There is a lot of talk about people complaining about something Turbine is or is not doing. I mean a lot. All over my twitter feed, G+ feed, in my email box and lets not talk about the forums. But I do want to say I don’t mind paying for Artificers, even though I am a VIP. Heres why:
Other then complaining about nerfs. The most common compliant I see from VIPs is not being able to buy things from the store. Mostly while things are on sale, like 50% off packs. And I can understand wanting to move towards a totally unlocked premium account as you enjoy the full game as a VIP. But why would Turbine want to encourage that behavior? 10-15 $ a month has to be more then the average premium account spends???? Maybe not…. I don’t have the data for that. I know Most of my guild is VIPs, we have a few that are not. And the VIPs also buy TP for fluff items, where the non- VIPs feel they have to save their points for content…
Any way I got side tracked, this is an item you can buy from the store.
There will be less Arts in the first few weeks as there are many people that just wont buy them out of principle, don’t have the Tps, want to wait for them to go on sale or whatever the reason. So there will be a smaller number of fresh Arts running around. Maybe not a lot less, but less.
Also I bought the FvS. Why?
One, as to not have to grind out the favor. Sure I had/have a guy kinda close. Think Samiusbot has about 2k and a lot of stuff he just doesn’t run do to him being way down the list of Alts I am worried about.
Two, as to have them on every server. Now I don’t often leave Sarlona. That is where the home is after all. But sometimes I want to mix it up. And the Art is right up my alley.
I hope that all made sense. You know, I have a larger problem with Trs getting first time unlock then as a VIP needing to buy Art. Everyone skipping n-h-e to what ever difficulty, makes a Vip perk a little less valued, and going premium a hair more attractive.
Samius Gurobo 
I get what your saying Samius but I look at it this way. VIP really has a hard sale for many people when I got my friend into DDO he told me hed probably never go subscription base there is no need to. It irritated me because he was right with a swipe of his card he could basically get everything I had already only with the inconvenience of waiting an extra day or two for any new content. There is not much right now going on for us subscribers to justify why we continue to pay or fees save our own personal reasons. Its sad that they will start with something like this a new class, but I can see this bleeding into new areas and quests as well and I dont like that feeling. That is why I’ll wait till I can use my favor. Its just not right to say to us who do continue to subscribe that on top of that we face new additions that we will only get to enjoy when released if we shell out extra for them.
I understand your thoughts. But here is the deal. A large number of new players want to be premium (large number of older players too) vs wanting to be VIP. If I was just coming to ddo today premium is the route I would go. Pay as i need too.
But here is the other part of the deal, we have been told VIPs will always get races and content for free. But classes are not a scared cow. But we will get the ones we have had pre- DDOU. But new classes are favor unlocks or pay to play. The favor unlocks are coming. just all the content is not read yet. (I might make the art unlock 250 Twelve favor as it is currently the shaft…) or i would expect u12 to be fairly close to the release of 11.
I do agree that VIPs need more perks to make it more attractive, but we don’t know what package/players Turbine is targeting for new sales. If I were to bet, i would say new players ie premium players. I would hope the idea is to get those players to move up to VIP but I have no numbers to back that thought.
It just honestly seems to me that being a subscriber is part of an old time sector that is being eroded constantly with stuff like this. The entice to pay a subscription gets eaten away when you start wondering if it will really stop at classes. Even if they were not a supposed sacred cow you would think to show people yes there is a reason to have a subscription a nice shiny reason at that would be a better tactic then to say even VIPs will have to pay to unlock somethings. It just gives more reasoning to those who say subscribing is a waste.
If VIP is going to continue to be watered down I suggest Turbine allows all of us, VIP or not VIP to buy all classes, races and packs regardless of status.
Seriously; as VIP I cannot buy it. I understand why – but the whole ‘here – this you can buy, the rest you can rent’ is a poor business model. Either VIP means something or it’s a rental program while you go fully premium.
