Free-To-Play Switch Going Well For D&D Online

babboo65 writes "Dungeons and Dragons Online is enjoying a second life in terms of player count and buzz, all thanks to its new business strategy: giving the game away. Turbine is making their MMO as accessible as possible, and that includes making players who don't pay anything as happy as possible. Subscriptions are up 40 percent. Ars explores how free can be very profitable."

Comments

The game

[Sinryc]

The game is a whole lot of fun. I really hope this serves as an example for future online games. Micro Transactions really aren't all bad, especially the way that Turbine is doing them.

Re:The game

[Professor_UNIX]

I won't walk, I'll run away from games that employ strategies like this in the future. I got into a browser game a few years ago called Travian that promised to be "free" and you could buy "gold" if you wanted extras like instant builds or NPC merchant trading or +25% resource production boosts. I quickly realized that if you wanted to be in the top 500 players on a server of about 1500 active players you HAD to buy and use gold or else there was no way to keep up. I got so addicted to it that rather than wait 15 minutes for a resource to build I'd just insta-build it so I could move on to the next building level.

The problem was that by abstracting the currency it made it far easier to spend out of control. You'd pay $25 for 600 gold (~4 cents for each piece of gold) and you'd spend 3 gold (12 cents) to NPC trade, 2 gold (8 cents) to instabuild your queue of up to 2 things at a time (if you had the "plus" feature which added the queue for 15 gold (60 cents) a week), 5 gold x 4 (80 cents) to boost production of iron, wood, clay, and wheat, 3 gold x 2 (24 cents) to boost attack and defense bonuses by 10%, etc. The NPC trading was by far the worst money sink since it was so easy to abuse. You *could* trade with normal players, but nobody really does past the first few weeks of game play (the game round lasts a year) since it is impractical to try and find a trade for tens of thousands of resources... so you NPC trade it instantly for 3 gold (12 cents).

So, at a minimum you'd spend $6.56 a month for the Travian Plus feature plus +25% resource boosts, +10% offensive and defensive bonuses. That at first seems reasonable for running such a cool game, but I was averaging around $100 a month on gold because of NPC trading and instabuilding. My coworker had it worse because his two sons were playing and he was even worse with the instabuilding. His monthly Travian habit, including his two sons' costs were running him around $300/month. FOR A GAME!

So no thanks, I'll take a $15/month subscription fee ANY DAY over a microtransaction arrangement where you need to eventually spend obscene amounts of money just to be in the top players.

Re:The game

[MrMista_B]

Your problem isn't the game, it's that you want to be 'in the top players'.

Most people don't care about that.

That you do, is nobody's fault but your own.

Re:The game

[sadness203]

So true, yet... People in these kind of game want to be in the top 10.
This kind of game is a competition and every little boost help.
There's no roleplay, no "action", no strategies, well, there's some, but it's minimal.
It's for this same reason that the average joe sixpack can't compete in professional game. he can't have all the little perks the professional athletes have.

Re:The game

[Targon]

This is where you clearly have never even looked at the game in question(DDO). The game does not revolve around player vs. player, though there are some very very limited forms of it in the game(in certain taverns there are combat pits).

The DDO method of free to play is really giving you an unlimited taste of the game for free by offering a bit of free content without making all content for free. You have the option to either play the free content on multiple characters to generate enough "Turbine Points" to purchase additional content, or you can pay real money for Turbine points which you can then use to get the content package of your choice. If you don't like being limited in what you can access, you can just become a normal $15/month subscriber to get access to all the content in the game. In a month or two, if you don't want to pay the monthly subscription any more, you can switch back to free to play, lose access to the non-free content you have not purchased, but you don't LOSE what you have accomplished. Those who pay the monthly subscription also get 500 Turbine Points each month they are a subscriber, and those points can be used to unlock content for the free to play if the player decides to go back to Free to Play status.

So, DDO offers the best of both worlds. You get free to play with micro transactions, and you get subscription based for those who want all the content the game has to offer. There are also no "player rankings" as such, so no one really cares about who has the absolute best stuff, as long as your skill at playing your character is at an acceptable level(clerics who don't heal, or who don't know how to use mass healing spells in a raid situation may upset others for example). There is also a tolerance for poor equipment levels to an extent as long as party members know about it in advance so it doesn't kill what the group is trying to do.

And, this is why DDO is seeing good subscription numbers from the release of Free to Play. Some people may upgrade for only a few months to get full access to the "premium" content in the low to mid levels, and then switch back to the Free to Play and then only buy the few high level premium modules they want access to after that. Or, if new content is released often enough, they may stick with their subscription so they don't have to buy each new content pack as it is released.

Re:The game

[ubrgeek]

It's no different in something like WoW with shouts of "Gear check" when there's a raid run. The biggest benefit to a RAID PUG is to get new, better equipment. The only way to get better equipment is to have sufficiently good equipment to get into a group that's going after better equipment. It's very much a circular course of trying to get/be the best (ditto in Wow PVP. I'm assuming in other games, as well, but WoW is the only MMORPG that I tried.) Setting aside the monetary aspect of the addiction-like behavior referenced above (spending ~$100/month for insta-builds, etc.) it's the same mindset.

Re:The game

[Jurily]

His monthly Travian habit, including his two sons' costs were running him around $300/month. FOR A GAME!

Not "running him". He was spending that money on entertainment.

Just because you can't control yourself doesn't mean the game is bad.

Re:The game

[CarpetShark]

you want to be 'in the top players'.

Most people don't care about that.

I think most people would like to be in the top players. They realise, though, that most of the top players have sacrificed years of their lives for that little level number on their profile and shinier weapons, and (very sanely) don't want to compete on those terms.

As an aside, this might mean that having some sort of safety cut-off for addicted players could make the game better for those healthier, less addicted players.

Re:The game

[dushkin]

I quickly realized that if you wanted to be in the top 500 players on a server of about 1500 active players you HAD to buy and use gold or else there was no way to keep up.

I play DDO for free and having fun. Reason is, the PvE content is good enough solo (or with a friend) that I don't have this need to be the top 500 player...

Re:The game

[plastbox]

I find it pretty hilarious how you refer to the difference between a professional athlete and "joe sixpack" as "little perks", rather than years and years of grueling, exhausting training, dieting, money invested and all the things a pro athlete has had to down-prioritize to make time for all their training, compared to putting in an average effort in the few things one has to do, working an average job, sitting in an average couch watching average TV programming, eating average Doritos and burgers, drinking average beer and being just about averagely overweight. =P

On topic though, I personally prefer monthly subscriptions to micro-transactions. I started playing The Ninja-Rpg a couple of years back and although I don't know the games state now, back then it was a horrible mush of amateur code running like a sloth with easily 10-12 db queries per pageview. Still, there was character progression and a very rudimentary duel system so I played. I even payed for a few stat-regenerating abilities and such to get an advantage over my friend who also played (which resulted in him doing the same). We both spend at least $40 on that game, and mind you, that was the most horrible game either of us have ever played (not counting Flash games etc.)!

Micro-transactions aren't evil. In fact, I will gladly implement and use them when I get my head out of my ass and finally slap together some online game with enough polish to actually publish. Why? Because the game is still "free to play", but everyone will think "Well, if I spend these measly $5 this once, I can beat the crap out of $friend!", resulting in teh moneyz and grins and giggles for whatever developer has put hundreds of hours into this project.

Re:The game

[Jaysyn]

You simply can't buy your way to the top in DDO. Any items you can buy can be found in game during normal play. I think the exception to that would be cosmetic stuff (wild hair dyes) & the potions you can buy that will give one character a 60% increase in XP for 6 hours. On top of that, completing faction quests will net you turbine points which you can use to purchase races & expansion packs among other things. I've been playing since the beta in July, have "bought" access to the warforged race & 2 suits of +1 full plate & haven't spent a dime of real money.

By the way, you can still pay $15 a month for a DDO VIP subscription & get access to all non item purchases in the DDO store. I.E. all races, classes & expansions. I'm guessing you won't have a 2 character per server limit either, but I don't know for sure about that.

Re:The game

[sadness203]

exhausting training

Fapping to porn while waiting for the next tick count? check!

dieting

Eating pizza and drinking mountain dew between two ticks, check!

money invested

The more micro-payment you do, the better you get. check!!

And all the things a pro athlete has had to down-prioritize to make time for all their training

Well, it's basically the same, except they do it so they can win some ticks 'til the next tick. And god know they can't miss it... check!

So yeah, it can be on the same level, just not the same field, but some people find that serious enough to put the commitment. Is it healthy, I doubt so... That's another topic

Re:The game

[Liambp]

That is a sobering post and your story is consistent with other things I have read about Free to Play Games. However I think there is a distinction to be made between micro-transactions where you pay to "get ahead" and micro-transactions where you pay for additional content. Micro-transactions where you pay to get ahead (faster XP potions or Item shop weapons and gear for example) are fraught with moral hazard. In order to maximise revenues the developer has to sucker you in to make you want to get ahead but to make the free method of getting there as tedious as possible. In essence you are paying to avoid having to play parts of the game!!! Microtransactions where you pay for additional content seem less problematic to me. That's a more traditional type of business transaction - if you want to play in that that extra dungeon you pay for it. If you don't want to play in it then you don't. I haven't played DDO online but I do note they are offering both types of micro transaction: Adventure packs which offer additional content (good imho) and also the usual gamut of faster XP scrolls and bonuses (bad imho).

Re:The game

[spire3661]

I think you would be wrong. Most players just want to play.

Re:The game

[thejynxed]

You have a ten character limit, as I am a VIP subscriber, and can verify this. Also, you may then purchase more character slots on top of the ten you already get.

I play on the Argonnessen server and go by Ghraal N'Talis (Lvl 7 Dwarf Rogue) and Malkavier DeSalle (Lvl 3 Drow Ranger/Rogue). Anyone from here playing on that server and want to group, just send me a PM in-game or mail me in-game to setup a time. I am not at Shroud-raid capability yet, but I can do all content up to level 10 areas, and frequently do Favor runs.

