Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Looks like F2P is good for DDO
nariusseldon
Member EpicPosts: 27,775
From www.massively.com:
"Executive Producer Fernando Paiz said that subscriptions have gone up 40% since the game went f2p. "All aspects of our business are growing. Hundreds of thousands of new players in the world are playing for free, with a very high percentage using the store."
Sub up 40% + people using cash shops? That is not bad. I wonder if they will be successful enough to serve as an example for other AAA games to go f2p.
I am playing the game for free now. It is not bad. I am having fun.
Comments
Yea thats awesome!
Its ironic to have 40% more subscribers when making it free to play, but I am one of thoose who wouldnt play it as a P2P MMO before but now Im a subscriber
I think AoC, WAR and Champions devs are really looking at whats going on with DDO now to see if they can do anything simillar with their games. But you have to do alot of things right to turn a P2P game and make it "Free".
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
I've spent more money in the store since it went F2P than I did when I was a subscriber for two months previously. I think what turned me off as a subscriber were the low population numbers and the difficulty in forming groups for the quests I needed. Now it's not an issue for me since the population is healthy.
yes the game is kinda reborn in my opinion.
Lots of people playing it.. loads and loads of new players, and the game was improved a lot in terms of mechanics and a bit in terms of graphics, now with dx10 etc.
The introduction of the new server Cannith was a very good move by Turbine.. people dont need to compete with people who were farming for 5 years.. so everyone kinda at same foot, wich is quite refreshing and might be the reason why so many people joinned.
Having fun so far.
Whatever they've done I really like the game. The classes are unique and you really need to put some thought into their creation unlike other games where you level and purchase spells then look up the current FOTM specialization. This game allows you to experiment or follow their suggested course. Its very similar in my opinion to if Diablo was a MMO. Redoing instances for different random loot and hoping for the rare spawns. Huge dungeons which make Blackrock Depths look small. It seems as if almost every other dungeon in DDO is a vast sprawling place with numerous stages.
I'm enjoying my time and like others have used the DDO store. I've purchased spell and healing point potions, weapons and armor. I've been lucky to get levelling sigils to drop from quests.
Currently on Ghallanda;
Skarwolf Shortfuse 5th Dwarf Cleric
Bahut 5th Dwarf Barbarian
I may download the game myself and start playing. Much smarter than the typically stupid stuff SOE pulls which is P2P and RMT so they can steal every red nicle they can get hold of. Glad to hear the population went up.
If you have any questions please ask. I have moved on to WoW from eq and no longer have any desire to play a dead game. Thank you. (posted by another selling his account in EQ1)
You do not think Turbine is trying to make every nickle they can too? Companies are not in business to give things away. DDOs F2P is nice but the goal is to get you to pay.
It has worked though when i found out it was F2P i started and told all my friends bout it and they have all started and spent money. Genius on there part the more money they make the better it will get
Yeah, I'm enjoying it as well. I started playing a month ago. I quit Aion as it was just another grind to me. i just couldn't get into it. I'm glad DDO went F2P as it is buying me time at least until Guild Wars 2, TOR, or STO come out. I even spent some cash and got a bunch of the modules, race/class packages. Good stuff!
One of my favourite aspects of MMO gaming was always dungeon-crawling & in that regard this game does it better than anything else I've seen, the combat system is different to other games & is a real highlight of the game.
It does suffer somewhat in my estimation from not having a large open expanse to explore freely in, & there is almost no emphasis on a crafting side-game, or non-combat past-times or advancement but what DDO does offer is very high quality gameplay in a narrow spectrum of gaming.
I'm hoping the renewed success brings in many more players, more mney & a renewed investment to developing the game & expanding it's scope.
After I saw it went F2P here on mmorpg.com I tried it out and have enjoyed it very much. I tend to solo a lot and I love the fact when I enter an instance I can select if I am Solo or how hard I want it to be if I am in a group. Also the option to have all loot drop be for my race/class combo is nice. This game is totally playable without ever paying, and you can earn points over time to spend in the DDO store while playing for free. It takes a long while but for the casual gamer it is nice.
After about 3 days of playing I decided to go with the monthly VIP subscription for a bit. I hope to see more games go with this kind of pay system. It would be great to see some of the older games that no longer have the player base they once did go to this type of system as well.
