DDO's future ideas.(not meaning to be negative)

[torzekillsforfun]

DDO has been my mmo of choice since well before Menace of the Underdark came out. However, there have been some decisions made that seem to be creating issues for future content. So, I think it's a good idea to maybe stop and think about some things not just for next year but, 3-4 years down the line. I'm going by the assumption that in 2 years the level cap will be 38 and 4 years it will be 40. With the current state of the game, what is the reason to even do legendary content? What's the true endgame?

This endgame of DDO has been the TR train for well, like forever and there is no legendary TR's. When we get to 30, if we've already gotten to 34 and soon 36 before on that toon, you're automatically granted xp to get to your old max level. This kind of makes Legendary just a bonus Reaper point levels which...well, is strange considering the (a very long time ago) discussions of changing the Reaper system.

I'd really like to see SSG and the really the community at large to think about what that future could/will look like. I do have a few ideas that, I don't know if they are feasible but, I feel it's worth a say.

1) The ability to be in multiple guilds at the same time. This could be in the form of joining 2 different player guilds or maybe an alliance level of multiple player guilds. I know some of us like to be in those mega guilds and others have more of an intimate real-life friends only thing going. It would be nice to combine both worlds.

2.) Level 40 content should be SIgil/Planescape. I think that if we are going to kick super crazy level power, it should be in a super crazy environment.

3) Legendary TR's - I think legendary tr's should give Universal ap just like racial tr's give racial points.

4) Endgame - Some type of endgame should be thought about rather than just more level cap increases. Sure, level 40-50 could be "Mythic" levels but, at what point are we just spinning our wheels. It could be a designed team PvP system maybe around the above alliance ideas. It could be wilderness raids, I don't really know what would work with the system that is already in place.

5) Wilderness areas - These areas are the most underdeveloped areas of the game. I'd love to see an entire wilderness area overhaul. Maybe an expansion that really only focused on the wilderness areas. We all know that Myth Dranor could use a rework. It's so so beautiful but, with no real reason to do it. I know that the newest expansion is adding reaper mode to the new wilderness areas but, there should be something that could be done. I love DDO's handcraft quests for questing but, maybe some type of procedural generation for wilderness things. It just seems like a missed opportunity.

6) Gaps in Epic gear - It's really odd to me that we are pretty much forced to do epic content for epic tr's but, I find myself just using my heroic gear until level 29. It's just an oddball way of doing things. Maybe retroing in sun and moon augments for the older Forgotten Realms gear so that it's more useful.

7) I'd like to see the expansions stay in the heroic/legendary content but, the free packs move to epic/legendary. There just isn't enough Epic quests compared to heroics. Epics just feel like a slog even though playing the toons are more fun with so many more abilities.



Oh well, longer post than I thought I'd make but, I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas. I'd like to see this game go for another 20 years

 

[nix]

The obvious extension to past lives is to have one for every race [multi] class permutation ... that should keep us going a while

 

[Phaedra]

3) Legendary TR's - I think legendary tr's should give Universal ap just like racial tr's give racial points.

I think Universal (Heroic) AP is the wrong direction to go here. Instead add 1-4 Legendary trees, either role-based like Reaper, or just a single tree of selectable unlockable (ideally account-wide) bonuses. Maybe you could get universal AP or Veterancy from cores in the tree, with most other bonuses only applying in legendary levels.

I'm kind of struggling to imagine what SSG could offer here that they aren't already selling, which I suspect is a problem they're having too.

6) Gaps in Epic gear - It's really odd to me that we are pretty much forced to do epic content for epic tr's but, I find myself just using my heroic gear until level 29. It's just an oddball way of doing things. Maybe retroing in sun and moon augments for the older Forgotten Realms gear so that it's more useful.

This is an effect that derives from both the pre- and post- stat squish gear passes not adjusting upwards anything below ML28 to make the transition from +6 at ML20 to +15 at ML28 smoother. It's not worth regearing at 25 for barely any benefit.

7) I'd like to see the expansions stay in the heroic/legendary content but, the free packs move to epic/legendary. There just isn't enough Epic quests compared to heroics. Epics just feel like a slog even though playing the toons are more fun with so many more abilities.

SSG (Steelstar or Tolero I think) has said previously that the way the quest entrances work prevents doing epic/legendary. Clearly they could just give the quests two separate entrances, but that is a little awkward and it seems clear they don't want to do it.

 

[torzekillsforfun]

I think Universal (Heroic) AP is the wrong direction to go here. Instead add 1-4 Legendary trees, either role-based like Reaper, or just a single tree of selectable unlockable (ideally account-wide) bonuses. Maybe you could get universal AP or Veterancy from cores in the tree, with most other bonuses only applying in legendary levels.

I really like this idea of account wide bonuses. Especially maybe to endgame. It could be super minor amount of power that adds up. Personally, I think there needs to be quests that are MUCH harder. Like those ones in Sharn by the general vendor that were the original source of cards.

