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LOTRO Going Free To Play

S

Spire

Subconscious Brolonging
Going F2P worked wonders for DDO.

LotRO is a superb game, it going F2P is going to mean huge business for Turbine. They just gave one of the best MMO's out there a much more accessible financial model, the sky is the limit.
 
F

Fuu

Formerly Alaluef (not Aladuf)
Sweet. I haven't been into MMOs for a good while now but I've always been interested in this one.
 
W

witness

Member
Holy crap awesome news. This game will be going on for many many years to come now. I love that if you just bought the game in the past and played the free month you'll still be a premium member. My fiancé is already hyped to play this :lol

Turbine just said fuck you to fee to play Korean mmo's with this move.
 
C

Crazetex

Member
I'm quite interested. One of my friends works for Turbine/set up quests for LOTRO, but I never got around to... you know, playing it.

And now I guess it's time!
 
M

Mihku

Member
This is awesome news. Played it when it launched and few months here and there, and this will lure me back for more. Also great for people who like to play an MMO more sporadicly, without having to pay for an entire month.
 
M

Majine

Banned
What about the people who have bought playtime far into the future? I hear there even is (was?) a lifetime subscription of some sort.
 
P

Prophet Steve

Member
Archurro said:
How does LotRO match up with other MMOs? Better than Warhammer Online and Age of Conan?
Click to expand...
I believe most people think it's World of Warcraft with less content and a other style. It's pretty good. Wanted to play the trial for a while, but seems I don't have to.
 
H

Hixx

Member
I was thinking about subbing to this while waiting for Cataclysm. I played it when it launched and I enjoyed it till I ran out of quests at about 17-20 and finding a group for a dungeon was difficult. Reading up it seems they've fixed those problems though.
 
C

Cindres

Vied for a tag related to cocks, so here it is.
I bought the LOTRO/MoM set for a tenner ages ago but my internet at the time sucked and i didn't get very far. Shit if it's F2P I'll definitely try to get back into it.
 
S

Spire

Subconscious Brolonging
Archurro said:
How does LotRO match up with other MMOs? Better than Warhammer Online and Age of Conan?
Click to expand...

Unlike either of those it's very PvE centric, but it excels at it. Blow by blow, it's better than Warhammer and AoC in my opinion. I'd get into how I think it stacks up against WoW, but that would start a war and derail the thread. Basically, it's a first-class MMO, with production values, polish, and content up there with the best of them.
 
Vigilant Walrus

Vigilant Walrus

Member
What about the....

I mean, what are they going to do? Cash shop? make free players getting owned by paying players?

How will they work out a profit?



I liked LOTRO. My biggest problem was always that it was the book licens. I learned about LOTR from the films, so it feels wrong to me that it does not have the classic music, art and so on from the films. That was really sad, as that would have made it very powerful.

Instead the film licens have been wasted on stupid stuff like LOTR Conquest... sigh. That game actually could have been great, but they totally dropped the ball.
 
T

TP

Member
Nice, I got a free copy of Mines of Moria a while ago but didn't even open it because I didn't want to pay a monthly fee. Im glad I decided to keep it.
 
B

butts

Member
I think I will try this out now.

So with these free to play MMOs, what exactly do you buy? Gear that is inaccessible through normal play? Do you keep what you buy for the duration or is it a monthly access thing?
 
S

SteveO409

Did you know Halo invented the FPS?
I got the game at launch and had alot of gun with gaffers, Amirox was a leveling machine and reached the cap so fast lol :lol
 
Haeleos

Haeleos

Member
Majine said:
What about the people who have bought playtime far into the future? I hear there even is (was?) a lifetime subscription of some sort.
Click to expand...

http://www.lotro.com/news/709-announcing-the-lord-of-the-rings-onlines-move-to-free-to-play-

I already subscribe to LOTRO. Is there any benefit to staying a subscriber?

Of course! Once the game goes live you’ll keep all your current privileges, and also accrue 500 free Turbine Points per month to spend as you wish. We also have a set of Loyalty Reward Special Offers just for our veteran players – as long as you maintain your subscription in good standing you may be eligible for up to 3,000 points. If you stay active over the summer you will also earn an additional bonus of 500 Turbine Points per month until launch! For more details see the Loyalty Reward Special Offer Terms & Conditions for full details.

I have a lifetime subscription to LOTRO. What will Free-to-Play mean for me?

As a lifetime subscriber to LOTRO, you will keep all of your membership privileges and are automatically upgraded to VIP status. You will receive 500 Free Turbine Points every month like the other VIPs, but you do not have to pay a monthly fee since you are a lifetime member. All you have to do is keep playing the game and visit the LOTRO Store to spend your free Turbine Points. Lifetime members may also qualify for a special one-time Loyalty Reward of 1,000 Turbine Points. See the Loyalty Reward Special Offer Terms & Conditions for full details.
Click to expand...
 
J

Joe Shlabotnik

Banned
The differences between free and VIP (monthly fee) don't look too ridiculous, although I'm hardly familiar with some of these features:

- 1 character slot vs. 5

- Ered Luin, Shire, Bree-Land quest packs vs. Eriador (everything, presumably?)

- 3 bags of inventory vs. 5

- 2 Gold cap vs. unlimited

- Standard login priority vs. Priority

- Limited chat, auction, mail vs. unlimited

- No rest XP

- No monster play

- Cannot spend Destiny Points

- Limited community features

- Limited crafting guilds

- 1-2 slots per trait type vs. All


Nearly everything is purchasable of course, and purchasing anything bumps you up to Premium, which splits some of the differences between Free and VIP.

