Recently, I bought the preorder of the game all Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMO’s for you guys that only play Halo) were based on: Dungeons and Dragons Online.  I participated in the headstart event and got to play it early but of course it released as I was flying to NY for an event and so I ended up playing it for a few hours a night when I had time on the weekend.

D&DO takes a bit of a different path from the other MMO’s I have played, and one I personally enjoy. Instead of grinding (gaining experience points, XP, off mob’s killed) you receive your XP by entering dungeons and doing instance type raids by yourself or with a party for the harder ones.

The interface reminds me of World of Warcraft, in that there are easily accessible buttons you can push for your commands and you get the usually choice of multiple jobs and races.  Me being me, of course I chose a human but you can be a Halfling, a dwarf, an elf, etc., the same as in other games. As I started playing this with a couple of my girlfriends, I did not choose my normal magic damage dealer type job and chose a cleric instead, which is a party’s main healer.  I did this very unwillingly, but my friends were dead set on their jobs so I had to make a decision that was best for the group, and I bit the bullet.

While, I have never played the board game D&D, I do know some about it and the game appears to stay mostly true to it’s roots, including that of random (dice roll) abilities- meaning when someone hits or casts spells it will be different every time in how much of an effect it has. I haven’t really decided I like this or not, but I am pretty sure I will get used to it eventually.

One of the best things about the game is the integrated party chat system, meaning if you are in a party you are able to communicate with anyone that has a pc mic and their voice chat enabled. As someone that plays a lot of MMO’s and is forever having to give out my teamspeak server and instructions I am ever so grateful that finally I can play a game that lets me communicate vital information immediately to my party. I will report more as my adventures take me places (I am only level 2), but in the meantime if your bored join me (Athenas PMS) on Thelanis for some classic geeked-out action!