Meaning Time Warner has ultimate control over what happens in LOTRO now.
If you're gonna come in with a hate on for Turbine and Time Warner, that's fine, but at least get your facts straight. Time Warner, Turbine, and EA before them all have to answer to the Tolkien Estate, so Time Warner does NOT have ultimate control now.
No offense, but you mignt want to do some fact checking of your own, the next time you tell some-one to get thier facts straight. Tolkien Estate (aka Christopher Tolkien) does NOT own the game rights for Lord of the Rings, that would be Tolkien Enterprises (aka Saul Zaentz Company) which is a VERY different animal altogether.
I don't think Zaentz would have a problem with flying pigs with laser beams on thier heads if the royalties were good. Regardless, I'm pretty sure the contract is very specific about the things Zaentz does and does not exercize approval power for in the game.
I don't hate Turbine, I don't hate EA, I don't hate Time Warner. Heck I don't even hate SOE. However, I AM realistic about the dynamics of how some of these large companies work.
The Turbine of today is NOT the same company that made Asherons Call 10 years ago. Companies change....ESPECIALY after changes in management and ownership. Just because the Turbine of 10 years ago wouldn't do something doesn't mean the Turbine of today wouldn't either.
Op, you left something off the list. There is going to be a flood of players with F2P and they can all craft. I am sure Turbine will be lousy about controlling the resource respawn rate for mining nodes, etc. As a VIP playing the game, that is my biggest fear.
Meaning Time Warner has ultimate control over what happens in LOTRO now.
If you're gonna come in with a hate on for Turbine and Time Warner, that's fine, but at least get your facts straight. Time Warner, Turbine, and EA before them all have to answer to the Tolkien Estate, so Time Warner does NOT have ultimate control now.
No offense, but you mignt want to do some fact checking of your own, the next time you tell some-one to get thier facts straight. Tolkien Estate (aka Christopher Tolkien) does NOT own the game rights for Lord of the Rings, that would be Tolkien Enterprises (aka Saul Zaentz Company) which is a VERY different animal altogether.
I don't think Zaentz would have a problem with flying pigs with laser beams on thier heads if the royalties were good. Regardless, I'm pretty sure the contract is very specific about the things Zaentz does and does not exercize approval power for in the game.
I don't hate Turbine, I don't hate EA, I don't hate Time Warner. Heck I don't even hate SOE. However, I AM realistic about the dynamics of how some of these large companies work.
The Turbine of today is NOT the same company that made Asherons Call 10 years ago. Companies change....ESPECIALY after changes in management and ownership. Just because the Turbine of 10 years ago wouldn't do something doesn't mean the Turbine of today wouldn't either.
Zeo's point still stands, Zaentz affords Turbine a good amount of freedom, but they still keep a watchful eye on things.
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 "Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Turbine licenses the Lord of the Rings IP, as such there is certainly lore limitations on what they can and can not add to the world. I would expect they won't be able to add any silly things like flying mounts made of stars, everything they add would have to fit into the existing world Tolkien created.
You mean like loremasters, runekeepers, and hobbits in heavy armor beating the crap out of dragons?
Lol.
I never understood the whole 'Turbine did a great job with the IP' mindset. Lotro is certainly a fun game, but it's laughably out of sync with it's source material. The only MMORPG that took more of a dump on it's source IP was SWG.
The quality of the game will get better, more revenue= more content and development, I look at DDO what an improved game it has became, granted the F2P will attract the freeloder crowd, but there is ignore for the bad ones.. As a lifetime account holder for lotro, I am looking forward to the changes and the new content..
If The conversion does go horribly wrong, maybe it will point out that F2P isnt necessarily the best thing since sliced bread, especially for the gamers, but it would be at the terrible cost of a game good enough to stand on its own as a P2P.
Im a lifetime LOTRO subscriber who loves the game, but I would GLADLY watch it crash and burn just to prove this point to other developers. I have no greater gaming desire than to see this conversion fail and fail HARD.
