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LOTRO's F2P is more like an extended trial
ChickGeek
Member Posts: 60
There's nothing free in this life, you know. I wanted to tell this to everyone who i saw whining in this game about why they can't have everything for free but are forced to pay for it. Before you play, keep in mind what i have to say to you. Yes, in LOTRO theres a very limited content that they give “for free” – what they had for a “6 days trial” before had much more content in it, so being in your place i'd consider LOTRO f2p as a trial with no time limit or something like that. If you think of LOTRO f2p as of a long trial or something, there would be no misunderstandings between you, LOTRO, and your wallet.
When you start playing for free, you have a few character slots, a very limited inventory space, about 60% of normal inventory space – i’m speaking of those bags where you gather loot and store healing potions, etc., not the bank space. The bank space is limited too, and you have a gold cap, which is the worst. Also, you can’t do quests outside of the newbie area. You can go there, but there’s nothing for you to do, no quest would show up. So, if you want to progress further, do more quests, make another character, buy a horse, etc. – you eventually have to pay, and rather sooner than later.
This is where usual F2P games end – people are forced to go to the cash shop and buy stuff to progress further into game. Turbine developed their game with no F2P in mind, so they couldn’t just set up a cash shop and be done with the troubles. They had to come up with something different, and they did – you can play with a very limited “free” content at first, then you’d go to the cash shop and buy stuff, and *then* there’s the option to get everything in one package – to pay monthly fee.
As we all did before the game went F2P. (So, if you used to play as LOTRO subscriber and came along this post, i say nothing would change for you that much if you come back to play, except for a special bonus to Turbine – you too can buy things at the cash shop!)
And they made sure there are such thing that you’d like to buy, like special mounts otherwise available for limited time, or things that would buff your stats, or food to recuperate hp/mp, etc. At least they don't sell thing that would unbalance the game that much.
So, what i am saying is that LOTRO, being f2p, in the end magically comes back to p2p model, no matter being announced as f2p. LOTRO went out quite well because Turbine had kept subscription option for the players who wanted to pay as they were paying before, and offered “free” content to lure more people in who jump at every "free" stuff out there or who think the subscription-based games are too much for them.
And I am paying for a subscription, myself, btw.
Online Games in Girl's Eyes
http://chickgeekgames.blogspot.com
Comments
Well you can't really play without paying anything. But you don't need to sub. You can buy quest packs/bags etc to unlock them on your account. Then they are yours forever. Premium is a different way of paying , if you buy everything you wouldn't need a sub.
Actually, you can play without paying anything, as completing quests and deeds earn you points to spend in the store.
It might take you a long time to get enough points to buy and unlock everything, but it can be done.
So yes, it IS Free to Play if you really want it to be.
A creative person is motivated by the desire to achieve, not the desire to beat others.
Wait...you mean they're actually trying to make money off F2P people? SWEET GEEZUS!!!
OP, I think there's a ton you can do as F2P.
Here's the chart.
PLAYER TIER
VIP
PREMIUM PLAYER
FREE PLAYER
TURBINE POINTS
500/month Free
(can purchase more) or earn thru gameplay
Purchasable
or earn thru gameplay
Purchasable
or earn thru gameplay
CONTENT
World Access*
Free
Free
Free
Epic Story*
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
Races
4
4
4
Classes
7
7
7
Premium Classes*
Purchasable
Purchasable
Purchasable
Level Cap*
50
50
50
Character Slots*/**
5/server
(can purchase more)
3/server
(can purchase more)
1/server
(can purchase more)
Quest Packs*
Eriador
Ered Luin, Shire, Bree-land
(can purchase more)
Ered Luin, Shire, Bree-land
(can purchase more)
KEY FEATURES
Inventory
5 bags
3 bags
(can purchase more)
3 bags
(can purchase more)
Gold Limit
Unlimited
5 Gold
(can purchase cap removal)
2 Gold
(can purchase cap removal)
Priority Login
Priority
High
Standard
Chat
Unlimited
Limited
Limited
Auction
Unlimited
Limited
Limited
Mail
Unlimited
Limited
Limited
Rest XP
Automatic
Not available
Not Available
Shared Bank**
Purchasable
Purchasable
Purchasable
Skirmishes*
9
(More in Mirkwood Expansion)
4
(can purchase more)
4
(can purchase more)
Legendary Items*
Requires Moria Expansion
Requires Moria Expansion
Requires Moria Expansion
Traits
All
1 or 2 slots per trait type
(can purchase more)
1 or 2 slots per trait type
(can purchase more)
Crafting*
Tier 1-5 available
Tier 1-5 available
Tier 1-5 available
Crafting Guilds
Unlimited
Limited
(can purchase more)
Limited
(can purchase more)
Housing
Available
Available
Available
Music
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
Hobbies
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
Cosmetic System
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
Wardrobe
20 slots
(can purchase more)
Purchasable
Purchasable
Destiny points
Can earn and spend
Can earn but cannot spend
Can earn but cannot spend
Monster play
Unlimited
Not available
Not available
Community Features
Unlimited
Unlimited
Limited
Customer Service
Full access
Full access for 30 days following the purchase of Turbine points
Self-service online
Heh, you're one of the few people that didn't realize that Free to Play is a money trap?
