what pisses me off is that about a month ago I picked up the game with all expansions.
I kinda want a refund at this point....it reminds me HEAVILY of the whole "Trials Of Obi-Wan" thing that SOE pulled with SWG.
They must have KNOWN that they were going F2P shortly. So I bought something under false premise.
I'm not the kind of too-much-time-on-my-hands person who's going to throw a huge fuss over it, but it was a bit on the under-handed side, and Turbine can join SOE on the "Shit List", as far as I'm concerned.
People have been doing the math on this, and they believe that purchasing the game and expansions before it goes F2P will be cheaper than trying to buy the pieces after it is F2P... funny how that works out, eh?
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
what pisses me off is that about a month ago I picked up the game with all expansions.
I kinda want a refund at this point....it reminds me HEAVILY of the whole "Trials Of Obi-Wan" thing that SOE pulled with SWG.
They must have KNOWN that they were going F2P shortly. So I bought something under false premise.
I'm not the kind of too-much-time-on-my-hands person who's going to throw a huge fuss over it, but it was a bit on the under-handed side, and Turbine can join SOE on the "Shit List", as far as I'm concerned.
They've given you notice. The game isn't going f2p for 4+ months.
if Turbine does it right, There will be Nothing wrong with the way f2p Lotro goes.
DDO is perfectly fine. They weren't making money with a subscription model so they opted for a VIP package approach ..Same thing with Lotro. Lifetime subs get lifetime VIP ..Simple.
DDO hasn't been ruined.
Look at games like Atlantica and Runes of Magic..There are two of the best free to play games bot relying on item malls, you don't seem stuff like this about them.
I believe Turbine is going with a...You can have the base game free but you need to buy the expansions (with CD Key) to be able to play that content....
It isn't a big deal...Company wasn't making money..it did the right thing, rather than going under.
what pisses me off is that about a month ago I picked up the game with all expansions.
I kinda want a refund at this point....it reminds me HEAVILY of the whole "Trials Of Obi-Wan" thing that SOE pulled with SWG.
They must have KNOWN that they were going F2P shortly. So I bought something under false premise.
I'm not the kind of too-much-time-on-my-hands person who's going to throw a huge fuss over it, but it was a bit on the under-handed side, and Turbine can join SOE on the "Shit List", as far as I'm concerned.
They've given you notice. The game isn't going f2p for 4+ months.
And I won't be playing it again ever. It's uninstalled. Not even on the radar.
I would not have purchased the game again ( had an account a couple years ago, but picked up the game+expansions in a bundled pack since it seemed like the best way to go) if I had known that the game had no future.
Whatever, I got bit. Lesson learned. No more Turbine games.
DDO went f2p and it's more popular now than it ever was. The population shot through the roof. Wait and see how fun monster play will be when the population quadruples over night.
I don't friggin' care if 12 million people start playing. I don't do F2P, I don't do cash shops, I don't do "Premium content".
The game is dead, as far as I care, just like Spellborne, DDO, and the rest of that F2P trash.
what pisses me off is that about a month ago I picked up the game with all expansions.
I kinda want a refund at this point....it reminds me HEAVILY of the whole "Trials Of Obi-Wan" thing that SOE pulled with SWG.
They must have KNOWN that they were going F2P shortly. So I bought something under false premise.
I'm not the kind of too-much-time-on-my-hands person who's going to throw a huge fuss over it, but it was a bit on the under-handed side, and Turbine can join SOE on the "Shit List", as far as I'm concerned.
They've given you notice. The game isn't going f2p for 4+ months.
And I won't be playing it again ever. It's uninstalled. Not even on the radar.
I would not have purchased the game again ( had an account a couple years ago, but picked up the game+expansions in a bundled pack since it seemed like the best way to go) if I had known that the game had no future.
Whatever, I got bit. Lesson learned. No more Turbine games.
Becoming something you dont like does not = has no future. The game will still be around, and popular for a long time to come, otherwise they would just shut it down. Its your choice not to play it again because you dont like the changes, but please dont sit here and try to claim it has no future simply because YOU dont like a change that took place. Im sure many said the same thing about DDO, that it had no future because it was going F2P, and well its doing better than ever.
what pisses me off is that about a month ago I picked up the game with all expansions.
I kinda want a refund at this point....it reminds me HEAVILY of the whole "Trials Of Obi-Wan" thing that SOE pulled with SWG.
