The praise heaped on Turbine by this article is unwarranted. As another poster pointed out, this is Turbine regressing to FTP. I am all for trials which lower the barrier of entry into an MMO. These serve players and developers equally well. Players who believe they are better off with the free to play set up are either deluded, or are poor enough that they really couldn't pay a subscription even if they wanted to. I understand the second group having enthusiasm for the whole FTP thing and they can't even be manipulated into spending cash because they simply don't have any. The rest of us are being manipulated in an underhanded way, whether we realise it or not.
The free Turbine points, for example, are "training" you to become comfortable with the cash shop, to get used to the interface and become accustomed to the idea of shopping being part of the player experience.
Once again mmorpg.com is going along with whatever way developers want to go without thinking that perhaps they could do more to stand up for the players and question whether these companies are serving themselves or really trying to provide better value for money.
The praise heaped on Turbine by this article is unwarranted. As another poster pointed out, this is Turbine regressing to FTP. I am all for trials which lower the barrier of entry into an MMO. These serve players and developers equally well. Players who believe they are better off with the free to play set up are either deluded, or are poor enough that they really couldn't pay a subscription even if they wanted to. I understand the second group having enthusiasm for the whole FTP thing and they can't even be manipulated into spending cash because they simply don't have any. The rest of us are being manipulated in an underhanded way, whether we realise it or not.
The free Turbine points, for example, are "training" you to become comfortable with the cash shop, to get used to the interface and become accustomed to the idea of shopping being part of the player experience.
Once again mmorpg.com is going along with whatever way developers want to go without thinking that perhaps they could do more to stand up for the players and question whether these companies are serving themselves or really trying to provide better value for money.
Shame on you Adam Tingle.
Well I have noticed a push here to make all the games go free to play. There is one writer in particular who pushed his bias views of free to play every chance he gets. Then when games go free to play the praise them. However I have to say that turbine has always been the fair haired child.
Yes turbine is getting praise, while soe who pulled the same move got like 1 or 2 articles at best. Not even a mention of hey they are out of beta with their free to play model of eq2, not that I am happy about it either (as in free to play at least its on seperate servers), just pointing out that some companies seam to get the pass.
As far as the store goes, I can see what is going to happen. Eventually at the end game you will need to buy some of the items in the store to beat certain end game bosses. I will just call that right now. After all the way your going to make your new revenue stream, is for folks to buy items that is not in game live that are needed. We have that right now with the power/heath pots.
I will say this if you look at other games that have a store. STO - federation dreadnought 25 bucks not available in game, facebook/zenga apps all have items you can not earn in game, you must buy those. EQ2 Next special armor, mounts, and other items same thing. Over and over you see this. What they hope happens is with your free to log in they hope you get hooked enough to spend the cash in order to progress. Even eq2 live has special mounts 25 bucks a shot in that cash shop.
F2P lives or dies with the cash shop and the ability to convince the players to spend money. There are those that know this, those that wont admit that and those that just dont get it.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
heres a tip. Get level 30. buy lotro for 6-7 bucks off amazon. use that 30days VIP to do insane questing in lock zones, also get mount while u can for 200 silver+quest. After month is up, your premium with its small benefits.
oh. And u dont need quest packs or anything to level. Just do places like barrowdown and northern part of bree to get 20+. Then just do skirmishes. easy.
Also u dont need quest packs or anything to level. Just do places like barrowdown and northern part of bree to get 20+. Then just do skirmishes. easy.
The praise heaped on Turbine by this article is unwarranted. As another poster pointed out, this is Turbine regressing to FTP. I am all for trials which lower the barrier of entry into an MMO. These serve players and developers equally well. Players who believe they are better off with the free to play set up are either deluded, or are poor enough that they really couldn't pay a subscription even if they wanted to. I understand the second group having enthusiasm for the whole FTP thing and they can't even be manipulated into spending cash because they simply don't have any. The rest of us are being manipulated in an underhanded way, whether we realise it or not. The free Turbine points, for example, are "training" you to become comfortable with the cash shop, to get used to the interface and become accustomed to the idea of shopping being part of the player experience. Once again mmorpg.com is going along with whatever way developers want to go without thinking that perhaps they could do more to stand up for the players and question whether these companies are serving themselves or really trying to provide better value for money. Shame on you Adam Tingle.
