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Dungeons & Dragons Online now free

Turbine's sword-and-sorcery MMOG relaunched with new content, DDO Store, gratis option.

Turbine Inc.'s Dungeons & Dragons Online hasn't exactly risen above the crowd of massively multiplayer online role-playing games since its February 2006 launch. In a bid to reverse the game's fortunes, Turbine has opted to relaunch the game under a new free-to-play, microtransaction-supported business model. Today, the developer announced that the free-to-play option, along with a host of new content included in the Eberron Unlimited expansion, is now available.

It now costs absolutely nothing to slaughter this poor, defenseless nether-spawn.

It now costs absolutely nothing to slaughter this poor, defenseless nether-spawn.

As part of DDO's new pricing scheme, online gamers can play the game for free, purchasing adventure packs, items, and other content individually through the new DDO Store. The game itself is also available as a free download through Turbine's official Web site. Alternatively, players can continue to subscribe to the game, receiving all newly released content as part of their monthly purchase.

The relaunch comes as Turbine enters into the legal battlefield with DDO publisher Atari. Last month, the developer abruptly sued Atari, claiming that the publisher was underpromoting the relaunch of DDO in a bid to trigger a licensing-termination clause for the rights to make online D&D games. The strategy, Turbine claimed, was part of Atari's plan to create a new D&D-themed MMOG, which is rumored to be based on the Neverwinter Nights universe and in development at Cryptic Studios.

Responding to Turbine's suit, Atari called the litigation "frivolous," saying that it filed its own motions to dismiss the case and recovery money related to the original licensing deal. "Last week, with no warning, Turbine filed what can only be viewed as a frivolous lawsuit against Atari," the publisher said. "Turbine's actions also appear intended to divert attention from the contractual obligations that Turbine owes to Atari."

For more information, check out GameSpot's previous coverage of Dungeons & Dragons Online.

48 Comments

  • armouredpriest

    Posted Oct 9, 2009 12:09 pm GMT

    For me, I don't like the concept of monthly fees. I feel obligated to play, and my prefered play style is to jump around from game to game. So I'm personally OK with the microtransaction model in this case. DDO as a pay-per-month MMO was mediocre at best. I'll admit it, its not especially accessible and not very easy compared to WoW...although this does have the effect of keeping a lot of annoying internet "kids" off of the servers (Kids in this case refering to anyone acting annoyingly juvenile, regardless of actual age). To be fair, people with a D&D background are probably going to have an easier time getting into this game (I could bring up the whole 3rd edition vs 4th edition argument but I won't...other then to say while I personally prefer the 3rd ed rules set, the 4th ed rule set would have been easier to translate into MMO form, and probably be easier to learn. Again, I'm pretty OK with how things turned out, mostly this is just an observation).

    Anyway, my main observation here is perceived competition: As a monthy fee MMO, DDO was mediocre at best. As a free, microtransaction MMO and the competition there, its pretty good. Look at it this way: You could be playing a game like Maple Story (not a terrible game, but I found it kinda boring), or for the same cost structure you could play DDO.

  • kennylinwood

    Posted Sep 25, 2009 5:09 am GMT

    For cryin out loud will u stop comparing WoW with other mmos please and WoW copied other things from other mmos

  • Merc_Scar

    Posted Sep 13, 2009 9:14 am GMT

    I tried it, but nothing can take down the juggernaut that is World of Warcraft. WoW is just so accessible and easy compared to other MMO's.

  • kram590

    Posted Sep 13, 2009 7:33 am GMT

    Blows my mind that the monthy fee for any game would have any effect on decision to play it. If a crappy game is free to play, then it makes it a good game? Besides, wake up people, nothing in life is free. They will pull the money out of you one way or another. Just play a game is you enjoy it. You have to go with what you like.

  • PiercePlatinum

    Posted Sep 12, 2009 11:09 pm GMT

    I've played this game and it's alot of fun... good customization of weapons and armor and the players I've played with were pretty cool. I found myself repeating a lot of quests, though.
    Overall, good fun and the action is pretty fast paced.

  • leoleez

    Posted Sep 12, 2009 8:58 pm GMT

    why r they all suing each other, just sit down and make good games, that all we ask and pay for

  • dudemanbro22

    Posted Sep 12, 2009 6:30 pm GMT

    Wow, vicsrealms makes my nosebleed from the awesomeness that is his knowledge of D&D.

  • vicsrealms

    Posted Sep 12, 2009 10:54 am GMT

    If it was in a different setting I might be interested, but Ebberron is not my favorite DnD world. I would have preferred Krynn but they destroyed my interest in that world with the Fifth Age nonsense. Or even better would have been Toril, but they have currently done the same thing to Toril with the death of Midnight and the whole spell plague mess. Shoot, that mess with Toril has even made me lose interest in the last Drizzt series of books and I have been a huge fan of those since I was introduced to the Dark Elf Trilogy in the 90's. I haven't even been thrilled with the latest Forgotten Realms novels that have come out since the spell plague. Besides, if I do pull away from WoW it will most likely be for Star Wars the Old Republic. I'm running out of content to explore on WoTLK since I'm not a Raider or a PvPer.

