According to the FAQ on the LOTRO website:

I have a lifetime subscription to LOTRO. What will Free-to-Play mean for me?

As a lifetime subscriber to LOTRO, you will keep all of your membership privileges and are automatically upgraded to VIP status. You will receive 500 Free Turbine Points every month like the other VIPs, but you do not have to pay a monthly fee since you are a lifetime member. All you have to do is keep playing the game and visit the LOTRO Store to spend your free points and enjoy the wealth of new a la carte items and options to enhance your game experience.

I broke my MMO cherry on AC2 and have many fond memories I was there from beta to the last day :)...That said I would love to see an AC3 but I don't think It could pull a large enough audience to be a hit.  Development costs for MMO's have gone through the roof since AC was made.  I think the only reason it is still running is because it has a very low dev overhead at this point.  If AC had to operate with a modern MMO overhead I think it would already be gone.

That leaves companies like Turbine with 2 choices: 1) make a more casual oriented game that has wider audience appeal or 2)tie into an existing IP that can bring in thousands just because it's associated.

So far they've gone with the latter and it has worked for them from a business perspective.  Who knows maybe they'll announce a Song of Ice and Fire or a Wheel of Time MMO next...we can only hope :p

I would love to try this game out if anyone has a buddy key to spare.  Please send to:

andrewshafran@hotmail.com

Thank you!

As many of us may admit, I did my time on the WoW treadmill.  And I have to say that for the first 40 levels it was fun...and after that, like so many other MMO's it's just more of the same.  That doesn't mean that I think it's a bad game.  On the contrary consider how many casual players it has intorduced to PC Gaming and MMO's.  If it works for you great...like most games I've played, it's alot of fun for awhile.  Now where is the Starcraft MMO?  That's what I want to play!

All said and done Blizzard has struck a chord with the mainstream player.  Like it or not, WoW is the de facto standard for fantasy MMORPG.  They own it for the foreseeable future.  That means that the others guys have got to get their A game on and give the rest of us something worth playing.  Maybe something that is finished before release (read: Turbine, SOE)  something that we haven't seen a thousand times before....and something that is (SHOCKER) fun.

That's all we ask in return for our time and money!

I love what CCP has been doing to the game lately.  Most of the changes have been for the better IMHO.  As far as I can see the Revelations upgrades take the game in entirely new directions that even established players can enjoy.  Some things work better than others, but I cheer CCP trying different things out rather than churning out more of the same (i.e. Blizzard, SOE, etc)  I think that is why EVE continues to grow despite it's maturity, while most other MMO's that have been out as long see declining subscriptions.

Well after reading all the posts, I decided to give FFXI again.  While I don't mean to upset FFXI fans, I found it a meaningless grind fest.  This is the only way to level up and add skills to your character and thus make them desireable for parties.  But there is no difference between 1 WAR's abilities or specs vs. another.  All Cure spells work the same, etc.  All character models are virtually identical and combat is a painfully slow version of "I hit you...wait...you hit me...wait...etc."

I am sorry ladies and gents, and please don't flame me for voicing my opinion, but this game just doesn't work for me.

I played DDO at launch for a month and quit as there didn't seem to be anything to do solo while waiting for a group to form.  I read that Turbine has added some solo content to address this.  Anyone have any opinions on whether is has helped the game?

I really wanted to like this game, but based on the hours I was available to play finding an effective party was regularly impossible.

Thanks,

A

There is no doubt that leveling in FFXI is very slow compared to many other games (notably WoW).  All I can say is try to get yourself into a good LS.  Having that kind of connections makes finding PL's and groups much easier. 

I do share your frustration with finding a party though.  If only because it's much more fun to play as part of a group than solo while you wait.  Plus the fact that the only way to gain exp is through endless grinding can leave a player feeling like they are wasting an inordinate amount of time to accomplish very little.  Oh and get an Empress Ring at least it'll help you gain exp faster...

I agree with the other posters regarding the amount of instancing.  It appears from the dev forum that substantial parts of the world will be open for exploration and player interaction.  It is in an effort to allow players equal access to important or goal oriented quests that instancing is being implemented.

If you ever played FFXI or any other last gen MMO, the effect of trying to beat other farmers to a critical item usually results in total frustration. 

That said I am eagerly anticipating trying this game.  The idea of a small unit of minions  to run around a game world with sounds great if its done well.  After all how many people could really run solo in any world and achieve very much.