VIP Downgrade to Free F.A.Q.

[Rexthor007]

$9.99 gets you a stress free, no worries, no hassles playing experience. And, 500 TP per month. Have you seen LFM's posted as 'need elite opener' or 'on elite if we have opener'. Meh, thats not for me.

I don't think it is fair though as a VIP that I cannot purchase packs when they are on sale in prepartion of going P2P. I called and got an immediate 'can't help you there' repsonse. Turbine, you need to change this. How can you possibly penalize your player base for being loyal VIP subscribers?

I was going to go P2P and buy the packs until I realized the elite opener issue. When TR'ing the BB is too valuable. However, I still feel this needs to be changed and quickly. You have had many complaints and you know it is an issue. Just fix it already so those that have given you their money over the years can have the flexability they deserve.

There is a place you can purchase content the issue came up and a developer had e a video showing how to do it but you would have to find it I remember she was a woman with glasses in the video maybe YouTube has it you would have to find it some how.

[Slickzter]

Q. What happens to my Warforged characters?
A. If you downgrade to a Free account, you must purchase the Warforged race in the DDO store to play any existing Warforged characters.

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Clarification pre-ftp?

Back in the day I originally bought the game from a store for the 59.00 or however much it was.
Thereafter for the 1.5yrs on subscription plan. Later quit, and came back multiple times and always
immediately re-subbed to VIP when it became Ftp.

So the above quote to me sounds like, even thou I originally bought the game outright and rolled a warforged character, that "was part of the game". If I ever decide to let it go at Ftp, I cant play it without paying?

I can understand monk, it wasn't introduced to much later, but warforged was available from day 1 from paying customers.

I can also understand if someone new comes in, downloads and playing for free might pay extra, but what about those that bought the original content?

[ZIABIS]

Is it the same with a Warlock. I am VIP, but if I go back to FREE will I lose my Warlock class?

[Steiner-Davion]

Is it the same with a Warlock. I am VIP, but if I go back to FREE will I lose my Warlock class?

Yes

[Big_Fab]

Just a little confused, everyone is saying that if you down grade from VIP to free you get to choose 2 of your toons, but this post says 4...is this right? Thanks Patience.

So, it's four is it?
So having downgraded from VIP, why was I just asked to pick FIVE out of my nine characters? I have just purchased the Druid class to activate the fifth character and guess what - it now says 'Over character limit'. Why ask me to pick FIVE when I can only use FOUR without an additional purchase- Sounds like a classic 'Bait-and-Switch' to me- tell me I'm getting five and then give me four - Oh, and now if I want to use the Monk, I have to pay for it. Again. Not a happy chappie- seems like a deliberate deception in order to coerce (more) money from the players.

Get your act together.

[Big_Fab]

...And now I look at the character selection screen, at the bottom it actually says:
"Characters: 9 of 5
Premium Account"

just below the button to purchase upgrades- Eh? Is this for real?

Are you guys deliberately trying to mess with peoples' heads?

This is EXACTLY the type of sloppy effort that led me to cancelling my VIP account in the first place.

Or, guess what the outcome of this is: Assert.assertTrue(5 == 4);
Smells to me like someone, somewhere has hardcoded a 'magic number'. Incorrectly.
Find it. FIX IT. Done.

PS, the fun continues:
Just purchased additional slot-
Now asks me to pick SIX characters (and won't let me continue with only five selected)...

See, my gut feeling there was that after clicking 'ACCEPT' I would only have access to five (randomly selected through some unknown factor) out of the six- NOPE- now have all six. THIS IS A DEFINITE BUG!
Ho-Hum.

[GoMeansGreen]

it should read, '... downgrade to Premium'
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I initially rejected the TR mechanism, but now realize it is just another way to play, to continue enjoying the game. You don't 'have' to be overpowered if you don't want to be. You can play with zero armor or buffs, etc. Or you can be a one-shot wonder kid. Either you enjoy playing or you don't, regardless of vip or premium.
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I would find it hard to believe there are any players who never bought any TP who still play after a while. What is so hard to get about 'buying' a game that you can't just pay at least $5 for it if you like it?
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So, there is 'vip', which should be just 'sub' or 'member' or 'patron'.
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And there is 'premium', which is ok, but could be something else maybe.
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The 'free' account is really just the 'try-it-before-you-buy-it' method initially introduced by Doom back in the early 90's called 'share-ware'. You got the first 3 levels free and so had a way to try it and see if you liked it before buying the rest of the 10 levels. Fun game. Great style. DDO has great style.
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So, you can either take the easy way and pay $15 or less per month to play, or you can go hard and buy all the packs and stuff.
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After NCSoft killed CoH (City of Heroes) I swore I would never sub another game again. So, if the game doesn't have a viable 'premium' option, then I won't play it. SWTOR, for example, has a horrible 'f2p' experience. And now the game is ruined, same as Rift.
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I think DDO does a good job of trying to balance the different pay styles, monthly or piece by piece. And you can do both. For example, you could start a new character, buy a couple months of 'vip' status and get elite opener so you don't have to pug.
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So, I came back to DDO after a while off playing other games. It is simply a better game than most, with a higher level of maturity. Wow, for example, went the other direction, dumbing down their game to appeal to the younger audience, such as with that shameless rip-off of 'kung-fu panda'.
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I like pugging just fine. I'm to level 20 without any problem just joining groups doing whatever. I'm staying at 18 to finish 'vale of twilight' and do 'shroud' the raid. Then it is to 20 to farm the whatevers for the heart of wood to tr. I've decided to continue being a warforged regardless of class, just because I can do that (rp-style), and also doing each class 1,2,3 rather than going for one of each to get 'completionist'. I will get completionist when I have completed every class 3 times in a row.
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A suggestion: after you have completed a class to level 20 (or iconic and epic to 30) then you should have the option of reincarnating into that same class at the completed level, say after you have done a class 3 times. But it is so quick to level up to 20 that you can just play a class a 4th time. Besides, you want to do all the content again to farm for this or that special drop item. For example, the acid wand from water-works. I destroyed mine, but now I want it back. What if I was at life 42? I'd be playing a class for no 'benefit' other than to make an attempt at getting another acid wand. They are nice for shooting barrels if you are arcane.
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Ok, rant over.
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have fun, and good luck.

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Greenpak, WF Sorc, Cannith
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p.s.: oh, and please, just go ahead and merge the servers, i mean ... really!

[GoMeansGreen]

oh, i did decide to do a second character, after considering what use my other 9 character slots were other than as holders.
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I want a 2nd character who is NOT a warforged, regardless of class. Though, I am not particular about what race per class, except not warforged. It is just a thing I have in my head, like a control chip.
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Besides, my main is xp maxed, nearly, so I can use the upcoming xp bonus days to level my 2nd to 20. It was a hard call, but it will be 'Elgreen' the elf ranger. Hmm.... now it is looking like this may be a situation where the character will be Elf for all 42 lives (or more). Oh boy, so I may have to make another character for another race. Hmm...

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I can guarantee you will get more players if you merge the servers.