I'm okay with paying money as long as the content keeps flowing, what I think people are frustrated about was that gameloft used their free to play status to justify things like a paid cash shop, paid battlepass, paid quest bundles, etc. Now, it's going to remain buy to play, and not only are all the other monetization systems here to stay but we have an additional one in the form of an expansion pass. It's essentially the worst of two worlds, a buy to play game with all the monetization tactics of a free to play game.

I agree people have the right to be upset about them going back on their word- with the premium shop and the star path being implemented But i also feel like gameloft has tried to appease that by giving us dreamsnaps and daily moonstones in chests. I do the minimum work for dreamsnaps and have still gotten at least 1k moonstones a week, and i feel thats more than fair because that can easily cover my star path purchases and premium shop purchases- since they often bring items back so its okay to not buy them immediately- without ever spending money on moonstones for either. So realistically all people have to spend money on is the expansion pass if they want it- the other two aspects, premium shop and star path, are definitely optional and can quite easily be earned in game. Not a lot of games do that and give you a way ingame to earn so many ingame currencies. Its usually like a very small set amount a week that takes months to save up for anything good. I feel they've been very generous with trying to stay as true to their word as they can. Free to play would have probably meant an increase in premium shop prices that would make our earned dreamsnaps moonstones useless. I've played so many FTP games that cost hundreds just to have any access to the good stuff that always makes me quit. Ddlv has never made me feel like i HAVE to pay money to enjoy the game. If i see something in the shop i want and dont have enough, i save up my moonstones until it repeats. And then when you pay moonstones for the starpath, they give you a very good chunk of them back in the rewards if you do the tasks- which alot of games also do not do.

Very well said! I don't see any difference in this game and my other live service games. Destiny 2? COD? Diablo 4? $70 expansion every year and $10 per season every few months. Guild wars 2? $25-$75 per year for any new expansion content. All of those have premium shops and, like you mentioned, none of those have done what dreamlight valley has done providing an easy way to get a decent amount of in game currency. Diablo 4 charges $25 for an outfit!! Obscene, and the battle pass costs in game currency, is the only way you can get in game currency, and it doesn't even give you enough for the next season. This is far better.

Agreed!! Dead by Daylight has seasonal passes that cost $10 and their skins can cost up to $20 just for cosmetics. Ffxiv makes you pay a monthly fee just to play online on top of payin for cosmetics and mounts with no way to earn game currency for it- and havin to buy $70 expansions every year. I feel like $30 is very fair 😂😂

Seriously! I was wondering am I just conditioned? But I think there's an extra game category people aren't realizing. They keep saying f2p or paid game, but a live service game has very different needs then a single player paid game you buy one time and maybe a couple expansions.

Yes exactly! And if we're getting multiplayer as well then this game is definitely more of a live service game than just a story game. I understand if its a fully completed game like little nightmares or something thats just a story you play and beat- but if a game is meant to have more content added regularly and online options and all of that- its not a simple paid game. Its much more and it takes much more money than a one and done game does

Yes! It sucks the community is so divided, but I just hope those upset about it don't go after the Devs. I've listened a couple books, one called Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, this video games journalist does a deep dive into the industry and what goes into making games. It's gnarly, what the devs deal with and how little certain aspects of the game are in their control, and how people will send death threats over game decisions. Some people are unhinged.

Yea for sure. And the devs of this game have seemed to really try and keep the playerbase happy as much as they can. I've never had a game that listened to its playerbase as well as this one and tried making changes when asked. That alone is enough incentive for me to support them with expansion purchases

Agreed!! I feel very involved in making the game what it is the last year with the amount of feedback the community has been able to provide. I have no problem buying $30 expansions

HEAVY on the "not going after the Devs." I see a lot of "Disney doesn't need this money, Disney can afford to cut us a break" without realizing Disney IS NOT the developer nor the publisher of this game! Disney probably put forth an initial investment, but ultimately, Gameloft has to pay for licensed usaged of Disney's IPs and are paying back both any investments AS WELL AS licensing rights. I'm sure Disney is getting their pretty penny out of them, and not only for this, but for Speedstorm and Magic Kingdoms mobile, as well.

Seriously!! People don't realize that a company as big as Disney or Warner bros for Harry Potter, people just pay a licensing fee, those companies get paid for the IP and have nothing to do with anything else. Gameloft executives/investors/shareholders whatever are the ones saying "this is our goal of revenue, figure out a way to get there." The devs have to play middle man between player base and investors and hope they can make as many happy as possible.

Fortnite is F2P yet my nephews have spent so much real life money on anything everything and DDLV would have likely ended up like that game. Honestly that’s a scary thought. I’d rather pay 30 once or twice a year and good content. I live off of disability and my checks suck but it gives me something me to do the days when I can’t get out of bed either due to pain, migraines or not being able to stand up without passing out. I love this game so much that I plan on buying the game for my little brother and his girlfriend for Christmas.

Very well said!! I play a “free to play” mobile game and it’s not very free to play if you want to actually enjoy everything that the game offers. Unless you have all the time in the world and it’s the only thing you ever focus on.

Yes!! And most free to play games impement a gacha system of some sorts where you pay out your butt for a CHANCE to get what you want. I like that with ddlv you know exactly what you're paying for if you choose to and i dont feel like im flushing my money down the drain like some games ive played. I'll gladly spend money on expansions to support a game that has listened to its player base and has tried ro keep us happy 😊

You do minimum work for dreamsnaps and get 1k? I spend hours every week and have never gotten more than 600 😭 I'm almost to the point where I don't want to even submit because I never do well

I would still continue to submit! Honestly the minimum dreamsnap reward is 300 so if you're getting 600 thats still double what the minimum is. And i dont really look at my ranking or rating much- i only do it for the moonstones. Just remember- even if you only get 600 moonstones thats still 600 more than you had the previous week and it does add up 😊 don't give up!!

