Lord of the Rings Online: Now Free To Play!

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Macgyvercas

Spice & Wolf Restored!
Feb 19, 2009
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If I ever get bored of DDO, I'll give LOTRO a shot. I can handle one MMO at a time.
 

voetballeeuw

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May 3, 2010
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AstylahAthrys said:
voetballeeuw said:
I'm downloading it now but why does it say I need a product key?
It said that to me, too, but it never prompted me to type it in. Don't worry about it. I think you need it if you're using a paid account but not for a free one.
Alright thanks. Also, do I need a Turbine account to play?
 

HT_Black

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May 1, 2009
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Huh...I guess this is a good time to reactivate my forty-something Elf guardian. Anybody with me?
 

Rusty Bucket

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Dec 2, 2008
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Flying-Emu said:
Rusty Bucket said:
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.
 

Lightslei

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Feb 18, 2010
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Well since I haven't read LOTR in forever, I'll probably need some help from you RP people since I like being semi-accurate...

Also this download is severely weird. Oh well, we'll see.
 

-Samurai-

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Oct 8, 2009
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AstylahAthrys said:
-Samurai- said:
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.
 

Rusty Bucket

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Dec 2, 2008
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Lightslei said:
Well since I haven't read LOTR in forever, I'll probably need some help from you RP people since I like being semi-accurate...

Also this download is severely weird. Oh well, we'll see.
Is it going ridiculously slow? Mine was awful. If this is the problem, I fixed it fairly easily. Stop the download (make sure you tell it you'll carry on later), go the control panel (or just search would probably do it) and find Pando media booster. Open that up, go to the advanced connection options and there'll be a box you can tick to limit upload speed (god knows why its uploading). Set that to 1kb/s and it should speed up loads.

If that's not your problem then disregard everything I've just written.
 

Lightslei

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Feb 18, 2010
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Rusty Bucket said:
Lightslei said:
Well since I haven't read LOTR in forever, I'll probably need some help from you RP people since I like being semi-accurate...

Also this download is severely weird. Oh well, we'll see.
Is it going ridiculously slow? Mine was awful. If this is the problem, I fixed it fairly easily. Stop the download (make sure you tell it you'll carry on later), go the control panel (or just search would probably do it) and find Pando media booster. Open that up, go to the advanced connection options and there'll be a box you can tick to limit upload speed (god knows why its uploading). Set that to 1kb/s and it should speed up loads.

If that's not your problem then disregard everything I've just written.
It's been jumping back and forth between 500 and 1500 repeatedly :p.

No, I have no idea how that works :p.
 

Eclectic Dreck

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Sep 3, 2008
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I played the game when it launched, but like all MMOs except for Eve, my interest quickly waned once my friends moved back to WoW.

I was curious about the relaunch, and downloaded the client and found that I could actually log in with my old account. Since I had once paid for it, I had several things unlocked from the start (no god cap, more character slots and so forth), but found that, to my disappointment, many of the things that I had earned (that would have netted me Turbine points otherwise) did not count.

Basically, the game you can play for free is roughly the same as the game at launch. The level cap is at 50 and you seem to be restricted to the earlier content. All this stuff can be unlocked as you play of course, as simply playing the game will inevitably net you points along the way. Of course, if you don't want to resort to a lot of grinding, I suspect that turbine point purchases will quickly become an appealing prospect for some.

I was surprised to find that many of the things one could purchase were, in fact, quite powerful. Starting at level 7 for example, a player can purchase 10 point upgrades to any of the stats. Considering my level 37 Champion's highest stat is "Might" and he has a mere 240 points in said stat (which, for the record, is fairly close to the maximum amount one could expect to see in said stat at that class and level), this seems like a fairly powerful upgrade. Of course, at a price tag of right around five bucks (if I am converting the Turbine space bux into earth monies correctly), 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.

I am also not aware if the Turbine points one earns on a character are transferable to another on the same account. Given that the game seems to hand out points for deed completions and the occasional quest, I would expect the average player would earn no more than 20 or 30 points in a sitting, which translates into precisely nothing in the store.

Of course, the game appears to be entirely playable without purchasing anything, but I would have to wonder if some of the limitations one can only get around by paying will be annoying or not. A "premium" character (someone who once paid a subscription fee I suppose) gets a full five bags, while a free player, by default, only gets 3, meaning a lot more trips to vendors to and whatnot to get rid of excess loot. There is also a gold cap, but I'm not sure precisely how restrictive said cap is. Additionally, as you play, you earn destiny points which can be used to give a character temporary bonuses (faster movement speed, additional "rested" experience and so forth), but this feature is locked by default for free players. I'm sure there are other bits that are walled off that I didn't notice, but these will likely be the most annoying.

On the plus side, they revised the intro quest lines a bit making for a more streamlined introduction to the game and your chosen class. Experience gains also seem to be greatly accelerated. When I played the game nearly three years ago, getting to level 20 took several sittings. Today, when testing, I managed to do the same in a few hours. The downside to all this was that my quest log seemed to get a bit littered with quests that were trivial and I no longer naturally gained many of the deeds I would have expected. The actual impact of this is that a player will probably be forced to hang around a given area where there isn't much experience to be had in order to keep up with deed progression or crafting skills.

Of course, the most obvious impact of this move is that the starting area is absolutely packed with people. In fact, I don't believe I saw so many players even when the game was new.

All in all, I would say it is worth a look if your interested. LOTRO isn't substantially different than WoW in most ways but the different narrative and aesthetic might be enough to at least make a visit worthwhile for a WoW veteran. 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, but given how quickly I grow bored in such games without friends to keep me interested, I suppose this depends mostly on if anyone I know wants to join me.
 

RowdyRodimus

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Apr 24, 2010
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I guess this is good news if your a LOTR fan, but I've never cared for the stories so I'd probably be bored within minutes of something set in that world.
 

Korten12

Now I want ma...!
Aug 26, 2009
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Flying-Emu said:
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.
Hey what server you going to be on?
 

Rusty Bucket

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Dec 2, 2008
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Lightslei said:
Rusty Bucket said:
Lightslei said:
Well since I haven't read LOTR in forever, I'll probably need some help from you RP people since I like being semi-accurate...

Also this download is severely weird. Oh well, we'll see.
Is it going ridiculously slow? Mine was awful. If this is the problem, I fixed it fairly easily. Stop the download (make sure you tell it you'll carry on later), go the control panel (or just search would probably do it) and find Pando media booster. Open that up, go to the advanced connection options and there'll be a box you can tick to limit upload speed (god knows why its uploading). Set that to 1kb/s and it should speed up loads.

If that's not your problem then disregard everything I've just written.
It's been jumping back and forth between 500 and 1500 repeatedly :p.

No, I have no idea how that works :p.
You're better off than I was, mine was jumping between 0 and 50.
 

StriderShinryu

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Dec 8, 2009
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Eclectic Dreck said:
...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.

Eclectic Dreck said:
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.

Eclectic Dreck said:
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.

Eclectic Dreck said:
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.

Eclectic Dreck said:
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).

Eclectic Dreck said:
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 :) ).
 

Rusty Bucket

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Dec 2, 2008
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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.
 

icyneesan

New member
Feb 28, 2010
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I'm Icythryth (I don't even know how to pronounce this) on CrickHollow. I am a female man hunter that is human :p

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

Lightslei

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Feb 18, 2010
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So roughly 15 minutes, and I guess I'll go with Crickhollow. This was a long installation time so I hope it's good.