Engineer. Happy to be here.
Tuttle_DDO: Hola, Captain Tuttle here. Design Manager on DDO.
Denour_DDO: Evening, I'm Andy "Denour" Gillis, I am one of the Game Systems Engineer on DDO. *Wave*

Brannoc: *Guest23* What's the time frame for when module 2 will come out?
Nereid_DDO: Hello - Module 2 "The Twilight Forge" will be coming out in July. We are accepting applications for our preview of Module 2 content in the DDO.com Forums.

Brannoc: *Zaran* could you explain the solo option on the difficulty selection on the Quest Window.
Solas_DDO: The solo option has two main goals: To improve the new player experience, and for something to do while waiting for a party.
Solas_DDO: Only a single player can enter an adventure on solo. The monsters are scaled down, HP, AC, spells, etc. Most classes should be able to tackle a solo adventure appropriate for their level, although some classes are more powerful solo than others.
Solas_DDO: Currently, solo mode is only available in the Harbor

Brannoc: *Targonis* The level cap is expected to be raised in September/October. Can we expect that the level cap will be raised every 6 months or so?
Nereid_DDO: We are committed to raising the level cap on an on-going basis and will be releasing them when we are able to support with new monsters, adventures, spells, feats, etc.

Brannoc: *Ustiveh* What one thing would the moderators like to see in DDO that is not currently implemented (including things that never will be)?
GelatinousCube_DDO: Gelatinous Cubes

Brannoc: *Anon220* I read on the DDO forums that the ranged system isn't working quite as well as folks would like, so it's getting an overhaul. What's the latest on the ranged system overhaul?

Mysterious 5 minutes silence.

Codog_DDO: After module 2, players will see a number of improvements to both ranged and melee combat. Some of these improvements include increase of ranged attack speed as players level up, improvements to activatable melee feats, and a number of new action point benefits.

Brannoc: *Zaran* Why are you requiring players to do quests on Hard and Elite to get maximum favor from the Houses?
Solas_DDO: Hard and elite difficulty modes offer drastically increased challenges for a party. Defeating an adventure on elite is a truly heroic accomplishment. The House Patrons give us a unique opportunity to offer an interesting reward scheme to players who challenge not only the breadth of adventures in the game, but also the breadth of difficulty levels. As the game grows, expect to see the patron system expand with new ranks, new patrons, and new rewards as adventures are added to the game.

Brannoc:*Anon220* Are there any new animated emotes being worked on?
Gubtug_DDO: Emotes have been something that a lot of the dev team has wanted to see more of. There'll be new emotes coming to Stormreach soon. Done.

Brannoc: *Anon220* Do you think that DDO will eventually cross the level 20 threshold and go into epic levels?
Nereid_DDO: Yes, we are planning on adding more levels over time, and are looking into what the gameplay will be after level 20.

Brannoc: *Gill* Question: Are their any plans or ideas for GM-run events?
Sporkfire: We are currently developing some live events to hold in Stormreach, similar to the events that were very popular in Beta. We've got a lot of creative people here who are really excited to start holding them, and we're going to start holding them again in the future.

Brannoc: *Gill* Question: Has the issue of inability to find parties come up, and if so, how do you plan on addressing this?
Solas_DDO: We’ve done a revamp of the social panel which should make the “looking for group” tools a lot easier to use. DDO at its heart is a party-based game, and we’ll continue to improve our tools to help players adventure with one another. The solo mode should also help give players something to do while they’re waiting to find a party.

Brannoc: *locke* any change comming for holdong items such as scroll holders or bags of holding
Graal_DDO: We have no plans for specialized holding items, but there will be an increase in overall inventory and bank space coming with Module 2

Brannoc: *Namelessone* how and what is being looked at to work on Ranged Combat, and what is being looked at to improve the Ranger Class
Codog_DDO: Post Module 2, as a character's base attack bonus goes up, player's speed of bow, crossbow, and thrown weapons will increase. This inherently will improve ranger's combat or any class that is investing in ranged combat feats. A number of rangers abilities scale with level such as Ranger Bow Strength and Many Shot.

Brannoc: *ssprink* Will existing loot tables be reworked to match dungeon difficulty?
Tuttle_DDO: The content team is consistently evaluating the exp and loot balance for our existing dungeons. This is an ongoing process and we’ll continue to respond as the need arises.

