Will we ever see the white tower of Minas Tirith? It's been over three years since lotro was released, with only two expansions and a few updated areas since then i feel like this game will never fulfill its goal of bringing us the whole of Middle Earth online (if indeed that was ever its goal). I didn't expect to be still only as far south as Lorien after three years of play (and only 65th level). I thought i'd be in Gondor, or at least Rohan, by now and with a high enough level cap to keep me playing.

It's very sad. Personally i think Free To Play will slow things down even more.

So, does anyone think we'll ever get to Gondor? Yes, no, maybe?

Maybe. If F2P gives the game new life like some think it will. I was level capped and in Mirkwood wondering what to do when F2P was announced.  Thats when I gave up the wait and left the game.  I really dont see the game lasting long enough to get to Mordor which is what I looked forward to.

You most probably see it but pray that it won't be a railway sightseeing. It most probably will be a city hub and several instance grinds. Development of this game went right downhill after Moria in my opinion and became more and more soulless. If Turbine starts to provide some quality content again I'll probably resub.

Originally posted by Matt_UK

Will we ever see the white tower of Minas Tirith? It's been over three years since lotro was released, with only two expansions and a few updated areas since then i feel like this game will never fulfill its goal of bringing us the whole of Middle Earth online (if indeed that was ever its goal). I didn't expect to be still only as far south as Lorien after three years of play (and only 45th level). I thought i'd be in Gondor, or at least Rohan, by now and with a high enough level cap to keep me playing.

It's very sad. Personally i think Free To Play will slow things down even more.

So, does anyone think we'll ever get to Gondor? Yes, no, maybe?

Of course just get your wallet out....

I remember back in beta there was an interactive map someone had made. It showed the hopeful progress of LoTRO over the years, seems like it had Gondor/Mordor at the 3 or 4 year mark. I wonder if whoever made that is still playing nowadays. If only I could go back to those days, when LoTRO was going to be so epic, a true recreation of Middle Earth or atleast as close as we were going to get after MEO was scrapped. Back when all the developers swore they were huge Tolkien fans, and would never do anything that wasn't in line with the lore.

Will we see Minas Tirith, or any other great landmarks from the books. I'm sure, eventually they will be in game. The real question is, will they be as great as they should be?

Originally posted by Matt_UK

Will we ever see the white tower of Minas Tirith? It's been over three years since lotro was released, with only two expansions and a few updated areas since then i feel like this game will never fulfill its goal of bringing us the whole of Middle Earth online (if indeed that was ever its goal). I didn't expect to be still only as far south as Lorien after three years of play (and only 45th level). I thought i'd be in Gondor, or at least Rohan, by now and with a high enough level cap to keep me playing.

It's very sad. Personally i think Free To Play will slow things down even more.

So, does anyone think we'll ever get to Gondor? Yes, no, maybe?

 A few things we can hope is that one we only haven't seen a new expansion since Mirkwood because they were working on the free to play model, two that with an infusion of cash maybe the expansions and content they do release can become bigger, but I feel like if they average two zones per expansion they can get there sooner rather than later.  Also I like to hope they know what the next expansion is going to be because many of us currently have all the content they are releasing so to get us to spend alot more they will have to get started on something new soon.

I'm actually thinking about picking this game up today since I absolutely love LoTR and have palyed the trial a while back. I just want to clear this up. There is no box for Siege of Mirkwood right? Or is it not out yet or what? Because the only box I can get is Mines of Moria. Does Siege of Mirkwood download once I start patching or what? Can someone explain?

Originally posted by SgtEcho

I'm actually thinking about picking this game up today since I absolutely love LoTR and have palyed the trial a while back. I just want to clear this up. There is no box for Siege of Mirkwood right? Or is it not out yet or what? Because the only box I can get is Mines of Moria. Does Siege of Mirkwood download once I start patching or what? Can someone explain?