Some of you are forgetting, staying a subscriber gets you 500 points a month to use in the store yourself, and for the most part, NOTHING has changed for you.
The biggest lie currently being perpetuated by the FTP crowd. I've explained over and over again that it DOES change things, from what type of new content is developed, to the focus of the devs, to the fairness of gameplay (being able to buy distinct advantages over other players for cash), to the quality of the community. To the fact that every time we load up a game chamnpioned by its fans for it's attention to the lore and immersion, we'll now see a big STORE button the entirety of our play time where things that we spent hours working on will now be sold to people instantaneously.
Most of that is unfounded speculation. Turbine is not Gpotato. This is a AAA MMG that is 3ed in the west that is going free to play with an item shop. Turbine has been nothing but respectful to the IP and the DDO conversion shows they know how to do a cash shop with out cheapening a game.
This is TURBINE, one of the forefathers of this industry, in fact, they are responsible for most "standard" features of the mmos we play and enjoy today (Hows that GUI working for you?). They were the pioneers then, and are continuing to be so now.
Yes, this IS Turbine... That comes with some vices, as well as virtues...
Keep in mind that they have been purchased by Warner Brothers. If you think that WB has any qualms what so ever about milking the last dollar out of some part of their operation, then you've not been following their rampages over the decades.
I strongly suspect that it was some bean counters/suits at WB who came up with the F2P idea for LOTRO. It remains to be seen how far they will push matters.
Let us also not forget our past history. It was Turbine that with Mickysoft, managed to mess up Asherons Call 2, so badly that they ended up closing it. Let us also not forget that it was Turbine who sold us an expansion pack for Asherons Call 2, and then closed AC2 not that long afterwards. The first part of the blame is rightly shared with Mickysoft. The expansion on the other hand was Turbine all by itself.
Only time will tell the tale of how this works out.
You guys really need to quit refering to and hoping for the Nice guy Mr Turbine, when speaking of LoTRo and DDO among others they no longer own them and wont be long before there devs filter there way out from Warner Bros.. Happens everytime...
Where Turbine had a labor of love involved in these games .. Warner bros sees 1 thing $$$$....And whhen they are thru wringing the wet towel in 18 months the will shut down or sell these IPs again ..
And what many folks are missing here is this is Time Warner.. Warner Bros is a subsidary of Time Warner ..
Time Warner has been $%itting on consumers ,players and fans for 5 decades .. From every form of entertainment there is , Baseball, Baskeball, TV , video games , Amusement PArks,Internet , Movies, Cable etc the list is long and ugly of the companies , teams,invenitors , creators and artists that they buy up ,Eat , Digest , removing all that was good and SH*t you out whats left then sell you off .....
But LoTRO will be different , they wouldnt dare defile Mr Tolkien .. LMFAO ... get a grip
ffs does every single video game journalist need to write this exact article? We get it, LOTRO has some holy grail community and its going to get tainted by all of these horrible people that would be on LOTRO trolling everyone until they quit if they could just save up $15/month.
The game is going to be fine, this has become such a dead horse topic its getting on my nerves. Turbine knows exactly what they are doing, and without this change LOTRO would probably be hurting with the next generation of MMORPG (FF14, SWTOR, RIFT, TERA).
This article is completely pointless because we already know the gist of the things that are going to be in a item shop. Seriously do your research before you write an article. They already said it is going to be very similar to the item shop found in DDO, which tells us plenty of information, and already disproves most of your points.
1. There will be some way to earn cash shop currency in game. (DDO has favor)
2. The shop is very cheap on a per item basis, and everything will be on sale at some point. (Most single items are under 700 in DDO, different items are on sale every day)
3. You will not need to purchase anything to full enjoy the game. (I have 2 DDO accounts and have not spent a dime, and have unlocked almost all of the content in the game on both)
4. Almost everything in the cash shop will also be available in the game in another way. (DDO favor unlocks alot of options as you gain it in addition to earning you Turbine Points)
5. The most cosmetic thing you can buy from the item shop are hair styles and colors, most of the in game costumes are crafted, and you purchase mounts at a certain level for in game currency. (DDO does not have anything similar to the famed WoW pony, or many cosmetic options either)
I dont mean to sound rude, but what I said is true, and I hope you think about it next time you want to write an article.
