Turbine today unveiled their latest MMORPG, Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited. This game will be free-to-play, though Turbine promises that it will "offer the quality graphics and robust features previously only available in premium subscription based-games."
"Historically, players of free online games were forced to sacrifice the quality of their experience,” said Jim Crowley, President and CEO. "Those days are over. The new DDO Unlimited is the most innovative, exciting and graphically rich MMO to ever hit the free-to-play market and it changes the very nature of what it means to be free-to-play."
Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited is playable for free, with certain items and content available via micro-transactions and a subscription granting additional bonuses. Those interested can sign up for the free beta at ddo.com.
So the followup to Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach is a free-to-play MMO. This is the latest suggestion that much MMO content is going with some variation of the free-to-play model and that Blizzard has an iron grip on the subscription fantasy MMORPG genre with World of Warcraft.
5 Comments
June 9, 2009
I stopped reading this article at "micro-transactions." If there's items available for-pay, or special perks given to paying members, then in order to make those items attractive to consumers, the items usually confer in-game bonuses. This means that while the game may be "free" to play, if you want to enjoy it with any degree of seriousness, you end up paying the same as a standard MMORPG, or risk falling behind. The only truly legit way to introduce pay-for-items in an MMO is if those items are ONLY cosmetic. I would love to see IG conduct a follow-up story with Turbine to dive into more detail on this.
June 9, 2009
I agree with Justin Davis up above.
The only MMO I'm interested in so far is the new KOTOR MMO and Jumpgate Evolution
June 10, 2009
I'm much more interested in a F2P MMO where I'm not forced to pay $10-$15 monthly for stuff and content that have no relevance to me. I typically only have time to play MMOs for a few hours per week and it seems to me like it's a better deal when I only have to pay for what I really want to enjoy...? And if I really like what I see in DDO (haven't checked it out yet) - I understand they still have the monthly subscription option which essentially keeps the game identical to what it is today? Smart move Turbine and good luck, long time D&D fan but was never really that interested in DDO because of the monthly sub.
June 12, 2009
Follow up article can be read here: http://www.industrygamers.com/news/turbine-were-not-scheming-players-to-get-subscriptions/
June 18, 2009
Obviously a whole bunch on unreasonable small minded people. If you haven't seen what DDO has to offer then you cannot compare it to second rate FTP platforms. There is no comparrisson. DDO has put in place a way for players to have the exact same features as subscribers just by playing the game. They use a point system which can be gained in game by playing or by purchasing.
Maybe people should do their research before making big statements on a brief article.
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