Priced out of LOTRO

[Sharpy1]

As an exclusively end game player, one of the things I most enjoy doing in this game is working towards acquiring the very best gear for my characters. Today, the only way to acquire the very best gear is to spend $70 on the legendary edition of the new expansion. Even assuming that I would buy the base edition for $40 (I balked at this price, but that's a separate issue), it is still $30 in cash to obtain the very best gear. For those who have not followed recent developments, the "very best gear" I'm talking about is a crystal of rememberance which adds an extra (major) legacy to your legendary item. I was actually excited about the pre order announcement until I saw the pricing models. This smacks of a cash grab targeted at players like me who want the very best. The legendary edition is clearly targeted at end game players as the benefits for others are minimal. This is insulting.

I tolerated past store items such as stat tomes and star-lit crystals because they could in theory be obtained in game or at the very least one could grind out enough turbine points to purchase them from the store. There is no way to earn the crystal of rememberance in game, and I've lost the incentive to play this game. I logged in today to see one of the most notoriously bad players on my server flashing around his new 7 legacy legendary item. No matter what in game accomplishments I achieve my legendary item will not be as good as his. I could open my wallet get the item, but what then? I won't have the feeling that I earned it, and I will have no further reason to play the game because I just bought the best item. You can debate all day the extent that a 7th legacy provides advantage, and it surely won't make a bad player good, but the fact remains that for players like myself and other end gamers who strive for the very best, the 7th legacy is an advantage.

While this is still a very good core game, with a lot of talented and passionate people working on it, I'm afraid it has been ruined by bad management decisions and shady marketing practices. We've seen a clear trend of development of new store products (including ones that affect in game performance) rather than new content and support for existing (often buggy) content. I'm happy to pay for the hard work that goes into this game, but I will not be extorted to pay for in game advantages, especially while other problems with the game go ignored. I had been debating whether or not to resub or take a break and wait for Rohan, but this latest move is the final straw for me. I will not be renewing my subscription and I will not be pre ordering Rohan. I might check back after release to see if anything has changed, but given historical trends I fear things will only get worse.

[Celestrata]

As an exclusively end game player, one of the things I most enjoy doing in this game is working towards acquiring the very best gear for my characters. Today, the only way to acquire the very best gear is to spend $70 on the legendary edition of the new expansion. Even assuming that I would buy the base edition for $40 (I balked at this price, but that's a separate issue), it is still $30 in cash to obtain the very best gear. For those who have not followed recent developments, the "very best gear" I'm talking about is a crystal of rememberance which adds an extra (major) legacy to your legendary item.

Just to clarify, the Crystal of Remembrance will be available in the store, separately, on launch day. The pricing for the expansion items in the store can be found here: http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...sked-Questions.