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LOTRO Monetization 'will definitely not change significantly before Gundabad', But Change Is Coming

SystemSystem Member UncommonPosts: 12,599
edited August 2021 in News & Features Discussion

imageLOTRO Monetization 'will definitely not change significantly before Gundabad', But Change Is Coming | MMORPG.com

It looks like Lord of the Rings Online's monetization will not change in a significant manner before the Gundabad expansion due sometime later this year.

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  • Viper482Viper482 Member LegendaryPosts: 4,099
    All the freeloaders who refuse to pay for VIP, then cry about having to pay $60 for the expansion bundle, which includes 6 expansions.....so about $10 each. Meanwhile you can play most of the game for free. It is absurd what free to play did to this genre. This game is 100% worth the money and it requires funding to stay afloat. Frankly, if you don't think this game is worth $60 or a monthly fee then you don't appreciate it enough to be playing it in my opinion. Don't need you.
    kitaradGobstopper3DScotAgent_JosephScott_Jeslisashiru_1978Asm0deusBruceYeeKyleranFrodoFraginsand 9 others.
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  • KnightFalzKnightFalz Member EpicPosts: 4,522
    Viper482 said:
    All the freeloaders who refuse to pay for VIP, then cry about having to pay $60 for the expansion bundle, which includes 6 expansions.....so about $10 each. Meanwhile you can play most of the game for free. It is absurd what free to play did to this genre. This game is 100% worth the money and it requires funding to stay afloat. Frankly, if you don't think this game is worth $60 or a monthly fee then you don't appreciate it enough to be playing it in my opinion. Don't need you.

    When I last played the game doing so for "free" required lengthy and laborious collection of currency by multiple characters on multiple servers to earn sufficient to open the game at no financial cost, and a great deal of content has been released since. It is absurd model when compared to many of those offered by their competitors these days.

    So, they would do well to change it to be more competitive with alternatives. It would likely generate more revenue in the end rather than less. If they didn't expect that likely so they wouldn't be considering changing the model to begin with.

    What you need isn't the determining factor. Rather, it is what the provider of the game feels is needed and that is change.
    FrodoFraginsTemp0
  • elfdragon21elfdragon21 Member UncommonPosts: 48
    Paying for the expansions is worth not having to pay the $15 sub fee for every game I play. The only game I stopped playing due to the sub fee is Wow, and I don't miss it that much. I spend all of my available gaming time on ESO, Guild Wars 2, SWTOR, and LOTRO, with no subscription costs after buying the content. It is worth it because I am saving $60 a month not paying for ESO, SWTOR, WOW and LOTRO. Every now and then I do buy Mithril coins for fast travel when LOTRO has double points, and that's about it.
    iamspamicusFrodoFraginsSandmanjwPirrayaRaivyn79
  • ScotScot Member LegendaryPosts: 24,273
    Well what would be more useful is some idea of what they are going to replace it with, some players may think it needs changing but until you know what you are going to get I would be careful of what you wish for.
    MendelAsm0deusiamspamicusKyleranFrodoFraginsSandmanjwUngoodCorebol
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  • TheocritusTheocritus Member LegendaryPosts: 9,976
    Viper482 said:
    All the freeloaders who refuse to pay for VIP, then cry about having to pay $60 for the expansion bundle, which includes 6 expansions.....so about $10 each. Meanwhile you can play most of the game for free. It is absurd what free to play did to this genre. This game is 100% worth the money and it requires funding to stay afloat. Frankly, if you don't think this game is worth $60 or a monthly fee then you don't appreciate it enough to be playing it in my opinion. Don't need you.

    IIRC the game was almost dead before it went f2p...DDO too....f2p probably saved both games more than anything.
    MendelAsm0deusReaperUkSandmanjwTemp0UngoodMmorpgerius
  • foxgirlfoxgirl Member RarePosts: 485
    The big issue with Lotro's pricing in the shop is that they nickel-and-dime you for quests - much like SWTOR. Go here and you can grind for x amount of whatever OR you can pay x amount of dollars and unlock them! And then the pure greed of the expansion bundles is just as bad as PWI's Neverwiter and STO packs.

    I get it you need money to keep the game going and pay your devs, but there are less scammy ways to monetize the game.

    It's like the took the worst ideas from Bioware and PWI and stuffed them in the game.
    Roin
  • Viper482Viper482 Member LegendaryPosts: 4,099




    Viper482 said:


    All the freeloaders who refuse to pay for VIP, then cry about having to pay $60 for the expansion bundle, which includes 6 expansions.....so about $10 each. Meanwhile you can play most of the game for free. It is absurd what free to play did to this genre. This game is 100% worth the money and it requires funding to stay afloat. Frankly, if you don't think this game is worth $60 or a monthly fee then you don't appreciate it enough to be playing it in my opinion. Don't need you.






