I have played many games ...

[GoldyGopher]

out of all the MMORPGs that I have played over the years, going back MUDs of the Early 1980s, the game I would rather play is Dungeons & Dragons: Online.

To be honest I may be biased in several ways. I learned to play D&D at an early age, I had an impressive DM, some old dude named Dave Arneson. Maybe it was my tender young age or simply because Dave always looked older than he was, but he always seemed old to me. When you did something stoopid or silly in the game he lean towards you half closing one eye and give you the stink eye with the other. I played in a monthly campaign at a local game store in Saint Paul in my pre-teens that required my parents to get up early on Saturday morning, drive the hour into Saint Paul to play. To be honest my mother liked the excuse to get into the cities, she could do some shopping and hang out with cousins and friends while her son geeked out at a game store. I never knew who Dave was, beyond this seeming crotchety old man who told incredible stories that we were allowed to interact with and occasionally had to roll dice. We didn't actually play D&D, rather a Blackmoor game, Dave presented me with my first copy of the D&D Rules, a memographed copy of the rules that Dave himself created.
A few years later I ran into Dave at a GenCon in Kenosha, even though he was not formally involved with TSR at the time he introduced me by name to many of the early developers of the D&D Game and Worlds. I sat in awe of the crotchety old man. So yes I am biased.

Even being Biased towards D&D, I have played many many other MMO/MMORPGS and while I like aspects of many games I still play DDO. In years past I was a hard core gamer playing this quest game or exploring that World. I have travelled with Hobbits, been in a Vanguard, stretched my super strength in a City filled with heroes and villains. Fought a War among the Stars in Galaxy a long time ago and gone further back to the beginning of the Republic. And that barely scratches the surface of the games I have downloaded and played. Yet I always come back to DDO. That doesn't mean I think DDO is perfect, far from it, there are dozens, if not hundreds of changes I would make because too me those changes would create a more perfect system.

I don't know what the future holds for DDO as Turbine reimagines itself as a F2P Mobile App company. And in a way that's too bad. Years ago Euphonia challenged me to enter her world and I know that I have been here in her world a long time and pretty much enjoyed every second that I spent exploring Stormreach, Xen'drik and Ebberon and the environs of Eveningstar and Cormyr before setting of to Nob.

Thank you Turbine and Staff for years of entertainment, for introducing me to new friends, for feelings of accomplishment, exhilaration, joy, and yes even frustration. I hope, and that is all I can do at the moment is hope, that for years I can continue to feel those same emotions as I log in and visit with old friends and meet new ones.

[HAL]

Nicely written - thank you. I envy you the gaming experience in St. Paul. My first tabletop game was the original D&D. I also have played almost every single AAA Western MMO and some Eastern ones. But I too keep loving DDO and I wish we knew what was slated for it given Turbine's business model.

[Enoach]

Agree, this game caught my eye summer of '06 and I have been well entertained since.

[Uska]

I use to love this game until the power creep and over abundance of self-healing killed grouping. I still like it a lot but less than I did. The only other MMO that I liked nearly as much was pre-NGE SWG and there was things about it I liked better than DDO and the reverse is also true. Just a little jealous you got to play with Dave. I have been playing d&d since June 1975 although I play other systems mainly now they still are close to d&d. I hope our little game stays around awhile longer.

[AnEvenNewerNoob]

I enjoy the game. Much less than I did pre motu back in the day though.

Unfortunately......the MMO landscape is pretty bleak.......so DDO is the best there is right now.

Seriously, how many times can you go fetch 10 of those and go kill 10 of those ad nauseam ?

[Severlin]

Thanks for the good words about DDO!

As we outlined in the Producer's Letter, we have some exciting plans for DDO both in the near term and the longer term. With some expanded art capabilities and resources returning from helping out with the launch of BAU, we should have some cool things coming up. Assault on the Slave Lords is looking good, and we are also furiously working on the update to Cannith Crafting.

Sev~

[dunklezhan]

Unfortunately......the MMO landscape is pretty bleak.......so DDO is the best there is right now.

