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Druids, Drow, and destinies in an epic DDO expansion tour
On Thursday, Turbine will take the wraps off of Dungeons and Dragons Online: Menace of the Underdark and commence with the closed beta. It's a heady time for both the team and playerbase, as this 2007 title steps into the big leagues of expansion-holding MMOs. And because we know you hate waiting for all the goods, we joined Turbine on the test server for an advance look at some of the hottest features coming with June's launch. On the phone with us was Senior Producer Eric Boyer, Community Specialist Amanda Grove, and Design Director Ian Currie. "We want to show players how big the expansion pack is and how much it'll be changing the game," Boyer began, telling us that levels one through 20 were merely "heroic" -- now it'll be time to make the move into epic territory. From a look at the much-anticipated Druid and the previously vague Epic Destinies to a lightning tour of your first day in the Forgotten Realms, the team was out to convince us that Menace of the Underdark is fully worthy of the "expansion" moniker. How's it looking so far? Take a look for yourself!
Hands-on with Dungeons and Dragons Online's Update 12: Vaults of the Artificers
Turbine has kept to a regular schedule of updates for Dungeons and Dragons Online for a long time now, which means that it's time for us to start preparing for Update 12. The updates have been pretty exciting, rolling out new adventure packs, bringing new races and classes, and introducing a detailed crafting system. The focus on Update 12 is the new adventure pack, one that is a sharp departure from the previous packs. While earlier adventure packs have been story-driven, some even serving as a continuing story arc from their predecessors, this one serves as pure fun for players to challenge themselves with. DDO devs Eric Boyer and Ian Currie were kind enough to invite me on a tour of the new content, so follow along after the jump to see all the details!
Exploring Eberron: Turbine is having a birthday party, Kobold-style
Dungeons and Dragons Online is celebrating its fifth birthday at the end of this month, and while we've assumed some sort of event was in the works, it wasn't until Wednesday that we all got to experience the details. I spent some time with design director Ian Currie and producer Eric Boyer in a trip through an area that will be very familiar to veteran DDO players. It's a fun, fast-paced event that introduces some new features and guarantees that player groups will need to think fast, so without further ado, follow along after the jump and let's look at this new event! %Gallery-116266%
Massively's tour of Dungeons and Dragons Online Update 6
Turbine is bringing Update 6 to Dungeons and Dragons Online in less than a week, and the star of the show is the new Red Fens Adventure Pack. It brings a new wilderness area, four new quests, and the much-hyped addition of underwater combat. With the update just days away, Design Director Ian Currie and Producer Eric Boyer offered a guided tour of some of the new content, and I was more than happy to accept. Follow along after the jump for a look at the Red Fens, and check out the gallery at the end for a better view!
Turbine on renting vs. owning in the MMO market
While we had the opportunity to chat with Turbine Entertainment about the upcoming plans and changes for Dungeons & Dragons Online, our sister site WoW.com was at PAX East as well. Since Turbine doesn't run World of Warcraft (however often Lord of the Rings Online might get compared to it), the discussion there went in a different direction. Much of the numbers side is well-known to the larger MMO community, but the interesting part is the discussion of renting content versus owning it. Subscription MMOs fall into the former category, while Dungeons & Dragons Online is the latter. As design director Ian Currie put it, while DDO has an option to subscribe, you can stop doing so at any time and retain everything you bought. You can enjoy the full leveling game without paying anything. Your character is undeniably yous, no matter how much or little you pay. By contrast, in a subscription game -- such as Turbine's own Lord of the Rings Online -- your character is yours only so long as you continue to pay the monthly fee. As digital goods and the culture of MMOs becomes more and more ingrained in the popular mind, expect to see more discussion on this topic. After all, people see their characters in MMOs as their property -- even if that's not technically true.
