What I miss about VIP

[MrsAngelD]

I've read so many threads lately where people were beginning to wonder about whether VIP was worth it or not I thought I would share what I miss since atm the hubby and I are not VIP due too some real life issues.

The hubby and I began playing LOTRO back before there was even a hint that LOTRO might become F2P. We both purchased SOA, MOM and SOM. I also got myself the adventurers pack for shared storage and a couple extra character slots. We played for a long time as VIP's even maintaining our subscriptions after the F2P changeover. Then real life happened and for reasons I'll not go into, we had to put our gaming subscriptions on hold for a bit. So here we are now, playing on our Premium accounts.

The first thing I noticed was I had to pick a character to lock out, because I hadn't unlocked them with tp.

I should mention that right after going premium I did unlock the ah slots with tp I had left over from my VIP sub time, I figured I would need a way to make money to pay for my personal and kin housing upkeep.

The second thing I missed about being VIP was crafting guild access. My wood worker was happily leveling her way through guild rep, and on the ally tier when we dropped our subs, finally I had maxed out ally but couldn't hit kindred because I was premium and hadn't purchased access to the guild. So I had to put that off for while, (time to grind tp) I eventually earned the TP to purchase access, but it was definitely not as easy as when I was VIP.

We were leveling a mini/guard team together, but we had to put them on hold for a while because they were questing in evendim, and well we didn't have the tp, to get evendim. (must grind more tp)

My LM was out in esteldin, I had to get her to the shire, no problem I'll just swift to bree first...oh wait (must grind more tp) no swift travel unlocked.

That's ok I'll level my warden, oh wait, she's in North downs(must grind tp) I haven't unlocked north downs yet, and oh yeah, no swift travel either. It's so annoying to get the little popup alert telling you that you need to purchase access to an area.

Well maybe I'll start another character and just level her for a while(grind tp while leveling). Geeze I have to run back to town every 10 minutes because my bags are full and I only have 3 of them.

My friend logged on and struck up a conversation with me, after a few moments I was getting the annoying message that I was sending messages too quickly and should slow down...that never happened when I was VIP.

At the moment we can't yet enjoy the new content because we haven't been able to purchase enedwaith yet. We have been grinding tp like mad the past few days, and believe me it's very grindy..I think I have shire blindness from doing deeds in the shire on multiple toons repeatedly.

Anyway we are looking forward to re-subbing as soon as real life allows, and will definitely be keeping access because not having vip access after having it feels very, very, restricted.

[JeanCarlo]

Nice post; an interesting item to point out tho, is that all the zones you don't have now (that you mentioned) went on 75% sale at one time or another including Enedwaith - probably during the times when you (and hubby) were VIP. In a way, you missed out on them Because you were VIP.

As for the rest...
Swift Travel - this Should have unlocked for your LM and Warden unless she's below the level required (40?) in which case you wouldn't have Swift Travel Even if you were VIP. The only way to get it earlier is by buying it, VIP or not.

Craft guilds, etc - what did you do to your TPs? Based on your post, you should have quite a bit, from the loyalty rewards (at least 1 anniversary's worth?) and your monthlies.

Good luck!

[MrsAngelD]

Nice post; an interesting item to point out tho, is that all the zones you don't have now (that you mentioned) went on 75% sale at one time or another including Enedwaith - probably during the times when you (and hubby) were VIP. In a way, you missed out on them Because you were VIP.

As for the rest...
Swift Travel - this Should have unlocked for your LM and Warden unless she's below the level required (40?) in which case you wouldn't have Swift Travel Even if you were VIP. The only way to get it earlier is by buying it, VIP or not.

Craft guilds, etc - what did you do to your TPs? Based on your post, you should have quite a bit, from the loyalty rewards (at least 1 anniversary's worth?) and your monthlies.

Good luck!

Your right we did miss the sales because we were VIP, as I said I did spend tp on unlocking AH slots. When the game first went F2P We spent a good portion of our points on getting more storage, both shared and regular. Also we were not aware that we would no longer be able to be VIPs and so we spent a few TP here and there on frivolities.

