D&D Online - Interview @ MMORPG

MMORPG spoke with the husband and wife team of Fernando and Kate Piaz from Turbine's Dungeons and Dragons Online to talk about the game's transition from a subscription based title to the free to play model. Formerly known as Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach, the new incarnation of the game will be called Dungeons and Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited.

The DDO Dynamic Duo explained that they felt it was necessary to rename DDO due to the new business model. "It's also to reflect," he elaborated, "just how far the game has come since launch." He went on to list a number of major elements that are present in today's game that weren't around at launch: soloable, PvP elements, outdoor adventures, a higher level cap, and more.

Dungeons and Dragons will be among the first major subscription based MMORPG to make the move to an item shop model. While this may seem like a good idea on the surface, industry insiders have warned that the key to the success of an item shop game is that the store not be "tacked on" at the end, but rather be fully incorporated into the game's original design.

"I think we're really fortunate with DDO,' answered Kate Piaz, "in the sense that D&D has always followed the notion that you would buy a module and play it and when you were ready to move beyond it you would go down to the hobby shop and you would expand your experience... It's not that it's a big change for us. We've always been the different MMO. We've always had mechanics that were more diverse than the other more classic MMOs so for us, this felt like a relatively easy migration because we're not trying to sell the endgame, we're not selling raid loot, we're enhancing the overall experience by providing conveniences, luxury items, cosmetic items and stuff like that that's really going to enhance the kind of gameplay that you have but don't in any way change that moment to moment gameplay."