Well I have noticed a push here to make all the games go free to play. There is one writer in particular who pushed his bias views of free to play every chance he gets. Then when games go free to play the praise them. However I have to say that turbine has always been the fair haired child.
Yes turbine is getting praise, while soe who pulled the same move got like 1 or 2 articles at best. Not even a mention of hey they are out of beta with their free to play model of eq2, not that I am happy about it either (as in free to play at least its on seperate servers), just pointing out that some companies seam to get the pass.
As far as the store goes, I can see what is going to happen. Eventually at the end game you will need to buy some of the items in the store to beat certain end game bosses. I will just call that right now. After all the way your going to make your new revenue stream, is for folks to buy items that is not in game live that are needed. We have that right now with the power/heath pots.
I will say this if you look at other games that have a store. STO - federation dreadnought 25 bucks not available in game, facebook/zenga apps all have items you can not earn in game, you must buy those. EQ2 Next special armor, mounts, and other items same thing. Over and over you see this. What they hope happens is with your free to log in they hope you get hooked enough to spend the cash in order to progress. Even eq2 live has special mounts 25 bucks a shot in that cash shop.
OH. and PS, you do know turbine and mmorpg.com have some agreement? like joining agreement, i forgot.
I don't get all the criticism directed at Turbine. Obviously most of you have no clue what you are talking about. You also are completely oblivious to the fact that this is perfect for a casual player. They can buy content when they are ready for it for a reasonable price.
If you want to get more active in the game you can sub and buy the expansions. There is nothing in the store you have to have as in many f2p games and the prices are quite reasonable. I don't like f2p much in general, but the Turbine model actually makes sense.
I have not seen any reasons posted in this thread that support the criticism.
Every single F2P game on the market tweaks the difficulty level of added content in order to sell cash shop items and make buffs mandatory.
Even D&D Online, makes much of their money selling buffs (that's straight from their presentation). So don't think that this won't be the case in LOTRO. $15 a month with 500 points as a bonus? Oh no, more like $15 plus another $15 in the store worth of cash shop items.
You can see it with the new content. Quests that are supposedly solo require you to kill a boss that has literally 3x the hit points I do.
They removed the rewards of giving you virtues for deeds in the new area. Because they want to sell the virtues in the store now. You can't get most of them by just playing normally, your choices are now either grind your fingers off, or use the store.
I'll just say You're wrong. You've never played D&D Online - your statement above proves that (Since there is NO content tuned for the store there - and that's after over a year)
The new content (Enedwaith) is tuned specifically for end-game players. You know darn well that pretty much every boss in the game as more than 3 times the average players health - why you try to bring this up as a negative now? Who knows.
You obviously have quite the problem with the game now - as evidenced by your posts here, and on the official forums. Perhape it's time to cut your losses and find something else? The posturing is getting old.
I don't get all the criticism directed at Turbine. Obviously most of you have no clue what you are talking about. You also are completely oblivious to the fact that this is perfect for a casual player. They can buy content when they are ready for it for a reasonable price.
If you want to get more active in the game you can sub and buy the expansions. There is nothing in the store you have to have as in many f2p games and the prices are quite reasonable. I don't like f2p much in general, but the Turbine model actually makes sense.
I have not seen any reasons posted in this thread that support the criticism.
Its good for a casual, yes. I agree.. What i don't agree is selling quest packs, for like 5dollars a zone.
Its it needed? No, it is not. But it is nice, as for turbine points in general deeds can get you a little for important stuff. if you worked hard enough you could prob achieve 200 easily and get riding skill if you can't do quest.
Thats really the only thing i disagree on, for the most part >.>
I have been playing a few weeks and find th game just fine. I have a few toons between 8 and 12. I'm not sure when I would need to buy things from the store or not, or even if its worth it to get an expansion or two. I've thought about subing because $15/mo is made in less than 30 minutes, but I'm not sure if I actually need to right now...I mean, for me, the f2p model is kind of confusing.
For the casual gamer, this F2P model seems to be awesome though. Like someone said, you play 5-10 hours a week, and when you want a new quest line you can just go get it. Pay as you go.
One thing that has happened is I dug out my old JRR Tolkien books and am reading them too. Its cutting into my game time of course, but fun to read about the lands, its peoples and their journey's and then go into the game and live your own experience. I would agree that the game is much more about the journey and experience rather than the grind to 65.
