I have been playing Dungeons and Dragons Online for the past week and I can say the game is a lot of fun again. For the past couple of years DDO had a small but steady playerbase after it's initial launch but people are leaving for newer games and the game's population was dwindling. What Turbine did was a stroke of genius that saved their game and infused it with new life. They went Free to Play. A lot of people would never pay for a game. But the F2P model entice them to try out a game before they invest any sort of money on it. We've all been burned before with bad games that we had invested a lot of our hard earned money and time on but always seemed to end up being on the shelves after a few weeks or months of playing when the boredom sets in. But F2P doesn't mean jack if the game stinks. I have been a founder member of DDO (yes you can still get your founder starting equipment) and I can say the game has experienced significant positive changes. The quests are now more varied, has great storyline and some of the more annoying features removed or changed. A significant reason for DDO dwindling population was finding other players to play with since a significant number of DDO's adventures requires a party effort, going F2P ensures that there are always enough players present to play with each other (for veteran and newbies alike). Old players like me are starting to come back seeing that Stormreach has transformed into a bustling adventure hub once again as opposed to an almost ghost town before the launch of DDO: Unlimited.
This is but a small list of some of the things that have changed in DDO which I consider positive:
- No more XP penalty for someone being over the level of the adventure. The bonus for completing an adventure while underleveled is removed too. You gain full XP or NO XP at all.
- You gain a 25% xp bonus for completing the adventure without any death. You gain a 25% xp bonus for completing an adventure the first time and at each difficulty level.
- Quivers for storing your arrows, bolts, and other ammos. Bags for storing your gems and collectibles. Less cluttered inventory.
- Some adventures are re-adjusted making them a bit less dangerous and less frustrating. Some adventures are made a bit more dangerous and challenging.
- There are a number of solo only adventures for the new player. The solo adventures can still be quite a challenge if you come unprepared.
- Premium members ($15 subscribers) can skip normal mode adventures and unlock hard mode difficulty directly.
- Resurrection/Rest shrines now recharges every 15 minutes for solo/normal difficulty adventures but are still 1 use deal with hard/elite difficulty.
MMORPG.com writes:
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