I have spent many hours of my life within Lord of the Rings Online, both paid and free, but I will hold my hands up and say that the majority of this time was before December 2010. The glaring omission of the Lone Lands content comes from many times playing through the game and deciding to head towards the North Downs area, convinced from many 'free' play throughs that the Lone Lands was similiarly content locked.
My recent run through of the game (1-20) was one of refreshing my memory and I should have been more comprehensive in my approach, but being an arrogant sort I was sure that my past knowledge would be enough.
For this, idiotic and foolish, mistake I hold my hands up and apologise to any I have mislead. Using a higher character (level 29) I found that I could quest comfortably until around the 30 mark and then I was struggling for content which didn't resort to tricks or deed grinding
But in reply to another poster, if the content of this game would cost around $150 for every quest pack etc, that is 10 months of subscription. That is a hell of commitment, if you are at the level cap in an average of 2 months of play.
.
The point of the article is to see how long a player can enjoy a 'F2P' game without having to pay or resort to alternative ways in which to progress. Again, I revise my opinion and apologise to those who feel I have lied, and to be honest, nobody thinks I'm a bigger expletive than me right now.
I write content for this site with an eye to entertain and inform, it's a learning curve so bare with one or two failures on my part.
I have spent many hours of my life within Lord of the Rings Online, both paid and free, but I will hold my hands up and say that the majority of this time was before December 2010. The glaring omission of the Lone Lands content comes from many times playing through the game and deciding to head towards the North Downs area, convinced from many 'free' play throughs that the Lone Lands was similiarly content locked.
My recent run through of the game (1-20) was one of refreshing my memory and I should have been more comprehensive in my approach, but being an arrogant sort I was sure that my past knowledge would be enough.
For this, idiotic and foolish, mistake I hold my hands up and apologise to any I have mislead. Using a higher character (level 29) I found that I could quest comfortably until around the 30 mark and then I was struggling for content which didn't resort to tricks or deed grinding
.
The point of the article is to see how long a player can enjoy a 'F2P' game without having to pay or resort to alternative ways in which to progress. Again, I revise my opinion and apologise to those who feel I have lied, and to be honest, nobody thinks I'm a bigger expletive than me right now.
I write content for this site with an eye to entertain and inform, it's a learning curve so bare with one or two failures on my part.
Cheers.
Glad to hear you address the issues that some of us familiar with the game were having with your review it's admirable to hear someone admit so quickly and honestly when they made a mistake and just what that mistake was. But in the end this kind of makes your case look even worse you point out the entire reasoning for the article is to "see how long a player can enjoy a F2P game without having to pay or resort to alternative ways in which to progress" instead of the standard comparison of which actually offers more bang for your buck (by comparison) and then simply didn't even do your homework on that issue *sighs*.
Might I suggest a reboot of the series, we as mostly adult mmorpg gamers know we aren't going to get anything for free so why not a traditional comparison of what is offered and how things play out between all the free to plays, as stated by myself and others no f2p is "free to play" so this article written as it is should in summation say "well none of these games are free so they all suck" especially if this is the best review you could give to what many would consider to be a front runner in free to play mmo gaming.
I just get the sense that you would have a hard time saying anything good about any other f2p if this is all you could muster here.
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
If you want to put a lot of time into LotRO, or any F2P game for that matter, you're going to end up giving them some money buying from their store. And if you play so much that buying individual items makes no sense, then subscribe. Your cost of hours played per dollar will probably be really low, much cheaper than the commonly used example of going to a movie. (If you say you can't afford it but then go get a pizza or see that movie, you're full of it.)
But with that said, LotRO at least allows you the possibility of playing for free up to at least the Mines of Moria expansion if you don't mind grinding. You can complete deeds for the Turbine points, and by the time you're through the Lonelands you're probably close to being able to purchase another area. If not, scan your deeds and see what you can knock out for a few more points. If this is frustrating to you, then pay or don't play. Turbine is still trying to make money. As an added bonus, they don't flash ads in your face (hi Sony); there is simply a coin icon in the lower right that tells you what you can purchase if you happen to go somewhere or do something that requires a purchase.
Yes, I agree that the "free to play" tag is a misleading one, but its less so in LotRO than other games in my opinion. And, if you paid for a subscription prior to the F2P launch and want to come back, Turbine allows you some additional benifits that first time players since you're automatically a premium player. You don't get any quest packs for free, but you'll at least be able to finish the quests you still had when you left regardless of the area, and you can see if the game's worth coming back to.
The downside with playing for free, at least for me, is I feel less commitment to the game. When I payed a subscription I wanted to get my money's worth so tried to play as often as I could. Now I'm on once every few days or just once a week. Wait, maybe that's not a downside, at least socially
I really enjoy the F2P gameplay of LotRO. It looks more difficult (grindy) than if subscriber, but it is just challenging enough to satisfy me.
Where themepark games try to hide that they are copying WOW, games like Mortal Online and Darkfall make no attempt to hide their inspiration ______\m/_____ LordOfDarkDesire
At least Turbine allows you to enjoy the entire game unlike that mess SOE came up with for EQ2.
What are you talking about? As bronze or silver you can enjoy the whole game in EQ2X except for the last expansion. But then ppl with a subscription have to buy that expansion too.
