LOTRO: Free-to-Play

Wembley wrote:

I'll be looking into this. I played a trial years ago and wasn't too keen on it. I can't remember why, though. Definitely worth a second look.

FWIW, my experience was thus:

Played in beta, and hated it. It was bland and far too mmo-ey. I had no interest in playing a Lord of the Rings game where people had to stand around in line to kill the respawning named wolf/orc/worg/etc. Granted, I started as a human, and from my experience since then, that's the worst choice for really getting a feel for the things that make LotRO unique in the mmo world to me.

I tried again about a year and a half (maybe two?) later, around when Moria came out. This time, I played an elf, and the difference in both gameplay refinement since beta and the exploration and lore of being in the "old lands" (Ered Luin not having been settled by humans since the days of Numenor), plus the tension being apparent between elves and dwarves, really hit it off with me. Since then, I've maintained a subscription and been an on-again-off-again player.

LotRO is an explorer's dream come true (using the Bartleby archetypes), and quite well done for socializers as well. There's less for achievers and very little for killers, though. The world feels much more believable and organic overall than all the other mmo's I've played with one exception: Asheron's Call.

I don't consider that a coincidence, since it was Turbine who brought us AC.

I hope Turbine continues to experience success with the game, and it's truly a dream of mine that they continue expanding it until they have provided most (or heck, all!) of Middle-Earth for us to explore!

I am excited for this, I tried the game a while back and really loved it. The problem is WoW friends did not want to pay another fee and I play so much WoW that my LOTRO time was limited and I could not bring myself to keep paying another monthly fee. I can not wait to jump back in to the world and bring some friends with me.

Budo wrote:

Also, the expanded player base is also a potential negative. The smaller, more mature player base in LoTRO has always felt like an exclusive "in" club, and RPing was always more welcome here (or at least tolerated more) compared to WoW. While I welcome more players, the concurrent influx of asshats could really cheapen the immersion experience into Middle Earth. I hope I'm wrong about this.

I've only been playing for a month, but I share your worry about this too. I've been amazed at the amount of roleplaying that people do in this game, and have spent half an hour myself just standing in the Prancing Pony listening to people play songs. I really hope Turbine is able to keep the potential asshats from ruining things. It looks like picking up those 60-day game cards for $6 each was a VERY smart move.

I am very excited about this. Not sure why so many folks on the LOTRO forum's can not read and understand a simple faq. The majority over there are ranting and raving about nonsense. Subscribers and Lifetimer's lose nothing in this model. They still have access to all existing content but will get a ton of free points when it goes live and 500 more every month. More than enough to buy convenience items or save up and get expansions for free!

I am loving the fact I will be able to buy more character slots and bank space with my free points. Add to that new content funded by the store and it is a huge win.

sapman wrote:

Not sure why so many folks on any forum's can not read and understand a simple faq.

You must be new to the Internet.

This announcement gives me a warm fuzzy. I really enjoyed my 6 months with the game two or so years ago, but couldn't justify keeping up my subscription. It'll be great to get back in and see more of the storyline quests. Those were really well done.

I've been playing every night since getting those $6 60-day cards. It's a vastly better game than what I played 2 years ago, and since I'm an extremely slow leveller this free-to-play model suits me fine.

I'd say the Prancing Pony will become a cesspool for a few months, then it'll settle down. That's the price of progress. No biggie.

This is very good news.

I enjoyed my short time in Middle Earth ages ago, but I really don't have the time to dedicate to a sub-based game. Something I can play casually and throw money at every now and then becomes literally 1000% more appealing.

I've been waiting for this to happen. I can't justify two monthly MMO payments (since I want to play with my wife). The way they've handled DDO has been great. Certainly a longer life for LOTRO, I think, supposing that the influx of new players does not kill everything that has been good about the game as-is. Bear in mind that most undesirables will only play for a few levels and then call it quits.

