Ive played a number of MMOS: - Aion maybe 3 years (good game) - Everquest about 1 year - Star Wars TOR , 5 years of and on - FF13, about 6 months - Elder Scrolls, less than 30 days - Conan , 1 week - Maybe 5 others Im forgetting but only tried for less than 30 days - DDO , 17 years and counting I've jumped around and taken breaks up to a year but I've never stuck with a game longer than this one. That doesn't mean its the bestest ever, just means I like it and will continue to play until the bartender shouts out "LAST CALL". 🍺
Hoped someone would make a response to it clarifying some parts! Great video. I do wanna point out that Josh was quite positive on DDO overall, despite the lack of polish, and continued playing it even after the video. I think you edited out the parts where he praised it, so viewers that didn't watch the original video or his streams may not have a full impression of his opinion.
If my edits at all gave the impression that his review was more negative than it actually was that wasn't my intention, I just had more to say on his negative comments. My hope is that everyone goes and watches (or has watched) his video for the full context.
As a long-time and often regular Lotro player, I 100% get the "great fun" we have of complaining internally about the many quirks and foibles of these two old games and the hurdles that SSG has to navigate to keep them up and running (again, a tiny dev team that just gets the scraps from their parent company really and does both games) , while at the same time also having to turn around and then explain to people why we love these games and that the good outweighs the bad. It's a weird place to be in as a gamer, and this is a heroic effort here, well done.
I 🤍 DDO. I am a newish player who never played D&D but had a group of old school player friends who thankfully taught me a lot…as a newbie I may have quit due to all the knowledge required. Just navigation alone is a lot to figure out! I was really lucky to have friends and mentors willing to help me become capable. It made my pandemic years a pretty terrific time. I wouldn’t want DDO to be anything other than what it is (except for the LAG of course 😂) if it were a perfect shiny and impersonal game that has no glitches or idiosyncrasies it wouldn’t be my favorite game of all time!
New DDO player here, I played once or twice back in 2010 or so when my uncle stayed at my house for a few weeks. He's not doing too good health wise nowadays and can't play anymore but I always had really fond memories of the game. So I figured I would re-download it, to carry on his legacy in some ways. I remember running around to the highest point I could find and then falling down using the boots of feather or whatever they were called. I just signed up literally about 10 minutes ago after downloading the game through steam. The sign up WAS TERRIBLE and still is terrible. I had to go into incognito mode, and then go into a whole different browser because I just kept receiving a message that said I'm "ineligible" for sign up. This didn't put me off too much because I know the game is worth it, but I'm sure this and other "friction points" or barriers have prevented some new players. P.S. Love your vibe man, subscribed. I think you're a great commentator, analyst, and are extremely well spoken. I believe you'd do great covering ANY niche or topic beyond DDO. Keep up the great work, going to finish watching this much will check out your other videos. You've got a divine aurora my man
Thanks for the kind words. And sorry to hear about your uncle. The game does have some sign up issues...there may still be issues where it will not let you have the same email for both DDO and LOTRO. Anyways the game is worth getting through some of its unpolished areas, enjoy.
The replay ability is INSANE. Ive been playing since day one. Its awesome. The one thing that still makes me mad every time... Jump glitching. Gives me rage.
I don't know what makes me more upset, the jump glitching, ladder glitching, or the server lag during Mabar or Festivault. I love DDO, and have been playing for years myself, but damn sometimes it gets to me.
there used to be a function to preview cosmetics actually, it was at the blacksmith next to stormreach harbor bank. That huge mirror there. You used to talk to the NPC to preview the cosmetics.
@@AxelAlexK Yeah, I typed that during the first part of the vid. My bad. :) I played from the very beginning to the point where you could purchase crafting mats. I spent like 100 I didn't have and just thought "OH, nope. done" and haven't logged in since.
It would be great if they worked with their content creators to redo the prebuilt builds for classes to be flavorful, not min/maxed, and fairly solid in survivability and killing power or something else related to the theme of the prebuilt. We just need them to be viable on elite, maybe not solo but at least able to hold up in a group. Wonder why they haven't done this?
IIRC Strim started a project on this last year but may have lost interest after initial enthusiasm. Closest I can think of on the dev side was when they asked on the forums for players to submit tips for newbie guides on the official DDO Compendium, sometime 10 years ago?
I do think they should let players contribute more to development. With prebuilt paths though, they do balance passes often which means builds become outdated. The point really for the prebuilt builds is to let people get into the game quickly. And even if they are bad they are good enough for normal. Normal in DDO is super easy. The reason really comes down to when you consider that each race, class, and tree combination needs its own build it becomes a ridiculous amount of work. According to my count there are currently 15 races (not including iconics), 15 classes (21 with archetypes included), and 60 enhancement trees. So that's 15 x 21 x 60 = 18,900 builds. It's just not feasible, even if they let the community contribute. Really they'd have to cut it down to just a handful of race/class combinations which is probably not preferable to just letting people get into the game quickly on the race/class combination they want - even if it is a bad build.
Thank you for the great video Axel! I have given lots of money to DDO since its release, way more than my regular play would dictate, but when I do play, I love those teleport items to get around the world faster. 2005 and 3rd Edition P&P was a long time ago now. I have always thought of this game as an old friend that I visit with on and off. I don’t compare it to other games. It has many flaws but 3rd edition was always my favorite and the incredible customization is why I loved it so much. I think DDO did a great job of recreating this. I also love the reincarnation system which is very unique in MMOs but a D&D staple. The community for DDO is awesome (same goes for LOTRO) and being in a guild offers significant benefits with passive buffs. This game has a learning curve and you need to invest time in it but I believe it is well worth it.
The reason that they had to make it into separate accounts at the time was because people were going to lotro getting a bunch of Turbine points and then having that balance transfer over to DDO
It's easy to prevent breakage even on ran loot, just hit the stone of change unequip it, drop it in with a bunch of yellow dragonshards, "400" remember though, """Items that undergo the binding ritual retain any permanent damage they have already sustained. Those items become immune to future permanent damage sustained after the ritual is performed.""
@@r8chlletters Or just learn to recognize an exceptional piece of gear for your purpose, occasionally such is generated, and do it when you find it, U generally don't use much rangen loot but once in a while you run into that rare actual worthwhile piece. I have found the it happens less and less the higher you go. Still occurs, that double slotted stiff can sit in for something a long time if you have augies sitting in the bank.
