Dungeons and Dragons Online: behold the power of free

**nemowolf** · October 13th, 2009, 12:40 PM

From Ars Technica:

Dungeons and Dragons Online is enjoying a second life in terms of player count and buzz, all thanks to a new business strategy: giving the game away. Turbine is making their MMO as accessible as possible, and that includes making players who don't pay anything as happy as possible. Subscriptions are up 40 percent. Ars explores how free can be very profitable.

**ShyguyXPC** · October 13th, 2009, 02:27 PM

Hmmm, I would of been happy with charging $50 for the game, and free to play online, but free to download and free to play may work too LOL...

its the one reason I avoided Final Fantasy Online, I love the games, but between shelling out money for broadband and the game don't want to dump more money into a monthly fee to play the damned thing.

if they want to charge $15/month then offer the game for dirt cheap or free, but not both.

Guild Wars was on the right track back then, when WoW was doing the paid game + monthly subscription thing.

but may have to look into this now.

as it is I have to wait until next year for Two Worlds The Temptation, pushed back yet again

, and as of yesterday I'm a little more than 2/3's if not half way through the first game. M&M Dark Messiah was a bit of a let down for me though, and haven't played a D&D game in a while except Baldurs Gate II on Game cube or Neverwinter Nights for PC about 5-6 years ago (looking at buying the Diamond Collection on newegg for $10 soon here)

**nemowolf** · October 13th, 2009, 04:52 PM

Originally Posted by ShyguyXPC

Hmmm, I would of been happy with charging $50 for the game, and free to play online, but free to download and free to play may work too LOL...

its the one reason I avoided Final Fantasy Online, I love the games, but between shelling out money for broadband and the game don't want to dump more money into a monthly fee to play the damned thing.

if they want to charge $15/month then offer the game for dirt cheap or free, but not both.

Guild Wars was on the right track back then, when WoW was doing the paid game + monthly subscription thing.

but may have to look into this now.

as it is I have to wait until next year for Two Worlds The Temptation, pushed back yet again

, and as of yesterday I'm a little more than 2/3's if not half way through the first game. M&M Dark Messiah was a bit of a let down for me though, and haven't played a D&D game in a while except Baldurs Gate II on Game cube or Neverwinter Nights for PC about 5-6 years ago (looking at buying the Diamond Collection on newegg for $10 soon here)

I agree. One of the things that is abundantly clear with MMO games is your not even really buying the software, your buying a license. I can buy any pay to play MMO but it really doesnt do me any good to not pay the monthly license fee, which is what the subscription boils down too.

Personally, i understand the cost to maintain and develop a proper Online world but frankly i really dont justify the lack of single player content and a 50-60 dollar price tag. i think that a much more nomial fee would be acceptable to pay for boxes, marketing, and media. 20 bucks for a new game used to be sorta the normal. Now it seams like they just want their money and be damned how bad it sucks.