Posted Thursday, March 30, 2006 @ 05:51 AM 
So far... sadly clunky...
While the character generation is cool the actual game lacks any real fun in solo play. Things may be a lot different with a group, but since there isn't any global chat finding a group is difficult.
Leveling is extremely slow. They level capped everyone at 10th level and then introduced the concept of "ranks" inside each level. Each level has 5 ranks. A rank grants you one "enhancement". An enhancement might be +3 to Move Silently and Hide. But you don't gain what a regular dnd player would call a "level" until you gain 5 ranks. It takes about 5-8 hours of play to get to rank 2. Beyond that I found it difficult to play because the only experience you get is from completing quests and the quests often required a group.
Often dungeons have a trap or two that is generally lethal so as a solo player, you're sort of forced to play rogue.
Spellcasting is done on a point system. This make the Wizard and Sorcerer play almost identically. The Sorc gets more spell points... but that much (200 for Sorc, 170 for Wiz). The wizard gets more spells to add to their spell book then gets to pick 3 to cast dynamically from the points. Sorcerers get to pick 2 spells and that's it. I don't know why you'd play a Sorcerer. Spell casting effects were pretty cool visually.
The game is set in Wizard's Eberron setting. This lets you play a War Forged. Which is pretty cool, except they come with so many racial bonus that you don't get to improve them much. Their natural armor is better than about anything you buy or find at low level.
DnD Online throws back to the "wait to load each zone" philosophy. So as you go in to each part of the city you have to wait for the zone to load. This includes taverns. Speaking of taverns... this is the only place you can heal naturally... and slowly... You have to pay to buy food to heal. Taverns are lame.
Visually the game is pretty awesome. They have a variety of optional effects for the uber video card crowd (me).
Melee combat has more options than most MMORPG games. You can control blocking, attacks and tumbling to avoid blows.
It's an okay game, but I'm not going to re-up the monthly subscription of $15 month. By comparison to WoW it just isn't as easy to use, not as immersive, too slow, too dependent on groups, and clunky. I might be inclined to pay $10 or less... but it just isn't as good yet.
