Lord of the Rings Online Giving Free Questing Coupon to All Players

System · May 2020

Lord of the Rings Online Giving Free Questing Coupon to All Players

The Lord of the Rings Online has announced that they will be giving all players a free coupon that will permanently unlock all available quests, raids, and adventures to the player's account.

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WhiteLantern · May 2020

Is the sky falling? Asking for a friend...

FrodoFragins · May 2020

Hmmm. Well, they've been way behind in comparison with say SWTOR in terms of how much of a barrier to entry the game is. SWTOR gives you ALL expansion content, up to the point when you last subbed, for free.

LOTRO forced you to buy the various expansion and quest packs at pretty high prices really. From a strictly financial point of view, this should allow them to retain more players that will hopefully buy new content at full price.

Based on the pay for power nature of the games legendary item system, it's in their best interest to retain as many of these new players as they can and get them to the level cap.

gervaise1 · May 2020

Curious. Anyway this is an opportunity to acquire most of LotR's content for nothing though - even if you will still find yourself limited by gold caps, vault limits, travel limits etc.

Anyway for those unfamiliar with the terminology:

Most new content for LotR has been delivered as either "Quest Packs" or "Expansions". Whilst both could be purchased for money or points earned in game "quest pack" content was free to subscribers, expansion content was not. So like ESO.

When the expansions first launched there was just one version with some quests and some instances. Post-f2p point they started offering "the whole thing" or "just the quests" - they may have offered just the instances as well at some point but once you have the content you stop being offered it.

And this is the curious bit. These are the 99 point offers.

Expansion Quests: Mines of Moria
Expansion Quests: Siege of Mirkwood
Expansion Quests: Rise of Isengard
Expansion Quests: Riders of Rohan
Expansion Quests: Helm's Deep
Instance Cluster: Rise of Isengard
Instance Cluster: Riders of Rohan

So for less than 700 points - which you will get in a few days of very ordinary play (1 day if you are keen) - you will get most of the early game content. After Helm's Deep it was quest packs until they went back to doing "expansions". And - imo - changed the nature of the game for worse not bettter (but other folks opinions may differ.)

The curious bit is that some of the instance clusters are (seem to be) missing e.g. those that launched with Mines of Moria. Maybe its a misprint or maybe they changed some of the store offers. Seems odd though. Edit: So I had a look at the lotr online wiki and its store page doesn't have e.g. a Mines of Moria instance cluster. Which is what I remembered. So its odd.

Hariken · May 2020

WhiteLantern said:

Is the sky falling? Asking for a friend...

I have been asking for this for a long time. Now it makes buying those expansions worth it. because i never had a high enough level character for those zones because i also had to buy low level zone quest packs.

gervaise1 · May 2020

Hariken said:

WhiteLantern said:

Is the sky falling? Asking for a friend...

I have been asking for this for a long time. Now it makes buying those expansions worth it. because i never had a high enough level character for those zones because i also had to buy low level zone quest packs.

Doesn't look like the Mordor expansion is included. You don't need it to hit "level 115" though for the later "quest pack zones" - there was lots of level 100 - 105 content. You don't need "light 2 gear" either for the later zones. (I'm assuming that the latest zones - which are quest packs - will be in the offer.)

IceAge · May 2020

This is worst then F2P P2W Korean games. How the hell do you lock players behind a pay wall to quest? And then you ask why the game is a failure.

Make a sub for everyone and unlock everything, or make the game f2p ( fully ) for everyone with a sub OPTIONAL which gives various bonuses and then sell some fancy items in the cash shop. Heck, you can even add some lighty p2w items..but DON'T lock f2p players, because in a F2P game, they are the reason why your game still exists. If they are around, paying players are also around. If you lock them out, they will leave and so the paying players, because the server(s) will be pretty much empty.

The above applies to very mediocre games. In this case however, only the name helps to survive and not the game and the features.

