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[PenguinOverlord]

I'm playing it with a couple of my friends. The music system in the game is really awesome.

The catch?
"All players have free access to Volume I of the epic story and may experience any of the 11 pre-Moria expansion regions of Eriador. Some Eriador regions require a quest pack purchase in order to accept any new quests in that region. If you have not already upgraded to Mines of Moria or Siege of Mirkwood, you will not have access to that expansion content since LOTRO has gone Free to Play. If you have upgraded to either expansion pack, you will continue to have access to all content that your account currently offers for the life of the account. The Rune-keeper & Warden classes are automatically bundled with Mines of Moria."

So, yeah, quest packs and they're restricting us to Volume 1.

More information on the differences between free-to-play and "premium"

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

  PLAYER TIER     VIP     PREMIUM PLAYER     FREE PLAYER
 
TURBINE POINTS    500/month Free
(can purchase more) or earn thru gameplay    Purchasable
or earn thru gameplay    Purchasable
or earn thru gameplay
 
CONTENT
World Access*    Free    Free    Free
Epic Story*    Unlimited    Unlimited    Unlimited
Races    4    4    4
Classes    7    7    7
Premium Classes*    Purchasable    Purchasable    Purchasable
Level Cap*    50    50    50
Character Slots*/**    5/server
(can purchase more)    3/server
(can purchase more)    1/server
(can purchase more)
Quest Packs*    Eriador    Ered Luin, Shire, Bree-land
(can purchase more)    Ered Luin, Shire, Bree-land
(can purchase more)
 
KEY FEATURES
Inventory    5 bags    3 bags
(can purchase more)    3 bags
(can purchase more)
Gold Limit    Unlimited    5 Gold
(can purchase cap removal)    2 Gold
(can purchase cap removal)
Priority Login    Priority    High    Standard
Chat    Unlimited    Limited    Limited
Auction    Unlimited    Limited    Limited
Mail    Unlimited    Limited    Limited
Rest XP    Automatic    Not available    Not Available
Shared Bank**    Purchasable    Purchasable    Purchasable
Skirmishes*    9
(More in Mirkwood Expansion)    4
(can purchase more)    4
(can purchase more)
Legendary Items*    Requires Moria Expansion    Requires Moria Expansion    Requires Moria Expansion
Traits    All    1 or 2 slots per trait type
(can purchase more)    1 or 2 slots per trait type
(can purchase more)
Crafting*    Tier 1-5 available    Tier 1-5 available    Tier 1-5 available
Crafting Guilds    Unlimited    Limited
(can purchase more)    Limited
(can purchase more)
Housing    Available    Available    Available
Music    Unlimited    Unlimited    Unlimited
Hobbies    Unlimited    Unlimited    Unlimited
Cosmetic System    Unlimited    Unlimited    Unlimited
Wardrobe    20 slots
(can purchase more)    Purchasable    Purchasable
Destiny points    Can earn and spend    Can earn but cannot spend    Can earn but cannot spend
Monster play    Unlimited    Not available    Not available
Community Features    Unlimited    Unlimited    Limited
Customer Service    Full access    Full access for 30 days following the purchase of Turbine points    Self-service online

[Ozyton]

What's the catch, silly?

[PenguinOverlord]

What's the catch, silly?

Trying to find it at the moment.

[Pillow_Killer]

It's really easy, realy. "Premium" players  have it MUCH easier to progress in game. Free ones? You get about 20% of the areas, slow gain, various little(and not) hindrances "Premium" users dont have. a lol of it really.

[dogstile]

Eh, i don't play these games for fast progress anyway.

[Tilla]

There's a site out there ( http://lotro.mmorsel.com/ ) that has a list of ways to efficiently spend money on this game for the most gain in progression and content, and what areas are best for levelling when and such.

One good thing is that you can actually earn some Turbine Points in-game by completing the 'Deeds' (achievements). It's slow going so you'll never buy the expansion packs that way but you can get some goodies anyway.

Anyway, as far as themepark-ish style MMOs go it's one of my favorites so it's worth a spin in my opinion. I ended up buying the anniversary pack a few years back for $10 that had the moria expansion and game with a month of time, so I got that expansion unlocked more or less for free

[Puck]

Crap. I hit the back button and ate my post

I still got a 60 day gtc for that game and dont want it. Would anybody trust me enough to trade me for anyhting? Something like ... I dont know, 15 bucks worth of games on steam, something like that (be creative )

Any offers? I'm open to suggestions.

Oh and, more importantly... do GTCs even still work, or rather are they useful in any way?

[Tilla]

Crap. I hit the back button and ate my post

I still got a 60 day gtc for that game and dont want it. Would anybody trust me enough to trade me for anyhting? Something like ... I dont know, 15 bucks worth of games on steam, something like that (be creative )

Any offers? I'm open to suggestions.

Oh and, more importantly... do GTCs even still work, or rather are they useful in any way?

Subscriptions still work, you get all the 'VIP' perks activated with game time purchase.

[Rakonas]

Crap. I hit the back button and ate my post

I still got a 60 day gtc for that game and dont want it. Would anybody trust me enough to trade me for anyhting? Something like ... I dont know, 15 bucks worth of games on steam, something like that (be creative )

Any offers? I'm open to suggestions.

Oh and, more importantly... do GTCs even still work, or rather are they useful in any way?

Subscriptions still work, you get all the 'VIP' perks activated with game time purchase.

I've had my account for years subscribed with expansion and everything, do I still have access to everything?

[Tilla]

Crap. I hit the back button and ate my post

I still got a 60 day gtc for that game and dont want it. Would anybody trust me enough to trade me for anyhting? Something like ... I dont know, 15 bucks worth of games on steam, something like that (be creative )

Any offers? I'm open to suggestions.

Oh and, more importantly... do GTCs even still work, or rather are they useful in any way?

Subscriptions still work, you get all the 'VIP' perks activated with game time purchase.

I've had my account for years subscribed with expansion and everything, do I still have access to everything?

Not sure, you'll at least have the Mines of Moria unlocked, Premium status (more options for trade and chat and such that are locked to players who never buy - an anti gold-spammer technique probably) which I think also unlocks others, and probably a bunch of turbine points. You'd have to check the site to see if I missed something, I only subscribed briefly myself.

[forsaken1111]

I got this email a while ago from them telling me about the free play model.

This caught my eye:

As a former player you are automatically upgraded to Premium Status. This means that you will be eligible to access special game features that regular free players do not have. These features include:

    * Free access to Middle-earth and the epic storyline*
    * More character slots per server
    * Priority server access over standard free players
    * More storage than free players
    * Unlimited Community features
    * And More!

Curious, I went to the website listed in the email to discover the difference between premium and free play users.

Imagine my surprise when I see that the only differences are...

1 extra character slot, 5 gold limit (instead of 2 gold for free play), 'high' priority login, and a very gracious 30-day access to customer service IF I BUY POINTS. So free play users cannot even get customer service, and to get service as a premium user I have to buy something. Awesome.

[Cheese]

So this F2P thing actually messed it up?

[forsaken1111]

I'm sure the free to play model will bring them more business, but it kind of sucks for the people who aren't paying as you cannot even get customer service unless you upgrade to premium and buy points.

[Cheese]

This actually puts me off though, before it looked like a simple buy game and subscribe deal. Now you pay subscription to get a few more inventory slots?

[forsaken1111]

You play for free as long as you want, and can access all of the free content.

If you subscribe, you can access more of the content, and gain VIP perks.

To access all of the content, you have to buy the packs.

At least that is my understanding.