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Expansions and Free 2 Play
AtrusV
Member UncommonPosts: 305
I have several friends playing this game right now, and this is making me consider about playing it too. However, they say that it's quite limited for free users, and there are expansions and lots of things which make you to pay for new content. My question is the following: how much content and extras can you get paying for the expansions and then not paying anything each month (I think there's the possibility to pay each month, but I'm not sure)
In general, I can accept to pay X amount of money once, but i dislike the monthly fees unless the game is superb
Comments
Free to play content is limited to Bree, Ered Luin, Shire and Lonelands. All other regions are purchasable. Free users also get some restriction. However, every restriction (with few exceptions) may be unlocked in Lotro store.
And the store uses two types of currency: Turbine points (TP) and real cash. TP may be earned by doing various tasks and all content may be unlocked with TPs.
There is a possibility to pay for 1 month, then discontinue...and enjoy privileges of Premium user: some 'paid' regions are unlocked, currency cap removed, some more space added, quick travel unlocked. VIPs also get 500 Turbine points monthly as a gift.
I purchased some 5-6000 TPs worth of content without spending a penny: earned each single Turbine point, used sales where it was possible. So - it is possibly (though a bit grindy) to purchase all content without paying any real cash.
http://www.mmoblogg.wordpress.com
If you don't plan to pvp which is sub-only, you'll be fine with LotRO, it's great in the "pay X amount of money once" department
There are guides for optimizing your spent amount, just check out the forums.
In a nutshell, if you buy the triple pack (first 3 expansions), Rohan, and drop in 1 month subscription (to become an ex-subscriber after the month is gone
), you'll be pretty much set until the next expansion, "and then not paying anything each month" as you said.
LOTRO's f2p system is one of the better systems out there. I do not know of another AAA game that has the ability to gain the currency needed to purchase new content simply by playing the free content. Simply said, TP is needed to purchase new content, you gain TP by playing free content.
There is roughly 1600TP available in all the free content per character. Zone unlocks range from 500-700 TP each. Each new zone you can gain 150-300 TP as you go thorugh it. Check out this guide. It is still fairly accurate though not updated in a while.
http://lotro.mmorsel.com/p/tpfinder.html
I would suggest buying the Moria ex-pac for $20. You get 2 extra character slots, plus access to the Warden and Runekeeper class, plus all of Moria. If you can find a box version of Moria, you will also get one month VIP.
That's why the triple pack is a better deal, for 40 you gor Moria, Mirkwood and Isengard. If you catch a 50% sale you can bag it for $20
That's monster play. And you get the reaver for free, only have to buy the other classes.
What I said is pvp, as in enter the Moors with your freep character and play against the creeps. That's sub-only. (But I dunno who would subscribe only because of that, pvp sucks
)
I've never expected so much info, thank you.
Let me check if I got it
- EVERYTHING can be bought spending Turbine Points
- Every zone, has a certain amount of TP in rewards per character
- The amount you gain per zone is more than enough to buy new zones, and you can even spend a little more to unlock more things for your character
I guess that if by mistake you spend too many TPs and you can't buy a new zone, you are forced to spend real money or reroll a new character to transfer the TPs
And, there's no content which makes you spend a fixed amount of TPs each month to continue enjoying it (like EVE Online and the PLEX system)
Is it easy to become blocked by spending more TPs in silly stuff than what you are going to get before the next unlockable zone?
Pretty much what vindir wrote.
- EVERYTHING can be bought spending Turbine Points - Everything, except pvp and some preorder and legendary unique stuff, but that's absolutely not a must-have since mostly just cosmetics. Though I'd like to add, the expansions are cheaper and easier to buy with normal cash (especially when on sale), the in-game TP version is much more expensive because Turbine sliced them up for the in-game Store (meaning you have to buy once the quest pack for it, then the instances, then the items, etc.). So it's only better to buy expansions via TP, if you want them for absolutely free and you are willing to farm out the TP for them. If you buy the TP, then it's way too expensive.
And yep, this also means that the game can be totally free if you willing to farm enough TP to buy everything from the Store
- Every zone, has a certain amount of TP in rewards per character - yep, there's the list of the TP amounts on many sites, like mmorsel what was linked before.
