Like I said, I've never even heard of half of those. They've never been a part of any D&D game I've played, not as character races.
(Remember, I haven't played tabletop D&D since 2nd ed. And that's without the fourty-eleven extra handbooks they put out later in the run. DM's guide, Player Handbook, MM 1 & 2, and modules. You know, D&D. )
I've played 3.5, and I haven't heard of most of those, except in the context on min/maxing threads on the WotC sites. Why do you even need 5 different Dwarf subraces?
...also, I said "as a core feature". You know, basic & intrinsic to the game. Not part of the flood of supplementary books that come out to later. But, like I said, I haven't seen the actual 3rd ed books - my exposture to 3.0 is NWN (did that have all the wacky races?) and my exposure to 3.5 is DDO (which is stuck in Eberron).
I think that the creator of Eberron had the right idea: he didn't seen the need for 57 varieties of elf, so he stuck with the basics, and did so very well. The Valenar, Aerenal, and Khorvairan elves are extremely distinct despite having basic elf stats.
As a previous poster pointed out, DDO does have multiclassing, as well as many other character options. Its also a huge min/max fest.
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calaminthaMember, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 0Arc User
...also, I said "as a core feature". You know, basic & intrinsic to the game. Not part of the flood of supplementary books that come out to later. But, like I said, I haven't seen the actual 3rd ed books - my exposture to 3.0 is NWN (did that have all the wacky races?) and my exposure to 3.5 is DDO (which is stuck in Eberron).
Multiclassing is part of the core rules though, supplements only added more choices. For example Arcane Archer was in 3.0 Dungeon Master's Guide. It doesn't get more "core" than that.
Sub-races are campaign setting based. Forgotten Realms had Gold dwarves and shield Dwarves, Dragonlance had Hill dwarves and Gully dwarves. It's mostly fluff but sometimes they have different stat bonuses and other racials.
Like I said, I've never even heard of half of those. They've never been a part of any D&D game I've played, not as character races.
(Remember, I haven't played tabletop D&D since 2nd ed. And that's without the fourty-eleven extra handbooks they put out later in the run. DM's guide, Player Handbook, MM 1 & 2, and modules. You know, D&D. )
...also, I said "as a core feature". You know, basic & intrinsic to the game. Not part of the flood of supplementary books that come out to later. But, like I said, I haven't seen the actual 3rd ed books - my exposture to 3.0 is NWN (did that have all the wacky races?) and my exposure to 3.5 is DDO (which is stuck in Eberron).
edit: and this is the real problem with "But is it D&D?" threads. With such a long game history, and so many options even within particular eras, what "D&D" means to each person can be wildly different. And still correct.
2nd Ed Elves. High Elves, Grey Elves, Wood Elves.... I do believe Drow were 3rd Ed. They wee from one of he Monster Manual expansions (2 or 3 IIC)
In all honesty, DDO was a lot more D&D then this game. Dungeon master and dice rolls were the #1 thing in DDO. In NW, it seems completely removed. Personally i dont mind, but it does remove the D&D feel of the game.
Still, i dont care how the game looks or what it is based on; it needs to be fun. And so far, for me atleast, it is. Personally also dont object to the "P2W" stuff (which i dont consider pay2win because you can purchase everything without real money if you sell AD for Zen).
Hint though; if you wanna play D&D, go play P&P D&D; the way it's meant to be played.
Well if a game video or PnP says its D&D it should be D&D. D&D characters do not have 1,000 HP at 10th level hey have 140 -160 max... Unless you are a Barbarian. 4th Ed I believe a fighter gains 6 HP and a bonus for High Con. So that would 60 + Con bonuses HP at 10th level. As a first level fighter I would have my main weapon and with something as strong as My 1/2 Orc is a Long Comp Bow for ranged combat.
If I am playing PnP D&D or Neverwinter there are just certain things that should be there.
Well if a game video or PnP says its D&D it should be D&D. D&D characters do not have 1,000 HP at 10th level hey have 140 -160 max... Unless you are a Barbarian. 4th Ed I believe a fighter gains 6 HP and a bonus for High Con. So that would 60 + Con bonuses HP at 10th level. As a first level fighter I would have my main weapon and with something as strong as My 1/2 Orc is a Long Comp Bow for ranged combat.
If I am playing PnP D&D or Neverwinter there are just certain things that should be there.
