DDO Unlimited Delayed to September

[Andy Chalk]

DDO Unlimited Delayed to September

The release of Eberron Unlimited, the Dungeons & Dragons Online expansion that will convert the game to a free-to-play model, has been delayed until September.

free-to-play model [http://www.turbine.com/] with various fee-based upgrades and account options available to players who want to delve deeper into the game. The DDO Unlimited expansion, which will also raise the level cap, introduce a new player class and add "major new content," was scheduled to be released on August 4 but has now been pushed back to September 9.

"We've had a tremendous response to DDO Unlimited from the players and press who are participating in our beta program. We've been holding a series of live events as part of the beta program and have seen an unprecedented level of participation from players," said DDO Unlimited Executive Producer Fernando Paiz.

"While we are very pleased with the performance of the game and are excited about the response from the players, we are committed to delivering a high-quality experience," he continued. "We feel that more time is needed to deliver on this commitment. As a result, we are delaying our launch to ensure that we can support the massive increase in players that we are expecting and deliver them a free to play experience like none other."

For more information about DDO Unlimited or to sign up for the now-extended beta, head over to DDO.com [http://www.ddo.com/].


Permalink

 

[Abedeus]

With every "announcement" I'm getting less and less interested.

In September, thousands of people will have Champions Online and Aion. I doubt they will have many people interested in DDO.

 

[camazotz]

Yep...it'll be 4 year old repackaged MMo with microtransactions vs. two brand new contenders with shiny new looks.

 

[Rathy]

The issue here is that announcing, and then subsequently delaying a game model change can't go over well. It also does not help, as was said, that September is a pretty big month for MMOs as is, especially ones that'll likely be big for quite a while around then. I'd almost thing going free to play early to hook people, then going the micro-transaction route slightly later would be far more beneficial.

 

[IrrelevantTangent]

Why do I get the feeling I'd be much better off just sticking to regular pen-and-paper D&D?

 

[theultimateend]

Why do I get the feeling I'd be much better off just sticking to regular pen-and-paper D&D?

Because it is one of the greatest things in life .

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Ugghhhh..... why not make it 3 a month for basic crap and 15 for the premium? Then let you buy super characters for 30-50$ a pop they gain exp 3-5X faster and have higher stats and less restrictions balance it out so they can't PvP with jsut anyone, last in line for items in a group and their money is 2 or 3X less valuable.

I'd rather blow 100$ up front for a fun game for the frist few months rather than have a years worth of suck ass MMO grind fest.

 

[Xanadu84]

Just because every cheapass Korean MMO uses a free to play model doesn't mean that DDO has no chance of doing it right. From what ive heard, DDO has a pretty good model. For free, you can play base races and classes, 2 character slots, basically have a complete game. With the monthly fee, you can get all the races and classes, but if you really want to make, say, a Drow, then you can unlock it with a 1 time fee. None of this power gameing, pay to level up nonsense, its just a free game where you can pay to get additional content. Personally, I'm quite excited, and its a shame that it was pushed back till September.

 

[hansari]

Just because every cheapass Korean MMO uses a free to play model doesn't mean that DDO has no chance of doing it right. From what ive heard, DDO has a pretty good model..... its just a free game where you can pay to get additional content.

The only question is, will it be one of those MMORPG's that essentially pushes you to sign up because the "free" parts of the gameplay are too weak and watered-down?

Plenty of other MMO's have done it...were the only point in playing them was to ultimately sign up...no middleground...

 

[bodhidharma]

Just because every cheapass Korean MMO uses a free to play model doesn't mean that DDO has no chance of doing it right. From what ive heard, DDO has a pretty good model..... its just a free game where you can pay to get additional content.

The only question is, will it be one of those MMORPG's that essentially pushes you to sign up because the "free" parts of the gameplay are too weak and watered-down?

Plenty of other MMO's have done it...were the only point in playing them was to ultimately sign up...no middleground...

I've played the beta. It really is free not watered dwon. Some of the high end content is purchase only but you can gain points for free also. Its actually a pretty decent mmo the fact that anyone can play it for free is a bonus.

 

[bodhidharma]

With every "announcement" I'm getting less and less interested.

In September, thousands of people will have Champions Online and Aion. I doubt they will have many people interested in DDO.

Champions Online looks pretty decent. I wouldn't get too excited over Aion. I was invited to beta and I would give it a huge thumbs down. It is already live in korea and china. They have lower standards for game development. In fact I would play 9dragons over that and thats free to play. 9dragons is a seriously weak game as well.

 

[8bithero]

I played DDO for quite some time.

If you are a fan of D&D (Basic, Advanced, or 2nd Edition), don't bother. If you like 3 and above, I'm sure you'll be okay with the Ebberon setting and the FREAKIN' ROBOTS! Seriously?!?

Robots but no gnomes, druids, half-elves, or half-orcs. Even the classes (fighter, barbarian, wizard, socerer, rogue, paladin, cleric, and bard) can all be played exactly the same in this (instanced)dungeon crawling hack and slash.

When I made it to Lvl 16 (the prior highest possible), it just became a grindfest for loot. Same raids, same instances over and over ad naseum.

No expansive land to explore, just Stormreach and it's sewers and such. Everything looks exactly the same, every build is exactly the same. It's all very, very generic.

Don't take my word for it; try the FTP. Play for a week and tell me you aren't just bored to tears. Worst waste of money ever. The developers just kept promising more to come, and those promises were never made good. Hell, you can't even play because it's broken most of the time. And the lag will rape your will to play, anyway (regarless of what your rig is, the lag is on their end and a new "Dungeon Alert"system is the fix. ie: punish the zergers).

Seriously, try it for a week. Then toss it aside and try something better.

 

[Sneaky Paladin]

I played DDO for quite some time.

If you are a fan of D&D (Basic, Advanced, or 2nd Edition), don't bother. If you like 3 and above, I'm sure you'll be okay with the Ebberon setting and the FREAKIN' ROBOTS! Seriously?!?

Robots but no gnomes, druids, half-elves, or half-orcs. Even the classes (fighter, barbarian, wizard, socerer, rogue, paladin, cleric, and bard) can all be played exactly the same in this (instanced)dungeon crawling hack and slash.

When I made it to Lvl 16 (the prior highest possible), it just became a grindfest for loot. Same raids, same instances over and over ad naseum.

No expansive land to explore, just Stormreach and it's sewers and such. Everything looks exactly the same, every build is exactly the same. It's all very, very generic.

Don't take my word for it; try the FTP. Play for a week and tell me you aren't just bored to tears. Worst waste of money ever. The developers just kept promising more to come, and those promises were never made good. Hell, you can't even play because it's broken most of the time. And the lag will rape your will to play, anyway (regarless of what your rig is, the lag is on their end and a new "Dungeon Alert"system is the fix. ie: punish the zergers).

Seriously, try it for a week. Then toss it aside and try something better.

Well.....your quite a downer about this....