Dungeons & Dragons Online Forum News (Dec. 21, 04)

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Here are today's Dungeons & Dragons Online forum highlights, collected from Dungeons & Dragons Online forums. Please take into account that these are only single parts of various threads and should not be taken out of context. Bear in mind also that the posts presented here are copied as-is, and that any bad spelling and grammar does not get corrected on our end.

Xundau, Community Relations

Mithral Body

I just talked to the art team about this. Under our current plan, warforged with the standard body type will look distinctly different from warforged with the mithral body feat, and they in turn will look different from warforged with the adamantine body feat.

In addition, there will be a number of customization options so that two warforged with, say, the mithral body feat will not look exactly the same.

A game of Flats anyone?

Actually, we're not planning on implementing any type of subdual damage, to either players or monsters. While there are some interesting things you can do with subdual damage in PnP D&D, it doesn't rate very high on our "bang for the buck" list of possible features.

On Halflings

Halflings in 3rd edition D&D made a move away from the Tolkien-esque hobbit look (plump little men with hairy feet), and more towards small, slender, vaguely elf-like creatures who wear shoes. Our halfling avatars are modeled after this updated look, so WholeOcean, I think you're in luck.

For those of you who prefer plump little men with hairy feet, Turbine has another game in development that you might want to take a look at ...

A request for intelligent patching..

The topic itself is valid, as long as we stick to how this pertains to DDO -- if this thread were to go off into a tangent about file-sharing apps in general and the various issues involved with using them and restricting their use, well, that would be pretty off-topic.

Blizzard's decision to distribute patches via BT is pretty interesting, and there are some obvious (and I'm sure some not-so-obvious) pros and cons involved in its use. FWIW, I haven't had a problem patching WoW so far.

As far as patching in DDO goes, I'm honestly not sure what we're planning. I'll check with one of the core engineering guys and see if I can get an answer.

Nik Davidson, Administrator

To Owlbear over the FR topic...

So, I'm really happy to see that the second iteration of this topic has led to some good discussion. No argument here that Forgotten Realms could have been made into a good MMP setting. It's a moot argument at this point, but I'm still quite convinced we made the right call.

The thing about FR that was cool to me was also the reason it makes a less-desirable setting for an MMP. It was epic. NPCs were huge. Monsters were huger. Threats were hugest. A player character under level 10 wasn't fit to feed Drizzt's cats while he was away. It's a wonderful world, full of incredible power.

Eberron is grittier. If you're a 4th level fighter, you could probably take down the captain of the guard. Players are the real heroes, not some uber NPCs off in distant towers. And ultimately, I think that's the distinction that's going to make Eberron a great setting for years to come. There's no Elminster who might come swooping in to save the day if things go bad. The characters are the first and last line of defense, and to me, that's just plain cool.

Fernando, DDO Dev Team

A request for intelligent patching..

First, a quick introduction since this is my first post. My name is Fernando and I work with the Game Technology team here at Turbine. We are responsible for everything in the Turbine game engine and other technology that is shared among Turbine's games.

With regard to your questions about patching, I can say that we have no current plans to pursue a peer to peer patching solution. Also, the servers that host the patch data are separate from the game servers that run the world, so once you are in the game, there shouldn't be any additional lag due to patching on patch days.

Hope that covers the big questions. See you around the forums!

 

Great. No subdual damage. I'm getting a feeling that neither is an option to offer to spare the enemy's life if he surrenders going to be part of the game. And dodging blows with your keyboard and fingers. Keyboard, heh. More like joypad kind of fun.