Cost of expansions are beyond unreasonable

[Realism51]

Pay as little or as much for DDO as you want. I treat it as an entertainment expense. With annual VIP, ultimate edition and buying $100 in points it's less than $30/month. Compared to my other entertainment expenses, that's cheap. I play Magic the Gathering and buy single cards regularly from TCG Player to make new Commander decks. DDO is way cheaper than MtG.

lol this is true i suppose.. I used to play mtg back in the day when it was early release. I stopped in 2002 when I went into the service, gave away my cards and such (wish i hadnt, no idea how expensive those cards were going to become, had 4 black lotuses *cry*), but havent gotten pback into it, not really enjoying the direction that wizards of the coast took the game.

 

[mbartol]

(wish i hadnt, no idea how expensive those cards were going to become, had 4 black lotuses *cry*)

I sold mine at my friend’s comic shop back in 1997-98, when I was in grad school. It does sting a little when I see the current value of the cards (only 1 black lotus, but plenty of other rares with black borders), but I was happy with the money I made back then.

 

[Gimp]

anyone who defends the price is a part of the problem and not the solution

i dont make the rules, sorry

May you always be underpaid for any work you may do as well.

 

[Oliphant]

You don't get paid based on the cost of your product, its the sales volume x cost +/- etc. Obviously this cost is high if you entertain any hope of doing volume. It's the price of old game with little hope of adding players, much less preventing inexorable attrition.

 

[Guntango]

$200/mo is Fudgy the Whale money.

 

[Dazling]

I find the price to be fine. $40 a year for an expansion is not a terrible "subscription" cost if you just want the content.

I consider the other stuff in it to be the "megafan" type things that shouldn't be considered baseline to get. I buy the $130 every year, and each new coffer at full price, and VIP - but ~$250-300 a year isn't table stakes, you can go as low as $40 a year and get all content. My gym membership is like 3-4x that annually and gets less use.

It does suck for new players seeing the price to buy in to the game even at base- I don't love having to tell prospective new players that there's like $400 of expansions to get just for the basic versions if they don't want to wait up to 6 months for a sale. And that it's over a thousand if they want all the collectors stuff.

The power creep from expansion stuff has also gotten kind of bad over time as well. +4 universal points, +3 racial points, and +2-3 destiny points is kind of a lot in terms of what it lets you do. You can buy the individual tomes with points theoretically, but they're priced so high that its like 25k points to get all of it, which is not particularly reasonable, and that's assuming you don't want alts.

The new player issue and the expansion bonuses creep is more the type of thing I'd want them to look into mitigating, whether it's making more permanent "Trove" type bundles to lower the barrier to entry, making the expansion bonus items significantly cheaper (or heck, maybe even making it that after you buy the first set, they're permanently 80% off or something for alts), or whatever else they can address it with.

 

[Oliphant]

I always buy the $130 for the teleport after regretting not getting the RL bottle of mist, but at launch I tend to find they ruin it with a blockade quest and I just feel ripped off again. Not sure why they offer up very expensive stuff and consistently throw a brick in those gears.

 

[erethizon1]

I also paid $80 for the preorder of MOTU (which came with 2000 store points and 4 quest packs that dropped tokens of the twelve (end game content for the time), plus an extra $60 for another 11,000 store points for a total price after tax of $145.

$80 back then probably isn't that different than $130 now and they have made great changes recently to improve the situation. Back then you either preordered or missed out. The Onyx Panther hireling I have was only available if you pre-ordered the biggest pack. Starting last year they have been having 85% off sales on ultimate editions. I bought Feywild for 85% off last year ($20), and got Sharn and Saltmarsh for 85% off this year ($20 and $15 respectively). The ability to pick up ultimate editions at very reasonable prices is a good change. They put the Ravenloft items in the point store, so at this point all that is missing is the stuff from the second expansion (the owlbear defender hirelings). As long as they continue to put ultimate editions for 85% off I will continue to purchase them. All I really want are the hirelings, so I'm not willing to spend more than $20 on an expansion, but the current system seems to work well. People can buy it immediately at full price or wait several years and get it at a steep discount.

The system, as they have it, seems pretty reasonable. You spend $40 if you are not willing to wait 6 months to play the content, and you can spend more if you really want all the fancy stuff right away. I have no problem waiting 6 months to play the new expansion, so the system works find for me. I literally only purchased Chill of Ravenloft last week. There is no rush to get the new one.

 

[The Narc2]

anyone who defends the price is a part of the problem and not the solution

i dont make the rules, sorry

Here is the solution for anyone looking for something priced appropriately and gets input from an equal footing community for the better of the game, it is designed with the best of graphics, the depth of story and narrative and with a complete bug tested product. It is the future, for what is spent in an expansion here, you could be a founder there and are not required to spend another penny in expansion access if you choose not to, you simply will have to acquire the items that unlock the expansion in game.

https://www.cgmagonline.com/articles/columns/soulframe-breath-of-fresh-air/

This is how a company should be treating and working with their community.

 

[erethizon1]

What FirstofAllGods said ^ if you want it, buy the base. If you want the tome (only useful thing in there) save up DDO points from favor and wait for them to put it on sale.

