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Apparently, to many people, this means it is crappy, buggy and improperly supported or is likely to be sneaky and underhanded about earning $$ (which, let's face it, is the reason every MMO exists).
Facts:
1. F2P when done right = try before you buy. It may or may not be possible to play effectively forever without paying anything. At the very least, there will always be a Time/Money/Frustration equation. More money = less time and frustration being the most common example. DDO can be played F2P forever. However, for a F2P to access all content, you will need to 'grind' Turbine Points (or TP, the in-game currency) and spend it intelligently. How frustrating that is will depend on how much you hate running the same quests more than once.
2. DDO IS sometimes buggy. Seldom in fatal (my game crashed to the desktop) ways, but quests get closed because of bugs fairly regularly, and occasionally a bug will cause an item to disappear in certain very specific circumstances. There is no doubt that Turbine is more invested in new (i.e. revenue-generating) content than in bug-fixes.
3. DDO has only 2 ways it earns revenue (not terribly sneaky, then). You can buy a monthly subscription and be VIP, or you can buy TP with $$ and become Premium. I'll cover what you can (and/or should) buy with TP in the next post.
In short, the initial premise that F2P implies certain things is supported by the facts. Whether this is good or bad depends on your personal perception of the benefits and flaws of the DDO implementation of the F2P model. Part of that for me is covered by the next post: DDO is P2W.
Now P2W is pretty much considered generally evil by the player base. it implies that those who spend $$ on the game get overwhelming advantages that make it impossible for non-paying players to compete. Where the question arises is what kind of advantages SHOULD be purchaseable and when is it too much. (Because, let's face it, nobody is making a F2P MMO as a charity.. they all have a bottom line).
So what can you BUY in DDO.
Let's start with the automatic stuff you get if you pay:
1. VIPs & premium players get additional character slots (10 & 4, respectively vs F2P's 2)... not play balance affecting (NPBA)
2. VIPs & premium players can have more than one item in the Auction at a time .. NPBA
3. VIPs get a 'shared bank' that allows them to pass items between characters on the same server. Premium and F2P have to use the mail, which won't allow some types of items, OR they have to buy the shared bank with TP... NPBA (especially if you only HAVE 2 toons)
4. VIPs get access to almost all adventure areas and quests, Premium and F2P have to buy the packs with TP... frustrating, possibly repetitive, but NPBA
5. VIPs & premium players are limited to ~4.3million PP (Platinum Pieces, the in-game currency); F2P have a limit based on their level (1250PP x 2 ^(Level-1) which hits the same 4.3million limit at about L14 iirc (game cap is currently 28). Since on a first life, you are usually spending money on gear, usually NPBA
6. VIPs can run quests at higher difficulties (Hard or Elite) first time through. Others either have to group with someone who can open or run Normal then Hard then Elite. NPBA
7. VIPs automatically get access to 3 additional races and 2 additional classes that others must buy with TP. NPBA
8. VIPs get 10% more XP. While this allows them to get more powerful faster, since you play quests based on your level, all this does is ensure you aren't likely always playing with the same VIP.. not really PBA
Everything else you get as a paying (or having paid.. the definition of Premium) player is largely convenience. Here's a link to the full chart: http://ddowiki.com/page/Account_comparisons
So my conclusion is that nothing that you get for your account type being other than F2P constitutes P2W.. but what about the stuff you can buy with TP? See P2W #2...
Some would argue that the items you can buy in the in-game DDO store using what I call the 'shoulder currency' called Turbine Points or TP are play-unbalancing. (The three currency types are Realworld $$, TP, and Platinum.. TP is 'shoulder' because it can be earned in-game or purchased with $$). This is a better argument than #1 in some respects, but it must be kept in mind that you CAN earn any amount of TP you want for free in-game, if you're willing to put up with the frustration of 'grinding' for it.
So what can you buy with TP?