You do know the reason why MMOs give players a lot of health points, right? It's to make them feel powerful ("Look at all these big numbers"). The reason why HP was low in the PnP was for the sake of simplicity. No one wants to be subtracting 273 from 1,250 HP. It also meant you could have realistically sized dice. You need to look at it from a game developer standpoint (both a developer of a video game and a tabletop game).
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vatashaMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero UsersPosts: 0Arc User
And thats the point im trying to say.At this time, there are realy no roleplayers.Only kids which biggest achievment in game is killscore of 10/0.And the game will shift towards THAT player base.Is it wrong?Thats not up to me to decide.So why im crying here?Cause i want this game up and runnig, but in a diferent ways...
Role playing Table top or in game is what you make of it. You don't need an alignment next to your name to role play a paladin or an evil rogue, you don't need in game benefits to role play that you believe in one of the gods. As a matter of fact not having rules helps role play more
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vatashaMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero UsersPosts: 0Arc User
2nd Ed Elves. High Elves, Grey Elves, Wood Elves.... I do believe Drow were 3rd Ed. They wee from one of he Monster Manual expansions (2 or 3 IIC)
From the Wiki.. The drow were first mentioned in the Dungeons & Dragons game in the 1st Edition 1977 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual under the "Elf" entry, where it is stated that "The 'Black Elves,' or drow, are only legend."
You do know the reason why MMOs give players a lot of health points, right? It's to make them feel powerful ("Look at all these big numbers"). The reason why HP was low in the PnP was for the sake of simplicity. No one wants to be subtracting 273 from 1,250 HP. It also meant you could have realistically sized dice. You need to look at it from a game developer standpoint (both a developer of a video game and a tabletop game).
I have played a few D&D titles over the decades. They all had regular HPs. It may have been a decade since I last played Baldur's Gate but IIRC Hp were D&D standard. I don' need 1oo's of HP to feel confident in combat.
Role playing Table top or in game is what you make of it. You don't need an alignment next to your name to role play a paladin or an evil rogue, you don't need in game benefits to role play that you believe in one of the gods. As a matter of fact not having rules helps role play more
Well, if you continue like this i would not need a background or a deity, i would not need a space for biography...
Ofcourse i need it.I need some kind of character sheet, so i could look at others or myself.We arent a 5 member party, so we can remember each other actions.I need some actual rules for my character...
No, not D&D, not in any but a very cosmetic sense. That being said, no video game I've ever played did a half decent job of capturing what was really distinctive about D&D. I mean, the best games I've ever seen for that were the previous two Neverwinter games, and even those basically just give you a bunch of canned options. Sure they can give you more canned options that imitate the true freedom offered in regular D&D, but... When the tense scene in the tavern is building up, with the party warrior facing down the local gang leader, if my Halfling bard isn't sneaking around setting candles under all the drapes to create a distraction, it's not D&D. Or running off down the street to tell the city watch that a fight is about to break out in the Lush Lady tavern. Or talking them into settling their differences with a keg stand. Or doing whatever insane thing I can think of to confound my DM.
This game is worse than most in this regard, but no video game has ever been more than a pale shadow of D&D. I actually quite like it though, and I do kind of like the D&D trappings, but it's a video game first, D&D fifteenth.
Well, if you continue like this i would not need a background or a deity, i would not need a space for biography...
Ofcourse i need it.I need some kind of character sheet, so i could look at others or myself.We arent a 5 member party, so we can remember each other actions.I need some actual rules for my character...
You know, there was a huge amount of WOW RPer's back in the day, and they needed none of that.
I love Dnd and RPing, but if they aren't going to affect the game experience, I don't think Diety and the lot is needed at all. Infact, unless we are given some method in foundry make variable events like "here, this is your modifiers and your alightment, and this is the list of options you can attempt to make, which would branch off to different events," then I think they should remove such unnecessary data.
While we're at it, remove the title "Dnd." Yes, I'm irritated that this is classified as a Dnd, but the point about RPing being possible and immersible doesn't change
But he doe know his D&D. The latest incarnation does no have Alignment? A Cleric casts Dispel or Protection v Evil and without a character having an alignment could not be affected by the spell even if they burn down villages cause their soup was cold!