Now I don't have a dog in this hunt so I get to come at this as a bit of an outsider here. See I played DDO when it launched but quickly stopped when I realized how D&D 3rd edition it was and how forced I was to play in groups (that I didn't have in my time slot). When it went F2P I came back and enjoyed the changes I saw, though I can't honestly tell you when I last played it since the F2P launch.
Now with LOTR I've never played it at all. WoW bought my "Fantasy MMO" game time and every time I was about to leave something pulled me back in. My wife's first MMO is WoW but she's grown tired of it and thanks to talk of a F2P version of LOTR I've gotten her to try it. (In the normal 10 day free trial mode.)
I have to say I'd probably have never gotten her to go ahead and give it a try except for the fact that it's going F2P. Why? Because of our 2 year old daughter. Neither of us get the full MMO time we once had, and we won't for another 12 years or so. :
So F2P is a godsend to us since we will only buy what we want, when we want. If whole sections of the game are shut off to us that's fine since it'd take us a month of weekends to even come near them. By then who knows if we'll still be playing? F2P is like renting a game in a lot of ways, with the same benefits of "I can come and go as I please" along with the "I don't get everything because it's not mine." So for me it's a good thing. Will it make me pay for ANYTHING? Who knows, but if DDO is any indication it's probably a No.
Current Game: Asssasins Creed 2(PS3, Gamer Tag: Happy_Hubby) Current MMO: World of Warcraft and World of Tanks Former Subscribed MMO: Star Trek Online, Aion, WoW, Guild Wars, Eve Online, DAoC, City of Heroes, Shattered Galaxy, 10six. Tried: Too many to list
Turbine licenses the Lord of the Rings IP, as such there is certainly lore limitations on what they can and can not add to the world. I would expect they won't be able to add any silly things like flying mounts made of stars, everything they add would have to fit into the existing world Tolkien created.
You mean like loremasters, runekeepers, and hobbits in heavy armor beating the crap out of dragons?
Lol.
I never understood the whole 'Turbine did a great job with the IP' mindset. Lotro is certainly a fun game, but it's laughably out of sync with it's source material. The only MMORPG that took more of a dump on it's source IP was SWG.
What!? What is wrong with Hobbit Guardians? Here's mine, he looks rather dashing I think.
"Gypsies, tramps, and thieves, we were called by the Admin of the site . . . "
I find the whole conversation a bit stunning. Is the move about money? Of course it's about money. The only games with payment plans that aren't about making money are made by game-lovers, usually a team of one, and they are either amazingly small or amazingly crappy. LotRO has been about money from day one, people. The game would not have been made if the devs didn't think it would be a cash-cow. Is the move to f2p greedy? I guess. "Smart business" would be another way of putting it. My desire to play LotRO for less than a $15 monthly cost is also greedy. Others' desire to keep their little community intact and unchanged is greedy as well.
As for the DDO comparisons, I would just like to say that I think the DDO payment system is brilliant. Currently I play WoW and DDO and that's it. I've held subscriptions to a lot of games before, and prior to DDO's going f2p I was subscribing to Champions Online with a friend. I had never tried DDO. But my friend is a huge pen and paper role playing guy so when I realized DDO went free we tried it, cancelled our subscriptions to CO that same day, and haven't looked back. He is now a monthly subscriber and I have made one purchase of $50. I will probably have played my entire 1st year in DDO for $50. Both of us are exceedingly happy with our payment choices. Both of us (but my friend in particular since he plays more) have contributed positively to the community and my friend is active in a guild. Since downloading DDO, which I find to be a good - not great - game at the right price, I have hoped that new games would adopt a similar pay structure - particularly for those people like myself who love variety in gaming but don't have a ton of time to dedicate to multiple games.