Graphics are top notch. I play with all the highest settings and DX11. I usually turn off the GUI and names while cruising around just to enjoy them. Then turn these back on when questing.
this game is definetly more serious looking and mature than world of sh*tcraft, less popular but better
but they have to make more of it free, cuz if you limit player with level 20 quests, they will quit and turbine are gonna have the same small populaiton, cuz those who play now, play it cuz its free, when they have to pay to continue, they will just quit
I don't get all the criticism directed at Turbine. Obviously most of you have no clue what you are talking about. You also are completely oblivious to the fact that this is perfect for a casual player. They can buy content when they are ready for it for a reasonable price.
If you want to get more active in the game you can sub and buy the expansions. There is nothing in the store you have to have as in many f2p games and the prices are quite reasonable. I don't like f2p much in general, but the Turbine model actually makes sense.
I have not seen any reasons posted in this thread that support the criticism.
The criticism, at least on my part, is mmorpg.com (and more specifically the author of this article) heaping praise on a dev company for going to a F2P model. It is, after all, a financial model that does it's very best to get us to spend money (Turbine points) at every possible moment. At least in DDO every time you fail a dungeon (whether or not you are a subscriber or not) you get an advertisement for potions etc that would make your life easier if only you spent a little money. Does this happen in LOTRO yet? Not sure, but I would guess it does and if it doesn't it soon will. This is why people begin to call it Pay to Win. Instead of reflecting on your combat tactics or perhaps grouping up and being more social in an MMO then just spend some more money to make the gameplay easier. How can this possibly be worthy of praise?
It is a bit like congratulating a supermarket for putting candy and toys next to the register where parents are queing and inevitably have their children screaming.
Look, supermarkets have every right to do it and Turbine has every right to convert whatever game they please to F2P, but heaping praise on them for doing so??
financial model that does it's very best to get us to spend money
Yes. Thank you for the very true statement. But, if it's good for the game, and not bad for the players (at least, not worse then subscription) then why should i care?
Originally posted by nethaniah
Seriously Farmville? Yeah I think it's great. In a World where half our population is dying of hunger the more fortunate half is spending their time harvesting food that doesn't exist.
I don't get all the criticism directed at Turbine. Obviously most of you have no clue what you are talking about. You also are completely oblivious to the fact that this is perfect for a casual player. They can buy content when they are ready for it for a reasonable price.
If you want to get more active in the game you can sub and buy the expansions. There is nothing in the store you have to have as in many f2p games and the prices are quite reasonable. I don't like f2p much in general, but the Turbine model actually makes sense.
I have not seen any reasons posted in this thread that support the criticism.
The criticism, at least on my part, is mmorpg.com (and more specifically the author of this article) heaping praise on a dev company for going to a F2P model. It is, after all, a financial model that does it's very best to get us to spend money (Turbine points) at every possible moment. At least in DDO every time you fail a dungeon (whether or not you are a subscriber or not) you get an advertisement for potions etc that would make your life easier if only you spent a little money. Does this happen in LOTRO yet? Not sure, but I would guess it does and if it doesn't it soon will. This is why people begin to call it Pay to Win. Instead of reflecting on your combat tactics or perhaps grouping up and being more social in an MMO then just spend some more money to make the gameplay easier. How can this possibly be worthy of praise?
It is a bit like congratulating a supermarket for putting candy and toys next to the register where parents are queing and inevitably have their children screaming.
Look, supermarkets have every right to do it and Turbine has every right to convert whatever game they please to F2P, but heaping praise on them for doing so??
I got my first spam email letting me know that some certain items were for sale, in the lotro store. I have chosen to save my points at this time and boycot the lotro store.
The praise heaped on Turbine by this article is unwarranted. As another poster pointed out, this is Turbine regressing to FTP. I am all for trials which lower the barrier of entry into an MMO. These serve players and developers equally well. Players who believe they are better off with the free to play set up are either deluded, or are poor enough that they really couldn't pay a subscription even if they wanted to. I understand the second group having enthusiasm for the whole FTP thing and they can't even be manipulated into spending cash because they simply don't have any. The rest of us are being manipulated in an underhanded way, whether we realise it or not.
