Fighting it out in Dungeons and Dragons Online : Eberron Unlimited

Yesterday Dungeons and Dragons Online : Eberron Unlimited came out with a state of game address from Fernando Paiz,  Executive Producer of the MMOPRG that covered quite a bit of ground on what is coming up in the months to come.  Here are some of the highlights on what was covered in the letter.

Update 4 is coming out in April and will feature a storyline that involves House Deneith, Searing Heights, a new kind of undead and a nefarious band of pirates led by the infamous Captain Tew with his beloved pet, Ratty.  Other content packs later in the year will involve a fiendish carnival and a new Wilderness adventure that will contain the first quest with underwater combat.

Cosmetically there will be some additions to give your characters a new look as well.  Items are being worked on that will alter your appearance when equipped but keep the stats benefits from the last item you had on.  This will lead to the user eventually getting hats and helms in April,  such as a cute fluffy bunny hat or evil dire rabbit helm.

Guilds are due to get a tune up in the weeks to come with the housing system being revamped.  Players that are tired of playing the same races will get a treat with Half-Orc on its way to the game.  Towards the end of the year there will be a chance to try this race with a plus 2 bonus to strength.  Another class that is being asked about is Cleric Domains. Paiz has this say on the subject

“A few folks asked about Cleric Domains. I don’t have anything to announce for 2010, but I will say that when it gets to be the Cleric class’s turn to get a polish pass, that is when we will consider these types of additions to the class.”

They are also working on some new classes for hirelings to let players better fill out their parties with them.  Look for Favored Souls and Bards to appear first and maybe another class or two later in the year.

In addition to adding new content to the game there are also some improvements and fixes on the way as well.  In the works are Mass Heals working on parties of up to 12 players, improvements to weapon sets and fixing some bugs in key maps.  Bigger requests they hope to get done this year include adding string search to auctions, improvements to avatar animations and doing a polish pass on ranged combat.

In an effort to expand the game to audiences around the globe, plans are in the works to get European players into the game as soon as they can. Paiz states “We are also evaluating how we can bring DDO to players who speak other languages and live in other parts of the world. The localization and rollout work is likely to take some time, but look for some announcements on this later in the year as well.”

So that is a summary of what players should expect in the coming months for this popular MMOPRG.  Keep visiting the website for any future updates as more news comes in.

It seems like after months of waiting for any news of any content besides character designs, the new City of Heroes/Villains expansion pack, Going Rogue, is starting to take shape. In the last few months we have been introduced to such characters as the sultry Desdemona, the rugged Maelstrom and the evil dictator Tyrant.  That along with a few select screen shots and backgrounds was the only information being released.  Now as we get closer and closer to July more details are coming out in the form of new power sets of Dual Pistols and Demon Summoning.

Dual pistols blazing

Luckily before the Test Server closed down again I got to try out the Dual Pistols power set.  The power set is available as a primary power for blasters and a secondary power for defenders on the Heroes side.  On Villains you can choose it as a primary power only with the Corruptor archetype.  Previously these abilities were only partially available in the thug’s power set for Masterminds.  Much like the dual blades power set, it is a very stylistic power set.  In addition to giving you a wide variety of moves with an almost Matrix like feel, you also get the ability to change your ammo to toxic, incendiary or cold damage.  So in a way it is like being a controller and blaster combined into one.  I tested it out as a corruptor paired with thermal radiation as a secondary power and found that to be a good mix.  In many ways the power set is very similar to an arachnos soldier when it comes to Are of Effect powers.  It is definitely a set that gets better as you get into the higher powers.  As for solo vs. team play I would say that dual pistols could work well as long as you choose a good secondary power to keep your defensive power equal to your offensive power.

Group of Dual Pistols Fighting

The additional power set announced is Demon Summoning and will be available for those to try who pre-purchase Going Rogue in April.  From what I can tell it will be an additional power to the Mastermind archetype power set and come with a fire whip as a secondary power.  This should be an interesting combination and I look forward to giving it a try in April.

I did want to make a quick comment on the issue of power leveling, which has always been an issue for as long as I have been playing MMOs.  When City of Heroes first came out it was very easy for a low level character to join a much higher level team and get crazy xp and level up quickly.  Since those days NCSoft and now Paragon Studios have gone to great lengths to curve this practice.  By making team levels adjust to the highest player in the team the days of one getting higher or no xp  depending on the level gap are over. 

