The first mission I got was to head down into the cellar of a local tavern to retrieve a cask of ale. When I did so, that's when I entered my first instanced dungeon -- and it's where I really got an experience of how powerful instancing can be when the whole game system is built around it.

Throughout the entire experience, I had to constantly fight game-playing instincts honed on World of Warcraft and similar games. I kept expecting the wrong things and it was hampering my enjoyment of the game. Take the game's pace. Dungeons & Dragons will feel pretty slow to anyone used to MMOs where every mob drops some sort of prize and players can hit the level cap in a month. Dungeons & Dragons Online's quests only give out a few prizes each, mostly in chests, and mostly in the form of money. It takes 10,000 experience points to reach level 2 in a game where the level cap is 10. That might rankle those who pride themselves on being the first on the server to reach the level cap.

One particular dungeon I was in was guarded by two mechanical constructs. Locked into my "damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead" mindset, I kept engaging them in combat and getting my face torn off. These things were just too damned tough for a single sorcerer with very few hit points to take on. I racked my brains, thinking about potions and temporary buffs I could use to make myself tough enough to take them on. Then I realized that combat in D&D Online is action-oriented, not locked into a combat cycle. I could run away! I could climb a ladder! I could fire a magic missile down at my stupid opponent and not get scratched, which is exactly what I proceeded to do. Dungeons & Dragons Online constantly throws situations at the player that demand, if not lateral thinking, at least the idea of non-combat or clever solutions to problems.