DDO: Eberron Unlimited - DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE®: Eberron Unlimited™ Forums

Fernando · 06-09-2009, 10:59 AM

Hi Everyone!

Today is a big day for DDO! You have been waiting a long time for news of what we’ve been doing and wondering when M9 would be released. Well as of today, the business guys have finished doing their business things and finally we can chat with you about all of our big plans for your favorite MMO. Thank you for your patience and for sticking with us!

With today’s announcement of Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited, we start on the path to a big relaunch push which will bring a flood of new players into our community. Now it will be easier than ever to get all of your friends to play DDO with you. Even that cheap-o guy and your other friend who says she’s already paying a subscription for some other MMO.

But first, we have some important business to attend to with our Beta. This is a big update and we are going to make sure things are working well. The big new hotness today is the introduction of the DDO Store! The DDO Store represents a ton of new technology and features for our game service and is the foundation for offering our players new options on how they play and pay for the game. We need your help to test it, and we encourage you to hop onto Lamannia to check it out today!

But what you see on Lamannia today is not all there is to DDO Unlimited! In addition to everything in the update formerly known as “Mod 9,” which you may have seen in our last preview, we will soon be releasing a whole lot more to our Beta players. Like what? Well, in broad terms we’ve added more of what you’ve told us you want! We’ve been listening to your feedback and we’ve made an effort to address the top issues and requests.

Our next Beta update will include a new class, additional quests for both low and high level players, improvements to our challenge scaling system, options to let players configure the UI and we have fixed the lag! OK, so I can’t promise that the Lag Monster is dead for good, but we have made some huge optimizations and changes which will make him not come around nearly as often and make sure we have room for many more players on our servers. We will be sharing more details and engaging the community in specific discussions on all of these improvements in the next few weeks of the beta. Sign up today to stay on top of the latest and greatest!

Thanks again for being a part of the DDO community and helping us make the most kick-ass MMO on the planet! We look forward to a bright new future with DDO Unlimited and we hope you will enjoy the ride!

-Fernando.

Kraak · 06-09-2009, 11:02 AM

7-9 month slip of content for....what?....I'm not exactly sure.

Edit: In all seriousness. If you're telling us late summer, based on your history this does not look good at all. Please provide a date that you can stick to (i.e. +/- 1 month).

Hafeal · 06-09-2009, 11:02 AM

I guess this would cement the move to micro-transactions as we have long speculated here on the forums.

Gutsy and risky ...

Hafeal · 06-09-2009, 11:04 AM

Here's my question Fernando -

Will there also be any change to the subscription pay models? Thanks for your anticipated response.

Borror0 · 06-09-2009, 11:04 AM

Can we have more details about the eStore?

Is there more on Lamannia than what we say before? I assume that any progress made on Lamannia will be lost once Unlimited hits the live server, correct?

Shadow_Flayer · 06-09-2009, 11:05 AM

Thanks for the update Fernando. I'm looking forward to reading more about what Eberron Unlimited is going to be all about.

Hafeal · 06-09-2009, 11:06 AM

I second this request. Especially for those of us who do not have Lammania loaded.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Borror0

Can we have more details about the eStore?

Is there more on Lamannia than what we say before? I assume that any progress made on Lamannia will be lost once Unlimited hits the live server, correct?

smatt · 06-09-2009, 11:07 AM

As I said... It's all great we get to Beta for the "Soon" stuff... This does nothing for the all the bull we were given since the end of last year and the update that was promised months ago..... New players "Soon" great, New content "Soon" great.... New way for Turbine to bill great....

But.......

brlftz · 06-09-2009, 11:07 AM

holy cow! i'm blown away by the magnitude of what's going on today. CONGRATULATIONS on a big, big day.

CSFurious · 06-09-2009, 11:07 AM

i saw that VIP's get priority in the queue

i can only assume that you are either merging some servers or that non-VIP's will have to wait to log on during peak times

any guidance from devs would be much appreciated

thanks

DelScorcho · 06-09-2009, 11:08 AM

As I had indicated in another thread, my biggest expectation with today's announcement was that we would have a firm release date and a reason for the delay. The above announced change, while interesting, isn't really responsive to any of my concerns. If possible, I would ask if the OP could comment on these issues, as well as explaining how the changed model will prevent these delays in the future.

Thanimal · 06-09-2009, 11:08 AM

So, did anyone notice that he said they fixed the lag!!??

Let's pray it's mostly true.

Hafeal · 06-09-2009, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CSFurious

i saw that VIP's get priority in the queue

i can only assume that you are either merging some servers or that non-VIP's will have to wait to log on during peak times

any guidance from devs would be much appreciated

thanks

Or will there just be dedicated servers to paying players?

Montrose · 06-09-2009, 11:11 AM

Can we get a tentative timeline on when the beta invites will go out? I'm very interested to check this out.

Also, i assume that with the beta invites you'll also send the instructions on downloading and isntalling lamania?

I've not previously done the beta server thing, but this change sounds very interesting, so I'm gonna toss it on my second computer and check it out.

smatt · 06-09-2009, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hafeal

Or will there just be dedicated servers to paying players?

The Lamania server will obviously be the Beta server.... No changes to live servers....

LeslieWest_GuitarGod · 06-09-2009, 11:11 AM

But why not release the quests you ALREADY HAVE CREATED? This is a bad idea Fernando...

I will add however, the marketing push, IS exciting news.

valorik · 06-09-2009, 11:12 AM

/hug turbine staff

Gratch · 06-09-2009, 11:12 AM

I'm happy for the store, the relaunch, the new class... but I don't see the WHY as to Mod9 being part of it other than some producer decision to keep it all together for a bigger launch spread of the DDO-Free.

Why was Mod9 wrapped into the rest of this? WHY?

Hafeal · 06-09-2009, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gratch

I'm happy for the store, the relaunch, the new class... but I don't see the WHY as to Mod9 being part of it other than some producer decision to keep it all together for a bigger launch spread of the DDO-Free.

Why was Mod9 wrapped into the rest of this? WHY?

Business decision plain & simple - promoting new content in conjunction with going free is bound to generate more news and interest.

Quote:

Originally Posted by smatt

The Lamania server will obviously be the Beta server.... No changes to live servers....

I was leaning more toward after it all goes live ...

BurnerD · 06-09-2009, 11:18 AM

Like others I'm not crazy about waiting longer for the mod release, but WOW there are a lot of facets to this announcement...

The addition to the free play seems to be a great thing imo. This game is one where you really don't start understading it or enjoying it until mid levels. A time limited trial was not conducive to get players to stay.

The micro transactions will be interesting. I hope some visual customization features for our characters will be part of this.

A lot of effort went into this. I hope this relaunch includes more than a few articles on gaming sites.

I am guardedly optimistic

This has the potential to live up to the hype of SS....