If you’re not familiar with it, one look at the game will send you scurrying to the next display; there is no other way to put it, Asheron’s Call looks every bit the nine year old game. Turbine has no illusions of drawing in new customers; it looks at the game as a statement of their commitment to the fan base. If some past players like me decided to return that is just icing on the cake and I’m told we would find our old characters with a little work as the team has never done a character wipe. The game is possibly the best example in the industry of standing by your product.

Dungeon and Dragons Online

Kate Paiz is the senior producer for Dungeons and Dragons Online and the first thing you’re going to find out is she knows her game inside and out. Kate is also like a proud parent when she talks about the game and how it has changed.

She had her work cut out for her this Thursday afternoon as I’m a former DDO player and I had a laundry list of items that drove me away from the game, but first a history lesson:

In 2006 Turbine launched the game to much hype and unleashed a sizeable force of D&D tabletop fans into what sounded like the perfect game. In retrospect it was a no win situation for the company, the D&D fan base are some of the most critical people around. Turbine took a unique approach, concentrate on what D&D is all about, a party getting together and exploring dungeons.

DDO dared to be different and proved that sometimes you have to be careful to not stray too far too fast. The original game had no outdoor areas per say except the city of Stormreach, it had almost zero solo content and failed to provide any reason for in game communities to form.