They must have KNOWN that they were going F2P shortly. So I bought something under false premise.
I'm not the kind of too-much-time-on-my-hands person who's going to throw a huge fuss over it, but it was a bit on the under-handed side, and Turbine can join SOE on the "Shit List", as far as I'm concerned.
This is NOTHING like SWG:NGE. Nothing. Comparing LOTRO's change to SWG only diminished the cluster-fk that was the NGE.
So what was Turbine to do in your case? Pull all their games off of the store shelves when they made their decision? How ridiculous. On the other hand, SOE released an expansion and a week later announced the change. THAT is indeed foul.
You certainly have a right to feel angry at both changes -- but it is a false equivalency to compare the changes (or the companies for that matter).
_____________________________ Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
what pisses me off is that about a month ago I picked up the game with all expansions.
I kinda want a refund at this point....it reminds me HEAVILY of the whole "Trials Of Obi-Wan" thing that SOE pulled with SWG.
They must have KNOWN that they were going F2P shortly. So I bought something under false premise.
I'm not the kind of too-much-time-on-my-hands person who's going to throw a huge fuss over it, but it was a bit on the under-handed side, and Turbine can join SOE on the "Shit List", as far as I'm concerned.
What do you expect them to do? Stop selling the game a full year before they go F2P? No matter when they made the announcement, people who bought the game a week before they made this announcement is still going to feel as if Turbine robbed them of their money.
The SWG situation is entirely different as a brand new expansion was released mere weeks (or days) before the NGE hit, seemingly milking every last remaining SWG fan for every last bit of cash possible until the very end. Siege of Mirkwood has been around for almost half a year now, and even if it was released last week, non-VIP members still have to pay for the expansion content, so those that purchased the title at launch are not at any sort of a disadvantage.
The fact that you have paid for the title and all the expansion content nets you VIP access and about a two month headstart on the game that you would not have had otherwise simply by playing as a non-VIP member. You're simply upset because you spent money purchasing a game that just announced it would go free to play. That's your fault. Turbine did not slight you in the least.
I doubt the business model will work as well for lotro as it did for DDO. Main reason? DDO has a lot more free content than lotro will when it changes. According to the flowchart the only free quests are the 3 starting regions... That is nowhere near enough to get to cap, even in SoA (Shadows of Angmar).
I used to respect Turbine. I was happy when DDO turned f2p because I knew the game was on life support. This right here is just a money grab because they're assuming that lotro will generate exponential growth like DDO did, when it most likely won't.
Turbine, you make me sadface. I don't care that you make all your games f2p, I really don't. But don't call them f2p when 50-80% of each game is considered premium pay-for content.
what pisses me off is that about a month ago I picked up the game with all expansions.
I kinda want a refund at this point....it reminds me HEAVILY of the whole "Trials Of Obi-Wan" thing that SOE pulled with SWG.
They must have KNOWN that they were going F2P shortly. So I bought something under false premise.
I'm not the kind of too-much-time-on-my-hands person who's going to throw a huge fuss over it, but it was a bit on the under-handed side, and Turbine can join SOE on the "Shit List", as far as I'm concerned.
Of course it was underhanded. You think that Turbine was going to tell the market 6-months ago that their toying with a ftp model for LotRO? No, otherwise they wouldn't have fleeced you.
Please, not to be personal, but this is what happens when suckers buy-into a dated, graphically and game-play handicapped game that is on its last leg.
Anyone here cheer-leading for LotRO, Vanguard, EQ2, etc....your days are numbered. They are mediocre games for a reason in 2010; a reason in which the developers and publisher even know.
Rather than be a hypocrit and say you'll never subscribe to a ftp game, when in fact your game is destined for ftp, embrace it. Your games are in the minority and so are you. Thats not to say that the games offer no value, but compared to upcoming titles that are a combination of subscritption, hybrid or ftp, the vast majority of existing mmorpgs that are 3+ years old are only around for continual pocket-change for investment in something else, rather than to fund the existing game.
I doubt the business model will work as well for lotro as it did for DDO. Main reason? DDO has a lot more free content than lotro will when it changes. According to the flowchart the only free quests are the 3 starting regions... That is nowhere near enough to get to cap, even in SoA (Shadows of Angmar).