- The amount you gain per zone is more than enough to buy new zones, and you can even spend a little more to unlock more things for your character - nope, that would be too easy
but if you play with 2 characters through the zones, that might be accumulate enough TP for the next zone (and those are account-wide purchases, so all characters will access the new zone). And Turbine slowly realised that many f2p'ers just farm the TP and not spending, so in the later areas you can get less TP for the deeds than in the original content.
can't buy a new zone, you are forced to spend real money or reroll a new character to transfer the TPs - that's how they planned to make money, yes
but you don't transfer TP (there's only one TP balance for the whole account) people can easily just roll an alt to gather / farm some more TP any time. Since it's account-wide, you can roll on any server for TP farm
(actually I know a farmer dude who constantly roll / delete toons on the french RP server, because of the low population it's easier to do the slayer deeds... and I hope I didn't ruin his farming with spoiling this out in the open 
probably not, since now with open tapping it's better to do deeds on a crowded server I guess...)
And, there's no content which makes you spend a fixed amount of TPs each month to continue enjoying it (like EVE Online and the PLEX system) - nope, what you buy once it's yours
Is it easy to become blocked - you can't be blocked, even if you don't have an area you can go there, kill mobs, gather resources and do the main questline. You "only" can't take side quests (and that's the easiest way to level, not to mention the stories are great in lots of quests), and you can't earn TP in an area you don't own.
Thak you guys, you have answered everything I wanted to know. +10 Internets to you
I guess I'll play with a free character, and depending if I like the gameplay, the farming is not too grindy and several other factors, I'll try to play completly for free. Or if I find a good offer, buy a map pack or something and use the TPs for other things.
Farming IS grindy, because mostly is about killing mobs by the hundreds, except in the starter area, where only 45-90 kills are enough
When f2p started Turbine launched 2 new servers, a lot of newcomers went to there and few of them started f2p farming guilds. Eu one is Withywindle. Since all character's earning goes to the same TP balance, you can have your main character on any server and still roll an alt in Withywindle for some TP farming. I wasn't there in the last year but it worths a try to ask around for a f2p kin.
It's easier to farm TP in a group, not to mention less boring that way - never forget when I saw one of those kins in action, 10-12 low-level dwarf champions in the same gear and funny names like TPhunger, Ifarm and stuff
, roamed into Kheledûl and start killing every durhand and the hendrovals on the side 
Edit: of course that wasn't a happy thing, it's totally opposing the lore and they could've just buy some TP's instead thus making Turbine happy. Farming is bad, m'kay?
Not to mention I hate grind, so I'd never do that just for some TP.
But I have to admit, the sight was awesome, like a minor siege by a small dwarf unit
I have played Lotro for years.
If you want to play up to level cap, you will have to buy the expansions and you are looking at around $60. It is very, very difficult (meaning so many hours of grind) to get enough TP to buy the expansions, and you also need to buy with TP things like bank slots.
Posters in this thread are right, it is possible to play cheaply - but almost no one plays up to higher levels without spending quite a bit of money. Honestly, for the $70+ dollars you will spend on Lotro, I would get GW2 instead. Or at least be warned you cannot get all of Lotro for free very easily (and it will not be fun unless you like mindless grinding and making and deleteing alts just to get TP). Lotro also has a lot of bugs and in the newer zones some high end gaming PCs have bad lag issues. Many players have left because of the performance issues. This is one of the worst MMOs out there in terms of performance (of the bigger MMOs). There is even a memory leak that causes the game to crash is you play for an hour or two. Be warned.
If you just want to play and try it out it can be fun. But I would not invest in it as a long term game.
http://www.mmoblogg.wordpress.com
It's hard for me to say, since I have a lifetime sub, but one of my friends and kinmates told a newer player that joined our kinship this:
"If you want the most bang for yoru buck, it's best to make all your characters you'll ever want to play. Then subscribe for 1 month, and only 1 month. That will get you 500 tp to buy a level 20ish-30ish zone. By the time you get to 30, you should have gotten enough TP to buy a 30-40 zone. at 40 you might have to spend some money to get enough TP to buy your 40-50 zone(s). Then you can buy the expansions, which unlock the quests, levels, and areas."
I think this is the best way to do it. You spend like $20 to get to moria, then the expansion pack bundle. which will cost you pretty much what a game goes for these days. You can get to moria without spending a dime, but you'll have to farm TP.
I was looking at this game as a possible game to play, but you managed to disuade me from playing it. I am currently playing STO, DDO, and GW2. Also some DCUO. was looking for another to spend some time on, but I guess LoTRO won't be that next game...
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The game is dead not, this game is good we make it and Romania Tv give it 5 goat heads, this is good rating for game.
Of course, and earn it in the whole game since sub opens up everything (without sub you earn only in areas you've bought already)