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?
Rune Keepers are very First Age like Feanor and the Noldor and the Jewels of Power like the Silmarils themselves. I think Turbine was trying to sneak around the 'Lord of the Rings' IP (controlled by Saul Zaentz and 'Tolkien Enterprises') and get into the Silmarillion IP and maybe the Akallabeth (controlled by the Tolkien family).
It sort of sounded like you only get access to legendaries if you sub.
Add to that the ability to buy virtue levels
=pay to win
The game was actually doing okay. The dicision to go this route really doesn't make sense. I'm getting the impression that DDO's newfound profitability/success may have been a bit premature. Plenty of people have given the game a shot since it went f2p, but everyone I know has quit after discovering that f2p is actually more expensive than the monthly fee. I think DDO initially got a huge boost, but that success has tappered off and the game isn't doing as well right now.
It sort of sounded like you only get access to legendaries if you sub.
Add to that the ability to buy virtue levels
=pay to win
The game was actually doing okay. The dicision to go this route really doesn't make sense. I'm getting the impression that DDO's newfound profitability/success may have been a bit premature. Plenty of people have given the game a shot since it went f2p, but everyone I know has quit after discovering that f2p is actually more expensive than the monthly fee. I think DDO initially got a huge boost, but that success has tappered off and the game isn't doing as well right now.
Predictions on the next game to go "f2P"?
WAR
Massively has a pretty good interview with a Trubine big shot cant recall her title, dealing with LOTRO F2P. I dont know about pay to win but pay to craft looks pretty eveident and I also saw at lease one rep mount in a cash shop screen. Might have been a mock up I dont know. As for what will be next War is a possibility and I read somewhere that STO is strongly considering it also.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
It sort of sounded like you only get access to legendaries if you sub.
Add to that the ability to buy virtue levels
=pay to win
The game was actually doing okay. The dicision to go this route really doesn't make sense. I'm getting the impression that DDO's newfound profitability/success may have been a bit premature. Plenty of people have given the game a shot since it went f2p, but everyone I know has quit after discovering that f2p is actually more expensive than the monthly fee. I think DDO initially got a huge boost, but that success has tappered off and the game isn't doing as well right now.
Predictions on the next game to go "f2P"?
WAR
I have to disagree with you the game was not doing ok. Vets were leaving in droves. We watched 4 lifetime members leave in january and 2 in december. That was in our guild. They had been there since beta, all 6 of them. I had watch population numbers cut in half when moria rolled out and then cut by probably 1/3 after som.
Saying the game was doing good, then selling to WB for a meer 160 million, lol tells you right there they were almost insolvent. I would love to look at the D&B (Dun and Bradstreet business credit reporting agency) numbers on them to see what they really looked like.
And yes the ddo model worked well according to them, so they saw a way to (1) increase sub base, and (2) make a ton of cash.
Over all will this be good for the game I don't know. However I lost any trust for them that I did have, and they will have to earn it back. I consider turbine to be the same as cryptic now. I guess its the route a lot of games are going too. The cash store, turbine store, station cash store. I guess the cats out of the bag and the stores are with us.
maybe I didnt notice this elsewhere but what about inactive accounts with all expansions what will we get come switchover?
You become a Premium player unless you resubscribe. If you don't resubscribe then you will lose access to the level 20+ zone quests (other than the epic storyline) until you get to Moria. At that point you will have all quests again until Enedwaith.
You will keep access to the RK and Warden classes. You'll also keep the extra character slots, level cap, bank slots, etc. that came with the particular expansions that you purchased.
You will have to buy release of the gold cap, additional backpack space, and the ability to equip the full complement of traits.
It's all listed here under the Premium heading: http://www.lotro.com/betasignup/vipchart.html Be sure to read the * and ** stuff under the chart as well, since you've purchased the expansions.
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?
Logic says the answer is yes but I doubt that you will get anything.
Anyone who has subscribed in the past will automatically be given premium member status, plus any expansions that they have purchased in the past will remain bound to their account.
Veterans left because the game became stale. Turbine apparently did not have the cash flow to keep updates coming. Now with WB they will have the cash flow, but the game will never be the same.
