The Five Commandments of Staying (Mostly) Free 2 Play

1) Thou Shalt Not Purchase the Drow

I know, the drow are awesome. Interesting culture, great abilities like natural Spell Resistance and a nice ability allotment, not to mention that everyone seems to want to make a Drizzt clone (An example of his epicness). However, you really should curb that until you've gotten four hundred total favor with one character, because then you'll have unlocked the drow for character creation on that server. At 995 Turbine Points the drow carry a hefty price tag and why should you pay for something you can get for free anyway, even if it goes on sale.

2) Thou Shalt Follow the Deals on the DDO Store

Speaking of deals, things go on sale in the DDO Store all the time. An easy way to keep track of what's on sale when is to watch the DDO Store page and the DDO Store Twitter. Believe me, as much as possible you want to buy things when they are on sale, it will save you a lot of time and money if you just wait for some things. Especially keep an eye out for adventure packs, even if you aren't in the level range yet, if you think you want to play those quests later on then you should purchase it ahead of time while it is on sale.

3) Thou Shalt Know the Favor Rewards of Each Adventure Pack

When considering which adventure packs to purchase, it is important to keep in mind how much favor each can grant you, as this will be your primary way of getting Turbine Points. In this respect some packs fare better than others, like the Catacombs and Tangleroot Gorge, whereas some others, like the Sharn Syndicate are more or less just a fun little story to enjoy (usually with awesome quest rewards as well). For a list of adventure packs and how much total favor they grant I suggest checking out this page on the DDO Wiki.

4) Thou Shalt Elite Everything

Of course, even if you buy the packs with the most favor it won't do you much good if you don't make sure to elite every single one of them (or as much as you can stomach...I tend to skip elite on Misery's Peak because the length of that adventure grates on me). By finishing each quest on elite you make sure to garner the most favor, and hence the most bonus Turbine Points.

5) Thou Shalt Reach 100 Favor With at Least One Toon on Each Server

People who grind favor for Turbine Points, which will be you if you want to unlock game features without spending much money, swear by this technique. The first time you reach certain amounts of Favor on a server you'll get a bonus amount of Turbine Points for free. Also for each 100 Favor you earn with a character you'll get 25 Turbine Points. This comes out to 125 "free" Turbine Points which you earn simply by playing a few quests. I'll be sharing my way to speed up the process in a later post.

Do you have any other suggestions for spending less money on DDO? Or are VIP or Premium more your thing?