Dungeons & Dragons Online is Staggering
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- čas přidán 7. 01. 2023
- Join me in a deep dive of this classic MMO. Let me know your thoughts.
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Big thanks to Lisa Hall for the use of the art in the character creator segment. Check them out here: www.ko-fi.com/thisislisahall
Intro/outro song: Will & Tim - Song Of Storms (Zelda Theme Remix)
#dungeonsanddragons #dungeonsanddragonsonline - Hry
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In a world where it's so easy to clickbait people with "Worst game in the world" type stuff, there's MitchManix just having fun and winning my heart. LOVE your stuff, man. You have an uncanny way of taking a game I like and reminding me why I once loved it. What a pleasure that is! This is gonna sound sappy as hell and I don't care: you're a ray of sunshine.
And don't even get me started on your sense of humour 😂 Crazy boi.
@@ryans756 Thanks mate. Really appreciate that.
@@ryans756 👏
ddo is my favorite...thank you!
@@matthewgalbreath5520 mine too
The "Clown car" NPC spawning is actually a game mechanic. NPCs can sneak, and remain invisible, until they attack you. Characters with higher perception are more likely to see the sneaking enemy. Just like the character can use the sneak skill to remain hidden to NPCs.
Listen also will help you to find the NPCs ahead of time.
@@carsonfball4 Yes! The red little visual effects also work, I forgot about that, thanks! The Listen skill does let you know when you are about to get clobbered.
Some of the most unique mechanics not just for an MMORPG but RPGs in general. I've been loving coming back to these older MMOs that I ignored thanks to the behemoth of WoW. Really been admiring the differences between a lot of these games and loving the much more laid-back feel of LOTRO and DDO. Also been loving the insanity of Lost Ark and BDO simultaneously though.
Some of the quests (prime example: "Endgame: Marguerite" in the Catacombs) have "clown car" spawning where the enemies just fade in at a wall. It's not that blatant though and usually it's not right in your face.
I used to run a very successful guild and met my wife on this game. We’ve been together 12 years and have 2 kids now. I havent played in a decade (except for a brief return stint around 2015), but this game will always have a special place in my heart
Free content packs if you type a code in b4 Feb (in capitals).
did you play minecraft?
TIP for newer players: Within the Korthos Island starter area, there is an NPC that transports you to The Keep on the Borderlands. This is very important to do after you have done a few quests in Korthos. Its some of the best low level content in the game and the wilderness area offers fun exploration and lots of combat: good for learning to play your character at relatively low risk. Good item loots from rare spawn monsters.
You only get that if you own the expansion or are subbed no?
@@sgtskelly3595 you need to purchase the adventure pack OR thru subscription
the keep wilderness area will be murder for a newbie.
Agreed. Plus the Borderlands quests are very fun and varied, and that's a newer zone that better showcases the newer development approach to the game.
And also get a mount.
The only MMO that has kept my attention for 15+ years. One of the main appeals not really covered here but worth looking into is the reincarnation feature. After max level you can start over and eventually play as every race and every class in the game as well as every epic destiny each always giving their own unique permanent buff. People that like building up a character but find themselves constantly getting bored with other mmo's just popping out an update where you get the loot in a week/month and quit until the next expansion then this might be a game for you.
100% agree on the reincarnation system. It makes content always applicable, and gear never outdated. Miss the latest expansion? No worries. You've got dozens upon dozens of lives to experience it, and everything else, at your leisure (or haste). There's a downside to this too, in the sense that you really only want to focus on one character, since the reincarnation grind is so extensive, so you feel less inclined to play different builds simultaneously, but the upside is that it encourages you to play everything, and that gives huge replay value (especially with just how many classes and races there are, and the sheer volume of potential builds).
I have played all the triple AAA MMOs on the market and DDO still brings me back :))
15 years? What guild were you in
Or people who want to pay for basic things, this game is for them!
@@DeanFWilson the other down side is if you want to min max you need to do all reincarns
So those wolves didn’t just spawn in, they were sneaking, you need to up your spot skill or get a trueseeing item, you can also use invisibility spells to cheese some quest.
Lol yeah I laughed when I saw that part
Yeah, a lot of what he said was fairly misinformed. Still glad to see DDO get more attention. I recently started playing again after a lay off of over 5 years, and have had a TON of fun. All of the new content is pretty amazing.
Ravenloft, all by itself, is simply incredible!
Trueseeing's not gonna help you with stealthy mobs, trueseeing is for illusions and, for some reason*, low to mid level secret doors.
Spot or listen are your only options for seeing sneaking stuff.
*OK I do in fact know the reason: it's one of those bits of the ruleset that isn't a perfect match for the pen and paper game. Devs decided they wanted True Seeing to be like an amped up Detect Secret Doors spell as well as it's standard 'makes you immune to illusions' effect.
@@jezlawrence720 Its changed over the years, actually. Originally, True Seeing revealed all illusions, stealth, invisibility, and secret doors.
When the Devs realized it was completely removing a factor of gameplay, and that everyone who'd played for a certain amount of time had it, they started making exceptions to it, 'weakening' it at higher levels of gameplay.
At least that's my understanding.
Yes, Spot helps a lot for sneaking and possibly invisible enemies along with secret doors. Listen is useful too to a lesser degree.
I always loved a specific dungeon called Deleria's Tomb. It was narrated by Gary Gygax himself.
Which, for anyone catching this video now like I am, is the first dungeon pack you want to get with the points awarded from Favor grinding. :D
@@dosbilliam If you are still playing I am thinking about resubbing and it would be fun to have someone to run with.
@@CRAZYHORSE19682003 I've barely been playing it; I can maybe get through a single quest before my brain is yelling at me to do something else. ☹
@@dosbilliam LOL Yea, as a solo game it would suck. Playing as a group with the Tank/DPS/Healer roles it was so much fun. I had a lvl 12 Paladin which was max level back in the day. He had a awesome sword called Retribution, funny how I remember things like that from nearly 20 years ago.
