Going Free-to-Play Part II: D&D Online Guided Tour
In Part 1 of Going Free-to-Play: D&D Online Unlimited I talked to Turbine PR Director Adam Mersky and Executive Producer Fernando Paiz about some of what players can expect with the free version of the game.
In Part 2 I get a chance to see some of those concepts in action via a guided tour of the world with a high-level character and Executive Producer Fernando Paiz as my tour guide and (for all intents and purposes) protector. Along for the ride are Senior Producer Kate Paiz and Turbine PR Director Adam Mersky, who provide some facts about such things as how to change the color of your hair, the in-game store and the new areas and adventure modules available to players.
Adam Mersky: I’ve got Kate Piaz, the assistant producer; and Fernando Paiz, executive producer, here on the phone and I’m going to hand it over to them.
Crispy Gamer: Thanks Adam.
Fernando Paiz: Are there any particular areas you want to focus on?
Crispy Gamer: What are some of the changes to combat in this release?
Fernando: There are quite a few. Some of the biggest changes are to the feedback that you get in combat. So let’s find the best place to show you this. So you and I are partied together right now…
Kate Paiz: Just speaking in general terms about combat, DDO has one of the most action-oriented combat systems of any MMO out today, so we’re always working on making sure that it is just as visceral and intuitive an experience as possible — so when you are swinging your sword it feels like you’re really have an impact. To help with some of the feedback, players are always getting minute-by-minute update messages from a new floating damage feedback system we introduced.
Fernando: So let’s try to get to a combat area. I’m this guy Kerberos with the green hair and the red outfit in front of you. If you can follow me, we’ll get to a wilderness area that’s nearby here.
(I follow the blue dot on the map screen. There’s a big gate there that leads to a place called Searing Heights, where monsters roam free. This is called a wilderness area, which is a wide-open area filled with encounters and quests that you might find in more traditional MMOs. We wander around killing things. Since we are high-level, it’s not much of a chore for our army of two, but it gives me a chance to see some of the new things that have been added in combat since the last time I played the game -– which, admittedly, was quite some time ago.)
Fernando: Here’s a guy … one thing you can see is that when he’s in front of you, you’ll auto target him. So we have a new auto-targeting system — smart targeting — that will actually take the most appropriate target at any given moment. So, whether that’s an interactive item or an enemy, you will auto-select it. Now you have the power to turn that off if you don’t want to have that turned on. You also have the power to hard-target something else.
(I fire off a bunch of spells at some ruffians and wolves that assail us as we explore.)
Fernando: That spell you just fired off [Prismatic Spray] is new, and it uses some of the new effects we’ve added to the game.
(We continue mindlessly killing things with a summoned demon I found on my action bar and an overabundance of spell-casting. Complete and utter overkill on my part.)
Fernando: One thing you notice, as you have these enemies come up as your targets, is that they’ll actually have a health bar over their heads. Also, if you try and hit them you’ll see the whole floating-numbers scheme — both for you and for these guys — has changed, and now you’ll actually get feedback. Not just on what damage is being done to them — but what types of damage are being done. And that’s part of the mechanics to help you learn some of the moves in the game and to figure out what creatures are susceptible to what damage, like fire damage or cold damage. All this becomes a lot more obvious when you actually see the types of damage you are doing.
So if you cast that fire spell you just cast again, you’ll see that you get a little floating fire-damage icon along with the number. Here I’ve charmed some of these guys with the big hats over their heads. That’s the effect when they are under the influence of a charm spell. Mass Charm is one of the new high-level spells.
You’ve got a summoned monster there. There’s actually another one there. The icon looks like a tortoise or something… That’s a new monster called a Hezrou. It’s the highest-level summoned monster in the game.
The other big thing that affects combat in this release is the new level cap. There’s a big level-cap increase from 16 to 20. Each of our D&D levels is pretty meaty, and it takes quite a bit of questing to get from one level to the next. So we have these intermediate ranks that you progress through. At launch we had 10 levels and 50 ranks. This new release takes us up to 20 levels and 100 ranks. So that’s a pretty big level-cap increase for us, and it will definitely come with a whole bunch of new abilities, feats and other different things in the character progression that our players are really looking forward to.
One other big thing to talk about in terms of combat is solo ability. In the early history of the game, it was a tough thing about the game for a lot of players — playing solo was not a viable play-style. You could do it for the early levels but then you would really run out of steam. We’ve taken some steps to change that. We’ve released a new system called Hirelings. Hirelings are NPCs that you can hire into your party and have them fill out slots in your party.