** Mistrust Authority. Promote Decentralization **
Actually you can not get all loot to drop for your race/class combo. That option is for end rewards only. And effects non static end rewards. In many cases you are actually better off turning that option off so you get a better selection of items.
I agree with some of the above posters that this game is much improved. I started playing this game when it was still in closed beta. I stopped playing after a few months because there was not enough to do. Since the rebirth I have come back and been a VIP since. I always loved the game it was just not worth the $15 a month with the limited player base and content. I'm glad that this game is alive and well and I plan to be a VIP until that changes.
-Almerel
Hello my old friend.
The best thing F2P did for DDO was prompt people to try it.
I didn't play the initial release of the game, but from what I hear it was pretty limited in terms of content.
Sometime later and the game was bigger, better and rocked... but no-one knew this. Ok, it's totally instanced and for some people this doesn't sit well, but if you don't mind that design element it's basically a damn good game that for a while, hardly anyone was aware of. It literally dropped off the radar, most likely due to a sh*t release. I only discovered this game even existed by chance, and shortly after the F2P move was announced.
Soon as F2P dropped, masses of people though "I know what, I'll give this a go. What have I got to lose? I don't even have to buy a box to try it like I did with GuildWars". Now it's got almost a positive feedback mechanism in place; free makes people try it, which makes the game busy, which makes people stay. More and more try it (for free), the game gets busier and busier and it just progresses from there.
I'm off the opinion that community is one of the biggest factors in an MMOs success. You normally only get one chance at wowing the crowd. Cock it up and your left with the diehards and less than 100k subs, like WAR and AoC. F2P seems like a way to really breath life into games that just don't seem worth the P2P outlay. An in the case of DDO, the development costs were nodoubt covered years ago so Turbine had nothing to lose going F2P with only a tiny playerbase at the time.
I think the switch to F2P could save A LOT of games from the scrap heap.
Aryas
Playing: Ableton Live 8
~ ragequitcancelsubdeletegamesmashcomputerkillself ~
I highly doubt the developement costs were covered years ago. DDO while a great game suffered from lack of players from day 1. This F2P move with its increase in VIPs(40% increase) and people using the store might actually one day soon pay for the first 3.5 years that were obviously not going well.
I do not see F2P as the savior of games in trouble. The key to making F2P work is having a revenue stream. In DDOs case an ingame store seems to be working perfectly, not every game has that dynamic. Some would have to go the route of in game advertising, but in these economic times that revenue stream has dried up considerably. This move can work for some, but will not save A LOT of games.
I really wish EQ would go F2P, so there would be players I could group with again.
While it seems to be working out extremely well so far, I think we need a few more months to see the long term results. The 40% jump is impressive, but the pre-f2p numbers were dismal and we really dont know exactly how many subscriptions are composed in that 40%. The game is fun to play, but I think many people will get tired of running dungeons over and over. The replayability of the dungeons isnt really there in this game, and that is a big problem since DDO lacks much of an endgame. The primary task for most end-game players is rerolling/making new toons rather than playing their main toon. So far it looks like they've hit a homerun, but it will be interesting to see if alot of the new subscriptions become long-term players or if it's just experimentation.
While I agree that we need to wait a few more months to get a full scope of the games renewed success. I also think they have made the game more playable with the added feature of Epic dungeons. I know that I look forward to running Water Works and STK on Epic. They are great quests as they are and they give you a feel of the growing pains of your toons. It will be fun to run those quests while being totally maxed out.
-Almerel
Hello my old friend.
I gave up on Turbine once I saw all the Moria content in LOTRO. I guess you can say I have a major grudge with em now. I'm sure DDO is decent for a ftp MMO but I've no interest simply because its Turbine.
Happy to see your having fun though! I have a friend that played DDO for almost 2 years and loved it.
"I play Tera for the gameplay"
Very nice to hear,
Woah! Where do you set what loot to drop? As you enter a dungeon?
Woah! Where do you set what loot to drop? As you enter a dungeon?
