Comments on: Lord of the Rings Online offers a budget a la carte.

By: Capn John

Capn John — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 17:16:01 +0000

“When you open up the lonelands, you automatically also get an increased gold cap and character slots.”

That’s useful to know.

I bought a 12-month sub to W101 for my son and I when it was released and I sort of regretted doing that. Not because it was W101 (I actually liked the game) but because I could have spent $100 on Crowns, then used those Crowns to permanently unlock each zone, thus essentially having a “lifetime” sub rather than a 12-month sub.

By: Brian 'Psychochild' Green

Brian 'Psychochild' Green — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 22:07:59 +0000

Most of the answers to your questions are handled directly in the FAQ: http://www.lotro.com/betasignup/faq.html

Basically, you won’t “lose” anything you already have, but you might be restricted. For example, if you log on to the game as a premium player, you’ll most likely not be able to access 2 of your characters (you get to pick which ones you can access). You’ll either have to subscribe or buy character slots to access them.

I’ve been playing DDO and Turbine has been through this once already. I expect that they know the score and have systems in place for handling things. So, while I might be cautious, I don’t think it’s necessary to be nervous.

We’ll see, I guess.

By: Rhii

Rhii — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 23:54:33 +0000

What happens to existing account holders?

I currently have a bunch of characters on my account… will they be deleted? Will I be locked out of them? Will I have to keep paying to keep them active?

What about what I already have on those characters… will they be reduced to 1g each? Will I lose bag space?

Seems like it’ll be something to watch. Nervously.

By: Brian 'Psychochild' Green

Brian 'Psychochild' Green — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 20:14:51 +0000

So, how are lifetime subscribers getting screwed, then? Looks like they’re still getting the equivalent of a subscription. Not a bad deal, I think.

By: spinks

spinks — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 20:11:08 +0000

All the signs are that codemasters will be using the exact same offer. They’ve put the same FAQ and charts up on their website.

By: Brian 'Psychochild' Green

Brian 'Psychochild' Green — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 19:54:23 +0000

Is Codemasters in Europe doing it differently than Turbine? Here in the U.S., lifetime subscribers get permanent VIP status. Not a bad deal. I’m kinda bummed that the lifetime option is no longer offered, was thinking of taking it up, myself. Wish I hadn’t missed the chance.

By: spinks

spinks — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 11:42:33 +0000

The thing with the gold cap is really quite smart. That, the character limit and the bag limit are likely to be someone’s first purchases. And as soon as you buy anything at all, your gold limit and number of characters on the account goes up.

So say for example each zone costs $2 to unlock. When you open up the lonelands, you automatically also get an increased gold cap and character slots. And if you keep playing and still like the game, you can pay for an unlimited gold cap and so on. It seems well thought out to me.

They have also said that people who have already bought the expansions will keep access to them without having to pay more. The FAQ does answer a lot of this.

By: Longasc

Longasc — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 09:22:16 +0000

F2P players also get reduced to the starter zones and have a very odd gold limit – 1 gold is not enough to buy anything above level ~10. http://www.lotro-europe.com/freetoplay/info/

I still did not pick up the reduced price lifetime offer yet and doubt I will. No new content will come till autumn and then it is just a book on top of the F2P changes they are testing, like Vol.3 book 1 for which I really did not need a month’s sub to complete.

But does nobody feel they got cheated? Announcing a new F2P system a month after the early reduced price lifetime buyers got it sounds like a willful deception to me.

I wonder how they will treat me as F2P player. I bought Moria and Mirkwood and some of the extras offered with Mirkwood.

I really wonder if I have to rent passes or buy me a physical path to the Gates of Moria or Mirkwood to get there when F2P goes live.