Re:The game

[Jaysyn]

Both of my characters, Valtoro (2 Pal) & Xanmorn (1 Rg / 2 Cl), are on that server, I'll send you a message next time I get time to play. Warning: still a total noob at DDO, during the beta I only got my fighter up to 4th.

Re:The game

[Jaysyn]

Regarding the item type purchases I bought a suit of +1 full plate in DDO recently, spent 35 of my free Turbine points (they have sales & stuff). 2 dungeons later, guess what I found in a chest?

Re:The game

[jank1887]

I believe that's the point. you can get stuff faster with microtransactions, but unlike many other games, you don't have to. You paid 35 points to have that armor 2 dungeons earlier than you otherwise would have...

Re:The game

[mcgrew]

His monthly Travian habit, including his two sons' costs were running him around $300/month. FOR A GAME!

Ever played golf? I know golfers that spend far more than that playing golf, and some of them really can't afford it. If you come up with a fun enough anything, people are going to spend money. Even when they can't afford it.

Re:The game

[MetalPhalanx]

I used to play WoW - led 25 mans up until Ulduar - and was actually formerly in the top 10 on my server in terms of gear (as reported by warcrafter.net - note that it's no longer anything particularly special as I haven't been playing since about April 09). While gear checks can seem really harsh, the problem is that people hit fresh 80 and want to raid instantly.

The gear treadmill is NOT circular, at least not within a specific xpac. You gear up for raids in heroics/with crafting/rep vendor gear. You won't be great, but you'll be decent. Then you can start getting raid gear. The problem as I said is that you have "instant" raiders, who want to be dragged through and handed phat lewt and get totally tricked out while not contributing. In an already geared up group, this may not be a problem. But when your group is barely able to take down a new boss, having a few boat anchors can be a make or break. Even if they're intelligent players, if they can't push the minimum numbers required, it makes it that much more difficult. Of course, generally the really intelligent players don't attempt to raid until they have at least a semi-decent level of gear.

We would occasionally pug some people, and it's sad having a tank claim he's ready to raid wearing level 76-78 blue and green leveling gear (one shot boss squish - we took him for the laughs, he asked us to soulstone him). Or DPS who refused to upgrade half their gear from level 70 purples until they got level 80 purples and as a consequence are out-dps'd by the tanks (actually it was so sad in one instance, our healer was smite spamming in between heals and keeping up with this DPS). Just to round it out, I've also seen a priest outhealed by a ret paladin who also was top 3 of the damage meter (hint, the ret pally's HPS wasn't really all that high). If you have a guild that's already mostly geared out and they take you through because they can, that's fine, but that's your guild helping you short circuit the grind.

I do agree with your main point that it's the same addictive gaming mindset. But it really isn't circular, they've just determined the best way to lengthen the journey to the top. For level 80, it's currently:

Leveling up -> Heroics -> Tier 1 (Naxx, OS, EoE) -> Tier 2 (Ulduar) -> Tier 3(is it out yet?)

The next xpac (level 90) will start the cycle over. (Ok, I guess you could say that in an xpac to xpac comparison, it's circular).

I agree that the pvp upgrade cycle is very circular. In that case, you do the same few PvP arenas to get better gear, so you can perform better in those same few arenas to get better gear.

All in all though, at least WoW is $15/month, not per piece of gear. If it was, I think it would see many less players. I compare games that leverage micropayments to mosquitoes, they inject the player's wallet with an anti-coagulant (incentive to be the best and buy their stuff to get there) and then suck them dry. /rant

Re:The game

[hesaigo999ca]

I don't know what game you were playing that lest you spend that much without capping it, but I would not go near it...however I do not think this one will be like that.

Re:The game

[BigSes]

Maybe you should have instabuilt some self control.

Re:The game

[mcgrew]

That sounds like shareware from the stone age. It worked then, no reason for it to not work now. For example, the first Duke Nukem, a squeaky little side scroller, gave you three levels for free. The game was so fun and had so many amusing aspects (like getting points for killing the energizer bunny) that you would gladly shell out the (iirc) twenty bucks for the Duke. I did, and Apogee surprised people who registered with not only the other six levels, but the shareware version of another game as well.

Attention musicians: you can make money with file sharing. The original Duke Nukem sold 35,000 copies with virtually no marketing or advertising; purely "word of mouth" since there was no world wide web for most of us back then, although we did have BBSes.

Re:The game

[Thansal]

Almost all correct, however I will chip in that WoW has short circuited the gearing cycle in an interesting (and I thing is a good) way.
They are giving away better tokens via heroics with each release of new content, at this point you get Ulduar (Tier 2) tokens from doing heroics, which means you can get ready to raid Ulduar with out having to run Naxx (a good thing as no one WANTS to run anything but the new stuff), and with running a bit of Ulduar you can run Trial of the Crusader (T3). With the release of the next patch (3.3.0) Ice Crown Citadel (T4) will come out, and heroics will start offering ToC tokens for heroics.

Obviously this peeves off some of the 'hardcore' raiders. however most people see it for what it is, a way of letting new players see actual content, with out getting boosted through older stuff by a guild tryign to gear them up.

Also, next xpac will be 5 levels, not 10, it lets them get in 4 more xpacs till 100 (their stated level cap), instead of 2.

As for the OP who thinks microtransactions ruin games, they haven't actually looked at DDO.

DDO Is offering these things via MTs:
1) Cosmetic items (not actually out yet, but hair dye and such)
2) XP Boosters (also not out yet), simply letting you get to level cap faster, this doesn't make you any better.
3) Nice to have items: Ammunition, wands, potions. These are really for the players that went DOH! I forgot to stock up before leaving town! It is an instant purchase from what I understand, and you are good to go.
4) Real buffs: resurrection cakes, skeleton keys (no need for a rogue), loot gems (upgrade the rewards in a chest), character slots.
Some people are kinda iffy about these, but I honestly think they are not that bad, and most can actually be obtained in game.
5) Content.

Number 5 is the big one I think, they let you unlock:
Races:
Drow (This can be done in game on a server by server basis, or purchased with real $$ so can use it on all servers)
Warforged (can only be purchased with $$)
Classes:
Favored Soul (same as Drow)
Monk (same as Warforged)
Dungeons/quest lines.

Every thing else is really just 'nice to have', even the race/class unlocks are nice to haves, however the actual content is where I suspect they will be making money.

What I think they did that was great is that you can still subscribe for the normal $15 a month and get access to everything (Drow and Favored Soul must be unlocked in game though), but you also get 500 points a month (I think 500 points is about $6, haven't actually bought any yet).

So all in all:
everything (baring content) can be obtained in game. Nothing makes you 'better', some thing make it a bit easier, but top gear and all that jazz has to be quested for.

Re:The game

[MetalPhalanx]

That's an interesting development in WoW. Looks like they've realized that "longer" gameplay isn't always better, if it separates friends.

That must be new from after I stopped playing. Thanks for the info!

Re:The game

[Andy Dodd]

The new heroics mechanics were updated in 3.2. It solves, at least partially, the "I'm not geared for Ulduar but no one wants to run Naxx with me" problem.

That said, the gear treadmill and endgame in general stopped holding my interest after a while. It didn't help that all of my friends reside on a West Coast server - I'm East. I'm playing Aion now.

Re:The game

[bigbigbison]

There's nothing like that in DDO. The store has some stat boosts and potions, most of which you could get from vendors in-game with the "fake" money you earn on quests. You can also use real money to buy in-game money. I would imagine the biggest thing though is buying quests. However, you don't really even need to do that since you get "points" for advancing through the game. I've earned enough points to buy 2 quest packs without spending a penny of real money. I would estimate around 2/3 of the game content is free with 1/3 of it for sale but there's still enough free material where you wouldn't need to buy anything if you didn't want to.

Re:The game

[Applekid]

Your problem isn't the game, it's that you want to be 'in the top players'.

Most people don't care about that.

That you do, is nobody's fault but your own.

I don't know about Travian, but, most "free" games I've played have content that's not available except for the Top Players. Well, sure, it's available but the second you enter the dungeon or get to the boss or whatever, you're squished pretty soundly. That's because these top tier events are balanced for those at the top, who get there using in-game paid help. To me, that's just as good as locking people out for non-payment.

It's the right of the game developer to do that, of course. But they shouldn't really be billing it as a "free" game if you can't fully play it without paying. They should be honest and admit that if you're not prepared to pay, you're not going to play it all.

If I wanted to play a game where chance of winning is directly related to the money I spend, I'd play Magic again. At least WotC doesn't pretend it's a free game.

Re:The game

[DBett]

FYI, DDO is still offering a "VIP" monthly subscription of $15. It gets you access to all the content, some nice bonuses (shared bank space, etc.) and 500 "Turbine Points" a month.

Not to mention, there are no "top player" rankings in DDO. Some players just suck, others don't. :)

Re:The game

[MBGMorden]

I kinda agree. My guilty pleasure personally is Mobsters on Myspace. It's essentially just a basic browser based combat game. You level up, buy equipment, fight other players, etc. Very much like text based games I used to play on BBS's.

Thing is, all equipment can't simply be purchased using the in-game currency that you accumulate from doing stuff (which after playing for a week or more starts to accumulate so fast that it's devalued to the point of being almost worthless). Your very basic equipment can be bought like that, but for "favor points" instead of the in-game currency, you can buy equipment that is 5-6x as effective. When converted into real world currency good items literally cost anywhere from $3 to $12 *each*. Also, it's not just an "equip my guy" situation. No, each person in your mob (of which many people are hitting 500 or more) gets to use 1 piece of equipment from each category (weapon, armor, vehicle, and henchman), so you're looking at possibly a few thousand open equipment slots.

