Love It Or Hate It: Dungeons & Dragons Online

Jason Winter
By Jason Winter, News Editor
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Some free-to-play games are more polarizing than others, with some sides taking the stance of "great, totally non-exploitative implementation" and others thinking "total pay-to-win trash." We'd like to see on what side of the spectrum the gaming public -- and by that, we mean you guys -- think of certain F2P games, and so we've invented something new called Love It Or Hate It?

Every week, we'll present a new F2P game and give you the option of passing judgment on it. Then we'll look back at it the next week and see what people thought. There are no prizes, except for the satisfaction of knowing you clicked on a button and made something happen. Really, what else do you need?

You guys really know how to break an old LotRO player's heart, don't you? Last week's results: 25.3% love and 22.8% hate. I'm going to take solace in the fact that a higher percentage of people "hated" League of Legends. But I'm not letting any of you touch my Viggo Mortenson-signed Lord of the Rings CCG card!

For the sake of completeness, let's keep the Turbine train rolling and put Dungeons & Dragons Online up to a vote. Remember in 2009, when DDO went F2P and everyone thought it was a great system? The shine seems to have come off both DDO's and LotRO's monetization in the wake of much "free-er" games, and I'm curious to see how Turbine's top two stack up against each other. Don't worry, we won't run Asheron's Call out there next week.

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Tell us what you think of Dungeons & Dragons Online, and leave a comment below to expound upon your views!

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About the Author

Jason Winter
Jason Winter, News Editor

Jason Winter is a veteran gaming journalist, he brings a wide range of experience to MMOBomb, including two years with Beckett Media where he served as the editor of the leading gaming magazine Massive Online Gamer. He has also written professionally for several gaming websites.

More Stories by Jason Winter

Discussion (17)

iBrick 8 years ago
it should be more "free" not that fake free. but the game is awesome thanks to the D&D rules set it runs, more games should be like this, not that unbalanced action crap that Neverwinter is.

Pnumbra 8 years ago
The game is at best a poor attempt to recreate the D&D pen and paper environment. It is basically a single player game with a quasi community based on grouping in teams. Unlike Asherion's Call that was a complete open community, DDO is quest driven. The game relies heavily on pay-to-play in two forms - VIP and Premium (players who purchase their additional content). It is a grind fest of first order. Quests are mediocre and raids are down right silly, an obvious tactic to get players to group. It has the feel of a game on its last leg. I think I play because of nostalgia and not content.

ddd 8 years ago
THIS SHI T SUCK !

chefmadness 8 years ago
The only game that dose not have damn cookie cutter classes! I am so board with games that you are your class & that's it! It's nice to cast spells & use a 2handed sword to cut foes down., One of the best games ever! So tired of you fellow gamester's complaining about totally free to play games! Nothing in life is free! The gaming companies have to make money some how so stop your bitching, & as for graphics it is nice to see games that can play on older rigs. Not everyone has 1000 bucks to build a new gaming PC. Some of my fave games are DDO, STO, Hell Gate, & I hope DDO Never shuts down, It is way better than damn Neverwinter that they totally screwed up. Nothing like Neverwinter Nights 1&2 Witch is also D&D 3.5 rules I wish all games would use the D20 system in all mmorpg's . We need more games without cookie cutter classes & let the player build their toon the way they like to play!

Deyirn 8 years ago
This is a descent game and more people should pay attention to it, but unless you have a team of people to rely on, you won'y have as much fun as you would've otherwise.

Merkadis 8 years ago
Great and very unique game thanks to the D&D rule set it runs on.
The only mmo that runs on a D&D done right and therefore it will ALWAYS have player base simply because there are no analogues to the game, at least not ones worth a damn for sure.
The only problem is the chopped to pieces content that is being sold piece by piece.. but well.. when you’re the only game offering something badass, something for real unique, you can get that kind of slack no sweat. At least until some worthy competition pops up, if it ever pops up that is since apparently making fun stuff based on D&D ain’t popular among companies, it seems they rather prefer to make the usual boring trash we are forced to chew on these days.. you know, like tera.
I still hope that D&D will get a second wind of sorts and we’ll see more mmos that run on it that would really make my day because that system can make any trash game great.
Clueless about what D&D is? read here: dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules
(warning for dummies: contains many brain straining letters).
Shorter explanations on wiki.

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Merkadis 8 years ago
Great and very unique game thanks to the D&D rule set it runs on.
The only mmo that runs on a D&D done right and therefore it will ALWAYS have player base simply because there are no analogues to the game, at least not ones worth a damn for sure.

The only problem is the chopped to pieces content that is being sold piece by piece.. but well.. when you're the only game offering something badass, something for real unique, you can get that kind of slack no sweat. At least until some worthy competition pops up, if it ever pops up that is since apparently making fun stuff based on D&D ain't popular among companies, it seems they rather prefer to make the usual boring trash we are forced to chew on these days.. you know, like tera.
I still hope that D&D will get a second wind of sorts and we'll see more mmos that run on it that would really make my day because that system can make any trash game great.

Clueless about what D&D is? read here: https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules (warning for dummies: contains many brain straining letters).
Shorter explanations on wiki.

nexthazard 8 years ago
It is a very fun game and have its player base, its not a fast pick up and play as i remember i tried it 3 times and each time even though it was always a new character each experience was different and fun.

StinkUpperLip 8 years ago
This game sucks. Lets talk Lord of the rings
This game has a HORRIBLE history. It was actually ORIGINALLY. Can you believe this game was actually a SIERRA GAMES title as of 1999? Sadly, before they could launch, they had money issues and sold to Vivendi, who then gave Turbine the rights. The game was origianly Middel Earth, and WAS AN AWESOME AMAZING concept of a mmorp.
Turbine took it, turned it into a doo pile, and it no longer became the epic game it was supposed to be (money, again, turns things into "wow" or as close as possible). DDO is no exception, another failed game by Turbine. Wish it would shut down, the VISA machine disguised as a game is annoying.

Todoran 8 years ago
Fake free to play game with locked content and characters

ddd 8 years ago
Fake free to play game with locked content and characters, very ugly looking, most of time u play alone,not serious game,devs earning for food at best.

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luthebear 8 years ago
Why do you allways say games were dead already? DDO had a huge playerbase until now. I ever played it a while and i met alot of players ingame. Many helpful guys and a great guild with ohh ohh 40+ online members on a midweek day. Thats even not dead at all.
So i love it.

Huh? 8 years ago
"Who cares" option missing.
The game is dead long ago.

View 1 reply

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