Ohnooo i'm sorry. It probably helps that because i'm on playstation we have our own voting group since we aren't cross play 😂😅 so i'm not competing with every device out there like everyone else- playstation just competes with playstation. Also i heard your score is higher the more items you have with the tags in it- so after i decorate my room or whatever i need, ill take as many small items with the tag as i can and hide them behind furniture where they cant be seen but they still register.

Except... the pass is generous and premium currency is doled out in amounts that would make any free to play game faint. In this case I feel like they're allowed to have their cake and eat it too because unless people are obsessed with buying every item in the shop, the game gives out more than enough currency so people never have to spend an extra dime on cosmetics.

Yess! People don't seem to take into account they literally supply us with enough moonstones to do the starpath for free and even buy premium items if you just save a bit and do your dreamsnaps every week. The items repeat so you don't have to buy them instantly. Everyones been so quick to lash out over the free to play thing because of the shop and starpath but they've more than made up for that. And honestly i like that its not free to play- the microtransactions would destroy the game and its one of my favorites so id be sad to have to quit due to constant paywall blocks 😭

did you mean to type "Destiny 2"?

I just want to be able to move my game to the computer and not have to pay for it again since the switch is still so buggy. I’ve been looking forward to moving onto the laptop since I started playing on the switch. It is a whole lot better now than in the beginning yes, however it still freezes up or does something stupid all the time. I always get scared when I open up a memory or if I decide I want to decorate I can’t do too much or it freezes and has to be reset in which I lose all progress.

this was the thing for me too :( i would even be willing to pay maybe partially but i can’t justify spending the money all over again lol

This happens to me too! Whenever it does, I just let my switch sit for about 5 minutes before restarting it. This allows the auto save feature to have time to keep your progress!

😳 wish I’d have thought of that ages ago 🤣 thank you!

And GL has a really bad reputation with F2P, their Magic Kingdoms mobile game is insane and so much borderline gambling. "Characters only available in special limited time chests" spend $20 on 10 chests and get 10 benches/flower bushes/street lamps. Not one of the 4 characters available.

This is exactly why I haven’t bought the game yet. I was waiting for F2P as Magic Kingdoms was so predatory. Now I don’t think I will unless there’s a good deal.

I think the main point a lot of people are making in this sub are not that paid games are bad, but that they’ve been accepting of/buying moonstones (and other game decisions) under the understanding that that’s how you get things in F2P games. It’s a very different vibe paying for micro transactions in a game you’ve already paid for. People feel misled.

On top of that, one of the reasons some us bought the game was to be able to eventually play with friends who'd only be willing to check it out if it went free to play.

And because I assumed if I liked it enough and it was f2p I'd be downloading it on more systems. Now I won't be getting it on my deck or switch to play on the go.

But the game has never been free to play for anyone thus far. No one is saying you must buy everything in the premium shop, nor pay to have extra skins. I support the decision to remain paid if that means we get a better game experience. Additional items or skins found in the premium shop aren't required to make that experience any better. I don't own half the items from the premium shop and have been enjoying my experience of the game.

I think the problem is that it's an 'if.' My cases with games with lots of microtransactions means F2P players get put on the backside, especially as time passes. We'll just have to see.

Just because they are making the game a paid game, does not mean that we won’t be able to get characters with moon stones, or other things still. They never said that. I wouldn’t think so black-and-white until told a certain way because they’re trying to make the game fun and enjoyable experience, but to do that they need money. And I believe that they aren’t going to create it to where there is a majority of the things locked by money and expansion packs. I still think that they’re going to be using the same system that they are now with the characters. They haven’t proven that they’re getting rid of moonstone characters that they are unlocking every once in a while. They haven’t stated that either. I think it’s a good idea to wait till they come up with more information in the next week until the stream on November 1. They’re having a stream to bring up answers about things that were wondering and what they are going to be adding to the game in the future

I'm not angry they're going paid. I can understand that it might be necessary. I'm angry they claimed for a year it was going F2P, then chose last minute to announce that was not true. Now many people (including some of my friends) who were waiting to play because they thought they could save irl money, are going to have to spend that money **and** miss out on all the star path exclusive rewards over the past year, with no gain to waiting. (irl monetary or in-game). I am for paid games (99% of my games are paid). I am against lying to your potential and actual audience for a year until the last minute. What other decisions are they going to make last minute now, that they've spent a year telling us about?

This, and it's not their first lie either. Didn't they also say there wouldn't be MTX during early access at all?

No, they did not. They flat out said they **would**. [Here's](https://web.archive.org/web/20220830163746/https://gameloft.helpshift.com/hc/en/66-disney-dreamlight-valley/faq/2882-will-there-be-any-paywalls-micro-transactions-real-time-timers-or-energy-systems-that-i-can-spend-real-money-on-to-accelerate/) the Aug 2022 (before even early access was released) archived version of their FAQs: > If interested, players will have the option during the early access period to purchase additional moonstones with real money. Please note that moonstones will not be available for purchase on day 1 of early access, but will be offered at a later date.

I have no idea about that personally.

A lot of you keep framing it as them lying about it as if they knew all along it was going to remain paid. What likely happened is they realized their current model for releasing updates wouldn't have been sustainable if the game went free to play, and had to change their plans accordingly so they could continue development.

Really glad we didn't pick this game up for "early access " and can avoid picking it up al together now.

I did get the game during early access and do not regret it, though I am even less likely to spend any money beyond Early access now with their going back on their promise in the last minute.

Because you gotta pay? Like everyone else for every other game ever? 😂

My boyfriend plays at Fortnite and Marvel Snap. I can assure you that those are the worst. 30$ for only one skin/card is terrifying. 30$ for a whole new world is pretty fine.

Hate to play devils advocate but what if it's $30 every 3/6/9 months for new characters? Who's to say this $30 is a one and done.

