Dungeons & Dragons Online Forum News (Mar. 23, 05)

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Here are today's Dungeons & Dragons Online forum highlights, collected from Dungeons & Dragons Online forums. Please take into account that these are only single parts of various threads and should not be taken out of context. Bear in mind also that the posts presented here are copied as-is, and that any bad spelling and grammar does not get corrected on our end.

Xundau, Community Relations

PvP i got an idea

Hi Folks,

Two things here:

(1) You're more than welcome to discuss the idea of PvP in DDO. This is a valid topic for these forums. However, please understand that PvP at launch (or anytime shortly thereafter) is a closed issue. It's not going to happen in any way, shape, or form, period. No amount of pro-PvP discussion is going to change this.

For a more detailed explanation as to why PvP won't be in DDO at launch, please see the following thread:
http://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=530

(2) Please keep these forums civil -- people on both sides of this issue need to calm down. I've already had to hand out one temp ban today; I don't want to have to issue any others, but I will if necessary.

Arrows for Archers??

Good detective work guys -- arrows currently come in quantities of 100, although I'm not sure if that's going to change or not before release. The dev team does recognize that archers will probably be firing more arrows per encounter in DDO than in PnP, so we will adjust appropriately.

Retrieving ammunition is probably out.

And sorry Randolf, I don't think we're going to let you wield (or dual wield) arrows as melee weapons.

Hello from D&D Online's New Community Relations Manager

Haha, nice try. Happy Fridays will still occur, at least occasionally. It takes more than a new Community Manager to scare me off!

Sporkfire's been doing this whole community gig longer than Nik and I combined, so I'll just put it this way: if I have Weapon Focus("soon"), and Nik has Greater Weapon Focus("soon"), then Sporkfire probably has Epic Weapon Focus("soon"), Greater Weapon Focus("maybe"), and Improved Critical("as of right now...")

Expansions

There are a bunch of things we'd like to do in future updates and expansions, and my gut is that we'd put in a good mix of stuff for characters of all levels, but any discussion or planning taking place right now is at a very, very high level -- 99.99% of our focus these days is on shipping the initial release of the game.

No xp for killing monsters?????

We like and believe in our game design, including our xp system. But just to be clear, we're not going to cripple our game for any single design element. If we see the scenario above happening a lot in beta, where the xp system is basically breaking the game, we will make adjustments.

No xp for killing monsters?????

Good question. While we've been encouraging our devs to play "by the rules" during testing sessions for a while now, we actually just recently removed admin commands from most people's accounts

The fact that we can do this is actually a sign of how far the game's coming along. While early test days would focus more on "does this spell work right," or "is this monster pathing correctly," our game has now matured to the point where we can focus on questions like "is this dungeon balanced for 2nd-level characters," or "is it too hard to gain xp?"

Of course, it's a gradual change -- we still see some problems with spells not working right or monsters running into walls, and we've been thinking about game balance and the leveling curve since day one. But the focus in testing is definitely shifting, and this is a good thing.

Damage Reduction 3E vs 3.5 & Chainmail Bikinis

We're aware that there's some debate as to whether 3.0 or 3.5 damage reduction rules were better, but we'll definitely be using the 3.5 version. It would simply get too confusing if we started mixing and matching rulesets, especially with the other changes (spellpoints!) we're making to the game.

I have seen some concept art of heavier armors with some, umm, interestingly-placed gaps in them. (Not *that* interesting -- we still want a 'T' rating!) I'm not sure if these will actually make it into the game or not.

Nik Davidson, Administrator

Hello from D&D Online's New Community Relations Manager

I'm not a fan of this part. You spend a lot of time getting to know people, building relationships with people, watching a community grow, learn and mature... and then you need to go.

Victor's got a ton of experience, knows his D&D, and is probably going to be a great deal less grumpy than I am. (At least at first, haha!) So please join me in welcoming him to the team, and take it easy on him for a few days. After that, fire at will.

I'm not leaving Turbine, in case you're wondering. I'm moving into the Project Management group here to work on some pretty darn exciting things, including some final Beta preparations, so I'm not disappearing entirely. Besides, I still know where the Owlbear lives.

Nik

Calandryll, Director of Community Relations

An Introduction from the Director of Community Relations

My name is Jonathan Hanna (aka, Calandryll) and I am the Director of Community Relations for Turbine, Inc. Before I get into what that means, let me tell you a little about myself. I’ve been in the games industry for over 7 years now as a Community Relations representative and game designer for a variety of MMOGs. Before getting into games I was in Marketing for products such as blank audio tape and home alarm systems. But I left the “glamorous” life of selling 10-packs of audio tape and infra-red motion detectors behind when I took an opportunity to work in the marketing department for a start-up gaming company. Needless to say, I’ve never looked back.