 While I don’t mind the occasional power leveling to get up to a certain power level, there is a limit to doing that.  What I don’t approve of is someone creating a character and then getting them to level 50 within a matter of hours or days by constant power leveling.  Many game developers work hard to great story arcs and content that can only be accessed at certain levels.  By just plowing through levels by power leveling many players miss out on badges or temporary powers that those missions give.  Sure you got your character to level 50 in record time but I ask that player “Did you really enjoy the content of what the MMORPG has to offer while power levelling ?”  I would say chances are no and that I think is a shame to hear someone say that.

The start of 2010 has become a busy time in the world of City of Heroes/Villains.  That being said, I thought this would be a great time to get everyone caught up on the latest happenings in Paragon City and the Rogue Isles.

Snaptooth : a Seasonal Event Boss

Last month saw the annual Spring Fling event seasonal arrive where heroes and villains get to team together on missions in the shared zone of Pocket D.  For those who are not familiar with Pocket D, it is a zone in the game where both heroes and villains can meet but cannot fight each other.  During seasonal events there are usually missions that force both sides to complete a mission for rewards of badges, temporary powers or costume pieces.  As usual it was fun mixing archetypes on missions and allowed for some interesting team ups while trying to defeat the every annoying Snaptooth and his minions.

Things really did not slow down after the Spring Fling with the announcement of Double XP Weekend that took place this past weekend, starting a day early on Thursday.  This was followed very closely by the announcement of the release date of the Going Rogue expansion in July and more information on the coming free update Issue 17: Dark Mirror scheduled to arrive in April.

Example of the crowds of people that came out for Double XP Weekend

When it comes to Issue 17, like any new update, there are things I am looking forward to and some I don’t think I will get a lot of use out of.  Even though the game has given you the ability to add tails to your costume they have always been, like the hair in the game, very stiff and don’t react to what the player is doing.  Now with this release we are supposed to see tails that will react to movement by swaying or swishing.  I think this is a great improvement and will give some new life to some costumes.   Hopefully hair animations for characters will not be too far behind. 

Sample of what Ultra Mode will look like

Dark Mirror will also feature the debut of Ultra Mode which will give a heightened level of detail in lighting, reflections, shadows and water effects in Paragon City and the Rogue Isles.  Users will only be able to access this if they current video card meets the requirements.  A few years ago I noticed a huge difference on how the game looked when I upgraded from an old C.R.T. monitor to a flat screen display.  I saw colors that did not exist for me before and details I was sorely missing due to my old display.  Even though my video card in my desktop computer is not the latest and greatest on the market, I still hope my hardware will be good enough so I can enjoy this enhanced look of the game.    There will also be a way to send either influence or infamy (the in-world currency) form one character to another through in-game emails.  Even though a hero cannot send money to a villain or vice versa this will allow some of my more wealthy higher level characters help out my lower impoverished ones. 

Other noteworthy improvements include active missions increasing from 3 to 7, new story arcs for levels 20 – 30, strike and task force updates,  epic archetypes unlocked at 20 instead of 50 as well as the usual new batch of badges and player emotes.    This will give players access to Peacebrings, Warshades, Arachnos Soldiers and Arachnos Widows that they have been waiting for.  The Mission Architect mode, which allows players to create custom missions will be getting new additions such as maps, giant monsters, escort missions and forcing player to leave the mission manually upon completion.  While I have tried the player created missions I really have not gotten into actually making them, so all of these improvements won’t really affect my game play much at all.  Overall it looks like an exciting new update that I look forward to playing when it hits the live servers in a few weeks.

In the past I have been lucky enough to participate in the beta testing for City of Villains and Auto Assault.  So when I got a chance to try out the beta of Global Agenda I jumped at it.  What I find great about the whole beta testing process is getting a glimpse into a game before the final version gets released to the public.   Even thought the game is already out, I haven’t had a chance to go get it yet, so this is my Global Agenda preview of the beta.

The game is set in a futuristic world where you have a choice of 4 archetypes to play with in recon, assault, medic and robotics.  Each caters to different types of game play and has their own advantages and disadvantages.  Missions are gained from a hub where you join a team of players to either complete a PvE or PvP mission.  I was disappointed that there did not seem to be any solo play options.  Character customization is initially limited to just changing the look of the face and hair, unlike games like City of Heroes or Villains which offer a wider range of appearance options.  Any further changes in appearance comes at a price, from changing the paint color and armor upgrades that can be purchased later.

