Choose my Adventure: The Marketplace

Join me as I brave my way through lands unknown in an adventure dictated entirely by you, the Massively readers! Vote for everything from game played to character creation to ultimate goal and watch it unfold in a series of journals and galleries here on the site. Then, as the ultimate goal is reached, we'll do it all over again in a new game!

This week, we've made our way through the rest of the Waterworks quests in Dungeons and Dragons Online and into the Marketplace and the Cerulean Hills. Despite our limited time together, the Critical Mass bunch are really making headway through these quests.

We've finally brought back the polls for this week, as you'll have a chance to not only vote on where we go from here, but also enjoy a revisit to the use of Turbine Points earned so far. Follow along after the jump for Fahryn's in-character journal, my impressions and the return of the polls!
There's no quick writing from a quiet corner of the bar this time. Today I write after a full day of needed recovery.

We encountered some orcs yesterday in the Cerulean Hills. I take back every bad thing I've ever said about kobolds, because orcs are thrice as mean and ugly. Turns out there was trouble out at Nash Braza's farm and we were hired to clear the area of those disgusting humanoids. Of course it didn't stop there; since we did so well recovering Nash's property, we were paid double to go through to the orc's Grul tribe outpost and put an end to their advancement in this area.

Not only did we clear out the tribe's new camp on the islands, but we also saved several captives, including Lady Azdel herself who was captured while traveling to Stormreach for a meeting of the Twelve. When we returned to Stormreach harbor to inform Pearl Drumling of our findings, she was so pleased that she gave us one of the Lady's baubles as a reward. I'm sure this will go for a few shiny plat at auction.

The following day, I figured I would spend some of my hard-earned gold on a new outfit. This old chain shirt was beginning to show signs of rust, and the weather was getting a bit colder as we ventured further into higher altitudes. So I decided to buy some furs and a hood.

Unfortunately, they didn't last. Between Nver's constant reminders that I looked like some sort of vagabond brothel owner, and the fact that they began to stink like rotten boar's feet after a few days, I decided to trade them in for something a bit more elegant and protective.

We spent a good part of our week in the Marketplace side of the city. Here, wealthy Coin Lords and even wealthier travelers were eager to give their gold coins away to anyone willing to help them with the simplest of tasks. I would have never thought the world would get to a point where assistance was needed for something like killing a spider. Sure, the spider was 10 feet wide, but that's beside the point.

Yes, this is something I've been stwewing over in my mind for a long time. With all of this work we're doing for others, are we helping or contributing to the problem? I see a day when our entertainment is reduced to pulling a lever to change a puppet show or jester, and pulling another lever for another jester or puppet show. Would we all become like kings, then? Would we all become unsatisfied and overweight? I've made a promise to myself that no matter how much gold I acquire in my adventures, I will not go the way of the lazy kings.

Alas, forgive my fragmented and disjointed thoughts. It's been an intense week and I can't stop thinking about the trouble we had with that awful Quickfoot gang.

We infiltrated their hideout to recover a signet brooch for Grinwhite. Of course those crazy human thieves were not willing to part with their treasure that easily. Fighting savage beasts and ankle-biting kobolds is one thing, but these Quickfeet were ready for us. I have never in my life seen so many traps and alarms set, instead of mindless guards as the orcs and kobolds tend to do.

After killing what seems like hundreds of these rogues, we finally faced their leader: Hosha Sollego. Yet this wasn't the end for us and the Quickfeet. With their leader down, many of the gang escaped, pleading for their lives. Reluctantly, we let them go, as they seem to no longer be a threat without that leadership. Plus, with them out of the way, it allowed us to reach the real threat in this hideout: Thual Masmataz.

We knew that Thual only used the Quickfeet as a distraction while he concocted his plan to poison the water supply of Stormreach. The sadistic alchemist needed to be stopped, and that was our number one priority.

We charged ahead through narrow passageways and twisting turns. Upon reaching a small flight of stairs, we emerged to find the most horrific site we've seen thus far. Thual was no Quickfoot. He wasn't even a man. An enormous beast stood before us, with the head of a Drow and the body of a scorpion. He hissed at us when we entered and his minions headed us off before we could react.

As I sit here today writing this story, you may have guessed that things went well from here. After defeating Thual's assistants, we concentrated our remaining strength on Thual himself. He finally went down after a lengthy battle, assuring the safety of Stormreach's water supply. Just to make sure, we even took pleasure in destroying his lab and any poison that remained in his chambers.

With the water supply safe and the Quickfoot gang disbanded for now, we carried each other back to The Rusty Nail for some rest and recovery.

That night, Thutmosis shared a tale of the Houses of Stormreach. Apparently, it would be beneficial for us to win the favor of one of these Houses, as we've now gained the rank of trusted adventurers. Soon these Houses will be fighting over us, but we first need to see what they have to offer. We're looking out for the best course of action for us and the people of Stormreach, so we will certainly do our research.

Another great week in DDO as we not only finished up the Waterworks quests, but also cleared out as much as we could of the free Marketplace quests. But this is where it starts to get challenging with picking quests that can only be run as a free-to-play character. We're still facing challenges on Hard mode, so we have many of these to repeat on Elite mode, if needed.

Speaking of challenges, we had quite a time in the Proof is in the Poison quest. With more than six people this week, we split into two groups and tried it on Normal Mode. This posed quite a challenge, and we died a lot. Let's just say that if I was playing a permadeath character, I'd be on my 6th or 7th restart by now.

But that's certainly not a complaint, as I'm happy to see more people joining up with us and experiencing these challenges with me. And most importantly, we have fun with it. If it wasn't for Nver and Thutmosis keeping me entertained so much, I'd probably start getting frustrated with my reoccurring deaths.

My opinion of DDO almost halfway through this project? I still feel like a complete noob, even after learning so much. I still get lost in Stormreach and can never remember where the quest-giving NPCs are. I'm used to the controls (even though I could have changed them at any time), but still have a hard time remembering which spell does what based on icons that are very similar to each other.

I'm not blaming DDO for all of this, as I'm really only playing this game 5-6 hours a week. I think for any other "normal" MMO player, it would be hard to learn such a complex game with such minimal exposure (while throwing a dozen other games into the mix throughout the week).

So with this in mind, and my current understanding of the game where it is, I would still say that DDO is by far the best bang for the buck in F2P MMOs.

As I said earlier, I'm very happy that the polls have made a return to Choose my Adventure. I look forward to what you have in store for us through the Favor Houses, as well as a revisit to the choice to stay free-to-play. So vote away, and I'll let you know how it went next week!

Which House should we visit first?

- House Phiarlan - An elven dragonmarked house that specializes in entertainment, music, and shadows/illusions.
- House Kundarak - A dwarven dragonmarked house – they specialize in protection and warding.
- House Jorasco - A halfling dragonmarked house – they specialize in healing and resurrection.
- House Deneith - The House Deneith specialty is as warriors; they are specialized bodyguards and mercenaries. As a result, their ward in Stormreach is heavily fortified and utilitarian in nature. House Deneith is a human house.


How should I proceed with F2P vs. VIP?

- Keep playing everything 100% free
- Use currently accrued Turbine Points. This would allow me to use the Turbine Points I've earned so far in normal gameplay, including those points rewarded for being in the DDO:U beta.
- Use currently accrued Turbine Points minus beta reward. This would allow me to use the Turbine Points I've earned so far in normal gameplay, MINUS those points rewarded for being in the DDO:U beta.
- Go for VIP Access. Go for full VIP access for the last month.