Turbine originally made a game that didn't match up to the hype, quality or expectations of gamers that were paying $15 a month for things like WoW, EverQuest (1+2) and EVE Online.

They made a niche off the people who loved D&D. Like myself.

And because of the failure, they turned it into a Free To Play Item Mall game. Where in the new DDO:E.U. Beta they claimed the item shop prices would be close to what they'd be like at release, they more then DOUBLED the prices of some gear.

I beta tested the original and there was not a day that passed in the first Closed Beta tests that someone wasn't posting "This is like Guild Wars, so make it free". Let's also not forget that they took alot of the development force and put them into LoTRO during that time.

A few years pass, Atari sees that the game is failing and so it's becoming a F2P model. Even with positive reviews on the "relaunch" as it were... the company sees a dated product that let them down.

It's only natural to look elsewhere, at a company with more income and development experience... when you're creating a new game, like the rumored Neverwinter Nights MMO that Cryptic may be working on.

I HATE Atari with a bloody passion. But I have to back them up on this. Turbine is embarrassing themselves professionally, with this petty lawsuit garbage.