I figured since Dungeons and Dragons Online is now free to download, and play I would give it a whirl. I remember around the original release of this mmorpg I thought about buying the game so I was pretty excited about playing it.They offer three different graphic setting downloads, and I chose the highest quality. Even with the highest settings I have to say I was a little disappointed in the graphics of the game. I was really expecting to see some real eye candy, but it still is pretty nice.
I created a sorcerer, and began my journey in the starter city. I hate starting games, and not really knowing anything. It is the worst part. I sort of got the feel for the game, and entered a crypt instance. You can pick five difficulty levels for each instanced dungeon depending on if you are doing it solo, or in a group. It could be compared to doing a heroic in Warcraft on the difficult setting.
Everything in the game is auto-targeted so there is no need for clicking on the target, or tabbing. It was pretty simple to cast spells, and attack with my weapon. Everything dies really quick, and even yourself. You start off with 25 health. It just seems so strange to start with such a small number.
It took me a bit to figure out how to regenerate health. There is no such thing as auto regeneration, or medding up. You have to find this spirit statue thing that lets you rest up. It will put your health and mana back to full. I think it may be a one time deal with each instance because I was only able to do it once only.
The game basically has a Guild Wars type of feel where everything in the game except for the towns is instanced. It does seem a little like a solo rpg than an mmorpg. If you like playing Diablo you would probably enjoy playing this game also.
I vaguely looked at the DDO Shop. It looked like you could buy xp boosts, potions, regeneration boosts, unlock char slots, unlock some classes etc. The time I have been playing the game I see no real need to buy anything, but I wasn't trying to solo a dungeon on the highest difficulty setting either.
I think for a game that is free to play it was pretty impressive, and I saw no kind of gold or powerleveling spam. I think the game could be very enjoyable for a casual gamer looking for a relaxing game to play after a hard days work at the office. I would definitely recommend downloading Dungeons and Dragons Online, and playing it.
