WeHaveLived wrote on Apr 19^th, 2016 at 2:04pm:


seconded

kum-gulp wrote on Apr 20^th, 2016 at 4:09pm:


I guess it's definitely one of those things that's in the eye of the beholder.

I've seen the two extremes:

There's the EQ/Whoever runs that star wars shit model where "micro transactions" means you can buy a few meaningless health potions, VIP status, and a token character slot or too, but only have access to 10% of the game unless you buy a subscription. (I believe the

Then there is the far end of the spectrum is "Everything: $5" as in "Every THING $5!" From ammo to rezes to adventures. Not buying adventure packs, as in "pay a fee to go on this adventure once. Wanna go again tomorrow? Pay again tomorrow." Just nickle and dime every possible direction at once. My favorite? there's a 2-D side-scrolling spaceship combat game that's browser-based, sort of a rich-man's crappier EVE Online. I say rich man's because every single ship besides the starter ship costs real money to repair, and the game will flat out SELL YOU the very best stuff in the entire game for a measly... $5,000 USD.


DDO sits neatly in the habitable zone of the spectrum: sure, there's cash-grabs like healing and mana potions, and "pay-to-wins" like XP stones and potions(if you can consider the game as having a "Win" condition), but most of the things worth buying are 1-time and keep it stuff like adventure packs, tomes, races, etc. They're selling you the game peacemeal, but its not so different from the way games back in the day sold expansion packs(you had to own the original game to use the expansion).

I guess what I see when I look at DDO's model is one where nothing is available by subscription that you can't buy with a 1-time fee, and that's the way it should be. I'd never have come back to DDO if 80% of the adventure packs were subscription-only. Meanwhile, I spend enough to fund at least 2 subs, but at least I feel good about it

kum-gulp wrote on Apr 20^th, 2016 at 5:10pm:


The current evolution makes me cry. I hope the future improves. You're right, there is definitely room for improvement. But I also haven't seen an example yet of a game that did it as well as DDO(well, ok, LOTRO, but come on!)So, while DDO could do better, its still doing the best.

noamineo wrote on Apr 20^th, 2016 at 5:37pm:


Once again, POE.

Frank wrote on Apr 23^rd, 2016 at 5:27am:


That game was too hard.

It kept giving me directions that got me lost, kept changing its mind on quest objectives, and for the life of me I couldn't understand where my money kept disappearing too...

I gave it up as it seemed unwinnable.   

PersonaNonGrata wrote on Apr 23^rd, 2016 at 5:31pm:

Sweet talk the man in the canoe. It opens up the secret levels.

WeHaveLived wrote on Apr 22^nd, 2016 at 10:46pm:



Ponies Online EX ?

What the hell is POE ?

( I guess it's not Edgard Allan POE )

PersonaNonGrata wrote on Apr 24^th, 2016 at 3:10am:

PNG beat me to it, but this. The development studio is run by gamers who didn't like how modern games were run, so they made their own. I think it started as a kickstarter, and exploded to 5 million users in a year or two after getting out of beta. They don't allow P2Win, and they roll most profits back into improving the game. It's F2P for real, you get access to all content for free and and they don't put in artificial grind that you can buy your way out of.

My only complaint is the game is pretty dark, more horror than fantasy.

They are proof that if you make a good game the fans will make sure it stays alive even if, or maybe especially if, you don't try to put the high pressure squeeze on them.

Yeah, I dearly wish you could change the mouselook navigation and fixed camera angle (well, adjustable over so small a range as to be practically fixed). And I think many of us give them money to keep them in business as opposed to because we really want what they are selling. I still have thousands of unspent TP for the same reason, though I'm not making any more of those purchases until they mend their ways.

Revaulting wrote on Apr 26^th, 2016 at 7:33pm:

Purchased TP is pure profit.  It does not matter if it is spent or not.

Revaulting wrote on Apr 26^th, 2016 at 7:33pm:

I'm getting dual use from my unspent TP. Tripple use, really. The first use was buying them when I wasn't out, it was a way of saying "I like your game, I want you to stay in business". The second and third uses, the phase I'm in now, is simultaneously telling them they haven't produced enough quality offerings to tempt me, and assuring both me and them that even if I do buy something on a whim I don't need to buy TP to do it.

With a big stack of TP and no recent purchases, I'm telling them that I'm willing to spend money, but with their current level of quality it won't happen again any time soon.

Frank wrote on Apr 27^th, 2016 at 6:27pm:

No, I don't. I'm pretty sure they measure almost nothing, and are too stupid to understand anything they did manage to measure. They have proved time and again that they are utterly incompetent and wilfully refuse to follow good practices to prove to themselves that they are special.

The message I send is like singing in the shower, I do it for my own amusement, without the expectation that anybody is listening.

And quite honestly I'm beyond both hope and care. I've accepted that they are running this game into the ground, and that I can't change it, so I'll get what enjoyment I can out of it while it lasts, and then I'll move on.

I always vote, too, in case you couldn't guess 

Went ahead and downloaded PoE and I'm digging it. Always loved Diablo and D2, D3 is OK as well. Learning curve is more like a fucking cliff though. I think it may actually be easier to bork a character there than in DDO. Seems pretty lag free so that's a nice change of pace.