VIP value and new content

[Azasmokey]

Been playing for~12 years. VIP at first then a year on and off may be. Spent the same in that time and own most. Sorry but VIP is not good value for ever. I don’t consider anything worth I know such little money. Is as is.

 

[Darksteel]

Big unwieldy game combined with small playerbase and dev team, that is financially unviable. Thus the fact DDO is still running is a big thing.

So stop complaining. If anyone has a really great idea that costs nothing (or close to nothing) and will likely attract a bigger playerbase then you know how to contact SSG

We have given tons of ideas since the pandemic began on how to capitalise the huge influx we had and how to attract/keep new players and what we need in end-game. None of them has been taken seriously. They keep harping back to "we are a small company" - let me remind them Larian had 50 employees when they started BG3, and now it is close to 600 operating in 4 countries. SSG do not understand how getting a D&D digital IP is so tough for a studio nowadays and they have it on a platter, but they are running it to the ground. How difficult was it to hire an experienced MMO veteran as an Executive Producer when they had the chance and turn this game around? Now we are stuck with an invisible producer who posts once a year the roadmap made by Ukrainian refugee-intern.

 

[DDO Gaming]

At a guess the primary culprits in both cases would be the release of Diablo 4 and Baldur's Gate 3, which soaked up a lot of the available cash in the FRPG player community over the last 6 months, and general fatigue with older titles trying to monetize every breath we take.

// Plarium's game Mech Arena was the App Store's "Game of the Day'' on 15 October 2021. In July 2022, RAID: Shadow Legends crossed $1 billion (USD) in lifetime revenue, becoming "one of the world's most lucrative RPGs." //

I've been playing Raid Legends recently and I'm guessing BG3 is more comparable to that than DDO. And you need to be careful comparing gaming markets otherwise you'll compare DOOM with fortnite by saying "yeah they are kindof the same game".

One of the BIG problems with DDO is its a teamgame but there isn't enough momentum to create teams to play quests. People prefer soloing and DDO isn't a solo gaming experience

 

[Onyxia2016]

Even though the value added features of VIP have diminished over the past few years, I still have a VIP account.

• Skip a quest in a saga for free. Seems there is at least one quest in every saga that is just awful.
• Open quests on any level

These alone are worth it to me.

I have an older account that is not VIP but is premium. Started a new character and it sucked. Just farming favor for inventory bags was painfully slow. VIP does not have the value it once did but it does still provide some value.

To anyone that is questioning if VIP has any value, I challenge you to start a new account that is not VIP and start playing.
Your first challenge is to get 150 favor with coin lords. See how long it takes compared to your VIP account.
Your second challenge, if you make it that far without your eye bleeding, is level up so you can start getting favor for bank bags.

It is a grueling process.

 

[Valerianus]

They proudly previewed their VIP bonus reward track. It was complete garbage. VIP is never going to be good value for compared to premium.

it looked like they tried to give zero value to it on purpose, e.g. fletching and hire time, it looks like they wanted to get your money for nothing. probably making your customers paying for something in return is deemed fiscally irresponsible and must not happen in ddo, about vip but also about other things.

 

[Dragavon]

Let me say that VIP is worth it just for the XP bonus. Now that I am multiboxing regularly I see the difference between a VIP account character and a standard character, the difference is more than one rank every level, so if you are not VIP you need to do significantly more quests to level up.

But the deal with VIP was always free content, and so far in 2023 we have gotten exactly 0 new quests as VIP. That is not good enough. It is ridiculus that SSG keeps talking about VIP value but not releasing any new quest packs. SSG needs to make new quests, not waste their time on old quests like Drooam and Amber Temple.

 

[Shear-buckler]

Let me say that VIP is worth it just for the XP bonus. Now that I am multiboxing regularly I see the difference between a VIP account character and a standard character, the difference is more than one rank every level, so if you are not VIP you need to do significantly more quests to level up.

It's cheaper to buy xp-pots.

 

[Wizard]

It's cheaper to buy xp-pots.

- VIP xp bonus is always on, so you don't need to feel rushed like with pots

- If you xp a decent amount of time per month, it's cheaper to buy lower tier pots and VIP than the next higher xp pot. So 10% pot becomes 20% with VIP etc.

I think the only pots that are cost efficient is the 25x 6 hour 10% pack. The next higher only gives 10% more but cost increases 268% (!). Only gets worse for 30% and 50% pots since there is no 25x 6 hour option.
Exception is saga turn in after ETR then higher pots are more worth it and of course otto's (but if you can afford otto's, you can afford 50% pot and VIP...)

 

[Lagin]

Notice not one SSG rep/employee has responded to ANY of the ViP threads. except maybe on weekly streams, "we're looking into it" was the response from Sev.

Very simple philosphy/ premise, If SSG doesn't care enough to post something, or propose anything, then myself and countless others won't spend any money.

 

[erethizon1]

Priced for inflation VIP is cheap. As a vet that owns everything pretty much since before the free codes. It comes out to around .33 cents a day for me since I pay every 3 months. I give them .33 cents a day for 10% xp boost. That's pretty much it. Some say it isn't worth that. What ever

Exactly. VIP comes with an unlimited supply of 10% XP potions that stack with all other XP potions. That is the main value it offers.

 

[seph1roth5]

Even though the value added features of VIP have diminished over the past few years, I still have a VIP account.

• Skip a quest in a saga for free. Seems there is at least one quest in every saga that is just awful.
• Open quests on any level

These alone are worth it to me.

I have an older account that is not VIP but is premium. Started a new character and it sucked. Just farming favor for inventory bags was painfully slow. VIP does not have the value it once did but it does still provide some value.

