DDO solo play now available
by Alan Rose 
{ Jun 6th 2006 at 10:30PM }
Last month at E3, Turbine announced they would be adding solo play to Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach -- a decision based on user feedback (and most likely, to bring the game a step closer to World of Warcraft). According to the company's web site, a "Solo" option is now available to players at the earliest levels, and dungeon difficulty is adjusted accordingly, although there are certain maps that still require team play. PvP functionality will also be added in the future.[via RPGPlanet]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Joe Cino @ Jun 6th 2006 10:43PM
Good. I heard the feedback and complaints about how annoying it was to have to get a user of every class to finish any dungeon.
Andir @ Jun 6th 2006 11:26PM
DDO is not subscription based game material.
I think part of the complaints (of which I was one) was that the game has no need to be "online". You could get together with your friend(s) and connect to each other and do the dungeons without the servers. Until they pull the subscription fee, I'm not going through one more harbor quest again. If you want to make it online accessable, it's simple, make the taverns an online lobby. It connects to their service and you meet up with other players who will establish direct connections upon going outside. The game would be no different (except you wouldn't see people outside the tavern, but who cares?)
Ken @ Jun 6th 2006 11:35PM
Wow, the sell-out factor on this is mind-boggling. May I suggest a big red button marked "Push for XP". That'll at least save them some programming time.
AndrewNeo @ Jun 6th 2006 11:40PM
#2: So basically it's like Guild Wars?
Andir @ Jun 6th 2006 11:50PM
@AndrewNeo: Pretty much, yeah...but smaller and it uses D&D modified character rules. That and you have to pay for it monthly.
Andir @ Jun 6th 2006 11:53PM
...and before I get jumped on by everyone..yes, the dungeons were pretty cool and unique. But after you do them once, the replay is shot.
kyou @ Jun 7th 2006 5:35AM
Actually after I left WoW I played a bunch of MMO's (still looking for a good one, so if you know one tell me!) to replace it. I went through Lineage II, CoH/CoV, Anarchy Online, D&D, Star Wars Galaxies, Auto Assault and I'm trying out EVE right now. Among all of those D&D was probably the best and most unique. The team play and the way classes needed each other was really well planned. But yeah, I guess it was kinda annoying to look for a balanced party in other to do Waterworks and advance to a next zone. For the plus side the party finding interface in D&D is the best I've seen so far. The only reason for not buying D&D is that for an MMO, D&D is awfully short.
Stormgaard @ Jun 7th 2006 7:22AM
DDO was crap.
Too much twitch based combat. (If I wanted an FPS, I'd PLAY an FPS).
HORRID class and combat balance. Hey everyone, let's burn through all our spells in the first quarter of the dungeon and spend the next 45 minutes scratching our ass and wondering where the next rest shrine is!!
A slavish adherance to the d20 system DOES NOT WORK IN AN ONLINE MMO.
Clumsy, confusing, user-UNfriendly UI. If I didn't know better I'd think the UI was designed to HARM the user.
Primitive graphics. Can anyone say Old-Ass EQ??
Goofy-ass world design. Seriously did anyone put any REAL thought and creativity at all into what Stormreach was supposed to LOOK LIKE? Looks like someone vomited a city made up of every half-ass fantasy-art cliche in existence.
WTF with all the holes in the ground? Want to go on a quest?? Go find a hole in the ground!!
Goofy-ass narrator.
Way too much useless and crappy loot - seriously WTF was half of that shit for??
WTF with all the G*ddamn barrels you have to smash???
WTF was the deal with searching? Seriously... WTF WAS THE DEAL WITH SEARCHING FOR G*DDAMN SECRET DOORS?!?!?!
...
I am absolutely mortified that the same people who made this giant pile of refuse have been handed the LotRO game too.
/shudders
syco @ Jun 7th 2006 7:35AM
I'm just trying to imagine playing World of Warcraft without being able to solo, and the concept is truely terrifying. I have probably played 80-90% of the game solo, the only times I ever get into groups are when my real life friends are playing or if I need to do an instance, which very sadly are virtually impossible to do solo.
Gavin @ Jun 7th 2006 8:46AM
Issue 7 went live for COH/COV on 6/6/06 and I just finished an 11 hour session. Who needs DDO? Not I...