No, not D&D, not in any but a very cosmetic sense. That being said, no video game I've ever played did a half decent job of capturing what was really distinctive about D&D. I mean, the best games I've ever seen for that were the previous two Neverwinter games, and even those basically just give you a bunch of canned options. Sure they can give you more canned options that imitate the true freedom offered in regular D&D, but... When the tense scene in the tavern is building up, with the party warrior facing down the local gang leader, if my Halfling bard isn't sneaking around setting candles under all the drapes to create a distraction, it's not D&D. Or running off down the street to tell the city watch that a fight is about to break out in the Lush Lady tavern. Or talking them into settling their differences with a keg stand. Or doing whatever insane thing I can think of to confound my DM.
This game is worse than most in this regard, but no video game has ever been more than a pale shadow of D&D. I actually quite like it though, and I do kind of like the D&D trappings, but it's a video game first, D&D fifteenth.
DDO? That was really immersive. Of course, you aren't granted "total freedom," but how many god **** variables do you want in a mmo? Man, freedom of random choices should be the last thing to worry about, how about the actual gameplay?
What I mean is; this isn't a game created on a basis where everything can be processed with your computer itself. If the game boss have good AI with multiple ways (yes, canned options) to kill him, I would give unending praise to the company even if it's just one fight. This is because the amount of data needed to be processed; mmorpgs are expected to run smooth, too many variables means too many loadtimes, and adding Internet speed to the processing variables will heavily burden your loading speed.
As people have said, the D&D ruleset has never been really suited for PC gaming anyway, and definitely least of all for an MMO. That said - this game has a familiar setting, characters and background history that it feels like a D&D game in spirit.
I never did enjoy the hardcore rules overly much and considering the myriad of ways they can screw it up if they attempted - well, better leave the hardcore D&D rules for single player, concentrated RPG-s.
Meh, they did well enough. Could always be better, but most often than not you're only going to get worse if you ask too much.
DDO? That was really immersive. Of course, you aren't granted "total freedom," but how many god **** variables do you want in a mmo? Man, freedom of random choices should be the last thing to worry about, how about the actual gameplay?
What I mean is; this isn't a game created on a basis where everything can be processed with your computer itself. If the game boss have good AI with multiple ways (yes, canned options) to kill him, I would give unending praise to the company even if it's just one fight. This is because the amount of data needed to be processed; mmorpgs are expected to run smooth, too many variables means too many loadtimes, and adding Internet speed to the processing variables will heavily burden your loading speed.
You're right, but the problem is, that type of freedom is the hallmark of D&D. Just because the MMO genre - or video games at all - is a poor platform for emulating D&D doesn't somehow mean we can call things that fall *way* short of actual D&D as if they were reasonable representations of it.
DDO, Planescape: Torment (my very favourite game), even old games like Eye of the Beholder or the gold box games... None of them were more than pale facsimiles of D&D which were good and enjoyable in very different ways from actual D&D. The fact that a video game environment can't reasonable emulate D&D doesn't give us excuse to say "well, it tried hard, so we'll give it the D&D merit badge in spite of not really being much like D&D at all."
I don't want that many variables in an MMO for all the reasons you listed. Those variables, that possibility, is the hallmark of playing D&D - well, that and sitting in a room with buddies playing make believe - and video games cannot emulate it. That being said, keep those games that try coming - D&D is a great setting and, even if they butcher it and the gameplay, I like the familiarity.
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colexianMember, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 17Arc User
You're right, but the problem is, that type of freedom is the hallmark of D&D. Just because the MMO genre - or video games at all - is a poor platform for emulating D&D doesn't somehow mean we can call things that fall *way* short of actual D&D as if they were reasonable representations of it.
DDO, Planescape: Torment (my very favourite game), even old games like Eye of the Beholder or the gold box games... None of them were more than pale facsimiles of D&D which were good and enjoyable in very different ways from actual D&D. The fact that a video game environment can't reasonable emulate D&D doesn't give us excuse to say "well, it tried hard, so we'll give it the D&D merit badge in spite of not really being much like D&D at all."
I don't want that many variables in an MMO for all the reasons you listed. Those variables, that possibility, is the hallmark of playing D&D - well, that and sitting in a room with buddies playing make believe - and video games cannot emulate it. That being said, keep those games that try coming - D&D is a great setting and, even if they butcher it and the gameplay, I like the familiarity.
