Free/Premium/VIP! WTF!
I have decided that I have been challenged!
Last night, after Video 1.5 was finally encoded and uploaded, I dropped by the new player forums on the Official LOTRO site, and posted:
What do YOU want to know?
A lovely gent (I hope – apologies if you are a woman!) posted the following:
<SNIP>
Of course there’s also the major questions around VIP/Premium/Free and what you get with each, but I don’t think that’s well-served by the video format.
Well let me tell you, I agree, but that indeed sounds like someone laying down the gauntlet, and one I am only too happy to take up.
As such the next video – when I work out the best way to approach the subject, will be on this very subject.
Maybe seeing some of the erm… limitations… in action might be of some use to people – especially newer players who may not know what all these lock downs actually are.
For now, I think I can best sum it up with the following.
This is not and is not meant to be a fully exhaustive list, mainly the things that will affect the initial few levels.
When you initially create your LOTRO F2P account, you will 99.9% of the time, be a Free Player. This means you have not used a retail box code, and have not spent any real world cash on the game!
As such you are limited to:
2 Character slots per realm,
a 2gold currency cap for each character,
No ability to use mounts,
No access to the LOTRO Version of PvP (also known as Monster Play)
Very few Instances
Only 2 Skirmishes
No access to the Warden or Rune Keeper classes.
No access to POSTING in the Auction House – you can still buy auctions.
You will NOT have the ability to mail or trade gold. If you wish to trade, you will have to barter!
There are also some chat restrictions, but in all honesty, I didn’t notice them!
Once you use real world cash, no matter how much, you will get bumped to Premium Status – also known in LOTRO Forums by Freemium.
This will:
Unlock a 3rd Character slot
Increase your gold limit to 5g per character.
You gain access to ALL of the LOTRO Forums
You gain the ability to mail and trade gold.
Allow you to post 5 Auctions at a time in the Auction House
You also get 30days of GM support from the date of purchasing the Points/Expansion key.
Moving to premium is Permanent.
Lastly is VIP!
This is for the people who are lifetime members, or current subscribers.
They get:
All 5 bag slots unlocked on any character you log in with
No anti-spam limitation on chat or in-game mail
No gold cap on any character you log in with
Access to Swift Travel on any character you log in with
3 character slots (if upgrading from F2P, 2 character slots if upgrading from Premium)
Access to all quests, deeds, instances and skirmishes in North Downs, Evendim, Trollshaws, Misty Mountains, Angmar, Forochel, Eregion, Lothlorien and Enedwaith
A Bonus 500TP per month
Highest priority in the login queue if servers are full
Full access to the forums and other community features
Full access to crafting guild advancement
Access to the slow Bree-Land starter pony at level 5 (200 in-game silver)
Access to the Riding Skill quest at level 20
20 Wardrobe slots
Ability to spend destiny points
Access to Monster Play and the Ettenmoors (PvMP)
Full access to customer service (contacting a GM via in-game support tickets)
Rest XP for all characters
Your characters can list 30 items each in the auction house
More to come!
LOTRO: For Newbies, by a Newbie – PART 1.5!
This episode we look a little deeper at the many ways you can make your ingame avatar look just how you want him or her to!
BLATANT RIP ALERT – Free LOTRO Stuff!
Ah we all love freebies! A getting freebies for a freebie is even better!
I stumbled across an article on the LOTRO F2P Forum that pointed me to an old cosmetic chest slot item giveaway from 2008!
Post follows:
FREE Stuff: Hauberk of the Mithril Guard
All you free players should take note. You can still get a free Hauberk of the Mithril Guard from an old give-a-way from 2008. This was a promo give-a-way for the release of Mines of Moria thru www.mmorpg.com
The Hauberk of the Mithril Guard. It’s a pretty nice looking Hauberk (looks awesome dyed in Navy color!)
See a pic here: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/loadNews/12147To get this item:
1. goto www.mmorpg.com and register for a free acount.
http://www.mmorpg.com/register.cfm2. after you get your account, stay logged in and goto the Hauberk offer page:
http://www.mmorpg.com/giveaways.cfm/…Game-Gift.html
click the button that says “Click Here To Get Your Free Game Key!“3. now go to https://myaccount.turbine.com/ and login. Very important…don’t forget this step.
4. input the generated code from the mmorpg offer page into the Product Key section.
5. review the subsequent page and check the box agreeing to the TOS.
6. next page you will see a light green box acknowledging the upgrade.
What you do to your mmorpg.com account after you get the code is up to you.
All your new characters generated will now recieve the Hauberk.
All current characters will recieve the Hauberk upon relog into the game.
Enjoy!As pointed out by Griffy below, make sure to use pw/login completely UNRELATED to any of your LotRO account(s) or to any of your accounts regardless if they are LotRO or not!
