It's been a few months since we took a peek at DDO and in that time, based on community feedback and the server merges Turbine are doing, we've decided it was time for a second look at Dungeons and Dragons Online. JR Sutich re-reviews the game in this new article.
First off, I stopped using Auto-Attack. I can see where taking a more active role in fighting improves results and makes it more interesting. The next step to making the game more fun was joining a guild. Having others online who are willing to do quests or answer questions made a lot of the difference. Getting run one time through Waterworks on Elite got me Level 3 and I had easy access to The Marketplace.
I had gotten to Level 4 when I noticed something interesting. That total Favor (not Faction, Favor) number that I had been obsessing over wasn't as big a problem as I had believed. Sure, I still think that the whole idea of making Drow and 32-point builds unlockables is a poor one, but I had managed to get 270 out of 400 necessary for the extra race without much trouble at all. I hadn't even completed all of the quests listed for Level 2. The only chain quests I had done were Catacombs and Tangleroot on Normal, and the Waterworks run on Elite. Getting 400 Favor is nothing to worry about. I should have it by the time I hit Level 6 or 7. Now, working on getting 1750 Favor might take a bit more effort, but I no longer see it as a horrible grind. It's still poor design, but not game breaking.
Read more after the click.
