Love can sometimes be a fickle thing, but I'm pretty sure that I love what Turbine has done with the DDO Store in Dungeons and Dragons Online Unlimited. I'll admit that initially I was a little concerned with the concept of an in-game store, but after playing with it at bit and asking some questions my fears have pretty much melted away.

I was lucky enough to be given a developer tour of the Dungeons and Dragons Online Unlimited beta last Friday, and had a thoroughly good time. The DDO Store is a streamlined and snappy experience. The store doesn't simply attempt to shove its wares onto the unsuspecting player. Instead, it attempts -- and largely succeeds -- in being a helpful, generally friendly addition to the game.

Gallery: DDO Unlimited Tour

Well, we can't say we exactly saw this one coming. Turbine has pulled back the curtain on some details for Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited, namely the new class being added with the major business model shift. Although, we've also learned there'll be new combat updates and a return of Stormreach's marketplace, which was destroyed last year.

As for the new class, it's been revealed to be the Favored Soul. According to Turbine's press release, "Favored souls draw on divine magic to both heal and destroy. Like clerics, favored souls have access to powerful healing spells, but they are also more skilled with weapons than any other spell caster. Like sorcerers, they get a larger number of spell points than other spell casters and cannot freely switch spells at taverns or rest shrines." So it sounds like we're dealing with a cross between a Cleric and a Sorcerer, which is pretty awesome actually. What sorts of weapons -- and screens of the class itself -- remains to be seen, sadly.

Still, we should have even more details in the coming weeks and hopefully Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited will launch sometime this summer.

Turbine has released twelve new screens for their revamp of Dungeons & Dragons Online, which will add the "Unlimited" modifier sometime after its current beta run. In our gallery, you'll find several looks at the various windows and interfaces in which the non-subscribing players will have the opportunity to purchase additional content piecemeal, while they play.

It's pretty interesting to see a previously pure subscription style game go this direction, and we're very curious to see how it plays out for Turbine and the Dungeons & Dragons Online community. This business model shift could bring in a lot of new blood, and may in the long run bring about additional content that wouldn't have been possible to develop otherwise.

If you really want to know more about the upcoming changes and exactly what they mean for DDO and its community, check out our interview with Turbine on the subject, our write-up on the topic by Massively's Colin Brennan or our recent Massively Speaking podcast with DDOCast host Jerry Snook. Can you tell we're interested in this one yet?

Massively Speaking Episode 57 returns this week with an entire episode dedicated to Dungeons and Dragons Online and their recent announcement about going free-to-play. Shawn is joined by DDOCast host Jerry Snook as they discuss the ins and outs, good and bad of a 3-year-old game going F2P.

Have a comment for the podcasters? Shoot us an email to podcast AT massively DOT com. Maybe we'll read your letter on the air!

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Read below the cut for the full show notes.

Dungeons and Dragons Online going free to play is undoubtedly an awesome announcement. But exactly how awesome of an announcement is it?

Yesterday we were all over the announcement, covering the basics of what can be expected with this changeover from subscription based to free to play. But now, I'd like to break that down even further, and really look at the changes in an in-depth manner.

Certainly not everything about the new version of DDO has been defined by Turbine, but we're going to take a look at the basics of what this new version offers and compare the ups and downs of what's being offered. By the time we're done looking over the new system, you'll be able to answer that one burning question that's plaguing your mind.

Is free to play DDO worth it for you?

The cons of the whole switchover

Item malls that offer players the ability to purchase items or item upgrades degrade the gaming experience. We've been over this before -- letting Mr. Moneybags deck out his character at level 1 so he's 10x more awesome than everybody else is a major downer to people who don't have the money.

While I've pored over the text that Turbine is released, it doesn't appear that they will be offering items like weaponry or armor. They will be offering "items of convenience" to the players. My best guess is things like potions, perhaps portals, resurrection scrolls, things such as these. Even though these are low powered items, they can still annoy you when Moneybags can teleport all over the place and you're left walking and taking the slow route.

This con is, however, offset by the fact that points can be earned by actually playing the game. It sounds like they are attempting to make the cash shop available for everyone, not just the Moneybags of the world. This will be interesting to watch, as no other developer as truly tried this in the American market.

"I could easily see some players offering up items in the auction house above the amount that a free player's wallet could hold."

The big con to this is the limited play that free players get. Limited auctions and limited mail are two nasty inconveniences in their own right, but limited gold storage and limited chat seem to be the features that take the cake. How would you like it if you couldn't chat in all of the chat channels, or were restricted to how much you can say in game? Even worse, limited gold storage may mean that you might not be able to purchase the best items from the auction house simply because your wallet just doesn't hold enough.

I could easily see some players offering up items in the auction house above the amount that a free player's wallet could hold. This is going to inconvenience the player further because it's going to restrict how the player can interact with the auction house and interact with the vendors in the world.

Another two bites out of the pro pile are the fact that free players rank lower than DDO VIP subscription players in the login queue and free players don't get access to customer support. This means that a constant influx of DDO VIP players could easily keep bumping free players back in the login queue, should the server become overpopulated. While I don't exactly see this happening, it could become problem should the lines really get backed up. I know I wouldn't like to see that my place in line as number 27 get jacked backward to 30 or 35 just because a few subscribers chose to log in.

Lastly is the fact that free players are stuck with the online knowledge base and the forums as their source of aid should they encounter problems. I can foresee some free players attempting to play the game, getting stuck on some odd technical problem, and then becoming unable to solve it simply because the knowledge base doesn't have their problem on file. You're going to inevitably lose some people over this, just because they don't want to deal with the frustration of attempting to make a free game work. It's a free game, so if it doesn't work, just move onto the next game.

The bottom line?

