Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Lord of the Rings goes F2P

1235

Comments

  • DaywolfDaywolf Member Posts: 749

    The F in f2p seems to be a contradiction these days. You still gotta pay if you want to play, it’s just a demo. Welcome to marketing shpin.

     

    But who knows, as boring and consol-ish recent mmo releases have been, they might get a few bucks out of me again, unless I find something more old-school-ish long-term playable. I suppose with so many short-term games now, ADD diagnosis would be on the up rise, and prolly is.

    M59, UO, EQ1, WWIIOL, PS, EnB, SL, SWG. MoM, EQ2, AO, SB, CoH, LOTRO, WoW, DDO+ f2p's, Demo’s & indie alpha's.

  • AmatheAmathe Member LegendaryPosts: 7,630

    Part of what I evaluate before I invest a lot of my time in a game is its subscription model and what I believe are the effects of that model. So if I were a LoTR player I would be irate at such a major change. Since I'm not, I will just add this company to a list of ones whose games I will never play, or never play again, because the company cannot be trusted.

    EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests

  • NeblessNebless Member RarePosts: 1,878

    OK that's one questioned answered via another thread.  There are so many threads on the subject scattered all over here and on the DDO o-board and I don't even want to go to the LotRO o-board! :)

    (This was in the news section from an interview with the head Turbine media person and the LotRO executive producer.)

    "so in LOTRO players will have full unfettered access to the entire open world, but the limited access comes into play with certain quest givers. The entirety of Bree-land, Ered Luin, and the Shire will be fully accessible by F2P players, as will any of the main story content even beyond these regions, however,  quest givers featuring quests peripheral to the main storyline will require a purchasable unlock as players progress through the game’s later areas, starting around level 20-25, beginning with the Lone-lands. The locked quest givers will be denoted with a lock icon above their heads, and players can unlock them by simply talking to them and being given the option to purchase the content right then and there. It’s important to note that players won’t have to unlock an individual quest giver, though, as making a purchase unlocks all locked quest givers for that particular region."

    SWG (pre-cu) - AoC (pre-f2p) - PotBS (pre-boarder) - DDO - LotRO (pre-f2p) - STO (pre-f2p) - GnH (beta tester) - SWTOR - Neverwinter

  • warmaster670warmaster670 Member Posts: 1,384

    Originally posted by Ihmotepp

     Bend over paid subscribers of LOTRO. You just got the NGE up the butt. 

     

    You leveled your toon, and now there's an item shop with xp potions. Woohooo! time to quit and get some butt creme, and rant about how you were screwed hard with no lube.

    Anyone ever again going to trust this company and buy a lifetime "subscription"?

    You got a life time subscription. To an Item Shop game! Hahahahahahahahahahahaha the jokes on you! 

    Troll harder, being a lifetime subscriver wont change anything.

    Apparently stating the truth in my sig is "trolling"
    Sig typo fixed thanks to an observant stragen001.

  • NeblessNebless Member RarePosts: 1,878

    Originally posted by Amathe

    Part of what I evaluate before I invest a lot of my time in a game is its subscription model and what I believe are the effects of that model. So if I were a LoTR player I would be irate at such a major change. Since I'm not, I will just add this company to a list of ones whose games I will never play, or never play again, because the company cannot be trusted.

     So why can't they be trusted?  Because instead of letting a game die or shutting off the servers they did something to breath more life into it?

    According to various posts subs were going down, zones / lower levels were empty, there wasn't others to group with so they had to make the quests more soloable.  Now just like DDO you'll end up seeing new players come into the game.  Yes they'll come because it's free but they'll stay because they like it.  And if they stay, they'll spend money which Turbine will like.  Sounds like a win-win situation to me.

    SWG (pre-cu) - AoC (pre-f2p) - PotBS (pre-boarder) - DDO - LotRO (pre-f2p) - STO (pre-f2p) - GnH (beta tester) - SWTOR - Neverwinter

  • LimitationsLimitations Member UncommonPosts: 85

    I am personally excited for this... I will defiantly try this, and i am hoping to claim it as my full time mmorpg. I don't have REALLY high expectations with the "Free to play" options. We will see where it leads. For me personally, it will be the Lotro store, that will make it or break it for me. Though... Either way, i will defiantly try this out. Props.