I agree that DDO is not a polished game and that can be a huge turn-off for new players. Get rid of the pre-configured character creation options, get a 15 year old and pay them 200 dollars to redo all the icons in order to allow screen re-scaling; seriously, a teen could do that in a weekend between burgers and porn channels. And just remove all the unnecessary dross from the beginning screens, speed up the connections, fix the bugs [i must admit more has been resolved in the past year or so than ever before imho), re-invent Hardcore to keep it fresh, replace the producer with somebody who UNDERSTANDS the game and its community, remove quest opener limits (how does that benefit anyone exactly apart from a pathetic and hugely annoying mechanism to encourage - with a stick - players to become VIPs, rather than using a carrot approach)... Love the game for its immersion, its lore, the community but mostly because I can build whatever character i want (except for multi-classed bards because why would bards have alignment restrictions when rogues dont?). Ah! Yes! More HC! Get real Producer!
DDO was a lot of fun, and it's better than people think. However, it's just not fun without a group, and last time I logged in there weren't nearly enough players to find people with the same goals at a compatible level.
There are non-stop groups during Hardcore season. Sadly, the blue-haired producer thinks it will do DDO well to get rid of it. I think too much dye has leaked into the area her brain used to reside.
I absolutely love the game when I play it but I'm a casual on and off player. You're correct that the game is much more enjoyable with a group, and when I do occasionally convince my friends to play we have such a great time. Sadly, getting a static group to play regularly is basically impossible, and as a casual player I personally find the hundreds of guild ship buffs to be overwhelming and confusing, and I don't find myself wanting to play with long time players often because they often rush through content I haven't experienced and play at a pace that is overwhelming for me. It's a difficult problem to solve. Love the game nonetheless
There are two things Josh talked about I'd like to reiterate and agree with: The game is a mess. It's buggy. It's old. And there are things I couldn't figure out, no matter how much online reading I did. For example: How do I spin the camera around to look at my character from the front? I spent time designing my character to look the way I wanted. And sometimes I just want to pause, spin the camera, and look at them. Maybe there is a way? I couldn't find it. Secondly, after all the reading, and searching, and researching, and cross-referencing I did online (so much of it!!), one thing I read still remains in my memory: You will need and earn a doctorate in buildology to really play this thing. Sure, you can jump in. But how do you find traps? How do you not get burned by traps? What skills do you need to spend points on? So much reading! Finally, and a gigantic HOWEVER, this game is fun! Super fun!! I don't understand how it turns out that way, being the biggest pain game I've ever seen. Seriously: You'll want to cry sometimes, because of how much of a pain it is. Maybe that's why? You *earn* this game. It's not handed to you. You don't just play your character, and do the cookie-cutter, copy-paste best-in-slot. You have to figure out what all those numbers mean, which ones matter to you while soloing, and in group play. But if you want an old-school, fun, unique experience, and a break from the simplicity of wow, give it a shot! I just hope you enjoy reading guides.
Fortunately with a lot of this the community fills in the gaps and it's pretty easy to get an answer to things the game or wiki doesn't explain. Whether through discord, forums, reddit, or another channel. And with builds fortunately there's also a good pool of players continually making builds new players can follow. I would guess most new players don't really know about these resources and how important they are to use when they start though, which is unfortunate.
As a fellow mmo tuber I can never bring myself to watch a JoshStrifeHayes video but I appreciate that his videos will literally always bring new blood to the game he covers because he is just so big. Either way I wish there was more love in the genre for retro mmos. Compared to him I wonder how many things I get wrong in my video when I covered it.
@@AxelAlexK I’m doubly curious now too. Has LazyPeon done a video on DDO? I think his is way more old though. LazyPeon is 100% all first impressions surface level videos.
DDO is more like a computer representation of the board game than a video game. Seen as a video game it is a disaster. But seen as a representation of the Dungeon & Dragons books it's perfect. I was amazed when I entered the Temple of Elemental Evil and discovered that the entrance was exactly the same as the cover of the book. For me it is a great classic among MMOs and the best adaptation of D&D. But not a video game.
DDO is currently in a great era. I quit the game in 2010, because the end game was The Vale. The Vale, imo, killed this game. Well, coupled with the Cannith expansion and the initially horrible Menace of Underdark(FR introduction). Lots of mobs, with lots of HP. Lots of people quit. But, luckily someone with a brain took over and came out with Raven Loft, Feywild, Sharn, came out with good FR quest, etc, and the game is not even close to the era it was in in 2010. Their next steps needs to be getting melee close to the same power as casters. For some reason, they have refused to address melees being far inferior.
I just found my account from like 2006 and I made a Cool Bio that I re read and thought sounded awesome and I realized I wrote it lol. Im having fun with it so far after not playing it for 18 years.
I have an extra account on my LOTRO launcher, the dev labelled it (Don't use me!) for me, but I've contacted them several times and asked if they could remove it, they say they are unable. So I have a feeling there's a certain depth into the backend/account stuff that SSG can't or won't touch (probably because doing so would require fixes/re-engineering they just aren't equipped to do.) So I wouldn't hold your breath on the "use one email for both DDO and LOTRO" thing.
Big caveat I would say is that it is 100% worth it to get the VIP subscription, even for a month or two, when starting the game as a new player. Seeing how many quests, features, and even just small quality of life things were locked behind ddo point purchases (or VIP) was really make or break it for me to continue playing. It's the same price, or slightly cheaper than, other mmo subscriptions anyway. I feel like "true" F2P right now versus F2P with the adventure pack code are two very different experiences.
I love that he mentioned Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson having done voice stuff in the game, but you can tell he never heard it, because he would have made a joke about how embarrassingly bad they are. XD
@@AxelAlexK The raspiness itself is fine, but the actual stuff he's saying is like... really on the nose and uninteresting. A door slams shut, "the door slams shut behind you!" like 5 seconds later. Like, yeah Gary. I know. I was there. I watched the door shut.
I am not a big MMORPG player, but I think this is my favorite one because it allows me and my friend to play it as a coop RPG. We simply go from one adventure to the next and don't care about higher difficulties (hard, elite, reaper, etc.), reincarnations, the endgame, none of that stuff. We just want to experience the adventures and move on, and we're having a blast! We don't feel the need to grind. As long as we are powerful enough to do what we want on normal difficulty, we're good to go. And when we finally finish all the adventure packs/expansions we want, we'll stop playing the game, but even this playstyle will take hundreds of hours. :]
1. lag in ddo doesn't kill you. monsters lags along with you. (unless u r in the middle of dcing, that's not lag anyways) 2. omg text window has horizontal scroll while it doesn't need it!!! omg end of the world! 3. game is too complex omg omg. fking mouse over and READ what skills do. it will tell you what stat that skill based on, how much mod u got etc. 4. play the game in lower resolution, so you won't need to resize ui. the game is old and increasing resolution doesn't change much anyways. 5. whatever that cash shop quest is in that inn, it could just sell something for free. AMAZING IDEA: put a lv1 cleric for free in cash shop so they learn that too.
