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Installing LOTRO, F2P. Good or bad?
CamShirayuki
Member UncommonPosts: 23
I don't have a lot of money, and Lord of the Rings is one of my favourites. How is this game on the F2P part? I've heard a lot about it, good and bad.
Comments
Depends. If you're a new player in LotRO, then it can be pretty restrictive, but since you can earn TP in game, you can buy / unlock everything without spending a dime - with a massive amount of time invested in grinding.
If you're a former player, it's much better and easier. That way you only need to buy the quest packs between lvl30-50, you can finish it with buying only two packs (like Evendim and Angmar). That's why it's a standard advice to newcomers to buy a 1month subscription, after that you'll become a former player with its every advantage
Above 50 you need to buy the expansion packs, regardless of free player or subscriber, so the difference is mostly in the level30-50 region. (Until 30 you can roam around for free)
I played LotRO up to about lvl 26 for a while as a free player (I did actually spend around a hundred dollars on their cash shop for cosmetic reasons, but I am sucker for that). Unless they have changed things since then. I can say that playing it from the start for free is not really practical. At the very least you need to buy the lowest denomination available of cash shop money to unlock full trade and wallet ability. The game is really hard to get by in with a limited wallet and trade ability. I was able to earn some cash shop money with in-game accomplishments. But, apparently that does not unlock the wallet and trade. You have to make an actual purchase at least once to do that.
I actually recently asked them (nicely, and they complied) to delete my account, remove me from any subscriptions, and delete any of my information that they may have on record. With the issues they have had in the last year and a half - while I would normally leave an MMORPG I no longer play out of disinterest simply inactive - I do not trust them with any of my information.
The game was fun for me, for a little while. But, I was playing it for the middle earth novelty of it, and that wore off pretty quick. Under which lies a pretty generic game with only a few interesting departures that really didn't give me enough reason to stay.
My computer is better than yours.
Hope you are not saying the game is bad, because that's simply not true. If wasn't to your liking, that's fine. This is one of more decent MMOs still left in a bland market of many games. There is so much fun stuff to do in game that a lot of people don't know about until they go and give it some time and effort.
Yes, I suggest you buy some stuff to make the game less restrictive. If you are looking to play a game completely free..well that doesn't really exist. Just buy the necessary expansions once you get to that point in the game. Once you get the game started up, choose a class/race combo you like(do some prior research). Also, join a clan of helpful people. Playing with other makes learning a new MMO fun, no matter which game it is.
note: try to find the more populated servers prior to making a character. I'd tell you, but I haven't been online in a while.
Enjoy
If you refuse to ever spend any money.. avoid this game. I love the game.. but you might as well subscribe if you want to take it seriously. Simple as that.. this game is either pay or grind for 1000 hours. You wanna play it? Just pay.. cos if you don't it isn't going to be as much fun.
If you want totally free MMOs look to Rift, Aion or Tera (US, even if you are from EU).
The Game is old, but its still one of the best game I have played ever. Who is saying its bad, is just stupid ass and has no sense for good game.
What you should totally do, if you will want to play it, it's, buy a one month of VIP, because the things you will get from that one month are very helpful and they will stay with you even the VIP period will be gone.
Turbine introduced a very successful ftp conversion w DDO
I am surprised the gated content hasn't improved in LOTRO over the years
the older content, like Mines of Moria (Nov 2008) , should be free
http://store.turbine.com/store/turbine/en_US/list/categoryID.58733200/parentCategoryID.58516200
LOTRO is probably the most restrictive ftp mmo for expansions
even EQ1/EQ2 unlock all adventure content except the most recent 2 expansions
EQ2 fan sites
I have a new idea. If you refuse to spend money ever, stop playing MMOs.
LOTRO is a fine game and I have spent many hours in it. The only questionable thing about the game now, is how long will they hold onto the license.
Warner Brothers owns Turbine so hopefully no issues
beyond Warner vs Tolkien estate for issues like The Hobbit movies
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/warner-bros-allowed-pursue-tolkien-583952
EQ2 fan sites
Yeah the books and the movies are under separate licenses if I am not mistaken.
People have been screaming on the main lotro forums for information about the situation with the game license for months and they haven't been very forthcoming with information.
Awful idea.
It's pretty much WoW with better art.
Everything is based around quest grinding, and almost every quest is identical. You will have to keep killing the same reskinned/renamed wolves every couple of levels for some guard who couldn't be assed to leave town. Hundreds of fetch quests and a fewinstances that ttry to be like singleplayer games.
Everything is so phased and instanced that if you have friends you're trying to play with, it's near impossible to play together because none of you will ever be on the same quest step or qualify for the same quests.
And if you want to just explore, like I tried, the game punishes you. Certain zones are straight up locked unless you pay for them (buy and then complete the quests to go in that area) others will appear open, but a mysterious power will insta kill you without warning if you enter them, until, you guessed it, you finished another quest that costs money to get.
There are many endearing elements of the game (leftover from the days when it was developed as a sandbox) but it'll break your heart to try to please it. So many invisible walls and instances and quest requirements means you'll never properly explore Middle Earth, and the combat is really bland, animations don't match what's going on. There's no block animation, just text that pops up and says "blocked".
joystiq's take on the LOTRO license
http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/05/04/the-road-to-mordor-could-lord-of-the-rings-online-end-in-2014/
Turbine announced that it had inked a deal with Middle-earth Enterprises to extend the license for Lord of the Rings through 2014 with options to extend it through 2017.
EQ2 fan sites
Yep, potentially grim. No one really knows though.
