Mounts in Store - Question

[Aelonwy]

Compare Turbine's strategy with SSG's. Turbine was also very pay to win, make no mistake. But Turbine had a more consistent sales strategy. Turbine also had multi-pronged strategies. Turbine fed on the whales as well, but also took care of the average consumer. Yes, people like me who are not willing to pay hundreds of dollars for something as banal as Otto boxes or to pay the price of an expansion for a mount, but who gladly kept a subscription, bought the maximum tiers of the expansions, and we bought points several times a year. SSG no. Note that SSG has focused exclusively on whales. Yes, those make a lot of money, but is it wise to focus only on one segment of your consumers?

I just don't think there's enough playerbase for their income. I mean there had to be 5x as many of us at least back in the Turbine days because I remember having multiple instances of the public zones quite often 2 to 3 Marketplaces, 5 House Jorasco during mabar and over a dozen mabar slayer instances. Crystal Cove the first time it came out had 22 instances on Thelanis. I remember because it shocked me. Now, now we're lucky to see 3 Crystal Cove instances even when they add new stuff. Back in the Turbine days there was a weekly 50% off item in the weekly sales. Over the last few years the sales have gone down from 35% to 30%, to 25% to 20%... will it become just 10%? and they'll call it a Sale? Idk but mostly I sit on my points for months at a time because the prices just don't tempt me. But I blame Turbine for the state we are in too. Astral Shards everywhere. Repair with Astral Shards, flashy button on the main screen BUY MORE astral shards, did you die? Resurrect with Astral Shards! Short cut to the quest teleport with Astral Shards! Oh you're not buying enough Astral Shards? let's add more inconvenience that you can bypass with Astral Shards or let's add more grind that you can speed up bypass with real $$$. I know its an industry standard now, I'm not ignorant of it, but its not surprising that it revolts some people. It shouldn't be surprising that some people will quit when their subscription doesn't allow them to enjoy the game when so many grinds and whoops are added to nickel and dime them to death above and beyond the monthly fee. I'm grateful it never got to the point of having Astral Shard or Otto's box billboards in-game but it sure felt like we were headed there.

I wish the big ticket store items were more about adding joy than circumventing grind or inconvenience like this cosmetic mount... but that doesn't mean the price is right for all players, nor that it ever will be on any sale. And the whales to which the game currently caters would actively prefer that because it makes their purchase more elite, more rare, more luxury if fewer people have it.

[Iriale]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. It would be better for the game if they retired adventure packs after a certain number of years to F2P or if they retired everything from MotU backwards to F2P. That would simultaneously resolve so many issues... 1) F2P not having enough content to get to 20 without grind, 2)F2P having hardly any/spotty access to epics, 3) larger variety of visually stunning quests and areas to get new players interested, 4) Tremendous variety of almost "empty" wilderness zones suddenly becoming F2P means they also suddenly become open to new quests and adventure packs.

The last reason is why I include MotU. How many players right now would want more adventures in the Underdark? How many felt the King's Forest was empty as heck? I know I would buy new adventure packs set in those locales. But the devs seem to have their hands tied when a wilderness zone is part of a paid pack... but nearly all of them are part of paid packs so then we end up with all these gorgeous explorer zones with hardly any adventures in them. I love that they've been adding quests to Cerulean Hills, Searing Heights... they need the freedom to do that with other zones.

Yes I agree. The thing is to reduce the entry paywall to new players, which is not that this game has little of that. But be that as it may, it is important that it does not have an expiration date. SSG needs a long-term strategy, not a couple of months.

Do you know what is one of the most serious problems that I find in the current game? That does not have a clear direction. The ups and downs of design are continuous. It is "yes, we are completely sure that we want to put so much DC in magister" to "it is not good that an ED has so much DC". It's "yeah we're sure enhancement spellpower is good" to "I hate those belts and will make them disappear from the loot tables when no one's looking." It is to go from "our tests tell us that inquisitive is perfectly balanced" to "we are going to put a 90% nerf in the inquisitive, and in the process another to the entire ranged dps with ips". Etc etc etc. Devs are never clear on things. Today they say white, and tomorrow the white will be awful, super-op, and should be turned into black immediately. So it's not surprising that they don't have a long-term retention strategy for new players. How are they going to have it? They change their minds from one day to the next.

