Lifetime Account Members Thread

[Preshous88]

Please explain just how this change (F2P) makes your lifetime account worthless?? I still don't get this - and I have 2 lifetime subs...

Uhhh for one the community of this game will drop extremely, and thats one of the reasons I feel in MY OPINION has the game on a higher level than others. It just makes me sick to my stomach thinking about taking a ride through the shire and seeing a hobbit named stabuintheface. And then the thought of that player not to have to pay anything to experience such a great place like the shire, when I had to pay when I wanted to experience it for the first time. I just feel it is completely unfair. The OCC and Global GLFF is already bad enough to where when I log in im ignoring 3 to 4 people in one night, once this F2P launches I may as well just turn them off. This F2P is opening up a gate for mean/cruel/disrespectful and immature players, while on the other hand it is shutting the gate and locking them from where all the good/loyal/respectful and mature players are coming from. No good players want to join a mmo that is filled with a bunch of mean and disrespectful players.

This really reminds me of the SWG downfall. I hope they just dont waste our time on this like they did on that. Go ahead and merge the servers due to lack of people playing on them because alot of people are going to leave because of this change. Then right after the merge is done, have a far superior developing team create a lotro world around the silmarillion. Thats just what happened to SWG.

[ArahadEketta]

I really wish I knew I was dumping my money into a garbage can when I paid for this lifetime subscription.

And I have the opposite feeling. If I had the funds and if Turbine were still offering the Lifetime subs, I would purchase 2 more Lifetime subs to go with the one I have right now.

[Preshous88]

And I have the opposite feeling. If I had the funds and if Turbine were still offering the Lifetime subs, I would purchase 2 more Lifetime subs to go with the one I have right now.

Good for you

[gildhur]

I really wish I knew I was dumping my money into a garbage can when I paid for this lifetime subscription.

Your lifetime subscription is worth more after F2P than it is now.

[auximenes]

Uhhh for one the community of this game will drop extremely, and thats one of the reasons I feel in MY OPINION has the game on a higher level than others. It just makes me sick to my stomach thinking about taking a ride through the shire and seeing a hobbit named stabuintheface. And then the thought of that player not to have to pay anything to experience such a great place like the shire, when I had to pay when I wanted to experience it for the first time. I just feel it is completely unfair.

I hear you. I expect there to be a lot of lame new players, but there will also be good players that are drawn in by the F2P option. I imagine there are a lot of Tolkien fans out there who currenty don't play MMO's that would be drawn in by F2P. The location that I feel will be most hurt by the free players is Bree.

BTW, I'm a lifer and it looks like we're getting a pretty good deal. If the F2P options result in an increase in subs/purchases and player population, it's going to benefit ALL players because Turbine will be able to fund a bigger staff which means more content. That content is primarily going to be free for lifers and other VIP players. We can look to DDO's resurgence to see what can happen.

[Raath]

Your lifetime subscription is worth more after F2P than it is now.

What is next weeks lottery numbers?

[Preshous88]

Your lifetime subscription is worth more after F2P than it is now.

Your right, if i was to sell my account I would get alot more money from it then I would when I bought it, But who is going to want to play with a bunch of disrespectful kids other than more disrespectful kid. Its not just the value of the account its the value of the game.

[Analog-Man]

It just makes me sick to my stomach thinking about taking a ride through the shire and seeing a hobbit named stabuintheface

Easy solution to this concern is turning off floaty names. Even though I typically don't care too much about the names people choose, and I don't RP, seeing floaty names above everything definatley detracts from any kind of immersion into the game. I only turn floaty names on occasionally.

My wife has one monthly sub, and we plan on dropping to premium once F2P goes live and using her accumulated points and the $30 / 3 months we would have spent on subs purchasing content packs and removing any restrictions (character slots, gold amounts, virtue, etc).

All of her gals on this account are low level so we'll just by each zone as she gets there. After the initial purchases, I'm guessing
(hoping) we'll be able to keep the cost to $10 / month or less. And then when she is not playing any of these characters its not costing us a dime. Thinking of it as a "Pay-as-you-go" lifetime account.

My and her primary accounts are Lifetimes, and as long as they don't do something crazy like remove power pots from the game and force us to buy them with points I feel like we are making out pretty well there.

[elderlygamer]

It just makes me sick to my stomach thinking about taking a ride through the shire and seeing a hobbit named stabuintheface.

As long as names like that don't break the terms of service, people playing NOW (and paying) can create names like stabuintheface. Did Turbine announce somewhere that f2p players would be able to create names that current players can not?

then the thought of that player not to have to pay anything to experience such a great place like the shire, when I had to pay when I wanted to experience it for the first time.

So I'm guessing you're abhorrently against trial accounts since they can experience great places like the Shire for free with even fewer restrictions than the f2p accounts.

