VIP Downgrade to Free F.A.Q.

[Tolero]

Still answering questions as I go, let's see how many I can get while I'm here this time ^^

Re: VIP vs Free features
- Any content or features you unlock with Turbine Points as a Free person are yours, you don't have to keep "re-unlocking" it. If you're switching back and forth, the things you unlocked with your Turbine Points stay unlocked.
- The difference in being a VIP vs a Free player is kind of like the difference between leasing or owning a car. Leasing lets you drive, but if you stop paying the lease, you don't get the car. Metaphorically speaking, we only had the option to lease before. Some people like leasing a car more than owning a car, and vice versa, but there is a choice. However, the money used to lease the vehicle doesn't get automatically applied towards the ownership of it, and ultimately over time you may end up spending more trying to own a leased car, so to speak. That's going to be a decision that is ultimately up to the individual driver, and depends a lot on the way and frequency you like to drive.
Point being, some people will like subscribing and some will prefer to unlock everything with Turbine Points for the long haul (baring in mind that whenever something "new" comes out, it could be something that needs to be unlocked with Turbine Points too). The beauty of the new system is customization for everyone's budget and play style, but the choice is still yours in how you want to proceed. If you like everything you have now, staying a VIP means you're really not going to notice anything other than some Turbine Points appearing for you for free every month, and more choices of things to get on top of what you already had.

Re: Favor
- Favor won't be reset, you're likely going to want it for times if and when we offer new favor unlocks
- Saw a question asking about if the normal favor system will still be around (i.e. the dragonmarked houses etc offering rewards for achieving tiers of their favor). Yes, you'll still be able to earn the normal favor rewards that you see today, plus whatever you can earn from new factions or new tiers of favor within factions beyond what's in there now
- At this time there are no plans for "retroactive" favor, but we are still actively monitoring feedback on how Turbine Points interact with the favor system. I encourage everyone to participate in the beta to keep abreast of the details and offer feedback as we go! (now if you're having beta key issues, that's an issue for another discussion)
- On Drow, yes you can use Turbine Points to unlock it instead of favor if you want, even if you're a VIP. If you're a Free player and want drow, you can unlock it via the favor system or Turbine Points.

Re: VIPs and Level Sigils vs Free
- If you're a VIP you don't ever deal with the level sigils. Level sigils are for Free players only, allowing them to gradually raise their cap.
- If you're Free, periodically you'll need to find or use Turbine Points to acquire sigils to progress in level i.e. your Trainer will need to see a sigil before they allow you to achieve above a certain threshold of levels.
- If you are a Former VIP, any characters you leveled as a VIP will retain their progress, but depending on how high level the characters are, they may need a sigil (or sigils) to progress once you become Free. Example: If you were level 16 and become Free, you'll still need a sigil to reach level 20, but you don't need to go back and find lower level sigils for the levels you already completed.

Re: Slots
- If you're a VIP who has more than 10 characters, whether due to server merger or a bug or character transfers or what have you, you will still be able to play those over-flow characters. You won't be able to make a NEW character though until you either delete down to the next available slot, or unlock enough slots to go past the characters you had.
- If you're a VIP who downgrades, you'll be able to pick which 4 characters you want to occupy your 4 slots, but to play over-flow characters or to make a NEW character, you'll need to do the same thing a VIP would do: either delete down, or unlock up (or some combo of the two)
- If you're a brand spanking new free person, you get 2 slots, and if you want to make characters beyond that, you'll need to unlock more slots.
- You can unlock more than 10 slots as a VIP, and as a Free player you can also unlock beyond 4 and even beyond 10 using Turbine Points. So if you're someone who loves to make alts, have fun!
- Any slots you unlock with your Turbine Points remain open. So if you're a VIP who unlocks 5 slots in addition to your 10, and then you downgrade, you'd have your 4 slots available from downgrading, plus the 5 you unlocked for a total of 9.