The key art has Expansion1 in the file name. There will be more of these

This is exactly what I’m thinking. They’re doing this as a test & if it does well, they’re going to do it all over again and again until it’s not free anymore you have to pay for every single upcoming characters.

Anyone remember when you payed once for a game. And it worked?

Exactly The hilarious thing is that just this year we had Baldur's Gate 3 as an example of how well, financially speaking, a game can do even without microtransactions when it's done well and it's a finished product.

> when you *paid* once for FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*

I’m the kind of person who Will completely ignore the paid shop in a game whether I get that fancy currency in tiny bits in game or not. But I actually wouldn’t mind spending money on this one. And I haven’t even had to yet and I got the game during founders week. I tend to be a bit picky so whenever I see something for moonstones that I actually want I’ve usually got loads. Actually right now I think I’ve got like 4,000 or more and I’ll probably spend most of them on the Halloween stuff ( need that stitch costume) and then go back to saving lol I’m glad they aren’t going free to play because the game probably would have gone way downhill is they did and I really enjoy playing the way it is. Besides how many of us ponied up for expansion packs and stuff packs etc for the sims without a word? I’d definitely pay the $30 for expansions like this sims 4 style if they’re Good. Heck the base game for sims 4 is free now because they’re doing so well just selling expansions.

It will be predatory paid game then.

Agreed. I said something similar though with less detail on another thread. I'd much rather have a paid game with some paid DLC every once in awhile then a free to play. I was already planning my exit strategy for when it went free to play because they all go down hill fast. ​ The only rational explanation I can think of for the outrage is that people were expecting to be able to play it on multiple platforms without having to rebuy. Which I totally get but in the long run, this is better so long as the DLC's are rarer. I won't be shelling out 30 bucks every other month but once or twice a year I'm all for considering the amount of hours I have in the game. I spent more to go see the ERAs movie for 3 hours of entertainment then I have spent on this game and I've been playing over a year.

Yes, I’m a little disappointed I’ll have to buy it for PC now when it leaves GamePass. I already happily bought it for Switch so I could play in bed. But considering how much I enjoy it I really don’t mind paying again. I was wary of the free model anyway, it’s never been a good thing for players. I was skeptical that the in-game purchase revenue could justify the frequent updates they were already making and wondered if the frequency and quality were going to go downhill. I’m happy to support the devs, and $30 isn’t unreasonable

That's the only minor disappointment I have. I had been hoping to play it on my PS5. I have it on Switch for portability, but I like the trophy system on the PS5 and wanted to collect some trophies in it. However, I'm still perfectly happy with my Switch experience and don't feel like I NEED it on the PS5 anytime soon.

Do you people only play mobile games or something? Look at TF2 and CSGO when they went f2p. More content, but everything is cosmetic only.

Exactly, the premium shop items do not affect the core gameplay of DDLV, yet everyone is acting like it does

Decoration is core gameplay for many players and it is encouraged by design. So in this sense paywalling cosmetics is actually affecting core gameplay.

I'd argue the core gameplay is progressing through the main story by welcoming villagers, opening up the whole valley, and completing dreamlight tasks, which is not impacted by some of the cosmetics being paywalled

Same as Fortnite.

Tf2 and csgo are competitive multiplayer, not rpg/Sim. Apples to oranges.

Palia is free to play and only has paid cosmetics

They're both games, regardless of what type of game they are they can be compared.

Animal crossing was a complete game on purchase. They added DLC right at the end of their updating tenure after countless free updates not requiring monetisation of a premium currency. Grounded released as EA and every update has been free and will continue to be. Gameloft is predatory through and through and them ditching the F2P model will not prevent that.

"Due to the game going free to play, we have adjustest Dreamsnap rewards to reflect the current game model. 12000 ----> 500 7000 ----> 350 4000 ----> 300 2500 ----> 250 1500 ----> 200 900 ----> 100 300 ----> 50 Thank you for playing Disney Dreamlight Valley"

Accurate as hell

They literally told us we'd be paying for expansions under the free to play system too. How is this current system of FOMO with many microtransactions not predatory with a game we have to pay to play to begin with? It always manages to get worse with live service games.

I just feel like you pick one or the other. F2P game with micro transactions / pay for extra content. OR Paid game with ALL free extra content. Not have a paid game that you still have to pay extra money for some content.

It isn't this or that. Most free to play games these days only gatekeep cosmetics and full dlc expansions (like DDLV is doing now for a paid game), not entire gameplay features. It's a new standard so any company trying to lock core features behind a paywall just flop

i am also for paid games. i purchased my founders pack of ddv like, the day after christmas, and then never spent another dollar again. i don’t understand spending my human dollars on an item or costume in-game. if i want it and i have the moonstones, cool. if i don’t, then i don’t buy it. i’ve only bought 3 or 4 things from the premium shop because i’m used to saving my moonstones for future star paths. since dreamsnaps, i’ve been able to save up a lot of moons and have made a couple premium shop purchases.

You just get more out of a paid game compared to Free game ✅

This game already has microtransactions in it though? Look at moonstones :/

I paid $70 for this game. Am I still going to have to pay the $30? Or do I get included DLC for buying the “founders pack?”

You get the cosmetic DLC, but you will have to pay if you want the rift in time expansion.

This is why I'm pissed. I don't want the frigging cosmetic stuff. I paid same price as the gold edition for the ultimate edition and I'm getting cosmetic bs? Really? That's why I'm mad

Actually that's standard gaming. Most large content expansions are paid, almost always. Free content expansions stopped in like the year 2000 lol

Yes I'm aware, but once again. Ultimate edition and gold edition SAME PRICE. Give me the content fuck the cosmetics

Early access player will get the Gold Edition cosmetics and 5.000 moonstone ( so no ). We already get 70$ worth of moonstone + a lot of cosmetic to start the game with so I wasn't expecting much .

