Previous Thread
Expand All
Collapse All
Ignore Author
Reply
I'm curious to get a discussion going among other people on f2p accounts, to see how many of us are old players returning, how many are new to the game and how you heard about it, how many have subscribed or bought SCoin items, and what might motivate us to spend more money on the game.
Personally I'm an old player from way back on AOL, but have been playing or otherwise active in the game off-and-on since then, with some long-ish gaps. I'm still on a free account and so far haven't bought anything from SCoin, which I keep telling myself is because I want to see how far I can get without paying any money but it's really because I'm depressingly broke right now. I don't want to subscribe this account because I want to have the option to be 100% free if and when I need to, but I'm expecting to buy at least one passport eventually, possibly a personal inventory booster if I get into crafting, and I might buy an experience absorption booster if training gets too tedious, but right now it's not so bad. I also would love to reactivate at least one of my old accounts at some point, if for no other reason than that my main S'Kra is finally older than the "average lifespan" for his race.
I
"[A]ll PC necromancers are now redeemed good guys..." ~ GM Raesh
I heard about it from word of mouth and re-subbed when I heard it was coming. I'm mostly on my primary account, but I'm using F2P to try out guilds without going through the hassle of deactivating or re-activating character slots. If you're into crafting then an inventory booster will be all but mandatory, especially if you want to try more than one at a time.
From my experience, I'd recommend the absorption booster and possibly a pass to new areas. Combined it's something like 6.50, which is less than you'd probably spend on lunch. Completely worth it for a month of accessibility.
>> If you're into crafting then an inventory booster will be all but mandatory, especially if you want to try more than one at a time.
Yeah, I discovered that quickly. I really dig the new crafting systems, and being able to store some tools is very handy, but doing more than one craft is completely impossible as a f2p without an inventory booster.
>> Combined it's something like 6.50, which is less than you'd probably spend on lunch.
You are severely underestimating how broke I am.
I
"[A]ll PC necromancers are now redeemed good guys..." ~ GM Raesh
Yeah, I discovered that quickly. I really dig the new crafting systems, and being able to store some tools is very handy, but doing more than one craft is completely impossible as a f2p without an inventory booster.
>> Combined it's something like 6.50, which is less than you'd probably spend on lunch.
You are severely underestimating how broke I am.
I
"[A]ll PC necromancers are now redeemed good guys..." ~ GM Raesh
>>Yeah, I discovered that quickly. I really dig the new crafting systems, and being able to store some tools is very handy, but doing more than one craft is completely impossible as a f2p without an inventory booster.
My heart goes out to you with the F2P item cap and crafting. They don't go well together. Don't forget to combine all your like materials together. That'll save you a few precious slots.
"Nobody cares about the feasibility of Sidhlot's portrayal of evil. That's not the point. He's older than dragons and so metal he poops viking helmets." - Armifer
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu-proxy R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!
My heart goes out to you with the F2P item cap and crafting. They don't go well together. Don't forget to combine all your like materials together. That'll save you a few precious slots.
"Nobody cares about the feasibility of Sidhlot's portrayal of evil. That's not the point. He's older than dragons and so metal he poops viking helmets." - Armifer
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu-proxy R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!
How to f2p craft:
1) Create mules to swap bags with. One for each society. Set them up with all crafting mats/deeds, as well as your logbook, instructions, and tools. Flip containers with them when it's time to craft.
2) Profit
"Game balance is sobbing over in the corner as it considers the ramifications of AoE Blufmor Garaen. Your spell slots send their condolences." - GM Raesh
1) Create mules to swap bags with. One for each society. Set them up with all crafting mats/deeds, as well as your logbook, instructions, and tools. Flip containers with them when it's time to craft.
2) Profit
"Game balance is sobbing over in the corner as it considers the ramifications of AoE Blufmor Garaen. Your spell slots send their condolences." - GM Raesh
>> 1) Create mules to swap bags with. One for each society. Set them up with all crafting mats/deeds, as well as your logbook, instructions, and tools. Flip containers with them when it's time to craft.