As far as the swift travel goes, my characters were both lvl 39's so I missed the swift travel by a level. however it's still an inconvenience. when we are used to our 65's who still have swift travel everywhere.

[JeanCarlo]

As far as the swift travel goes, my characters were both lvl 39's so I missed the swift travel by a level. however it's still an inconvenience. when we are used to our 65's who still have swift travel everywhere.

That's not a VIP item tho; as I said, the only way you could get it Pre-L40 is by buying it with Tp, whether you're VIP or not.

[MrsAngelD]

That's not a VIP item tho; as I said, the only way you could get it Pre-L40 is by buying it with Tp, whether you're VIP or not.

I'm aware of that I meant when they hit level 40 I had no access to swift travel, unless I purchased it.

[enginekid]

cancel your television cable account!

who watches TV anymore? i don't. I do everything on the internet. if you cancel TV you can use that extra money to go VIP

[FyreBrand]

I'm aware of that I meant when they hit level 40 I had no access to swift travel, unless I purchased it.

I was under the impression (from another VIP -> Premium thread) that if the character was active during VIP that it wouldn't lose swift travel when dropping to premium. Does the swift travel need to be unlocked while VIP to keep it then?

[JeanCarlo]

I was under the impression (from another VIP -> Premium thread) that if the character was active during VIP that it wouldn't lose swift travel when dropping to premium. Does the swift travel need to be unlocked while VIP to keep it then?

Yes; you only keep STs that you 'open' up as VIP. AFAIK, this only includes those Locations you visited (so if you've never been to ND and hit L40 and then dropped from VIP, you don't get the ST).

Not 100% sure if you have to visit the stable Again after hitting the mark tho - i.e. if you last visited it at L39, hit 40 and dropped without visiting that stable, if you still get it.

[Grieyls]

I was wondering what the perks were, now I know. Thankyou MsAngelD, it's nice to be able to see the other side of the coin for a change to put things into perspective

[achromatis]

You do not lose Swift Travel on characters played while VIP by going to Premium.

[Crell_1]

Yes; you only keep STs that you 'open' up as VIP. AFAIK, this only includes those Locations you visited (so if you've never been to ND and hit L40 and then dropped from VIP, you don't get the ST).

Not 100% sure if you have to visit the stable Again after hitting the mark tho - i.e. if you last visited it at L39, hit 40 and dropped without visiting that stable, if you still get it.

Wrong.

I'm perfectly able to swift to and from hubs I didnt see until months after dropping vip! This perk is given just by logging into the characters during VIP once, like all the others. The only perk that has any level requirement what so ever is questing for riding at 20 instead of buying it from the store.

You must still meet all the other requirements to use the swift travel if you dont want to pay tp. (Quest-gates/Deed Gates/Level Restrictions).

[Chiot]

As I pointed out elsewhere, if you are leveling characters, VIP is worth the $10 per month. If you are max level, then Premium is the cheaper option.

[Sapience]

I've read so many threads lately where people were beginning to wonder about whether VIP was worth it or not I thought I would share what I miss since atm the hubby and I are not VIP due too some real life issues.

The hubby and I began playing LOTRO back before there was even a hint that LOTRO might become F2P. We both purchased SOA, MOM and SOM. I also got myself the adventurers pack for shared storage and a couple extra character slots. We played for a long time as VIP's even maintaining our subscriptions after the F2P changeover. Then real life happened and for reasons I'll not go into, we had to put our gaming subscriptions on hold for a bit. So here we are now, playing on our Premium accounts.

The first thing I noticed was I had to pick a character to lock out, because I hadn't unlocked them with tp.

I should mention that right after going premium I did unlock the ah slots with tp I had left over from my VIP sub time, I figured I would need a way to make money to pay for my personal and kin housing upkeep.

The second thing I missed about being VIP was crafting guild access. My wood worker was happily leveling her way through guild rep, and on the ally tier when we dropped our subs, finally I had maxed out ally but couldn't hit kindred because I was premium and hadn't purchased access to the guild. So I had to put that off for while, (time to grind tp) I eventually earned the TP to purchase access, but it was definitely not as easy as when I was VIP.

