Adventure Pack Reviews and Buyer's Guide

[Stoner81]

1. Welcome back.

2. Are there no versions of the game that contain all of the previous expansions, or is it really necessary to buy them piecemeal?

The expansions are always sold separate from everything else however, if you go VIP then you get access to all content except for the expansion packs so that might be worth a look. Also note that in the expansion packs you get a bunch of points to spend in the DDO Store (2,000 from each expansion I think) which you could use to buy more packs. Also waiting for sales to be on will stretch those points even further.

Stoner81.

[Kaisheng21]

Last I heard, 3BC was actually really good. Did something change, or...?

[DDfan2000]

Do all the adventure packs come with the purchase of digital versions of the box you would buy in the store? For example in LotRo the original box shadows of angmar would get you all the packs that are in the regions of the game that came with that digital/box buy. In the list are 38 quest packs. Ideally I would love to play completely for free though I'm not seeing this as reasonable unless I'm missing something. I'm not even sure how I got the 600 points I currently have; by using the chart of the wiki to estimate a bit. Unless things changed and you used to get a lot more points for free from playing content; I couldn't figure out how I even got the points I have. I have two characters one level 6 and only done level 1 and 2 content all difficulty levels solo-elite. And one level 4 and about half way through the level 2 quests solo-elite.

[Nebless]

Do all the adventure packs come with the purchase of digital versions of the box you would buy in the store? For example in LotRo the original box shadows of angmar would get you all the packs that are in the regions of the game that came with that digital/box buy. In the list are 38 quest packs. Ideally I would love to play completely for free though I'm not seeing this as reasonable unless I'm missing something.

NO, you don't actually buy any packs with the purchase of a boxed set of DDO or LotRO. What you get is a 30 day VIP sub with the box purchase that lets you have access to everything a VIP would have. Doesn't matter if they've just Sub'd via the game or bought a box. And then once that sub runs out you drop back down to Premium (since you've spent real money).

So while the sub is running you can do (pretty much) all dungeons and when the sub runs out, you're back to just being able to run the F2p one's.

There are guides on how to play F2p grinding to get points. On the other hand, there's quite a few Free dungeons you could run, plus with the points you have buy some dungeon packs to add to that list.

[DDfan2000]

NO, you don't actually buy any packs with the purchase of a boxed set of DDO or LotRO. What you get is a 30 day VIP sub with the box purchase that lets you have access to everything a VIP would have. Doesn't matter if they've just Sub'd via the game or bought a box. And then once that sub runs out you drop back down to Premium (since you've spent real money).

So while the sub is running you can do (pretty much) all dungeons and when the sub runs out, you're back to just being able to run the F2p one's.

There are guides on how to play F2p grinding to get points. On the other hand, there's quite a few Free dungeons you could run, plus with the points you have buy some dungeon packs to add to that list.

I'm confused then, what's the point of buying a box/digital box if you get no content with any of them?

[Nebless]

I'm confused then, what's the point of buying a box/digital box if you get no content with any of them?

-- "For example in LotRo the original box shadows of angmar would get you all the packs that are in the regions of the game that came with that digital/box buy."

Yes, but only for as long as you were a subscriber.

There was a big mind shift in how we thought of games back when DDO & LotRO went F2p. Up until that time all thought as you did; that we had bought the game. Now if you went and bought a SPG, then yes, you bought the content; could load it on the machine and play it until your computer melted, But with Online MMO's it turns out we had never bought the content, but had only rented it via a sub; after putting down a hefty chunk of change for the privilege of loading it on our computers. Turn's out we only 'owned' it as long as we paid a monthly fee.

Why buy a game via a box now a days? Since most don't even sell their games that way anymore you might get lucky and pick it up cheap on Amazon or maybe find one in the bargain bin at a store. With the box you get a 'free' 30 days of VIP play for whatever you paid for the box instead of paying $14.99 for that same VIP month. I picked up the Godslayer expansion to Age of Conan which still cost's around $15 in the in game store for $5.00 via Amazon and got 30 VIP time with it. The other reason would be the extra's that come with it.