I’ve been a gamer all my life, starting with pen-and-paper games and then moving to computer games when I got my first Commodore 64. I still joke with my dad who used to tell me to do my homework instead of play games all day. “You can’t get a job with the high score in Asteroids!” Of course, now he tells all of his friends how he’s the one who bought me my first computer and started me on my way in the gaming industry. Funny how that all worked out.

So what does a Director of Community Relations do? Basically it means I’m responsible for the Community Teams for all of Turbine’s games and will be helping to set policies and start initiatives that will make our communication with all of you even better. Much of my work will be behind the scenes (I get to go to lots and lots of meetings and read endless reports) although I do hope to post sometimes. Either way, I can promise you I do spend a lot of time reading the boards. Keep in mind that I am responsible for four MMOGs, so the Community Managers for each game will still be your main source of contact since they will always know the games (and all of you) better than I can.

I’ve been with Turbine for a week now so I am still getting up to speed. Plus, having lived in Texas for the past six years I have to get used to all of this white stuff falling from the sky. Thankfully I already have an amazing OCR team here and I’m very excited about the opportunity to work with all of you to continue to create the best MMOG communities on the internet! As we start working on new community initiatives (newsletters, fansite kits, etc.) I’ll probably post updates from time to time as well.

Oh, for those of you still in school…do your homework.

Sporkfire, Community Relations Manager

Hello from D&D Online's New Community Relations Manager

Hello, Adventurers!

I'd like to introduce myself to you, as we will be working together closely starting today. My name is Victor "Sporkfire" Wachter, and I am assuming the role of Community Relations Manager for Dungeons & Dragons Online. Nik is currently working closely with me and will be posting about his new role here at Turbine soon. He is getting me all set up and educating me about the tremendous game we have in development here at Turbine.

I've been doing Community Relations in some form or another for several years, most recently with Sony Online Entertainment, working primarily on PlanetSide, with stints on EverQuest and EverQuest Online Adventures for the PlayStation 2.

I'm excited to be working on Dungeons & Dragons Online. So many aspects of this position intrigue me – bringing news and information to a pre-launch community, reaching out to the existing D&D community and bringing them into the online world, and generally growing our own presence so you can learn about the gameplay that's in store for you.

Plus, as just about everyone on the team agrees: What's cooler, in a geek sort of way, than working on an online D&D product? I doubt I'd even be a gamer today if not for the fantasy adventures I had as a teenager. Somewhere between the Village of Hommlet and the Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, a career was born. Although there were some brief side-trips to Top Secret and Star Frontiers, Dungeons & Dragons was home to the Chaotic-Neutral Dwarf I spent my weekend afternoons with.

The first thing everyone notices about me is the name. It's unusual and doesn't really, you know, make any sense and stuff. The story is a lot less interesting than you may think. When I took my first gaming Community Relations gig, a friend and I were outside talking about what I should call myself. He dared me to take something that was really rather absurd. Being the consummate professional that I am, I took him up on it, and the name Sporkfire stuck.

So, here we are… some time before the game is released but that day is getting closer. You want information and communication and Xundau and I will be here to fill that need. I'm already seeing quite a bit of work toward building and promoting the fan community and I look forward the most to working with you to keep that work going and help you add to it.

March 18 dev article

Glad I stepped in over the weekend to catch this. I'm gonna close the thread, since it has degenerated into flaming and whatnot. But I'll also talk a little about the primary subject.

When I am watching a game pre-release, I totally want articles about what the game will be coming on a regular basis. I agree with you that this Friday's didn't really do that, rather gave a couple of intros.

BUT... What you should be taking away from the intros is this: There are now people in place (myself and Calandryll) whose job is specifically to start bringing you that information on a consistent basis. I'm writing up the community plan this week and will be letting you guys in on a good portion of it (the part that doesn't include brainwashing techniques and wet sponges hooked up to car batteries).

So, don't worry... Good stuff coming soon. Just give us a little time to settle in and get our bearings

Where is it going? Limitations?

Keep in mind that a large part of this question is yet to be determined. D&D Online captures the D&D experience, but is also being developed with the recognition that PnP plays different from MMORPG. The devil is in those details, and we'll be revealing them over time. Sorry that's not a full answer, but I wanted you to be aware that there is an answer coming and it will be made with consideration for what is the best solution for an MMORPG that still feels like D&D.

And, erm, for the rest of you, let's stop the grammar debates in this thread, ok? I know we all have strong opinions on the topic, but I think they have been adequately shared.