So been playing D&D Online and having an absolute blast, when I get a chance to play it. I don’t want to play through the game solo, and most of my friends have a myriad of excuses as to why they can’t play, but when I do get one to play we really enjoy it. The instance “module”-style dungeons with puzzles, traps, and other surprises have more than once made me yell out “that’s COOL!”
I also have to say the voice work in D&D Online is very well produced and really adds a LOT to the game. Sure I could read a text box, but how many times have you been questing and you all but ignore all of the text bubbles the NPC’s pop up? The NPC chat is mostly text bubbles still but the “DM” has a voice and that voice really adds a lot. (Apparently, Star Wars Galaxy will voice everybody, which may make me want to give it a try…Hmm.)
Anyways, I have been thinking, one common element of MMOs is the crowded hub…Whether it be the starting point or the main city where everyone visits the vendors and whatnot. Worse are the games that make the central hub artificially huge (Realms of Magic solve this with teleport points in the city, why?)
The Hood
I think the flaw lies in how MMO’s differ from real life–in MMO’s they are designed to take every player through the same series of events in the same order, and important quests and folks are unique and necessary to play. Instead, imagine “growing up” (level up) in a neighborhood where quests, NPC’s, and a smattering of other players are easily accessible in your ‘hood, and those things are unique to where you are. Other folks grow up in other areas entirely, possibly shaping the sort of character they become. Sure, folks could move to other neighborhoods, why not? Of course that would be a time-consuming and entirely unnecessary activity but would have its own benefits of allowing for some cross-pollination. Advanced quests would take players out of their comfort zone and to areas they haven’t visited yet, but not simply to force the player to travel.
Voices Should Come from the Position of the Character
Oh, one other thing, I would LOVE to see positional audio for voice chat…D&D Online has integrated voice (yes! Ventrilo is sooo bad…) Too bad it’s like carrying around a walkie-talkie; push to talk and the audio doesn’t come from the character speaking. It would be really cool to hear your friend’s muffled voice to the right behind that door they got locked on the other side of…