In LOTRO you have to buy quest packs to have an enjoyable experience in all zones. Of course you dont have to and can grind for the Turbine currency, but that turns the game in the worst grindmare.
The restrictions in EQ2X for a silver player ( a one time 10$ payment) is easily managable at least untill lvl cap. You dont have to buy anything from the cashshop if you just ask a little around on how to expand your storage space (personal harvest storage box comes to mind, housevault expander key etc).
The way I see it , is that EQ2X turns expensive if you are only interested in endgame or pvp. But for any casual player that just plays it for the quests, its as cheap as it can get. But these questers have to shell out a lot of money for LOTRO.
So I think it totally depends on your playing style.
Ah, You cannot get the top equipment or spells either. Quit trying to make a poor design look decent, it won't work with anyone with any intelligence. Nothing wrong with EQ2, but if you intend to play the game make sure you choose the subscription servers so you get the entire experience.
Ah but the money you are spending to unlock Level content in LOTRO online would then be use to unlock spells and gear restrictions in EQII.
Fact: Its free to get to max level in EQII (Expantion pack excluded), while in LOTRO it cost, having gotten to level 50 myself. About 17 bucks and I only bought two quest packs. If I want all the questing content that will cost me about 60ish dollors? Now that could buy you in EQ2 Silver ($10) your favorite race pack and class ($15) and you would still have $45 left to spend on unlocking the restrictions you listed, and still have plenty of money left over.
Ah but the money you are spending to unlock Level content in LOTRO online would then be use to unlock spells and gear restrictions in EQII.
Fact: Its free to get to max level in EQII (Expantion pack excluded), while in LOTRO it cost, having gotten to level 50 myself. About 17 bucks and I only bought two quest packs. If I want all the questing content that will cost me about 60ish dollors? Now that could buy you in EQ2 Silver ($10) your favorite race pack and class ($15) and you would still have $45 left to spend on unlocking the restrictions you listed, and still have plenty of money left over.
I agree with you here but I play both these games and still find the lotro way better yeah I have toons in both in there 50s and in EQ2x I have spent about $60 so far on silver 2 race packs and one class pack and a few odds and ins like bags and broker tokens. In Lotro I waited till they had point sales spent about $75 altogether thats with buying Mines of Moria and Siege of Mirkwood before F2P. Got Mines of Moria for $10 at a local store and Siege when they had a sale for it but still own all content and bags I use points earned for traits. So I feel both my investments where worth it and I can enjoy both games to there fullest. But to be honest Lotro still with point sales and buying content during sales you could get all content and bags for around $45 maybe $50 if you did it right. You also got to think in EQ2x if you want to do end game you would have to have all master spells and gear thats what about the same as full unlock of Lotro if you get alot of it on sales. Even with EQ2x offering 3 to 4 times the content for free there both really good games with great stories in each that grab you and bring you closer to the worlds they offer.
Sherman's Gaming
Youtube Content creator for The Elder Scrolls Online
+1 /agree with so many above comments. The author got so many details wrong I wouldn't know where to begin.
I do know I've played the game entirely as a free player, only recently spending a nominal amount of irl money to become a premium player - and I have unlocked 90% of the game. For free! With Turbine Points earned in-game. And I "own" that content/access for the life of the game.
Regardless, this article barely scratches the surface of the f2p model in LoTRO, and is so full of innacurate and outdated information one wonders when it was written. During f2p beta perhaps? But even then... meh. Whatevs, me thinks the author had a predetermined outcome / review and didn't really research the game much. Or fact check.
If you were also lucky enough to already own both MoM and SoM expacs before the game went free, and also had characters made at that time, then it truely is a free game if you have any characters at 50. Granted any new characters i make fall under the standard f2p model, and my current low level alts still have to buy quests packs (they but they get the benefits of no gold cap) but i have enough low level alts already created before the f2p on my 2 active servers that i can grind out a ton of TP to purchase quest packs (access to 5). So for me what the f2p did was take a game that i enjoyed but didnt want to pay for (due to real world issues) and made it so i can keep playing my 55 Burg completely free, and my currnent alts get more bags, more gold, all the trait slots and I have enough characters to grind TP for whatever i need easily.
There are a lot of inaccuracies in this article. I will list three.
1. The author complains about the Rune-keeper class being restricted for Free players. This is failing to understand that this class is restricted for all players, including VIP subscribers. It comes as part of the Moria expansion pack, along with the Warden class, or can be purchased separately. Therefore you cannot use it as a reason to criticise the F2P conversion.
2. Deeds give a minimum of 5 Turbine Points, but sometimes as high as 50TP. The second tier of slayer deeds give 10TP. There are hundreds upon hundreds of deeds in the game and it's not difficult to amass TP through them. The author obviously didn't play long enough to realise that Turbine also gives several free quests in the gift boxes that reward 10TP each. In total these quests give 100TP per character. There are also lotteries and competions for additional TP available.
Several members of my kin are F2P and have bought most of the quest packs, along with other essential content, by making a TP-grinding alt, which they deleted after amassing several hundred TP. The process can be rinsed and repeated.
