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D&D Online status update
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Sorry, Europe - no free D&D Online for you. Awww.
Hey, it's an update about Dungeons & Dragons Online! And apparently that update is - "Screw you, EU!"
...OK, maybe not. But the long and short of it is, while the status of DDO is turning into free-play in the US, it's staying subscription-based in Europe. For now, at least.
The interesting things I've found are as follows:
1. Turbine isn't handling the European business of DDO, British publisher Codemasters is. I'm curious if this means they're honestly trying to get things in order before the re-launch (which makes me wonder why they didn't wait to do it worldwide), or if they're more reliant on DDO to fund their current projects. The latter seems unlikely, as even though Codemasters is not in the best way business-wise - if the sudden departure of their COO a few months back is any indication - they're a publisher and not a developer, and have a bigger cash flow. So I'm left a little puzzled as to the why of it.
2. If you look at the Codemasters press release on the topic, it's called out specifically as "Eberron Unlimited." In my mind this raises the possibility of other partial world updates - wistful thinking groups in other settings like Dark Sun, Spelljammer, and Ravenloft - but while this is unlikely, I'm curious as to how they aim to resolve the difference between the ruleset DDO is based on (3.5) versus the theoretical ruleset of the Neverwinter Nights MMO (which is very, very likely 4th edition, if for no other reason than that Wizards of the Coast will likely not allow for any other ruleset to be used for a new D&D title).
That's all the updates I got for now - I'll keep you posted. You know, like I do.
- R. Dobbs
