Who created the Warforged?

d.3.l.t.r.3.3 writes "James Jones (Turbine), declared on an interview at MMORPG.COM that D&D Online and Turbine basically built the world of Eberron introducing and inventing many elements that, in reality, were already present in the Campaign Settings since early design, like the Warforged race. Since MMORPG dodged the bullet when a well informed Eberron fan pointed out the glaring errors, I asked Keith Baker (Eberron Game Designer) to clarify the matter. He promptly gave his own opinion, confirming that Warforged were his own original creation and that the words of James Jones were a poor choice. He also doctored the Turbine staff about what a Campaign Setting really is. The inevitable conclusion of the article is: how much can online gaming sites be trusted, when they are protecting their own sponsor's image?"

Comments

Why is this even a question?

[mollace]

The Warforged appears as a playable race in the Eberron sourcebook, published by Wizards of the Coast in 2004. I remember reading about the Warforged in promotional materials and on WotC's website before that. There's no need to even bother Keith Baker about this.

Re:Why is this even a question?

[Anonymous Coward]

But the point seems to be that Turbine is taking credit for adding something to Eberron that was there from the very beginning before they even got involved.

Except that, clicking through to the blogpost and reading the quote, it doesn't seem to say that at all - the quote reads:

"The continent of Xen'drik had yet to have lore fleshed out and Turbine was basically given the ability to build their own world, including a new playable race - the Warforged. Currently, the world that Turbine has built has been integrated into existing lore by Wizards and the world of Stormreach has crossed over to the Pen & Paper Realm."

I read that as Turbine was given the ability to build their own "world" for the game (true, Xen'drick is a blank slate for the most part - designed that way intentionally by the folks at WotC) and were given a new "playable race" to flesh out (also true). The sentence is poorly written, but that's how I read it.

The last sentence is even true - in the Xen'drik sourcebook the online info about Stormreach is incorporated into the world.

In other words, this seems to be poor writing mixed with someone blowing a story out of proportion - a typical occurance in the MMORPG world, it seems.

Sorry for the horrible summary

[d.3.l.t.r.3.3]

I apologize for the horrible summary (since I'm not native english, I sort of expected that). I guess that, or the editor has superpowers, or the summary is comprehensible (aside for the idiomatic fiascos). The point of the summary (and of the article) is: Turbine, one of the major sponsors of MMORPG.COM, tried more or less willingly to gain design credits on a campaign setting they are licensed to use. While many Eberron fans pointed the Warforged discrepancy to the editing staff of MMORPG, they basically ignored them with an official reply, not even bothering to sort things out. So I asked Baker for clarifications, that was kindly enough to work out my apparently poor english and write back an answer that straighten thing out: Turbine has no control over Baker's world. This not what DDO staff said at PAX and it's irritating that to make users believe they did some serious work for their pretty shallow and superficial (at least at start) D&D licensed game they have to steal another designer's work that should have to be the base for their own game setting (like Baker pointed out). End of story. Sorry again.

Re:Who/what are the Warforged?

[Serzen]

Other people have mentioned what the Warforged are, so I won't touch that. Another responder gave his (presumably) own summary of the game, but I'm going to go ahead and add my own.

First, if you're an old AD&D guy, the new 3.5 rules may be somewhat rough to get past your craw: No more THAC0, no more race-specific classes, all new classes of spellcasters, bizzare new combat rules. 3rd Edition was built with miniature play in mind, and it really shows in the combat rules.

If you can get past the rules changes, DDO is a game with at decent graphics, and usually good audio. Not great, the color palette runs heavy into the brown range and the textures are uninspired, but they serve their purpose. Dungeons will, from time to time, have voice overs by a "DM" that add a nice touch, and while the music that plays whilst you're on a crawl is usually good, the music that fills Inns is often grating.

And you're going to spend a lot of time in Inns. The other poster pointed out how rare healing potions are, but didn't bring up the fact that you can't heal--without spells or potions--while you're in a dungeon unless you find a--single-use--rest shrine. You can't set up a camp and sleep to regain a few hit points, or to relearn a spell. Inns are the only way to recharge.

Combat in the game is real-time, and while it's disgustingly difficult sometimes (when's the last time you needed to roll a 17 to hit a kobold?), it's handled well. That is to say it's the most 'realistic' combat in an MMO, in that strategy is valuable and rewarded. Unfortunately, it doesn't prevent the combat from becoming a click-fest.

Be prepared to find a group to play with. The game is not designed for single-players, period. Many people will argue that tabletop D&D requires at least two players anyway, but the difference is that in tabletop games, the dungeons can be scaled to groups from 1 to 10 or more. In DDO, most of the dungeons I ran needed 3 people if you wanted a chance to get through without dying, 4 to be safe.

All quests are dungeons, also, so if you like variety, well, you've got sewers and cellars, sometimes a warehouse. When you're not in a dungeon, and wandering the streets, the streets are empty, except for 'vendors'. You can't pick pockets on the streets, or break into shops, or arrest ruffians who are doing the same. You can just walk to either the Inn, the store or the dungeon.

This all sounds pretty damning, and combined with an ugly, often unintuitive interface and the difficulty of getting together a pickup group, it really is. The only redeeming factor are the dungeons themselves. Every class is useful when you're down in the hole. Rogues have a purpose, from picking locks to disarming traps. DDO is the only MMO I've played that makes those skills useful.

If you've only got a few hours per week, and have a dedicated group of friends who will play with you, it can be fun, but Neverwinter Nights is a better choice: less expensive, no fee to play, the ability to save your game when you need to log off for the night (and pick up where you left off) and unlimited ability to innovate, thanks to the toolkit and the modules that have already been written. NWN2 is slated for mid-October release right now, as well, with even more promise than the first. I and my group of gaming buddies, eagerly await its release.

Likewise, NCSoft is supposed to release Dungeon Runners before the end of the year. Free to download, free to play, the game looks like WoW, DDO and Diablo II had some kind of crazy lovechild. The designers have said that you'll have to pay for 'premium' content, but that the game is prefectly playable without any of the pay-for stuff.

Re:Dungeon & Dragons Online very brief review

[Hellpop]

Amen. Or is that "astroucious" of me to agree with AuMatar?

Everything I despise about EQ and WoW is missing in DDO. I don't need to learn to fish, or brew or basket weave. All that inane crap is gone in DDO, it is stripped down to the purity of quests that require varying degrees of communication and teamwork. For the majority of antisocial loner MMO fanboys that must be unbearable. The built in voice chat even gets rid of most of the insipid l33tsp34k, you have to decipher in other games.
I am a very "astroucious" person to enjoy such an "astroucious" game.