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Lotro and Swtor worth it as f2p?
As that title states, would lotro or swtor be worth playing if you don't plan on spending any money at all? Are there major restrictions? Lvls/zones/gear? I don't mind paying for a f2p game. But I don't want to be forced too.
Also, on a side note. Anyone know of any good single player PC games with a female main character? Doesn't matter if it's premade or custom as long as it's female. Besides Skyrim/ME/DA/NWN/Borderlands. Needs to be 3D and look decent. At least better or equal to DA:O. Thanks 
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Rift your best bet don't have to spend any money, you can get item from there cash shop if you need it with in game gold, but the content is free gear and many other stuff.
Lotro I have not played my self but what I was tolded have many paywalls, for Swtor there free to pay very grindy as I played it, very limited on getting gear as free to play.
I haven't paid any money in Swotor, but then I am just playing it for the story lines. Depending on what your goals are in the game, it could be restrictive or not.
I never paid anything in Lotro until about level 30 and thats when zones start becoming locked off. You do gain free Turbine points ingame, but I ended up spending some money simply because I enjoyed the world and was happy to pay a little to see the parts I wanted. Again I would say it depends on what your goals are.
I f you are serious about not paying, I would say Swtor is best for that. Hard to get past level 40 in Lotro without paying something IMO. Plus you would have to pay for any expansions. I imagine that applies to Swtor as well.
In any case the standard rule applies: Both are Free to Try, as I like to call it now. So there is nothing to lose to download either game and give them a shot.
FFA Nonconsentual Full Loot PvP ...You know you want it!!
swtor for the storylines as you level.
LOTRO is too nickle and dimey.
Pretty much what Boneserino said.
I haven't played LotRO, but on SWTOR you can get all the unlocks you want from the in game GTN (auction house). Of course that means you would have do some farming for money, but it's pretty easy to get - especially once you get to the higher levels, or if you're someone who likes to craft (or to simply gather resources and sell the on the GTN).
You can also get store currency by doing the whole boring grind thing that DDO, and from what I hear LOTRO as well, have you do. AKA make characters of every class on every server and run them through the started planets to get the one time store currency rewards. (It's a very poor investment when it comes to time vs reward however, just like in the other two games, but possible if you're absolutely set on not giving them a dime of your money).
The only thing on SWTOR you can't get through playing, is the Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion. You get that one for free the moment you subscribe for a month. After which you could easily go to "preferred" status (the one between F2P and sub)
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
If you enjoy playing lots of alts then SWTOR with its "Legacy" system will definitely appeal to you.
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
i dont know about lotro but swtor isnt worth it unless you subscribe.
As for a single player game with female main character. Tomb Raider (2013) is totally worth it and one of the best games with female main characters. And you can get it for cheap on Amazon and Steam sales.
I wish i could recommend Remember Me because the main female character is very interesting and it could have made a good franchise but the game itself is a piece of trash so dont bother with that one.
LOTRO is easily playable to level 30 without spending a dime. The only annoyance you will find up to level 30 is your bank balance (gold) is capped - which I got around by constantly keeping my gear up-to-date by spending in the Auction House.
Around level 30, you will have close to but not quite enough Turbine Points to unlock content that covers levels 28 to 40. At this point you can spend a little real money for more Turbine Points, OR you can create your second free character and earn enough TP to unlock the content you want (it unlocks on the whole account).
I found it to be a lot of fun up till I quit playing.
I cannot say about Lotro (last played that under subscription in EU when codemasters had it) then they got rid of it and accounts were handed back to mythic who gave you a week to claim before junking any accounts. Not played it since as I don't think I want to purchase everything I had in game again under the F2P design. Not to mention doing my character from scratch (which I would not mind doing anyways, as long as peeps helped), but purchasing everything upto mines of moria and 1 expansion above (carnt remember name offhand as I didn't play it that long after that part came out).
As for SWTOR it is deffo NOT worth playing the f2p model at all, you will end up having to purchase everything (forced to doing it) and that will cost more than subscribing anyways.
Games that have great F2P models are Rift and Defiance, Neverwinter also has a decentish F2P model as well. As far as any other F2P games I cannot say, too many orce you into using their store tio do anything. Those 3 don't.
Oh almost forgot - Archeage is also an F2P model that's due out soon via Trion, however I cannot say anything about how good their F2P model will be at the moment on that game as I have only been in 1 beta stage (2nd one) and didn't really look into that as I only got to lvl 10 on several characters)
I can only speak for SWTOR, for it's my guilty pleasure I return to every few months or so:
It CAN be managed as F2P, but be ready to face many restrictions, some of them can be lifted with credits (ingame currency) via the Galactic Market, others can't.
Personally, to fully enjoy the game without worrying about restrictions, subscribing is pretty much mandatory.