 No, there is no box for Siege of Mirkwood, it was a digital download only. I don't know what Turbine points will cost, but you may be better off to wait and purchase both xpacs from the LoTRO store, once F2P comes out, instead of getting MoM from the store. It may be cheaper, depending on how much the box costs, I know I got my Collector's Edition of MoM from Best Buy for $10.00 about a year ago.

Well, first off the level cap is 65 currently, not the 45 you mentioned.  If you're still only 45 then that's all on you.  :)

Here in about two weeks when free-play is released we'll also be getting the new zone of Enedwaith which is even more South than Lorien.  In fact it's right around the corner from Isengard/Rohan.  So we are getting closer.  Turbine has also said that their plan is to have the Isengard area next year.  I'm sure they'll also be fleshing out more of the side zones too, like maybe more of Mirkwood and South/North Farthings, etc.

They defnitely have slowed down the progress on new zones and I think part of the reason why is that their LotR license has been extended to 2017.  This means (assuming the game lasts that long) that if they put out the major areas too quickly, for example Rohan next year, Gondor the year after, and then Mordor, they would still have 4 more years of the game with nothing major left to look forward to.  Since Mordor is basically the "end of the story" they can't afford to reach it too quickly and have many of their players "beat the game" and unsubscribe with several more years left on the game's life.  They gotta draw it out to try and keep as many players as possible right up to the end.

My guess would be Isengard & side zones in 2011, Rohan and side zones in 2012, more side zones in 2013, Gondor and side zones in 2014, side zones in 2015, Mordor in 2016 and then that would leave 1-2 years of the game left for everyone to "finish" before the game gets shut down.  That way they keep the most amount of players paying for as long as possible to keep the game in operation.  As for what the final level cap will be, who knows.

Something else to keep in mind is that with the game going to free-play a large part of the game's income will come from the quest zones they sell in the store.  Subscribers will of course get them free as part of the subscription but in order to get more money from the free/premium players they'll need to crank out more side areas to quest in in-between the major area releases.  This will help flesh out the rest of Middle-Earth.

Originally posted by Unreal024

Originally posted by SgtEcho

I'm actually thinking about picking this game up today since I absolutely love LoTR and have palyed the trial a while back. I just want to clear this up. There is no box for Siege of Mirkwood right? Or is it not out yet or what? Because the only box I can get is Mines of Moria. Does Siege of Mirkwood download once I start patching or what? Can someone explain?

 No, there is no box for Siege of Mirkwood, it was a digital download only. I don't know what Turbine points will cost, but you may be better off to wait and purchase both xpacs from the LoTRO store, once F2P comes out, instead of getting MoM from the store. It may be cheaper, depending on how much the box costs, I know I got my Collector's Edition of MoM from Best Buy for $10.00 about a year ago.

Mines of Moria is 9.99 and it obviously comes with SoA. So I take it I have to pay for SoM? Is that 10 dollars as well or? I'm not really worried about how much it costs since it's only like 10 bucks so.

Originally posted by SgtEcho

Originally posted by Unreal024

Originally posted by SgtEcho

I'm actually thinking about picking this game up today since I absolutely love LoTR and have palyed the trial a while back. I just want to clear this up. There is no box for Siege of Mirkwood right? Or is it not out yet or what? Because the only box I can get is Mines of Moria. Does Siege of Mirkwood download once I start patching or what? Can someone explain?

 No, there is no box for Siege of Mirkwood, it was a digital download only. I don't know what Turbine points will cost, but you may be better off to wait and purchase both xpacs from the LoTRO store, once F2P comes out, instead of getting MoM from the store. It may be cheaper, depending on how much the box costs, I know I got my Collector's Edition of MoM from Best Buy for $10.00 about a year ago.

Mines of Moria is 9.99 and it obviously comes with SoA. So I take it I have to pay for SoM? Is that 10 dollars as well or? I'm not really worried about how much it costs since it's only like 10 bucks so.