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?
Logic says the answer is yes but I doubt that you will get anything.
Anyone who has subscribed in the past will automatically be given premium member status, plus any expansions that they have purchased in the past will remain bound to their account.
It's all in Turbine's FAQ's.
That is half incorrect. You will have to resub to get premium status, its not an automatic thing. The onl automatic thing is the VIP status. I know this as a fact. I had a sub in ddo for a while. I let my account lapse. I logged in and was set to f2p. Tons of instances were locked out that i used to run on a daily basis. The same will hapen here.
It is both the death of something I love and the rebirth of the game for me.
I hate that people are not going to meet up and travel to the instance together. . so less immersive.. . . but I love that I don't have to because I never had time. Bah. . . the days of "adventure" are over. . I am old and have become. . gah! Casual!
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?
Logic says the answer is yes but I doubt that you will get anything.
Anyone who has subscribed in the past will automatically be given premium member status, plus any expansions that they have purchased in the past will remain bound to their account.
It's all in Turbine's FAQ's.
That is half incorrect. You will have to resub to get premium status, its not an automatic thing. The onl automatic thing is the VIP status. I know this as a fact. I had a sub in ddo for a while. I let my account lapse. I logged in and was set to f2p. Tons of instances were locked out that i used to run on a daily basis. The same will hapen here.
I think he was correct. If you bought the expansions that included the items you keep access. That is how I read it.
I just don't see how they expect to make more money by doing this. They lost a bunch of subs when they announced the change, me bing one of them. I fear all they are going to do is add more bodies to the starter areas for free and not really earn a dime from those players. Those that can pay most likely already play the game or have played it. How are these changes going to bring players who have paid before and quit, back? They most likely aren't so your left with a bunch of new players in the starter areas who don't really care about the game, only what they can get for free.
They are creating a community of the have and have not's. I know of long time guilds that are going to require VIP subs to even be considered. Great job Turbine in dividing the community. I hope the change is worth the loss.
I'm not an IT Specialist, Game Developer, or Clairvoyant in real life, but like others on here, I play one on the internet.
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.
Very well described. I stil say that calling this game model "free" is extremely wrong, and a prime example of false advertising.
Sure you can try the game for free (and try before you buy great thing), but then call it just what it is, a free trial. I think they can get around calling this F2P legally because mathematically is it possible to play enough to accumulate the points to access all modules and areas. However, I'd like to see how many hours of game time you would have play to do this. If it's anything like DDO, I'll bet it's somewhere in the area of 10 years of game time.
That's like saying I will give you my beach front property for free. Sounds good doesn't it? Free beach front property is all yours! The only catch is, you will own it after you visit it enough times to cart away the sand in your pockets. Mathematically it can be done, so my statement is valid!
Scaling instances is a good thing? Hell they can remove the levels and progression then alltogether. Why bother if everything scales up or down to your power. That might be a good idea for a game such as Fallout 3 or Mass Effect which is more FPS than RPG, but for an online game - RPG online game, this is ridiculous.
And again, the writer somehow thinks that "parties no longer need to travel to the dungeon, but rather be teleported instantly throught the instance panel" is a good thing. Again, it's a good thing for some random facebook game where you choose a minigame to play among many, and you get a new window popped up. But seriously, do we want MMORPGs to be consisted of several minigames that makes no sense whatsoever, that scales up or down to your power, and that are triggered by a single instance panel click wherever you currently are.
Scaling instances is a good thing? Hell they can remove the levels and progression then alltogether. Why bother if everything scales up or down to your power. That might be a good idea for a game such as Fallout 3 or Mass Effect which is more FPS than RPG, but for an online game - RPG online game, this is ridiculous.
And again, the writer somehow thinks that "parties no longer need to travel to the dungeon, but rather be teleported instantly throught the instance panel" is a good thing. Again, it's a good thing for some random facebook game where you choose a minigame to play among many, and you get a new window popped up. But seriously, do we want MMORPGs to be consisted of several minigames that makes no sense whatsoever, that scales up or down to your power, and that are triggered by a single instance panel click wherever you currently are.
