Allow paid areas to go free for a few days

[rocky0]

Sorry for the title but I really couldn't come up with a better one. When I was free play, I would save my turbine points to buy the extra adventure packs as many people do. I bought Devil's Assault and have always regretted doing it. I had no idea what the pack was about and the description is very limited. I hated it and very rarely used it.

I was wondering if maybe once in awhile, allow an adventure pack to become free play for like 3 days or so. It would give the free to play players the chance to experience something they haven't. It could also give those who are premium the chance to explore these areas as well. I would have loved the chance to go into the Shroud and the chance for greensteel items. I just thought it would give people a chance to experience an area without having a guest pass or something along those line.

I thought maybe this would help just give more players a chance to hvae a little more fun and allow more players to be available to group.

Just a thought....

[Tunst]

or be able to buy yourself a guest pass.

[baronlager]

If you want to experience the entirety of the DDO content you could also go VIP for a period of time. Then, if you didn't think the content was worth the price, go back to F2P.

[Cyr]

I think this 'free sample' of adventure packs is a wonderful idea in the same manner that pay channels are often made free for a few days for certain cable systems.

It gets people interested in something by letting them get a little taste for free.

/signed

[rocky0]

I should have said that I was basing this off of my own experinces so maybe it's slanted a little. When I first joined, I was going to be free play and never thought I would VIP because of some serious money issues. I always thought that buying packs with earned points would be my only way of getting more. I was thinking this way would help people like this because you can't afford to make a bad purchase in packs so at least you can have some idea what you are walking into.

I also thought it would just allow those who can't/aren't VIP be able to have some fun in areas for a few days that they normally wouldn;t have access to. Again using my own example, just another way to have fun and forget about life for awhile

[stille_nacht]

i like this free sample idea, but i think the best way to implement it would probably be just to have 1 and a half hour "passes" for a very low price like 10 tp, that way people could sample things out to see if they like the pack/ want it

[Doganpc]

or be able to buy yourself a guest pass.

I like this if there was a way to make it a once per account purchase. 90min would be about right, just enough for 2 quests to give you a feel but no end rewards.

If you want to experience the entirety of the DDO content you could also go VIP for a period of time. Then, if you didn't think the content was worth the price, go back to F2P.

I did this and if timed properly way worth it.

Dogan
Got me 80% of the content with points given while VIP.

[dng242]

Perhaps just a solid return policy.

Keep in mind the game has to make money, F2P doesn't make them any money unless you are buying points with real money. So unless this make it more likely you will fork out cash for some points, then Turbine wouldn't be really smart to allow it.

[Quarterling]

If they were to do this, I would say more like one day a month; perhaps the first Saturday of every month.

[Westerner]

I like the pay TV analogy. Give it to them free for a short time, then maybe they'll buy it.

Combining some of the great ideas suggested here:

"This weekend only: try Gianthold on a trial pass for (nominal amount) TP. This pass is good for (1-2 quests worth) playing time and is available on a once-per-account basis"


Next weekend it'd be another pack. e.g. Threnal.

The pass would only be good for that weekend and no other time. The adventure packs would slowly rotate taking months to go through the whole roster. So creating multiple accounts to get multiple passes won't help you much.

This would help draw F2P players on a scheduled basis to seldom-played packs which would help P2P/VIP who want to run it but can't get a group for it.

The trial pass rotation schedule could be sync'd to the weekly pack discount sale so that you follow up the free trial with a call to action.

[Westerner]

I bought Devil's Assault and have always regretted doing it. I had no idea what the pack was about and the description is very limited. I hated it and very rarely used it.

I strongly recommend sirgog's thorough review of adventure packs. I rely on it for buying decisions.

[Lorz]

The free taste of DDO is the F2P.

You want to try more...buy a guest pass.

Chances are if they havent seen enough to entice them to pay and play....giving them a regular free day will result in just more freeloaders. The free sample of F2P that exists is more then enough to get a taste.

And remember kiddies....the crack dealers know.....the first taste is free....all others come with a price.

[Lorz]

I strongly recommend sirgog's thorough review of adventure packs. I rely on it for buying decisions.

And yes plenty have written about adventure packs so if your wanting to make an informed buying decision the info is out there readily available. If your not wanting to put in a little effort.....good luck and choose wisely.