I used to respect Turbine. I was happy when DDO turned f2p because I knew the game was on life support. This right here is just a money grab because they're assuming that lotro will generate exponential growth like DDO did, when it most likely won't.
Turbine, you make me sadface. I don't care that you make all your games f2p, I really don't. But don't call them f2p when 50-80% of each game is considered premium pay-for content.
I feel exactly the same way. I actually like the F2P hybrid model Turbine uses for DDO, and wish more upcoming MMOs would look at using a similar one. Personally, I think people who discard all F2P games (and the people who play them) as 'trash' are quite ignorant.
Unfortunately, like you said, this just reeks of a cash grab attempt. People will have to buy content/subscribe in order to get to cap. That isn't free to play at all, it's an extended demo. Not quite as bad as pay to win IMHO, but Turbine is definitely walking the line. They've lost my trust.
what pisses me off is that about a month ago I picked up the game with all expansions.
I kinda want a refund at this point....it reminds me HEAVILY of the whole "Trials Of Obi-Wan" thing that SOE pulled with SWG.
They must have KNOWN that they were going F2P shortly. So I bought something under false premise.
I'm not the kind of too-much-time-on-my-hands person who's going to throw a huge fuss over it, but it was a bit on the under-handed side, and Turbine can join SOE on the "Shit List", as far as I'm concerned.
Of course it was underhanded. You think that Turbine was going to tell the market 6-months ago that their toying with a ftp model for LotRO? No, otherwise they wouldn't have fleeced you.
Please, not to be personal, but this is what happens when suckers buy-into a dated, graphically and game-play handicapped game that is on its last leg.
Anyone here cheer-leading for LotRO, Vanguard, EQ2, etc....your days are numbered. They are mediocre games for a reason in 2010; a reason in which the developers and publisher even know.
Rather than be a hypocrit and say you'll never subscribe to a ftp game, when in fact your game is destined for ftp, embrace it. Your games are in the minority and so are you. Thats not to say that the games offer no value, but compared to upcoming titles that are a combination of subscritption, hybrid or ftp, the vast majority of existing mmorpgs that are 3+ years old are only around for continual pocket-change for investment in something else, rather than to fund the existing game.
Okay, first off, LOTRO was/is doing fine. 250 - 300k subscribers for any non-WoW MMO is pretty good, and I'd hardly call it 'on its last legs'.
Secondly, he didn't get fleeced. He would have had to buy those expansions anyway, and as pointed out, it's actually cheaper to get them now than after the switch to F2P.
Of course.. because we all know it requires a $15 a month subscription to form the basis of any good community, because every P2P game has such amazing communities and no F2P does....
F2P players are the absolute bottom rung scum of the MMO pond. They consist of kids who are too young to have a job or own a credit card, grown-ups who are too cheap or lazy(ie unemployed) to spend a whole $15 dollars a month on a quality game, players who will spend hundreds of dollars a month for in-game superiority, and a variety of players who can't commit to a game for more than a week... the rest end up being macroers/gold-sellers/hackers/exploiters or players that join just to piss people off in chat channels. Ultimately, they end up degrading the integrity of the game.
I'm not saying they are all bad, but the vast majority of them are. And you'll definitely see the average maturity level of the Lotro community drop down severely.
The one thing I could always say about LOTRO was that it had an absolutely outstanding community. That won't be the case much longer.
totally wrong on the free to play model . everyone knows most free to play games end up being more expensive than pay to play games unless your looking at something like ddo which is nt really free to play but more a hybrid model.
totally right about the community going down hill . at least in the short term how many kids or idiots do you think will play this beyond the mid 20s .theres gonna be several bad weeks of noob this noob that before they go elsewhere . after that it ll go back to the status quo but with more players .
I doubt the business model will work as well for lotro as it did for DDO. Main reason? DDO has a lot more free content than lotro will when it changes. According to the flowchart the only free quests are the 3 starting regions... That is nowhere near enough to get to cap, even in SoA (Shadows of Angmar).
I used to respect Turbine. I was happy when DDO turned f2p because I knew the game was on life support. This right here is just a money grab because they're assuming that lotro will generate exponential growth like DDO did, when it most likely won't.
Turbine, you make me sadface. I don't care that you make all your games f2p, I really don't. But don't call them f2p when 50-80% of each game is considered premium pay-for content.
