LFM and free-to-play

[Obfuscated]

I'm VIP and have only ever been VIP, so I don't know which quests are free-to-play. It would be nice if there was some way of knowing whether a quest is f2p or not when you put an LFM up. There have been cases where I've not known that a quest was f2p until we tried to start and someone had to drop because they couldn't get in. So either a light on the LFM page when you pick the quest from the list, or else a symbol in the quest log (the big list, so it's easy to spot f2p quests at your level). Again, this is for people who aren't f2p themselves but want to know whether someone else will be able to play.

For that matter, if someone clicks to join a group and the declared quest is one they don't have, perhaps they should get a warning message. Or direct them to the DDO Store :-)

[pie2655]

It will have a "buy now" tab if you dont own the pack, which lets you know you dont own it.

[Cauthey]

I'm VIP and have only ever been VIP, so I don't know which quests are free-to-play. It would be nice if there was some way of knowing whether a quest is f2p or not when you put an LFM up. There have been cases where I've not known that a quest was f2p until we tried to start and someone had to drop because they couldn't get in. So either a light on the LFM page when you pick the quest from the list, or else a symbol in the quest log (the big list, so it's easy to spot f2p quests at your level). Again, this is for people who aren't f2p themselves but want to know whether someone else will be able to play.

For that matter, if someone clicks to join a group and the declared quest is one they don't have, perhaps they should get a warning message. Or direct them to the DDO Store :-)

Probably your best option, right there. And, likely, one that the Turbine marketing/sales department could get behind.

[Lord_kNiels]

If you post the quest with the lfm it says "Buy now" for those who don't have it. However it would be a nice addition anyways.

[Requiro]

If you post the quest with the lfm it says "Buy now" for those who don't have it. However it would be a nice addition anyways.

There is a lots of situation when "Buy now" flag is not enough.

eg. when you are in group and going to do next quest, when leader post with different quest name by mistake, when forget to mark which is the quest ect.

This is in Turbine interest to show f2p people that they should buy this quest.

[Dysmetria]

There have been cases where I've not known that a quest was f2p until we tried to start and someone had to drop because they couldn't get in.

If the quest was f2p and someone had to drop because they couldn't get in, then it was likely due to them not completing the prerequisite quests.

[AZgreentea]

Before I owned all of the packs, I did my best to know before I applied to an LFM what was P2P. The red chalice above the quest giver was usually a dead giveaway. Cant expect everyone to be that diligent, I guess.

[katana_one]

It will have a "buy now" tab if you dont own the pack, which lets you know you dont own it.

^^This. Probably half your LFM problems will go away if you select the correct quest from the list when creating your LFM (instead of just typing it in the comment area). If someone sees your LFM and doesn't have the quest, they see a big "Buy Now!" button next to your LFM. You can even filter out content you don't own from the grouping panel when looking for a group to join, but again, this only works when the group leader actually selects the correct quest when posting in the first place.

When I was still F2P, I just stopped joining groups who didn't have the quest selected.

That being said, it would still be nice if the quest journal listed which quests were f2p/p2p for people who are already in a group.

[Antheal]

As long as you select which quest you're doing when making the LFM, any F2P people will either be given the "Buy Now" option, or (if they have "Hide Content I Don't Own" checked) not even see the quest and thus never apply to your LFMs.

[Pikeman]

If you post the quest with the lfm it says "Buy now" for those who don't have it. However it would be a nice addition anyways.

My beef is that this is not always true. There are bugs in the system for some quests. Examples that I have noticed:

-Hiding in Plain Sight: Displays as pay to play in the LFM window even though it is free to play.

-Several Shavarath quests appear in the LFM list as free to play, even though they are not.

-The Keepers Sanctuary (in Deleras) is free to play, and you can pick up the quest as a free to play, but you cannot actually play the quest unless you get access to Delera's by buying the pack. (Actually, they may have recently changed this. Since the mabar event, is it now possible to access delera's graveyard without buying the pack?)

[TheDearLeader]

(Actually, they may have recently changed this. Since the mabar event, is it now possible to access delera's graveyard without buying the pack?)