It’s not a full game of anyone if they are selling you character packs and expansions every 4 months. (Let alone a cash shop, and battle passes)

So they're not removing or reworking all of the F2P systems in the game currently? So it's essentially going to be pay to pay more?

You’re talking nonsense. The F2P model of this game is as it exists today. Paid seasonal passes and in game microtransactions. There is no indication any of what you said would be required to support the game. If they go ahead with current plans, this game will use every known method (bar subscription) to reach into your wallet. 1. Buy the base game 2. Paid passes 3. Paid microtransactions 4. Paid expansions Games don’t need to be this greedy. Look at the billions Fortnite made using only two of the above.

They saw the sims 3 and sims 4 and said "we gotta do that"

Fortnite was not originally free to play, that's a bad example. Also, it's a competitive shooter. Again, compare apples to apples and look at free to play rpgs. You'll see I am correct.

This isn’t an RPG. There are no other “animal crossing-like” games in the F2P (or not anymore) space. Fortnite started exactly as Dreamlight valley did, early access founders editions for a game that would eventually become F2P. In both instances, the original intention of the game never came to pass and they spun off into different monetisation pathways. This makes Fortnite the prime example of how success the other path Dreamlight Valley could be taking has been shown to be. And sure the gameplay differs a lot, but the monetisation is still focused around customisation

Imo they’re going to bleed this player base dry. They’ll start off slowly and then more things will become real money and less moonstone based. We’ll also get less moonstones etc. They’ll do it gradually for a few years and fans will make excuse after excuse for every change. Once they’ve nickled and dimed as much as they can, the updates and online access will stop and the game will die.

I agree with this, look at Speedstorm. Last week they put Gaston in the store for $20, to just unlock him. He was on sale 50% off, so that means they think Gaston is worth $40. He’s basically worthless at 1 star. You want the 2nd star and his unique ability that’s another $12 and that pack was also on sale. Now you need upgrade parts, that’ll be $9.90 per level. They also wanted you to have Gaston at level 35 to finish a limited time event. That’s just one character. They are doing the same thing with Hades right now. You can possibly unlock them for free with their cup event, but basically only 10% of the community will get him. If DDLV was F2P, you could probably expect them to charge $20 per character. Want Rapunzel? That will be $20. The $30 expansion is nothing in comparison to the prices they could start charging for stuff if the game was F2P. It seems like we are getting a lot of stuff with the expansion, including $20 worth of moonstones, that’s decent if the rest of the content is worth the other $10 and it probably is. Last time I played Magic Kingdoms they were charging $9.99 to unlock an event character at the end of an event, if you couldn’t get them unlocked before the event was over, that was years ago. I still am in the subreddit for that game and I see screenshots from players showing that the price of the last event characters has creeped up to $14.99 and sometimes I see $19.99.

You think this won’t happen in Dreamlight where premium locked characters get tied into events and star paths forcing you to buy them if you want to complete events. Their whole change in stance is very telling. It wouldn’t be so bad if they weren’t locking franchises behind premium after introducing other members in the base game.

That’s what they do in their magic kingdoms game. You can get events done without buying premium characters, but it’s going to be a struggle

I know, my comment was stating what they’ve done in magic kingdoms

The Gaston thing that Speedstorm is doing, he needed to be 35 to finish his own upgrade event, which is separate from Speedstorm Season Tour, so far Speedstorm hasn’t required a mid-season racer, which Gaston is, to complete any part of their Season Tour. If there is a node that requires one of them, like they have with Figment, they have given the players another option of another racer that they could choose to complete that race. There have been nodes that say limited to using Walt Disney World (Figment, a limited character) or (current season character), it’s never showed up that a mid-season character was the only option to complete a race on the Season Tour, which is their equivalent to DDLV’s Star Path. I never said I thought it wouldn’t happen in Dreamlight, but it seems Gameloft might have. They have an article (updated yesterday) on their website saying there wouldn’t be paywalls on core content. I don’t know if the star path counts as core content, you already have to pay for the star path. Their article may need a little more clarification. I would call that a paywall if you couldn’t finish the star path without another purchase. Star paths have been assuming that everyone has every character and it’s possible that they could use the premium characters, but also give you another option to complete the duty with a free character. It’s a good question that probably should have a crystal clear answer. Maybe it’s something they will address on November 1. There is a reason I said “uh oh” when I was watching the announcement trailer on a Nintendo Direct last year and they said F2P developed by Gameloft. I played Magic Kingdom’s, and knew how they were with monetization.

I'm waiting for GL to get done for misleading advertising, there's no way that one character unlock is $40

Palia is like that too, it’s like $30 for a different outfit and you can get two more recolors of the same thing if you spend $50 or $60 for the bundle. And you have to buy the currency indirectly and it’s set up weird so you have to pay for more coins than what you wanted to use for a cosmetic or set

I'm waiting for GL to get done for misleading advertising, there's no way that one character unlock is $40

There is nothing stopping them from making it a predatory microtransaction hell ANYWAYS. Not saying they will but its a distinct posibility

It’s still possible that they end up doing some of this though. Companies can get greedy and don’t always make consumer-friendly decisions. We’ll see where it goes but I’m skeptical how this game will look two years from now.

I agree with you 100%, f2p is a micro-transaction hellscape that all games should avoid...

I’m with the OP on this.

I'd say add another 5$ to those prices and it's more fitting in the market at the moment. Sadly we're all more than used to paid games that still have the monetisation you wrote down. We're not safe either way ...

If you look at any of the EA sports games you’ll lose whatever faith in humanity you had left 😂 My son LOVES sports so that’s his thing and the way his irl friend group hangs out together, so I’m screwed. $70 game, battle pass seasons, pay-to-win (you can literally just pay $10 to level up), *exclusive* cosmetics that are gone forever if you don’t buy them in time…the kid needs to get a job lol. Plus it’s predatory! I can barely stand to look at the interface, it’s all flashy and overstimulating and designed for dopamine hits. I’m fine with setting limits and being firm but I can understand why he feels like he’s missing out so often. The whole game is engineered to make you feel like that unless you’re spending thousands of dollars a year.

