If you have no idea what Dungeons and Dragons Online is, you enjoy MMOs but you want one that's not just another WoW-clone, you might want to read after the little "-" line break I placed to figure out what the hell it is before worrying about it changing.
Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach will be evolving into Dungeons and Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited, a free-to-play version of the original game, later this summer.
It will be following the "Korean" MMO-standard of denying some features to free accounts while having a store to purchase said features AND a $15 subscription for access to everything.
BUT
It will not be following the "Korean" MMO-standard of denying things like all the best gear and capping your ability to level. The only way to get good gear (some basics can be purchased from the store for measly cash, like arrows, simple +1 or +2 armor/weapons, healing items, single-use rest shrines) is by doing dungeons and questing within the game.
1) You don't get to play every class- currently the classes are Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Fighter, Wizard, Sorcerer, Rogue, Ranger, Paladin and with the last content update Monks. As a free player you will be able to play all but monks, favored souls, and (to my knowledge) any future added classes. (Favored Souls are unlockable after a lot of work with favor if you don't want to pay for them. However, if you don't want to work for them, you can buy it.)
2) You only get two(four if you're an ex-VIP) character slots out of 10. If you pick one class and like it, this isn't a severe problem, but if you need to try out a bunch of new classes before you choose which one you like you may be in for a spot of trouble.
3) You can not play a Warforged or Drow. While it's understandable that you can not play drow because they are more powerful than basic races (for playing through the game extensively you can, however, make characters with 32 ability points to make up for the fact that Drow was a horrible idea to implement without a level adjustment and to balance out the other races), Warforged was a basic race implemented with the game. HOWEVER, it is definately the most complicated race to deal with because they take half healing from clerics and bards, use their own unique healing potions, and can be healed by wizards/sorcerers.
4) Most quest chains, the ones that tend to give a large sum of XP and good end rewards, and raids are "Adventure Packs" now. These cost anywhere from 6-10 dollars apiece to buy. Once you have bought them, they are forever tied to your account and all characters can access them.
5) If there is a queue to log into the servers (I have never seen one before but DDO is relatively small in the MMO-world, so the unleashing of free players might strain and fill it a bit more than before) subscribers will get priority over free players and jump up above all of them.
6) Subscribers will get full customer support from GMs in-game, free players will have to troubleshoot with self-service online.
7) Subscribers will get shared bank-slots that cross all their characters, providing ease for storage.
A comparison is also listed at http://www.ddo.com/vip , I have no idea how much 500 points will be for the Turbine Store but if I'd have to guess it'd be like $5 worth.
--------------------
But I've apparently jumped the gun on this one. What is DDO, you ask?
I've played DDO since two days after it had launched, my brother played during the beta. I have jumped my subscription around a number of times and quit and started up the game again, and I missed the last three or so content updates so I'm a little hazy on maybe half the game's content right now.
It is primarily D&D-based but it is NOT D&D. Things that apply in pen and paper do not apply wholly into DDO to accomodate for its systems and playability as an MMO. The most noteworthy of these things is that casters get spell points (mana) that recharge per day instead of spell slots. This provides more longevity in wizards so that they don't have to cast four magic missles per 30-minute dungeon and then sit in the back while the fighters cover all the damage.
Breaking the WoW-clone style of "target enemy, hit 5 until it dies" for combat, DDO is instead a "right-click until the thing dies." It is a HACK-AND-SLASH style action game. You crawl through dungeons, a kobold charges you, you right click to swing you sword and as your sword connects with the kobold you make your attack/damage rolls and possibly kill it.
Another unique characteristic to DDO is that it is completely dungeon-based with very few exceptions. You go in a tavern, pick up a quest, and having that quest lets you have access to a dungeon (in the same sense as WoW, CoH/V, EQ2, and many others). The only way to get XP is by completeing that dungeon, at which point you will get a lump sum. (This sum can be increased by being the appropriate level for the dungeon, killing a certain amount of enemies, breaking a certain amount of crates/barrels, disarming a certain amount of traps, finding secret doors, or not killing any enemies at all) This changes grinding from instead of "kill x monsters" to "do x instances," which- while just as tiring after a while- can wind up being a refreshing change of pace to the usual MMO player.
Loot in DDO is located soley in chests. When a player opens a chest, loot is generated for each character in the party and reserved so that only that person can pick their own loot up. This way, EVERYONE is guarenteed to walk out of the dungeon with an equal amount of booty, and you don't get all the way to the end to see the epic shoulders you've been wanting for weeks go to the other rogue who was AFK half the dungeon. You get what you get, but in the event you get something wholely useless you don't want you can definately give it to a party member if they need it. (Note: The loot is still randomly generated per player. You don't all get the same things, so other people might still walk out of the dungeon with more valuable stuff than you. It's understandable, it happens.)
