Free to Play (DDO and LOTR online), couple questions

[Morgul]

Nothing is free, whats the catch and or limitations of free to play?

They have to make money, so how do they soak me later? 

I tried both of these games a long time ago.   I am going to try them again I think...  I see register here and download, FREE TO PLAY! but they are not telling em "the catch" upfront...

Hoping you will..

thanks

[Razgon]

LOTOR gets you massive gameplay time with the free to play version - A few things is that you can't have all the bags, which sucks, not over 2 gold I think, and after lvl 20 the real kicker starts - You can't get the quests then. You will have to buy the quest packs in order to get them.

That said, you earn Turbine points by doing deeds and other fun stuff,which means if you want to , you can buy a LOT of the game for free through that.

I cannot recommend it enough! Its a great game, and really, the free content should carry you over for many, many many hours.

DDO I don't know - its been too long since I played.

[Andrew Wonser]

Here you go. http://www.lotro.com/free.php
Click on details and it will show you how each of the tiers measures out.

[Morgul]

Ok thanks fellas, I am going to download it now. And if I get some hours played and have fun I got no problem paying for it, so it sounds like a deal.

[Razgon]

Honestly, if you like the kind of MMO that LOTRO is, which is based a lot on exploration, huge landscapes, the LOTRO lore and a game that tries to be true to the stories, I'd suggest that if you DO want to continue playing the game and paying for it, that you get the subscription model. I think that will be cheaper in the end for you.

[Crawley]

We returned to the game as Premium players (as we had subscribed before they changed to FTP) and purchased a $50 point pack when they ran a special where they added additional bonus points to the existing packages bonus points. So we gained like an extra two thousand points on top of the bonus points you already get from the package. It basically gave us a large amount of points to spend and we were able to purchase the two necessity items (bag slots + gold cap removal). Then we just waited for sales to use our remaining points on quest packs, skirmishes and other items we wanted. Since they had sales weekly, and the always good holiday sales, it wasn't long before we had a fair number of the quest packs to take us up to L50, a few skirmishes, and some other smaller items.

We ended up purchasing the Moria expansion for about $20 at a store but they had a sale not too much later that was about the equivalent price in points. That expansion also gave us two new classes and two more character slots.

We purchased a $30 point pack later (same bonus points offer) to get the Murkwood expansion and a few other quest packs and skirmishes. So we pumped in about $100x2 in to the free to play model to get most of the game and expansions which isn't too bad in my opinion. You can spend far less and still get a lot of out the game.

[Razgon]

If the lifetime option is still an option, that would have been cheaper it seems? I paid 75 Euros for a lifetime account which also gives me 500 turbine points each month :-)

[Zarkon]

If you want DDO, today may be the best time.

$30 for 3 months (recurring) for VIP status, which gives you 500 Turbine points a month, plus (I believe) the first month should give you 1000 points.  Most of this ends today or the 10th tho.

[Morgul]

I have been playing around on them both, and think I am going to just go "all in" on DDO...  (IE> set up subscription)

Ill keep plunking away some on lotro however.  I like the quests there.

I played lotro a long time ago, but it wasnt free play then.  Now I see how the system works.

I went DDO mainly because its one I never played before, so everything is fresh and new.   Of course, that also means I am a total newbie at it.

Trying to find things like builds and such are a pita, cause allot of them are from like 2006 and are parental outdated, But I will keep digging.

Thanks for the info on Free to play and these games.

[Razgon]

Hey, Morgul - The Artificer was released last night, a new class. I tried a warforged artificer and man - he uses a repeating crossbow which is really a machinegun oneshotting most mobs on the first island.

I heartily recommend the class, if you are looking for good clean fun! Oh, it does cost 995 Turbine fantasy money, just so you know it.