I just felt like you simply solved your own issue.
So you understand that video game has difficulty emulating "real Dnd (man, if it ain't 2:30am, I would rant so hard about this)," and or a game that simply match your individual taste.
We're still in open beta, so elements you want from Dnd might come later; there's still a huge amount of stuff that needs to be out (bug fixes, AI upgrades/ pet commands, combat fixes, etc)
The foundry sounds like a server's nightmare, but the amount of potential in it is high. I really hope Cryptic work hard on that segment of the game.
It's just that... having Perfect World publish this game (may not be limited to just their fault alone)... will put alot of pressure into the financial management side of things... and the issues are pretty transparent at this point.
I just felt like you simply solved your own issue.
So you understand that video game has difficulty emulating "real Dnd (man, if it ain't 2:30am, I would rant so hard about this)," and or a game that simply match your individual taste.
We're still in open beta, so elements you want from Dnd might come later; there's still a huge amount of stuff that needs to be out (bug fixes, AI upgrades/ pet commands, combat fixes, etc)
The foundry sounds like a server's nightmare, but the amount of potential in it is high. I really hope Cryptic work hard on that segment of the game.
It's just that... having Perfect World publish this game (may not be limited to just their fault alone)... will put alot of pressure into the financial management side of things... and the issues are pretty transparent at this point.
But... I have no issue. That this game is a poor emulation of D&D does not matter to me as long as it is a good video game. It is, and frankly, I'm loving it, and I prefer the D&D setting to some fantasy setting cooked up in place of it (see: something like Dragon Age). Is it a game I like very much? Yes. Is it a reasonable translation of PnP D&D? Not even close. Does that concern me? Nope.
Rant all you want but, any iteration of D&D you choose, this game - and every supposed D&D video game prior to it - is a very poor translation of PnP at best. That's not a bad thing - honestly, I'll play NWO more this year than I will play PnP D&D, and I'm fine with that. NWO won't replace PnP though because it does not do what pen and paper does well at all.
But... I have no issue. That this game is a poor emulation of D&D does not matter to me as long as it is a good video game.Is it a game I like very much? Yes. Is it a reasonable translation of PnP D&D? Not even close. Does that concern me? Nope.
Spent two post on how this isn't a proper imitation on a game that pretty much have no rules, but guidelines instead. Ok.
I don't think I will ever be able to understand the idea that numbers and certain mechanics make D&D. To me D&D isn't about how many hit points you have. or what your AC is or what you'd need to roll to hit armor class 0. D&D has nothing to do with any of that. D&D at its core is about adventuring in a fantasy setting. The rules and math are there to help you along in settling situations. You can play D&D with A rock, paper, scissors style or just free form it. That has remained the same for each edition that has been released. Never has that idea wavered even when arbitrary rules and broken mechanics were tossed aside. This game in my eyes is no different. The rules may have been altered but I'm still here adventuring with friends in a well established setting under the D&D name. So my answer is yes. Yes we are playing D&D.
I don't think I will ever be able to understand the idea that numbers and certain mechanics make D&D. To me D&D isn't about how many hit points you have. or what your AC is or what you'd need to roll to hit armor class 0. D&D has nothing to do with any of that. D&D at its core is about adventuring in a fantasy setting. The rules and math are there to help you along in settling situations. You can play D&D with A rock, paper, scissors style or just free form it. That has remained the same for each edition that has been released. Never has that idea wavered even when arbitrary rules and broken mechanics were tossed aside. This game in my eyes is no different. The rules may have been altered but I'm still here adventuring with friends in a well established setting under the D&D name. So my answer is yes. Yes we are playing D&D.
It is the mechanics as much as the setting. Try playing D&D using ShadowRun Mechanics.*shudder*
As a "fantasy adventure game set in the Forgotten Realms", it's decent (though has its own slew of issues, of course).
As a "dungeons and dragons game" it fails completely, for many, many reasons.
If you just mentally erase the "D&D" aspect of the game and play it for what it is -- a fantasy game with a few terms borrowed from D&D -- then you can enjoy it. The moment you start thinking about it as a "D&D game" though, the mountain of things that leap out and scream "this isn't D&D!" in your face start getting irksome.
Spent two post on how this isn't a proper imitation on a game that pretty much have no rules, but guidelines instead. Ok.
