Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach


When Guild Wars was released, we scratched our heads at the level 20 cap until we realized how well it worked in context by bringing players closer to successful PvP battles. In fact, reaching highest level in any MMO has its downfalls, although most games do a creditable job of giving plenty of content to its maxed out players. D&DO features all of 10 levels, although they are subdivided so you can earn some small skill reward in the interim. And until you get to the highest levels, it never feels like there's much reward for trudging through dungeon after dungeon. Even worse, once you hit level cap, you're mostly done. There are a few high-level quests to check out, but how many times can you do it before it gets old? The promise of upcoming content and more levels isn't going to keep many players from skipping out, since they'll feel they've done everything the game has to offer by that point. Creating an alternate character is always an option, but you're still gonna be doing the same quests, in the same places.

After that, it comes down to what Dungeons and Dragons Online doesn't have that you can get elsewhere. No crafting. No reason to explore the city, outside of the search for specialty vendors. Worse yet, no soloing. Yes, we understand that D&DO is by nature a group-based experience meant for parties of dungeon crawlers. But removing that aspect of gameplay severely hampers appeal, and contributes to the pervasive feeling that playing the game for anything less than several hours at a stretch gets you absolutely nowhere. You can try, by stocking up on potions and making use of the rest shrines in the dungeons, but you aren't likely to succeed, and if you do, we're willing to bet the crawl was absolutely devoid of anything resembling “fun.” More likely, you'll end up resurrecting at your tavern of choice and grabbing a greasy chicken leg to speed the healing process, and lamenting the resulting experience loss. Spells, potions, and rest shrines are your only healing options outside of taverns, which are the only places in which your health will improve on its own.

At least finding other players is easy, and simply by toggling your “LFG” status, you can find yourself in a group quickly and easily. This is where the experience shines, particularly if you are in a well-balanced party. When partying, it's easier to enjoy some of the bright features, such as integrated voice chat, sometimes impressive monster AI, and attractive visuals. The community is outstanding, and players of all levels are always willing to join you in a quest that they've done before, or share gold if you are in short supply. Creating a guild is an absolute breeze: no finding a guild master, no paying out of pocket. You just create a guild, and boom, it's done.

Stormreach is beautiful to look at as you travel through the city, although even a developer as Talented as Turbine can only do so much in a limited setting. The architecture is gorgeous: it doesn't take the design to the exaggerated levels in World of Warcraft, but the buildings are lovely to look at, and waterways, bridges, and lush foliage keep your limited travels in the city proper easy on the eyes. Considering how often you'll transition in and out of instanced areas, the loading times are thankfully brief. There are some odd glitches, however, such as models hovering in midair after being killed, and annoying hiccups and jitters when you first enter a populated tavern that can last for up to 10 seconds. Character models are nicely detailed, although the limited physical customization options make them look a little homogeneous. When you spend so much time in dungeons, though, it's hard not to notice that textures are somewhat bland, although this helps the engine run so smoothly (SOE, take note). It's also disappointing that spell visual effects are over and done with so quickly. We'd love to see them color our dungeons more with particles and light.

Sound is more of a mixed bag, because its moments of brilliance are offset by certain bits of mediocrity. First, credit where it's due: the beautiful soundtrack and ambient noises are perfect. Yet in the realm of sound effects, all is not well: combat is eerily silent. You'd expect your ears to be filled with the constant clanging of swords, the whooshes of arrows, and the rumbles of wizards and sorcerers as they cast spells. However, these noises are muted and vapid. Perhaps this is to keep voice chat clean, but the result is lifeless, and is another reason why Dungeons & Dragons Online lacks the features of an epic experience. The Dungeon Master, however, is powerfully acted, although there is no voice acting apart from him.

It's impossible not to compare Dungeons & Dragons Online to other available games on the market, and if you're a hardcore D&D fan that likes online games, you'll purchase it anyway. If you're already playing an MMO and looking for a new experience, D&DO isn't necessarily your best option. It's group dungeon crawls are very good, but a total lack of features, slow pace, and low risk-to-reward ratio is not going to be everyone's cup of tea. Turbine did an excellent job of bringing the core tabletop experience to an MMO, but this focus costs dearly by making the game neither broad, nor deep. If you enjoy soloing or like being able to log on for short periods of time and still accomplish something, steer clear. For everyone else, there's enough to like and enough to dislike to make jumping in a crapshoot. Unless you are positive Dungeons & Dragons Online is right up your alley, you'll do best to stick to WoW, Guild Wars, or Neverwinter Nights for your online role-playing goodness.

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