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So lets hear it from the f2p players
ThomasN7
87.18.7.148Member CommonPosts: 6,690
How do you like Lotro f2p ? How populated is your server ? Lets hear some feedback from the f2p players who recently started Lotro. Lets hear about the good and the bad so far.
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Well, started last weekend and immediately got the Beta impression, by players fllooding the servers and some other typical startproblems.
Now, some days later i enjoy a wonderful game of the highest quality for free and i earned 85 Tubinepoints already out of the Deeds.
I am sure, they will see some bucks from me soon too, but i dont know if i should make it instandly a subscribtion or just spending some cash for some TP. Some more knowledge of the game is, what im missing atm.
Nevertheless its a wonderful game with a wonderfull story and i saw a friendly community on the servers.
This made me finally reading the Books for the first time soon i hope
Because there is so many more of pro's, its easy to call the con's, but at all, this is a awesome game.
I realize, its not for PvP, even if the environment would be good for. The monster PvP is well, a neat idea, but some better might be, if there would be some more content in the future, that binds more PvP, like i.e. a new race or so .. damn i have to read the books :P
Its a game of top quality.
I am highly enjoying LotRO right now. My one F2P oh$h!t moment came when I tried to put up an auction. Apparently you have to buy the ability to participate in the economy. That's my one gripe, though.
Important facts:
1. Free to Play games are poorly made.
2. Casuals are not all idiots, but idiots call themselves casuals.
3. Great solo and group content are not mutually exclusive, but they suffer when one is shoved into the mold of the other. The same is true of PvP and PvE.
4. Community is more important than you think.
That "no auctions for F2P" is crappy and will likely deter some folks, including some of my friends
.
However, I'm finding the community to be far more mature than I expected, especially for a free game. There is a substantial population (at least on Crickhollow) that really believes in the immersion of the game, if not quite Role Players (though there are plenty of those too). I see loads of people not giving two shits how fast they level, but would rather just have fun in the game. In-character-ish names abound, and trolls get ignored. It's quite nice and definitely a change from what I'm used to.
The game itself certainly is a long ways from perfect, but I think that I'll be staying in the Shire for a long time to come, just so I don't miss any Elevensies! For the first time in a long time, I'm content to wander about a game world and not care about leveling.
LotRO has been a pleasnt surprise, and those bastidges have already gotten a buttload of cash out of me.
Well I only really started lastnight, got to lv14 somehow, even though I spent most of my time sightseeing lol.
I did take part in the beta before, but had a hard time enjoying it. Looking back now and after learning how to change certain problematic settings with some classes, I think that lack of enjoyment mainly had to do with the starting area I chose, since I went elf this time instead of human.
The elf zone was by far much more interesting, as well as the area and quests it lead to.
The turbine point earning system is also much better than I expected, it's actually fun grinding on the deeds, and there are tons of them, including going to another race's starting area to complete them there too, and thanks to that it takes no time at all to accumulate a decent ammount of TP.
In one night I already had 725 TP to spend, although 500 of those came from participating in beta, so in actuality I earned 225 from deeds and quests, which is still a very reasonible ammount, even when compared to DDO's system.
So no matter how limiting the f2p may end up being soon, I don't see it being an impossible road block, at worst you'll need to explore a little more like going to other race areas to earn more TP by killing mobs, but really that's no trouble at all since this game's world is one I want to see every nook and cranny of, it's actually quite beatiful on max settings, especially the water effects.
Oh yeaah.. Totally forgot to mention server.
I went on Riddermark, which apparently is the newest, it seems to suffer a slight over population already with a que line up at it's door, generally a 10min wait tops, and as far as it's community goes it's pretty typical, with your standard "omg stupid noob" reaction if you happen to ask a question in one of the channels, but they atleast answer you ammongst their obvious distaste.
The only thing I don't like about the free 2 play is the auction house. If that was working, it would be amazing I will probably sub but, having at least some sort of trade feature instead of straight up items for items would be nice. Other thna that. I like the emphasis on PvE and with free to play it's a game I feel I can play more casualy which fights with my life right now.
Well I can't ever play F2P (unless I started another account booo). I've had lifetime sub since the game launched, and I've already gotten my money back, since if I had done a monthly sub I'd pay more than I have already, and I still get benies
I play this game mainly for PvE, when I want to PvP I go over to DAoC. Although, I spend some time on my warg and spider monsters. My only gripe about this game is that they should expand monster play and pvp. Allow mulitple zones, or if monsters control all the keeps we can enter middle earth 
Well, I have new player perspective but not f2p perspective. I bought the Mines of Moria box at amazon for $9 since it is a much better value than if I were to buy it at the LotRO store. Also, the box purchase gave me VIP status for 1 month which will eventually default to premium rather than free, which is also a bargain.
I joined Landroval and the server is always full. I have not seen any "stupid noob" responses at all to noob questions and have even seen high level characters hanging out seemingly for the sole purpose of dishing out advice to whomever asks. One level 55 character saw me walking down the road and stopped in his tracks just to say hi and ask if I needed help with anything.
