Wednesday, June 27, 2012

DDO's Druid class not living up to expectations.

For those of you who play DDO (Dungeons & Dragons Online), you all know very well that the Druid class has just been released as part of the Menace of the Underdark expansion. The Druid has been the most requested feature since the game was first released. For me, it seems that they have botched the class. DDO was meant to be a MMO version of/` the pen and paper D&D 3.5. Until this point, turbine has been doing an okay job at keeping with this. I understand that somethings from PnP don't translate to MMO style games, but what they have done to the druid is not even an attempt to mach the PnP class.
Now about my actual experiences with the class; as the class is new I have not had the time yet to play it to an extent but I will give you updates on how I feel about the class as it levels up. At first level, the spells are disappointing for a spell casting class. The only damaging 1st level spell that the druid has is Produce Flame, and the DDO version is glaringly different than the PnP version, and not in a good way. In PnP, Produce flame can be a touch or thrown spell and gives a number of thrown attacks equaling your level. In DDO however, it does less damage (at 1st level, at higher levels it appears that it will do more damage in a single attack)  and is only 1 attack. Recreating the Produce Flame spell from PnP would have been rather easy, all they would need is 2 version of the spell (for instance, with the summon spells you pick which you want at the beginning of casting), a melee version that would equip a weapon that lasts x mins and does fire damage, and a ranged one that adds some thrown weapons to your inventory. Many of the other druid spells are just to make them better melee fighters in and out of animal form, and a bunch of spells are just special attacks for when you are in animal form.
My friend chose to try a melee druid. She said that the DDO druid is just a glorified melee fighter, and barely a spellcaster. The entire druid is more focused on its animal forms (which you get at level 2 and can use it as long as you want and even cast spells while in animal form) . The type of melee fighter you are all depends on what form you pick, If you wanted to be a DPS fighter, then you would choose the wolf form. If you wanted to be a wall of fleshy tank, you would pick the bear. Later on you get another form based on which of the latter you pick; the Arctic Wolf or Dire Bear. And in even later levels you get to choose between a fire elemental and water elemental. The elementals are a little bit more spell casting focused, but you don't get those forms until high level.
So basically, I was very disappointed with this class, especially with how highly asked for and anticipated it was. I really would rather have had them stick closer to the PnP version of the druid, as it seems wrong to even list it in the spellcasting section of the class chooser.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Twisted Shadows campaign setting

I have begun work on a D&D 3.5 campaign setting. It is currently a jumble of randome ideas in my head but soon I will have something to share with you guys. Shadow magic from the Tome of Magic will be very influential in the setting mostly in its background.There isn't much to tell about the setting yet but as a finish parts of it I will post more about it and give updates on what I'm working on at lest once a week.

I am currently working on a base class that is a modification of the soulknife once I finish is I will post it in all its glory(mostly fluff left)