Just enough DnD to avoid it (Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach (PC))

Member Name: bored_at_home

Product:	Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach (PC)
Date:	07/01/09 (22 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Constant grouping, Free expansions, Hitting things

Disadvantages: No solo content, People run the same dungeons into the ground

This is not just a dungeons and dragons simulator! I'm very fond of this game and the feel of the world that theyve created. To start off with you actually fire at/hit the enemy with the mouse as opposed to just pushing keyboard keys. The world looks great and comes with a realistic feel that sits well with me. Instead of wandering around a gigantic world and joining parties that stay together til you're bored to tears the action is compacted in 5-90 minute dungeons with a clear length rating - short being 5 minutes and very long being 1 hour+. This really suits the older gamer or frankly the younger gamer thats trying to do his laundry on a sunday.

The people are generally quite friendly - the game has a low population of an older audience that maintain polite relations with each other. You can easily expect to see the same person twice in a session and since you're playing an mmo for some company it can be great to see the same faces.

The game has a steep but uniform learning curve - you're always learning especially given the vast amount of DnD rules to learn. The developers have missed out some of the more merciless DnD rules that would be game breakers for most people (i.e. you can change your mind on your characters stats when DnD doesn't allow it).

They are slowly adding more and more solo content for people that really do want to do their laundry and not talk to anyone in the middle. Almost all the content is group orientated which is what makes the game special - you'll never struggle to find a group for something. You get huge bonuses for doing a new dungeon for the first time (up to 50% more xp). I love how you get the majority of your XP from completing the dungeon - you have a list of objectives to run through and they are usually really creative like "Stop the drudge lord from opening the sewer" and involve solving puzzles.

The DnD part of the game is unavoidable - I highly recommend getting the hardback DnD 3.5 user guide if you pick up this game.

One huge advantage of this game is the free updates - they are yet to release a chargeable expansion.

Summary: You're definitely missing out if you're into mmos and haven't tried this.