The final thoughts for all of this is you should weigh it for yourself. If you want to save some cash and you like Dungeons and Dragons, then this might just be the experience for you. If you're looking for a second quality MMO to have as a side-game, then this might also be what you want to pick up.

If you're someone who's easily frustrated by limitations, however, then you might not enjoy this experience. Some of the stuff, like decreased auctions, gold storage, and chatting capabilities might hamper gameplay just enough to turn off some people.

But, don't take my word for it. Judge the game for yourself when it hits free to play status later this summer.

---

Turbine has just announced that Dungeons and Dragons Online will be moving to a free-to-play business model, and we have the inside scoop. Be sure to read our complete coverage of the changeover, and look for more info as DDO Unlimited approaches launch.

Current subscribers will see no real change in the game, as what they're paying for now is what's included in the new VIP model. The F2P players will not exactly have access to the same features for free, yet they can purchase as little or as much as they'd like in the Turbine store with Turbine points. This allows more casual players the chance to play the game and only pay for those features they know they'll use. To help explain this new system, and answer some questions we had, we had a chance to sit down with Adam Mersky, Turbine's Director of Communication, Kate Paiz, Senior Producer for DDO and Fernando Paiz, Executive Producer for DDO. Keep reading after the jump to find out what they had to say.

Gigantic news coming out of Turbine today with the announcement of Dungeons and Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited and its beta launch. This new version of the game will offer players the ability to download the game and play for free. In addition, players can purchase items, adventure packs, and account services at their discretion from the brand new DDO Store. Alternatively, traditional-minded players can subscribe to get unlimited access to all of the game's content.

Turbine is pioneering something very interesting and exciting here, as the hybrid model isn't widely used at this point, with Free Realms being the closest comparison we can think of off the top of our collective heads. Allowing players the choice of free-to-play or subscription seems like a perfect fit for Dungeons and Dragons Online. Plus, the announcement comes with new content, including a brand new class! There appears to be no confirmation on what class it is, but our guess would be the Druid.

Check out the details after the break!

Let's take a break from all of the E3 crazy for a moment and bring it back down to Earth, as Turbine has announced today that they're putting a new man into the chief financial officer's seat.

Their choice for the position has been M. Beau Paradowski, an experienced 17 year financial veteran who has previously held the CFO chair for Optasite Inc. and Clearwire Technologies.

Paradowski is excited to step into his new position at Turbine, which will oversee all of the company's global financial operations and everything related to Turbine's three big IPs -- Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online, and Asheron's Call.

You always hear about the good MMOs and the bad MMOs, but there are certainly some MMOs that just seem to hang in the background. They're always there and omnipresent, they never do exquisitely bad, but somehow they're just forgotten amongst the sea of hyped games and broken promises.

That's really the case for Dungeons and Dragons Online, one of the few MMOs to really fly in the face of the traditional MMO model. ZAM.com recently went back and took another look at DDO, giving it the attention that it rightfully deserves regarding its different playstyle and game mechanics.

The article points out the game's major triumphs -- such as the unique atmosphere in every dungeon you dive into, the use of puzzles and traps to keep the player on their toes, and the use of the infamous dungeon master that narrates each of the game's quests to keep in like with its tabletop roots. However, the article also points out some of the game's largest issues, such as grouping and population concerns amongst the servers.

Overall, it's a nice look at a game that really doesn't jump to the forefront of the MMO market, but stays quietly in the background, chugging away with a loyal fanbase and consistent content updates. (All hail the upcoming module 9 and the new ability to finally hit the D&D cap of 20!) For the full feature article, check it out on ZAM.com.

Many of the team here at Massively have either spent time roleplaying in tabletop campaigns, have RP'd online, or sometimes a bit of both! As such, we love to get in-character descriptions of what's going on in One Shots, such as this moment from Dungeons & Dragons Online, from Sarr. He tells us his tale: It's my brave and devoted paladin, Dantar of the Sovereign Host (one of religions to choose). Well, he was brave until now. As he's walking into an open-aired tavern in elvish House Phiarlan, a district of Stormreach, an ogre stands before him. It took wetting Dantar's underwear to realize that this monster is hired here to ensure customer's... security. Dungeon & Dragons Online's player base is growing bigger and bigger now (pretty unprecented, is DDO's golden age near?), so I don't think ogres will pose a threat in the times to come. Hail the Sovereign Host, and join our battle with monstrosities, brothers!

Do you play a game we don't spotlight very often? Would you like to show off some of the cool things you've experienced, and maybe pull in new players for your game? Whatever your reason, we'd love to see your screenshots! Just send them to us here at oneshots AT massively.com along with a brief description of what we're seeing in the image. We'll take care of the rest.

Gallery: One Shots

The Shavarath portal destroyed the previous Marketplace and Remembrance Plaza promises to be a hub for vendors. There will be a memorial to those lost during the Devil invasion and visitors will be able to pay their respects, do some shopping and enjoy the new location. The memorial seal will be housed in its own tent and bespelled and enchanted, vendors are being reassured that the Subterrans won't be able to attack.

But this is just the start as the entire Marketplace area will also be beautified with new planters and landscaping. There will be ladders to reach balconies in order to get a good look at all the changes. The Coin Lords seem really happy with the results and hopefully players will be too. More information can be found by visiting the official site.

7:41pm Tuesday, April 7th

I just spent my first night with Dungeons and Dragons Online since it first launched in 2006, and came away from the experience pleasantly surprised. The trial client download was snappy, at around 45 minutes. The graphics have definitely seen an upgrade and overall my initial experience has been one of enjoyment. I was expecting to be left a little wanting and instead ended tonight's session quite begrudgingly. Why?

I needed to write this first entry. And oh yeah, I also required some food, too.