First a little history, I played D&D for two months, about a year and a half ago.  I love this game, however my old computer was just too old to continue.

Anyway, I get an e-mail to come back and just download the new content, enter my old user name and passward.....  I did all that, and I'm having a blast, D&D Online is better than ever with the new starter zone. So far everything is going good and not feeling threatened to buy anything at level 3( understand that their are only 20 levels so, leveling is slow ).....  I'm going in with the mindset that if everything goes well I'll buy some things along the way as long as the game holds my attention.

HOWEVER, on the bottom near my experience bar, I've been noticing that is has you are level 3 of 4. Not paying it any attention, until today when I came out from a dungeon with a group  and decided to ask " whats with this level 4 stuff , do I have to pay to continue ", Guess what yes, was the answer............ NP I should expect to pay something.

Well here are my findings with the store :

400 points=$6.95,       900 points=$11.99,      1 500 points=$18.99,       3300 points=$38.95   

...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

FOR BASIC GAME PLAY ( stuff you really need, at least how I see it ) :

120 points = level 4-8  ( no price listed  for levels after that, I'm sure that will be a surprise )

995 points = Ruins of Gianthold ( an optional questing zone for levels 13-14 )

412 points = Tangleroot Goarge ( fun, MUST HAVE questing area )

188 points = Necropolis Part 1 ( fun, MUST HAVE questing area )

750 points = Delera's Tomb ( fun, MUST HAVE questing area )

488 points = Three Barrel Cove ( fun, MUST HAVE questing area )

400 points = Sarrowdusk Isle ( fun MUST HAVE questing area )

And MANY more areas that i'm not  sure of .

...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Extras that are nice but not game breaking :

850 points = Extra Character slot to every server

596 points = Monk Class

446 points = Warforge Race

596 points = Drow Race

You could also buy ex boost, potions and more.

....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

So doing the math a see that you would need 3441 points+ what ever after level 8 will cost to play this game for at least 2 months.............. That's over $38.95.

It's a nice game and all, but you will get less than a free trial out of it before you have to pay... unless you don't mind a severe handicap. or just pay the $14.95 or so.

Originally posted by page

First a little history, I played D&D for two months, about a year and a half ago.  I love this game, however my old computer was just too old to continue.

Anyway, I get an e-mail to come back and just download the new content, enter my old user name and passward.....  I did all that, and I'm having a blast, D&D Online is better than ever with the new starter zone. So far everything is going good and not feeling threatened to buy anything at level 3( understand that their are only 20 levels so, leveling is slow ).....  I'm going in with the mindset that if everything goes well I'll buy some things along the way as long as the game holds my attention.

HOWEVER, on the bottom near my experience bar, I've been noticing that is has you are level 3 of 4. Not paying it any attention, until today when I came out from a dungeon with a group  and decided to ask " whats with this level 4 stuff , do I have to pay to continue ", Guess what yes, was the answer............ NP I should expect to pay something.

Well here are my findings with the store :

400 points=$6.95,       900 points=$11.99,      1 500 points=$18.99,       3300 points=$38.95   

...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

FOR BASIC GAME PLAY ( stuff you really need, at least how I see it ) :

120 points = level 4-8  ( no price listed  for levels after that, I'm sure that will be a surprise )

995 points = Ruins of Gianthold ( an optional questing zone for levels 13-14 )

412 points = Tangleroot Goarge ( fun, MUST HAVE questing area )

188 points = Necropolis Part 1 ( fun, MUST HAVE questing area )

750 points = Delera's Tomb ( fun, MUST HAVE questing area )

488 points = Three Barrel Cove ( fun, MUST HAVE questing area )

400 points = Sarrowdusk Isle ( fun MUST HAVE questing area )

And MANY more areas that i'm not  sure of .

...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Extras that are nice but not game breaking :

850 points = Extra Character slot to every server

596 points = Monk Class

446 points = Warforge Race

596 points = Drow Race

You could also buy ex boost, potions and more.

....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

So doing the math a see that you would need 3441 points+ what ever after level 8 will cost to play this game for at least 2 months.............. That's over $38.95.

It's a nice game and all, but you will get less than a free trial out of it before you have to pay... unless you don't mind a severe handicap. or just pay the $14.95 or so.

You do not have to pay to get past level 4. You need a leveling sigil which can be found as end rewards in quests. As for your MUST HAVE packs I must disagree. Three Barrel Cove and Necropolis are not must haves. I would Gianthold is since its a great place to level from 10-14 and higher end content like that is limited.
 

So far, I am also enjoying he hell out of this game again.

I really like the control setup better than LOTRO. I can jump up loedges, and my toon will grad on....I can swim, and level s use this ability.

Otherwise it does feel like LotRO, engine looks the same. Quest-based gameplay. I like the D&D based skill/feat system way better though. Not quite as obviously flexible as Neverwinter (unless I am doing it wrong).

I really like using a xbox 360 controller to play too! I can block and swing, and while teh timing of combat can be a bit off, due to latency i expect, it feels way more interactive then most mmorpgs. Almost hack n slash.

