No advantage to subscribe monthly

[sneaker2002]

I looked at the list of differences between free, premium and VIP player levels. I can see almost no advantage to pay a monthly subsrciption. You get 500 "free" points per month for $14.99. I can buy 900 for $11.99 as a free player. A free player gets 2 character slots, premium 4 and VIP 10 - so what? You can only play one at a time anyway. Free players can't post on the forums - again, so what? Free player gets no tech support, who cares when there's a KB available.

My point is if you want people to subcribe you better come up with about 2000 points per month, and make sure I have access to everything in the game without spending another dime. I know there is some marketing type thinking that free players will spend more because the really won't pay attention to how much money they spend on points each month. You're probably right, but I'm not joining them.

Make it an advantage to subscribe if you want steady customers!

[PopeDX]

You're missing the really big advantage...

[Kiranselie]

IMO, the best feature to being a VIP is not the free TP, nor is it more character slots, but having all the content unlocked.

[KoboldKiller]

Subscribers get access to ALL content without buying packs.

BTW I have played both F2P and I subscribed and I respectfully submit there is a large advantage to subscribing. Having to buy adventure packs is a total pain. I also heard a rumor you have a low plat cap when your F2P though not confirmed. Not sure what you mean by having access to everything in the game if you subscribe but as I pointed out subscribers don't have to buy adventure packs. I can't think of anything I don;t have access to as a subscriber.

[Memnir]

It all adds up to being worthwhile, in my opinion.

As a VIP, I enjoy:
All the content in the game, with no need or worry to buy it.
The Shared Bank, which really is a key feature to being a VIP.
500 free Turbine Points a month, and that means I pretty much save $8.00 a month on my subscription, since they kick that right back to me in points each month.
More character slots means I can switch to whatever class a group or raid needs - and easy to play what I want to play at any given moment. Or, just to try some goofy build - and I do that a lot.
Never having to worry about finding/buying a leveling sigil.
I happen to like posting on the forum, so that matters to me.
...and more.

It's worth it to me. If it's not worth it to you - fine. No harm done, and that is part of the cool factor of the F2P option. You can opt into as much or as little as you wish.

[Celestin]

Some of us VIPs only pay $10 a month. :)

[Lorien_the_First_One]

Let's see, I have 9 chars I play currently, so I guess neither 2 nor 4 would do me.

Free players get access to just a fraction of the content unless they pay, I get it all.

Free players have to pay for WF and Monk, I get both free.

Free players have to pay for the shared bank, I get it free (BEST NEW FEATURE!!!)

Free players have to grind for levelling sigils, I just level

And $15 is the highest price, vets pay $10, and packages currently go as low as $12 I believe.

Enjoy your game your way, but VIP offers a lot.

[Arianrhod]

Premium - 4 character slots, need to purchase content packs, acquire or buy leveling sigils, don't get WF, monk, or shared bank without buying them

VIP - 10 character slots, access to all content, no need for leveling sigils, WF, monk & shared bank included.

It would cost a bit more than 500 points to get all that ;)

For people who've never subscribed, it probably makes sense to buy what they want as premium players rather than subscribing (unless they want it all RIGHT NOW and don't mind paying a subscription fee to get it, of course).
However, for those who've been subscribers all along, continuing to pay the same monthly fee they always have is no big deal, and the perks are worth it :)

[Elsbet]

It all adds up to being worthwhile, in my opinion.

As a VIP, I enjoy:
All the content in the game, with no need or worry to buy it.
The Shared Bank, which really is a key feature to being a VIP.
500 free Turbine Points a month, and that means I pretty much save $8.00 a month on my subscription, since they kick that right back to me in points each month.
More character slots means I can switch to whatever class a group or raid needs - and easy to play what I want to play at any given moment. Or, just to try some goofy build - and I do that a lot.
Never having to worry about finding/buying a leveling sigil.
I happen to like posting on the forum, so that matters to me.
...and more.

It's worth it to me. If it's not worth it to you - fine. No harm done, and that is part of the cool factor of the F2P option. You can opt into as much or as little as you wish.

/signed

There is no way I'd go to free to play. I like having all my content unlocked and I'd cry if Ihad to give up my shared bank slot.

