Lotro goes free to play

[Imgormiel]

LOTRO Goes Free to Play!

Game aint as old as daoc. Turbine have done this twice now with an mmo. Pity Mythic just didn't get this strategy a looooong time ago /yawn. Well. Will be nice to play free tho, I enjoyed this game

 

[Ezteq]

but will it stay free or do you get like a month free then have to start paying?

 

[soze]

 

[old.Whoodoo]

Sums it up well for me!

 

[Roo Stercogburn]

but will it stay free or do you get like a month free then have to start paying?

Proper free.

The revenue model looks quite interesting. You can still subscribe and get (I think) 500 shop points per month automatically added to your account. Lifetime subscribers automatically get the points.

But if you just want to mosey around the game world for free, you can do that.

Not sure what the benefit of the ingame shop is as yet.

I played LotRO for a short while, didn't make it to cap level.

 

[Ezteq]

I just rather like the idea of moseying about being a hobbit, I mean I have the feet for it...and am the same height as one Oo

though I was told I look more like Gimli

 

[Roo Stercogburn]

Its worth playing a hobbit and doing the Shire quests up until lvl10 or so, if nothing else.
In amongst the giggles of seeing lots of hobbity familiar places, there's a Black Rider encounter that is one of my favourite things in any online game. I won't spoil it.

The other starter areas are somewhat lacklustre and generic. However, since Lord of the Rings is the template for just about every other fantasy game, that is kind of inevitable. I still think Turbine could have done a better job of the other starter areas though.

One very nice feature is the instances which can be accessed from anywhere in the game world and will adjust difficulty depending on how many enter the instance. You can only get these I think from lvl20 or so. They're great fun but get a bit repetitive if you only use them to level. I found the best way was a combo of puttering about the game world to ooh and ahh at familiar things from the books, and doing some of the instances.

The epic quest chain which draws you in to the story of Lord of the Rings is one of the better done quest lines I've seen in online games.

The generic PvE in the outdoors is just a bit too lacking. One nasty thing is the amount of travelling you need to do around and between quest areas. This might reflect the hugeness of the world but its just an irritating time sink in gameplay terms.

Some of the proper dungeons (not the instances I mentioned above) are as good as anything in WoW, at least to the level I played up to. There's also some unique group-moves, whch as a fight progresses can become available and each member of the group has to select an option which affects a buff that the group gets for a short period of time. Very nice feature.

Crafting is a bit painful but has some nice ideas. You skill up each tier of a craft twice. First time to be able to make stuff, then second time to master it so you can make epic versions of the same items. Its better than having a longer distance between tiers and means you can make stuff sooner but if you want to make pots of cash at something by selling epics, you need to put in a bit extra work.

I quite liked LotRO but not enough to keep paying for it. I'll definately be looking back when it goes free to play.

 

[Imgormiel]

Its worth playing a hobbit and doing the Shire quests up until lvl10 or so, if nothing else.
In amongst the giggles of seeing lots of hobbity familiar places, there's a Black Rider encounter that is one of my favourite things in any online game. I won't spoil it.

The other starter areas are somewhat lacklustre and generic. However, since Lord of the Rings is the template for just about every other fantasy game, that is kind of inevitable. I still think Turbine could have done a better job of the other starter areas though.

One very nice feature is the instances which can be accessed from anywhere in the game world and will adjust difficulty depending on how many enter the instance. You can only get these I think from lvl20 or so. They're great fun but get a bit repetitive if you only use them to level. I found the best way was a combo of puttering about the game world to ooh and ahh at familiar things from the books, and doing some of the instances.

The epic quest chain which draws you in to the story of Lord of the Rings is one of the better done quest lines I've seen in online games.

The generic PvE in the outdoors is just a bit too lacking. One nasty thing is the amount of travelling you need to do around and between quest areas. This might reflect the hugeness of the world but its just an irritating time sink in gameplay terms.

Some of the proper dungeons (not the instances I mentioned above) are as good as anything in WoW, at least to the level I played up to. There's also some unique group-moves, whch as a fight progresses can become available and each member of the group has to select an option which affects a buff that the group gets for a short period of time. Very nice feature.

Crafting is a bit painful but has some nice ideas. You skill up each tier of a craft twice. First time to be able to make stuff, then second time to master it so you can make epic versions of the same items. Its better than having a longer distance between tiers and means you can make stuff sooner but if you want to make pots of cash at something by selling epics, you need to put in a bit extra work.

I quite liked LotRO but not enough to keep paying for it. I'll definately be looking back when it goes free to play.

Same, I capped the levels twice before the last expansion. Uhmm, Ez, perhaps you find a hobbit mojo there then? xD

I liked the pvp when playing creep side the best. But levelling was fun and Moria was nice. Not seen the new expansion yet though...