We were leveling a mini/guard team together, but we had to put them on hold for a while because they were questing in evendim, and well we didn't have the tp, to get evendim. (must grind more tp)

My LM was out in esteldin, I had to get her to the shire, no problem I'll just swift to bree first...oh wait (must grind more tp) no swift travel unlocked.

That's ok I'll level my warden, oh wait, she's in North downs(must grind tp) I haven't unlocked north downs yet, and oh yeah, no swift travel either. It's so annoying to get the little popup alert telling you that you need to purchase access to an area.

Well maybe I'll start another character and just level her for a while(grind tp while leveling). Geeze I have to run back to town every 10 minutes because my bags are full and I only have 3 of them.

My friend logged on and struck up a conversation with me, after a few moments I was getting the annoying message that I was sending messages too quickly and should slow down...that never happened when I was VIP.

At the moment we can't yet enjoy the new content because we haven't been able to purchase enedwaith yet. We have been grinding tp like mad the past few days, and believe me it's very grindy..I think I have shire blindness from doing deeds in the shire on multiple toons repeatedly.

Anyway we are looking forward to re-subbing as soon as real life allows, and will definitely be keeping access because not having vip access after having it feels very, very, restricted.

Thanks for sharing this. I think it's a really great example of one of the reasons we decided to offer the Free to Play option, but also some of the real advantages of being a VIP.

[MrsAngelD]

I was wondering what the perks were, now I know. Thankyou MsAngelD, it's nice to be able to see the other side of the coin for a change to put things into perspective

I'm glad I was able to help

Thanks for sharing this. I think it's a really great example of one of the reasons we decided to offer the Free to Play option, but also some of the real advantages of being a VIP.

Thanks Sapience, I'm happy to share my experiences, and I hope it helps others see what they gain by having their subscription versus not.

[Glamdrhel]

My first ever 3 month sub ends in three days and I've been tossing up to what I should do

I'm a casual gamer who only plays for a couple of hours every few days so FTP was perfect for me, but then I found myself closing out the lone lands and wanting more, so I subscribed.

I now have a lvl 39 Hunter and want to lvl a RK as well (which I purchased with TP)

Do I sub again, and save up the bonus TP I get monthly to purchase MOM when I get there?

[achromatis]

My first ever 3 month sub ends in three days and I've been tossing up to what I should do

I'm a casual gamer who only plays for a couple of hours every few days so FTP was perfect for me, but then I found myself closing out the lone lands and wanting more, so I subscribed.

I now have a lvl 39 Hunter and want to lvl a RK as well (which I purchased with TP)

Do I sub again, and save up the bonus TP I get monthly to purchase MOM when I get there?

http://lotro.mmorsel.com/2010/09/bes...ount-type.html

Might help. Jeez I feel like I need that link macrod.

[MrsAngelD]

My first ever 3 month sub ends in three days and I've been tossing up to what I should do

I'm a casual gamer who only plays for a couple of hours every few days so FTP was perfect for me, but then I found myself closing out the lone lands and wanting more, so I subscribed.

I now have a lvl 39 Hunter and want to lvl a RK as well (which I purchased with TP)

Do I sub again, and save up the bonus TP I get monthly to purchase MOM when I get there?

In all honesty at the very least that's what I would do, but I play quite a bit more than you seem too, so it may not be worth it to you. I'm not sure how many tp you have atm, but I will note that in order to get all of the pre-moria quest packs without sale prices, it's about 5260 turbine points. I'm not sure how many tp Moria, lothlorien, or mirkwood are because as I said we purchased them prior to the f2p changover so when we went premium we retained access to them.

So you might want to take into account the fact that once you return to premium, you loose access to all those quests (North Downs, Trollshaws, Evendim, Eregion, Forechel, Misty Mountians, and Angmar) and any deeds you don't already have open. I mean if you have the first tier of a slayer deed open already you can finish it but you won't be able to do the second tier.

[Chiot]

I now have a lvl 39 Hunter and want to lvl a RK as well (which I purchased with TP)

Subscribe for another 3 months. Use TP to buy Moria, Mirkwood, and Enedwaith quest packs. When you hit 65, stay Premium.