It's funny hearing you say "Korthos, one of the oldest areas of the game." I remember when it was shiny and new. And the days before, with the beginner island and training dummies.
5:02 Halft truth. I use the same account for both games, all i had to do was contact support and ask them to add a "subscription" to lotro to the account.
Unless its changed (and i havent done this for years) there is definitely a (very clonky ofc, hey its DDO) way to preview (most) in-game store items before purchase.
that SSG...in LOTRO thers a dragon raid fight that is broken since...2013? somewhere around there....and literally WONT be fixed...and whats the bug? if you kill him too quick he bugs ,stops moving and is untouchable
Lifetime LOTRO player trying out DDO for the first time. LOL, I will admit I am lost, but it's a good kind of lost. It's the 'lost' of exploring something new. Any good videos you could recommend I watch first? Thanks in advance.
I tell new players all the time. That yes there is a steep learning curve. But not get overwhelmed by it. One step at a time and listen and learn from those that have been here for a long time. That first build is going to be inevitably flawed. But not worry as there ways to fix it as one goes along. If nothing else has worked. There is a lesser reincarnation heart to repec that toon. Also this not a triple A game. It has a smaller dev team and budget.And yes the game reflects that fact. Yes, there are bug that go and have gone years without a fix. And if not for Tonquin. many annoying bugs would still not be addressed. I love Tonquin's' dedication of tracking down bugs as fast as she can. Kills them better than a can of black flag or raid. Doing that on top of her regular dev duties is awesome. Whatever they are paying her it is not enough. Yes the game has many foibles and lag is super annoying. But the def team is still working on that slowly. Sometimes it seems glacially slow. At the same time there is always new content being rolled out and the game does have regular updates. The producer letter that just came out makes me anticipate a new year of new content and events. Hopefully SSG will figure out a marketing strategy that would attract new players and/or returning to this very niche game. If SSG can get new and/or returning players here. I am confident that the community will do all we can to help them to decide to stay.
The "purchase to complete" quest is barely technically a quest. It's more of a task. 1. It is a delivery, and there is no way to fail it other than choosing not to finish it. 2. There's no XP or favor gained - or lost if you look at the glass as half-empty. 3. The end reward is a really good reward for a mere task. 4. You earn the DDO points needed to buy the item, so there is no need to exchange real money to complete the quest. In terms of balancing the need for revenue in a F2P game by introducing players to the store, this quest is actually well-structured and barely an imposition, and one that can be easily ignored if you choose. This complaint about DDO feels almost as bad as complaining about having to click the mouse button.
Are we not able to provide links to other youtube videos? Noticed my comment linking to the other Josh Strife video about DDO is gone. Guess if links are a no no, I can just provide channel and video name: "Josh Strife Hayes Plays: Dungeons & Dragons Online" on his channel "Josh Strife Replays".
Unless you're a moderator you generally can't post links on peoples channels. There is a toggle they can switch to allow that but you then open yourself up to hosting pr0n links. I'm sure you can understand why the default setting is "moderators only".
Not playing anymore but he was really nit picking and really didnt know what he was doing. However the game can be like that as a new player. Can get confusing.
And the bummer ... is that all these people flooded to DDO ... only to find that the CODE he was given didn't work anymore ... they really need to unlock those things permanently... 😞
They want the marketing hype of a limited time promo. It will very likely come back....just a matter of when. They are giving out a free expansion right now just for this month btw.
In my opinion DDO is the second best MMO, it has extreme replayability, via past lives. The only one that beats it is FFXIV. But my computer can't play 14, so I'm gonna hop on ddo tonight
It's really frustrating that the developers are doing absolutely 0 to make new the new player experience better And the overall experience like item storage, worthless chest rewards and so on overall better
Some of the feedback really hurts. I am a new player and i really dig this game. So what?! And mentioning it gives the game some credit after all. I like the dungeoning, soloing etc. and there is the freequestcode that gave me the opportunity to enter the whole experience. The main problem for developers is, to keep a game alive that is publicly regarded as outdated and dead. I have seen that on the tabletop and now there is the renaissance of older editions. I sincerely hope they will never overhaul the game.
They could automate the entire UI upscale process using AI tools. Mostly for icons IMO, the rest they should just use scalable vectors. Amateurs have done this in their spare time for other games. Also an artist could check the results manually and see if there are any issues. Anyway still way way better than the current situation.
SSG has said they don't use AI in previous interviews. A lot of companies aren't comfortable with using it. I'm assuming because it can take people's jobs. But if they aren't ever going to be able to budget the time to do the scaling otherwise then maybe they should consider it, if wotc would allow it, since in that case it isn't taking anyone's job.
@@AxelAlexK They could use the "classic upscaling algorithms" that don't use "AI". Way worse results but at least they can virtue signal. It's the same as squinting without physically squinting but could also be better with filters like sharpening. There's really no excuse. Even this bad approach as an initial step and gradually redoing the entire icon set manually is better than nothing. Artists who don't adopt AI will just get surpassed by those who do. If you regulate AI, the countries who don't will have massive competitive advantages. No amount of virtue signaling will make people stop using AI.
Maybe this is already the case (I don't play DDO), but if they simply wanted to show how to get to and use the store, they could easily have simply made the item necessary for that one quest to be a free one-time purchasable, rather than locking out f2p completionists.
