Taking the plunge

Those in the know will naturally know what they're looking at. For everyone else, the above graphic is taken from the character selection screen of DDO and shows that I've upgraded from a F2P Account to a Premium Account.

It didn't take much to do although initially it was a little tricky to work out how to do it. (Damn it,Turbine! Do you want my money or not?!) I wanted to buy some Turbine Points because I'd heard that was all you needed to buy to 'unlock' 2 extra character slots, giving you 4 slots. For an Altaholic like me the 2 slots you get with a F2P Account are nowhere near enough. Even for someone wanting to test drive a couple of Classes before settling on a Main two slots aren't much, especially if you like one class but want to keep trying others; you're now limited to rolling, deleting, and rerolling a new character because you only have one spare slot.

So I went to the official DDO site but when I clicked their Store button it appeared to take me to a Wiki page for their store, not their actual online store. It wasn't until I came across Stabs account of buying Turbine points that I realized I needed to register a Credit Card by logging into my Account, then log into the game itself, and buy my points there, in the game. Alternatively (as I discovered) you can also enter their Online Store (in-game of course), make your RMT selections then register a credit card. Silly me, I foolishly thought I could conduct all my RMT transactions outside the game :D

So I looked at the costs of each package and ended up buying 900 points for $11.99. I could have been thrifty and got 400 points for $6.25, but the analyst in me evaluated the packages and decided 900 was a slightly better value, enough to make me upgrade (plus you can't get much for 400, and I believe I need to 'buy' higher-level areas/modules). The next package was 1500 points for $18.99 and when I did the calculations it seemed that the added value from 400 to 900 points was better than the added value from 900 to 1500, plus $18.99 is really $19.00 (or close enough to) and that's almost $20, whereas $11.99 is just $12, and that was a considerably more palatable purchase.

So why did I buy points?
1 - because I wanted those 2 extra character slots. As I've said, 2 slots is not enough (not for me), nor is 4 but I can live with that :)
2 - I've played the game enough, and enjoyed it, that I felt compelled to reward/compensate the people who made it. Just a small token to say, "Thanks for the great game. Here's some money."


When I first began playing I brought my preconceived-in-WOW ideas with me so it took a while to get used to how to play DDO. Strangely, the tutorial told me the wrong thing, and while it says Left Click to attack it's actually Right Click (for me) which in WoW moves the camera. Apparently that's a way the DDO veterans pick out the newly arrived WoW immigrants, because they'll randomly swing their weapon while in town as they get used to the controls, despite having already run through the tutorial.

I amused myself when I put in several hours of DDO, popped back into WoW for a change of pace, and found myself attempting to use the DDO control scheme. Then, despite running around in WoW for several hours, as soon as I jumped back into DDO I instantly reverted to its control scheme. No problem.

I am liking this game a lot, and while mbp is lamenting the frailty of his Wizard I'm loving my Battle Cleric, who isn't quite Sololing Heyton's Rest (the first Instance) on Elite...just on Hard, which is netting me some nice upgrades. I've already upgraded my armor from the Chain you get for completing the Tutorial to Splint Mail that dropped on Normal level, to Half-Plate out of a chest on Hard. I can currently rip through Heyton's Rest on Hard inside 10 minutes, which nets me two Chests and thus two shots at some good gear. I'm also picking up some items that my Bard could probably use, especially as he's run out of Arrows. I just need to find a Mailbox and work out how to mail said items to him. I'm also a little miffed because I'm a Noob, apparently there's an Auction House, and I've been vendoring scrolls, potions & other misc. stuff that I probably could have sold on the AH for considerably more profit.

I'm liking the fact that I can circle around Mobs and they don't spin like a dervish to automatically face me (as WoW's Mobs do). But there's also a To-Hit penalty for constantly Circle Strafing (or just trying to Attack while on the move) which will adversely affect the twitch-gamers. Still, it's the combat strategy I'm using to good effect, at least on Hard, although it may have caused my downfall when I tried to Solo Heyton's Rest on Elite and died to the first Sahuagin. Back to Hard I went, lesson learned and less over half my Starter Heal Pots.

I'm also really liking the physicality (for want of a better word) of your avatar. Not wanting to spoil Heyton's Rest I will anyway. The final room contains a Sahuagin Adept and three undead (usually two Skeletons and a Zombie) who rush you when you unlock their door. Fortunately you can stand in the doorway and if you position yourself just right, only 2 of the Mobs can get to you at any one time. Unfortunately the Sahuagin is a Caster so when he's not trying to smack you with his Staff he's firing off Magic Missiles, at least I think they're Magic Missile. But the physical presence of your avatars does add a little bit more strategy to battles than you're inclined to find in WoW. Now a Tank can block a doorway, deny the Mobs access to the rest of the Party, and really be a Tank as the Mobs all take out their frustration on him, and I really like that.

Finally, two of the Instances I've run have culminated in tile-shifting puzzles that are a definite change from the Tank & Spank Boss fights I'm very used to. After roping my son in and creating an account for him we Duo'd both Heyton's Rest and The Storeroom, the first Instance with a Puzzle-for-a-boss and while I could have completed it on my own (and already had on a previous attempt), I explained to the boy what he needed to do, then sat back and let him solve it on his own. The puzzle at the end of The Underground Complex (which I Solo'd on Normal, not Hard ;) had a slight twist to it that had me going for a while before I finally figured it out.

I'm still not sure where I'm going with DDO. I do like my Battle Cleric, but the more I read up on them, as viable as they are for Soloing, they're apparently not loved as much as Healbot Clerics (even though DDO Clerics were never meant to be Healbots) and they're apparently not as viable at End Game. But being an Explorer and not an Achiever I think you all know how I feel about End Game content, so the Battle Cleric could very well be my first DDO Character to hit Cap, and I suspect I'll enjoy every step of the journey.