3. Free players do not run out of content at level 20. When F2P launched the free zones included Ered Luin and Bree, which brought characters up to at least 22, if not 25 or higher. Then in the November Update Turbine made the Lone-lands quest pack free for all players. This region starts at 22 and goes up to at least 32. It also includes several instances for level 30-odd players. Then there are Task quests. By this stage the Free player will have amassed enough free TP to buy Evendim, which will bring them up to the mid 40s.
It appears that the author is basing much of his views on old articles when people had to buy the Lone-lands quest pack, as this would have otherwise meant running out of quests in the 20s.
I really liked what turbine did with its vip. It rewarded its players who became vip. NO longer do i have to worry about my account being suspended each month( ff 11) . It seems like turbine really cares about it players. 500 tp a month discounted cash shop. 9.99 you pay for 3 months 6 or12 months. The only thing was i had to buy moria quest pack and mirkwood but mirkwood was so damn cheap. I guess its all about how companys handle the cash shop mmos. Its worth the investment .
As a strictly F2P mmo'er, and by free I do mean I spend $0 >:P I absolutely hate Turbine's f2p model and feel it's a terrible idea.
All other f2p's out there allow me to play the entire PvE experience without spending a cent, since they tend to see the competetive PvP side of things as the money maker, and I just don't care for what the competetive gaming scene has become, so it's win/win for me (in most cases).
But with Turbine's model you cannot play and fully level up without using their cashshop, since upper content is locked until purchasing, it screws both the PvE and PvP crowd.
It is true that it's possible to purchase enough with the free TP to get through the game, but only if you are willing to mindlessly grind and make only wise purchases by doing some real research into what are actually the must-haves in order to get to the end. (both DDO and LOTRO are like this)
That is just more work than is needed in order to play the 'whole' (you won't get all content still) PvE side of the game, especially when considering I get that all free in other games already, without putting in the extra hours of mind-numbing un-needed repetition.
It's just a terrible concept as far as i'm concerned, and I hope to not see too many more companies adopting this idea in the future. It's great that other people seem to be buying into it, and it has revived 2 dying games, but below the surface of seeming free, there is a very different story from where i'm sitting.
The 'bang for my buck' at Turbine is still the same $0 as in other f2p's, but the major difference is i'm only getting half of the game, not even really getting that until after putting in countless hours of grinding tasks to save up the points, and carefully researching purchases or i'll run the risk of messing up and having to start over, just to grind the same things over again..
Definitely missing the point of F2P. F2P has never meant never-pay. We have a term for a game which you never pay to play, it's called FREE. The term Free to Play means there is a distinction to be had between it and Free. The hint as to what that distinction is lies in the two extra words. To play.
Is LotRO F2P? Yes. Why? I currently pay a sub because I like that model. I stop paying the subscription. Am I then still able to play the game? Yes. Does that mean the playing portion is free? Yes. FREE... To... PLAY!
If people want to play a game and never pay then stop looking at F2P games. Look for games which bill themselves as they are. Free.
BTW, a hint to a lot of the people replying as well as the OP. Moria and Mirkwood are not quest packs. Quest packs are packages of quests which reside in a single zone from the original game. You have to purchase them once per zone and per character. Moria and Mirkwood are EXPANSIONS. They are multiple zones bundled together your purchase once. Turbine has never billed them as anything other than expansions to the original game.
These points would get me the following: Mines of Moria- 2495 points ... 2 character slots added-1190 points ... Class Rune Keeper - 795 points, Class Warden – 795 points.
One correction...if the Mines of Moria expansion is unlocked (the 2495) then it comes with 2 character slots and the RK and Warden classes automatically, so those other amounts don't factor in. Those would only factor in if you unlock the Moria quest pack and not the expansion, in which case the Moria quest pack is a lot cheaper than the 2495.
Overall, some very good points you brought up.
Thanks for the info; I must have missed that when I was looking at the freemium costs. So then the costs would be even lower if you went that route, so it would only be $100 for all the content in the game right now. That makes the comparison with the subscription model even more lopsided. Thanks again for pointing that out.
Interesting article despite the couple of mistakes (Warden and Lone Lands). So far, so many forum warriors have espoused the stance that everything SoE touches is rotten and everything Turbine does is great, but this article is one of the few things on this site that has said 'well wait a minute...'.
I tried LotRO free when it was released in Europe. I refused to do what some of the longbeards in these forums recommended: move to the US servers and basically start completely from scratch after I already had bought the original game + expac (very bad advice to waste a person's money). When I loaded up the free version, I had access already to the Warden and RK and tried out the game with a newly-rolled RK. I thought that even though LotRO is not my favorite game out there, the a la carte model would be perfect for me to dabble every now and then in the game.
I am 100% behind the author of this article in having a negative reaction when I see all of the in-game advertizement of the Turbine store. It happened pretty much within the first 5 minutes of play. There is even a quest that shows you how to use the Turbine store to redeem points, etc. Then there are the coins above NPCs that have quests that require unlocking through the store, the other buttons in the UI and windows, usually colored red or done in some other artwork that captures the attention and makes them hard to ignore. To me this is not immersive! I do not want to keep on being reminded that I have to go to a dev's store in order to continue enjoying my experience in a game! I had this problem with DDO as well and didn't stay with that in the long run either.