I feel exactly the same way. I actually like the F2P hybrid model Turbine uses for DDO, and wish more upcoming MMOs would look at using a similar one. Personally, I think people who discard all F2P games (and the people who play them) as 'trash' are quite ignorant.
Unfortunately, like you said, this just reeks of a cash grab attempt. People will have to buy content/subscribe in order to get to cap. That isn't free to play at all, it's an extended demo. Not quite as bad as pay to win IMHO, but Turbine is definitely walking the line. They've lost my trust.
How is that different than DDO?
DDO = level 4 cap unless you either happen to get the required items to increase your cap, or buy them from cash shop with either $ or earned points. And even if you did unlock up to level 20 but didnt buy any of the content, dont you pretty much have to get some of the adventure packs/dungeons in order to even make it up to 20 without a ridiculous grind (i may be wrong on this 2nd part, correct me if i am, its been awhile).
Lotro = Pretty much full acess to everything up to Bree (which we could kind of equate to reaching level 4 in DDO), and then you either pay for or use earned points to unlock the rest of the content. And you are actually able to play past Bree following the main story/books but just not additional quest content.
Only real difference I see is DDO has items in game which unlock 1 XP level at a time, and LOTRO doesn't (as far as i know) offer a similar item ingame for unlocking more content/levels. Doesnt much matter though if your eable to earn points from playing the game in both cases.
Of course.. because we all know it requires a $15 a month subscription to form the basis of any good community, because every P2P game has such amazing communities and no F2P does....
F2P players are the absolute bottom rung scum of the MMO pond. They consist of kids who are too young to have a job or own a credit card, grown-ups who are too cheap or lazy(ie unemployed) to spend a whole $15 dollars a month on a quality game, players who will spend hundreds of dollars a month for in-game superiority, and a variety of players who can't commit to a game for more than a week... the rest end up being macroers/gold-sellers/hackers/exploiters or players that join just to piss people off in chat channels. Ultimately, they end up degrading the integrity of the game.
I'm not saying they are all bad, but the vast majority of them are. And you'll definitely see the average maturity level of the Lotro community drop down severely.
The one thing I could always say about LOTRO was that it had an absolutely outstanding community. That won't be the case much longer.
totally wrong on the free to play model . everyone knows most free to play games end up being more expensive than pay to play games unless your looking at something like ddo which is nt really free to play but more a hybrid model.
totally right about the community going down hill . in the short term how many kids or idiots do you think will play this beyond the mid 20s .theres gonna be several bad weeks of noob this noob that before they go elsewhere . after that it ll go back to the status quo but with more players .
LOL... Everyone also used to "know" that the Earth is flat, is the center of the universe, and humans were the first ones here.
They got rid of the leveling tokens recently, and even with buying adventure packs you still have to repeat a lot of content to get to 20. The packs just give you more variety. The point is though, you can still get there without spending a dime.
My favorite thing about lotro was it's mature community. It was my on off game for wow... I guess I'll have to learn to play eve or something.
Actually, that's what I did start doing yesterday.
I was playing LOTRO since summer '07. I came and went when new MMOs came out such as WAR (ha) and AoC (haha). I even was with the recent Star Trek Online, but stopped because I didn't like the lack of action by the devs on certain key issues for me and direction the game was going. So I left it very recently.
My intent was to go back to good 'ol reliable LOTRO. I left several times but I always came back to an improved game and pretty decent community (Firefoot, but it's a tad small compared to other servers).
On the day I left STO to take up LOTRO again, I see the news on the front page and was in total shock.
I've played F2P games before. I've also been on another MMO that was Sub-based but went F2P. From the experiences I had, I was not enthused about Turbine's change of direction with LOTRO.
My mistake was that I had a Lifetime Sub with LOTRO. It's not like I can truly "quit" the game since I forked out alot of money to Turbine in good faith. Those bastages already got what they wanted from me and they can give 2 s**ts if this customer "left" since they got all the money already.
Lesson For Today: Don't be an idiot like me and get a Lifetime Sub anywhere.
So now I'm in EVE learning the ropes and seeing what all the commotion is with that MMO.
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
I don't really see what the problem is. From what I understand, current subscribers will be relatively unaffected.
The problem is that people's knees are jerking. They're flipping out over the idea of F2P without really looking at the differences between Free, Premium and VIP players.
