Lord of the Rings Online

GWC Community GWC Gaming Clan
#1

Turbine has recently announced that come this Fall, LOTRO is switching to a Free-To-Play (F2P) model similar to what DDO uses. Lifetime members, like myself, will get an automatic VIP upgrade. There appears to be a Beta Signup if you want to get in on the F2P model early and don’t mind working out the bugs with it.

As a side note Turbine was planning on upgrading both LOTRO and DDO to DirectX 11 (not required I’m sure) this year making the one of the few DX11 games out there for now. I’d like to see some of the stone walls of Bree and other stonework pop out in more detail with DX11.

If you ever wanted to try LOTRO or get back into it, your chance is coming up.

#2

Huh. Thanks for the pointer. I tried Lotro Beta years ago. With my playstyle (having no life), I felt I could finish the game (at the time) in 45 days.

I very much liked the look and feel of the game. It was very beautiful.

//youtu.be/QRisYfoLeSo

//youtu.be/nZP7c41JIug

I tried to get into the DDO beta, but no luck.

#3

I was never that into LORTO but I would try again for free!

#4

LOTRO has officially gone Free2Play this past week! The servers are occasionally spiked with lag under the influx of new and returning players, especially in the new Endwaithe area. It sounds like there may be more F2P content than DDO offered when they opened F2P.

Oh, and DX11 support is finally in game. I’m not sure I can tell it from DX10, but then I’ve been spending too much time in STO & CO to remember the old graphics quality in all its detail.

#5

Here are a few screenshots from LOTRO. The elf in green is my Loremaster (level 56 at the time) who likes to run around Gandalf-style with a staff and longsword. We’re stopping an orcish assault from crossing the Bruinen river and approaching Rivendell’s doorstep. You can see one of Elrond’s twin sons, Elrohir. His brother Elladan is also there, only hidden behind my Sabretooth Tiger friend. I also have my trusty skirmish soldier, Celedaiyn, hidden farther behind us.

It’s a bit messy because so much was happening so quickly but what you’re seeing is the end of the Ford of Bruinen skirmish. You can see the Rage of the Bruinen (you might remember the watery horses from the movie) coming in from the North, ready to trample the last ogre. The ogre has a rotating shield graphic for whatever buff he has, and it’s obscuring the water horses, but they are a cool sight to see! That was maybe the third or fourth appearance of those horses in that particular instance.

#6

so what server are you playing on? I play on gladden at this time with a 63 captain / 56 hunter / and several mid 20 toons

#7

I’m on Brandywine with 3 characters. 56 guardian, a 20 hunter, and a 20 champion.

#8

And if we weren’t separated enough, I’m on Landroval! :rolleyes:

I haven’t been in LOTRO for a little while. I’ve been splitting time between AoC and an undisclosed closed beta.

#9

Tease!

lb

#10

I’m a lvl 61 tank (Guardian) now, but I plan on going back to EVE Online after I finish the main storyline upon reaching 65. LotRO’s endgame is not dissimilar from FFXI’s. But, there seems to be less of a grind to get the gear people want. The down side for me compared to FFXI is if you want gear for your other characters, you’ll have to level up those characters too since equipment tend to “bind” (you can’t trade or mail it) once you acquire it. So, you can’t use one character to get gear for all of your characters. I do not see myself going through the motions again for another character to reach 65 after this.

That and my FFXI buddy seems to have deserted me. >< Hasn’t been seen since November 1st.

There’s still a ton of content for me to get through though, and the game is stable (even if my PC is too old to really handle it sometimes). A new update was just released that improved free to play features as well as the magic classes.

#11

What would you do with 100,000 Turbine Points? Would you buy every item in the LOTRO Store? Purchase your Kinship matching armor? Collect every mount in the game? Create a new look for each and every raid or instance? The possibilities are endless. The riches of Middle-earth could be yours! Simply enter today for a chance to win 100,000 Turbine Points!

What Can I win?
One 1st place winner for each game get’s 100,000 Turbine Points
Two 2nd place winners get lifetime subscriptions to either game
Five 3rd place winners get 1000 Turbine Points
Do I have to purchase anything to enter?
No, the contest is free to enter, no purchase necessary.
Ok great, how do I enter?
To enter, go to either www.lotro.com between Dec 1 to Dec 31 2010 and register for a free account to become entered in contest.
But I already play LOTRO, can I still enter?
Absolutely! If you already have a LOTRO account prior to Dec 1, entrants need to go to my.lotro.com/contest.php Dec 1 to Dec 31 2010 to become entered in contest
If I enter to win for LOTRO, do I need to enter separately for DDO?
Yes. Each game will have individual drawings. You may enter to win for each game, but you must sign up separately.

http://www.lotro.com/news/latestnews/928-what-would-you-do-with-100000-turbine-points-

#12

I finally gave this a shot. I basically just played the ‘tutorial’ intro story portion of the game for now, but the graphics are pretty great for something that is free!

Though I do wish there’s a way (there probably is, but I just haven’t found it yet) to set one quest as the primary one so I know which marker to follow. I’m getting so lost once I was out of the intro story and am following a bunch of quests at the same time (though most likely because I suck and not the fault of the game at all). :smiley:

#13

You can right click the gold ring on the right side and select “Set as quest guide focus”.

What server are you on?

#14

I’ve experienced some kinship drama and am now back on EVE. ><

#15

Thank you! :smiley: That is a huge help! I’ll revisit the game during the holidays, hopefully.

Hm…I’m on Brandywine, I think? Are there are lot of differences between different servers?

Sorry about your kinship drama!

#16

Hey. Sorry for late reply.

Nice. I’m on Brandywine too. There are differences. Brandy is one of the more popular servers. That can be good or bad depended upon your time zone.

And thanks. ><

#17

I can’t even remember what server I’m on, but I’d be willing to roll a new character somewhere for a GWC kinship.

#18

I dunno about others, but I stopped playing awhile ago. ):

#19

I’ve got a permanent subscription but I haven’t played in a while either. The majority of my characters are on the Landroval server, however.

#20

I’m playing on Brandywine, with a 65 Captain and some others, mostly lower level. If there was some interest in forming a GWC Kin I’m more than happy to put some time and effort into a new character just to have some peeps to play with. The friends I started with have slowly fallen to the wayside.

In good news, Rise of Isenguard should be out in a week or two, which means anyone at the 65 cap can move forward to the 75 cap, if you are willing to pay for Isenguard. I already paid for it months ago, so I’ll probably spend plenty of time on my main character, Tegestu, with that content.