[Borror0]

A free player gets 2 character slots, premium 4 and VIP 10 - so what? You can only play one at a time anyway.
It's the first time I hear that argument.

[Astria]

For certain playstyles, the 10 character slots is HUGE. I go through alts faster than I can delete them even with 10...which is why I'm saving my monthly store points to buy more character slots.

And I'm sure other playstyles can be happy with the F2P model. Not everyone needs 30 character slots, and most can do without having free access to the catacombs... They can buy what they want, at their own pace, etc.

You may not need to go VIP because you're happy with F2P, but I know that isn't the case for everyone, else there would be no VIPs left.

[GreenGurgler]

I looked at the list of differences between free, premium and VIP player levels. I can see almost no advantage to pay a monthly subsrciption. You get 500 "free" points per month for $14.99. I can buy 900 for $11.99 as a free player. A free player gets 2 character slots, premium 4 and VIP 10 - so what? You can only play one at a time anyway. Free players can't post on the forums - again, so what? Free player gets no tech support, who cares when there's a KB available.

My point is if you want people to subcribe you better come up with about 2000 points per month, and make sure I have access to everything in the game without spending another dime. I know there is some marketing type thinking that free players will spend more because the really won't pay attention to how much money they spend on points each month. You're probably right, but I'm not joining them.

Make it an advantage to subscribe if you want steady customers!

Yeah, what others have said above. There is a HUGE difference from F2P vs VIP. If you don't see that, you either aren't trying very hard or are to new to accurately give an assessment of the differences.

I don't mean that in a negative or elitist way, but until you HAVE 2 characters already, you may not realize that (if you stick around), you WILL want more character slots. You WILL want to hold more gold/plat. You WILL get tired of paying for leveling sigils. You WILL get tired of NOT being able to run certain quests. And, if it happens, you will get tired of waiting to join servers (VIP's go to the front of the line and bump F2P if there is a wait to log into server).

Your mileage may vary.... but there is a lot greater benefit to VIP than you are accepting.

[Cyr]

If you are only playing the game for a very short time then a sub is a better buy for the buck (if you want everything...not that you need it if you only play for a short time).

However, if you go 'premium' route instead you get some pretty major advantages.

1. Time deferred payment. This is how many financial products make their profits. By getting your money early they then get to invest it and make a profit on that investment. It works the other way of course. If you pay later you still have that money in the meantime.

2. Rate of content development is very slow in DDO. Anyone arguing against this point clearly has not been following the game for very long or is just living in denial. This means that the new content to buy for 'premium' members is not automatically a once a month or even once a season thing...heck it might be a once a six month thing. With the prices of adventure packs running around 700-900 T.P. for high level content that is less then a one month sub costs. Also by the same token unlike a monthly player you will not be quite as annoyed that new content is not pouring out of the spigot since you are not paying anymore until something you want to play comes out.

3. The higher character slot limit, the shared bank, and all content is purchasable as a premium member. As someone who had all his character slots filled with max level toons (except one for new build try out) I can say it was pretty dang easy to cut out most of the toons to the four limit. Most were really just old builds and out dated toons. Only a few I really loved playing...and all those are on my 'premium' account.

4. Plat limit, chat limit and such are for F2P not premium players. Ever spent a dollar on DDO...that's you.

5. All your investment in game goes directly into a permanent benefit for your account. With monthly sub you get your 500 points which certainly does not suck, but you are basically paying a surcharge for 'renting' the rest of the content. You can not even buy adventure packs when you are monthly so you can not vote with your points for the type of content you enjoy (because this will be the way new content is decided on in the future...what sells in the store gets priority).

6. Vote with your dollars! Leaving a game for good is a really hard thing for people to do. Not because the games are so great... in fact most are ho hum. It is all about the community that builds up in these games. If you are a monthly subscriber you are paying to stay in the game...even when development is slow as molasses or is only working on level 1-10 content. Leaving is a hard thing to do. If you downgrade if you haven't been smart and saving your points for adventure packs and such and instead been frittering them away on consumables your premium account will be a pale shadow of your VIP account which you have been paying for. On the other hand if you go premium instead you have 100% control of where your dollars go and when. No new content you like, no worries don't buy it and feel free to run stuff with your buddies. You really love new classes and races? Buy them. Turbine will surely take notice and put more in the game to make more $. You see as a premium account you don't need to shell out your hard earned cash on stuff you think is a waste of time just to keep playing stuff you actually enjoy. Even better if you are in the majority even Turbine can read a spreadsheet and see if X product is not very profitable then don't bother making more of it make Y instead!