For strictly the lines in OP I'd say "depends", but with the additional infos above, if you don't mind the grind, I'd say LotRO much more easily. And also the "depends" part is still there, of course: depends how do you wanna play
In TOR you can play the stories for free, though you can forget altoholism with the 2 character slots limit. If you upgrade for preferred, it will be a bit better, but still won't be near to a subscriber's quality. You can grind CCs (massive grind), but with the 2 character slots that will be painfully slow.
In short I used to say, TOR is good for a single-player game experience when you're on Preferred (and not good, just bearable one if you're free). If you want more than that, group play, raids, etc. subscribing is the way.
LotRO is locking the quests between lvl30-50 from you, and the expansion quests, if you're f2p. (you can go there, do the story quests, killing, etc. just not doing the quest hubs). Also there are restrictions in your character (trait slots, inventory slots, etc.) Farming TPs is a big grind, but easier to do than in TOR, especially since you have 2 character slots without a server lock, opposed to TOR (so 29 x 2 characters if your altoholism is taking you onto every server).
But the main difference is, that in LotRO you can unlock every restrictions through TP, while in TOR if you're not subbed then you'll have limits, regardless of how much you've spent already.
So if you want to play totally free (as said in OP), and don't mind the grind, in LotRO you can have the whole game for free.
you forgot to mention free players cant earn enough money to buy most GTN stuff. The credit cap is too low. Or did EAWARE remove that cap? if they did then your comment is valid.
No it's like saying 'That girl's awesome we had a great time together until I decided she wasn't great enough to splurge on a ring".
If grinding doesn't bother you I would think you will be fine in Lotro. Honestly I was a lifetime member and didn't hit any paywall but as someone else mentioned you can earn turbine points and use them to unlock areas and instances (skirmishes etc).
I think the game is fun but I don't know how much population there is on the servers anymore
There are several threads about it, not only here on mmorpg... I made a few posts myself about this months ago. I admit it could be server dependant, but on those servers I have characters, that's not true.
I haven't seen any unlock below 200k during the first Nar Shaddaa month (which could've been a nice selling period because of the big player influx) and saw only a handful below 350k, mostly the "worthless" ones (show title
) Not long ago this issue was mentioned again, I checked that day the GTN, there was nothing below 350k.
But it's not even important, since I wasn't talking about unlocks, I was talking about fleet pass, med. probes, lower crit rate, higher cost on everything, lower queue priority, etc. I could add he credit cap too, since it's un-liftable, you need to purchase escrow unlocks all the time (even preferred's 350k is a joke), same goes to the xp earning rate and the boosts (but that's only annoying during the levelling). If you purchase every unlock from the Store, you're still far from a subscriber as soon as you go back to Preferred.
(in LotRO you lose close to nothing after your subscription expires. PvMP was the last remaining big subscriber perk, but now there's a pass for that to free/premium folks too in the Store. And you purchase the unlocks from Turbine, not from other Greedo players
so after a huge grind a fully free player can unlock the whole game.)
Sorry, but... Doubletalk? Really? And then you say the same thing, in details even
I just wrote, a free player can unlock the whole game in LotRO, while in TOR s/he'll be always behind the subscribers. Ok, with respect to your lengthy post, here's an addition:
this "behind the subscribers" part depends on the given player's gaming style and focus, if s/he's lucky, then it's just a bit behind, if not so lucky, then far behind (according to your "do i REALLY need" paragraph). Happy now?
Your list is an example according to your playstyle. Here's an another view:
-cap: I like to play the market sometimes. If OP is like that too, he will see, that 200k, but even preferred's 350k is a joke.
-crafting: I like crafting, do it in every game. True, it's not the best part of TOR, but I still do it, and with the Strongholds the system's importance and meaning even raised. If OP is like crafting too, the lower critical is a drawback.
-Fleet pass: as I wrote it in the other thread, that's my main issue for subbing. I also have Hurried traveller and several milestones in LotRO. There are times when I smell the roses and strolling through the world, and there are times when I need to travel fast. You don't need it, fine... still, for some it's a valid issue. Btw. with full Legacy it has no cooldown for subscribers, and still has a 3 hours cooldown on preferred. Whis is a lot. At least for me.
-Cost and queue: it's annoying. I admit, not some game-breaking issue, but still an annoyance, and something that's behind the subscriber's quality, without the option to eliminate it.
-Xp: that's what I wanted to address the first place - dunno where's that comes from. It's a common myth. I've leveled characters before the f2p, after the f2p on sub, and after the f2p on preferred: it's a fact that sub has the pre-f2p xp earn, and preferred gets lower xp. Without Rest xp counted, I'm talking about the base xp. At level 40 you need to kill trash for 2 hours to "catch up", which never was the case with subscription. Last time I checked it was a few months ago, so I dunno which f2p revamp you're talking about.
