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General: 5 Reasons to be Excited About F2P LotRO
Stradden
Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
With the recent announcement that Turbine will be making its flagship MMO, Lord of the Rings Online into a F2P game, MMORPG.com list-smith Bill Murphy rattles off five reasons that players should be excited about the announcement. Next week, he gives five reasons that players should be cautious.
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There are a lot of reasons to be excited about free things. I love buying one Coolatta and getting a second free, for instance. But when “free” is applied to MMOs some players tend to scoff and turn their noses up. Free MMO, as discussed numerous times on this site and across the internet, is almost synonymous with “bad MMO”. But Turbine, along with companies like Frogster and gPotato, has been giving players reasons to change their tune. The quality of the free MMO has only been going up in recent years, and is bound to make a sharp spike with ArenaNet’s Guild Wars 2. And given the success and complete turnaround of DDO since going free to play, it seemed like only a matter of time before another AAA game tried a different sort of revenue model that doesn’t bank too much on subscriptions.
And so this fall we’ll be getting to traipse about Middle-earth for the low price of nothing. It’s a controversial subject no doubt, especially since Lord of the Rings Online isn’t exactly a game that needed the saving DDO once desperately required. LotRO may be one of the best performing MMOs in the western market, and yet Turbine is obviously confident that going F2P will make it even more successful. But the change is bound to have its share of ups and downs. In the spirit of remaining positive, here’s our list of five reasons to be excited about a F2P Middle-earth. Don’t worry naysayers, next week, we’ll have five reasons to be concerned.
Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
Comments
The success of DDO going F2P does not mean other games, including LOTRO, will duplicate the result. LOTRO might actually lose money, causing the dev team to shrink, updates to become less frequent, etc. Nothing is guaranteed but time will tell.
Im intruiged as for a f2p game they game will be incredibly well polished and have enough content to satisfy me.
This is true. While I support the LOTRO change to f2p/MT , I too wonder about the different audiences. Those who play DDO might already be inclined to pay for extra little things as this happens in the D&D PnP game already. But there's also evidence that the MMO population at large supports f2p/MT model.
It'll be interesting to see what happens.
_____________________________
Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO
Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
Find the Truth: http://www.factcheck.org/
All I can say is: LOL.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
LoTRO is a great game, I just never felt it was worth my 15 bucks a month. Now that it's free I will definitely revisit it. I just hope the community doesn't suffer too much, it was such a friendly group.
I find this optimism a response to the outrage showed in the forums. I think it will be ok, but not really good. It will go to the top of f2p for a bit, but I would rephrase it would LotRo f2p but still f2p. This intention of saying that it is going to be like a rare essence of f2p different from the others, is just a way to hide that it actually goes f2p, cash shop and everything that goes with it.
Guild Wars 2 is as F2P as any retail game out there, requiring you to purchase the box and expansions. Might as well as start calling God of War a F2P game, so this overly used marketing term can finally rest in peace as essentially every non-subscription game would be called F2P for that "free" appeal to bait people.
Frogster isn't really the best example of a good cash shop, heh, with all their equipment upgrading stuff.
I doubt they will release new "expansions", or that they will be free, sure, some things will be. They'll most likely charge for every new area, like they will do with the current game unless you purchase a VIP subscription (anyone know how much it will cost? Is it at least going to be cheaper than $9 a month, because otherwise the folks that had this deal for a full game access are losing), though we know they will still make you want things not included in the VIP, as it's just a best value selection, not a full one.
I find it amazing they never merged servers and went straight for the revenue model change.
Looking forward your next list
I am sorry I am not jumping on this "Free" bandwagon. Sad to see MMO's heading in this direction.
#3 is where my thoughts lie in the decision. I was an early beta tester and played for a good while into retail. I since cancelled because I did not like the direction that Turbine was going as far as the Lore is concerned.... too many little things that just irk me. I recently, however, had gone back with one of those free weekend things and just couldn't get into it because my characters all have abilities and things that I just don't remember how to play. My champion used to be as awesome as they could really get but I just couldn't do it and was dying to measley mobs. So, I went ahead and started a new character but there was no one around the starting areas at all.
Think what you will about turbine and their decision to go f2p it will bring alot of new people into the game that never even tried it before. I am pretty sure a whole bunch will choose to stay so that is more friends for everyone. Not a bad deal.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/7300033012
Some true stuff in there im still w8 to see how it will unfold
-Semper ubi sub ubi!
always wear underwear
In 12 months time Lord of the Rings Online will be the largest and most profitable Free 2 Play titles in the West and one of the largest MMOs in the World. It will quickly gain critical acclaim and the hundreds of re-reviews that will appear will cement its status as the game that started the mass migration to hybrid models. It may even scare the hell out of Blizzard :-)
Everyone else seems to be making baseless assumptions, so I thought I'd join in ;-)
http://www.themmoquest.com - MMO commentary from an overly angry brit. OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED!