When I bought Age of Conan, I got a riding mammoth as an extra, God's & Heroes: Rome Rising I got a skeleton archer pet and with both DDO & LotRO the only extra's I got were map's I could thumbtack to my wall. That's really the only 'content' you've actually bought.

Things are a little different now with the various DLC's and Expansion packs that are out. With those you do 'own' the content. You buy Ravenloft, even as a F2p player and you can go play there anytime you want, same with Moria or Helm's Deep or Mordor in LotRO. No sub needed, just Buy to Play.

[unbongwah]

Do all the adventure packs come with the purchase of digital versions of the box you would buy in the store?

I'm not sure what you mean by "digital versions of the box." Are you talking about the expansion packs from the DDO Market and also the Store?

http://ddowiki.com/page/Account_comparisons

• Everyone has to buy the expansions in order to access their content: MotU, Shadowfell, Ravenloft.
• VIP subscribers have access to all other content as long as their subscription is active, as well as most races and classes (some of them still need to be unlocked via Favor or the DDO Store).
• F2P / Premium players unlock adventure packs thru the DDO Store. Also some adventure packs are bundled with the MotU SE, which is part of why I recommend it as the first purchase for most newcomers.

Unfortunately, you just missed a Steam sale on the first two expansions. But FYI, SSG usually does summer sales from late June to early August. So if you can wait of couple of weeks, you should be able to score some cheap deals.

[Nebless]

Last I heard, 3BC was actually really good. Did something change, or...?

Still a good buy, fun theme and enjoyable quests.

[DDfan2000]

-- "For example in LotRo the original box shadows of angmar would get you all the packs that are in the regions of the game that came with that digital/box buy."

Yes, but only for as long as you were a subscriber.

They changed that then, because I remember when they first went free to play friends were buying the SoA box and getting the packs associated with that content unlocked even without VIP.

I'm not sure what you mean by "digital versions of the box." Are you talking about the expansion packs from the DDO Market and also the Store?

What I was trying to say is the original game. Example shadows of angmar box/ digital version of for lord of the rings online. Which I assume the comparable to DDO is that all the packs not part of an expansion release were a part of. But if they changed things so that there isn't a single lump package as a result of a code for having the purchase of the original game then what I was hoping for probably isn't possible. I was seeking a bulk discount and the reason back when the games first went to free to play anyone bothered buying the original game box /digital version of.

[Nebless]

They changed that then, because I remember when they first went free to play friends were buying the SoA box and getting the packs associated with that content unlocked even without VIP.

30 days free VIP came with (and still does) the purchase of any of the game boxes. So yes, your friends had access to all those regions, but only for 30 days, after that they would have only had access to the 4 (then 3 I think) low level regions. They'd still would have been able to complete any quests they had started in the other regions, along with finishing deeds, just not have been able to take any new ones without buying the region.

Sorry but your hope of being able to get all for very little money won't happen, unless you grind points. I would suggest you google 'Free DDO dungeons' and look at some of those charts. There's actually quite a few free dungeons you can play; 19 lvl 2, 9 lvl 3, 7 lvl 4, 5 lvl 5 and so on up to lvl 20 and that's from an old list when 20 was max level. Play the free one's and you'll slowly gather store points and be able to buy other dungeon packs.

[unbongwah]

What I was trying to say is the original game. Example shadows of angmar box/ digital version of for lord of the rings online. Which I assume the comparable to DDO is that all the packs not part of an expansion release were a part of.

I'm afraid you assumed incorrectly. Buying an original DDO gamebox (does anyone still sell those?) gets you a 30-day VIP subscription and that's it. Once that expires, you go back to a Premium account status.

I was seeking a bulk discount and the reason back when the games first went to free to play anyone bothered buying the original game box /digital version of.