I might be wrong, or they might have changed it, but I'm fairly certain that quest gives you the DDO points necessary to complete it the very first time you ever talk to that person (not on subsequent characters). Even if not, you get DDO points like candy honestly.
long swims... hmmmm i think i just did one and it was i think it was the evil temple for the water.... it was a high pain watching my character to have a low swim check... it was pretty scary... (I livestreamed that ep 11) I never done recarnations yet... but i can say i'm an alt tier build tester multiclass such as rogue/bard... little bit on rogue and more bard for healing since i don't play with players. ehhh I will always say go to borderlands first to craft your weapon at level 2 hold that weapon till you do level 5-7 quests... (i'm a rogue but i never got daggers the only time i can get such weapon without going through the item grind loot was get the cube and make the black smith craft any weapon daggers swords... etc staffs... Reavers Reach OMG i can kill it!!!!!! (nvm level 17 content) I keep forgetting this is all about new players... if you played at least 2 months you can seriously do it without a hireling or partner... i done it. So there is still a missing thing for both poeple.. newplayers better stick with rogue and multi class.... because extra xp is great if you disable traps and search for secrtet doors... also destroy barrels and boxes for loot and xp... can't use the runes.... don't forget to buy potions from the market!!!!!!!! Yeah crystal weapon or durablity... that's umm way further in the game.. LOL!!!!! unless you went through the game and used bank share etc... (save platnium and buy it for auction.)
ive noticed that Josh somehow very often plays the games exactly when theres a one time huge problem currently happening and he considers its always the case and he oftens misjudge the reason behind a problem....id say hes about always accurate around 70% of what he says
To add to it not even into crafting and to say if your item breaks to redo in crafting cause some of us don't do that not good response I'm sorry to say so it can effect some of us when items break
@@AxelAlexK Oh ok tnx, I was always confused about sorc and wiz, it's been awhile since I played so I thought they just had the spellpoints and faster casting speed, and I thought Wiz had the higher spell power.
@@The-Black-Death wiz casts slower and has less sp but they have much better self healing through pale master, and higher DC potential. In general wiz tend to be better at crowd control and insta death spells whereas sorcs tend to be better offensive damage casters.
I'm confused by the point of this video. Every criticism levied against the game was met with "game is old/small dev team" but, both of these things are known, and if they aren't, they are by the 5th time this is mentioned. I felt kind of bad just hearing the same thing over and over again.
The point was to add context to Josh's review. I did bring up small dev team several times because it is a huge limiting factor as to why some things are the way they are in DDO. But that was not at all the only response to Josh's criticisms, there was way more than that, as I went over in the video.
I don't know if SSG would consider doing that. Yeah, a lot of people have pointed this out. I don't know much about AI personally, but I do know it's a touchy area. I also don't know if WotC, the license holder for D&D, would allow DDO to do it even if they wanted to.
The gameplay is great. The entire game needs a complete overhaul and redesign with reincarnations ( which is an unreal task to ask the players to max all that out, seriously, do the math on it. ) Best DnD combat out there, but in a REALLY old and spaghetti coded game from all the years of hand me down code. Will Wheaton did no voice acting, he talked about his experience with DnD as an audio overlay, not as a character.
In regards to Wil Wheaton - I am aware and did say voice work, not voice acting, in the video for that reason. They've talked about ways to help new players catch up a bit. They may do a reaper enhancement pass this year and let people share some power. I'd like to see them eventually merge heroic and racial reincarnation so you can get both past lives at the same time.
@@AxelAlexK For sure. 20 levels, three times per class, then racial, then Epic is crazy grinding. Some people may enjoy it but in this old game attracting new players is difficult with the current system.
I realize it's not perfect but even with all the jank I realize it's as close as we're likely to get to what I look for in an MMO so I've given up hoping for something better to come along.
@@AxelAlexK I disagree. It gives people something to do. I've been playing 10 months and by far the largest hurdle is making melee viable above level 12, and getting DCs for legendary content. Farming for DCs, imo, takes some help from other players, and this game is very, very cliquish.
DDO isn't free to play I just started it would take 400 dollars to have access to the pay gated content. I still play PnP D&D every week, DDO is so far removed from anything resembling D&D its actually pitiful other than some name sake adventures and familiar characters it is pure garbage. The only people still playing have so much sunk cost and time they can't seem to let it go.
Well, that's not what that means in gaming. Free to play means no upfront cost or sub fee. It doesn't mean the whole game is free. DDO is pretty good though with the amount of free stuff it offers, there's over 100 free quests. Right now they have the free coupon code going so you can get every paid pack for free permanently, minus the newest one. And 4 of the expansions are on sale for 100 DDO points, which is basically $1 each. So right now you could get everything for under $150, for sure, and that's if you don't wait for sales and buy the rest of the expansions at full price. You can also just earn stuff by playing quests. You get 25 DDO points per 100 favor. Which is about 8 or so quests on elite, typically. $400 sounds about right when the code isn't going though, and you buy everything at full price.
Why would I let it go, those of us who have stuck with the game actually enjoy this "garbage". Kind of like opinions, many are good for the trash bin. 🗑
I'm not gonna listen to you justify everything that's broken about the game first few mins I already can see the atmosphere around ur answers and it simply boils down u begin defensive about everything even if its broken And please play some modern mmos and they'll blow ur mind compared to this junk ur still holding onto and yes iv played it for years aswell but u have to move on its a dead game and feels terrible once you play other actual good mmos
Ive played a number of MMOS:
- Aion maybe 3 years (good game)
- Everquest about 1 year
- Star Wars TOR , 5 years of and on
- FF13, about 6 months
- Elder Scrolls, less than 30 days
- Conan , 1 week
- Maybe 5 others Im forgetting but only tried for less than 30 days
- DDO , 17 years and counting
I've jumped around and taken breaks up to a year but I've never stuck with a game longer than this one.
That doesn't mean its the bestest ever, just means I like it and will continue to play until the bartender shouts out "LAST CALL". 🍺
Algorithm brought me to you. Great video. I still think Josh's video is probably the best "new player" review video of DDO.
For sure, completely agree.
Hoped someone would make a response to it clarifying some parts! Great video. I do wanna point out that Josh was quite positive on DDO overall, despite the lack of polish, and continued playing it even after the video. I think you edited out the parts where he praised it, so viewers that didn't watch the original video or his streams may not have a full impression of his opinion.
If my edits at all gave the impression that his review was more negative than it actually was that wasn't my intention, I just had more to say on his negative comments. My hope is that everyone goes and watches (or has watched) his video for the full context.
@@AxelAlexK Yeah, it makes sense. I actually think it's really cool that you edited out the parts you didn't have much to say.
As a long-time and often regular Lotro player, I 100% get the "great fun" we have of complaining internally about the many quirks and foibles of these two old games and the hurdles that SSG has to navigate to keep them up and running (again, a tiny dev team that just gets the scraps from their parent company really and does both games) , while at the same time also having to turn around and then explain to people why we love these games and that the good outweighs the bad. It's a weird place to be in as a gamer, and this is a heroic effort here, well done.
I 🤍 DDO. I am a newish player who never played D&D but had a group of old school player friends who thankfully taught me a lot…as a newbie I may have quit due to all the knowledge required. Just navigation alone is a lot to figure out! I was really lucky to have friends and mentors willing to help me become capable. It made my pandemic years a pretty terrific time. I wouldn’t want DDO to be anything other than what it is (except for the LAG of course 😂) if it were a perfect shiny and impersonal game that has no glitches or idiosyncrasies it wouldn’t be my favorite game of all time!
