Just how "free to play" is DCUO?

Finally got the game installed and spent the day playing. Im enjoy the game so far, mostly.

First, cash cap. Capped at 1500 and everything else goes into a escrow. An escrow that, as far as i can tell, i cant touch unless i drop cash on something. I did some poking around and that 1500 is kinda crippling. I was in a Doomsday raid [more on this later] and we wiped. A lot. To the point i ran out of cash and coudent repair anymore. Anything from a vender or on the marketplace above 1500 i wont be able to buy, ever.

Bank. Uhh is some of it missing? First time i opened it i laughed. Looks like i wont be keeping much around. Cant even buy things and stock pile them with my extra cash before it goes into escrow because theres so little room.

Ive read somewhere that there is entire content, raids and what not, that i wont even be able to experience. How is a game "free to play" when content is wallet locked? Can i reach end game content as a free to play player?

Back to the doomsday raid. I got this chest thing in the end i coudent even open. Or sell. Or do anything with. Because im not a member. .

Is this game free to play, or free to experience? I want to play the game, but i would like to play the full game not a trial of the game.

the game isn't Free to Play. not all of it. there's a whole bunch of stuff that you can play for free - everything up to tier 4, & all the seasonals / specials - & they're always adding more stuff that you can play for free, but if you want to go the full monty then you'll have to pony up for the episodes ( although, every now & then, they'll open up all the episodes for the free / premium players ).

so, cliff notes, not free, but plenty to experience while you decided whether to sub or not.

&, yeah, the cash cap's a pain in the chuddies, for sure, but it's not impossible to work around. I suggest the first thing you do is spend a fiver in the marketplace - buying some extra bank space, maybe - & that'll bunce you up to 2000 premium limit, still not perfect, but, as I say, you can work around it. make some in-game friends. that'll help, a lot.

here's my advise and what to do. as you said....you enjoy it. so that is sorta the point of why it's free. when you can't repair it's a good idea to have stuff stocked up inventory to sell. so there is that workaround. but really....the best option is to just pay the 15 dollars and have access to everything. any episodes you pass and don't need or want to play anymore then when your sub runs out you can buy the ones you want or need. but you get free replays that always stay there. unlock unlimited lockboxes. you will likely gear up rather quickly. i personally think i'm better off if i know i'm going to play to just sub. cuz trust me. you are going to want to see much of the early alerts and duos if you have not eperienced them. and anything you unlock that you don't own while subbed is yours to keep. you also get loyalty points to spend at the safehouse vendors to buy more bank slots. auras. and other marketplace stuff. and those are yours to get keep even after you decide not to sub. plus some episodes are just not worth paying the 5 or 10 bucks for but some are still very much worth experiencing. All of the war of light. Blackest Night, Sons of Trigon. Amazon Fury, Unholy Matrimony.

Amazon Fury Part 2 and 3 and War of the Light Part 2 is prolly IMO the best content of the game. They really need to be experienced.

All i really read here is its mandatory to pay 15 bucks to play a free to play game.

Yeah, more like free to try. But since when did it become a novel concept to pay for something you’re using? I do think that the tiny money cap and meagre inventory space are really unfair to newcomers though.

Every free to play game ive ever played i still had to buy the dlcs. Pretty much the norm for ftp games.

okay....after you hit a certain point as previously noted. you will have to pay for the extra content. so add up each episode and it will be way more than 15 bucks. once you hit a certain combat rating you will have to pay.

The issue is not paying, the issue is its starting to feel like its mandatory to pay for a free to play game. There are plenty of free to play games out there that do not lock up any core features or game play behind a pay wall. Dropping cash in a free to play game should be optional while still being able to experience the entire game.

Something is telling me that you are not new to the game, but your attempting to shine a light on something you dislike.

If you've never played how do you know how many bank slots you should have or if any are missing.

It is free to play but it does have limits like all the free to play games.

The difference being you cannot grind away for everything and they choose to put a majority behind a paywall.

The game did not start as a free to play game, it opened up to allow players to join for free and play for free but you will have limits.

