Filed under: Dungeons and Dragons Online

Exploring Eberron: Six things to do on your first day in game

by Justin Olivetti Jul 30th 2010 at 3:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Free-to-play, Exploring Eberron, Guides

So you've given into temptation, downloaded DDO onto your hard drive, and decided to see what all the hubbub was about with Turbine's quirky MMO-that-could. Good for you -- personally, I think you're in for a terrific time. Of course, there's a small but steep learning curve at the start of the game, which I envision claims the lives of many gamers who run all willy-nilly into said wall screaming, "Where is the auto-attack keyyyyy?" You want to avoid that. You want your DDO experience to be face-smashing-wall free.

Therefore, I have pulled myself out of a Fun Dip coma (soooo much sugar) to cobble together six vitally important tasks to perform on your first day in game in order to save the princess. Or make your life easier, I don't know. I'm assuming that you've already made your first character and are itching to test drive that bad boy or girl and see how quickly you can die.

Man, I bet you really wish Rubi were back already, huh? Wish harder, dude!

Wall Street Journal examines SOE's and Turbine's switch to free-to-play

by Rubi Bayer Jul 30th 2010 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Dungeons and Dragons Online, EverQuest II, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play

The growing trend toward the free-to-play business model in the MMO industry has caught the attention of the Wall Street Journal.

The feature story in the paper's weekly Digital Media section is entitled "First, Give Away the Game," and focuses heavily on some of the recent free-to-play announcements from high-profile MMO developers. Warner Brothers President Martin Tremblay spoke to the WSJ regarding DDO's dramatic turnaround last year as well. "The game was almost dead," said Tremblay, saying that DDO is now "very healthy" financially, thanks to the switch to free-to-play. He stated that the change was "a big reason" for the decision to acquire Turbine, and the reason Warner Brothers plans to follow the business model for other games. "This is the way we believe customers want to consume games in the future."

It's an interesting look at the growth of microtransactions and the F2P model in the Western market. The full story can be read on the Wall Street Journal's Digital Network.

New DDO screenshot gives first look at Update 6

by Rubi Bayer Jul 28th 2010 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Patches, Free-to-play

Dungeons and Dragons Online's next update will bring more content to the game, and the excitement for Update 6 has been high in the DDO community, thanks to one little detail: underwater combat.

That's right, the next update will not only bring a new wilderness area -- the Red Fens -- but it adds underwater combat to DDO. We'll meet up with our old friends the Sahuagin and take to the waters.

It's an exciting addition to the game, and if you feel you simply can't wait until Update 6 drops, maybe you don't have to. VIP players can copy characters onto the Lamannia server and try it out for themselves right away!

One Shots: Time for a nap

by Krystalle Voecks Jul 25th 2010 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Dungeons and Dragons Online, One Shots

Have you ever imagined what life is like for MMO characters once you log out of the game? Do they go to the market? Enjoy some free time flying kites? Perhaps they simply sleep, as we see in today's Dungeons and Dragons Online One Shots that has come to us from Weables Wigglebottom, a human monk. Of course, we also picked this image for today because Sundays are truly awesome days to catch a little catnap after a long week. Weables writes in: "When my friend and I found a fluffy bed inside a mummy's tomb, we decided it was a good time for a cuddly snooze."

One Shots is always on the lookout for more screenshots from readers. If you're playing an MMO we don't often see here, we'd love to hear from you. Just email it in to us here at oneshots@massively.com along with your name, the name of the game, and a description of what we're seeing. We'll do the rest!

Gallery: One Shots: Gallery II

Dungeons and Dragons Online patch 1 released for Update 5

by Rubi Bayer Jul 21st 2010 at 7:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Patches, Free-to-play

Patch 1 for Dungeons and Dragons Online Update 5 dropped this morning, clearing up a long list of problems that have plagued the game since Update 5 arrived.

Issues large and small were taken care of, including several things that players have been dealing with since Update 5 released in the first place. Fog of War, for example, has been resetting immediately upon leaving an area. This was extremely inconvenient if you left an area for just a minute or two, because you'd come back to a completely black map. Thankfully that's not an issue any more.

Guild renown got several fixes, including the return of the small guild bonus, an increase to the renown drop rate for monster kills, a fix to renown decay at level 26, and and adjustment to renown decay at level 26.

Those are just a couple of highlights -- the full patch notes are available on the DDO site. Do you know about a problem the patch didn't take care of? Check out the updated Known Issues thread.

Turbine point cards coming to a Gamestop near you

by Rubi Bayer Jul 21st 2010 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play

Microtransactions and cash shops are common in many games these days, but the downside of a lot of them is that you're out in the cold if you don't have a credit card.

Many developers are finding ways around this problem, and Turbine's the newest member of that list; Gamestop will soon be selling Turbine Point Cards. Turbine Senior Community Specialist Tolero posted a photo of a couple of the cards in $10 and $25 increments, with the promise that we'll be seeing them in stores "very soon." It's not entirely out of the question that we'll see them in stores by the end of July.

