I started up DDO recently. It yet another in the long line of MMOs that I have played. It came out about 4 years ago to mixed reviews. When it was released, I was playing EverQuest when this was released, and I don't really jump games that much. A friend had played in beta, and said it was fun, but it wasn't fun enough to buy. These two things, plus the game setting (game setting is basically the world and rules that govern the game, in this case Eberron, which is lame), kept me far from the game. The only reason I ended up giving it a try is because it adopted the Korean MMO model and is now free to play with an optional item mall. I don't have to pay a cent to play, and it is totally legal to do so (unlike swgemu, which is living in some technical loophole gray area). It is probably a good thing, because if I payed for the game, I would annoyed at myself.
I tend to play skill based characters in PnP DnD, mostly rogues and scouts, so I started up this game with a halfling rogue. MMOs never really get rogues, they tend to just be high damage dealers with a just enough stealth to call them rogues. I made my rogue just like I would if I was playing with my friends, expecting that I would be making a new one shortly to adapt to being the MMO equivalent of a rogue. I was very pleasantly surprised by DDO's rogue. Skills matter! With minor exception, I am using all my rogue abilities as if I was playing in real life (the idea of referring to the pencil and paper game as 'in real life' was too amusing to me not to have this little side note telling you I found it amusing...lame, I know). If I don't have enough ranks in spot and search, I miss traps and secret doors. I don't think the synergy bonuses to skills are in game, but the enhancement system kinda makes up for that. It was just amazing to me that I actually felt like I was playing a rogue and not generic damage dealer.
The leveling system is a little different. There are 20 levels and each level is broken into 5 ranks. At ranks 1-4 you get enhancement points, and at rank 5 you raise in level. A character has both racial and class enhancements to choose from, some have prerequisites and some cost more than one point. Enhancements let the player make small modifications to their characters. Most of them result in a +2 to a given skill, but there are temporary buffs, and stat enhancements as well. Most MMOs anymore have a system similar to this one: SWG live has expertise (not sure at what level, it was just being added when I stopped playing), WoW has talents at level 10, and EQ kicks there Alternate Experience system in at 51.
The game is lacking, however. PnP DnD is fun not just because of what you are doing, but who you are doing it with. The chat system in game is fairly rudimentary. They do have an in-game voice chat system, but that can never make up for a good, well thought out text chat system. Voice chat only works in groups, but the text chat is always there, and if you can't coordinate with people enough to get grouped there are going to be problems. The game also relies heavily on instances. This can be both good and bad. It is good when you don't want people taking your kills or 'helping' you. It also helps lessen server strain. The bad when thinking about the social aspect of the game. You can't meet people while questing since almost all the questing is done in your own little private instance. If you want to take people along, you have to sit out in a city until everyone is ready to go, then go in. Add the bad chat system to the fact that you spend 99% of your play time inadvertently hiding because you are doing quests, and it feels pretty much like a stand alone game. Only in this stand alone game, you can't save where ever you want, so you either have to finish your instance, or be prepared to do it all over again when you come back.
I have a feeling this is going to be an on again off again kinda of game for me, and I can honestly say I doubt I will ever string the words DDO and addicted together in a sentence. But this is kind of what I am looking for right now in a game, especially with NaNoWriMo coming up. And speaking of NaNo, I need to get back to my notes.