The free Turbine points, for example, are "training" you to become comfortable with the cash shop, to get used to the interface and become accustomed to the idea of shopping being part of the player experience.
Once again mmorpg.com is going along with whatever way developers want to go without thinking that perhaps they could do more to stand up for the players and question whether these companies are serving themselves or really trying to provide better value for money.
Shame on you Adam Tingle.
Everything you say only comes to fruition if I am stupid enough to become conditioned to spending money to the point of spending above and beyond my sub fee and I'm sorry I'm just not that stupid. One could use the same logic to describe month to month sub fees since GW was able to charge for a box with no sub fee.
Besides all of this talk of how these f2p models are so dangerous mean nothing until we actually start to see stories of people losing the house because they continued to pour money into the cash shop and you know what? Even then that has no effect on me any more than it does when a person addicted to gambling does it, I'm lucky I can drink and haven't become an alcoholic and I think I can handle not breaking the bank on a bunch of sprites and pixels.
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
Man, if only i had bought the LotRO Lifetimer instead of the STO... i would be getting 500 TPs/Month, instead of the 500 middle-fingers .|.. ..|. i get when i log into Cryptic's game
I don't get all the criticism directed at Turbine. Obviously most of you have no clue what you are talking about. You also are completely oblivious to the fact that this is perfect for a casual player. They can buy content when they are ready for it for a reasonable price.
If you want to get more active in the game you can sub and buy the expansions. There is nothing in the store you have to have as in many f2p games and the prices are quite reasonable. I don't like f2p much in general, but the Turbine model actually makes sense.
I have not seen any reasons posted in this thread that support the criticism.
Erm?
Riding skill? This is one of very few F2Ps that do not have alternative in-game mounts. If you want to ride, you have to pay. And LOTRO also has one of most tedious travels of all F2Ps.
Trait unlocks? If you want to customize or even fully use your character skills, you have to pay. Sure LOTRO does not sell gear, they sell talent trees instead. How is it any better?
Auctions? Cannot sell unless you pay it bit by bit. This is very visible on new servers where the AHs have poor supply.
Money cap? Cannot have more than 2g unless you pay, then you cannot get more than 5g unless you pay some more. 2g does not get you good horse, 5g still does not get you good house. You will have to unlock money cap.
Oh and the worst offender - instant travel. You pretty much cannot have it unless you subscribe, the cash shop price is worse than RL public transport ticket in my capital.
This is not DDO. In DDO you buy contents, you do it few times for fun. You can even buy your friend temporary access if necessary. Here you have to buy lot of other things to un-gimp your character. In DDO you get TP for finishing dungeons, once, on group difficulty - here you get measly TP for doing quests, most is for soul crushing solo grind of mobs, in one spot, by hundreds.
Turbine model as in DDO model made sense, it pushed F2Ps into groups and gave them TP for making game fun and lively, this is not DDO model, it harms or prevents player interaction.
If any other MMO tried to pull this cash shop, they would never recover from the amount of flak they would get.
What saves LOTRO is two things: a) you can subscribe and avoid the cash shop and b) the cash shop is priced progressively so it starts at acceptable prices and only gets outlandish on true luxuries.
As a free player in the realm, currently have a 26 dwarf champ. Now I have unlocked Lone Lands as a pack, and the story seems interesting, but not enough for me to pay actual money. Still, its a fun diversion where the deeds sytem is useful for gaining points, but for me the things that should be free are not.
Horses, get a free one then gotta pay 195 points and 500 silver just to get the simple horse. While most people will have the points by 15, there doesn't seem to be much choice in spending the points on a horse, or opening up the next area.
So as a f2p player, you have several choices, none of which are remotely fun. Grind the deed system in each newbie area (elf, hobbit, etc.) to gather all the points necessary to get the next quest content, even though by then most things are gray. I have gotten Bree almost finished and dwarf was about half done. Its time consuming and have already hit my gold cap of 2 gold (unlock for 495 points to raise to 32), have no horse currently, altho have gotten to do skirmishes which are interesting grind battles.
Suffice to say, I could see the game picking up a few new subs, but for people doing the free experience, the thrill will go away soon.
The end-game content currently is non existant as there is no way to see Frodo throw the ring into the volcano at mount doom. The cap is 50 for free, 65 for sub. And most of the well known lands from the movie are currently not available. So when you hit the 65 cap what is there to do? Not much. Grind legend items, a few raids, monster-play (which is limited to 1 zone), craft and basically re-roll.