Ironically, it's not the rules that are the most important thing about D&D, and those are the things that a video game can actually emulate half decently. It's the freedom. Video games never offer more than a few canned responses. D&D throws away the can and the rules are there to try and impose some limits and structure to people going wild. There is no going wild in video games - it is choose A, B, or C and get preset response X, Y, or Z. At the point where you take away the DM asking you "so, are you attacking the gang leader with your sword or bashing him with your shield?" and you say "No, I'm going to throw my damned sword at the rope holding up the chandelier above his head to try and drop it on him" and instead offer just the shield bash or the sword attack, you've lost something intrinsic to D&D.
Video games are great. I love video games. NWO is a good video game. It does D&D poorly.
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josh0lanternMember, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 23Arc User
edited May 2013
Okay, I've finally gotten to the point I need to weigh in on this absolutely ridiculous statement... HOW THE HELL IS THIS NOT D&D?! D&D is not defined by basic mechanic but by story and adventure, as well as good times with good people. All I hear is "QQ I can't pick my alignment" "I can't roll dice" and other such nonsense. If D&D is dice to you, you are playing it wrong. D&D is among the most generic of generic fantasy settings, the only thing unique is that it was first of it's kind and the iconic monsters and a few class concepts like Magic Missiles and Beholders... WHICH ARE IN THIS GAME... You want dice and alignment an all this mechanics that make it D&D to you? Go get some books and some paper.
4th ed does away with Multiclassing for the most part.
Deities do need more influence than they have here.
Alignment could have been sweet (ala CoH CoV), but meh, ddo never allowed evil and I am fine with that.
Comments
I think that the creator of Eberron had the right idea: he didn't seen the need for 57 varieties of elf, so he stuck with the basics, and did so very well. The Valenar, Aerenal, and Khorvairan elves are extremely distinct despite having basic elf stats.
As a previous poster pointed out, DDO does have multiclassing, as well as many other character options. Its also a huge min/max fest.
Multiclassing is part of the core rules though, supplements only added more choices. For example Arcane Archer was in 3.0 Dungeon Master's Guide. It doesn't get more "core" than that.
Sub-races are campaign setting based. Forgotten Realms had Gold dwarves and shield Dwarves, Dragonlance had Hill dwarves and Gully dwarves. It's mostly fluff but sometimes they have different stat bonuses and other racials.
If I am playing PnP D&D or Neverwinter there are just certain things that should be there.
You do know the reason why MMOs give players a lot of health points, right? It's to make them feel powerful ("Look at all these big numbers"). The reason why HP was low in the PnP was for the sake of simplicity. No one wants to be subtracting 273 from 1,250 HP. It also meant you could have realistically sized dice. You need to look at it from a game developer standpoint (both a developer of a video game and a tabletop game).
Role playing Table top or in game is what you make of it. You don't need an alignment next to your name to role play a paladin or an evil rogue, you don't need in game benefits to role play that you believe in one of the gods. As a matter of fact not having rules helps role play more
From the Wiki.. The drow were first mentioned in the Dungeons & Dragons game in the 1st Edition 1977 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual under the "Elf" entry, where it is stated that "The 'Black Elves,' or drow, are only legend."
Well, if you continue like this i would not need a background or a deity, i would not need a space for biography...
Ofcourse i need it.I need some kind of character sheet, so i could look at others or myself.We arent a 5 member party, so we can remember each other actions.I need some actual rules for my character...
Dude... of course no one remember those two games.
Do remember, they are games back in the days when Internet wasn't a household necessity.
This game is worse than most in this regard, but no video game has ever been more than a pale shadow of D&D. I actually quite like it though, and I do kind of like the D&D trappings, but it's a video game first, D&D fifteenth.
You know, there was a huge amount of WOW RPer's back in the day, and they needed none of that.
I love Dnd and RPing, but if they aren't going to affect the game experience, I don't think Diety and the lot is needed at all. Infact, unless we are given some method in foundry make variable events like "here, this is your modifiers and your alightment, and this is the list of options you can attempt to make, which would branch off to different events," then I think they should remove such unnecessary data.
While we're at it, remove the title "Dnd." Yes, I'm irritated that this is classified as a Dnd, but the point about RPing being possible and immersible doesn't change
DDO? That was really immersive. Of course, you aren't granted "total freedom," but how many god **** variables do you want in a mmo? Man, freedom of random choices should be the last thing to worry about, how about the actual gameplay?
