VIP Downgrade to Free F.A.Q.

[Rothsel]

No what I'm asking for is access to everything up to the point I cut my count to f2p. meaning if something new comes out after then by all means I would need to pay for it but not what I basically already paid for. It is rediculous that they would in a round about way just give the finger to those of us that have supported them this long.

oh and lets not forget that we've gone from 6weeks betwen mods to about a year?
my moneys not buying what it used to.

This is exactly the analogy you need to think of when viewing the VIP to F2P conversion. DDO is a Theme Park. You use to buy a 1 month all access pass to the DDO theme Park. But now they’re changing the way they sell passes. You can buy a Standard 1 month pass as usual, and maintain all access to everything in DDO’s park. Or you can opt to not pay anything and just access the “Free” areas, or any areas you’ve bought since going F2P.

Just because you’ve bought your passes every month for the last 39 months means NOTHING, Zip, Nill, Nada. You didn’t buy any part of the park. You had access to it, and that’s it. Now, you can actually buy parts of the park if you so desire, and go to those areas any time you’d like after you make the purchase and never pay for the access again.

Why is it so hard for you people to get it through your heads that you didn’t BUY anything. You leased access to the DDO servers. You got what you paid for, access to their servers any time you wanted as long as the servers where up. Turbine is changing the way they deal with subscriptions and accounts access to DDO, either deal with the new system, or walk away. But sitting here whining and complaining is making you look like a bunch of little kids who’ve been told they can’t have their way and are now throwing a hissy fit.

They’ve made allowances for former VIPs to get no account locks like F2Ps get, you get double the character slots, you keep all your old unlocks, (Warforged and Monk weren’t unlocks, and yeah I’m a little miffed on this but ***). It’s might not be as much as some of you wanted, but its more than most companies would normally give. They didn’t have to give anything. Turbine had to stop giving at some point, they picked where they did. You might not like it, but they’re a business and need to make a profit to keep the servers up and running so we can access DDO. If they gave away everything to former VIPS who go F2P then they’d be out of business pretty quickly.

This is a lot more than I’d intended to write, but seriously I’d so tired of reading the “I’m not asking for everything, only what I have now” posts, and wondering, are people really this dumb? It’s been pointed out time and again why this is going on the way it is, but they still wont accept that they’re asking for everything free.

LoL sorry, I’m in a ranty mood.

[Rouge]

Basically as a Founder (I still remember the Alpha test!!) here's my plan.......

I'll remain a VIP member for atleast another term of the $60 for 6 months plan I'm on, which should give me a decent ammount of Turbine Points earned through VIP and favor earned after DDOU goes live........

I'll take those points and use them to unlock things that I use and places I play all the time (like the Shroud for example), and then when new content comes out I'll either go back to VIP for a month or two, or I'll jsut buy access to that content outright depending on cost.

If I downgrade from VIP and then buy the Monk, and then upgrade back to VIP.... then a month or two later downgrade back to Free I'll still have access to the Monk as I have purchased it.

And for people who want to put the time and effort into it, you should be able to make a char, earn 1000 Favor pretty fast (couple days to a week) earning Turbine Points, then delete that char and do it again....... I'm sure there should be a group or two of people doing this........ you can do this weather or not you are a VIP or F2P..... but as someone said, if you want to jumpstart...... go buy the original retail box of DDO and get VIP status for less than $5.

Developer Question: The old/current Retail box of DDO is still available at GameStop to purchase, what does the retail box CD keys do for an account after DDOU goes live?

[Tarrant]

Developer Question: The old/current Retail box of DDO is still available at GameStop to purchase, what does the retail box CD keys do for an account after DDOU goes live?

The box still offers a free thirty days of subscription, which will now translate into a free thirty days of VIP membership. If the owner of the account chooses not to continue paying for the VIP membership their account downgrades just like a normal VIP to Free downgrade functions.

[Daigaioh]

what happens if You take one level in monk and then go to another class. while vip then dowgrade to free. is that character just locked till I purchase it again or free as it is not a monk?

[Pwesiela]

what happens if You take one level in monk and then go to another class. while vip then dowgrade to free. is that character just locked till I purchase it again or free as it is not a monk?

Locked till purchased.

[Sohryu]

I have to say I don't really agree with former VIPs having to buy WF or Monk (I kinda don't see why ftp has to pay for these in the first place, unless it's to make them seem more attractive to play). It just seems like a way to nickle-and-dime people. For example, if someone has a WF character that's a monk, or has monk levels in that toon, they now have to pay twice as much to unlock said toon.

Also, how will forum access work for a former VIP, and f2p for that matter? Full posting privileges? Or confined to the "Free Trial" forums?

[jfunk]

It just seems like a way to nickle-and-dime people.

This is the entire premise of the F2P model. They're not converting the company to a not-for-profit or anything.

People that currently have those characters can continue paying their sub fees and not have anything about their access change if they so choose.

[Lorien_the_First_One]

I have to say I don't really agree with former VIPs having to buy WF or Monk (I kinda don't see why ftp has to pay for these in the first place, unless it's to make them seem more attractive to play). It just seems like a way to nickle-and-dime people. For example, if someone has a WF character that's a monk, or has monk levels in that toon, they now have to pay twice as much to unlock said toon.

Also, how will forum access work for a former VIP, and f2p for that matter? Full posting privileges? Or confined to the "Free Trial" forums?