They greatly reduced the value of the stupid teleporter with the Chill of Lamordia expansion, bc if you use it but have not done the entrance quest, it ports you to house J. What f'n good is that? xD

Sadly, this isn't new. The Feywild teleporter doesn't teleport you into the town unless you have already walked there.

 

[Frieling Slyhand]

It is crazy expensive for bundles, but you can buy basic for reasonable amount and if you can wait you can buy it for points.

 

[erethizon1]

It is the ultimate fan bundle [RECOMMENDED]. You're expected to be an ultimate supporter to stomach the price point.

I think the pricing is ludicrous for what they offer, but as long as they offer something people want and people are happy to pay, well that's just supply and demand at work - they're basically providing an avenue for avid supporters to do just that - a way to support the game.

I do think it's silly that iconic races which is one of the primary new things in any given expansion to be locked behind the ultimate fan bundle - in my mind both race and iconic should clearly be in the basic version (only base races tend to be), but it is what it is. They're out here to make money, and the players are willing to give them that.

It only makes sense if you're an ultimate supporter - for people that compare ddo costs to other hobbies it's not bad, but when comparing to other games... it's pretty bad.

I don't mind what they do with races and iconics so much because I look at the paid expansions as early access. The content comes out in January as far as I am concerned and you can get it early if you are willing to pay money for early access. You do have to get used to not having racial completionist for at least half of each year, but that has been the norm for a while now.

 

[erethizon1]

I find the price to be fine. $40 a year for an expansion is not a terrible "subscription" cost if you just want the content.

I consider the other stuff in it to be the "megafan" type things that shouldn't be considered baseline to get. I buy the $130 every year, and each new coffer at full price, and VIP - but ~$250-300 a year isn't table stakes, you can go as low as $40 a year and get all content. My gym membership is like 3-4x that annually and gets less use.

It does suck for new players seeing the price to buy in to the game even at base- I don't love having to tell prospective new players that there's like $400 of expansions to get just for the basic versions if they don't want to wait up to 6 months for a sale. And that it's over a thousand if they want all the collectors stuff.

The power creep from expansion stuff has also gotten kind of bad over time as well. +4 universal points, +3 racial points, and +2-3 destiny points is kind of a lot in terms of what it lets you do. You can buy the individual tomes with points theoretically, but they're priced so high that its like 25k points to get all of it, which is not particularly reasonable, and that's assuming you don't want alts.

The new player issue and the expansion bonuses creep is more the type of thing I'd want them to look into mitigating, whether it's making more permanent "Trove" type bundles to lower the barrier to entry, making the expansion bonus items significantly cheaper (or heck, maybe even making it that after you buy the first set, they're permanently 80% off or something for alts), or whatever else they can address it with.

It is long past time for them to put everything that normally comes with the free quest code in the store for a very cheap price. I would say all old quest packs should be priced at 25 store points each and expansions at 99 points each. Then if you missed the free quest code you can still catch up very easily just by playing a life through the game. At that point you will own all but the new stuff and the game is very playable even if you don't have any of the newest content.

 

[kmoustakas]

lol this is true i suppose.. I used to play mtg back in the day when it was early release. I stopped in 2002 when I went into the service, gave away my cards and such (wish i hadnt, no idea how expensive those cards were going to become, had 4 black lotuses *cry*), but havent gotten pback into it, not really enjoying the direction that wizards of the coast took the game.

I have no black lotus but I do have a time walk, a whole bunch of duals, foil onslaught polluted deltas, mox diamonds, from the vault exiled etc. Don't wanna sell them though, I have so many fond memories

I quit magic during Theros. It was obvious back then things were going down down down.

 

[Greatpumpkin]

I always buy the $130 for the teleport after regretting not getting the RL bottle of mist, but at launch I tend to find they ruin it with a blockade quest and I just feel ripped off again. Not sure why they offer up very expensive stuff and consistently throw a brick in those gears.

Because you keep paying a premium for the experience?

If you just have to have the teleport clickie, wait 5 years, catch the 85% off sale.

 

[Phaedra]

Fortunately for me, there' nothing in this expansion I'm interested in paying real money for.

I'll probably pick up the adventure pack and tome for points, and maybe deurgar when it goes on sale or I finish all the other racial TRs

 

[Justfungus]

Do keep in mind, SSG plans on riding this cash cow as cheaply as possible til it drops dead.
That is it.
They will not invest major cash into it. For any reason.
Even minor cash has to be justified.
LOTRO is their baby and any decent investment will go there.
DDO was an add-on to the deal.
DDO is the unwanted step-child.

 

[Dude]

Do keep in mind, SSG plans on riding this cash cow as cheaply as possible til it drops dead.
That is it.
They will not invest major cash into it. For any reason.
Even minor cash has to be justified.
LOTRO is their baby and any decent investment will go there.
DDO was an add-on to the deal.
DDO is the unwanted step-child.

Sort of right and sort of wrong. EG7 considers both SSG games to be less of a focus than the games where they own the IP. The majority of development focus will go to those games because the company doesn't have to share revenue in the form of licensing fees.