That was always one of my favs just for that reason alone
DDO to me is still the best MMO out there and I played them all. The complexity of the game. Character creation and endless possibilities of builds. 10/10
FACT still the best MMO in 2023
Queation. Apparently players can make their own dungeons and stuff and publish it right?
So the game essentially has infinate dnd campaigns?
@@mr.voidroy6869 That would be Neverwinter Nights. Also based off of the 3.5 ruleset, but developed by Bioware.
@@EmptyZoo393 ahh
I am a long time player of DDO and I have to say I really appreciate this review. Not only is it well produced and informative, the entertainment value and comic relief are delightful. Also, something that might be missed by the casual viewer is that MitchManix took the the significant amount of time to play DDO and learn a bit about a very complex game and provide insight based on that, rather than a cursory examination of the game. I find it rare that a video game reviewer is will to invest that amount of time and really helps shed light on why many of us still play a game released in 2006. Thank you.
Yep, same here. I was also very facinated how long he and detailed he was playing for this review. That was very impressive.
I still play to this day too, it's fun as much as some mechanics are outdated or just bad. I still need to get a few expacs but that will happen as I missed the 99 cost ones.
I still play it even with some friends and family, and I started playing it about 9-10 years ago. Is it outdated? Sure, but it's the most true to D&D MMO out there or game in general that is free to play. SSG is also great as far as MMO devs/companies go and are shockingly generous on certain events (such as giving permanent access to an array of premium quests on the anniversary).
The animations for the character I'm currently playing are totally busted and I'm pretty sure it hasn't been updated since that feature came out, the zombie shroud for the necromancer type branch for Wizard. It looks awful but I decided to take that and make a joke out of it and it's still fun.
Forgot to mention how much money you need to put into the game to access all of it's content
I love this game. Glad to see you played much further into the game than most recent reviews.
Right? Nothing irks me more than someone reviewing DDO after playing a few intro quests and not asking any questions or doing any research.
@@toddbannon3380 yeah, but to be fair the real problem is the need for SSG to improve the new player experience so that it makes sense and is a better example if the experience later in the game
Came back in April 2023 after about 10 years of not playing. Lots of gripes I had back then were solved with new dungeons and reworked enhancement trees. Been playing almost every day since. Love it.
Hey, good video. I'm a DDO youtuber and streamer so feel free to reach out to me if you have any DDO questions. A lot of right on the money common complaints here, some other things were a bit off (such as cannith crafting which isn't really the focus of DDO's crafting). But I think your experience is pretty typical of new players. It's a very high learning curve but it's also extremely rewarding which is why so many of us vets have stayed for a decade+. Also really nice editing and video presentation here.
i love your content thinking about making your fighter build
Barely lol
Best MMO ever. This has to be remade. Puzzles are mind blowing, raids are very challenging, lore is very deep.
agree
+1
Loved this & Neverwinter but they destroyed both of them w transactions transactions
@Reulorics I play Neverwinter which they redidi with new code for the XBOX series X and it's AMAZING!
Imagine Larian would create a new DnD MMO with the quality of Baldur's Gate 3 :O
To be fair, the apparent "clown car of spawning NPC's" was legit. There are things sneaking and if you have a better "Spot" and/or "Listen" skill, you will detect them from further away. But, yes, it's a bit janky but has allot of really cool mechanics such as if someone blocks with a shield, they become a wall that team mates can hide behind from ranged attacks.
Aye, I recognized the exact spot where he made the "clown car" joke; those enemies are definitely already there, hiding, and aren't just spawned in. If you have a sufficiently high enough Spot score, you can actually see these hiding enemies as a dark silhouette, and if your Listen is high enough, it'll show a special effect when they're moving to alert you to something being there.
Otherwise, they just appear to pop in out of nowhere when they do something to break stealth, such as attacking.
I've started playing in the past few days and I'm loving the complexity and mechanics. I can look past the dated combat and animations because I've been looking for a slower MMO with depth over flashy graphics and I really hope I've found it.
there are a few discord servers and if you have any questions don't be afraid to ask. the community is better than its seems.
I do recommend that you should start playing with a group of friend and become vip for access to most content. maybe by the anniversary they will give the coupon to access most of the content.
What server are you on? It might benefit you to look for a guild of active folks for a little bit of guidance and those sweet sweet ship buffs
This is definitely an MMO with depth, especially around character creation, gear, and quests (~500 of them, almost all playable at multiple difficulty levels). If you have general questions, you can check out the official game forums, or even better, ask specific questions in the DDO Discord channel or subreddit. General chat in the game is little used and frequently ignored, but if you join a group or a guild people will usually be happy to walk you through quests and explain things. Enjoy!
happy to see this comment that's what i want :D
Loved the "Clockworks Orange" reference. I have been on DDO since 2010 and have found most players to be very helpful and will explain character development.