This is all part of them trying to make this more like DDO. They want to instance every thing. This is the reason why LOTRO has been dying in the first place. Turning everything into instances and thats is where folks live now. I guess they had the tech from the skimish system that I hate. A lot of folks say the servers are a ghost town, and the reason being is everybody is in an instance somewhere. To me this further divides teh comunity up, and that has been an issue for a while already with the main groups of folks being the raiders, the casuals, and the crafters. Now there going to further sub divide the game up between those who have the credit score to buy there way through the game vs those who have the guts to grind it out.
One has to ask the question do we really need to instance every little thing in that game? I know a lot of vets were asking for the old places like cd and uru to be scaled, but that was due to the lack of content, and thinking that running the old stuff at level would make them happy. Just more hampster wheel of death repeatables to fill a huge gap in content for end game.
To be honest as it stands now in game everyone waits for a captain to get to whatever instance you are working together on to summon the group, so transporting instantly is not going to change much. I still say the crafting economy is toast as it is and will become even more so with the advent of F2P.
Scaling gear might not be worth it because of the need for radiance and the LI system. I run most of the end game content now and all of the waepons and armor in chests even in level cap dungeons is vendor trash or at most cosmetic.
I was in the f2p beta...its not worth it....everything cost you even posting on auction house and there is a gold cap and good luck getting a mount with out shelling out some cash all in all they game is still subscription....
Oh and you only can quest in the elf/dwarf and human/hobbit starting areas, other then that its 80 cents per area not to mention buying the expansions....
You have to pay to unlock traits...pretty much they will nickle and dime you. Not to mention even if you pay for 15 a month you will still have to shell out for other things....pass this one up. I was looking forward to it now im not.
IO don't understanbd why they just don't calll these games F2T becuase thats what they are in the end.
"Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one ..." - Thomas Paine
Veterans left because the game became stale. Turbine apparently did not have the cash flow to keep updates coming. Now with WB they will have the cash flow, but the game will never be the same.
Didn't have the cash flow...or decided to put that cash toward something other then new content/systems?
Where do you think they got the money to fund the resources that went into building the F2P model into the game? That project has obviously been in the works for awhile.....and has to have been pretty expensive to build. The money to do that came from somewhere.
I have a feeling that we could have had maybe 4-5 new Forochel size zones...and maybe a few new systems to boot....for whatever it took to build F2P + the cash shop..... that's what irks me more then anything about the F2P move.... I have a feeling they astro-turfed the existing sub model...which depends on the timely release of new content to stay healthy...in order to build F2P.
Veterans left because the game became stale. Turbine apparently did not have the cash flow to keep updates coming. Now with WB they will have the cash flow, but the game will never be the same.
Didn't have the cash flow...or decided to put that cash toward something other then new content/systems?
Where do you think they got the money to fund the resources that went into building the F2P model into the game? That project has obviously been in the works for awhile.....and has to have been pretty expensive to build. The money to do that came from somewhere.
I have a feeling that we could have had maybe 4-5 new Forochel size zones...and maybe a few new systems to boot....for whatever it took to build F2P + the cash shop..... that's what irks me more then anything about the F2P move.... I have a feeling they astro-turfed the existing sub model...which depends on the timely release of new content to stay healthy...in order to build F2P.
Exactly how I see it also. Throw us a bone with the half sized Mirkwood xpac to keep us paying until they can spring the F2P on us. In hindsight the size of Mirkwood and the adventure pac should have been a tip off as to what was happening as they are exactly what people will see in the cash shop. Turbine was one company I had some faith in but that is no longer the case.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
Veterans left because the game became stale. Turbine apparently did not have the cash flow to keep updates coming. Now with WB they will have the cash flow, but the game will never be the same.
Didn't have the cash flow...or decided to put that cash toward something other then new content/systems?
Where do you think they got the money to fund the resources that went into building the F2P model into the game? That project has obviously been in the works for awhile.....and has to have been pretty expensive to build. The money to do that came from somewhere.
I have a feeling that we could have had maybe 4-5 new Forochel size zones...and maybe a few new systems to boot....for whatever it took to build F2P + the cash shop..... that's what irks me more then anything about the F2P move.... I have a feeling they astro-turfed the existing sub model...which depends on the timely release of new content to stay healthy...in order to build F2P.