The quest packs, which I assume are all side quests in an area, seems to be the biggest omission for non-VIP accounts.
 
J

JesseZao

Member
Yay, another F2P! I tried out DDO recently and it was just not a good enough agonist for my WoW addiction.

I could see LotRO having the polish and fun to keep me interested though, so count me in!
 
A

Aeana

Member
Excellent! I played the trial before, and thought it was pretty good, aside from the lack of a magical healer. I heard they added one, though?
 
M

Meier

Member
I just bought WOTLK and got back into WoW last weekend.. shame this wasn't announced earlier, may have given it a shot instead.
 
Haeleos

Haeleos

Member
Aeana said:
Excellent! I played the trial before, and thought it was pretty good, aside from the lack of a magical healer. I heard they added one, though?
Click to expand...

Yes, the Runekeeper has swirly transparent glowy glittery sparkles... you may now fap.

What's the level cap now? I think I stopped playing around 57 awhile ago.
Click to expand...

65 with Siege of Mirkwood.
 
H

hiro4

Member
There was already the minstrel and in a smaller form the captain.. though a really smaller form :p but the Rune keeper is a more dynamic at healer/dmg then the Minstrel.

Curious if they are going to do this for the EU version also.
Though I already have two life time accounts :lol
 
S

Spire

Subconscious Brolonging
Vigilant Walrus said:
What about the....

I mean, what are they going to do? Cash shop? make free players getting owned by paying players?

How will they work out a profit?
Click to expand...

I imagine it'll work just like DDO. You pay for new content (although there is still a ton of new content released for free), vanity items, account upgrades (extra characters slots, bank tabs, etc.), and things like that. The best gear is still something you have to earn through raiding though. Basically, the F2P works like this: A ton of people try the game because it's free, those that get addicted eventually spend money on it. The business model is essentially designed around making people fans of their game and then giving those fans ways of putting money into it. If your game is shit, the model doesn't work too well but with top-tier games like DDO and LotRO, there is a ton of money to be made.
 
A

ag-my001

Member
Well this explains why there's been very little word on the next book update. We got Mirkwood (mini-expansion) in December, then V3B1 in February (pure fetch quest in existing areas), and since this is launching in the fall, it'll be around 6+ months between updates. Final confirmation that updates every three months are dead and gone.

I'm wondering, though, how long it will take Turbine to realize how much money they could make off of tying Legendary Scrolls to the new store. How many Hunters would spend 2,000 Turbine Points to get a scroll for Induction Bow Critical. People could finally get their wish to customize their LI's, it's just going to cost them a small fortune.

Vigilant Walrus said:
I liked LOTRO. My biggest problem was always that it was the book licens. I learned about LOTR from the films, so it feels wrong to me that it does not have the classic music, art and so on from the films. That was really sad, as that would have made it very powerful.

Instead the film licens have been wasted on stupid stuff like LOTR Conquest... sigh. That game actually could have been great, but they totally dropped the ball.
Click to expand...

You do realize that the game would be ~1/5th its size if they only had access to the movie license. No Angmar, North Downs, Forochel, Ered Luin, Old Forest, Lone Lands (outside of Weathertop), Misty Mountains, etc. I take that back, it would be 1/10th the game. Fine for other genres, but an MMO needs the space.
 
T

theMrCravens

Member
Majine said:
I hear there even is (was?) a lifetime subscription of some sort.
Click to expand...
Yeah when it launched I think.
They'll probably get some huge perks (free slots, DLC, classes and items), so hard to say if they'll be happy or not.

Edit: Should've read above post. :/
 
R

rSpooky

Member
Nice way of fucking over lifetime members
sorry their offer for lifers sucks ass

:(

Uninstall..
I have 3 lifetime accounts in case you ar wondering , one for me, wife and my son.
 
S

Spire

Subconscious Brolonging
rSpooky said:
Nice way of fucking over lifetime members
sorry their offer for lifers sucks ass

:(

Uninstall..
I have 3 lifetime accounts in case you ar wondering , one for me, wife and my son.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure how it's any different than it is right now. I'm a lifer, and so I'll be getting free VIP access for life. Just like before, we're getting the benefits of paying $15 a month without having to pay.
 
J

JesseZao

Member
rSpooky said:
Nice way of fucking over lifetime members
sorry their offer for lifers sucks ass

:(

Uninstall..
I have 3 lifetime accounts in case you ar wondering , one for me, wife and my son.
Click to expand...

O.O

How much did you save by not paying monthly?

Taking a shot in the dark that you were an early member; If you would've paid 2 years for three accounts that would've been $1080. I saw that lifetime subs were $199, so you would've already saved almost $500? I think you got a good deal.
 
L

Lothars

Member
rSpooky said:
Nice way of fucking over lifetime members
sorry their offer for lifers sucks ass

:(

Uninstall..
I have 3 lifetime accounts in case you ar wondering , one for me, wife and my son.
Click to expand...

I don't see how this is screwing over lifetime members, they still get all the bonuses and they don't have to pay monthly, really nothing is changing other than it will open it up for more people to come and play.
 
J

Joe Shlabotnik

Banned
LOTRO has lasted long enough for the lifetime subscription to have paid for itself, which is kind of a miracle for an MMO as it is. And it seems like it will be around for quite a while now going forward. Not seeing the problem.
 
M

Metalmurphy

Member
Anyone knows how this affected DDO?


Did it make the paying costumers SUPER powerful or is it something subtle like free health/mana consumables?


If the best equipment is only available for paying costumers then I'll pass.
 
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