While LOTRO does have pretty landscape graphics, the game itself is terrible, and the lifetime sub I bought for it is one of the biggest mistakes I've made in my life in the last few years...

If only I had a time machine, or one of those phones like on South Park. "Don't buy the lifetime sub, don't  buy the lifetime sub"

Actually that's the thing with LOTRO. They use the typical F2P scam with gear, but on top of that, you still need to buy content and expansions.

It's like the worst of both worlds.

I'm sorry, but it's not Freemium, it's pure F2P, aka Pay To Win.

Rather than revise the dreaded LI system (which pretty much ruins the game) to something fair, they revised it by integrating the cash shop. Want the perfect LI? Break out y our credit card. Or grind for 100s of hours.

The community has always been very overrated and full of themselves. It's the best, because they consider themselves to be better than everyone else, not that anyone has given them the title.

As to the soloing thing, sure you can get to 65 solo. But you miss out on quite a bit of content, especially as most of the new stuff has been aimed for groups - instances, raids, etc.

You also won't even come close to getting the best gear solo. So soloers are pretty much second class citizens in the game, I don't know why groupers have such a perscution complex...just because soloers can now actually do the story quests (theoretically), the game is somehow ruined for them.

Which is annoying, because part of the trouble with this game is that there are lousy grouping tools, and people rarely, if ever, group outside of their guild/kinship. People rarely talk outside their guild/kinship.

Actually, other than the LL revamp, pretty much all the new content since F2P  has been for groups - raids and instances, mostly (Enedwaith is most solo, I guess, the only new land area we've gotten, save a tiny bit in Evendim, expanding the hobbit area)

And while LL was revamped to be solo friendly, the North Downs was not, and it covers the same level range.

Even the 2 new skirmishes they added are pretty hard to do solo. I tried one and got stomped on the first counterattack.

(That said, they did make Moria more soloable, the Books, at least in theory, and converted some of the group story instances into skirmishes)

Ouch.

But I had a simlar problem a few months ago when the switchover to Nexon happened. I tried to pick up my migration awards, and they vanished.

They did show up later (it was just server lag). But I had filed a ticket, and about 3 weeks later I got another copy of the things I (temporarily) lost.

So maybe it will show up again?

1) It's a completely cookie cutter MMORPG, the only real thing setting it apart is the setting

2) Nothing was taken from WoW, but they both have the same roots (along with EQ2). With that said, they've recently made the Character UI over to make it look more like WoW, much to the annoyance of long time players.

3) Extremely linear. Each class has 3 different archetypes you can follow (by slotting the right traits). In most classes, only 1 is worth doing. And if you don't slot all of those traits, you don't get the extra bonus. So it penalizes you for trying to mix things up.

This is really true of PC games as a whole. Back in the days when companies were on Compuserve and Genie, you could often weasel your way into becoming a tester by pestering the company people on the forums enough.

IMHO, if you don't have an sign a NDA, then you aren't really being a beta tester, it's just a marketing gimmick.

Well, in this game, people never group outside their guilds (kinships), so really a moot point.

But yeah, if you are a casual player, you probably won't get much love if you play a "skill" position in a group (like tank or healer) and can't do the job.

It will likely be very close to when the license runs out. 2016 would be my guess.

Yup, they removed it.

While columnists always say this, Tank/DPS/Healing did not really exist in P&P games. It's a MMORPG thing.

Sure, there were fighters and healers and such. But healing was generally very limited and done after an encounter, not during, and almost every class could deal out a decent amount of damage.

Originally posted by Dreadblade

I had an account before the F2P with 2 65's and various other alts at different levels so I guess my question is; What happens to all my old toons etc now that it is free to play, I have read that you need to buy various upgrades etc to level on past 20, does mean even old accounts that would want to return?

They're all there. They didn't erase them. That said, free players do have fewer slots than subscribers did, so if you have lots of alts on the same server, you might have to choose which ones you can play (the others are not deleted, just locked until you buy more character slots)

You've read wrong - the level cap is 65, not 20. What is limited is the quests, they now come in quest packs by region.

Since presumably you bought the Moria and Mirkwood expansions (as you were 65 before F2P), that means you can do quests and such in the starter areas + Lonelands (which free people get) and  in Moria and MIrkwood (since you bought them), but no where else (since you didn't buy them)

I don't mean to be a jerk, but you could just you know, either try logging in and see what it's like. Or go visit the official page and look at the faq there.

And since you have 65s, I'm not sure why you'd come back. You'd basically be twiddling your thumbs until the next expansion comes out.

Warner Brothers should buy them. Cryptic are pretty much Turbine, minus the fanboys

Scholar can be hard to level up though, because the materials are scarce, at least early on.

I would actually suggest it for an alt. Park him in a place where nodes respawn, and simply log in and out every 15 minutes while playing your main.

Good places are the bandit for SE of Bree (near where you pick the flowers for the hobbit girl). And then for journeyman (or maybe third tier), there are ruins on a hill NE of the elf refuge in the North Downs (or due south of Esteldin, just before the swamp).

While most F2P games do nickel and dime you on the way to level cap, it's at that where there real money squeezing happens. Usually in the form of enhancing your gear. Even LOTRO has hopped about this money train...

I die a little inside whenever a professional writer uses the word "toon" instead of character. Well, actually, whenever anyone uses it. But it's worse in semi-professional articles...

Actually, in my 3+ years in the game, the only time I ever talked to anyone in game was in the "nub" areas.

Though then again, I started playing when the game was relatively new (1 year old) and there were actually people in the starting areas.

This game is pretty unusual in that almost no one ever talks or interacts without people outside of their guild (kinship). Most stuck up community ever.