I think the protests in this thread are entirely unwarranted.  DDO is clearly head and shoulders above the rest of the f2p field because it was designed as a p2p and has decent content unlike it's other f2p competitors.

Awarding DDO as the best f2p was clearly the right thing to do.  How anyone can dispute this is unclear to me.

While I think it's unfair to judge DDO against designed from the ground up F2p games, I do think Turbine did a great job in switching it over and deserves some credit for that.  Is it the best F2p 2009 game?  Well from the others I've played it is and yes that has a lot to do with it starting out as a P2p game. 

And it wasn't dieing because it was a horrible game, it was dieing because of the limited new content being put into it.  You can only run the same dungeons over and over and over again so many times.  As a P2p game I found the money worth factor to be lacking for just that reason, also it's not a game you play every single day as most are.  It really did / does follow in the same line as the P&P game in that you get together once a week and play, then put it away until next week.  Was that worth the $15.00 a month being played like that?  No.

But as a F2p game it is and has really come into it's own.

And for all that keep trying to say it's not really free - there's a thread either here or most likely on the O-boards that lists out exactly how you can gain favor, unlock higher levels and quest areas and NEVER pay a cent.  Yes you can pay money to play, but you don't have to.  Play fast and spend $$ or play slow and do it free, it's your choice, but you don't HAVE to spend money if you don't want to.  Stop thinking you have to power game to max level in a week to enjoy the game, try sitting back and enjoying the ride once in awhile.

Gotta love the open mind, people.  Play the game before you hate.  Be prepared, you actually have to THINK everything through, from character creation to actual playing,  rather go collect ten boar tails.  Several ex-WoW players told me that.  You reallly shouldn't judge an MMO unless you play it more than 30 days.

Best F2P MMO needs a category?  Look, it's the shiniest turd of the bunch, let's give it an award.

Best F2P? My buddy just quit because he found out he had to buy certain areas to even be able to quest in them. How is that F2P? lol

Personally, I'll take Guild Wars anyday over a MMO made by Turbine...

Originally posted by Doctorwhofan

Gotta love the open mind, people.  Play the game before you hate.  Be prepared, you actually have to THINK everything through, from character creation to actual playing,  rather go collect ten boar tails.  Several ex-WoW players told me that.  You reallly shouldn't judge an MMO unless you play it more than 30 days.

Amen to that btw what do you think of the 11th doctor?

Originally posted by Ethian

Best F2P? My buddy just quit because he found out he had to buy certain areas to even be able to quest in them. How is that F2P? lol

 

Personally, I'll take Guild Wars anyday over a MMO made by Turbine...

hehe "hater of haters" ;)

Funny how you and your friend fail to understand what F2P mean.

Congratulations to the staff of Dungeons & Dragons Online and the runner up, Wizard101.    From all of the games being played, you made the list because you advertise F2P. 

Overshadowing the achievement of Best F2P MMO is the buzz on gaming sites and blogs ... an angry buzz ... about the label F2P.  In truth, to play the games to their full extent, it is limited F2P ... or more accurately ... it is P2A ... pay to advance.    

I hope that these two companies become leaders in changing the way F2P games are advertised and managed, especially when children are involved.  Put yourself in the heart/mind of a child who watches other players zip by on their broom or see that just because the other players have money to buy accessories/clothing they are able to win a battle, with ease.    I understand that a company needs to recoup the money spent during development and current expenses ... that is a given factor.  At least allow F2P players to choose to be on separate servers than the players who pay to advance in the game.  

A year ago, I would not have believed that this is as enthusiastic as I can get regarding these games.  

Originally posted by Papadam

Originally posted by Ethian

Best F2P? My buddy just quit because he found out he had to buy certain areas to even be able to quest in them. How is that F2P? lol

 

Personally, I'll take Guild Wars anyday over a MMO made by Turbine...

 

hehe "hater of haters" ;)

Funny how you and your friend fail to understand what F2P mean.

True, GW is B2P and is not in the competition. Both games are actually good, I like them both but we are discussing F2P games here.
 

Originally posted by Ethian

Best F2P? My buddy just quit because he found out he had to buy certain areas to even be able to quest in them. How is that F2P? lol

 

Personally, I'll take Guild Wars anyday over a MMO made by Turbine...

Its pretty simple, you dont HAVE to pay for anything. Yes, you need to spend points to buy some of the content, but you can earn those points by playing through the already free content and earning favor through things like completing quests. So while it may be faster to buy the stuff, you are not required to spend real cash at any point. Just spend some time earning favor and you can unlock every level, quest, zone, race, class, etc. And sure it may take a fairly long time to earn enough favor to unlock it all, but its still free in the end. Its a matter of choice for most, time spent earning favor vs a few extra $. Personally, i will probably be spending a bit on some of the stuff, while also building up free points through favor and get it all with only a small amount of $ invested in the game.