DDO was legendary, spent a winter playing a mage and it was a blast!
man I played this game in second grade in 2006, some of my best memories are tied to this game and I made countless friends from ddo, some of which I'm still friends with to this day. I cant even begin to explain how much fun it was leading raids at 8 years old, farming for that sick black axe in vault of night, farming for my green steel weapon, there was so much farming. Yes the grind was horrendous but damn it was fun. I remember one time I farmed for weeks and weeks to get this item called "The Bloodstone" finally after watching my farming partner get it twice during those weeks, it finally dropped for me, I'm literally crying tears of joy at this point. I rush to place it up on the auction house for at least a million plat, but keep in mind I'm fucking 7 or 8 at this point. I accidentally list it for 100k plat, it gets bought almost immediately, I'm over joyed at this point thinking I listed it for 1mill and check my mail box. I pick up the amount and only then do i realize my mistake. I'm full on sobbing at my loss of profit at this point. I had never had a lot of plat in the game and this would've been the most I'd ever owned. I was completely devastated. This game was magical for me and sort of gave me a playground to make all the stupid mistakes kids do and learn how to be a human in a safe place with some of the kindest people I've ever met. 7/10 game it's alright
I started playing at the same age and at the same time. It absolutely rocked my world and influenced so much in my life.
my god i was 30..crap im old
Wow. You were one smart 2nd grader. I couldn't even land the plane in Top Gun for NES.
bro what? maybe 5th grade, c'mon 2nd graders can barely play minecraft...
i started playing in 2009 but essentially the same experience
only game that has me coming back every year
A great and fair summary of the game Mitch! I’ve played it on and off for many years. It’s unique draw is the huge (massively huge) amount of ways you can customize your character and the new experiences that brings. As well as the enormous amount of content it now has.
Been playing this game for years. As a 3.5 player for plenty of years, I fell in love with the monsters, the quest, and the mechanics. The DM narrating, the gritty darkness to the plotline, the occasional humor and hotkey style of play. DDO is a great game and its awesome to see someone make a review on it of such appropriate quality.
This game has been my go to since release, every mmo i play i keep on comparing back to DDO and they never quite do it for me. The gameplay loop while sometimes repetitive during the low levels quickly becomes fun as you gain some levels. The reincarnation system is also a mechanic that i really enjoy, enabling you to improve your character a bit by bit by restarting to level and taking on a new class/race. While the game certainly has it's quirks like buggy ladders, i still find that it is quite enjoyable and stable for such an old game. (Also the wolves "spawning" where actually wolves hidden which is why you could not see them, you would have been able to see them if you had your spot skill higher). No other games out there has quite this level of character building and gameplay.
Doesn't it get boring just soloing pretty much everything and zerging your way to epic levels, then just reincarnating to do the same old quests you have done a literally hundreds of times?
Have not played in a while. Played on Khyber. Pugs still dead?
@@nilsalmgren4492 Honestly not for me, i do always play different builds every life though and the new adventure packs that comes out every year make the process less repetitive. As for PUGs if hardcore is up the PUGs are usually pretty dead but if not, it's pretty alive (i play on Sarlona). The gameplay is quite different from a sorc to a druid to a fighter to ranger for example, so it keeps the game fun for me. Also reaper makes all those quests much more challenging.
@@antoineminer1503 Reaper is tougher but with past life epic bonuses as well as top equipment, it is not nearly as bad. I thought it pretty crappy that even if you were paying you still had to buy the new releases. I bought all the original stuff with turbine points, then thought upgrading to p2p would get the new stuff. Wrong answer. Got kidney cancer, had surgery, quit playing, did not go back.
If they would randomly have traps, instead of having boxes in the same spot all the time, the game would be more interesting. As long as you can get evasion and save out of traps pretty much all the time, and take little damage if you do get hit, guess it really does not matter. Other than getting the noobs in your party wiped.
Here let me get your stone...can you move so I can get your stone?
I will be playing this until they close the servers. Oldest toon was created on day 1. Amazing amount of content, great story lines, 15 years in and i am still just an egg....got to get those reaper wings yet...
I loved the kobold mining event when it first came out. Your goal was to locate mining nodes, set up pathing lines for the kobolds to get to work, and buying additional helpers and upgrades to boost productivity, meanwhile protecting them from attackers. I still have "I'm a double-barrel kobold!", and "I'm a kobold on the edge!" etched in my mind.
Fair review although a clarification on the dying aspect. If you die solo your soul is allowed to wander but not far from your stone. It can wander to a shrine if the door happens to be open to resurrect your character and continue without having to start over or reenter the instance. That is unless you're doing hardcore league, then if you die your toast.
Also, hirelings can be ordered to pick up your stone and carry it to a shrine (they'll follow you when you move if they have your stone).
The 32 point build feature in the cash shop is mostly a newb trap, as you get higher than that just from playing the game with a character. Same with the veteran feature allowing you to start at lvl 7. Its for making quick alts, not for seriously playing the game. Essentially these features cant apply to your main character.
Not to mention that both features are also available for free with enough time invested into the game.
CoinLord Favor unlocks both
Yeah also don't forget to talk to the dude to unlock it I got the start at lv7 and forgot to talk to the guy before TRing so I could use it for alts.
it used to be good, when i first started playing around 2008, if you saw a 3rd lifer running around they we're legends.
Awesome game choice! D&D content like this helps me keep going until Baldur's Gate 3 releases. :)
Also, I have fond memories of DDO. Exploring dungeons with my friends, listening to the DM's voice, dodging traps, etc. I appreciated that I tried to do something different.
I'd love to see your take on Secret World Legends. It has its issues, but the story and atmosphere were great, as was the unique urban fantasy setting.
👍
The combat sucks balls
I loved this game prior to the "legends" update. I stopped playing around that time. But TSW was one of my favorite MMO's I've ever played
True. Some of the best stories and ambiance I have seen in MMOs. The pay-to-win stuff, including literal loot boxes, that fans will of course deny and justify, turned me off once I had finished the entire main quest (which took me a long time though!). Nb: I had bought the game before it was free-to-play.
@@Baraz_Red True. You can treat it as a single player or co-op RPG and play for the story, atmosphere, and setting, and have a lot of fun though I think.
This DDO retrospective does the game right. it has some serious shortcomings but it's super charming for it's flavor.
I absolutely adore DDO, even though I'm really bad at it
Edit: dying in a quest doesn't necessarily mean you have to start over. If you release, there's an invisible timer that counts down and if you get back to the instance before it's done, you can continue where you left off and it doesn't reset.