I saw this and it is great news. I had a great time in this, but my aging PC made this more and more difficult to play and finally the PC went kaput. Now I have a Mac and I noticed they said,'...multiple platforms...'. I hoping this eventually will mean the Mac as WoW does. I would love to get back into it. I signed up for the beta just to see if they were testing it on the Mac. Doesn't look like it:(

I just wish I could use the 500 points/month I get from my lifetime sub on DDO as well

Senkrad wrote:

I just wish I could use the 500 points/month I get from my lifetime sub on DDO as well

I feel the same way! I have the Founders/lifetime sub, so I'm set.

I'm looking forward to this for two reasons:

1. I just started LOTRO a couple months back and the low levels are absolute ghost towns. It's almost impossible to find a group for the harder quests. I'm now 36 and it's still tough to find other players, although it's a little better.

2. This fall I'm probably going back to WOW for Cataclysm. FTP means I can easily keep LOTRO as my side game.

LobsterMobster wrote:

Hey, suddenly I'm interested in this game!

Didn't they sell lifetime subscriptions for this? If I bought one of those, I'd be pissed. Then again, I bought a lifetime subscription to Hellgate: London...

More people playing = more potential revenue and thus longer life and better support for the game.. As a lifetime subscriber I would think you would be more pissed if the game got canned.

Makes sense, and I'm glad it came around more quickly than I thought it would. I'd been hearing from some buddies at Turbine that the LOTRO team was getting shown up a bit by DDO's success after going free to play.

Running Man wrote:

I'd say the Prancing Pony will become a cesspool for a few months, then it'll settle down. That's the price of progress. No biggie.

Can see places like Rivendell becoming more of the haunt of the long term players to avoid the noise.

Now I want to try. Good job Turbine.

I'm totally gonna be a hobbit and hang out in pubs, drink and smoke pipe-weed all day...maybe I'll get around to fighting some evil.

I just recently and finally bought LOTRO and played it for the free month. I had no clue at the time that it was going "free to play". I'm not sure how to feel about this but I guess it's a good thing since you still have the option of being a VIP member and getting everything without being nickled and dimed to death. Hopefully, more players will join in and the game servers will be full.

I'm totally gonna be a hobbit and hang out in pubs, drink and smoke pipe-weed all day...maybe I'll get around to fighting some evil.

During the seasonal festivals there are quests to get rep with the Inn League. The repeatable one has you running around hobbitt towns drinking drinks at every Inn you have to stop at (you have a certain amount of time to get to each Inn). After every Inn your vision gets more blurry and you start swaying back and forth while trying to grab the drinks. Very fun!

karmajay wrote:
I'm totally gonna be a hobbit and hang out in pubs, drink and smoke pipe-weed all day...maybe I'll get around to fighting some evil.

During the seasonal festivals there are quests to get rep with the Inn League. The repeatable one has you running around hobbitt towns drinking drinks at every Inn you have to stop at (you have a certain amount of time to get to each Inn). After every Inn your vision gets more blurry and you start swaying back and forth while trying to grab the drinks. Very fun!

I'm sold!

So when's the goodjer new character revival happening?

I hope some more people jump on this. I recently resubbed, and the newbie zones are EMPTY!

I know I'm definitely giving it a look, but not until it's actually free to play.

If a goodjer group gets going, I'll probably have to jump back in as well.

I would definately be game when it goes FTP. Any Ideas on when it may go live?

Cheeto1016 wrote:

I would definately be game when it goes FTP. Any Ideas on when it may go live?

This fall. We already have a good group of guys playing. I will roll a new character to play when it goes F2P.

Well I played the beta and it was fun, but I was playing City of Heroes at the time and couldn't justify two subs.

Enjoyed the hell out of DDO free last fall/winter. Haven't played in a few months since I installed Win7, I just haven't bothered reinstalling. But I guess it's still there waiting for me. Nice to dabble in an MMO and not feel compelled to play so much because I already paid for it.

Should be fun to poke around in middle-earth as well.

I started last month on Landroval. My main character (Stengah) is near level 30, and my alt (Krakki) is level 8.

I can't even get their website to open, keeps erroring out.