So, this will have to count as my DDO first impression post. Hussain is currently off in Vienna, so he can't gloat firsthand, but let me say, he is right. DDO is just not a good game. At first, I resented his negativity, but I have to admit, DDO just blows, and it took WoW to show me that.
DDO's engine is actually decent. High resolution, detailed characters and weapons, all and all it's very nice looking. It's also a fairly good representation of actual pen and paper DnD, and maps the ruleset over moderately well. Because of all these successes, I was fairly optimistic going in. I had a pretty good time getting to Level 4 (out of 10), and looked forward to getting further in.
It was at this point, that DDO's content ran out.
In order to get to Level 4, I had to repeat a few 1, 2 and 3 level quests. Since I was going back to help Hussain finish quests I'd aready done, and since I redid a few lower level quests on higher difficulty levels, I didn't really notice just how few quests there were. Then, at Level 4, I couldn't find anything else I could do alone. That meant I had to wait for the wifey to be available to play. Plus, DDO's servers keep going down, and the game generally doesn't work. I think my subconscious mind remembered just how much better WoW was, because it suggested to me that I try WoW again after a year long break.
I played all last night until 3:00am, and more today. WoW is addictive. There's more quests than you could possibly find time to do. Certainly more per level than you'd need to level up. WoW looked a little clunky and low-rez at first, but once I was back into the swing of it, it was engrossing as I remember it.
Finally the wifey was back, the servers were up, and it was time to try DDO... And it immediately became clear to me that there is NO content in the game that I haven't already done, that I can now do with a two person party. We jump into one quest, and are greeted by a troll who I can't put a dent into. We run. We try the only other quest we haven't completed yet, we get through one room, then I open a door, and I'm obliterated in about four seconds.
There's no excuse for how short DDO is on content. This is especially true, when quests are the only way to advance through the game. If WoW was short on quests, you could still grind for xp and loot. But it's not short on quests. It has about 3 times as many quests as you'd need to level up just on questing alone. DDO, meanwhile, offers no method to grind, and no quests either. You basically just have to do the same quests over and over, and to top it off, DDO penalizes you xp for repeating quests.
It's not like the quests are particularly amazing, either. Some dungeons are decently impressive, with fairly unique architecture and good size, but they're mostly all filled with the same monsters, built on the same tilesets. Ultimately, they're more repetitive and generic than WoW. Why is there no random dungeon generation system? Why couldn't they hack out, say, ten times as many generic dungeons as they did? It's a tile based deal with some monsters in it. How long can it take to make a dungeon? A day or two? The Morrowind tile system could make these dungeons in no time.
Supposedly, DDO is due for a major content release in a month or two. It had better be MAJOR. What they're putting up right now is just ridiculous. It's probably a quarter of what I'd consider the minimum amount of content for this game to be considered playable.
Now, don't get me wrong. WoW is still WoW. As I tried to get back into it, I had to wait in queues, I had to deal with servers going down. It was far from perfect. But the difference between WoW and DDO is this: In WoW, you're looking at a hundred options of what to do, and picking the one that seems most fun. In DDO, there's literally nothing fun I can find to do. I don't feel like doing the same quests I already have, again. I don't feel like dropping into a quest and getting obliterated immediately. Those are my only two options. Do something for the fourth time, or get obliterated. This game ran out of content before most single player games. That's depressing.