It will be interesting to see if there will be cards for both games once Lord of the Rings Online goes free-to-play -- we'll keep an eye out!

DDO Europe to go free-to-play on August 20th

by Justin Olivetti Jul 20th 2010 at 10:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons Online, MMO industry, Free-to-play

While fans of Dungeons & Dragons Online in North America have had good reason to celebrate the game's transition to a free-to-play model and its subsequent revival, European players have had to make do with the regular (i.e. subscription-based) version of the game under Codemaster's rule. Like angry twins facing each other across a crowded cafeteria, the two versions of this MMO created an uncomfortable tension in the air over the past year.

This is about to change, however, as Eurogamer reports that Turbine is taking operational control of the game from Codemasters. With this move, Turbine is bringing DDO Europe in line with its North America sibling, transitioning the game to free-to-play on August 20th. This transition includes bringing European players together with NA players with global servers.

Looking to calm any apprehensions by the players, Turbine plans to pave the way to their new global servers by giving current DDO Europe players 5000 Turbine Points to spend in the DDO store. While there will only be an English service initially, French and German account services are in the works.

Exploring Eberron: Rolling the right character for you

by Justin Olivetti Jul 16th 2010 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Classes, Free-to-play, Races, Exploring Eberron

Who are you whippersnappers? Get off my lawn or I'll blast ye into kingdom come! Shoo!

I mean, howdy! Sorry, I got a little startled there. We just found out this morning that Rubi, your faithful DDO columnist, was captured by a beholder and locked away in a level 20 dungeon. While the Massively DDO guild, OnedAwesome, faithfully levels up in a rescue attempt (every Wednesday night, 9pm eastern/8pm central!), I've been drafted to keep the column going until victory is assured.

Considering that a vast majority of my personal DDO resume is confined to levels 1 through 10, I have a soft spot for the newbie experience. And seeing how many fledgling dungeoneers are flocking to DDO these days, I figured I'd go back to the beginning to walk new players through the first week of the game. For you veterans out there, this would be a great time to (a) point out how much I say is completely wrong, and (b) offer up your own tips and advice in the comments section.

Today, let's start with one of the most vital decisions you'll ever make in the game: rolling a character. Hit the jump and let's hope for all 20s!

DDO Update 5: Massively's interview with Fernando Paiz

by Rubi Bayer Jul 12th 2010 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Dungeons and Dragons Online, Interviews, Patches, News items

Dungeons and Dragons Online Update 5 has been out for a while now, and it came on the scene to mixed reviews. Some players were unhappy about the combat changes, bugs here and there caused problems, and there were a couple of hotfixes in the first few days.

The new adventure pack and guild renown system balanced it out nicely, though. In spite of continued glitches they were viewed overall as a great addition to the game. We were curious about several aspects of the update and what Turbine has planned for the immediate future, so we posed a few questions to Executive Producer Fernando Paiz.

Follow along after the jump to see what he had to say about DDO's Update 5.

Turbine solves DDO auction house bug

by Rubi Bayer Jul 9th 2010 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons Online, News items, Free-to-play

Dungeons and Dragons Online players have been dealing with a handful of annoying bugs that came about with Update 5, but there's no doubt that the Turbine staff has been just as vexed by the issues.

The community was happy to hear that Turbine got one pretty significant one taken care of today. The infamous auction house bug -- which caused expired auction house items to vanish without a trace -- was finally solved, according to a post on the official forums.

"Users who lost their auction items following the release of Update 5 have received an in-game mail on the affected character that returns their lost item. The item will appear as a pair of boots in the mail, however once you detach the item it will show up in your inventory as the one you lost. Make sure you select 'Detach' before deleting the mail message. If the item has not appeared in your mailbox, please log out and log back in and check again."

So if you're missing an auction item, check your mail for mysterious boots. As for the rest of the ongoing issues, we're hoping to hear from Turbine regarding those very soon.

Exploring Eberron: The great dice notation debate

by Rubi Bayer Jul 9th 2010 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Culture, Free-to-play, Exploring Eberron

Recently there was a community kerfuffle over the way the dice notation is phrased in Dungeons and Dragons Online. Instead of the traditional 1d6, 2d4, etc., the game was stating "does 6-16 damage," for example. The change was made because players new to the game and unfamiliar with traditional DnD were having trouble understanding what the phrasing meant.

On the surface, this just does not seem like a big deal, and many players were left wondering "So what? Why get so bent out of shape over a little thing like that?" Well, there's a very good reason, because it's more than just a simple matter of phrasing. The dice notation change is a handy illustration of something that many DDO players are very concerned about: Dungeons and Dragons Online becoming just another standard-issue fantasy MMO that just happens to have some familiar names scattered about.

