The Lord of the Rings Online goes free to play in two days, on September 10th. As a current subscriber, I get an early look at the new point store, new zone, and lots of other changes, rules, limits (or lack of limits if I keep subscribing) and, I’ll admit it, some confusion.
I’m not the obsessive MMO player I used to be, where I’d follow official and unofficial forums like a dog on a scent. I couldn’t tell you what my monthly fee might be if I decide to keep subscribing. Does it stay the same? Does it increase? What happens if I stop subscribing? Does my gold disappear? What about the characters I already have over the cap?
I know I could find these answers in a thread on the official forums, but I hardly take time to blog any more – I’m hoping that nothing really changes, I get charged the same amount, and the game I’ve casually enjoyed through 56 levels, deep into Moria, doesn’t change too much for me.
I’m happy Turbine is experimenting, I like some aspects of the free to play model, and I think it’ll be good for the game, but I’m also being selfish. I don’t want to do any extra work. Sue me, I’m lazy 🙂 I’m looking forward to logging in and checking things out, though. Think I have to give it the usual patch-day level of expectations? Probably. Right now the updater is bombing out behind my Word Press window – maybe it’ll be tomorrow before I get to check things out.
I’ll post my opinions about the F2P changes, and if it impacts an old casual subscriber, or if the game just keeps ticking along for me.
Anyone else going to start playing, or return to play, now that it’s free?
Filed under: LOTRO |
/random 
Returning yes. In fact I got an email with what looked like an invite to the early look. It stated: “LOTRO – You Get a Head Start: LOTRO is Now Free to Play!”
NOPE! Only current subscribers get to still play after the patch…as an early look. Ummm huh?
That’s stupid! I’m a current subscriber, and I got the same email, and I was able to get in last night. I had to change my Windows Firewall settings to including the Turbine Launcher and Turbine Invoker for the patch to finally download, and then I could play.
I can’t figure out why they’d send you a message if you weren’t a current subscriber.
I might check it out again. The free trial I did a while back was at least middling fun, and I can take a few more pretty screenshots.
I’m tired of the *gameplay* of the standard DIKU MMO, though, so I doubt LOTRO will hold me for long.
I hear that, Tesh. LoTRO still has the DIKU feel for me. There are a ton of distractions if you’re interested, but the basic fighting and leveling is pretty much the same.
I try to balance the leveling between quests and skirmishes, and it keeps the game fairly fresh if I don’t overdose on play sessions.