In the end, I said ah to hell with it, and haven't continued on. So in that sense, LotRO "free" is not the most bang for my buck. I get far more enjoyment out of EQ2X. I always thought that this hybrid model lended itself better overall to DDO because of its instanced nature, whereas it seemed so artificial and cut up in LotRO. If I ever do decide to play LotRO again, I'll just get a subscription for a month or whatever. That way I don't have to worry about playing the Turbine store game which is unfun.
Let's not forget in these 'bang for your buck' articles that gaming doesn't always follow what makes sense financially.
Well it is quite obvious you did not really play the F2P models in either game you did your articles on and I applaud your appology. The only thing to do now is reboot play both games F2P versions and get back with your thoughts.
Some things I would like to point out which add value for me.
Lotro is a very stable game servers seem to be up most of the time.
EQ2X is somewhat unstable at the best of times and right now almost uplayable with the server problems.
Lotro can be played with all types of computers and still look pretty good to outstanding.
EQ2X has a very steep computer requirement and no one can play with everything maxed and low end computer graphics look very bad.
LOTRO has a wide choice of servers each with a different flavor.
EQ2X only one.
LOTRO you can given enough time and a small amount of money can unlock everything for every character forever or as long as the game still exsist.
EQ2X you can never stop paying even subbing to the game does not get you everything. There are many things you can only pay cash for no matter how long or how much money you have already spent.
LOTRO you never know when something will be given for free that you used to have to pay for things change for the better. (lowlands)
EQ2X you never know when they are going to take a part away and start charging for it even though you were promised it before. (vampires)
There is a reason that LOTRO F2P model is well liked extremly popular growing game and a reason SOE forum boards need a good washing everyday.
I don't agree with author of article. I didn't spent any $$ for game and I have unlocked areas for 45 lvl. Now I created alt to enjoy other class so I will with easy get for free TP to unlock rest of areas. I do this without spending cash at all! So it is not truth that you have to spend money. I don't pay and I can still enjoy game. Ofcourse if you have money you can buy many things. If you don't have money you have to spend more time to farm TP but it is doable. So don't tell me that it is not f2p - it is. It depends do you have time - you can play for free, or you don't have time and prefere to pay to get everything easier - your choice.
There is no reason to debate whether a game is "free to play" or not. There is now, and never will be a game worth playing that will be free. This is actually pretty obvious.
The question is: which is better: Subscription based models or "Free to access" models.
I like "free to access" models like LOTRO because I get to keep what I pay for. And then: access what I paid for whenever I want. It's like the difference in renting a car and buying one.
I, like an earlier responder, am a father with a full time job. So I also can spend only a few hours a week playing. So FTA games make sense. I am quick to concede that those who can play for much longer periods may be better served with subscription based games.
But please: end the "Free" debate. Anyone who advances beyond high school knows: ain't nothing in this life worth having that's free.
Well it is quite obvious you did not really play the F2P models in either game you did your articles on and I applaud your appology. The only thing to do now is reboot play both games F2P versions and get back with your thoughts.
Some things I would like to point out which add value for me.
Lotro is a very stable game servers seem to be up most of the time.
Not going to argue there.
EQ2X is somewhat unstable at the best of times and right now almost uplayable with the server problems.
They fixed that yesterday, and I have suggested that they added another server.
Lotro can be played with all types of computers and still look pretty good to outstanding.
Well not on my Demenstion C531, looks very bad.
EQ2X has a very steep computer requirement and no one can play with everything maxed and low end computer graphics look very bad.
No the system requirments are about the same.
LOTRO has a wide choice of servers each with a different flavor.
But no PvP realms.
EQ2X only one.
But you can always find people almost anywhere you are.
LOTRO you can given enough time and a small amount of money can unlock everything for every character forever or as long as the game still exsist.
Yes for a small price of around 60 USD you can play the game unrestricted.
EQ2X you can never stop paying even subbing to the game does not get you everything. There are many things you can only pay cash for no matter how long or how much money you have already spent.
Subbing to the game gives you access to everything but race and class. If you go gold you don't have to spend money on the other crap.
LOTRO you never know when something will be given for free that you used to have to pay for things change for the better. (lowlands)
Yeah it was only 50 cents before, and that was the only thing that was given for free thus far.
EQ2X you never know when they are going to take a part away and start charging for it even though you were promised it before. (vampires)
Can't really comment on this because it makes no sense.
There is a reason that LOTRO F2P model is well liked extremly popular growing game and a reason SOE forum boards need a good washing everyday.
Originally posted by Usinger There is now, and never will be a game worth playing that will be free.
Angband. Free then. Still free now. Gets installed on pretty much every 'nix box I own because it's a great diversion.
Now for the double geek madness.
Angband is a the fortress Morgoth created in the first age of man. The game is based on that portion of Tolkien's writings. The game was inspired by uMoria. uMoria was based on the Mines of Moria. The roguelike dungeon crawlers were the forerunners of MUDs which were themselves the progenitors of the modern MMO. One of which is LotRO whose first expansion was the Mines of Moria.
I was happy bouncy excited the first time I stepped into Moria in LotRO specifically because of my experience playing Angband for 2 decades.
So, yeah, "There is now, and never will be" was blown about over 20 years ago. I'm sure it's not the only one as numerous people could chime in with their own examples.
Well it is quite obvious you did not really play the F2P models in either game you did your articles on and I applaud your appology. The only thing to do now is reboot play both games F2P versions and get back with your thoughts.
