Dungeons & Dragons Online Module 8 Previews

[GameBanshee News]

Several websites have published new previews and interviews about Turbine's upcoming Module 8 update for Dungeons & Dragons Online, thanks to information that was shared by producer Kate Paiz at this year's Gen Con Indy. First up is GameSpy:

"There's definitely a barrier to entry for new players," Paiz says as she fires up Dungeons & Dragons Online and loads up the test server with Module 8 installed. "That's why a big chunk of Module 8 is about improving the new player experience." The familiar character-creation screen swings into view as Paiz begins putting together a new paladin character. Unlike the version of the character creator that's been extant since launch, this one breaks the process up into discreet steps, explaining to the player just what types of play experiences they can expect from the class. The new system also explains what statistics and feats to select and offers pre-sets and recommends next steps based on what kind of experience the player would like to have. In short, it's much more reminiscent of the now-classic character creation utilities in the old Bioware D&D titles. "We've found that most new players go through five or six characters before they learn enough to create a fun, balanced character," she said.

Next is MMORPG.com:

With character creation, there are now templates to choose from. The templates are designed to help a new player better find the type of character that best suits their play style. When creating a new character the first thing you'll do is pick how you prefer to play, be it melee, ranged, support, etc. From there you pick one of the classes that fall within that play style and then you pick a subclass to further define your character. And last you pick your race. As always any race can be matched up with any class, but even though there are no restrictions in place to prevent it, some classes won't work as well with some races. For example, if you want to play a strength based melee class, Halfling wouldn't be your best race choice, but you're definitely more than welcome to create that character if you choose. Customization beyond that point is unchanged.

Then Destructoid:

One of the cooler aspects of Mod 8 is the incorporation of the ‘hireling’ system. Hirelings are NPCs that players will be able to contract to help them fight for a predetermined amount of time. These fighting NPCs were created with the solo oriented or small party person in mind. Hirelings are also summoned, which prevents precious contract time from being consumed while traveling to a dungeon. Also, hirelings will never abandon a player once a dungeon has been entered, even if the time expires. They will leave you, however, as soon as you’re finished if the allotted time has been consumed. Players may only have one hireling at a time, but parties can be formed with a grand total of three hirelings between three individual players.

Followed by Massively:

She also hinted at changes for Module 9. The level cap will be increased up to 20, and players will be headed to Shavarath, picking up the storyline from Mod 6 and 7. There'll be more arkons, more demons and devils, and "a nice balance" of celestial and demonic stuff. They just got the concept art in for a fortress where, as each army fell there, the next army was built on top of it, so there are cliffs with siege engines sticking out of them and crumbling leftover bricks underfoot. "I think it's going to be very satisfying," says Paiz.

We asked how, at level 20, the MMO would deal with extending the pen-and-paper game, and Paiz said she wasn't worried at all. Epic levels and prestige classes would fit great in the game, she said, and so that's planned for next year, as are Half-Orc and Half-Elf races. And now that players are in the higher levels, they say they want to expand more into the various Planes -- Shavarath will be first, because "there's a lot of richness there," but after that they're planning to head into a few more different ones.

And, finally, a video over at Ten Ton Hammer with this summary:

Kate reveals the new character creation system, designed to both make the game more accessible with the addition of NWN-esque suggested builds or "paths" which guide your level-up decisions as you play (if you choose to use them) and also provide some true D&D flavor to the game. Kate also shows off the besiged island that plays host to Module 8 - the first frozen environment in DDO, and the soon-to-come DX10 improvements in Module 8.