The Reaper XP problem

[DBZ]

Imbues that actually work with spells be nice

 

[Guntango]

Reaper mode is not the problem. Never has been.

You could give a new player 100 reaper points, their pick of any ten past lives, and automatic level 20 upon the creation of their first toon on a given server. Let's assume they level from 20 to 32 in a month. They're still going to be a newbie who knows jack and poo about the intricacies of the game.

Those 100 reaper points and ten past lives would be like putting a brand new driver's ed student in a base model Honda Civic with racing slicks. Throw the student driver onto a race track and in the end it's still going to be a slow Honda Civic with poor lap times.

Have a veteran player create a brand new toon and give them the same 100 reaper points and 10 PLs. They'll be level 32 and rolling in R10 groups in a week or two depending on luck with gear farming. That's like putting a professional driver into a race car running standard all-season street tires. They'll be a little slower than they would with racing slicks, but they'll still lap the Honda Civic repeatedly.

The learning curve to this game is massive and unnecessarily complex and continues to get worse every time SSG introduces some new system, mechanic, effect, etc. that they pile on top of the existing mess. That's the core problem facing new players.

Simplifying the learning curve is the only thing that will make DDO more newbie friendly.

Given the option of chess or checkers I still choose chess.

A well made tutorial would go a long way to making DDO more newb friendly.

 

[Toede]

The fact that they added Korthos and still failed to provide a comprehensive tutorial for the game means they either don't care or lack the competency.

 

[Kimbere]

Given the option of chess or checkers I still choose chess.

A well made tutorial would go a long way to making DDO more newb friendly.

For sure.

There's a lot of low hanging fruit SSG could use to improve the new player experience. They just don't seem to be interested in picking it.

 

[rabidfox]

The fact that they added Korthos and still failed to provide a comprehensive tutorial for the game means they either don't care or lack the competency.

I only vaguely recall the old intro stuff, but I felt like it was more tutorial than Korthos.

 

[Br4d]

Small series of quests similar to the Grotto before Korthos. Each of them taught you a few basic concepts and how they worked. The only one I remember well was the hide/ms one that explained stealth mechanics.

 

[Toede]

There were several iterations of the starter quests over the years and while they all taught important things in DDO, they neglected teaching things specific to 3.5e. They'll teach you about oozes doing damage to your weapons but not how feats work, for example. It's a tall order trying to teach D&D to anyone who is new to it, especially 3.5, but they really never even tried to do it. A more interactive and visual way of conveying how bonuses of the same type don't stack while different ones will would be far more beneficial for players understanding the concept instead of just leaving it to an obnoxiously long tool tip that nobody is going to read. It's always just been an expectation that people either brought the knowledge with them or would pick it up eventually.