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a bleeding death
smitty0356
Member Posts: 368
I think turbine realized that supporting the promised developement from where the game currently is to mordor was going to not make enough money with the current subscriber base, and they did the F2P model to try to pump in some capital.
While I agree that this is almost a necessary move in order for this game to reach the goals that it set out to accomplish, I think a poor management in the early game has led to it having great ambitions but unimpressive subscription numbers. Also, this is a clever way to get around the lifetime subs they sold at launch, and getting additional funds for potions and scrolls that do various things.
I think the pain is going to come in the sense that people can find the weaknesses of this game by level 20.... and the new revolving door that will become breeland will ruin the atmosphere that this game has going for it.
Additionally, this game has problems with spammers, hackers, macro'ers, and goldfarmers. In a world where the game is free, this is going to be open season for this harrassment of the core playerbase. What is worse, is that to combat the farmers, turbine will have to undercut them on their micro economy or dedicate some real resources on stopping them (which they probably should have done at launch).
I think this game made a fairly large compromise that could turn this game into the classic F2P game, and not like the LOTRO that they set out to make.
I like the game, and hope for the best, but I see this move as a liquidation of their player base for immediate funds.
Elite poster by 82
Comments
Interesting speculation. It has no basis in history or fact, but it's interesting nonetheless.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
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LOTRO has goldspam? I've never seen any, even on my lobies. I don't get spam mails or tells at all. Whatever turbine has done to combat that aspect of RMT is working like a charm, even in DDO I get none. As for actual gold farmers well they are in every MMO in existance and it's very difficult to fully get rid of them as long as there are people willing to buy from them so, moot point there. Also never seen any issues with hackers or macro'ers though since this game is 99% PVE hacking is largely pointless unless it's a dupe bug and macro'ing is hardly of any consequence either as again, game is PVE focused.
This post seems more like an anti-F2P troll form letter than anything.
Smitty started off good with his reasoning, but he probably thought it sounded weak, so he beefed it up with bull near the end there (what you kindly pointed out).
Yes, Turbine wants more customers. Yes, development has been slow, so if this new plan will get new subs and more money rolling in, I'm all for it. If they want more subscribers, they won't do something stupid and piss off their current playerbase, though of course some emotional types already swore to ragequit just at the idea of any F2P system in their game. Why don't they quit because there's a trial? That's playing for free. Ohh, it's not that, it's just the cash shop. Well, it's always a toss up with the cash shop, I'll admit that. Companies say they're not going to put anything game-changing in there, but sometimes they do so anyways. Do I think Turbine is different? Yeah, but even convenience/cosmetic items are too much for the purists. Their loss.
F2P and the other assorted issues are not at the core of the problem. Turbine claims LotR was doing fine sub wise, and was still making money. They're doing this to make more money.
The biggest issue as far as I'm concerned (and most everyone I play with as well) is the lack of new content. It's alot easier to keep/acquire new subs when you're adding content. I was fine with a paid expansion pack every year because I knew it was promoting the growth of the game and generally I went through things slow enough, that the next piece was only just being added as I was reaching the end of the previous. Hard to grow, when there is nothing being added, paid for or otherwise.
By the time they add any new content this fall (which I don't think will include a lvl cap boost) I'll have had my main character at lvl cap for the longest time since I started playing in beta.
Running alts through the same bunches of quests and content is not the same as new content.
If they don't have spammers now, it's because they went packing when the population began to decline. 3 months ago, people were spamming bree with what appeared to be relative immunity, and you would see the mining macro's running around northern breeland in little flocks.
So if they fixed that, then great, but I wasn't just making up the problems they have at least had recently.
Elite poster by 82
Not on my server they weren't.
There are plenty of MMO's with genuine problems, why waste time making up stuff about this one? If you don't like it going hybrid subscription/F2P just say so.
In all of the time I ahve been playing I have not seen gold spammers, hackers, afkers or anything of the sort. You take a good agruement (true or not) and spoil it with flameware and unproven allegations.
Gaming since Avalon Hill was making board games.
Played SWG, EVE, Fallen Earth, LOTRO, Rift, Vanguard, WoW, SWTOR, TSW, Tera
Tried Aoc, Aion, EQII, RoM, Vindictus, Darkfail, DDO, GW, PotBS
+1
Whole thread is based on a blatant lie for risky emphasis. Not worth responding any further.
DB
Denial makes one look a lot dumber than he/she actually is.
The brief time i played, granted i only got to level 24 or something when it went on sale, i had some gold spam, it was nothing beyond what i generally expect nowdays. ./shrug its there but its not prominent by any means
As to the comment about gold farmers, spammers....
Turbine are fanatics about removing anything and anyone that attemts to circumvent intended game-play mechanics. When the game was first released there was definitely some problems along these lines but in the last 2 years or so I have yet to see any town spam, in-game mail spam or even the old farmer levelling toon chains. I am sure there are still plenty of efforts being made but to say it is a problem is a gross overstatement made by someone who has not logged into LOTRO for a long time.
Del Cabon
A US Army ('Just Cause') Vet and MMORPG Native formerly of Trinsic, Norath and Dereth. Currently playing LOTRO.
Bleeding Death?
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Was about to post that myself the game has been continuously growing since it was released same with Eve. They aren't doing the micro trans model because they need more subs their doing to to expand the game outside its current population. They saw what it could do for a game on life support like DDO just imagine how well it will perform with a successful title such as LOTRO.