  • AzatiS

    Posted Sep 12, 2009 10:52 am GMT

    Its worth a try , and worthed my instant unistall also...

    Really bad game to begin with , for free is ok though you can play way better free games nowdays.

    Great dungeon atmosphere that ruined from bad actor voices , sloppy animations , bad controls , confusing items , way complicated and for no reason hard to understand spells and skills ( not all but some are )...

    Didnt like it at all ,a fter 20 minutes i unistall it. But try it maybe you like it

  • Inconnux

    Posted Sep 12, 2009 10:32 am GMT

    it's worth a try ...

  • MindTricked

    Posted Sep 10, 2009 2:22 pm GMT

    Okay, they've fixed/updated the account set-up. Now it's easy as cake. Guess I'll be getting my D&D on now... until the free content dries up a la Free Realms.

  • athenian29

    Posted Sep 10, 2009 2:01 pm GMT

    Finally. Now I get to check it out!

  • tommynj

    Posted Sep 10, 2009 1:52 pm GMT

    If people didn't like this game before what makes you think they will like it now ? It hasn't changed a bit except the new business model.

  • MindTricked

    Posted Sep 10, 2009 1:35 pm GMT

    I guess I'll try AGAIN to set up an account so I can play the thing. Mein Gott in Himmel* but Turbine doesn't make it easy. If it doesn't take this time, I'm un-installing the turkey and going back to Guild Wars.


    *thank you Nightcrawler/Chris Claremont

  • FlashCharge

    Posted Sep 10, 2009 8:34 am GMT

    Sounds like an ever ending corporate battle which maybe more exciting than the game itself.

  • atopp399

    Posted Sep 10, 2009 7:57 am GMT

    I will be checking this out tonight. I am against microtransactions generally but if the game is free to download and play I will try it out. I normally don't like trials because I hate losing my character at the end of it so this will be a good option I think.

    I played the free version of Runescape back in the day and had a lot of fun even though it was limited compared to the member game so maybe this could work the same way to pass some time without the need to log in every single night. As long as the free game isn't TOO limiting.

    I just hope they are prepared for the influx of new players. It is going to be a stress on their servers if they aren't ready. I have a feeling the maturity level of the players will also decrease going to a free based system simply for the fact that a lot of younger players who did not have access to a paid subscription type game are going to increase by a lot.

  • shandi235

    Posted Sep 10, 2009 7:46 am GMT

    That video is over 2 years old. that is NOT the current official trailer. The level cap for the video was 12. It is currently 20. If you want to see the real current video go to the game's website

  • NynoMan

    Posted Sep 10, 2009 7:09 am GMT

    whats wrong when i try to make my acc and download the game there is an error,why?
    help plz

  • FoeCrusher

    Posted Sep 10, 2009 6:46 am GMT

    I tried to get it to work but it still wanted my credit card.

  • kargion

    Posted Sep 10, 2009 6:06 am GMT

    This is incorrect. D&D online is 100% free from now on with cash shop. Anything you can buy is optional.

  • Rickirock

    Posted Sep 10, 2009 4:46 am GMT

    It's a free game, but there's gonna be released a new Dungeons & Dragons online game that you have to buy

  • bodylotion

    Posted Sep 10, 2009 3:42 am GMT

    if it's free why does it still say in the trailer "Buy Now"? And is this a real free game or just a free game you can walk in and have to buy the weapons with real money or something?

  • quadraleap

    Posted Sep 10, 2009 2:11 am GMT

    I might give that a whirl someday.

  • Phylos_downs

    Posted Sep 10, 2009 12:45 am GMT

    I have been trying to play since launch (yesterday), but never have I encountered so much difficulty in writing my name in the account creation page, which they didn't actually open till late in the night and of course with a site crash. At this rate we'll be playing the game in November (

  • zig_star

    Posted Sep 9, 2009 11:57 pm GMT

    excellent

  • BloodMist

    Posted Sep 9, 2009 10:17 pm GMT

    Well if it's free i suppose i'll give it a try...y'know, some day.

  • Weddum

    Posted Sep 9, 2009 10:13 pm GMT

    Its free, so theres no need for people to start getting all defensive about microtransactions and whatnot. Chances are the game will be perfectly playable without having to pay extra money.

    Think of it as an extended demo.

  • rann89

    Posted Sep 9, 2009 9:28 pm GMT

    This is a good idea to market their game further. Everyone's going to download it for free just to try it out. The microtransactional was probably done because they turn it in into a win/win situation. Anyone that really likes the game (and now they can find out, because they can download it for free) will end up paying the subscription anyway. I was curious about DDO myself but I didn't want to pay for something in the off-chance that I just bought a game I don't even like.

    Now I can download it and if I like, awesome. If I don't, well I didn't waste anything but time finding out.