Yes.

[katana_one]

-Hiding in Plain Sight: Displays as pay to play in the LFM window even though it is free to play.

Interesting, I don't think I've ever seen this quest display as such in the LFM.

[Sarisa]

Interesting, I don't think I've ever seen this quest display as such in the LFM.

As of update 6, Hiding in Plain Sight was listed as P2P under the Restless Isles pack, even though it is available to F2P players. Since then, I bought the Restless Isles and can't check.

What would make things easier is adding explorer area S/R/E to the list of quests. That's where a lot of people get confused about F2P versus P2P content.

[Shade]

mmm if the ginarmous "BUY NOW!!" button that replaces the quest name in the LFM panel is not enough.. Nothing will be.

I rarely set the wrong quest on my lfms, and still often get ppl who dont have the pack joining. Some people don't read the warnings, so adding additional warnings would be of no benefit to them, theyd ignore the new ones just as much.

For when the wrong quest is set to the lfm.. Well thats player error. Turbine cannot fix player error.

Perhaps for groups that stay together and change packs, an additional warning could be added when quests are shared tho..

EG: Group leader shares quest to Free player without pack. He accepts, but it then says "Warning you do not own this content, are you sure you wish to accept this quest"
Options would be:
Yes/No/Buy the pack now on the ddostore.

Every other method of optioning the quest already has the warning. EG: Get from quest npc: It either says buy the pack, or the NPCs chalice shows up in red indicating you cant access the content.

[Paleus]

The best thing you can do as a P2P player to help F2P players is select the quest in the quest panel of the LFM. I sometimes see postings for quests where the poster only places the quest name in the LFM text, and doesnt select a quest. This is most often done when its in a chain, someone will post text saying VON 1-4, with no attendant quest selected in the quest panel. 'If' a F2P player has not checked "show quests I am not eligible for" then when they look at the social panel your LFM posting will be invisible to them. This will significantly cut down on the number of ineligible players asking to join, though it won't prevent the odd one from slipping through.

That said, the only other thing you could do is peruse one of the adventure pack review articles or 'unavailable items' in the ddo store looking at quest modules. You might get a basic idea of what quests are P2P. Other than that, the only thing I can think of to help you is whether or not the quest is a chain. With the exception of a few things like waterworks, lords march part 1, baudry's, I think most of the chains are usually P2P.

[Cleanincubus]

As of update 6, Hiding in Plain Sight was listed as P2P under the Restless Isles pack, even though it is available to F2P players. Since then, I bought the Restless Isles and can't check.

Yup, it's still messed up. Still shows up with the "Buy Now" button in the LFM, yet is still a F2P quest.

[Obfuscated]

The best thing you can do as a P2P player to help F2P players is select the quest in the quest panel of the LFM.

Yeah, I usually do that. My suggestion really was less about what the F2P players can see, more about about the fact that the P2P players don't have any hint about what the F2P players are seeing.

That said, the only other thing you could do is peruse one of the adventure pack review articles or 'unavailable items' in the ddo store looking at quest modules.

Not so easy from in-game and when people are asking "ok, what next?". The only way practical way at the moment though.

Reading everyone's comments, I'm starting to think the simplest fix would be if the big long list of quests (the one you can sort by level, not the lfm one or the quest log) had an extra column that showed P2P or F2P for each quest.

[Bargol]

Seems like the best option is to make it so that you have to select a quest to even post an LFM. If this was implemented it would remove some of this because of the glaring "buy it now" button. Another option that could be added if the first one was added is that if you click to join a group and you don't own the pack instead of a request to join it loads the DDO store

[justhavinfun]

Not sure how much any of this would help. I have had F2P join an LFM expecting a free guest pass. Doesn't happen very often but I have seen it. I have also been sent a tell to join a quest as long as I brought a guest pass for one of the players.

Also having a red chalice over the heads of the quest givers is no help at all. I say this because most of the time the first thing you hear is "share plz". In my mind this almost always signifies that the player is F2P. For the most part the VIP and Premium players I meet know where the quest are and rarely ask for shares.