[Mindos]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. It would be better for the game if they retired adventure packs after a certain number of years to F2P or if they retired everything from MotU backwards to F2P. That would simultaneously resolve so many issues... 1) F2P not having enough content to get to 20 without grind, 2)F2P having hardly any/spotty access to epics, 3) larger variety of visually stunning quests and areas to get new players interested, 4) Tremendous variety of almost "empty" wilderness zones suddenly becoming F2P means they also suddenly become open to new quests and adventure packs.

The last reason is why I include MotU. How many players right now would want more adventures in the Underdark? How many felt the King's Forest was empty as heck? I know I would buy new adventure packs set in those locales. But the devs seem to have their hands tied when a wilderness zone is part of a paid pack... but nearly all of them are part of paid packs so then we end up with all these gorgeous explorer zones with hardly any adventures in them. I love that they've been adding quests to Cerulean Hills, Searing Heights... they need the freedom to do that with other zones.

This would be great, I agree. There is so much potential.

[Iriale]

I just don't think there's enough playerbase for their income. I mean there had to be 5x as many of us at least back in the Turbine days because I remember having multiple instances of the public zones quite often 2 to 3 Marketplaces, 5 House Jorasco during mabar and over a dozen mabar slayer instances. Crystal Cove the first time it came out had 22 instances on Thelanis. I remember because it shocked me. Now, now we're lucky to see 3 Crystal Cove instances even when they add new stuff. Back in the Turbine days there was a weekly 50% off item in the weekly sales. Over the last few years the sales have gone down from 35% to 30%, to 25% to 20%... will it become just 10%? and they'll call it a Sale? Idk but mostly I sit on my points for months at a time because the prices just don't tempt me. But I blame Turbine for the state we are in too. Astral Shards everywhere. Repair with Astral Shards, flashy button on the main screen BUY MORE astral shards, did you die? Resurrect with Astral Shards! Short cut to the quest teleport with Astral Shards! Oh you're not buying enough Astral Shards? let's add more inconvenience that you can bypass with Astral Shards or let's add more grind that you can speed up bypass with real $$$. I know its an industry standard now, I'm not ignorant of it, but its not surprising that it revolts some people. It shouldn't be surprising that some people will quit when their subscription doesn't allow them to enjoy the game when so many grinds and whoops are added to nickel and dime them to death above and beyond the monthly fee. I'm grateful it never got to the point of having Astral Shard or Otto's box billboards in-game but it sure felt like we were headed there.

I wish the big ticket store items were more about adding joy than circumventing grind or inconvenience like this cosmetic mount... but that doesn't mean the price is right for all players, nor that it ever will be on any sale. And the whales to which the game currently caters would actively prefer that because it makes their purchase more elite, more rare, more luxury if fewer people have it.

Well. I don't know the circumstances of SSG, but I guess they have had to prove a lot in a short time, showing that they are capable of making good profits and such. The problem is that they have been so aggressive trying to get our money, that they are driving everyone away except the whales, that as you say, many of those (not all!) even prefer that few pay, because that way they feel more special. And SSG is becoming more aggressive and more focused in this regard, which displaces more and more of their customers.

So yes, they have fewer and fewer "average" customers. But they are who have scared away the average customer who could round out their sales. If now they only have whales left, it is because they are increasingly focusing on them and less on the average customer, so of course, average customer is going to leave. Can you expect anything else? When you are negligent with your customers, they take the money elsewhere, that happens in all business.

And I don’t know. I've been to other MMOs and they handle offers more successfully, tempting customers, or even pampering them from time to time with gifts and nice touches like the "birthday thank you” note I mentioned earlier. Here instead devs speak to you with contempt if you do not agree with their point of view. *sighs*

But what I have no doubt about is that SSG does not have a serious marketing department. Let's see, if that was the case, would they have such inconsistent offers? Would they be putting so many obstacles to the new player? Would we lack the possibility of doing gifts and such? Seriously, would a serious marketing department have retired the previous menace and shadowfell packages? Is SSG aware of the number of people who have bought these xpacks for the extras and not just for the adventures? Is it smart to overprice luxury xpacks, and add fewer extras and less value each time? Isn't it the job of a marketer to make those kinds of expensive products look attractive? I remember the Turbine expansions, there was a lot of anticipation and a lot of acceptance for their xpacs. What about the SSG? Isn't there something wrong when they get so many complaints?