That is where this F2P is not free. You will be free to explore and grind random mobs in all of Middle Earth(minus Moria and beyond without paying. But if you want to quest beyond the racial staring area that take you to level 20. Then you will have to pay. Each leveling area will have to be paid for to open up the quest NPC's. That is not free at all. So the free content will be limited to around level 20. Then it will be grind or pay for content.
Now I haven't seen how much it will cost to unlock an area. It could end up being a lot cheaper than a monthly sub if you are a slow leveler. Back when I played. Level 1 to 20 would just take a few days to a week depending on the time I had to play. The 20 to 30 would take a week and a half or so. The 30 to 40 would take longer. Then throw in crafting and it could take much longer. Once you get to 50 plus. It will be cheaper to pay for quest areas vs subs. And at level cap, you just unlock all the areas and play for free until the next update or expansion. So in the long run, the pay to quest should be cheaper than the sub they have now. I could never make it that far though. Inwould get board with the cmbat and leave. Now I can go back when it is free and just pay for new content. It may work out well in the long run.
How many people long for that "past, simpler, and better world," I wonder, without ever recognizing the truth that perhaps it was they who were simpler and better, and not the world about them?
R.A.Salvatore
This person is making stuff up as he goes along and clearly hasn't read the interview that was posted on this site, or the breakdown that Turbine did of the model :-)
This is just misinformation. I'm not going to call you on it though because apparently that gets me banned from these boards.
Edit: He's read the interview but altered certain facts (such as there being over 300 hours of content for free gamers, full access to instances and the world, and also main quest content including book content available to all players right up to cap). Peripheral quest givers will have to be purchased per area, but each payment will unlock ALL quest givers in that area.
http://www.themmoquest.com - MMO commentary from an overly angry brit. OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED!
Nothing will change. There will be more low level people at first, maybe some returning veterans to see how the game changed since they were gone. But in several months time it will go back to normal and slowly die, just like the rest of them.
They did not put any good new content, they did not make any significant changes, so there is no reason for people to start playing it, it's all same as before.
All they did is changed their pay model, meaning they enhanced the free trial and put RMT stuff. That's not the reason to start loving the game.
I did the LOTRO free trial once, i lasted 2 or 3 days, it didn't "click" me. So why should i play now... Oh yeah, i can buy stuff in the cash shop. Yeah right.
LOTRO is a very good PvE game. Not great, but very good. If a lifetime subber, I've long gotten the value out of my measely $200, sure, but I still play now and again, for the game's fun. I see a rather lot of subbers playing now, and enjoying the game.
Once the F2P model hits, I predict some lifers like me, and numerous subbers, will leave (for the countless reasons posted in response to the recent MMORPG.com laugh-fest which was the news post defending F2P).
Sure TONS of new players will try LOTRO, and many will stay for the very good PvE experience, but hardly ANYONE will acutally buy anything in the cash shops (they don't WANT to spend money on LOTRO, they would've subbed already had they wanted to!).
So, Turbine is going to scare away subbers and lifers, the very life blood of the game, and actract hordes of non-paying customers? Yeah, that's a good business model. *rolls eyes*
The only real positive I see here is the newbie zones won't be as empty. LOTRO has always had issues with the group quests being so "required" (and numerous).
I read on lotro-europe that an expansion will be ready by october.
Turbine will continue to add more content and maybe new classes (as in DDO) I think it will be a great success.
Think about ROM. How many players has? 2-3 ,million worldwide?
Now compare it with lotro. No wait, compare the existing f2p games with lotro.
Its like comparing a hut with a gothic cathedral.
The only thing sadder is that the majority of gamers seem more than willing to bend over and comply.
If you had asked me when I first started in this genre what I thought about the concept of F2P and cash shops in sub games, I would have just laughed the whole thing off. I would have expected a similar public outcry to what Coca-Cola experienced in 1985 when they introduced "the new taste of Coca-Cola" aka New Coke. Didn't take them too long to reintroduce the old formula marketed as Coca-Cola Classic.
I can always hope for "P2P Classic", but unfortunately the public wasn't using their noggins this time around, so people like me will most likely be shit out of luck.
"Mr. Rothstein, your people never will understand... the way it works out here. You're all just our guests. But you act like you're at home. Let me tell you something, partner. You ain't home. But that's where we're gonna send you if it harelips the governor." - Pat Webb
That is where this F2P is not free. You will be free to explore and grind random mobs in all of Middle Earth(minus Moria and beyond without paying. But if you want to quest beyond the racial staring area that take you to level 20. Then you will have to pay. Each leveling area will have to be paid for to open up the quest NPC's. That is not free at all. So the free content will be limited to around level 20. Then it will be grind or pay for content.