As for the f2p community, I have to agree with the people who have mentioned WoW's childish community. You can find great people and great guilds in WoW, but you have to slog through thousands of children and adults who resemble children to get to them. I have not seen even close to WoW's level of obnoxiousness in the DDO community. I found a lot of friendly people in Perfect World International, also free to play. I think the very best community I found was in Atlantica Online - f2p. Ryzom boasts an amazing community as well and it has been f2p and p2p off and on for a long time. I never heard anyone say, "thank goodness we have to pay again to get rid of all these jerks!"
If you pay money to play a game, you are paying your money to corporations who want to make a lot of money off of you. If you are very lucky, some of the people on that corporation's payroll actually love the game and its community. The nice thing is that all of these people want to make their game better, regardless of their motivation. As players, we can only hope that their efforts will succeed for a long time before they don't. As for LotRO, come this fall I'll be trying it for the first time. If I like it, I promise I and many like me will be wonderful for the community and Turbine will get to acquire some of my money for their efforts.
I was pleasantly surprised when I went from Apprentice to full 5 star Elite in under 2 months. I was pleasantly surprised again when I went from Elite to just barely Hardcore in 2 weeks. Apprentice, here I come!
Not being totally serious, but reading this makes me think of how far in the wrong direction F2P games could go by imagining something like the flash game Upgrade Complete which would require to to feed it real money in order to have a functional game.
Hey folks, just wanted to chime in and say that this is a "worst case scenario" type list. Not what I actually think will happen.
-Bill
I'm glad you posted this, Bill. Because it's not too clear in the article, and I was about to call you an idiot.
You really have to look no further than DDO to see what Turbine can do with this model. I'm not saying they couldn't find some way to royally screw it up, all I'm saying is they did it once, they can do it again.
I do love reading all the doom and gloom on these forums though. I think I may be over my crotchity veteran MMORPG player phase, because I see nothing but good things in LOTRO's future, if they don't screw this up.
"There is as yet insufficient data for a meaningful answer."
What if the IP holders decide to revoke the lic, they have done it to some pen and paper rpg companies even tho they turned out quality product for years. Who knows we might see a new lotro under a new banner a few years down the road.
I play lotro alot and I already see the cracks in the brandywine community as it is I don't know if I will stay around when f2p hits. Turbine has already destroyed the crafting community and ingame econony, and even one of the rare items in the game can be gotten some weekend on the website lottery instead of earning it.
What if the IP holders decide to revoke the lic, they have done it to some pen and paper rpg companies even tho they turned out quality product for years. Who knows we might see a new lotro under a new banner a few years down the road.
I play lotro alot and I already see the cracks in the brandywine community as it is I don't know if I will stay around when f2p hits. Turbine has already destroyed the crafting community and ingame econony, and even one of the rare items in the game can be gotten some weekend on the website lottery instead of earning it.
Now that would be funny, however I dont expect that now that WB has the coner on the LOTRO market. Movies, Video Games, the entire 9 yards.
However it wold be funny if that did happen. I very much dought it. Im sure they pay roalties on every bit of money they make off it, the more money they make the more they pay in roalties, and that makes the ip holders happy.
I won't say more than that, but Turbine had already been working on a Hybrid model with DDO AND Lord Of The Ring BEFORE the Warner Bros deal. I'll leave it at that.
Comments
No offense, but you mignt want to do some fact checking of your own, the next time you tell some-one to get thier facts straight. Tolkien Estate (aka Christopher Tolkien) does NOT own the game rights for Lord of the Rings, that would be Tolkien Enterprises (aka Saul Zaentz Company) which is a VERY different animal altogether.
