How much $ to get everything?

[Sentinel 08295]

There's a lot of options on the store page. What package gives you everything released or pending release so far? What tier/package is the best deal. Not opposed to a one time purchase or subbing for a bit if necessary.

[gamingforfun]

Purchasing a VIP subscription will give you access to all adventure packs, as well as most races and classes. The two major expansions (Menace of the Underdark and the Shadowfell Conspiracy) must be purchased separately to access that content. You can purchase a one or three month VIP sub to try out the game or just play what is available with a f2p account. http://www.ddo.com/en/become-vip

[Damiarch]

Sub is monthly recurring.
Buy a month of sub to see what you enjoy,then buy those packs when your month is up.
A few at a time when points go on sale...or you bank enough...and you will unlock what matters to you.

[Doug]

Originally posted by gamingforfun:

Purchasing a VIP subscription will give you access to all adventure packs, as well as most races and classes. The two major expansions (Menace of the Underdark and the Shadowfell Conspiracy) must be purchased separately to access that content. You can purchase a one or three month VIP sub to try out the game or just play what is available with a f2p account. http://www.ddo.com/en/become-vip

^^ This.

There are various subscription options (Monthly, Quarterly and Annual, for certain). Any subscription comes with 500TP (Turbine Points, the 'store' currency) per month to buy anything that isn't included with subscription (nothing earth-shatteringly necessary).

Each of the listed expansions ('Menace of the Underdark' and 'Shadowfell Conspiracy' comes in 2 or 3 levels with increasing perks. The highest level of each (Collector's Edition, iirc) provides permanent perks on every toon you create on any server forever. Those are nice.

Generally, people recommend playing as a F2P until you get a toon around L10-12 and if you like the game, subscribe at that point.

[JS93]

You can't buy the subscription with your steam wallet, right?

[Rodfather]

I believe i did actually

[Vilifien]

One issue with subbing is if you stop paying for VIP then you lose access to the non-free content unless you resub. An alternative technique which i employed from the beginning of the F2P model was to allocate the amount of a monthly sub towards buying DDO store pts and using those pts to permanently unlock content such as classes, races and adventure packs. I can't give you a specific time frame or dollar amount but if you start with adventure packs you can actually run for your lvl you'll find plenty to do with the benefit of eventually owning all the content in the game and never having to pay a sub fee ever again.

[Doug]

Originally posted by Vilifien:

One issue with subbing is if you stop paying for VIP then you lose access to the non-free content unless you resub. An alternative technique which i employed from the beginning of the F2P model was to allocate the amount of a monthly sub towards buying DDO store pts and using those pts to permanently unlock content such as classes, races and adventure packs. I can't give you a specific time frame or dollar amount but if you start with adventure packs you can actually run for your lvl you'll find plenty to do with the benefit of eventually owning all the content in the game and never having to pay a sub fee ever again.

I've done the math on this (albeit some time ago).. if you eventually were to buy everything a VIP subscription includes, this would take you 4-5 years. That's if you buy the Turbine Points only when there's a double or better bonus point sale and buy all the content when it is on sale at 20% off (the most common sale.. better sales have become rare in recent years). If you sub as a VIP, you get access to all this content immediately, if you buy it as you suggest, it would take the full 4-5 years to get access to all of it. You have to be pretty sure you intend to play long-term (and that the game will be around that long) for this to be a reasonable strategy. (Keep in mind, this is math to buy ALL of what VIP includes; if you want less, it will take you less time. This also doesn't take into account the TP you will earn in-game from playing, since that will depend a lot on your frequency of play and playstyle).

I really recommend VIP. If you want a 'safety net' (for in case you ARE still playing in 5+ years) simply bank all your TP so that at some point you could decide to cancel your subscription and buy the content with less additional investment.

In fact, VIP's included 500TP/mo. is 'worth' about $3.-$5. of the monthly subscription cost (value would depend on the size of the purchase you compared to and whether or not you considered double bonus point sales the 'norm'). Annual sub is $99. regularly and sometimes $79. for a monthly cost of $6.50 to ~$8.30 .. clearly half of your monthly sub is just buying the TP anyway.

Looked at this way, the advantage to going Premium and buying all the content isn't that great. Call it a 50% discount on the TP vs the VIP perks you can't buy at any price + the immediate access to everything.

[Doug]

Concrete example: $99. subscription buys 500TP/mo (in addition to access to content/races/classes/shared bank/10%Xp bonus, etc) or 6000TP/yr. $99. with no TP sale is 11000TP. In this example, the subscription buys you just over half the TP you would get for cash. If there were a double bonus point sale when you bought $99. worth of TP, you'd get 15750TP and the VIP sub would then be just under 40% of that TP. For the flexibility and immediate access of VIP, a good deal imo.

