Dungeons & Dragons Online Goes Free-to-Play with DDO: Eberron Unlimited
Posted 06/09/09 at 11:45:01 PM by Nathan Grayson
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Subscription fees are no fun, but for some reason, quickly deflating your wallet through the age old art of shopping is! D&D Online developer Turbine understands this, and is revamping its MMO to suit your primal, non-committal money spending instincts.
Titled Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited, this new version of the sadly overlooked MMO will be completely free-to-play. Well, mostly. Downloading the game and creating a character will be as easy as one-two-free, but a new establishment known as “the DDO Store” looks to be an ever-looming temptation. Just a few clicks around the shop and you’ll be the proud new owner of unspecified “additional content and items,” but – if iTunes and other such storefronts have taught us anything – the Store’s aim will likely be to nickel-and-dime your paychecks into penniless oblivion. And thanks to miniscule individual price tags, you might not even notice you’re spending more than the game’s original subscription fee!
Fortunately for those compulsive shoppers who’ve decided to heed our warnings, all hope is not lost. For a “low monthly price,” the “new” DDO VIP program (read: subscription) will act as your golden ticket to the entire game. Sure, you’ll still be able to buy weapons and armor and whatnot from the DDO Store, but at least you’ll have access to all of the game’s adventure content from the get-go.
DDO Unlimited’s beta launches today, and the final product goes live this summer. We figure it’ll at least be worth a look, but just remember: There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.
Once this goes live, I'll
Submitted by neo1piv14 on Fri, 06/12/2009 - 11:01am
Once this goes live, I'll definitely be in there. And games should learn they've got a lot better chance of getting my money once I'm already hooked on the game.
Dig Deeper Nathan.
Submitted by D.E. on Tue, 06/09/2009 - 10:00pm
They have shed more light on the store than at first glance. For example, there is this chart detailing what will come with VIP (current subscriber) access, and what will be free/pay to play. The list has details like the free version only having 2 character slots, with more for purchase, all the races in the game are free except for Warforged and Drow. The only class you need to pay to play is the Monk. And additionally they will offer some armor and weapons, but certainly not the best armor or weapons.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y72/Darkest_Elite/digdeepernathan.jpg
I spoke to some turbine guys on the phone and they insist that the store will be in the game and seamless. Meaning you are running around in the city, and decide to make a new character- you can open up the store right there on screen, pick to buy a new character slot and new character race, and jump right to it! Even better is that you will slowly earn your own points from playing the game. Not much light is shed here, but even if you do not have a Credit Card, it looks like a pretty nimble system!
As a bonus, I found this gem on the website. No credit card to sign up! That ought to help bolster their numbers.
"9. Do I Need A Credit Card to Play the Game?
Absolutely not. The only time you'll ever have to wield your plastic, or use an alternate payment method, is when purchasing Turbine Points at the DDO Store."
I was in the original DDO alpha and beta test but wasn't too impressed to pay $15 a month for such a casual game, but the game sure was fun and with a payment model like this, it could prove to be quite a contender for other casual MMOs.
*yawn*, ahh, oh sorry,
Submitted by nebulaz on Tue, 06/09/2009 - 9:57pm
*yawn*, ahh, oh sorry, its not the writer whose boring, he had a hard enough job not falling asleep writing this content. I know D&D the card game is popular, but do the people who play the physical game translate in a high volume of digital players?
Submitted by D.E. on Tue, 06/09/2009 - 10:04pm
What the hell are you talking about? You really must not know jack about D&D or DDO. First off, D&D doesn't have a card game. It is a table top RPG meaning you manually draw out maps on grid paper, and use dice as a random number generator. You usually play with 3-5 people +1 dungeon master who acts as the narrator and plays the NPCs.
DDO has been around for a long time and does alright for transitioning the game to an MMO. They took some short cuts, but it fits. The majority of the game is instanced off, meaning you go into a dungeon with your party, and you are the only ones in there. In fact, that is the highlight of the game. The immensive and epic dungeons. Even the early level water works dungeon was epic and cool.
Yeah that guy definity lost
Submitted by nekollx on Wed, 06/10/2009 - 8:20am
Yeah that guy definity lost some geek cred confuseding Gary Gygax's Opus to Magic the Gathering and then mixing them up.
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