How about open beta players like me who got to experience the Shire and other parts of the game for free before it launched? Are they/we horrible people because we got to experience it for free while you had to pay to see it for the first time?

Go ahead and ignore the new f2p people. I on the other hand hope to group with them and get my RK leveled up finally and probably meet some very good friends and players, some of whom will undoubtedly become paying players.

[Gedachtnis]

Your lifetime subscription is worth more after F2P than it is now.

For posterity;

But you're just speculating!

Though on a more serious note.

While I don't want to start another circular argument I am wondering;

Has anyone got enough information to give a guess at the ingame gold/silver value of a point?

With housing upkeep (I'm sure the prices in the interface screenshots are mearly placeholder prices) and the likelyhood of being able to AH potions, having an idea would be nice.

And yes, it would be subject to change during beta, and not exact, but I don't think by alot.

[fugori]

Uhhh for one the community of this game will drop extremely, and thats one of the reasons I feel in MY OPINION has the game on a higher level than others. It just makes me sick to my stomach thinking about taking a ride through the shire and seeing a hobbit named stabuintheface.

This happens very often right now.

And then the thought of that player not to have to pay anything to experience such a great place like the shire, when I had to pay when I wanted to experience it for the first time. I just feel it is completely unfair.

No one has ever had to pay for the Shire. It's available to trial users and paid users alike.

The OCC and Global GLFF is already bad enough to where when I log in im ignoring 3 to 4 people in one night, once this F2P launches I may as well just turn them off. This F2P is opening up a gate for mean/cruel/disrespectful and immature players, while on the other hand it is shutting the gate and locking them from where all the good/loyal/respectful and mature players are coming from. No good players want to join a mmo that is filled with a bunch of mean and disrespectful players.

Can you provide any evidence that this will happen? Studies published on other MMOs who have changed models? Why do you immediately assume that people who will opt for the F2P option at first are all horrible, uneducated people? I think you should consider the implications of this opinion.

This really reminds me of the SWG downfall. I hope they just dont waste our time on this like they did on that. Go ahead and merge the servers due to lack of people playing on them because alot of people are going to leave because of this change. Then right after the merge is done, have a far superior developing team create a lotro world around the silmarillion. Thats just what happened to SWG.

How? No gameplay changes are being implemented like SWG.

I understand that, initially, this seems like a big change. It may even be a huge change. But, don't confuse irrational fear with reality. Take a deep breath and ask yourself if your time in this game is still valuable to you. If it is, keep playing, wait and see.

Not trying to belittle your opinion, by the way. It's fair to be afraid of change this big. I just want to provide some perspective.

[gildhur]

Your right, if i was to sell my account I would get alot more money from it then I would when I bought it, But who is going to want to play with a bunch of disrespectful kids other than more disrespectful kid. Its not just the value of the account its the value of the game.

It's unfortunate that you have to assume that both everyone coming to the game without a subscription is going to be "disrespectful kid", and also that there are no "disrespectful kids" playing already. Both are extreme exaggerations. But it's your money. Quite simply, you're no longer paying anything, what exactly do you gain by no longer doing something that costs you nothing?

[auximenes]

My wife has one monthly sub, and we plan on dropping to premium once F2P goes live and using her accumulated points and the $30 / 3 months we would have spent on subs purchasing content packs and removing any restrictions (character slots, gold amounts, virtue, etc). All of her gals on this account are low level so we'll just by each zone as she gets there. After the initial purchases, I'm guessing
(hoping) we'll be able to keep the cost to $10 / month or less. And then when she is not playing any of these characters its not costing us a dime. Thinking of it as a "Pay-as-you-go" lifetime account.

More options FTW. I know for some people seeing the term 'F2P' immediately angers them, but since the subscription models are still in-play, the F2P options are simply that, options. We are not being forced to drop from the subscription system.

[fugori]

More options FTW. I know for some people seeing the term 'F2P' immediately angers them, but since the subscription models are still in-play, the F2P options are simply that, options. We are not being forced to drop from the subscription system.

QFT.

I have a newborn baby. My wife would love to play with me, but we can't justify the expense. We've never been able to. Now, she can play, enjoy probably just the right amount of content for the kind of player she'll be, and if she gets more hard core about it over time, we can go subscription and unlock more features, more content.

This is something we couldn't do before. The trial model was insufficient and temporary. It led to questions like, when does my trial run out? Why bother investing time in a character that I may lose access to? Et cetera.

I'm really looking forward to this - since balancing LOTRO time with work and love and baby is the primary reason I never get to play as much these days as I did around launch time, when I was really active.

[jalida]

As I said further down in my post, (not that I expect many people to read past the first paragraph or two), that it's likely just a feeling of jealousy, even with a gimped account they get to play for free and experience that which I paid out 400.00 for to enjoy.