7. How much content is there really? It is actually amazing to look at the amount Turbine wants for catacombs (often rightly joked that they should pay you points to play it not the other way around) and other substandard fare. Then you look at the stuff you actually WANT to run again and again. Things like gianthold, vale, and the new stuff. Add in favored souls if you are lazy for favor and monks. You have right there the bare bones package for an old player returning or a new player who is not obsessed with completing everything. Really VONS, titan, and the queen were fun BACK in the day, but now they are low level content that you are not really going to want to grind over and over again. How much does all that cost? It's not as much as you would think... Sure it's not cheap to buy it all, but why in the world would you want to run necro 1-3 again? I know plenty of people who never ran them the first time. How about Dead girl's spell book?

[TThorlord]

Some of us VIPs only pay $10 a month. :)

i am one of those,
totally worth it.
though i will probably be losing my job soon so... i might have to downgrade to F2P and lose the $60 for 6months deal permanently.

[Kalari]

I see the advantage as not having to constantly use money to buy said points since they are given to you.

Not having to worry about what content you can/cannot unlock since vip get it all for our sub fees

Knowing I can group with other vip's and play the same way ive been playing for years now with unlocked character slots with my TP I get a month for being a vip versus those who are limited until they buy. Soon I may have 20+ girls running around on my favorite servers and that makes me smile.

I think its down to personal tastes if I had to go free to play I would because I enjoy ddo, but Im very glad I do not have to because I enjoy the way ive been playing for the last 2 years more.

[Astindan]

sneaker, they have all the quests unlocked, so really the subscription pays for itself, its just a good option for those really into the game that know they are going to do all the content.

[captain1z]

You're missing the really big advantage...

No he is right. After you buy all the adventure packs and 6 character slots and 2 races and 1 class and the bank slots and pay for an extra 500 tps on top of that.............. they really are the same.

[Uska]

If you are only playing the game for a very short time then a sub is a better buy for the buck (if you want everything...not that you need it if you only play for a short time).

However, if you go 'premium' route instead you get some pretty major advantages.

1. Time deferred payment. This is how many financial products make their profits. By getting your money early they then get to invest it and make a profit on that investment. It works the other way of course. If you pay later you still have that money in the meantime.

2. Rate of content development is very slow in DDO. Anyone arguing against this point clearly has not been following the game for very long or is just living in denial. This means that the new content to buy for 'premium' members is not automatically a once a month or even once a season thing...heck it might be a once a six month thing. With the prices of adventure packs running around 700-900 T.P. for high level content that is less then a one month sub costs. Also by the same token unlike a monthly player you will not be quite as annoyed that new content is not pouring out of the spigot since you are not paying anymore until something you want to play comes out.

3. The higher character slot limit, the shared bank, and all content is purchasable as a premium member. As someone who had all his character slots filled with max level toons (except one for new build try out) I can say it was pretty dang easy to cut out most of the toons to the four limit. Most were really just old builds and out dated toons. Only a few I really loved playing...and all those are on my 'premium' account.

4. Plat limit, chat limit and such are for F2P not premium players. Ever spent a dollar on DDO...that's you.

5. All your investment in game goes directly into a permanent benefit for your account. With monthly sub you get your 500 points which certainly does not suck, but you are basically paying a surcharge for 'renting' the rest of the content. You can not even buy adventure packs when you are monthly so you can not vote with your points for the type of content you enjoy (because this will be the way new content is decided on in the future...what sells in the store gets priority).