Cash cap is 1, bank and a few more as well for free to play players.

Spending $5 can loosen it up a bit.

I dunno man, showing my age here but I come from the time of demoes and shareware, so none of the restrictions surprised me in the least. Are there really games that operate the way you seem to be expecting? How do they cover their overheads?

Path Of Exile. I know the games arent exactly the same, but they arent all that dissimilar. There is plenty they could have put behind a cash wall, stash slots [you start with 4 HUGE stashes] character slots, ect. Yet there micro transaction market is primarily cosmetic items. They do free to play right. And do justice to the players. I never felt like i NEEDED to pay to experience the game there.

the core original game is free....all added content you have to pay for. you really actually get quite bit free. and the newest content does have the event versions to experience which are free.

DCUO is'nt Free to play. Its like a Trail Version, not more.

Probably why a lot of people havent heard of Path of Exile too. The issue you're having is taking the words "free to play" too literally and then expecting something unrealistic. Its free to play, you can play up to T3-T4 free, beyond that you buy DLC (Episodes). Episodes are Additional Content, not base game. Cost money to make this additional content so it needs to be made back.

Way I see it, a game is like any other hobby. If you like it, you put $$$ into it. Friend of mine said many people drop $30 to $50 when they go out for a meal and a few drinks while watching a game at a sports bar. Within a few hours all those drinks and food is going down the toilet, literally. You spend $50 on DCUO, the Lair system, Utility Belts, extra inventory / character slots, DLC, those are there as long as the game lasts.

To me, Free To Play is a 'Trial' with no time limit. Lets you really experience the game, and if you like it, you can either get a subscription or purchase the things you want. My first MMO was Everquest which I started in 2005 when there was no F2P. The free 'Trial' was just the tutorial area; nothing else. You bought the game at a store. When new content came out, you bought it at the store; no DLC til a few years later. Then you bought a sub. By the time I stopped playing EQ, F2P had begun, and that's when they really started nickle-and-diming everyone, because they aren't going to create and maintain a game for nothing.

It's the way gaming today is.

Original game IS free to play. Everything beyond that costs money - DLCs, extra powers, extra weapon, bank expansions.

Bottom line...FTP=Test run. It's to give you a taste to see if you like the game enough to actually pay for content. It's actually pretty affordable. If you sub for 6 months you pay like 75 bucks and pretty much get everything, all the DLC's, no escrow, no need to buy Pro keys, additional things (NOT "Free" as some ftp player state...if you subbed you did PAY for it.) access to brokers. And if you play a couple hours a day it's costing you like 50 cents a day. So...that's what "FTP" means in this game. You will NOT get 100% of the content for zero dollars...if you did, a lot of subscribers would be asking "Why am I giving them money if I can get it all free?" Not a good profit plan. Daybreak is a business, not a "Let's give everyone free stuff cause we really like gamers!"

The BASE game and events are free to play. If you want the EXTRAS (DLCs, escrow, utility belt, powers, lairs, etc.) you have to pay.

As others have mentioned before: In Free to play models there will always be two things:

- stuff behind a paywall
- stuff for members that's convenient to have

@Progeekzy:

There is plenty of stuff you can do to check out the game further while still being Free to Play. I'd like to list a few of them here. But first, I'd like to sum up, what content is free to play (for Heroes because I play on hero side, the number of instances stays the same if you are a Villain):

F2P Content:

Tier 1:

Missions: All Toyland Quests (main Hub Watchtower), Open World Bounties (pretty sure these drop MoV up until CR43

Challenges (Solos): Mainnheim's Chinese Theater, Lair of the Spectre, The Joker's Funhouse, 8th Precinct

Duos: OMAC Base, HIVE Base, Gotham University, Metropolis City Hall

Alerts (4 Man): Watchtower Containment Facility, ACE Chemicals, Smallville, Area 51

Tier 2:

Challenges (Solos): Gotham Sewer, The Greenhouse, Old Gotham Subway

Duos: (none since they are all DLC Related)