    Who said this won't be perfect after all we know what is right
    And the sounds of bodies clashing is enough to make them cry.
    You know this cannot be perfect even when it is feeling right.
    And the sound of bodies crashing echo through the night.

  • GTwanderGTwander Member UncommonPosts: 6,035

    If they allow me to just log in and play lute for free I will be all over this. Chances are it's gonna cost me though, but I don't care, a 5$ single-time charge to jam on lute is worth it imo.

    Writer / Musician / Game Designer

    Now Playing: Skyrim, Wurm Online, Tropico 4
    Waiting On: GW2, TSW, Archeage, The Rapture

  • EdliEdli Member Posts: 941

    Originally posted by Nebless

    Originally posted by Amathe

    Part of what I evaluate before I invest a lot of my time in a game is its subscription model and what I believe are the effects of that model. So if I were a LoTR player I would be irate at such a major change. Since I'm not, I will just add this company to a list of ones whose games I will never play, or never play again, because the company cannot be trusted.

     So why can't they be trusted?  Because instead of letting a game die or shutting off the servers they did something to breath more life into it?

    So that's the only way to take more players in the game? What about actually making the game better? Now they're just a company that makes great for f2p games.

  • DraemosDraemos Member UncommonPosts: 1,521

    LotRo Pros:


    • Great Community
  • AmatheAmathe Member LegendaryPosts: 7,630

    Originally posted by Nebless

    Originally posted by Amathe

    Part of what I evaluate before I invest a lot of my time in a game is its subscription model and what I believe are the effects of that model. So if I were a LoTR player I would be irate at such a major change. Since I'm not, I will just add this company to a list of ones whose games I will never play, or never play again, because the company cannot be trusted.

     So why can't they be trusted?  Because instead of letting a game die or shutting off the servers they did something to breath more life into it?

    According to various posts subs were going down, zones / lower levels were empty, there wasn't others to group with so they had to make the quests more soloable.  Now just like DDO you'll end up seeing new players come into the game.  Yes they'll come because it's free but they'll stay because they like it.  And if they stay, they'll spend money which Turbine will like.  Sounds like a win-win situation to me.

    LoTR was not dieing. It has a healthy player population and by most accounts is a decent game. One of its major attributes is its reputation for a mature player community.

     

    "Free" to play games oftentimes have much different communities than subscription games. You get a lot more riff raff when more people just don't care because it didn't cost them anything to play and they have nothing to lose. Communities are important to me. If I sunk several years into a game, and they did this, I would be really ticked off. But luckily I didn't and now I know to stay clear of this company.

     

    I do feel genuine pity for the LoTR players. Get ready for thousands of <GaNd07fZ0rZ> .

    EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests

  • DaywolfDaywolf Member Posts: 749

    Originally posted by Draemos

    LotRo Pros:


    • Great Community

    Yeah, that was about it. f2p's don't have that, almost as bad as emu's.

    And yes, what someone said about being screwed for a life-time sub. I am now really REALLY glad I didn't get one of those subs, I almost did.

    Well, their attempt at chasing after those elusive WoW subs, does it ever end? Wasn;t about it dieing, it wasn't... evebn though they will probably say that for years like they do for EQ/SWG etc now. WoW subs to save the daaaay!!! meh

    M59, UO, EQ1, WWIIOL, PS, EnB, SL, SWG. MoM, EQ2, AO, SB, CoH, LOTRO, WoW, DDO+ f2p's, Demo’s & indie alpha's.

  • SovrathSovrath Member LegendaryPosts: 32,949

    Originally posted by Amathe

    Originally posted by Nebless


    Originally posted by Amathe

    Part of what I evaluate before I invest a lot of my time in a game is its subscription model and what I believe are the effects of that model. So if I were a LoTR player I would be irate at such a major change. Since I'm not, I will just add this company to a list of ones whose games I will never play, or never play again, because the company cannot be trusted.

