get well soon :p

Hope you guys are feeling better! ;)

I know Kanu isn't bored enough to read blogs but as he's sick I still give a shot just in case :p who knows ;)

We didn't play much yesterday but gave a better try at ddo (played something like 2-3h).
I like it for now, blinky likes the fact it's more RPG than other mmo but find it a bit too dark for now (only did some sewers and dark caves). Couldn't resit buying it at 3€ and well if we really like it we'll of course spam u till u join us ;) but well I liked war at first too and it quickly grew boring to me so not gonna push u to try it, except if you find it at 3€ too ;). (normal price 45€, had quite an hard time to find it downtown (only 1 box but didn't buy it as I wasn't sure I'd find another one, then I went into a smaller shop near home and found THE bargain lol) well ofc my key was fuxored but the customer support went fast enough to resolve the problem (1 day).

Short review of what we saw:

Character Creation: I like it, Blinky found it puzzling. It has a bit more choices than WAR, much less than AoC (ofc). Fact is it follows some DDO rules so after customizing your toon, you have to pick spells, distribute points etc. I like to have a strict canvas that makes u feel u have control over ur char. Ofc when u never played a D&D game it's puzzling.

Graphics: well it's ugly, especially the characters and start equipment. I cranked the graphx up but then I get some slow downs in Stormreach (the main hub/city). Water and light effects are nice (some environment are really cool even if outdated) but the textures are really low and buildings are overly edgy.
The spells are looking very nice imho, not too much but more than what we could see in other games lately.

Controls: Probably the part that takes the most to get used to. Basically it's not like in other games: Right click = swing your weapon. Left click select. You can't go foward using your mouse only. You can turn the camera around using the left button (but then can't select except using tab). There is a targetting mode (key "T") that allows u to move the camera (and character, haven't found a way to make the camera face u) as u move the mouse (but then again can't select or click on abilities). It takes some time to get used to and leads to some mishandling during the first hour. However the game has some nice things for it, like jumping and grabbing an edge, it's quite reactive and u need to swing in the cone (no hard lock on target like on war), it's not aoc ofc (u still need to trigger an ability) but u can jump away from a hit and actually avoid it if fast enough.

Interface: another clunky part. The shortcut bars are easily to move around and duplicate, but you can't resize them (haven't found a way at least).
I don't like the inventory window, too small for my taste (and can't resize) and no hoover text to discover what is something used for. However u can get several bags that allow you to bring directly some items in them and sort them which is a really nice touch. It's not always easy to know where to find the right information.
Biggest grudge are the quests. You don't have a quest summary until you enter the quest area. And all the quests are listed together in the window even with those you have finished (just marked finished) so when u have several quests u don't always know which u just took or finished but didn't brought back. Chat windows are a bit weird too (you can't see everything like no clue how much money u grabbed)

Starting Area:It's fairly fast and boring (cuz it's solo). You have one challenge to make in the tavern that explains u how to play (nice enough) then u have the different trainings per class, nothing stops you to do those that aren't for ur class but you prolly won't succeed them anyway so I don't see the point. Hopefully it's done in 20 mins max.

Quests/Dungeons:All is instanced, so you get a quest to move to a "door" to enter the instance. Those we did for now are rather fast. There are some traps (that you need to avoid) and puzzles, sticking together is a must, blinky already found herself stuck away from me having to battle out before we could regroup cuz she went too fast ahead ;). You can't do the area completely without a balanced group as there are some doors that can only be moved by people with a lot of strength or to those who can detect invisible doors. but the objectives can always be done no matter the classes. It's fairly generic but the closed environment feel is there and I was rather immerse, there just a rush to be the first to crash crates and barrels in case there is something in it (and sometimes there is a surprise lol). As money isn't shared among all group members that tends to split the group. However the game has been fairly easy so far, I almost died once but that's all. Oh and there is a voice over telling u what u see a bit like a dungeon master but it's only for important stuffs in the quest area.

Game Mechanics: Hard to say at lvl 2 ofc. Levelling is slow (only 16 lvls I think), each level is cut in 5 rank, at each rank u gain one action point that you can spend at a trainer among an amount of feat (more choice with levels, not really intuitive however). Once u level it follows ddo rules, so depending the level you'll get feat points (strenght, wisdom etc), ability points, skill points, spells etc...
What I like is that the game have indeed that strict set of rules, hence lots of mobs are resistance to something and have a weak point (like crushing weps against skelettons). Knowing the lore helps to avoid spending precious spell points on a spell the mob is going to resist.

I'm playing a mage so I basically have to pick my spells beforehand among a selection, can only switch them while resting (at a tavern or a rest point, knowing u can only use the rest point once) so you have to think about which spells to take beforehand. Casting a spell often uses a physical element so you need to have enough in your inventory too.
Food helps recover faster but only in taverns. This means that apart from potions, only heals can help you recover health and only rest can bring back ur spell points. Sometimes it's thus better to hit with a staff than cast a spell.
Another thing I like is that the combat feels more alive because of the dice roll. So when u hit someone you see a dice that tells you how much u rolled. Same goes for heals, sometimes you're healed for 1hp sometime for 6. (am only having 30 at start).
You quickly get quests reward that allows u to change gear it seems, dunno how it evolves. As there are only 2 servers, there are still many people walking around (saw around 20 lowbies yesterday).
What I like less is the Stormreach lore instead of Forgotten realms, having mechanic mobs or forged race doesn't suit me much but the rest of the lore is there also.

Overall I think the game could be fun as a group but dunno what it has to offer on the long run, compared to launch I hope it has enough content now (back then u had to redo quests (u can redo them hard or elite) to reach lvl 4, thing that I hate) but I mostly hope it's more varied than just sewers (I read it's but waiting to see with my own eyes).