As a premium player I’ve spent $155 USD on DDO and I’ve been on the game for only 17 months. So that’s $9.11/month versus a $9.99/month subscription (and not factoring in the 6,500 free VIP points worth ~$65). I don’t own all the quests, races, or classes either. So at this point being VIP would have been better for me. VIPs can also unlock any quest at any difficulty which is a very nice perk and time saver for those trying to get favor. I don’t know how many people play DDO for over 17 months so really for those who want to play for a few months and then move on to the next thing, VIP is definitely the way to go. Premium only works for people who are in it for the long, long term. It is unlikely I will ever catch up with VIP who will be getting Arts and the new content for free while the rest of us have to either pay or farm 10s of hours for it.
Everyone pays or farms for the privileges/items they want. If Vips want the Arty they are paying or doing the same grinding as anyone else.
Well, I’m mostly a premium player. I went VIP for a few months last year when they had the double TP deal going, mostly to check out a bunch of packs and see what I might want to get… but the double TP deal was a significant factor in my timing.
I’m currently a VIP, again because of the double TP deal.
In between, I’ve bought almost all the packs (Minus, I believe, Necro IV, the most recent packs, and I believe one or two others), FvS, Monk, and possibly WF. Haven’t bought HE or HO because, frankly, meh. And also I’m cheap and it hasn’t been on sale. I’ve also bought the shared bank and all the extra slots for it, a couple of extra character slots, and probably a whole bunch of other stuff I can’t really think of at the moment.
In the process, I’ve probably spent as much for TP (’cause I simply don’t grind for TP, so if I want it I need to buy it) as I would have if I’d simply gone VIP, and used that 500 TP/mo. to purchase everything that doesn’t get unlocked. Quite possibly more.
I’m vaguely disappointed that Artificer isn’t gonna be free to VIP so I can play with it for a bit until my subscription runs out… but IMHO, it’s no different than VIPs having to purchase or unlock FvS. NO different. The only difference is apparently having to wait ’til Update 12 to be able to unlock it. But once U12 drops in just a couple of months… it’s gonna be absolutely NO different than purchasing/unlocking FvS. Which I haven’t seen anybody having a problem with. (I won’t mention Drow ’cause even a casual player like myself can unlock that in a fairly short period of time.)
Should DDO have waited ’til U12 to release Artificer, when people could actually unlock it? Probably. Should they make it free to VIP? Maybe. I wouldn’t have a problem with that, even if I was F2P. But unless you also complain about having to purchase FvS or unlock it on every server… you don’t really have a leg to stand on there. There really isn’t any difference that I can tell. At all.
And if you really want Artificer THAT much… just tell yourself that the double TP deal, in which you’re getting an extra 500 TP/month, was simply Turbine saying “Well, we don’t want to make it free, but we’ll give you some extra money so you can buy it, wink wink” and use it to buy Artificer. Surely it won’t cost 1500 TP, which you’re getting for free. I mean, it’s not like Turbine *had* to give out those extra TP, right?
I’m going to assume the Artificer class will be 995 or 1295 TP (based on Half-Elf/Half-Orc) and the new quest content will be 450 TP (based on last 2 new packs). The question is if they will bundle it like the Half-Elf/Half-Orc 25% off bundle price.
If they don’t do an intro offer then I won’t be buying until I can at least get some sort of discount, because well, I’m cheap like that. Like most I have more time than money with this current economy. Why buy a new Xbox 360 game when you can wait six months and get it for half the price?
If DDO wants to sell the content now they need to make it imperative. Perhaps offer a free bonus limited time only Artificer class item that is now or never.
sorry sam, we will have to disagree on this one. unlocking would be acceptable if you could when it comes out, but they are trying to screw people into buying it by not having the favor in place. that is not kewl, and a smack in the face of long players that has supported them all these years. if this is the new direction they take, then you will see me to continue to discourage folks from spending money on them via my blog, twitter google plus. makes me regret trying to put together a google plus group supporting ddo when this is what they think of us.