Now personally I gave up LONG ago on staying anywhere near the top of the leader boards on this game because I'm simply not willing to dump that amount of cash into it, but what I do end up doing is treating it kinda like any other MMO: budget myself $15 per month to sink into the game and doing the best I can. It's annoying though that success in the game is so tightly tied to simply how much money you'll sink into it.

Re:The game

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

So in other words, they relied on the psychology of people who feed the need to be int he top 500 players, and the rationalizations people will make (it's only a few dollars... not so bad) in order to make a profit. It actually sounds like a pretty good business plan, since there will always be a subset of players for whom being on top is important enough to pay for.

As to how ethical this is... well, there's an opportunity there as well -- for those businesses who can advertise their moral superiority for not doing it this way.

Re:The game

[Jaysyn]

Liar. You'll never get those as a NPC given quest reward. Ever. If you're getting them in a chest you should try playing on something other than Solo mode.

Re:The game

[Machtyn]

In essence you are paying to avoid having to play parts of the game!!!

Actually, I think it is not that the player is avoiding playing parts of the game, but rather avoiding the incessant grind to get to the point where the paid content becomes free.

However, a poor chap like myself would suffer the incessant grind if the game was good enough.

Re:The game

[geekoid]

well if one implementation of the idea was bad, clearly no one can ever do it well~

DDO has addressed this issue.

You can't buy anything that makes you uber powerful.
Even if you were UBER powerful, it wouldn't mean much because there are instance based dungeons.

You can buy dungeons, but there are plenty to do if you don't buy them.

You can get to level 20 and never spend a cent.

It's the best integrated store in any game ever produced.

I received some free points(everyone does) during the beginning quests and used them to buy a +1 sword to see how it worked.

The transaction was flawless. Sent an email in game, and email out of the game and just dropped it into my inventory. The whole thing took a few seconds.

Re:The game

[cayenne8]

"The problem was that by abstracting the currency it made it far easier to spend out of control."

Yep, that has been working out quite well for the casinos for YEARS.

:)

Re:The game

[cayenne8]

"I find it pretty hilarious how you refer to the difference between a professional athlete and "joe sixpack" as "little perks", rather than years and years of grueling, exhausting training, dieting, money invested and all the things a pro athlete has had to down-prioritize to make time for all their training, compared to putting in an average effort in the few things one has to do, working an average job..."

Well, it works both ways...having the avg. job and family, for instance, leaves one with little time for working out and working to eat right and keep in shape. It can be done, but, it isn't easy.

I've look at athletes, or actors...and think, you know..if that was my job to keep in shape and eat right, and I made that kind of $$$ doing it...I could easily look that way too. I might not have the athletic ability, but, if I got paid to eat right, work out daily....sure, no problem looking good.

Re:The game

[TheGeniusIsOut]

There's nothing like that in DDO. The store has some stat boosts and potions, most of which you could get from vendors in-game with the "fake" money you earn on quests. You can also use real money to buy in-game money.

The DDO Store has been balanced so you can NOT make in-game money from store transactions. The items bought with Turbine points are bound to character or account, and cannot be traded or sold. There are no items purchasable through the DDO store that cannot be found in game with the exception of the cosmetic items that have no gameplay impact. For less than the price of a year's subscription, you can buy every Adventure (Content) Pack, Warforged, Monk, a shared bank tab, and have enough left over for a couple of extra character slots, making your account access the same as a VIP (subscriber), while keeping access to this content without ever paying again. With Turbine running sales just about every weekend, you could likely end up will all content for less than that if you are patient and vigilant. I like being able to get the equivalent of a lifetime subscription when I know it is a game I would have spent that much on in the long run anyways. You can also get access to Adventure Pack material without committing to the entire pack's purchase by someone who already owns the content getting a guest pass for you. VIPs who already have all content and get the 500 bonus points a month, and are not total social reprobates, are usually willing to get a guest pass for guild mates or friends to run a particularly good quest chain with.

Re:The game

[ILuvRamen]

You know what else is doing great are south korean and Japanese games like Maplestory and Silkroad Online. SRO is totally cheap though, they sell an item in their paid store that gives you double exp on everything at all times. It's like $14 a month. They also sell completely for show items like special wearables and pet monkeys and stuff. The "pay money and outlevel everyone at twice the speed" system is soooo mean and unfair if you ask most people but don't get me wrong, IT WORKS!! Definitely a functional business model. Maplestory, last I checked, survives on almost entirely for-show items that don't actually do anything and somehow they're making millions too.

Re:The game

[camazotz]

DDO does include a VIP option to get almost all content plus a monthly stipend of "turbine points" for $15 a month, which I did; I think possibly, if one bought all modules outright (the game parses out premium content in purchase packages) it might be cost saving in the long run, but only if you know you were going to play the game for a period of time in which the monthly fee cumulatively is more than the total cost of the individual scenario pack purchases (which, I am guessing, would be like at least 1-2 years' worth). I figure I'll be playing this for a few more months until Guild Wars 2 comes out, so VIP for me! Also, I'm a very slow paced MMOer, so I am by and large able to resist spending cash on all the perks in the store....no urge to power level, here.

Re:The game

[plastbox]

What on earth are you even talking about? O.o

The comparison wasn't between a pro athlete and a gamer who plays to gain advantages. The comparison was of the differences between "average joe"->"pro athlete" and the differences between "non-paying gamer"->"paying gamer".

Now go get some sleep so you can post something coherently when you come back. ;)

Re:The game

[plastbox]

You might not have athletic ability but had you been really passionate about something from an early age and worked your ass off at becoming good at it (be it acting, sports, rally, whatever) you might just have been among the best in the world right now!

My point was that it was funny that the GP used the wording "little perks" as if athletes (or actors or anyone else who excels at something) are born with some magical property completely unattainable for the rest of us mere mortals. That, in my opinion, belittles people who have actually made something of their passion and shows an incredible lack of respect for other people's hard work and dedication.

Obligatory

Re:The game

[CarpetShark]

Evidence? From personal experience, I certainly would have LIKED to be a higher level. Just about every MMO player I've ever known has been heard saying things like "I'm just doing this to get to the next level", or "I can't wait 'till I'm level 200", or even "This sucks; there's no progression. Once you've got to level X, there's nothing new. There should be 200 levels, and then remorts."

No offense, but given that most games have some sort of level system, and many players actively announce their current level and character progression on forums etc., I think the burden of proof is on you here.

Re:The game

[bigbigbison]

You are correct. I mis-remembered what buying points in the store with real money is for (since I've never done it). I have seen people in-game doing the math as to whether or not it was cheaper to subscribe or just buy stuff. I'm not a real MMO player so I have no intention of spending real money on anything though so the game works for me. If they hadn't gone free to play I would still be playing TF2 all the time instead of DDO.

Re:The game

[Darinbob]

I never really understood this business model. Say you have 10,000 players all paying $15 a month. Now you make it free, and you've got 20,000 players, but only about 10,000 pay any money and of those only 5,000 have a second or third transaction. It doesn't seem to add up. Granted, DDO wasn't going anywhere and was in the doldrums and this keeps it alive. There are significant support costs involved, it's not like it's just a web site that pays its hosting fees through a little bit of ad revenue.

Similarly, Guild Wars is the same. Free to play (though you have to buy the game). Very popular still, lots of activity. I know some players do pay for extra character slots, or pay to buy up their skills to max. But there aren't that many things you can really buy if you look into it, I can't imagine they get even $5/month per player. But they probably also have lower server costs because of the way the game works (mostly instanced).

That said, the free-to-play model is nice. I'm not big on the DDO play style, so I can't see myself playing for a full month. But I could see doing it for a week every couple of months or so. Also a lot of players like me can't see themselves paying two or more full time subscriptions (some people do :-), so it's nice to have a side game like DDO or Guild Wars at times. Wish Champions Online had this sort of model, that's the sort of game where you can log in for an hour a week and still have fun.

Re:The game

[Darinbob]

Actually, some for-pay games have content where that basically only top players can see. The raids hidden behind several layers of requirements for instance. I remember the few months I was in Asheron's Call and all the periodic free content additions were meant just for the top players, and I quickly learned that by the time I got to their level, that the bar would have been raised and I still wouldn't be able to see new content (though I could see ruins of past battles :-).

Re:The game

[kyliaar]

I play a very similar game called Evony.

I am currently ranked just outside the top 100 without ever spending any money, with a full time job, etc.

In WoW, I am a very competitive PVE player and consider myself highly skilled and highly geared. I have never bought gold.

There is a certain sector of gamers who are willing to either pull ahead by spending real live money or maintain a pace of a serious player without a serious schedule.

I have yet to see this ruin my ability to remain competitive in a game. It can lead to one making up excuses and getting discouraged faster than if they believed there was an even field of competition.

The vast majority of gamers in these games just want a free, fun game. However, that sector that will pay more for in-game benefits is enough to make this a workable model.

Re:The game

[pluther]

The problem isn't even that he wants to be 'in the top 500', it's that he wants to be in the top 500 NOW.

D&D Online lets you earn points in game that you can spend in the store.

But, if all you're doing is grinding for points, it's going to get pretty boring.

But, if he just uses healing potions he finds/buys in-game instead of buying them from the store, and if he waits until he's accumulated enough points in-game to buy a warforged monk or whatever rather than buying them, he can play the game just fine without spending any money at all on it.

That's what I'm doing.

Though I'm still thinking of spending the $12.00 for enough points to get a warforged monk myself...

Re:The game

[snuf23]

Yeah the changes came out in Tier 9 (Trial of the Crusader). They caused quite a bit of fuss actually.
It's possible to get Ulduar 10 man equivalent gear from one new Heroic. You can also get Naxx equivalent items from the same instance on regular mode.

The emblems that dropped previously only in Ulduar 25 now drop in all instances below tier 9 (including Heroics and Naxx). So Ulduar 25 level emblem gear is easily available to casual players.