The game is unfinished, prolly should not have gone f2p with no current end game content and frankly is a pay-to-play game with a tease of some freedom. As the author stated, its a longer trial game, with a cash shop.
You know people keep tossing around this "there is no end game content" and they keep making themselfs look like fools. Theres several end game raid dungeons, theres over 10 different instances that you can run (just about every instance in the game scales based on level now), there are skirmishs, monster play (and its one huge zone - dont make it sound like this small little area).
LOTRO has as much endgame content as just about any other MMO out there. Just because you can't see Frodo toss the ring into the volcano (heck the storyline is not even that far along yet) does not mean there is no endgame content. What it does mean is that there is still alot of room for expansion by continuing on the story like they have been for the last several years.
LOL, Ninjajucer had me chuckling with his post here as well.
LotRO, probably more than any other MMO, is all about the journey, not the destination. In other words, it's like fly fishing -- its about the process, not so much the product. Having been with LotRO since very early Closed Beta myself, and a Lifetime Founder since the game went live, I've seen many people (with the mind set of this Ninja-d00d person here) who start playing LotRO as an alternative MMO (usually from WoW) and/or looking for a new MMO who grind through LotRO content like their ass is on fire, never stopping to smell the flowers, reaching the level 60 cap in the original game then saying, "OK, I BEAT the game -- now what. God that's still hilarious thinking about it
It's equally annoying and not nearly as comical to see other complaints about why "FTP" has certain limits. I'd like to reminf him and others with this mind set that if you want to play at some point you have to pay -- true in life and true in LotRO and every other worthwhile MMO -- the folks who produce these games for us have to make money in one way or another.
Turbine has already included the mind sets of people like Ninja-d00d here into their business plan equation for the FTP model of LotRO -- the plan is rock solid and was tested and re-tested both in a limited in-game Beta and for over 2 years in their Dungeons and Dragons Online (DDO) MMO. The reality of life is it is absolutely proven that while some players will come and some will go away, a lot more players will remain after they come try LotRO with zero risk.
Wise words.
I am one of those who tried the game just because it went free and in less than a week of play I bouht the boxed MoM expansion for 10 bucks and I am planning to sub for 3 months for another 30 bucks.
This game is simply put AWESOME. No FFXIV nor Cataclysm for me. LOTRO is the way to go.
Nice write up, aside from the (already corrected) boo boo about Quest packs. As for grinding, I have to laugh at people who think you'd need to grind "an absurd amount" to get anywhere meaningful. In the 3 weeks since launch, I've attempted to see what character I'd like as a main...bringing 3 to 25 and 6 to their mid teens. This 'experimentation' has netted me 1700 points. Now granted, I did have 2 weeks vacation and spent a fair bit of time in game, but no where did I 'grind' (except to finish a few slayer deeds ). Remember - even as free, people have access to 2 characters per server (15) Completing even say Ered Luin (2 days done casually) 10 times is 1300 points. It's not perfect, but the option is there - and I like these options far better than any other "FTP" game out there.
1700 is a pittance. And those rapid, "easy to get" points are going away now that you've leveled the toons through the beginner stages. When you have to kill 600+ of the same mob to get 15 points, that becomes an absurd grind. And if you're willing to do the newbie stages on all the servers over and over again, why not just mow a lawn or shovel a driveway, take the 25 bucks and become a VIP. It'd take only a couple of hours of "work" to avoid many MANY hours of mind numbing "work" leveling newbies over and over again. My time is worth money.
Ered Luin cannot be done 10 times "casually" in 2 days. It takes me more than 2 days to do Ered Luin *casually* (3 hours max a day). And I've done it a bunch of times (Elves are my favorite).
When will these disgustingly rote arguments about what is and what is not F2P just end. If you can download, install, and run the game, create an account and access the game world, and experience the content of the game, all without paying anything, the game IS F2P. Whether or not you got ALL of that excellent FREE content you feel that your bloated ego deserved is a moot point. The global economy crashed for the same reason that you worthless bags of garbage wail on and on over a game, because you feel ENTITLED to something which you have NO right to.
Get over it, you are entitled to nothing in this world, nor the virtual one which you shed your tears over.