I don't think Zaentz would have a problem with flying pigs with laser beams on thier heads if the royalties were good. Regardless, I'm pretty sure the contract is very specific about the things Zaentz does and does not exercize approval power for in the game.
I don't hate Turbine, I don't hate EA, I don't hate Time Warner. Heck I don't even hate SOE. However, I AM realistic about the dynamics of how some of these large companies work.
The Turbine of today is NOT the same company that made Asherons Call 10 years ago. Companies change....ESPECIALY after changes in management and ownership. Just because the Turbine of 10 years ago wouldn't do something doesn't mean the Turbine of today wouldn't either.
Time Warner eventually scews up everything they touch.
This is hilarious. You guys are actually fueling "noob rage" and i never say noob but thats exactly what this crap is doing.
Zeo's point still stands, Zaentz affords Turbine a good amount of freedom, but they still keep a watchful eye on things.
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
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
You mean like loremasters, runekeepers, and hobbits in heavy armor beating the crap out of dragons?
Lol.
I never understood the whole 'Turbine did a great job with the IP' mindset. Lotro is certainly a fun game, but it's laughably out of sync with it's source material. The only MMORPG that took more of a dump on it's source IP was SWG.
The quality of the game will get better, more revenue= more content and development, I look at DDO what an improved game it has became, granted the F2P will attract the freeloder crowd, but there is ignore for the bad ones.. As a lifetime account holder for lotro, I am looking forward to the changes and the new content..
Im a lifetime LOTRO subscriber who loves the game, but I would GLADLY watch it crash and burn just to prove this point to other developers. I have no greater gaming desire than to see this conversion fail and fail HARD.
The biggest lie currently being perpetuated by the FTP crowd. I've explained over and over again that it DOES change things, from what type of new content is developed, to the focus of the devs, to the fairness of gameplay (being able to buy distinct advantages over other players for cash), to the quality of the community. To the fact that every time we load up a game chamnpioned by its fans for it's attention to the lore and immersion, we'll now see a big STORE button the entirety of our play time where things that we spent hours working on will now be sold to people instantaneously.
Of COURSE it changes the game.
Yes, this IS Turbine... That comes with some vices, as well as virtues...
Keep in mind that they have been purchased by Warner Brothers. If you think that WB has any qualms what so ever about milking the last dollar out of some part of their operation, then you've not been following their rampages over the decades.
I strongly suspect that it was some bean counters/suits at WB who came up with the F2P idea for LOTRO. It remains to be seen how far they will push matters.
Let us also not forget our past history. It was Turbine that with Mickysoft, managed to mess up Asherons Call 2, so badly that they ended up closing it. Let us also not forget that it was Turbine who sold us an expansion pack for Asherons Call 2, and then closed AC2 not that long afterwards. The first part of the blame is rightly shared with Mickysoft. The expansion on the other hand was Turbine all by itself.
Only time will tell the tale of how this works out.
You guys really need to quit refering to and hoping for the Nice guy Mr Turbine, when speaking of LoTRo and DDO among others they no longer own them and wont be long before there devs filter there way out from Warner Bros.. Happens everytime...
Where Turbine had a labor of love involved in these games .. Warner bros sees 1 thing $$$$....And whhen they are thru wringing the wet towel in 18 months the will shut down or sell these IPs again ..
And what many folks are missing here is this is Time Warner.. Warner Bros is a subsidary of Time Warner ..
Time Warner has been $%itting on consumers ,players and fans for 5 decades .. From every form of entertainment there is , Baseball, Baskeball, TV , video games , Amusement PArks,Internet , Movies, Cable etc the list is long and ugly of the companies , teams,invenitors , creators and artists that they buy up ,Eat , Digest , removing all that was good and SH*t you out whats left then sell you off .....
But LoTRO will be different , they wouldnt dare defile Mr Tolkien .. LMFAO ... get a grip
Hey folks, just wanted to chime in and say that this is a "worst case scenario" type list. Not what I actually think will happen.
