Getting to level 20 as free to play is apparently "easy"

[QuartermasterX]

As shown by a guildie. Apparently Free to play accounts can no longer post even in the free section of the forums so posting for him

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Ok, so I got to level 20 as totally free to play:


It did not seem "very hard" only a bit tedious.

I did some favor runs on the other servers to get warforged, then rolled up a warforged sorcerer and started running quests. I got useful gear from guildies and a lot of useful advice and companionship while running. (Thanks all)

I then bought Vale of twilight(the only pack I thus own) with the earned points on the way, allowing me to cap in shroud today.

Now at twenty, I am looking at the xp needed to get to 25, The extremely low benefits you get for epix levels without destinies and the lack of content past 20 unless you buy the expansion and wonder what to do next.

Not really wanting to go to another server to cap again to get points and miss my guildies, I have been thinking of maybe seeing of it is possible to reach cap again after TRing with the higher XP requirements, by buying some more higher level packs with the points I will get running to 20 again.

Any ideas/suggestions on what to do next?
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He can still read the forums, so he would likely appreciate ideas/comments.

Congrats! Just an FYI: Epic Destinies, Menace of the Underdark, Eveningstar Challenge Pack, Druid Class, and Song's of Druids Deep will be available with U15.

If you are able to farm enough favor, you should be able to purchase Epic Destinies (995 TP) and Druid's Deep (550 TP) so you can experience some MOTU content.

[Ungood]

Furthermore, if supporting the game financially just happens to increase the amount of enjoyment you can get out of it, it's win/win. You win hours more questing and larking around grabbing loot. Turbine wins ten shiny dollars. Before tax.

I always viewed the F2P system as a "trial" to see if you liked it, which in logical progression, if you like it after giving it a solid trial run the next step would be to buy it. Maybe not all at once, which is a great feature in DDO, you can opt to only buy little bits at a time.

[mystafyi]

A code for 750 TP is $10,
Or if you like 75 TP/$1

If it takes you 30 minutes to grind out 25TP you are, essentially, working for a dollar every ninety minutes.

Hehehe so true, time is money. no way would I grind out enough to play on turbines dime. You would have to be completely insane.

[Postumus]

A code for 750 TP is $10,
Or if you like 75 TP/$1

If it takes you 30 minutes to grind out 25TP you are, essentially, working for a dollar every ninety minutes. Save yourself some effort, maybe?

It's worse than that if you buy points when they go on sale. You can get about 110tps/$1 easily.

that makes the 25TP/30mins about 1 cent per minute. Or 60Cents/hour. Sounds ok if you are enjoying what you are doing. But you couldn't pay me $5/hour to do mindless grinding.

[Fafnir]

Well done OP.

DDO is a great passtime for the unemployed - as long as they can get themselves away for enough time to do job hunting. To anyone in that category, best of luck to you in your efforts. That means that playing free means a lot to them.

[fco-karatekid]

That's what got me started around update 8-ish - I never intended to grind out enough favor to actually play all the content for free - I assumed I'd be spending money IF I liked it. I used the F2P-ness just to see if I liked it well enough to spend money at all.

I did... then came update 10... and cannith crafting... and the wall bug... and... rofl!

My patience with bug fixing is wearing thin again now (albeit this last round of bug fixing has been better than in the past) - hoping for some continued progress Update 14.3(?) or 15.

[parvo]

FTP was a marketing gimic that is past it's time. DDO should cancel all free accounts and go back to subscription model. They would bring in more money and devs could concentrate on real quality content instead of horrible micro transaction garbage.

[Hawklynn]

Well done OP.

DDO is a great passtime for the unemployed - as long as they can get themselves away for enough time to do job hunting. To anyone in that category, best of luck to you in your efforts. That means that playing free means a lot to them.

LOL! Like this post. Made me realize when I went to VIP (while Unemployed), DDO became my crack. You just start wanting to run everything, and realize there is a lot to do. I loved my 1st life f2p, but my 2nd life I did VIP for 1 month .. and I was hooked. Luckily I had saved up enough $ from past work, kept my health at peak and have no other vices that I decided to live DDO day and night .. and truly love it.

Soon I'll return to work (assuming I do job hunt), and will put DDO on the 10 hour limit a week ... but it's been my drug of choice.

Congrats on Lvl 20.

[BruceTheHoon]

FTP was a marketing gimic that is past it's time. DDO should cancel all free accounts and go back to subscription model. They would bring in more money and devs could concentrate on real quality content instead of horrible micro transaction garbage.

You base this on what data? You know that how? Your proposal will work out like you say because?
But no need to bother with these more or less rhetorical questions. You've either sensationalistically omitted a profound elaboration or horribly misspelled doom.

[SardaofChaos]

FTP was a marketing gimic that is past it's time. DDO should cancel all free accounts and go back to subscription model. They would bring in more money and devs could concentrate on real quality content instead of horrible micro transaction garbage.

Then they would be sure to see zero further dollars from myself and other likeminded gamers who have been happy to buy new content as it comes out, and even grab some of the temporary items.

[Ranncore]

FTP was a marketing gimic that is past it's time. DDO should cancel all free accounts and go back to subscription model. They would bring in more money and devs could concentrate on real quality content instead of horrible micro transaction garbage.