Edit 2: aw man, sad you didn't get to experience the "Mists of Ravenloft" expansion, it's absolutely amazing. Once purchased, I think one can access it around level 10, if I remember correctly
Lots I like in this one personally. That must be a bloody short timer! Any why make it invisible? Poor old boop.
@@MitchManix yeah I have no clue how short the timer is, but I know it's short enough for me to eat+drink asap at the inn I'm respawned at and rush across the galaxy faster than humanly possible to enter whatever quest I was in
@@MitchManix get a cleric hireling or group with a cleric/FVS player. They can often resurrect you when you die at higher levels. There are also resurrection shrines you can sometimes get to while dead in the quests
@@MitchManix The timer for an instance to drop after it's empty is around 5 minutes, as far as I'm aware. So that's the time you have to recover and get back to it. Each time you leave there's a penalty on the experience you get at the end, though.
@@XDDD881 5 minutes.
That asmon clip 2 mins is was prime haha
About dying while solo in quest, you actually DON'T have to restart it entirely: the instance will remain open for 5 minutes in which you can heal and reenter the quest, with a sizeable hit to your xp reward, but maintaining your quest progress.
As for the "invisible spawning NPCs", that's because your Perception skill isn't high enough, it's actually a feature (no sarcarsm xD)
Most content is given out for free now and then, the insane amount of quests means you won't run out of stuff to run anytime soon ^^
As for the P2W aspect, the two offenders are XP potions (only really matter if you decide to grind past lives) and raid timer bypasses (if you decide 5-10 raids every 3 days is not enough for you). The rest of the items are really just convenience stuff you can get with the DDO points you earn for free, it's very F2P friendly imho.
I just find it so damn charming that the game is even still going.
Like, I will completely forget about it for YEARS, and then suddenly get reminded of it and it's just still chugging along.
When DDO came out I played 6 years straight, then took a year off, then played another 2 years. Great game. Never put much time into an MMO since. As someone who played tabletop DnD in the 70s and 80s, I loved the character complexity in DDO. And I think the instanced questing is the best thing about it. I love the wide range of designs. And the traps, secrets, and puzzles are always fun. As you get to higher levels, the quests were designed later in the game's life and the quality and variety goes up significantly. It is also the only MMO that I actually enjoyed raiding as it can be done with a pickup group of strangers instead of having to train with a dedicated group run like a military operation. I liked leading raids of noobs in DDO!
Excellent video, but there two things that kind of bugged me that I wanted to clear up:
1. At 9:55 I normally suggest pressing O and finding a party through the social tab. Waiting for others to randomly join you isn't suggested.
2. At 11:30 you mention the ability to make 32-point build characters. You can do this for free in multiple ways, up to 36-pt characters. You can either get enough favor to play the Drow Elf (easy way) OR you can TR after level 20 to make a character with additional skill points.
Thanks for the info mate. Ill try out the social tab next time for sure.
They actually change the drow favor rewrd to warforged
Drow is free now. 32 point build can be unlocked with 1750 favor. Favored Soul is still the same at 2500.
@@TheWMoore77 Good to know. It's been a few months.
Amazing game, been playing since 2008 (back then I was on dial-up), with my favorite character building system and quest system. The modular characters with alot of individual class depth which leads to multiple people working together in a party to cover the problems, quests can throw at you. Be it the rogue to disarm traps or the charismatic sorcerer to nuke things and bluff an NPC to progress a quest in a different way.
The game definitely opens up alot more in content and player power as you level.
A few tidbits you covered that have some extra info :)
Clowncar spawns - thats how the game deals with stealthed enemies. if you have listen or spot, you can see them moving and where they are before they spawn out of thin air, as long as your stat is high enough (it will also alert you to traps before you stand on them)
Death can lead to failure of quests - Every quest instance has a 5 minute timer on it. If you someone stays in it (dead or otherwise) or you get back within the 5 minute timer, the instance will be re-enterable at 10% xp penalty. I used to do this alot back in the solo days
32 point build - this can be unlocked passively through play. The game has reputation you gain per quest completed, more rep from higher difficulty completions. theres is a rep that is a total of all of the rep you have achieved, that unlocks only store items and gives you store points at regular thresholds. Note this unlock is only on the server you are playing on. (store points are universal though)
I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys party based MMO's. It can be done with as low as 2 players but can get pretty vicious on difficulty. Hirelings can somewhat help, they can be quite braindead at times. At higher levels the class depth explodes with things to use and you can respec your enhancement tree as many times as you want if you have the ingame coin.
The quest packs are great too, I liked that back in the day I could earn them through grinding rep and then had them personally. SSG even did an event 1 or 2 years ago where you could have all payed adventure packs for free.
Thanks for the great video @MitchManix
I should also mention the quests gain scope quickly. low level quests have a few grand scope questlines, like the blood carnival or Vault of nights chains. Further down the path you get some truly unique DND experiences such as the madness chains, so much fun. The expansions also lend incredible amounts of content, in particular Ravenlofts.
@@Exceige I think they knocked the last four expansions out of the park completely. Ravenloft, Sharn, Feywild, and Isle of dread are all great. I think I like the whimsy of Fay wild, and the gritty scope of masterminds of Sharn more than ravenloft, but again they're all spectacular.
That bring back memories. Yeah, those dial up days
@@Exceige Still gotta be careful. A lot of adventure packs are good, but there's definitely 4 I don't recommend. Tangleroot Gorge, Sorrowdusk Isle, Ruins of Threnal, and Restless Isles. The first three are super repetitive, and restless Isles is just stupid hard and not very rewarding.
@@gavinziozios1431 can definitely agree that not all packs are created equal. Research will go a long way for new players to get the best mileage from their points. I actually enjoy Tangleroot but that might be my bias showing. I find necro 1-3 painfully repetitive now but I blame that mostly on some guild mates who were hardcore zergs when it came to necro.