The game world is beautiful and the community is second to none. The quests are rather typical so far which makes game play just a bit ho-hum, but as others have mentioned I have also had a great time just running around looking at stuff. Yesterday I joined a Kinship which I'm hoping will enhance my enjoyment of this game even further. All in all I would recommend this game highly to anyone who is looking for a more casual game-play experience.
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!
make sure you do the Epic quests. While there is only one Fellowship and one ring it really does make you feel as if you are part of the behind the scenes action. Just finished Volume III Book 2 "The Ride of the Grey Company" this morning and it is a pretty amazing backstory.
All of Volume 1 is now soloable, although I also heard that with some classes some of the open world quests can be tough and best to do with at least one more person.
I miss DAoC
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
Well I tried the game for a couple of days, and decided it was not for me.
I found the tutorial section of the game to be very boring. I really hated the, I guess you would call them interactive cut scenes? Where something is happening and all you can do is stand there and watch. I felt like I was watching a story instead of being the story. It just did not get me immersed. Once out of the begining area i explored for awhile, but really didn't find anything exciting enough to stay.
I was hoping for something to spark my interest. I made a hunter and found him boring to play. I tried to make another class. But after reading the little explanation boxes on the classes they just didn't suit my play style. Plus i don't like the way the character models look.
I do hope the game does well and by what I have read it seems to be doing just that.
I probably would not have stayed after level 20 anyways. I just don't think paying for content is the right way to go about it. There are plenty of FTP games and none of them that I'm aware of charge for content. I would have had no problem paying for classes or races if any suited me. I don't have a problem with having to buy more bag space/bank space. I didn't even mind the fact that I could not use the auction house. I think not having the auction house could bring the community closer together. Making people buy and sell in person is a great way to make friends, in my opinion. But having to pay for quests to unlock zones is a bit to much.
I played the LOTRO trial version a few times.. but never made it to a subscription.
The reason I didn't sub had nothing to do with quality or community or content.. there was plenty of both.
MY reason.. is that I already have a solid community in my 'main' MMO game that takes most of my play-time (father, 2 kids, non-MMO wife, community interests, outside hobbies.. and full time job).
No, my reason why I didn't get a subscription was time.. I didn't have time to get into the game and felt I was wasting my money if I subscribed to it... NOT because it wasn't a good quality game of an IP I love.. no.. and I supposed I can afford a subscription.. it just felt wasteful if I was not going to commit myself to the investment.. the community/learning the system investment.
I am a veteran SWG player.. I know the game mechanics as good as any... I am a vested part of the community, a guild leader, and a forum profession Senator on my 2nd term. So I only have so much 'free time' to play anything else.
So when LOTRO became F2P.. it gave me an option to 'ease' into the game.. and not feel guilty about spending monthly dollars if I don't play it more than a few times a week.. or a month.. depending on what else is going on in my life.
Inevitably.. I will spend a few bucks on LOTRO on expansions OR a subscription.. when I get the point where I am able and ready to really use it.
But for now.. I know if things are slow on SWG.. I can hop onto LOTRO and explore that world for a little while.
So.. thats me.. and I am not sure if my situation is unique or not.. however I imagine there are others like me who simply want a 'casual' 2nd or 3rd MMO to play for fun without the monthly obligation.
That.. and my daughter might eventually want to play it. I've been reading her the LOTR trilogy at bedtime for the past year or so... we are on the 3rd book now... and one day she might want to actually play an elf-princess. I hope LOTRO is around.. and the non-Leet, (possibly due to no PvP players) friendly community is still there to greet her and treat her properly.
From everything I've read on the subject.. the F2P hybrid works fine for me.. and for most of the actual subscribers (not those who quit).. so I guess thats a win-win situation, as best as I can tell.
SWG/STO/(SWTOR)
I played in the beta as well as having tried a free trial perhaps a year ago. I really wanted to like LOTRO but in the end just didn't find it all that compelling or at least enough to keep me playing even in the new F2P model. Though in all honesty this has more to do with me than the game itself . . . I think I'm just tired of the well worn recipe of this type of MMO. My main issues were two . . . combat and graphics. In short, for me the combat was boring . . . the combat in LOTRO (and in fairness the majority of MMOs) isn't much of an improvement over what Neverwinter Nights 1 offered many a year ago . . . the standard click to select, activate skills, watch timers, etc. If the combat is boring within the first few days, forget it. I'm more interested in games with active targeting and more dynamic combat . . . AOC, Fallen Earth, and even DDO are more to liking. My main issue related to graphics are the poor character models especially in comparison to the nicely rendered environment. A facelift for the character models is badly needed if the game is to age well imo. They simply aren't compelling at least to me. Given those two things, the game just couldn't hold my interest.
You can buy, you just can’t post. Optional you can buy the right to use the Auction house easaly, i beleave by spending any money at all the restriction is lifted.
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"Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"No, your wrong.." - Random user #123
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
How are you?" -Me
The game is no more bland than other MMOs.. I think you mean it's not cartoony like other MMOs such as WoW or CO ect... not enough bright colors and out of proportion characters I guess
I enjoy it... It's a great F2P game... I think they went slightly overboard on the amount of stuff you have to pay for.. but since you can also earn tokens in the game, it's not that bad I guess...