D&D Online Free to Play! Menace of the Underdark coming to menace you!

[stimpy]

Anyway to adjust or turn off the option that logs you off after a couple of minutes of idle time?

[Destructor]

Anyway to adjust or turn off the option that logs you off after a couple of minutes of idle time?

Not in the slightest.

One of the bigger issues in the past was how the game would occasionally 'blip' lag and that would be a killer in the action game style DDO is. This, along with 'summoning more aggressive mobs' if you charge through the instance, were the solutions to that problem.

[stimpy]

What a freaking bad design decision.
Cant go to the john.
Cant get something to drink.
Cant let the dog out...answer the phone, etc.

Been kinda laggy and buggy too.

[Harkonis]

It's doesn't take that long to log back in. 

[stimpy]

But if your in the middle of a quest, it starts you back at the entry point.  
All because I walk away for a minute? 

[Destructor]

Well, use the john quicker next time. 

But yes, the fact that it's only like 5 minutes is a joke. It needs to be 10 at least. Sometimes real life does interfere for a few.

[Thry]

Just make a looping macro that right clicks or whatever every x minutes.

[Cortilian]

Cortilian has started up a Wanderers guild on Khyber so please feel free to send him a tell and let him know you're from GT if you are interested.  You have to be in Stormreach to join, apparently, so most of us haven't quite reached it yet, but should be getting there this weekend.

As an added note that I just found out you can send guild 'sigils' to people via the mail system so we do not have to be online at the same time to send out invites to the guild.  Also,  several of the guild members have invite rights so you can get an instant invite if they are online.  Had a little server issue last night with it crashing about 10ish.  Hope that doesn't keep up.  Server is really busy.

Shoot me or Rittchard a PM in game and we'll send you a sigil so you can join.

[Montag]

I would like to hook up. My cleric is Montagano Feuer.  I am playing on Kyber.  Please send me a tell.

[CeeKay]

looks like the free to play deal is working for them.

[Blackjack]

That's cool. I've recommended it and the Korean F2P I used to hawk here (Atlantica Online) to a former City of Heroes SG mate who is unemployed and has had to pull the plug on his paid MMOs for now.

Maybe it'll become a new - I hate this word - paradigm.   I just find that limited trials (7, 10, 14 days, whatever) I've given gamer buddies often hasn't been enough to hook them on something. Some ability to try at least parts of an MMO free for a longer period might better hook/convince them.

Of course, since Turbine's not going to disclose actual numbers, a "40% increase" could mean they went from 1,000 subscribers to 1,400.  

I'm at a low MMO-ebb these days, so I might give it a whirl here real soon. I'll holler if I do.
===================
Some players created a free iPhone app (sort of a sequel to their LOTRO version) that lists your DDO characters in it:

DDO Herald
http://www.oddduckcomputing.com/index.php?q=node/3

[kronovan]

Just curious if anyone here is still playing? I played up until a few months ago when it was still in beta. I'm looking to start playing again with my son once he gets his Xmas PC, so we'll be looking for others to party with. I was thinking of playing again on Sarlonika, but would consider another server if more GT'ers were on it.

[Rumpy]

Yeah, I am.

Fuzzybeard Darkwater on the Khyber server. Been having trouble finding people to group up with though so I haven't made much progress as of late.

[Cremator]

My son and I play on Sarlona most nights (7-9pm Central) if you have characters on that server.

Fleshmaul
Vileshot
Cryptclearer
Hecatey
...and others.

Levels range from 4 to 13.

[TheEgoWhip]

Just Dld this the other day for a trial.  Its kinda fun and I have always enjoyd the D&D universe.  Playing a Clerik on Kyber server.  Erikenbrand if anyone else is still playing.

[hentzau]

A quick question regarding skill checks...I haven't been able to find anywhere about things like Searching.  Is there a roll associated with the check, or is in all just a set number?  And can you search multiple times for a hidden door?  I've never been able to find any hidden door once I failed the first check...is it an exercise in futility to keep clicking to check for a door?