I geuss my favourite packs would be the 3 madness chains, blood carnival, gianthold, necro 4, vault of night. White plume mountain would have to be a favourite from the new sets
I played for years, started a bit before monks and half orc/elf update. Very soloable, but most fun when you come in clutch and save the party in some way. Your video makes me want to go back and see if my old guild is still there.
Guy at the end just rolled a Nat 1 on his stealth check 😆
It must have taken you a while to get maxed out like that. I know every time I see one of your vids I am guaranteed a laugh as well as a really thorough unbiased review. Keep up the amazing work my friend! 😄👍
That review of a game, Its like reviewing wow after getting to level 20 back in the day, when the cap was 120. Or level 10 in dragonflight and only seeing the starter zones.
I played the game around 2012, when it was already in decline and my feeling was that it was the best game ever since today. I joined an amazing guild and we were all on skype during the battles which made them epic. I was a proper noobie and found it hard to understand how we completed some quests as I was a support character. A very complex game and enjoyable, but for me it turned out to be a painful experience. I started paying monthly and it worked fine. Everyone told me to buy/unlock areas of the game so that I can play it on the long term. I unlocked nearly the whole game, cost me over £100, and after 2 weeks my account was completely stolen. I don't know how, but when I logged in everything I paid and my progress was lost. I was devastated. I tried with the customer service back then, but it was non existent. Since then I never played MMORPG again and it hurts because I lost contact with all the friends I made there.
Hey, I just found your vids and I've been binging on them! I love your style of content, thanks again.
Been a few months since I played, but will share what I remember. Your health and mana (or whatever the game calls your spell-using resource) do not regenerate on their own. You have to sit by a monolith-looking object, which has a cooldown after you use it; so you can't do it again for like 5 minutes, or whatever. Every quest is instanced. You won't run into someone doing your quest, and decide to group, while you're at the quest location. And good luck finding anyone to group ahead of time.
Some of the instances are really long, like four times longer than the first few quests. If you log out, or leave the instance, you have to start over again. So if you get a call, or your internet goes out, or you need to take your dog for a walk...forget it!
There are traps in the instances. You'll need one particular stat to even sense them. Can't remember which one, "Spot" maybe. Then you'll need to disarm the trap, if you're solo, which requires you to put points into disarm trap skill. You put points into a limited number of things, including holding your breath while swimming, jumping, reducing damage from falling, stealth, spotting mobs who are stealthed, and so on. But only certain classes can do these things, and you need to first put points into the main stat that even allows you to do it--like agility or whatever.
So many skills, and so few points! And some of them you'll want for necessities like strength and health. But if you go for all strength and health, then you'll walk through the fire traps. The traps will burn you, removing your health, which you can only heal at the monolith once every 5 minutes or so.
I subscribed for a month, to get access to classes that weren't terrible. And, of them, only Dark Ranger (or whatever it was called) could do all those things I mentioned, and still be able to fight well, and not be squishy like a rogue.
Also, mobs don't drop loot. Yeah, you read that right. The only loot you get is from a chest, which is either at the end of the instance, or sometimes hidden behind a secret door. But you need the "spot" skill (or whatever it's called) to even detect a hidden chamber, then another skill to find it (called "find"), and if there's a trap protecting it, you'll have to spot that and disarm it. Otherwise, that one single chest in the entire instance is unavailable to you!
All of this took me a week or two of trial and error, reading stuff online to figure out. (There isn't much online either.) And it left me with one single class: the Dark Ranger. Still, I was fine with it, until one of those instances took over an hour: I wanted to cry, because I couldn't take it anymore; but I wanted the blue-item quest reward. I finally completed it, logged off the rest of the day in disgust, with a headache. Next day I cancelled by subscription.
The game was fun at times. Sorry I've been so negative. I wouldn't have stuck with it otherwise. But the pita nature of it eventually overwhelmed the fun I was having. If you try this game without any preparation, may whatever gods you believe in have mercy upon your soul! :)
One of my favorites. There is absolutely a pay-for-power element at play, though it is technically possible to get just about everything without paying if you earn it (not only do you earn store currency for completing quests allowing you to buy whatever you want, but much of the premium stuff, from enhancement trees to races to ability to create characters with more points, can be unlocked by completing certain milestones throughout). Main things the review didn't cover:
-The reincarnation system: You don't just level up and stay at the level cap. Players can earn additional points to spend on characters by reincarnating along with other perks (a second-life character starts at level 1 but with a 32 point build and free to play access to hard unlocked for all quests, alongside earning past life feats based on what class/race they played in their previous life, for example). The end game is designed to be the early game, which helps the group-finding process if you are willing to try reaper content (harder difficulties)
-The quest difficulty system: You can increase the difficulty of any quest in exchange for increasing the rewards for completing it. There are 15 difficulty settings for every quest (casual/normal/hard/elite, reaper 1-10). This helps ensure more powerful characters with multiple past lives are still challenged when in a 6-person coordinated party, but solo players can still do the quest for story and find a challenging difficulty for them.
-The queue system: There is no queue system. You post a listing, and others can respond to it. If they do, you get a message in the chat allowing you to accept them into your party.
- Event servers: The Hardcore League permadeath servers start everyone at level 1 with no bonuses, gear, or money. This is a nice way to learn the game, as lots of players will be levelling with you.
-Static Groups: It is very common for players to create 6-party teams that go through dungeons and level together, meeting once or twice a week for a scheduled play session similar to how tabletop dnd is played. You can find listings for these on the forums, along with character planners and build guides.
-Voice chat: The game was created before skype/discord were popular. Absent a good voice client, they added one into the game that uses push-to-talk to save bandwidth. It is surprisingly good - one of the best I've seen in any MMO, and actually used by players often.