1. Account upgrades: You can buy almost all of the perks that Premium or VIP players get that are actual in-game advantages (Adventure packs, races & classes, character slots & shared bank, for example). There are only a few very minor perks you can never purchase.. additional auction slots and the 10% XP bonus are the ones that jump immediately to mind. NPBA
2. Character upgrades: Stat & skill tomes drop in-game, albeit rarely. Still, there are tomes up to +6 available (up to +3 on the EFFECT of the stat).. this is powerful.. but not overpowering. Probably the most powerful upgrade for TP is the item that allows Reincarnation.. starting over with a L1 toon with perks. The perks are individually trivial, but multi-life toons accumulate them and this is probably the biggest argument in favor of P2W in DDO. Again, you can farm the TP to buy them, but it would be a long and arduous process. Without doubt, a multi-life toon with stat tomes is considerably more powerful than a first-lifer without... OTOH, this is true whether the first-lifer is F2P or VIP, so it's less P2W than it seems. In addition, the COOPERATIVE nature of DDO makes it somewhat moot if the guy standing beside you fighting the same monster is more powerful than you.. you may feel inadequate by comparison, but that can happen even class vs class and situation vs situation. This one you have to decide for yourself... I can't say it's not PBA, but not to the extent that you can't play the game effectively.
[Edit] ---- Somehow I forgot when I was writing this that you can 'farm' 20 Tokens of the Twelve by running epic quests to trade for the Heart of Wood that allows TRing, so this is even less PBA than I had considered. ----
3. Healing/Magic/XP/Boosts/Gear/Hirelings: These things can make your toon's life easier or more survivable, but are hardly PBA except in the limited case where you want to solo. Soloing DDO with store-bought items can be considerably easier (e.g. you can have 5 hirelings vs the usual 1). DDO is designed as a cooperative-play game, but many people insist on soloing for whatever reasons. IF that's you, it's fair to say this is PBA.. people with easy access to these things will definitely do much better. For those who play cooperatively, NPBA.
4. Cosmetics and 'fluff': Like any smart game, DDO derives a lot of revenue from things that do nothing re. gameplay, but allow you to personalize your character. Definitely NPBA.
So this section is the core of the P2W argument. My overall argument is that if you consider DDO to be P2W, there's a lot of MMO's you haven't tried. Best recent example I tried is Wartune, a card combat-type game. If you don't spend $$ on cards, you will be insurmountably outclassed by your opponents by L20 or so (and the game has about 100 character levels, iirc). You simply cannot win without incredible luck after a certain point. On any comparison base that includes games like this, DDO is not P2W. Still, finding the balance for a F2P game such that it is profitable is a challenge, and it's possible to decide DDO fails.
This is a valid argument. Not sure if there's an MMO out there that is completely faithful to any version of the DDO ruleset, but for sure DDO isn't. DDO is based on the 3.0 ruleset (or is it 3.5, idr) but it has been vastly modified. Many things in DDO will be familiar to a D&D player, but many others will not. d20 went out the window a year or two ago.. ACs got too high and it was too easy to make an 'unhittable' toon.. and if you couldn't get within the d20 window, there was no point to investing in AC at all, so many toons didn't. I'm not going to list all the differences between DDO & D&D, all I can say is they are many and varied. That being said, it is a playable, reasonably-balanced (more on this next) D&D homage. Still, if you want 'real' D&D, this isn't it.
Again, true to some extent. If you choose to try PVP, you will find that some classes pwn. You will also find that some classes feel overpowered at certain level ranges as compared to other classes. Since it's a cooperative game, this is not as big a problem as it would be in a more competitive game, but you could still decide DDO is not OK for this reason.