[abu-D820]

After reading this, i'm happy that i sprang for the lifetime account back a couple of years ago. Don't have to deal with any of this.
(dont mean to sound stuck-up)

[Addo]

My first ever 3 month sub ends in three days and I've been tossing up to what I should do

I'm a casual gamer who only plays for a couple of hours every few days so FTP was perfect for me, but then I found myself closing out the lone lands and wanting more, so I subscribed.

I now have a lvl 39 Hunter and want to lvl a RK as well (which I purchased with TP)

Do I sub again, and save up the bonus TP I get monthly to purchase MOM when I get there?

If you play a lot and use several character slots, earning TP is easier than when you play rarely with only one or two characters. This means that if you want to play casually with few characters and still progress through the game at a decent pace, VIP becomes more tempting rather than less. Interestingly enough there also seems to be a slight correlation between being very busy in your real-world life and earning enough money that paying with dollars feels cheap.

The person I see free-to-play (well, premium, pure free has too many restrictions) being ideal for is the one who plays several different characters when he/she does play, but has long random pauses of one week, two weeks etc between their few days playing. The pauses in play also mean that you can run two different characters through the same quest pack without feeling bored due to rerunning quests.

If you live in an area where the Mines of Moria boxed expansion can still be found in stores, that is probably your best option. It includes one month VIP, and some stores are clearing it out on sale at prices lower than the cost of one month VIP. The version you buy with TP does not include the VIP month.


Checklist before you drop from VIP to premium, if you still plan on dropping. Don't try doing all of these (at least I wouldn't!). They are just things you might want to consider and then pick what you feel is most important, if anything.

- Bought character slots for all characters you plan to run in the near future?
- Logged in all characters during VIP time to unlock gold cap, bag and trait slots, swift travel?
- Filled the extra two VIP character slots by creating and logging in at least once a couple of more characters, just in case you want to run them as your next project later, even though you know you won't have access to them until you buy slots again? You can always delete them later if you want to start something else.
- Gotten riding skill with all 20+ characters, and leveled anyone who is almost 20 to access that milestone?
- Tried at least one run of all skirmishes you can access, so you know if you will want to buy any of them?
- Reached kindred in crafting guilds? If you have supreme crafting ability this can be done from zero rep in less than three weeks even if you only log in twice per week to craft guild symbols.
- Cleared out surplus auction inventory by posting on AH for prices that should sell? Auctions started before dropping to premium remain active for their full duration, even when you drop from 30 to 5 slots.
- Selected interesting stuff to keep in your wardrobe slots? VIP adds 20 slots free, as premium you can no longer put stuff in wardrobe until you buy slots (or remove items) so that you have more slots than clothing in it, but items already in wardrobe can still be worn.
- Each character has killed at least one enemy of each type for slayer deeds in areas in your level range where you don't plan to buy their quest packs soon, just so future kills while helping others quest there don't go uncounted.
- If you plan to work towards a slayer virtue trait in areas you do not want to buy the quest pack for yet: Killed enough for the first tier of slayer plus started with the second tier. All started deeds can be finished in your own time after dropping, but the second tier counts as separate.
- Discovered at least one of the places for each explorer deed in the same type of areas, for the same reason.
- If you are near finishing one tier of "do-X-quests" deed in an area you do not plan to buy soon, visit quest givers and start enough quests that they will let you reach the required number when you complete them. You can still hand in active quests even in areas you lost access to, you just can't start any new quests.
- Finally, shortly before dropping to premium, log in all characters once to get your last refill of rest exp. Any rest exp added while VIP remains on your exp bar after dropping to premium until it is used up.

[dwarfwarden]

My experience has been quite different.

When I went premium, all of my characters were in the 40's and 50's. As a VIP, I'd built up a good supply of TP, enough to buy Angmar, Enedwaith and Eregion. This allowed me to easily level up to 50 or so. I owned Moria, so that wasn't an issue. My crafters had hit kin status while I was VIP.

The only thing I really miss out on at this point is use of Destiny Points and PVMP, but the truth is I never used either while I was VIP. The former because I generally forgot about them (!) and the latter because I just had no interest in running around the Moors as a big spider.

