DDO: Menace of the Underdark Expansion
 

Aye. Druids. FINALLY.

The level cap increase is worrisome however. They already included a bastardized version of prestige classes in the game via "enhancements", so I don't really see this as opening up "epic levels" as much as it does even more powergaming and mudflation.

I'm worried over the cap increase as well. Epic in 3.5e is horribly, massively broken. As in fighting major deities broken. As in punching out Cthulhu accidentally while sneezing broken. Which, when punched, explodes into a thousand tiny Unicrons, whom the PCs then eat like Skittles while discussing which universe to make barren and lifeless next. That's how broken Epic is.

A straight level increase wouldn't be near as problematic.

Combined with the enhancement redesign, looks like 2012 is a huge year for DDO.

"Forge your Epic Destiny and create a unique Epic hero with powerful character customization options as you advance beyond level 20 to epic level 25." This generic statement makes me wonder if level 25 will only be available in the pak or with new characters created post release date? Post release with new characters would seem the easiest way to revamp the level system….have to wait and see but it is a move in the right direction. :)

No, the level 21+ content will be in the new pack, but you'll be using the same characters. I don't know if the level 21 content will be required to level to 25, or if we'll start gaining levels on our 20's or what. Or, for that matter, how much XP will be required.

There's an interview at Gamebanshee : http://www.gamebanshee.com/interview…interview.html

Too bad they are only focussing on this high-level stuff - and too bad there weren't any questions on low-level and mid-level things.

The problem I see, personally, is that every MMO soner or later comes into the place of catering exclusively the currient high-level class pf players - and those have the loudest voices in the forums, I guess, too.

The cries for "we want more" is like … being pushed by a crowed into a certain direction … And this "push" on the other hand might let developers forget that there are low-level and middle-level crowds, too …

If this game won't give low-level or middle-level characters anything new anymore, then it will reach a point where it becomes uninteresting for me.

Personally, I don't want a game which is - as an end result - only catering the players who have the highest-level characters.

Although I personally consider DDO to be a very much a powergamer's game, I wouldn't consider it fair to say it's only looking after the needs of high level characters. Indeed, when I last played, they had recently added the new level 6 raid to the marketplace.

Taking on Lolth sounds intriguing… perhaps one of her treasures could be Drizzt's head. One can dream!

Thing is, you have to consider the business model. For new players, all the "old" low level content IS new. It's the established players that, a) have "worn out" all the existing content b) generally have high level toons c) have a documented history of spending money on the game. So, it makes sense to cater to the player base that's paying the bills.

That said, I'd like to see a new mid-level quest pack. Everyone seems to agree that Restless Isles and Threnal suck rocks, which means that the offerings are a little thin in that 7-11 range. There's stuff there, but you're somewhat locked in to which packs you run between Delera and The Desert. When you're able at level 1 to pretty well map out which packs you'll run all the way to level 20 with only a couple "this or that" branches (and it's worse for first lifers since they level past some packs before getting to run them), I think you need a little more content.

Yes, you are right, but I'm worrying about this : http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph…eringToTheBase

I wouldn't say that the 7-11 range really needs a lot of content. From 7 up, we have Sentinels, Sorrowdusk (which runs the whole range of levels), Delera's, Necro II, Vault of Night, Tempest Spine, Xorian Cipher, Red Fens, Desert, Ataraxia, The Pit, Necro III, and probably a whole score of stuff that I'm forgetting. This is leaving out Threnal and Restless Isles, which both suck.

Compare this to 16-18. We have Necro IV Elites, Vale of Twilight, Harbringer of Madness, Reign of Madness, and Inspired Quarters I. IQII, Shavarath, and House C Manufactury are all 19-20 really.

So the quests are falling in where they need to to fill out the content in the level ranges. Really the first several updates that came in since I started were catering to the incoming low levels. From Chronoscope raid at 6, to Carnival (5), Sentinels (7), Lordsmarch (11-13), etc… That's not to say that they don't need to release new content at the low levels; they should just for those who TR if nothing else. But for after IQ2 was released in U2 or 3, there wasn't any high level stuff until Reign of Madness and House C.

For your information :

Open letter by the boss : http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=363396
"Pre-Purchase"-Info : http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=363362
Update 13 Release Notes, (Update 13 is introducing the Expansion's new there with three new quests) : http://compendium.ddo.com/wiki/Relea…te_13_Official