Note: This article refers to information available prior to the launch of LOTRO F2P. Please see Choosing an Account Type for information based on the current state of the game.
Last last spring, Turbine announced they would be converting Lord of the Rings Online to Free-to-Play this fall (2010). This caused quite a stir in the LOTRO community. Questions were asked and answered. Rumors were quashed. Now that the dust has settled, it's time to answer that key question still on many minds: "How free is Free-to-Play?"
If you are new to LOTRO
When Free-to-Play launches, you'll be able to download the game for free and start playing without a subscription or a credit card.The free content will include quest packs for three zones: The Shire, Ered Luin and Bree-land, and access to all 11 PvE zones in Eriador (the game's original area), where you can explore and fight monsters. Also included in the free content will be Volume I of the epic story and two "skirmishes", replayable instances that scale to your level and can be joined from anywhere in the world.
With a Free account, you'll be limited to two characters per server. LOTRO will have 15 North American servers for the Free-to-Play launch, so you'll have the opportunity to try each of the 4 races and 7 regular classes available to Free accounts before picking one to level. There will be some restrictions on chat, mail, gold and the auction house (presumably designed to discourage gold sellers), but these shouldn't prevent you from enjoying the game as a player.
As with most free-to-play MMOs, there may come a time when the extra content and convenience items offered for sale in the LOTRO Store become pretty darn attractive. While it will be possible to level to 50 on a Free Account just by adventuring in Middle-earth, it is expected to be slow going. The quest packs will start whispering your name. You'll have some Turbine Points (the currency used by the LOTRO Store) that you earned by playing, but probably not enough to buy everything you want.
The next question is: are you ready to crack open your wallet?
Upgrading from Free to Premium
Get a feel for LOTRO in this video by cleaveedge.
For many people the answer will be "yes!". If you are a casual player, only playing a few hours a month, it could take you months to finish a single quest pack. Plus there will be lots to do in LOTRO as a Free or Premium player besides adventuring. Crafting, housing, music, hobbies and cosmetics will all be available to you. Want to play music with friends or fish all day? No problem.
Upgrading to VIP
On the other hand, if you find yourself buying Turbine Points in the LOTRO Store at an alarming rate, it's time to consider upgrading to a "VIP" account. Even though a VIP account will be a monthly subscription (current rates are $9.37 to $14.99 per month, depending on the plan your choose), you may actually save money if you think you'll be spending that much a la carte.Consider what you'll get as a VIP: 5 character slots per server, unlimited access to all game content for Eriador, 5 more skirmishes, more bag space and storage, no gold limit, Monster Play (PvP) and more. Plus VIPs will get 500 free Turbine Points per month to spend. It really comes down to convenience and the pace at which you consume content.
Downgrading from VIP to Premium
Another concern some players have about VIP is that some months they have a lot of time to play and other months they don't. It will be possible to upgrade to VIP for a few months (pay a monthly subscription), then downgrade to Premium (go Free-to-play). Just remember, you'll lose access to some VIP features and any content you didn't purchase separately as quest packs or expansions. But you'll regain the VIP features and content if you re-subscribe. Bottom line, the hybrid account model should support taking a break nicely.Joining LOTRO Now
| UPDATE: As of 8/17, LOTRO's Free Trial Program is closed. If you have the trial underway, you will be able to complete it. |
If you are looking forward to LOTRO Free-to-Play in the fall, you don't have to wait to try out LOTRO. If you play the 10 Day Free Trial now, all characters you created will be transferred into LOTRO Free-to-Play. After Free-to-Play launches, you'll have to update your account info and choose which character you want to play as a Free account. Your other previously created characters will be visible but not accessible unless you unlock more character slots. We can't say for certain, but this might be good way to beat the launch day rush.
Finally, you may want to register for the Beta for LOTRO Free-to-Play. Beta testing is not for everyone, but if you enjoy it this could be a good way to help shape the LOTRO Free-to-Play experience. You can also sign up for the newsletter at the same link.
Related Articles
- Choosing an Account Type
- Choosing a LOTRO Server
- Choosing a Class, Part 1: Soloing
- Choosing a Class, Part 2: Grouping
- Winning Race & Class Combos
15 comments:
Also if you join LoTRO now and start subscribing, you will get 500 Turbine points per month that you login to the game before launch.
Source: http://www.lotro.com/support/policies/loyaltyreward
Sadly, that ship has already sailed. To qualify for the Loyalty Rewards, "Non-Lifetime Membership Subscribers to LOTRO must maintain a paid subscription from June, 30th 2010 to the launch of LOTRO Free-to-Play". Lifetimers need to log in once a calendar month.
http://www.lotro.com/support/policies/loyaltyreward
i think its still going on... "Eligible Subscribers will automatically receive 500 free Turbine Points for each completed calendar month they remain eligible. This limited point grant starts on June, 1st 2010 and continues until the first day of the month that LOTRO Free-to-Play becomes available to the general public ("Launches")."
Does that not mean if you subscribe and login between Jun 1st 2010 til launch you will get the points?
http://www.lotro.com/support/policies/loyaltyreward
You are correct, eligible subscribers will get the point grant as you described. The key here is "eligible". You had to be a subscriber as of June 30th to be eligible. If you "join LoTRO now", you won't be eligible because the eligibility date has passed. I know, it's confusing.