DDO is in a good spot right now except for "server lag, more server lag, extreme server lag." The lag in DDO needs to be meaningfully addressed.
I'm glad i stumbled on your channel brother. I'm an old time TTRPG interested in looking at this game.
Welcome, happy to have you. If you have any questions I'm pretty easy to get a hold of through discord, social media or the DDO.com forums.
New DDO player here, I played once or twice back in 2010 or so when my uncle stayed at my house for a few weeks. He's not doing too good health wise nowadays and can't play anymore but I always had really fond memories of the game. So I figured I would re-download it, to carry on his legacy in some ways.
I remember running around to the highest point I could find and then falling down using the boots of feather or whatever they were called.
I just signed up literally about 10 minutes ago after downloading the game through steam.
The sign up WAS TERRIBLE and still is terrible. I had to go into incognito mode, and then go into a whole different browser because I just kept receiving a message that said I'm "ineligible" for sign up.
This didn't put me off too much because I know the game is worth it, but I'm sure this and other "friction points" or barriers have prevented some new players.
P.S. Love your vibe man, subscribed. I think you're a great commentator, analyst, and are extremely well spoken. I believe you'd do great covering ANY niche or topic beyond DDO.
Keep up the great work, going to finish watching this much will check out your other videos.
You've got a divine aurora my man
Thanks for the kind words. And sorry to hear about your uncle. The game does have some sign up issues...there may still be issues where it will not let you have the same email for both DDO and LOTRO. Anyways the game is worth getting through some of its unpolished areas, enjoy.
The replay ability is INSANE. Ive been playing since day one. Its awesome. The one thing that still makes me mad every time... Jump glitching. Gives me rage.
I don't know what makes me more upset, the jump glitching, ladder glitching, or the server lag during Mabar or Festivault. I love DDO, and have been playing for years myself, but damn sometimes it gets to me.
there used to be a function to preview cosmetics actually, it was at the blacksmith next to stormreach harbor bank. That huge mirror there. You used to talk to the NPC to preview the cosmetics.
Well reasoned and Standing Stone would be wise to take note of both you and Josh's videos.
"yeah, he's right..yeah, he's right.. yeah, he's right.. yeah, he's right........."
Keep watching. I disagree with and correct him on a lot of things too.
@@AxelAlexK Yeah, I typed that during the first part of the vid. My bad. :) I played from the very beginning to the point where you could purchase crafting mats. I spent like 100 I didn't have and just thought "OH, nope. done" and haven't logged in since.
It would be great if they worked with their content creators to redo the prebuilt builds for classes to be flavorful, not min/maxed, and fairly solid in survivability and killing power or something else related to the theme of the prebuilt. We just need them to be viable on elite, maybe not solo but at least able to hold up in a group.
Wonder why they haven't done this?
IIRC Strim started a project on this last year but may have lost interest after initial enthusiasm. Closest I can think of on the dev side was when they asked on the forums for players to submit tips for newbie guides on the official DDO Compendium, sometime 10 years ago?
I do think they should let players contribute more to development. With prebuilt paths though, they do balance passes often which means builds become outdated. The point really for the prebuilt builds is to let people get into the game quickly. And even if they are bad they are good enough for normal. Normal in DDO is super easy. The reason really comes down to when you consider that each race, class, and tree combination needs its own build it becomes a ridiculous amount of work. According to my count there are currently 15 races (not including iconics), 15 classes (21 with archetypes included), and 60 enhancement trees. So that's 15 x 21 x 60 = 18,900 builds. It's just not feasible, even if they let the community contribute. Really they'd have to cut it down to just a handful of race/class combinations which is probably not preferable to just letting people get into the game quickly on the race/class combination they want - even if it is a bad build.
Thank you for the great video Axel! I have given lots of money to DDO since its release, way more than my regular play would dictate, but when I do play, I love those teleport items to get around the world faster. 2005 and 3rd Edition P&P was a long time ago now. I have always thought of this game as an old friend that I visit with on and off. I don’t compare it to other games. It has many flaws but 3rd edition was always my favorite and the incredible customization is why I loved it so much. I think DDO did a great job of recreating this. I also love the reincarnation system which is very unique in MMOs but a D&D staple.
The community for DDO is awesome (same goes for LOTRO) and being in a guild offers significant benefits with passive buffs. This game has a learning curve and you need to invest time in it but I believe it is well worth it.
Thanks and glad you enjoyed it.
The reason that they had to make it into separate accounts at the time was because people were going to lotro getting a bunch of Turbine points and then having that balance transfer over to DDO
It's easy to prevent breakage even on ran loot, just hit the stone of change unequip it, drop it in with a bunch of yellow dragonshards, "400" remember though, """Items that undergo the binding ritual retain any permanent damage they have already sustained. Those items become immune to future permanent damage sustained after the ritual is performed.""
Use the repair from the store and it will put the item at 100% then stone of change it (which i think makes it bound to character?)
@@r8chlletters Or just learn to recognize an exceptional piece of gear for your purpose, occasionally such is generated, and do it when you find it, U generally don't use much rangen loot but once in a while you run into that rare actual worthwhile piece. I have found the it happens less and less the higher you go. Still occurs, that double slotted stiff can sit in for something a long time if you have augies sitting in the bank.
Right, the stone of change binding ritual is what I was referring to in the video.
I agree that DDO is not a polished game and that can be a huge turn-off for new players. Get rid of the pre-configured character creation options, get a 15 year old and pay them 200 dollars to redo all the icons in order to allow screen re-scaling; seriously, a teen could do that in a weekend between burgers and porn channels. And just remove all the unnecessary dross from the beginning screens, speed up the connections, fix the bugs [i must admit more has been resolved in the past year or so than ever before imho), re-invent Hardcore to keep it fresh, replace the producer with somebody who UNDERSTANDS the game and its community, remove quest opener limits (how does that benefit anyone exactly apart from a pathetic and hugely annoying mechanism to encourage - with a stick - players to become VIPs, rather than using a carrot approach)...
Love the game for its immersion, its lore, the community but mostly because I can build whatever character i want (except for multi-classed bards because why would bards have alignment restrictions when rogues dont?). Ah! Yes! More HC! Get real Producer!
Awesome vid Axel!
Death drummer! Thanks man.
BTW: Korthos was added in October 2008. It's not the olest area. There used to be a different starting area.