[2$hort]

http://store.turbine.com/store/turbine/en_US/list/categoryID.58733100/parentCategoryID.58516100

http://ddowiki.com/page/DDO_Store

Adv Packs = 18,528
Shared Bank = 8,460
Plat Vault = 2,465
Bag Dep. = 1,590
Epic Destines = 995
Monster man. = 1,190

Classes not unlock thru game play = 3,785
monk, Half bloods bundle, and warforged
Total TP needed = 37000 no sale price


Shadowfell = 49.99 / With 2000 TP
Menace = 34.99 / With 1000 TP
TP = 199.99 = 23000 TP
TP = 99.99 = 11000 TP
Total = $384.96

$385 to unlocks everything in the game that can't be done through game play.

http://ddowiki.com/page/Turbine_Point

[殺してあげる]

Contrast to VIP which for same amount of spent cash...

$384.96 - 84.98 (the two expax) -> $299.98 -> 30 months of VIP + 15,000 TP

Couple in:
1,250 TP questing (one life, run everything once on elite)
3,000 TP from the two ex-packs

Two-and-a-half years of VIP will give you the same result, with option to drop to premium with at least 18,000 TP to buy packs/races/whatever a la carte.


imo:
If you're absolutely sure of playing for a long duration, and informed on everything, premium.
If you're getting feet wet, or unsure about staying, VIP. Only after about three years, and only if no new content is added, does premium edge out VIP.

Caveats:
Content you know you will never want shortens the time frame where VIP is preferrable.
New content being added extends that time frame.
Willingness to grind TP with disposable characters on the servers renders money moot.
Taking long (month+) breaks in playing favours Premium

[Doug]

Nice work you two. Hmm.. wish I still had the math I did that convinced me it was another year, but I don't so I can't contradict.

Originally posted by 殺してあげる:

Contrast to VIP which for same amount of spent cash...

$384.96 - 84.98 (the two expax) -> $299.98 -> 30 months of VIP + 15,000 TP

I'd peg $299.98 as 3 years of VIP at the usual $99./yr. I'm not sure which payment option works out to $10/month. Still .. 30-36 months is the range.

To make a fair comparison, you'd either have to compare the 3 annual $99. VIP subs vs that $300. or compare the TP at $15./mo. purchases rather than lump sum $200. + $100. purchases.

There's no $15. TP purchase on the DDO market page, only $19.99 (call it $20.) which buys 1550TP. That would be just under 24 $20. monthly TP purchases or $480. to buy everything if you bought it with a monthly investment similar to a monthly VIP sub. That $480. at $15./mo. would buy 32 months of VIP. Clearly lump-sum is the same advantage in either case: sub or TP purchase.

Apparently no matter how you look at it, based on these numbers buying everything VIP gets (that you can buy) runs the same as about 3 years worth of VIP subscription.

[Doug]

2$hort, You did miss 6 character slots (the difference between Premium's 4 and VIP's 10 [625TP x 6 = 3750TP] and the Hall of Heroes Passport [995TP]. Also, VIP's can create a guild free, while Premium have to pay for a guild charter (not a big deal imo).

Aside from these, VIP gets a few little perks here and there. 500TP/month. 10%XP bonus. Elite quest opens on 1st and 2nd life. Full access to support. Longer AFK time before auto-logout. Extra shared bank bag slots (33). More tokens for the Eveningstar portion of the Risia Ice Festival. More tokens for the Festival of the Traveler. Stuff like that that's hard to put a value on.

[Doug]

Originally posted by 殺してあげる:

imo:
If you're absolutely sure of playing for a long duration, and informed on everything, premium.
If you're getting feet wet, or unsure about staying, VIP. Only after about three years, and only if no new content is added, does premium edge out VIP.

Caveats:
Content you know you will never want shortens the time frame where VIP is preferrable.
New content being added extends that time frame.
Willingness to grind TP with disposable characters on the servers renders money moot.
Taking long (month+) breaks in playing favours Premium

I think the strongest point in here is the one about new content. They add new content annually to the tune of probably 500-2000 TP in value. VIP's will automatically get access. Premium have to shell out the additional. (This of course excludes Expansions that everyone has to buy).

[Sentinel 08295]

Wow that was some good feedback. I'd say you all answered my question and then some!

[Doug]

Originally posted by jpnole:

Wow that was some good feedback. I'd say you all answered my question and then some!

There was a question? :)

We get caught up in the discussion and sometimes lose track of the OP.. once it's been some answered at least.