Not sure if they put it in, but a couple of years ago we talked about a ‘tourist’ mode for exactly that reason Biggerboat.
[quote=“John_Reynolds, post:2874, topic:59553, full:true”]
I’m aware of all that slainte, I played almost daily from 2007 to 2011, and then very sporadically afterwards. But for me, I think I would’ve rather seen the game die as it was than morph into something I didn’t care for at all. [/quote]
Which is my point, without F2P the game would have done exactly that, died, in 2010, 4 years after launch. Maybe that would have been OK with many original subscribers like yourself who felt the F2P changes killed the game, but for thousands of other players the F2P change was a positive.
I was a subscriber all the way through Moria and beyond, but cancelled shortly before Siege of Mirkwood was released. Even at the reduced $10-per-month rate I wasn’t playing enough to justify subscribing. But F2P meant I (and thousands of others) could play as much or as little as we wanted and not have to justify a subscription. F2P is directly responsible for my spending additional money on Turbine Points, the Isengard expansion and the Rohan expansion. As a result, I’ve been able to experience far more of the amazing world of LOTRO than I would have had the game simply shut down in 2010. Sure, the quality of the recent content hasn’t been nearly as awe-inspiring as the original Shadows of Angmar and Moria releases, but it’s still the most lore-soaked and wonderfully immersive MMORPG out there if you’re a LotR fan.
F2P LOTRO isn’t perfect, but I’m glad it’s been there the past 6 years for me to fall back into when the mood strikes, and I will sorely miss it when it’s gone.
And on that subject…I reinstalled and logged in again this weekend after a long hiatus. It always overwhelms me when I come back to LOTRO after months away. The screen fills with messages about quests changed/canceled/finished, deeds finished, points awarded, gifts, etc…, and I struggle to get my bearings and figure out what I should do first.
At least this time it hadn’t wiped out all my skills and traits from last time. I loaded up my QT3 guild character, a 43 Champion named Slainte (of course). He’s not my highest level character, but he’s the last “from scratch” character I played and he’s my sentimental favorite from the days of running around the Shire as newbies following Tom and turning people into chickens.
After some inventory management (I was in Bree already thankfully, so didn’t log in to immediate combat or a long travel stint) and time to refresh myself on skills/traits/equipment I think I will try to finish off a couple of slayer deeds to cap off regional deeds as I see I am close to trait awards for those. Then I will start paring down my quest list which stretches back YEARS.
Let the farewell tour of Middle Earth begin!
Makes me wanna almost cry. Turbine going mobile? Darn! I still recall getting that “best dressed” achievement that only a developer in game could give you – I forget now, its been a year since I logged on. Boy, leveling could be TOUGH at times.
Much deeper experience than WOW (inmhop), especially the leveling experience and feel. But I agree free-to-play --while obviously necessary --watered down those later expansions. They had some nice countryside, but for me, past Mirkwood – just wasn’t the same game.
Even the old glff talk was more mature than --well, let’s not get carried away lol. Brandywine was a bit of trouble in the old days (e.g., 3-7 years ago!) Seemed like Landroval was more civilized. The game was always in the back of my mind to run around in if nothing else was around!
I admit to being a bit confused, you guys. Didn’t the announcement say LOTRO would continue even though the studio is primarily moving to a mobile focus? Does that mean the game is dead somehow?
Well I read there are 3 people now on the LOTRO development team --I may be assuming too much, but It does seem like we will not get to Sauron and throw the ring in. Oops sry spoiler. I bet it will continue in its current incarnation as long as it is profitable, but I doubt we will see anything new.
Gosh I hope I am wrong though.
We’ll see how it goes. This isn’t the first time Turbine has laid people off, and it’s continued and continued development.
But Kotaku has called the cuts “significant”. This feels like the beginning of the end.
Nesrie
2888
MMO’s live and breath on new content and support… if they’re not producing new content and their support is minimal… are you going to jump in. It’s pretty much a death sentence for most MMOs. The more traditional F2P’s push out content all the time, even if it’s some new shiny pet you have to pay for.
The doom and gloom comes from the combination of the recent news that Turbine has laid off much of it’s online games staff combined with the knowledge that Turbine’s license to use the Lord of the Rings IP expires in late 2017. People are putting those together to surmise that Turbine is no longer interested in developing LOTRO further, and will likely let the license lapse and therefore shut down the game once it expires next year.
On the other hand…there is a glimmer of hope. Turbine is owned by Warner Brothers, and Warner Brothers has had quite a bit of success with it’s Lord of the Rings licensed titles, most recently with the best selling and critically acclaimed Shadows of Mordor game. I have no idea how the licensing rights are structured, but I’d be curious if Warner Brothers negotiates to keep the Lord of the Rings IP rights to create more games, if that means that Turbine is allowed to continue operating LOTRO under such an agreement as well. I hope so.
In any event, it does look like any further development on LOTRO (like the penultimate Mordor expansion) is done thanks to this recent round of layoffs.
Ahh-- so there is an end date for LOTRO. Was not aware of that.
AAHHH, somehow I missed this part, and now it all makes sense. Thank you.
I’m sad though. :/
Well it was already set to expire once before in January 2014 and they renewed it (supposedly for 4 years, putting the expiration at January 2018). Warner Brothers had owned Turbine for quite awhile at that point, and LOTRO had been F2P for about 3 years by then, so revenue streams were likely pretty predictable and renewal was still deemed worthwhile.
The real questions are: Does revenue still exceed costs, and is the LOTRO license deal separate from the Warner Brothers LotR license deal? If it is separate, that could spell the doom of Middle Earth as surely as if Frodo had never left the Shire. ;-)
Was also a beta->founder of it, and after a while I stopped playing due to so much else, but with F2P I could begin again, since I could now use turbine points to get even more bag/bank space upgrades, something which wasn’t available before it went F2P.
Also, with F2P a lot more players started to show up on the servers which was also a great thing.
Daagar
2894
Cool. Some hope remains in Middle Earth yet.
“As stated last week, our development plans remain unchanged, and LOTRO will continue to operate.”
We had no plans to develop further content. That has not changed :)
It’s somewhat key he was didn’t say there would be new content. Just that it would continue to operate.
I would rather pay a monthly subscription and see bag/bank space upgrades patched in for everyone than to have to pay Turbine points for them.
Free to Play MMOs are like sugar is to flies–they attract many immature gamers whom I would rather not have to interact with in the game. I take it that your luck was better than mine.
Daagar
2898
Though I know you’re just being snarky, lest anyone truly panic this was the sentence just prior to the quoted portion above: “We are still in active development of LOTRO”. FWIW.
Yes I was just being snarky. :)
I was a first-generation (within months of starting) player and a Runic Knights officer on Brandywine years ago – and I have to admit – LOTRO going south is a terrible blow. And Turbine going “mobile” hurts as well. But what can we do? It is what it is. Times they are a changing, sadly.