  • thibbledorfP

    Posted Sep 9, 2009 9:16 pm GMT

    Microtransactions can work, as long as the 'free' game costs retail price up front and offers a full experience. Just look at Guildwards. Guildwars, however, has had a consistently decent following, D&D Onlines woes may relate to the game content not being that special, unfortunately. The fact that D&D Online can be downloaded for free, however, means that they will pretty much have to gimp the free service over time by providing huge incentives to paying customers. Otherwise where is the money coming from?

  • QuasarZ71 posted Sep 9, 2009 7:03 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    QuasarZ71

    Posted Sep 9, 2009 7:03 pm GMT (hide)

    Atari has become one of the worst publishers. I will never buy a game published by them again.

  • NoLifeGamin posted Sep 9, 2009 6:25 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    NoLifeGamin

    Posted Sep 9, 2009 6:25 pm GMT (hide)

    ANY GAME that involves micro-transactions is definitely FAIL, sadly those guys at Blizzard is smart enough not to do this with WoW, which is unfortunate for gamers like me who just want to watch it die ^_^

  • flammable_zeus

    Posted Sep 9, 2009 6:15 pm GMT

    "Turbine has opted to relaunch the game under a new free-to-play, microtransaction-supported business model."

    Stopped reading there. Not free to play if you have to actually pay money to compete at all. I'd sooner pay monthly and be on an even-footing with everybody than suck just because everybody else has more money than I do.

  • Leg3nd4ry

    Posted Sep 9, 2009 5:16 pm GMT

    Well, i never played it when it was p2p but im currently downloading it now, why not? its got to be better then the myriad of existing f2p grindfests out there right now. Guess i can play this for my mmo fix until guild wars 2 comes along.

  • poordude1089

    Posted Sep 9, 2009 5:15 pm GMT

    Can't hurt to try it out.

  • brian_13un

    Posted Sep 9, 2009 5:11 pm GMT

    Great that's great

  • Diernes

    Posted Sep 9, 2009 5:07 pm GMT

    It's not a bad game, never really got me though. probably never should have been a pay to play.

  • fedejico

    Posted Sep 9, 2009 4:38 pm GMT

    I've just played the game for a good couple of hours and this is what I have to say. Some of the quest mechanics (especially about rewards) are brilliant. DnD rules here feel less pen and paper and more natural than in some other DnD based games (you never get the feeling of "watiting for the round to end" to start the next attack). Difficulty is alright.
    Of course time will tell about keeping the player's interest, variety, replayability, etc.

  • middlefinger posted Sep 9, 2009 4:26 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    middlefinger

    Posted Sep 9, 2009 4:26 pm GMT (hide)

    Turbine needs to just give up on this game and concentrate on LotrO. Lot more potential there.

  • method115

    Posted Sep 9, 2009 4:04 pm GMT

    This was a good game. It wasn't worth paying for by just a small margin to me. I still wanted to play it after I wad done with the trial period just not enough to pay monthly.

  • TrueIori

    Posted Sep 9, 2009 3:52 pm GMT

    free? i check it out

  • halloran95

    Posted Sep 9, 2009 3:50 pm GMT

    haha just checked it out... looks like the website crashed

  • Plaidboy1

    Posted Sep 9, 2009 3:46 pm GMT

    Hmm, I just went to try and down load it and the offical website is down. I'd like to give it a try.

  • James00715

    Posted Sep 9, 2009 3:42 pm GMT

    From what I have read on it, the game doesn't have many quests, so it only takes a few months to finish everything. Then, all you can do is make another class and do the same quests over again. Might not be bad for a free game though.

    Still, I don't think microtransactions are the way to go. I would even support ingame ads over them. Microtransactions just unbalance the game. You end up having to pay money to compete, so it essentially becomes no different than a pay2play game.

  • evilross

    Posted Sep 9, 2009 3:38 pm GMT

    This is a very good game actually. Its a shame it was overlooked thanks to the WoW juggernaut. A lot of the casual WoW MMO gamers will not get into this game, as it is heavy in the stats and rules department, and the combat is very action oriented, its not a auto-attack click fest.
    The character creation is deep, its the richest character building option out there in MMO's (it is D&D after all). I've played this off and on since launch, and I can say to anyone out there with a interest in online RPG's this is worth checking out. It's free, so give it a try. This is a deep and high quality game, with tons more content then was avalible at launch.

  • dennisheadley

    Posted Sep 9, 2009 3:36 pm GMT

    Been trying it out and for a free game its not that bad at all, but it is more like Guild Wars than it is World of Warcraft in that it's a lot of instanced zones. I really like the fact that rogues are more than damage dealers in this game and their skills are actually useful.

  • jasongm

    Posted Sep 9, 2009 3:27 pm GMT

    If its free i'm sold!

  • ReaperV7 posted Sep 9, 2009 3:25 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    ReaperV7

    Posted Sep 9, 2009 3:25 pm GMT (hide)

    pass.

  • Darkmoone1

    Posted Sep 9, 2009 3:05 pm GMT

    hmmm.....might check it out.

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