If you were going to go this route, it wouldn't require one for each craft. One mule would do the trick.
I
"[A]ll PC necromancers are now redeemed good guys..." ~ GM Raesh
If you were going to go this route, it wouldn't require one for each craft. One mule would do the trick.
I
"[A]ll PC necromancers are now redeemed good guys..." ~ GM Raesh
>>If you were going to go this route, it wouldn't require one for each craft. One mule would do the trick.
Very true, thinking of my own packrat habits with different mats. If you streamlined and only kept what you use for workorders, just one is fine.
"Game balance is sobbing over in the corner as it considers the ramifications of AoE Blufmor Garaen. Your spell slots send their condolences." - GM Raesh
Very true, thinking of my own packrat habits with different mats. If you streamlined and only kept what you use for workorders, just one is fine.
"Game balance is sobbing over in the corner as it considers the ramifications of AoE Blufmor Garaen. Your spell slots send their condolences." - GM Raesh
I am an old player returning. I heard about it from the email from Simu and created account I think the next day or so.
I have spent $20 so for on Simu Coins. I don't mind spending the $$ on Simu Coins as all so I am not really F2P (so for I have only bought Offline Drain) I just mind maintaining a constant subscription when sometimes my availability to play wanes and I feel like I am wasting money by maintaining the sub. Now I get to do infusions of cash without having this constant sub.
I am only getting into Forging for Crafting as part of an RP for my character (hammer fetish) other than I don't plan on doing any other crafting.
I started playing DR shortly after the web launch. I had a motley crew of characters over the decade that followed, and continued to play off and on until about 5 years ago when I decided I could no longer justify spending $14.95/mo on the game. I'd been through two price hikes, experienced premium until it jumped up to thirty something bucks and witnessed two mass departures of older players, some of which were so important to whatever character I was playing at the time, that I just couldn't figure out what to do besides roll up a new one. After a lengthy break I returned but ended up being very jaded and finally decided to let it go.
As I mentioned in the other thread, I ended up trading Elanthia for Hydaelyn (FFXIV). Thanks to Legacy, I pay half as much a month for that game than I would have to pay to resub to this one. With 8 free character slots, and a very healthy RP player base on my overcrowded server, there was absolutely nothing that could have brought me back to Elanthia. Or so I thought.
Got a wild hair to make one of my old DR personas a few days ago for the new expansion pack, which led to the discovery of the DR fb page and the f2p release. I tried to talk myself out of it. I even managed to navigate away from the page a few times. But, well. Here I am. Again.
I'm already planning on throwing some money at the game if I stick around. I've got a "Discount DR" budget in mind that will use 400-700 simucoin a month for some basic stuff. In fact, if the sub price ever dropped back down to $9.95/mo I'd sub right back up. Probably. I know it's likely been said to death, but since I overhead someone use the word "only" in regards to the $14.95 sub price on chatter last night, I'd like mention that outside DR, that is a very hard sale these days, even for graphical MMO. Very few can even manage to keep a subscription model at all. So, the only thing that could make me spend more on it outside of my little planned budget would be a more competitive subscription price.
Whether or not I'll be sticking around will largely depend on the events and what sorts of rp that I manage to find. While the 3.0 gameplay is fantastic, and I am extremely impressed with all the mechanical improvements since I last played, text-based mechanics aren't exactly the selling point for me. NPCs coming to life, large and small scale events - these are the things that can still make DR relevant in this MMO-stuffed age. I remember being dismayed when for a long time, it felt like nearly all of the effort was being put into code while events dried up the realm over. Except for Theren. Because Quarel.
And as for my ladies who are currently locked behind the paywall, I don't really have a burning desire to reactivate my old account. My characters would all be a lot older than they were when I last played them, and I'd just end up making a new one anyway. I sure do miss my old stuff though. And my coin. Heh.