Ah, ok. Lol. Thats very confusing at 3am in the morning. Thanks.
I read this and was very depressed. I was about to resub to this game after becoming disenfranchised with the recent RealID fiasco on WoW. I now see that I will be punished for being a week late.
I wrote the following email (my name is omitted) to their tech support ticket system for account reactivation and await the verdict:
I have two accounts, one is under my fiance's name. I have been playing world of warcraft and was about to cancel my account there and come back to LOTRO after their recent realid fiasco.
Unfortunately, I read this:
http://www.lotro.com/support/policies/loyaltyreward
and it looks like for being a week late I will be heavily penalized. I own all the expansions on my account and even paid for the pre-order of mirkwood which was so grindy I quit before level cap, mostly out of exasperation with the non-existent support for pvmp. I've read recently that turbine intends to use pvmp as a hook for subscribers and that it will be getting some VERY long needed love which is one of the reasons I was considering coming back to this game and not warhammer/aion/age of conan or one of the other f2p games I have accounts with.
I would like to know why there is a June 30th cut off on the accumulation of points and if this is flexible and if exceptions will be made. I would like to come back for the pvmp primarily but I see resubbing now means that I will be hamstringed with no store points that everyone one else will have when the conversion goes live.
Is this the case? Is it possible to still get in on the store points by directly contacting? I can't post on the forums to ask questions so this is the only medium available to me.
If I am allowed back you will get my subscription for sure and maybe another one depending on if she wants to play again. We both enjoyed the PvMP and I canceled my account based solely on it being ignored.
Thanks for any information you can provide,
I hope they come to their senses, punishing people by giving everyone else a huge advantage on the conversion is bad business.
Well you will get points after it goes free to play as well IIRC. All VIPs get 500 points a month if they stayed subscribed..
yea but i didn't i haven't played since like december or january but i own all the expansions and got the adventurer's pack so i feel like i should get the points whether i stayed subscribed or not having already shown a higher than average level of patronage.
not getting the points means that everyone who does will have an obscene advantage especially the lifers since they get the highest number of welfare points.
i've read on the official forums their average wait time is 1 1/2 weeks for an account question response which is pretty pathetic. i will probably just re-sub to AoC instead since i've read the godslayer expansion is good and my primary interest in lotro has been pvmp which has been neglected completely (i saw the petition to have a tree added to the moors is still alive and well and existed both before and after i canceled).
you will be missing out on 500 turbine points, which will most likely equate to around $5 USD. If you subscribe to the game as a VIP member, you will receive 500 points each month you are subscribed starting now. All turbine simply did was allow the people who were subscribed to the game during June start accumulating points now. I'm not sure how long you played, but if your account was active during last year's anniversary (you would have the writ of travel for stable discounts) you will receive a bonus of 500 more turbine points. If I'm correct, with all the bonuses, the most points you will get free on launch day will be 2000-2500 which will most likely be about $20-25 USD. If you subscribe your account this month you will receive 500 points for this month and 500 more for every month up until launch.
In other words... you won't be "penalized" you would be missing out on $5 worth of stuff because you weren't paying for it.
that's not what terms say, they say you don't get jack if you weren't subscribed on 6/30 and yes i got the writ of travel on my account but not my g/f's because she missed signing up for it.
the way the rules are written i don't accumulate points if i sign up now but everyone else does and i don't start until they switch over.
i wrote their account people an email without so much as an automated reply; they may as well be blizzard cause the CS is lacking and i can't even post on the forums which get far quicker attention because it requires a paid account.
$25 worth of points is almost equal to the $30 it would cost for the plan i was on and would pick back up again. as i said i'm only interested in pvmp (mostly creep side although my loremaster was rank 5) and they haven't announced doing anything with it and the only thing i can find on the forums regarding the points is that they will sell virtue ranks which only benefits pve.
i don't understand how they can try to use pvmp as a hook to get paid subscribers (vip) members though if they leave it like it is (the same for years) so the implication is that they will be doing something new with it.
does anyone have any details as to their direction here?
Lunatuna said:
July 8, 2010 6:27 AM
You are correct, eligible subscribers will get the point grant as you described. The key here is "eligible". You had to be a subscriber as of June 30th to be eligible. If you "join LoTRO now", you won't be eligible because the eligibility date has passed. I know, it's confusing.
I think the key here is that Turbine thinks of these as "Loyalty Rewards" - intended bonuses for players who kept subscribing when others left to play other games. Will these players get an advantage? Yes, but they paid for it! That said, they ~may~ change the eligibility requirements if enough former/returning players ask for it, but for now the eligibility date has passed.
The dev chat with Warcry today unveiled the TP pricing:
Yes, at this time the LOTRO point prices are the same as DDO, though this could change in the future. For anyone who isn't familiar with the prices they are: 420 points for $6.50, 1550 points for $19.50, 2500 points for $29.50 and 5000 points for $49.99.
What about swift travel as a free player?
Swift travel is a subscriber-only perk. Even Premium players don't get it. For soloing, it's a really noticeable inconvenience. For instances, raids and skirmishes, not at all thanks to Instance Join/Skirmish Join.
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