Faction Grinders : A DDO Free to Play Blog

Festivult Returns To DDO

2010-12-23T15:17:00.000-06:00

WINTER FESTIVULT IS BACK

Festivult is in full swing, but there is still plenty of time left to jump in and enjoy the festivities. The city of Stormreach is brimming with exciting activities throughout this month-long celebration – Don't miss out!

The Festivult Jester has a cool task for you: earn Festivult coins from treasure chests and turn them in to the Jester for special rewards. Now through January 2nd.

The Risia Ice Games are in town from December 23rd through January 2nd.

Heat up with DDO's Winter Bonus Days!
You'll get a cool 10% XP bonus, 10% Guild Renown bonus, and +1 Loot Boost bonus! Now through January 2nd.

Golden Joystick Awards 2010

2010-11-02T16:05:00.001-05:00

Golden Joystick Awards 2010

The 28th Golden Joystick awards were held recently.

Here are the 2010 Winners:

The Action/Adventure Game Of The Year in association with Nuts
Winner: Assassin's Creed II

Runners Up: Batman: Arkham Asylum, Red Dead Redemption

Download Game Of The Year in association with Green Man Gaming
Winner: Plants vs. Zombies
Runners Up: Battlefield 1943, Call of Duty: World At War: Zombies

Fighting Game Of The Year in association with Official Nintendo Magazine
Winner: Street Fighter IV
Runners Up: Tekken 6, Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny

Music Game Of The Year in association with Total Film
Winner: Guitar Hero 5
Runners Up: DJ Hero, The Beatles: Rock Band

The One To Watch in association with MSN
Winner: Call of Duty: Black Ops
Runners Up: Fallout: New Vegas, Star Wars: The Old Republic

Online Game Of The Year in association with CVG
Winner: League of Legends
Runners Up: Aion: The Tower Of Eternity, Farmville

Portable Game Of The Year in association with Habbo
Winner: Pokémon Heart Gold/Soul Silver
Runners Up: Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines, Plants vs. Zombies

Puzzle Game Of The Year in association with NGamer
Winner: World of Goo
Runners Up: Professor Layton and Pandora's Box, Scribblenauts

Racing Game Of The Year in association with T3
Winner: Forza Motorsport 3
Runners Up: Need For Speed: Shift. Colin McRae: Dirt 2

RPG Of The Year in association with GamesRadar

Winner: Mass Effect 2
Runners Up: Fallout 3: Game Of The Year Edition, Final Fantasy XIII

Shooter Of The Year in association with IGN Game On
Winner: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Runners Up: Bad Company 2, Left 4 Dead 2

Soundtrack Of The Year in association with Metal Hammer
Winner: Final Fantasy XIII
Runners Up: Brutal Legend, Assassin's Creed 2

Sports Game Of The Year in association with Mousebreaker
Winner: FIFA 10
Runners Up: Wii Sports Resort, Skate 3

Strategy Game Of The Year in association with PC Gamer
Winner: Plants vs. Zombies
Runners Up: The Sims 3, Age of Empires III: Collection

UK Developer Of The Year in association with Edge
Winner: Jagex

Runners Up: Rockstar North

Best Favor Earnings per Turbine Points Spent?

2010-08-03T17:55:00.000-05:00

What Adventure Packs Are the Best Favor Earnings per Turbine Points Spent?

Adventure Pack // Turbine Point Cost // Favor Earned // Favor per TP Spent Ratio

Sarrowdusk Island - 400 / 117 = 0.295

The Vail of Twilight - 700 / 207 = 0.295

Reaver’s Reach - 350 / 96 = 0.274

The Necropolis part 3 - 350 / 93 = 0.265

The Catacomb - 250 / 66 = 0.264

The Demon Sands - 850 / 216 = 0.254

The Necropolis part 1 - 250 / 60 = 0.24

The Necropolis part 2 - 350 / 81 = 0.231

The Devils of Shavarath - 650 / 147 = 0.226

The Ruins of Gainthold - 995 / 216 = 0.217

The Ruins of Thernal - 550 / 108 = 0.196

Shan-to-Kor - 250 / 48 = 0.192

Tangleroot Gorge - 550 / 99 = 0.18

Delera’s Tomb - 750 / 129 = 0.172

The Restless Isles - 600 / 99 = 0.165

Three Barrel Cove - 650 / 99 = 0.152

The Vault of Night- 800 / 126 = 0.15

The Necropolis part 4- 850 / 117 = 0.137

Sharn Syndicate- 350 / 48 = 0.137

Devil Assualt- 150 / 15 = 0.1

Turbine Point Favor Rewards

2010-08-03T17:42:00.000-05:00

Turbine Point Favor Rewards

The following chart depicts favor Rewards that are earned by achieving each tier for the first time on a server. These rewards can only be earned once per server.