     So why can't they be trusted?  Because instead of letting a game die or shutting off the servers they did something to breath more life into it?

    According to various posts subs were going down, zones / lower levels were empty, there wasn't others to group with so they had to make the quests more soloable.  Now just like DDO you'll end up seeing new players come into the game.  Yes they'll come because it's free but they'll stay because they like it.  And if they stay, they'll spend money which Turbine will like.  Sounds like a win-win situation to me.

    LoTR was not dieing. It has a healthy player population and by most accounts is a decent game. One of its major attributes is its reputation for a mature player community.

     

    "Free" to play games oftentimes have much different communities than subscription games. You get a lot more riff raff when more people just don't care because it didn't cost them anything to play and they have nothing to lose. Communities are important to me. If I sunk several years into a game, and they did this, I would be really ticked off. But luckily I didn't and now I know to stay clear of this company.

     

    I do feel genuine pity for the LoTR players. Get ready for thousands of  .

    this is a post from lone_rath on the lotro site:

    http://forums.lotro.com/showpost.php?p=4693301&postcount=4

    As someone that went through the DDO version of this and after reading the announcements and other posts, I can pretty much guarantee that they will not keep some servers as P2P. We cried for it over there and they ignored us.



    Also, yes in DDO there was an element of a$$hats that came in on the F2P bus, but for the most part all it meant was lots of new players. LOTS of new accounts as some people would create several new accounts to run low level areas to earn Turbine points and then delete and repeat.



    The people that are serious about the game will make it to the higher levels. The "I want everything free" crowd will soon learn that free is not really free and they will go away or stay in lowbie land running new characters over and over until they get enough points to buy another area to explore. Eventually they get tired of running the low areas and go away.



    I think the biggest hit to DDO was the influx of new people that made it to raiding levels and jumped in Raids. This had a good and bad effect. Good as there were more people raiding, bad because these people in general didn't have a clue how to complete the raid and there were a lot more failed raids. This led to a lot of guilds closing their doors and only raiding together. Joining a guild became an interview process and several guilds were no-F2P members.



    The game is going to become more lively, have more players, and the empty servers will be a memory. Something people have been complaining about for a while...Well, as the saying goes, be careful what you ask for.

    Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb." 

    Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w


    Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547

    Try the "Special Edition." 'Cause it's "Special." https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/64878/?tab=description

    Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo 
  • chriselchrisel Member UncommonPosts: 990

    LOTRO seems dead. No wonder it will be Free to play. Noone around lower levels. Noone around in Bree. Dead dead game.

    Actually I find it quite amusing that one of the so called 'best' MMO games have to go F2P.

    Laugh of the day. Well, now it seems I have to play it though, since one of my sons would like to play an MMO with me, and theres few other options (good ones) other than WoW, with LOTRO as second best. Rest is just rubbish. No excuses left since it now is free...

    It takes ages already to level in the game, wonder how they tweak the xp rate? Will it now take forever or near impossible to reach end level without paying for it?

    Make us care MORE about our faction & world pvp!

  • ChieftanChieftan Member UncommonPosts: 1,188

    In this world, anything that's free probably isn't very good.

    I don't begrudge them for trying to get more people in the door but it definitely tells you something...

    My youtube MMO gaming channel



  • ThomasN7ThomasN7 87.18.7.148Member CommonPosts: 6,690

    Originally posted by chrisel

    LOTRO seems dead. No wonder it will be Free to play. Noone around lower levels. Noone around in Bree. Dead dead game.

    Actually I find it quite amusing that one of the so called 'best' MMO games have to go F2P.

    Laugh of the day. Well, now it seems I have to play it though, since one of my sons would like to play an MMO with me, and theres few other options (good ones) other than WoW, with LOTRO as second best. Rest is just rubbish. No excuses left since it now is free...

    It takes ages already to level in the game, wonder how they tweak the xp rate? Will it now take forever or near impossible to reach end level without paying for it?

     Brandywine is the only real busy server and the low level areas are even dead on that server too when I played in the bigging of this year. They are lucky to even have 100k subs at the moment.