But if they are greedy even with the gift of the 15th anniversary. Anyone would think that on such an important date they could give a gift per toon, they were not going to be ruined by a few more pixels. But no, their unwritten message this year with the 15th anniversary gift has been like "we don't like alts, forget about them" xdd.

And no, it's not that SSG clients are a bunch of ungrateful protesters. Blaming the client is easy, but when you are not pleasing your clients, the fault is yours: you will be doing something wrong to have lost them. SSG is fortunate to have a very loyal and persistent customer base. There are games that have sunk with fewer failures on the part of their directors.

So, if this is all the work of a marketing expert... I would suggest looking for another... lol

Turbine-wise ... yeah, they started this trend. Turbine had a pretty aggressive policy regarding paywalls as well; it is not a good example to follow. But still ... turbine had limits. SSG seems to believe that in everything, the more the merrier. That doesn't work like that. Customers have limits. In the same way that grind tolerance can turn into hatred if you abuse it too much.

Still, turbine has an excuse: they started when the world of microtransactions and free to play was just beginning. DDO was an experiment in many ways in this regard, and experiments make mistakes. Other MMOs have done better afterwards, but Turbine was one of the pioneers who dared to try that path. SSG has fewer excuses. SSG could have chosen to try other successful models, and instead has only multiplied Turbine's vices. They might even have realized that a partial policy change was advisable, since the game was already very big and things had to be made easier for new players, instead of putting infinite obstacles. But no. SSG has chosen the opposite path... I have to say that despite its flaws, I was quite happy with Turbine. With SSG? I never imagined that I would cancel the subscription angry. I thought I'd be in this game until the lights went out.

[adamkatt]

If the blue horse was in the store id buy it.. but they went with making it only a super rare gold roll... sorry im not playing the lotto with my shards.

[Aelonwy]

If the blue horse was in the store id buy it.. but they went with making it only a super rare gold roll... sorry im not playing the lotto with my shards.

same, assuming that's the one in gold rolls

[rabidfox]

If the blue horse was in the store id buy it.. but they went with making it only a super rare gold roll... sorry im not playing the lotto with my shards.

We know nothing about the gold roll mount. It could easily be another red/orange flamed but with a different underlying horse skin. While the blue mount could be saved for the upcoming Wildhunt raid, or the the blue mount could be the gold roll; it's all just guesswork with zero basis for the guesses.

[adamkatt]

We know nothing about the gold roll mount. It could easily be another red/orange flamed but with a different underlying horse skin. While the blue mount could be saved for the upcoming Wildhunt raid, or the the blue mount could be the gold roll; it's all just guesswork with zero basis for the guesses.

We know that there is no gold roll mount for any of the new mounts.

[FengXian]

Aelonwy making a lot of sense, I wish they listen before it's too late.

[Aelonwy]

We know nothing about the gold roll mount. It could easily be another red/orange flamed but with a different underlying horse skin. While the blue mount could be saved for the upcoming Wildhunt raid, or the the blue mount could be the gold roll; it's all just guesswork with zero basis for the guesses.

Now we do:


This^ is what the new gold roll mount will look like, debuted during devchat event on Lammania. Same as store nightmare with less bone devil armor.

[blaxx1296]

Hello, Is this mount limited time access to buy like with night revels stuff? If anyone knows an answer would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Not entirely sure that description is 100% clear.

The token you get from the store is bound to character.
If I use the token do I get the Bone Devil Armored Nightmare:

1) On a Single Character
2) On Every Character on a Single Server
3) A token on Each server allowing access to every character on ever server?
4) Some other combination

At 2495, for the Bone Devil Armored nightmare, and 1995 for the Fast Horses (Bay Palomino, Chestnut) points I am hoping 3 is the correct answer, however I suspect its 2. Even though it is written to imply 1.

[kaplangrad2010]

The horse in the DDO store is put into your inventory stable making it available to all of your characters account wide.

I have this mount (as of Aug 21, 2022) and it is indeed NOT on all my servers I have characters on and I was then trying to figure out which one had the special mounts and this server (Thelanis) is one of two that has special mounts, other than the common ones from the feathers gained in Borderlands. I rolled on the gold dice and ended up with another one that was server-bound, not account-wide, meaning on all servers of that account.

Maybe this is an issue that should be addressed, maybe not. I don't mind, although I wouldn't mind having the same mounts that are "bound to account" on all the servers I have created characters on, and that's all but the Hardcore one.