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The Item Store

To be honest, I was fairly impressed with the ease-of-use and flexibility involved with my "purchases" from the DDOU item store. Please note that all of the numbers and examples I use in my article are still subject to change, but this is what I saw during my play period.

During my tour, Fernando and Kate gave me approximately 3,000 Turbine points to play with, which will be somewhere between $30.00 and $45.00 depending upon the amount of points you buy at one time. To explain that system further, like any good retail business, the larger the quantity of points you buy at one time, the cheaper the price will be. While the price originally starts at about a cent and a half, you'll eventually be able to buy points at a cent a point.

But how much does each piece of content cost, you might ask?

Although these prices are by no means final, here are a few things that I happened to see while browsing through the items.

Favored Soul - 595 Turbine Points

Warforged Race – 300 Points

XP Potions - 30-90 Points (depending on the length of time they last)

Exotic Hair Dyes - 180 Points

Weapons and Armor - 20-80 Points

Siberys Spirit Cake (Rez Cake) – 90 Points

Bell of Opening (Opens Chests) – 20 Points

Moderate Health Potion – 45 Points

Adventure Packs - Varies
 
Oddly enough, I thought almost all of these items were quite inexpensive considering the convenience that they can bring to the players. When you purchase an item from the store, it instantly appears in your inventory and can be used immediately. So if you're an archer and happened to leave your arrows at home, just pop into the store, spend a few cents, and you're ready to go. The same thing with the rez cakes that are available; if you need a quick pick me up just grab a rez cake and off you go. The Bell of Opening was also pretty handy, and who doesn’t like changing their hair color on a whim?

By far, the most expensive items in the entire store (that I saw) were the larger adventure packs. While the smaller areas can be purchased with just a few dollars, the biggest adventure areas can cost upwards of ten dollars, especially those areas that have hours and hours of experience for the characters embedded within them. These adventure packs can be anywhere from $3.00 to upwards of ten dollars a piece.

From a player’s standpoint, I can certainly see how simply purchasing a VIP pass could be well worth it in the end. If you’re gaming an hour or more a night, you’ll certainly want to access every piece of content available in the game, and there will be a number of adventure packs that aren’t going to be available to the free-to-play gamer. That said, providing a basic free experience in Stormreach may be all that some players want to tinker with, and when they want to explore more content they can buy it when they feel ready.

And this isn’t all that’s coming into DDO Unlimited, but that’s all the time we have for this particular article. Later in the week, we’ll explore the upgraded combat system, the improved targeting and a small portion of the Plane of Battle. Curious? Make sure you check out Ten Ton Hammer to continue your DDO Unlimited experience!