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Lagwar Presents #15 is here for your listening pleasure. This week Lagwar.com presents our Guild Spotlight on The Lightbringers, a Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach guild. Simply use our built in player, Lagwar on iTunes, or you can simply right click on the download link above and select “Save Target As.” Then when prompted, choose a location on your computer you would like the file to be saved to. Then listen and enjoy! Please be sure to leave iTunes reviews and/or comments. We love feedback!! Thanks to DDO.MMODB.com for the Gianthold info and much thanks to Darrell S for the voice acting, what a great job! Thanks to Drakion from The Lightbringers for the great communication and all the guild officers for the massive amount of information provided to Lagwar for this spotlight.
Here’s an overview of Lagwar Presents #15:
*Guild Spotlight – “The Lightbringers – DDO Guild”
*A Lagwar.com created monologue on Dungeons & Dragons and The Lightbringers!
*Written interview with Drakion from The Lightbringers
*Steam News – “Get some great games for cheap!”
*EA Announcements – “WAR Subs, Tough Economy”
*Call of Duty World at War PC Beta – “Ziss talks support”
*NeverWinter Nights 2 Expansion Release Date
*Crysis Warhead Reviewed
*Lagwar.com updates and site news
Visit Lagwar.com’s Gaming Blog for game commentaries, game reviews, PC hardware reviews, and general video game blogs.
Subscribe to Lagwar Presents! at the iTunes store today! Please send us your feedback, comments, suggestions, or guild and clan info to Show@Lagwar.com.
[LW] Welcome! Can you tell us a little bit about who the Lightbringers are for our readers?
[Drakion] The Lightbringers is a guild in the game Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach. We are a Founding Guild with a casual player mindset that works together to achieve more than individual casual players could achieve on their own. That means that we value strong friendships and bringing together players who simply enjoy playing with each other. We are open to players of all skill levels and work with all our members to improve their skill. It also means that the guild organization allows these casual players to get through content, such as high end raids, that might otherwise be too difficult to overcome alone.
[LW] Not to step on our first question too much, but how long has the Lightbringers been around as compared to DDO?
[Drakion] As mentioned in the previous question, we are a Founding Guild. That means we have been around since the game was launched in February 2006, making the guild over 2 ½ years old. We were formed about the second day of the pre-order pre-release weekend, between me and two other founders. Of the three original founders, two of us, Kilden and myself Drakion, are still playing the game, almost every day. Some of our membership has been playing the game since Beta.
Beyond simply existing since the beginning of the game, the Lightbringers had over 25 members by the first few weeks of the game, earning all the founder’s benefits Turbine was offering.
[LW] Does being a founding DDO guild bring any bonuses?
[Drakion] The bonuses aren’t as much as you might think, but we are proud to have earned them. The biggest reward, for having 25 members at game launch, is being listed on the Founder’s Statue, found in the starter area of the game, which lists all the founding guilds and all founding members of those guilds.
In addition, those founding members of guild earned a special helm that every single one of their new characters starts with, even today. There is always hope that DDO will remember the founding guilds as more guild features are added to the game.
But beyond the material rewards, the prestige, and more importantly, the in-game experience is really the best bonus. Founders know the content better than any else, and in this game, knowing what you are going up against can mean the difference between success and failure.
[LW] For someone who has maybe never played DDO, what is one thing you could describe to them about the game to intrigue them to give it a chance?
[Drakion] The active combat system. The combat in the game isn’t remotely like anything in any other MMO. The game plays like an action game. You click once, and you swing your sword once. You hold the block button, and you turtle up behind your shield. You run, jump, tumble, swing your sword, and block with your shield in combat, constantly moving to get the right position on your enemy, all the while watching the iconic d20 dice get rolled right on the screen for everything you do.
And it’s not just melee combat, spell casting is just as varied, with literally hundreds of unique spells to choose from, each being better to use in some situations than others.
And if none of that does it for you, DDO has the best community of any MMO, period. With an average player age of 25-45, everyone is friendly and helpful beyond expectations.