Nebless · May 2020

Ppiper said:

Do we have to sub for this?

NO. Right now all quests, raids and instances are totally free to play until Aug 31st.

Sometime between now and then SSG will release a code you'll apply in the in game store that will give you access to all the NON-EXPANSION content. At that time they'll also put all the pre-Mordor expansions on sale for 99 store points.

So for not that much at all you'll have all the content up to the Black Gates of Mordor.

Now you can still sub if you want and you'll get perks that F2p or Premium players don't get, but no to make use of the offer you don't have to sub.

Nebless · May 2020

IceAge said:

This is worst then F2P P2W Korean games. How the hell do you lock players behind a pay wall to quest? And then you ask why the game is a failure.

Make a sub for everyone and unlock everything, or make the game f2p ( fully ) for everyone with a sub OPTIONAL which gives various bonuses and then sell some fancy items in the cash shop. Heck, you can even add some lighty p2w items..but DON'T lock f2p players, because in a F2P game, they are the reason why your game still exists. If they are around, paying players are also around. If you lock them out, they will leave and so the paying players, because the server(s) will be pretty much empty.

The above applies to very mediocre games. In this case however, only the name helps to survive and not the game and the features.

Not real sure what you're complaining about.

- The game was originally Sub only and was dying.
- Game shifted to the current F2p method and was doing very well.

Was it TOTALLY free to play? As in you don't have to do a thing to keep playing? Well no, if you weren't going to sub you needed to 'buy' content either with money or free store points you could earn in game. Which as I understand it is exactly what WoW does, sub with money or tokens you can get in game.

Is it fun to grind for everything free? Of course not, but it can and has been done.

The thing that really doesn't make sense since your post doesn't seem to acknowledge it is this announced change will allow players to play free all content up to the expansions so all that pain of buying region quest packs will be a thing of the past.

Since Mid-March all quests, raids and instances both in the regions and expansions has been free to play and will continue to be up to Aug 31st. At which time with the coupon and expansion sale you'll be able to keep playing.

This is a thank you from SSG to all of us that have supported the game all these years AND to those new players that have joined us since the stay at home orders started.

Nebless · May 2020

Standing Stone Games is doing the coupon and expansion sale for BOTH it's games; LotRO and DDO.

natpick · May 2020

Nebless said:

IceAge said:

This is worst then F2P P2W Korean games. How the hell do you lock players behind a pay wall to quest? And then you ask why the game is a failure.

Make a sub for everyone and unlock everything, or make the game f2p ( fully ) for everyone with a sub OPTIONAL which gives various bonuses and then sell some fancy items in the cash shop. Heck, you can even add some lighty p2w items..but DON'T lock f2p players, because in a F2P game, they are the reason why your game still exists. If they are around, paying players are also around. If you lock them out, they will leave and so the paying players, because the server(s) will be pretty much empty.

The above applies to very mediocre games. In this case however, only the name helps to survive and not the game and the features.

Not real sure what you're complaining about.

- The game was originally Sub only and was dying.
- Game shifted to the current F2p method and was doing very well.

Was it TOTALLY free to play? As in you don't have to do a thing to keep playing? Well no, if you weren't going to sub you needed to 'buy' content either with money or free store points you could earn in game. Which as I understand it is exactly what WoW does, sub with money or tokens you can get in game.

Is it fun to grind for everything free? Of course not, but it can and has been done.

The thing that really doesn't make sense since your post doesn't seem to acknowledge it is this announced change will allow players to play free all content up to the expansions so all that pain of buying region quest packs will be a thing of the past.

Since Mid-March all quests, raids and instances both in the regions and expansions has been free to play and will continue to be up to Aug 31st. At which time with the coupon and expansion sale you'll be able to keep playing.

This is a thank you from SSG to all of us that have supported the game all these years AND to those new players that have joined us since the stay at home orders started.

i think hes refering to the quest part of it i think,and hes right,quests are integral part of an mmo so locking players out of the most basic of mmo functions is kind of bad,i get that there need to make money,but i always thought this was a bad way to do it.