6. Vote with your dollars! Leaving a game for good is a really hard thing for people to do. Not because the games are so great... in fact most are ho hum. It is all about the community that builds up in these games. If you are a monthly subscriber you are paying to stay in the game...even when development is slow as molasses or is only working on level 1-10 content. Leaving is a hard thing to do. If you downgrade if you haven't been smart and saving your points for adventure packs and such and instead been frittering them away on consumables your premium account will be a pale shadow of your VIP account which you have been paying for. On the other hand if you go premium instead you have 100% control of where your dollars go and when. No new content you like, no worries don't buy it and feel free to run stuff with your buddies. You really love new classes and races? Buy them. Turbine will surely take notice and put more in the game to make more $. You see as a premium account you don't need to shell out your hard earned cash on stuff you think is a waste of time just to keep playing stuff you actually enjoy. Even better if you are in the majority even Turbine can read a spreadsheet and see if X product is not very profitable then don't bother making more of it make Y instead!

7. How much content is there really? It is actually amazing to look at the amount Turbine wants for catacombs (often rightly joked that they should pay you points to play it not the other way around) and other substandard fare. Then you look at the stuff you actually WANT to run again and again. Things like gianthold, vale, and the new stuff. Add in favored souls if you are lazy for favor and monks. You have right there the bare bones package for an old player returning or a new player who is not obsessed with completing everything. Really VONS, titan, and the queen were fun BACK in the day, but now they are low level content that you are not really going to want to grind over and over again. How much does all that cost? It's not as much as you would think... Sure it's not cheap to buy it all, but why in the world would you want to run necro 1-3 again? I know plenty of people who never ran them the first time. How about Dead girl's spell book?


Premium<VIP I mean who wants to be limited to 4 slots and at 595 each they are expensive and your pretty much need to buy delera's and stk plus things like Sorrowdusk and tangleroot see things are getting expensive right away yeah you could leave off the vons and queen pretty much maybe even titan but why when you can get them included for a low price.

[Brahmina]

I dunno but I find paying monthly quite worth it. I did it for Everquest and WoW so why not this game? Besides, my boyfriend can afford it :)

[Junts]

I looked at the list of differences between free, premium and VIP player levels. I can see almost no advantage to pay a monthly subsrciption. You get 500 "free" points per month for $14.99. I can buy 900 for $11.99 as a free player. A free player gets 2 character slots, premium 4 and VIP 10 - so what? You can only play one at a time anyway. Free players can't post on the forums - again, so what? Free player gets no tech support, who cares when there's a KB available.

My point is if you want people to subcribe you better come up with about 2000 points per month, and make sure I have access to everything in the game without spending another dime. I know there is some marketing type thinking that free players will spend more because the really won't pay attention to how much money they spend on points each month. You're probably right, but I'm not joining them.

Make it an advantage to subscribe if you want steady customers!

VIPs dont have to buy monk/warforged or any content pack; the total cash value to buy enough points to buy every adventure module is in the hundreds.

[DSC]

VIPs dont have to buy monk/warforged or any content pack; the total cash value to buy enough points to buy every adventure module is in the hundreds.

Ah, but if $200 (spent when you want it) gives you all the content, then that will indeed be a better deal than subscription once enough time goes by... unless, of course, they keep adding pay-to-play content fast enough to make up that difference.

Really what makes the most financial sense all depends on (1) how long you expect to be playing, and (2) how fast you expect new content to come out.

[xberto]

For the dozens of hours I spend playing this game a month, the monthly subscription fee is well worth it. I have not even considered for a second, trying to save a buck or two playing free version.

[Cyr]

Premium<VIP I mean who wants to be limited to 4 slots and at 595 each they are expensive and your pretty much need to buy delera's and stk plus things like Sorrowdusk and tangleroot see things are getting expensive right away yeah you could leave off the vons and queen pretty much maybe even titan but why when you can get them included for a low price.

Me, if I really want to buy another character slot to open up another one of my mule toons I can... In fact, the one time server reward for favor encourages players to run on multiple servers.

Why pay more to rent the game when you can pay less to play what you want? There is zero reason why you need to buy stk/TR/delara's/sorrowdusk. They are fun for sure, but need heck no. They are not needed to level at all. Nor are they needed for gear. I guess it all comes down to how long you want to be playing the game and how much confidence you have that Turbine will pump out tons of new content to keep you happy that you are subbing on a monthly rate. Personally, my confidence in Turbine failed long ago...premium accounts though keep you in control as a consumer. If they are pushing out bags full of fail you don't buy it...or if they are not pushing out anything same goes. If you are a VIP though, well you are still paying for everything and even paying for not much at all if development is stalled (because that has never happened in this games history :)).

