Where I feel like you need to be corrected is as with most posts speaking about LOTRO f2p is that you are never obligated to spend a dime in LOTRO, everything in the cash shop is purchased using Turbine points which are distributed throughout the game quite regularly if I do say so myself. And while the op is correct in that normal questing will end for free beyond the three different newbie zones that sevice the four races, the epic quest line is always free as are a limited number of skirmishes for those who don't want to just grind mobs to get the points needed for extra's and things.
While I have seen a complain here or there I've certainly not seen enough on Brandywine to think a post needed to be made to address the complainers because it's kind of hard to deny that this is the cheapest p2p mmorpg in the market.
I had been stuck in epic quest line in Angmar for i don't know how long because there were no people doing these quests at the same time i was, and couldn't solo them at lvl55. And it took a lot of quests and mobs to lvl up to 55 already, so i don't think a casual player may level up on pure grinding to do the epic line alone, with no quest packs... at least, it would take months, especially with no xp bonus.
and well, maybe we're playing in different time zones, so when you're online they - the complainers i am annoyed with - already gone to sleep
The laughs: your "free to pay" means you have a cap of ... 2 Gold. LOL
The sad part: such systems have no decent end game : it is like a steeple chase, the paying public gets thinner and thinner and 99% of them will stop paying before reaching the last stages of an end game.
The scam part: the biggest victims are the greatest fans: they will pay to get to that end ... and will see nothing because there is simply no intrest to develop anything for the hardcore: it is not even a target audiance.
Sad, very sad development of a money grabbing mechanism by a game that wasn't very succesful in the first place.
Stay clear of such scams: you'll pay more and more to find less and less in the end. They are only interested in the beginning/early to mid levels of masses.
I had been stuck in epic quest line in Angmar for i don't know how long because there were no people doing these quests at the same time i was, and couldn't solo them at lvl55. And it took a lot of quests and mobs to lvl up to 55 already, so i don't think a casual player may level up on pure grinding to do the epic line alone, with no quest packs... at least, it would take months, especially with no xp bonus.
and well, maybe we're playing in different time zones, so when you're online they - the complainers i am annoyed with - already gone to sleep
One of my friends played Last Chaos for years and was one of the top players in his class without spending a dime on the game. I have no idea why you would on a game like that but he enjoyed it so good for him. Now the time he had to put into that game to compete with those that were using the cash shop was insane, but it was what he enjoyed.
I guess what I'm trying to say is never underestimate the f2p player and the lengths some will go to for a game they enjoy. Heh
That's one of the nice things about this game being f2p now is that eventually if not already things at higher levels least far as the epic quest line goes will become easier to find groups for.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
The laughs: your "free to pay" means you have a cap of ... 2 Gold. LOL
The sad part: such systems have no decent end game : it is like a steeple chase, the paying public gets thinner and thinner and 99% of them will stop paying before reaching the last stages of an end game.
The scam part: the biggest victims are the greatest fans: they will pay to get to that end ... and will see nothing because there is simply no intrest to develop anything for the hardcore: it is not even a target audiance.
Sad, very sad development of a money grabbing mechanism by a game that wasn't very succesful in the first place.
Stay clear of such scams: you'll pay more and more to find less and less in the end. They are only interested in the beginning/early to mid levels of masses.
Yeah, such a scam. Especially since you only have to pay $15 or less pending on how you sub per month to bypass all of that cash shop nonsense. Hell, sub for a couple months and you'll have the points to buy their expansions that others had to pay out of pocket for in addition to the sub.
If anything, this game is cheaper now than before. Unless you simply have to have everything immediately regardless whether you can even access it immediately.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
I am a new LOTRO player. I jumped servers here and there and have around 4-5 lv 15 chars in total. I almost have enough to buy a quest pack. Took me a total time - less than a week.
So I decided to grab MoM for free using amazon mechanical turk (not advertising for it, but yeah they really do pay u $).
So now I have 500 more tps and VIP for 30 days. Woot..
Great game is great.
Best of all, no gold sellers spamming chat (that I've seen).
Edit*: Just noticed I joined in '04, has it been 6 years already? Now I feel old.
Best of all, no gold sellers spamming chat (that I've seen).
That is nice. Back at launch it was really bad. They were infamous for spamming tells on multiple accounts. Turbine did a fairly decent job at curbing them though. I like to think the reason they're pretty much gone is because of Turbine's efforts and the game being an older one by today's standards now. I also like to believe this is a game where the majority of those playing it simply refused to use their services so there wasn't a market for them. Probably not the cause of it but it gives me hope that least to some degree players can get rid of those asshats even if it is only in my dreams.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
In your opinion, its no fun, some people actually like to grind, and regardless of how fun it is or is not, it is possible to play for free, and not pay anything at all.