Exactly how I see it also. Throw us a bone with the half sized Mirkwood xpac to keep us paying until they can spring the F2P on us. In hindsight the size of Mirkwood and the adventure pac should have been a tip off as to what was happening as they are exactly what people will see in the cash shop. Turbine was one company I had some faith in but that is no longer the case.
I took a screen shot of my current maps, and the new map posted. Guess what it about the size of mirkwood except laid out somewhat different. One can see where all the resources are going and that to the noob areas so that they can retain or hopfull keep the new guys as long as possible. The scaling instances as they are called are just hampster wehel of death repeatables to keep you thinking you got content, when you actually dont.
The whole, "Nothing will change for you if your sub'd already and like it" mantra makes for a nice PR blurb but frankly it's bunk. Adding a F2P option and a CASH shop into the game WILL change the existing game experience.... it can't not change it. It's not a minor addition to the game....it's pretty major deal. The question that remains to be seen is HOW MUCH will it change it... and exactly what will be the implications of that change. I believe it's POSSIBLE that it won't change in such a manner that it has a major negative experience on existing play style.... but that is certainly NOT a GIVEN. I honestly don't think we'll know for sure until about 6-12 months AFTER F2P launches....and we get to experience the details of what Turbine impliments...and how disciplined they are about not trashing the play experience for a quick cash grab.
I can honestly say, I really don't like alot of the things they are talking about doing already. Purchasing virtue levels outright is really not cool (IMO)..... Nor do I really even like the idea of boosts to speed up trait & exp gain. I mean if you really want to give players the option to speed up thier advancement with micro-transactions....why not go the whole 9 yards and let them purchase Levels directly? In principle....I honestly don't see that much difference between the two.
I'm also not crazy about the insta teleport to instances...and skip to the part of the instance you want to play either. I think that alot of Dev's....and probably even many players....are missing what actualy make adventure games FUN to play. Think about the Books themselves.....what makes the story feel so grand, dramatic, epic and engaging? For me it's the trials and tribulations of the YEAR long journey Frodo undergoes to GET the Ring to Mount Doom? How dramatic or entertaining would the story have been if in the First Chapter Frodo had just been able to press the "Teleport to Mount Doom - Instance " button and gotten straight to the part where Golum bites off his finger and the Ring falls into the volcano?
Honestly, I think the problem is that too many decision makers in these games (and frankly too many players) have never GM'd a pen n' paper RPG campaign...like us true geeks. That aught to be a job pre-requisite for a management position effecting design in an MMO. If you have been you quickly realize one thing....Yes players ALWAYS pine for achieving thier goals as quickly and immediately as possible.... it's part of human nature and the drive to achieve. It's how our brains are wired. However if you ACTUALLY allow them to achieve those goals swiftly and without much tribulation.... you campaign DIES a swift death... and ends up leaving the players strangely unsatisfied...even though they've gotten everything they SAID they wanted. Try it some time, as an experiment.
The truth is....it's not the goal itself that is rewarding to the person.....it's the sense of accomplishment derived from ACHIEVING the goal. That sense of accomplishment is directly proportional to the effort and difficulty required to achieve the goal. By allowing the player to short-cut that effort and difficulty you are actualy REDUCING their sense of satisfaction in the achievement. When you fall into that trap....you start having to produce more and more goals to achieve...and at a faster and faster rate....to make up for the ever dimminishing sense of satisfaction they get with each one.....until ultimately it's impossible for them to derive any satisfaction whatsoever.
Human beings are hard wired to seek the easiest and quickest solution to a problem. That's awesome....it's what allows us to advance to the top of the food chain.... However, if the solution we hit upon IS actualy quick and easy....we derive minimal satisifaction from the achievment...that's ALSO how we are hard-wired.
P.S.
Yeah....I know that MMORPG's tend to get pretty repetitive in content....but I wish the Dev's would be throwing more resources into producing content rather then throwing them at making it easier to repeat existing content.