The archetype you choose to play really depends on your game style.  With Assault you get a fair amount of weapon power with a chain gun, heightened armor and health regeneration abilities.  While it was fun to blast away at your opponents I found it limiting and nothing that I have not played before.  The only time I found the type truly effective was having a medic nearby to keep healing me as I dealt out the damage.

With a medic you are essentially the healer of the party, throwing off heal bombs and firing a gelatinous heal ray at your teammates.  Low on offense power, this is great for anyone who likes to be the support member of the party.  I found that if the medic is doing his/her job in the mission the chances of keeping a good tight team from constantly having to re-spawn members goes up considerably.   Even though every player gets a jetpack, having to make your way back through the mission map to your team can be tiresome.

The recon class uses steath and speed to make it’s mark in the game.  Essentially functioning  as a scout you can use invisibility mode which looks great on screen but to me was not very useful when I used it.  I am sure if I were to get into that type of game play it might be more interesting in later levels,  but early on it did not catch my interest.

Of all of the classes I found robotics the most interesting.  It offers the most variety of the four classes, offering both offensive and defensive abilities to the team.  The ablity to create a shield or auto turret on the fly were fun and gave me something more to do than just shooting the heck out of enemy robots.   It is definately a class I would be tempted to play more and see what could be done in higher levels.

Overall the key to playing this game seems to be teamwork.  As long as you keep your party in a tight group and each class/archetype does their job the survival rate really remains high.  Most times by playing this way you can finish in time with very little re-spawning.  While you will do most of your fighting with range weapons,  there are melee weapons for each class that seem to be more useful in the Player VS. Player Environment.

In addition to Player Vs. Environment play I also got a chance to try out Player Vs Player mode.  In this mode it is basically a free for all in an arena where you just shoot at the enemy color and try and survive.  For the most part I kept getting punked by the opposition as soon as I entered the zone. Playing the assault class I found the only way to survive was to find someone else on the same side to team up with on the fly, preferably a medic.  While PVP mode has never been my favorite aspect of any MMO, I can see where this part of the game would appeal to some people.

So after trying the beta will I be tempted to pay to play the game, the answer is more than likely yes.  Despite some flaws such as getting stuck in the tutorial with a non-functioning jet-pack (which you can skip through thankfully) and very awkward looking leg movements, which I am sure will be solved in the final product.  The game works great as a futuristic third-person shooter with some interesting RPG elements and plenty to keep you coming back to it.

In my first post here at MMOCrunch I went over why I think City of Heroes/Villains (COX) is still a good and somewhat underappreciated MMORPG.  This time around I am going to discuss something I touched on the last time, what makes a good MMO.  There are a number of points, but there are some key factors in my opinion that can make or break a game.

Fighting the Winter Lord

One of the things that both COX and World of Warcraft do throughout the year is in-game events, especially around the holidays.  This consists of special missions or instances that the player can partake in usually around Halloween, Christmas or Valentine’s Day.  Just recently COX wrapped up its Winter Event that ran from December 15th to January 12th. The event featured the opening of the ski chalet in Pocket D which is an open zone that both villains and heroes can hang out in.  In addition to ski slope runs and extra badges, players were also granted the optional mission of rescuing baby new year (who to me just looked like a little person in a diaper) to gain even more badges and temporary powers.  Scattered all through Paragon City and the Rogue isles are also presents that will either spawn killer snowmen or candy cane salvage which can be traded in for badges and powers.  One of the highlights of the event is battling a building-sized snowman called the Winter Lord in a zone where heroes and villains can work together on teams while it is open.

In World of Warcraft it was called “Feast of Winter Veil” and ran from December 25th to January 2nd.  Like COX it is themed around the holidays and features special achievements and instances for players.  Instead of a Winter Lord causing mayhem, Greatfather Winter is the figurehead and seems to be more Santa orientated in its focus.  These seasonal events help give long-term players a reason to keep playing, it’s like a holiday thank you from the game developers.

