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LotRO's Monetization Changes Are Such A Breath Of Fresh Air | MMORPG.com

SystemSystem Member UncommonPosts: 12,599
edited March 2022 in News & Features Discussion

imageLotRO's Monetization Changes Are Such A Breath Of Fresh Air | MMORPG.com

The Lord of the Rings Online recently announced a swathe of changes coming to its monetization model, and the change is quite the breath of fresh air. From making content free to all to increasing the amount players can enjoy before they have to pay, LotRO is ensuring that it could be around for quite some time.

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TheDalaiBomba
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Comments

  • LithuanianLithuanian Member UncommonPosts: 558
    Yes, developers finally made one wise choice. As far as I know - everyone I talked to is satisfied. For new players this means really free play, enjoying every step of Middle Earth. And classes unlocked (except grumpy Stout axe)!
    It is high time for Lotro to finally say the truth: all content free for VIPs, as long as they are VIPs. Expansion, micro-expansion, maxi-expansion, quest packs - everything.
    Overall - good, wise step that would bring more players and more cash to Lotro. Bravo, developers!
    GumpsGangAgent_Joseph

    http://www.mmoblogg.wordpress.com

  • Slapshot1188Slapshot1188 Member LegendaryPosts: 17,586
    As my buddies have kind of reached their end with Lost Ark (The dancing dwarves broke most)... Im trying to get some interest in this. We did have some good times in it but Im not sure anyone would want to start over again and starting where we left off is rarely fun because you never remember how to even play!
    [Deleted User]LinifBLNX

    All time classic  MY NEW FAVORITE POST!  (Keep laying those bricks)

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  • RobsolfRobsolf Member RarePosts: 4,607
    Yeah, that seems pretty great, for people that didn't already spend cash money to own that stuff.

    But it is what it is. If it brings more people into the game, maybe it will benefit those people, too.
    TokkenGumpsGang
  • ashiru_1978ashiru_1978 Member RarePosts: 818
    In the producer letter, it was said that there is something even more exciting, but it won't be announced before the 15th anniversary.

    I already bought (or redeemed for free) most of this content, except for:

    - High Elf
    - Warden, Rune Keeper, Beorning
    - some instances like The Forsaken Inn (assuming those will also become free)

    Only thing significant I still don't have is The Fate of Gundabad, but I hope soon I will be able to get it for free with the LP I earn from just enjoying the game.


    I don't know what exactly it is that they haven't announced yet, but I hope it's something that does two things:

    - honor existing players
    - entices a lot of new players to join the game.
    Tokken
  • ScotScot Member LegendaryPosts: 24,273
    edited March 2022
    The only problem with free, one that we saw at the inception of F2P is that is a race to the bottom, players just want more and more free while their demands for good graphics and content have not been put on hold. I hope this works out for Lotro it is my all time favourite MMORPG.
    [Deleted User]Viper482GumpsGang
  • Slapshot1188Slapshot1188 Member LegendaryPosts: 17,586
    Are these free changes available yet or are they tied to the late April update?

    All time classic  MY NEW FAVORITE POST!  (Keep laying those bricks)

    "I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator

    Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017. 

    Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018

    "Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018

  • OldKingLogOldKingLog Member RarePosts: 600
    ashiru_1978 said:
    In the producer letter, it was said that there is something even more exciting, but it won't be announced before the 15th anniversary.

    I already bought (or redeemed for free) most of this content, except for:

    - High Elf
    - Warden, Rune Keeper, Beorning
    - some instances like The Forsaken Inn (assuming those will also become free)

    Only thing significant I still don't have is The Fate of Gundabad, but I hope soon I will be able to get it for free with the LP I earn from just enjoying the game.


    I don't know what exactly it is that they haven't announced yet, but I hope it's something that does two things:

    - honor existing players
    - entices a lot of new players to join the game.

    It'll be NFTs.
    GumpsGang
  • Viper482Viper482 Member LegendaryPosts: 4,099
    Most underrated MMORPG on the market.
    SetzerGumpsGangScotAgent_Joseph
    Make MMORPG's Great Again!
  • TokkenTokken Member EpicPosts: 3,644

    Viper482 said:

    Most underrated MMORPG on the market.