DDO was a lot of fun, and it's better than people think. However, it's just not fun without a group, and last time I logged in there weren't nearly enough players to find people with the same goals at a compatible level.
There are non-stop groups during Hardcore season. Sadly, the blue-haired producer thinks it will do DDO well to get rid of it. I think too much dye has leaked into the area her brain used to reside.
@JK-pp2xl that may explain why their producer's letters are lacking inspiration and clarity?
I absolutely love the game when I play it but I'm a casual on and off player. You're correct that the game is much more enjoyable with a group, and when I do occasionally convince my friends to play we have such a great time. Sadly, getting a static group to play regularly is basically impossible, and as a casual player I personally find the hundreds of guild ship buffs to be overwhelming and confusing, and I don't find myself wanting to play with long time players often because they often rush through content I haven't experienced and play at a pace that is overwhelming for me. It's a difficult problem to solve. Love the game nonetheless
There are two things Josh talked about I'd like to reiterate and agree with: The game is a mess. It's buggy. It's old. And there are things I couldn't figure out, no matter how much online reading I did. For example: How do I spin the camera around to look at my character from the front? I spent time designing my character to look the way I wanted. And sometimes I just want to pause, spin the camera, and look at them. Maybe there is a way? I couldn't find it. Secondly, after all the reading, and searching, and researching, and cross-referencing I did online (so much of it!!), one thing I read still remains in my memory: You will need and earn a doctorate in buildology to really play this thing. Sure, you can jump in. But how do you find traps? How do you not get burned by traps? What skills do you need to spend points on? So much reading! Finally, and a gigantic HOWEVER, this game is fun! Super fun!! I don't understand how it turns out that way, being the biggest pain game I've ever seen. Seriously: You'll want to cry sometimes, because of how much of a pain it is. Maybe that's why? You *earn* this game. It's not handed to you. You don't just play your character, and do the cookie-cutter, copy-paste best-in-slot. You have to figure out what all those numbers mean, which ones matter to you while soloing, and in group play. But if you want an old-school, fun, unique experience, and a break from the simplicity of wow, give it a shot! I just hope you enjoy reading guides.
Fortunately with a lot of this the community fills in the gaps and it's pretty easy to get an answer to things the game or wiki doesn't explain. Whether through discord, forums, reddit, or another channel. And with builds fortunately there's also a good pool of players continually making builds new players can follow. I would guess most new players don't really know about these resources and how important they are to use when they start though, which is unfortunate.
As a fellow mmo tuber I can never bring myself to watch a JoshStrifeHayes video but I appreciate that his videos will literally always bring new blood to the game he covers because he is just so big. Either way I wish there was more love in the genre for retro mmos.
Compared to him I wonder how many things I get wrong in my video when I covered it.
Maybe I'll check yours out when I get a chance and let you know :D
@@AxelAlexK I’m doubly curious now too. Has LazyPeon done a video on DDO? I think his is way more old though. LazyPeon is 100% all first impressions surface level videos.
@@VagrantVideos I believe he has, not sure if I have watched it.
DDO is more like a computer representation of the board game than a video game. Seen as a video game it is a disaster. But seen as a representation of the Dungeon & Dragons books it's perfect. I was amazed when I entered the Temple of Elemental Evil and discovered that the entrance was exactly the same as the cover of the book. For me it is a great classic among MMOs and the best adaptation of D&D. But not a video game.
DDO is currently in a great era. I quit the game in 2010, because the end game was The Vale. The Vale, imo, killed this game. Well, coupled with the Cannith expansion and the initially horrible Menace of Underdark(FR introduction). Lots of mobs, with lots of HP. Lots of people quit. But, luckily someone with a brain took over and came out with Raven Loft, Feywild, Sharn, came out with good FR quest, etc, and the game is not even close to the era it was in in 2010. Their next steps needs to be getting melee close to the same power as casters. For some reason, they have refused to address melees being far inferior.
I just found my account from like 2006 and I made a Cool Bio that I re read and thought sounded awesome and I realized I wrote it lol. Im having fun with it so far after not playing it for 18 years.
I have an extra account on my LOTRO launcher, the dev labelled it (Don't use me!) for me, but I've contacted them several times and asked if they could remove it, they say they are unable. So I have a feeling there's a certain depth into the backend/account stuff that SSG can't or won't touch (probably because doing so would require fixes/re-engineering they just aren't equipped to do.) So I wouldn't hold your breath on the "use one email for both DDO and LOTRO" thing.
Big caveat I would say is that it is 100% worth it to get the VIP subscription, even for a month or two, when starting the game as a new player. Seeing how many quests, features, and even just small quality of life things were locked behind ddo point purchases (or VIP) was really make or break it for me to continue playing. It's the same price, or slightly cheaper than, other mmo subscriptions anyway. I feel like "true" F2P right now versus F2P with the adventure pack code are two very different experiences.
I love that he mentioned Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson having done voice stuff in the game, but you can tell he never heard it, because he would have made a joke about how embarrassingly bad they are. XD
I personally love Gary's raspy delivery throughout Delera's :D
@@AxelAlexK The raspiness itself is fine, but the actual stuff he's saying is like... really on the nose and uninteresting. A door slams shut, "the door slams shut behind you!" like 5 seconds later. Like, yeah Gary. I know. I was there. I watched the door shut.
I am not a big MMORPG player, but I think this is my favorite one because it allows me and my friend to play it as a coop RPG.
We simply go from one adventure to the next and don't care about higher difficulties (hard, elite, reaper, etc.), reincarnations, the endgame, none of that stuff.
We just want to experience the adventures and move on, and we're having a blast! We don't feel the need to grind. As long as we are powerful enough to do what we want on normal difficulty, we're good to go. And when we finally finish all the adventure packs/expansions we want, we'll stop playing the game, but even this playstyle will take hundreds of hours. :]
I'm a DDO vet. He is right.
And I still love it.
1. lag in ddo doesn't kill you. monsters lags along with you. (unless u r in the middle of dcing, that's not lag anyways)
2. omg text window has horizontal scroll while it doesn't need it!!! omg end of the world!
3. game is too complex omg omg. fking mouse over and READ what skills do. it will tell you what stat that skill based on, how much mod u got etc.
4. play the game in lower resolution, so you won't need to resize ui. the game is old and increasing resolution doesn't change much anyways.
5. whatever that cash shop quest is in that inn, it could just sell something for free. AMAZING IDEA: put a lv1 cleric for free in cash shop so they learn that too.
It's call aliasing and a higher resolution fixes that. Also games look more crisp at your native resolution.
I started in 2009!!