This is probably true for pretty much everyone. For previous D&D players, learning the differences will be hard. For anyone else, there's just a lot to know. About the only 'easy' thing in DDO is melee combat. Character design, effective spellcasting or healing, gear, combat rules, skills, enhancements.. there's a lot of information, and much of it is important to playing effectively. DDO also has a terrible tutorial, as compared to some other MMO's that script everything for you for quite some time, spoon-feeding you new ideas as they feel you will be ready for them. The only thing DDO has going for it is an enthusiastic and helpful player base (more on this next post) and a metric called 'reincarnation' which encourages high-level toons to start over at L1 with a few perks. This drops these knowledgeable players into the starting areas, where their expertise is available to newbies. (Use Advice chat.. that's what it's for.. [type /a or /advice in front of a question])
Even so, DDO has a steep learning curve, and most people make and delete several toons before finding one they feel isn't gimped. The only upside to this is that each toon generates some Turbine Points that can be used for many of the things mentioned in previous posts.
Of course, hopefully the learning process itself is fun, and the interactions with other players while learning the ropes may generate some friends.
I wish this were less true. As you play, you will encounter some terrible trolls in chat. One recurrent (and dumb) chat argument is about whether one should be VIP, Premium or F2P or about whether buying some particular 'thing' makes sense. Amazes me how many intelligent people can't get the idea that everyone's financial circumstances are unique, as are their visions. What makes sense to one person is nonsense to another. Still, it happens.
DDO also has its share of 'min-maxers' who feel the only way to play is to build the 'perfect' toon, as well. Some of them might even kick you from their group for being subpar in some fashion (usually hitpoints).
Finally, the DDO forums are filled with people spouting doom and vitriol. Some of this is in response to Turbine, who do not have the most open relationship with their player base. They are constantly being badgered for more information on upcoming mods and/or being lambasted for something about those mods. It must be noted that only a small fraction of DDO players visit the forums, and a smaller %age post.. so this is in the realm called a 'vocal minority'.
If you can get past or avoid all of that, you will find a highly-intelligent and helpful player base. Because of the learning curve (see above), DDO has very few children and not many teens playing. Because those who play love it, answers to questions in Advice channel are usually not hard to come by.. though sometimes competing answers can lead the entire discussion off-track.
In general, I'd call DDO's players intelligent and dedicated. This generates both good and bad behavior, best I can tell.
And it often is. Think of Turbine like Mark Zuckerberg: they frequently make changes to things with little or no advance warning, for reasons they don't (or don't fully) explain. Recently, there was a major blowup because Turbine changed the game delivery (download) system to use Akamai Netsession. Some of the furor was valid (if you deleted Netsession after download, it would reinstall; it pokes a hole through your firewall without permission; it auto-starts at boot.. stuff like that), and some was hype (DDO never enabled the peer-to-peer option in Netsession) and some of the hype was justified (the EULA for Netsession had the peer-to-peer permission language in it).
Turbine has definitely put their collective foot in it over and over. They do seem to be communicating more with their players than they have in the past, but it's anybody's gues how that will actually play out.
Also, DDO appears to require Microsoft C++ Redistributable Package 2005 and .Net Framework 1.1, but Turbine hasn't handled those dependencies well. For some of us, the C++ package redownloads on every run, whereas .Net 1.1 just generates an error if it's not installed (by default on Win8 and probably also Win7). I can't suggest Turbine has been the best game provider in history, so it's something to consider.
*rolls system shock: 02%
*phew
'k.
1- "it is f2p"
I counter with any sub game gets whiners about why do they have to pay, or the sub is too high, and when will it go free. Subscription-base (only) play is pretty much gone. F2P is only bad insofar as with regards to microtransactions and the slippery slope into P2W.
2-P2W
-there is no 'winning' in DDO, paid for or otherwise
-account-level purchases (storage/alts/etc) for the most are 'quality of living' type
-A la carte content is the new subscription. Pay in cash, or pay in time (earning tp).
-Stat tomes are readily available in raids and events (mabar was an easy +5 tome per char, repeatable)
-Skill tomes are given out as an option EVERY saga (repeatable)
-heroic TR can be earned in 2 hours of running challenges
So... there isn't really any 'pay to win', just a case of 'get a job you lazy slob, there is no free lunch, so buy from the store to keep the servers spinning'. The more use the store gets, the less grandious the items that get put into it to try and leech more money out. ...then again, Warner Brothers.
