Game attempts to combine NWN with GW and fails. Game is subpar when compared to what is already available o the market.
The Good
DDO is a close approximation of the 3.5 rule set. It is closer than any other game except NWN. It is somewhat of a living world in that you can interact with other people not in your group, when you are in town and not on a quest. Most of that interaction will occur in taverns. There is not much interaction that takes place outside of the taverns. For people that are familiar with DnD, this is a very good thing. For those that are not, well read further.
The Bad
Perhaps it is due to the selection of my server but I have found that there is little, scratch that, no roleplaying. Perhaps this is a symptom of beta players and the rush to achieve some level of status before the rest of the world has access. I do not know. I do know that I have not encountered a single person roleplay during a quest. In most if not all of the quests, you can tell who has played beta. They are the one way off in front that has left the rest of the party behind. They know the way. They might give some directions every now and then but basically there is no communication -- and certainly not at the level of what one would expect of an actual PnP game. In this way, it is no better than any other MMORPG out there.
The Ugly
The learning curve is horribly steep for those not familiar with DnD. Spell descriptions do not tell you the specifics of a spell (e.g. this spell will do 1d6 damage per caster level up to lvl 6. This damage type is fire, etc.). Instead, you get a rough generalization as to what the spell does. You are required to search the database to learn more about each spell and function that does not give a more detailed description; or you must have a copy of the SRD or a Player's Handbook.
Because DnD 3.5 is a VERY complicated system of rules, and because you cannot respec in this game, you will find many people that will feel gimped later in the game as they learn that they did not do something at character creation that was critical to the success of the character. For example, clerics need 15 in Wisdom in order to be able to cast lvl 9 spells when they gain access (this is not an issue now but it would be upon release of higher level content). If they do not take a 15 in Wisdom, they would have to wait at least four more levels to cast lvl 9 spells. The same goes for many of the feats that require many attribute specifics as well as many prerequisite feats.
The interface is not very userfriendly. From selecting attack actions to the size of the icons, to the functionality of the chat groups, everything seems to be not quite completely thought out. It is as if everything should still be in beta. It is very difficult for me to either see combat info, talk to my party, or hear what non-party members are saying at the same time.
Lastly, combat for melee characters is horrible. If you used ranged combat, you basically point and click and the game will do the rest because you are locked on target. If you are engaged in melee, and you know anything about how PnP DnD works, movement and positioning is a very critical component of the game. It is very easy to miss an entire round or two of combat because your currently selected target decided to take one step back (5 step rule) and attack. If you are engaged in your attack, you might lose that entire round because you did not move close enough to finish your attack (maybe you only moved 2 feet) or you moved to far and now your target is to your left or right, and you no longer face your target. You could find your target run off in a random direction and attack someone else. Now you have to manually spin around, find where your target went, and get close enough to engage again before they run off in a new direction. You can lose numerous rounds during a large encounter doing this nonsense. You never encounter this in PnP DnD. This issue is exacerbated when you are fighting multiple targets. Because you cannot autofollow your target, you can easily lose which one you are currently targeting and have no idea which way to face with your attack. Eneviatably, you find yourself selecting a new target instead of chasing down the old one. In PnP DnD (as well as most MMORPG), a strategic fight often requires you to focus on one target. In this game, you often find yourself having to select a new target every round or two because you can no longer determine which one you are actually targeting.
Lastly, lastly, the game just feels "chinsy" The quests are not well thought out. You simply find an NPC with an icon over their head, follow the preselected text, and then go to the starting point to do the quest. It is entirely too overly simplistic. When you complete the quest, it has no impact on the city or you except that it may grant you access to new areas of the city. You gain no prestige, you gain no faction, prices don't become cheaper, certain NPCs don't treat you any different, and to top it off, you can do the quest again, as if what you did never fixed the problem in the first place. In this way, the world is entirely stagnant. It makes it so it is little more than an online single-player game. Your only sense of accomplishment is in the form of items and exp. And with the relative ease of the quests and coupled with the pace at which it seems players want to finish the game, I can't see a long life for DDO, especially with the monthly fee. The game has no feeling of life typically associated with MMORPGs and it does not have the precision of PnP that would would expect of a DnD game.
I really hope to see this game succeed but count me a skeptic. I bought this game last week, after posting concerns about my skepticism and beta players assuring me that I should not be worried -- that it is not as it seemed based on the posts of the old message board. I am beginning to believe that I was correct in my initial impressions.