    I think it's funny how you defend their stores. It has nothing to do with their customers being cheap. I'd honestly say they provide one of the scummiest cash shops available. If it was just poorly maintained over the years, it'd be understandable. But it looks like it's properly maintained.



    Let me explain it a little bit...



    On one hand, if you navigate to the site by going to https://lotro.com/en/game you are then able to access https://store-new.standingstonegames.com/lotro/expansions to see the bundles.



    The links above in no way (to my knowledge) provide access to the actual in-game store. When you navigate to the external site the game redirect you to, you'll find every little bit of content broken down individually. I don't remember off the top of my head, but I'm pretty sure they don't offer the bundled expansions via this site. You actually have to go to https://store-new.standingstonegames.com/lotro/expansions to select the proper bundle.



    You could spend 300 dollars and still not own all of the expansions, quest/adventure packs if you do it via this method.



    I have no clue what you are going on about.....but at the very link you posted there is a "LOTRO expansion trove" for $60 that includes six expansions from release to Mordor which will get you content to level 115. Your issue is the link you have to click? Where does this $300 come from? I'm confused....
    Pirraya[Deleted User]Ungood
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  • Viper482Viper482 Member LegendaryPosts: 4,099

    foxgirl said:

    The big issue with Lotro's pricing in the shop is that they nickel-and-dime you for quests - much like SWTOR. Go here and you can grind for x amount of whatever OR you can pay x amount of dollars and unlock them! And then the pure greed of the expansion bundles is just as bad as PWI's Neverwiter and STO packs.



    I get it you need money to keep the game going and pay your devs, but there are less scammy ways to monetize the game.



    It's like the took the worst ideas from Bioware and PWI and stuffed them in the game.



    Greed of the expansions bundles? ROFL. How dare they charge for content?!?! OMG!!!!!

    Y'all cheap as hell. That's all there is to it. $10 per expansion pack up up to level 115. If you can't handle that you should spend less time gaming and more time earning money.
    Pirraya[Deleted User]BrotherMaynardCorebolRaivyn79
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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    edited August 2021
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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    edited August 2021
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  • ashiru_1978ashiru_1978 Member RarePosts: 818

    Viper482 said:

    All the freeloaders who refuse to pay for VIP, then cry about having to pay $60 for the expansion bundle, which includes 6 expansions.....so about $10 each. Meanwhile you can play most of the game for free. It is absurd what free to play did to this genre. This game is 100% worth the money and it requires funding to stay afloat. Frankly, if you don't think this game is worth $60 or a monthly fee then you don't appreciate it enough to be playing it in my opinion. Don't need you.



    I would not pay for VIP more than once for the benefits. I would gladly spend $60 for the Expansion Trove, in fact I have already done that, I still haven't paid for VIP for the benefits.

    $60 is not that much money unless your paycheck equates to $59.
    Roin
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    edited August 2021
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  • MendelMendel Member LegendaryPosts: 5,609
    I wonder how this affects those longtime Lifetime member subscriptions?  I think they did something to them prior to being operated by Dbg, but I don't remember exactly what.  Those lifetime subscriptions have been a bane to LOTRO's business model for quite some time now; will they do something (else) to the lifers?



    Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.

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  • BruceYeeBruceYee Member EpicPosts: 2,556
    Monetization is fine and a good deal for the amount of content the game has.
    Pirraya
  • KyleranKyleran Member LegendaryPosts: 43,975
    Scot said:
    Well what would be more useful is some idea of what they are going to replace it with, some players may think it needs changing but until you know what you are going to get I would be careful of what you wish for.
    Cryptocurrency for sure...
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  • WhiteLanternWhiteLantern Member RarePosts: 3,319
    Kyleran said:
    Scot said:
    Well what would be more useful is some idea of what they are going to replace it with, some players may think it needs changing but until you know what you are going to get I would be careful of what you wish for.
    Cryptocurrency for sure...
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  • FrodoFraginsFrodoFragins Member EpicPosts: 6,050
    edited August 2021
    Stizzled said:



    Viper482 said:

    All the freeloaders who refuse to pay for VIP, then cry about having to pay $60 for the expansion bundle, which includes 6 expansions.....so about $10 each. Meanwhile you can play most of the game for free. It is absurd what free to play did to this genre. This game is 100% worth the money and it requires funding to stay afloat. Frankly, if you don't think this game is worth $60 or a monthly fee then you don't appreciate it enough to be playing it in my opinion. Don't need you.