[Hendrik]

For the dozens of hours I spend playing this game a month, the monthly subscription fee is well worth it. I have not even considered for a second, trying to save a buck or two playing free version.


No doubt.

What does it work out to as $15/mo.?

$.02 an hour?

VIP membership is worth it.

[rimble]

No doubt.

What does it work out to as $15/mo.?

$.02 an hour?

VIP membership is worth it.

Yeah, gotta say, I'm truly baffled over the griping some people make over $15/month--which even if you could only play 4 hours a week is less than a dollar an hour--like you said, for most people it's pennies an hour. Even the kids complaining, I could make more than that mowing lawns, cleaning the house, washing the cars, or shoveling snow when I was 12 years old. I dunno, maybe I'm spoiled by gainful employment...or heck, just save up birthday/christmas/hanukkah money/gifts...I just don't get it...

[Yurtrus]

I have been here since day 1 and I have been subscribing the entire time.. If you can afford to pay the monthly membership and are really into the game it is worth it. Every area in the game is fun in its own way. There are times that no one in my guild is around and I don't want to pug, so I will head out to one of those places listed above just to be doing something I have not done in a long while. I consider those filler areas.

I personally don't see why a person would want to be free to play. I have 4 toons on one account that just hold my inventory alone. I have no restrictions and I can play whatever, whenever I want.

50 cents a day to enjoy anything I want to in the game is well worth it to me.

For those that can't afford that or can't give time daily or even every other day.. well ftp is probably the best option for them. Otherwise, you should be a VIP.

[Cyr]

I have been here since day 1 and I have been subscribing the entire time.. If you can afford to pay the monthly membership and are really into the game it is worth it. Every area in the game is fun in its own way. There are times that no one in my guild is around and I don't want to pug, so I will head out to one of those places listed above just to be doing something I have not done in a long while. I consider those filler areas.

I personally don't see why a person would want to be free to play. I have 4 toons on one account that just hold my inventory alone. I have no restrictions and I can play whatever, whenever I want.

50 cents a day to enjoy anything I want to in the game is well worth it to me.

For those that can't afford that or can't give time daily or even every other day.. well ftp is probably the best option for them. Otherwise, you should be a VIP.

I'm not sure that those making these types of comments understand the conversation here. It is not the monthly sub being super expensive. It is about value for the dollar. For example, Yurtrus you have been here since day 1. Paying $15 a month for some of that time and presumably $10 now. That is over three years ago. Now, during that time under the current model the box price would have easily covered all the content in that release. Now, you might not have been able to afford the full 8 character slots also. Now how long was it between that time and the queen's release? What was in that content and how much would you have payed to open it given current price structure? It would have been much cheaper to just buy the content if you could back then...and you would definitely have enough to cover those missing slots. Now go forward even more and think about that time until Mod 8 release. Lot's of content through that period, but still you would have been way better off if you could have just purchased it. When you put in the Mod 8 to Mod 9 and the added content (shared bank, devils, sharn syndicate) that you would need to buy compared to the sub time well I think it is pretty clear that you would have spent fairly little compared to the sub. So it comes down to the value. Now let's do the favor math added in for fun's sake. The really good packs cost about 700 TP (650 for the brand new one last time I looked). Each of those packs will grant about a 100 favor. If you only do that content on four toons you recoup 100 TP in favor rewards... If it's high level content you probably would be doing this anyways. Now that pack is down to relative cost of 600 TP (550 for the new one). If one pack comes out a month (that you must have) then you will be spending (assuming that you buy smart and wait for the ~1 cent = 1 TP) $6.00 a month...if you are smarter and wait for the firesale on the pack you might get a $1.00 off of that for $5.00. Now, given Turbine's track record I find it highly unlikely that they will be pushing out high level content at a rate of one adventure pack a month. Even if they push up their production schedule it seems likely the best we will see is 1/3 months. So $30 for that time or $5 dollars...and yes you do get back the 500 TP as a VIP, but without being able to purchase all those permanent account enhancements I have a strong suspicion that most VIPs will fritter away those points on consumables and dye jobs. If the VIP does not do this then it is $15 to $5 dollars.

