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LotRO F2p For Dummies?
PhelimReagh
Member UncommonPosts: 682
Basically, I'm wondering if there's a summary, somewhere, of what a potential F2P player should know coming in.
For example, I've heard that F2P accounts will only be on F2P-only servers, as the P2P LotRO folks want nothing to do with the F2P riff-raff. If so, are there going to be official role play F2P servers? I know there was some existing unofficial P2P server, but not sure about the F2P side.
Also, some folks don't like cash shop games for fear of "pay to win" items. Is there a brief summary of why and how Turbine has avoided that? Is the cash shop mostly for content, or is it 50/50 content/items?
I have some people playing other games who are considering LotRO, but many of them have varied reservations of what this F2P LotRO is going to be, and no centralized place to get a quick and dirty summary. If there was a small "cheat sheet" to copy and paste or link to in order to help sell the new F2P LotRO, that'd be great to see.
Comments
Regarding the serves, I believe you mixed up EQ2 Extended and LOTRO. LOTRO will not change it's server structure, instead F2P players will need to buy content packs that will unlock new areas and quests, while P2P gamers will have full access to the game.
F2P Cash Shop won't add any imbalancing/pay-to-win items either, and while there are a few usefull things in there, P2P users also receive 500 Turbine Points (Cash Shop Currency) per month with their sub (the 500 TP is free as long as you pay the P2P sub) that allows you to buy the usefull stuff too.
It's a pretty good cash shop in my opinion. Though F2P isn't exactly what LOTRO is, it's more like Unlimited Free Trial Area.
I'd sugest skipping LOTR altogether and wait just a little longer for one of the new MMORPGs coming out. I.e SOTOR, Rift, GW2, etc..
A tiny mind is a tidy mind...
there's no such thing og F2P server, is the same servers for everybody, if u , a free player, is welcome to play in Firefoot, Meneldor, etc...any server u want
and turbine make very clear that no item like "ultimate weapons of the game" or "best armor in the game"... but there is a lot of items and so far, in m opinion, nothing that can ruin the gameplay for some.
and your best source to find info about all that stuff is in the lotro's site and forum. but u can also check lotro fan sites, like casual stroll to mordor or check on google for more - i don't remember the name right now
LOTRO player
I was just about to say what MadnessRealm posted. Sounds like you are confusing the EQ2X with Lotro F2P in a couple areas. I also agree with him that the cash shop they are adding to all current servers is a good one, where most purchases are one-time only to unlock a class, content, etc. then you have it available to you from there on.
Here's a couple links for further details:
General FAQ
http://www.lotro.com/betasignup/faq.html
Payment/Subscription Options:
http://www.lotro.com/betasignup/vipchart.html
New/Prior Account Management:
https://myaccount.turbine.com/
This, especially the second link. What you got to know basically can be summed up like this:
1. You dont want to be a free player, only one charslot, 2 gold limit etc, its not nice. Go premium.
2. The best way imho to become premium is MoM expansion. You become a premium player, get 2 new classes, 2 extra char slots in addition to what normal premium get(5 total) and a nice amount of content. Id advise getting it cheap in stores. I got a full offer with SoA, MoM and SoM + 30 days for 10$.
3. Otherwise buy the cheapest whatever just to become premium.
Edit: The reason MoM expansion is such a good idea is that you have to buy it anyway, even as a VIP. So if you like the game there is no avoiding it, could try to get it with your free turbine point though.
Actually Sapience announced that free players will have 2 character slots instead of 1!
The best plan imo seems to be to play completly free to level 25ish (maybe with 2 characters) then become VIP for one month to unlock some of the restrictions and get 500 extra tp. Then drop to preemium and buy zones that take you to level 50. Then buy MoM/SoM and play till 65.
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
Ok thats awesome, didnt catch that. But tbh i think questpacks are overrated mostly. Personally i would go with lonelands and thats it, dont forget the Instance scaling and the skrimish system. Great Barrows + Lonelands will get you 7x 30 min instances, plus you get i think 4 Skirmishes a day which are also around 30 min each. So if you only pay 2-3 hours a day("only"), you could do a skirmish or work on your deeds while searching for a group to do 1-2 instances with and maybe a bit of crafting or part of the epic storyline without doing any quests.
Personally i like neither Trollshaws nor Angmar much, so thats that.
lol. No, f2p in LOTRO will be on all the servers. Its eq2 that is isolated the live servers from well... everyone but those that already play on them.
this is the most annoying part of it basically his misconception is because of the way paying members of lotro have been labelling the content,
You basically get all of the original LOTRO, just not its expansions. its not a trial, its not starter zones, its all the original game's content.
the expansion content will cost extra, as well as the extra classes that did not exist in the original
The people who have been playing down the content of lotro f2p are the people who are butthurt over the fact that thousands of people will now be playing the game for free, when they had to pay the full retail price and monthly fees, so they try to act like its just a trial , or just starting zones etc etc.
