LOTRO And The (Un)Free To Play Plan

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!"

[Djorgo]

Hehe, more to it than just the press release, that is for sure!

[HolyOrangeCows]

I'm glad to read this. I've wanted to try this game out.

And heck, if it's any good, I probably WILL buy the expansion packs.

[Chazmers]

An interesting piece, am intrigued by LOTRO being free-to-play but somethings are too good to be true.

[Maticus]

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!

[Dorjan]

I love this system. I totally agree that it is much better than the average system out there :)

[karlowma]

Sweet. Anyone know when?

Edit: Nvm, this autumn.

[Cpt_Leg]

This does seem like a good idea. I'm tempted to try it as the trial was not enough for me and LOTRO :D

"You can play for free, to see if you like a game, before you ever invest in it. I consider it to be extremely innovative, and my guess is that this is the wave of the future."

Agree :)

[dustindeckard]

I can't wait to get back in to LOTRO. I paid for it for a couple of months but was just too busy to get my money's worth.

DDO is an excellent model and really is TRULY free. I've personally spent about $15 in the DDO store for potions (convenience of not having to run in to town all the time for them), but that's it. Shelling out a bunch of dough doesn't really give you an advantage, it just makes things more convenient. It's a fantastic system and I can't wait to see how LOTRO works out, especially since it seems the "Turbine Points" are going to be cross-platform between DDO and LOTRO.

[Motion]

Yeah, I completely agree. I played the game for about 6 months, and loved it, but wanted to check out other MMO's and can't justify more than one sub a month. I'm really looking forward to this, and I'm glad that if you bought the box version your automatically a premiere sub (or whatever its called) and dont lose out on any content you have already purchased. Can't wait to jump back in this fall.

[Neoicelord]

Very nice game!

[hazelamy]

for the casual player it should be very easy to play for free, if you're not bothered about the best gear or mounts or getting to the highest levels.
and maybe some vanity items that offer no stat bonuses but look great.
the more hardcore players will spend money, the most hardcore players could well end up spending a lot more than they would otherwise.
whether or not you think the free to play supported by a store model is a good one will likely depend on what kind of player you are.
but i have no doubt you could play the game for free and enjoy it.
i know i'll be giving it a try.
and at least this change is coming to europe unlike with ddo.

[wollie]

this is awesome! Me and my wife love this game but two subs ($30/month) was just way to much. I'm sure we'll pick this back up. This is the best MMO in IMO if you are most interested in PvE. The PvP content is sub par, but I hate that stuff anyway. I just hope lots of kiddies don't flood the game and ruin it.