Now I haven't seen how much it will cost to unlock an area. It could end up being a lot cheaper than a monthly sub if you are a slow leveler. Back when I played. Level 1 to 20 would just take a few days to a week depending on the time I had to play. The 20 to 30 would take a week and a half or so. The 30 to 40 would take longer. Then throw in crafting and it could take much longer. Once you get to 50 plus. It will be cheaper to pay for quest areas vs subs. And at level cap, you just unlock all the areas and play for free until the next update or expansion. So in the long run, the pay to quest should be cheaper than the sub they have now. I could never make it that far though. Inwould get board with the cmbat and leave. Now I can go back when it is free and just pay for new content. It may work out well in the long run.
This person is making stuff up as he goes along and clearly hasn't read the interview that was posted on this site, or the breakdown that Turbine did of the model :-)
This is just misinformation. I'm not going to call you on it though because apparently that gets me banned from these boards.
Edit: He's read the interview but altered certain facts (such as there being over 300 hours of content for free gamers, full access to instances and the world, and also main quest content including book content available to all players right up to cap). Peripheral quest givers will have to be purchased per area, but each payment will unlock ALL quest givers in that area.
So the three starter areas are free. Bree-land, Ered Luin and the Shire. So with the racial noob area and the starter areas, you can get to 20 and with some grinding and grafting to 25. Each starting area can get you uo to say 40 hrs if you level really slow. So you can play three different characters to 25 to get 120 hrs. That includes the pre-epic storyline quests and chapter 1 of the epic story questline. Chapter 2 is in the Lone Lands and will be out of reach until you pay for the Lone Lands NPC quest fivers that have nothing to do with the epic storyline quests. Say what you will, you will have to pay to open up theses areas if you are just starting out. There will not be enough quests to level you up to do the free epic quests.
How many people long for that "past, simpler, and better world," I wonder, without ever recognizing the truth that perhaps it was they who were simpler and better, and not the world about them?
R.A.Salvatore
Yet another who did not fully understand or never read the Faq.
You ASS-U-me too much of me. I read Turbine's FAQ and dev posts about the upcoming switch very carefully, and I and many, many others who've already talked about this at length elsewhere, are leaving LOTRO. We, the paying subbers and lifers who truly enjoy the game and who are committed to buying any and all expansions, are taking our money elsewhere.
And meanwhile the unwashed horde of F2P'ers will enjoy the game and not give Turbine a penny. Sorry to upset your myopic viewpoint, DarVashiel.
Problem is, NONE of the newbie zone quests require a group anymore, so this is academic. First group quests now are in Great Barrows (lvl 24), which sounds like a portion of the game that will have to be purchased separately.
As to the rest of this article, it's purely guess work, and it could be argued the reverse could be true for many of these assumptions.
The only thing sadder is that the majority of gamers seem more than willing to bend over and comply.
If you had asked me when I first started in this genre what I thought about the concept of F2P and cash shops in sub games, I would have just laughed the whole thing off. I would have expected a similar public outcry to what Coca-Cola experienced in 1985 when they introduced "the new taste of Coca-Cola" aka New Coke. Didn't take them too long to reintroduce the old formula marketed as Coca-Cola Classic.
I can always hope for "P2P Classic", but unfortunately the public wasn't using their noggins this time around, so people like me will most likely be shit out of luck.
I don't see this F2P model as a cash shop game. It is more of a pay for content model. It will end up cheaper for a large number of gamers. Those who are subing to LOTRO and have purchased the 2 expansions will be able to keep playing without a sub. No need to buy anything else until new content comes out. So it is a pay for content, not a sub to login game. That will be cheaper for many for the exact same content. This is a PvE game. And a game that gets boring fast. So for those players that just want to play content. They can pay for it when it gets created and not pay anything while they wait for it.
How many people long for that "past, simpler, and better world," I wonder, without ever recognizing the truth that perhaps it was they who were simpler and better, and not the world about them?
R.A.Salvatore
and too bad I will not lose my time to download the game just for this new unlimited trial turbine try to push to us, F2P games are already not that good, some are ok they can balance the CS with the game but its rare and normally you can still get uber enchants on your equips with CS. But I think lotor will be like DDO a unlimited trial with you have to pay to play certain contant even the most annoying and ridiculous CS from F2P games as not like that, now we just cut half of our game so people have to pay to play all of it, and not counting about the vet on the game because pretty much they just tossed then to a corner with nothing new to do and in worse case they will no have anything new to do for a long time.
and really I don't see that waht is the "big news" about it, everyone knew they would do it ever since they did it on DDO even in DDO unlimited trial launch some vets there was saying that. the bottom line for me is let's try to milk more money from ours famous IPs, because we are too damn lazy to come with something new