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Simply Download and Walk Into Mordor: LOTR Online Going Free-To-Play

Friday, June 4, 2010

Lord of the Rings Online will be free-to-play and download for veteran Balrog-slayers and nasty little hobbitses alike starting this fall. The popular MMO will be switching from its WoW-style subscription based payment method to a more, shall we say, complex form of revenue production.

This new system will have players using “Turbine Points” to buy all sorts of special items and fancy equipment to murder the hapless denizens of Middle-Earth. Customers can purchase points, but those who decide to become “VIP Members” and pay a monthly fee will receive 500 points per month in addition to having access to much of the content your average-Baggins will have to fork over for.

The LOTRO Free-To-Play Beta will be starting up June 16th and the interested can sign-up for chance to get in the front door here.

Assuredly, hardcore fans of LOTRO will see this dramatic change as a inevitable sign of the games downfall. MMO players will note however, that anytime there’s a major change to the way their game works everyone always assumes it’s a sign of the endtimes and their hard earned character will be wandering the beautifully rendered wastelands searching in vain for someone to play with. These folks should rest easy though, as LOTRO has a solid player base and is around to stay. You just might have to purchase your +2 Sword of Goblin Slaying instead of pulling it off the corpse of a dead elf.

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  • faeblld

    +2 Sword of Goblin Slaying? Pull it off a dead Elf? What game are we talking about here? Well, I suppose the blogger is going for witty and has, perhaps, never actually played LotRO. Nice try. I’ll forgive you.

    As for the FTP announcement from Turbine, I’m not sure how to respond. I’ve played several MMOs over the years and I’ve been playing LotRO for the last 2 years, but, I’ve never played an MMO that was FTP. Some, as I have read in the comments in FB and on other blogs, are concerned it will ruin the immersion of the world and ‘a$$ify’ (not my term) the game, by corrupting the feeling of being a part of a mature community of gamers. I would like to think that it simply brings in a larger (mature) community of gamers, that the game isn’t dumbed down by turning to FTP (instead, opens up a few fun features) and that the revenue from it enables Turbine to do more with it. I am hoping the worst case scenario is that it ends up segregating the players into ‘a$$-chunks’ (again, not my term) and the more sophisticated gamers. If this ends up the case, anyone previously devoted to LotRO, I implore to you.. please hit ignore and look forward to further developments in the game thanks to the less-devoted gamers.

  • http://mmomfg.com/members/dustin/ Dustin

    @faeblld: I think you’ve made some really good points. The writer has not played lotro, but editor Justin and I have both spent quite a bit of time playing lotro. My worry is that FTP opens up the world to obnoxious, jump on and ruin others experience type players, since it is free. At least lotro is a big download and can actually deter some players who would pop in a browser-based MMO or a quick download MMO and just wreak havoc on the normal players.

    Hopefully the items available through the revenue set-up won’t lead to spamming sales ads from Chinese Farmers (or whatever else potential that may happen with FTP MMOs). Either way, I may actually pop on lotro now and then since the FTP method does raise the chance for more gamers to be online, allowing for more possible raids and groups with higher player #s.

  • Radagast

    I agree and disagree with both of your comments. I am a huge LOTR fan and have played pretty much every LOTR game there is except this LOTR online. It looked kind of cool; however, I am not paying $15.00 every month to play it online. I like the idea of a FREE LOTR online, but I do agree that it would allow some nasty and annoying people online. But really Dustin and Faeblld, it seems unfair to those who watch the extended versions and read the LOTR series (Counting the Hobbit) at least every year that want to play online but do not want to spend roughly 200 dollars a year just to play the game online. So it is a small price to pay to allow these un-experienced players online.