Codemasters surprised us this afternoon by announcing a special offer on LOTRO lifetime subscriptions. This week, you can buy a lifetime sub to the game for £75 (that’s around half the normal price, I think).
It could be a clever promotion to encourage players like me who have dipped in and out of the game since it went live to finally take the plunge. And at that price, I have no hesitation about picking up a lifetime subscription myself.
Or does it herald a change in direction at Turbine? A move to more paid-for content patches and item shop together with a cheaper lifetime offer might be the new scheme. Or maybe if Turbine are shifting resources to a new game (say .. Harry Potter based maybe, since they’ve just been bought out by Time Warner) and plan to ease up on the LOTRO content, it would be time to charge less for the lifetimers.
In any case, it’s a good game with plenty to see and do, especially for Tolkien fans. And although no one knows what the future holds, it’s as good an offer as you are likely to get for the lifetime subscription.
Welcome to Spinksville! 
This is for sure going to stir up the rumor mill regarding the future of LOTRO and other upcoming competitors like first and foremost SWTOR.
I still have not decided to take or pass on this offer.
I do not know why, but UK£ 75 = 87,5730311 Euro -> but they want to charge me 110 EUR. Because I am a Nazi?! 😉
Or maybe it’s because the Euro is about to go down the pan 😛
I like the idea of a lifetime sub, but at this point in LotRO’s life, charging the lauch-day price for it is asking a lot at this point. Maybe it’s just a discount on a good idea for a product that’s established itself.
I noted a drop in sub numbers using my calc system for LOTRO. And this is after Codemasters had a “Free to Return” weekend where the numbers normally go UP.
With AoC’s expansion launching, maybe this is a way to grab some bucks also before people leave for a bit to try the new thing (and the way AoC’s numbers are going up, I am guessing a few will want to play in Hyboria)
This probably has more to do with Codemasters and their being acquired recently, than it does with WB/Turbine.
If it were Warhammer I’d say don’t waste your money but I don’t think Lotro is going anywhere. I’d expect it to be around in ten years time.
If you like it it’s not a bad deal. There is the cost of expansions to consider so it’s not completely “pay £75 then never pay anything ever again” as lifetime would seem to imply.
I don’t think Turbine called the shots here – I think Codemasters must have been doing some serious soul-searching after Eberron Unlimited turned their management of the European DDO franchise into something of a fiasco – at least half of the European player base is not on the US servers.
*now on the US servers
That’s a good point. When they turned the US version of DDO into free to play, it did lure a lot of EU players (not surprisingly). Maybe they think Turbine is about to pull the same trick on LOTRO then.
But I don’t think LOTRO really has the sort of game structure that would work as well for F2P as DDO with all the multiple unstances. This is a case where I think that even if they do it, I’d prefer the sub option.
I got an email from Codemasters this afternoon offering me the deal and I’m very very tempted. £75 is quite a lot cash to shell out in one go but the idea of having a MMO sitting there, waiting to be played at any time without worrying about ongoing costs is appealing.
The offer runs all the way until the 30th June so I’ve got some time to think about it. Will see how much the new AoC expansion enterains me 🙂
The nice thing about LOTRO is that as of right now, it’s a solid game with years of content behind it. You could always try the 14 day trial to see if it’s your sort of thing.
Bizarre thing is that I recently took the 7 days free trial for this game and actually enjoyed my time there, despite not getting very far (only into the teens). However, the version I got on trial is the US version and if this kind of offer was on the US servers then I think I might take it as it seems opportune for the time in which I am umming and ahing over whether to take the full plunge. However, to take advantage of this I’d have to go out and buy the game box (and get the free month anyway) rather than just create a subscription.
I wonder if we’ll see more of this if GW2 builds a good head of steam. Their “lifetime sub” is still the best one on the market.
I still wonder what a lifetime sub sale in WoW would do.
Pingback: Lord of the Rings Online offers a budget a la carte. « Welcome to Spinksville!