To anyone that is questioning if VIP has any value, I challenge you to start a new account that is not VIP and start playing.
Your first challenge is to get 150 favor with coin lords. See how long it takes compared to your VIP account.
Your second challenge, if you make it that far without your eye bleeding, is level up so you can start getting favor for bank bags.

It is a grueling process.

It's not that VIP doesn't have good stuff, it's that devs have admitted that it needs more oomph. With the free code giveaways (which I think are great for the game!) to the 2 mini xpacs, it definitely feels like VIP is lacking now as opposed to 3 years ago.

I've been compiling suggestions from people in the thread in my link, still hoping a dev will look at it someday and just go "Oh hey we can do that in 10 min" and throw it in. Wouldn't take much to make a lot of people happy.

 

[erethizon1]

Lots of changes to be sure. The death knell was FTP. But who can blame them?

Now it's all about who buys Astral Shards, etc. Which was death knell 2.

3: MMO's are something to behold until 'it never ends.'

eta: time to find a respectable MUD

FTP may have been the death knell of VIP, but it was the savor of the game itself. Revenue increased 5-fold when they went FTP. It was such a large increase that they switched LOTRO to FTP even though LOTRO was doing fine financially (while DDO was ready to shut down with only VIP money). It has always been foolish to find a customer that is willing to spend $1000 a month on your game and tell him that he is only allowed to spend $15 a month tops.

 

[Mand O'Lin]

Exactly. VIP comes with an unlimited supply of 10% XP potions that stack with all other XP potions. That is the main value it offers.

To my mind, the knowledge I am helping to support a game which has provided me with (far too) many hours of enjoyment (and more than a few hours of annoyance). A game which, despite its seemingly endless bugs and flaws with a development team who considers the player to be more a bother and nuisance than anything else, I really enjoy and hope will continue well into the future.

 

[Lagin]

To my mind, the knowledge I am helping to support a game

I'm paying for a product. After 17 years of *supporting* I want value for my money. Right now, ViP has no value other than 10% xp, which I could care less about. ONE free quest in the last 2 years. Lack of communication, bugs, incomplete content on release etc... this is not giving it's paying customers good RoI or value. Unless something major happens by Sept 30, I'll not spend another dime.

 

[somenewnoob]

I'm paying for a product. After 17 years of *supporting* I want value for my money. Right now, ViP has no value other than 10% xp, which I could care less about. ONE free quest in the last 2 years. Lack of communication, bugs, incomplete content on release etc... this is not giving it's paying customers good RoI or value. Unless something major happens by Sept 30, I'll not spend another dime.

And that's the right choice. And the only action that MIGHT get them to improve the product. They are dragging thier feet on actually giving VIP value......why? Because people are still giving them money right now.

And the "supporting the game" thing. Just a ridiculous notion. It's a very binary thing, either a company provides a product that is worth the price it costs, or it does not. And the answer is different for everybody on if it does.

For me, it's does not. There is no value added for me that VIP provides that I do not have as a premium player. The very minor benefits, just not worth any dollars to me. YMMV. Oh noob, but it's only $10..........it's not how much something costs. It's how much VALUE it provides for the cost.

I don't "support" the game. Just like I don't "support" Mcdonalds hoping one day their food might be edible and not give me constipation or diarrhea (sometimes both on the same day) if I just keep giving them money for a product that is not worth it.

I guarantee when the VIP numbers spiral down, they will fix VIP value faster than they fix a beneficial to the players bug!!

 

[Mand O'Lin]

I'm paying for a product. After 17 years of *supporting* I want value for my money. Right now, ViP has no value other than 10% xp, which I could care less about. ONE free quest in the last 2 years. Lack of communication, bugs, incomplete content on release etc... this is not giving it's paying customers good RoI or value. Unless something major happens by Sept 30, I'll not spend another dime.

When you pay your cable/streaming bill, what value do you get for your money? Entertainment value! This is (to me at least) a form of entertainment. Much like going to the movies... Took the kids and some of their friends to see Howl's Moving Castle on Sunday (an excellent movie!). The total for seven of us (tickets and concessions) was significantly more than my one year VIP subscription. Both were well worth the price!

You can spend your money however you like. Just keep in mind, without enough people paying (either via subscription or direct purchases of points and such), the game goes away.

 

[somenewnoob]

When you pay your cable/streaming bill, what value do you get for your money? Entertainment value! This is (to me at least) a form of entertainment. Much like going to the movies... Took the kids and some of their friends to see Howl's Moving Castle on Sunday (an excellent movie!). The total for seven of us (tickets and concessions) was significantly more than my one year VIP subscription. Both were well worth the price!

You can spend your money however you like. Just keep in mind, without enough people paying (either via subscription or direct purchases of points and such), the game goes away.

I pay zero and still get that entertainment value.

Without enough people paying........THEY WILL IMPROVE THE VALUE OF VIP SO THAT PEOPLE DO PAY.

They are not going to say "oh shucks, we lost all our subs. Lets close up shop".

 

[Mand O'Lin]

I pay zero and still get that entertainment value.

Without enough people paying........THEY WILL IMPROVE THE VALUE OF VIP SO THAT PEOPLE DO PAY.

I believe in compensating somebody for the work they perform (which I benefit from)... you (clearly) do not. To each their own.

 

[somenewnoob]

I believe in compensating somebody for the work they perform (which I benefit from)... you (clearly) do not. To each their own.

And we've officially reached the "you dirty freeloader" portion of the thread that all VIP value discussions devolve into when the other side has nothing credible to say.

 

[Mand O'Lin]

And we've officially reached the "you dirty freeloader" portion of the thread that all VIP value discussions devolve into when the other side has nothing credible to say.

You said it, not me.

Acknowledgment is the first step.