Now, this is good business for Turbine. Keep the price points relatively low to encourage more people to purchase. They will more then make up for it on volume, particularly if they really are serious about their overseas intentions for the game. VIPs are renting the game. They get great value for their dollar if they play for a short period of time and play alot. The benefits of renting any product over owning it become lesser and lesser as time goes on.

[cdemeritt]

Subscribers get access to ALL content without buying packs.

BTW I have played both F2P and I subscribed and I respectfully submit there is a large advantage to subscribing. Having to buy adventure packs is a total pain. I also heard a rumor you have a low plat cap when your F2P though not confirmed. Not sure what you mean by having access to everything in the game if you subscribe but as I pointed out subscribers don't have to buy adventure packs. I can't think of anything I don;t have access to as a subscriber.

Lower plat cap it confirmed.... my lvl 3 F2P toon is capped at 5000 Plat.

[Cyr]

Lower plat cap it confirmed.... my lvl 3 F2P toon is capped at 5000 Plat.

Which becomes the same as VIPs upon hitting level 12. Can't remember which Turbine rep confirmed that one.

[Yurtrus]

@Cyr -

You are correct in your thinking and math for the most part.. However, it is not about the value for me. Sure if you want to think 15.00 a month is a lot vs what you spend if you are free NOW. Keep in mind my 10 - 15 dollars a month has in some way along with the other 10K people supported this game for 4 years. I like the game and feel that what it gives me far outweighs what it cost.

Do I want the hassle of following points, thinking about what is to come, clicking on an lfm and then realizing I don't have the module? Do I want to concern myself with what I might lose out on NOT being a VIP? I don't want to do anything but play the game and hope new content now starts to come out more regularly. When I do start the game and new update comes down I want to get in the game and check it out.. I don't want to think about if I have enough points to get it or whip out my cc to buy it.

The value you get from this game is your own.. However, if you want to think about it like you are, that's great.. It might help people decide what to do. I will continue to support the game with my 15 dollars a month in hopes that it helps the company.. I am not going to sit here and think about what the best way for me to play the game so I don't have to pay for anything any more.

Let's see how far the game goes when there are more people playing for nothing or a couple one time charges and less subscribers. Maybe we can get the game to shut down for good if we try hard enough to get around the costs..

[Lerincho]

I looked at the list of differences between free, premium and VIP player levels. I can see almost no advantage to pay a monthly subsrciption. You get 500 "free" points per month for $14.99. I can buy 900 for $11.99 as a free player. A free player gets 2 character slots, premium 4 and VIP 10 - so what? You can only play one at a time anyway. Free players can't post on the forums - again, so what? Free player gets no tech support, who cares when there's a KB available.

My point is if you want people to subcribe you better come up with about 2000 points per month, and make sure I have access to everything in the game without spending another dime. I know there is some marketing type thinking that free players will spend more because the really won't pay attention to how much money they spend on points each month. You're probably right, but I'm not joining them.

Make it an advantage to subscribe if you want steady customers!

Seriously?
/presses mute button

[darkdawn1]

New guy here.

First of all, hello! I'm really enjoying the game thus far!

I started as F2P, but then upped to premium because I bought the 3300 or so points for ~38 bucks. My thought is thus atm: If I spend another ~38 bucks plus the earned favor points, I would have around 7K or so points. Since I don't need more than 4 slots, I can buy pretty much all the modules(save a few I hear are bad), get the races and classes I want, and buy a leveling sigil on occasion if needed. If I time my buying on the discounts that Turbine offers, I can save considerable points. One example is the drow race was recently going for ~550 points which is a few hundred off normal.

So for me 80 bucks gets pretty much all I need. If I play more than 6 months, I have gotten my money's worth, and I'm sure I will be here that long or more since I really love the game.

I'm not going to say what is better, as I am new and am pretty clueless, lol However, I don't think my route is bad, and is at least on par with paid subbing assuming I don't have altitus or rely heavily on buying healing pots, etc...

