Long overdue, Branick, Mysteri, and Calddir devote this episode to discussion and comparison of Free, Premium, and VIP LOTRO accounts. There continues to be a lot of confusion regarding the three account types in LOTRO since the Free to Play transition. We hope to make sense of it for you. Thanks for listening.
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I hope you can do an episode on Legendary Items soon; I recently hit 45 on my main, and worked on the books so I could get mine! It’s something I’ve been looking forward to since before starting playing LOTRO; it’s unique to LOTRO among MMO’s as far as I know, although the idea of a personal (usually named) weapon is a common theme in literature and myth. Other games have stuck to the DikuMUD/Everquest model of continually upgrading by replacing old equipment with new stuff — which of course LOTRO also does for most of our items.
Still… did Frodo replace Sting with a dagger drop from Shelob? Did the Knights of the Round Table taunt King Arthur for using outdated Lady of the Lake gear when the new
Crusades equipment was available? NO! Loki certainly mocked Thor, but (as I recall) it
wasn’t for still using his hammer Mjolnir.
I think this is a major point in favor of LOTRO; the recent change to the LI system is
excellent as far as I can tell, and I’ve been happily leveling my beginning legendaries. Certainly an improvment over the original system where the items were disposable; in fact I had thought about trying LOTRO years ago, but what I heard of the old LI system disappointed me enough that I stayed away until they announced the free-to-play conversion (and the upcoming LI system revamp).
Nice Podcast! First-time visitor to the site, looks like some good and easy-to-understand info provided.
Branick makes a good point, if you start getting hooked into playing more, in suggesting that you purchase the boxed version of Mines of Moria. Not only do the number of quests in Moria hover around 300 (plus the various instances offered), but you should be able to get a free 30-day subscription once you enter your code given to you at the proper location online. This is what I did, and am now sitting happily with a Premium account. You will need all the bags and trait slot spaces when you get to later gameplay.
Once you get this month of VIP, as stated in the podcast, you WILL want to make sure to log into all of your characters to receive the added bonuses…you might as well fill up your character slots, as once you drop down to Premium, and new/characters not logged in during VIP will NOT receive the VIP bonuses like bags/trait slots.
Another bonus for VIP not mentioned in the podcast is Swift Travel from the stable-masters. Some of the basic Swift Travels from major-to-major hubs are offered to F2P (like West Bree to Thorin’s Gate, for example); however, you will need to be VIP to unlock the many other Swift Travels that will zip you around Eriador much more quickly. The nice part, it appears, is that if you do the VIP for a month then drop down to Premium, you will get to keep the ability to Swift Travel with characters you have logged in during your VIP access.
You mentioned, while VIP, getting as many quests in zones in which you do not actually own the packs right before the VIP ends so you get to at least complete those quests after you are Premium. This same strategy applies toward deeds – discover at least one location for all of the Exploration deeds (deeds in each zone that require finding locations in that zone), and at least kill one of each monster that offers a slayer deed to start the basic slayer deed. Once the VIP ends, as long as you have started the deed, you will be able to finish it (note: if you do this, and then complete the basic slayer deeds after you lose your VIP, you will not be able to start the advanced slayer deeds UNLESS you own that zone). Still, the basic slayer deeds should give a player title upon completion, along with usually around 5 Turbine Points per deed, so they’re worth acquiring.
Branick, at one point you had asked what the restrictions on mail and chat were while F2P. I knew there was some sort of restriction while I was F2P, but I wasn’t exactly sure what it was, so I looked it up – info below.
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What type of in-game mail, chat, and auction restrictions do Free players have?
Free players can send in-game mail less frequently than Premium players and VIPs. Free players can use in-game chat but cannot send more that one tell every 5 seconds. Free players can bid and buyout auctions in the Auction House but cannot post items. These restrictions can be removed at any time in the LOTRO Store buy purchasing the corresponding items.
(source: http://www.lotro.com/betasignup/faq.html)
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So yeh, there you have it. Keep up with the good work, and look forward to the next podcast!
Thanks for the great comments Zyngor! 🙂 You provided a lot of good tips as well so I’ll be sure to include your comment on the next podcast. Unfortunately due to my internet problems, I’m still not sure when that will be. 🙁 Glad to have you as a listener.
When will you post a new LOTRO Academy Podcast. I have been anxiously waiting for about a month for Episode 18. Lotro Academy is my favorite LOTRO Podcast.
You’re in luck. I’m editing the episode now and it should be up sometime today. 🙂