I don't know whats doing to come of the store thing...never played F2P before. If it ever gets to teh point where i have to pay cash to keep playing...if I am still having fun, then they deserve my cash....and if i am not....well, you know.

When I played for only 2 months you need Tangleroot Groge, Catacombs, Necropolis, Tree Barrel Cove, Sorrowdusk  Isle and Delera's Tomb to have fun, MOST  all others are smaller quick runs like in the starter zone you will get some like Water Works but not many.  If you would like to gain any memories or fun times with this game you have to buy them bottom line.  These areas are the hart and sole of D&D Online.

Don't get me wrong, I love this game. Infact it's the second best mmo I had ever played, but it's gonna cost ya OR you can pay the monthly rate. Nothing changed, but the fact that many people will not be able to group with you, because their not gonna pay  $ 38.95 !!!

Originally posted by page

When I played for only 2 months you need Tangleroot Groge, Catacombs, Necropolis, Tree Barrel Cove, Sorrowdusk  Isle and Delera's Tomb to have fun, MOST  all others are smaller quick runs like in the starter zone you will get some like Water Works but not many.  If you would like to gain any memories or fun times with this game you have to buy them bottom line.  These areas are the hart and sole of D&D Online.

Don't get me wrong, I love this game. Infact it's the second best mmo I had ever played, but it's gonna cost ya OR you can pay the monthly rate. Nothing changed, but the fact that many people will not be able to group with you, because their not gonna pay  $ 38.95 !!!

 

Sorry but I dislike the catacombs, Three Barrel and Necropolis and still feel you can have a lot of fun without them and never need to pay for them. Low level stuff like TBC can be avoided because DDO has tons of lower level stuff to do. Deleras and Tangleroot though are must buys I think.

I think the prices are reasonable since you get permanent acces to thoose quests with all characters on all servers!

You dont need all thoose packs to enjoy the game and if you really want to see everything then its better to subscribe. Im writing some Adventure pack "reviews" that I will post soon to give a people an idea of what the low level packs are like. Also pay attention to the "Todays deals" page in the store. In beta i bought Three barel cove with 60% disscount which was a great deal.

The point of DDO:Unlimited is flexibility. If you play the game alot and feel you spend to much money, just get a subscription. Next month if you dont have time to play as much, just downgrade to premium and play for free.

Prices arent bad if you think about it 38.95 is cheeper than the new 60$ pc games ,  thats alot of content for that price , and i belive you dont have to buy level up if you finsh right quest? not sure on that. Another thing to you also earn points the more dungeons you beat, yeah it's not alot but it will buy you few content packages, more toon slots or what ever you want.

could just pay 15 bucks a month to get it all also, along with points per month.

OK, when I asked my group about level 5-8, everyone was under the impression you have to pay. These players are vets, as you can tell how they went thru the Waterworks so fast I don't think they stopped running. However I could really believe when someone stated that you can get " leveling Sigil which can be found as a quest reward ", but :

1) Does anyone have info as to how to get them for free ?

2) How hard would the Sigil be to get ?

3) Is it for levels 5-8, or just level 5 and have to do it again for level 6 ?

4) Is it better to just pay for 4 more levels, because the Sigils just get harder to find as you increase levels ( remember the min. you can spend in the store is $6.25) ? 

Just before I created this reply, I had an scary thought about guilds..................Think about this, and it's only a guess, but I could picture that better guilds would not allow non-monthly paying players in.  They can't !  How can you have a guild event, if most of you guild doe's not have Shan to Kor ( 180 points ), or Devil Assult ( 150 points ) ?  By the way, you have to buy points to create your guild, along with many many other things you can or have to buy, I only touched the surface of the store in my list of things you can get .

Free to play will just get you about as far as a free trial or less. I like D&D so much that I would pay the monthly fee BUT I think Turbine is creating a them and us situation with the pay vs. ftp people.  However I think that as the population will clear out fast as you reach higher levels, and be a mess until people give up on the ftp.  Then it will be business as usual.  I may have to hold off a few months for the business as usual. 

i don't think guilds will have issue you could always buy devil assult, or they could give event guest pass, In my opnion the player base is very mature here,  very rare do i find problems with poeple in this game. but id imagen if you were to do the whole game better sub for 15 bucks  or if you think going to play alot just buy all the content even if it cost 100 bucks it will always be yours anytime you want it.

Mature or not, this game is making a come back because of the free to play, So most will not want to pay for anything.

The fun guilds will be pay people only, I'm sure you have some ftp guilds, but it will always be searching for free sigils, and none of the down right fun quest that makes this game good.

I'm a level 3, I can't even log to get to level 4  knowing what I know about the store. 

 ya this f2p model is close to gw model without the initial cost .ddo might be on to something here without knowing it!

at least for me it make lot more sense the aion p2p model

Originally posted by page

Mature or not, this game is making a come back because of the free to play, So most will not want to pay for anything.