    IIRC the game was almost dead before it went f2p...DDO too....f2p probably saved both games more than anything.



    You don't recall correctly. There was zero indication that LOTRO was in financial trouble. DDO certainly was, and F2P saved that game. Actually it did way more than save it, it made it more profitable than it had ever been.

    Because of the success of DDO's F2P switch they decided to switch LOTRO to the same model.
    The indication was the dwindling population and the half ass expansion for mirkwood.  They also left tons of huge instance bugs in Moria that probably still exist today.

    It was pretty likely they spent all of their lifetime sub money by the end of Moria as well.
  • FrodoFraginsFrodoFragins Member EpicPosts: 6,050
    Scot said:
    Well what would be more useful is some idea of what they are going to replace it with, some players may think it needs changing but until you know what you are going to get I would be careful of what you wish for.
    They've been equally vague when it comes to LI revamps.  they know their system is horrendous and drives people to the store to level them much quicker.  They've claimed changes are coming for quite a while now.


  • FrodoFraginsFrodoFragins Member EpicPosts: 6,050
    Viper482 said:
    All the freeloaders who refuse to pay for VIP, then cry about having to pay $60 for the expansion bundle, which includes 6 expansions.....so about $10 each. Meanwhile you can play most of the game for free. It is absurd what free to play did to this genre. This game is 100% worth the money and it requires funding to stay afloat. Frankly, if you don't think this game is worth $60 or a monthly fee then you don't appreciate it enough to be playing it in my opinion. Don't need you.
    Have you played SWTOR?  I ask because every LOTRO streamer I've seen that defends the LOTRO shop lives in a vacuum.  They have no concept of what the competition offers.

    Whenever I sub for one month to SWTOR I get ALL of the expansion content up to that point forever after.  The only complicated thing with SWTOR is figuring out what you get at preferred status versus pure F2P or subbed.  And that's just reading a chart.

    Even greedy blizzard gives you all older expansions free with your sub.  But it is sub mandatory.


    Elronir
  • BruceYeeBruceYee Member EpicPosts: 2,556



    Viper482 said:

    All the freeloaders who refuse to pay for VIP, then cry about having to pay $60 for the expansion bundle, which includes 6 expansions.....so about $10 each. Meanwhile you can play most of the game for free. It is absurd what free to play did to this genre. This game is 100% worth the money and it requires funding to stay afloat. Frankly, if you don't think this game is worth $60 or a monthly fee then you don't appreciate it enough to be playing it in my opinion. Don't need you.


    Have you played SWTOR?  I ask because every LOTRO streamer I've seen that defends the LOTRO shop lives in a vacuum.  They have no concept of what the competition offers.

    Whenever I sub for one month to SWTOR I get ALL of the expansion content up to that point forever after.  The only complicated thing with SWTOR is figuring out what you get at preferred status versus pure F2P or subbed.  And that's just reading a chart.

    Even greedy blizzard gives you all older expansions free with your sub.  But it is sub mandatory.





    "every LOTRO streamer I've seen that defends the LOTRO shop lives in a vacuum.  They have no concept of what the competition offers."

    What the competition offers/does has nothing to do with LOTRO. Just like every other popular IP MMO the people play it because of the IP. If one IP offers a better deal then good for them and having all those extra MMO options is a good thing.

    Both Blizz & EA are multi-billion dollar companies that can afford to give better deals while SSG/Daybreak are small potatoes now in the big scene. I'd even go as far as saying when compared to the big companies with their vast riches SSG can basically be categorized in 2021 as an indie dev studio along with every other studio under DGB like Darkpaw etc.
    PirrayaFrodoFraginsRoin
  • olepiolepi Member EpicPosts: 3,017
    I played in the closed beta, and then bought a Lifetime sub at release. Best $250 I ever spent on games.
    Pirraya

    ------------
    2024: 47 years on the Net.


  • WizardryWizardry Member LegendaryPosts: 19,332
    edited August 2021
    Reading between the lines....

    We will hold off until we make the sales then BAM we will hit you hard because we already got you invested.They will try some lame play with words to try and fool or con people into their stupid gimmicks.

    Old content is not any concern because old vets already have it.The reason you offer old content for free is to entice NEW players.
    It is simple economics,old content AND your new content has NO VALUE if you can't get the NEW player to buy in.

    Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.

  • TheocritusTheocritus Member LegendaryPosts: 9,976
    olepi said:
    I played in the closed beta, and then bought a Lifetime sub at release. Best $250 I ever spent on games.

    I was bored with LoTRO within 3 months...Best $250 I ever saved......j/k
    Kyleran
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