We are one my friend. 🙌
I started last year, I was just going to get to level 20 or something then quit, but the dungeoncrawl code came and I am still playing because of it.
It's funny hearing you say "Korthos, one of the oldest areas of the game." I remember when it was shiny and new. And the days before, with the beginner island and training dummies.
Haha! So funny that an area added over 15 years ago would be considered one of the oldest areas. Haha! HAHA!
But no mention of guildship BACON
All hail bacon
5:02 Halft truth. I use the same account for both games, all i had to do was contact support and ask them to add a "subscription" to lotro to the account.
Unless its changed (and i havent done this for years) there is definitely a (very clonky ofc, hey its DDO) way to preview (most) in-game store items before purchase.
Many bugs that have been there from the beginning, and will never be fixed. I do miss the game how it was years ago.
that SSG...in LOTRO thers a dragon raid fight that is broken since...2013? somewhere around there....and literally WONT be fixed...and whats the bug? if you kill him too quick he bugs ,stops moving and is untouchable
Lifetime LOTRO player trying out DDO for the first time. LOL, I will admit I am lost, but it's a good kind of lost. It's the 'lost' of exploring something new. Any good videos you could recommend I watch first? Thanks in advance.
I tell new players all the time. That yes there is a steep learning curve. But not get overwhelmed by it. One step at a time and listen and learn from those that have been here for a long time. That first build is going to be inevitably flawed. But not worry as there ways to fix it as one goes along. If nothing else has worked. There is a lesser reincarnation heart to repec that toon.
Also this not a triple A game. It has a smaller dev team and budget.And yes the game reflects that fact. Yes, there are bug that go and have gone years without a fix. And if not for Tonquin. many annoying bugs would still not be addressed.
I love Tonquin's' dedication of tracking down bugs as fast as she can. Kills them better than a can of black flag or raid. Doing that on top of her regular dev duties is awesome. Whatever they are paying her it is not enough.
Yes the game has many foibles and lag is super annoying. But the def team is still working on that slowly. Sometimes it seems glacially slow. At the same time there is always new content being rolled out and the game does have regular updates.
The producer letter that just came out makes me anticipate a new year of new content and events. Hopefully SSG will figure out a marketing strategy that would attract new players and/or returning to this very niche game. If SSG can get new and/or returning players here. I am confident that the community will do all we can to help them to decide to stay.
While play Mostly LOTRO i also play DDO occasionally ,You don't need two accounts the same account works with both, same account and login.
The "purchase to complete" quest is barely technically a quest. It's more of a task.
1. It is a delivery, and there is no way to fail it other than choosing not to finish it.
2. There's no XP or favor gained - or lost if you look at the glass as half-empty.
3. The end reward is a really good reward for a mere task.
4. You earn the DDO points needed to buy the item, so there is no need to exchange real money to complete the quest.
In terms of balancing the need for revenue in a F2P game by introducing players to the store, this quest is actually well-structured and barely an imposition, and one that can be easily ignored if you choose.
This complaint about DDO feels almost as bad as complaining about having to click the mouse button.
Are we not able to provide links to other youtube videos? Noticed my comment linking to the other Josh Strife video about DDO is gone.
Guess if links are a no no, I can just provide channel and video name: "Josh Strife Hayes Plays: Dungeons & Dragons Online" on his channel "Josh Strife Replays".
I haven't deleted any comments. RUclips probably flagged it as spam and auto removed it. I have no problem with people posting links.
Unless you're a moderator you generally can't post links on peoples channels. There is a toggle they can switch to allow that but you then open yourself up to hosting pr0n links.
I'm sure you can understand why the default setting is "moderators only".
@@drizzo4669 Yeah, just would have figured a link to something else directly on RUclips would be on a whitelist or something.
Not playing anymore but he was really nit picking and really didnt know what he was doing.
However the game can be like that as a new player. Can get confusing.
And the bummer ... is that all these people flooded to DDO ... only to find that the CODE he was given didn't work anymore ... they really need to unlock those things permanently... 😞
They want the marketing hype of a limited time promo. It will very likely come back....just a matter of when. They are giving out a free expansion right now just for this month btw.
In my opinion DDO is the second best MMO, it has extreme replayability, via past lives. The only one that beats it is FFXIV. But my computer can't play 14, so I'm gonna hop on ddo tonight
If your pc cant play ff14, doesn't that mean for now DDO technically is your "best" MMO? 😆
@@Skenjinabsolutely it does. And honestly, MY BEST mmo is DDO, but I know it's second best overall
I play DDO free to play and never have had to buy anything from store and I have been playing since the start when a sub was required..
It's really frustrating that the developers are doing absolutely 0 to make new the new player experience better
And the overall experience like item storage, worthless chest rewards and so on overall better
Some of the feedback really hurts. I am a new player and i really dig this game. So what?! And mentioning it gives the game some credit after all. I like the dungeoning, soloing etc. and there is the freequestcode that gave me the opportunity to enter the whole experience. The main problem for developers is, to keep a game alive that is publicly regarded as outdated and dead. I have seen that on the tabletop and now there is the renaissance of older editions. I sincerely hope they will never overhaul the game.
They could automate the entire UI upscale process using AI tools. Mostly for icons IMO, the rest they should just use scalable vectors. Amateurs have done this in their spare time for other games. Also an artist could check the results manually and see if there are any issues. Anyway still way way better than the current situation.
SSG has said they don't use AI in previous interviews. A lot of companies aren't comfortable with using it. I'm assuming because it can take people's jobs. But if they aren't ever going to be able to budget the time to do the scaling otherwise then maybe they should consider it, if wotc would allow it, since in that case it isn't taking anyone's job.
@@AxelAlexK They could use the "classic upscaling algorithms" that don't use "AI". Way worse results but at least they can virtue signal. It's the same as squinting without physically squinting but could also be better with filters like sharpening. There's really no excuse. Even this bad approach as an initial step and gradually redoing the entire icon set manually is better than nothing.
Artists who don't adopt AI will just get surpassed by those who do. If you regulate AI, the countries who don't will have massive competitive advantages. No amount of virtue signaling will make people stop using AI.
@@NameName-h1s Wish I had seen this thread before posting. Took the words right out of my mouth.
Yea a lot of customs with character creation that is bitch about but if they limited it people will still complain
Maybe this is already the case (I don't play DDO), but if they simply wanted to show how to get to and use the store, they could easily have simply made the item necessary for that one quest to be a free one-time purchasable, rather than locking out f2p completionists.