DDO needs more love...subbed
notable for being the only game D&D Co-Creator had a Voice part in, he narrates several quests in the game
Arneson and Gygax BOTH narrated quests for DDO.
@@ConradDunkerson oh didn't known Arneson did some quests
This was always the best part of DDO ... if you truly understand the mechanics, you can create a truly OP build. I made a Paladin Purple Dragon Knight who used charisma for all damage and attack rolls... and had obscene amounts of said charisma. Could do all quests all alone, even Reaper difficulty to some degree, and did a raid with only a fellow buddy who had an OP build of his own.
that was one of my favorites builds i ever played loads of fun
While it wasn't my character, it was, by all accounts, my build. My dad had a cleric he was originally reluctant about. To him, a cleric is a healer, and I convinced him to branch out and make an attack spell cleric. I even made an equipment list and everything for him. For the most part, I ended up just pointing in a direction and I let the divine artillery do the rest
I was thinking that song sounded like Mr. CROWLEY as well lol
I actually did crafting just because I loved that song so much 😉
Same! When he put the picture of Ozzy I laughed out loud :D Glad to see that I wasn't the only one.
I remember this game, its been ages since I've played. Might go back for a visit.
Meridia : Vale of Twilight quests were made by rockers/metalhead devs. Rainbow in the Dark, Running with the Devils, Coal Chamber. Also Ataraxias Haven even has Rudolf Schenker show on the beach.
at 10:28. that's not spawning enemies out of thin air (the wolves). The wolves are in stealth. If you spot or hearing skill is high enough you can see them as see trough wolves or get "audio" rings on the floor. If a see invisible spell or an item with that effect is on you you can simply see them - before they attack.
But a you did a good summary of DDO! :)
I haven't played that game in years but back in the day it was really cool and having Gary Gygax narrate was fun.
Enjoyed this back at launch. " great ideas that need to be utilised elsewhere far more often, dungeon mechanics such as traps and puzzles. Also, you could do them in chapters, so break them up, say into 4 parts, easier than trying to do in 1 whole night if you didn't have the time.
"...oh that's my shadow" ahahahahah well played sir, well played. Here have a sub
The Hardcore servers are super popular when the seasons starts. I also think that games like the new divinity, and new Balders Gate should help people with the 3.5 system. The more powerful creation is a item for reincarnation that you can get from chests in game.
Great review and even though I stopped playing this ages ago, it still holds a special place in my heart.
You should come back for the Isle of Dread expansion. One word: dinosaurs. Two words: dinosaur mounts.
I love this game so much. One major thing you left out is that the dungeons were designed with groups of players in mind. Aside from the typical combat roles, to do everything you'd typically need a rogue for traps and locked gates, caster to activate rune puzzles, and a warrior to move rusted levers and such (as well as activating traps with their face). Also the soul stones that drop when you die can be picked up and carried to res shrines. The whole thing made it really feel like a cohesive party experience, and I haven't seen anything else like it since. Unfortunately, as you said in the video, getting a PUG at low levels is nearly impossible since the server population is dying, but back in the day it was a breeze to find a party and make buddies to do all the content. Anyway, great overview!
A childhood friend of mine and I play almost everyday. We do everything, and are still throughly enjoying playing for a 2 yrs almost. We have a small guild, and have gone from guild level 32 to level 85 in that time.
Guild: The Cadre, Thalanis Server
I have some great memories from playing this game some ten years ago. I also played way back in its first release.
I played DDO back at launch. I loved it. The first 15 or so levels (I believe) back then were incredible, I rolled character after character just to experience those first sets of hours. Doing the starter dungeons, solving the sliding tile puzzles, finding all of the breakables and chests, then doing the Low Road on all of the classes, leveling up to I think 11, where you could unlock the Drow. Going back making a Drow sorcerer, getting the web spell and becoming the dedicated CC in dungeons. It was great fun, honestly, one of the best starter experiences in an MMO, right there along side the Trial Island in that old EQ2 free trial and Warhammer Online's first 20 levels, as far as starting MMO experiences go. That all went away after the first revamp, and it doesn't seem like its returned. It also struggled past those early levels, like a lot of MMORPG's do, where they have a really well done, hand-crafted first quarter of the levels and then its sort of filler until level cap.
Truly love the way you edit your video's, keep up the great work!
DDO introduced a somewhat unique ability called reincarnation which comes in two forms racial reincarnation and general reincarnation, in essence, any time after level 20 you have the ability to reroll your character which has some in-game tangible benefits, you become stronger and are given a small buff that continues every time you reincarnate, so you become stronger and you have the ability to keep your existing character and keep developing and making different race and class combinations. Been a firm fan of DDO for years and continue to return to the game. There is also recently a new type of character creation called archetypes which mix some classes together to give unique flavor builds, also you have prebuilt types that start at 15 and come fully equipped for people that want to experience the mid-tier without grinding up to that point. Though to note a lot of this is locked behind pay walls, but they do offer unlockable options and a couple of free versions.
My mum has been playing this game since near the beginning and still plays to this day. I played a warforged wizard when I was young but didn't give it a proper go till the monk came out and hit level 16. Most of the level 1-10 quests are seared into mind.
I have played DDO on and off since its launch... and its the depth, the atmosphere and the builds that pull me back time and again. There are currently 15 classes to choose from and for a beginner that can be, as with other games, be daunting. For those completely new to the game, I would recommend Clerics (Dark Apostate), Druids (Blight Caster), Paladins (regular) and Warlocks (regular) to start with; only Paladin is melee but the casters are all very different. As others have mentioned below, there are a lot of videos explaining builds and guides to particular quests. DDO takes time to get used to but it is, imho, worth it. No other MMO comes near to DDO in terms of flexibility in character builds.