People who have been VIP since the delay was announced will be getting 1499 TPs in the first month. Simply hold on to those and when you downgrade you can buy Monk and WF with the free points, problem solved.

[Torin17]

I am currently a ViP and I will be a ViP at least until my current subscription runs out. That well take me well past September 9th. Let's say that I am moving servers to a new server where I have no toons and so have no favor. I do not want to wait to have 2500 favor to unlock Favored Soul. So, as a ViP, I can go and purchase Favored Soul. Now, in four months when my current subscription runs out, I decide to switch to Free-to-Play. Do I still have access to Favored Soul? I would think that I would because I purchased it while I was a ViP. But others have said that I would not. They have said that whatever I purchase while a ViP I lose when I switch to Free-to-Play. Are they correct?

Thanks all for the insight. I am just trying to understand what the rules are.

Torin

[MagicianBlade]

what's this "gold storage limit" mentioned in OP? thought all characters could carry infinite money

[adamkatt]

Is there a level limit on vip downgrade f2p players(i havent been subbed for at least 6 mo). All i havent are i think 8 lvl 16's and maybe a 13.

[Kace]

The sigils (as far as I've heard) are for 4 levels each, so your 16's would need that last sigil to level to cap, the 13 would be just over the wire and could go up to 16, I believe.

[adamkatt]

The sigils (as far as I've heard) are for 4 levels each, so your 16's would need that last sigil to level to cap, the 13 would be just over the wire and could go up to 16, I believe.

Not what i was referring to but thanks for your reply. Not to worried about lvling as much as just being able to log in as a lvl 16. I thought i saw somewhere that there was a lvl cap on f2p, i went over all that faqs and i didnt see a thing to make this true or false. So i thought id ask here .

[Kace]

My bad, I got the gist of the question, but I didn't answer very well. The ftp cap is just the sigils. If you are already over the limit you won't need them retroactively. The only characters you may not be able to log on with are warforgeds or monks, which you now have to purchase first. There is also a cap of 4 slots for a returning player, additional slots will be required for purchase to play more characters. All of your old characters will be saved however for when you unlock them

[adamkatt]

My bad, I got the gist of the question, but I didn't answer very well. The ftp cap is just the sigils. If you are already over the limit you won't need them retroactively. The only characters you may not be able to log on with are warforgeds or monks, which you now have to purchase first. There is also a cap of 4 slots for a returning player, additional slots will be required for purchase to play more characters. All of your old characters will be saved however for when you unlock them

Thanks much!!!

What i think is cool about f2p is that i can post already!!

+1 for you Kace!

[Torin17]

Is it true that if you downgrade from a ViP to a F2P account you lose everything that you purchased (such as Warforged, Monk, etc.) while you were a ViP?

Torin

[adamkatt]

Is it true that if you downgrade from a ViP to a F2P account you lose everything that you purchased (such as Warforged, Monk, etc.) while you were a ViP?

Torin

Yep, just replace purchased with rented. The only ddo thing i actually bought were the original disks back in i think jan of 2006.

[Torin17]

Thanks Steele,

That is what I thought, though I don't agree with it. If I purchase something, even as a ViP, I should own it forever. If I am F2P and I purchase Monk or Warforged I own it forever but if I am ViP I am only renting it? That makes no sense to me. Looks like I will be saving up my ViP dragon dollars and not spending them until I go to F2P.

Thanks again for the answer, +1 rep for you!

Torin

[stick]

and the answer is YEAH! Now to clarify: I understand what Turbine is doing here, and which they have kind of presented poorly. They are adding in a limited account status for people who don't want to continue to pay the subscription fee or for new players who want to try the game out. If you take that option, you only get 4 slots, and are prevented from using certain in game features, some of which you can purchase with a one time payment (kind of like purchasing the game in installments). If you continue on with paying for your account you retain full access to the game. Turbine has decided that if you elect to downgrade your account you get what every one else gets for free and no more.
I agree with you that this doesn't seem fair considering that subscribers have already purchased the game content. I think that certain things ought to be preserved when downgrading like access to warforged and to any area of the game that you had access to before you downgraded.
I can see the limiting of the character slots to 4 unless you purchase more. So in my view the difference between a subscriber who maintains their account and one who doesn't would be access to new areas in the game (released after they stopped subscribing), having access limited to only 4 character slots (unless they elect to make the one time payment for each additional slot), and not getting the store credit every month.

Namanda Icehawk and alts on Khyber.
Founder

Agreed! Your loyal subscribers have already paid time and time again for access to these things. Their previous payments to ingame content should be concidered, especially when making this content a one time payment option. They have already made those payments as loyal customers and should be treated as loyal customers not new clients.

[Phax]

Thanks Steele,

That is what I thought, though I don't agree with it. If I purchase something, even as a ViP, I should own it forever. If I am F2P and I purchase Monk or Warforged I own it forever but if I am ViP I am only renting it? That makes no sense to me. Looks like I will be saving up my ViP dragon dollars and not spending them until I go to F2P.

Thanks again for the answer, +1 rep for you!

Torin

That is not true.

Anything you purchase in the store that is account based (classes, races, adventure packs) are purchased for your account and are never removed when you go F2P.

*edit* I must stress "purchase from the store" here. Having a subscription is not the same as purchasing the classes/races etc.