Also loved your doubletalk (
) in this section, the same playstyle issue you had during the whole list: go play GSF and flashpoint for the additional xp? And if someone only wants to level and play the story? Oh, the irony 
Slightly connected to this part, med probes and the "don't die" advice (lol), let's say he wouldn't mind some flashpoints. At higher levels he won't even have the time to die, he'll be kicked right away... weaker gear, slow speeder, no med-probes ("only a little walk" yep, very few groups will be waiting for that, when everyone else is subbed). Choose your company: yep, because of the former, most likely he'll end up with other non-subbers. So the "just don't die" is an even tougher advice to execute - but at least they will take "the little walk" together
There was no doubletalk from my part. In TOR you can't have the same game quality subscribers have, no matter how much you spend (or grind). Whether you need the missing parts or not, are they important to you or not, those stuff will be missing to you unless you subscribe. And OP asked about "if you don't plan on spending any money at all?" so without a sub. Easy as that.
Try both games. The only thing you would loose is time for download.
For SWTOR use referral - check MMORPG SWTOR forum, bunch of referrals are in the first post from the top. It will give you some stuff to make F2P easier.
If I would be you, I would try both games to at least level 20 or 30 to get a feeling.
In SWTOR every class has a separate story. Based on majority vote /grin Imperial Agent, Jedi Knigtht and Sith Warrior are probably the best, but every one of them is better than in any other MMO (my opinion).
In LOTRO all classes are leading the same path... there is a different initial zone for newbies up to level hmmm 7-8 I think (Elves, dwarves, hobbits and human start in different aerias), after that all share the same story.
I am a Founder with lifetime sub in LOTRO, but did not play it for a while, animations make me cringe.The environment is beatiful though and the world is huge.
I played SWTOR exclusively from early access with no break and still loving it.
Both games have different appeal. Try them both.
Sith Warrior - Story of Hate and Love http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxKrlwXt7Ao
Imperial Agent - Rise of Cipher Nine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBBj3eJWBvU&feature=youtu.be
Imperial Agent - Hunt for the Eagle Part 1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQqjYYU128E
Trust me there was nothing like that, I lol'd the whole comment through whilst writing
But yep, it's just derailing the thread, I guess OP is already getting the differences between the account types.
Sevenstar's right, if OP is already in TOR, pick Agent. One of the best stories from the classes. Also join a guild, it helps a bit with the xp. During the playthrough you'll see how much the restrictions affecting your play, and how much you can do about it without real money spent. After that you can check LotRO too and try the same there.
You can't lose anything with trying both, you can only winning a couple months of free gaming time. Or a bit more, since you have 2 slots in TOR, I'd suggest the Trooper as second, for checking the light side after the Agent.
Sevenstar said JK, which is good too, just a bit generic. Trooper has no real or unexpected twists in the plot either, but you can annoy Jorgen all the way which is great fun
I hate answering people who use the name "EAware" for multiple reasons however on this occasion I will bite since you seem to be just genuinely misinformed.
You can circumvent the credit caps by buying escrow unlocks from the GTN, you still have to have earned the credit and have it held in Escrow, but using an escrow unlock drops those credits down to your balance and allows you to exceed the normal credit cap but ONLY for the credits you drop down from escrow once you go back below the credit cap it goes back to normal.
So yes, you can buy anything from the GTN, through the use of these.
But tbh, if you are playing the game to level 50, chuck a months sub at it and get your unlocks during that, if you are playing that much then tbh they have earned a bit of your money.
Or dont, its all good either way the game is still there, but if you are not subbing to a game you are playing that much, then no matter what the game (and I am sorry but Rift falls into this pile too) you are going to be diluting your experience.
I've played both and can give a little insight.
If you like the Lord of the Rings lore you will enjoy LOTRO. If you can take or leave the lore then it might not be the game for you. It's a fun game where you can experience pretty much the entire game for free. I ended up playing with the wife and purchased some of the expansions (on the cheap) which upped our F2P status. The crafting is really neat, the Role Play Server we were one certainly helped as the community was REALLY helpful. The PvP stuff is simply an add-on and if your looking for PvP this isn't your game.
The combat in LOTRO shows its age a bit, but the gameplay itself is really fun and the environments still hold up today.
As for SWTOR...I can talk about both the subscription and F2P options. I was SOOOO excited for this game when it came out, I preordered two copies (for the wife and I). I really enjoyed the Star Wars theme, I did find the combat got a bit repetitive at times (even with lightsabers) but then again this is an MMO and almost every game has repetitive combat.
Now as a FTP game this game is SUPER restrictive in my view. Even as a former subscriber coming back to try it out, they nickle and dime you so much you even need to pay for the UI (extra skillbar) which was a super turnoff for me. I had 2 max level characters and just wanted to try the changes they have made since I stopped playing to see if it was worth coming back...got through about a day or two and found it totally restrictive and frustrating to even want to keep playing F2P (and I was unable to see anything that warranted another subscription from us)
I've had more fun overall with LOTRO and still log in on occasion (Have a few games I rotate between when I have the time). SWTOR has been uninstalled from my Computer. Take that for what it's worth as I can only speak for my experience, your mileage may vary.