Got the impression this game always needed a group to play it back in the day, much like real D&D. I guess they made it solo friendly or added group finder tools to alleviate that. But I'm betting it has a lot of appeal that classic WoW has, namely long challenging questing with preparation and some thought required. Rather than the smash everything in your path mashing buttons to level cap of modern MMOs.
DDO has done a good job of balancing soloability with encouraging grouping. I like to solo when learning new quests, but grouping is more fun if for no other reason than the social aspect of working with other people.
To play solo most dungeons you need : Healing and trap detection. God I hate traps in this game
Happy to see that this game is stil alive. Spent so much time in it back in the days. To bad no other MMO has adapted this style of fighting. Have not found another MMO worth playing after i got burned out playing DDO.
6:28 bro! 😂😂😂 Popped right into me head and then BAM you put in out lmao
I played it for years when it came out and recently went back to it. It's a completely different game then it was back in the day. Just glad I had the time I did when it was still a fun game and not just a gear grinder at end game.
An underrated game. I recall liking it a lot couple of years back. MMO is a cruel market - you either win everything and thrive or you die / fall into this weird limbo, where your game is neither dead or alive.
I'm still not levitating, but that's okay cause I'm getting some solid, underrated content :)
I put a ton of time into DDO. Note that by completing quests, you can accumulate shop currency, and the higher difficulty you do, the more you get. Some of the other things aren't necessarily needed to buy either. If memory serves if you build up reputation with various groups you can unlock things like making subsequent characters at 32 point buy rather than the starting 28. Delera's Tomb is a must
This is my favorite game to play, just with the seemingly endless character build options I won't play anything else unless they come up with such a robust character creation / build system.
This review brings back memories, last time I played during 2009-2013, it was a blast, met alot of interesting players, joined a guild, level up, follow sets of quests with interesting plot and twist, and joined the end game raids, lastly do somekind reincarnation to reset back to lvl 1 with stacking bonus and better stats.
But yeah, this game have some complex mechanics behind it, I already getting used to it cause I played the tabletop pen & paper version, but yeah its complex.
Also some pay-walled good content abit sucks, but its a free to play game, so I kinda understand
This video displays some good review and bits of comedic fun there ^^
Keep it up :D
Thank you for investing a significant amount of time to explore. Most reviewers never get past Korthos. Your summary is fair and your knowledge of other games adds objectivity and insight.
One of the commenters mentioned hardcore league. The challenge is INSANE. But not for the faint of heart.
Well done it can feel old the newer areas also have updated graphics and so forth you can see and feel the difference between the old and the new either way can still be fun, casters are always a touch way to start but around lvl 10 to 11 become pretty solid and just get better.
The game is HUGE. They keep making massive content updates and new classes / races. The game is the best game ever made.
Since 6 months i couldn't find one NPC in the starting town to progress the story. I'm gonna try and find him and i hope i do.
Ive never played this but am a huge fan of DnD in general. More than anything I really enjoyed the video! Great work!
If you're going to be soloing as a sorcerer I would recommend multiclassing. Take 2 levels of Bard so you can get the cure light wounds spell to heal yourself with and be able to cast spells while wearing light armour. The bard enhancements can make you better at melee fighting and the skills Tumble, Perform and Use Magic Device will be helpful for you too. 2 levels of Rogue would be good too to get the evasion ability (Means you will take no damage from traps and a lot of spells if you succeed a reflex save) and see about getting your reflex saves up. Plus you can take the skills Spot, search, disable device to help with traps, secret passages and hidden monsters.
This is my favorite MMORPG... Nay, favorite game of all time! I have been playing it since it came out, and I still play it with my wife and friends.
I really want to play it again (The last time I got to solidly play it with a crew was when Gianthold was endgame content...I've dabbled in it here and there since then, but can't ever get back into it because everyone else there has the content memorized and are just doing speed runs.)
I would LOVE to level up characters and get into that again and explore all the content.
Just not going to blaze the fastest trail to buying xpacs to blaze through them.
Honestly I was a Neverwinter player back when it was slightly newer (before its official expansion that added a level cap...think it had to do with Elementals). Despite the intense demand for lootboxes that were easy to ignore (but were still annoying and cluttered one's inventory) the game was pretty fun. It was one of my first real MMOs that I actually partook in.
I can see though why D&D Online would be cool though. Games should allow you, the player, to fail in order to keep you engaged. It should never be abused as a moneymaking mechanic, but it should also help keep things interesting, because playing a game for the sake of feel-good participation rewards isn't actually fun, it's just bland.
Use to have several maxed toons in this game. Tried going back with a new account a year or two ago and the game wanted $10 to go from the starting area to the main game. The worst thing about it is I completed ALL availability challenges and quests all the way the highest difficulty solo. This took some time. Time wasted. If you don’t have a couple of people to play with you hit a wall around tenth level where you have to put money in or you end up failing about %80of everything you attempt. At least this how it was before I quit and came back.
I've been a devoted fan of my favorite game for the past 15 years. I completely agree with the points made in the video. Unfortunately, it can be challenging to introduce new players to the game due to its complexity. Luckily, I have a friend who has been playing with me all this time.
6:38 oh my lord, you're a creative genius and master of the punchline. I guffawed!
Note the 32 point pay for power thing. Can be earned in game by just completing faction quests. It's how me and all my friends got it anyways.
I really love this MMO, I prob put more money into this than any other MMO, (around 200 dollars over the course of a few years), The near infinite character customization (multiclassing/builds) is super unique, you can really make a character to fit a niche or style YOU want. And even though its not exactly 3.5 DnD its still close enough to be recognizable, probably the best they could have done without making it boring
Also the Gear is actually unique and interesting, with really powerful effects, and buffs that can change how you play your character.
There used to be a code that let you get almost all the adventure packs for free, which was nice.
