sarr

I think we'll have to re-download :(. Oh, well. But if it turns out to be the same client, I'd be more than pleasantly surprised.

Now it's 2 different clients for beta and for live, which is logical. But if they want to recode something, even cosmetic, to work better in for it's "live" version, I think they'll just upload new one for all the swarms on launch. That would be wiser anyway.

The NDA is lifted, and premiere of DDO:U is Agust 6th, so less than a month from now :). See you there!

People, don't whine needlessly and join closed beta ; ). Remember, we're under NDA and won't tell a thing. You must wait or join us.

Don't worry about this. Existing players are VERY demanding, and they have first-hand access to the closed beta (under NDA secrecy, I'm afraid). That means that while Turbine fine tunes this new experience, I'm sure old players will care for it to be the best possible for everyone.

That part:
"The last thing I want to happen is to get sucked into the game, then left with the desire or need (or both) to subscribe to further progress, or even to properly progress my character."
Isn't going to happen, according to what is said and written now. You can level up to 20, new limit (current is 16, this will make it 20 like it should be), for free. What will be the details? I'm absolutely into learning more, I hope they'll let me into beta to help.

Adding such a "premium + non-expiring" trial is absolute novum for this quality of a game. I prefer DDO above WoW and all other games in the market I've played even now. And trust me, I'm open minded and will sure leave DDO is there's something better for me - to date, there isn't : ).

Other than that, author of the article completely skipped over additions coming to the game, Mod 9 changes etc. They are huge as well, and Mod 9 pre-release notes is about 4 months old news. They will work even more on beta, so what you can see in DDO now isn't any indication about how good will it be later. Mod 9 changes looked absolutely promising, and if you add to it some new class etc. I'm on it.

Check this new review, I think it's much better:
http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/2009/05/mmo-spotlight-dungeons-dragons-online-stormreach.html

Zam messed up some things -> like rogue halflings. There's no such thing in DDO, so they can't be unable to disarm traps, hehe.

Hmm. I'm 100% casual too, and I honestly don't have the issues you write about. Maybe it's the matter of using LFM panel, and if you like to solo - survival, as playing a wizard and soloing may be really hard at first. Mod 9 may change it through diff scaling, though.

I know it's not the easiest MMO. But for that's an oldschool approach which I love, as I'm tired of that carebear bore : ). I want have some emotions when I play, because I'm really low on playing time.

But lets not overrate these difficulties - Korthos Island is almost too easy once you learn to use shrines and not rush forward like in Quake or most other MMOs, where you can get away easier.

Yes, DDO is different, but not worse - matter of allowing yourself to see it can be done different.

About grind... I don't care enough to grind of equipment, so I don't grind. For me it's easy as that. Also, there's much less grind than in most other MMOs, where grind or worse - farming - is the main way of playing. In DDO I think it's not. People are more mature.

Of course there are also those ebil ;P powergamers. They love to min-max their characters, probably in real D&D they do it as well, but you generally don't need to play with them. Just write in LFM "no rush", "first timer", etc. and you're safe man : ). I'm not very noobish now, I know how to play (though didn't cap my characters at max level yet), but I always write "no rush" and find people pretty fast. And they're not rushers, not power gamers, not anti-social, actually I have a lot of fun in those random groups. Especially when people have a sense of humor or add light RPG elements (saying in character sometimes) like I do.

Pretty narrow minded point of view. But people have the right to think how they want, as long as it's working for them ; ).

Having said that, I'd prefer Greyhawk too ; ). But once I learned about Eberron, it's not a bad setting at all.

But Greyhawk... ah, delicious. Maybe DDO 2.

More videos: http://www.xfire.com/profile/sarr77/videos/

Feel free to add me on Xfire, but I'm very casual player due to lack of time now.

Sorry, but some of you people don't know what you're talking about. I'm a D&D veteran, roleplayer with many years of D&D and knowledge behind me.
DDO is in my opinion the best MMO game out there, though it takes some maturity to appreciate it over WoW-like model, or GW model.
After trying those games, WAR, AoC and many others (I constantly try new games and try older after substantial patches), and they're just boring and childish. Not much for a demanding player.

The only problem D&D has at present is the delay with Mod 9, which lowered the number of players online. When it changes, once again you'll have a "hard time understanding" why so many people like this game so much. And prefer above others they played for years (like me once playing WoW and other MMOs).
DDO gives me absolutely more plus and encourages me to learn to play, not own grinded loot.

For those interested in DDO gameplay, check my videos:
http://www.xfire.com/video/b7a51/
http://www.xfire.com/video/b7a51/

And intro: http://www.xfire.com/video/bbc6e/

What you see in this intro is not only present in game (look at those traps), but look better and is varied. Most people playing WoW don't even know there's an MMO where you can catch ledges with your hands like in ie. Prince of Persia, dodge what is fired at you with your reflex and character's skill, and much, much more.

About the soloing part, upcoming Module 9 (another free expansion) will most likely change it to the point it won't need any more changes.

Mod 9 will scale the "difficulty" of a quest. What was revealed, is that it will reduce hp of monsters accordingly to your group size, and maybe even your class. All this in... real time. So if someone joins you or leaves your group, it will be instantly changed to match.
Every quest in DDO has difficulty, starting with solo, going to normal, hard, then elite (the higher, the better rewards). This new scaling will scale down less on higher difficulties. So probably soloing at your present level will be possible on normal, hard, but on elite you'll need to level up or find some help.

Other changes look VERY promising too, from my perspective. For example: 2 new default chats: advice & trade. These two plus the old General (rarely used to date) will now become global, or rather - major hub centered. So if you do quests on Korthos Island, in Harbor, Market, etc. you'll be able to chat even from their instances (dungeons, explorable areas) with all people present in this "parent" hub.
This will probably change DDOs game feel to more "vibrant" and lively, a thing new people were constantly complaining about. They sometimes had the impression that DDO is deserted (no one answers on general! silence!), which is in reality just a myth : ). Once you get into the game, you have plenty of action, to the point when MMOs like LotrO, WoW feel boring. I tried coming back to both several times, but now they're just too sneezy for me : ). DDO is action.

Eberron is a great setting. Trust me. But it's not as popular as FR, DL, GH, or Planescape, because it was created for 3e. It's just really new in D&D standards, but it's really very D&Dish. This was probably the reason - WotC wanted to popularize Eberron at the time.

And last note... With all the trouble, like Atari (which holds rights) refusing to advertise this game, Turbine should be praised for what they do.
Just imagine Mythic creating D&D version of WAR... or something similar. Turbine could go that route - create game that "feels" like D&D, but it's not D&D ruleset or anything. Turbine took the hard route, quality over quantity as well, and I feel it will make DDO a really popular game soon.

The pre-release notes for Module 9 - just take a look : ).
http://compendium.ddo.com/wiki/Release_Notes_Lamannia_Update_9.0_Official

PS: By the way, did you know people that DDO is one of very few games offering DX10? Without the problems that AoC had and has to this day. It came in Mod 8 with so called "new player experience", and in Mod 9 will leave "beta" stage.