[LW] Turbine has developed an MMO under one of the biggest if not the most influential fantasy RPG franchises in history. In your opinion, how does Turbine’s interpretation of the D&D rules and lore hold up?
[Drakion] This might be surprising, but amazingly for being the guild leader, I’ve never once played pen and paper D&D. That said, over the last 2 ½ years, I’ve read through a number of the core rule books, and I’d have to say the game is pretty close to the original rules. I’ve even used the actual D&D books to help plan out my characters in DDO. The largest departure, in my opinion, is the Action Point system, which grants characters maybe a little too much extra power.
No guild works without officers though, and a number of my officers have been playing D&D for decades. My co-founder Kilden says that Turbine’s interpretation holds up “overall very well. A number of differences exist but most of those are done to allow for a more “normal” video game playing style.”
Another of my officers, Mystarian, says “while DDO emulates traditional D&D, an MMO can never hope to completely sync the aspects of a table top system, but they have done a good job in keeping the core rules close. They have, in my opinion, had to adapt numerous rules to enable a working game while trying to maintain a balance between classes so that all can be effective in a party setting. After all one of the core things about D&D is questing with a group.”
[LW] What’s your favorite aspect of DDO versus other MMORPG’s?
[Drakion] Besides the active combat system and the great community I’ve already mentioned, it would probably be that all the quests are instanced, which really helps to make the quests feel like a traditional D&D group experience. And in those quests, you don’t just find combat. There are puzzles to solve (literally, think of things like Lights Out, or a tile puzzle), timing issues, such as pulling two distant levers at the same time, and even some hand-eye coordination aspects that are eerily reminiscent of Super Mario, giant mushrooms and all. In fact, there are references to a number of old school video games including Pac-man, Gauntlet, and a few others.
Beyond all that, something else that has to be mentioned is the built-in voice chat. It’s built-in, and everyone uses it, even if that means they just listen. And since it’s built in, it’s used even in pick up groups. I don’t’ think I could ever go back to an MMO that doesn’t have this feature.
[LW] What’s the most polished aspect of DDO in your opinion?
[Drakion] Again, I’d have to say the combat system and the graphics, such as the spell effects.
[LW] Any particular classes in DDO that you believe Turbine has done an amazing job with development over the years?
[Drakion] Class preferences are very personal. Everyone has their favorite class in DDO, and they’ve done a pretty good job of preserving the unique flavor of each class. Personally, over the years, I think they’ve done a great job with the arcane casters, wizards and sorcerers. Back at game launch, when the level cap was only 10, arcane casters felt weak compared to other classes, almost to a point that they were wholly dependent on having other players around to help them. Partly due to the level cap have been raised to level 16, but more so thanks to the changes Turbine has made to the magic system, arcane casters are a force to be reckoned with now.
[LW] Do you see DDO: Stormreach having an “Everquest” lifespan? Meaning 10 years from now, it will still have somewhere around 100,000 subscribers?
[Drakion] It does have the backing of D&D, which has been around for decades. So personally, yes, it does have that kind of lifespan. Provided turbine doesn’t make any major bonehead decisions (and I think they have a pretty good track record with the game), it’s a niche game, with diehard fans that will continue to play it. It isn’t uncommon to hear people on the DDO forums talk about how they feel like they could never enjoy another MMO again after DDO, and 100,000 people isn’t an unreasonable number of diehards. Turbine has stated they have long term plans for this game and LOTRO stretching out for 10 years. That’s the other important factor, as long as there are new dungeons being made and released, the player base isn’t going anywhere.
[LW] Okay, imagine with me for a moment. Turbine is starting a new marketing campaign for DDO and the Lightbringers have been hired on as consultants to come up with a way to bring new players into the game. How would you do this?
[Drakion] Given everything that sets this game apart, such as the active combat system, simply getting more people to play the free trial will keep those new players playing the game in my opinion. So all it takes is a little advertisement. Interestingly enough, Turbine is doing a new marketing campaign for DDO right now. There have been a number of new feature articles on the big MMO websites, and the new update to the game, Module 8, is completely redoing the New Player Experience as well as adding more new high level content. I even heard a rumor there were new boxes being put on store shelves.