Then every game that's ever had a demo or a free trial is "Free To Play"?
I suppose that's your opinion, but I don't think its right.
Also in error: "The game doesn’t withhold access to Auction Houses, fast travel and other major elements (except, curiously, Monster Play) but it does expect payment for quest packs and expansions."
> F2p must purchase the ability to sell on the Auction House, 5 slots at a time. (subscribers have 30 slots)
> Fast travel other than between starting areas must be purchased by both premium and f2p customers. A premium player informed me even swift travel from West to South Bree was disabled!
> Horse riding skill must be purchased.
> Virtue and trait slots must be purchased.
> Vault space upgrades must be purchased.
> Gold cap must be removed.
The author will probably argue he really meant doesn't withhold access to purchasing these, but as with his statement re: access to quest content, it is misleading as the impression that much which has to be purchased is free is being conveyed.
"Essentially if you own the three expansions already, Lord of the Rings Online really is subscription free and only a minority of features or disabled for the player"
Ok, first of all, there had only been 2 expansion so far: Moria and Mirkwood (not 3).
Secondly, this is incorrect. If you own both Angmar, Moria, and Mirkwood, and you wish to play free (being a Premier player), you would still need to buy the quest packs between 20-50.
" those that own the game, but do not actively subscribe, are “premium players” and therefore do not need to buy content they already own." - this is the totally incorrect part.
Please try to focus on giving correct info, or you will be flamed by haters. The game is great, and I agree it's still the best option to stay VIP and be subbed/lifetimer.
DB
I beklieved that any content you had already you would not have to buy again
Comments
The praise heaped on Turbine by this article is unwarranted. As another poster pointed out, this is Turbine regressing to FTP. I am all for trials which lower the barrier of entry into an MMO. These serve players and developers equally well. Players who believe they are better off with the free to play set up are either deluded, or are poor enough that they really couldn't pay a subscription even if they wanted to. I understand the second group having enthusiasm for the whole FTP thing and they can't even be manipulated into spending cash because they simply don't have any. The rest of us are being manipulated in an underhanded way, whether we realise it or not.
The free Turbine points, for example, are "training" you to become comfortable with the cash shop, to get used to the interface and become accustomed to the idea of shopping being part of the player experience.
Once again mmorpg.com is going along with whatever way developers want to go without thinking that perhaps they could do more to stand up for the players and question whether these companies are serving themselves or really trying to provide better value for money.
Shame on you Adam Tingle.
Well I have noticed a push here to make all the games go free to play. There is one writer in particular who pushed his bias views of free to play every chance he gets. Then when games go free to play the praise them. However I have to say that turbine has always been the fair haired child.
Yes turbine is getting praise, while soe who pulled the same move got like 1 or 2 articles at best. Not even a mention of hey they are out of beta with their free to play model of eq2, not that I am happy about it either (as in free to play at least its on seperate servers), just pointing out that some companies seam to get the pass.
As far as the store goes, I can see what is going to happen. Eventually at the end game you will need to buy some of the items in the store to beat certain end game bosses. I will just call that right now. After all the way your going to make your new revenue stream, is for folks to buy items that is not in game live that are needed. We have that right now with the power/heath pots.
I will say this if you look at other games that have a store. STO - federation dreadnought 25 bucks not available in game, facebook/zenga apps all have items you can not earn in game, you must buy those. EQ2 Next special armor, mounts, and other items same thing. Over and over you see this. What they hope happens is with your free to log in they hope you get hooked enough to spend the cash in order to progress. Even eq2 live has special mounts 25 bucks a shot in that cash shop.
F2P lives or dies with the cash shop and the ability to convince the players to spend money. There are those that know this, those that wont admit that and those that just dont get it.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
Also u dont need quest packs or anything to level. Just do places like barrowdown and northern part of bree to get 20+. Then just do skirmishes. easy.
Well I have noticed a push here to make all the games go free to play. There is one writer in particular who pushed his bias views of free to play every chance he gets. Then when games go free to play the praise them. However I have to say that turbine has always been the fair haired child.
Yes turbine is getting praise, while soe who pulled the same move got like 1 or 2 articles at best. Not even a mention of hey they are out of beta with their free to play model of eq2, not that I am happy about it either (as in free to play at least its on seperate servers), just pointing out that some companies seam to get the pass.