You can not set the loot drops. Under the options in gameplay there is an option to set END REWARDS for your class not race. This just means that if you leave it checked and play a fighter you should not see wands or caster gear in end reward lists for completing quests. This option has NO EFFECT on chest loot in the game.
im just dl this game now to give it a try . ive been looking at trying it out for ages . but after reading up on the eu servers i found they were loseing people . so i gave it a miss . but it dose seems going f2p is working for the game . i have read some good post about this game in the past so i hope it is as good as it looks here gose just finished dl
All I can say is that I downloaded it about a month ago, played it a bit, and just came back to it again a few days ago and am absolutely loving it. It's for anyone who wants to play an hr, or sit there and grind out a nice 6 hr session. Partying is amazingly easy - f2p, premium, and vip people tend to get along just fine.
And the model is perfect for me. The problem I have with most mmo's is the monthly sub. My professional life simply doesn't allow me to have the free time to regularly play, so a F2P model with DDO points I can buy to spend on things is perfect. It keeps me entertained, without the having to worry that I'm pissing money down the sink.
I know I sound like a total fanboy now, but I can honestly say that as far as games and fun are concerned - I dont think ive had this much of it in a while. And for the D&D fans out there and those who played the BG's and NWN, this game really does keep with the feeling of DD. Oh and another plus, an older more mature community!
- EDIT: As for the costs, they're sunk costs, it doesn't matter if they've been recovered or not, sunk is sunk. What matters is that they've taken a product which seemed to be at the end of its life cycle and injected new blood in it.
-------
Check out my side project http://lfger.com/ - a mobile lfg tool for any game, any time.
-------
I played DDO beta over 3 years ago and left the game about 3-4 months into its release when the level cap was still 10 (50 ranks). I enjoyed the game immensely back then. However, as more and more people met the level cap and ran out of things to do people inevitably left. Our own guild went from about 200 WOW and AC transplants to less than 20 before I retired my own sub.
I have come close to re-subbing on several occasions as I learned of content/level updates but was always put off by the apparent lack of population. When DDO released its F2P model and made the investment of actually advertising that fact, I felt it was time to see for myself how DDO had evolved and if the population was even an issue.
Just one day after freely roaming the streets of Stormreach I realized that DDO had come much further along then I thought. For one, solo play was not only possible it was very enjoyable. Solo play in most MMO's can be wholly superficial and typically involves grinding lower level mobs for exp. DDO on the other hand gives you many of the same dungeons and exploration zones that are also attributed to group play along with some uniquely solo content. Nothing is sacrificed in terms of quality of play for the solo player.
The better reality for me that ultimately led to my new VIP sub was just how easily I found groups, often receiving competing tells inside of just a few minutes of logging in. Whatever population issues DDO had are now history. Even the auction house is plugging along at a fiery rate.
I had still planned to retain my current Sony Pass (EQ, VG) and Lotro accounts for those weekend blights away from the wife and kids where I could complete some "gi-normous" raid or exp grind that I still enjoy from time to time. In this respect I assumed that DDO was some-what "grind" challenged. Lo and behold, DDO has raised the bar for me. One frequent complaint 3 years ago was that DDO lacked the high end raids and persistent elements that are like crack to the lifeless twink gamers who spike the sales of colostomy bags every time a new WOW raid enters the mix. No longer the case, DDO offers a huge wealth of content on every level. Far from illiterate boss mobs and endless zerg encounters, DDO's dungeons offer real immersion with definitive class reliance, puzzles, athletic obstacles (jumping, swimming, platform navigation etc.), traps, social and intelligent mobs and bosses, incredible architecture and brilliant stories with narration.
I have been back now for about 2 weeks and having a great time. I have run into quite a few friends from my - 3 year ago stint - that have either remained loyal or recently returned. As an older gamer I can still enjoy a detailed and immersive world whether I have 10 min or 10 hours to play.
I think Turbine had to be confident that DDO was a great niche game that ultimately would attract more subs if they could just get more eyes on the product as it were. Thankfully Turbine did not resort to a limited starter/newbie zone that would have never translated DDO's real scope of play. in fact I personally feel that several games limit their own potential player base by not offering more expansive access (Vanguard most notably for me and even the far expanded EQ).
A F2P model has inherent risks but In the end DDO is a success because it is in fact a great MMO experience for many of us.
Del Cabon
A US Army ('Just Cause') Vet and MMORPG Native formerly of Trinsic, Norath and Dereth. Currently playing LOTRO.