    I liked it years ago but now it's the "Most boring MMORPG on the market". It's sooooooo OLD! lol
    Viper482SetzerGumpsGang

    Proud MMORPG.com member since March 2004!  Make PvE GREAT Again!

  • SandmanjwSandmanjw Member RarePosts: 531
    Slapshot1188 said:
    As my buddies have kind of reached their end with Lost Ark (The dancing dwarves broke most)... Im trying to get some interest in this. We did have some good times in it but Im not sure anyone would want to start over again and starting where we left off is rarely fun because you never remember how to even play!
    This. Time most start over to learn game again, you end up with more characters around the mid/high lvl, but never seem to hit end-game with any of them.

    Think you are right on one thing, try to get others that are interested and play together. Keep the interest going for longer. 
  • TheocritusTheocritus Member LegendaryPosts: 9,976
    I get bored pretty quickly starting over....I start going through areas that remind me of why I quit in the first place......
  • SovrathSovrath Member LegendaryPosts: 32,780
    Theocritus said:
    I get bored pretty quickly starting over....I start going through areas that remind me of why I quit in the first place......
    I started over on the "classic" servers (or whatever they were called) but as I leveled I realized I was going to have to do certain areas over like Lothlorien (hated grinding for the horse but I did it) and Heitbolt which made me want to quite the game.

    Then I realized I'd have to do Helm's deep all over and I stopped playing.
    TheocritusNanfoodle
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    Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo 
  • AngrakhanAngrakhan Member EpicPosts: 1,750
    Do they still have the tasks for "Use this ability 1000 times!... OR ... go buy a booster from the shop and only use it 500 times" with said ability having like a 30 second cooldown? If so, I'll continue to pass. That's such a complete load of force-you-into-the-cash-shop-by-intentionally-making-things-grindy bullshit.
    GumpsGang
  • 2TonGamer2TonGamer Member UncommonPosts: 54
    The combat, especially in the earlier areas had gotten to be easy mode.. Has the difficulty slider thing made this better and more of a challenge in the areas up to Moria becausr it was ridiculous how you could solo or 3 man old 6 man content even on level?
  • FrodoFraginsFrodoFragins Member EpicPosts: 6,050
    It's definitely a step in the right direction. I still think they should just do what SWTOR does in terms of giving you ALL leveling content for free up to the point of your last expansion. And lock all endgame content to VIPs.

    They have way too many quest packs separate from expansions in addition to a lot of expansions. Nickle and diming all of these years AND selling P2W loot boxes have decimated their population.

    I'm actually shocked the company that owns them now wants to invest in graphics upgrades for the game before a console release. That just seems high risk and low reward.
  • NanfoodleNanfoodle Member LegendaryPosts: 10,875
    Im like many here. I cant bring myself to play a old char I dont remember but I am not feeling grinding a new char to get to the new content. Smart move though. 
  • MarcelinoMarcelino Member UncommonPosts: 124
    Great.

    Now they just need to give us the 4k support they have been promising for years, completely redo the horrendous UI interface and some soft of level squish!
    achesoma
  • AbimorAbimor Member RarePosts: 915

    Angrakhan said:

    Do they still have the tasks for "Use this ability 1000 times!... OR ... go buy a booster from the shop and only use it 500 times" with said ability having like a 30 second cooldown? If so, I'll continue to pass. That's such a complete load of force-you-into-the-cash-shop-by-intentionally-making-things-grindy bullshit.



    yes they still have that. To be very fair though they had that in game before free to play or a cash shop you always had to use certain skills so many times a day before they added the cash shop.
    angerbeaver
  • LastlaughlolLastlaughlol Member UncommonPosts: 149
    Never played LoTRO but now that it has this customer friendly trial I will give it a go. But first I will need to finish up Lost Ark and I still got ways to go. Once I get to near max ilvl and end game is on farm will be a good time to try it out.

    Only question is how well has it aged compared to SWTOR, FF14, etc.
  • BC_AnimusBC_Animus Member UncommonPosts: 115
    Played it years ago back when it was sub to play game, even owned a lifetime sub, but stopped when it switched to F2P. Can't remember what I hated about the F2P conversion exactly, but it was enough to make me quit and never went back. Was in the... Mines of Moria I think, or whatever that first huge underground expansion was, when I quit. Tried to go back recently but my old character has been lost and is unrecoverable due to server mergers.