As I mentioned in the other thread, I ended up trading Elanthia for Hydaelyn (FFXIV). Thanks to Legacy, I pay half as much a month for that game than I would have to pay to resub to this one. With 8 free character slots, and a very healthy RP player base on my overcrowded server, there was absolutely nothing that could have brought me back to Elanthia. Or so I thought.
Got a wild hair to make one of my old DR personas a few days ago for the new expansion pack, which led to the discovery of the DR fb page and the f2p release. I tried to talk myself out of it. I even managed to navigate away from the page a few times. But, well. Here I am. Again.
I'm already planning on throwing some money at the game if I stick around. I've got a "Discount DR" budget in mind that will use 400-700 simucoin a month for some basic stuff. In fact, if the sub price ever dropped back down to $9.95/mo I'd sub right back up. Probably. I know it's likely been said to death, but since I overhead someone use the word "only" in regards to the $14.95 sub price on chatter last night, I'd like mention that outside DR, that is a very hard sale these days, even for graphical MMO. Very few can even manage to keep a subscription model at all. So, the only thing that could make me spend more on it outside of my little planned budget would be a more competitive subscription price.
Whether or not I'll be sticking around will largely depend on the events and what sorts of rp that I manage to find. While the 3.0 gameplay is fantastic, and I am extremely impressed with all the mechanical improvements since I last played, text-based mechanics aren't exactly the selling point for me. NPCs coming to life, large and small scale events - these are the things that can still make DR relevant in this MMO-stuffed age. I remember being dismayed when for a long time, it felt like nearly all of the effort was being put into code while events dried up the realm over. Except for Theren. Because Quarel.
And as for my ladies who are currently locked behind the paywall, I don't really have a burning desire to reactivate my old account. My characters would all be a lot older than they were when I last played them, and I'd just end up making a new one anyway. I sure do miss my old stuff though. And my coin. Heh.
>In fact, if the sub price ever dropped back down to $9.95/mo I'd sub right back up.
DR is, at this point, a 'boutique' product. It has a small demand of loyal customers. Unfortunately, that small demand means that even driving the cost down (to 10 or even 5 dollars a month) would see a negligible increase in customers, but a fairly drastic drop in income. I.e. not many new people would come in, because no one really wants text based MMOs now.
Best advice I can honestly give is, if you enjoy DR and want to spend any money on it, skip going out to eat 1 time per month, or skip a couple coffees once a month, or similar, and pay for it. The 15$ basically keeps the game afloat, and 50 cents a day (SCREW YOU FEBRUARY I DEFY YOUR EXISTENCE) isn't really bad.
>Very few can even manage to keep a subscription model at all.
Actually, just FYI, most games end up more profitable after they move to free to play models (due a lot of reasons and game design I'm not really getting into here); subscription based games like WoW really always were the statistical outlier.
DR is, at this point, a 'boutique' product. It has a small demand of loyal customers. Unfortunately, that small demand means that even driving the cost down (to 10 or even 5 dollars a month) would see a negligible increase in customers, but a fairly drastic drop in income. I.e. not many new people would come in, because no one really wants text based MMOs now.
Best advice I can honestly give is, if you enjoy DR and want to spend any money on it, skip going out to eat 1 time per month, or skip a couple coffees once a month, or similar, and pay for it. The 15$ basically keeps the game afloat, and 50 cents a day (SCREW YOU FEBRUARY I DEFY YOUR EXISTENCE) isn't really bad.
>Very few can even manage to keep a subscription model at all.
Actually, just FYI, most games end up more profitable after they move to free to play models (due a lot of reasons and game design I'm not really getting into here); subscription based games like WoW really always were the statistical outlier.
>>DR is, at this point, a 'boutique' product. It has a small demand of loyal customers. Unfortunately, that small demand means that even driving the cost down (to 10 or even 5 dollars a month) would see a negligible increase in customers, but a fairly drastic drop in income. I.e. not many new people would come in, because no one really wants text based MMOs now.