Listen, Free to Play is great if you're content with what they give you to play for free. If you aren't content with what they give you then you are better off finding a game that you're willing to pay a flat $15 subscription fee.
I mean in a year you spend $180 on a subscription plus the price of the boxed game which is between $40 and $60. So, $240 for the first year isn't that bad, especially if you really enjoy the game you invested in.
The sneaky thing about Free to Play is that they try to make the majority of people unhappy with just what they get for free. Then they nickel and dime you for as much as they possibly can. Someone not paying attention can end up spending a lot more than $15 a month.
Pretty much Free to Play is a big cash grab. What Free to Play does is it allows the company to reach players that normally couldn't or wouldn't pay a $15 subscription. This allows them to get more money from people with a high disposable income and more from those with a lower disposable income.
Say all the players that were paying a subscription for LOTRO kept playing and get a VIP account. Just for the sake of the example, lets say that's the standard $15 a month. Turbine then gets as many people as they normally would paying the subscription, but now they also get players that are spending anywhere from, lets say $3 is the minmum, up to just below the maxium of the $15 subscription. So now they have players that couldn't pay the $15 playing and paying whatever they can to the company. So they end up actually making more money then they would have just charging $15 flat to everyone.
Not to mention those that not only pay the $15 a month and then go crazy spending tons of extra money in the cash shop meaning they end up spending a lot more than $15 every month.
Free to play give players very little advantage and is more of a cash grab for the MMO company than anything else.
The only way Free to play turns out to be a good thing for the customer is if they are willing to be content with what they get for free.
I'm finding it to be a 'pay at your own pace' sort of deal. Which I have found to be more convient for me, compared to a monthly fee.
I've been in about 3 weeks now and I have 2 characters to level 18. I've crafted up to the 3rd tier already and each have mounts, and now holiday gift mounts. I keep about 2 gold on each from selling crap I found and gathered resources. My captain is my favorite, but the class seems pretty saturated at the moment so I have a dwarf champion that I'm now ready to pay for the next batch of content and probably take my sweet time (3 to 6 months probably since I'm busy with projects until the end of this year) to explore.
It sucks that I can't find a regular group to play with due to my lack of play time, but it's nice having a batch of interesting enough quests to pill through when I have the time. I've had MMOs where I'd pay 30 bucks or more to log in but a few hours here and there, and still be expected to pay more.
It's hardly a free trial in my case. I'm going to stick with the game and I see myself buying content regularly. I don't feel as tho' it's free to play, but it's subscription free which helps me out in the long run.
For people who like to rush through content and have everything now just paying the fee opens up the game nice-like and really it's content is at least on par with everything out there.
NOW if only there was a way to have meaningful pvp, but considering the lore and content they did it the best possible way they could.
Lotro's f2p is so much easier to get content then say DDO which I have played both. My GF has a pure ftp acct and hasn't spent a dime. I have a lifetime account since the game launched. With us playing together she has acquired enough points to buy the lonelands, north downs and evendim quest packs without spending a dime. She has close to 800 pts built up again and with another higher level content pack sale should have 2 more.
