The Road to Mordor: Could Lord of the Rings Online end in 2014?

[Thorwyn99]

Oh? I thought it was one mesh monkey, one crayola monkey, one code junky, and 5 marketing execs telling them to hurry up lol

You're silly...... the 5 Execs are from WB not Turbine tsk.

[Oberrill]

A couple of weeks ago I bought a pre-paid card of $100 to buy TP. Before using it I thought about my decision some more and decided to use the card for something else. My conclusion that putting any more money into LoTRO at this time might not be a good idea was not influenced by anything I read on the forums. It was formed completely from playing the game and the lack of any information about whether or not LoTRO will be in existence in a few months. I have enough TP from my last purchase to be able to purchase RoR and that will be it until I know that LoTRO is going to last a decent amount of time.
Buying TP is an investment in future gaming. I doubt Turbine would reimburse me for unspent TP or spent TP that I never had time to use before the game was closed.

[manstan]

No they wouldn't be reimbursing any money. Game companies don't do that. I still have over 800 AP with aeria games after 3 years. I bought AP for project torque, which then died do to it's developer. I haven't found another game at aeria worth playing let alone spend my AP on.

That is one of those things that to this day mystifies me. PT was a sim racer. The best to date. The devs decided to head deep in to mariocart territory and even after hemorrhaging players by the thousand, kept on making the game more and more arcady till no game publisher would handle it. It got dropped world wide; 6 publishers, because of the massive loss in revenue.

[kidnova78]

So long as the game continues to make money it'll stick around. The fact that new content is now coming out on a regular basis is indicative to the fact that the game is indeed generating enough money for Turbine and WB. So long as new content keeps coming out you can bet that the game will still be around.

They will continue to develop new content until the day they make the formal announcement that they are shutting the game down. The content being released this year has likely been in development for the last couple of years, so it's not indicative of future expansion. I have no idea how long WB plans on supporting the game, but just because it's generating profit doesn't mean that it can't be shut down if the assets being used to develop and maintain the game can be redeployed to produce something MORE profitable. It's called opportunity cost.

All that to say that nobody except the bigwigs at WB have any idea whether or not LotRO will shut down next year, or 10 years from now. Each individual simply needs to decide how much money they're willing to spend on the game given that uncertainty.

[manstan]

They will continue to develop new content until the day they make the formal announcement that they are shutting the game down. The content being released this year has likely been in development for the last couple of years, so it's not indicative of future expansion. I have no idea how long WB plans on supporting the game, but just because it's generating profit doesn't mean that it can't be shut down if the assets being used to develop and maintain the game can be redeployed to produce something MORE profitable. It's called opportunity cost.

All that to say that nobody except the bigwigs at WB have any idea whether or not LotRO will shut down next year, or 10 years from now. Each individual simply needs to decide how much money they're willing to spend on the game given that uncertainty.

But is that any reason to run around like lab rats fearing the impending autopsy?
It may be a factor in deciding on long term investment, but is it any reason to let it hold sway over playing now?

Players arguing about the impending doom of a game means little more then a thread or 6.
Learn from the past, live for the moment, prepare for the future. I may debate about portents of the future, but I wont let it ruin my day

[Thorwyn99]

No they wouldn't be reimbursing any money. Game companies don't do that. I still have over 800 AP with aeria games after 3 years. I bought AP for project torque, which then died do to it's developer. I haven't found another game at aeria worth playing let alone spend my AP on.

That is one of those things that to this day mystifies me. PT was a sim racer. The best to date. The devs decided to head deep in to mariocart territory and even after hemorrhaging players by the thousand, kept on making the game more and more arcady till no game publisher would handle it. It got dropped world wide; 6 publishers, because of the massive loss in revenue.

Actually they would have refund you the unused TP and any unfinished VIP time. Buying VIP is like a contract if they can't fullfill it you'd have to be reimbursed. That's if they don't file bankruptcy or anything :P

Of course might be different over in the US, but still CoH handed out refunds so i figure it really isn't.
I figure Aeria games get's around that cause technically you have bought points for all their games not specifically for one, so you can still spend them.

[manstan]

Of course might be different over in the US, but still CoH handed out refunds so i figure it really isn't.
I figure Aeria games get's around that cause technically you have bought points for all their games not specifically for one, so you can still spend them.

True. But if anyone is concerned it would be covered in the EULA.

[Eartholloth]

A couple of weeks ago I bought a pre-paid card of $100 to buy TP. Before using it I thought about my decision some more and decided to use the card for something else. My conclusion that putting any more money into LoTRO at this time might not be a good idea was not influenced by anything I read on the forums. It was formed completely from playing the game and the lack of any information about whether or not LoTRO will be in existence in a few months. I have enough TP from my last purchase to be able to purchase RoR and that will be it until I know that LoTRO is going to last a decent amount of time.
Buying TP is an investment in future gaming. I doubt Turbine would reimburse me for unspent TP or spent TP that I never had time to use before the game was closed.

I seriously doubt this game is gonna end in a few months.

[Edrogar]

Maybe it's just me but personally i never worried about long term in games, i paid my subs or whatever and just enjoyed the then and there of the game, if it closed down then i just moved on (happened to me five times so far, Earth & Beyond, Shadowbane, SWG, MxO and CoH/V),i've just resubscribed to warhammer online because a few of my friends are still there and i like the RvR aspect, i know it's not going to last, they're down to 1 server for europe and 1 for the US, it really doesn't have long, but i'm happy to pay, it's a good game and i'm enjoying myself RIGHT NOW, which is all that matters.

[Dordain]

They will continue to develop new content until the day they make the formal announcement that they are shutting the game down. The content being released this year has likely been in development for the last couple of years, so it's not indicative of future expansion. I have no idea how long WB plans on supporting the game, but just because it's generating profit doesn't mean that it can't be shut down if the assets being used to develop and maintain the game can be redeployed to produce something MORE profitable. It's called opportunity cost.

All that to say that nobody except the bigwigs at WB have any idea whether or not LotRO will shut down next year, or 10 years from now. Each individual simply needs to decide how much money they're willing to spend on the game given that uncertainty.

That's exactly what happened to City of Heroes/Villains last year. By all accounts, the game was still technically profitable, just not profitable enough in someone's opinion.

And for the record, NCsoft only refunded people for VIP time, not for Paragon Points. And that's exactly what Turbine would do in that situation as as well. TP could conceivably be entirely spent the same day that they're purchased. There's nothing that states that you have to be able to actually enjoy anything you buy with TP for a given amount of time.

Having seen two different MMOs shut down in the last 2 years(CoX & SWG) does bring it home that all MMOs- even LotRO at some point- do eventually get killed off. This is why Turbine/WB's current negligence towards our game is a little troubling. Thankfully, that fear is assuaged a bit by the fact that they still keep an ancient game like AC1 up and running.

[Lohi]

Also note that Turbine Points can be used in Dungeons and Dragons Online also, as long as you haven't applied them to your LotRO account already.

Instead of a refund, I could possibly see them taking any unused points and giving credit for those to use with other games. However other game companies have not done similar things so it's probably unlikely. Best bet is really not to buy too much in advance. It's one thing to pay to play a game, but don't invest in it.