Oh, I agree it is difficult to convince new gamers to try a game like this, but just from my own observations on the player pop and chatter channel the past few days, the free to play thing seems to be working? At least a little bit. One issue is that DR doesn't really put itself out there. Once upon a time it was the shining star of MUD. Now it's a "I wonder if that game is still around," to veterans who once graced Elanthia with their presence and they'd likely only find the answer to that through their own enterprise. Like I did. If we want new players, my suggestion would be facebook advertising. It's inexpensive (little as a dollar a day) and is very likely to target the sort of people who would give it a try.
F2P seems to be a good start to get them in the door once they find it at least. I saw an honest to goodness new player last night on chatter. How exciting. :)
>>Best advice I can honestly give is, if you enjoy DR and want to spend any money on it, skip going out to eat 1 time per month, or skip a couple coffees once a month, or similar, and pay for it. The 15$ basically keeps the game afloat, and 50 cents a day (SCREW YOU FEBRUARY I DEFY YOUR EXISTENCE) isn't really bad.
I am thankfully not in a position where 15 bucks a month will change my lifestyle. I can afford it. However, when it comes to gaming, I do have to convince my husband that the money is well spent. He loves to bring up the backlog of PS3 games collecting dust that I just had to have. Worse, with the Steam and GoG.com summer sales going on, Fallout 4 announced, and Heavensward landing, my bargaining skills are already being be put to the test.
Sadly, the days where I personally felt DR was without a doubt worth the 14.95/mo for the experience I got seem to be long gone. I paid that much for it for years after I started to feel that way because I held out hope that it would recover. It doesn't mean I'm unwilling to support the game. In fact, I honestly favor a subscription model. But for now, I will be using the Name Your Own Price benefit of a free to play account.
Oh, I agree it is difficult to convince new gamers to try a game like this, but just from my own observations on the player pop and chatter channel the past few days, the free to play thing seems to be working? At least a little bit. One issue is that DR doesn't really put itself out there. Once upon a time it was the shining star of MUD. Now it's a "I wonder if that game is still around," to veterans who once graced Elanthia with their presence and they'd likely only find the answer to that through their own enterprise. Like I did. If we want new players, my suggestion would be facebook advertising. It's inexpensive (little as a dollar a day) and is very likely to target the sort of people who would give it a try.
F2P seems to be a good start to get them in the door once they find it at least. I saw an honest to goodness new player last night on chatter. How exciting. :)
>>Best advice I can honestly give is, if you enjoy DR and want to spend any money on it, skip going out to eat 1 time per month, or skip a couple coffees once a month, or similar, and pay for it. The 15$ basically keeps the game afloat, and 50 cents a day (SCREW YOU FEBRUARY I DEFY YOUR EXISTENCE) isn't really bad.
I am thankfully not in a position where 15 bucks a month will change my lifestyle. I can afford it. However, when it comes to gaming, I do have to convince my husband that the money is well spent. He loves to bring up the backlog of PS3 games collecting dust that I just had to have. Worse, with the Steam and GoG.com summer sales going on, Fallout 4 announced, and Heavensward landing, my bargaining skills are already being be put to the test.
Sadly, the days where I personally felt DR was without a doubt worth the 14.95/mo for the experience I got seem to be long gone. I paid that much for it for years after I started to feel that way because I held out hope that it would recover. It doesn't mean I'm unwilling to support the game. In fact, I honestly favor a subscription model. But for now, I will be using the Name Your Own Price benefit of a free to play account.
>If we want new players, my suggestion would be facebook advertising.
That horse is dead and buried. DR management says 'we know what we are doing' whenever advertising comes up. Players have run their own campaigns (as in paid for ads from their own pockets) and had cost-per-click rates, but management still said 'we know what we are doing'.
That horse is dead and buried. DR management says 'we know what we are doing' whenever advertising comes up. Players have run their own campaigns (as in paid for ads from their own pockets) and had cost-per-click rates, but management still said 'we know what we are doing'.
