I've been a fan of Dungeons & Dragons: Online for nearly as long as I've been a fan of Dungeons & Dragons. Since launch, the largest problems with the game have been that, well, not everyone is as big of a fan as me. It just barely reaches the qualifications of what makes an MMORPG worth paying for, and it's been hard to get others, who come from the more robust experience of World of Warcraft, to spend money on DDO. When it was announced that the game would re-launch with a free-to-play model I needed to get some hands-on with the new build, mainly to see if it was finally getting the jump it has needed for years.

After loading up I noticed that, well, it was almost exactly the same at first. Everything seemed completely familiar, and I was back in the same Marketplace I'd spent days wandering around. I walked up and down the same streets and slowly began to pick up on little things that had changed since I had last played. Things that had been done for stylistic reasons have been re-organized, fixed up to make them more accessible. Instead of trainers being scattered around, they're all in poses that made sense for them, standing in a small area. The marketplace has been fixed up too, and the crater where the demons had previously attacked is now an open-air bazaar, complete with the merchants which had previously been displaced after the assault. Speaking to the merchants brought up similar screens, with one minor difference: the DDO Store.



Using Turbine Points, which can be earned in-game, bought with actual money, or received for subscribing to the game, players can purchase additional content. Non-paying players are limited to certain quests, races, and classes, making it harder to get to the level cap without a good bit of grinding. Where the "free" ends is with microtransactions, and all players have the ability to spend a few dollars to unlock stuff their their account. A couple of bucks will unlock an expanded level cap, a new quest, or a new race, which counts for any characters they make. The content isn't too expensive, but not cheap enough that players continuing to pay the monthly fee might feel ripped off.

Some directly affect the character, such as low-level items, while others are account wide. A new player, for instance, can only gain a few levels for free. Every so often they'll need to acquire an object that will allow them to continue their quest towards level 20. These will occasionally drop as loot, but can also be purchased with Turbine Points, which cost actual money. Luckily, Turbine Points are actually rewarded as players progress through the game, and are shared across the player's account. This means, if a gamer is vigilant (and stingy), they could use the game's second free character slot as a bank, continually deleting and remaking the character to make as many Turbine Points as possible. It's a possibility, and the folks at Turbine said they're taking office bets to see how long it is going to take for someone to hit level 20 without spending any money.



Besides using Turbine Points to unlock content, characters, races and levels, they can also be used to purchase what Turbine is calling "convenience items." Potions and arrows can be picked up in-quest, as well as more powerful (and costly) resurrections. In the past, leaving a quest would result in a loss of experience, but now it's possible to avoid that altogether with real money. Granted, you still might lose, and spending money on a failed quest would be even more infuriating, but the option is pretty cool. They can also be spent on boosted experience, better loot, and even new hair colors. In the future, more will be added, giving players additional virtual content to spend real money on.

I also walked through some new missions aimed at late-game characters, as well as some that should easily be do-able by mid-level characters. For fans of DDO, the new high-end content looks fantastic, but it's really for those who have already been playing for some time. All in all, I'm really excited about Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited. The game was already fun, but now it has a foundation to continue to grow, capturing people who didn't want to spend the monthly fee. Hopefully the servers will surge, the population will grow, and Eberron will soon be filled with players again.