Lord of the Rings Online: Now Free To Play!

[GBlair88]

Anyone else having problems with the installer? Everytime I try to run it I get a message about Windows being unable to open the splash screen. It did open it once but then couldn't open another file.

Any help?

 

[Flying-Emu]

I'm finally downloading at broadband speeds now, so I should be up and running soonish. Once I am, I'll make sure my Dwarf makes his home in Crickhollow.

I will roll my Loremaster in Crickhollow as well.

Just wondering, how deep are we planning on roleplaying? Like I said, I've got very little experience with MMO's, and literally zero experience roleplaying. To be honest I'm not entirely sure what it entails in this sort of game. I'm interested in doing it though, I reckon it could add a lot more awesome, as well as longevity, to a game that is largely about stats and numbers.

Well, I don't know about other people, but I go the whole mile when I roleplay. Create a character, have a rough backstory for him/her, develop a personality, and respond as he/she would to any events. Oh, and warcries. Huzzah!

It'll be a lot easier to roleplay in LotRO than, say, WoW, since the game has things like user-owned housing and an actually interesting storyline.

 

[icyneesan]

Is anyone a healer, because If not I might make one

 

[Free Thinker]

I'm having issues with account creation. I can't find my product key anywhere. Once I find it, I'll join you all in Crickhollow.

 

[Flying-Emu]

Spoiler: Quotes

I just started the download! I am more than willing to join an Escapist fellowship, I'm going to definitely be a wizard, or ranged DPS, something magic based. send me a message with more details!!!

I'm Icythryth (I don't even know how to pronounce this) on CrickHollow. I am a female man hunter that is human

I totally didn't do a sex RP and got free equips for it! I have no idea what you mean!

Finally finished the download and I'm halfway through the install. Seeing as it's currently 4am over here in the UK, I'll just get my Dwarf a name and a home and then go to sleep. I'll start properly tomorrow. Well, today, I guess.

...many of the things that I had earned (that would have netted me Turbine points otherwise) did not count.

Yes, this is one of the biggest issues all players have with the changes made. Deeds and some quests do reward Turbine Points now but they are not being retroactively rewarded to anyone regardless of subscription status. Players who did have an active account at the F2P launch received (or will receive) varying amounts of "loyalty" points to compensate for this but it's still a common point of contention.

Basically, the game you can play for free is roughly the same as the game at launch.

While the physical territory is largely unchanged from LOTRO at about a year into the game's life, many of the earlier zones have received reflows and redesigns. Also, as you mention later, levelling speed is far accelerated from what it used to be near launch.

Starting at level 7 for example, a player can purchase 10 point upgrades to any of the stats...
...I guess only the wealthy are likely to abuse it, and that is assuming there is no cap on how many such upgrades you can purchase.

The +10 stat tomes are a controversial item, but they are (thankfully) not particularly prone to abuse. What tiers you can use are gated by your XP level and they need to be used in sequence (you can't use the one that gets you to +20 until you've used the one that gets you to +10, etc.). The max boost you can get from the purchasable tomes is +30 to each stat and they can not break the current max stat cap of 650. At end game this basically means you will be able to equip maybe 1 or 2 different items than you could before (due to the old items stat boosts being useless with your new stat tome near capped stats). Also, you can get actually get the same stat tomes in game instead of buying them from the store if you don't want to spend the cash.

I am also not aware if the Turbine points one earns on a character are transferable to another on the same account.

TP are account based, not character based. Many items that you buy in the store, however, are either for a specific character or for a specific server. All characters contribute to what's in the wallet, but when you spend your points the stuff you buy generally goes to specific characters.

A "premium" character (someone who once paid a subscription fee I suppose)

Any player who spends any money on the game will have a premium account. This means, as you said, if you pay even a single month sub or even if you just buy the smallest pack of Turbine Points for use in the store (which is something like $6).

I'm sure that, if I kept playing the game for long, I would simply continue giving Turbine ten bucks a month in exchange for the various upgrades they seem keen to hand out for such loyalty...

The perks for being a subbing member are definitely worth it if you're at all interested in the game. You get full access to all quests (so no buying quest packs), no gold cap, 5 character slots per server minimum, full swift travel access, and a bunch of other things PLUS 500 "free" Turbine Points per month (which, in itself, is $5 or $6 in value). Not that I'm trying to entice anyone into subbing, but it really is a much better deal than buying things a piece at a time if you like the game.

Just wanted to clear up a couple points here (though most of the post was quite accurate ).

I'm thinking I'll download it tonight. I really don't like the list of things free players don't get when compared to paying users. But, I'll still try it out.

That list of stuff looks like free players get crap, but I feel like I am playing a fully fleshed out game on the free account. They just want to scare you into paying XD

I'm glad it will still feel like a full game, then. I was kinda worried that there would be too many restrictions.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll definitely give it a try.

Level 5 Captain Human Korten, Crinkhollow. Add me to your guys friend list, also would it be possible for us to get a group going on here so then it will be easier for us to all have a fellowship, guild thing.

anyone else notice the water graphics are amazing!?

For all those interested, I've established a User Group [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/The-Escapist-LotRO-Group-Crickhollow-Edition] for the F2P edition of LotRO, focusing on our little family in Crickhollow. PM me with your character details (what that entails is in the group description) and I'll post it in the announcements, so that we can easily get together in-game.

 

[Rusty Bucket]

I'm finally downloading at broadband speeds now, so I should be up and running soonish. Once I am, I'll make sure my Dwarf makes his home in Crickhollow.

I will roll my Loremaster in Crickhollow as well.