3-DDO is not D&D
I'm glad, as D&D would make a horrid video game. First level mage casts one spell, and then pikes the quest. PUGs would need to actually READ, ROLE-PLAY and THINK. Perma-death would be the case until upper levels when you can afford to rez. People would argue which edition it should be: D&D, AD&D, 2,3,3.5 (too bad they never made a sequel :P )
I mean, D&D directly translated would be fun for some, but the playerbase would shrink, even as the demand for quests and content accellerated (since no repeating quests).
4-DDO is not balanced
Linear Fighter, Quadratic Wizard. It's meant for the party to balance against the dungeon, not against each other (c.f. lack of PvP). Still, for classes of the same role, there is a huge disparity. DDO fails on this even with regards to its source's imblanced nature. For that, there is difficulty selector (Failgroup, EasyMode, Basic and Normal). People possessing 100+ strength and 1,000+ hp tend to skew content on the non-munchkin.
5-Elitism
Elitists AND whiners. And always, always, ungrateful.
Do note though, according to the devs, the forums are NOT a vocal whinority, but actually representative of population; they are not the entirety, but far from an ignorable quantity.
6- Turbine is...
..possessive of the attention span of a hyperactive fruitfly on meth. So many partially implemented systems, never completed, rarely upgraded, and buggy buggy buggy. Greensteel seems to be the only thing that didn't become obsolete instantly, and that was more due to how overpowered it was than any forward thinking vision or diligence. Cannith crafting? Dragontouched? Challenge rewards? Guild augments? Every new year brings a new partially implemented, never completed system to hamster and neglect.
Nice.. Lol.
I was just trying to get as many as possible of the 'valid complaints' into one place and make an intelligent comment on both sides of eash issue. Not sure I hit everything, but the 'wall of text' fog might blind us to any others for a while :)
IMO, F2P is only 'bad' if in the opinion of a particular person, it slides over into the P2W category, or if it means the support and/or development are subpar. I'm not willing to try to impose my view on those things on anyone else; I just want people to have a fairly accurate picture of the facts on which to make their own judgement. For my money, it's not P2W.. others may disagree. Surely it's not the worst offender by far, in any event.
As for support and development: you get better support if you pay... seems fair to me. And as mentioned, development seems to have a higher priority than support OR maintaining consistent balance (as you mention, some things seem like great ideas that get implemented and then never really kept up consistently). Unfortunately, those who DO pay frequently want new content, so these priorities are unlikely to change.
I've played D&D.. I expect actual implementation would be a very slow game. Worst if if were turn-based (like 'Temple of Elemental Evil' but with multiple player inputs), but well.. maybe my vision on HOW it could be implemented is lacking. Point is, some people care. I just care if it's a fun, playable game based on an enjoyable premise.
Still, the type who will complain about every ruleset variation should stay away from DDO.. it won't be close enough to D&D for them.
The devs have to placate them because they're the most consistent payors (or at least a subset thereof).. not sure I'd take their word on this.
Still, as you say, not ignorable... not just because of the revenue loss if they ragequit (and some do from time to time), but because their 'Dooooooommmm!!!' often raises valid points. If the devs were more open sooner in the development processes, we might get more rational responses from the forums. When something is 'hinted at' without detail, it gives the negative fear-spirals something to feed on.
I'll grant the 'partially-implemented' part, and absolutely that as they move one thing forward, they often leave neglected pieces that no longer 'fit' with the overall state of the game.
I will also admit that most things are buggy when first released. The larger bug problem with DDO is that when they fix one thing, often another (not apparently related in any way) breaks. I'm told the code they inherited is a terrible mass of spaghetti, but that rewriting from scratch would be too large a project. This means that after every major update, there's a risk that something important to you will be lost to a nasty, unforseeable bug. It could be a quest, an item, once the Auction House suddenly failed to work for a while. I've never hit a bug I considered fatal, but there's always something that isn't quite right at any given moment.