 

[Ezteq]

hehe tbh it sounds like fun, anyone fancy making a newbie team with me, could maybe meet up and play one evening a week or something?

PM if interested with days you are available and if I can work out how to DL and play it I'll be there faster than frodo on fatty lumpkin!

 

[Fast]

I played at release got to erm lvl30 then quit. I wouldn't mind another look and a run round, I like the idea of dx10 full AA full AF.

I'm in for noobie grpage

 

[Roo Stercogburn]

I like the idea of dx10 full AA full AF.

I have no idea what you just said.

 

[Fast]

Nice Graphics Roo Lotro offers DX10.

 

[Imgormiel]

hehe tbh it sounds like fun, anyone fancy making a newbie team with me, could maybe meet up and play one evening a week or something?

PM if interested with days you are available and if I can work out how to DL and play it I'll be there faster than frodo on fatty lumpkin!

Umm I'll group with ya when you get to 30 or so. Got nothin lower ;x you can do 1-10 in about an hour solo tbh. After that then ye, groups a bit, although you can epic solo the first and second ones now.

 

[Exioce]

I watched a friend play this for a while, and it just looked like WoW with different graphics.
There didn't look to be a single gameplay innovation that WoW hadn't included years ago.

Nice atmosphere though if you are a Tolkien geek.

 

[Roo Stercogburn]

Nice Graphics Roo Lotro offers DX10.

Aha, in context it makes perfect sense

 

[Ezteq]

yeah I'd want to do it for fun rather than lvl lvl lvl!!!!


...and am a bit of a tolk geek so would also really like to poke about middle earth hehe

 

[Imgormiel]

yeah I'd want to do it for fun rather than lvl lvl lvl!!!!


...and am a bit of a tolk geek so would also really like to poke about middle earth hehe

easily done, just make a few chars and then you won't need to travel so much ^^

You get a horse of your own at level 35 iirc also but swift travel on horse route = pwn ^^

 

[Syri]

It's not gone free to play yet, scheduled to do so sometime in Autumn. The US site has a beta running to test the free to play bits, and you can get a US account as I already have one from trying the free version of D&DO. Not sure if the free version of Lotro is going free at the same time in Europe as the US, Codemasters didn't bother to do D&DO for free, so not really got any way to know on that front. I'd guess they will though, as if they don't, they'll probably lose all their potential players to the US servers.

As for joining up when it does go free, I'd be up for that for sure, the main reason I never got into the game was that I just didn't have people to play with, and trying to get into an established community can be a bit hard at times. I can easily set any evening aside pretty much, apart from saturdays, usually out on saturdays.

 

[Roo Stercogburn]

Swift Travel is probably a good target for the dreaded item shop.

 

[Imgormiel]

I have both a US acc and an EU one. Elendlimir or Brandywine seem to be the best servers atm on US. Prolly Evernight on EU tho

 

[Roo Stercogburn]

Think its Evernight I'm on. Can't remember for sure

EDIT: Checked, yeh, its Evernight.

 

[Imgormiel]

Think its Evernight I'm on. Can't remember for sure

EDIT: Checked, yeh, its Evernight.

What's your char name on Evernight then? That's my server also

 

[Roo Stercogburn]

My account isn't active, not played in quite a few months. Got a hobbity minstrel called Tangletoe and a dorf something-or-other called Stumblebum.

 

[Imgormiel]

Hmm, surprised I've not seen you in game. Played it for quite some time. But then I got bored and went creep side because freeps either sucked in chars or sucked with their attitude >P

 

[Roo Stercogburn]

I was *very* casual in the brief times I played. Only got up to lvl30-something. Studying is sucking up most of my free time atm, not playing any online games at all these days.

 

[megadave]

i played the free trial a few weeks ago and it was about as boring as an MMO could be

 

[Imgormiel]

I was *very* casual in the brief times I played. Only got up to lvl30-something. Studying is sucking up most of my free time atm, not playing any online games at all these days.

Know what ya mean, but I am taking a couple of days off as my exams aren't till November

 

[Thorwyn]

yeah I'd want to do it for fun rather than lvl lvl lvl!!!!


...and am a bit of a tolk geek so would also really like to poke about middle earth hehe

Give it a try then, Ez. Lotro is - to a certain point - all fluff and the gfx is quite well done "lore-wise".

 

[Lakih]

I think lotro is really fun. The free deal isn't all that great though, sure it costs $0 per month but you only get to have 1 character... no alts


LOTRO Free to Play Plan Comparison

 

[Fafnir]

I just rather like the idea of moseying about being a hobbit, I mean I have the feet for it...and am the same height as one Oo

though I was told I look more like Gimli

You got a flathead too? If you do then you are the perfect gf...