Seriously, how many times can you go fetch 10 of those and go kill 10 of those ad nauseam ?

You sir, are not wrong. In fact, that's an ad campaign right there.

If they could just push a graphics overhaul (I know they can't) and a bug pass (I'm sure they can, its just a question of priorities) and then hit the right tone with an advertising blitz, DDO could be resurrected like that in my opinion purely on the strength of that uniqueness. But if they did those things and didn't get that advertising just right, it would totally sink the ship. You'd have to have sunk everything into it to get something of the right scale. Being from the UK, where collectively we've already decided to take one massive risk and head off into the unknown already this year, I'm not sure I can take another and retain my sanity.

[Kza]

I agree, have played since start (euro), and always come back.

Hopefully the next 10 years will be nice and good :-)

[losian2]

Thanks for the good words about DDO!

As we outlined in the Producer's Letter, we have some exciting plans for DDO both in the near term and the longer term. With some expanded art capabilities and resources returning from helping out with the launch of BAU, we should have some cool things coming up. Assault on the Slave Lords is looking good, and we are also furiously working on the update to Cannith Crafting.

Sev~

This is great to hear and, honestly, I think this gives us a little subtle and indirect insight to the recent-ish news and all the resulting doom and gloom. When a game launches it's inevitable that staffing changes - it's sort've an unfortunate nuance of how the gaming industry works.

With that said, having art-specific talents and resources returning is exciting.. it's time for the emergence of the true greatness of DDO... the Kobold!

[NoobCake]

I like this game because it's the least cheap reskin of wow among the ones I've played. In fact, it's not at all a cheap wow knockoff.

[Banshee_Kate]

There's nothing else like this game! Our guild loves it!
We would be so sad if it went away. Thanks for the good words Sev!

[LightBear]

out of all the MMORPGs that I have played over the years, going back MUDs of the Early 1980s, the game I would rather play is Dungeons & Dragons: Online.

To be honest I may be biased in several ways. I learned to play D&D at an early age, I had an impressive DM, some old dude named Dave Arneson. Maybe it was my tender young age or simply because Dave always looked older than he was, but he always seemed old to me. When you did something stoopid or silly in the game he lean towards you half closing one eye and give you the stink eye with the other. I played in a monthly campaign at a local game store in Saint Paul in my pre-teens that required my parents to get up early on Saturday morning, drive the hour into Saint Paul to play. To be honest my mother liked the excuse to get into the cities, she could do some shopping and hang out with cousins and friends while her son geeked out at a game store. I never knew who Dave was, beyond this seeming crotchety old man who told incredible stories that we were allowed to interact with and occasionally had to roll dice. We didn't actually play D&D, rather a Blackmoor game, Dave presented me with my first copy of the D&D Rules, a memographed copy of the rules that Dave himself created.
A few years later I ran into Dave at a GenCon in Kenosha, even though he was not formally involved with TSR at the time he introduced me by name to many of the early developers of the D&D Game and Worlds. I sat in awe of the crotchety old man. So yes I am biased.

Even being Biased towards D&D, I have played many many other MMO/MMORPGS and while I like aspects of many games I still play DDO. In years past I was a hard core gamer playing this quest game or exploring that World. I have travelled with Hobbits, been in a Vanguard, stretched my super strength in a City filled with heroes and villains. Fought a War among the Stars in Galaxy a long time ago and gone further back to the beginning of the Republic. And that barely scratches the surface of the games I have downloaded and played. Yet I always come back to DDO. That doesn't mean I think DDO is perfect, far from it, there are dozens, if not hundreds of changes I would make because too me those changes would create a more perfect system.


I don't know what the future holds for DDO as Turbine reimagines itself as a F2P Mobile App company. And in a way that's too bad. Years ago Euphonia challenged me to enter her world and I know that I have been here in her world a long time and pretty much enjoyed every second that I spent exploring Stormreach, Xen'drik and Ebberon and the environs of Eveningstar and Cormyr before setting of to Nob.