What I mean is; this isn't a game created on a basis where everything can be processed with your computer itself. If the game boss have good AI with multiple ways (yes, canned options) to kill him, I would give unending praise to the company even if it's just one fight. This is because the amount of data needed to be processed; mmorpgs are expected to run smooth, too many variables means too many loadtimes, and adding Internet speed to the processing variables will heavily burden your loading speed.
The amount of hit points that you have has nothing to do with D&D.
The armor class that you have has nothing to do with D&D.
Did I forget anything?
I never did enjoy the hardcore rules overly much and considering the myriad of ways they can screw it up if they attempted - well, better leave the hardcore D&D rules for single player, concentrated RPG-s.
Meh, they did well enough. Could always be better, but most often than not you're only going to get worse if you ask too much.
You're right, but the problem is, that type of freedom is the hallmark of D&D. Just because the MMO genre - or video games at all - is a poor platform for emulating D&D doesn't somehow mean we can call things that fall *way* short of actual D&D as if they were reasonable representations of it.
DDO, Planescape: Torment (my very favourite game), even old games like Eye of the Beholder or the gold box games... None of them were more than pale facsimiles of D&D which were good and enjoyable in very different ways from actual D&D. The fact that a video game environment can't reasonable emulate D&D doesn't give us excuse to say "well, it tried hard, so we'll give it the D&D merit badge in spite of not really being much like D&D at all."
I don't want that many variables in an MMO for all the reasons you listed. Those variables, that possibility, is the hallmark of playing D&D - well, that and sitting in a room with buddies playing make believe - and video games cannot emulate it. That being said, keep those games that try coming - D&D is a great setting and, even if they butcher it and the gameplay, I like the familiarity.
/thread
So you understand that video game has difficulty emulating "real Dnd (man, if it ain't 2:30am, I would rant so hard about this)," and or a game that simply match your individual taste.
We're still in open beta, so elements you want from Dnd might come later; there's still a huge amount of stuff that needs to be out (bug fixes, AI upgrades/ pet commands, combat fixes, etc)
The foundry sounds like a server's nightmare, but the amount of potential in it is high. I really hope Cryptic work hard on that segment of the game.
It's just that... having Perfect World publish this game (may not be limited to just their fault alone)... will put alot of pressure into the financial management side of things... and the issues are pretty transparent at this point.
But... I have no issue. That this game is a poor emulation of D&D does not matter to me as long as it is a good video game. It is, and frankly, I'm loving it, and I prefer the D&D setting to some fantasy setting cooked up in place of it (see: something like Dragon Age). Is it a game I like very much? Yes. Is it a reasonable translation of PnP D&D? Not even close. Does that concern me? Nope.
Rant all you want but, any iteration of D&D you choose, this game - and every supposed D&D video game prior to it - is a very poor translation of PnP at best. That's not a bad thing - honestly, I'll play NWO more this year than I will play PnP D&D, and I'm fine with that. NWO won't replace PnP though because it does not do what pen and paper does well at all.
As a "dungeons and dragons game" it fails completely, for many, many reasons.
If you just mentally erase the "D&D" aspect of the game and play it for what it is -- a fantasy game with a few terms borrowed from D&D -- then you can enjoy it. The moment you start thinking about it as a "D&D game" though, the mountain of things that leap out and scream "this isn't D&D!" in your face start getting irksome.
Ironically, it's not the rules that are the most important thing about D&D, and those are the things that a video game can actually emulate half decently. It's the freedom. Video games never offer more than a few canned responses. D&D throws away the can and the rules are there to try and impose some limits and structure to people going wild. There is no going wild in video games - it is choose A, B, or C and get preset response X, Y, or Z. At the point where you take away the DM asking you "so, are you attacking the gang leader with your sword or bashing him with your shield?" and you say "No, I'm going to throw my damned sword at the rope holding up the chandelier above his head to try and drop it on him" and instead offer just the shield bash or the sword attack, you've lost something intrinsic to D&D.
Video games are great. I love video games. NWO is a good video game. It does D&D poorly.
Deities do need more influence than they have here.
Alignment could have been sweet (ala CoH CoV), but meh, ddo never allowed evil and I am fine with that.