[Elrios]

I think having the option of either a monthly subscription or pay as you go (F2P) is brilliant. It allows everyone to decide what they are comfortable with and choose their path. Additionally, the F2P model is an excellent way to entice new / returning players.

For me, I think I will be dropping to the Premium level. If I find I am spending too much on the content, I can always subscribe. In the meantime, until I have exhausted the free content I can play for free.

Instead of Free 2 Play, I think of it as a la carte. Pick and choose what is value to you.

Ultimately though, well done Turbine for giving us the choice. I hope it proves a successful model, and makes the game thrive.

[Cyr]

@Cyr -

You are correct in your thinking and math for the most part.. However, it is not about the value for me. Sure if you want to think 15.00 a month is a lot vs what you spend if you are free NOW. Keep in mind my 10 - 15 dollars a month has in some way along with the other 10K people supported this game for 4 years. I like the game and feel that what it gives me far outweighs what it cost.

Do I want the hassle of following points, thinking about what is to come, clicking on an lfm and then realizing I don't have the module? Do I want to concern myself with what I might lose out on NOT being a VIP? I don't want to do anything but play the game and hope new content now starts to come out more regularly. When I do start the game and new update comes down I want to get in the game and check it out.. I don't want to think about if I have enough points to get it or whip out my cc to buy it.

The value you get from this game is your own.. However, if you want to think about it like you are, that's great.. It might help people decide what to do. I will continue to support the game with my 15 dollars a month in hopes that it helps the company.. I am not going to sit here and think about what the best way for me to play the game so I don't have to pay for anything any more.

Let's see how far the game goes when there are more people playing for nothing or a couple one time charges and less subscribers. Maybe we can get the game to shut down for good if we try hard enough to get around the costs..

Fair enough. Although your VIP is all about hoping content comes out fast. I'm not about not paying for anything... in fact if content rolls out fast I'll be happy to buy it as a premium player as will most others I know who have resigned up as premium players. The game's success has everything to do with content delivery no matter which way you pay for the game (VIP or premium). They will make money either way if they put out the content that people want to buy.

Oh and there is one benefit at least that is exclusive to VIP's and that is the ability to open up any dungeon the first time on hard. I presume this was only implemented for VIP's to make the favor grind to TP ratio a little less palatable for those trying to spend as little money as possible.

[Pyromaniac]

Cyr makes some great points about the advantage of premium over VIP. I'm definitely looking at downgrading, and probably would be there if Turbine gave VIPs access to the premium sales.

I've really lost interest in leveling new characters, the fun just isn't there. So for me, end game is it. And its much cheaper to do end game by just paying for adventure packs, especially if the slow rate of new mods continues. Triming the roster to four active toons? The nerfs recently has easily done that for me.

It would be a win for me, costing me less over time. It would be a win for Turbine as they keep more customers that they may have lost anyways.

Definitely time though to let VIPs buy adventure packs if they choose to.

[ArekDorun]

I saw in another thread somewhere that buying all the expansion packs when they go on sale, 6 extra character slots, Monk, Warforged, and the Shared Bank cost less than $150. Even without the sale prices, I doubt it would be much over $200. Now, for most of us, going VIP costs $179.40/yr, and dropping it loses all access to content. This means that for most of us, the annual cost of going "Pseudo-VIP" can actually be lower than the cost of going VIP...especially if we decide we don't need 10 toons/server. And after all the content you need/want is paid for, the cost? Even if I needed to spend 1500 points per 3 month period, that's still only about $76/yr. This is not good for your VIP subscription business, Turbine.

Now for a sensible suggestion: Lower the per-month price of going VIP to $10.95. This would make the annual cost of going VIP only $131.40, and would still leave the $59.95 per 6 month players with a bit of a pricing advantage. At only $10.95/month, I would consider going VIP myself. As it is, it makes more sense to purchase most content as I need it, and the "important" adventure packs when they go on sale, if possible. Even without stuff on sale, it costs less over a 2-year period for me to stay premium and buy stuff as needed than it would for me to go VIP, so going VIP doesn't look all that enticing to me.