Just wondering, how deep are we planning on roleplaying? Like I said, I've got very little experience with MMO's, and literally zero experience roleplaying. To be honest I'm not entirely sure what it entails in this sort of game. I'm interested in doing it though, I reckon it could add a lot more awesome, as well as longevity, to a game that is largely about stats and numbers.

Well, I don't know about other people, but I go the whole mile when I roleplay. Create a character, have a rough backstory for him/her, develop a personality, and respond as he/she would to any events. Oh, and warcries. Huzzah!

It'll be a lot easier to roleplay in LotRO than, say, WoW, since the game has things like user-owned housing and an actually interesting storyline.

I'll give it a shot, should keep me playing longer. The game actually provides you with a bio section for your character as well, which is nice. Oh, and I'm completely on board with warcries.

We should probably get organised at some point and get a guild (or whatever they're called) set up. No idea how to go about doing that though.

Edit: Nevermind, I see you're on top of things.

 

[AwesomeFerret]

I think I'll roll a character on Crickhollow, I already have two on Gladden so I'm as well to have a mix of servers/characters. Look me up on Gladden as Ranocale, a man captain.

 

[Lemon Of Life]

Looks fun, not sure I'll have enough time to play it though :S

 

[voetballeeuw]

As most of you have probably seen (considering how the Escapist is practically painted with ads for it), Turbine's Lord of the Rings Online has adopted a model similar to that used by their other hit MMO, Dungeons and Dragons Online.

How many of you plan on playing? Are you playing alone, or are you starting out with friends? What race are you fighting for?

And last of all, do you already have a Fellowship planned? If not, maybe we should get an Escapist group together and beat back the forces of Sauron.

I finished downloading the game but am having trouble with creating an account. I've made an account on the actual website, and hit get started but the window doesn't expand so I can't read the entire message. What do I do?

 

[Korten12]

We need some more ppl to make our guild!

 

[Exterminas]

I checked the game out, some months ago, and found it incredibly unaccesable and tight-lipped. It wasn't telling me Why I was doing What and why it suddenly teleported me thourgh half the world. Call me a retard, if you must, but in WoW every new game element is explained, may be even too much. There is never a textbubble popping up, saying "You may now make evil characters to earn destiny-points", without explaining you why you would want those points, and where to spend them.

So, I guess I woudln't even play the game if they had pay me for it, but if you enjoy it, more power to you. It certainly looked like a gmae with potentail and a huge, impressive world, why it was all the more disappointing, that it was so inaccesible to me.

 

[CarpathianMuffin]

Well it's installed fine, but every time I try to join a server, the game crashes on me. =|

 

[DazZ.]

I'm waiting for the EU servers to get free to play, but at the moment it is free for anyone who paid before and all trials will apparently last until F2P comes out.

So the F2P content isn't here, but it's technically free, just without restrictions yet.

Also making as many characters as I can so I don't have money/bag caps on them, and I have the slots.

 

[Shepard's Shadow]

Just started downloading it. It says it will be done in about 6 hours, fantastic...

 

[StriderShinryu]

For those having connection issues, lag issues, etc. this weekend: It's not just you. Apparently something seems to be borked with the dynamic layering system that was brought in with the Free To Play launch and it's causing mass instability, bad rubberbanding and all of that fun stuff. Turbine says they're working on it.

I checked the game out, some months ago, and found it incredibly unaccesable and tight-lipped. It wasn't telling me Why I was doing What and why it suddenly teleported me thourgh half the world. Call me a retard, if you must, but in WoW every new game element is explained, may be even too much. There is never a textbubble popping up, saying "You may now make evil characters to earn destiny-points", without explaining you why you would want those points, and where to spend them.

So, I guess I woudln't even play the game if they had pay me for it, but if you enjoy it, more power to you. It certainly looked like a gmae with potentail and a huge, impressive world, why it was all the more disappointing, that it was so inaccesible to me.

They have redone the tutorial and intro areas recently, and have added many more (and many clearer) pop up hints than there used to be. The community is also generally very helpful and will answer any questions that you may have.

 

[StriderShinryu]

We need some more ppl to make our guild!

If you still need more people, I can create a body or two on the server just to take up space. I could also potentially start the kin if you don't have another VIP member available to do so (I don't think f2p players can start kins/guilds), but I think there may be a minimum xp level required for starting a kin... plus I have no money on Crick and I think there's a small fee too.. but if you need me, just let me know.

 

[SturmDolch]

Alright, looks like I'll update it. I cancelled my sub a while back because I got tired of the game.

Character is Farothor, Landroval server. Time to see if the "out of character"(OOC) drama is still alive and kicking in the RP world!

 

[Andrewd96]

i too shall join this guild/kin when my download ever finishes

 

[Rusty Bucket]

We need some more ppl to make our guild!

If you still need more people, I can create a body or two on the server just to take up space. I could also potentially start the kin if you don't have another VIP member available to do so (I don't think f2p players can start kins/guilds), but I think there may be a minimum xp level required for starting a kin... plus I have no money on Crick and I think there's a small fee too.. but if you need me, just let me know.

It doesn't say anything about restrictions in the game for Kins, I'm F2P and I can at least buy the charter. Nothing about a level cap either. Creating a couple of extra bodies would be amazing, actually. I might do it myself. You'd probably have to get out of the starting zones though.

Edit:

i too shall join this guild/kin when my download ever finishes

Group is here. Join up and get in contact with people.

 

[Andrewd96]

Edit:

i too shall join this guild/kin when my download ever finishes

Group is here. Join up and get in contact with people.[/quote]

Thanks il message him now but my game hasnt downloaded yet