Join me in the best MMO you've never played

[DrumsofWar]

Helping an Archon Golem fend off Tiefling Soldiers


Looking Out Over the Vale of Twilight


Raid Against the Demon Queen

Dungeons & Dragons Online has been around for a while and is developed by Turbine (who also released Lord of the Rings Online). It's free to play (including half of the endgame content) and you can earn points towards VIP rewards while doing any free quest.

There's a ton of quests, a very friendly and open community, and five years of constant updates of new content. Guilds also are set up with private airships plus there are reincarnation options once you hit maximum level so you're never bored even with the epic content.

Maybe the biggest draw should be the instance-based quests that feature unique puzzles and storyarcs so there's no need to grind. There's also wilderness areas where you can solo if you don't feel like joining a party.

I'm on the Argonnessen Server so if anyone's interested, let me know. I can set you with some starter stuff as I'm using a new low-level character myself and help you get used to the game.

THE LOLADIN MUST LIVE ON!

[Lavarinth]

Why are you in the same pose in every screenshot?

[Ricky_Honejasi]

Well I played DDO with DoW (although I did stop) back then and here's the advantages and disadvantages I noticed ...

Advantages
-> Actually a very interesting game overall. Not the kind you play 3-4 hours and you already give up due to obvious suckiness coming miles away.

-> You can grind your way 100% free if you don't want to spend a single penny and willing to do multiple characters (for Turbine points aka "free" cash). Can require quite a bit of grinding but it's very feasible at least.

-> While there are 20 "true" character levels, there are 5 "sub-levels" per main level giving minor points for specialties/bonuses that you won't find otherwise in D&D-like games. Also helps feeling that it doesn't take forever to gain any benefit from your exp.

For example, Level 1 Rank 3 means you are on Level 1 and Sub-Level 3. Once you hit Sub-Level 5, it becomes Level 2 and Rank 0.

-> Many dungeons have the Solo option (although you often need a non-Mage class to survive it).

-> Dungeons have level difficulties for Groups. Hence you will normally be able to finish it in the easiest setting at least (thus you avoid being stuck in terms of story/quest progression). After that, you can redo it on much harder difficulties for more XP/better items/etc.

-> XP is on a dungeon-basis rather than monster-basis thus being a support class doesn't screw you over for not killing enough baddies. In fact, the Thief class in your group often allow that extra side XP you wouldn't get otherwise for secret areas.

-> Can multi-class up to 3 classes.

-> Magic is spell points based (ex : 242 max mana). Thus you don't need to pick 4 spell A, 2 spell B, 3 spells C, etc. etc. You just need to pre-pick the wanted spells (based on your max spells slots) before a dungeon.

-> Can "reincarnate" when you hit level 20 (max level) back to level 1 (or lv4?) with advantages.

-> Not just endless monster bashing. There are puzzles and some exploration that actually do matter.

Drawbacks
-> Somewhere between Level 10 and 16 (on your main character), you *might* actually feel forced to pay for a paid account to minimize grinding for Turbine Points (so that you freely "pay" instead of using real money to unlock paid areas). At least, you have played enough to know if you prefer to quit, grind more for Turbine Points or pay real cash by then.

-> It's a group-heavy MMO (even with the Solo options), thus if being able to solo everything is your big fancy then you have to stay away from DDO.

-> Your whole dungeon group HAVE to be about 4 levels MAX between the lowest and highest player's levels else you lose a lot of potential exp as a group and the lowest player essentially gain 0% exp (measures to prevent level boosting). Ultimately, it means if you play just casually while your friend is a heavy player, you will grow apart due to the level differences.

-> If you are oriented towards healing, you might have to spend much more gold just to get those badly needed healing wands/items to heal your group.

-> As a warrior-like class, you might potentially have to keep many weapons (with different bonuses) just to reasonably kill specific foes much later on. Some might like it as not relying on your same single weapon to kill everything and anything.

[DrumsofWar]

DDO is big on group play, but you can choose to run quests with other public players, with people you know (i.e. people from CC), or with AI hirelings (who are fairly good and can be commanded to activate certain items). There's also solo areas you can run quickly if you don't have much time to spend online.

Ricky's right on the different classes and wide choices for customisation compared to WoW where players of the same class are distinguished only by items. You -can- play with someone 6 levels under or above you and still get some XP.

Also, healing is pretty dynamic later on as there are 2 classes dedicated to healing so you won't need any wands or items. Finally, while items are a factor, since many are only available in epic content, there's less of an auctionhouse-dominated economy.

Lavarinth: It's because I'm an awesome pew pew pew, ever ready to fill things full of holes.

[Marco]

MMO's make me salivate. I see the sink in which to pour my sands of time into, and stare into the abyss of gaming bliss. Cry.