In August, Turbine is re-releasing its Dungeons and Dragons based MMORPG, Dungeons and Dragons Online Stormreach, as Dungeons and Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited, switching from a subscription business model to free to play with an item shop. Below I'm going to go over some of the reasons you should be playing this August. Based on release notes and my experiences in the Beta.

10 Reasons to Play Dungeons & Dragons Online: Unlimited

1. It's free to play.
D&D Online: Unlimited is a free to play game, offering players who are willing to sign up and download the game. This includes many upgrades to the original game, such as an increased level cap up to level 20 and access to many of the regions and adventures that came with the original game. Also, as you progress with a character through the game, earning reputation with different factions and gaining levels, players can receive Turbine Points for expenditure in the in game item shop, all free of charge.

2. Play solo, play with friends, or find someone new.
Once in game, you can choose from a variety of options for doing quests, adventuring, or socializing. Most quests in game can be done solo or with parties, at varying levels of difficulty for increased challenge and rewards. Using the in game social panel, you can choose from current group listings to accomplish quests or meet new people, make up your own groups, party with friends and guild-mates, etc. To add to the mixture, not only can you message your friends using the in game text chat, but you can also use in game voice chat, supported directly in game, without the need of external chat clients or servers.

3. Story and adventures are done through small adventure packs and story arcs.
D&D Online conveys its quests and stories in such a way that each is a miniature story arc or adventure, part of some larger quest chain or adventure pack, with each part a quest that can be done when you have the time. Most quests are short enough that they can be done in 15 to 30 minutes, with the longest taking 1 to 2 hours. For casual gamers, this is great, because they can break into the game without having to invest much time for progression. Likewise, gamers can progress rapidly through quests, being able to move from one to the next as they see fit. And even with rapid progression, at the end of the day, there's always another adventure, another quest, or another story just on the horizon, ready for another gaming session.

4. It has extensive upfront character customization.
Upfront character customization begins with more options than most games offer. There are 11 different classes to choose from, ranging from physical warriors such as Fighters and Rangers to spell casters like the Sorcerer and Wizard and Clerics and Bards for different types of support. Following, there are 6 races to choose from, each with unique racial traits and bonuses to abilities and skills. With race, you get to choose many appearance characteristics, such as hair color, eye color, face type, hair type, and various other fields, allowing you visual customization of your character. Add to this the ability to adjust your initial ability scores and the choice of a list of over a dozen skills and feats to choose from, and you get the ability to specify a unique character where a duplicate is unlikely, allowing you to make a character that is all your own.

5. It has an extensive character progression system.
Following the initial customizations you made from character creation, each character has a plethora of options that open up as they rank and level up. With each set of ranking and leveling, your characters gain access to an increasing set of feats, options to increase their ability scores, options to increase their skills, and the ability to spend gained Action Points on specialized actions or permanent upgrades to further their prowess. This includes access to various class action abilities, such as temporary buffs to increase armor, crafting bonuses and abilities, or permanent buffs to ability scores.
Each class also gains further access to class specific feats, such as rage for Barbarians or more spells for Sorcerers. In short, in starting with a unique character, you have the ability to only further diversify your character as you progress, enabling them to better match your play style and how you want to play the game.

6. Everyone is useful.
When wondering about whether or not it's a good idea to take some extra players along or whether or not it's a good idea to hire that extra hireling, more likely than not, the answer is going to be yes. The reason why is that, in DDO, you'll find that there is never a time that having some extra players or hirelings will hinder you. Every character in the game, independent of race or class, has something they bring to a party that, whether or not you actually needed them, will make your party more effective and better able to complete quests and accomplish goals. Warrior classes bring increased damage and tanking abilities, Spellcasters bring powerful damage spells and support, Specialists bring necessary buffing or skills that make progression easier through a quest, whether it's disarming traps, unlocking doors, or reconnaissance. At any time, on any quest, having any or all of the above or extra will always be beneficial.

7. Everything is useful.
When you find that new +5 Longsword or Robe of Winter, you'll never find yourself thinking of just selling it off for gold, as you'll find that most items in the game are not only useful, but are often more useful hanging onto. Whether it's a new weapon, armor piece, accessory, or even some minor collectible or potion, you'll often be inclined to keep it, especially for the next quest around the corner. Fighters tend to carry several different weapon sets, often bringing blunt, piercing, and slashing weapons, sometimes of multiple element types, to take care of specific jobs. Likewise, it's second nature to bring extra spellcasting ingredients or different accessories to augment different types of spells and abilities when adventuring. At the end of the day, everything has a use, and even if you can't directly use it, odds are you probably know someone that can. In the end, if you really don't need it, it never hurts to have a few more coin in your purse.

8. Player skill matters.
When playing D&D Online, one of the first things a player notices is that they have to actual look at a target and swing or direct their spells towards it. Unlike most current MMOs today, which lock a character onto a target and then do a series of automatic attacks until the creature is dead, D&D Online allows a player to turn and face their foes and hack and cast at them in real time. This includes not only basic hack and slash type game play, but also allows for spell casters to fire off their spells and manipulate the direction of the spell as it flies. So, whether it's crushing a few kobold skulls in the Butcher's Path or landing a Fireball spell in the middle of several angry orcs, every action becomes personal, and hence, much more rewarding.

9. It has an extensive and well planned Item Shop.
For their new business model, the developers at Turbine have really taken the time to put together a well made and decently proportioned item shop, all accessible from in game. Using Turbine Points, you can purchase various different items, including items that are purely boosting or aesthetic, with experience boosting potions and loot boosters to hair dyes and the like. It also includes many account items, such as shared and increased storage, more character slots, etc. Lastly, the store also sells content, mainly in the form of adventure packs, purchasable races such as the Warforged and Drow, and classes including the Monk and Favored Soul. All content purchased through the store is then available across your account to all characters, allowin you to purchase items at your own rate, to either make progression easier or to increase the number of options you have during play. The content tends to favor on the higher level end of the spectrum, being more so reserved for veteran players.

10. It's Based on the Dungeons and Dragons Rule Set.
In the making of D&D Online, Turbine made extensive use of the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 Rule Set in the design and implementation of the game. This means that many of the games features, from spells, skills, feats, classes, races, etc were pulled from that Rule Set. What this offers is an understandable and easy to follow rule basis that can be applied to the majority of the games features, whether you're a new player to scene or an old school D&D player.

And then, to those of us that have waited for a virtual Dungeons and Dragons game since the old days of playing table top and then more recently, Neverwinter Nights, on servers and the like, the game brings something we've always wanted. While the game is not a stickler on the rules, the game follows most of them through very nicely, definitely giving the game a feeling of the dungeon crawling and exploring that was done previously with pen, pencil, and dice. It even adds to the flare with simulated dice rolls for deciding the success of actions, and a dungeon master voice over that, while can be more comical than serious, really defines the lineage the game has decided to follow.

Overall, I would suggest that anyone that has made it through this article try and pick up the game if you can. While it has many pros and cons, the game offers a unique experience that is in many ways unlike any other game on the market currently. The rules the game follows, while flawed for some purposes and possibly mystical to some, offer a clear and understandable foundation for the game, which once adjusted to, is easy to pick up on and use to your advantage. If anything else, the long hours and polish that Turbine has put into the game provide something interesting and different to play, while you're waiting for the next be game.

Don´t forget to check out "10 Reasons not to Play Dungeons & Dragons Online: Unlimited" also written by Bradley!

Article by Bradley, Freemmogamer.com - Posted 8/2/09