One thing that bugs me a LOT about this game, is that the sub, does not give you access to all the content, the expansions must still be bought. This makes it hard to get new friends into it, as even with the sub, they are not getting access to everything, and I find that pretty sad, it was sort of a straw that broke the camels back for me.
I get they have to make money, but how are you supposed to get new players if some of the best content is locked behind 40 euros + sub? It doesn't have the benefit of being WoW, so it can't use their expensive business model.
11:40 ish,
The 32 point character build is purchasable. However, just playing the through and using the reincarnation mechanic unlocks this for free. Repeating a second time through unlock a 36 point build. Repeating this multiple time per class or per race also opens up bonuses to future lives of that character.
The option on the store is there for those that want instant gratification rather than playing the content.
Now, that said, there is a pay only option that allows someone to start at level 4 or level 7 on initial character creation. I use this for making mule characters to hold gear I don’t want to get rid of.
Yes the game is old and dated in graphics. But they keep it fresh with regular content additions. Only major expansions are paid for, but they have added a lot for free. And almost nothing bought on the store cannot be earned by playing. So, the “pay wall” is there for something’s, but it does not exist to hinder people from enjoying the game.
The best option is just subscribe. Pay by the year for the cheapest rate, and help support future game development as well as unlocking unnecessary but quite nice perks.
Still playing DDO. Making pauses to try another one, I keep returning. Most complex, rewarding, variable game. And BESTEST community:))
“Baldar the bald” 😂 2:11
I've played this on and off for almost as long as it's existed and I still come back for a more chill experience, I tend to play it as a single player dungeon crawler rather than an MMO and it holds up pretty well in that context.
Also the 32 point character build thing (like a lot of account bonuses, races and classes ) is unlockable for free with enough accumulated renown which is also how you get free points to buy paid content, still a bit of a grind to do it that way but it's still quite doable to get everything for free.
I've been playing on and off since launch. Awesome memories and friendships made.
Another thing to mention is just how far DDO has come since release. Max level was 10 or 12, cant remember and the content was really lacking. Now, there are truck loads of content. Also the game is really split into two parts. Levels 1-20 or Heroic content and Epic content from levels 21 to 32 now. A lot of people just run Heroic content, and many people love to min-max there characters and level them to 32. Point is there is so many ways to play DDO online, solo, solo + companions, pugs and guilds. There are specialized guilds too, i really enjoy perma death play where you only get 1 death period. Completely changes the way you play the game. Finally there is high end reaper play which is the highest difficulty in the game. DDO still has a ton to offer for people that can see past the dated graphics and small bugs.
Yeah, you definitely could use a (cleric!) hireling asap, they help so much.
Most MMOs I see around are just money-grabbing, soulless copies. Nothing seems to have any character, like DDO (or Fallout for single-player). If you only crave the latest thing, best stay away, but if you like a character, story and world that are interesting, come on over.
I'm not sure if you looked at the sOcial/LFM window, coz that's where you'll find and organise groups and parties. If you only go in on normal (f2p speciality), you're unlikely to get many takers. Elite (and reaper for some) is where you get favour, and XP, and can get other players with an LFM (depending on server. Some -are- dead).
And the best thing is you don't have to pay anything to play, as you get favour (from playing new quests) you get points to spend, so you can get everything, eventually. And champions (the "powerful" character with a whole 4 points in abilities [=not that much]) are unlocked on a server-wide basis at 1,750 favour on one character. And with reincarnation you get stronger chars, which can open hard (2nd life)/elite (3rd+) straight away, with more and more build options. It takes a bit of time, but everything is available, eventually 🙂
Just a note. On a free account, you can open quests on hard difficulty on your 2nd life, and elite (and higher) difficulty on your 3rd life. So, pretty quickly on your main character, you won't need a paid subscription in order to open quests at their highest difficulty.
I was already singing Mr Crowley when you threw it in there. Liked and subscribed just for that alone!
love the video been playing a long time and the spawning mobs is based on spot for your toon boop was just blind lol
Really good video my friend, Though I will turn your attention to a mechanic that the game seems to have not informed you of.
During most quests there are Rest Shrines, They teach you about them during the Tutorial Quest, Each Shrine has 2 sides, 1 you can use to rest and recover your spell points, The other side you can use to resurrect yourself if you die mid mission, As long as you can get to a shrine within 10 seconds of where you died you can be revived for free.
Just fyi this game can be multi-boxed, although there is no follow feature. I regularly 4 box, with 1 toon and 3 "piking" or standing at the entrance to get xp. However, what this also allows is to put a rogue or cleric in your party so you can raise dead or get around traps. Its tedious but it works. Its especially useful for farming guild XP. Also you didn't mention bonus xp for objectives in each dungeon and bonus xp for disarming traps, smashing boxes, finding secret doors etc. You also didn't go over the core mechanic of reincarnation. Allowing you to reach level 20 and reincarnate, giving you some permanent stat buffs and other enhancements. It means all level content is relevant all the time for your character. To be the ultimate grinder you can reach level 20 on every class with one toon to get a special completionist feat. There's also Epic and Legendary levelling with its own system. At the moment there is a temporary hardcore Permadeath server where you get unique rewards for surviving the season and achieving goals. Its also open to F2P players.
nice work! I lost it at the asmongold clip!
Me too LOL. If only Asmongold were to play DDO./. No he better not. because the amount of people that would flood to the game, the servers wouldnt be able to handle it.
After my brother got me hooked on d&d, this game was my official time sink. I LOVED the team up system in this game, "looking for rogue" just made me feel like i was a bounty hunter of sorts, people would pay me tickets into premium payed content just so they could get a good utility rogue.
one of the very few MMOs that has a Better END GAME than the start / been playing this game over 10 years and still love it / yes its a steep learning curve with no D and D background