So I guess the lesson here is if you've got a level 50 or so character and you already own MoM and Mirkwood, you're not missing out on much by switching from VIP to Premium.

[Daragh]

It seems that the f2p option is a great intro to the game. I know some manage to play the whole game f2p, and I applaud their patience! I don't have that much In place of the usual two week free trial that a lot of games offer, f2p is a good option. It lets a person choose how much they want to try out before committing to a sub. Plus, the starter areas are some of the prettiest in the game!

I would never drop my sub as long as I'm able to play regularly, especially after reading your post, MrsAngelD! Thanks for posting your experience.

[cipher_nemo]

Even though I'm a day late in reading this thread, I wanted to respond to the OP in regards of why F2P Premium works for me. I do understand what the OP is trying to convey, but keep in mind that they went from VIP to F2P cold turkey without researching what they needed to unlock, etc.

The first thing I noticed was I had to pick a character to lock out, because I hadn't unlocked them with tp.

I have 9 character slots. 3 from Premium, 2 from MoM, 2 from the SoM Adventure pack, and 2 purchased. No problem here.

The second thing I missed about being VIP was crafting guild access. (...) I eventually earned the TP to purchase access, but it was definitely not as easy as when I was VIP.

Convenience factor. Unlocking it with TP works just fine.

We were leveling a mini/guard team together, but we had to put them on hold for a while because they were questing in evendim, and well we didn't have the tp, to get evendim. (must grind more tp)

Again, unlocks just fine in F2P with TP.

My LM was out in esteldin, I had to get her to the shire, no problem I'll just swift to bree first...oh wait (must grind more tp) no swift travel unlocked.

I call shenanigans on this one. If you had a character you either created or played while VIP, the swift travel is unlocked. No need for TP in this case. And no need to unlock swift travel ahead of time when VIP. My Champion never went to Forochel when I was a subscriber (before F2P). I was questing there, earning rep, and had no problem unlocking swift travel to Suri-Kyla through normal gameplay.

That's ok I'll level my warden, oh wait, she's in North downs(must grind tp) I haven't unlocked north downs yet, and oh yeah, no swift travel either. It's so annoying to get the little popup alert telling you that you need to purchase access to an area.

Again, easy to spend TP to unlock North Downs. And since you're annoyed at getting the popup alert about the area, then you never took the time to research your transition from VIP to F2P. Do you just jump into everything hoping it will play out to your own expectations? Regardless, I've unlocked all quest packs. I never see a pop-up when entering an area because of that.

Well maybe I'll start another character and just level her for a while(grind tp while leveling). Geeze I have to run back to town every 10 minutes because my bags are full and I only have 3 of them.

Start or play all characters while VIP. They'll have 5 bags when you play them as a F2P user. Easily solved. No need to spend TP for this. All 9 of my characters have 5 bags even though I'm a Premium user, and never spent TP to unlock it.

My friend logged on and struck up a conversation with me, after a few moments I was getting the annoying message that I was sending messages too quickly and should slow down...that never happened when I was VIP.

You'd have to be sending tells extremely fast. If you really need that sort of speed, why not use Ventrilo or some other VoIP software? I have no problems sending tells since the timeout between them is fairly forgiving.

At the moment we can't yet enjoy the new content because we haven't been able to purchase enedwaith yet. We have been grinding tp like mad the past few days, and believe me it's very grindy..I think I have shire blindness from doing deeds in the shire on multiple toons repeatedly.

Again, TP. Just purchase what you need. If you did your research ahead of time you would have 3,000 TP each due to your 500/month with the VIP sub. That would unlock pretty much everything you need, but not everything you'd want. If you blew the 3k already, then you really didn't plan ahead.

Anyway we are looking forward to re-subbing as soon as real life allows, and will definitely be keeping access because not having vip access after having it feels very, very, restricted.

You went from a "rent" model of gameplay to an "own" model of gameplay and realized you owned nothing. If this change surprised you than you didn't research ahead of time, which is your own fault. When I came back to LOTRO, I brought friends from my gaming community and researched the differences between F2P and P2P. I would have been naive to think everything should work as smoothly for F2P as it does for VIP right from the start. But the good news is once you unlock everything, it's like having a lifetime sub without PvP or ability to spend Destiny Points.