As far as the store goes, I can see what is going to happen. Eventually at the end game you will need to buy some of the items in the store to beat certain end game bosses. I will just call that right now. After all the way your going to make your new revenue stream, is for folks to buy items that is not in game live that are needed. We have that right now with the power/heath pots.
I will say this if you look at other games that have a store. STO - federation dreadnought 25 bucks not available in game, facebook/zenga apps all have items you can not earn in game, you must buy those. EQ2 Next special armor, mounts, and other items same thing. Over and over you see this. What they hope happens is with your free to log in they hope you get hooked enough to spend the cash in order to progress. Even eq2 live has special mounts 25 bucks a shot in that cash shop.
OH. and PS, you do know turbine and mmorpg.com have some agreement? like joining agreement, i forgot.I don't get all the criticism directed at Turbine. Obviously most of you have no clue what you are talking about. You also are completely oblivious to the fact that this is perfect for a casual player. They can buy content when they are ready for it for a reasonable price.
If you want to get more active in the game you can sub and buy the expansions. There is nothing in the store you have to have as in many f2p games and the prices are quite reasonable. I don't like f2p much in general, but the Turbine model actually makes sense.
I have not seen any reasons posted in this thread that support the criticism.
I'll just say You're wrong. You've never played D&D Online - your statement above proves that (Since there is NO content tuned for the store there - and that's after over a year)
The new content (Enedwaith) is tuned specifically for end-game players. You know darn well that pretty much every boss in the game as more than 3 times the average players health - why you try to bring this up as a negative now? Who knows.
You obviously have quite the problem with the game now - as evidenced by your posts here, and on the official forums. Perhape it's time to cut your losses and find something else? The posturing is getting old.
Its good for a casual, yes. I agree.. What i don't agree is selling quest packs, for like 5dollars a zone.
Its it needed? No, it is not. But it is nice, as for turbine points in general deeds can get you a little for important stuff. if you worked hard enough you could prob achieve 200 easily and get riding skill if you can't do quest.
Thats really the only thing i disagree on, for the most part >.>
I have been playing a few weeks and find th game just fine. I have a few toons between 8 and 12. I'm not sure when I would need to buy things from the store or not, or even if its worth it to get an expansion or two. I've thought about subing because $15/mo is made in less than 30 minutes, but I'm not sure if I actually need to right now...I mean, for me, the f2p model is kind of confusing.
For the casual gamer, this F2P model seems to be awesome though. Like someone said, you play 5-10 hours a week, and when you want a new quest line you can just go get it. Pay as you go.
One thing that has happened is I dug out my old JRR Tolkien books and am reading them too. Its cutting into my game time of course, but fun to read about the lands, its peoples and their journey's and then go into the game and live your own experience. I would agree that the game is much more about the journey and experience rather than the grind to 65.
Graphics are top notch. I play with all the highest settings and DX11. I usually turn off the GUI and names while cruising around just to enjoy them. Then turn these back on when questing.
this game is definetly more serious looking and mature than world of sh*tcraft, less popular but better
but they have to make more of it free, cuz if you limit player with level 20 quests, they will quit and turbine are gonna have the same small populaiton, cuz those who play now, play it cuz its free, when they have to pay to continue, they will just quit
^^
The criticism, at least on my part, is mmorpg.com (and more specifically the author of this article) heaping praise on a dev company for going to a F2P model. It is, after all, a financial model that does it's very best to get us to spend money (Turbine points) at every possible moment. At least in DDO every time you fail a dungeon (whether or not you are a subscriber or not) you get an advertisement for potions etc that would make your life easier if only you spent a little money. Does this happen in LOTRO yet? Not sure, but I would guess it does and if it doesn't it soon will. This is why people begin to call it Pay to Win. Instead of reflecting on your combat tactics or perhaps grouping up and being more social in an MMO then just spend some more money to make the gameplay easier. How can this possibly be worthy of praise?
It is a bit like congratulating a supermarket for putting candy and toys next to the register where parents are queing and inevitably have their children screaming.
Look, supermarkets have every right to do it and Turbine has every right to convert whatever game they please to F2P, but heaping praise on them for doing so??
Yes. Thank you for the very true statement. But, if it's good for the game, and not bad for the players (at least, not worse then subscription) then why should i care?