Furthermore the daily Heroic now gives you 2 of the same emblems as the tier 9 raid. Also the base tier 9 gear is purchasable with these emblems. Meaning you can have the lowest version of tier 9, full set without ever walking into a the tier 9 raid. You can also purchase some items equivalent to the tier 9 25 man drops.

The interesting thing is that because you could conceivably get some serious gear just from running heroics over and over, the old gear check mechanism no longer works. It doesn't take a good raider to get raid equivalent epics.

Some pugs going for harder fights have started using raid kill achievements as a prerequisite for an invite.

I don't pug raids but from time to time I need to pug someone in to a guild run and it's almost impossible to make any judgement about a player's skill based on gear.

The good points in the new system are that you can gear up friends, new players and alts quickly without doing the Naxx grind and then the Ulduar grind etc.

Additionally less hardcore raiding guilds have benefitted because they can get some good gear aside from just raid drops. So guilds that raid only a couple days a week can still see overall gear improvements across the board from running heroics and what not.

To offset hardcore guild complaints, the T9 raid has a Heroic version of both 10 and 25 mans. The 25 heroic gear is only obtainable by seriously committed raiders.

Re:The game

[vikstar]

Then there are games like BattleForge, where you need to spend money to become more powerful. Those that play for free will be easily defeated by those that spent money, almost irrespective of skill. This is quite a good strategy for the publishers/developers of the game, pay or be frustrated by defeat. I'd rather pay once and have an equal footing of "equipment" so that only skill is the discriminating factor.

Re:The game

[CRiMSON]

Or you, I dunno.. say fuck it to being #1, and just play the game and have fun....

Re:The game

[baubo]

Well, the beauty of it is that you can just pay the $15 a month. You can also pay nothing and the game is still a lot of fun. I think they do a great job of providing enough free content as well as free ways to earn point that you can then buy premium items for. Plus they've done a terrific job of creating a game that is lots of fun. I was in the beta 3 or 4 years ago and I am astonished at how much attention the devs paid to the feedback they got.

Re:The game

[MetalPhalanx]

Yeah, WoW gets old after a while. Inevitably I find myself drawn back, but that has yet to happen again this time.

I've tried Champions Online. It's alright, but even giving it a lot of leeway as a new MMO, it has a rather shallow feel. It's almost like a cardboard cutout of an MMO.

Re:The game

[plastbox]

That sure sounds like one hell of a skill! Imagine.. a warrior comes at you in a battleground, stuns you, rips your balls of and wields them as a weapon. The weapon, of course, does insane damage to you because of the physical and emotional trauma involved, but mostly just grosses anyone else out. x)

Re:The game

[plastbox]

Oh god, you made me want to play that game again! I think it was the first proper game I ever played, and I absolutely loved it! The shooting, the access cards, the keys, the grappling hook, robohand and super jump boots, the conveyor belts... I'm almost overdosing on nostalgia looking at some screenshots here. Now I know what I'll do when I get home, thanks! =D

Re:The game

[Negatyfus]

Nothing you say here says anything about wanting to be among the best. I just says something about wanting to progress. That's true of single-player games as well. If there's no progression, there's no goals. A goal doesn't necessarily have to be "compete with other players."

Re:The game

[Duke-H-]

It's a good thing then that Turbine still offers VIP status (subscription). I play on the EU servers so i have no clue what they charge over there, but i suspect its around 15$. Thing is, the FTP option might be great for casual players. You on the other hand seem like a typical powergamer (not meant as an offense, i am one myself). And for those, subscription is simply much cheaper.

Re:The game

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

> The game does not revolve around player vs. player, though there are some very very limited forms
> of it in the game(in certain taverns there are combat pits)

And you walk into the pit and usually get insta-ganked. Like any other game, PvP is grotesquely different from PvE because PvE still revolves around the lame, discredited "tank/taunt" model that no player pays attention to when, you know, actually fighting.

As far as PvP goes, there used to be a bug where you could punch people without any weapons, in town. Nothing would happen, of course, because it was disabled like any fighting. But once in a great while the bug occurred and "wham!" you punched somebody for like 200+ points and they'd be slaughtered.

It had the feel of some kind of super-crit roll that nobody had considered when disabling the end result of fighting punches.

Stumbled across that one by accident, and the "victim" and I had a good laugh, but we could not reproduce it after that. I presume it's long since fixed.

Re:The game

[lumpenprole]

Actually, right now, you can buy all the ddo content and come out ahead of six months of a paid account. That'll probably change, but at the moment you get a monetary advantage being a free player.

Looks like a brilliant move

[Fred_A]

I know I'd probably never subscribe to a MMO. But this business model wouldn't make me feel "stuck" with a game I might, or not, like.

If it proves to be a success, it will likely be copied by numerous other actors in that field.

Re:Looks like a brilliant move

[Canazza]

There are hundreds of Free-to-play 'MMOs' out there (most of them browser-based affairs and/or Korean) that use a similar model to DDO. Free Realms being one of the biggest (and newest).
The idea of Free To Play and Microtransactions is one that's proven itself to be profitable.
I can also see Blizzards new MMO using that model to prevent it clashing directly with WoW

Re:Looks like a brilliant move

[Saint Fnordius]

In some ways it also seems like a modification of the payment model behind Kingdom of Loathing. Offer the game for free, but make some content available only to those who pay. It's also possible to get some of the premiums without paying, but that requires either grinding or a sugar daddy. The key to this model is making the players feel like you're not out to milk them, giving them the sense that they are respected.

So if KOL, a game that admittedly is pretty limited, can stay afloat all these years with this business model, I suspect D&D Online can pull it off as well. In the end, it's the content that makes people toss their money into the tip jar. To further the bad analogy, it's the difference between charging admission to enter the bar and hear the band, or passing the hat and letting the audience tip the band.

Re:Looks like a brilliant move

[OeLeWaPpErKe]

One thing I wonder about, though. Doesn't this fall under gambling (and the legal minefield offering gambling is) ? Especially if it's true transactions ...

Re:Looks like a brilliant move

[Keill]

No - this game doesn't go far enough to make it into 'gambling' - though I've read up on a couple of games that were (are?) planned/talked about which probably would...

In order to count as gambling - two things need to happen:

a) any item you can find in a game would need to have recognized real-life monetary value.

b) there would be a way to convert these in-game rewards into real life money.

(Of course, the only thing then would be to make it so that there would only be a 'chance' of finding items of enough value to pay back the amount of money you spend on the game, which is why it doesn't really work with free-to-play games).

Re:Looks like a brilliant move

[somersault]

*wonders how the fuck that was redundant when it was the 4th post in the thread, and nobody else had mentioned it*

Re:Looks like a brilliant move

[plastbox]

'Stupidity is an often fatal disease' - R. A. Heinlein

..but by the current state of affairs, not nearly often enough.

Unlimited trial

[kjart]

What they are giving you, essentially, is an unlimited free trial period to play the game. You can download and play the game for free and, chances are, if you really like the game and decide to keep playing it, you will eventually give them some money. It's a fairly clever strategy - I wonder who else will follow suit (Warhammer?).

Re:Unlimited trial

[cgenman]

Note that you're also paying for convenience. You can buy anything with in-game earned currency, or you can just plop real cash down and buy things. Players that have more time than money can grind everything, and players who have more money than time can fund development of the game.

Also do note that this is a pretty common mechanic in Asian MMO's. When a player has only intermittent access to gaming cafes, you have to find ways of monetizing the gameplay which doesn't lock players into repeating payments. Pay-or-play-for-items is one such strategy.

Re:Unlimited trial

[Wildclaw]

Players that have more time than money can grind everything,

Unfortunately, due to how the currency system is setup, that grind involves repeatedly creating and deleting characters, as the amount of a currency a single character can earn is limited.

Re:Unlimited trial

[dword]

I've also played Hero Online like that for years. After about a year of free play, I got bored because advancing got very slow and difficult, so I put up some cash. I've paid them a lot, but I got plenty of entertainment in return. This is a good strategy and it seems very fair - if you like the game you pay, if you don't you just go somewhere else and stop loading the servers. There are also those that never pay and just rely on free stuff, but that makes the games more entertaining for those who pay, because there are more players to interact with.

This is not really newsworthy, because there are hundreds of games that have adopted this strategy (here are a few). Of course, this being Slashdot, the "D&D" is always newsworthy :)

Re:Unlimited trial

[Targon]

DDO doesn't have a "pay for raid loot" system though, so you can't just drop money in to get what the long-time players have had to work for. Most of the micro-transaction stuff you can buy is centered around either the premium stuff that subscribers get automatically with their monthly subscription, or convenience items like healing or spell point potions. This keeps the paying customers happy that only those who PLAY their way into the high end game(free to play or subscriber) will be getting the better items in the game.

Re:Unlimited trial

[stjobe]

I wonder who else will follow suit (Warhammer?).

It's unlikely that Warhammer would implement this - there's no easy lines to draw between free-to-play and subscriber content in that game.

As an aside, with the 1.3.2 patch 2/3rds of the Tier one (read: starter) content will be closed off or made more difficult to get access to - the RvR areas in High Elves vs Dark Elves and Dwarf vs Greenskin areas will be unflagged for RvR, all players will start in Empire vs Chaos area and the RvR area there will be the only one active.

It's the first time I've heard of a MMO closing off content instead of adding new content. All in the name of a "better new user experience". I guess numbers of new players are so low it doesn't make sense having them spread around three zones...

Re:Unlimited trial

[Draek]

Well, from reading their webpage that limitation apparently goes away if you were ever at any point a subscriber or have bought anything from their store.

So, you can buy a 60-day time card, see which "VIP" features are worth grinding for and which aren't, then when it expires become a Premium customer with unlimited storage, without them ever having your CC number for the paranoid among us. I like it.

Dark Dungeons

[BadAnalogyGuy]

Matthew 7:13-14
Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

How much easier could Satan be making it than providing the game for free online?

Some required reading

Re:Dark Dungeons

[SL Baur]

I can't tell if the cartoon is a parody or not.