Tokken · May 2020

just bought the quest packs at the last sale a few months ago. Damn. I wish they would have given me a heads up on this...... lol. I even have the expansions, too. :-(

Po_gg · May 2020

Nebless said:

Not real sure what you're complaining about.

- The game was originally Sub only and was dying.
- Game shifted to the current F2p method and was doing very well.
[...]

Agree with the rest, I couldn't follow that complaint either...

Just a small correction to the first point, LotRO wasn't dying. It was in a pretty good state, but after DDO's switch (and when Turbine saw how much money that switch brought in) they wanted to go all-in and switched LotRO too.

Yep on the second point, it had the same model for about 8 years (were a few changes post-Mordor), and really was doing well.

Tokken said:

just bought the quest packs at the last sale a few months ago. Damn. I wish they would have given me a heads up on this...... lol. I even have the expansions, too. :-(

I have all the content as well... so on one hand I'm a bit pissed too. But on the other hand, maybe this move will take the wind out of those "boo hoo, entry cost is too high, they should give everything for free" sails.

If it does, already worth it. I don't have high hopes though. Most likely those people will just switch the topic onto "why Mordor ain't free as well, when game X and Y do this and that".

kitarad · May 2020

I think people don't understand the history of this game. It came to hair's breadth of being shutdown. Their F2P model was what saved it. So those comparing it to other games don't realise the fact this game is still here thanks to its model.

Deutschin · May 2020

ppl still play this game ? Isn't it time to reboot it with modern graphics and this time maybe with better visual.

Portz · May 2020

Where do I find that coupon?

phoenixfire2 · May 2020

We decided it was unreasonable to expect people to drive our car without any wheels, so we're putting 2 on.

NexeusS · May 2020

IceAge said:

This is worst then F2P P2W Korean games. How the hell do you lock players behind a pay wall to quest? And then you ask why the game is a failure.

Make a sub for everyone and unlock everything, or make the game f2p ( fully ) for everyone with a sub OPTIONAL which gives various bonuses and then sell some fancy items in the cash shop. Heck, you can even add some lighty p2w items..but DON'T lock f2p players, because in a F2P game, they are the reason why your game still exists. If they are around, paying players are also around. If you lock them out, they will leave and so the paying players, because the server(s) will be pretty much empty.

The above applies to very mediocre games. In this case however, only the name helps to survive and not the game and the features.

That's not F2P works in LoTRO and rightly so. By your "flawless logic", every car after 2010 should be given for "free", and you only need to pay the tax for the car. This company needs to eat, to support themselves, support families and so on... they need to generate money somehow in order to sustain the legacy of LoTR and do more content. LoTRO has always been like that, and the game isn't dying. While it doesn't have the numbers of FFXIV, WoW or GW2, it does have ppl/fans who love Tolkien's world.

Ppl come and go all the time in MMO's, but that isn't an indicator that they don't like or like the current system. If you pay attention to everyone complains then this MMO wouldn't exist nowadays. Those complains are there since the game went F2P in 2010 and look where is LoTRO.... still alive and kicking, and some ppl still love the game no matter what.

Btw I know dozens of ppl in LoTRO who have/unlock everything in this game just by playing the game without paying a dime (apart from the new expansions, obviously).

You may complain all you want, but LoTRO is here to stay... along with it's players.

Nebless · May 2020

Portz said:

Where do I find that coupon?

It's not out right now. Sometime between now and Aug 31st they'll release it in their weekly announcement and splash it all over their social media sites.

Until then, all quests, raids and instances through-out the game are free to play until Aug 31st.

Nebless · May 2020

Deutschin said:

ppl still play this game ? Isn't it time to reboot it with modern graphics and this time maybe with better visual.