Which means it really is Free to Play.
Hold on, here you are saying nothing is free, yet as shown in the first quote, you admit it is possible to play for FREE.
See, here you are again admitting it is possible to play for FREE.
Make your mind up.
Yes, there is a cash shop, you can pay for stuff if you want.
Yes, you can pay a subscription if you want.
You can also just play and grind for points to spend, with absolutely no cash involved at all, which means it is Free to Play.
no if's, but's or maybe's.
Yeah, nothings is free, you see, either way you pay with something - with your money or with something else. When i say this game is "free" i am assuming it's "free of charge" in money equivalent, but it is not exactly *free*.
Yes, some people like grinding. But it's not playing, it's when a game becomes work - instead of playing (doing things just for the sake of fun you get by doing them) you invest your time into working with a game. I knew a guy in Eve Online several years ago who had 8 accounts and worked full-time grinding for cash and items and sold them on eBay... This is my personal opinion, of course... But when normal people go grind they're working just like goldfarmers do - the main difference is that they don't get paid with money, they get paid by in-game things they earn.
So, technically it's a "free to play" game, indeed, you are right - but it's not *free*. Instead of paying money you pay with your time.
I compare time with money because of the nature of my work in real life, here's an example to my logic: iI can spend hours on grind in LOTRO not paying a single cent, or i can spent the same time drawing, for example, a website design or an ad that would earn me money. So, if i did not spent money on LOTRO, i also did not get the money for the design, so this "free of charge" LOTRO playing cost me money i could have earned instead. I did not payed to Turbine, but the playing wasn't exactly free too.
Oh well it's all too complicated, if you think your time cannot be compared with money, forget what i have just said
Ok, so using your logic, why do you even play any game, as your *time* is money, any time not spent earning it must be really hard for you.
I understand you are using these post's to kind of back up your girl gamer blog thing, but seriously, take a break.
Your first post was just a cut down version of your blog, in some cases the exact same words/sentences, pretty much a cut and paste job, your post's after that are contradictory at best.
Your last post just made me laugh.
So, you have a job, good for you, even if you work from home (as I do), you tend to hold *work hours*, like me, I start work at 10am, finish at 4pm, from monday through to thursday, take fridays off and always have a nice three day weekend.
Now, if I decide to play during those hours of work, then yes, that play time is costing me money, as the work I get paid to do is not getting done.
Any time I play outside of those work hours, is just that, play time, and playing during those hours does not cause me to lose anything (apart from brownie points with the missus and kids).
Now, unless you are trying to claim you work 24/7, I find your argument that playing games costs you money you would otherwise be earning laughable.
Also, stop giving opinions as though they are facts.
In your opinion, grinding is not playing, it is work. That is an opinion held by some people, but not all, far from it, and it definately is not a fact. Grinding is fun to those that like doing it, your blanket statement that it isnt, again is your opinion, not a fact.
Last, but not least, you can say technically all you like, but LoTRO is now Free to Play, and it really is Free to Play, and that is a fact ;P
A creative person is motivated by the desire to achieve, not the desire to beat others.
I have 830 tp so far from playing the game. Technically I have 1330 but 500 came because I decided to sub again rather than deal with the f2p restrictions. Because of my original plan to simply go f2p I made three toons. None of my toons have finished the three starter zones. Granted my playstyle is maximizing tp but I enjoy the zones anyways. You can certainly gain tp without spending a dime in this game. It simply depends on how quickly you want to level and how much the restrictions on f2p bothers you.
All in all I still think the game is worth a simple $15 a month. But for those that don't have a set income or simply hate a subscription service for whatever reason they can piecemeal what they would like far as questing in certain zones or opening an extra bag slot or whatever. It is a hell of a lot more restrictive than a lot of other f2p games but on the same token it is also the highest quality one out there. If you can deal with the restrictions or grind the tp to remove them.
EDIT: Granted to be fair even in f2p mode I believe my premium status gave me the option for three character slots instead of one per server a new f2p person receives.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
EDIT: Granted to be fair even in f2p mode I believe my premium status gave me the option for three character slots instead of one per server a new f2p person receives.
F2P have 2 charslots, premium get +1. Imho the higher playerbase compared to pre F2P made the game a lot more enjoyable, sometimes we get so lost in discussing features or gameplay that we totally forget that what makes or breaks a MMO is actually the players(or lack thereof) around us.
