Dungeons & Dragons Online has been a very long time coming. One could argue that the reason MMOs even exist is because many of today's game developers were yesterday's pen and paper D&D players. The game's legacy is all-pervasive. Its rules and conventions are nigh iconic in the world of RPGs, and the bestiaries of its myriad campaign settings are second only to perhaps Tolkien in defining what we expect from a fantasy world.

All of this makes it very disappointing that D&D Online doesn't have the impact that it should or could have. Turbine, the game's developer (and no newcomer to the MMO field), has attempted to strike close to mark in regards to the game's pen-and-paper legacy, and by doing so seems to have compromised much of what makes modern MMOs compelling and attractive.