Review of DDO Online Game Release
Turbine's Dungeons and Dragons Stormreach Game Is a Unique Mmorpg
A review the initial release of the MMORPG called Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach, including pros, cons, and stylistic and functional innovations.
Two years ago in February of 2006, a MMORPG entered the ring with a new idea in mind. Turbine’s MMO, while not threatening to unseat the juggernauts of the gaming industry, brought several features, both stylistic and game-play related that set it apart from the others. This game was called Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach.
The game developers from Turbine promised a new kind of game. One where combat would be innovative, where traveling time would be nearly non-existent, quests would support a variety of possible solutions, and this would all be accomplished while sticking as close to paper and pencil D&D as possible.
Breaking the MMORPG Formula
Upon its release, DDO impressed many with the very unique feel it created when compared to other MMOs. Quests immerse players into the world of Stormreach by being genuinely separate quests that don’t follow the master MMO formula. That is, players do not have to kill “X” number of monsters, bring “Y” number of items to some random NPC with no point in existing other than to collect the hearts of some poor bears.
Experience isn’t given for individual kills, but upon the completion of dungeons, and optional objectives within. Players can get bonus experience for killing a certain percentage of the monsters within a quest, for finding secret doors, for disabling traps, and even for not killing anything at all.
Dungeon Settings
Dungeon settings ranged from the sewers of Stormreach, to the very sub-conscious of one of the characters in the game. DDO also features the ability to choose quest difficulty setting, where players start with “solo” or “normal”, and, once they complete a quest on normal, are able to unlock hard, and later elite. The overall difficulty of quests can vary. Although quest level generally suggests what average party level should be able to complete it, quest difficulty could range from a walk in the park, to a climb up Mount Everest in nothing but underwear.
Equipment and Setting
Equpment models and enhancements vary greatly, allowing for nearly everyone to create some uniqueness for their characters. The game was released with some of the largest variety of equipment and magical items of any of the games out there.
DDO wasn’t without criticisms, however, as many players asked the question, “Why Eberron?” This, of course, referring to the fact that D&D Online is set in Eberron, rather than any of the much older, much more play-tested settings: Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, or Greyhawk. Although many criticized this decision, a kudos goes to DDO for not jumping on the monolithic bandwagons that it could have, and trudging on into unexplored, possibly dangerous territory. Eberron may not be the greatest setting that has ever existed, but at least it’s a setting that hasn’t been beaten to death, reanimated, and beaten to an undead pulp with its own skull.
Content Lacking for Mid-High Levels
The other main issue with DDO was its utter lack of content. Players quickly found themselves at the original level cap in one week to a month. This led to early review statements such as this one from Gamebanshee, "Turbine will provide enough extra content, such as with the Dragon’s Vault module they released on April 5, to alleviate these problems, but if so it’ll probably be a while down the road, and so you might want to wait and see how things shake out before purchasing a copy of the game. "
Without crafting, an auction house, PVP, or any similar features, there was very little for capped players to do except make new characters, or collect enormous amounts of loot. Many left the game out of boredom. Content is always a valid issue, but it does bring up the question, do other MMOs really have more content, or is it the illusion of more content?
Content created by killing different looking monsters that act, agro, and are, for most purposes, the exact same as all the other monsters in the game isn't really new content, it's just the illusion of content. Monsters with a different name or type in DDO have geninuely different attributes. Monsters have different spell selections, different armor, are resistant to different things, and have varying ability to see through stealth. There may not have been enough content originally, but at least it was genuinely different from all the other content the game had.
Mixed Reviews of the Game
Dungeons and Dragons Online was one of those games that everyone wanted to love, but expected an infinite amount of time and energy put into it. Original negative reviews were mixed with very positive feedback, such as statements like " Every fan of D&D or MMORPGs should really give this title a chance. It has a lot going for it with tremendous potential." from Gameshark Whether because of funding, the intense amount of depth put into most of the quests, or possibly a lack of time, the original release couldn’t keep up with many expectations. That isn’t to say that the game is failing. It still supports a strong community of rather tight knit players.
The game draws in new players, and brings back old ones that simply can’t stay away from it. Turbine certainly hasn’t given up on the game, as modules are released fairly regularly, and it features live events, such as the two year anniversary event where one of the important locations in Stormreach was blown up by devils. Turbine also recently welcomed back old players for a free ten days to get back into the game.
A wide array of content and some new features have come to DDO since its release, giving it a nice push in the direction of "enough". DDO brought some new things to the MMO table and continues to evolve as players give feedback. Though many counted it out when most of the player base got to level 10 at its original release, DDO isn’t quite dead...and will hopefully leave its legacy on the design of other games.
