Dungeons and Dragons Re-Reviewed

On WarCry, JR Sutich takes a second look at the Dungeons and Dragons Online, after two months of play. After the first review, it was pointed out that Sutich had overlooked some key points and experiences within the game. To remedy this Sutich stopped using Auto-Attack and joined a guild. Sutich says having someone to answer questions and accompany you on quests makes a huge difference in game play experience for the better.

Other observations are: combat runs more smoothly and is just more fun when you’re making your own decisions instead of letting Auto-Attack do the work. Also Favor, used to unlock specials such as making Drow or 32 point builds, is not as difficult to rack up and quest repetition isn’t as critical as Sutich had initially thought. Sutich also says graphics are great but the game could really needs to make Push-to-Talk the default setting once Voice is enabled.

The biggest complaint Sutich voices is about the economy.

Money means nothing at all in this game. The most worthwhile and desirable objects in the game are not bought or sold for cash. They are traded for. And even if you buy that critical piece of loot, after you get all that you need, you no longer have anything to spend your money on. So established and very wealthy players do what everyone does when you have boatloads of extra MMO cash, they twink the hell out of alts. For a newbie this makes things difficult as all of the low level gear on the Auction House is either priced so ridiculously high as to make it unattainable or priced reasonably enough to bid on but guaranteed to lose during a bidding war with an uber rich player. The game needs money sinks.

Sutich gives Dungeons and Dragons Online an overall good review. Outstanding graphics and an exciting action based combat system outweigh the problems with the economy.

This review came out as D&DO consolidated its 14 servers into 5. Sutich claims this isn’t a sign of trouble for D&DO as player retention is very good, adding that it will make it easier to group and the game more enjoyable. I guess time will tell.

via WarCry Network