Why is DDO Dying?

[Bjond]

Im gonna stop there because ill be going down a rabit hole

I should've used that in the title: "DDO's Death: Down the Rabbit Hole"

I hate the F2P model. F2P almost always ends up feels like they're greedy little chiselers even if objectively I'm spending similar or even less money on the F2P I'm playing than on the sub-driven game.

I found Lucky Ghost's video interesting because he found data supporting his premise and also likely because the premise supports my own emotional feeling of "sub good" v "micro bad"; ie. I love sub-only model. Make a great game. Set a price. Reinforce success.

The data he's using isn't the only one and perhaps not the best: population. Dying = population shrinking. Living = growing. He doesn't go further and bring up revenue because that's much harder to derive. By that definition, though, DDO and every MMO except FFXIV & OS.Runescape are dying.

I'm not sure what we'd see if we had revenue data available. One data point I found interesting was that SWTOR has surpassed the $1B mark for revenue and it's a F2P title. Unlike DDO, it's F2P income revolves VERY heavily around an amazing cosmetic system. DDO's cosmetics are pathetic. It's micros are elsewhere. I'm suspecting crystal sales for rerolls as accounting for more than 50% of their micro$$, but that's 98% guess.

 

[Onyxia2016]

I am an old timer and been playing MMO's since their inception before that it was LAN games. In the early days the sub model was the go to plan for game development. It worked well for a time. Then something changed, the player base.

The younger players seem to like hopping from game to game, playing one for a bit, getting board and then switching. They eventually circle back and pickup where they left off. This type of play does not work if you have to subscribe. Who would want to have 6 or 7 subscriptions going at once?

Now I know not all younger plays fall into this but based on what people I know have shared with me, their kids and grandkids mostly do the game hopping. So faced with this, micro transactions are the way to keep a game relevant to that play style.

 

[SpartanKiller13]

I wouldn't have joined DDO if it wasn't F2P. I played entirely F2P for a few years, went Premium, and now have had a VIP for quite a few years lol.

I didn't have a budget then and got hooked, and now that I do I'm happy to support the game

 

[Lagin]

You know DDO wouldn't be around anymore if it didn't go F2P right? Game and servers would have been closed.
.

there is no proof of that. It's been said many times. but no one offers data to back that up.

 

[Lagin]

old ui, peristant bugs, are 2 key issues why it's down to a skeleton player base.

 

[Owlbear]

there is no proof of that. It's been said many times. but no one offers data to back that up.

The numbers are literally there. You can find them yourself. Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach the game died. After 2 years less than 100k subs. Not enough subs to continue development that way. They had to rebrand the game and the whole model to Dungeons & Dragons Online.

 

[Dragnilar]

One of the things I've liked about DDO is that it plays more like an arpg than a cannon fodder EQ clone. I still wonder if it had tried to capture the arpg market, maybe it would have found a bigger player base...

I also blame Johnny, Atari and several others... But at this point I try to just enjoy it while it lasts (and as time and interest permits).

That aside, I hope it lasts long enough for us to at least see Tiamat.

 

[Bricks]

I just never liked the idea of having to play through classes I dont want to play in order to aquire power ups for the class that I do want to play.

I believe many players have quit due to this

 

[Stales]

For me,the biggest reasons i dont play anymore , in order , is Lag , Server Population , bad VIP options.
Still like to dream that it will change some day, so i check in once in a while, but i dont have high hopes.

 

[Nebless]

there is no proof of that. It's been said many times. but no one offers data to back that up.

This is a newer article, but I remember reading pretty much the same back in 2009 before and after the switch.

https://massivelyop.com/2019/09/21/the-game-archaeologist-the-day-dungeons-and-dragons-online-dropped-the-free-to-play-bomb/

The main point's:
- "That same year, Turbine’s Dungeons and Dragons Online had greatly fallen out of favor due to increasing competition. Sales were down, subscriptions were down, and the odd yet full-featured MMO seemed destined for obscurity."
- "With less than 100,000 players as of 2008"
- "Eberron Unlimited, the relaunch of the game for North American audiences, went live on September 1st, 2009. There was no going back after this moment. Ars Technica reported that by October, massive crowds were pouring into DDO. There were at least double the number of people trying it out than Turbine had anticipated, and even better, subscription numbers were up an amazing 40%."
- "By February 2010 and the game’s fourth birthday, over a million people had sampled DDO’s free-to-play wares. Subscriber counts had doubled since the F2P launch and store sales were allegedly 500% the industry standard (whatever that may be). "

Now granted the game might still be around without F2p, but it's state would be along the lines of Age of Conan which went into maintenance mode back in 2017 - 6 years of just keeping the servers on with no new content and a pop of around 1000 tops.

 

[Nebless]

For me,the biggest reasons i dont play anymore , in order , is Lag , Server Population , bad VIP options.
Still like to dream that it will change some day, so i check in once in a while, but i dont have high hopes.

I've been playing since 2009 when it went F2p. I have spent money on it and bought content, but never a sub. Between the 3 content coupons and the 99 pt sales I've got more than enough content.

As to Lag. I've been playing pretty heavy this and last month and outside the occasional lag stops (some lasting up to maybe 30sec), I haven't had any game breaking moments. Now mileage may vary as they say, but it's not some monster no one can play thing.

 

[YeeboF]

I don't think the game is dying. Metrics show a pretty steady population on most servers.