[LW] Where does the Lightbringers currently stand in-game?
[Drakion] I believe we are a respected guild on our server. We have a solid group of members who play well with other players. Like I said earlier, we are a casual player guild, but also a raiding guild. So we split our time between raiding and leveling new players and characters.
[LW] What has the Lightbringers done to keep moving forward as a guild?
[Drakion] We continually try to keep recruiting, to make sure we always have enough members to be doing the raids. We make sure our member base is not just running the missions, but learning how to be a better player, because DDO is a game of skill. Our officers keep informed about changes to the game and the latest strategies for completing raids. We run new content as soon as we can, and we mentor members new to the game. Beyond that, we are always looking for guilds to ally with.
[LW] Any trials any tribulations?
[Drakion] Of course. There is no way to avoid it, but the officers try to shield the member base from it as much as possible. There is the minor typical guild drama, but we keep it to a minimum and do not tolerate it. In the past, we’ve lost good players when other games are released. We recently merged with another guild, surprisingly that went very smoothly.
[LW] How did the guild merger take place and has it been successful?
[Drakion] It’s absolutely been successful. It couldn’t have been any smoother. The guild merger was with another guild known as the Night Wolves, another founding guild. Prior to the merger, we had an alliance, which was greatly helped when the game added custom chat channels, and we had an easier way to communicate between the guilds. The membership in both guilds had a very similar playing style, and it became the norm that groups for questing and raiding would be mixed groups of the two guilds. The merger happened naturally, there really weren’t any headaches.
[LW] Does the game lack any features or tools that could make grouping or managing a guild easier? Explain please.
[Drakion] The grouping tools in the game are the best of any MMO I’ve played. The Looking for Member panel is the first thing you see when you open the social panel. You can sort it by level, quest, etc. and if you find a group doing something interesting you just hit the ‘join’ button. The leader can then decide to accept you or not. This system is helped by the short travel distances; you can easily join any group in any area of the game, opposed to other MMO’s where the travel distance might prohibit you from joining or grouping or require you to wait in a main city to find one.
Guild tools, on the other hand, could use some minor improvement. The guild leader and officer interface is lacking, and there are only three ranks available, member, officer, and leader, and there can only be one leader. And of course the Message of the Day is never long enough.
The major item lacking on the guild side is guild housing. The whole guild would love to see guild housing added, and it is on the list of additions coming in the next year, so I guess that is something to look forward to.
[LW] Where do you hope to see the Lightbringers venture to in-game?
[Drakion] I hope to see us continue to raid, to get geared up more including our more casual players, and in overall continue to conquer any challenge the game throws at us.
[LW] Besides being a founding guild, what’s some other in-game accomplishments?
[Drakion] When the last Module, was added Mod 7, there was a huge in-game even that the Lightbringers participated in. The Marketplace Bazaar Tent, one of the main gather points in the city was under attack by devils. It was an awesome in-game event where the entire landscape of the instance was changed on the fly, live in-game, culminating with a huge explosion of the Marketplace Tent. The explosion was cut-scene worthy, but took place live in-game. The Lightbringers helped hold back the hordes of devils that were attacking the city.
[LW] Where can people interested in the Lightbringers find more information such as general or recruiting info?
[Drakion] The best place is to visit our website at www.lightbringers-guild.com. They can also contact the leaders in-game, such as me, Drakion, or other officers in-game. There is a list of officers found on our website. As for recruiting, we prefer to group with players first, we try to be selective about who we bring into the guild, making sure that they share the same values as the rest of the guild.
[LW] Thanks a lot for taking the time to answer questions for us. Anything else at all you would like to throw that we didn’t mention?
[Drakion] I’d just like to thank all my officers for all the hard work they do to help me keep this guild running. I’d also like to thank all the past and present members of the guild for all their contributions. And I’d like to thank Lagwar.com for giving us the opportunity for a spotlight on the site.
For more information visit the Lightbringers homepage.
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