[datagoblin]

First off, reading the few posts about this upcoming game is already making me wonder what has become of the MMORPG community. I mean, already having debates of killing goblin children, bringing more roleplaying to the game...Sheesh, do we play the same game? You know, i have (had been) been playing D&D in its many forms up until Wizards of the Coast took over the helm and have watched the game go downhill in a mire of complexity and advertising campaigns built soley to advance sales of the product rather than to improve it. All the latest game rules revisions have turned many off to what drew us to it in the first place. Simple Fun. I know, you dont have to use all the rules, or play what you would like. Well, to be honest that is true, wich is why i dont play anymore. Most of the people I play with have moved on in their lives and the younger crowd doesnt have the attention span or that gift for insight to play the way I like.

I am going to say, that I really dont have high hopes for D&D Online. Judging by the screenshots, they are already going to the 'ULTRA LEET Power' look at the design of characters. Too much need to capture todays younger gaming market? Come on, you market a game to them and you will be seeing a mass exodus in a month after the free game play is up. They lack the staying power to online games because its not instantly gratifying like the first person shooters are. Sad really.

Look, I hope this message actually gets out to the people that are designing what could be the PENULTIMATE online game. I would say this for my two cents worth of input: Keep the game simple. Try to base the weapon and armor designs in some sort of reality (there are plenty of medival books for reference) instead of Japanimation Fantasy Max type stuff. Make the world a constant online world that is influenced by characters actions. Not like those games where you wait in some chat lobby until you have a group to go in a dungeon, that you never encounter anyone else from outside your group. Lastly, make character advancement based on skills, and not levels. This will turn the game from powerleveling to a more self fulfilled style of play. Also, this makes for infinately customizable characters based on player preference.

Basically, if you take the attitude of when Ultima Online first came out and applied that to D&D world/mythos, you would have a SURE hit. If you make it all safe, politically correct and nothing more than some sort of barbie playland type of world, then you are going to fail. Guaranteed. People are sick of EQ clones, every month some other game comes out: Dark Age of Camelot, EQ2, you name it...sheesh. Make something worth playing by going back to the roots of D&D. Its a lot funner to be part of an open world rather than herded into some plotline that we dont want to follow. I guess my style of gameplay was more of the 'wing it' type in that we never really had 'pick a path' type quests. We had a lot of fun like that. You have to make it dangerous for a player to wander around in, and the threat shouldnt always come from monsters that wait around to be crushed, other players should be able to cause problems for adventurers. Yes, the dreaded PVP issue has been raised. Again, look back at Old School Ultima Online and you will see the light.

If there is no sense of loss in the game, and people are able to always have their characters equipment and posessions safe, then once they get to a certain level, why would they want to do anymore adventuring? You have to make the threat of losing something they gained a reality, or it will get stale. People that 'live' their characters, and start crying about how they have tons of invested hours into their online character are acting like its some sort of way of life. Sheesh, get a grip on reality and just logon to have some fun and interact with people. Real life is serious enough without making online gaming the same. Toughen yourselves up there online gamers...You can do it.


Datagoblin

**Flame On, I wont reply cause i saids me peace**