NOTE: The code generated will only work on the TURBINE servers. Sorry to any EU folks out there.(note to Turbine web crew, we need a strike through font)
EDIT: Former EU Community players should now be able to get this for their Turbine accounts. Yay!
ps. yes, I know this has most likely been posted before but since the forum search function is so wonderfull (/sarcasm), I thought it deserved a refresh
The original post can be found here!
TP Shopping List Time!
Well I think it may be time to get round to planning my Turbine Point Purchases!
At this moment in time I have a total of 5 active characters, spanning two servers – Gilrain, and Snowmourne.
Currently (according to the TP Finder on MMOrsel) I can get 1610 TP on each char before spending anything.
So far I have purchased 700 for €5,99 to get me premium and the extra char slot – meaning I can make my Weaponsith, Armour Smith AND gather wood for the woodworker side of Armsman!
I have thus far spent 95TP on Mount Skill for one toon, and some on the Evendim quest pack – as it was highly recommended and was on sale!
I have 794 TP at the moment! And honesty can not remember what I have done on my 33 Champion, so I will not count that char in my calculations from here on in. So that leaves 4 chars with a possibility of making a 5th without starting again on a new realm!
Mount x 4 [4x95TP = 380tp]
Mines of Moria EXPANSION (so I get two more slots and the two classes!) 2495 TP
Path of the Fellowship Quest Pack 2950 TP
QuestPack – Mirkwood – 995TP
Questpack – Angmar – 795TP
Questpack – Enedwaith – 695TP
QP – Misty Mountains – 695TP
QP -Forochel – 595TP
QP – Northdowns – 595TP
QP Trollshows – 595TP
GRAND TOTAL = 10790TP!
Thats 10 CHARS milking the game to the fullest!
The odds are I will VIP for a month to remove the goldcap and get 2 bag slots, and MIGHT buy the RoI expansion on pre for the 1000 extra points and iirc that unlocks a LOT of junk anyway!
All I know is that I may be doing a lot of playing before I get it all unlocked!
DUDE! Where’s my Guides?
RIGHT! Time to get down to the nitty gritty and the main reason for this Blog! HELPING YOU!
As a new player to LOTRO, even as an experienced (some may say Veteran) gamer, the change in combat ratings, defence systems, and of course the terminology – not to mention that this hits you quite early in the game, can be a little overwhelming.
Do you take Might or Fate?
Agility or Will?
Might or Agility?
Beyond that due to the F2P model that Turbine uses, there is alsothe questions of – what quests can I do, which zones do I need to save/purchase points for, what are my Free/Premium Limitiations?
These are the questions that are going to crop up on all new players Radar. They certainly cropped up on mine.
Although I am by no means an expert – heck I only started playing this week or so ago as of the date of this post, it doesn’t take long (or many headaches) to get a good grasp of information designed to help!
There are many great resources available to you – from the LOTRO Lorebook, to sites like MMOrsel, the main issue I have found with these, are that a lot of the player written guides, seem to be either out of date, or are aimed at someone proficient with the system in game and the terminology – possibly re-rollers.
What I would like to aim to do, is reduce the LOTRO worlds intake of Paracetamol and Asprin, and try and provide, written and/or videoed guides for the aspects of LOTRO – YOU as a new player would like to see.
On the cards, I have a couple of videos (one already up – one going up the line to youtube now!) regarding charachter creation and customisation.
I would LIKE to do Combat Stats, the TP/LOTRO Store System (assuming Fraps records the store screen) and Deeds.
I am willing to run through the 1st 20 levels with each of the F2P classes from creation onwards also, if it helps some people – all of course from the perspective of a brand new ‘green to the game’ player.
If you have any suggestions – please comment below – or contact me on the official LOTRO Forums under my username – Verdomme.
LOTRO – For Newbies, by a Newbie – EPISODE 1!
FINALLY! It’s uploaded!
Episode 1 (and soon to come – 1.5) of LOTRO: For Newbies, by a Newbie!
This episode, we look at the initial fire up of the game, and the class and race choices.
DUDE! Where’s my Content!
Well I suppose I was asking for it really.
Joining a Free to Play MMO and hoping (scoff) not to hit a wall so early into the game!
Yes I am of course talking about the dreaded gold cap! Even after purchasing a house, buying all 6 weeks upkeep, buying first horse, and about 200 Barrow Iron ore from the Auction House, I once again have money sitting in Escrow! How much I simply do not know, and am not likely to find out any time soon. All I do know is that I am getting rather grumpy seeing that TP logo pop up everytime I log into the game.
Now you may just say – go VIP you freeloading scrub, but sadly, I am curently unemployed and as such can’t really afford it. That sort of explans why I mothballed a 6 year old WoW Account with 3 Raiding Level toons, and 6 others at max level.
I must say though it is a decision I am glad I have made. The game is great, the people are great, the slow pace of it is great, but I so wish I had no gold cap – I wants a bigger house, and the cheapest deluxe is 7 gold!
Unhappy champion I am!
