IncGamers' Jeff Hollis looks at how the new deal from Turbine could be a real money-spinner for the LOTRO developers. A snip:
"Hello, my fellow virtual space dweller, and welcome to this week's edition of MMO Weekly. In this week's edition, we'll explore the biggest news to hit MMOs in quite some time. That news, of course, is that the successful MMO Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) is breaking away from its subscription model, and is now becoming a “free to play” (FTP) game.
Everyone is in a tizzy trying to wrap their brains around this, and gamers are all excited. The kicker, of course, that LOTRO actually isn't really going free to play. Well, it is, but it isn't. Sort of. Oh, never mind, read on, my fellow geekling!"
New raids, class updates, festivals and more are on the calendar.
Now this makes me feel old! I remember playing the beta while I worked at Gamestop. I honestly didn't even know this game was still online! A quick search showed that it's even F2P now, so I may check it out for nostalgia's sake.
I only subbed at launch for 1-2 months bc I was already caught up in WoW at the time. I love the LotR universe though and would like to see how it's being handled these days.
Before the Shadow is the latest expansion to the still-thriving MMORPG, Lord of the Rings Online, introducing new regions and mechanics.
From MMORPG: "Some Lord of the Rings Online players may have been aware of an unofficial rogue server project that was set to release this month called Echoes of Angmar. Aiming to create a true vanilla version of LOTRO, trait lines and map-less Old Forest and all, the server ran the real risk of drawing legal ire down on its head because of the unlicensed use of a very much still-operating and still-in-development MMO.
PLAY LOTRO FOR FREEAnd in fact, the Echoes of Angmar’s team received a cease-and-desist letter from Middle-earth Enterprises today demanding the cessation of all work and operation: “It is thus with a heavy heart that we must ask that you immediately cease all of your unauthorized use of Echoes of Angmar, and all other Tolkien-related IP on all platforms.”
Hehe, more to it than just the press release, that is for sure!
An interesting piece, am intrigued by LOTRO being free-to-play but somethings are too good to be true.
By all accounts, DDO made a mint after swapping to free-to-play thanks to all the extras the game's new players shelled out for. Good for LOTRO!
I love this system. I totally agree that it is much better than the average system out there :)
Sweet. Anyone know when?
Edit: Nvm, this autumn.