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Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited: Third Most Popular MMO Says NPD Survey
MikeB
Community ManagerAdministrator RarePosts: 6,555
A new survey of online players conducted by the NPD Group has revealed some interesting developments as far as what MMOs gamers are playing.
NPD surveyed 19,000 gamers (68% male vs 32% female) and found that Dungeons & Dragons Online has replaced Guild Wars as the third most popular MMO. World of Warcraft is of course king at 30%, and RuneScape comes in second at 10%. For the past two years Guild Wars has been in the #3 spot, but Dungeons & Dragons Online edged out ArenaNet's CORPG by 1% in this year's survey.
DDO has also enjoyed a surge in popularity when the NPD asked what former WoW players were playing, knocking Guild Wars out once again and becoming the second most popular choice behind RuneScape. The number of former WoW players playing DDO has more than doubled since 2008, and most gamers probably won't be surprised to know why DDO has enjoyed the surge in popularity. As it would turn out, the popularity of the traditional subscription model has declined sharply, from 30% in 2008 as the preferred model, to just 18% this year, while the free-to-play model is on the rise. DDO gets to have their cake and eat it too as they offer both.
via Massively.
[Thanks Cecropia for the tip!]
Comments
As I read a summary linked somewhere else, this is only based on what players who quit WoW played next, not what all MMO gamers were playing.
Either way, I don't think this is accurate . I question both the list of games (and lack of others on the list) and the order they appear.
The survey outlines what MMOs players are currently playing as well as what former WoW players are currently playing.
Way I read it there are 18 games that former WoW gamers are playing with 5% to 13% share. You don't need to be a genius to realise that what the survey is really telling you is that there isn't one game that former WoW players go to next, they choose from all that is out there and spread out amongst the many mmo.
The "What former WoW players are playing now" was a seperate survey.
The top 3 MMOs for former WoW players are:
Runescape
D&DO
Guild Wars
Reading is FUNdamental
Interesting data, though it was expected to see DDO increasing a lot, it's like making your movie theater play films for free entrance.
Went back to the game this past week -- first time since it went f2p. The intro/tutorial is MUCH improved. And I'm slowly being convinced that f2p with micro-transactions is the better payment plan. Why? Because I don't have to pay for features I don't want like Raids. I'll buy the things I want, and I'm not subsidizing other players who play 80 hours a week.
Also, Turbine can see exactly what sort of conent garners the most demand by what people purchase.
My only complaint, and this is an old one from it's day one launch, is that there isn't enough open space exploration. I wish Turbine would open up the world more.
_____________________________
Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO
Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
Find the Truth: http://www.factcheck.org/
Comprehension failure. When the article states 'looking at every aspect...' it means there's a spectrum of sorts, or an amalgum...and within that sampling SOME are WoW players, not all.
_____________________________
Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO
Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
Find the Truth: http://www.factcheck.org/
You were quick... I changed my post as I re-read it.
There's always one!
I don't believe it, prove it to me and I still won't believe it.
Um, because, like, um, all ten people I, um, know, are like, um, not even knowing, um, what D IS, um, it means... um, that the survey of 19,000 people is, um, all, um, like, wrong.
Pfft! Anecdote is NOT statistics. if the tite of the article was: "What my friends who used to play WoW are playing now" then some of the respondents above would likely have a foot to stand on.
And if you want to see the actual numbers where these stats came from, you need to pay NPD for a copy. Apparently, they are not charity.
yeah, sorry. D was supposed to be DDO... no edit feature?
Are they trying to tell us that out of the millions of players who have tried and played WoW, more of those millions have gone back to playing Runescape than anything else? If this is what they're saying, I'm going to have a hard time believing much of what this survey has to say. Going from WoW to Runescape sounds like a regression.
It's bad enough they chose a sample size of 66% male, 34% female, which most MMO players know is not the case in the industry as a whole.
I really think this needs to be taken with a very large grain of salt. I don't know who they interviewed, or how they got to them, but this seems a bit off.
You people amuse me. "Oh, the sample size is wrong!" "The numbers are wrong!" "The survey is inaccurate!" "This survey doesn't match up with what I think, so it MUST be wrong!!!!"
So what if you don't agree with it. Big deal. Number comparisons are boiled down in some comments on the Massive page if you even bothered to go take a look at some responses. For example, for every 100 WoW players 1 plays DDO (or something to that effect, don't have the page open atm). This sounds pretty reasonable and accurate.
All you guys who sit there are tear apart reports like this need to grow the fuck up. "Oh, only 19k people were polled, that's WRONG!!!" It's called a "sample". Go look it up.
I'm sorry, but it is a hard fact that not everyone is as addicted to WoW as you. People do eventually try other things and I'm sorry that the numbers are more than you think they are. I'm sorry that surveys like this aren't approved by you first so they can be more "accurate".
Oh wait, no I'm not sorry in the least. I've said it above and I'll stay it again. Grow the fuck up people. You guys are the only people that I've ever seen tear into a statistics report so deeply because you got butthurt that it doesn't match up with your made up statistics.
No wonder I get laughed at when I mention I follow news on this site, followed up with the question of "how do you deal with all the kids signed up over there?" Now I'm starting to realize where they're coming from.
NEWS FLASH! PAYING THE SUB IN F2P = NO DIFFERENCE THAN P2P GAMES!