Comments
Rune Keepers are very First Age like Feanor and the Noldor and the Jewels of Power like the Silmarils themselves. I think Turbine was trying to sneak around the 'Lord of the Rings' IP (controlled by Saul Zaentz and 'Tolkien Enterprises') and get into the Silmarillion IP and maybe the Akallabeth (controlled by the Tolkien family).
It sort of sounded like you only get access to legendaries if you sub.
Add to that the ability to buy virtue levels
=pay to win
The game was actually doing okay. The dicision to go this route really doesn't make sense. I'm getting the impression that DDO's newfound profitability/success may have been a bit premature. Plenty of people have given the game a shot since it went f2p, but everyone I know has quit after discovering that f2p is actually more expensive than the monthly fee. I think DDO initially got a huge boost, but that success has tappered off and the game isn't doing as well right now.
Predictions on the next game to go "f2P"?
WAR
Massively has a pretty good interview with a Trubine big shot cant recall her title, dealing with LOTRO F2P. I dont know about pay to win but pay to craft looks pretty eveident and I also saw at lease one rep mount in a cash shop screen. Might have been a mock up I dont know. As for what will be next War is a possibility and I read somewhere that STO is strongly considering it also.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
I have to disagree with you the game was not doing ok. Vets were leaving in droves. We watched 4 lifetime members leave in january and 2 in december. That was in our guild. They had been there since beta, all 6 of them. I had watch population numbers cut in half when moria rolled out and then cut by probably 1/3 after som.
Saying the game was doing good, then selling to WB for a meer 160 million, lol tells you right there they were almost insolvent. I would love to look at the D&B (Dun and Bradstreet business credit reporting agency) numbers on them to see what they really looked like.
And yes the ddo model worked well according to them, so they saw a way to (1) increase sub base, and (2) make a ton of cash.
Over all will this be good for the game I don't know. However I lost any trust for them that I did have, and they will have to earn it back. I consider turbine to be the same as cryptic now. I guess its the route a lot of games are going too. The cash store, turbine store, station cash store. I guess the cats out of the bag and the stores are with us.
maybe I didnt notice this elsewhere but what about inactive accounts with all expansions what will we get come switchover?
You become a Premium player unless you resubscribe. If you don't resubscribe then you will lose access to the level 20+ zone quests (other than the epic storyline) until you get to Moria. At that point you will have all quests again until Enedwaith.
You will keep access to the RK and Warden classes. You'll also keep the extra character slots, level cap, bank slots, etc. that came with the particular expansions that you purchased.
You will have to buy release of the gold cap, additional backpack space, and the ability to equip the full complement of traits.
It's all listed here under the Premium heading: http://www.lotro.com/betasignup/vipchart.html Be sure to read the * and ** stuff under the chart as well, since you've purchased the expansions.
Anyone who has subscribed in the past will automatically be given premium member status, plus any expansions that they have purchased in the past will remain bound to their account.
It's all in Turbine's FAQ's.
Veterans left because the game became stale. Turbine apparently did not have the cash flow to keep updates coming. Now with WB they will have the cash flow, but the game will never be the same.
That is half incorrect. You will have to resub to get premium status, its not an automatic thing. The onl automatic thing is the VIP status. I know this as a fact. I had a sub in ddo for a while. I let my account lapse. I logged in and was set to f2p. Tons of instances were locked out that i used to run on a daily basis. The same will hapen here.
It is both the death of something I love and the rebirth of the game for me.
I hate that people are not going to meet up and travel to the instance together. . so less immersive.. . . but I love that I don't have to because I never had time. Bah. . . the days of "adventure" are over. . I am old and have become. . gah! Casual!
Wa min God! Se æx on min heafod is!
I think he was correct. If you bought the expansions that included the items you keep access. That is how I read it.
Wa min God! Se æx on min heafod is!
I just don't see how they expect to make more money by doing this. They lost a bunch of subs when they announced the change, me bing one of them. I fear all they are going to do is add more bodies to the starter areas for free and not really earn a dime from those players. Those that can pay most likely already play the game or have played it. How are these changes going to bring players who have paid before and quit, back? They most likely aren't so your left with a bunch of new players in the starter areas who don't really care about the game, only what they can get for free.