The patient budget-oriented DDO gamer waits for sales of 50% or more on expansions and adventure packs. They also take advantage of big Bonus DDO Points sales to stock up. And you can do the 100 Favor Dash on all eight servers to earn 1,000 Store pts fairly quickly, which is also a great excuse to test out different builds to see which you like best. [200/300 Favor runs here.]

[ChiefVisigoth]

I am a little confused about the whole adventure pack purchases. If I play on one server and buy an adventure pack and also have characters on another server is the adventure pack on all the servers or only the server I purchased it on. For example, I purchased a newbie starter pack a while ago and had characters only on Orien. I was very new and managed to lose the cleric and pet the purchase provided. It was so long ago I no longer remember what happened. Now the purchase also included the Catacombs adventure pack.

I am now playing on Galandra with a new character. Is the catacombs pack available on that server?

[C-Dog]

I am a little confused about the whole adventure pack purchases. If I play on one server and buy an adventure pack and also have characters on another server is the adventure pack on all the servers or only the server I purchased it on?...

Adventure Pack purchases are account wide, so good on all 8 servers. Similar w/ extra character slots, Shared Bank, and any bought Races, Classes and Enhancement Trees.*

The significant server-only purchases are Astral Shards, and anything for an individual character like a Tome or extra inventory space.

(* Note that if you earn Drow for 400 Total Favor on one server, that does not transfer to other servers - you have to earn 400 TF on those servers as well. Otoh, if you just can't wait that short time and decide to buy Drow, then, yes, it's there on every server. Sim w/ anything that can either be bought or earned via Favor, e.g. Veteran Status, Favored Soul, Artificer, the Harper and Falconry trees, etc. etc.)

[Thaanatos]

Is this guide still up to date regarding unlocking priority of adventure packs?
Or is there some new adventure packs that are better for filling the f2p and expansion gaps?

[C-Dog]

The OP may well chime in, but until then I'll say that the "core 3", Vault of Night (Lvl 8-10), Gianthold (Lvl 13-14), and Vale of Twilight (15-17), are still exactly that. These three not only fill a gap in F2P leveling (which many others could do), but they have the overall popularity, the loot, fun, and diversity, to be the "go to" for most F2P/Premium players. LFM's are common in all.

The one strong contender to upset this time-honored trio is Mists of Ravenloft (Lvl 10-12). MoR has all the diversity and fun of the others, plus some amazing loot and some popular Raids. It's "modern", compared to the others, and is a source for filigrees and sentient gemstones, etc. However, it's about the same cost as all 3 of the others put together! So, as it stands, for the cost, it doesn't offer the spread for leveling and diversity of content that the other 3, combined, offer. So it probably sits somewhere just below those 3 for most.

After those, ED's review still holds fairly true. White Plume Mountain is newer than this thread and so unmentioned, and would pro'ly be ranked pretty high. And Masterminds of Sharn just came out - so that's to-be-determined (however, again, it's "new", so the loot is pretty strong). Some of the other newer ones - Dragonblood, Disciples of Rage, etc. - are also newer than this thread, and have some few good pieces of loot so have their attractions, but are smaller overall and so not as strong in the running.

Here's a good place to start to see the diff adventure packs. Also see link in my sig, re "How to choose an adventure pack" & what are the "top" packs that sit just below the trio I mentioned above.)

[Igognito]

Hi all,
This is a great thread but needs to be updated with the new information.

Some important notes: 3bc is epic; demon sands have 3 epic quests that fills an lfm immediately.
The are new adventure packs.
Delera, the catacombs have epic content too!

Etc...

I have a feeling that standing Stone is planning to update more old content and introduce more epic content. Also we should be expecting more legendary content...

At least that is my personal hunch!

[unbongwah]

This is a great thread but needs to be updated with the new information.

Try this thread; it's less comprehensive but gets bumped whenever there are sales.