The long haul: Unlocking content without spending a dime?

[fall]

So basically Idecided to give myself a bit of a challenge, crazy as I am. I got the urge to find out just how much work unlocking content is if you intend to spend no money at all towards it. So I started up a new account (250 extra Turbine points simply for that, score!) and I've set my mind on the tasking (and probably unachieveable, at least for me) goal of unlocking as much as possible withoutspending a single dime on it. Or in my case, not a single swedish krona.

I've got the basics pretty much figured out: run through the favour rewards at least once on each server, prioritize your buys, wait for sales and so on. What I'd like to know is has anyone else thrown themselves into something like this? If so, what obstacles did you face? Do you have any tips or tricks that helped you? If you haven't tried anything like it, feel free to comment anyway, if nothing else you are quite free to question my sanity.

[issiana]

When i dropped from Vip to premium a while back i was faced with a similar situation. heres what you face.....

To get all adventure packs and all classes/races (minus warforge which i never play) plus shared bank space and 32pt builds (no vet status though) the grand sum is.......

13,476 turbine points.

now that figure dosent factor in sales or the newest content.

at the time i swapped over that basically equated to a 6 month sub.

so to sum up - you have a massive pts grind ahead if you want to get the lot. doable, but not worth it imo.

[fall]

I'm fully aware of that. This is more about the challenge of it then being cheap. Picking up the 5000 points pack won't ruin me in any way, I just want to see what it would feel like.

[Urvine]

i think the most effective way to do this would be to earn 1000 favor on each server once for the first time favor bonuses. then pick a server with a vip friend. or where your main account is if your vip on that. and create a vet character, party with him and run korthos elites to 100 favor, delete and remake.

[RitzBlitz]

I've got the basics pretty much figured out: run through the favour rewards at least once on each server, prioritize your buys, wait for sales and so on. What I'd like to know is has anyone else thrown themselves into something like this? If so, what obstacles did you face? Do you have any tips or tricks that helped you? If you haven't tried anything like it, feel free to comment anyway, if nothing else you are quite free to question my sanity.


When i started playing , none of the payment methods worked for me except mobile.I bought 25 TP (http://lh3.ggpht.com/_ynnPS9iPm24/TRCcoWyJFeI/AAAAAAAAAqU/q8sXh1VxWpc/s640/India.jpg) with mobile and became premium.:D Didn't buy anymore points with mobile as the rates were too high for large purchases :mad:

Ended up doing favor runs after unlocking Veteran Status @ 1000 favor.
Only bought items that were on sale and did favor runs whenever i could.Took three months to grind almost all of the adventure packs , Monk and Warforged.Was doing it solo dual boxing (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=252959) but near the end joined a favor farming guild and realized it was much faster with more people.

The amount of TP spent/grinded was around 6950 TP. [23 packs ,Monk, WF, 2 Slots]

The irony is that recently i learned it was possible for me to purchase TP with paybycash/playspan. Bought the rest of the packs on the last Turbine Tuesdays 50% off. :D
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Advice
Avoid favor grinding if you can pay :)

If you can't pay
First step is to create characters on all servers and to get to 100 favor. This will unlock Server Favor (http://www.ddo.com/store-starter-guide/739-step-3-getting-turbine-points) to the third tier and you will get 125x7=875 TP.

Buy Vale of Twilight and level a character to 20.You will unlock veteran status @ 1000 favor while leveling to 20.

Do 100 favor runs (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=212796) whenever you can.
While you can dual box (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=252959) and do solo favor runs , find a friend or a guild that does favor runs.

Only purchase packs that go on sale.Avoid buying low level packs.Only thing you need from them is Favor which you can obtain with guest passes from friends on your main character and unlock 32pt Builds / FvS

You won't regret buying these packs

Giant hold
Vault of Night
Devils of Shavarath
Necropolis 4
Demon Sands
Delera's Tomb
Reavers Refuge

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tips

1.Use invisibility Clickies to avoid Dungeon Alert
2.You can skip Cannith Crystal and still do Collaborator if you have a elite opener.
3.Don't waste time taking/sharing quests on favor runs.Tip 37 (http://ddowiki.com/page/Loading_screen_tips)
4.Find a static group / guild
5.1barb/3cleric is a solid build for favor runs
6.Keep elite opener in Rusty Nail
7.Instances remain active for 5 minutes after you leave it. [Split quests]
8.You can run past the second gate in Information is key.
9.Blood-Knuckles can kill you :p
10.Favor runs being repetitive can get boring very fast.

[Dysmetria]

i think the most effective way to do this would be to earn 1000 favor on each server once for the first time favor bonuses. then pick a server with a vip friend. or where your main account is if your vip on that. and create a vet character, party with him and run korthos elites to 100 favor, delete and remake.Even if you have a VIP friend willing to run your temporary characters thru the same 11 elites before you delete and reroll them over and over, you will only be farming tp at the equivalent rate of about 50 cents an hour.

It is far more efficient to just buy points, and use your game time to play characters that you actually intend to level up and keep.

[timetorun177]

My guildie just finished doing it. He has characters on every server with 2000 favor.

[LordRavnos]

Even if you have a VIP friend willing to run your temporary characters thru the same 11 elites before you delete and reroll them over and over, you will only be farming tp at the equivalent rate of about 50 cents an hour.

It is far more efficient to just buy points, and use your game time to play characters that you actually intend to level up and keep.