Another key ingredient to making a good MMO is keeping in touch with the community within the game.  As I stated in my last post, what keep me coming back to COX is the people I play with.  Having talked with many WOW players, it sounds like they feel the same.  What both games have done well is keeping an open line to the users and re-acting to what they like and don’t like.  Prime examples of games that have not done this are Sony Online Entertainment’s Star Wars Galaxies and the NcSoft’s ill-fated Auto Assault.

Star Wars Galaxies started off strong and early on was very popular among MMORPG fans.  I used to have many friends who played it religiously and really liked the game.  Then there was the update that changed many things, including making everyone a Jedi.  Previously players had a long road to be a Jedi and put in many hours collecting Holocron pieces to get that rank.  Then after the update it seemed all that hard work was for nothing and fans quickly left the game in disgust.  There is now talk of a new MMO coming out set in the world of the Old Republic and I will be curious to see if fans of the genre will give it another try.

Blowing things up in Auto Assault

NcSoft thought they really were striking into new ground with Auto Assault developed by NetDevil.  But after only a few months of being online, it was shutdown and many refunds were given.  What made that game unique was that your main character was a vehicle with you having a semi-customizable human to wander around in cities with to either get missions or upgrades.  I played the game quite a bit and did enjoy driving around in a post apocalyptic world blowing up things, but found being humanoid clunky and distracting at times.  The mission types were escort, patrol and kill which would earn you in game money to upgrade your weapons and look of your vehicle.  There was no death penalty per se in the game; once your health ran out your only cost was the time to get back to a mission, but no loss of experience.  What ultimately killed it in the end was lack of players.  Even though there was a really easy teaming system in place,there just wasn’t not enough people online to team with.  I would log on and there would be hardly anyone on the servers.  It is a shame though, I think if it had been given a chance by the fans it would have lasted longer.

So as we head into this New Year and decade it does not look like MMORPG’s are not really slowing down at all.  Looking ahead I am anxiously awaiting to see what the new Going Rogue expansion for COX, DCU Online, Star Trek Online and Star Wars: The Old Republic has to offer us all.  If the developers keep in touch with the fans, listen to the communities and give them what they want it will be very busy online year.  Heck, I might even have to play more than one at a time if they can bring the goods to the table, so to speak.

“Yes, I play City of Heroes/Villains”.   That is what I end up saying every time I go to buy a game time card at my local EB or GameStop.  With the upcoming release of the Going Rogue Expansion Pack and DCU Online on the way I thought this would be the perfect time to discuss what keeps bringing me back to Paragon City and the Rogue Isles since I started playing March 20th, 2005. City of Heroes began in April 27, 2004 in North America and in Europe (by NCsoft Europe) on February 4, 2005 with English, German and French language servers.  They started when MMO’s were just beginning to gain mass appeal, with the biggest competition coming from titles such as World of Warcraft and Star Wars Galaxies and we all know what happened to Galaxies.  Billed as the first super-hero MMORPG it quickly caught on with people who were tired of fighting ogres or enemies in a galaxy, far, far away.  Since its creation NCSoft and Cryptic Studios merged to become Paragon Studios in 2009 to become a dedicated IP for the game.

At first I was very skeptical of having to keep paying for a game that I just bought.  Call me old school, but I used to think that you should only pay for a game once and updates should be free.  It was some co-workers of mine at the time that kept telling me I should give it a try.  So after many weeks of badgering I downloaded the 14 day free trial and was hooked.  Suddenly all of those reasons I had before melted away as I smote bad guys and righted wrongs.  Then when City of Villains came out, I could finally embrace the dark side, sans lightsaber, running rampant through a whole new zone and mission maps. What keeps the game fresh is the semi constant releasing of free updates called “issues”  that constantly adds new content to the game.

What really sets the game apart for me is character customization.  Unlike other games where the most you can change is the face and hair, COH goes far beyond those simple restrictions.  Not only can you adjust the face and hair, but there is a wide arrange of costume options (notably far more for the female body type) to choose from.   The customization increased with the release of issue 16 (Power Spectrum)   where the addition of changing the color of certain power sets was given.  Mind you there are some powers that are still off limits; most noticeable are the archetypes that are unlocked after a hero or villain reaches level 50.  By allowing this amount of creative freedom it really lets the player have a wide variety of looks for their character and lessens the chance that someone else is going around looking like you.  This does not stop people from trying to recreate their favorite comic book character, but be forewarned.  The game developers do frown upon that and you run the risk of being “genericed” by them.  This mean your character will not only get a completely new outfit of their choosing (which can’t be changed back by you), but you might lose your name as well.