I got my first spam email letting me know that some certain items were for sale, in the lotro store. I have chosen to save my points at this time and boycot the lotro store.
Everything you say only comes to fruition if I am stupid enough to become conditioned to spending money to the point of spending above and beyond my sub fee and I'm sorry I'm just not that stupid. One could use the same logic to describe month to month sub fees since GW was able to charge for a box with no sub fee.
Besides all of this talk of how these f2p models are so dangerous mean nothing until we actually start to see stories of people losing the house because they continued to pour money into the cash shop and you know what? Even then that has no effect on me any more than it does when a person addicted to gambling does it, I'm lucky I can drink and haven't become an alcoholic and I think I can handle not breaking the bank on a bunch of sprites and pixels.
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
Man, if only i had bought the LotRO Lifetimer instead of the STO... i would be getting 500 TPs/Month, instead of the 500 middle-fingers .|.. ..|. i get when i log into Cryptic's game
Erm?
Riding skill? This is one of very few F2Ps that do not have alternative in-game mounts. If you want to ride, you have to pay. And LOTRO also has one of most tedious travels of all F2Ps.
Trait unlocks? If you want to customize or even fully use your character skills, you have to pay. Sure LOTRO does not sell gear, they sell talent trees instead. How is it any better?
Auctions? Cannot sell unless you pay it bit by bit. This is very visible on new servers where the AHs have poor supply.
Money cap? Cannot have more than 2g unless you pay, then you cannot get more than 5g unless you pay some more. 2g does not get you good horse, 5g still does not get you good house. You will have to unlock money cap.
Oh and the worst offender - instant travel. You pretty much cannot have it unless you subscribe, the cash shop price is worse than RL public transport ticket in my capital.
This is not DDO. In DDO you buy contents, you do it few times for fun. You can even buy your friend temporary access if necessary. Here you have to buy lot of other things to un-gimp your character. In DDO you get TP for finishing dungeons, once, on group difficulty - here you get measly TP for doing quests, most is for soul crushing solo grind of mobs, in one spot, by hundreds.
Turbine model as in DDO model made sense, it pushed F2Ps into groups and gave them TP for making game fun and lively, this is not DDO model, it harms or prevents player interaction.
If any other MMO tried to pull this cash shop, they would never recover from the amount of flak they would get.
What saves LOTRO is two things: a) you can subscribe and avoid the cash shop and b) the cash shop is priced progressively so it starts at acceptable prices and only gets outlandish on true luxuries.
Wise words.
I am one of those who tried the game just because it went free and in less than a week of play I bouht the boxed MoM expansion for 10 bucks and I am planning to sub for 3 months for another 30 bucks.
This game is simply put AWESOME. No FFXIV nor Cataclysm for me. LOTRO is the way to go.
1700 is a pittance. And those rapid, "easy to get" points are going away now that you've leveled the toons through the beginner stages. When you have to kill 600+ of the same mob to get 15 points, that becomes an absurd grind. And if you're willing to do the newbie stages on all the servers over and over again, why not just mow a lawn or shovel a driveway, take the 25 bucks and become a VIP. It'd take only a couple of hours of "work" to avoid many MANY hours of mind numbing "work" leveling newbies over and over again. My time is worth money.
Ered Luin cannot be done 10 times "casually" in 2 days. It takes me more than 2 days to do Ered Luin *casually* (3 hours max a day). And I've done it a bunch of times (Elves are my favorite).
Then every game that's ever had a demo or a free trial is "Free To Play"?
I suppose that's your opinion, but I don't think its right.
Also in error: "The game doesn’t withhold access to Auction Houses, fast travel and other major elements (except, curiously, Monster Play) but it does expect payment for quest packs and expansions."
> F2p must purchase the ability to sell on the Auction House, 5 slots at a time. (subscribers have 30 slots)
> Fast travel other than between starting areas must be purchased by both premium and f2p customers. A premium player informed me even swift travel from West to South Bree was disabled!
> Horse riding skill must be purchased.
> Virtue and trait slots must be purchased.
> Vault space upgrades must be purchased.
> Gold cap must be removed.
The author will probably argue he really meant doesn't withhold access to purchasing these, but as with his statement re: access to quest content, it is misleading as the impression that much which has to be purchased is free is being conveyed.
I beklieved that any content you had already you would not have to buy again