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!