The way this system is set up by Turbine, the ideal is to pay for a monthly sub. Free players get little more than glorified demo, and Premium players could buy out the entire cash shop and STILL not come close to having everything that a paying subscriber does. Once you really look at the details, it's not nearly the end of the world that the more hysterical people think it is.
I've played F2P games before. I've also been on another MMO that was Sub-based but went F2P. From the experiences I had, I was not enthused about Turbine's change of direction with LOTRO.
So then the question here would be "what was your experience in those games that made you quit AND how does what LOTRO's (or ddo's store as lotro's will be similiar) store adds to the game replicate what you didn't like?
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
I just went to lotro.com and almost puked.... Some one please tell me this is a joke. My weekend has just been ruined.
I think it's.... sad that Turbine managed to screw up MMOs based on arguably the two biggest and move beloved fantasy IPs in the western world but I wouldn't vomit over it.
Going free-to-play is almost certainly better than shutting down entirely.
Pfft. whatever. I knew full well people would try to defend this underhanded bullshit. And that's exactly why tehse companies think they can get away with things like this.
Hey, whatever. Like I said, I'm not pissed enough to get all "I'm gonna sue, and call the BBB and cry all night" about it. I just don't care enough.
I'm already playing another game. LOTRO is doomed, and it's really sad to see. It was a good game.
You're in denial....the ship is sinking around you, and you refuse to admit it.
Good luck with your raids and end-game content....no one will be there to group with you for it because they're just moochin' F2P content, running the same crap over and over again.
Those who are willing to PAY for a game will have gone on to other, better things.
Pfft. whatever. I knew full well people would try to defend this underhanded bullshit. And that's exactly why tehse companies think they can get away with things like this.
Hey, whatever. Like I said, I'm not pissed enough to get all "I'm gonna sue, and call the BBB and cry all night" about it. I just don't care enough.
I'm already playing another game. LOTRO is doomed, and it's really sad to see. It was a good game.
You're in denial....the ship is sinking around you, and you refuse to admit it.
Good luck with your raids and end-game content....no one will be there to group with you for it because they're just moochin' F2P content, running the same crap over and over again.
Those who are willing to PAY for a game will have gone on to other, better things.
Of course... because nobody pays for anything in an F2P, they're all jobless broke mooches with no money to spend on an amazing AAA P2P loaded with content, great support, no bugs whatsoever, etc. Nobody who ha smoney even plays F2P games, what are these people even thinking bothering going F2P, they wont make any money at all.
/end saracasm
Hate to break it to you but most people who were going to leave the game already did, or if theyre leaving over it going F2P its over ignorant assumptions. If the game fails, it will be due to the reasons it was already only doing so-so, not because of the change in sub model.
Comments
People have been doing the math on this, and they believe that purchasing the game and expansions before it goes F2P will be cheaper than trying to buy the pieces after it is F2P... funny how that works out, eh?
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
They've given you notice. The game isn't going f2p for 4+ months.
if Turbine does it right, There will be Nothing wrong with the way f2p Lotro goes.
DDO is perfectly fine. They weren't making money with a subscription model so they opted for a VIP package approach ..Same thing with Lotro. Lifetime subs get lifetime VIP ..Simple.
DDO hasn't been ruined.
Look at games like Atlantica and Runes of Magic..There are two of the best free to play games bot relying on item malls, you don't seem stuff like this about them.
I believe Turbine is going with a...You can have the base game free but you need to buy the expansions (with CD Key) to be able to play that content....
It isn't a big deal...Company wasn't making money..it did the right thing, rather than going under.
Also you know, If you don't like the way Turbine is doing things..Don't play their games?
I for one never really thought the Lotro games were that popular to begin with..
And I won't be playing it again ever. It's uninstalled. Not even on the radar.
I would not have purchased the game again ( had an account a couple years ago, but picked up the game+expansions in a bundled pack since it seemed like the best way to go) if I had known that the game had no future.
Whatever, I got bit. Lesson learned. No more Turbine games.
I don't friggin' care if 12 million people start playing. I don't do F2P, I don't do cash shops, I don't do "Premium content".
The game is dead, as far as I care, just like Spellborne, DDO, and the rest of that F2P trash.