 

I have said this before but say it again: Turbine does not run a charity. Just because the game is free to play doenst mean you are not going to pay for it the difference with DDO:Unlimited is that you choose what content you want to buy and when to buy it. Why would Turbine care about players who dont want to pay anything? Its perfect for people who maybe only have time to play a couple of hours/ weak. Its not meant to be for kids with alot of time and no money ;)

The leveling sigil for lvl 4-8 is a random quest reward, I got one at lvl 1 on some of my chars, you also get points from playing the game so you can buy the sigil.

Originally posted by Papadam

I think the prices are reasonable since you get permanent acces to thoose quests with all characters on all servers!

You dont need all thoose packs to enjoy the game and if you really want to see everything then its better to subscribe. Im writing some Adventure pack "reviews" that I will post soon to give a people an idea of what the low level packs are like. Also pay attention to the "Todays deals" page in the store. In beta i bought Three barel cove with 60% disscount which was a great deal.

The point of DDO:Unlimited is flexibility. If you play the game alot and feel you spend to much money, just get a subscription. Next month if you dont have time to play as much, just downgrade to premium and play for free.

You sound like a Dev Papadam, but anyway I agree with you that Turbine does not run a charity.

But this game will be a mess with the Pay players vs. FTP players. They will not co-exist together well.  Too much diveversity in people's buying decisions, some will have Three Barrel Cove, others will have Devil's Assault some will not pay for level others will not get the Free Vigils when and if they become harder to find for free.

Come on people THINK !  Some times you have to open your mind and read between the lines of what the dev's tell you.

Being optimistic is great, you make it in life much easer, but it does not apply with mmo's, Just remember the optimism with Vanguard, Age of Connan, Darkfall, and now it's starting to go back wards with Champions Online.

I'll be back after the FTP runs it's coarse.

Originally posted by page

I'll be back after the FTP runs it's coarse.

No, when ftp runs its coarse, the lights go out...Turbine shut down AC2, they'll shut down DDO if they have to.

papadam, I have to really ask you something.

Why would you be so into all aspects of D&D online, know everything including law suits, and turbine history including Lotro, yet say that you purchased ftp stuff, You would think that you would be a paying costumer. whats up with this ?

Originally posted by page

Originally posted by Papadam

I think the prices are reasonable since you get permanent acces to thoose quests with all characters on all servers!

You dont need all thoose packs to enjoy the game and if you really want to see everything then its better to subscribe. Im writing some Adventure pack "reviews" that I will post soon to give a people an idea of what the low level packs are like. Also pay attention to the "Todays deals" page in the store. In beta i bought Three barel cove with 60% disscount which was a great deal.

The point of DDO:Unlimited is flexibility. If you play the game alot and feel you spend to much money, just get a subscription. Next month if you dont have time to play as much, just downgrade to premium and play for free.

 

You sound like a Dev Papadam, but anyway I agree with you that Turbine does not run a charity.

But this game will be a mess with the Pay players vs. FTP players. They will not co-exist together well.  Too much diveversity in people's buying decisions, some will have Three Barrel Cove, others will have Devil's Assault some will not pay for level others will not get the Free Vigils when and if they become harder to find for free.

Come on people THINK !  Some times you have to open your mind and read between the lines of what the dev's tell you.

Being optimistic is great, you make it in life much easer, but it does not apply with mmo's, Just remember the optimism with Vanguard, Age of Connan, Darkfall, and now it's starting to go back wards with Champions Online.

I'll be back after the FTP runs it's coarse.

If F2P runs its course and does not work DDO will likely be finished. I have no clue what lines you want to read between or what you think is going on. You have not made a clear point to that yet.
 

Fun combat and good groups are the heart and soul of DDO. If F2P players make for good groupmates they will bge accepted, but just like any pay to play person they will need to prove themselves a bit before some people will run with them. People acting like asshates in general chat will find it harder to get groups and solo DDO is not as much fun.

Originally posted by page

papadam, I have to really ask you something.

Why would you be so into all aspects of D&D online, know everything including law suits, and turbine history including Lotro, yet say that you purchased ftp stuff, You would think that you would be a paying costumer. whats up with this ?

I have played LotrO since launch so I have been following Turbine alot and started playing DDO this summer during the beta and bought stuff in the store then. Got a sub for the release of Unlimited but will probably be a F2P player after the first months. I like the game and enjoy running instanes with groups. I actually tried DDO a couple of years ago but didnt stay after the trial because I didnt like the monthly sub for the game. Thats why Im excited for this new buisness model Turbine is trying out and I hope more companies will do something similar.

im looking forward to this Re-release, and if i like the game will be paying for the content in the cash shop.

i will play it along side Aion

I wonder how many people will overlook the leveling sigil in the quest rewards. I got one yesterday (at lvl 3) and if I remember right it was at the very bottom of the list. Anyone know if you don't select it, will it keep showing up in quest rewards until you do? Or is it gone forever until you get lucky and get one again?