This game will not be a clone. Taking advantage of some of the more advanced features of the Havoc engine and heavy use of instanced areas, this game will be closer to an action RPG than a traditional MMO.
There are already complaints on other forums that say Turbine's direction is not a good representation of D&D; these complaints are wrong. Pen and paper D&D uses a turn-based simulation of real combat. Most MMOs use real-time gameplay that simulates a turn-based simulation of real combat. D&D combat focuses on the real combat. Success is still dependant on stats, but when all numbers are even then a player's reflexes becomes a factor.
In turn based combat, you have control the path of your characters. You have precise movement that doesn't exists in current or planned MMOs (EQ2, WoW, etc). In a real time game, if you can't move your character around in a somewhat arcadish, slightly Dark Alliance way and instead use a simple target and attack model then battlefield tactics are oversimplified and not in the spirit of D&D. With enforced collision detection, you'll have to watch and quickly respond to opportunities for charging and you'll have to manually manipulate your fighters to avoid AoOs.
Instead of leaving combat up to computer generated dice for "attack, hit, attack miss", you get to fill in the blanks for what happens. By watching your enemies movement you can block attacks. You can dodge and tumble. You can increase your chance of success by watching for when your enemy is vulnerable. Autotargeting is a reward reserved for spellcasters, balancing their limited use of magic.
The real test is balancing the benefits of a player's gaming skills and the benefits inherit from stats. Obviously a 1337 CS player with a 3rd level fighter shouldn't be able to take down anyone with an 11th level monk. Stats (feats, skills, weapon bonuses, magic items, etc) should have a huge impact on gameplay, since this is one of the cornerstones of D&D.
You will have to pay attention to combat in this MMO. After a few hours you might have to actually rest. So no, I definately don't see this as a clone.
This comment was edited on Aug 16, 15:01.