Re: Inaccessible Characters
- If you're downloading the game and it tells you your character is inaccessible because you haven't finished downloading, you'll need to let the TDM download the portions of the game where your character is before you can log them in. TDM was intended for brand new people, so if you're a returning player you might find some characters hanging out in places that are further in the tiered downloading.
- If your character happens to be parked in a content pack you didn't unlock with Turbine Points (example: you're in the public zone of a content pack that you didn't unlock), you'll be able to log into the character, but you won't be able to enter any of the quests associated with that area. You'll also be able to take the character to other free parts of the game so that you're not "stuck" there.
- If you downgrade to Free, some of your characters may be inaccessible because you don't have enough character slots to house them. You can unlock more slots and pick which characters go in those slots.

[Lorichie]

Thank you T, there's at least one big nugget in there, as i read it, that a lot of folks will breathe a collective sigh of relief.

"If you have 17/10 characters, you can play all 17 without spending points to unlock overflow toons, you just cannot build a new one until you manage those extra seven, either deleting, or unlocking more". I paraphrased.

R

[Steiner-Davion]

Thank you T, there's at least one big nugget in there, as i read it, that a lot of folks will breathe a collective sigh of relief.

"If you have 17/10 characters, you can play all 17 without spending points to unlock overflow toons, you just cannot build a new one until you manage those extra seven, either deleting, or unlocking more". I paraphrased.

R

The above is only true if you are a VIP, if you down grade, then you can pnly play 4 of 17 at a time is that correct?

[Lorichie]

The above is only true if you are a VIP, if you down grade, then you can pnly play 4 of 17 at a time is that correct?

correct. you would have to unlock the remainder. i believe thats where her "leasing" analogy comes in.

R

[Steiner-Davion]

Still answering questions as I go, let's see how many I can get while I'm here this time ^^

Re: Favor
- Favor won't be reset, you're likely going to want it for times if and when we offer new favor unlocks
- At this time there are no plans for "retroactive" favor, but we are still actively monitoring feedback on how Turbine Points interact with the favor system. I encourage everyone to participate in the beta to keep abreast of the details and offer feedback as we go! (now if you're having beta key issues, that's an issue for another discussion)

PLEASE SERIOUSLY RECONSIDER THIS DECISION, even if it is not at the exact same rate of conversion. Nothing says, "Thank you for playing and chosing DDO for the last 3 years" than a blatant snub and show of disrespect. You have to ask yourself (Turbine) is it worth alienating a large portion of your current paid subscriber base? Is it worth it if they all leave the game with a bad taste in their mouth and spread the word toyour potential new subscribers and player, who may not come in the first place?

- On Drow, yes you can use Turbine Points to unlock it instead of favor if you want, even if you're a VIP. If you're a Free player and want drow, you can unlock it via the favor system or Turbine Points.

If Drow are unlocked via Purchase in the DDO Store, are they server specific or Account wide?

Will 32 point builds be available to unlock via the store either per server or account wide?

[smatt]

Thank You Tolero for the further clarifications!

[Pwesiela]

Still answering questions as I go, let's see how many I can get while I'm here this time ^^

Re: Slots
- If you're a VIP who has more than 10 characters, whether due to server merger or a bug or character transfers or what have you, you will still be able to play those over-flow characters. You won't be able to make a NEW character though until you either delete down to the next available slot, or unlock enough slots to go past the characters you had.

This, right here, has made a critical player very happy.

[Missing_Minds]

If Drow are unlocked via Purchase in the DDO Store, are they server specific or Account wide?

My understanding to date is that if you purchase, it is account wide.

[Clement]

...The difference in being a VIP vs a Free player is kind of like the difference between leasing or owning a car. Leasing lets you drive, but if you stop paying the lease, you don't get the car. Metaphorically speaking, we only had the option to lease before...

This is an important answer, and, working with a web-accessible software company, I can say that it is utterly common. The money you spend each month now is to rent the game for that month. At the end of the month that transaction is over, and you pay more to use the service more.

Right now when we stop paying, we stop playing.

The fact that there will soon (?) be a way to continue to use some part of this service without paying seems very Uncommon to me.