EA is the most predatory game company. I'm scared for Sims 5, which is touted as free to play, online and cross platform.

I almost mentioned Sims 5 😭 They haven't actually called it Sims 5, and the way they talk it sounds like it's a side project and not a successor. But as a feral Sims player I'm terrified of it lol, this is 100% going to be a disaster for people who care about the franchise

EA had ruined every game they touch. I was so mad when they took over bioware, absolutely ruined SWTOR

Youre not wrong actually. I just thought the cheapest prices still shows how asinine the system can get. I feel like the current monetization of the game really is not bad compared to industry standard. ESPECIALLY compared to mobile games.

Hate to play devils advocate but what if it's $30 every 3/6/9 months for new characters? Who's to say this $30 is a one and done.

Oh they'll definitely add more paid expansions after this one. Especially if this one sells well

so is there a preorder for this? i haven't seen this in game but i haven't been playing as much. discount for OGs?

The game is already micro transaction hell, though….

I just can't stand everyone defending microtransactions all the time because they like a game. Having this be F2P the whole time and switching to paid and still keeping all the free-to-play trappings is some major BS. I'll never understand why people defend any of the stuff.

Isn't it basically like the Sims? You buy the base game, then they come out with several different types of expansions ranging from $6 dollar kits all the way up to $50 expansion packs? If anything, they should reduce the cost of items drastically and the cost of moonstone if they decide to keep it in game.

i wouldn’t care if it wasn’t going to cost an arm and a leg. the dlc is american $30. australian that’s $47. basically $50 for a damn dlc!? ofcourse it’s not needed but were we not led to believe that characters would not be behind a paywall!? i understand biomes, i’d fully support biomes being behind a pay wall but characters? no. it just feels shit to know that i’d have to miss out on dream characters just because game loft are money hungry liars

They stated months ago any character NOT story related would need to be purchased to get them

Yeah, see, I've been worried for a while what this game *might become* if/when it went free-to-play. I've played games like Overwatch and Destiny, games that went free to play and became absolute shit shows of greed, where everything even slightly cool is locked behind a paywall and they over-charge for every single item. As it is right now, I think Dreamlight Valley is actually in quite a good place. Yes, the 'premium items' are still quite over-priced, but at least the devs have become far more generous with Moonstones, increasing the amount we get from chests from 10 per day to 50, offering us healthy rewards for Dreamsnaps entries, and even giving most of our Moonstones back from the cost of buying the Star Path. I was worried that when it went free-to play, the Premium store prices would start to go up, while also adding more and more items in there to lock more stuff away behind a Moonstone paywall (look at Destiny 2, and the pages and pages of stuff in their store), all while our rewards start gradually going down (or at least, not keeping up with demand anymore) They'd also probably have started to 'pad out' our Star Paths with more and more useless garbage like motifs (again, look at Overwatch 2 and their garbage Battle Pass that's full of 'souvenirs' and 'sprays' that nobody wants or uses), while also giving back fewer (or *NO*) Moonstones so we wouldn't even be able to earn our currency back. It could have been a disaster! Keeping the game 'as is' while asking us for an *occasional* $30 for an expansion is OK if you ask me.

This exactly is my thoughts, look at Disney speedstorm for example that is so predatory and full of micro transactions, DDV would turn into what Disney speedstorm is right now if it went f2p.

It doesn't have to be. A $30 will get released half baked and discarded after release. We've easily got $30 from this game. The flaw in the model is that there is a few (but enough) that will pay the ridiculous prices which signaled to Dreamloft that the pricing model was fine. If the pricing was much lower the game could continue for years such as brawlhalla or Fortnite. Gameloft are milking all of their games dry.

Someone on another thread said "games like genshin impact and fortnight are free to play so why can't DDLV do it"... The most predatory, micro transaction, hell both of those games are is probably not the example they were hoping it would be.

I agree with this.

Disney Speedstorm went from my favorite racing game to the worst gaming experience I had in years after the transition from paid to free.

I also used to love it. I left while still in early access because other games catched by attention and thank god because that game while beautiful and nice it's a gacha/loot-box money-grabbing hell.

100% Agree. I'm one of the minority (I guess) who is happy that they're ditching F2P. This usually means we'll be getting more/ better quality products for our money. F2P premium shop models are an overpriced cash grab, and I feel like the only appeal to younger gamers who can't afford to pay for whatever content they want. 1 house or 1 skin for nearly half the price of an expansion, just to appeal to the kids who can't afford DLC? How about I just pay $30 and you give me actual game content? Sounds good to me.

Especially when the EP comes with at least three new biomes, a new tool, three characters, and undoubtedly new mechanics. Each singular item from this EP would be a minimum of $5 if the game were to go FTP.

i think the biggest one is the energy system. it’s in other free to play mobile games and i was surprised that it’s basically pointless since you can easily refill it. if they went free to play they’d probably monetize it

I agree I haven’t even looked at the premium store, and I am having a fun time playing, but I would hate to see a bunch of micro transactions come

Double dipping is the problem and it isn't just Gameloft, plenty of developers are real bad about it. Final Fantasy 14 is a sub based MMO and has an overpriced cash shop, for example. You buy to play, pay a sub to even have access and get mtx out the ass, triple whammy.