--Arek

P.S. The OP's suggestion of giving VIPs 2k TP/mo sounds nice on the surface, but would simply have folks go VIP for the better TP pricing, then drop when they've saved up 12k TP or so and buy all their favorite content.

[FluffyCalico]

No he is right. After you buy all the adventure packs and 6 character slots and 2 races and 1 class and the bank slots and pay for an extra 500 tps on top of that.............. they really are the same.

Except you just spent as much on points as the sub costs for 2-3 years.

[Uska]

I'm not sure that those making these types of comments understand the conversation here. It is not the monthly sub being super expensive. It is about value for the dollar. For example, Yurtrus you have been here since day 1. Paying $15 a month for some of that time and presumably $10 now. That is over three years ago. Now, during that time under the current model the box price would have easily covered all the content in that release. Now, you might not have been able to afford the full 8 character slots also. Now how long was it between that time and the queen's release? What was in that content and how much would you have payed to open it given current price structure? It would have been much cheaper to just buy the content if you could back then...and you would definitely have enough to cover those missing slots. Now go forward even more and think about that time until Mod 8 release. Lot's of content through that period, but still you would have been way better off if you could have just purchased it. When you put in the Mod 8 to Mod 9 and the added content (shared bank, devils, sharn syndicate) that you would need to buy compared to the sub time well I think it is pretty clear that you would have spent fairly little compared to the sub. So it comes down to the value. Now let's do the favor math added in for fun's sake. The really good packs cost about 700 TP (650 for the brand new one last time I looked). Each of those packs will grant about a 100 favor. If you only do that content on four toons you recoup 100 TP in favor rewards... If it's high level content you probably would be doing this anyways. Now that pack is down to relative cost of 600 TP (550 for the new one). If one pack comes out a month (that you must have) then you will be spending (assuming that you buy smart and wait for the ~1 cent = 1 TP) $6.00 a month...if you are smarter and wait for the firesale on the pack you might get a $1.00 off of that for $5.00. Now, given Turbine's track record I find it highly unlikely that they will be pushing out high level content at a rate of one adventure pack a month. Even if they push up their production schedule it seems likely the best we will see is 1/3 months. So $30 for that time or $5 dollars...and yes you do get back the 500 TP as a VIP, but without being able to purchase all those permanent account enhancements I have a strong suspicion that most VIPs will fritter away those points on consumables and dye jobs. If the VIP does not do this then it is $15 to $5 dollars.

Now, this is good business for Turbine. Keep the price points relatively low to encourage more people to purchase. They will more then make up for it on volume, particularly if they really are serious about their overseas intentions for the game. VIPs are renting the game. They get great value for their dollar if they play for a short period of time and play alot. The benefits of renting any product over owning it become lesser and lesser as time goes on.

I cant not think of a better value for my 10.00 a month then this game heck even if I was paying twice that it would be a bargin(quiet dont tell turbine) name something else you can do so much of for that price a month:rolleyes:

[parvo]

VIP's can open hard the first time in a quest. All other benefits aside, it's huge not to be forced into grinding boring easy content.

[Cyr]

VIP's can open hard the first time in a quest. All other benefits aside, it's huge not to be forced into grinding boring easy content.

Particularly if you are perma-death and end up having to re-roll alot. Or just love rerolling toons. That said though easy work around is having someone in guild who has everything done on elite in party so you can just go straight to elite. This might be cheating in some perma-death guilds though?

[Mercules]

It is like this. I can spend $10 on a movie and see one movie a month so 2 hours entertainment a month. I can buy a "Them Park" ticket for $50 so for the same amount per month I can have 12 hours of entertainment every 5 months(not including travel/food/hotel).

$10 for the numerous hours I spend playing DDO seems like a bargain. This is why I buy CDs instead of just downloading music from free services. I want them to continue to produce the game so I am willing to support it instead of being in it just for what I get.

[wamjratl1]

The game's success has everything to do with content delivery no matter which way you pay for the game (VIP or premium). They will make money either way if they put out the content that people want to buy.



QFT.

I agree with what all the other VIPs have said about their reasons for being a VIP. But the F2P model, IMO, depends even more on new content being released more often. Otherwise the F2P folks are gonna get bored pretty quick.