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.