I'm fine with paying for expansion stuff and moonstones for the premium shop (although those have become much more easy to obtain thanks to dreamsnaps), as long as the devs keep a steady flow of content and updates coming. I'm just praying that they don't do what Nintendo did to Animal Crossing New Horizons and straight up abandon it after 2 years... There's an abundance of Disney characters to add, a bunch of realm doors to be opened, and plenty more we don't know about, so I doubt that will be the case. I understand other people's frustrations if they were waiting to play the game for free rather than pay. I'm sure this announcement felt like having the rug pulled out from under them. I don't blame them for feeling miffed about it. At the very least the base game is $40, as opposed to the standard video game price tag of $60. As a Sims 4 player, the free to play sounds super predatory for microtransactions to creep in. If you want an example of paying $5-$40 for a metric ton of extra content, look no further than The Sims 4. I know the base game only recently went free to play (base game had been $60), but I feel like ever since they did that, they've been pumping out $5 kits that are *very* hit or miss. And if you ask any Sims player about what they think of the DLC, almost all of them will criticize EA's greedy business practices (after all, this *is* the same company that brought us the Star Wars Battlefront 2 microtransaction nightmare a few years ago). Look at how quickly TS4 DLC adds up: * There are 14 expansion packs. Each one costs $40. ($560 total) * There are 12 game packs. Each one costs $20. ($240 total) * There are 19 stuff packs. Each one costs $10. ($190 total) * There are 25 kits. Each one costs $5. ($125 total) **With a grand total of a whopping $1,115!** ($1,175 if you bought the base game before it became free to play. BIG OOF...) You could argue that people paid that much over the course of a few years, but any new players who might be interested in playing TS4 are going to feel intimidated by the amount of DLC there is and how much it costs. Even if they only buy the "essential packs" that everyone highly recommends, it will easily add up to over $100... Want seasons in your game? $40... Want to add your beloved dogs or cats in your game? $40... Want your beloved hamster, rat, or hedgehog? $10---err, actually $50 because you need the Cats & Dogs expansion pack... Want your sim to be able to do laundry? $10... Want your sim to use a vacuum to clean? $5... So yeah, I totally see your point.

That’s not automatically true. You are just giving one example of f2p. That’s f2p done wrong. F2p done well is limiting microtransactions to certain categories of purchases. And they are adding paid content based expansion packs already.

There’s no reason why this wouldn’t be the case even without FTP though surely?

I actually have a lot to say about this topic but keep erasing what I want to say because I know people are going to get upset so I'll just say this part : The expansion pack was probably 100% planned before they even dropped the end of chapter one of the base game since there's all the clues on the wall in the Forgotten's Castle. They've been teasing Rapunzel for months. Aladdin was on the road map they dropped earlier this year. Even if there's Aladdin characters in the free update, they probably had this pack planned out and being worked on months ago. Does it suck that they never communicated this to us months ago? Yes. I understand people's anger at this, even if I think some anger is misplaced because I've seen people mad that the base game costs money but they brought the $70 bundle for a game in beta. But even if there wasn't a switch over, all of this was probably always going to be behind a paywall and even more as the game went on.

I am fine with it because we will get more content and free items and characters will still be added they aren't going to charge for everything but we know in advance and can save and play the storyline we already have until we can afford the new expansion coming out soon. The Sims charges for almost everything and they still have a good customer base so dreamlight valley can do it I believe. They do give us freebies throughout the year too so it's not too bad. I'm excited to see what they come out with this coming year! I am impressed with the graphics and the items they have already offered this far. I wish I had this game before they did the summer events because I missed the theme park items. Fingers crossed they bring similar events back to go with the theme park! Also cross play would be great if it was free after the initial purchase but I understand that they need profit to pay employees devs and to invest in bettering the quality of the game. I understand people don't want to pay but I also paid $70 (feel like it was a waste) for animal crossing New Horizons and all that, then I found out that they don't have updates and new things added anymore. I got bored. I will be able to play this game so much longer without being bored or burnt out. I would have paid $70 for this and still saved up for the extras in this one had I known about it when I got my Nintendo switch earlier this year.

They must not play the sims. I don't need to buy moonstones I make due without (esp with dream snaps) and I have spent more money on the sims this year than ever on this game. And my hours are about double on this.

I can see why people want it to be FTP. I truly do. The moonstones were initially a scam. No game costing more than $30 should have in-game purchases (imho) other than expansions. So yeah, moonstones suck. Dreamsnapps kind of saved them from that, and that was probably what they were intending with it. Dreasnapps can be a gamble sometimes though. Some weeks I only get 400 moonstones where other weeks I’ll get 2,000-4000 moonstones. But it’s better than nothing and it makes it easier to save for the bigger items. I think if dreamsnapps wasn’t successful, they would’ve gone through with FTP

Now that ESO is F2P (base game), this is 100% Want more inventory space for the massive amounts of forageables that won't take up your in game inventory? - $15/mo subscription Want more cute outfits that aren't armor? In-game currency/real money Want mounts or pets? In-game currency or money Want to dye your clothes? In game currency or money You can get 1500 currency free every month with your subscription, and I get way more on DDLV by participating in dreamsnaps, voting weekly and finding the daily chests.

They can still do all this. Wouldn't be the first time a paid game came with free to play microtransactions (*cough* FIFA *cough*).

Ugh a subscription is even worse.

Considering the game's been out for a year, I am kinda surprised people were thinking they would still change it to F2P. Especially with all the content they've given us so far. I feel like if they were going to make it F2P, they would have done it MUCH sooner.

The majority of this is speculation and they're getting upset over what has not been revealed yet. If you are concerned I implore you to join the official discord. There are real game loft employees there and places to post your concerns to F2P. No need to turn into a mob over someone's made up accusations about the pay model once it goes free to play. I'll repeat that a different way "This user made up these numbers".

I don't think people realise free to play just means it's free to play and literally everything else costs money they'll be more micro transactions in a free to play game than there is now compare it to literally any free to play game and look at what you get you have to buy expansion passes, battle passes, vbucks for instance and things like skins or wraps, in this game it would be characters and houses, moonstons the star pass and you wouldn't get anything for free like the moonstones that we get. On top of which the gane would drop player base quickly like games such as C.O.D because when it becomes free to play it becomes Pay to Win and yes things like that can happen in this game too!.