I think the real key is to not waste your pts on anything besides content because that opens up more traits and deeds to earn more points. Make sure you buy the content packs when they go on sale and this game is alot of gaming for little to no money.
Unlike DDO, my GF hasn't had to replay any content yet. And the deed part is a little grindy but they are things you would do anyways to build up your characters stats so it is even more incentive to do them.
Now if she can find one of those cheap Moria boxes she will be set to the level cap easy.
That's actually a really good way to describe it. If you're REALLY casual, you'll never need to pay for anything. If you're hardcore, you'll probably want to pay for VIP right away. If you're kinda in the middle, pick and choose what you want and when you want it.
Free to play is great for those that can moderate themselves, but I think from all of our experience I think we can safely say that the majority of the gamer world is anything, but moderate.
Yeah but wouldn't you say the most grevious of cash abuse comes from games that are pretty much "pay2win"? I've played those too because I like pvp heavy games and, love'em hate'em, the Korean model of MMO generally has good massive pvp. There I'd limit myself and never really made it to the top. I'd gain ground, I'd have fun with my crew, but obviously the people who could pay the honorate monthly rate and drop 50 bucks for endless heal potions and the like stood out.
For pve heavy games treating each tier of content and the perks as mini expansions doesn't feel like I'm being ripped off. It doesn't feel FREE any more, that's for sure. But I think that's just a generalization that the industry and the community has agreed to.
So?! Then they pay $15. What's the big deal?!
The beauty of F2P is that it allows players to always keep their account ACTIVE! Nothing kills an MMO faster than a plunge in players - F2P ensures that people can ALWAYS come back if they want.
Personally, once I uninstall a game, I seldom (never) go back. Keeping lotro on my PC is paramount to Turbine ever getting some $ outta me. F2P makes sure I keep it installed.
I am pretty sure that paying for a subscription is cheaper than buying everything for cash, because i can have everything for 15 bucks for a month. Yes, whatever you've got for cash stays forever, but it costs more, and when i don't play i don't need these things anyway. This is just my opinion.
Oh, come on, what kind of a game would that be? A sorry non-stop grinding to open another few quests? That's no fun at all... I know some people love grind, but that's boring... That's like saying people can have free food by growing it - wouldn't be an easy task while living in apartment, but still possible.
If you'd read carefully what i wrote, i said first thing "There's nothing free in this life, you know. I wanted to tell this to everyone who i saw whining in this game about why they can't have everything for free but are forced to pay for it.". Doesn't that indicates i already know there's nothing free in this life and want to tell it to other people, who (as i have seen in LOTRO) are still naive to think F2P games are really free?
Actually, now that you mention it, i did not spent 15/month, i was a long-time subscriber so i used a discount program, $9/month, so that would be only $108 per year (without the addons).
I don't think that grinding for points to open up stuff for free is "casual", and that's the only way you can get stuff without paying for them - a lot of time-cunsuming grinding.
Online Games in Girl's Eyes
http://chickgeekgames.blogspot.com
Yeah, I see the point you're making.
Many players end up being implusive and spend way more than they ever intended. You can say "So what" or "That's thier problem", but that's what free to play for most games is about, making you want to buy things from the cash shops and taking advantage of impluse.
There are many players out there that have no clue how much money they've spent on a Free to play game this year. There are also tons of them that ended up paying more than a subscription fee every month.
But most people don't say "Oh, I'm impulsive I better go play a subscription game." However, people are more likely to say, "Ah, I'm not like that". then find they spend $300's in stupid cash store stuff a few months later.
More often than not Free to Play is better for the company than it is for the consumer. That just seems to be the trend.
Thats pretty much it right there.
I remmeber before this went f2p people were saying how great lotro was going to be now all fo a sudden we are hearing a different tune. DiD they not think that Turbine was going to make you pay for everything ? Just goes to show be careful what you ask for because you make just get it.
F2P is better. If you want to play a P2P game..... you can still play LOTRO and pay a sub and get everything ^_^
So true. That's why every F2P should have an option to sub like LOTRO and get everything. Turbine's so successful because they are doing things differently than the other F2P MMOs. Though all the other F2P MMOs are eastern pos which I would never play. I wouldn't play anything that's from Asia.
