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Lord of the Rings Online: F2P Session
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
MMORPG.com writer Jaime Skelton recently had the opportunity to spend time with Lord of the Rings Online producer Aaron Campbell. During their session, Jaime was treated to a firsthand look at the upcoming free to play scaled instance Enedwaith. See what she thought of the new material and her thoughts about LOTRO's F2P model.
My first welcome to Enedwaith is at the camp of Harndirion, which, like many other camps of the Rangers and Free Peoples, is established upon some ruins, in this case found west of Thrór's Coomb. Here in Enedwaith, players are working with two groups – the Rangers, and a tribe of Dunlendings – as they follow the path of the Grey Company. I took a brief look around, noticing the reappearance of Lothrandir and Braigiar (two Rangers experienced players will be familiar with) before I was whisked around to other areas of the wide zone that hosts the next part of LOTRO's epic story.
Read all of Jaime's thoughts about her LOTRO play session.
Comments
What about players who've purchased the game in the past and are not currently subscribed? These people still shelled out for the box price, which I understand has essentially been made free now, so will they get any perks that the free to play people won't get?
You didn't see the guys at Mythic giving out anything to those who had bought + subbed warhammer online...
Logic says the answer is yes but I doubt that you will get anything.
Good god I hope another company gives Middle Earth a shot sometime..what a joke lol
"I play Tera for the gameplay"
Turbine has provided a lot of details on the comming swith to FTP. I believe the answers to your questions can be found in the VIP chart.
http://www.lotro.com/news/709
Yes, those that bought the box will permanently be made Premium members, which gives 3 characters slots instead of one and a 5 gold cap instead of 2 gold. There's some other perks premium members get over free members.
You are automatically and permanently premium if you have ever bought or played the game. If I am correct, you also get all the quest packs that are in the game or expansions. So if you bought Shadows of Angmar, you should have all of the quests pre-expansion. If you bought the game and both expansions, you should get all of the quests. I am not positive of that though.
You can also become a premium member after you buy one thing, anything, off of the CS.
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Telthalion Rohircil - Guardian - Elemandir - Lord of The Rings Online
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== RIP == Torey - Commando - Orion - Tabula Rasa == RIP ==
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Jordaniel Torey - Navy Megathron, Active Armor Tank - Tranquility - EVE Online
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Torey Scott - Rifleman - Fallen Earth
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"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but I know World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." - Albert Einstein
Warhammer Online never went F2P, so there really isn't any need to give anything to those that paid before. You can essentially demo WHO as much as you want, but only in Tier 1 (up to level 10)... To advance beyond that you have to have a monthly sub as there is no micro-transaction system in place.
I played this game with a free trail and it was decnt up to Bree. I was a Captain and kept dying after I reached that area. That a combined with no mage class, no mounts just made this game not worth my time. Hoping the f2p features offer something worth coming back for. We shall see...
Axe
If we fail to change the things of today, they will become the lucid nighmares of tommorrow.
Players have been able to get a "starter mount" at level 20 for quite sometime. However anyone making it to level 35 without paying will not be able to get a regular mount as the gold cap will keep them from having enough to pay for the riding skill. So F2P will not help you in that regard unless they lower the price of the mount which would not surprise me in the least.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
Premium players only have access to the quests in the starter areas (Bree, Shire and Erid Luin). I believe if you purchased both expansions and are a premium member (no active sub), you can still travel to Moria and Mirkwood but you cannot access the quests.
I said I got to bree, that does mean lvl 20,lol! Probably died before I could get that mount. It was few months ago,so honestly i do not remember. Was rather sad about the whole thing since I loved the books(read them way before the movies) and the movies.
Oh well, I put in for the f2p beta...
If we fail to change the things of today, they will become the lucid nighmares of tommorrow.
VIP get the entire ball of wax plus 500 tp. Premium guys get everything they already purchased that includes extra character slots and level 65. However from what I have read your still going to have to buy the unlock for the quests. Just head over to the lotro forums theres a Q&A answer sheet posted in the free to play forum, however the more you read it the more confusing it gets and theres been serveral threads opened on it.
If your preimum and let your sub lapes, when you come back you got to unlock as well. So the moral of that story is dont let your sub lapse.
Also if your F2P you only get bree, erid lund, and the shire. You have to pay to unlock anything past level 20 and you have to pay to unlock any additional character slotsa and or bag slots.
This entire it gives our players more flexibility, rofl only if you go vip. And then you still have to log inonce a month to play before us lifetime guys could take off months at a time and not be penilized.
by the sound of the article looks like beta is about over.
If you bought Both expansions and the adventures pack that they have live Right now you will have acces to all features of the Live game as it stand now, ie all of moria, mirkwood, and eriador, (with exception of the new sone enithwaiht that you could purchase as an adventure pack. That means you will have acces of all quests (except for enithwaith).
