LOTRO to relaunch as free to play?

Time to dust off the Capitan! (intentional misspell) and kill Sauron!

The Fall expansion was released!

Reasonably priced this time, it looks like - $10 or something in hobbit-bucks.

I think we’re leaving Minas Tirith and advancing toward the Black Gate?

Every time this thread gets updated I wanna jump in for a spell.

so how much longer will Turbine support LOTRO, given their shift to mobile gaming?

note: “continue to operate” verbiage used in the Warner press release does not necessarily mean full development support with expansions and new content.

If Mordor is out in 2017 that means they have operated it for 10 years? Not bad.

Here’s for another 10 ! :-)

Even Rift went 64-bit now… so maybe there’s hope for the aging Asherons Call engine :)

Man, I wish I could remeber my founders Info. I think I missed some account conversion in the last ten years. Damn. Hopefully I can figure out which ancient email I used back then. Have not played this in years. But news of Mordor coming makes me want to finally play through this. Never did get too far. Thanks altitis! What’s the current on solo classes?

I last logged in in 2014. I see the servers were decreased in number 1 year later (in 2015). I haven’t touched this game since 2014.

All of my high level characters were on the Nimrodel server. Now the Nimrodel server is gone. I can’t find my high level characters.

What can I do to try to retrieve my characters and get them migrated onto another server? Or are they lost forever?

There should be a Transfer option in the Launcher after you log in.

But… it is disabled at the moment because it was causing some issue after the last update, but should be enabled again after the weekly patch tomorrow. According to the internet: https://www.reddit.com/r/lotro/comments/58jmfr/returning/d90y669/

They have changed the game to the point where pretty much every class is soloable. Even the Book Quests have been changed to no longer require grouping. They’re still more fun and rewarding when in a group, but if you tackle them solo you get a huge temporary boost that makes them soloable, though still fairly challenging.

Old school players may initially feel like the game has been “dumbed down” considerably due to changes in combat, skills, soloability, travel, etc., but you will quickly realize that most of the changes are for the better, as there is so much additional content now, not just in terms of regions, but in ways to build and enhance your character, that the streamlining is pretty much a necessity if you’re going to try to experience everything. When I first returned to the game the sheer volume of the changes was overwhelming and annoying, but now that I’ve been playing for a while again I can definitely see the value in them as I tool around Middle Earth trying to see and do everything one last time.

The game is still beautiful, still chock full of lore and atmosphere, and still a joy to play. Hard to believe it’s going to be a decade old in a few months.

So yesterday I finally bought all the DLC Steam had to offer and dove back in. Had a great time running around the Shire (forget how I got there, but it’s so pretty) and ran into another Elven hunter who invited me into his kinship, so that was fun. They made me new swords and a bow and were very nice. I’m now level 11 and having a great time. Might even subscribe!

Oh, and in the thrill of having coins to spend in the store, I bought a mount…not realizing one of the DLCs also came with a mount. [play Price is Right Losing Theme here]

Ah well, live and learn.

That blows my mind. I remember going into the Barrow Downs with fellow Qt3 guildies that first month or so, and talking about it at work the next morning since roughly a half-dozen co-workers were all playing too.

Just a tips:

  • ReShade makes a pretty noticeable improvement on the graphics for LOTRO.

So there’s something I’m not clear on. If I subscribe to VIP, do I get access to all the non-expansion quest packs, or just some of them?

Everything.

Ah, very tempting then since I’m really enjoying myself right now. Thanks!

If you sub then you get the monthly coins (forgot the name lol) so after a while even if you drop your sub you’ll be able to buy some of the quest packs, etc so it’s a win/win if you’re enjoying it.

Lotro is my favorite FTP MMO - I’ve paid then for more content than I’ve used simply because it’s not a hassle and I appreciate the ability to come and go without having to worry about subbing or if I’m getting enough use from my sub.

If you sub, you get access to everything, plus even if you cancel after just one month you retain the status of “Premium” account, which means things like gold limits, trait limits, mount access and other limitations of F2P are lifted for life on any characters that you played or created while a VIP.

To further answer your question on non-expansion regional quest packs: Given the packages you purchased, you’ve only got a handful of region quest packs that you need which you don’t already own. You get full access to all the starting regions for free with F2P, and from there you really only need the following regional quest packs to advance your characters to Moria and beyond:

North Downs - 595 TP
Trollshaws - 595 TP
Evendim - no cost to you thanks to the Steely Dawn Starter Pack you bought
Misty Mountains OR Forochel - 695 TP OR 595 TP
Angmar - 795 TP

Personally I prefer Misty Mountains over Forochel (which is the worst region in the game IMHO), so assuming you go that route you would need a total of 2,680 TP to purchase all four regions. You already have 1,500 TP from your Helm’s Deep and Steely Dawn purchases, so that leaves only 1,180 TP needed. You can earn 915 TP just by doing all available deeds/quests in the FREE regions, leaving 265TP needed to finish your purchases. You can obtain that by either subscribing for one month to activate VIP/Premium status (500 TP awarded), or you can purchase North Downs and do all deeds there and in Evendim (which you own already) to earn more than enough to complete the purchases of the other zones.

My advice would be to wait for one of the fairly frequent sales on regional quest packs that the LOTRO Store runs (they seem to come around every 90 days or so). They discount all regions 20%, which means you only need 2144 TP to snag all the regions I listed above when they are on sale. You’d have 2415 from your purchases and all the FREE region deeds (assuming you’ve completed them all), or if you subbed for a month you’d have 2000 TP from purchases and sub and most likely have easily racked up another 150 TP or so from deeds at that point.

Hope that all makes some sort of sense. Here is a great rundown on the cost of all regions and expansions and how much each region’s deeds return in TP when completed. It provides a framework fro F2P players to essentially grind their way to all content for free, however you’ve already significantly eased this path with your purchases of the Quad Pack, Helm’s Deep and Steely Dawn.

OMG that looks complicated. I wanna subscribe for a few reasons. First, the quest packs, but also I wanna support a game I really like and I also like the idea of no house maintenance. ;)

It’s funny, I never subscribed to MMOs except maybe for Jumpgate, now I wanna subscribe to this, and I’ve already subscribed to ESO, both of which I am loving.

It’s not really, I probably made it sound way more complicated than it has to be. I have that talent, it’s what makes me such a fantastic IT professional. ;-)

The simple version is that given what you’ve already bought, you really don’t have to spend any additional money to experience the game to it’s fullest at least until you reach level 85 or so (out of the current cap of 105).

That said, if you wish to subscribe to support the game, that’s awesome! You’ll be well rewarded with not having to worry about the stuff you don’t own already cause you’ll have it unlocked as VIP, you’ll receive lots of in-game perks, plus 500 TP each month added to your account. So in a few months if you decide to take a break, you could probably purchase most of the content you were missing as a non-subscriber when you return.

Have fun! If you’re on the Arkenstone server look for me. Same name as on these forums.

I should’ve already sent you a friend request. I’m Veloxian.