It's real. And now I have an unmistakable urge to go play some World of Warcraft on my warlock.

Re:Dark Dungeons

[MadKeithV]

Troll? Did the Slashdot Dry Sarcastic Humor detector break again?

Re:Dark Dungeons

[craagz]

You seem pretty excited about what Satan can do with free gaming. Maybe nobody informed you about the free porn all over the net. Just like Quagmire from a recent Family Guy episode.

Re:Dark Dungeons

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm feeling more compelled to go have another orgy with vampires in Second Life!

As long as we can still play D&D whilst doing it, count me in!

Re:Dark Dungeons

[Targon]

In the case of DDO, Free to Play works because people have the option to really play the game and decide if they like it enough to play. There being no initial investment(buying the game in stores or online) before having to pay the subscription also helps.

You can play DDO fully free, but then decide you want to pay real money to buy an adventure pack like the Deleras quest series if you want access to that content without having to continue to pay after that. Or, people decide that they will pay $15 up front for one month, have all the content be included for that one month, and then play whatever. It is very possible to get through all the level 1-10 content packs in that one month, so if you would not want to go back through that content after your one month, that one month subscription means you avoid needing to buy that low end content after you switch back to Free to Play.

Re:Dark Dungeons

[St.Creed]

Lol, that must have been one of the most confused comics I've read in ages :)

Great parody!

Re:Dark Dungeons

[jank1887]

thank you for the humor. I haven't been reminded of this travesty (travesty because some people take that comic seriously) in some time. Because I'm afraid you might be one of those people, I'll "feed the troll" with some counter humor:

MST3K analysis of Dark Dungeons:
http://www.humpin.org/mst3kdd/

A less humorous, but wonderfully sarcastic "Dark Dungeons" point-by-point response:
http://www.theescapist.com/darkdungeons.htm

Re:Dark Dungeons

[Creepy]

I'm not actually surprised about free to play online games being popular because we've had that for years (Diablo, Starcraft, Guild Wars, etc). The zero cost of entry is really the big change in the past 4-5 years, following the model set in countries like Korea where microtransactions are the norm. Incidentally, even games that have an entry cost like Guild Wars have embraced microtransactions (for character slots, storage panels, unlock packs, etc) probably because their Korean parent said they had to.

I still haven't given DDO another chance - my two week trial shortly after release left me underwhelmed, mostly because of some early balance issues, bugs, and gameplay issues. I've heard its really improved, so I'd like to give it another shot, but it may have to wait until after Dragon Age, as I think I'll lose a month or so to that game (and work gets almost all of my free time right now). Incidentally some of the bugs were the same that frustrated me in Guild Wars - stuck spots where you'd get stuck on the terrain and couldn't move (both games addressed these, I'm just saying that was my major frustration - DDO also had an annoying crash bug for me, but I believe that was RAM related - I needed more).

Re:Dark Dungeons

[Attila Dimedici]

This cartoon certainly is real, chick publications is a somewhat whacky, apocalyptic organization that believes that the Roman Catholic Church is anti-Christian.
On the other hand, I have played with people who argued with the DM that a spell shouldn't work the way the rules specified because "that's not the way it really works". So, there are some people who play D&D and believe that the magic in the game is a representation of something that exists in the real world, just like the physics in the game is.

Re:Dark Dungeons

[Creepy]

ugh, not him again.

Jack T Chick is to D&D what Jack Thompson is to computer gaming. I remember finding pamphlets by his loonie followers in bathroom stalls in college (seriously!). Chick at least has an excuse - he's Baptist and they tend to be a bit...zealous..., but Thompson is a friggin Presbyterian, so he's uh, zealous by choice (zealous = loonie). And why the f*ck do they all go by Jack?...

Re:Dark Dungeons

[hoggoth]

HAHAHA That was hilarious!
"Gather up your occult paraphernalia like rock music"

Oh noes! The rock music is warping my brain... I feel like having money for nothing and chicks for free!
Better switch to Debbie Boone quickly before I turn evil!

Re:Dark Dungeons

[hoggoth]

> I'm feeling more compelled to go have another orgy with vampires in Second Life!

Yeah! Let's have an orgy with vampires in Second Life! On second thought, forget the vampires. And forget the Second Life.

Re:Dark Dungeons

[ConceptJunkie]

Jack Chick is about more than D&D. He is the poster child for everything that is wrong with _some_ Christians.

As a Christian, and as someone who plays D&D, I can see the potential for harm in the game. For instance, I think playing evil characters could be problematic and unhealthy. However, the idea of the game in and of itself is no more harmful than kids playing cops and robbers, or perhaps more appropriately, knights and dragons.

Is it a sin to read about Greek Mythology? Or to make the analogy more precise, would it be a sin to act in a play about Greek gods? If fantasy is a sin, then most everything in life that's not literal work or prayer is out of bounds. Lewis, as was mentioned above was a devout Christian who wrote about fantasy and magic. Ditto Tolkien.

It is this kind of narrow-minded thinking and rejection of reason that gave rise to the most virulent of Muslims, and we all know how screwed up those folks are. I don't understand how there are branches of Christianity which essentially deny science and reason, when Christianity was the biggest nurturer of scientific and philosophical advancement for most of the time it has existed. Who created most of the original universities? Who was responsible for gathering and passing on the wealth of knowledge from the Greeks and Romans? Who can deny the strong correlation between scientific, philosophical and civil advances with Western Civilization, which was primarily a Christian civilization? This isn't to deny the advances of other cultures, especially in the past. The Chinese were way ahead of everyone 2000 years ago. The Muslims in the Middle East had a great age of learning and development around the end of the first millennium, which was spurred in part by their discovery of the great works of the Greeks. India gave us math, etc, etc. But there's only one place that has most consistently and steadily been the source of the advancement of civilization and that has been the places where Christianity flourished.

You know everyone likes to point to Galileo as proof the Church was opposed to science. Aside of the fact that even the Church itself has admitted it was wrong in that case, and the fact that if you study the details, the issue at the time was more political than it was doctrinal, or the fact that Galileo was _also_ being an ass, even though he was right, name another example. I bet most of you can't. I don't know of any, although I can't imagine there aren't. But this only shows that that was the exception rather than the rule. The Vatican has its own observatory where real science is done. Look up the history of seismology and its relation to the Jesuits. Read about how the Industrial Revolution might have occurred in the 17th century rather than the 19th, except all the Christians (Catholics and Protestants) took a couple of centuries off to slaughter each other, more often than not over nationalism (or any of the other various reasons people war) than doctrine. The Enlightenment is seen by some as a move away from religion, but look how well that worked in France, or later in Russia and China. The Enlightenment owes as much to religious philosophy as it does to secular philosophy. See the Founding Fathers of the U.S. for a perfect example. See how Adam Smith, despite being extemely anti-Catholic, conceived of an economic philosophy that is pretty consistent with Catholic social teaching. Read "Rerum Novarum" to understand how capitalists and workers each depend upon and owe each other, and how socialism and the abolition of private property is inimical to all freedom.

The reason for this is that Christians did not abandon reason. We believe that God is omnipotent, but that He has made an ordered world, and has given us an intellect and will to use to advancement of Mankind in accordance with His Laws. We believe that God wants us to use our minds (otherwise t

Re:Dark Dungeons

[KnownIssues]

That comic strip is totally true! Ever since my coven leader taught me mind bondage, I've saved tons of money on D&D manuals.

Re:Dark Dungeons

[tecnico.hitos]

Some required reading

When I started reading I thought it was a joke. Now I'm not sure.

I hope it is a joke, because either it is a joke or there are people spreading very stupid notions out there, if they aren't stupid themselves. And if they aren't stupid or joking they are being deceitful with their absurd brainwashing, which is even worse.

I can't get it. As a christian I can say I don't get it at all. What is the point of all the veneration if the people ignore the teachings. Where is the understanding, altruism and good sense? Why the feel the need to spread so much FUD?

Jesus walked amongst the sinners, treating them as equals and teaching the willing. Doesn't that give them a clue?

So many of them don't even care enough to help those who need or even to stop harassing others. Want to be rich and healthy without effort and think they will just because they can cite biblic passages passages out of context.

Ugh, it's hard to be even slightly religious when there is so much harmful ignorance and ill intentions standing behind the same flag. Official religions usually go bad, if people want to be religious they should be at least capable of making their own interpretations.

...I think I got worked up.

Re:Dark Dungeons

[geekoid]

""that's not the way it really works""

in my experience that's just short hand for an inconsistent interpretation for of a rule.
It usually is said after a DM says a player can't do something clever even though it applies to the rules.

Like bouncing a lightning bolt around a corner. If a GM ruled I couldn't do that, I would say 'that isn't how it works'. At no time do I think lightening bolts could actually shoot out of my hands.... only my penis.

A good point and a penis joke in the same post. That's the best I can do I'm going home.

Re:Dark Dungeons

[Attila Dimedici]

I was there, these people meant "that's not how magic works in the real world." They believed that he was a reincarnated priest from the lost continent of Mu.

Re:Dark Dungeons

[snuf23]

It's not a joke. I've been handed Chick tracts on the street by little old ladies. It's the real deal.

Re:Dark Dungeons

[Creepy]

Of course, D&D evil is rather dubious, at least now - it originally meant you're the type that eats babies, drowns mothers, rapes, pillages, etc. but they changed it so self-centered, greedy people are also 'evil.' Playing a greedy person or someone with a "me first" attitude can be fun, especially in a party of like minded people. I haven't played many games of D&D like that but I'd say all players of Paranoia would be evil in D&D terms and that game is a blast.

Re:Dark Dungeons

[ConceptJunkie]

Good point. I'm not familiar with D&D since they turned it into a MMORPG on paper. I'm speaking from the point of view of the earlier editions with which I'm familiar.

Second Life

[MrMista_B]

Second Life has been doing this for years and years, relying soley on microtransactions.

From all accounts, they're still doing very well.