I don't know. I said this a few years back when this discussion came up: the price of the game doesn't change. Everything else I pay for goes up in cost, but DR has not increased its subscription fees since I've been playing. I, for one, am pretty happy about that and will gladly continue to pay my subscription fees to get the level of gameplay I enjoy.
"Brace yourselves, Squanto is going to bleh blah fart fart bleh.." -the player of the character formerly known as Pureblade
"Brace yourselves, Squanto is going to bleh blah fart fart bleh.." -the player of the character formerly known as Pureblade
>> DR has not increased its subscription fees since I've been playing.
Hmm. There are quite a few of us that can't say this. Mind you, I'm a relatively steady supporter of DR on the whole (there are some specific areas I think could/should be improved), but I can't say that my price hasn't gone up, because it definitely has. However, thanks to f2p, it's also [kinda] gone down, in so much as now I only pay for what I want, when I want it.
I
"It's intended for you to have to make choices with your spell slots." ~ NINEVAH1
"Sometimes I feel like I should make that my new forum sig." ~ GM Raesh
Hmm. There are quite a few of us that can't say this. Mind you, I'm a relatively steady supporter of DR on the whole (there are some specific areas I think could/should be improved), but I can't say that my price hasn't gone up, because it definitely has. However, thanks to f2p, it's also [kinda] gone down, in so much as now I only pay for what I want, when I want it.
I
"It's intended for you to have to make choices with your spell slots." ~ NINEVAH1
"Sometimes I feel like I should make that my new forum sig." ~ GM Raesh
>>Hmm. There are quite a few of us that can't say this.
IIRC, DR's price has been $15/mo for standard with Premium costing an extra $25/mo for over a decade. Saying "it wasn't always this price" kinda loses it flavor at that point.
Uzmam! The Chairman will NOT be pleased to know you're trying to build outside of approved zones. I'd hate for you to be charged the taxes needed to have this place re-zoned. Head for the manor if you're feeling creative.
IIRC, DR's price has been $15/mo for standard with Premium costing an extra $25/mo for over a decade. Saying "it wasn't always this price" kinda loses it flavor at that point.
Uzmam! The Chairman will NOT be pleased to know you're trying to build outside of approved zones. I'd hate for you to be charged the taxes needed to have this place re-zoned. Head for the manor if you're feeling creative.
>DR is so much cheaper than when we were paying hourly on AOL....
Which was 20 bloody years ago at this point. If the point you're referencing is long enough ago that it could drink in most civilized countries, it's a bad point unless we're on a geologic scale.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DragonRealms
Which was 20 bloody years ago at this point. If the point you're referencing is long enough ago that it could drink in most civilized countries, it's a bad point unless we're on a geologic scale.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DragonRealms
>Which was 20 bloody years ago at this point. If the point you're referencing is long enough ago that it could drink in most civilized countries, it's a bad point unless we're on a geologic scale.
Surely you recognize something between 'relevant to average human memory' and 'geologic timescales'?
I have DR characters that are nearly able to vote - that doesn't mean talking about improvements to those characters guilds since their creation is a 'bad point' because of how long a time frame we're looking at.
I also played a lot of original Nintendo games - maybe the improvements to console gaming since 1992 is also irrelevant? Hilariously, there have been ~18 volcanic eruptions that score over a 4 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index (man, that is a cool index) since 1990. I think Dragonrealms updates come more frequently than volcanic eruptions that score over a 4 on the VEI. Ergo, your point that such a point should only matter on geologic timescales is wrong, and you should feel bad.
>I also played a lot of original Nintendo games - maybe the improvements to console gaming since 1992 is also irrelevant?
They are irrelevant. https://40.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2vvq8NHXe1rtckc6o1_1280.jpg
I don't know what the argument here is. I'll see myself out.
They are irrelevant. https://40.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2vvq8NHXe1rtckc6o1_1280.jpg
I don't know what the argument here is. I'll see myself out.