This tiered payment method Turbine introducted is amazing imo.
A player can play a AAA mmo all the way to level cap without paying one red cent.
However if you want to actually buy every zone, skirmish and expansion you can play one lump some and turn Lotro into a B2p game like Guild wars.
Or if you want to completely avoid the shop you can pay a 15 buck sub.
This model keeps Lotro packed with players in turn keeping the VIPs and Premiums playing in a well populated game that requires a decent amount of grouping to experience all the pve content.
I honestly think Turbine stumbled on a way to keep populations high. Games like Vanguard, SWG, AoC & WAR suffer because they havent opened their games up to this type of model.
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
There's no free lunch. Nom nom nom.
You really have a knack for misreading things probably because regardless the outcome you see what you want to see rather than what really transpires. I've noticed this in quite a few of your posts on matters.
Hearing a different tune from whom? Most seem rather happy with the change. Quite a different perspective seeing how most are discussing the LotR f2p changeover compared to the EQ2X one.
Of course, not everyone is happy with the change or the game. Big surprise, some never are.
Frankly, from what I saw there was a lot more hostility towards this change in LotR before the game went f2p. People were unsure how it would effect things and thought support for the game might come to a standstill due to Turbine not making enough money from the game. Not to mention what effects the f2p change would have on the community.
Generally speaking, people's outlook on this whole changeover seem a lot more positive now than they were before this went live or when it was first announced.
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.
A creative person is motivated by the desire to achieve, not the desire to beat others.
Dunno what problem people have, Lonelands got lowered to 50TP now. Thats like 0.50$, and you earn that litereally by level 10 or something, you talk as if you had to grind for weeks, when infact you have to spend maybe half an hour or 15 min completing some deeds that where half done through normal leveling anyway. Like one time, for your whole account.
If your casual, you wait for sales and get your content without grinding. If your not casual and want to be level 65 by end of the week you have to pay, its your choice. Besides many people play more than one char, if we hit the quest barrier and do not have the necessary TP yet to buy the next zone we just play another of our toons until we have the points.
The whole idea of this payment model works with your impatience. Your too impatient to grind deeds for points, maybe even spend points to buy deeds. Too impatient to wait for sales, too impatient to level without rested XP so you buy XP potions, deed accelerators etc. Don't find a recipe on AH right now? You spend points on it in store.
I'll call it as it is, if your patient you can play for free. If all you care about is some stupid race to a nonexistent endgame, yes they are going to milk you dry. If you are having fun on the journey it doesn't matter how long it is. Maybe you need to have played EvE-O to appreciate that notion. If there is one thing you learn there its patience and working with what you have in the present instead of some pipe dream of the furture.
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.
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
I can never take anyone who complains that they feel they need to spend some money on a game to have fun seriously. It is a form of entertainment that takes 10s of millions and sometimes even 100s of millions of dollars to make, in return you might have to spend $10 to have some fun.
Stop being cheap people who feel they deserve everything in this world for free and whine everytime they have to actually pay for something, to be honest it is fairly annoying to listen to.
You really have a knack for misreading things probably because regardless the outcome you see what you want to see rather than what really transpires. I've noticed this in quite a few of your posts on matters.
Hearing a different tune from whom? Most seem rather happy with the change. Quite a different perspective seeing how most are discussing the LotR f2p changeover compared to the EQ2X one.
Of course, not everyone is happy with the change or the game. Big surprise, some never are.
Frankly, from what I saw there was a lot more hostility towards this change in LotR before the game went f2p. People were unsure how it would effect things and thought support for the game might come to a standstill due to Turbine not making enough money from the game. Not to mention what effects the f2p change would have on the community.
Generally speaking, people's outlook on this whole changeover seem a lot more positive now than they were before this went live or when it was first announced.
The only negatives I've read about are the frequent chatter in regional and Glff chat channels. In my experience so far i've had to turn off the channels due to barrens chat like discussions. Other than that I see all positives with this tiered pay as you go method.Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
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
Online Games in Girl's Eyes
http://chickgeekgames.blogspot.com