^ Ah good to know. not sure why I thought they only got one.
I have to say that this really was the right move for this game. I will be the first to admit that I was a bit cautious about what would happen beforehand. I wasn't completely against it because I felt they did a good job with the DDO transition but this was an entirely different concept than DDO was so I wasn't sure how the f2p would be implicated. All things considered I think they did an excellent job with it and it is a win/win for everyone involved.
I'm still curious to see how the extra revenue will effect content and updates and what their overall focus will be going forward but so far I am impressed.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
All F2P games at some point become P2P otherwise you can't access content or are totally gimped. In the case of Turbine it is both. If you bought all the content your character would be really crappy. It is better to pay the sub.
I don't understand the misconceptions people have in regards to F2P. Players have full access to the main story quest, the in-game store where they can redeem points either through Deeds (Lotro) or House Factions (DDO), and even have the ability to reach the full level cap. Now, if people want additional content (quest packs, new mounts, items and equipment, etc.) obviously they would need to either spend real currency, or take the long way around, and collect/redeem points.
To say that F2P MMO's are nothing more of being a demo, you obviously haven't, or refuse to play any of these games that adopted the new change. And to this mindset that the quality of a product is better through subscriptions is a biased way of thinking. True the company making MMO's is secured through a consistent revenue stream, but F2P has proven to be very beneficial, more so than the standard subscription model.
Think about it through the eyes of Turbine or any other game developer/publisher, for that matter, who adopted F2P with all they're games: Instead of receiving the standard price of a subscription every month ($15) you begin to see people spending $10, possibly, every other week. Potentially seeing 2x's, or even 5x's more revenue per month. Plus, people are checking out the game because it is free resulting in even more profits.
Why lock down the player with suscriptions when it's far easier on everyone to open up the game to the masses while making money hand over fist? It's a win-win for everyone involved.
Comments
I had been stuck in epic quest line in Angmar for i don't know how long because there were no people doing these quests at the same time i was, and couldn't solo them at lvl55. And it took a lot of quests and mobs to lvl up to 55 already, so i don't think a casual player may level up on pure grinding to do the epic line alone, with no quest packs... at least, it would take months, especially with no xp bonus.
and well, maybe we're playing in different time zones, so when you're online they - the complainers i am annoyed with - already gone to sleep
Online Games in Girl's Eyes
http://chickgeekgames.blogspot.com
The laughs: your "free to pay" means you have a cap of ... 2 Gold. LOL
The sad part: such systems have no decent end game : it is like a steeple chase, the paying public gets thinner and thinner and 99% of them will stop paying before reaching the last stages of an end game.
The scam part: the biggest victims are the greatest fans: they will pay to get to that end ... and will see nothing because there is simply no intrest to develop anything for the hardcore: it is not even a target audiance.
Sad, very sad development of a money grabbing mechanism by a game that wasn't very succesful in the first place.
Stay clear of such scams: you'll pay more and more to find less and less in the end. They are only interested in the beginning/early to mid levels of masses.
One of my friends played Last Chaos for years and was one of the top players in his class without spending a dime on the game. I have no idea why you would on a game like that but he enjoyed it so good for him. Now the time he had to put into that game to compete with those that were using the cash shop was insane, but it was what he enjoyed.
I guess what I'm trying to say is never underestimate the f2p player and the lengths some will go to for a game they enjoy. Heh
That's one of the nice things about this game being f2p now is that eventually if not already things at higher levels least far as the epic quest line goes will become easier to find groups for.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
Yeah, such a scam. Especially since you only have to pay $15 or less pending on how you sub per month to bypass all of that cash shop nonsense. Hell, sub for a couple months and you'll have the points to buy their expansions that others had to pay out of pocket for in addition to the sub.
If anything, this game is cheaper now than before. Unless you simply have to have everything immediately regardless whether you can even access it immediately.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
I am a new LOTRO player. I jumped servers here and there and have around 4-5 lv 15 chars in total. I almost have enough to buy a quest pack. Took me a total time - less than a week.
So I decided to grab MoM for free using amazon mechanical turk (not advertising for it, but yeah they really do pay u $).
So now I have 500 more tps and VIP for 30 days. Woot..
Great game is great.
Best of all, no gold sellers spamming chat (that I've seen).
Edit*: Just noticed I joined in '04, has it been 6 years already? Now I feel old.
