D&D Online: First Impressions
First off, I guess I wouldn't consider this a review - as is the case with most massively multiplayer games, it will take quite a few more hours before I've seen enough of the game to weigh in on the whole of what D&D Online has to offer. Still, I've spent a fair amount of time wandering the streets of Stormreach, and I've already seen enough to weigh in with some first impressions.
D&D Online is a bit of a departure from your traditional MMO game. Rather than roaming across the countryside grinding away at random spawns, D&D Online rewards player almost exclusively for completing quests. Each quest has it's own dungeon, and the tend to be somewhat complicated affairs, carefully constructed with multiple stages and objectives. Each dungeon is instanced, as seems to be the trend these days, so you and your party will have each adventure all to yourselves. The hand-crafted feel of the levels and the instanced nature go a long way to conveying the feel of a good old D&D game, at least the first time you go on each quest.
Which leads me to the game's primary downfall: You will go go through each of the adventures many, many times on your way through the game. Thankfully, each level can be played at one of three difficulties, each unlocked successively as you complete the last. As with any online game, it doesn't take players long to figure which missions offer the most bang for the buck, and they tend to want to run those over and over, which can make it hard to find groups for the less popular missions. This is also where the hand-crafted levels run into one of their biggest issues - they play the same each time through. The game could have really benefited from random trap placement to keep the rogues on their toes.
The instanced dungeons end up making the game play a lot like Guild Wars, where the town is the only true massively-multiplayer space, and exists only for finding a party or buying and selling goods. This makes for a light and fast experience that is easy to jump into and find some action almost immediately. At the same time, it also makes for somewhat of a thinner experience than I was hoping for. In many ways, this is MMO-lite, and I have a feeling that it won't take long before the subscription fee starts to chafe because of it. In many ways, it's too little game for too much fee.
The game focuses almost exclusive on group play. This is not a game for soloers or duo players. While it may be possible, it's certainly not enjoyable or rewarding. In fact, most dungeons demand a full and well-balanced party.
As you would expect, the tried and true D&D rules are in full effect here, although with some slight tweaks to make them work for an online game. Almost everything is exactly how you would expect it to be, from races and classes to attack rolls, feats and skills and saving throws. Spells per day and resting work a little differently, just to keep the game from becoming overly-punishing for casters. Spell casting classes now have a mana pool, like most MMOs, which regenerates when you rest. The catch: You can only rest in taverns in town, or at special rest shrines in the dungeon. It's about as close to D&D as I think they could have gotten and still put together a online game that wasn't just miserable for low-level spellcasters.
While D&D Online does a good job adapting the 3.5 rules, I was a little disappointed with their handling of the Eberron campaign setting. Eberron is an amazingly deep world, and already well built for a more traditional MMO. Just look at a map of Khorvaire and you can see how easily this game could have been translated into an epic MMO of sweeping scope. The world already comes equipped with it's own Lightning Rail mass transit system to move people quickly around. The Five Nations and the Last War provide a context for active PvP. The various nations and territories even have their own natural level progression: Starting in the Five Nations, moving to the Mournland, the Eldeen Reaches, or the monstrous nations (Darguun, Droaam and Q'Barra), and finally on to the Shadow Marches, Demon Wastes, and ultimately across the sea to Xen'Drik or the Argonessen. Okay - let's be fair. What I'm really saying is I wish they had made a game with World of Warcraft scope set in Khorvaire.
In the end, D&D Online does delivery a dandy little hack-and-slash multiplayer experience, but not much more that that. Without a $15 a month subscription fee, the game would be a slam dunk. As it is, I have to say that I'm less than enthused. I can't imagine that D&D Online is going to have any real longevity with players. For most players I think the experience will be too one-dimensional, while the hardcore players who really like the game's structure will chew through the available content in no time.
D&D Online is a bit of a departure from your traditional MMO game. Rather than roaming across the countryside grinding away at random spawns, D&D Online rewards player almost exclusively for completing quests. Each quest has it's own dungeon, and the tend to be somewhat complicated affairs, carefully constructed with multiple stages and objectives. Each dungeon is instanced, as seems to be the trend these days, so you and your party will have each adventure all to yourselves. The hand-crafted feel of the levels and the instanced nature go a long way to conveying the feel of a good old D&D game, at least the first time you go on each quest.
Which leads me to the game's primary downfall: You will go go through each of the adventures many, many times on your way through the game. Thankfully, each level can be played at one of three difficulties, each unlocked successively as you complete the last. As with any online game, it doesn't take players long to figure which missions offer the most bang for the buck, and they tend to want to run those over and over, which can make it hard to find groups for the less popular missions. This is also where the hand-crafted levels run into one of their biggest issues - they play the same each time through. The game could have really benefited from random trap placement to keep the rogues on their toes.
The instanced dungeons end up making the game play a lot like Guild Wars, where the town is the only true massively-multiplayer space, and exists only for finding a party or buying and selling goods. This makes for a light and fast experience that is easy to jump into and find some action almost immediately. At the same time, it also makes for somewhat of a thinner experience than I was hoping for. In many ways, this is MMO-lite, and I have a feeling that it won't take long before the subscription fee starts to chafe because of it. In many ways, it's too little game for too much fee.
The game focuses almost exclusive on group play. This is not a game for soloers or duo players. While it may be possible, it's certainly not enjoyable or rewarding. In fact, most dungeons demand a full and well-balanced party.
As you would expect, the tried and true D&D rules are in full effect here, although with some slight tweaks to make them work for an online game. Almost everything is exactly how you would expect it to be, from races and classes to attack rolls, feats and skills and saving throws. Spells per day and resting work a little differently, just to keep the game from becoming overly-punishing for casters. Spell casting classes now have a mana pool, like most MMOs, which regenerates when you rest. The catch: You can only rest in taverns in town, or at special rest shrines in the dungeon. It's about as close to D&D as I think they could have gotten and still put together a online game that wasn't just miserable for low-level spellcasters.
While D&D Online does a good job adapting the 3.5 rules, I was a little disappointed with their handling of the Eberron campaign setting. Eberron is an amazingly deep world, and already well built for a more traditional MMO. Just look at a map of Khorvaire and you can see how easily this game could have been translated into an epic MMO of sweeping scope. The world already comes equipped with it's own Lightning Rail mass transit system to move people quickly around. The Five Nations and the Last War provide a context for active PvP. The various nations and territories even have their own natural level progression: Starting in the Five Nations, moving to the Mournland, the Eldeen Reaches, or the monstrous nations (Darguun, Droaam and Q'Barra), and finally on to the Shadow Marches, Demon Wastes, and ultimately across the sea to Xen'Drik or the Argonessen. Okay - let's be fair. What I'm really saying is I wish they had made a game with World of Warcraft scope set in Khorvaire.
In the end, D&D Online does delivery a dandy little hack-and-slash multiplayer experience, but not much more that that. Without a $15 a month subscription fee, the game would be a slam dunk. As it is, I have to say that I'm less than enthused. I can't imagine that D&D Online is going to have any real longevity with players. For most players I think the experience will be too one-dimensional, while the hardcore players who really like the game's structure will chew through the available content in no time.
Labels: Dungeons and Dragons, Eberron, MMORPGs, RPGs