Brannoc: *Maghantah* Question: any focus on creating more randomization in content?
Solas_DDO: We’ve had tremendously positive feedback on our random monster optional objectives. We are experimenting with randomizing traps in some of our upcoming content. We recognize that this is a very popular issue among our fans.

Brannoc: *ZeroTakenaka* How much will Module 2 cost?
Nereid_DDO: Module 2 "The Twilight Forge" is a free module for subscribers.

Brannoc: *ZeroTakenaka* When will patron system come out?
Solas_DDO: Module 2 "The Twilight Forge" will contain the patron system.

Brannoc: *Locke* hello, is there a plan to add new feats? or a mechanism for players to swap feats to update their character?
Nereid_DDO: We are looking into allowing players to swap out feats they have chosen, and will be adding new feats with the level cap increase.

Solas_DDO: Going back to an earlier question on LFG - I wanted to mention that a lot of specific improvements were taken directly from suggestions off the forums. For example, you will be able to see which area a player is in, and whether or not that player is already in a group.

Brannoc: *Targonis* Following up on the question about ranged weapons, will a distance limit be placed on items such as bows, thrown weapons, etc.?
Codog_DDO: Thanks for the question Targnonis. Limiting the range of bows, thrown weapons, and crossbows is certainly a topic that we are currently investigating.

Brannoc: *Khalathas* Will there be high-end non-static quest rewards in the future, as opposed to just the static reward system that's been implemented as of late?
Solas_DDO: Yes, we have specific plans to create new magical effects for high level loot. These will be available both in treasure chests and randomized quest rewards.

Brannoc: That's it for this one folks! Thanks for joining us here on Stratics IRC, the logs will be up on http://ddo.stratics.com shortly. Be sure to come by again next time!

Sporkfire: Thanks for coming out, everyone and for all the questions!
Samera_DDO: Goodbye everyone. Thanks for coming to chat with us!
Codog_DDO: Bye folks!
Tuttle_DDO: Goodnight everybody, thanks for chatting!
Solas_DDO: Goodnight all.
Denour_DDO: G'nite folks!
GelatinousCube_DDO: \engulf
Nereid_DDO: It was great talking to you - thanks for having us! Goodnight.

Hmm. I hope you found that more illuminating than I did. The prospect of live events coming out way is pretty neat though.

By Arkenor, 3 years and 9 months ago

Toasty Death in Three Barrel Cove

A little while since I posted. My guild and I are still playing DDO keenly. Tonight we ventured into Three Barrel Cove for the first time, and chaos ensued! The fire caves are toasty death for anyone who has difficulty not falling into things, and that sadly meant me. Usually, my tumbling protects me from taking serious falling damage, but unfortunately does not make me lava-proof. Nevertheless, we emerged victorious. As if there was ever any doubt!

Lots of interesting things coming our way in DDO. While Drow are rather low down my list of races I want to see, it’ll still be a welcome option. And the promised increase in inventory space has me drooling. No word on whether that will be more bank storage space, or more personal inventory, but either will at least give me somewhere to put my vast stocks of collectables.

Don’t pay any attention to the doomsayers of the DDO forums. DDO is certainly not dying.

And Oblivion? Well it didn’t take me long to get rather bored with it. Oops. Maybe single-player RPGs can’t keep my interest any more. That one didn’t anyway.

Anyway, I’ll try to write a little more regularly. I tend to go through phases of activity.

By Arkenor, 4 years ago

DDO: Dual-wield interface coming soon

Sporkfire just announced that an interface for dual wielding would be one of the game enhancements included in April’s Dragon’s Vault module.

At last, we dual wielders will be able to switch between weapons easily. Extremely good news.

By Arkenor, 4 years ago

Today’s US DDO Update

 

Ruins of Threnal – Southern Ruins:

  • New enemies and objectives have been added to the Ruins of Threnal.
  • Players will now find locked doors that will impede their progress. Perhaps searching for the keys will help.

 

No more completing South Threnal in fifteen minutes flat, rushers! Unless of course you’re in Europe, in which case you probably have at least another week. :(

By Arkenor, 4 years ago

Mini-spell icons planned

Mini-spell icons (just like wands) are on the way for both potions and scrolls.

- Graal

Sounds handy indeed! This refers to the tiny icons that are put on top of the regular item icon. I would like to see, at some point in the future, a wider variety of potion icons. Baldur’s Gate 2 was particularly good for having a wide variety of these, making it simple to grab the right one in a hurry.

Having mage scrolls look different to clerical scrolls would also be rather useful.

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