LOTRO to go 'free to play' in the autumn....
- Thread starter n111ck
- Start date
I never really noticed too many idiot conversations on Laurelin, even in OOC, at least not in comparison to the standard of conversations on WoW. Perhaps the chat channels have already changed in quality in the time since I stopped playing LOTRO last.
One thing I have learned over the years of playing on RP servers in multiple MMOs, is never underestimate the lengths and tenacity of people who specifically want to muck things up. What lengths will be taken regarding such activities on Laurelin is another question I will be asking of my mate.
Yeah this sort of thing is one of the reasons why I have always enjoyed RP servers so much, regardless of being RPer or Non-RPer I find that stuff like this really helps to flesh out the atmosphere in an MMO.
Or you chose your part in the battle whether you chose to be at the gate or the lower wall etc. So many differant possibilities.
In some ways if codemasters got a lot of complaints about the risk to the RP servers they could make them a member only server?
Though it would risk isolating it.
Soldato
- Joined
- 13 Jun 2004
- Posts
- 3,810
- Location
- Brechin
About ppl complaining about the possibility of getting gear from the store, if they implement it like they have done in DDO then, gear wise you can only buy, the bare minimum of stuff, like a +4 longsword, which u can get from loot or brokers fairly cheaply or +4 full plate, the decent stuff like mithral, elemental weapons and such dont appear in the store at all.
I think that involving your fellowship too heavily in the battle may undermine the tale told in the books. Still, its definetly an idea I'd like to see them work with. Being involved in some of the larger and more prominent battles is definetly something that appeals to me.
In some ways if codemasters got a lot of complaints about the risk to the RP servers they could make them a member only server?
I don't think it would risk isolating it, I think it would encourage the more serious gamers to sign up. My main gripe with F2P is that it has the potential to derail the community a little and for the most part, lotro has an excellent community across nearly all servers. I played for ages on Snowbourn and have moved to Laurelin with the addition of the lifetime sub.
Ideally, the new model will strengthen each server and I hope Laurelin becomes a mixture of both dedicated players and RP'ers. I can unfortunatley see a fair few planks turning up to spoil the show, especially as the Prancing Pony is accessible to all and its where a large majority of people congregate.
£75 Lifetime sub is on offer until the end of this month I think. Otherwise its about £9 a month.
Its already been said that high level and unique loot will only be available via quests. What a large majority of players are worried about is the effect the new "mall" will have on the Auction House. Whats the point in player trading when the devs are going to give you points to buy items anyway? I know stuff like crafting materials won't be that effected by the change, however weapon creation and the like will most certainly take a hit in some form.
Last edited:
There's a HUGE thread over on the lotro forums of people worried about the RP servers. Codemasters have basically said they'll have a think about how to stop the RP servers being ruined, which is about as much as you can ask at the moment.
No I was expecting to have to buy the game before gaining access to the free subscription. Is that not the case?
I've been playing lotro for a couple of years now i think it is, took a 6 month break and came back recently for the free week.
I've also played DDO and loved it and thought the f2p system worked quite well (i went VIP, cause of all the quests i wanted to do).
Anyone playing at the moment can see the game is dying, population is dwindling, if you lookup who's online it's nowhere near what it was 6 months ago and a lot more kins are advertising infact we're trying to rebuild our kin and it's a struggle with not a lot of new members floating around. In that respect i think f2p is a great benefit to the game, i don't think it is viable to continue without a huge influx of players.
I'm unsure the sort of player f2p wil bring but the lotro communities have always been one of the more mature ones and i hope that doesn't change. For me i couldn't just play to 50, having no access to the latest instances, areas and legendary items seems a waste. That being said the lvl 50 content Which includes the Raids: Rift and Helegrod, and the Carn dum and urugath instances are some of the best thought out and enjoyable moments i've had in the game, and so will hopefully push people to become VIP/premium.
The item store wont affect crafting as much as people think imo. Consumables like food, oils, scrolls etc. are generally easier to buy in the AH, i doubt people will spend points on them. With the addition of radiance armour and legendary items, a lot of crafting of those slots has taken a back seat. Weapons are mainly made for off hand where legendaries cant be slotted and armour is made to twink alts, give various cosmetic appearances or on a rare occasion, gives better stats than radiance.
I guess we'll have to wait and see but i am positive this game will stagnate and die within a year if they don't make drastic decisions like this.
I've also played DDO and loved it and thought the f2p system worked quite well (i went VIP, cause of all the quests i wanted to do).
Anyone playing at the moment can see the game is dying, population is dwindling, if you lookup who's online it's nowhere near what it was 6 months ago and a lot more kins are advertising infact we're trying to rebuild our kin and it's a struggle with not a lot of new members floating around. In that respect i think f2p is a great benefit to the game, i don't think it is viable to continue without a huge influx of players.
I'm unsure the sort of player f2p wil bring but the lotro communities have always been one of the more mature ones and i hope that doesn't change. For me i couldn't just play to 50, having no access to the latest instances, areas and legendary items seems a waste. That being said the lvl 50 content Which includes the Raids: Rift and Helegrod, and the Carn dum and urugath instances are some of the best thought out and enjoyable moments i've had in the game, and so will hopefully push people to become VIP/premium.
The item store wont affect crafting as much as people think imo. Consumables like food, oils, scrolls etc. are generally easier to buy in the AH, i doubt people will spend points on them. With the addition of radiance armour and legendary items, a lot of crafting of those slots has taken a back seat. Weapons are mainly made for off hand where legendaries cant be slotted and armour is made to twink alts, give various cosmetic appearances or on a rare occasion, gives better stats than radiance.
I guess we'll have to wait and see but i am positive this game will stagnate and die within a year if they don't make drastic decisions like this.
Nope, once it goes free to play you'll just be able to download it. Not happening until the autumn though.
To be fair to the numbers though I would expect the numbers playing now to be considerably lower than 6 months ago, especially as its June and gloriously sunny and warm, with a world cup imminent, compared to icy and cold in December. Not uncommon for MMOs to take a big population hit during the summer as us pale-skinned, pasty runt nerds venture out into the glaring light of day for a few months before returning to our darkened basements to hibernate for another winter
that event was held south of Celondim, the Elf starter area... they usually advertise on the Codies main forum or our own members advertise on our forum.
It wont be hard to move these events to P2P areas, I can think of a couple of nice places to hold something like that in Lorien (although it wouldn't fit quite so well with the lore), where you will have to pay to play. Or high level areas like Rivendell and Evendim, where you won't necessarily have to subscribe, but you'll need to love the game enough to get there.
Soldato
- Joined
- 7 Feb 2004
- Posts
- 8,221
- Location
- North East
Will consider it if it's free. I refuse to pay a subscripton to play a game.
