Dabbling

While WoW and scheduled GW play continues, and while others may be playing or looking at Champions Online, I've turned my eye toward Dungeons and Dragons Online. Having just instituted a free-to-play scheme, I can dabble at my leisure without feeling any need to make the most of my money or trial period.

Of course, the free setup is a little limited. Starting out, you don't get access to a couple classes and races, and there are areas (and, in turn, quests) you can't access. I've read about limitations to chat and storages as well, but I'm going to have to get deeper into the game before I can say what that amounts to. You can buy some of these features in the store, or there seems to be a way to get them using 'favor' earned doing certain quests in-game. I have noticed the... interesting pricing, where a new class might cost 490-600 points, but you can only buy points in batches of 400, 900, 1500 and 3300.

The download of the client took a while, probably close to 8 hours, though it was broken up and resumed while I did other things in that time frame. That seems like a really long time, but considering games go out on DVDs these days, maybe it's not so bad as it feels like. But hey, I didn't even have to buy the base game, like GW.

I've only gotten through the very early starter area. Impressions so far:

- Character creation looks fine. I'd say there may be more selections than the last time I made a WoW character, but there's probably not the customization I remember from City of Villains.
- The graphics tend more toward literal realism than WoW. Thusfar, I'd say they they look pretty and characters move... probably better than any other MMO I've played. Of particular note was the experience of walking up to a ladder and having my character climb up it in a way that looked pretty natural.
- The control scheme is similar, but has its own quirks I'll have to get used to.
- Combat seems more interactive than I'm used to so far, while not necessarily being more active. That's strange to say. Again, I'll need to examine more, but including things like pressing Shift to actively block makes for an interesting twist.
- The system is clearly based on D&D 3E. The skills are there, the feats are there, but of course they all act a little different due to the medium.
- Shiny! The end of the starter instance rewards you with a choice of items. Most of the weapons are all fiery and cool-looking. Sure, they may only deal one additional point of fire damage, but it looks neat. ;)

I'll have more to say later. I know it's sorta geared for groups, but I'll probably be sampling solo play for the most part.