Some things I would like to point out which add value for me.
Lotro is a very stable game servers seem to be up most of the time.
EQ2X is somewhat unstable at the best of times and right now almost uplayable with the server problems.
Lotro can be played with all types of computers and still look pretty good to outstanding.
EQ2X has a very steep computer requirement and no one can play with everything maxed and low end computer graphics look very bad.
LOTRO has a wide choice of servers each with a different flavor.
EQ2X only one.
LOTRO you can given enough time and a small amount of money can unlock everything for every character forever or as long as the game still exsist.
EQ2X you can never stop paying even subbing to the game does not get you everything. There are many things you can only pay cash for no matter how long or how much money you have already spent.
LOTRO you never know when something will be given for free that you used to have to pay for things change for the better. (lowlands)
EQ2X you never know when they are going to take a part away and start charging for it even though you were promised it before. (vampires)
There is a reason that LOTRO F2P model is well liked extremly popular growing game and a reason SOE forum boards need a good washing everyday.
Well going to have to call you on several things. Sorry but your full of bs on most of it about the eq2x stuff.
Vampires were free if you bough the new xpac, they put them in the store early for folks who wanted to spend the cash. I was able to claim my free vampire race the day the xpac went love.
They never taken anything away, in fact they changed the 3 pricing plans to give you guys on eq2x .
Steep machine requirements another falsehood. How many falsehoods do you want to tell. Its the same requirements that eq2 has always had. Now a piece of junk hp with a on board graphics card is not going to run it, but that's not going to run lotro either. However eq2 has been around 6 years,and there are a lot of old computers that run it just fine.
Graphics, I love this one, a bit grainy for you, then what resolution are you playing at.
How about next time you want to dish soe at least get your fact straight.
The only thing you got right was the stability, I don't know anybody who does not have issues with the streaming client. I use the stand alone client, but you cant use that one eq2x.
Oh and I don't play eq2x, and I don't play lotro now either. Both are an abominition to what the game should be. I pay to play on the regular eq2 servers.
After reading the reviwe and the comments i have to say:
*Author have to look into facts a bit more befor writhing a review ("seven of the eight classes are allowed" there is 9 classes and you can play 7 off them as F2P. But you have to be aware that it depends what race you pick, ex you cant play an Elf Burgler, dosent fitt in the lore)
*You can play lotro free, without putting in your own money (there is alot off websites where you can see how much free TP you can get for an area, they aslo calculate for you what areas to buy and what areas to stay out off.)
*All the things you can buy from the lotro store is voluntary for crafting or for the deed grinding.
Comments
Sorry to say the game was always free for me. To bd that tubine got greedy along the way. Now the store is king instead of the story.
I will explain my inaccuracies thusly:
I have spent many hours of my life within Lord of the Rings Online, both paid and free, but I will hold my hands up and say that the majority of this time was before December 2010. The glaring omission of the Lone Lands content comes from many times playing through the game and deciding to head towards the North Downs area, convinced from many 'free' play throughs that the Lone Lands was similiarly content locked.
My recent run through of the game (1-20) was one of refreshing my memory and I should have been more comprehensive in my approach, but being an arrogant sort I was sure that my past knowledge would be enough.
For this, idiotic and foolish, mistake I hold my hands up and apologise to any I have mislead. Using a higher character (level 29) I found that I could quest comfortably until around the 30 mark and then I was struggling for content which didn't resort to tricks or deed grinding
But in reply to another poster, if the content of this game would cost around $150 for every quest pack etc, that is 10 months of subscription. That is a hell of commitment, if you are at the level cap in an average of 2 months of play.
.
The point of the article is to see how long a player can enjoy a 'F2P' game without having to pay or resort to alternative ways in which to progress. Again, I revise my opinion and apologise to those who feel I have lied, and to be honest, nobody thinks I'm a bigger expletive than me right now.
I write content for this site with an eye to entertain and inform, it's a learning curve so bare with one or two failures on my part.
Cheers.
Glad to hear you address the issues that some of us familiar with the game were having with your review it's admirable to hear someone admit so quickly and honestly when they made a mistake and just what that mistake was. But in the end this kind of makes your case look even worse you point out the entire reasoning for the article is to "see how long a player can enjoy a F2P game without having to pay or resort to alternative ways in which to progress" instead of the standard comparison of which actually offers more bang for your buck (by comparison) and then simply didn't even do your homework on that issue *sighs*.
Might I suggest a reboot of the series, we as mostly adult mmorpg gamers know we aren't going to get anything for free so why not a traditional comparison of what is offered and how things play out between all the free to plays, as stated by myself and others no f2p is "free to play" so this article written as it is should in summation say "well none of these games are free so they all suck" especially if this is the best review you could give to what many would consider to be a front runner in free to play mmo gaming.
I just get the sense that you would have a hard time saying anything good about any other f2p if this is all you could muster here.
i hope you do POTBS next or soon
( a sweetheart game of mine)
RIP Ribbitribbitt you are missed, kid.
Currently Playing EVE, ESO
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
Dwight D Eisenhower
My optimism wears heavy boots and is loud.
