Dungeons & Dragons Online's Freedom Dated

[Raina]

Turbine has selected an early August date for the release of Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited, the update that switches the massively multiplayer D&D game to a free-to-play business model.

Early August brings massive changes to Dungeons & Dragons Online, with a new class, new dungeons, and a new free-to-play, micro-transaction-based financial model that should bring curious new players to the game in droves. But when exactly in early August? Let's ask DDO Unlimited executive producer Fernando Paiz.

"The DDO Unlimited Beta has been a huge success and we want to thank all of our players who have participated to help us make this the best free-to-play game on the market. On August 6th we are going to change what it means to be free-to-play with the most immersive, action-packed and full-featured MMO that provides players with a choice in how they play and pay for the game."

Paiz is referring to the VIP subscription, which allows those used to paying for the game a way to continue to do so without experiencing harsh subscription withdraw.


So who is planning on giving the game a go once it costs nothing more than hard disk space to play?


@ Kotaku

[Ruden]

I've been playing in the beta for this new release.

Pros
-All quests and wilderness areas are instances it seems. Good for avoiding kill stealers or campers and giving the areas a more remote feeling.

-Being able to tumble, swim, climb and jump based on skill is agreeable. Tumbling is just neat, though I'm unsure how it actually effects combat in the game, beyond rolling around really cool like. In PnP it aids in avoiding attacks of opportunity while moving in combat. I think it had the same effect though untested.

-It's D&D!

-Learning about Eberron, the new D&D world, which I am unfamilar with.

-Quivers that store all your ammo in whatever order you choose.

-Dungeons with traps, ambushes and puzzles.

-You can choose the difficulty of the instance you enter from solo to elite.

-further character customization with enhancments bought with action points earned at every rank (Each D&D level is divided into five DDO ranks)

-lots of barrels and crates to smash! It's a fact almost every game with smashing crates is awesome!

-DDO store, where you can pay real money, or earn in game, points to buy experience boosts, increased level caps, depletable items like potions and wands, hirelings, more classes and races, more instance areas and quests.

CONS

-DDO store, where you can pay real money, or earn in game, for points to buy experience boosts, increased level caps, depletable items like potions and wands, hirelings, more classes and races, more instance areas and quests.

No mistake, it's both a pro and con. You can earn store points in game. It seems a tedious process of repeating quests to earn favor with the various factions. I think it'll be fair to say you'll be paying money to experience everything the game has to offer. Could be this'll lead to a bunch of teens with their parents credit cards gaining level 20 in no time and just being obnoxious about it. But with everywhere but the cities being instances, does it really matter whatever everyone else is doing?

You do have the option of paying a monthly fee and gaining well... everything you'd have to pay for otherwise, including more store points each month.

OVERALL

It's a worth a try. Might be fun to run through some dungeons with some old friends for free. I've only gotten to level 3 with my three characters so not sure what the high level content is like.

[Raina]

Yea I think it might be worthwhile only if you get a group of friends together to go do the dungeon hopping, for any sort of Solo play I found it seriously lacks.

~Rai

[Dara]

I played the free month when DDO first came out...did a bit of dungeon crawling with a few of the old crew...the gameplay left a lot to be desired, but it was pretty fun. However, the novelty wore off fairly quick, and I never did pay any of the subscription fee. I may have a peek at this new version...especially if it's free...just to see if it's improved any...not that I have any time to play. lol