Anyway, been thinking about it, and as i said earlier, its a bit unfair to give a F2P award to an originally P2P game, but a lot of you make good points. It is F2P now, and stands out as one of the best ones around, not only because of the game itself, but also because of the design of Turbines F2P system. I suppose that system alone would bump any game (even if it wasnt as well done as DDO) closer to the top of the list as best F2P. Though in a way RoM did have a somewhat similar method, in which you could earn Diamonds (cash shop currency) by selling in game items in the regular Auction Houses for Diamonds, and get all the CS stuff without spending a cent. Rohan also had their  Exchange system, where you could post in game items, characters, etc for sale on their Exchange Market for cash shop credits. But the main thing that seperates DDO from those, is that in DDO you earn points by simply playing the game as usual, without having to farm for some elite items that people are willing to pay $ for. Though it would probably be nice to see a similar auction/exchange system like RoM or Rohan added in as well to allow you to not only earn points through questing, but also by selling your rare drops and stuff.

So the f2p mmo seems to deserve a seperate category, else those games would go unnoticed in the award winning on this site, while this site is making money off the advertising of those games. I do not buy the rationalisation for introducing this category. There is nothing new about the f2p business model and it has not yet produced more than a couple noteworthy games, but no award winning material at all.

Originally posted by Frostbite05

Originally posted by Doctorwhofan

Gotta love the open mind, people.  Play the game before you hate.  Be prepared, you actually have to THINK everything through, from character creation to actual playing,  rather go collect ten boar tails.  Several ex-WoW players told me that.  You reallly shouldn't judge an MMO unless you play it more than 30 days.

 

Amen to that btw what do you think of the 11th doctor?

WHY DAVID WHY!!!  A stupid Danish Prince over a Timelord!?!?!

Does anyone here think the reviewers who write the articles play the MMO for 30+ days? Richard Aihoshi has said he only has the time to review a F2P game up to ~ Level 15. If the reviewers only look at a game for a couple of days and can write a review I think we are entitled to at least form an opinion.

Oh and for our would be Doctor’s assistant, Hamlet is Shakespeare, Tennet obviously thinks the luvies need to take him seriously now. :)

MMORPG is loosing all credibility with me now. First they choose Aion as best new game and now this. I guess the publisher with the deepest pockets gets points on this site and not really the game.

Originally posted by Netbrat

MMORPG is loosing all credibility with me now. First they choose Aion as best new game and now this. I guess the publisher with the deepest pockets gets points on this site and not really the game.

You don't know even know new D&D Online, don't you? Just look at user rating of the game, and then think again ; ).

User rating is totally independent of mmorpg.com.

www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/163/view/ratings

Originally posted by Sarr

Originally posted by zaylin

LOL almost 85% of the content is locked unless you buy it or go VIP. hontestly this is why i quit,because it is NOT a true F2P mmo imo. A true f2p mmo has 75% of the content already unlocked at least if not all to be f2p...just goes to show that Video games are going the way of hollywood movies HA!.

 

Ah, do you people know a thing about Free to Play MMOs? Do you really think there are MMO games which are 100% free?

No, there's none. And there won't be any. But "Free to Play" is an accurate term - it means just that: you are able to play for free. Get used to it, it's not like developers depend on charity or donations for their hard, daily and past-time work.

And when it comes to being "free", DDO does it best - it's actually the only F2P MMO in which playing 100% for free is possible at all. On our portal we're even organizing events which help people earn Turbine Points for free on, all servers.

  lolz... first, in a true f2p model game  u can go anywhere even if u cant kill anything there... u just buy better boost or something like that on the cash shops, u dont play like using a dog collar that dont let u go to through the whole game. in DnD u CAN' T go anywhere, u are restricted by cash itens... simple, so thats not a true F2P and thats the point.

yknow, saying something is the best F2P game is kinda like comaring piles of dog crap and trying to figure out which is best.

Originally posted by Doctorwhofan

Originally posted by Frostbite05

Originally posted by Doctorwhofan

Gotta love the open mind, people.  Play the game before you hate.  Be prepared, you actually have to THINK everything through, from character creation to actual playing,  rather go collect ten boar tails.  Several ex-WoW players told me that.  You reallly shouldn't judge an MMO unless you play it more than 30 days.

 

Amen to that btw what do you think of the 11th doctor?

WHY DAVID WHY!!!  A stupid Danish Prince over a Timelord!?!?!

LOL!  I'm with ya, but after Christopher Eccleston, I thought the "kid" would crash and burn, and he did GREAT.  So I'm gonna shut up about the Doctor.

It’s a side effect of Time Lord rejuvenation that they keep getting younger, the new guy is the 11th Doctor. Doctor number 12 will look about twelve years old too. :)

Originally posted by Scot

It’s a side effect of Time Lord rejuvenation that they keep getting younger, the new guy is the 11th Doctor. Doctor number 12 will look about twelve years old too. :)

Derailing a thread about gaming purely based on your forum name---PRICELESS!   ;P