Never the less, it's got to be just a feeling of jealousy that they get this opportunity after I've paid out 400.00 for two accounts, and that my feeling of jealousy should likely be discounted because its likely nothing else than a gut feeling of jealousy.

I've read the faq, yes I have, and I realize that the free accounts are gimped to a certain degree, but let's face it, if the free accounts are that gimped then nobody will play them, so they will pay out a small amount of money (comparatively) and ungimp their accounts to their liking.

Great, I say great for those that are coming in new and free, but for me there will likely always be that feeling down deep that nags at me, knowing that these new people will be able to pay a pittance of what lifetime account holders had paid to get somewhat close to what the lifetime accounts holders have.

Looking at the chart that lists the difference between the accounts last night, the thing that I noticed most was that there was a substantial amount of things that VIP account holders will have, that free accounts can purchase, and I'm pretty much willing to guarantee that those things won't total up to 200.00 when all said and done. But of course this is a gut feeling and since I don't have access to an early view of the store I can only say what I feel inside and what makes business sence to me, not what really will be.

Good luck to Turbine, I hope they can make a go of it with this FTP system as I really hate the thought that my money is a complete wash if they had to shut down Lotro, I'd not have the game to play when the fancy strikes me to do so, which hasn't been in a long time due to not being able to find people to group with to get moved ahead, so as I said, hopefully we'll get some quality non l33t players involved in the game that are able to do the same quests that VIP players are so that they can help and be helped to move along.

If FTP players are not allowed to do the same quests that VIP players are, then they are of little help towards getting a population of players involved in the game to where they can co-mingle with other past subscribers and lifetimers. I don't know, seems to me from what people have said about the free accounts that if they are so severely gimped then they are adding another group of players to the game that won't really be able to co-mingle with past subscribers and VIP members and as such won't be of much help to the players, but obvioulsly would be of benefit to Turbine to buy stuff from the stores to some degree.

[Darej]

ya know...i use to think like some of you....that f2p meant a flood of kiddies.

but thats changed...now i think that the content of the mmorpg determines the makeup of the majority of players.

ive been playing lotro steadily since late alpha in 06.....i am a founder and lifer x2 plus a monthly sub that ive let lapse.

anyways...i take breaks now and again to beta other games and play stuff ive been meaning to get to...

recently i tried a f2p game called Rune of Magic...its fun for what it is and will keep me busy until i have reason to come back to lotro full time...

i went into the game thinking i was gonna be inundated with barrens chat and kiddies left right and sideways....

guess what...as a rule...the folks i have encountered are helpful...friendly and mature...alot like here....this made me rethink f2p and do some research...

see.....there are ALOT of mmo choices out there right now for the kids, tweens, and teens catering to their interests..fusionfall...wizard 101...club penquin....toon town...coming soon is lego universe and star wars clone wars mmos.

so while ya at first we might see a bunch of kiddies come thru..they wont stay and will go back to those games.

dont believe go try RoM...its a standard f2p model...the makers even have a tough anti goldmfarmer/seller stance and the community in game is no different then here.

[fugori]

I'm pretty sure that if a F2P player wants to buy, a la carte, everything that a Lifer has access to, it would total far more than $200 over a comparable period of time.

Keep in mind that the longer you play, the more value you squeeze out of your $200.

In one year someone paying the normal month-to-month rate pays $180. So far so good for month-to-monthers if they plan on stopping there. After all, we paid $200 if we were founders.

I think you can see, however, that quickly we gain on them. Two years? They pay $360. We still paid $200 once.

Three years? $540 versus... still $200.

Yes, this is simplified math, but it demonstrates a point - F2P players will have to pay at least as much money as your average subscriber to get anywhere near the same content that a VIP gets (let alone a Lifer - who gets a free stipend of points along with a big one-time point gift), and what they would end up paying is not insubstantial at all, nor is it a better deal than what Lifers get.

We got a deal, man. A great deal. It might not be good if you cease to value the game and the community, but that's the risk you take when you willingly pay up-front for a lifetime of access.

If anyone should feel jealousy, it's the VIP's paying monthly subs who can't get a lifetime membership any time soon, or the F2P players who can't afford a subscription and miss out on the vast majority of the game's content.

[Preshous88]

First of all the name I MADE up was an example of what WILL happen.

Second of all trial are trials, they do not last as long as this F2P thing will. Silly

Third of all, you need to read my post again and take note of the My Opinion words i put into there. It changes it alot from where you think im saying facts.

It was all MY OPINION. I never tried to base anything off of stuff that has already happen. I simply told you what this reminded me of.

I paid for a game that people are going to be able to play for free, Its just that simple. You can put oh well we get benefits inbetween that but it still comes out the same. People are going to be able to play a game for free that I once paid money for. You cannot get by that it is what it is. And that is a FACT.

