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Turbine Shows Off Latest D&D, Asheron's Call Announcements

Posted by simoniker on from the spinning-up dept.

Thanks to Warcry for its coverage of MMO creator Turbine's 'Turbine Nation' fanfest, an event which has included new details on the 2005-due Dungeons & Dragons Online, confirming "dungeon randomization as well as instancing in... the game (when you enter a dungeon, a completely separate version of that dungeon is created for you and your party)." GameSpy also has multiple new articles on D&D Online, including a new preview mentioning "D&D Online will be extremely combat-heavy. A whole lot of thought was put into its real-time combat system." Finally, Warcry has details on the Asheron's Call expansion, being developed following Turbine's buyback of the franchise, which apparently includes a "level cap... raise from 126 to 275."

2 of 20 comments (clear)

  1. Maybe to be used as a tool for Table Top Play? by NashCarey · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Many times DM's have a hard time getting the players on the same page with long descriptive monologues of areas the players are in. With this concept maybe the players only need to look so far as a laptop computer to have a complete idea as to the layout. And if the movement and other things follows the basic rules set forth they may be able to use this as a replacement of purchasing expensive minatures, paints, and markers to help the players visualize. I personally like when different formats come together to create a new style of play.

    For instance I have recently put on an ARG (Alternate Reality Game) at http://ruaware.org/. Many people feel the game is more an RPG than an ARG, but whatever it is, it is new, and when games come together, everyone wins.

  2. small server size vs. lag vs. finding a group by bbingham · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Turbine's plans to have very small servers - did I actually read 200-300 per server? may mesh with the need to dramatically reduce lag.

    Since they are proposing an almost-twitch game they'll get hammered by people complaining about the lag.

    Small servers -> less server-based lag and also could imply less network latency depending on server locations and connectivity.

    However, the downside is finding someone compatible to play with when you're on. I wonder if they are intending something like City of Heroes instanced locations (Steel Canyon, Steel Canyon 2, etc) that keep the number of heroes down to a reasonable number in an area but give you lots of opportunities to find pickup teammates. COH has instanced missions also - they work fine and clearly all new MMPORGS will have something similar.

    All in all, Turbine seems to be on the right track. They should be heartened by the awesome launch of COH - the MMPORG market is far from saturated.