FTP is a wildly successful marketing gimic that other developers are just now coming to make use of.

DDO should cancel all their free (you didn't address premium accounts here because obviously you didn't even think about what you were saying before you hit submit) accounts if they don't want to advertise DDO to them anymore. And if they want to lose A LOT of potential customers. I don't think they want that.

They would be bringing in no more than the amount of money from subs that they are bringing in now - almost assuredly less, because they have less potential buyers, and less spenders from premium accounts buying content.

I would love to see more time spent developing quality (see - bug free) content instead of horrible micro transaction garbage (see - yellow dopant).

I don't your "solution" is viable. I think you should take a step back and read what you type, and think about it, before hitting that submit button in the future. Almost all your posts reek of frantic, thoughtless typing.

[Fefnir_2011]

FTP was a marketing gimic that is past it's time. DDO should cancel all free accounts and go back to subscription model. They would bring in more money and devs could concentrate on real quality content instead of horrible micro transaction garbage.

If it weren't for free to play, many people (myself included) would never have played DDO and gone on to spend money on it.

Free to play is also a highly successful business model, you should read up on it and educate yourself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-to-play
http://www.raphkoster.com/gaming/busmodels.shtml
http://venturebeat.com/2012/03/21/fr...n-and-wallets/
http://kotaku.com/5014241/mmo-busine...s-free-to-play

[Ungood]

Free Trials have been around like since, MMO's existed. So, giving a bit away for free has always been the method of choice to get people to give the game a whirl.

I like the micro-transaction model the best to be honest, too me a bit to get used to it, but in the long run it is far more fun (for me) then a sub.

[Ranncore]

Congrats! Just an FYI: Epic Destinies, Menace of the Underdark, Eveningstar Challenge Pack, Druid Class, and Song's of Druids Deep will be available with U15.

If you are able to farm enough favor, you should be able to purchase Epic Destinies (995 TP) and Druid's Deep (550 TP) so you can experience some MOTU content.

Wow! I didn't even notice that a Dev had posted here before.

Like I've said before, it's always nice to see a dev's face in the forums, even if he's saying something you don't agree with. It really adds a sense of community and promotes the idea that devs and players are working together to make the game better. It's ALWAYS a good idea for a dev to post on the forums, even if there are some rude responses (which there will be - some might even come from me).

That aside - it's amazing that you said this the way you did. Not, "Why don't you buy this?" But, "Hopefully, by playing the game the way that you have been and enjoying it, you will be able to enjoy our new content also!"

This is because free to play players aren't freeloaders. Every player in the game enriches the game by grouping with the people around him.

Except soloers, I guess.

[Thrudh]

FTP was a marketing gimic that is past it's time. DDO should cancel all free accounts and go back to subscription model. They would bring in more money and devs could concentrate on real quality content instead of horrible micro transaction garbage.

You're crazy... They make millions more with micro transactions than they would with subscriptions. Heck, I still pay a subscription AND give them $50 extra every couple of months for micro-transactions.

[Ranncore]

They make millions

...

[CaptainSpacePony]

I like the micro-transaction model the best to be honest, too me a bit to get used to it, but in the long run it is far more fun (for me) then a sub.

Same here. I am always hesitant to establish a recurring payement, but slap down a stack of cash for some TP on sale? Not a problem!

[CaptainSpacePony]

lol if you tr it gets boring real fast. Woo ya lets grind sands out 20 times a piece!! Lets farm von until their is no xp to be had! Lets run delera's again and again and again, and again, and again, and again, and again.

I've run thrall of the necro so much with a competent other party member we could get that down in less then 10 minutes. We're talking like 6 minute runs.

I just run ALL the quests 1 time. A little explorer here, a challenge there and that will get you up to raiding level. From there it is a grind, but you're doing the same (non epic) stuff you would have when 20 was the cap anyway.

Not grindy at all... but it probably does take longer. I don't mind though--I like playing this game.

[Saiyren]

Congrats to their first life F2P level 20. Honestly I don't see how it could be easy? How much time did they spend a night, a week, a month playing?

My first like was a human sorc since I am also F2P. It took me approx 18 months to level to 20 with about 8 hours gaming a week. Luckily I have a kind guild leader who purchased me some TP as a congrats to level 20 and thus my 2nd life went much more smoothly as I was able to obtain necessary packs to encourage a steady leveling path and I managed a 2nd life in approx 6 months.

If they wish to TR, I wish them the best of luck and hope they continue to enjoy the game.

[karsion]

Getting to cap as a f2p was always easy and now got even easier with the introduction of bravery bonus and hard/elite streak.

My situation mirrors thatr described by OP. I started as f2p player and with sthe favor from playing/per server rewards got myself Sorrowdusk (yeah, I didn't have a clue) and then Gianthold and Vale. Once I got to 20 got myself Phiarlan Carnival since I knew I wanted to TR.

And I agree with what many posters before said: you can play DDO as totally f2p but the grind is mindnumbing so eventually most of us is going to shell out those money to get TPs for all the nice things that are p2p. It is, ultimately, better to enjoy those things than "waste" time on griding TPs for them.