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MMO RATING
7.5
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With the great success of Dungeons and Dragons Online going free to play last year, another main stream MMORPG has decided to make the move over to the free to play market. This time it is Lord of The Rings Online.
The LOTRO F2P model is similar in many ways to the DDO F2P model, but there are some differences. One main difference is the fact that unlike DDO, LOTRO is not a highly instanced game. The vast majority of the LOTRO game world is an open world environment. Therefore, they couldn't lock content away by simply not allowing access to instances unless you pay for it. Instead, in LOTRO there will be certain storyline-related quest givers in each region of the game that have a lock symbol above their head. To unlock that region's storyline quest givers, you will need to pay for that region.
We are assured that there will be a ton of content to play in the game with out paying a single dime though. There is an estimated 300 hours of playable content in the game that will be available completely for free.
One very good thing about the announcement is that Turbine is saying that much like the DDO F2P model, there will be no way to buy uberness in LOTRO. The only in-game equipment you will be able to buy for real world money in LOTRO will be some starter equipment packs that will give a very slight edge for new people to the game. Ultimately, they want to keep that sense of not being able to buy your way to eliteness in LOTRO. This is something we hope all major MMORPGs making the switch to the Free to Play model incorporate. Being able to buy your way to the top should not be an option in a game where progress and self accomplishment is the main goal.
Head on over to Lord of the Rings and sign up for the beta test of the new F2P model that will be running this summer. The estimated launch date for Lord of The Rings Online going to F2P on the live servers is set for sometime this coming Fall. Happy hunting.
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