Thank you Turbine and Staff for years of entertainment, for introducing me to new friends, for feelings of accomplishment, exhilaration, joy, and yes even frustration. I hope, and that is all I can do at the moment is hope, that for years I can continue to feel those same emotions as I log in and visit with old friends and meet new ones.

Why don't you grab up Baleshyrra's Scepter to become the Lord of Eyes yourself?
And whenever one of your young players does anything stupid you could simply cover an eye and overlook things...

[Thar]

The only game that compared was the original neverwinter nights. I played on a customized Krynn server that was amazing. The gamemasters were a bit overcontrolling (ie my friend had stuff removed from a gamemaster that didn't think his character should have. They were gifts from Roleplaying with other players some of whom were other GMs.) The world had some amazing detail and customization done to it possible through that game engine. if only it wasn't based upon a private server, it might still exist today.

That said... DDO needs Kender.

[AnEvenNewerNoob]

The only game that compared was the original neverwinter nights. I played on a customized Krynn server that was amazing. The gamemasters were a bit overcontrolling (ie my friend had stuff removed from a gamemaster that didn't think his character should have. They were gifts from Roleplaying with other players some of whom were other GMs.) The world had some amazing detail and customization done to it possible through that game engine. if only it wasn't based upon a private server, it might still exist today.

That said... DDO needs Kender.

If they ever came out with a Dragonlance MMO, the only think I would post for the next 10 years would be SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!!

[Knobull]

Thanks for the good words about DDO!

As we outlined in the Producer's Letter, we have some exciting plans for DDO both in the near term and the longer term. With some expanded art capabilities and resources returning from helping out with the launch of BAU, we should have some cool things coming up. Assault on the Slave Lords is looking good, and we are also furiously working on the update to Cannith Crafting.

Sev~

What is BAU?

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=BAU

I'm guessing it is not the Behavioural Analysis Unit...

[Francis7]

A beautifully written post. I feel very sorry for all those who have lost their jobs at Turbine in this most recent round of layoffs and I hope they got a good package. Having been to all those worlds you described, I enjoyed my time in those as well. DDO is unique among MMO's for its wonderful combat system and I will enjoy it and the rest of the world while I still have the time to do so.

[Angelic-council]

DDO is a good game, I still enjoy it a lot. I been saying this since day 1 that DDO holds potential. New legendary quests looking very good, my favorite one is search and rescue. Many monsters... Optional that take you to underdark for another story. I mean, turbine done a fantastic job here on that. Creating another exciting path, something different from previous quests. This is exactly what we needed in this game IMO. More paths, more features like in mirror legendary.

I could tell turbine working hard to make this game better. But, ofc, nothing is perfect in this world. I still see there are some issues with the game. I think if we visit other MMO forum, people would say exact same thing, that they love their game. I usually play other games to see what is different and then back to DDO: I'm not sure why.. but I often feel this emptiness in my heart. TR is never really that boring if you have someone to play with. But end game is really what changes your mind. DDO doesn't have any competition type feature and everyone pretty much play however they want. Which is good in a sense, but once you aquire gear and set for a challenge. There is not really a challenge except speed runs. I hope many of those get solved. Well, in any case, DDO is a good game guys. I can't deny that. But considering DDO to be the best of the best might be little early.

[Greantun]

What is BAU?

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=BAU

I'm guessing it is not the Behavioural Analysis Unit...

Batman: Arkham Underworld

[Cocomajobo]

What is BAU?

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=BAU

I'm guessing it is not the Behavioural Analysis Unit...

https://arkhamunderworld.com/#!/

[Ghwyn]

I still love DDO. Other games get old, but I keep wanting to play DDO. One thing this game has far better than any other is character customization. This makes the characters feel like mine, made in my image.

I would love to see advertising for new players, even so far as to give away all kinds of free stuff that current accounts won't get. One thing I would suggest is to make better non custom character paths, and even offer multiclass paths. And include a +20 heart for each new account.