One of the funniest incidents to arise when the game came out was Marvel suing the company over copyright infringement due to the character creator.  Their beef was that the game allowed players to make their heroes look too much like copyrighted ones such as Wolverine or the Hulk.  They went even as far as taking NCSoft to court over this issue.  Suffice to say they did not win the battle and no changes were made to the creation engine.  As mentioned before the company makes sure that you keep your creations original and not clones of copyrighted characters.

Here’s a brief summary for all those who still are not familiar with it before I get any further.  The way the game works is right at the start you get 5 archetypes to choose from, whether you want to be a hero or villain.  Each archetype choice depends on the type of game play you enjoy in a MMORPG.

For the hero side if you want to be an up-close fighter then scrapper or tanker is good for you.  Both are primary a melee set with various types of defense power sets thrown in.  If you prefer to be more of a range fighter then you are looking at a blaster, defender or controller.  The advantages to the controller power set is more holds and buffs to fellow players where defenders can include buff, but functions more of an offensive power.

A tanker (foreground) confronts one of the game's arch villains, the mad scientist Dr. Vahzilok, in City of Heroes

When it comes to villains the same rules basically apply, just with different names.  For those who prefer melee combat and high defenses Stalkers and Brutes are the way to go.  For more of a range fighter with some healing buffs then Corruptors are more your game.  Then things get interesting when it comes to villain archetypes.  Masterminds give you the leader of the pack feeling as you can control a gang of thugs, zombies, robots, ninjas or military minions along with a range power of your choice.  With Dominators you get various hold powers along with a newly introduce healing aura of sorts.

As you level up in both games you increase your powers potentiality with enhancements of various types, including damage, accuracy or defense.  The game allows you to customize each power slot to what you want to emphasize more, offense or defense.  There is even an option to do a respect on your character if you have tried a power in a set and it is not to your liking.  The only powers you cannot change with a respect are Epic power pools for heroes and patron power pools for villains.  There is a lot more to say about the game, but I will save that for another post.

What really keeps me playing COX (City of Heroes and Villains combined) is the community within the game.  To me a good part of what keeps you coming back to a game, especially with MMORPG’s, is the people you play with.  In the years I have been playing I still have a great group of people I meet with on a nightly or weekly basis that are fun and good game players.  Nothing frustrates me more than joining a pick-up group full of strangers and dying over and over again because of player stupidity and poor judgment.  Although watching the infamous “Leeroy Jenkins clip from W.O.W” may be funny, living it in game is another story.  Luckily the death penalty of debt in the game is far less impactful as it used to be.   To me a good MMORPG lives on the support of the users and can make a difference between it surviving and dying.  Key to the success of the franchise is the developer listening to the users and making changes from their suggestions.  The power color customization is prime example of something the fans wanted for years and the developers worked on to make it happen.

I know for many MMORPG users World of Warcraft is still widely popular and still has more than the estimated 124,939 subscribers that COX has, but that does not mean it makes it a better game.  I for one like the ability to get a travel power early in leveling and not having to run back to my body when I run out of health.  Nothing to me is more frustrating than wasting time trying to get back to a mission or instance door to try again.  Not to say COX is perfect, there are times when I get tired of playing the same maps over and over again and well fighting in caves is just in a word, annoying.  Still for all that bugs me there is enough that keeps me coming back, even if I take a breakfrom it every once and awhile.  To me that, the true test of any MMORPG is what makes you come back to play it on a regular basis.

Well there is a lot more I can say about COX, but I don’t want to be long winded on my first post.  In future posts I will give my take on the special events that take place in game such as the Winter Event which just ended.   With Going Rogue expansion on the horizon look for more in depth coverage and possible developer interviews in the works for a future post as well.

So as I and many fellow heroes and villains anxiously wait for issue 17 and the release of the Going Rogue expansion, I state that “yes I am proud to be a denizen of Paragon City and the Rogue Isles.  I enjoy every minute of it, whether I am punishing evil or beating up the good.  Yes, I do play City of Heroes and will play for months to come.”  In the words of the Great Stan “the Man” Lee, Excelsior!

Russel is a freelance writer, regular MMORPG user and professional podcaster – Ramble With Russel (http://ramblingruss.libsyn.com)