-Bill
Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
My Review Manifesto
Follow me on Twitter if you dare.
So, you are saving what you really think will happen for another column?
ffs does every single video game journalist need to write this exact article? We get it, LOTRO has some holy grail community and its going to get tainted by all of these horrible people that would be on LOTRO trolling everyone until they quit if they could just save up $15/month.
The game is going to be fine, this has become such a dead horse topic its getting on my nerves. Turbine knows exactly what they are doing, and without this change LOTRO would probably be hurting with the next generation of MMORPG (FF14, SWTOR, RIFT, TERA).
This article is completely pointless because we already know the gist of the things that are going to be in a item shop. Seriously do your research before you write an article. They already said it is going to be very similar to the item shop found in DDO, which tells us plenty of information, and already disproves most of your points.
1. There will be some way to earn cash shop currency in game. (DDO has favor)
2. The shop is very cheap on a per item basis, and everything will be on sale at some point. (Most single items are under 700 in DDO, different items are on sale every day)
3. You will not need to purchase anything to full enjoy the game. (I have 2 DDO accounts and have not spent a dime, and have unlocked almost all of the content in the game on both)
4. Almost everything in the cash shop will also be available in the game in another way. (DDO favor unlocks alot of options as you gain it in addition to earning you Turbine Points)
5. The most cosmetic thing you can buy from the item shop are hair styles and colors, most of the in game costumes are crafted, and you purchase mounts at a certain level for in game currency. (DDO does not have anything similar to the famed WoW pony, or many cosmetic options either)
I dont mean to sound rude, but what I said is true, and I hope you think about it next time you want to write an article.
Now I don't have a dog in this hunt so I get to come at this as a bit of an outsider here. See I played DDO when it launched but quickly stopped when I realized how D&D 3rd edition it was and how forced I was to play in groups (that I didn't have in my time slot). When it went F2P I came back and enjoyed the changes I saw, though I can't honestly tell you when I last played it since the F2P launch.
Now with LOTR I've never played it at all. WoW bought my "Fantasy MMO" game time and every time I was about to leave something pulled me back in. My wife's first MMO is WoW but she's grown tired of it and thanks to talk of a F2P version of LOTR I've gotten her to try it. (In the normal 10 day free trial mode.)
I have to say I'd probably have never gotten her to go ahead and give it a try except for the fact that it's going F2P. Why? Because of our 2 year old daughter. Neither of us get the full MMO time we once had, and we won't for another 12 years or so. :
So F2P is a godsend to us since we will only buy what we want, when we want. If whole sections of the game are shut off to us that's fine since it'd take us a month of weekends to even come near them. By then who knows if we'll still be playing? F2P is like renting a game in a lot of ways, with the same benefits of "I can come and go as I please" along with the "I don't get everything because it's not mine." So for me it's a good thing. Will it make me pay for ANYTHING? Who knows, but if DDO is any indication it's probably a No.
Current Game: Asssasins Creed 2(PS3, Gamer Tag: Happy_Hubby)
Current MMO: World of Warcraft and World of Tanks
Former Subscribed MMO: Star Trek Online, Aion, WoW, Guild Wars, Eve Online, DAoC, City of Heroes, Shattered Galaxy, 10six.
Tried: Too many to list
Argument #3 Monster play may die?
I say monster play DESERVES to die!
What!? What is wrong with Hobbit Guardians? Here's mine, he looks rather dashing I think.
"Gypsies, tramps, and thieves, we were called by the Admin of the site . . . "
The RATM quote under your avatar is somewhat ironic given the content of your post.
I find the whole conversation a bit stunning. Is the move about money? Of course it's about money. The only games with payment plans that aren't about making money are made by game-lovers, usually a team of one, and they are either amazingly small or amazingly crappy. LotRO has been about money from day one, people. The game would not have been made if the devs didn't think it would be a cash-cow. Is the move to f2p greedy? I guess. "Smart business" would be another way of putting it. My desire to play LotRO for less than a $15 monthly cost is also greedy. Others' desire to keep their little community intact and unchanged is greedy as well.
