Lotro f2p

[Sam]

Well the game is soon going to be Free to play which is going to be great, hopefully it will attract a lot of new users to the game. Also it means I can download the US client free of charge and come play with my fellow members across the pond :)

[Emmie]

I hope they don't check your IP address to enforce regions. But anyway, yes, it's pretty cool that it will be free. :) I'll probably only get around to playing every couple of weeks, but it's better than not playing at all now.

I do hope the quality doesn't decrease too much. In general, I don't like the idea of being able to spend real money for every little bonus in a game, and the community probably won't be quite as good once it's open to absolutely everyone.

[Sam]

Well the same thing happened with D&DO and they saw a rise of like 200%, the servers, patches and content improved which hopefully can be mirrored on LoTRO :)

[Lanyare]

Personally, I have a somewhat ambiguous feeling over it, to be honest. I'm one of thoses people that bought the collector's edition at the time, aye, the one that came with lifetime subscribtion. I'm not at all too sure if the VIP-membership is worth that cost I made at the time.
I'm also slightly afraid that the community's going to go downhill and that the game might be overrun with bots eventually.

The one good side to it is that I can safely have my youngest brother try the game and, in case he likes it, he'll be able to actually play it as well. After all, our parents would no way pay him a subscribtion. But in any case, this is only if he actually turns out to like the game.

[Emmie]

Lanyare: that's my feeling as well about a possible decrease in quality. It just seems like if the community is comprised of only people who are willing to pay for the game, more of the people will actually care about being there, and thus will act more mature.

And I'm not sure exactly how the shop will work, but in a way, it seems like the game would be less fun if the people with the best characters were those who paid the most money, not those who put the most effort in.

[Lanyare]

Hmm, you do have a point about the shop... On the one hand, there are people who payed quite a sum and they should get their due, but it is also true that they should not be getting all the best stuff simply because they put that money in the game. Being a good player is worth its rewards as well, I definitely agree. But then I do mean a good player, someone with skill, not someone who simply has the time and the patience to grind a lot.

[Emmie]

It looks like current and former LOTRO subscribers will get a chance to play the "Free to Play" version of the game starting in just a day or two, and I'm really curious to hear what people think of it, and how exactly it feels compared to the old version. I've read about the "LOTR Store," but I still have no real feel for how much a part of the game it will be or how much an average player would need to use it.

Hmm, you do have a point about the shop... On the one hand, there are people who payed quite a sum and they should get their due, but it is also true that they should not be getting all the best stuff simply because they put that money in the game. Being a good player is worth its rewards as well, I definitely agree. But then I do mean a good player, someone with skill, not someone who simply has the time and the patience to grind a lot.
Rewarding skill is good - though skill can sometimes amount to the same thing as time and patience, since it would usually take a lot of practice to get that skill, right? :p And I personally think rewarding someone with time and patience but no skill is still better than rewarding the people who are willing to pay the most.

[Lanyare]

Been a while since I was last here, so thought I'd stop by again.

I certainly do not want the best gear and stuff only because I payed (quite a lot) more for the Collector's Edition at the time. I payed it for two reasons mainly: because I like having the pretty edition, and also because it saved me the trouble of having to pay monthly fees. That second reason is, now that the game is free to play, sort of not applicable anymore. But it was also the main reason for my breaking the rule to not ever play any games I'd have to pay a subscription for. Also, I'm not sure if I've actually gained anything just yet, purely financially speaking. So, in a way, I could feel cheated. Give me, however, some nice perks ingame, and I won't complain. I don't mean anything that gives me an actual advantage in the game, however, just some form of recognition to still make me feel a bit special. More a small vanity token or something, lol. But ah well, I have yet to find out the new version of the game, because I haven't played anymore since the beginning of this month or something. Juggling two games alternately and having holidays were somewhat killing my playtime.
Anyways, I can understand people in my situation to be upset over it. Personally, I don't think I mind that much. But I will know for sure when I've actually played for a while I guess.

As for the difference between skill and time, it's hard to explain what I mean exactly with that. Players that can grind a lot, aren't necessarily skilled players, because basically, you're doing the same thing over and over again. That doesn't require skill at all, just time. And I think that's the best way I can put it. In this particular case, I feel that people who payed more, should be rewarded more than a person who can just click mindlessly on and on.

LotRO requires more grind than, for example, Guild Wars does, because in GW the grind doesn't give you that much of an advantage over other players. It's in most cases optional to get a nifty title or cooler armour (same stats as regular armour) or other vanity item. In GW you either choose to grind to get those things, or you choose not to. Luckily, in the latter case, you will not be at a disadvantage. That is not entirely true in LotRO, where grinding can get you better stats (deeds for instance) or even armour.

Anyhow, has any of you played since the update? What do you think?

[Emmie]

Maybe I misunderstood your previous post - I do think that you (and everyone else who got the collector's edition) should get some sort of perk, since as you said, it wouldn't really be fair otherwise now that there are no subscription fees. :) My argument was more that I wasn't thrilled about the game being made "free" to begin with, if it means you have to constantly buy individual things from the shop.

I still haven't tried it, but it's definitely on my list of things to do.

[Lanyare]

Aaah, yes, the free to play does only involve Angmar, right? Not Moria (am not even that far yet lol) and Mirkwood. These limitations they put on it do stretch the 'free to play' I think. As far as the access to the expansions goes, I suppose it's logical. But I'm not fond of people having to buy the possibility of, for instance, having more traits equipped.
Then again, the company will still want to ean money off course. It is a really good thing that people CAN earn those points through gameplay as well. At least they've made it an option, though I have no idea just yet how easy or difficult to earn they are, and how much points one would need to get what they want. I seriously hope they managed to balance this out properly.