Why the hell can't the whiners comprehend this?
Of course DDO has seen a rise in popularity since 2008. It went from P2P to F2P. Now lets see what former WOW players are paying to play after leaving WOW. Lets see what the minimum requirements are to classify you as a former WOW player and therefore paid subscriber. Anyone in these surveys that played the free trial? Is 1 year long enough to make you qualify to take this survey? Show us the entire survey first before telling everyone that DDO is something worth being on any list like this.
MMO "articles" like this are a waste of everyones time if the stats behind the numbers aren't shown. If I need to search another site for breakdowns of the numbers etc. then why bother saying anything on mmorpg.com. Again just a wasted page filler of an article.
And so the trolls come out from under their bridges...
Make it so...
I'm giving it all she's got Capt'n but the trolls keep coming lol.
But anyway it is nice seeing D&D is doing well.
I have a hard time also understanding what all the trouble with the survey is, we all know a survey can't tell us what every single individual is doing out there (and isn't meant to) and it doesn't proclaim to. I know when I played DDO back in Dec it was full of people and have certainly heard enough positive talk about the changes that even if the numbers are somehow not accurate in total they can and do reflect a trend that exists. I don't play DDO right now so I'm really not jumping to it's defense I'm just wondering as others have why do we feel the need to do this.
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
i played ddo, it was boring as hell. the dugeons were fun one time through. thats it
Let me guess you tried to solo a MMO that was designed to play in parties.....
DDO was always a decent game, just that the soloers disliked it. Since they have added more solo friendly content it has become a better game, but the fun still is far better when playing with a party.
^^ This
Players come to DDO expecting a solo option, but it's just not there. The "solo" feature in DDO is really more to familiarize yourself with the game. After that, there is no good reason to play a dungeon by yourself.
This game is designed to be a online version of the pen-and-paper D&D. How many people do you know that play D&D by themselves?
The trend today seems to be for the typical MMO player to play a game solo and only interact with other people when they want to show off their loot or gear. Sad.
How ironic I just starting playing DDO this month.
... if you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss will also gaze into you.-Friedrich Nietzsche
I really dont understand why some players would rather play by themselves rather than with others, DDO is a group orientated game, but even getting away from that, like any MMO, the most fun you can have in game is when your having fun with other people, as for the showing off loot or gear etc, thats a feature thats probably grown with WoW, it is sad, and also so pointless, and its virtual one upmanship like this that is probably encouraging players not to work together, but instead to be competing against each other...
What I found interesting in the list was that DAOC was still quite high on in. Considering all the games that have since came out that is quite an achievement.
In regards to the F2P and subscriptions models, although the percentage of F2P players in the survey may be on the rise when you look at the list you will notice that in number of games on it is still heavily dominated by subscription games. Until the overall quality of F2P games come up to the standard of the subscription based ones this is unlikely to change.
The comment "The current favored payment model is that of a lifetime subscription -- 22% named that as their favorite" is interesting as I think there are two games on the list that currently offer lifetime subscriptions (LOTRO and CO). Hopefully more games will start looking at this model also, even the existing ones.
Some people says, DDO tries to imitate Pen and Paper D&D, I would say it isn't the case. Let me explain why. What D&D is about? Is it about killing monsters? I doubt it. D&D itself is in an identity crisis for some years, and it is visible by amount of players vanishing, and people who want older editions back. Think a bit about potential players of D&D or other RPGs. As you can guess their motivations are different. The linked articles try to explain a few things about these issues from the perspective of a player. As you can guess playerbase of D&D is mixed, but D&D players don't depend on their WASD skills, the encounters aren't run realtime. D&D is a turn based game.
And for great part of playerbase it isn't about dungeon crawl, killing monsters but it is about roleplaying. For others it is about a tactical gameplay. While some people think it is about having an "efficient build" (instead of unique character) and earning a lot of loot ad upgrades, D&D was and should be much more complex than that with much more freedom, and this is where DDO was a disappointment for me. But for many gamers who doesn't come with a D&D background it might be better depending on what would they want.
While it is easy to compare these data to actual subscribtion numbers, etc and see NPD wasn't that accurate and it can be explained with quite a few reaons, their data is interesting. But would PLEX option in Eve considered "free to play" game? Both PLEX an several ways to implement Free to play games are good ways to target some "special markets". Free to play MMOs are getting popular, but not only for players, but for developers as well. Since they are often more profitable than going singleplayer with a restrictive DRM. If we would have a single shard, sandbox fantasy MMO with a nice big world, with subscribtion options similar to what you have in Eve Online, it would be very very popular...
Sorry for the lots of links, but repeating everything for explanation would make a very long post (wall of text) and would require a lot of work, it was easier this way.
Check my home page for gaming related articles
Agreed. I don't think it's necessarily a feature of WoW however, but of immaturity in general. These people are drawn to online games -- not for the social interaction -- but to be noticed. "Look at me! Look at me! Me! Me! Me!" It's the same line of thinking that causes them to carve '666' on their foreheads or get a nose-ring (can you say "Bessie the cow?"). If they are not constantly the center of attention, they go out of their way to make themselves the center of attention. Side effects include (but are not limited to) griefing, corpse-camping, chat spam, and forum rage.
Unfortunately, I believe that my generation created these little freak shows, although I will only take credit for two of them.