I played LOTRO since beta, I'm a founder (aka preorder). The actual game is just a shadow of what it once was.
I will repeat my advice. Don't invest a cent in this game, use the free to play option until you hit the cap when you can no longer get free quests first. Then, if you really enjoy the game, start to give money. And if you plan to pay to play, I advise to subscribe rather than buy content in the cash shop.
And to those saying "if you don't want to pay, don't play MMORPGs"... I'm pretty sure I gave more money to LOTRO than most of you guys. Subscriber for several years, until I finally bought a lifetime a few months before the game went F2P. The lifetime is the only reason why I sometimes log in to see the new content nowadays, simply because I don't have to give a cent to Turbine anymore. Without that, the actual game is definitely not worth any of my money.
My computer is better than yours.
Lore and stories are great, you really feel part of middle earth during its most wellknown time, personally i think the scenery is awesome while combat and annimations are okay.
But then if you want to play the game withouth grinding and just enjoying the stories it will require you to invest real money in content.... Or if you just plan to play to max once and enjoy everything the game has to offer, getting a subscription might be the cheepest option...
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
First of all I didn't try LOTRO out for a long time because I was familiar with Dungeons and Dragons Online's abyssmal F2P model with Turbine Points and thought LOTRO would be pretty much the same. Luckily that is nowhere near the case at all and TP is far easier to earn in game than it is in DDO.
LOTRO's F2P isn't nearly as bad as most people here are making it sound by any means. It's true there are a number of things you'll really want to get from the cash shop as a F2P player but earning Turbine Points in game is pretty easy. By the time I reached the end of the free content (not counting the main epic story line which is always free regardless of which areas you own or don't) I had acquired more than enough TP ingame to buy a whole quest pack to continue on as well as riding skill and a good bit of TP left over. On top of that you can easily create throw away alts and making a quick farming run to earn 140 TP in about an hour and a half for your account.
That being said I would look at LOTRO more like a Buy2Play game with a really good free trial. You can easilly play to your 30s or so through the first bunch of areas which are compmletely free and if you really enjoy the game by that point you have a few options. You can do your deeds and farm TP to buy more content or you can dish out a little bit of cash to unlock virtually the entire game. Paying a mere $14.99 for 1 month of VIP gets you 500 TP, unlimited access to the game for that month and best of all, a whole lot of unlocks that are permanent for your account even after you cancel VIP and drop down to Premium (you'll go to premium instead of full f2p after spending any cash on the game). These unlocks include removal of the credit cap, access to all traits, 5 bag slots instead of 3, all swift travel routes unlocked, and a few other very useful things for any character you log on during this time. You'll also get a permanent 3rd character slot (and 2 more for a total of 5 if you ever buy moria xpac which is in the quadpack). In addition to that you can buy the expansion quadpack for $40 to get all 4 expansions which includes pretty much ALL content for lvl 50-85. The best part is the sales LOTRO constantly has, I was actually able to pick up the quadpack and get all 4 expansions for only $20 which was one hell of a deal. With the newest expansion getting real close I wouldn't be suprised in the least if the quadpack went on sale again or just straight up dropped in price.
All in all you can pretty much play compleyely free to mid 30s or so and then you can either grind xp and do just epic questline, take a lot of time and farm TP with throwaway alts, or spend $55 for virtually full access to the game without subbing. All depends on how much you enjoy the game and can afford to spend if you want to but either way I highly recommend at least trying it out through the areas that are completely free and any beyond that you can afford to buy with earned ingame TP.
Though I too wish there was a "new' Lord of the Rings game, ti's not "that" old.
Yes, the avatars look like crap and yes some of the weapons and armor are horrid in design. funny enough, I've noticed that recently more weapons and definitely the new Rohan Armor models are very good. The new Horse is excellent.
As far as "old" goes there is a difference between this:
And this:
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
@OP:
The game is "ok" f2p. I've played off and on since closed beta. Several months ago I started playing f2p and finally just subbed. I found that hitting into walls where I wanted to partake in content but required to buy it in bits really wasn't worth it.
One can earn Turbine points in game but they come in drips and drabs.
But you know? The game is free. Download it and try it. Won't cost anything other than your time.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
LOTRO, the game: excellent
LOTRO, the f2p model: awful. Easily the worst of the AAA freemium models. yes, you can earn the points in game but to get the content you need it will be a LOT of rerolling, grinding tedious tasks, deleting, rins and repeat. In addition, some features that should be free to subscribers are locked behind cash shop (for example an exp disabler for those people who like to see content before out leveling it will cost you 5 or 6 bucks- per character).
Stilll, its worth playing. You can do the first zone or two f2p and if you like the game than sub.
I am only quoting this because this is typical of what I am starting to hear about ALL f2p games in general. It is particularly interesting that this attitude is beginning to surface now since LOTRO was once held up as the gold standard for how all f2p should run. I think that the chink in the f2p armor is beginning to fully show.
On a lighter note, LOTRO was (WAS) a good MMO in its time. It was a truly massive game in which you could immerse yourself in a good portion of Middle Earth. That is not to say it did not have limitations and tradeoffs. But, the game at the time was very good looking and very playable if you played with friends.
Let's party like it is 1863!
curse you for making me miss EQ1 of yesteryear!
EQ2 fan sites
i think the ftp model has vastly improved - thanks to games like Aion, Lineage2, and RIFT
EQ2 had horrible restrictions in the intial ftp business model
but in the last 12 months,
EQ2 removed restrictions on class, race, coin, bags, gear, and made DOV expansion free
EQ2 fan sites