[Cremator]

From what I've read on the DDO forums, it is a one-shot roll for each character. If the skill is changed through a clickable enhancement, potion, item or spell, a new roll is done against the new skill value. Using a rest shrine might allow for another roll, but I'm not positive on that.
I covet magic items that find secret doors as they are quite handy when a rogue or ranger isn't available (my dumb fighter looted a cloak that has 3 uses of detect secret and it has proven very useful).

[TheEgoWhip]

For DC rolls like searching if you change your skill lvl it gives you a re-roll.  Otherwise your right its an excersize in futility. I usually carry items to affect skill lvls for stats that need a DC check.   My rogues inventory is full of items that add +3 to search, open locks, traps, etc..  I'll try the skill in my normal gear, and if it fails Ill try again with gear on, and it THAT fails I use my +2 rogue skill bonus clicky for one final try.

[LoneStarSpur]

I'm looking for something for my 7 year old grandson to play. I play FE and he obviously can't play that.  Used to play Vanguard and I made him up a char that started in a pretty deserted place and he loved running around killing stuff with the 1 and 2 keys.

Maybe something like this would work? He would only play a little while every other week when he stays over with grandma and grandpa so he wouldn't level much.

[Cremator]

My son is 9 and he plays it well enough. He doesn't grasp some of the complexities of character development, but I just tell him to play the classes as pure (no multi-classing) and he does fine. Actually, his main character is 5 levels above mine...

[LoneStarSpur]

My son is 9 and he plays it well enough. He doesn't grasp some of the complexities of character development, but I just tell him to play the classes as pure (no multi-classing) and he does fine. Actually, his main character is 5 levels above mine...

Thanks...I'll let him give it a try the next time he's over.

[Cremator]

Just dropping a note that as of tomorrow (2/3/2010) evening, DDO will be updating the game to make it even more accessible as you no longer will need leveling sigils to go up to the cap of 20. Also, they are adding 4 new dungeons that are free (level ranges 10 -15? I believe).

[MaxSteele]

Just dropping a note that as of tomorrow (2/3/2010) evening, DDO will be updating the game to make it even more accessible as you no longer will need leveling sigils to go up to the cap of 20. Also, they are adding 4 new dungeons that are free (level ranges 10 -15? I believe).

Huh... Guess they weren't making the revenue they wanted to from the sigils.

I'd be pissed if I had bought sigils to increase the cap the day before they announced they were removing that....

[Cremator]

As a pay-as-you-go player, I spent a small amount of money (~$10) to buy sigils for all my characters when the sigils went on sale. I was hoping for a little retro-active love with some free Turbine Points, but I don't think that's happening...

[TheEgoWhip]

For the last couple of months the sigils have been soo cheap that they were practically free. 10TP at the store.  you have more than that before clearing of the newbie island.

[CeeKay]

looks like their 'going free' has worked out well.

[kronovan]

After planning on playing since last Fall, I've finally started. I had to 1st completely burn out on Shin Megami Tensei Online, and it took me much longer than I thought. I've mostly come back because my son started playing and wanted me to help out him and his friend. I've gone with a custom Elf Bard which I'm splashing with a few levels of Rogue and Fighter &/or Barbarian. Other than Neverwinter Nights, I've never played a Bard in a PC game. I used to enjoy playing them back in the Dark Ages with the AD&D P'n'P, so this could be fun.

Since my son started before me, I didn't get to choose the server and I'm currently on Thelanis. I'd be willing to roll another toon for one of the other servers though, if any other GT'ers are active on them.

[LoneStarSpur]

Turbine has started something new with DDO...another revenue stream in conjunction with SuperRewards. If you play Facebook games you've probably heard of them.
the natives are restless

[Destructor]

Turbine has started something new with DDO...another revenue stream in conjunction with SuperRewards. If you play Facebook games you've probably heard of them.
the natives are restless

And they've already taken them down due to all the complaints.

[Harkonis]

that should be fine, the idea as a concept is pretty nice.  the execution on facebook is asanine.

[LoneStarSpur]

Gone for good with a big, old helping of mea culpa thrown in.

I actually got my Nexflix sub off of FB Texas Hold 'Em using those rewards.   Most of them just seem to be crap, though.

edit to add:

Turbine actually passed the user's email address on to a 3rd party (in a fricking URL for God's sake) without the user's permission. Not sure what to make of that...first thought is, "Do not like!"

