I downloaded ddo to kill time while waiting for eso to launch, and was totally surprised.

The graphics are terrible, but the dungeons have quite complex puzzles, mobs with intelligent AI, a stealth system quite similar to skyrim- you can even "lure" mobs because they search like in skyrim, really interesting level design and "pacing", action combat with body collision, extremely deep character builds, and more...

I know this is a one-eyed Teso fan forum, but if any of you have played ddo a bit what's your take on it compared to Teso?

I was honestly shocked at how much the game-play mechanics were like skyrim's, and how the quests etc, were just more like a single player rpg than an mmo- which is what I expected teso to be like.

DDO is dungeons and dragons 3.5 version made into an mmo. Its the most honest translation you'll get to dungeons and dragons table top translated into an online game its been around for about 10 years now. I had fun with it once upon a time the problem is its not a solo game, and you can only play with groups you start in a main city and you move to instanced dungeons for every quest so if you don't have a guild or alot of friends it makes it relatively hard to have fun in the game.

DDO is really a small group co-op dungeon romp deal. It has some very neat mechanics and it's nice that there's actually a use for non-combat skills to solve puzzles and such. But it lacks a focused storyline and the massive scale of other MMO's and once you've been through all the dungeons once or twice, you've seen it all.

It's just a different type of game. I wouldn't say it's the best D&D adaptation for online play.. because that's still Neverwinter Nights (1 or 2) on persistent world servers, with live dungeon masters and ever evolving stories.

I played DDO beta and quit shortly after it went F2P. If its all new to you then it might be entertaining enough to last a few weeks till ESO release.

I had fun with DDO. Me and a friend played it for a couple of weeks before we quit. DDO and ESO are very different games though, you really have to judge them both on their own merits.

Thanks for the replies, yeah I guess its best to look at it as different enough from an mmo like eso to not really be comparable. I was just a bit annoyed that an old game like that had better mob AI and from what I have seen, better dungeon design/mechanics than eso.

DDO needs a graphics overhaul, and there is a lot of content and a great community. BUT, the game has been hopelessly bugged/broken by careless updates, and Turbines customer service/gm staff svcks. It was a lot of fun since the opening day until I wore the game out along with my near completionist character getting bugged with little care from CS or the GM's for a 6 year paying customer. Contrary to above you can solo 70% of the content.

This.

I was a hardcoe DDO player. To me, it have the best quest system ever. The real virtual p&p rpg game experience. I still miss it a lot, but they went too greedy after warnes bros bought and also went way too casual. Also they implemented buy itens with real money. So, DDO is dead for me, but it is the better MMORPG experience. The quest was soo good and fun that you ignored the lack of PVP, the poor/horrible craft system and the not so good graphics.

The bigger diference with DDO is that ESO lacks of the carefull hand crafted instanced quests and the rich trap system.

Combat in ddo remains vastly superior in terms of options, complexity, tactical variations, and fluidity, and that all just in the context of just a single build. Teso graphics are superior tho.

Edit: so!me more factors:

- quest design in ddo is mostly excellent, sometimes even exquisite.
- crafting svcks the proverbial donkey balls ( compared to teso)
- PvP in ddo also svcks. I hate traditional banking PvP, so that's fine by me
- loot and gear in ddo also in the last updates has been deeply disappointing

Which do I prefer? Teso, at the moment, for its freshness, possibilities and internal consistency. The well designed and integrated crafting is important to me (I'm not a big grinder, and crafting offers an alternative to grinding for gear on every character)

It's hard to fall into a comparison, as it just is two totally different things to me. That being said, DDO is a great game (coming from a tabletop freak). it allows fantastic customization of your character (over and over and over again with TR's). The crafting is extensive and very helpful for truly getting the "right" piece of gear, and contrary to what someone said....it is soloable (not sure why you want to primarily solo in an MMO but hey goferit) All dungeons have difficulty levels that the player sets so all content is achievable. *edit* this is wrong, I forgot there are many dungeons that require someone to "throw a lever" for you so you can get through a door. But this is not the majority.

The downside: Due to the FTP model, the majority of the content has to be purchased or a sub is needed. Good luck getting to 20+ with F2P content...there is not enough XP to get you up there multiple times (TR's). And the sheer amount of repetition can drive a person mad. Crafting will also take a MAJOR investment of Coin, Time (farming), and the crafting itself is VERY choppy (lag in the halls). Just remember....the game is kept alive with a skeleton crew and bugs do not get addressed promptly (like the ladder bug). There is also a large lack of replay value in much of the content, and you are doomed to repeat EVERYTHING.

All in all, its a great game to kill some time, the repetition will drive most players to take long breaks from the game though.

With all this being said, even though ESO hasn't launched yet, the crafting is REALLY awesome. The ability to customize gear, to learn unique recipes, is such a lure. IT makes your character unique to you (for the time being) Its not a cookie cutter crafting system, which is important to me. IT has a similar immersion value with all of the books and lore that TES provided (much like DnD), and characters can be customized very well.

ESO is P2P which is how they all start, and personally I hope it stays this way. Just seems people fail when the F2P model is adopted and content begins to fail....ESO has a lot of content and I hope it continually turns out for all members to enjoy...a subscription is a low price to ask in my opinion.

After 10 years, DDO has playability....I call that success.

ESO has a massive fan base behind it, a great history, and the BETA's have been amazing (minus the beta bugs and the constant stress tests LOL but that's why we are there)....it has the promise of being a truly awe inspiring game that will keep us hooked. Let's hope so!!

no it is not. here are a few examples of why its the worst MMO ever:

1) i played it a couple of years ago and at first it seems fun but then the "real" game starts (around level 10) and you learn that every dungeon you need a thief. this is because the traps go from doing annoying damage to killing you in one shot. a friend of mine playing at the time said it was horrible because it had no middle ground as far as dungeons being too easy or too hard. i think he was right.

2) also there was this one dungeon narrated by Gary Gygax that was just god awful. you had to take this special stick into a crypt and it was the only thing that could damage the undead there. and at the end you enter a series of rooms where once you grab the treasure you were seeing all the doors open letting a flood of those undead into where you are and then shut locking you inside with them. you could maybe make it out only if you knew from the beginning that you had to be Indiana Jones and grab and run other wise you were dead.

3) at the end of the tutorial you were defending this one npc against some lizardmen and the narrator said you must "beat them off" instead of fight them off.

Men, I need to be honest, I miss DDO prior the first expansion (menace of underdark).

to be honest i purchased two copy of the game at release for me and my wife, worst experience ever. We never went back even if i heard good things about it.

its a game that really benefits from group play to get the most out of it, a lot of the quests can be solod with the right builds if you do a bit of research first

The quest you mention is deleras tomb module which is probably one of the most popular expansion packs in the game or was.

as for the OP there not really comparable, totally different really, ddo has lots of ability bars as in most 'traditional' mmos and little to no exp for killing mobs(exp mainly from quest completions) and the crafting pretty much svcks