craylon

also the method is quite different

in wow, aion and countless other pay to play you pay a monthly fee and the mmo company decides the time cycle they update the game and what content you get. true there are expansions on top of the fee but it still feels different from the ddo model to me. In ddo its more like going into the bookstore and buying an adventure module like you would have done aaaaaaaages ago when I played pen&paper rpgs.

I think the ddo model leans more towards downloadable add-ons like what seems to become popular in modern single player games like fallout, dragonage and so on.

I think whenever people see DDO as yet another free to play game they forget something that I would call revolutionary in the mmo buiz.

They are (at least to my knowledge) the only MMO out there that has a "pay to get new content" model. I mean this in a very positive way. In DDO I buy adventure-modules just like I buy comic books, DVDs or similar media. While the overall game is free and you can enjoy it without paying anything, the ability to buy new adventure sets allows you to get new pve challenges. something you just didn't get for guild wars i.e. in that continuity. I believe this kind of model is very healthy for both the player community and the company.
On the one hand the player interests are kept fresh, on the other hand it produces revenue for the company but also forces the company to put out quality content on a regular basis.

I agree with some previous comments that story and roleplaying are not one and the same. Even tough the more immersive a story is, the greater chance that the player becomes the character, which is imho the basis or roleplaying.
Another thing that worries me is the trend to change what RPG stands for from roleplaying (=acting in character) to a description of game mechanics (leveling, gearing up).
At some occasions I pointed out that funcom falsly advertises its revamped gear system as the new "RPG system" when there is nothing in there to encourage people to roleplay their character but only adapting some kind of new gearing mechanics.

As for the discussion of themepark (or storytelling to lable it more positive) versus sandbox in terms of rpg, I think both can lead to what I understand as roleplaying. A story-driven game like knights of the old republic gives you choices and consequences that form your role in the games society wich may be easier for some players but it predefines and limits the roles you play. Fallen Earth on the other hand leaves the role the player wants to take up to the player.
In both games I think the key to encouraging RP is two fold:
1. build an environment that is believable to the player and allow him characters he can identify with
2. make actions of the player more important the game mechanics like leveling and gear

I think we are on good road with point 1 but as for point 2 it not only needs some courage on the part of the devs to elimiante leveling, fixed classes and so on but it also needs players with a different mindset that dont see the game as some kind of sport where the character is just a tool and the means of the game is to level and gear the fastes.

hmm there must be something wrong with me :(

all that talk about breasts in these comments and yet what really cought my eye was how cool the destroyer with the axe looked and how much i like the "inky" rendering style.
As with the mob that looked liked a drunken kung-fu master i feel the visuals pretty unique and fresh and i hope they wont do standard fantasy but lay heavy on a martial arts aspect. i also hope that they wont need a full year to "westernise" it but just keep it as it is with subtitels and of course translated ui.
I'm one of not so few people that replaced the westernized voiceset in Aion with the original voices because I want to get as much of the original "flair" as I can.

somewhere i hope they make it an mo instead of an mmo
everything looks really cool and I'm looking forward to the game but seeing 300players ks each other over tons of mobs in the streets would absolutely ruin the "secret" atmosphere for me.

For me DDO is truely unique

Its the fisrt game me, as a Microtransaction-Hater spend money on (I bought the Favourit Soul Char and 1 Adventure Pack)
The Adventures/Quests, even tough the game is pretty old by MMO Standarts, feel to me the most clever and enjoyable Quests I have seen in the genre so far and group play is awesome.

I'm currently subscribed monthly to Aion and I feel really good to visit DDO once in while to play with my friends because the experienc is really different between these 2 games.

I wish Turbine can keep up their success and translate some of the money they make into new content. It would be awesome if there were like monthly adventure packs you could buy just like your favourite comic book or records and play them with your friends.

on the artwork of ga:
i dont want to put any modellers down because they do a good job, but every time i see the translation from (comic) art to computer game it feels to me they are animating a posable action figure rather then bringing pencils and ink to life. not sure if the later is doable tough (and no co comes a bit closer but isnt there yet artisticly imho)

on the whole superhero mmo:
superhero mmo is ok but to me it feels like they are coloring a mmo with superhero figures (same with cox and co) rather then capturing the essence of the comics. over the years these very comics have matured and tell complex stories supported by great artwork. to me it seem dcu is heading the way of a mmo/beat em up mix with an mmo engine.
or did you see batman ever level up (in a radical way) ?
or did you ever see 500 superheroes in city with 10 civilians (other then in kingdom come) ?
for me co feels more like a mutant zoo then a modern day comic book (wich isnt bad just not the same)

the new twist would be to narrate dramatic, immersive stories but thats a tough thing to do if your an mmo company

besides bashing the game, wich I personally can relate to since i hate rtmt, I think the interesting point is that a game does a complete overhaul of its core graphical engine.

I cant remember many occasions where this happened in the past.

Sure some games like eve have improved their models and graphics or others like ddo have added some dx10 effects but to completely upgrade the game to a current gen engine seems rather unique and newsworthy.

imagine if wow went unreal3 or cryengine2...

I'm with Yoh on that topic.

I think the whole MMO genre has to diversify and we need sub categoties.
While I fought countless battles over the RP part of the MMO RP G I'm also wondering about the G.

Reading the topic I came to the impression that G (for Game) is some kind of contradiction to the genre itselve and to a persistant world because a classic Game has a limited timeframe, a goal to achiev and often winners and loosers.

So in closing, I think what me and many sandbox fans are looking for is more of an Massively Multiplayer Role Playing Environment (MMORPE) where the Game Part is still in there (opposed to a pure virtual world like second life) but far less limited by rules and short term goals

tired 2 death about 2 things:
levels and classes

classes: holy trinity means that you cant do certain content if you dont have that class available
look at tcos: there you can dodge the mobs attacks and all classes have basic healing abilities. this means pick up any 4 guys and do any content instead of "lf tank" for hours

levels: big level differences means you cant do certain content with your friends. yet i havent seen an mmo go levelless but always i see myselve either leveling to fast or to slow to play with my friends.

both these mechanics force me to play with people not based on how i like them but on the fact if they have the right level/class

my utopia would be that all content is available for all players at any given time (with some restrictions of course you wont kill a dragon alone and you have to find your way thrue the woods bevore you can enter the lost temple...)