I might be wrong, or they might have changed it, but I'm fairly certain that quest gives you the DDO points necessary to complete it the very first time you ever talk to that person (not on subsequent characters). Even if not, you get DDO points like candy honestly.
long swims... hmmmm i think i just did one and it was i think it was the evil temple for the water.... it was a high pain watching my character to have a low swim check... it was pretty scary... (I livestreamed that ep 11) I never done recarnations yet... but i can say i'm an alt tier build tester multiclass such as rogue/bard... little bit on rogue and more bard for healing since i don't play with players.
ehhh I will always say go to borderlands first to craft your weapon at level 2 hold that weapon till you do level 5-7 quests... (i'm a rogue but i never got daggers the only time i can get such weapon without going through the item grind loot was get the cube and make the black smith craft any weapon daggers swords... etc staffs... Reavers Reach OMG i can kill it!!!!!! (nvm level 17 content)
I keep forgetting this is all about new players... if you played at least 2 months you can seriously do it without a hireling or partner... i done it. So there is still a missing thing for both poeple.. newplayers better stick with rogue and multi class.... because extra xp is great if you disable traps and search for secrtet doors... also destroy barrels and boxes for loot and xp... can't use the runes.... don't forget to buy potions from the market!!!!!!!!
Yeah crystal weapon or durablity... that's umm way further in the game.. LOL!!!!! unless you went through the game and used bank share etc... (save platnium and buy it for auction.)
I'm on Kyber. I almost never see raiding parties.
I actually just watched his entire worst mmo series a few weeks ago what a coincidence
The RUclips algorithm working in my favor I see, yay 🙃
ive noticed that Josh somehow very often plays the games exactly when theres a one time huge problem currently happening and he considers its always the case and he oftens misjudge the reason behind a problem....id say hes about always accurate around 70% of what he says
you can use the same email if you purchased the game while under Turbine lol!
To add to it not even into crafting and to say if your item breaks to redo in crafting cause some of us don't do that not good response I'm sorry to say so it can effect some of us when items break
What's so good about Sorc exactly?
Fast casting speed, lots of spell points, high spell power potential
@@AxelAlexK Oh ok tnx, I was always confused about sorc and wiz, it's been awhile since I played so I thought they just had the spellpoints and faster casting speed, and I thought Wiz had the higher spell power.
@@The-Black-Death wiz casts slower and has less sp but they have much better self healing through pale master, and higher DC potential. In general wiz tend to be better at crowd control and insta death spells whereas sorcs tend to be better offensive damage casters.
Not all can understand how to properly craft items or wish not to do it
Josh showed exactly what a new player gets. A laggy game which doesn't care about new players
I'm confused by the point of this video. Every criticism levied against the game was met with "game is old/small dev team" but, both of these things are known, and if they aren't, they are by the 5th time this is mentioned. I felt kind of bad just hearing the same thing over and over again.
The point was to add context to Josh's review. I did bring up small dev team several times because it is a huge limiting factor as to why some things are the way they are in DDO. But that was not at all the only response to Josh's criticisms, there was way more than that, as I went over in the video.
25:22 I'm pretty sure it's not that hard to change a model/make a new model.
Rather have a premium account than a free or do a VIP account
SSG are just terrible at anything to do with details but somehow over the years they have got big directional decisions right
Remember: The game is not laggy, the problem is with your computer. DDO is a lagfest sh!tshow.
10:05 Fortunately, we now have AI upscaling precisely to alleviate that workload.
I don't know if SSG would consider doing that. Yeah, a lot of people have pointed this out. I don't know much about AI personally, but I do know it's a touchy area. I also don't know if WotC, the license holder for D&D, would allow DDO to do it even if they wanted to.
It's one of the best games ever!
The gameplay is great. The entire game needs a complete overhaul and redesign with reincarnations ( which is an unreal task to ask the players to max all that out, seriously, do the math on it. ) Best DnD combat out there, but in a REALLY old and spaghetti coded game from all the years of hand me down code. Will Wheaton did no voice acting, he talked about his experience with DnD as an audio overlay, not as a character.
In regards to Wil Wheaton - I am aware and did say voice work, not voice acting, in the video for that reason.
They've talked about ways to help new players catch up a bit. They may do a reaper enhancement pass this year and let people share some power. I'd like to see them eventually merge heroic and racial reincarnation so you can get both past lives at the same time.
@@AxelAlexK For sure. 20 levels, three times per class, then racial, then Epic is crazy grinding. Some people may enjoy it but in this old game attracting new players is difficult with the current system.
I realize it's not perfect but even with all the jank I realize it's as close as we're likely to get to what I look for in an MMO so I've given up hoping for something better to come along.
@@AxelAlexK I disagree. It gives people something to do. I've been playing 10 months and by far the largest hurdle is making melee viable above level 12, and getting DCs for legendary content. Farming for DCs, imo, takes some help from other players, and this game is very, very cliquish.
There are long swims in the game
Yes, but very few of them.
Its win lose scenario
Ddo suffers from a triple whammy: heavy-handed moderators, incompetent moderators & new content dearth.
This is why this game sucks. If you have check guide online before starting a game it means you game has failed.
DDO isn't free to play I just started it would take 400 dollars to have access to the pay gated content. I still play PnP D&D every week, DDO is so far removed from anything resembling D&D its actually pitiful other than some name sake adventures and familiar characters it is pure garbage. The only people still playing have so much sunk cost and time they can't seem to let it go.
Well, that's not what that means in gaming. Free to play means no upfront cost or sub fee. It doesn't mean the whole game is free. DDO is pretty good though with the amount of free stuff it offers, there's over 100 free quests. Right now they have the free coupon code going so you can get every paid pack for free permanently, minus the newest one. And 4 of the expansions are on sale for 100 DDO points, which is basically $1 each. So right now you could get everything for under $150, for sure, and that's if you don't wait for sales and buy the rest of the expansions at full price. You can also just earn stuff by playing quests. You get 25 DDO points per 100 favor. Which is about 8 or so quests on elite, typically. $400 sounds about right when the code isn't going though, and you buy everything at full price.
Why would I let it go, those of us who have stuck with the game actually enjoy this "garbage". Kind of like opinions, many are good for the trash bin. 🗑
I'm not gonna listen to you justify everything that's broken about the game first few mins I already can see the atmosphere around ur answers and it simply boils down u begin defensive about everything even if its broken
And please play some modern mmos and they'll blow ur mind compared to this junk ur still holding onto and yes iv played it for years aswell but u have to move on its a dead game and feels terrible once you play other actual good mmos
the lag is caused by the constant duping