DDO's microtransactions work on an in-game currency called Turbine Points that you buy with real money. Subscription players (called VIPs) receive 500 Turbine Points per month as part of their subscription although this stipend has been subject to some delays since Eberron Unlimited went live.
Turbine Points have a real world cost that varies according to how many you buy at once. It is also occasionally possible to see them offered at discount prices. At their absolute cheapest you can buy 5000 points for $49.99. The standard rate for the smallest points package is 400 points for $6.25.
So the real world value of Turbine Points is between 1 cent and 1.56 cents each.
The current top sellers in the store are:
Major experience elixir (grants 20% bonus to experience for 6 hours) 295 TPs
Siberys spirit cake (returns target to life, 1 use, not usable in raids) 150 TPs
Moderate heal potion X 50 (each heals 5-19 hit points) 150 TPs
Greater experience elixir (grants 20% bonus to experience for 3 hours) 195 TPs
Medium Jewel of Fortune X 5 (each grants +1 level to loot found in chests for 6 hours) 125 points
Drow race (create a Drow character on any server, permanent upgrade) 795 points
Cleric lvl 1 - Dryad Willowisp (level 1 cleric hireling, 1 hour Gold Seal contract. Gold Seal contracts allow the use of multiple hirelings) 10 points
Lesser experience elixir (grants a 10% bonus to experience for 3 hours) 50 points
Moderate heal potion X 10 (restores 5-19 hit points per use) 50 points
Secret Door Divining Rod (reveals secret doors for 5 minutes, 1 charge) 30 points
Barbarian lvl 1 - Byron Scoutsword (level 1 barbarian hireling, 1 hour Gold Seal contract. Gold Seal contracts allow the use of multiple hirelings) 10 points
Shan-To-Kor (level 3-5 adventure series with 4 adventures and 2 combat area objectives)
I've listed the items in the order they display in the Bestsellers section of the DDO store. I believe it's in order, ie the first item on the list is the item they sell most of.
None of these packs are on special offer. The only notable thing missing which is usually on the bestsellers list are the sigils of levelling. However these have been on sale the last few days so possibly there was a rush for these on day 1 of the sale so no one needed to buy them in the time period for which the data for this bestsellers list is collected (I'm guessing it's based on a 24 hour period, collected once daily)
I'll analyse the list tomorrow, I think it's very interesting to see what most people are buying.
So far I've just bought content.... I'll probably keep it this way.
ReplyDeleteI find it fascinating that players will pay to accelerate themselves through the entertainment they are supposed to be enjoying through XP potions. It'd be interesting to know whether this was down to a poor levelling curve or because players of this sort of game have an ingrained need to get themselves to the end game as quickly as possible.
ReplyDeleteAye, I've only bought content as well. I "bought" the Warforged race in beta, but decided it wasn't all that spectacular, and that I'd rather spend money on stuff to do, not different critters to do it with.
ReplyDeleteMelmoth, I suspect there's a significant bit of that "race to the endgame" mentality going on. Tobold has a decent article up citing a NYT article about marathoners whining about slow runners. It seems that getting to the end is indeed a deeply ingrained cultural tendency.
I'm more interested in the journey, m'self.
@Melmoth
ReplyDeleteI would say that in fact it's quite the opposite. DDO has a really fun levelling game since you level by doing dungeons with groups.
Pugs are extremely high quality compared to other MMOs. Many veteran players roll new alts just to have a wider range of levels to group with.
I suspect that many people are actually paying to skip past the best bit of the game but since I haven't seen the max level stuff yet it's possible it's even better.
Soon, 32 points character builds and Veteran Status (starting at level 4) will be a few of the bigger sellers too. Both go across all servers.
ReplyDeleteThe amusing part is that +% XP pots are a terrible value in a game like DDO, where both XP rewards and XP costs-to-level are constantly increasing at a non-linear rate.
ReplyDelete