Re:Second Life

[fake_name]

The big difference is in Second Life those micro transactions are between players; Linden Labs takes a cut only when players convert ingame currency back into real money.

Re:Second Life

[Anonymous Coward]

The other big difference is that they don't need to provide an actual game, just the tools for everyone else to create something game-like for them.

Re:Second Life

[MartinSchou]

They make money when you convert Linden$ to real money. And they make money from land rentals. I suspect the last one is the large money maker.

Re:Second Life

[gutnor]

The content of the "game" is also provided by other players. So, not really that much different, money goes to people generating content.

Re:Second Life

[myowntrueself]

The big difference is in Second Life those micro transactions are between players

Another big difference is that in Second Life the UI is truly awful. I have yet to see such an awful user experience in an online virtual world as I see in Second Life, nothing comes close. It feels like something out of the early 90s.

iPhone developers

[ElectricSteve]

This is the model to explore for iPhone game developers who are complaining about market resistance to price points above $2, and piracy. I also wonder if we'll see developers for the Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Arcade) and PS3/PSP (PlayStation Network) give it a crack. I constantly end up with unusably small amounts left in my "wallet" on these services, and I wouldn't think twice about getting rid of it for small gains or more content. I guess you could say the cut price Rock Band Unplugged on the PSN is a start, but there's still an entry fee.

Re:iPhone developers

[Sparton]

This is the model to explore for iPhone game developers who are complaining about market resistance to price points above $2, and piracy.

I was just about to say "Nope", but...

My coworker, just before I hit "Submit", got an email from the iPhone Developer Program titled "In App Purchaces Allowed for Free Apps", so yes, maybe it is.

Runes of Magic

[hotrodent]

A friend put me onto Runes of Magic (which uses Micro Transactions) as I was an ex-WoW player, vowing to never pay for MMO games again. So I played for free for a couple of months and enjoyed not having the "pressure" to get value for money that a monthly fee seems to induce. The decision to buy a mount using real $$'s came easily. A few more purchases later, I'd spend about $50 and felt I had got my moneys worth. I spend when *I* want, not when a certain date passes. I can take a break for a few weeks and nothing is lost (although a few purchases do have a time limit)

The model works very well!!

Re:Runes of Magic

[TheLink]

Installing that game is a pain in the neck tho.

1) Their install file downloads sometimes don't work.
2) Patching often requires yet more big downloads.
3) Installation requires admin privileges even though the game shouldn't need admin privileges - in fact I have installed the game using a virtual machine onto a network drive and successfully run it from another machine - so no admin privileges are actually required.

RoM is very gear based so if you want to PvP, be aware that someone willing to spend lots of $$$ is going to pulp you if you don't spend $$$ on gear. A low level player could have gear and weapons loaded with lots of top level stats (transferred and added via the arcane transmutor thingy) - and the resulting differences can be very extreme. There is some skill involved but not much - most of the RoM spells and skills aren't very sophisticated in terms of "interesting interactions". Definitely not as much as say Guild Wars PvP. I'd say RoM PvP is "Gear vs Gear" ;).

But hey it's free and the RoM PvE servers have many high level players are willing to help out with stuff.

Re:Runes of Magic

[geekoid]

"vowing to never pay for MMO games again. "

some friend. What's he do in his spare time, take light beer to AA meetings~

Re:Runes of Magic

[hotrodent]

Lol - well at least now the light beer is (almost) free^~

--
New punctuation: "^~" at the end of a line to indicate 'Super Snarky'.

As a cheap bastard

[Miner Willy]

I wholeheartedly support this courageous move.

tricky to balance

[Necroloth]

I think free-to-play games with microtransactions must strike a careful balance in rewarding those who put money in but at the same time not putting the free players at a disadvantage. For instance, I play on Jade Dynasty and shop items tend to be items that makes things easier such as getting mounts and cosmetic items but nothing that would put them at a clear advantage over non-payers. Besides usually people sell shop items in the market for in-game money and it's not actually that difficult to earn money if you're willing to put some time grinding.

Re:YPou Fail It

[X0563511]

This is why you never code your bots while drunk.

Whoever did this should be ashamed.

Re:YPou Fail It

[ElectricSteve]

Log().Get(logDEBUG) << parent << " does not compute";

Decent

[meglon]

I'm trying out DDO, again.

For a simple critique... the game has many small issues, which most other games have already dealt with.

Their auction house is a disaster. The quests are fine, except it becomes a simple grindfest way to early. It's an instanced world, similar to Guild Wars, not an open world like Eve, or even EQ or WoW. It's very linear. That can be fine, but don't expect to simply go out and explore and achieve anything.

The graphics are good, and run pretty smooth. The skill acquisition and character development (feats and enhancements) is very nicely done, and allows for a several different ways to play any of the classes. While you do define your class and race from the start, there are a number of ways you can customize your toon to your vision of it.

One big drawback for free players is there are limitations to things which Turbine doesn't quantify, such as: there's a limit to gold you can have per level, but nothing ever tells you how much.. until you sell something in the auction house and can't get your gold from the mailbox because you've gone over a non-disclosed limit. Pure frustration there.

While overall it's a game I'd recommend, I'd have to say it has one other significant downside, that being the seriously myopic players. Not all of them obviously, but the few truly hostile ones to anyone new, and anyone who has anything good to say about any other game puts this crew into the "worst" category of people I've dealt with in online games, ranging all the way back to the original Diablo.

But try the game, it's enjoyable enough, if you can ignore some of the "D&D started everything, bow down to us" crowd. My caveat is, i started playing D&D in 1977, no need to be rude or arrogant about it.. it is after all, just a game.

Re:Decent

[Targon]

There is a big difference between the long-time players and many of the new players just getting into the game. Yes, there are SOME people who are really bad, but most of the long-time players on Ghallanda at least don't take that sort of attitude. Then again, what you are seeing may be due to the World of Warcraft crowd trying to compare every last feature to WoW, rather than looking at DDO as a DIFFERENT sort of game, and not a clone of the old EQ game design with different graphics/rules.

Re:Decent

[RalphSleigh]

Having played WOW before, its very hard not to compare, just give us the linkable items in chat and a tooltip on the party healthbars showing class/level/location and all is forgiven.

Re:Decent

[JDeane]

I am in the same boat, so far I like DDO better then WoW. To me at least WoW was at points too cartoony for my tastes. I had hoped blizzard would make Diablo 3 like WoW but darker. I do not know how long DDO will last me but even if I only play for two weeks I am out nothing but some time its a no lose situation lol

Re:Decent

[Targon]

While those would be nice, they are also not "critical" features that make or break a game. The issue I was talking about was the attitude that some players have when dealing with others. There are some people new to the game that really have an attitude that Dungeons and Dragons is some amazing game system that because the name D&D has been around for so long that is MUST be better, and some people find that attitude to be....annoying.

Dungeons and Dragons as a name HAS been around for a long long time, but the history of the game system itself needs to be looked at by some people, because of false impressions.

From the start, the original game rules that evolved into Dungeons and Dragons and then Advanced Dungeons and Dragons(first and second editions) showed a clear evolution in the rules. While some things changed, during those years, the fundamental game systems could clearly be seen as an evolution over time.

The Dungeons and Dragons rule system changed DRASTICALLY with the release of the third edition. As a result, while there are certain similarities, these changes really made the third edition an all new game with some elements taken from Advanced D&D. As a result, all those people who say the game has been around really do not understand that the Dungeons and Dragons of today is NOT the same game that I had played back in my high school and college days.

I personally only agree with the change in the Armor Class system from being -10(best) to +10(worst) to the current system, just for clarity.

Adding points to stats, and being able to pick up levels in other classes than the ones you have just doesn't work for me since the systems for these things just feel like they were poorly designed(You go from being a trained level 1 fighter with enough experience to advance to level 2, but now you take a level in something else?)

Back to the topic at hand though, DDO as a GAME is a lot of fun, and my disagreement with the fundamental 3rd and 3.5 edition rules can be put aside for the enjoyment of the game. That really should be seen as a benchmark of how good a game is, where a game is fun to play, even if you do not care for the base rule system, and further, is worth paying a subscription fee to play.

For those who have not tried out the game yet, with Free to Play, there really isn't anything holding you back(except a really bad Intel graphics chip). When you make a character, I suggest that people check out the custom character generation rather than taking one of the pre-built type as well, just to see how many different ways you can go with each class. That is mostly to show a primary difference in DDO vs. other games that force the same basic design for a class on everyone with very little customization available.

Good for them, they seem to have got it..

[Seth Kriticos]

I played and occasionally still play one or the other MMO that relies on similar models: you can play free and have a great game and you can upgrade and get some more benefits anytime you want.

Much easier to get folks hooked with some quality game time than with a shiny box, and once they are, they quite happily play some premium.

Now this is not new, there are a lot of folks doing this, mostly small indy developers with smaller mmo's and browser games and they seem to be doing very well.

Subscribe - unsubscribe

[ldierk]

What I don't get: Suppose you have been a subscriber for 3 months. While you are subscribed you have access to all adventure packs etc. Now when you unsubscribe do you lose access to all the content even though you spent 45$ on the game? In contrast when you buy the adventure packs via micro-transactions, do you gain access for ever?

Re:Subscribe - unsubscribe

[Shados]

While you subscribe you get a small allocation of points, so you can use that to buy things permanently. But yes, if you buy via micro transactions, you keep things forever. Subscribers do get some minor perks that cannot be bought, but overall, if you were planning on playing 1-2 year+, buying everything in micro transactions would gain you in the long run, while if you want to play for a short amount of time, you're better off subscribing. Also, since not all of the purchasable content is worth the money, it can be a good idea to sub 1 month to try it all, then buy what you like.

Re:Not my cup o' tea

[Targon]

You have not looked at how Turbine has applied the concept to DDO. In DDO, money only buys you access to the adventure packs, and other game features that subscribers get for their monthly fee. The only thing money will get you is convenience items since the items from raids are NOT available for purchase, and even "good" items need to be earned in-game since gold is not sold on the store.