Favor.........TP reward
5................50
25...............25
50...............25
500..............50
1000.............100
2000..............100
3000..............100

In addition to the once per server rewards each character on an account may earn Turbine point favor rewards at the rate of 25 TP for every 100 favor earned.

Character Name Generator

2010-08-03T17:22:00.000-05:00

Character Name Generator is a nice little tool I found that helps you think of a new characters name. We all know how hard it is to think of a name only to find that someone else has already taken it! So let this little tool help you out.

Designed for DDO, but can be used for any game or at least to get your brain thinking to help with the possibly frustrating naming process. On Free to Play games, naming is a super son-of-a-whore. So hope this helps.

Check out these cool Dragon Gift Ideas.

Turbine Points Costs of Adventure Packs and Guest Passes.

2010-08-03T16:43:00.000-05:00

Turbine Points Costs of Adventure Packs and Guest Passes.

Adventure Pack	Levels	Turbine Points	30 Mins	90 Mins	180 Mins
The Catacombs	3 to 4	250	15	25	40
The Seal of Shan-To-Kor	3 to 5	250	15	25	40
Tangleroot Gorge	3 to 7	550	30	50	85
The Sharn Syndicate	4	350	20	30	55
Three-Barrel Cove	4 to 7	650	35	60	100
Phiarlan Carnival	4 to 7	450	??	??	???
The Necropolis Part 1	5 to 6	250	15	25	40
Delera's Tomb	5 to 11	750	40	70	115
Sentinels of Stormreach	6 to 8	450	25	40	70
Sorrowdusk Isle	6 to 10	450	25	40	70
Devil Assault	6 to 16	150	10	15	25
The Necropolis Part 2	8 to 9	350	20	30	55
The Ruins of Threnal	8 to 10	550	30	50	85
The Vault of Night	8 to 10	750	40	70	115
The Restless Isles	10	550	30	50	85
Demon Sands	10 to 12	850	45	75	130
The Necropolis Part 3	11 to 12	350	20	30	55
Ruins of Gianthold	13 to 14	950	50	85	145
The Necropolis Part 4	14 to 17	850	45	75	130
The Vale of Twilight (with Subterrane)	16 to 17	650	35	60	100
The Reaver's Reach	17	350	20	30	55
The Path of Inspiration	17 to 19	450	25	40	70
The Dreaming Dark	18 to 20	450	25	40	70
The Devils of Shavarath	19 to 20	650	35	60	100

Tips for Beginners

2010-08-03T16:13:00.000-05:00

Copied this from a post by bodhidharma from http://ddo.warcry.com/forums/read/49.145720-The-Unofficial-F2P-DDO-Strategy-Guide-Sigils-Leveling-and-Points.

Great introductory write-up for new players, so I borrowed it. Credit has been given above.

(I have removed outdated content)

If you haven't heard yet Dungeon and Dragons Online (DDO) has gone Free to Play. As a former subscriber, I decided to put DDO to the test and find out the nitty gritty on how free it really is. What I have found out is the claims are true.

After character creation you will appear on Korthos island. There you go through a quick tutorial on gameplay and certain things that help you operate the game.

You will also notice that there are premium modules that can be purchased. This is how Turbine intends to make its money. In order to avoid paying as little to get to level 20, or pay nothing at all there are a few strategies that will help you get off to a fast start.

1. Create a new toon on every single server.

Turbine has linked getting free points with its favor system. For every 100 favor points you earn 25 free Turbine points that you can spend in its store. For each first time toon on a new server they give you bonus points. As an example you gain 100 points by the time you reach 100 favor on your first toon. This favor bonus is obtainable on all six servers. So it is in your best interest to level at least one toon and get as much favor as possible.

2. Avoid buying consumable and fluff items.

These are usually small increments in cost but they add up. Nearly everything you see in the store for consumables can be found or bought in the game with plat.

3. When you spend points use them for a new module on sale.

At some point you will have quite a bit of points you earned for free. Hit the tab that says todays deals. A lot of the times there will be a mod that has a reduced Turbine point price. Try to buy a module with a lot of quests in it. Lots of quests = more favor = lots of potential turbine points that can be earned. Avoid buying any high level quests areas until you have a significant number of high level toons for that area.

4. Don't buy the drow.

This is one of the easiest things in the game you get for free per server by gaining 400 favor points on each server.

5. Run every quest that you are high enough to complete up to elite.

Every time you run a quest for the first time only on a harder difficulty will earn you favor points. With all the free quests available there is a potential of 900 plus favor points you can earn without ever having to spend a dime.

So yes it is for free. Turbine will make you work for it if you want to never spend a dime but it can be easily done. It just takes time. The optimal way to really do it is buy points every now and then to supplement Turbine points you earn. But either way using this strategy will allow you to unlock the entire game.

One of the nice features about this F2P way is once you buy a module you can use it on all servers. So make sure you go back on each server and run those new modules up to elite. This will get you more points allowing you to purchase more mods.

Good luck and see you in the game.