Lord Of The Free Rings Online
All this reporting on MMOs has me realizing I haven't played on in a good long while, and I may be going through withdrawals (my mother got me hooked at age twelve on The Realm).
Turbine's Dungeons & Dragons Online went free last year, reportedly with great success. They are now seeking to do the same with Lord of the Rings Online, emulating a similar model. Unlike DDO, however, it looks like Codemasters, who operates the title in Europe, will be making this free-to-play for gamers across the ocean.
What does this all mean? When Volume 3, Book 2 releases this fall, the game will be available for anyone to download and play. There will now be a store that uses Turbine points. Those who are subscribers get an allocation of free points per month, and various other perks. Same with lifetime subs and founding members.
Now, as for the expansions, one can either buy them a la carte, or purchase VIP status to have access to them all (VIP being what current subscribers would be considered). I imagine various other items will start populating in the store for everyone to access that are not in the game as yet; mentions are made of extra character slots and such-like 'convenience' items.
If you're interested in testing the beta, that will begin June 16, and can be done right here.
I guess this is as good a time as any to ask how many currently play LOTRO and to see if any current players wish to offer advice on servers that are LGBT friendly or have a strong presence. I imagine I'll be downloading this when it becomes available.
In fact, how many are interested in free-to-play MMOs? It's certainly more appealing to me, as it remains among the reasons I stopped playing most of them.
VorpalBunny
Posted to Video Games on 4 June 2010
· Comments (12)
Other stuff like this: ddo, free-to-play, lotro, mmo, pc, turbine
I've played LOTRO since it came out (well almost, June 2007)and play on Gilrain EU server.
Most of the talk in one of the kins I am in is to do with existing players being concerned that the game world sections which are free to play (pre-moria content) might become flooded with "spotty faced teenagers" to quote a kin member.
I think what is meant by that is the moving in of immature players, mouthy OOC messages and the advent of gold sellers.
We shall see, I suppose.
As to the gay friendly side, I have never had a problem ingame altho I only really tell people I've known for a while I am gay, unless someone comes right out and asks me.
Oh you're on Gilrain too, what's your main name? Mine is Steelo, say hi!
My biggest gripe with this news is that we won't have a real content update until v3b2 release at the end of the year but otherwise, as a lifetimer, I'm really getting the best deal! Regarding the community, it is really very friendly at the moment and I don't really see that changing with new players. Maybe a little at the lower level areas but that's it.
And yeah, people are really gay-friendly in this game, never had a single issue with that, never even heard a F word.
Knights of the White Lady on Landroval (US) Rocks!
I'm on Laurelin (EU). From what I gathered the RP servers seem to be more mature and as such I've never encountered a problem in terms of homophobia etc.
In terms of actual gay kinships though I'm not aware of any existing. Thats probably more due to Lotro having an already dwindling membership, as well as me being on the less populated european server side.
They've made the whole first volume soloable now, simply because there were not enough people active to be able to form groups for the earlier content.
Its sad news that it'll now be free in one respect as its a sign of its dying days... but on the other hand, this may attract enough new players to keep the game alive for a lot longer. As a lifetimer it doesn't really affect me anyway. As someone said, we get the best deal out of this.
If anyone else is on Laurelin (EU) btw, my main is Iaron (lvl 65 Burglar with a fondness for mischief and gambles)
Oh wow, The Realm. I remember playing that ages ago. It's actually *still* running, apparently (http://www.realmserver.com/). Maybe I should wallow in nostalgia for the weekend...
From what I've read F2P will be severely limited with only access to the starter areas and Bree, a level cap of 50, 3 inventory bags, a carrying limit of 3 gold (which makes me scratch my head as the level 35 mount costs 4.2 gold) and various mail, chat, and Auction House limitations. So they obviously want you spending money for points and to get you to upgrade to Premium or VIP services.
As for LGBT kinships, stay clear of Knights of the White Lady they seem to be a magnet for drama -- you're better off checking out The Old Guard on Silverlode (US) or Stonewall Champions (don't know what server they're on). Also, if you're into RP at all you'll definitely want a 'toon on Landroval as it's the "unofficial" RP server.
http://www.lotro.com/betasignup/vipchart.html
This shows how your level of membership to LOTRO works.
Should be interesting to see how this works out.
From what I've read, DDO has been re-energised by going free.
I have been in Knights of the White Lady for a month now and have seen no drama. They are in fact a very organized and helpful guild. They have a large gay-friendly population in the guild. So it isn't just all gay men but friends and supporters.
They do have a Kin tax of 90 silver every 3 months. But it covers all of your toons in Kin and is basically 1 silver per day. It covers the upkeep of the guild house. But shows their seriousness in running the guild. Which BTW DO NOT interact with the big Kegger! It randomly teleports you. I didn't know it and luckily ended up in the Shire apparently you can end up anywhere so at level 10 I could have been in big trouble.
I cannot speak for the other two Kinships listed but one sounds like a Leather guild. And Stonewall Champions could be related to one of the Stonewalls from WoW. Oh and if you are looking for a certain crowd everyone says that Knights of the White Lady is largely full of bears LOL!!!
They should just make the subscription cheaper. I loved the trial, but I don't have the cash to sink into the game. I spent like $500 playing FFXI for a few years, what a waste of money.
There was a Stonewall Rebellion on Windfola, but not certain if it is still around. Their old kinsite seems to be gone or has moved.
I have played LOTRO since open beta and I think it is the best MMO I have ever played. The story and environments are very immersive. All of the normal MMO trappings are here, but Turbine has done a great job at keep them varied and fun to play.
I have been with Knights of the White Lady on the Landroval server since the beginning. Great people who are very helpful. Could not ask for a better group of people to play an MMO with.
I've been with Knights of the White Lady on Landroval since the beginning as well. They've been a fun group to hang with -- I haven't experienced any drama with them at all.
As for LOTRO it is a great game that is right now at a holding pattern content-wise because they've been working on the whole free to play model stuff instead of content over the last few months. However, once the free to play stuff switches over in the fall, the content will once again be back on track. It's definitely worth checking out, especially if you're a fan of the movies/books.