Any upcoming AD&D-based PC games?

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Playing it right now too, and loving every minute of it!

Twas I, and it's a rule that I developed out of necessity. I used to play a highly addictive, highly time consuming game called Everquest. At high levels you really couldn't get anything useful done without a group of at least 8 - 10, and the really worthwhile stuff required groups of 20 or more players. If you didn't have at least 4 - 5 hours to spare, it was barely even worth playing, because it would take at least an hour to get your group assembled, perhaps as much as another hour to get to where you wanted to adventure (it was especially bad when your group got wiped out by a dragon on your way to fight something else). The big dungeons would likely require a couple of hours to clear out and get to the big named boss who dropped the best equipment. AND, your entire party had to be incredibly skilled at the game and their chosen classes or any person was likely to get the entire group wiped out by not fulfilling their role to the letter. Groups of clerics had to time their heals exactly right, and create macros so that everyone knew they were healing. Fighters had to keep agro. Damage dealers (wizards, rogues, etc) had to be careful not to over nuke and take agro. Pullers (usually monks) had to be amazing at not pulling more than one monster to fight at a time. Enchanters had to be great at mesmerizing "extra" monsters that would inevitably get pulled from time to time. Shaman (my primary class) had to keep all of the mobs slowed (without pulling agro) and keep combat buffs up.... If anyone messed any of this up, by, say, attacking a mesmerized mob instead of the group target (you had to create macros to target the same mob as the primary tank), well, it was usually game over, and a 1 hour corpse recovery before trying it again. Oh, and having the right mix of classes (monk, cleric, shaman, enchanter, tank and damage dealer at a minimum) was essential.

I was a shaman in that game (once I learned that my preferred class, necromancer, was not needed or well regarded). If I was with a party deep in a dungeon, I couldn't just "log off" the game until we were done. Who would slow the monsters, for god's sake?? Technically the enchanter could help with that, but then they were stuck both mesmerizing and slowing, it the likely hood of a TPK was increased. This lended itself to some very long play sessions. This was fine and good when I was single and had my own place. Once I was married, it was less good. Once my wife was pregnant with our first child, and occasionally wanted something reasonable like, say, a back rub because her back was hurting... well, let's just say a reply of "it's going to be at least 2 hours until I can get to the back rub due to being deep in a dungeon, didn't over too well.

I decided right then and there that the only games I would play going forward would be those with pause buttons. And so my fairly tricked out (though certainly not completely uber) level 65 shaman (the level cap at the time) retired. I've not touched an MMO since. Oh, and consequently, more than 9 years later, I'm still married.

 

RE:

I see, not in the same situation as you but still think its an good idea Would rather try to get into pnp again.

The gameplay you describe is very much like that of wow, of course, wow was build upon everquest, and other mmos as well. From what i read.

Incidentally i was also an shaman, in wow. In late game I was spec'ed for healing, was quite an accomplished healer I would say.

 

Woww, Marceror! You just described what I always feared that MMO's would be like that. Very frustrating read. Well done!
My personal gameplay doesn't allow mingling with mmo's. I'm too slow, too much a control freak (micro management) and I don't want to be responsible for the well-being of the other party members while I know I'm about to screw up anyway. . Also, I don't like being hooked to any game, but if I allow myself to spend (too) much time to a game, it should be a single player game. I'm a social person. I like to get visitors. I'd hate it that I'd have to choose between rejecting visitors or abandon my game while there are people counting on my participation.

If I'd ever play a multiplayer game, it would be with just 1 or 2 other players. And it would be a game with a top down view, like BG2 or IWD2, cause I'm a bit clumsy. I'd loose my partymembers in 3D.

Other than all this MMO stuff. It's a pity that coming fantasy games will most likely be like WOW etc. I always much more appreciated games like IWD2 (with the 3.5 rules), BG2 or ToEE (provided it's patched with Co8).

 

I allways hated mmo`s bigtime. Its the principle of it really. First you buy a game, then you have to pay more money to actually play it. Something about that just rubs me the wrong way.

 

I got to say that atm I am seriously hooked on Lord of the Rings Online. It is fun, but levelling, and doing the necessary skilling for crafting (only that way you can get the good equipment that you need to get even better equipment when playing dungeons) takes an eternity, and necessitates strict resource gathering runs.

I spent a couple hours recently on that doing dungeon/area sweeps (I was doing other stuff on the side, like posting, but still) only in order to get the raw material needed to improve my crafting skills. Buying equipment is stupid, the stuff for sale is crap, and the stuff that is good is always for 'in five levels' - and still inferior to the good stuff you can craft now. You have better luck at auctions, but stuff at auctions is mostly obscenely expensive (at times like 100x the actual price). You need to get that money somewhere, like on a dungeon sweep ... and there we go again.

Another part that Marceror has spelled it out nicely is the game dynamics in MMOs in general. For instance, I like to play archer, which is practical in the game because they can very easily travel which helps save time. They are also formidable offensive characters and almost immediately draw agro. When dealing with two chars of roughly the same level and I don't manage to drop or significantly weaken one of them before they arrive, I'll have a hard time surviving. Dealing with a crowd of enemies I'll get inevitably swarmed, and will die unless I am at least five levels higher. Hence the emphasis on superior, crafted equipment.

Luckily I play single player most of the time, with occasional and temporary parties of convenience and necessity (which works surprisingly well - LotRO to say it again, has a nice crowd on the role playing servers), so I can log off whenever I want. Because I want to avoid the peer pressure effect Marceror mentioned I have not joined and will not join a guild. Period. And I also understand that if I was not single I could not afford spending that massive amount of my limited free time. Despite all that, I also have a life.

My current experience with LotRO, even though it is fun, makes me doubt whether plunging into Star Wars:Old Republic would be such a great idea after all.