LOTRO Goes Free-to-Play

[Tygamoon]

Haha anything with the orcs or goblins was funny! The other guys were just creepy and disturbing...and evil, I never got very far with those. I preferred the good prancing elf personally so it wasn't too big an issue. Yeah the flow of the sword dance made the character feel dynamic (not to mention the awesome movement factor) and the dual purpose of your abilities when it came to rvr was neat. Being able to effectively *tank* and *control* your opponent was such a good feeling. Something wow lacks with the classes that tank in this game as far as I can tell. I always wondered why Blizz hasn't done something like that already. Instead of having to balance out the whole class because of their spells and how they work in both types of play they could just tweek that one spell for that one type of play.

[bluddy]

in the end who does play lotro?

[Raederle]

I played LOTRO for a few months after it came out & was sadly disappointed. Got my elf to about lvl 30 and quit.

The gameworld is beautiful (Rivendell looks amazing!!) but the questing was totally meh. Didn't hold my attention.

[Worba]

Warhammer orcs both 40k and fantasy are the best orcs of all IMO the way they talk,look,act its just so damn cool. I have been thinking of starting an orc and goblin army as i do find there playing style fun even the rule were they just fight with them selves and not there foes is pretty cool.

Have the rules in WH40K been changing a lot recently (e.g. core rules and existing races staying mostly the same for at least the past couple years or so)? I dropped out of it about 10 years ago because it felt every time I was getting comfortable with them, the rules and army stats kept getting pushed through the shredder...

[cowmuflage]

No really elder are still dieing space elves and space marines are still space nazis and Orks are orks lol

[Worba]

But the rules haven't changed since you started right? And army points costs are the same?

[Royi]

Well what about Guild Wars?

You can't jump. Nuff' said.

Yeah you really need a Jump Button. Is there a Jump in LOTOR?

So to confirm, you can download and play for free now? Game completely free??

Is the free-mode sort of like...Playing Warcraft now but you only have the Vanilla edition? (No BC/WOTLK/Cata)

[cowmuflage]

Worba yeah basicly, Theres a little bit here and there thats changed but most of its sameish. Dark elder finally got a new book after what 7 or so years lol

[Worba]

Awesome. I stopped playing bout 10 years ago but I still have all my figgies (shelves and shelves full - couldn't bear to give them up even though like 97% are unpainted). I need something besides wow.

Can you post some photos of your armies (40k or WFB)? I love seeing people's art and also how they spent their points.

[Royi]

actually, would anyone post some in-game screenies of this if they have them? I'm a bit curious what it looks like

[Worba]

actually, would anyone post some in-game screenies of this if they have them? I'm a bit curious what it looks like

Yeah, I'll second that. I can't get enough of Games Workshop minis.

Will post my own someday but first I've got to get the latest rules, make sure my armies are still "legal", and then umm... paint them. Hopefully I can remember which end of the brush to hold.

[Royi]

actually, would anyone post some in-game screenies of this if they have them? I'm a bit curious what it looks like

Yeah, I'll second that. I can't get enough of Games Workshop minis.

Will post my own someday but first I've got to get the latest rules, make sure my armies are still "legal", and then umm... paint them. Hopefully I can remember which end of the brush to hold.

oh lol i thought you meant about something in the game, not figurine-guys. But hey, I would like to see those too

[Worba]

figurine-guys rule.

[cowmuflage]

Hmm I'll have to take some photos then lol

[Worba]

Coolio

[Felidire]

Tried out LOTRO for the first time during the last WoW maintenance. That game should have always been free, and i'm assuming that they added those "turbine points" to the online store after converting to free to play, if not then that's just complete fail. Anyway, I found it sluggish, spells are slow/unresponsive, and as with most other free mmorpgs it has a poor physics engine (you can change direction multiple times while jumping and you glitch all over the place if you mash the space bar, I also noticed that you slide all over the place when you stop moving.)

Just out of curiousity, how much did it cost to play this game before?

[Galahandra]

Here's a couple of scenic shots, majority of mine are on the PC at my Dad's. This is my Minstrel :3

Settings on Ultra-High

[Acherontia]

I really enjoy LotRO for relaxation--however, the PvP is NOT accessible without a sub : / I miss my warg <3

The pros:

* The graphics are of a different style than WoW's, aiming for realism, and so despite being a bit outdated are really beautiful in places. There's a lot of wilderness, and it's often VERY scenic.

* There is a music system--every class can play different instruments, and you can download and play songs in-game with your instrument (without having to play it yourself). People standing close to you can hear the music.

* There's a pet class You can't tame wild beasts, but you learn to summon various kinds as you level, and you can change the skin of them.

* You can dye your armor, and set a Cosmetic set which overwrites your appearance. This is, in a word, awesome.

The cons:

* Most of the content, quest-wise, is locked for those without subscriptions. I came back when it was F2P and all of my questgivers were inaccessible. To top it off, a sub doesn't get you the expansion content--like WoW, to be fair, but it's still rather a chunk to start off paying.

* The LotRO store, while accessible in-game which is nice, also spams the heck out of you, breaking the immersion. There's an "UNLOCK THIS CONTENT" button on just about everything you try to access.

* The UI is a pretty bad failure. It's similar to WoW's in concept, but much more stilted and stiff, and a lot less intuitive navigation-wise.

* The plot, I find, is a bit boring. They try to tie it all in to the LotR story, and fail rather badly IMO--there's a few rather obvious, stiff references to LotR characters being out & about, but I don't think it really flows. LotR is a decent *fantasy* game, but I don't think it feels like LotR. The questing is grind-y and mostly uninteresting.

* There is little to no PvP. There is *one* zone for PvP, and I like the MonsterPlay concept--that is, you can make a pre-made "evil" character to play and upgrade. However, that character can't leave the PvP zone, which is really, really limiting--PvP can *only* occur here, I believe.



Sooo, with all these restrictions, why do I play the game? Well, I don't--not really. That is, I don't level, or play regularly, like I do WoW. But, I enjoy simply sitting in the woods, alone, playing my lute to my raven or black bear or to the trees at large, just relaxing.

Alternatively--I found out I had a bunch of Turbine points from when I used to play properly. So, I blew it all immediately--not on quest content, but rather on getting black dye, robes and other clothing for my Lore-Master, then buying him a very dark brown horse and riding up and down the roads at night scaring lowbies

Some screenshots:

http://forums.wow-petopia.com/download/ ... ew&id=9224

http://forums.wow-petopia.com/download/ ... ew&id=9221

http://forums.wow-petopia.com/download/ ... ew&id=9222

http://forums.wow-petopia.com/download/ ... ew&id=9223

[Royi]

Gala and Arch, thanks for the screenies. Maybe it'll be something to pick up to dink around with for a bit.