[Ehra]

http://xkcd.com/610/

Just exchange "sheeple" with "immature kiddies."

edit:

I paid for a game that people are going to be able to play for free, Its just that simple. You can put oh well we get benefits inbetween that but it still comes out the same. People are going to be able to play a game for free that I once paid money for. You cannot get by that it is what it is. And that is a FACT.

If we're going to talk about facts, then we might as well bring up pesky details like how the majority of the content you currently pay for will NOT be available for free. It's an extended trial with unlimited access to the epic quest line, if you can manage to get high enough level to even do them.

[fugori]

It was all MY OPINION. I never tried to base anything off of stuff that has already happen. I simply told you what this reminded me of.

Not trying to belittle your opinion, by the way. It's fair to be afraid of change this big. I just want to provide some perspective.

eople are going to be able to play a game for free that I once paid money for. You cannot get by that it is what it is. And that is a FACT.

They aren't, man. Are you really telling me that all the content available outside of Moria, Mirk and Loth is equivalent to just Ered Luin, Bree and the Shire? Along with all of the other restrictions? Really? They aren't getting the same game you paid for, not by a long shot.

[Analog-Man]

Looking at the chart that lists the difference between the accounts last night, the thing that I noticed most was that there was a substantial amount of things that VIP account holders will have, that free accounts can purchase, and I'm pretty much willing to guarantee that those things won't total up to 200.00 when all said and done.

I'm going to venture a guess that over the next two years, a new F2P / premium account will need to pay well over the $200.00.

If you figure $7 - $10 per quest hub you get:

Forsaken Inn $7
Oatbarton $7
Ost Guruth $7
TrestleBridge $7
Amon Raith $5
Esteldin $10
Elf camp SW of Esteldin (cant remember name) $7
Tinnudir $10
Ost Forod $10
West side of Evendim $7
Ram Duath $7
Aughair $10
Gabilshatar $10
Outpost south of GF $7
GF $15 (includes CD/uru)
Rivendell $10
Gloins Camp $7
Goblin Town $10
Forchel(all hubs) $30
Ergion ($30 for all hubs)

Thats $208 right there. Now these are very rough guesses, we have no idea in reality how they will price these zones. For instance, will you buy all of ND together or each quest hub (TB, Estelding, etc).

But I'm just trying to illustrate that even without taking things like unlocking character slots, virtue slots, premium classes, gold limits, etc it is more than likely that a F2P player will be paying much more that $200. And that does not take into account all the future updates and the costs associated with those that Lifers will continue to receive free.

Plus, as a lifer you continue to recieve 500 points per month to sweeten the deal.

I think a monthly VIP compared to premium is a harder call to make. Leaning towards premium myself as being a better choice there. But Lifetimes still have the best deal of all in my opinion.

[Preshous88]

They aren't, man. Are you really telling me that all the content available outside of Moria, Mirk and Loth is equivalent to just Ered Luin, Bree and the Shire? Along with all of the other restrictions? Really? They aren't getting the same game you paid for, not by a long shot.

You are assuming that I own both expansions. Which is sad. I spent the lifetime account money on SOA.

[gildhur]

I'm going to venture a guess that over the next two years, a new F2P / premium account will need to pay well over the $200.00.

If you figure $7 - $10 per quest hub you get:

Forsaken Inn $7
Oatbarton $7
Ost Guruth $7
TrestleBridge $7
Amon Raith $5
Esteldin $10
Elf camp SW of Esteldin (cant remember name) $7
Tinnudir $10
Ost Forod $10
West side of Evendim $7
Ram Duath $7
Aughair $10
Gabilshatar $10
Outpost south of GF $7
GF $15 (includes CD/uru)
Rivendell $10
Gloins Camp $7
Goblin Town $10
Forchel(all hubs) $30
Ergion ($30 for all hubs)

Thats $208 right there. Now these are very rough guesses, we have no idea in reality how they will price these zones. For instance, will you buy all of ND together or each quest hub (TB, Estelding, etc).

They've already said that quest packs will be sold by zone, not quest hub. I suppose there is a chance that might change in beta, but that's the case for now.

[fugori]

You are assuming that I own both expansions. Which is sad. I spent the lifetime account money on SOA.

I'm absolutely not assuming that. I said "all the content available outside of Moria, Mirk and Loth."

Remember, again, that F2P players only have access to quests in Ered Luin, Bree, and the Shire. That's pretty restrictive! Not only that, but they get 1 character, restricted chat, restricted auctioning, restricted bag space, restricted traits, etc.

[Ehra]

You are assuming that I own both expansions. Which is sad. I spent the lifetime account money on SOA.

All content after the starters will have to be bought by new players, other than the epics quests. So not owning Moria or Mirkwood really doesn't affect your argument when it comes to other people getting for free what you payed for.