Today, Dungeons and Dragons Online is relaunching as a free-to-play product with options to upgrade to a VIP account for extra perks, and microtransaction support for purchasing character slots, unlocking previously hard to unlock races and classes (such as drow and monks), and adding access to new quests.

The VIP option runs around $15 a month, and includes 10 character slots (as opposed to the free account’s 4), and access to additional content and classes.

I played DDO back when it had first launched, and am happy to say they’ve polished the experience considerably. The controls are still not quite what most MMO gamers will be used to, but are fairly comfortable after a short adjustment period. Character customization is nicely fleshed out in both the appearance and the skills department.

Previously it could be daunting for a new player to try and adapt to D&D rules and come up with a starting build - but they’ve deveoped a “paths” system for all classes where you can choose a preset path which you may later deviate from if you so choose, and they give a very accurate “solo ability” score to let the player know what they should expect for each class and path.

Overall, I am impressed with the changes, though most dungeons I have attempted are old ones that have been slightly retouched in some cases. It should be interesting to see how their new business model pans out.

For more on D&D Online, visit http://www.ddo.com/

Looks like the Sy Fy MMO project is going to be on the PS3, if these job postings are correct.  Trion is looking for developers who have some PS3 experience for the project, so that sounds like there might be a console version of this game coming out, or perhaps the game is being solely made for the PS3?

Either way, pretty exciting stuff.  http://www.trionworld.com/careers.php

Just some recent Alganon news…

Our public beta starts in September and private beta is going on now! Follow us at @myalganon for the URL of the new sign-up page.

If you don’t want to wait, then register at http://bit.ly/SVxH4 and post at http://bit.ly/sTedx to get on the list now!

We’ve also just posted a couple new items on our website. The latest Community Roundtable focusing on UI questions - http://bit.ly/Lwz3L - and a Dev Blog that discussed “MMO Hype” - http://bit.ly/1VGwg - have been posted!

For more information about Alganon, visit http://www.alganon.com/

It’s that time again - Comic-con is here and all manner of geeks, nerds, and gamers have taken over downtown San Diego!

Like any self respecting MMO gamer, when I picked up my comic-con passes, I made a beeline for the exhibition hall to see what new and exciting things were coming! With only an hour before the hall closed, I made sure to stop by the SOE booth to check out what was new and planned for my current MMO flavor of choice - Everquest 2.

Everquest 2 adds a lot of content between expansions, and the most recent content that I’ve come into contact with are the Order of Rime quests in Kunark. The bulk of the quest line is geared toward high level solo players - and the rewards are well worth it! Once you’ve maxxed out your faction with Order of Rime, you’ll get access to faction items including a pretty badass looking mount dubbed an Icemare - an icy version of the nightmare mount. A nice touch - ice crystals appear in the horse’s footprints as it runs, then slowly melt away. The mount does cost 40 platinum - but in the process of getting maxxed out faction with Order of Rime you’ll earn a bit over that through quests and the like - so it is well worth it.

I also heard some great news - the devs have been hard at work on a patch dedicated to Fan Faire suggestions, requests, and bugs! Something I am particularly excited about - you’ll be able to turn old mounts into full-sized plushies to place in your house. Not sure where in your house they’ll fit? Well don’t fret - in the not too distant future there will be an extra room added to all player houses - so current homes will all get a boost in terms of space and item allowances.

Lastly, I got to hear a little bit about the Sentinel’s Fate expansion, currently planned for release in February 2010. The expansion will be reintroducing Odus, the homeland of the Erudites, to EQ2 and for all you decorators out there - there will reportedly be around 400 new furniture items released with everything from opulent to grungy pieces for your homes and guild halls. I also heard about a dungeon in development - there will be a flying airship dungeon that drifts above the continent of Odus which will be largely decorated with the fancy new pieces of furniture! No word on if it will have a plane-of-sky-esque “jump off the zone and land in the water below” - but it was brought up and not entirely written off. Here’s hoping!

I will be back at Comic-con on Saturday, and hope to have more updates on other MMOs - new and old. Stay tuned!

Hey everyone,

Tumblr does not support commenting out of the box.  I did integrate Disqus commenting, but typically the Tumblr infrastructure is to “reblog” things you like and add your two cents.  That doesn’t really work on a group blog like this.

One thing that is annoying about the commenting system I have integrated is that when a comment is made, the author of the original post doesn’t get an alert.  I actually get all the alerts, which is only somewhat helpful.  So what I’m trying to say is that you should come back and check your post now and then to see if there have been any comments. :)

Hopefully Tumblr integrates some kind of alternative to this eventually.

I am back, card is installed and sounds like I have placed a hairdryer into my machine.  Not that hair dryers are bad, but really why can’t these companies figure out how to make these things quiet.

Back to the question at hand; does it work at the highest setting?  Meh!  For the most part yes looks great, but really not playable at all, well not if I want to know what is hitting me or what might be wandering toward me and going into a city is completely out of the question.  I suppose the age of my cpu, Althlon 64 6000+, is showing itself which isn’t totally surprising.

I am very impressed that the game still hasn’t hit it’s limits on a relativly basic gaming PC.  They really weren’t kidding when they said EQ2 was designed for technology we don’t have yet, so it will look great for a lot longer than EQ ever did.

So anyway, experiment done and on a side note subscription cancelled.  Really, I need to put every cent I have away toward a surgery, but that is a post for a different blog.

Deeds are a facet of LOTRO that get a lot of bad press. “Too grindy” is the most common complaint.

I’m here tonight to speak out on behalf of Deeds. I love ‘em! When I know I’m going to have a busy week, I park a character in an area full of baddies I need to fight for a Deed, and then I can log in when I have 10-15 minutes free and kill a few mobs and know I’m working towards completing the Deed. They make very short play-sessions meaningful.

Also, all that ‘grinding’ comes with a sweet side-effect. Tons of coin and loot found on the mobs you’re fighting.

My advice is to let the Deeds go until the conditions are right for working on them. Don’t approach them like “I need to finish this Deed before I go Quest” because then they will be a chore. Instead use them to fill up pocket-sized game sessions; doing them that way makes them fun!

Thought the $10 Horse was a dilemma? Not worth the cost? Unrealistic prices for a F2P game? I’ve recently been playing Jade Dynasty and currently the cheapest mount is going for $20. Of course you can get a fancy looking mount for $30, or a full outfit to slap onto your avatar for $50 and a full skill reset to go along with that will tick in for $30 a piece.

And yet through all this, the game is suprisingly fun with some refreshing features.

EVE Online’s real-time skill training, tradeskills and even in-game email practically beg for a suite of external tools that players can use to monitor the situation in New Eden when they can’t actually BE in New Eden.

CCP has announced that their COSMOS social networking/web tools will be released, bit by bit, coinciding with their winter expansion. Many MMOs have web-based community features, but when the release of COSMOS is complete, players will be able to make some in-game changes from the web browser, monitor their in-game email, view character, alliance and corporation information, and probably more.

For more information, check out the EVE Insider.

“Bohemian Rhapsody Meets Lord of the Rings Online,” was created by Strondor from Across the Pond! Strondor is a Codemasters player from the United Kingdom, but even the Atlantic Ocean can’t stop the awesomeness that is Queen. LOTRO’s eerily accurate Freddie Mercury rocks out with a trio of orcs, a talking moose head, and some very very frightening thunderbolt and lightning. Mama mia!

Man this reminds me how amazing Freddie was and how much I miss him.