Cute, Turbine, Cute…
Turbine are cute. No, not ‘cute‘ as in ‘attractive’ – ‘cute’ as in ‘clever’. They don’t want you to prepare for going free-to-play. That would be bad form!
Bad form, old boy, bad form!
As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve decided to let my LoTRO subscription lapse; I no longer can justify paying a subscription for a game that I know I’m only going to play sporadically, going forward. I’m going free-to-play, in other words.
However, that doesn’t mean I want to block myself from playing content in the earlier zones, so my plan, once my subscription lapses in a couple of weeks time is:
- to pick up the digital version of ‘the Mithril edition’ for €15, which will give me the quest packs for the Trollshaws, Eregion, Moria, and Lothlorien – plus 2000 Turbine Points (TP).
- to also pre-order the basic ‘Riders of Rohan’ expansion which itself comes with another 1000TP.
LOTRO mithril edition
I already have access to Mirkwood and Dunland [having purchased the related expansions at the time of their respective releases]. This will leave me missing the Lonelands, Northdowns, Evendim, Forochel, Angmar, Misty Mountains, Enedwaith and the Great River. Going forward, any of these that I find I require can be paid for using some of the above mentioned 3000TP.
However, this week sees all existing quest packs on sale, at 25% off, in the LoTRO store…yet I can’t buy any of them because my VIP subscription doesn’t expire for another two weeks!! Does anyone think that Turbine would be good enough to cancel my VIP subscription 7 to 10 days early so that I can purchase some quest packs on the cheap?!
I thought not…
GW2 is wins again!
Sandson's Organic Chickens 
September 14, 2012 at 9:57 pm
It’s weird to think how hooked I was on LOTRO this time last year; it was an all consuming passion and in retrospect it could never have lasted like that. Even with that, It’d still be playing, and paying, now had not the grind & the greed worn me down so completely.
Still,.I look forward to your experiences of & thoughts on RoR.
September 16, 2012 at 9:21 am
‘All consuming’ is something that can creep up on any of us, I think.
I’m so busy in ‘Real Life’ that games can never be more than a way to use up the little amount of ‘spare’ time that I get at the end of each day but, that said, I did little else with that said time, other than play LoTRO, for the best part of three years!!
So maybe ‘all consuming’ would be an appropriate description, applied to my LoTRO play too, taken in context…thankfully, as you say, these things can never last – just as well too!
September 15, 2012 at 2:22 am
Lone lands is included with the free to play now.
September 15, 2012 at 8:42 am
Handy! I did’t know that! I presume that must have changed whist I was ‘away’…or maybe I just missed it before then. Thanks for the heads up anyway 🙂
September 20, 2012 at 10:28 am
I was under the impression that when your subscription lapsed you fell from VIP to Premium and retained all the areas…but it looks like this is not the case 😦
I cannot find an updated comparison chart for the different account types…
I can see that buying the packs will enable you to gain most if not all of the quest packs and areas…and yes I feel it’s a bit tight of TURBINE not to enable the quick cancellation so that you can cash in on the 25% sale price on packs.
I will keep TP grinding, really need to get my 1st quest pack…(North Downs or Trollshaws) but aspire to remain F2P to the end – gonna be slow but wow does it feel good to earn those rewards.
September 20, 2012 at 7:32 pm
Unfortunately, when you drop from VIP to Premium, any quest pack not tied to an expansion that you’ve bought (bar the starter zones and the Lonelands) has to be purchased 😦
I’d head into Evendim once you’re done in the Lonelands…but that’s just me – I’m not a fan or either the North Downs or the Trollshaws – but have fun whichever way you decide to go!