Henry Rollins
If you want to put a lot of time into LotRO, or any F2P game for that matter, you're going to end up giving them some money buying from their store. And if you play so much that buying individual items makes no sense, then subscribe. Your cost of hours played per dollar will probably be really low, much cheaper than the commonly used example of going to a movie. (If you say you can't afford it but then go get a pizza or see that movie, you're full of it.)
But with that said, LotRO at least allows you the possibility of playing for free up to at least the Mines of Moria expansion if you don't mind grinding. You can complete deeds for the Turbine points, and by the time you're through the Lonelands you're probably close to being able to purchase another area. If not, scan your deeds and see what you can knock out for a few more points. If this is frustrating to you, then pay or don't play. Turbine is still trying to make money. As an added bonus, they don't flash ads in your face (hi Sony); there is simply a coin icon in the lower right that tells you what you can purchase if you happen to go somewhere or do something that requires a purchase.
Yes, I agree that the "free to play" tag is a misleading one, but its less so in LotRO than other games in my opinion. And, if you paid for a subscription prior to the F2P launch and want to come back, Turbine allows you some additional benifits that first time players since you're automatically a premium player. You don't get any quest packs for free, but you'll at least be able to finish the quests you still had when you left regardless of the area, and you can see if the game's worth coming back to.
The downside with playing for free, at least for me, is I feel less commitment to the game. When I payed a subscription I wanted to get my money's worth so tried to play as often as I could. Now I'm on once every few days or just once a week. Wait, maybe that's not a downside, at least socially
Edit:typos
I really enjoy the F2P gameplay of LotRO. It looks more difficult (grindy) than if subscriber, but it is just challenging enough to satisfy me.
Where themepark games try to hide that they are copying WOW, games like Mortal Online and Darkfall make no attempt to hide their inspiration
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LordOfDarkDesire
Ah but the money you are spending to unlock Level content in LOTRO online would then be use to unlock spells and gear restrictions in EQII.
Fact: Its free to get to max level in EQII (Expantion pack excluded), while in LOTRO it cost, having gotten to level 50 myself. About 17 bucks and I only bought two quest packs. If I want all the questing content that will cost me about 60ish dollors? Now that could buy you in EQ2 Silver ($10) your favorite race pack and class ($15) and you would still have $45 left to spend on unlocking the restrictions you listed, and still have plenty of money left over.
I don't care about innovation I care about fun.
I agree with you here but I play both these games and still find the lotro way better yeah I have toons in both in there 50s and in EQ2x I have spent about $60 so far on silver 2 race packs and one class pack and a few odds and ins like bags and broker tokens. In Lotro I waited till they had point sales spent about $75 altogether thats with buying Mines of Moria and Siege of Mirkwood before F2P. Got Mines of Moria for $10 at a local store and Siege when they had a sale for it but still own all content and bags I use points earned for traits. So I feel both my investments where worth it and I can enjoy both games to there fullest. But to be honest Lotro still with point sales and buying content during sales you could get all content and bags for around $45 maybe $50 if you did it right. You also got to think in EQ2x if you want to do end game you would have to have all master spells and gear thats what about the same as full unlock of Lotro if you get alot of it on sales. Even with EQ2x offering 3 to 4 times the content for free there both really good games with great stories in each that grab you and bring you closer to the worlds they offer.
Sherman's Gaming
Youtube Content creator for The Elder Scrolls Online
Channel:http://https//www.youtube.com/channel/UCrgYNgpFTRAl4XWz31o2emw
+1 /agree with so many above comments. The author got so many details wrong I wouldn't know where to begin.
I do know I've played the game entirely as a free player, only recently spending a nominal amount of irl money to become a premium player - and I have unlocked 90% of the game. For free! With Turbine Points earned in-game. And I "own" that content/access for the life of the game.
Regardless, this article barely scratches the surface of the f2p model in LoTRO, and is so full of innacurate and outdated information one wonders when it was written. During f2p beta perhaps? But even then... meh. Whatevs, me thinks the author had a predetermined outcome / review and didn't really research the game much. Or fact check.
If you were also lucky enough to already own both MoM and SoM expacs before the game went free, and also had characters made at that time, then it truely is a free game if you have any characters at 50. Granted any new characters i make fall under the standard f2p model, and my current low level alts still have to buy quests packs (they but they get the benefits of no gold cap) but i have enough low level alts already created before the f2p on my 2 active servers that i can grind out a ton of TP to purchase quest packs (access to 5). So for me what the f2p did was take a game that i enjoyed but didnt want to pay for (due to real world issues) and made it so i can keep playing my 55 Burg completely free, and my currnent alts get more bags, more gold, all the trait slots and I have enough characters to grind TP for whatever i need easily.
There are a lot of inaccuracies in this article. I will list three.
1. The author complains about the Rune-keeper class being restricted for Free players. This is failing to understand that this class is restricted for all players, including VIP subscribers. It comes as part of the Moria expansion pack, along with the Warden class, or can be purchased separately. Therefore you cannot use it as a reason to criticise the F2P conversion.
2. Deeds give a minimum of 5 Turbine Points, but sometimes as high as 50TP. The second tier of slayer deeds give 10TP. There are hundreds upon hundreds of deeds in the game and it's not difficult to amass TP through them. The author obviously didn't play long enough to realise that Turbine also gives several free quests in the gift boxes that reward 10TP each. In total these quests give 100TP per character. There are also lotteries and competions for additional TP available.