They've been doing graphic passes for a number of years now, plus they recently released the 64 bit version so looks are a step up and many of us think it looked / looks just fine the way it is. Not all of us are hung up on how a game looks.

As to people, I'd say the pop went up close to three fold since the stay at home every things now free to play went into effect back in mid-March.

Sovrath · May 2020

Po_gg said:

Just a small correction to the first point, LotRO wasn't dying. It was in a pretty good state, but after DDO's switch (and when Turbine saw how much money that switch brought in) they wanted to go all-in and switched LotRO too.

This is true. In my conversation with Jeffrey Steefel he pretty much said the exact same thing.

kitarad · May 2020

Didn't they allow a lot of folk to get lifetime accounts that reduced their subs and they even perhaps hinted that that was an unwise choice. It wasn't doing swimmingly but DDO went very well with the conversion, that is true.

Po_gg · May 2020

kitarad said:

Didn't they allow a lot of folk to get lifetime accounts that reduced their subs and they even perhaps hinted that that was an unwise choice. It wasn't doing swimmingly but DDO went very well with the conversion, that is true.

Nope, that was way before...

First lifetime was before and around launch, in early 2007. Then a second (and last) offer a year later, before Moria.

F2p was 2 years later, unrelated to the LTAs.

It was simply due to the fact (as Sovrath said) they were positively surprised by the huge success of DDO's switch, and rightfully so: it was a last resort kinda situation, the writing was on the wall for the game, and before the inevitable cancel they gave a try for the f2p, because of there's nothing to lose with it.

And instead of a mere life support extension, DDO turned into a booming success, profit-wise.

So, they quickly finished working on Mirkwood (that's why it's only a mini-expansion practically), and started to work on implementing the f2p switch of LotRO in 2010. Not because of it had issues, but to chase that extra money.

DDO demonstated there are players, many of them, who don't want to subscribe, but if they can access the game without a sub, they don't mind spending some money on it.

(ed.: and as a side-effect, that revelation jumpstarted this current era we're having, where f2p is the main form of monetization... well, good intentions can be a nice pavement for ill roads

)

Sovrath · May 2020

kitarad said:

Didn't they allow a lot of folk to get lifetime accounts that reduced their subs and they even perhaps hinted that that was an unwise choice. It wasn't doing swimmingly but DDO went very well with the conversion, that is true.

I think they just needed a large influx of money so they came up with the "lifetime account." probably thought that in the moment it would be a huge help and they would deal with the consequences later.

darkscyther · May 2020

LoTRO has seen a huge spike of interest (read: only WoW and FFXIV are showing more daily concurrent players logged in right now, so pretty impressive considering where this game has been for a while). The past couple months of free content availability has done a lot to bring in former players and new LoTR fans. Taking the opportunity of record interest (they are seeing the highest concurrent logins since 2007/8) to lower the entry cost which, fairly or not, has long been one of the biggest barriers in garnering/retaining new players. This can only help continue to boost the large boom in store sales which should help continue to keep the game alive.

The game has its drawbacks, mainly the terribly old tech it is built on, but it is still a tremendous world for those who enjoy Tolkien's setting with tons of new stories and characters to meet and adventure with.

Theocritus · May 2020

gervaise1 said:

Hariken said:

WhiteLantern said:

Is the sky falling? Asking for a friend...

I have been asking for this for a long time. Now it makes buying those expansions worth it. because i never had a high enough level character for those zones because i also had to buy low level zone quest packs.

Doesn't look like the Mordor expansion is included. You don't need it to hit "level 115" though for the later "quest pack zones" - there was lots of level 100 - 105 content. You don't need "light 2 gear" either for the later zones. (I'm assuming that the latest zones - which are quest packs - will be in the offer.)

Holy smokes I can't imagine hitting level 115 in this game...I was so burned out on the quests by level 38 that I never went back.

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Lord of the Rings Online Giving Free Questing Coupon to All Players

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Lord of the Rings Online Giving Free Questing Coupon to All Players

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