Turbine is throwing us some bones with respect to what legacy VIP's will be able to do by downgrading to F2P. We can argue over the flavor and quantity of those bones, but I don't believe that they "owe" us anything more in that regard. (The stuff I feel more "owed" has to do with communication about the state and direction of the game, though much of that is obviously clearer now, finally.)

Following Tolero's car metaphor, F2P is more like borrowing a friend's truck for a while, putting in gas and buying some fuzzy dice and Yosimite Sam mudflaps to dress it up (?) while you're the one driving it.

For understanding the differnence of user experience between being a F2P-pay-as-you-go player versus VIP I'm sure some peeps will start to work up matrices of cost v. game play when we understand it better.

P.S. No Beta invite yet for me either.

[Missing_Minds]

Turbine is throwing us some bones with respect to what legacy VIP's will be able to do by downgrading to F2P. We can argue over the flavor and quantity of those bones, but I don't believe that they "owe" us anything more in that regard. (The stuff I feel more "owed" has to do with communication about the state and direction of the game, though much of that is obviously clearer now, finally.)

The only thing they "owe" for is the lack of Mod 9, and the consistent and constant delays in getting the new content out without any clear direction for the players to follow. A few years back, Turbine could very easily have gotten away with it, without much harm to their business. However, with open communication and the state of where we are, the lack of communication hurts horribly.

It is for this reason I feel that Turbine owes the long time player.

[Zenako]

Thank you T, there's at least one big nugget in there, as i read it, that a lot of folks will breathe a collective sigh of relief.

"If you have 17/10 characters, you can play all 17 without spending points to unlock overflow toons, you just cannot build a new one until you manage those extra seven, either deleting, or unlocking more". I paraphrased.

R

Oh yes, that is good news for those affected. It was my understanding that pretty much everyone understood and accepted that if those players wanted to play N+1 characters they would need to enable N+1 slots, so in the above example, they would need to activate up to the 18 slot to create a NEW character while keeping all the old ones.

[Gratch]

So on the leasing vs. owning question. If we talked about owning everything up to Mod 9 in the F2P system... where does Turbine put that cost in months compared to a subscription "leaser"? I.e., if I wanted to own everything up to Mod9 (not including consumables/level sigils, but including 10 char slots - starting from 4 as a downgrader). Is that 6 months of subscription ~aka $90? Or is Turbine thinking of putting it closer to 12 months?

This is with the realization that new Mods/races/classes/levels will come out and cost the leaser nothing (but steady monthly payments) but the owner more to maintain...

Just trying to look at this from a long term player's viewpoint...which one is the better option for the money for a longer term player. I realize Turbine is tweaking these costs, but where do they see a balance between monthly leaser and total owner?

A more future oriented way to think about it:
Assuming (and right now this is a huge assumption for content-draught players) that Fernando's resumption of new module every 3 months.... do you expect all the goodies in that new module to cost more or less to own than 3 months of subscription?

[Lorichie]

Oh yes, that is good news for those affected. It was my understanding that pretty much everyone understood and accepted that if those players wanted to play N+1 characters they would need to enable N+1 slots, so in the above example, they would need to activate up to the 18 slot to create a NEW character while keeping all the old ones.

yes, there was quite a big go around about this in several thread. i believed as well that we would only be able to play ten, and have to unlock rest to get to them. i'm just glad we can put this one to rest and those affected can breathe easy.

R

[Clement]

The only thing they "owe" for is the lack of Mod 9, and the consistent and constant delays in getting the new content out without any clear direction for the players to follow...

Yeah, this is a subjective judgement about what Turbine should do for its subscribers from a customer-relations perspective, and subjectively I happen to agree with you--I should have mentioned that balancing point. I don't know what the complication was/is, but delaying Mod 9 content for EU release really hurts, and takes a bit of positive bounce out of it.