[Stealthdog]

If they set up a few days where FTP accounts can try the quests, but get zero XP, zero loot from chests, and zero favor for the pay quests, sure. Otherwise it seems like it would be a very exploitable system and DDO would probably actually lose money.

[Westerner]

Chances are if they havent seen enough to entice them to pay and play....giving them a regular free day will result in just more freeloaders.

You don't know that. Giving them a (nearly) free pack for a day may lead to more sales of that pack. If it does, good. Packs like Threnal, Catacombs, and Vault of Night aren't exactly humming with activity so this may be worth trying. If it doesn't lead to increased sales, you can always scrap the idea.

[Robi3.0]

Spend 15 dollars for one month of DDO, it will be some of the best money you have ever spent.

Turbine is not likely to offer "free for a day" deal as there are benefits you get from running content that stick with you even after the free period has ended. Favor being one of the biggest benefits. More favor means more TP and more in game Favor unlocks and a decreased chance of players making purchases.


If you refused to go VIP for a month or are unable to, but still want to sample content I suggest making friends. On more then one occasion I have had a friend offer to get me a guest pass for a quest they were running. I would also turn them down, cause that's not my style, but in general friends are cool like that.

[rocky0]

I understand that there are a few posts that describe the adventure and I have read one or two of them. While I applaud the effort it took for those to be written, you cannot get the feel of an adventure pack unless you play it yourself. Everything that is written is based on that peron's ideas. So while those reviews do help, and I know they are very detailed, playing the adventure pack would still be the best way for someone to get the true feel ofit, not by only reading about it.

As far as those who say that the F2P is already giving them a atste of what the game is like, I respectfully disagree. None of the free packs give you anything like what you experince in Ginathold, Vale,and the like. I understand that the best should be for those who play and I agree with this. Yet would it not help to show what you can get in those type of quests for only a short time?? Seeing what you can get in terms of loot, XP, and crafting in those packs compared to what they are seeing in free play, would help to convert some of the free play to at least premium.

As far as the free loader comment goes, I agree that with free play, there has been an introduction of some types that are not really welcomed. That being said, I have come across many, many, many of these same type of people who are VIPs so it works both ways.

[Aztek]

..
Turbine is not likely to offer "free for a day" deal as there are benefits you get from running content that stick with you even after the free period has ended. Favor being one of the biggest benefits. More favor means more TP and more in game Favor unlocks and a decreased chance of players making purchases.
...

That's why i like Stealthdog's suggestion - try the areas but no favor, no xp, nothing that would stick with you during the free play time. not sure if no loot is too strict or not - if you pulled the only named loot from a pack you wanted (not likely in some packs) why bother buying the pack at that point?

[Robi3.0]

I understand that there are a few posts that describe the adventure and I have read one or two of them. While I applaud the effort it took for those to be written, you cannot get the feel of an adventure pack unless you play it yourself. Everything that is written is based on that peron's ideas. So while those reviews do help, and I know they are very detailed, playing the adventure pack would still be the best way for someone to get the true feel ofit, not by only reading about it.

As far as those who say that the F2P is already giving them a atste of what the game is like, I respectfully disagree. None of the free packs give you anything like what you experince in Ginathold, Vale,and the like. I understand that the best should be for those who play and I agree with this. Yet would it not help to show what you can get in those type of quests for only a short time?? Seeing what you can get in terms of loot, XP, and crafting in those packs compared to what they are seeing in free play, would help to convert some of the free play to at least premium.

As far as the free loader comment goes, I agree that with free play, there has been an introduction of some types that are not really welcomed. That being said, I have come across many, many, many of these same type of people who are VIPs so it works both ways.

Guest pass........ that is all you are probably going to get, as DDO doesn't seem to have a problem with getting people to spend money.

If turbine once in a blue moon would left restrictions and allow you personally be able to buy one guest pass for content you don't own giving you 90 min to try a a Adventure Pack, that would be okay I guess but allowing a full 24 hours to access a quest pack once a month would so very easily be exploited by FP2 and premium players that work the system. Trust me on this I am very experienced in working the system.

[Robi3.0]

That's why i like Stealthdog's suggestion - try the areas but no favor, no xp, nothing that would stick with you during the free play time. not sure if no loot is too strict or not - if you pulled the only named loot from a pack you wanted (not likely in some packs) why bother buying the pack at that point?

I am thinking that coding those restrictions would be more trouble then it is worth.