    Rolled a brand new character, but surprisingly found that the game still had some game breaking bugs, even early on - my character got stuck at the end of the long introduction quest with parts not triggering and not allowing me to proceed. This happened not once, but twice.

    Spent a couple of weeks, kinda enjoyed the story but ended up giving up when I realised I was unable to proceed in my crafting due to a lack of mats. The crafting/gathering in this game is dependent on mats by other characters, and, probably due to the fact everyone else on my server has outlevelled me by literally years, there were no low level crafting mats on the marketplace, meaning unless I want to invest time in alts my crafting was mostly unlevelable.

    The gameplay and interface are very dated and clunky too. And it's weird how they have updated and up-rezed certain things in the game, but certain easy obvious things like the loading screens and the UI are still stuck on low rez graphics. The overall experience is very uneven.

    But, the devs are active and it sounds like the new publishers have plans on supporting the game though, so who knows, maybe I might go back and give it another go somewhere down the line?
  • KroxMalonKroxMalon Member UncommonPosts: 608

    Lithuanian said:

    Yes, developers finally made one wise choice. As far as I know - everyone I talked to is satisfied. For new players this means really free play, enjoying every step of Middle Earth. And classes unlocked (except grumpy Stout axe)!

    It is high time for Lotro to finally say the truth: all content free for VIPs, as long as they are VIPs. Expansion, micro-expansion, maxi-expansion, quest packs - everything.

    Overall - good, wise step that would bring more players and more cash to Lotro. Bravo, developers!



    "Publishers", finally made a good choice. Dev's would have little to do with these decisions.
  • Viper482Viper482 Member LegendaryPosts: 4,099

    Tokken said:



    Viper482 said:


    Most underrated MMORPG on the market.






    I liked it years ago but now it's the "Most boring MMORPG on the market". It's sooooooo OLD! lol



    This type of comment is exactly why I posted what I did.
    Make MMORPG's Great Again!
  • angerbeaverangerbeaver Member UncommonPosts: 1,272
    In august 2007 I tried the 7 day trial and bought a lifetime membership on day 2 of the trial. It was a beautiful game with super friendly community.

    Put 3000 hours in pretty quickly, so I was playing every day, all weekend, it was my first MMORPG and it had its hooks in me BIG time. Only time I stopped was for work.

    Then Moria released. M'eh. Didn't like the new Legendary system at all, but I learned to live with it. I was in a raiding community so getting money and mats and 1s age legendaries wasn't terrible.

    Then Skirmishes came. It was doing the same things over and over, but I enjoyed getting those achievements, so I buckled down and did those too.

    Then my Guild left for other games and I was made leader, but I wasn't into recruiting. Then the raiding group also left. From that point I would leave and come back but always be alone. I could have left for other kins but I didn't want the one that gave me years of happiness to be gone lol. Sounds stupid, I know.

    Then Big Battles came, they are TERRIBLE.

    I don't even know if I would want to go back at this point, even with all the freebies.
  • JeroKaneJeroKane Member EpicPosts: 7,096
    edited March 2022


    Yes, developers finally made one wise choice. As far as I know - everyone I talked to is satisfied. For new players this means really free play, enjoying every step of Middle Earth. And classes unlocked (except grumpy Stout axe)!

    It is high time for Lotro to finally say the truth: all content free for VIPs, as long as they are VIPs. Expansion, micro-expansion, maxi-expansion, quest packs - everything.

    Overall - good, wise step that would bring more players and more cash to Lotro. Bravo, developers!



    The problem is, they should have done this ages ago. Not wait until now when the population is on the brink of non-existence.

    A little too late. It just reeks of desperation now.

    Everyone has been telling them since way back, that the whole pricing model with quest packs and expansions was insane and putting off new players.
    When other big MMO's offered all previous content/expacs with each latest expansion release.

    Now after so many years of constant decline, ever mounting performance and balance issues with the game (which they have zero competence left inhouse to fix). It's simply too late. People are not coming back and have long since moved on.

    I won't be coming back. Everything SSG has released has been a disaster, not to mention boring as heck. Just can't be bothered to install the game anymore.
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