Several members of my kin are F2P and have bought most of the quest packs, along with other essential content, by making a TP-grinding alt, which they deleted after amassing several hundred TP. The process can be rinsed and repeated.
3. Free players do not run out of content at level 20. When F2P launched the free zones included Ered Luin and Bree, which brought characters up to at least 22, if not 25 or higher. Then in the November Update Turbine made the Lone-lands quest pack free for all players. This region starts at 22 and goes up to at least 32. It also includes several instances for level 30-odd players. Then there are Task quests. By this stage the Free player will have amassed enough free TP to buy Evendim, which will bring them up to the mid 40s.
It appears that the author is basing much of his views on old articles when people had to buy the Lone-lands quest pack, as this would have otherwise meant running out of quests in the 20s.
I applaude these BANG FOR YOUR BUCK columns.They are doing the player a nice service exposing how companys have defined FTP.
I really liked what turbine did with its vip. It rewarded its players who became vip. NO longer do i have to worry about my account being suspended each month( ff 11) . It seems like turbine really cares about it players. 500 tp a month discounted cash shop. 9.99 you pay for 3 months 6 or12 months. The only thing was i had to buy moria quest pack and mirkwood but mirkwood was so damn cheap. I guess its all about how companys handle the cash shop mmos. Its worth the investment .
Edgar F Greenwood
As a strictly F2P mmo'er, and by free I do mean I spend $0 >:P I absolutely hate Turbine's f2p model and feel it's a terrible idea.
All other f2p's out there allow me to play the entire PvE experience without spending a cent, since they tend to see the competetive PvP side of things as the money maker, and I just don't care for what the competetive gaming scene has become, so it's win/win for me (in most cases).
But with Turbine's model you cannot play and fully level up without using their cashshop, since upper content is locked until purchasing, it screws both the PvE and PvP crowd.
It is true that it's possible to purchase enough with the free TP to get through the game, but only if you are willing to mindlessly grind and make only wise purchases by doing some real research into what are actually the must-haves in order to get to the end. (both DDO and LOTRO are like this)
That is just more work than is needed in order to play the 'whole' (you won't get all content still) PvE side of the game, especially when considering I get that all free in other games already, without putting in the extra hours of mind-numbing un-needed repetition.
It's just a terrible concept as far as i'm concerned, and I hope to not see too many more companies adopting this idea in the future. It's great that other people seem to be buying into it, and it has revived 2 dying games, but below the surface of seeming free, there is a very different story from where i'm sitting.
The 'bang for my buck' at Turbine is still the same $0 as in other f2p's, but the major difference is i'm only getting half of the game, not even really getting that until after putting in countless hours of grinding tasks to save up the points, and carefully researching purchases or i'll run the risk of messing up and having to start over, just to grind the same things over again..
No thank you!
Definitely missing the point of F2P. F2P has never meant never-pay. We have a term for a game which you never pay to play, it's called FREE. The term Free to Play means there is a distinction to be had between it and Free. The hint as to what that distinction is lies in the two extra words. To play.
Is LotRO F2P? Yes. Why? I currently pay a sub because I like that model. I stop paying the subscription. Am I then still able to play the game? Yes. Does that mean the playing portion is free? Yes. FREE... To... PLAY!
If people want to play a game and never pay then stop looking at F2P games. Look for games which bill themselves as they are. Free.
BTW, a hint to a lot of the people replying as well as the OP. Moria and Mirkwood are not quest packs. Quest packs are packages of quests which reside in a single zone from the original game. You have to purchase them once per zone and per character. Moria and Mirkwood are EXPANSIONS. They are multiple zones bundled together your purchase once. Turbine has never billed them as anything other than expansions to the original game.
Not just another pretty color.
Thanks for the info; I must have missed that when I was looking at the freemium costs. So then the costs would be even lower if you went that route, so it would only be $100 for all the content in the game right now. That makes the comparison with the subscription model even more lopsided. Thanks again for pointing that out.
Interesting article despite the couple of mistakes (Warden and Lone Lands). So far, so many forum warriors have espoused the stance that everything SoE touches is rotten and everything Turbine does is great, but this article is one of the few things on this site that has said 'well wait a minute...'.
I tried LotRO free when it was released in Europe. I refused to do what some of the longbeards in these forums recommended: move to the US servers and basically start completely from scratch after I already had bought the original game + expac (very bad advice to waste a person's money). When I loaded up the free version, I had access already to the Warden and RK and tried out the game with a newly-rolled RK. I thought that even though LotRO is not my favorite game out there, the a la carte model would be perfect for me to dabble every now and then in the game.
I am 100% behind the author of this article in having a negative reaction when I see all of the in-game advertizement of the Turbine store. It happened pretty much within the first 5 minutes of play. There is even a quest that shows you how to use the Turbine store to redeem points, etc. Then there are the coins above NPCs that have quests that require unlocking through the store, the other buttons in the UI and windows, usually colored red or done in some other artwork that captures the attention and makes them hard to ignore. To me this is not immersive! I do not want to keep on being reminded that I have to go to a dev's store in order to continue enjoying my experience in a game! I had this problem with DDO as well and didn't stay with that in the long run either.