They are creating a community of the have and have not's. I know of long time guilds that are going to require VIP subs to even be considered. Great job Turbine in dividing the community. I hope the change is worth the loss.
I'm not an IT Specialist, Game Developer, or Clairvoyant in real life, but like others on here, I play one on the internet.
Looks good.
Now if I could just get over this MMO burnout I'm suffering....
Very well described. I stil say that calling this game model "free" is extremely wrong, and a prime example of false advertising.
Sure you can try the game for free (and try before you buy great thing), but then call it just what it is, a free trial. I think they can get around calling this F2P legally because mathematically is it possible to play enough to accumulate the points to access all modules and areas. However, I'd like to see how many hours of game time you would have play to do this. If it's anything like DDO, I'll bet it's somewhere in the area of 10 years of game time.
That's like saying I will give you my beach front property for free. Sounds good doesn't it? Free beach front property is all yours! The only catch is, you will own it after you visit it enough times to cart away the sand in your pockets. Mathematically it can be done, so my statement is valid!
Scaling instances is a good thing? Hell they can remove the levels and progression then alltogether. Why bother if everything scales up or down to your power. That might be a good idea for a game such as Fallout 3 or Mass Effect which is more FPS than RPG, but for an online game - RPG online game, this is ridiculous.
And again, the writer somehow thinks that "parties no longer need to travel to the dungeon, but rather be teleported instantly throught the instance panel" is a good thing. Again, it's a good thing for some random facebook game where you choose a minigame to play among many, and you get a new window popped up. But seriously, do we want MMORPGs to be consisted of several minigames that makes no sense whatsoever, that scales up or down to your power, and that are triggered by a single instance panel click wherever you currently are.
REALITY CHECK
This is all part of them trying to make this more like DDO. They want to instance every thing. This is the reason why LOTRO has been dying in the first place. Turning everything into instances and thats is where folks live now. I guess they had the tech from the skimish system that I hate. A lot of folks say the servers are a ghost town, and the reason being is everybody is in an instance somewhere. To me this further divides teh comunity up, and that has been an issue for a while already with the main groups of folks being the raiders, the casuals, and the crafters. Now there going to further sub divide the game up between those who have the credit score to buy there way through the game vs those who have the guts to grind it out.
One has to ask the question do we really need to instance every little thing in that game? I know a lot of vets were asking for the old places like cd and uru to be scaled, but that was due to the lack of content, and thinking that running the old stuff at level would make them happy. Just more hampster wheel of death repeatables to fill a huge gap in content for end game.
To be honest as it stands now in game everyone waits for a captain to get to whatever instance you are working together on to summon the group, so transporting instantly is not going to change much. I still say the crafting economy is toast as it is and will become even more so with the advent of F2P.
Scaling gear might not be worth it because of the need for radiance and the LI system. I run most of the end game content now and all of the waepons and armor in chests even in level cap dungeons is vendor trash or at most cosmetic.
"Onward to adventure".
I was in the f2p beta...its not worth it....everything cost you even posting on auction house and there is a gold cap and good luck getting a mount with out shelling out some cash all in all they game is still subscription....
Oh and you only can quest in the elf/dwarf and human/hobbit starting areas, other then that its 80 cents per area not to mention buying the expansions....
You have to pay to unlock traits...pretty much they will nickle and dime you. Not to mention even if you pay for 15 a month you will still have to shell out for other things....pass this one up. I was looking forward to it now im not.
IO don't understanbd why they just don't calll these games F2T becuase thats what they are in the end.
"Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one ..." - Thomas Paine
F2P option is a piece of crap. It's like a trial why not just lower the subscription costs to like 8.99$ or 10.
F2P option is technically a trial, premium is a waste of time so just subscribe because its so much eaier and no hassle with those online stores.
Didn't have the cash flow...or decided to put that cash toward something other then new content/systems?
Where do you think they got the money to fund the resources that went into building the F2P model into the game? That project has obviously been in the works for awhile.....and has to have been pretty expensive to build. The money to do that came from somewhere.