However it's not growing. My guess is that It's basically the same pool of players cycling in and out. The things that are preventing growth are likely the absurd new player learning curve and graphics that are more dated than they need to be. A complete graphic overhaul is out of the question, but having the game be playable from a default installation on a 4K monitor seems damn near essential.

As far as the business model, FtP is pretty much the industry standard now. I seriously doubt players are bouncing because of that. However more content probably needs to be free. We see a big influx of players every time there is a new code. There isn't enough completely free content for the average player to play heavily for at least a month (which is also industry standard), and the free content in the game is not the best that DDO has to offer. "Trust us, the parts you can't play are way better than what you are playing now" is not a good advertisement.

 

[Teh_Troll]

The lack of a catchup mechanic that give new players any change of catching up is why DDO isn't growing.

Why do you think hardcore is so popular? The grind there doesn't matter.

 

[Marshal_Lannes]

People don't set out to write a bad book, or film a bad movie, or create a bad game. Creative endeavors begin with a passion, a dream, a peregrination into the realm of the muse. Now, these visions may be corrupted or compromised as the project unfolds and other factors intrude upon the creative process such as commercial appeal, marketing, and those dreaded notes from producers. Often these are subjective though, for example, you may hate microtransactions but I wish they would sell more kinds of armor, more mounts, player housing, and so on. I want to spend money on the game. I understand some people don't.

And yet, I find myself looking at DDO and it's, honestly, better than it has ever been. I can't imagine playing the game without Ravenloft or Feywild. No Stormsingers or Horizon Walkers? No Tieflings or mounts? In my opinion, nearly all problems are solved by a populated server. A game that feels alive providing a community experience within the Dungeons and Dragons worlds is what many people want. Since I have that on Orien (and hardcore) I don't feel like the game is dying at all.

 

[Miniontotheright]

Comments about f2p and ddo's decline in that era and the ddo would have died without f2p, and while that is probably true, let us not forget f2p came very close to killing ddo at that time to. Ten months with no content, having Module 9 put off for 6 months and the constant "vast and mysterious" that was refered to for over a year.

If f2p had to have been pushed off for another few months, there would have been no players left in the game by that point.

 

[Bjond]

I wouldn't have joined DDO if it wasn't F2P.

IMHO (not LG's), a little F2P has a solid place. I like it when "F2P mode" is permanently available for the first 30 days and then you can use in-game currency to buy time from the AH. This permits solo'ish F2P to farm mats, groupish F2P to farm items or sell "completions", and then become a sub without spending cash, just time; ie. they become a vital part of the in-game economy.

Yes, it's essentially supporting buying gold in game, but it also provides a way for a dedicated pure F2P to contribute at least enough that someone is willing to buy them a subscription. I also don't mind if cosmetics are monetized. That's it, though.

 

[Ptalon]

Doomed for over seventeen years now.

 

[LunaCee]

IMHO (not LG's), a little F2P has a solid place. I like it when "F2P mode" is permanently available for the first 30 days and then you can use in-game currency to buy time from the AH. This permits solo'ish F2P to farm mats, groupish F2P to farm items or sell "completions", and then become a sub without spending cash, just time; ie. they become a vital part of the in-game economy.

I've played games that went that route. And invariably its the worst of all possible worlds. You mostly don't end up with actual individual players in those MMOs on the game time passes that are sold via the AH. You end up with either bots or multi-account swarms that "support" a main character. And the content is structured in a way that absolutely wants tons of accounts thrown at it to maximize the revenue stream.

It prices the newer players out of the spectrum completely because the comparison point is going to be 24/7 mid-game farming or late game multi-account farms. Newer players get told to straight up simply pay a direct subscription because until you catch up in a half a year or more the amount of grind required each month is probably in the 40+ hours of unpaid labor for $15 of subscription.

 

[The Narc]

IMHO (not LG's), a little F2P has a solid place. I like it when "F2P mode" is permanently available for the first 30 days and then you can use in-game currency to buy time from the AH. This permits solo'ish F2P to farm mats, groupish F2P to farm items or sell "completions", and then become a sub without spending cash, just time; ie. they become a vital part of the in-game economy.

Yes, it's essentially supporting buying gold in game, but it also provides a way for a dedicated pure F2P to contribute at least enough that someone is willing to buy them a subscription. I also don't mind if cosmetics are monetized. That's it, though.

Forced farming is never a good idea, my F2P account is something i go on randomly with no schedule at all and it progresses at whatever pace I game it. If i leave it for awhile i cone back and it is right where it was and pick up from that exact point. I dont want to see anyway for F2P to be able to get subscription status, i mean you can TR twice for that, if you truly want elite unlock.

 

[Chacka]

There are many aspects that either deter or attract MMO players. One aspect is that it is wrong to invent problems for players just to sell them a solution, or to maintain problems and offer players an expensive fix instead of resolving them.

A terrible example of this, in my opinion, is the "Wish of Inheritance" in DDO. Before we had a shared bank in DDO, which allowed players to transfer items from one character to another on the same account, raid items were primarily character-bound. Even today, in most cases, raid items remain character-bound.

Nowadays, with the existence of an account bank, every item could potentially be account-bound, as it shouldn't matter which character I want to use my items on. However, instead of making all items either tradable or account-bound, the old rule is still maintained, resulting in almost all raid items still being character-bound.

Rather than fixing this issue for all players, they try to sell us the solution at an exorbitant price in the DDO shop.

This is just one example, but honestly, I find it quite frustrating. I can imagine that such a policy may cause players to quit DDO, and I would be inclined to switch to another game if I find a good alternative to DDO.