Dungeons & Dragons Online Becoming Free-to-play

THIS IS AWESOME! I think.

the free to play mode will not be the full version of the game. you only have 2 char slots and can buy more also won't you have full access to the world. you can't play the new classes such monk, it seems like that f2p accounts won't have access to all quests.
a comparison of f2p and vip accounts (14,99$)
http://www.ddo.com/vip

no mac version?

Here's what I remember from a month of beta and the first month of the game:

* Combat's pretty dynamic. You can swing your sword as fast as you can click. You can actively block at the moment an enemy attacks; agile characters can literally backflip out of the way (in whichever direction you feel is safest).
* Story-style quests. Quest zones are all instanced, narrated, and have a point beyond the defeat of enemies or the collection of randomly dropped items. The zone is persistent until you complete the quest or abandon it; leaving the area results in a severe XP reduction for completion, but you can leave, restock, and return if desperate.
* Losing HP/mana hurts. You don't regenerate health or spellpoints. There are finite points in the quest zones where you can rest up; each can be used once. This results in rest-resource juggling (a little like L4D) where heavily injured characters might use a rest point, but others might "hold out" and come back to it if they get hurt further ahead. This system is where I found much of the difficulty and strategy.
* D&D 3e-style character building. If you've played Neverwinter you'll recognize it; otherwise, be prepared to learn the difference between skills and feats, what armor check penalties are, etc. For me, this is a boon: I'm a numbers nerd (and a D&D gamemaster), and this is the only MMO where I know exactly what +2 strength gets me.

The downsides I encountered at the time was that it was difficult to solo areas, and I found myself repeating quests over and over simply because that was where everyone was playing. I understand this has improved over time with the introduction of Solo difficulties for quests and other changes.

DDO was probably my favorite MMO, but I have a stupidly high threshold for what it takes to get me to choose one game over others for months on end, and spend my gaming budget on continuing to play one game instead of buying new ones.

I for one will be returning. I likely won't be a monthly subscriber, but they may get some microbucks out of me.

Great game to play, played this for a year before i stopped. Mainly due to not having enough time to dedicate to it. Unfirtunatly its main downfall and why alot of ppl havent heard of it is due to Codemasters absolute lack of marketing.

I really wish MMO's would give more love to the Rogues and not in the form of damage or some combat relegation..

Like in PnP D&D, I love playing Rogues and picking some treasure chest or disarming a trap.. but I don't particularly like combat so I don't want to be relegated to some DPS statistic where I should always attack from behind.. I want to plunder a purse full of coin in the streets off strangers, steal some food or case an item shop and flee from the law when I'm in trouble.. instanced scenarios where I can play it like a single player Thief experience or with a Thieves guild.. I hate how in all these mmo's it just means you are a different combat class... if I'm a rogue, give me Rogue like quests..

Ah well...

Somehow I didn't even know this game existed. Anybody know if it's any good or not?

I really liked AC so I'll have to give this a go when it is free. It won't be as good as AC but I saw some posts here about active combat so that is good.

I just downloaded stormreach and signed up for a trial account. So far it is interesting although I wish I could get the mouse buttons to act like WoW. The controls are a bit clunky since you have little control over the mouse buttons.

Also whats the deal with MMO INTERACT / STEER, ATTACK / STEER, ACTION / STEER

jeez is that necessary?I really have no idea how i'm supposed to set this mofo up. I have a feeling I'm missing something.

This was one of the few games I bought early on and never really figured out. I remember being trapped in a dock with no areas to explore then I was trapped in a bar then I was trapped in a small city. I don't think I even figured out how to go to a dungeon other than the starter dungeon. I remember the graphics sucked. I dunno. I felt dumb playing that game.

That's a new approach to rescue a lagging property...

I have a DDO t shirt somewhere around here from being in the early beta.
It was fun to jump around town trying to get to places where I should of been..

You're better off playing Guild Wars. This micro-transactions crap is nothing but a rip off and ends up costing you more than the monthly subscription.

This game was so heavily instanced, I couldn't justify paying a monthly fee for it.

Now that, that has been fixed, I may give it another go.

oh good , I'm getting tired of killing red crosses in EvE

thats the game with active blocking right? think I remember playing the beta or something

I love this pricing model. This works great for those of us who love MMOs but do not have the time to justify the subscription fees.

I really enjoyed the Dungeon Master bit of this game when I played back in the beta. But I felt very "locked in" during my short play. You aren't allowed to leave the docks of the city at first, and after that you weren't allowed to leave the rest of the city. I quit before getting out of there. I'm an explorer so I felt very constricted.

I don't remember much else of it though. ++ for the dungeon master and -- for being locked in.

I had no idea this game existed. Will give it a shot.