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
There are three reasons why incorporating the instance system into the skirmish panel is a brilliant move. The first: groups will be able to form up and travel to an instance from a travel screen similar to that used in the skirmish system, meaning that groups no longer have to meet up and walk into the entrance of the instance (though they still have that option). The second: many of the larger instances, even the Barrows, have been split into multiple instances in the screen. While players can choose to start at the beginning and plow through, players who simply want to knock out a particular section can do so without having to clear through all the previous encounters in the instance.
That's great. What are they going to come up with next? An 'I WIN' button, where you don't even have to turn up to the instance, you just get sent the quest rewards through the in-game postal system?
I probably will continue playing LotRO for a bit longer, but I am burning out on it (again...).
I'd like to see the faster mounts available earlier (in the Turbine store)
I'd like to see self-port abilities available (in the Turbine store)
I'd like to see better housing options (an instanced apartment in Bree, Thorin's Hall, Esteldin, and/or Rivendell)
Essentially, LotRO is a good game but the travel options are lame in the extreme (unless you are a hunter). I find it very tedious having to go all over Middle Earth just to craft certain items.
All in all, these are good and welcome changes coming from Turbine, but it won't be enough to hold me for very long. The biggest assets LotRO has right now for me right now is that it is a reasonably decent game and that GW2, SWTOR, DA2 (Dragon Age 2), and DS3 (Dungeon Siege 3) have not yet been released.
First and Foremost, Former players will not have access to the Eriador quests without purchasing them (or subscribing), a dev posted saying the SoA box should be likened to access to the servers.
That said, the Moria content and the Seige of Mirkwood content is self contained, if you bought moria yet don't have a subscription, you should beable to play as much of Moria as you want, but will have to fork out points or subscribe if your wanting the quests for the eriador instances
I've got a lifetime account, and so has my girlfriend, and we are both looking forward to the added volume of players and cosmetics
==The information above is just my interpretation of how it's going to work from reading the developer posts==
I don't really understand this F2P thing.. Well I do, but I don't see why it is necessary. I know the that model has worked for companies such as the one behind Guild Wars, but my argument is: why shouldn't developers be paid for all the time and creativity they put into the product? Plus the servers need to be maintained, overheads, etc etc..
I guess I just think F2Anything is lame. Even if a company makes a sucky MMO, they should still be paid for their work (or not: if you don't like it, don't play).
Why not just follow the GW model, or adjust prices and include new schemes so that people get as much for less.. but making things free just cheapens the whole thing, for customers (who learn to appreciate nothing), and for the hard work that other people put into creating the product...
It's not really free, it's just another option where instead of paying for a subscription you can pay for the game a la carte. Once you hit a certain point you'll be forced to buy quest packs, and eventually the expansion packs to advance. They'll still get money out of people who are serious about playing the game to the end. For everyone else, it's basically a free trial with no time limit.
Of course the subscription option still exists, which is what helps make this model a success. So the game now caters to 3 types of players - those who don't mind the monthly fee and want access to all content, those who may play infrequently or want to buy content only as needed, and those who never plan to spend a dime on the game.
Ok I just have to get this off my chest cause it's really bugging me. ENEDWAITH IS NOT A SCALED INSTANCE!!! Enedwaith is a zone just like Mirkwood or the Shire. Enedwaith may have scaled instances in it but it is not one itself.
Now for all you doom and gloomers out there stop whining and leave your judgement till you actually get to play it. I'm pretty sure it's not going to be what you expected and I for one am looking forward too it.
Oh and there are two mage classes Axewielderx, they're called Lormaster(looks like Gandalf) and Runekeeper(no real analog except for maybe Palpatine). And what were you doing in the bree area that got you killed? Were you trying to solo the great barrows at lvl12?
F2P + store = $$ = developers paid
Not that hard...
Bah, I'm uninterested in LoTRO ever since it went F2P. I believe there was an NDA for those in the F2P Beta, so I can't say much about it, all I have to say is that its seemingly falling into the same trap of every other F2P MMO, where it becomes an "I-Win-LULZ" button.
The only reason it isn't completely that, is because Monster Play (as horrible as it was to me at least) is VIP only, so no reason to monetize that.
2000 points, what is that like 20.00 dollars for a mount? Probably more right because it can never be that simple and tends to be more than 100 points per dollar.
parrotpholk-Because we all know the miracle patch fairy shows up the night before release and sprinkles magic dust on the server to make it allllll better.
Well dying isn't Turbine's fault, and no mage class ...well you said below you read the books and you know the lore. There are no mages running around like a common sight in ME. ME wizards are a rare thing, and the lore states they are actually descended higher beings sent to watch and guide ME.
twitch.tv/itpaladin
@ITPalg
YouTube: ITPalGame
Forgot to say for the benefit of non LOTRO players not with knowledge that there is a "magish" class in the game but not big boom like you may be used to.
twitch.tv/itpaladin
@ITPalg
YouTube: ITPalGame