I would take points off for not labeling the x-axis (but "forget" to subtract them).
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When i first heard about this i thought, ah well no chance of reaching Mordor now and the game will be dead in a couple of years. However i've since played DDO again and the difference F2P and item shops have made for that game is phenomenal. DDO is full of players and very healthy, i can see why Turbine would like to apply the same model to a bigger and more involved mmo like LOTRO. It'll be interesting to see the results.
My only concern is that things will now be able to be bought that i had to spend ages questing for. I've got a lifetime sub and i've spent a long time in game gaining faction rewards. Are people just going to able to walk into the Turbine shop and buy a Galadhrim Steed now?
No they won't. Read the full announcement on the game's website, would answer all of your concerns!
DB
Denial makes one look a lot dumber than he/she actually is.
Hopefully another P2P Middle Earth MMO comes out in our lifetime and shows Turbine up. LOTRO was never the MMO I had hoped it would be, moreso now that its F2P lol. *fingers crossed*
"I play Tera for the gameplay"
I've never, in over a year, seen anything close to a spammer, macro'er, or gold bot at any time in LotRO.
What they DO have, like most other games, are folks that hack accounts, sell off all its stuff, and sell the gold online. Considering how easy it is to farm gold as a player, and that even the best stored gear from a hacked account doesn't sell for much at a vendor, I have to deduce that farming gold with an actual account to sell to other players must not be very lucrative. Account expense to profit ratio must not be worth it.
As far as the population goes, the game is considerably busier now(on Firefoot) than when I first started in April '09, and that includes the lower and mid-level areas. I'm looking forward to seeing how things are in the Fall.
I'd cross my fingers in the hope that you stay eternally unfulfilled, but those fingers are busy playing LOTRO.
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Turbines stale, redeployable MMO format just doesn't stand the test of time. The OP is correct, by level 20 most people realise that the combat is incredibly stale, any DDO player will recognise what's been recycled. If you make it past level 20 then whalecum to the stale grind. I'm a lifetime subscriber but frankly you couldn't pay me to play this game. And again the OP is correct to sniff a rat in Turbines business practices, you simply cannot take something that people have payed for and make it free to everyone. It's an incredibly stupid idea, they will flood Bree with newbies but the number of newbies that actually gets their credit card out will point to the hole in this business model. While the servers are crippled by the Bree newbs, Turbine is not going to get any additional revenue but their original subscriber base will jump ship insulted by the ridiculousness of it all. They will begin to remove servers and lower their hosting bill to represent the true revenue coming in and we'll be left with one dead server and one single dev rolling out whatever content he can without having a heart attack, also know as "The revival of DDO".
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I think you may have come off the anti-depressants too soon...
You hate the game yet you bought a lifetime sub? It is a honor for me to say thank you on behalf of all Warner Brothers stock holders.
ugh, for the most part i think this is way off base.
Sure LOTRO is not for everyone but just because it doesn't capture everyone's imagination doesn't mean that it doesn't "do it" for some people.
First of all, I don't feel that lvl 1-20 is stale. It's not an adrenaline fest by any stretch of the imagination but anyone who has any semblance of an attention span should be able to make it. For those who need ACTION ACTION ACTION all the time I can see where LOTRO's game play would be a problem .
There are some grinds in LOTRO such as faction, the Legendary item system and for some the kill traits can be a grind. Leveling is easy and I see no actual grind there. Money is also easy to come by.
What will probably happen is that Turbine will lose a few customers due to the f2p. It will gain a huge amount of players for the f2p launch. Some will stick around but I imagine there will be a nice revolving door or at least some who stop by from time to time.
With the increase in cash from the store, Turbine will resume putting out content upgrades. Since they want non subscribing players to pay for the new content there will be more continuous yet smaller content upgrades to feed the machine.
I can see the community taking a small dip in quality. Whether that propagates into the higher levels remains to be seen as I don't know how hard it will be for a free player to progress through the game.
Over time some players will get sick of the crass commercialism in the store and I can see some players throwing in the towel because of that. But that's going to be a personal thing. In the end, there are people who go to movie theaters who don't mind watching commercials and there are people who writhe in their seats every time one is shown. So the Turbine store will have the same effect.
I doubt they will lose many servers if any. It's possible that over time the experience might feel a bit cheap if the store is very in your face and they will lose some players. But based on what I've seen in DDO, LOTRO will contineu on and be very successful. We'll see over time.
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There are NO spammers other than players seeking groups or the occassionaly rare irritating people (but easily /ignored). Been playing since start and am just starting 2nd server (avg 32nd lvl). First server with 9 chars at lvl 65 and still doing 3-12 man instances/raid with awesome large Kinship (guild) GO!! Brandywine's Order of the Longtooth Daggers!
If you had half a brain cell, you'd UNDERSTAND the poster had a Lifetime sub because he **initially** loved the game.
In the end, he as a player got nothing. Turbine got their f**kin' money, and he as the player is saddled with a game that's going to s**t for him, and nothing is going to stop that slide down that manure covered slope.
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
Actually it is not obvious at all that guy had fun at first, as he rants (yes rants, as asserting that "you simply cannot take something that people have payed for and make it free to everyone." is not only untrue but sounds as a childish whining) that the first 20 levels are already terrible and the combat is stale. (which is not true, far from it).
So I ask myself why he did bother buy a lifetime account.
and BTW don't try to impress people with your rude language. It only depreciates your statement, not the only way around.