Follow along after the jump as I look at the underlying issue of the dice notation debate and what it means for DDO.

Newest round of DDO screenshots depict final Phiarlan Carnival quest

by Rubi Bayer Jul 8th 2010 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Free-to-play

There's no doubt that Dungeons and Dragons Online Update 5 has had its share of troubles -- Turbine's still hard at work trying to sort out some of the difficulties -- but it's got plenty of upsides as well.

Some of the most prominent of those have been the very well-received overhaul of House Phiarlan and the new adventure pack, Phiarlan Carnival. Haven't ventured in yet? The newest round of screenshots might just tempt you into giving it a try. Today's screenshots are of "Over the Big Top," the final quest in the series. The quest offers evil soothsayers, a guy who teaches you the secret behind the saw-the-lady-in-half trick, and trained hellhounds atop giant fireballs -- what's not to love?

Check out the gallery below for a preview of the quest.

Gallery: Dungeons and Dragons Online update 5

Dungeons and Dragons Online introduces guild leaderboard

by Rubi Bayer Jul 7th 2010 at 9:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Free-to-play

Updates to the new guild renown system in Dungeons and Dragons Online continue with the addition of a renown leaderboard.

The leaderboard, which was added yesterday, is divided by server. You can adjust the list further by guild name (alphabetically), number of guild members, amount of renown, or guild level.

There are still a few improvements to be made -- some of the guild links are incorrect or don't work, for example. The listing for number of guild members is linked to characters rather than accounts, and many players have requested that an account-based number be made available.

Check out the leaderboard as well as the forums to see what everyone's saying about this new addition.

Winter events arrive in Dungeons and Dragons Online

by Rubi Bayer Jul 5th 2010 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Events, in-game, Free-to-play

Festivult is coming to Stormreach! The Risia Ice Games are on their way back! Yes, it's July, and no, it's not another bug. Dungeons and Dragons Online is preparing to celebrate Festivult in July, and players will find special goodies everywhere they look.

Stormreach Harbor hasn't frozen over quite yet, but you'll find signs of Festivult here and there anyway: festival tokens are dropping -- don't forget to save them for the Festivult Jester -- and there are daily specials in the store. Soon you'll find hot cocoa, ice skates, and more in the DDO Store, and Winter Bonus Days will be bringing you a 20% XP boost for 10 days.

The celebration will last throughout July, so keep an eye out for a frozen harbor and watch the DDO site for updates.

Exploring Eberron: First impressions of Update 5

by Rubi Bayer Jul 2nd 2010 at 3:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Patches, Free-to-play, Exploring Eberron

Update 5 arrived on the Dungeons and Dragons Online servers Monday, making for a rough first half of the week. Guild renown, the underpinning of the much-touted airship system, was bugged to the point that it had to be completely turned off for most of Monday and Tuesday. The servers came down for four hours Tuesday afternoon for a hotfix. When they came back up, guild renown was fixed.

Unfortunately, the auction hall bug was still hanging around, causing players with expired auctions to receive in-game mail containing nothing -- their items had disappeared into the ether. The auction hall was partially disabled Wednesday to alleviate the problem, and hotfix round two brought the servers down for a few more hours.

This doesn't mean that Update 5 was a bad thing. Not even close. The rough start was only one facet of this update's launch week -- there is plenty to talk about after things settled down in that arena, and overall some great additions were brought to the game. Follow along after the jump as we look at the first week in Update 5.

Massively Features

Events Calendar

Name	Date
GenCon Indy	Aug 5-8, 2010
SOE Fan Faire	Aug 5-8, 2010
Xsyon Prelude Launch	Aug 15, 2010
GamesCom Expo	Aug 18-22, 2010
Earthrise Launch	Q3 2010
Dragon*Con	Sep 3-6, 2010
PAX Prime	Sep 3-5, 2010
Final Fantasy XIV Launch	Sep 30, 2010
GDC Online	Oct 5-8, 2010
LEGO Universe Launch	Oct 26, 2010
DCUO Launch	Nov 2, 2010

Massively Staff

Name	Title
Shawn Schuster	Editor-in-Chief
Seraphina Brennan	Senior Editor
Brianna Royce	West Coast Editor
Dan O'Halloran	Features Coordinator
Brendan Drain	Contributing Editor
Eliot Lefebvre	Contributing Editor
Jef Reahard	Contributing Editor
Justin Olivetti	Contributing Editor
Krystalle Voecks	Contributing Editor
Rubi Bayer	Contributing Editor
Tateru Nino	Contributing Editor
Beau Hindman	Columnist
Edward Marshall	Columnist
Greg Waller	Columnist
Jeremy Stratton	Columnist
Larry Everett	Columnist
MJ Guthrie	Columnist
Patrick Mackey	Columnist
Ryan Greene	Columnist
Lisa Poisso	Columnist