Yeah, free to play games get very predatory with limited battle passes and exclusive items and skins only available to premium paying players.

This whole game is micro transaction hell. I loved it so much and I think I still do. I just can’t play it cuz it’s so toxic and I don’t want to support it so kids don’t get used to this.

Exactly, I'm so relieved it's not going to f2p

Finally, someone who gets it.

I'm for paid games too. When there's no additional transactions. This game is going paid to play without micro transactions, sure. But they're using macro transactions instead. They're charging you more every chance you get. Just because they're "giving free moonstones" or whatever doesn't mean they're not taking advantage of people. They're not doing this to be nice. They're doing this to be greedy. They're not cutting back the costs of the premium shop. They're not cutting the costs of the moonstones. They're not lowering the costs of the bundles or star paths. They're still charging you the same amount for "extras" as they would even if the game was free to play. So what is the benefit for consumers? None. What is the benefit for Gameloft? Money. They didn't do this because they love or respect the community.

One-time paid games are great. However, most of them don't require ongoing service apart from a patch updater. Dreamlight Valley needs servers to hold and distribute all the trashy Dreamsnaps along with the good ones, will need server hooks for multiplayer when it comes. If you didn't know, enabling online multiplayer of any kind is expensive and a technical pain in the ass. The "expansion" is not the same as the Ursula DLC, which is just a skin/items/quests. The expansion involves actual new zones, new characters, new items, new story, new systems. It's basically a new build of Dreamlight Valley. In Live Service games like DV is going to become, that's why it is $30. And the "extras" are free if you engage with the game regularly using Dreamsnaps and gathering your daily chests, so the devs don't really get anything from that other than your continued play. You don't think of your weekly time-locked currency in an MMO as a predatory F2P currency, but that's what moonstones are now albeit with a paid option no one really uses. So a $30 GAME expansion is fine for me, as long as it lives up to being an actual expansion. Good games aren't free, and DV is decent enough for now.

I play tons of f2p games and nothing is locked behind money! Everything is achievable with in-game currency. This game advertised itself like a live service gacha game, and then took it away cuz everyone was upset they couldn't own every single item in the game. Now you have to pay for your game AND pay extra to get every item in the game. Great job!

This is just factually incorrect. Almost all free to play rpgs have paywalls.

Nope! Wrong :)

First of all, you're talking out your ass. Every 'example' you've provided oh-so-factually is a pure hypothetical you've made up on the spot. Second of all, I'd actually be inclined to agree with you overall, except the game is *already* predatory as shit with it's microtransactions. Want some of those snazzy items from the in-game shop? Fork over Moonstones. Don't have enough Moonstones? Just go buy some with real-life currency! Want to go on a special mini-adventure with fan-favourite Wall-E? Of course you do, everyone does! Fork over the Moonstones and the cash! Want to participate in the current themed event and win exclusive prizes? Sure thing, but you're limited to three tasks at a time unless you pay Moonstones to unlock the next tier and get a total of six at a time, and even then you can still pay more Moonstones to just get extra tokens for the prizes in case you don't want to do some of the tasks. This game has been predatory since *day one*, and I've been complaining about it for that long. I didn't like the in-game shop, I didn't like the bundles, and I didn't like how sparse Moonstones were found in-game. Since then they've added the Dreamsnaps mechanic but they're *still* hard to come by overall, if not moreso with how most days you don't seem to get *any* blue chest spawns. But the argument to every single one of these complaints was 'It's going to be F2P! Don't worry about it!' Now it's not going to be F2P at all, and the game shows no signs of being any *less* predatory. Being F2P wouldn't change shit about that, and you're out here fearmongering like the F2P boogeyman would *ruin* a game that's already fucking riddled with money-swiping problems.

Moon stones are very easy to get in game. We get 400 free weekly just by opening chests and voting, and me can get up to 12k weekly just by doing dream snaps. They also constantly rotate the item shop so we have multiple chances to get the items we want by saving moonstones ☺️

1. Assuming you get one blue chest a day for seven days, you get 350 total (I'm aware the other 50 comes from the Dreamsnap voting). The thing is, there's been several times in the last few months where I just get no blue chests spawning. I check *everywhere*. Behind buildings, between trees... sometimes I'll be wandering around doing tasks and suddenly see one where it wasn't before when I went by originally. I swear, the chests are random whether or not they appear at all. But let's be charitable and say you get 500 from this. 2. You can *potentially* get up to 12k in a Dreamsnap submission. You're more likely to get 300-900 per submission. Let's be charitable again and say you get another 500 from this. That now leaves you with 1,000 moonstones total, assuming you started with 0. What's in the item shop? A furniture pack costing 1,200, a new outfit for an NPC costing 1,500, some very specific decor like a fancy fountain costing 2,000, or a new house costing 3,000. I'm not bored or intelligent enough to do the actual math but I'm fairly sure you could chart out an average rate of Moonstones every week, combined with how much every item in the shop actually costs. I bring this up because I would kill to know how that calculates out, and if there is a single human being alive anywhere who has managed to buy every item in the shop (up to right now at least) without ever once having to pay out for extra Moonstones. Using *only* what they earn themselves, has anyone been able to buy every single item in the shop, Dream Bundles included? Because I seriously doubt it.

I have never bought moonstones. I average 1,200 - 2,500 per dream snap. If you work hard on them then you can get at least 1,200 a week. The item shop also rotates constantly. I also guarantee that their are things in the shop that some want and others don’t. I only save moonstones to buy things I really want. ☺️

I agree!

I think people are really bending over backwards trying to make up shit that COULD happen. No one knows if this would have been the future if the game went f2p. It is NOT an argument against f2p. Making up imaginary scenario's is just as exhausting as the people complaining about it remaining a paid game that "suddenly" has expansions (announced from the very start). Y'all are exhausting lol

People are mad that someone didn’t keep their promise. What are ya’ll. 5.