As much as I agree with you, some people do not have the option to buy sadly, they play F2P because they love the game and can not afford anything atm, so for them unlocking through massive grind is the only option

[DMCain]

Am I the only one that noticed that the OP decided to do this for FUN? He CAN buy TP, just chooses not to.

[issiana]

Am I the only one that noticed that the OP decided to do this for FUN? He CAN buy TP, just chooses not to.

I noticed it. and all this time i thought *I* had a twisted sense of fun.. hehe

this idea of the OP's... this is not what i'd call fun :p

/bows to the master of twisted fun sense (OP ;))

[wax_on_wax_off]

This is my rant on the f2p grind: http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=259314

I made it through more than 6000 TP of content before I succumbed over the christmas period and bought a $50 pack. I now own just about all the content and most account options and have a fair few points left over for future content (when it comes on sale).

I did make a minimum purchase about halfway through my grind because premium is much better than f2p. Particularly on character slots on auctionable items. A f2p account can only auction 1 item at a time. As a premium, your earning ability goes up some 20 fold and more money equals better gear equals faster favour.

I'd definitely look at what builds you can make that can easily solo content. I have quite enjoyed the premium options for soloing, cleric/monks, WF FvS or arcanes ... f2p content though, a halfling dragonmarked arcane is a good build or a cleric of any description. Other classes are fine but you have to rely on other people or hirelings.

[fall]

Thanks fot the feedback people! I started off by trying a build by sigtrent called the Pseudo Shaman (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?p=1384537#post1384537), and I've found it pretty useful so far. Not sure if it will be slightly outdated in higher levels or anything, but so far I'm putting it to good use.

I'll keep an eye out for the sales and hopefully I'll be able to snag the Vale of Twilight when it's time. That being said, anyone have any suggestions on which order to get the adventure packs? Like a top 5 or something?

[Darky86]

Hello ppl, first wanna thank you all for posting links that helped me a lot understanding the game mechanics. I play DDO for about 2-3 months now (f2p) with 14 lvl Dwarf Barbarian main (Ghallanda) with ~900 favor and 3-5 lvl toons on every other server. Barb is really fun and effective to play - fast, can do tons of damage and have decent hit points and DR (can even do most of the quests solo+cleric hire).

Since I made different class on every server it's not that borring to do the same quests. In December I bought VoN and Sands adventure packs on 50% sale and now I'm saving for Vale and GH. I think DDO offers one of the best f2p system that actually can unlock almost every feature in the game so I really enjoy playing it in my free time.

[Urvine]

Even if you have a VIP friend willing to run your temporary characters thru the same 11 elites before you delete and reroll them over and over, you will only be farming tp at the equivalent rate of about 50 cents an hour.

It is far more efficient to just buy points, and use your game time to play characters that you actually intend to level up and keep.

the OP pointed out specifically to do it without buying TP.

[PopeJual]

When i started playing , none of the payment methods worked for me except mobile.I bought 25 TP (http://lh3.ggpht.com/_ynnPS9iPm24/TRCcoWyJFeI/AAAAAAAAAqU/q8sXh1VxWpc/s640/India.jpg) with mobile and became premium.:D Didn't buy anymore points with mobile as the rates were too high for large purchases :mad:

Ended up doing favor runs after unlocking Veteran Status @ 1000 favor.
Only bought items that were on sale and did favor runs whenever i could.Took three months to grind almost all of the adventure packs , Monk and Warforged.Was doing it solo dual boxing (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=252959) but near the end joined a favor farming guild and realized it was much faster with more people.

The amount of TP spent/grinded was around 6950 TP. [23 packs ,Monk, WF, 2 Slots]

The irony is that recently i learned it was possible for me to purchase TP with paybycash/playspan. Bought the rest of the packs on the last Turbine Tuesdays 50% off. :D
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Advice
Avoid favor grinding if you can pay :)

If you can't pay
First step is to create characters on all servers and to get to 100 favor. This will unlock Server Favor (http://www.ddo.com/store-starter-guide/739-step-3-getting-turbine-points) to the third tier and you will get 125x7=875 TP.

Buy Vale of Twilight and level a character to 20.You will unlock veteran status @ 1000 favor while leveling to 20.

Do 100 favor runs (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=212796) whenever you can.
While you can dual box (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=252959) and do solo favor runs , find a friend or a guild that does favor runs.

Only purchase packs that go on sale.Avoid buying low level packs.Only thing you need from them is Favor which you can obtain with guest passes from friends on your main character and unlock 32pt Builds / FvS

You won't regret buying these packs

Giant hold
Vault of Night
Devils of Shavarath
Necropolis 4
Demon Sands
Delera's Tomb
Reavers Refuge

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tips

1.Use invisibility Clickies to avoid Dungeon Alert
2.You can skip Cannith Crystal and still do Collaborator if you have a elite opener.
3.Don't waste time taking/sharing quests on favor runs.Tip 37 (http://ddowiki.com/page/Loading_screen_tips)
4.Find a static group / guild
5.1barb/3cleric is a solid build for favor runs
6.Keep elite opener in Rusty Nail
7.Instances remain active for 5 minutes after you leave it. [Split quests]
8.You can run past the second gate in Information is key.
9.Blood-Knuckles can kill you :p
10.Favor runs being repetitive can get boring very fast.

That mobile payment is so awesome that I'm going to renanme my firstborn child after you for bringing it to my attention.