Niki @ Jun 7th 2006 9:56AM
I played it for a while during a free trial. I was very disappointed and the solo addition isn't a draw for me. The graphics are aweful, the game play is sluggish and twitchy (I think someone else said twitchy.)
Michael @ Jun 7th 2006 1:27PM
I actually think the game has serious potential. After coming off of a 18 month WoW stint it was actually a refreshing experience, even considering some of the valid criticism above.
Group play was great - more intimate gameplay, voice chat rocks (no TS or Vent required), narrator is a cool element (needs to be used more, imho) graphics are great, and the average age of players is higher - which is quite refreshing.
The UI needs some aesthetic and functional attention (loot icons are too small, description of items not too clear), no open world to explore, instances only (ie guild wars). There's lots of little world and dungeon inconsistencies but I have faith in time it'll get tightened up.
I cancelled my account and will be awaiting some maturity in the game before I come back. Once it does though - I'll play and I know I'll have fun.
Scotty @ Jun 7th 2006 2:30PM
I played the beta of DDO and was able to achieve level 3 without playing in a group. I'm glad thia has finally been added to the game. Unfortunately I won't be playing DDO or Wow because I have a life and a family to maintain.
kyou @ Jun 7th 2006 6:05PM
The thing about DDO that attracted me is that it needs more skills than just choosing in which order you will casts spells or abilities like WoW. Seriously... being a Rogue in WoW means sneak, backstab, backstab, backstab, backstab eviscerate. If you're in Molten Core or any other big raid, just remove the sneaking and that's all you'll do. In DDO I was constantly warning my team about traps and tumbling around avoiding hits. Also skills lije jump do matter.
That is the kind of original gameplay MMOs need. Not something that is just like WoW but in a car.
boneyard @ Jun 8th 2006 3:50AM
ddo was meant to be heavy group based, turbine should keep that stance up for longer then a couple of months and then giving in.
Clay @ Jul 26th 2006 7:35PM
I played the beta for D&DO. It's still new - remember EQ after it came out of beta? Same thing here. It's seriously the best MMOG I've ever played. There are a lot of things I would change, but I say that about every MMOG I play (Turbine isn't here to make ME happy).
The graphics are very balanced. They're quite appealing to me, and I demand good graphics. But, they are also not intensive. They aren't really comparable to anything that I've seen. But, maybe you could say somewhere between EQ2 and Guild Wars. The sky and sunset are really spectacular out by the lighthouse (and no one really hangs out there, so it's quiet - there's no shout channel)
The combat system is my number one reason for liking this game. If you tumble out of the way, you have just dodged an attack. Not as in the computer decides if you were hit or not. You jump out of the way - you can see it. There are also dice rolls, which are nice (you can see them on the GUI).
The GUI was a bit cumbersome. I didn't like it much, but after a little fiddling I got up three (or four?) hot key bars and I was in business. The chat windows needs to be combined. There are tabs for different channels (tells, group, battle). And if you're in one you miss all the others.
I also love the narrator/dungeon master. I wish he'd say more throughout the adventure. Sometimes I get lost when I'm soloing.
I wish there was more solo play. Everyone always says 'it's an online game' yes. I know. Thank you for clarifying. I like to be online with people, then go off on my own and come back if I need help/have problems.
For everyone who says the dungeons have no re-playability: I made five clerics to level 6 and did almost every mission on solo, normal, & hard. Still not bored of any missions, yet (Shan-to-kohr still confuses me. I get lost every time near the rock elementals...stupid groups always leaving the cleric behind).
I can't wait until this MMOG gets some of the kinks worked out (and maybe drops the price a little bit - ouch!)
Jramion @ Aug 8th 2006 5:28AM
I played DDO from just before it's release and I have to say that the graphics looked good. I see that others had 'twitchy' problems, the same as I had and I had thought that it was 'cause my puter had the minimum cpu speed.
The biggest reason I switched to WoW is for the solo play. DDO does make it very easy to find a group or start one, but sometimes, especially early in the morning when I play, there are not enough people on to get a group started. What am I supposed to do then? Just run around the small city and wait for enough people to get online?
I realize D&D was created to be played as a group, but that is not always possible, sometimes you hafta go-it alone.