[Gedachtnis]

Thanks for sharing this. I think it's a really great example of one of the reasons we decided to offer the Free to Play option, but also some of the real advantages of being a VIP.

When the F2P Hybred model was released there was a pretty clear distinction between the 3 service levels. Some may have thought it wasn't enough or too much but the lines were pretty clear.

Since the introduction of the F2P Hybred model those lines have become more blurred, and there is less and less distinction between service levels.

To the best of my recollection, Free players and Premium players have recieved more "free" updates than VIP's. They have or are in the near future being given, access to Moria and Mirkwood along with the related epic quests, access to the moors, I belive limited swift travels were opened up that weren't available at introduction (though I could be wrong), the largest Store sales have been aimed at them and completely unusable by VIP's (75% on quest packs, most other sales are in the 50% range), etc.

During the same time frame nothing that I recall has been added to the VIP side to help maintain a reason to subscribe. The new Zone would be cheaper to purchase as a Free/Premium player than to pay a subscription during the time since launch.

Every new advancement in storage has only been available in the Store, no matter what service level, or in the case of the limited Barter Wallet available free to all service levels.

New potions and such have all been added to the Store at all service levels.

Changes to game system features, Relics/SM returns, all added to the Store for all service levels.

Even if a person agreed,that at launch of the F2P Hybred model, the difference in service levels made going VIP worth it, and even at launch that was not so clear cut I might add, it seems less and less worth it with every update.

In fact it seems pretty clear at this point in the game that since introduction those that are not VIP, not paying a subscription, are getting a better bang for their buck, so to speak.

So I guess the real question Sapiance is;

What reason is there to pay a subscription at this point?

If the intention is to give all new perks to the Free and Premium service levels, what is the advantage of being a VIP? Surely not the TP allowance, that would be cheaper to purchase outright.

My point here is not "oooh look at all the stuff you gave to them, what about me." But I am a customer, and as a customer I should be afforded the oportunity to make an informed decision about how my money is spent, and seek the best deal for me. The VIP service level was touted as being the best value. I simply don't see that as the case, and see that value lessening every update.

[Newtoo]

Simply, being able to play the game without having to decide whether i will be at a disadvantage compared to my peers if i only use the store for cosmetic items, which is how it had been portrayed before/at launch.

Rant below...
Since we all already know that i would be, given that not only can players buy faster mounts, better buffs, better healing items and now the opportunity to basically buy better weapons(i'm not there yet but i see it coming) than what we can get ingame in a reasonable amount of time if at all.

I can see the cosmetic stuff, as long as it's NOT the same as what can be crafted and even offering the wardrobe, shared storage and added vault space, but putting a couple of the professions out of business(anyone still need a scholar for dyes or pots? or a cook for healing items? heck, even adventurers trying to sell the mats they spend all day/week collecting are barely needed if someone has the tp to spend on the crafting mats instore), was that necessary? Even the lotteries give those lucky enough to win them all the pots they need and even most of the jewellry and the odd tailor item.

Why can't they give store exclusive stuff as prizes? Why can't the store have only store exclusive cosmetic items that don't impact gameplay? We would buy it, and if you make it fun enough, ie.lottery boxes where we had a decent chance to get something really really good, we'd buy it over and over again.

Offer us house upgrades, or better yet, house variety(designs) where there's actually enough hooks to display all our "special" items.

In my experience over the last 20 years of playing rpgs/mmorpgs, fighters/gatherers need crafters to buy the mats they collect/loot to make equipment to sell to those who cannot craft their own and those who buy the equipment are then better able to go collect more and better mats for the crafters to buy and make better stuff in turn thus allowing the heroes to become heroes ... knock out one of those and the rest fall down.

I've already seen a very large gap in the ah where crafters used to sell stuff as they plied their trades, now you're lucky to find decent equipment and the mats for the most part are dropping in price everyday, making it very difficult for a gatherer to make enough to afford the equipment, skills, and repairs needed to play the game we had two years ago, let alone all the new elite stuff.

Truce? Please don't kill off the crafting professions...