No offense Turbine, but make MAC versions

[Shivetya]

because I am not loading a windows partition just to play games.

One reason I like Blizzard is that they have kept us in the loop for a long time, even before it was simple

Re:No offense Turbine, but make MAC versions

[Targon]

DDO uses DirectX for rendering, and it would take a LOT of effort/money to recode the graphics engine at this point, and since the number of Mac people who would pay money would be fairly low, the return on investment would be so low that it would be a money losing effort. Then again, you KNEW that the selection of games that support Mac was fairly low when you bought your computer, so if you want to play games, you should have known that you would need to set up Windows to play the vast majority of games.

You also have to look at how many people on a given platform may turn into paying customers early in the program development cycle. If you do not expect many Mac people to buy your game, and it will cost $1 million in development costs to support that platform, do you REALLY see it as a wise investment? DDO started as a regular MMO with a subscription, and Free to Play only came out YEARS after the initial release. With this in mind, would you REALLY expect that the Mac platform would have made Turbine a profit?

Re:No offense Turbine, but make MAC versions

[CountBrass]

Or alternatively you employ a competent software architect who doesn't choose to use DirectX thus tying your programme to a single OS.

Blizzard manage to release both Windows and Mac versions of their games at the same time and presumably Diablo, Starcraft, Warcraft and WoW have all made their money back.

Mythic have recently released a beta of a Mac client for Warhammer Online (based on Cider).

More pertinently though, if you know nothing about software development perhaps you should forgo making comments as if you do. Although you do score a consolation point for knowing the computer is a Mac not a MAC.

Re:No offense Turbine, but make MAC versions

[larryj]

I've just started playing. So far, I've been using bootcamp. I posted a link to a Linux/OS X launcher in a previous reply. That (https://launchpad.net/pylotro) plus Crossover appears to be working for some. Instructions at http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=200985.

Re:No offense Turbine, but make MAC versions

[Targon]

I think you have missed my point. At this point, since the game WAS originally designed around DirectX, it would cost more money to update the game to support another API than would be made. It wouldn't make sense for Turbine to change the rendering engine to something multi-platform if the expected revenue from such a change would not be well beyond the cost of the development work. Since DDO is not being sold in stores, the only money made would be off the micro-transactions and the subscription revenue. Do you REALLY think there are enough Mac people out there who would spend enough money to justify the cost of the extra development at this point?

Re:No offense Turbine, but make MAC versions

[ground.zero.612]

DDO uses DirectX for rendering, and it would take a LOT of effort/money to recode the graphics engine at this point, and since the number of Mac people who would pay money would be fairly low, the return on investment would be so low that it would be a money losing effort. Then again, you KNEW that the selection of games that support Mac was fairly low when you bought your computer, so if you want to play games, you should have known that you would need to set up Windows to play the vast majority of games.

You also have to look at how many people on a given platform may turn into paying customers early in the program development cycle. If you do not expect many Mac people to buy your game, and it will cost $1 million in development costs to support that platform, do you REALLY see it as a wise investment? DDO started as a regular MMO with a subscription, and Free to Play only came out YEARS after the initial release. With this in mind, would you REALLY expect that the Mac platform would have made Turbine a profit?

Doesn't WINE work on Mac? I thought I downloaded the Mac version during the Lame Duck Challenge on the slim chance I would decide to spend frivolously on a computer.

http://cedegawiki.sweetleafstudios.com/wiki/Dungeons_and_Dragons_Stormreach After reading those instructions, I have to wonder why so many zealots bitch and moan about Microsoft, knowing that a game is designed around that specific platform... I personally wouldn't cry that Mario was designed to run on Nintendo because I can jump through 1000 hoops to make it work on my Sega. I'm just sayin...

Re:No offense Turbine, but make MAC versions

[wwphx]

Exactly! I went Mac over two years ago with little regret. I do run virtual environments for the rare occasion that I need Windows, but I'm not going to play games in such a setup, and I'm not interested in doing Bootcamp as I don't have much disk space. BTW, City of Heroes is available in Mac now, no idea if they're going to do or did Champions Online that way.

Re:No offense Turbine, but make MAC versions

[Anonymous Coward]

Turbine's first two MMOs were originally on MSN Gaming Zone or whatever it is/was, and funded by Microsoft. As far as I know, their current games (DDO and LotRO) are using engine assets from those games, so I would consider that a pretty "good" (given the circumstances) reason why they've been tied to Windows so far. No need to call competence into question; someone with money had a say in what they were going to use, and presumably it was more cost-effective to reuse that code than to write something new and possibly get a larger market.

Re:No offense Turbine, but make MAC versions

[Stropp]

Asheron's Call (Turbine's first MMORPG) was developed in the late 90's and MS was indeed the publisher. However, I truely doubt there are any assets from that game in DDO or LotRO considering the rigidity of the engine. If memory serves Asheron's Call 2 used a completely new engine and it's possible some of that was used in their later games.

Having said that, there are some techniques in AC that seem to have been used in later games. For instance housing in AC could only be decorated by placing items on pre-positioned hooks. Lord of the Rings Online uses the same concept, unfortunately.

Glad to hear this.

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't work at Turbine anymore, but I actually wrote the code for new player tutorial they're using now, and it's kinda cool seeing so many people use it. And I wish Turbine well, they treat their employees better than most gaming companies.

Re:There are two ways to do it

[ldierk]

To me DDO seems to be closer to you second, "evil", example. You have to pay to get "Adventure Packs" which give you, as I get it, access to content you otherwise can't access.

Re:There are two ways to do it

[Shados]

Correct. Except there is a way to get infinite DDO store points for free by grinding: its just boring as hell. But technically you can unlock 100% of the content for free.

Re:There are two ways to do it

[sapphire wyvern]

The real question is, what are the "neutral", "chaotic" and "lawful" ways of going about it?

After all, we're discussing D&D Online...

Just like crack

[Comboman]

"Give the first hit for free" is a business model that has always worked well for drug dealers, so if this MMO is as addictive as they hope it should work well for them.

DDO Free to Play

[graveborn]

I just recently started playing DDO only because they offered a free to play option. sure I am limited in content (short two races, limited character slots, not all content available) but I just wanted something different to try out without making a purchase and commitment. I am enjoying the occassional session with DDO without spending a dime. I still pay for my subscriptions to WoW and CoH (which I haven't played in months!) but I feel no pressure to spend any money in DDO. if I ever decided I liked it enough to want to expand the content, then I don't have a problem paying the subscription fee for a while. I think they are doing a pretty good job so far. I just wished they had mentioned the lack of access to two races with the Free to play option. they seemed to actually use those two races as a lure, to want you to play, then when you get all set and downloaded and logged in, nope you can't play them! that was my only complaint so far about the game. It felt like bait and switch.

Silkroad Online (International version)

[skiman1979]

Silkroad Online is free-to-play and relies on microtransactions so players can pay real cash to buy items in their item mall if they choose. The international version of the game is overloaded with gold-farming bots and player-leveling bots. The 35+ servers are almost always filled to capacity, and it can take hours to log in. When you finally do log in, you can often find herds of gold-farming bots running around an area, often times in sync with each other, grinding on mobs. A lot of players even run multi-client software so they can have 10-30 gold bots online at the same time while their main character grinds via bot software to level up. It becomes a real problem for players who actually want to play the game.

Let's hope the DDO setup they have works better than this.

Europe?

[RabidBob]

And in Europe?

Oh.

Re:Dark Dungeons - and dieties

[icepick72]

The moral of the required reading is we should accept Christianity through a cartoon instead of Satan through a board game. I guess Satan must be in the DDO marketing dept and God at Marvel in illustration otherwise this epic battle on the entertainment media couldn't be taking place. It's just too bad God dabbled with magic in the Narnia series because that really confuses the church's current message about sorcery being evil. Oh well we all make mistakes.

Re:Plays on Linux

[larryj]

Linux/OS X launcher:

https://launchpad.net/pylotro

Puzzle Pirates

[ZorbaTHut]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned the Doubloon Oceans on Puzzle Pirates yet.

A while back Puzzle Pirates set up a bunch of new servers with no subscription fee. Instead, they had a second currency. Besides Pieces of Eight, the standard currency, there was a new one called Doubloons.

On normal oceans, you could play for free with some restrictions, or you could subscribe and have all the restrictions lifted. On Doubloon oceans, you buy off those restrictions with Doubloons - some on a monthly basis, some on a 30-day-played basis (my 2-year-old character is about three weeks through his first "30-day-played" badge. I don't play often.) You can buy off only the restrictions you care about, or you can buy off everything, or you can even buy "super-badges" that give you more capabilities than you'd have normally on a subscriber ocean.

The trick is that you can convert PoE into Doubloons. And not at a fixed game rate, either - it's player-driven.

So let's say I play Puzzle Pirates for the fun of it, and don't care about all the subscriber features. I go out pirating, I make money, I buy doubloons off the market, I can get my badges.

Or, alternatively, let's say my time is valuable to me and I don't feel like grinding. I go blow $20 on doubloons, then trade them for a huge number of Pieces of Eight. Now I'm rich, and I can go buy the pretty clothes and furniture that I want.

Everyone wins! Including the publisher! Because, remember, at no point in this system can you actually create PoE with doubloons or vice-versa. It's always a trade. If a group of players want to spend $10 in doubloons on a bunch of high-level features, someone, somewhere has paid that $10.

Eve Online does something similar. Now, Eve is a subscription-based service, but you can also convert timecards into items called PLEXes. Pilot License Extensions. Each PLEX is a 30-day subscription, and PLEXes can be traded, at will, on the open market. So, again, if you don't want to pay any money for the game, you don't have to - make the money ingame, buy a PLEX, use the plex, repeat. As long as you can buy one PLEX every month, you're set! (You may have to subscribe for a few months to gear up your PLEX-making.)