    30
  • NeblessNebless Member RarePosts: 1,878

    Originally posted by Edli

    Originally posted by Nebless

     So why can't they be trusted?  Because instead of letting a game die or shutting off the servers they did something to breath more life into it?

    So that's the only way to take more players in the game? What about actually making the game better? Now they're just a company that makes great for f2p games.

     And there's the nub of it.  Not that I made it that far but the general thought seems that MoM wasn't that good and Mirkwood was worse.  Why are follow on expansions just like movie sequels - not as good?  Maybe it was the area's they picked (I know there are a few parts of the books I general skip over when I re-read them because they're just plain butt boring) or different dev's?  Maybe the next expansion will be more open and good.  Who knows, but at this point I'd say the answer to your question was - Yes.

    SWG (pre-cu) - AoC (pre-f2p) - PotBS (pre-boarder) - DDO - LotRO (pre-f2p) - STO (pre-f2p) - GnH (beta tester) - SWTOR - Neverwinter

  • DaywolfDaywolf Member Posts: 749

    Best? It wasn’t one of the best, it’s one of the new-gen/new-era games. What it had was some community due to it‘s IP, but now that is going to fade.

    M59, UO, EQ1, WWIIOL, PS, EnB, SL, SWG. MoM, EQ2, AO, SB, CoH, LOTRO, WoW, DDO+ f2p's, Demo’s & indie alpha's.

  • NeblessNebless Member RarePosts: 1,878

    Originally posted by Chieftan

    In this world, anything that's free probably isn't very good.

    I don't begrudge them for trying to get more people in the door but it definitely tells you something...

     I find your mix of words and AoC banner to be very interesting since AoC has a half-butt F2p model with the Forever free levels 1 - 20 Tortage only.

    SWG (pre-cu) - AoC (pre-f2p) - PotBS (pre-boarder) - DDO - LotRO (pre-f2p) - STO (pre-f2p) - GnH (beta tester) - SWTOR - Neverwinter

  • BrenelaelBrenelael Member UncommonPosts: 3,821

    Nice, I played during Beta but didn't subscribe for 2 main reasons. One was the simple fact that I was already playing 2 other MMOs at the time and second was that nothing really 'grabbed' me while playing this game back then. This was the same reaction I had to DDO when I beta'd it and didn't sub. Since DDO went with a F2P option I keep it around as a backup MMO and I'm enjoying it a lot more than I did in Beta. I see LOTRO being a good second backup MMO as well. I've already signed up for the F2P Beta... I'll definately be checking this out this Fall! image

     

    Bren

    while(horse==dead)
    {
    beat();
    }

  • PapadamPapadam Member Posts: 2,102

    Its funny that people think F2P means bad community and P2P have good communities...

    WoW, AoC and so on all had much worse communities than any F2P MMO I have tried. And the DDO community is still great even thou the first months of F2P was pretty bad in the starting area.

    If WoW = The Beatles
    and WAR = Led Zeppelin
    Then LotrO = Pink Floyd

  • CultOfXtcCultOfXtc Member Posts: 378

    Originally posted by Amathe

    Originally posted by Nebless

    Originally posted by Amathe

    Part of what I evaluate before I invest a lot of my time in a game is its subscription model and what I believe are the effects of that model. So if I were a LoTR player I would be irate at such a major change. Since I'm not, I will just add this company to a list of ones whose games I will never play, or never play again, because the company cannot be trusted.

     So why can't they be trusted?  Because instead of letting a game die or shutting off the servers they did something to breath more life into it?

    According to various posts subs were going down, zones / lower levels were empty, there wasn't others to group with so they had to make the quests more soloable.  Now just like DDO you'll end up seeing new players come into the game.  Yes they'll come because it's free but they'll stay because they like it.  And if they stay, they'll spend money which Turbine will like.  Sounds like a win-win situation to me.

    LoTR was not dieing. It has a healthy player population and by most accounts is a decent game. One of its major attributes is its reputation for a mature player community.