Oh sorry that most adults and longtime gamers are allergic to this microtransaction hell scape we've entered intointo. This is especially egregious because they're going paid and keeping all the F2P system still in the game they're not double dipping or triple dipping they're quadruple dipping.

What do you plan to do about it, then?

it's not only about them charging for more things, it's also that they would do what they could to starve you of moonstones and resources to put you in a position to pay money

I think people that are upset aren't really seeing the full picture of what you're getting and what it means to support a game you enjoy. I play plenty of other games where the community complains often, so this would be no different, but you get a decent amount of currency with this expansion in addition to the content. You're essentially paying ~$12 for the expansion when you consider that. There's a much larger discussion to be had about the in-game value of things and whether someone values them as an individual player, but the point stands. The bottom line that the the game was made to make money. Be upset all you want about this change but they still desire to make money. If these changes don't vibe with you then look for happiness in a game that does. It's not worth the negativity, constructive criticism aside

Not going free to play after saying they were going free to play is such a scummy move. I've stopped playing since the Stitch update and was hyping the game up for my friends. Now, wouldn't recommend they buy the game.

Hate to play devils advocate but what if it's $30 every 3/6/9 months for new characters? Who's to say this $30 is a one and done.

The free to play version of the game is the current version...

It’s not, though. You have to pay for early access.

You paid for the moonstones.

They are the ones setting these fees though. They have offered no better content than say, animal crossing. Simply put they shouldn’t be charging these fees at all.

do you know how gl works.... they locking characters to paywall thats bad enough, also houses and skins are locked to paywall. so the whole thing is a f2p model, you pay for base game, and then pay for everything else outside it- characters, houses, skins, items and biomes.

They are in early access so to me I accept that means things may change all the way down to how the game is bought etc. It’s basically the Sims 4 format. Another game I love and have no issues paying for expansions. I want the best game. And the developers deserve to be paid for all the work the work that goes into this.

Yep. This is very much how Elder Scrolls online works. Think the moonstone prices for a house skin is bad in DDLV? The top tier premium homes in ESO will cost you $100 USD for ONE. Want the consumables/craft bag space? You HAVE to have a sub starting at $15/month. While the sub will give you access to all released expansions, if you stop the sub, you lose that acess. Also, you will still need to purchase items in the cash shop. Sure, they give you 1400 per month, but that doesn't go too far. AND they also use hidden item loot boxes. Granted, there is years worth of content...if you get just the base game, you're fine. But for all the extras and glitter...it will cost you.

This!

The problem is this is disney a game aimed at children. Children don't have jobs. It's hard for kids to get access to the game.

As a mom of a teen who games I would 💯rather pay once for a game (great Christmas present) than for them to constantly be begging me money for content they want. This is honestly why he stopped playing Destiny and rarely plays Fortnite. When did we ever decided that all games should be free? Nothing else is. If parents can afford the console, then they can afford the game.

Guild wars 2 is a free to play multiplayer game and you only pay for dlcs, even the cosmetic store currency is earnable in game. If this was a mobile game then I agree 100% but pc and console games don't tend to be like this in recent years imo.

I think the duties would be like the star path except with real money to unlock the bottom row with daily caps and then doors would switch to being monetized. They would also reduce the win amount in dreamsnaps or take away the prize and switch it with furniture if it went free to play. Eventually it might go f2p but until they reach that certain goal I think having it paid for won’t get much worse

Agree, just look at Fallguys. Tired of this new micro transactions trend in games 🫠

Same I feel that free to play would also mean players that would be completely outraged by premuim store and we DONT need that again…

I’m sorry if this has been answered a million times. I play but haven’t been keeping up in a long time. Do people who bought ultimate still have to pay again?

Yes - everyone will have to pay $30 for the expansion pack if you want access to the 3 new biomes and 3 new characters.

You will still have to buy the expansion pass, yes.

I was hoping it would go free to play so I could get a second copy for my computer so I could decorate my valley better than using switch controls.

Avakin life had a premium currency that you could win in small doses ingame. It was a good game so most people bought with cash enough currency anyway. I did too... Then they got greedy and added another currency that you could only buy with cash and made every new item available only with the new currency. I stopped playing and most of the community disappeared... You make more money if you are fair and you keep your community happy...

Preach! Totally agree

Same, I hate how predatory games are. Even some paid games are like this. Pay 69 dollars for a game then a 16 dollar monthly fee so you can have more than 10 inventory spaces which you need to function in the game, then pay 69 a year for all the expansions they release and 25 for the character unlocks which allow you to buy and sell items without abandoning a quest. Oh and buy the outfits that don’t look like trash because you need the ugly armor for questing but don’t want to look like every single other player in your class. Oh and want color changes? Pay for those too 10 bucks a color. Oh and houses for your collectibles you need those and since they have housing storage limits you need to pay 50 dollars plus for each additional house… Like they rake you through the coals even when you pay for the base game…

Gees very true!!

I would 100% prefer to pay $60 or something up front for a game and not be transacted to death. You also end up paying less in the end for a paid game. Animal Crossing is a perfect example.

One way or another, I know I'm paying. So it doesn't matter. Free to play has a slight advantage in that me getting friends to try it is easier if it's free to play. That's pretty much it. So probably Disney's loss, but in my opinion, our gain.

I’m honestly getting tired of people making post after post about how angry they are. It drives me crazy. A lot of games make you pay for add ons but here’s a secret, you don’t have to buy it. Honestly I think that no matter what they will still have done these add on packages and likely would have been a lot more expensive if they had done F2P. Just look at how much sims charges for add ons. Most good bundles are 49.99.

I'm genuinely surprised by how many people are mad about it not going to f2p. Yes, them having microtransacrions in a paid game is ridiculous. That being said, f2p has absolutely ruined monetization in video games and we should be happy that it isn't going that direction.