Alternatively, if you want a small fleet of battleships, go buy some timecodes, turn into PLEXes, and sell. Lots of money, lots of battleships!

Everyone wins!

Re:Puzzle Pirates

[SleazyRidr]

I realll like the way Puzzle Pirates does it. I played the game for a long time and eventually worked my way up to everything I wanted without spending any actual money. I heartily recommend that game to anyone.

Same difference

[tepples]

it would take a LOT of effort/money to recode the graphics engine at this point

Or alternatively you employ a competent software architect who doesn't choose to use DirectX thus tying your programme to a single OS.

Then it would take a LOT of effort/money to hire a competent software architect who doesn't choose to use DirectX to recode the graphics engine at this point.

Re:There are two ways to do it

[Opportunist]

Hmm... ok, lemme accept that challenge. What are alignments when it comes to players of games?

Lawful good would be playing by the rules and hacking down the dungeons the way they're meant to be.
Neutral good would be doing the same but looking for the shortcuts.
Chaotic good would be pretty much the same, but trying to find loopholes in the game dynamics that can be exploited within the system.

Lawful neutral would be playing by the rules and using every single (allowed) addon available that makes your life easier.
True neutral would be ... playing.
Chaotic neutral would be playing, then dumping your money into some high-risk adventure or idea.

Lawful evil would be playing with the sole purpose to find something you could hand to your lawyer to sue the company.
Neutral evil would be writing bots.
Chaotic evil would be using them.

Has DDO improved overall?

[antdude]

I played the final stress test/beta or whatever it was before the game shipped. It was decent, but not good as WoW. Has the game improved a lot?

Re:Micro-transactions and Capitalism

[geekoid]

I hope you are trying to be funny.

"socialism at best or communism at worst."
those are two separate items that aren't really comparable.

Worth Checking Out

[Conchobair]

It's a pretty fun game, definatley worth checking out for free. I played a trial account over a year ago and came back to that same account when it went free with all my characters in tact. If you are a melee class, you pretty much hold the left mouse button and run at things and hit them. It's not compicated. The spell casters are a little more involved and if you are playing as a useful rogue, you just hide or throw things until there are traps to deal with. It's still fun and encourages diverse grouping. They made a nice little noob island named Korthos. It gets you into the basics of game play and has some fun quests leading up to a large dungeon up on a mountain, and of course there is a dragon involved. It's a fun game and lures me away from WoW when they are no raids to do. I cannot justify paying for 2 MMOs, and WoW still really is tops, but as long as it's free I'll probably keep playing this game for the time being.

Cell Phone Analogy

[Aragorn DeLunar]

For casual players, I see this as a nice pay-as-you-go alternative to a monthly subscription. If I'm not going to consume $15 of content in a month, I may as well only pay for what I'm going to use, when I'm going to use it. I also wouldn't feel obligated to play just because I'm paying monthly fees.

To the naysayers..

[msimm]

I hate to promote an EA game, but a few months ago after deciding it was time for a new game I could play casually I stumbled across Battlefield Heroes which is a free, micro-transaction/ad-driven, browser-based (the launcher) shooter.

The advertising originally consisted of mock ads based on in-game art and themes (humorous) but more recently began to use real ads in a pretty non-disruptive way (launch screen/load screen). The micro-transactions can give players a indirect advantage by allowing them to gain XP faster (2X) or something they call VP faster (currency you use to buy health and other basics). So far the balance makes playing without XP or VP accelerators not feel like a disadvantage and the most noticeable difference between free and paying players would be custom clothing and other cosmetic extras (some of these items can be paid for using VP too, so free players are able to do some customizing too).

Players who don't have the extra income or aren't interested in paying for these non-essential extras really aren't at much of a disadvantage. Highly skilled players from either set (paying or non-paying) can compete evenly with other players of the same level. The idea seems to work and judging from the amount of blinged out players people don't seem to mind paying for a little vanity (or humor/or fun) to enjoy a past-time. I for one look forward to seeing more examples of balanced micro-transaction/in-game advertising based gaming overlords.

Re:Micro-transactions and Capitalism

[kalirion]

One standard monthly fee for everyone regardless of customer needs and wants is socialism at best or communism at worst.

Yeah, I hate those red commie bastards at the local bakery who won't let me pay for only the muffin tops!

Re:Micro-transactions and Capitalism

[stoicfaux]

Mostly funny. I'm using the real world definitions, not the theoretical ones, where "real world definitions" == as defined by the U.S.'s Republican party. With everyone paying a flat fee, Turbine decides what content you get and everyone gets that content, aka planned economies akin to Soviet communism. With everyone paying a flat fee, everyone is provided guaranteed access to all aspects of a resource whether they want to buy into it or not and regardless of quality, akin to socialized health care systems. In other words, why should I be forced to pay for paladins and paladin content if I never play paladins? I want my X dollars per month going to content for class Foo.

With micro-transactions, the market can decide what features the players want. This would allow Turine to count the "votes" (money == votes) and tailor the game based on actual customer desires and wants.

Long story short, micro-transactions may actually be "good" for gaming. Look at how profitable the entertainment industry is in tailoring content to the masses. Or to put it another way, micro-transactions may be the console games in the "console games are dumbed down compared to PC games" argument. OTOH, if you want a game that doesn't have the middle of the bell curve as its targeted customer, micro-transactions might be the right way for sophisticated/artsy/edge_of_the_bell_curve MMOs to charge more in order to support a smaller target customer base.

WINE

[metamatic]

So does this work on WINE on Linux or Mac, or is this Windoze only?

Re:WINE

[featurelesscube]

Gold and Platinum ratings. http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=2910

Deja vu

[djMouton]

Printer & razor manufacturers have been doing this for years. And isn't this basically Apple's success story with iTunes, the cane toad of digital media players?

I took the bait and tried out DDO two days ago

[default luser]

After reading this story on Ars (Slashdot is always days late), I tried out the free account system. Three things that really made me happy:

1. They never asked for a credit card. I just created an account like I was signing up for a forum.
2. The download was quick and painless (maxed-out my 25Mbit connection, was playing in 30 minutes).
3. I felt so free that I didn't even feel bad about not getting the chance to play it last night.

I've been itching to try one of these MMOs, but couldn't stomach the monthly fee (I don't often have lots of time to play, and I also tend to put a game down after a couple months, then pick it back up later). For me, a monthly fee would be wasted. I like this pricing structure because I won't be forced to pay for anything, but if I really like the game I could see myself making small purchases here and there. If I find I really like this, and get worried about spending too much, I still have the option to upgrade to the VIP account for the normal $15/month.

E&B

[Ceiynt]

They should do this with some of the other "dead" MMOs. I'd love to play Earth and Beyond again. Tabula Risa would have been a gold mine with this style. Granted, all games wouldn't work with this. Some do, and do it well. As other's have mentioned, Maple Story and Silk Road Online are some of the most successful MMO's to use this style, and they make a ton of money.

Please EA, bring back Earth and Beyond.

Regnum Online has already done this for 2 years.

[EMR]

Regnum Online has already offered a free to play MMO for years now. Income is based on selling "premium" content to enhance play but not required to play.

Re:There are two ways to do it

[Sparton]

Thank you; you have made my day.

Re:There are two ways to do it

[Draek]

To me, it'd be:

Lawful good: plays by the rules, helps new players.
Lawful neutral: plays by the rules, ignores anyone below his skill level.
Lawful evil: plays by the rules, but enjoys waving his e-peen in front of the "st00pid nubs".

Neutral good: uses shortcuts to get stuff faster, and is willing to teach them to other players.
True neutral: plays to win, using shortcuts and loopholes but no cheating, ignores anyone or anything that doesn't contribute to his min-maxing.
Neutral evil: plays to win (including ganking et al), may cheat if he thinks he won't be caught and serves his min-maxing purposes.

Chaotic good: enjoys discovering loopholes or overpowered builds for the game, will document them on the game's wiki afterwards.
Chaotic neutral: enjoys discovering loopholes for the game, and abusing them until the devs hit them with the "nerf" bat. May complain for a bit before resuming his activities.
Chaotic evil: enjoys cheating of all kinds, abuses them to improve his e-peen, and will complain loudly when the devs hit him with the "ban" hammer before buying (or stealing) a new account and resuming his activities.

That sounds better than AO

[Well-Fed Troll]

In Anarchy Online, once you upgrade there is no going back. Good for lock-in I suppose but quite annoying to the players.
I think Funcom is actually losing money because of this, for I would upgrade a bunch of my other accounts temporarily just to get them set up a little bit better.
Being able to downgrade back to free is all kinds of awesomeness.

It seems extremely obvious.

[PMBjornerud]

So true, yet... People in these kind of game want to be in the top 10.

Cynical or not, that is exactly why some games are built to make people spend their way to the top. Somebody want to be a top X player in a game where you can purchase power? Seriously: Duh.

Alternatives exist. Battlefield Heroes is free to play and spending cash give you nothing more than lots of fancy clothes with zero impact on gameplay. Or optionally a fixed and small XP boost that you can enjoy the game perfectly without.

I Like that it works on an EeePC.

[trdrstv]

The "Standard resolution" DNDO plays fine on an EeePC, and I like the fact that they added a native 1024x600 resolution to accomodate it.

Minimum specs?

[Tybalt_Capulet]

I've been looking on the website and no where can I find the minimum hardware specs. I can how ever find the minimum specs for quests my home computer might not be able to take.

I wonder what Summer will do to Eliza?

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

> So, at a minimum you'd spend $6.56 a month for the Travian Plus feature plus +25% resource boosts,
> +10% offensive and defensive bonuses. That at first seems reasonable for running such a cool game,
> but I was averaging around $100 a month on gold because of NPC trading and instabuilding. My
> coworker had it worse because his two sons were playing and he was even worse with the
> instabuilding. His monthly Travian habit, including his two sons' costs were running him around
> $300/month. FOR A GAME!

"Working as intended", it seems like to me.