I played Lotro a good few years back as a VIP with all the expac's at the time, the game migrated to FtP which did'ent bother me at the time since I had all the content unlocked.
Some friends and I are buggering around looking for something to play atm and we're thinking about re-jumping into Lotro. My old accounts are dead in the water ( I passed them onto a family member years ago and have no intention of reclaiming them) so I'd be restarting from scratch.
Now from what I recall of the FtP model area's were kinda quest-hub locked unless you had opened that area. I see you can buy the *starter pack* which is the Moria, Mirkwood, Rohan and Loth expansions .. If I do that (and go VIP again) I assume that I'll have access to all the quests / deeds / etc in those regions.
So I have 2 questions, am I correct in that assumption, that I have full access to all that content (Of course content will stop at 85 until I get the Helms deep pack) and secondly what about pre-Moria content? Do I get full access to that are do I have to buy quest area's for the original 1-50 game? I ask because I see no option to buy the Shadows of Angmar pack anywhere ... so is 1-50 content totally free to all now or still locked behing the cash shop? (I may just go on amazon and try to grab an original SoA box if content is locked)
Comments
a) For pre-Moria content there is quest pack (see there). 4000 Turbine points. Well, if you have $ome ca$h, you may buy TPs and then this quest pack.
b) content 1-50 is NOT totally free. Starter areas (Ered Luin, Shire, Bree-land) are free for all. Epic quests are free for all. Other regions are paid for TPs or rented for VIPs.
Paid regions (name/price in turbine points)
North downs: 595
Trollshaws: 595
Evendim: 595
Misty mountains:695
Forochel:595
Angmar:795
Eregion:695
For Helms Deep - yes, you need to buy even if you are VIP.
http://www.mmoblogg.wordpress.com
I recently started playing LOTRO. I bought VIP, Account wide mounts and extra storage. Around 35 dollars for it all. I am having a very fun time. If you stay VIP you do not have to buy any of the expansion packs. You only have to buy them if you drop to premium.