Becoming something you dont like does not = has no future. The game will still be around, and popular for a long time to come, otherwise they would just shut it down. Its your choice not to play it again because you dont like the changes, but please dont sit here and try to claim it has no future simply because YOU dont like a change that took place. Im sure many said the same thing about DDO, that it had no future because it was going F2P, and well its doing better than ever.
i hope my server is not hamred in this.
March on! - Lets Invade Pekopon
This is NOTHING like SWG:NGE. Nothing. Comparing LOTRO's change to SWG only diminished the cluster-fk that was the NGE.
So what was Turbine to do in your case? Pull all their games off of the store shelves when they made their decision? How ridiculous. On the other hand, SOE released an expansion and a week later announced the change. THAT is indeed foul.
You certainly have a right to feel angry at both changes -- but it is a false equivalency to compare the changes (or the companies for that matter).
_____________________________
Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO
Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
Find the Truth: http://www.factcheck.org/
What do you expect them to do? Stop selling the game a full year before they go F2P? No matter when they made the announcement, people who bought the game a week before they made this announcement is still going to feel as if Turbine robbed them of their money.
The SWG situation is entirely different as a brand new expansion was released mere weeks (or days) before the NGE hit, seemingly milking every last remaining SWG fan for every last bit of cash possible until the very end. Siege of Mirkwood has been around for almost half a year now, and even if it was released last week, non-VIP members still have to pay for the expansion content, so those that purchased the title at launch are not at any sort of a disadvantage.
The fact that you have paid for the title and all the expansion content nets you VIP access and about a two month headstart on the game that you would not have had otherwise simply by playing as a non-VIP member. You're simply upset because you spent money purchasing a game that just announced it would go free to play. That's your fault. Turbine did not slight you in the least.
I doubt the business model will work as well for lotro as it did for DDO. Main reason? DDO has a lot more free content than lotro will when it changes. According to the flowchart the only free quests are the 3 starting regions... That is nowhere near enough to get to cap, even in SoA (Shadows of Angmar).
I used to respect Turbine. I was happy when DDO turned f2p because I knew the game was on life support. This right here is just a money grab because they're assuming that lotro will generate exponential growth like DDO did, when it most likely won't.
Turbine, you make me sadface. I don't care that you make all your games f2p, I really don't. But don't call them f2p when 50-80% of each game is considered premium pay-for content.
Of course it was underhanded. You think that Turbine was going to tell the market 6-months ago that their toying with a ftp model for LotRO? No, otherwise they wouldn't have fleeced you.
Please, not to be personal, but this is what happens when suckers buy-into a dated, graphically and game-play handicapped game that is on its last leg.
Anyone here cheer-leading for LotRO, Vanguard, EQ2, etc....your days are numbered. They are mediocre games for a reason in 2010; a reason in which the developers and publisher even know.
Rather than be a hypocrit and say you'll never subscribe to a ftp game, when in fact your game is destined for ftp, embrace it. Your games are in the minority and so are you. Thats not to say that the games offer no value, but compared to upcoming titles that are a combination of subscritption, hybrid or ftp, the vast majority of existing mmorpgs that are 3+ years old are only around for continual pocket-change for investment in something else, rather than to fund the existing game.
I feel exactly the same way. I actually like the F2P hybrid model Turbine uses for DDO, and wish more upcoming MMOs would look at using a similar one. Personally, I think people who discard all F2P games (and the people who play them) as 'trash' are quite ignorant.
Unfortunately, like you said, this just reeks of a cash grab attempt. People will have to buy content/subscribe in order to get to cap. That isn't free to play at all, it's an extended demo. Not quite as bad as pay to win IMHO, but Turbine is definitely walking the line. They've lost my trust.
Okay, first off, LOTRO was/is doing fine. 250 - 300k subscribers for any non-WoW MMO is pretty good, and I'd hardly call it 'on its last legs'.
Secondly, he didn't get fleeced. He would have had to buy those expansions anyway, and as pointed out, it's actually cheaper to get them now than after the switch to F2P.
Turbine is being shifty, but not for that reason.
totally wrong on the free to play model . everyone knows most free to play games end up being more expensive than pay to play games unless your looking at something like ddo which is nt really free to play but more a hybrid model.
totally right about the community going down hill . at least in the short term how many kids or idiots do you think will play this beyond the mid 20s .theres gonna be several bad weeks of noob this noob that before they go elsewhere . after that it ll go back to the status quo but with more players .
How is that different than DDO?