[Harkonis]

not only a 'do not like', but that could be worthy of legal action

[hentzau]

So is this game just freaking hard, or am I incompetent at it?  (And yes, I know that's an easy answer, but bear with me...)

I've been playing this game with a buddy for a while now.  We play very casually, once a week if we are lucky.  We play the same characters, I'm a battle cleric, and he's a barbarian.  We've currently reached the mid-4 levels, and are consistently getting our asses handed to us over and over again.  We've gone through most of the free quests, and are now stuck on several that we just cannot get through with the two of us.

Case in point, the adventure where you are trying to clear out the troglodyte den for the elf noble.  We had tried that one a couple of times before, and always met with failure, so we decided (out of frustration) to give it one more try.  To help even out the odds, I used one of my cakes left over from the holiday season and summoned up one of those howling metal dog things to help us out.  We STILL couldn't get through it.  We've tried several different ways of dealing with the situation, such as having me stop fighting and just do crowd control and healing, but I rapidly run out of mana doing the run that way.  So is that particular run just undoable with a duo like ours?

I guess I'm just too used to CoH (my main MMO of choice for years) where they really scale the challenges to your team size and level.  But after last night I'm close to the tipping point with this one.

[Destructor]

Yeah, the game is quite difficult. Always was. Was always designed around larger (3-4 people) groups as well.

There is a 'solo' mode on most/all of the quests though (or so I thought). You try that out?

[Cremator]

My son and I try to 2-man a lot of the quests, and yeah, party wipes happen often. Try adding a hireling (or two) to your party if you have no one else to run with (PuGs can be frustrating in any MMO). Hirelings only add a fraction to the difficulty compared to a "live" player (either 0.5 or 0.25, I can't remember) so that the somewhat dense AI doesn't overly penalize you.

Just to clarify, they have added 'Casual' mode to all dungeons, whereas ones with a 'Solo' option are truly for one character only (and no hireling).

My son and I play on Sarlona and have characters from level 4 through 18 if that is where you landed as well, let me know and we can team up.

[hentzau]

We talked about dropping down to "Casual", but that seemed like the pussy option.    So instead we just keep dying and dying and dying.

Here's the funny thing, though.  I just tried that same quest, solo, on normal difficulty, and did just about as well by myself as I did with him.  So I think I found the part of my team that sucks. 

[Cremator]

LOL, yeah, there are a lot of people that solo the dungeons, and especially Clerics.
While charging in and fighting multiple Kobolds at once role-plays a Barbarian quite well, as far as the game goes that's not the best tactic.

The game definitely has a learning curve and it's quite easy to impair your character with a simple mistake or two. I've already coughed up more money for 3 lesser reincarnations as I had that many characters "gimped."

[kronovan]

Just a bit of feedback for Hentzau - there's no way you should be dying very often with those 2 particular classes on normal quests at you level. I play a Elf Warchanter Bard w/1 lvl Barb splashed in and my son plays a Dorf Barbarian and for the most part we can run quests on hard at our level and on Epic 1-2 levels lower. And as much as I'd wish, there's no way the best spec'd Warchanter is as good a healer as even a flawed  Battle Cleric. One thing we did do is roll our toons from scratch, which helps because IMO some of Turbines choices for set paths are quite suspect. Something to be careful of playing a Barbarian -and to let your friend know- is to dismiss 'Rage' as soon as you don't need it; not doing that fatigues a Barb and can result in some fairly hefty HP loss. It's a sure fire way to challenge and piss off the healer in any party.

[hentzau]

Well, last night we finally finished that quest, after trying two more times.  By the time I sold off stuff, and repaired all of the damage from dying so often, I think I lost about 300 PP.   

One of the things we did do last night was to use voice chat, and that seemed to help out a bit more communication wise.  We also used a lot of healing from a rod of healing one of us picked up, and that helped me to conserve my mana for the runs.

Kronovan, thanks for the insights.  Our characters are not overly customized, we went with the choices from the game, and so that may be part of the problem as well.  But I'm not sure we want to start over!  We may struggle on with gimped characters, I guess.

[Harkonis]

I've got a monk that would like to play with you guys sometime.