Alerts (4 Man): HIVE Moon Base, Outer Caverns, Oolong Island

Raids (8 Man): Batcave: Outer Caverns, Batcave: Inner Sanctum, Batcave: Brainiac Sub Construct, Kahndaq

Tier 3:

Challenges (Solos): Monarch Playing Card Factory, Circe's Stronghold, STAR Labs Facility, East End Regal Hotel

Duos: Cape Carmine Lighthouse, Old Gotham Subway

Alerts (4 Man): League of Assassins Stronghold, Stryker's Island Penitantiary, Arkham Asylum

Raids (8 Man): Fortress of Solitude: The Chasm, FoS: Power Core, FoS: Sunstone Matrix

Tier 4:

Duos: Hall of Doom: Recovery, Shadowlands, STAR Laps Satellite
Alerts: Batcave: Inner Sanctum

Tier 5: Virtues over Vices (Hall of Heroes, pretty sure it's F2P)

As for Gear you can get the Tier 1 Sets (Fate's Faith, Speedforce Spectrum, STEELSuit MK-1), Tier 2 Sets (Dark Specter Batsuit, Hera's Strength, House of El Warsuit) and Tier 3 Sets (Sunstone's Edge and either Kryptonian Medico/Commander or Sunstone Bulwark depending on your power). As for Tier Four: I'm not sure if you still need the Battle for Earth DLC or not.

Also: Event mode of each new DLC (atm it's Deluge and (permanently: Death of Superman). Also, all Seasonal Events (chonologically the next ones will be: Summer Event, Halloween, Winter Holidays, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Spring Event).

So as you can see, there's plenty of stuff to do just by being "free to play". By the time you're Tier Four, you will probably already have decided if you want to continue playing or not. And if you do: Get that subscription, I wouldn't advise buying seperate DLC Packs. But then again, it's your decision in the end.


How to deal with the Cash Cap and only so much space in your Bank/Inventory:

1. Everytime you reach the 1500$ Cap, buy some Soder Cola Extremes or Soder Enhancers. They both stack to 99 so they'll last for a while. Stash them in your bank and shared bank. It's enough space in the beginning.
   
   If you need repairs, sell always only a few of said items if you run out of money to repair with.
   
2. Items you might wanna keep: see 1.) Also, Exobits and bytes, simple mats and complex mats. They also stack up to 99. You won't need much of them until the end game.
   
3. If you find collections: Consume them, if they are duplicates, check the broker if they are worth anything. Worth= 100.000$ and above. Rest can just be deleted.
   
4. Here's what you do with gear:
   
   - Style not collected? Equip it.
   - Stats are worse than what you have: Sell/Salvage/Delete it
   - New gear is better than your Vendor Piece? Delete Vendor Piece.
   - Go with one role only. I advise going with DPS because it eases up solo content.
   
5. Make a second toon just to stash stuff there. That's what the shared bank is for.

Last bit of advice: Start small. Do your daily outdoor missions, do some solos and duos and when you get more gear, start with alerts (Deluge has a duo and an alert event mode as well). Learn your role and how enemies work in DCUO. Then, go to raids. You said, the Doomsday event raid was a total wipefest. Usually it's due to very new players not paying attention to mechanics. Just because you're boosted it does not mean that you're invincible. Stay at range in the beginning and do, what the screen indicators tell you (activate stuff, etc). By ignoring everything as a new player you're bound to get knocked out over and over again.



You see, there's plenty of things to learn and to do without spending a penny on the game. If you really enjoy it, then get a subscription and a league and enjoy even more content, achievements, new styles and new friends

And it's nothing too utopic. I started the same way. And when I started, there were even less things to do and no Tier 4 free to play stuff. It works really good to test, if you like the game.

How much do you expect to get for free? How do you expect them to keep the lights on if the game was truly free???

You can get literally everything in this game for $15 a month, which is not a lot of money. Skip a trip or two to McDonald's or something and you'll have it. The whole point of the restrictions is to entice people to sub with inconveniences. The fact you made this thread means it's working, and nothing will change about it. Either spend money and loosen some of the restrictions, or live with them. Nothing more will be given to you for free, and the fact you expect more is kind of greedy and niave.