[Kalanth]

- The difference in being a VIP vs a Free player is kind of like the difference between leasing or owning a car. Leasing lets you drive, but if you stop paying the lease, you don't get the car. Metaphorically speaking, we only had the option to lease before. Some people like leasing a car more than owning a car, and vice versa, but there is a choice. However, the money used to lease the vehicle doesn't get automatically applied towards the ownership of it, and ultimately over time you may end up spending more trying to own a leased car, so to speak. That's going to be a decision that is ultimately up to the individual driver, and depends a lot on the way and frequency you like to drive.
Point being, some people will like subscribing and some will prefer to unlock everything with Turbine Points for the long haul (baring in mind that whenever something "new" comes out, it could be something that needs to be unlocked with Turbine Points too). The beauty of the new system is customization for everyone's budget and play style, but the choice is still yours in how you want to proceed. If you like everything you have now, staying a VIP means you're really not going to notice anything other than some Turbine Points appearing for you for free every month, and more choices of things to get on top of what you already had.

To take your car buying example, would it be possible to be a VIP and use Turbine Points to unlock things that VIP's get already and therefore they would be unlocked as F2P. So that way I can eventually unlock everything, cancel my VIP status, and still have access to the entire game?

[Arianrhod]

To take your car buying example, would it be possible to be a VIP and use Turbine Points to unlock things that VIP's get already and therefore they would be unlocked as F2P. So that way I can eventually unlock everything, cancel my VIP status, and still have access to the entire game?

Or, if the stuff VIPs already have isn't available on the store till after they downgrade, do they keep whatever monthly points they've saved so they can use them to unlock stuff right away then?

[Steiner-Davion]

My understanding to date is that if you purchase, it is account wide.

That is what I suspect as well, but I'd love to have Turbine clarify this, and the second half of my question as well.

But I suspect, if you unlock for Favor, it is jsut that server, but if you Purchase it is account wide.

[Vormaerin]

To take your car buying example, would it be possible to be a VIP and use Turbine Points to unlock things that VIP's get already and therefore they would be unlocked as F2P. So that way I can eventually unlock everything, cancel my VIP status, and still have access to the entire game?

Yes. They are effectively reducing the subscription price because they are giving us $5 (or whatever 500 points works out to be) to spend every month. So if you are on one of the $10 plans, you are effectively subscribing for $5 per month and spending $5 per month in the store. IF you save those points up, you'll still have them if you go free and can immediately use them to buy content you've lost access to.

[dhcalva]

Q. What happens to my Warforged characters?
A. If you downgrade to a Free account, you must purchase the Warforged race in the DDO store to play any existing Warforged characters.

Q. What if I have a Monk character?
A. If you downgrade to a Free account, you must purchase the Monk class in the DDO store to play any existing Monk characters.

Q. What happens to my characters?
A. Your characters are never deleted by Turbine! As a VIP who downgraded to a Free player, you'll have four character slots. When you enter the game as a Free player you'll be asked which characters you wish to unlock for these slots. If you'd like to unlock an additional character, you must purchase a slot for it. However, when you purchase this slot you'll also be given the option to exchange the characters in any previously unlocked slots with any of your locked characters.

Q. What about items in my shared bank slot?
A. If you downgrade to a Free account, the items will go to a "withdraw only" status. You can remove them, but you cannot place any items back in unless you purchase the shared bank slot from the DDO Store.

Q. If I downgrade, what content will I still have access to?
A. You'll be able to access any content a Free player can access. Additional content will need to be purchased in the DDO Store before you can access it, even if you could access it when you were a VIP.

This is pretty unfair to people that have been paying a subscription fee all along.

Perhaps you should consider just marking all current subscribers as having purchased 10 character slots, warforged, monk, the bank slot, and all the adventure packs that pertain to content currently (I.E. Pre Mod 9 content) in the game? That would be more fair to them. And you can still apply these policies to new VIPs after that F2P goes live. New content contained in Mod 9 not withstanding of course. I see no problem with charging ex-vips to unlock mod 9 content if they go back to Free2Play, including the new class.

[Kalanth]

Yes. They are effectively reducing the subscription price because they are giving us $5 (or whatever 500 points works out to be) to spend every month. So if you are on one of the $10 plans, you are effectively subscribing for $5 per month and spending $5 per month in the store. IF you save those points up, you'll still have them if you go free and can immediately use them to buy content you've lost access to.

This is good, but I was meaning prior to downgrading. That way the transition from VIP to F2P was seemless.