As for the DDO comparisons, I would just like to say that I think the DDO payment system is brilliant. Currently I play WoW and DDO and that's it. I've held subscriptions to a lot of games before, and prior to DDO's going f2p I was subscribing to Champions Online with a friend. I had never tried DDO. But my friend is a huge pen and paper role playing guy so when I realized DDO went free we tried it, cancelled our subscriptions to CO that same day, and haven't looked back. He is now a monthly subscriber and I have made one purchase of $50. I will probably have played my entire 1st year in DDO for $50. Both of us are exceedingly happy with our payment choices. Both of us (but my friend in particular since he plays more) have contributed positively to the community and my friend is active in a guild. Since downloading DDO, which I find to be a good - not great - game at the right price, I have hoped that new games would adopt a similar pay structure - particularly for those people like myself who love variety in gaming but don't have a ton of time to dedicate to multiple games.
As for the f2p community, I have to agree with the people who have mentioned WoW's childish community. You can find great people and great guilds in WoW, but you have to slog through thousands of children and adults who resemble children to get to them. I have not seen even close to WoW's level of obnoxiousness in the DDO community. I found a lot of friendly people in Perfect World International, also free to play. I think the very best community I found was in Atlantica Online - f2p. Ryzom boasts an amazing community as well and it has been f2p and p2p off and on for a long time. I never heard anyone say, "thank goodness we have to pay again to get rid of all these jerks!"
If you pay money to play a game, you are paying your money to corporations who want to make a lot of money off of you. If you are very lucky, some of the people on that corporation's payroll actually love the game and its community. The nice thing is that all of these people want to make their game better, regardless of their motivation. As players, we can only hope that their efforts will succeed for a long time before they don't. As for LotRO, come this fall I'll be trying it for the first time. If I like it, I promise I and many like me will be wonderful for the community and Turbine will get to acquire some of my money for their efforts.
I was pleasantly surprised when I went from Apprentice to full 5 star Elite in under 2 months. I was pleasantly surprised again when I went from Elite to just barely Hardcore in 2 weeks. Apprentice, here I come!
Not being totally serious, but reading this makes me think of how far in the wrong direction F2P games could go by imagining something like the flash game Upgrade Complete which would require to to feed it real money in order to have a functional game.
I'm glad you posted this, Bill. Because it's not too clear in the article, and I was about to call you an idiot.
You really have to look no further than DDO to see what Turbine can do with this model. I'm not saying they couldn't find some way to royally screw it up, all I'm saying is they did it once, they can do it again.
I do love reading all the doom and gloom on these forums though. I think I may be over my crotchity veteran MMORPG player phase, because I see nothing but good things in LOTRO's future, if they don't screw this up.
"There is as yet insufficient data for a meaningful answer."
What if the IP holders decide to revoke the lic, they have done it to some pen and paper rpg companies even tho they turned out quality product for years. Who knows we might see a new lotro under a new banner a few years down the road.
I play lotro alot and I already see the cracks in the brandywine community as it is I don't know if I will stay around when f2p hits. Turbine has already destroyed the crafting community and ingame econony, and even one of the rare items in the game can be gotten some weekend on the website lottery instead of earning it.
"Onward to adventure".
Now that would be funny, however I dont expect that now that WB has the coner on the LOTRO market. Movies, Video Games, the entire 9 yards.
However it wold be funny if that did happen. I very much dought it. Im sure they pay roalties on every bit of money they make off it, the more money they make the more they pay in roalties, and that makes the ip holders happy.
It is all about money nothing more.
if RP is threatened by the flood gates ... which is a serious possibility. I hope they ban F2P players from using RP servers
I won't say more than that, but Turbine had already been working on a Hybrid model with DDO AND Lord Of The Ring BEFORE the Warner Bros deal. I'll leave it at that.