I have a feeling that we could have had maybe 4-5 new Forochel size zones...and maybe a few new systems to boot....for whatever it took to build F2P + the cash shop..... that's what irks me more then anything about the F2P move.... I have a feeling they astro-turfed the existing sub model...which depends on the timely release of new content to stay healthy...in order to build F2P.
Exactly how I see it also. Throw us a bone with the half sized Mirkwood xpac to keep us paying until they can spring the F2P on us. In hindsight the size of Mirkwood and the adventure pac should have been a tip off as to what was happening as they are exactly what people will see in the cash shop. Turbine was one company I had some faith in but that is no longer the case.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
I took a screen shot of my current maps, and the new map posted. Guess what it about the size of mirkwood except laid out somewhat different. One can see where all the resources are going and that to the noob areas so that they can retain or hopfull keep the new guys as long as possible. The scaling instances as they are called are just hampster wehel of death repeatables to keep you thinking you got content, when you actually dont.
The whole, "Nothing will change for you if your sub'd already and like it" mantra makes for a nice PR blurb but frankly it's bunk. Adding a F2P option and a CASH shop into the game WILL change the existing game experience.... it can't not change it. It's not a minor addition to the game....it's pretty major deal. The question that remains to be seen is HOW MUCH will it change it... and exactly what will be the implications of that change. I believe it's POSSIBLE that it won't change in such a manner that it has a major negative experience on existing play style.... but that is certainly NOT a GIVEN. I honestly don't think we'll know for sure until about 6-12 months AFTER F2P launches....and we get to experience the details of what Turbine impliments...and how disciplined they are about not trashing the play experience for a quick cash grab.
I can honestly say, I really don't like alot of the things they are talking about doing already. Purchasing virtue levels outright is really not cool (IMO)..... Nor do I really even like the idea of boosts to speed up trait & exp gain. I mean if you really want to give players the option to speed up thier advancement with micro-transactions....why not go the whole 9 yards and let them purchase Levels directly? In principle....I honestly don't see that much difference between the two.
I'm also not crazy about the insta teleport to instances...and skip to the part of the instance you want to play either. I think that alot of Dev's....and probably even many players....are missing what actualy make adventure games FUN to play. Think about the Books themselves.....what makes the story feel so grand, dramatic, epic and engaging? For me it's the trials and tribulations of the YEAR long journey Frodo undergoes to GET the Ring to Mount Doom? How dramatic or entertaining would the story have been if in the First Chapter Frodo had just been able to press the "Teleport to Mount Doom - Instance " button and gotten straight to the part where Golum bites off his finger and the Ring falls into the volcano?
Honestly, I think the problem is that too many decision makers in these games (and frankly too many players) have never GM'd a pen n' paper RPG campaign...like us true geeks. That aught to be a job pre-requisite for a management position effecting design in an MMO. If you have been you quickly realize one thing....Yes players ALWAYS pine for achieving thier goals as quickly and immediately as possible.... it's part of human nature and the drive to achieve. It's how our brains are wired. However if you ACTUALLY allow them to achieve those goals swiftly and without much tribulation.... you campaign DIES a swift death... and ends up leaving the players strangely unsatisfied...even though they've gotten everything they SAID they wanted. Try it some time, as an experiment.
The truth is....it's not the goal itself that is rewarding to the person.....it's the sense of accomplishment derived from ACHIEVING the goal. That sense of accomplishment is directly proportional to the effort and difficulty required to achieve the goal. By allowing the player to short-cut that effort and difficulty you are actualy REDUCING their sense of satisfaction in the achievement. When you fall into that trap....you start having to produce more and more goals to achieve...and at a faster and faster rate....to make up for the ever dimminishing sense of satisfaction they get with each one.....until ultimately it's impossible for them to derive any satisfaction whatsoever.
Human beings are hard wired to seek the easiest and quickest solution to a problem. That's awesome....it's what allows us to advance to the top of the food chain.... However, if the solution we hit upon IS actualy quick and easy....we derive minimal satisifaction from the achievment...that's ALSO how we are hard-wired.
P.S.
Yeah....I know that MMORPG's tend to get pretty repetitive in content....but I wish the Dev's would be throwing more resources into producing content rather then throwing them at making it easier to repeat existing content.