     

    "Free" to play games oftentimes have much different communities than subscription games. You get a lot more riff raff when more people just don't care because it didn't cost them anything to play and they have nothing to lose. Communities are important to me. If I sunk several years into a game, and they did this, I would be really ticked off. But luckily I didn't and now I know to stay clear of this company.

     

    I do feel genuine pity for the LoTR players. Get ready for thousands of  .

    Esp on the RP servers , they (the RP'ers) on those servers take it very seriously and the l33t h4x0r dudes are going to get their reporting/ticketing skills in check.

     

    THE SECRET WORLD - PAY ONCE PLAY FOREVER - Give it a go!

    http://www.thesecretworld.com/buy/

    OR PM ME FOR A BUDDY KEY (need your email address).

  • PhelimReaghPhelimReagh Member UncommonPosts: 682

    One thing I know is that a dozen people I know from other games, who didn't have any interest in subbing to a new game in addition to their current game, are looking forward to trying LotRO when it goes "hybrid".

     

    Odds are, a good half of them will end up spending at least a little bit of cash for LotRO at some point. That's money and players the game didn't have access to before.

     

    I still don't understand why this model isn't more popular.

  • AceundorAceundor Member Posts: 482

    It is a big mistake. I wont be playing Lotro now. Pity, its a nice game.

    If something is Free then its not worth anything. Its just that simple

    Originally posted by BishopB:

    Are a lot of the trolls just angry kids with old gaming hardware?

  • DaywolfDaywolf Member Posts: 749

    Originally posted by PhelimReagh

    One thing I know is that a dozen people I know from other games, who didn't have any interest in subbing to a new game in addition to their current game, are looking forward to trying LotRO when it goes "hybrid".

     

    Odds are, a good half of them will end up spending at least a little bit of cash for LotRO at some point. That's money and players the game didn't have access to before.

     

    I still don't understand why this model isn't more popular.

    But chances are they won't be long-term players. And those that do spend any money, it'll be very little. Those that did sub, will probably look for another game at some point, as the community factor is diluted and then fails. Then the game will fail, won't even have enough to pay electricity bills.



    The way things are going, mmo's just won't be attractive to make any longer, not with such a high failure rate attached. They will just say that we didn’t want them any more. I've heard devs say stuff like that about other things... like in SWG when they destroyed Creature Handler (over nerfed), then offered a respec and of course people did a respec out. Then they said "No one liked CH, so we removed it". Future of most mmo's.



    Actually I’ve reconsidered from my first post. Even if I’m bored, think I’ll just watch TV instead of any time with LOTRO. Maybe Sons of Anarchy returns in the fall? Will need to look at the schedule.

    M59, UO, EQ1, WWIIOL, PS, EnB, SL, SWG. MoM, EQ2, AO, SB, CoH, LOTRO, WoW, DDO+ f2p's, Demo’s & indie alpha's.

  • bobbadudbobbadud Member Posts: 268

    Originally posted by Daywolf

    Originally posted by PhelimReagh

    One thing I know is that a dozen people I know from other games, who didn't have any interest in subbing to a new game in addition to their current game, are looking forward to trying LotRO when it goes "hybrid".

     

    Odds are, a good half of them will end up spending at least a little bit of cash for LotRO at some point. That's money and players the game didn't have access to before.

     

    I still don't understand why this model isn't more popular.

    But chances are they won't be long-term players. And those that do spend any money, it'll be very little. Those that did sub, will probably look for another game at some point, as the community factor is diluted and then fails. Then the game will fail, won't even have enough to pay electricity bills.



     

    Yep: the "play to see further content" is like some wall for most players and it will only result in very populated beginning levels and the higher "paid content" you go to, the less players you'll see.

    It will be more like a steeple chase with every hurdle thinning out the player base further. In the mid game you'll have 10%, in the end game the few idiots that paid to the end. Have fun with a 1 % player base in which you paid and invested this much.

    Same result as in P2P in the long run but this time with a very unstable money flow. Terrible for a long term investment both for investors as players.

    It’s embarrassing when an NPC compliments you in an MMo, the only relevant, cool and epic things come from players whispering you “Grtz, mate, we did it”. copyright Pilnkplonk

Sign In or Register to comment.