LotRO going free to play

[Aabidano]

Can't say much due to the NDA but: http://www.lotro.com/

[Aabidano]

Open to the public today.

[Kluden]

I was going to give this a whirl this weekend.

[Boogahz]

been enjoying solo play. I think they actually did a good job implementing the f2p element into the game. There are convenient, yet not annoyingly intrusive, reminders of things you can do through spending points in the store. An example is replacing the revive button with a button to "buy" a free revive on the store. This happens whenever you still have the timer preventing you from reviving.

I'm on Landroval, and I have mainly been playing my Lore Master, Sanodar.

[miir]

I'm on Landroval, and I have mainly been playing my Lore Master, Sanodar.

At least you didn't pick some retarded, unpronounceable name like Cuendildolar

[Boogahz]

lol, that is because the character name is still in use on my old account which is inactive!

[Canelek]

Dildodilardrogokins? I'd use that name for sure.

[Aabidano]

Servers were very busy this weekend, be interesting to see if they can make any money at it.

[Boogahz]

Wasn't able to get online much over the weekend, but I did log my old account in just to see what I had. Oh my god, my characters looked like melted bags of skittles with strange dye jobs. It was like a red/green/yellow uniform or something. Very scary. Had fun gearing up by doing skirmishes when I was able to play. Neck strain made sitting at the desk too uncomfortable to do it for long.

[Animalor]

I'm kinda pissed at the way they carved up the world. I paid them money a while back to buy the game and subbed for at least 3-4 months. I really wish they would've let me keep the quests I PAID for.

I installed the game, patched it up and loaded up my level 46 minstral only to find that while I could complete the quests I already had, I can't take any new ones until I but buy the quest packs for the zone I'm in. I ran around a bit and confirmed this and then proceeded to log off.

I'll just un-install that one again. Not like I didn't get bored again with 30 minutes of restarting the game anyways.

[Boogahz]

Ahh, didn't try questing on the old account at all. I read about the zones/quest packs, but I didn't even think about how an old account would be affected by it.

[Aabidano]

Took a peek, I was able to get quests all the way into Mirkwood (Blech, dailies), I'd only let my subscription die in May though.

[Boogahz]

I will say that the community definitely changed when f2p went live...and not in a good way!

My highest level character is my 31ish Lore Master, and I haven't done much grouping since I only really play for a short period of time while working on other things.

[Kwonryu DragonFist]

Trying it out now!

I am on the Eldar server with a Bard called Kitanya!

Add me up if you are on Eldar

Looks like a fun game!

[Bubba Grizz]

So looking to play something to satisfy my mmo itch until swtor comes out I decided to see how Lotro is doing with its free to play aspect.

If I were to be a serious player I wouldn't come back mainly because I can't wrap my head around paying cash for virtual items. I know that is a a total contridiction when you think about paying a subscription and that being basically the same thing.

The difference for me I guess is that a subscription is constant and you don't have to worry about what you are spending really. FTP you can end up spending much more than intended if you aren't careful or if the only realistic/practical way of getting this item or quest is to purchase it. Kind of like how we pay our electric and heating bill. We pay a set amount each month and at the end we are either over or under and it gets adjusted accordingly.

Regardless. I really like this mainly because I can set up my daughter and my son with accounts on different computers and they are able to play with me. It actually keeps them quiet for a while which is very nice. An happy side effect of this is that my son is starting to read more and learning more words. (we don't see much chat so he isn't learning from that ) They are learning to work as a team and how standing in fire makes dad angry.

So for a free game it is really nice.

[Boogahz]

What they got right with LotRO that other games have missed would be the Turbine Point rewards for in-game achievements. There have been some sites that walk through how to basically unlock almost everything without spending much money at all. It requires a LOT of grinding though.

[Kaldaur]

Bubba, I learned to read using Wheel of Fortune and Pat Sajak. I wish I'd had MMOs to do it as a kid!

As a teacher, I'm curious to see how your son learns those words (not to derail a perfectly good thread). Does he repeat what he hears, or is it a silent osmosis-type thing where suddenly a few days later he's using the words he hears on the game?

[Bubba Grizz]

At first he was mainly asking me how to do the things that I can do with my character like dance or sing or giggle. He'd asking how to spell something like dance and he'd type it in remembering to put the / in front. We've been playing a short while now and now he doesn't ask me as often and just types it himself. He's remembering the words/commands to do things. Each time I'd show him another thing that he can do. He's catching on. Now if I can only teach him that he is not a tank.

Well I am financially invested in this game now. The wife bought us each a $20 game points card. So now I and the kids each have a horse and some other minor things. My daughter picked up the Fishslap command so she is constantly slapping us with a cold fish. My daughter and I will do adventures and questing and my son will tag along but then he'll either not run with us or exit the game and do something else. He's 4 so I don't mind. Not like he is tanking or healing. The toughest part is trying to keep his character up to date with us so that when he does run with us he can do the quests or at least be in the same area without being an aggro magnet.

For this game I'm not upset that I spent a bit of cash to play when you think that if I had to purchase this game it would have cost me about $150-$180 to buy 3 copies. For the fun we are having I'm ok with it.