DDO: Free to PLAY? YESSSSSSSS.
http://turbine.com/news/5-press/82-turbiner-enters-free-to-play-market.html
A quick note: I loved the hell out of DDO a few shows back, but it fell to the side to make room for more game time and game money. If this is the case, and if this isn’t fake (I didn’t read it all, just got too excited and had to post it) then I will be playing it again.
It IS a high quality game, for sure. To sum it up, here is a quote:
“Historically, players of free online games were forced to sacrifice the quality of their experience,” said Jim Crowley, President and CEO. “Those days are over…”
Two years people…that’s my prediction!
Beau
The point of the Turbine announcement is that it’s a hybrid system. You can play some content free, buy more as you want it, buy some stuff RMT or pay a monthly sub and have access to everything.
I disagree with your idea that in 2 years all MMOs are going to be RMT driven. I think it will be like every other aspect of human life – new stuff adds on to what we have rather than replaces it and we end up with all things forever.
The DDO payment model now looks very much like the Wizard 101 version, which i think is pretty nice. There’s room for more tweaking, but I reckon that we will end up with most games offering a variety of payment methods simultaneously. I hope so, anyway, because that puts control in the hands of the customer, where it should be.
On the snark side, if DDO was indeed such high quality, it would never have had to go the F2P route.
Good move for them though, the game was good fun when it released and was busy, then the second time around it felt very empty and was tough to get into. I have not played it since they added NPC henchmen so you don’t always have to bring a full group, wonder how that changes everything.
Bhag, I have actually changed my prediction to reflect what you are saying, thanks to you.
Happy? lol A few comments ago you said something like what you are saying now and I agree.(About a hybrid future.)
Syn, although in this case I think that DDO is wanting more money because it isn’t making what they would like, going F2P will not always be or is not now a sign of doing poorly, or of being low quality. I think that you might disagree that numbers mean quality.
Even it the game DID come out and cancel/look for new opportunities to make more money,that doesn’t mean the project failed. We can get into other games that have very small populations that would still be considered a success.
Same with bands/music. An artist might not sell as much as another, but can still be seen as successful. While I agree that making money/gaining subs is the primary goal of ANY mmo, that is not the only indication of quality.
We could point to Darkfall, WAR losing subs from it’s initial numbers, or any other MMO that has been around as long as DDO as examples of quality games that players simply grow bored of.
Again, growing bored of something does not mean that the game lacks quality.
And having a F2P element does not indicate lack of quality.
Beau
All very true, but pre-release the expectations for DDO were massive, and it just never lived up to that. That in no way makes the game less fun to play, but it does limit it being called a success.
Now MMOs and good IPs are not a license to print money like we thought back in that time (remember Sims Online and how that was basically going to make billions overnight), but even so DDO should at least have SWG or EQ2 numbers, not tiny niche game stats.
In this case though, clearly DDO going F2P IS a sign that it was not profitable as a straight-up sub game, and so is going to make an attempt to improve that under the F2P model. Currently sub games are like the major leagues, and F2P is the farm system. You don’t perform at the majors, and you get sent back down. I always thought AO was ‘good enough’ to be a sub game, if nothing more than to separate itself from the F2P stigma.
That might change in the coming years, but currently I think that’s how the majority of the MMO market in the west views things.
Well, point being that profit does not mean quality. I would think that you would argue that WoW, although profitable, means that it is the highest quality game out there. In other words, DDO was fun, and it’s particular case might not have been good enough for enough players, but the general rule is that each game stands on it’s own.
Also, the sub might be the deterrent to gaining more players…it happens with all games. That sub is enough to cause players to pick and choose games instead of doing what I do (play them all.) If the sub gets removed and they make good bank on a cash shop/RMT model, does that still mean that the game wouldn’t be quality? Or was the quality always there, but in a world of a million MMO’s, wasn’t quality ENOUGH for enough people?
My head hurts.
Beau
This is a nice game, however I never played it that much simple because they were other games I’d rather play more.
My husband was always interested in trying the game and when I told him it was mostly free now I think he’s going to dive in. He’s got issues with monthly fees…
Which is why this is a really good move on Turbine’s part, DDO just couldn’t bring in a whole lot of people but now they might actually turn things around for the better. If they can attract those that don’t like the idea of a monthly or attract those who didn’t give the game a fair chance before.
I wish them luck ^^
Nevermind I found it, was looking in the wrong comment part