I'm bored and waiting for a ride so I have nothing else to do, might as well type this up.
Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach will be evolving into Dungeons and Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited, a free-to-play version of the original game, later this summer.
It will be following the "Korean" MMO-standard of denying some features to free accounts while having a store to purchase said features AND a $15 subscription for access to everything.
BUT
It will not be following the "Korean" MMO-standard of denying things like all the best gear and capping your ability to level. The only way to get good gear (some basics can be purchased from the store for measly cash, like arrows, simple +1 or +2 armor/weapons, healing items, single-use rest shrines) is by doing dungeons and questing within the game.
1) You don't get to play every class- currently the classes are Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Fighter, Wizard, Sorcerer, Rogue, Ranger, Paladin and with the last content update Monks. As a free player you will be able to play all but monks, favored souls, and (to my knowledge) any future added classes. (Favored Souls are unlockable after a lot of work with favor if you don't want to pay for them. However, if you don't want to work for them, you can buy it.)
2) You only get two(four if you're an ex-VIP) character slots out of 10. If you pick one class and like it, this isn't a severe problem, but if you need to try out a bunch of new classes before you choose which one you like you may be in for a spot of trouble.
3) You can not play a Warforged or Drow. While it's understandable that you can not play drow because they are more powerful than basic races (for playing through the game extensively you can, however, make characters with 32 ability points to make up for the fact that Drow was a horrible idea to implement without a level adjustment and to balance out the other races), Warforged was a basic race implemented with the game. HOWEVER, it is definately the most complicated race to deal with because they take half healing from clerics and bards, use their own unique healing potions, and can be healed by wizards/sorcerers.
4) Most quest chains, the ones that tend to give a large sum of XP and good end rewards, and raids are "Adventure Packs" now. These cost anywhere from 6-10 dollars apiece to buy. Once you have bought them, they are forever tied to your account and all characters can access them.
5) If there is a queue to log into the servers (I have never seen one before but DDO is relatively small in the MMO-world, so the unleashing of free players might strain and fill it a bit more than before) subscribers will get priority over free players and jump up above all of them.
6) Subscribers will get full customer support from GMs in-game, free players will have to troubleshoot with self-service online.
7) Subscribers will get shared bank-slots that cross all their characters, providing ease for storage.
A comparison is also listed at http://www.ddo.com/vip , I have no idea how much 500 points will be for the Turbine Store but if I'd have to guess it'd be like $5 worth.
--------------------
But I've apparently jumped the gun on this one. What is DDO, you ask?
I've played DDO since two days after it had launched, my brother played during the beta. I have jumped my subscription around a number of times and quit and started up the game again, and I missed the last three or so content updates so I'm a little hazy on maybe half the game's content right now.
It is primarily D&D-based but it is NOT D&D. Things that apply in pen and paper do not apply wholly into DDO to accomodate for its systems and playability as an MMO. The most noteworthy of these things is that casters get spell points (mana) that recharge per day instead of spell slots. This provides more longevity in wizards so that they don't have to cast four magic missles per 30-minute dungeon and then sit in the back while the fighters cover all the damage.
Breaking the WoW-clone style of "target enemy, hit 5 until it dies" for combat, DDO is instead a "right-click until the thing dies." It is a HACK-AND-SLASH style action game. You crawl through dungeons, a kobold charges you, you right click to swing you sword and as your sword connects with the kobold you make your attack/damage rolls and possibly kill it.
Another unique characteristic to DDO is that it is completely dungeon-based with very few exceptions. You go in a tavern, pick up a quest, and having that quest lets you have access to a dungeon (in the same sense as WoW, CoH/V, EQ2, and many others). The only way to get XP is by completeing that dungeon, at which point you will get a lump sum. (This sum can be increased by being the appropriate level for the dungeon, killing a certain amount of enemies, breaking a certain amount of crates/barrels, disarming a certain amount of traps, finding secret doors, or not killing any enemies at all) This changes grinding from instead of "kill x monsters" to "do x instances," which- while just as tiring after a while- can wind up being a refreshing change of pace to the usual MMO player.
Loot in DDO is located soley in chests. When a player opens a chest, loot is generated for each character in the party and reserved so that only that person can pick their own loot up. This way, EVERYONE is guarenteed to walk out of the dungeon with an equal amount of booty, and you don't get all the way to the end to see the epic shoulders you've been wanting for weeks go to the other rogue who was AFK half the dungeon. You get what you get, but in the event you get something wholely useless you don't want you can definately give it to a party member if they need it. (Note: The loot is still randomly generated per player. You don't all get the same things, so other people might still walk out of the dungeon with more valuable stuff than you. It's understandable, it happens.)
I'm bored and waiting for a ride so I have nothing else to do, might as well type this up.
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