[ddo] Start date/time

[Joe Vaughan]

Leigh Murphy wrote:
> thats what I was saying too as to ploughing ahead and then having to 
> replay the dungeons with us..........
> Can't you guys just WoW on the nights we don't play Angry Dragons?
>
Yeah, it's the standard problem of wanting to get to new content. I was 
conscious of it as well... we rushed quite a bit and played a bit like 
WoW (or any other MMO).

That's ok for the early dungeons and where we're just getting set up. 
However very soon (i.e. when we start doing lvl2-3 dungeons) you really 
can't approach it like that. You have to start thinking DnD and planning 
ahead.

There are basically only about 3 more quests that I have done in Beta 
and Leigh and I had just achieved level 2... so once we all hit that (I 
reckon about an hour's more solid play) it'll be new for everyone... and 
there is a *lot* to learn.

The big difference between this and WoW Dalt is that you don't have to 
hack-n-slash every dungeon to get XP. If you use your noggin and 
"defeat" the creatures another way (sneaking past... distracting them, 
drawing them into their own traps etc) you get the same XP for it.

This means that for any character you're not so locked into one role... 
you have a number of options (for example, you could be a total 
damage-hoe fighter and not bother with tanking type skills at all 
knowing that your party are only going to be in 1 in 10 fights.. and 
that when they are, it's on their terms and generally short and brutal)

Also, many of the dungeons/puzzles don't have anything more than a token 
enemy force... there are (apparently.. haven't played them) several 
dungeons that are almost totally "puzzle".

That's part of the appeal to me. WoW when I went back and tried it after 
my first taste of DDO just paled so much because it's this big (pretty) 
empty shell. 0 athmosphere, 0 immersion, 0 depth. Maybe it's just me... 
I dunno, but DDO feels much more "immersive" and I genuinely want to do 
the quests not just as XP but as stories to play through.

joe