Let us all know how many quests you find in lone lands without paying anything
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
Right now the FAQ and various interviews would be the way to go. I'm sure after launch you'll start seeing reviews on it which would help.
As far as having reservations of the F2p option ...... just wait until after Sept 10th and download and play. All you'd really lose is an overnight's worth of download time (it's a pretty big game) and some play time checking it out.
Frankly if you've played the game or did the 10 day trial at anytime, then you really won't see a lot of big changes until you hit 20+ and have tapped out all the free quests. Yes some of the intro's were redone and some new quests have been added, but it won't be like you have to start store shopping right away. I'm been leveling various toon's as part of the Beta and have found I really only hit up the store to buy clothes so I don't look like everyone else. Something I'm willing to do with the free TP's Turbine is giving to work the store, but I'd pass on if it involved real money.
Concerning the buying of the zones. Not all zones are created equally. Either on the O- or Beta boards someone's already done a thread comparing the zones. An example is for the 20 - 30 range; Lorelands has more quests than either N. Downs or Evendim. I'm sure that will become a sticky once the launch goes and (guess here) the boards layout get's changed.
SWG (pre-cu) - AoC (pre-f2p) - PotBS (pre-boarder) - DDO - LotRO (pre-f2p) - STO (pre-f2p) - GnH (beta tester) - SWTOR - Neverwinter
Thanks for all the feedback, folks. And yes, it appears that I got the EQ2X (or whatever it's called) confused a bit.
Good luck in Middle Earth, and maybe me and some other riff-raff may see you there as well
To those complaining about the costs of LotROs F2P i say take a look at other popular F2P games like RoM or Allods Online. There are players admitting to spending 300$ each month on these games store, both require the itemstore to "charge up" items you got in instances. Allods even has a 200% damage/healing buff for sale around which the instances are balanced.
Compared to that LotRO is going to offer a really sweet deal. Pretty sure 300$ would get you the equivalent to a lifetime account in LotROs F2P(there was a thread doing the math ... somewhere ...).
Except...just how do we know that LOTRO won't become like that?
We've already seen some of it, stat tomes and mega-healing potions. The stat tomes are available in game, but unless you are a hardcore player, chances are good you are going to be buying them.
And it's almost certain that the game will designed around them. Just like the game has with virtues. Which are supposedly optional, but if you don't have them maxed out (or close to it), you're much weaker than your level.
What will it be like a year from now? Three years from now? Even if they have good intentions now, what if WB suddenly decides Turbine needs to make more money for it or heads will roll? Simple, just a slight increase in difficulty, and up go sales of buffing items.
Same with LIs. Clearly they are rather broken. How will they get fixed? Will Turbine actually overhaul the system that is friendly to the players, or will they use the cash shop as the solution?
We dont' know. I'm not saying it will be as bad as other F2P games, but I think the danger is certainly there.
R.I.P. City of Heroes and my 17 characters there
Yeah, yeah, yeah... slippery slope arguments belong in the same grouping as strawman ones.
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Yes the danger is there. F2P lovers have been pointing to DDO as the model LOTRO will follow since the move was announced.. Lately some questions have come up about some of the cash shop items in that game. Guild ship upgrades only available in the CS is one and I believe green iron? was mentioned as well. Some have remarked that each update brings more such items to the cash shop. Im sure I will be denounced as a doom sayer troll but the indicators are there for those that choose to look at them.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
Its a poor way of arguing imho. Because the answer is always the same, we cant know what will happen in the future. But uncertainity about future events is not something limited to F2P games, it literally applies to pretty much everything in our lives.
Also the healing pots got recently nerfed due to feedback by betaplayers, and the stattomes ... well they simply are not mandatory or overly important because LotRO works with hard limits on attributes, i .e. your primary attributes will always be maxed regardless of them, they merely free up some choices in regards to secondary attributes, which are ... well secondary. In other words, its nice if one of these tomes drops, if not its not so nice but you can still buy it with gold ingame in the AH if you really want them.
Also i think there is a misunderstanding in regards to stat tomes. Afaik you can only buy the weaker tomes in the store, the highest versions only drop in instances regardless. The idea(i guess) being a casual gamer can buy a mediocre version in the store, which will be enough of an help in the content he does, while a raider will have access to the high end version, which he may even need but more likely is going to be a nice to have.