That is nice. Back at launch it was really bad. They were infamous for spamming tells on multiple accounts. Turbine did a fairly decent job at curbing them though. I like to think the reason they're pretty much gone is because of Turbine's efforts and the game being an older one by today's standards now. I also like to believe this is a game where the majority of those playing it simply refused to use their services so there wasn't a market for them. Probably not the cause of it but it gives me hope that least to some degree players can get rid of those asshats even if it is only in my dreams.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
Ok, so using your logic, why do you even play any game, as your *time* is money, any time not spent earning it must be really hard for you.
I understand you are using these post's to kind of back up your girl gamer blog thing, but seriously, take a break.
Your first post was just a cut down version of your blog, in some cases the exact same words/sentences, pretty much a cut and paste job, your post's after that are contradictory at best.
Your last post just made me laugh.
So, you have a job, good for you, even if you work from home (as I do), you tend to hold *work hours*, like me, I start work at 10am, finish at 4pm, from monday through to thursday, take fridays off and always have a nice three day weekend.
Now, if I decide to play during those hours of work, then yes, that play time is costing me money, as the work I get paid to do is not getting done.
Any time I play outside of those work hours, is just that, play time, and playing during those hours does not cause me to lose anything (apart from brownie points with the missus and kids).
Now, unless you are trying to claim you work 24/7, I find your argument that playing games costs you money you would otherwise be earning laughable.
Also, stop giving opinions as though they are facts.
In your opinion, grinding is not playing, it is work. That is an opinion held by some people, but not all, far from it, and it definately is not a fact. Grinding is fun to those that like doing it, your blanket statement that it isnt, again is your opinion, not a fact.
Last, but not least, you can say technically all you like, but LoTRO is now Free to Play, and it really is Free to Play, and that is a fact ;P
A creative person is motivated by the desire to achieve, not the desire to beat others.
I have 830 tp so far from playing the game. Technically I have 1330 but 500 came because I decided to sub again rather than deal with the f2p restrictions. Because of my original plan to simply go f2p I made three toons. None of my toons have finished the three starter zones. Granted my playstyle is maximizing tp but I enjoy the zones anyways. You can certainly gain tp without spending a dime in this game. It simply depends on how quickly you want to level and how much the restrictions on f2p bothers you.
All in all I still think the game is worth a simple $15 a month. But for those that don't have a set income or simply hate a subscription service for whatever reason they can piecemeal what they would like far as questing in certain zones or opening an extra bag slot or whatever. It is a hell of a lot more restrictive than a lot of other f2p games but on the same token it is also the highest quality one out there. If you can deal with the restrictions or grind the tp to remove them.
EDIT: Granted to be fair even in f2p mode I believe my premium status gave me the option for three character slots instead of one per server a new f2p person receives.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
F2P have 2 charslots, premium get +1. Imho the higher playerbase compared to pre F2P made the game a lot more enjoyable, sometimes we get so lost in discussing features or gameplay that we totally forget that what makes or breaks a MMO is actually the players(or lack thereof) around us.
^ Ah good to know. not sure why I thought they only got one.
I have to say that this really was the right move for this game. I will be the first to admit that I was a bit cautious about what would happen beforehand. I wasn't completely against it because I felt they did a good job with the DDO transition but this was an entirely different concept than DDO was so I wasn't sure how the f2p would be implicated. All things considered I think they did an excellent job with it and it is a win/win for everyone involved.
I'm still curious to see how the extra revenue will effect content and updates and what their overall focus will be going forward but so far I am impressed.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
All F2P games at some point become P2P otherwise you can't access content or are totally gimped. In the case of Turbine it is both. If you bought all the content your character would be really crappy. It is better to pay the sub.
I don't understand the misconceptions people have in regards to F2P. Players have full access to the main story quest, the in-game store where they can redeem points either through Deeds (Lotro) or House Factions (DDO), and even have the ability to reach the full level cap. Now, if people want additional content (quest packs, new mounts, items and equipment, etc.) obviously they would need to either spend real currency, or take the long way around, and collect/redeem points.
To say that F2P MMO's are nothing more of being a demo, you obviously haven't, or refuse to play any of these games that adopted the new change. And to this mindset that the quality of a product is better through subscriptions is a biased way of thinking. True the company making MMO's is secured through a consistent revenue stream, but F2P has proven to be very beneficial, more so than the standard subscription model.
Think about it through the eyes of Turbine or any other game developer/publisher, for that matter, who adopted F2P with all they're games: Instead of receiving the standard price of a subscription every month ($15) you begin to see people spending $10, possibly, every other week. Potentially seeing 2x's, or even 5x's more revenue per month. Plus, people are checking out the game because it is free resulting in even more profits.
Why lock down the player with suscriptions when it's far easier on everyone to open up the game to the masses while making money hand over fist? It's a win-win for everyone involved.