DDO = level 4 cap unless you either happen to get the required items to increase your cap, or buy them from cash shop with either $ or earned points. And even if you did unlock up to level 20 but didnt buy any of the content, dont you pretty much have to get some of the adventure packs/dungeons in order to even make it up to 20 without a ridiculous grind (i may be wrong on this 2nd part, correct me if i am, its been awhile).
Lotro = Pretty much full acess to everything up to Bree (which we could kind of equate to reaching level 4 in DDO), and then you either pay for or use earned points to unlock the rest of the content. And you are actually able to play past Bree following the main story/books but just not additional quest content.
Only real difference I see is DDO has items in game which unlock 1 XP level at a time, and LOTRO doesn't (as far as i know) offer a similar item ingame for unlocking more content/levels. Doesnt much matter though if your eable to earn points from playing the game in both cases.
LOL... Everyone also used to "know" that the Earth is flat, is the center of the universe, and humans were the first ones here.
They got rid of the leveling tokens recently, and even with buying adventure packs you still have to repeat a lot of content to get to 20. The packs just give you more variety. The point is though, you can still get there without spending a dime.
Actually, that's what I did start doing yesterday.
I was playing LOTRO since summer '07. I came and went when new MMOs came out such as WAR (ha) and AoC (haha). I even was with the recent Star Trek Online, but stopped because I didn't like the lack of action by the devs on certain key issues for me and direction the game was going. So I left it very recently.
My intent was to go back to good 'ol reliable LOTRO. I left several times but I always came back to an improved game and pretty decent community (Firefoot, but it's a tad small compared to other servers).
On the day I left STO to take up LOTRO again, I see the news on the front page and was in total shock.
I've played F2P games before. I've also been on another MMO that was Sub-based but went F2P. From the experiences I had, I was not enthused about Turbine's change of direction with LOTRO.
My mistake was that I had a Lifetime Sub with LOTRO. It's not like I can truly "quit" the game since I forked out alot of money to Turbine in good faith. Those bastages already got what they wanted from me and they can give 2 s**ts if this customer "left" since they got all the money already.
Lesson For Today: Don't be an idiot like me and get a Lifetime Sub anywhere.
So now I'm in EVE learning the ropes and seeing what all the commotion is with that MMO.
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
The problem is that people's knees are jerking. They're flipping out over the idea of F2P without really looking at the differences between Free, Premium and VIP players.
The way this system is set up by Turbine, the ideal is to pay for a monthly sub. Free players get little more than glorified demo, and Premium players could buy out the entire cash shop and STILL not come close to having everything that a paying subscriber does. Once you really look at the details, it's not nearly the end of the world that the more hysterical people think it is.
So then the question here would be "what was your experience in those games that made you quit AND how does what LOTRO's (or ddo's store as lotro's will be similiar) store adds to the game replicate what you didn't like?
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
I think it's.... sad that Turbine managed to screw up MMOs based on arguably the two biggest and move beloved fantasy IPs in the western world but I wouldn't vomit over it.
Going free-to-play is almost certainly better than shutting down entirely.
Pfft. whatever. I knew full well people would try to defend this underhanded bullshit. And that's exactly why tehse companies think they can get away with things like this.
Hey, whatever. Like I said, I'm not pissed enough to get all "I'm gonna sue, and call the BBB and cry all night" about it. I just don't care enough.
I'm already playing another game. LOTRO is doomed, and it's really sad to see. It was a good game.
You're in denial....the ship is sinking around you, and you refuse to admit it.
Good luck with your raids and end-game content....no one will be there to group with you for it because they're just moochin' F2P content, running the same crap over and over again.
Those who are willing to PAY for a game will have gone on to other, better things.
Of course... because nobody pays for anything in an F2P, they're all jobless broke mooches with no money to spend on an amazing AAA P2P loaded with content, great support, no bugs whatsoever, etc. Nobody who ha smoney even plays F2P games, what are these people even thinking bothering going F2P, they wont make any money at all.
/end saracasm
Hate to break it to you but most people who were going to leave the game already did, or if theyre leaving over it going F2P its over ignorant assumptions. If the game fails, it will be due to the reasons it was already only doing so-so, not because of the change in sub model.
Well, all I know is that when I tried DDO as FTP I ended up spending $ 40 a month on stuff instead of $ 15 lol
IMO this is a great move for LoTRO.
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