 I payed $20.00 for SoM and another $20.00 for the Adventure Pack, I don't know what they cost now, probably the same. Go to LoTRO's website, i'm sure you can find all the info your looking for there, or on the LoTRO forums.

This game is good to go until 2017. I think we will get to the end and then even see some really cool stuff as they get to take us into the Fourth Age.

They may have the license till 2017, but all of us only have till the end of 2012. They had better get on it fast.

Originally posted by SgtEcho

Mines of Moria is 9.99 and it obviously comes with SoA.

Does it?

The problem with LotRO is that it's a level-based game, so by the time they would open those southern areas, the cap would be around 100 o.O

Originally posted by phobossion

The problem with LotRO is that it's a level-based game, so by the time they would open those southern areas, the cap would be around 100 o.O

no they could just not raise the level cap with every XP Pack..kind of like what AOC did with RotG

Originally posted by Matt_UK

Will we ever see the white tower of Minas Tirith? It's been over three years since lotro was released, with only two expansions and a few updated areas since then i feel like this game will never fulfill its goal of bringing us the whole of Middle Earth online (if indeed that was ever its goal). I didn't expect to be still only as far south as Lorien after three years of play (and only 45th level). I thought i'd be in Gondor, or at least Rohan, by now and with a high enough level cap to keep me playing.

It's very sad. Personally i think Free To Play will slow things down even more.

So, does anyone think we'll ever get to Gondor? Yes, no, maybe?

Only if the f2p works like gangbusters for em.  I think that they are probably being pulled in a different direction with being bought out by Warner Bros.  If the f2p model can increase revenue and subscribers enough then WB will probably authorize their ramping up development for the aging game.  Otherwise it will limp along while turbine refocuses energy on newer properties.

Originally posted by Unreal024

They may have the license till 2017, but all of us only have till the end of 2012. They had better get on it fast.

^^^^^^^This

Originally posted by SgtEcho

Originally posted by Unreal024

Originally posted by SgtEcho

I'm actually thinking about picking this game up today since I absolutely love LoTR and have palyed the trial a while back. I just want to clear this up. There is no box for Siege of Mirkwood right? Or is it not out yet or what? Because the only box I can get is Mines of Moria. Does Siege of Mirkwood download once I start patching or what? Can someone explain?

 No, there is no box for Siege of Mirkwood, it was a digital download only. I don't know what Turbine points will cost, but you may be better off to wait and purchase both xpacs from the LoTRO store, once F2P comes out, instead of getting MoM from the store. It may be cheaper, depending on how much the box costs, I know I got my Collector's Edition of MoM from Best Buy for $10.00 about a year ago.

Mines of Moria is 9.99 and it obviously comes with SoA. So I take it I have to pay for SoM? Is that 10 dollars as well or? I'm not really worried about how much it costs since it's only like 10 bucks so.

$30 for the complete pack..the cheapest option. ((Digit copy))

MoM does not come with SoA..only the MoM Complete pack which is SoA + MoM

Strictly speaking, SoA was never sold.

The SoA box simply gave you the ability to subscribe to the game (as well as a free month).  The Moria retail box gave you this ability (along with "owning" the Moria content)

Once they started the Free Trial, you didn't need to "buy" the SoA box (or the Moria+SoA box), you simply just kept on subscribing (and apparently in some cases, people got Moria and Mirkwood and other stuff thrown in as well)

And also, there is no separate download for things, everything in the game is the game client, it's just what you "own" determins what you can actually access.

Anyway, if you can find a Moria box in stores for under $20, it's probably in your best interest to buy it, since the Moria expansion will be $25 in Turbine money (and that's if you get Turbine Points at the $50 = 5000 rate, which requires you to buy $50 worht of them)

(And for crying out loud, I don't know which meme is worse, the zombie apocalypse or that stupid 2012 thing. Why people find the world ending such a fascinating thing is beyond me, even though people have been predicting it for thousands of years and they are always wrong...)