A lock. I swing at it with my sword a few times. No telltale "clank" of metal-on-metal that suggests I can beat my way in. Worse, we have no rogue in our party. No way to open the gate and claim our prize.
"OK guys," I say into the headset. "Two seconds while I buy a Bell of Opening." A few keystrokes later and a few coins of fake currency poorer, the prize is ours. Who needs a damned rogue?
Last year, Turbine surprised the MMO world by opening the gates to Dungeons & Dragons Online, allowing anyone to simply sign up for an account, download the client, and save the world of Eberron -- all for free. Gone are industry-standard subscription fees, replaced by an in-game eCommerce system filled with items and content that players can buy, on-demand, whenever they wish. Turbine gambled on the idea that giving their content away will make the game better -- and even make more money.
The gamble paid off. According to a recent NPD report on Online Gaming, DDO has gone from being the 11th most popular MMO to the third, with 8% of the market searching the city of Stormreach for danger and "phat lootz." DDO is now more popular than Guild Wars, Final Fantasy XII, and even Turbine's own Lord of the Rings Online. The move has been so successful that Turbine is taking LOTRO free-to-play by the end of this year, positioning themselves as the Western kings of free MMOs.
As a World of Warcraft addict, I've found the "Turbine Model" intriguing. While many players have been digging through DDO's content for free, I've been shelling out $15 a month to Blizzard for the privilege of running the same old heroic five-man instances or leveling yet another alt. Was I missing something here, and how much would it cost me to find the fun? I decided to find out.
Battling On a Budget
My core question on this expedition was this: Is Turbine's success with microtransactions due to nickel-and-diming their player base? How much am I going to shell out to get the full experience in Stormreach?
To do this right, I set myself a budget of $20 to spend inside Turbine's in-game DDO Store. I vowed to log my purchases and in-game experiences and keep track of every temptation to ease my way through the levels. As it turns out, the urge to channel my inner-teen-girl mall-shopper in DDO hit me right from the get-go.
[00:01] Character creation. First opportunity to buy Monk class. The moment I click on the class, a separate pop-up window opens for the DDO store. The Monk is 795 points. I don't even have any points yet, but 795 seems like it must be a lot. Too rich for my blood.
[00:04] Oooh, another class for sale, the Favored Soul. It's a healing class like Cleric, but doesn't solo as well, and it's also 795 points. Pass.
[00:07] Uh oh. Races for sale. Warforged are creatures made out of metal and wood, like fantasy robots without the silly steampunk. I don't want to be a robot.
[00:10] The Drow is tempting, at 596 points. Bonuses to a few ability scores like Charisma, plus it's just cool-looking. I'm going to be staring at the behind of whatever model I choose for long periods of time, and the Drow females are... well, eye-catching.
After a few minutes of deliberation, I'm ready for my first purchase. A Drow I shall be.