 

[Dulkhan]

I wish the devs could develop a way to auto raise difficulty of old content and update old gear at the same time, so at end game you get items you apply to your quest entrance to get better chances at lets say item drops mytic and reaper bonuses and maybe new types of bonuses too, you could add more than one for example to get everything and make the quest incredible harder either at level of the quest or to mutate the quest to what ever end game we are playing.
Something like more damage, more hp, bigger critical hits, have stronger champíons or reaper etc.. think like map tablets of poe2 for example. hell if they manage to invent a way to create random fights in old quests you could re use a lot of content permanently.. just by adding items that only drop finishing specific quests with those items.. could be a fun way to get easter eggs too..

 

[Phaedra]

hell if they manage to invent a way to create random fights in old quests you could re use a lot of content permanently.. just by adding items that only drop finishing specific quests with those items.. could be a fun way to get easter eggs too..

They have that, they used it in the Fey event, the Lantern event, and the Hound HC server.

 

[SecretPhiarlanMan]

SSG (Steelstar or Tolero I think) has said previously that the way the quest entrances work prevents doing epic/legendary. Clearly they could just give the quests two separate entrances, but that is a little awkward and it seems clear they don't want to do it.

It was already done when they introduced epic levels. They're working with QT, not some archaic language that has no modern manuals or knowledge base.

Apologies if I seem dismissive, but it can be done. It would just involve a lot of work that their team of twelve probably can't do in a timely manner.

I've seen them hedging themselves into a corner over the last several years, and unfortunately the players they tend to listen to the most, don't have the greatest good for the greatest number of players in mind with all of their suggestions.

What I would recommend for them is going back to some of the old design decisions Turbine was using, because some of the best design choices that have carried the game for 20 years were made in those days.

 

[Dulkhan]

It was already done when they introduced epic levels. They're working with QT, not some archaic language that has no modern manuals or knowledge base.

Apologies if I seem dismissive, but it can be done. It would just involve a lot of work that their team of twelve probably can't do in a timely manner.

I've seen them hedging themselves into a corner over the last several years, and unfortunately the players they tend to listen to the most, don't have the greatest good for the greatest number of players in mind with all of their suggestions.

What I would recommend for them is going back to some of the old design decisions Turbine was using, because some of the best design choices that have carried the game for 20 years were made in those days.

I don't agree, unless they plan to keep raising the leveles and add progresion through that, the game needs a way to keep players occupied between expansions and a new way of progress for players. betting resources into a system that could sustain the game in the future would be a wiser use of time and $. nevertheles, that doesn't mean that they can't go back to old designs for quests and raids for example. they can still do both. but I think that they need to start thinking about the future after lvl 40. unless ddo 2 is in their mind which I doubt

 

[SecretPhiarlanMan]

You're entitled to your opinion, but they're not exactly future proofing the game right now. Rare loot is only going to pay the bills for so long. They need to incentivize people to want to play their game, much like it used to do more than it currently does.

Wanting to bring in more players is not a bad thing. Every time I see someone imply the current design decisions are all great and good for the future of the game, I wonder if we're playing the same game.

 

[torzekillsforfun]

SSG (Steelstar or Tolero I think) has said previously that the way the quest entrances work prevents doing epic/legendary. Clearly they could just give the quests two separate entrances, but that is a little awkward and it seems clear they don't want to do it.

I believe this is a little bit of mistake. From what I understand, they cannot do 3 different tiers of quests so, they can do heroic/Epic, Heroic/Legendary, Epic/Legendary but, not Heroic/Epic/Legendary. This was why they have another quest NPC for Legendary Chronoscope.

 

[Phoenicis]

I think Universal (Heroic) AP is the wrong direction to go here. Instead add 1-4 Legendary trees, either role-based like Reaper, or just a single tree of selectable unlockable (ideally account-wide) bonuses. Maybe you could get universal AP or Veterancy from cores in the tree, with most other bonuses only applying in legendary levels.

I'm kind of struggling to imagine what SSG could offer here that they aren't already selling, which I suspect is a problem they're having too.

This is an effect that derives from both the pre- and post- stat squish gear passes not adjusting upwards anything below ML28 to make the transition from +6 at ML20 to +15 at ML28 smoother. It's not worth regearing at 25 for barely any benefit.

SSG (Steelstar or Tolero I think) has said previously that the way the quest entrances work prevents doing epic/legendary. Clearly they could just give the quests two separate entrances, but that is a little awkward and it seems clear they don't want to do it.

I believe this is a little bit of mistake. From what I understand, they cannot do 3 different tiers of quests so, they can do heroic/Epic, Heroic/Legendary, Epic/Legendary but, not Heroic/Epic/Legendary. This was why they have another quest NPC for Legendary Chronoscope.

They found a work around for the latest anniversary event.

It was confusing initially but all level bands for one quest were available from a single quest giver, and it wasn't in challenge format.

 

[Neain]

yeah, even if every quest door was something like from the feywild of quid pro quo and frosty reception, just with the options being epic or legendary, that would be enough to keep things to a single door per quest.