In the end, I said ah to hell with it, and haven't continued on. So in that sense, LotRO "free" is not the most bang for my buck. I get far more enjoyment out of EQ2X. I always thought that this hybrid model lended itself better overall to DDO because of its instanced nature, whereas it seemed so artificial and cut up in LotRO. If I ever do decide to play LotRO again, I'll just get a subscription for a month or whatever. That way I don't have to worry about playing the Turbine store game which is unfun.
Let's not forget in these 'bang for your buck' articles that gaming doesn't always follow what makes sense financially.
Playing MUDs and MMOs since 1994.
And another thing...the level cap in lotro isn't restricted to lvl 20. I myself have got 3 lvl 30+ chars...on f2p that is.
Well it is quite obvious you did not really play the F2P models in either game you did your articles on and I applaud your appology. The only thing to do now is reboot play both games F2P versions and get back with your thoughts.
Some things I would like to point out which add value for me.
Lotro is a very stable game servers seem to be up most of the time.
EQ2X is somewhat unstable at the best of times and right now almost uplayable with the server problems.
Lotro can be played with all types of computers and still look pretty good to outstanding.
EQ2X has a very steep computer requirement and no one can play with everything maxed and low end computer graphics look very bad.
LOTRO has a wide choice of servers each with a different flavor.
EQ2X only one.
LOTRO you can given enough time and a small amount of money can unlock everything for every character forever or as long as the game still exsist.
EQ2X you can never stop paying even subbing to the game does not get you everything. There are many things you can only pay cash for no matter how long or how much money you have already spent.
LOTRO you never know when something will be given for free that you used to have to pay for things change for the better. (lowlands)
EQ2X you never know when they are going to take a part away and start charging for it even though you were promised it before. (vampires)
There is a reason that LOTRO F2P model is well liked extremly popular growing game and a reason SOE forum boards need a good washing everyday.
I don't agree with author of article. I didn't spent any $$ for game and I have unlocked areas for 45 lvl. Now I created alt to enjoy other class so I will with easy get for free TP to unlock rest of areas. I do this without spending cash at all! So it is not truth that you have to spend money. I don't pay and I can still enjoy game. Ofcourse if you have money you can buy many things. If you don't have money you have to spend more time to farm TP but it is doable. So don't tell me that it is not f2p - it is. It depends do you have time - you can play for free, or you don't have time and prefere to pay to get everything easier - your choice.
There is no reason to debate whether a game is "free to play" or not. There is now, and never will be a game worth playing that will be free. This is actually pretty obvious.
The question is: which is better: Subscription based models or "Free to access" models.
I like "free to access" models like LOTRO because I get to keep what I pay for. And then: access what I paid for whenever I want. It's like the difference in renting a car and buying one.
I, like an earlier responder, am a father with a full time job. So I also can spend only a few hours a week playing. So FTA games make sense. I am quick to concede that those who can play for much longer periods may be better served with subscription based games.
But please: end the "Free" debate. Anyone who advances beyond high school knows: ain't nothing in this life worth having that's free.
I don't care about innovation I care about fun.
Angband. Free then. Still free now. Gets installed on pretty much every 'nix box I own because it's a great diversion.
Now for the double geek madness.
Angband is a the fortress Morgoth created in the first age of man. The game is based on that portion of Tolkien's writings. The game was inspired by uMoria. uMoria was based on the Mines of Moria. The roguelike dungeon crawlers were the forerunners of MUDs which were themselves the progenitors of the modern MMO. One of which is LotRO whose first expansion was the Mines of Moria.
I was happy bouncy excited the first time I stepped into Moria in LotRO specifically because of my experience playing Angband for 2 decades.
So, yeah, "There is now, and never will be" was blown about over 20 years ago. I'm sure it's not the only one as numerous people could chime in with their own examples.
Not just another pretty color.
Well going to have to call you on several things. Sorry but your full of bs on most of it about the eq2x stuff.
Vampires were free if you bough the new xpac, they put them in the store early for folks who wanted to spend the cash. I was able to claim my free vampire race the day the xpac went love.
They never taken anything away, in fact they changed the 3 pricing plans to give you guys on eq2x .
Steep machine requirements another falsehood. How many falsehoods do you want to tell. Its the same requirements that eq2 has always had. Now a piece of junk hp with a on board graphics card is not going to run it, but that's not going to run lotro either. However eq2 has been around 6 years,and there are a lot of old computers that run it just fine.
Graphics, I love this one, a bit grainy for you, then what resolution are you playing at.
How about next time you want to dish soe at least get your fact straight.
The only thing you got right was the stability, I don't know anybody who does not have issues with the streaming client. I use the stand alone client, but you cant use that one eq2x.
Oh and I don't play eq2x, and I don't play lotro now either. Both are an abominition to what the game should be. I pay to play on the regular eq2 servers.
After reading the reviwe and the comments i have to say:
*Author have to look into facts a bit more befor writhing a review ("seven of the eight classes are allowed" there is 9 classes and you can play 7 off them as F2P. But you have to be aware that it depends what race you pick, ex you cant play an Elf Burgler, dosent fitt in the lore)
*You can play lotro free, without putting in your own money (there is alot off websites where you can see how much free TP you can get for an area, they aslo calculate for you what areas to buy and what areas to stay out off.)
*All the things you can buy from the lotro store is voluntary for crafting or for the deed grinding.