CMP Article: Level 50 Character Start Pack

Another great find by Contains Moderate Peril: an image on the unofficial LOTRO forums referencing items that would automatically level characters all the way to level 50, effectively skipping all original Shadows of Angmar leveling areas. There is some speculation in the post about whether these items are to be used on test severs only or if they are a glimpse of new store items to come.

My inital thought is that perhaps they will be offered as a part of a “legendary” expansion bundle, as an incentive to purchase a higher tier expansion.

 

lvl50

 

As I posted in the comments section of the CMP article, if these items come to pass, I’d like to see Turbine offer an incentive to folks who choose to level a character all the way from level 1. Perhaps a character portrait frame or a ‘Moors rank-type icon. Anything but a title, really. But I wouldn’t condemn them for coming up with ways to more quickly get people to the new content. As we approach level 100, leveling a character all of the way to the most current content is becoming pretty daunting.

Link to original Contains Moderate Peril article

Braxwolf Stormchaser

21 comments

  1. Thandellon /

    And so it begins. Nothing like handing a complete newbie a level 50 character and wonder why they can’t play the class worth a damn.

    • Kaleigh Starshine /

      Well, if there is a bright side to it, there will be so few skills now that it will be easier to learn 🙂

    • I hope the price is high enough to where this is used very rarely.

  2. Lilikate Buggins. /

    hmm thought this would appear I just hope it’s with virtues set to zero! Or the played to 50 character has some kind of bonus over the bought at 50. Nothing against folks buying a 50 character but I doubt if I ever would. You would miss the entire story!

  3. I don’t think I would buy this by itself…but as part of an expansion…I’d be happy. I mean…my fourth or fifth character…it’d be nice to level them faster through the early stuff, even if I went back to deed and pick things up…

  4. In past BETA’s they have a different way to level characters so I would be surprised if that was different with HD BETA. With that in mind I would assume these could come to LIVE.

    As for the concept of LOTRO adding in auto-leveling I have a few thoughts. While I don’t like the idea of new players being able to auto-level, I think this could be very helpful for someone who has played alts through the first fifty levels several times. I don’t think this will be limited to that though, which is not good in my opinion. LOTRO is always about the journey.

    I do find it surprising though that it is only to level 50. When you consider the fact that the higher you get, the longer it takes to level, this is really only about a third of the way to cap. Players still have to realize how the game works for another 45 levels (and more as we move ahead). The players still have to play to learn about all the game’s various aspects.

    I think the biggest factor will be the price of this item. They can’t just hand these out to every new level one character. There needs to be a price. Brax speculated in the article about including it in the highest version of the expansion. I think this could be a great way to allow new players to have an even greater value with Helm’s Deep.
    As for the actual price of the item, there is really no president for this kind of thing in LOTRO. Sure there is the item to skip the tutorial, but that is only saving you about an hour of play. This item could save several months of time depending on your play style. That means it needs to have a high price to go with it. I am hoping something like this would be no less than 2,000 TP for new players. If possible, I think they should make a new cost for players creating alts. I would like to see this around 500 TP as they don’t really need a gate but they are saving time. Also, if they can make it be a different price for alts, I would love to see this kind of thing be free to VIP’s who already have a level 50 character.

    What do you think?

  5. I’d probably use it. I’ve started and played so many alts that the thought of doing it again now has me thinking sticking an ice pick in my ear would be more fun.

    At this point in time with out and item like that, the only new character I have any desire to start is a dwarf warden. I don’t think it’ll be happening.

    The last few characters I’ve started, I’ve done everything I could to rush the process along and get me to Moria. 1-50 content is so stale to me, I’d love to skip it.

    • I agree. Unless they do another revamp, I don’t want to go through the early content for a while.

  6. *Still all speculation at this point (disclaimer)

    It’s possible that there are other leveling boosts, priced accordingly. Maybe 50 is the first one they’re testing, or the only one that they put in the screenshot. It makes sense in my head (though perhaps not on a profit/loss statement) to have an expansion bundle (expansion + leveling boost) pack for each expansion. So, 60 could be included with Mirkwood, 50 with Moria, 65 with Isengard, 75 with Rohan and 85 with HD. That way, if you purchased an expansion you could actually play that expansion right away, albeit with only one character unless you purchased another boost separately.

    I don’t know if this would make business sense, though. Considering they make money in the store off of people who are grinding through areas. They’d have to take into consideration how much money they’d lose from people skipping that amount of grind and price the consumable accordingly.

  7. knowfere /

    There’s only one reason I might be interested in this:
    I want to “really” try out a different server, yet “really” don’t want to level a 13th character.

    • Or you don’t trust the Fellowship Walk/Weatherstock security teams. 😀

      • Lilikate Buggins. /

        oooo cheeky! The lag was not my fault 🙂

      • knowfere /

        haha, well I don’t have to worry about that Andang…I’m on Landroval…and a member of LMB no less! But I know there are many from other servers that might have this issue.

    • Yeah, this is my favorite use-case, too

  8. eldaeriel /

    I’d love this for my alts – I’ve already done the lower level content too many times to really want to do it again…

    As far as completely new ppl to the game… It would be really cool for those who want to jump to end-game to play with friends – 95 levels is a lot of catching up to do… I think if people are going to invest in and learn their classes they will do that whether they start at level 1 or at level 50. the other point is that levelling is mostly solo play now, that doesn’t really prepare you grouping.

    yeah I’m for it I guess 😉 I don’t really see it as pay to win given how many levels there are in total and you’ll probably need a fair amount of deed catching up on, plus do the end game grinds to get your character kitted out.

    • No-one likes to admit it but LOTRO is a bit on the heavy side when it comes to grinding (I like it – many don’t)
      Now I want the game to continue (sic being successful)and if the introduction of such a radical item helped to sell the game to new players I can only but support it…
      I have played LOTRO for 2nhalf years and my highest char is lv43 but with so much of the new content being for lv85+ ie mounted combat and Helm Deep…if this is LOTRO at its best maybe good that new players can cut straight to it?
      And all the FORUMS actually seem to agree that you only start to ‘play’ your char at cap…
      And if the new players then decide to explore LOTRO at the earlier levels even better…
      Maybe turbine can sell them a special item so they can start at level1 and experience the ‘old’ content!

  9. Fionnuala /

    I can easily think of a dozen good reasons someone might want to use this. I’m all in support.

  10. Bloobwulf /

    Tsu, I echo a lot of your thoughts.

    For the past 3-4 years, I’ve played 0-20 hrs/wk, prob averaging 4-5 hrs/wk. I cannot reach level cap on my main, bc the content is outpacing my leveling. That is Ok, but not ideal. I both want to try PVMP and don’t want to miss the last update or two of content (if they shut down servers soon after bringing out new content, and I’m still 10-20 levels below the most recent content).

    But that doesn’t include the fact that I don’t want to spend all my time playing my main Hunter (level 58 or so). I want to switch bw at least two classes (I play a Min, currently in Evendim). Factoring that in, at my current pace, I don’t think I’ll ever see Rohan, much less Helm’s Deep, much less anything after, unless the game is up for another several years (and costs the same, and I have as much time). That’s a bit sad.

    This item wd help me see more content (amazing content!), so I’m interested. I’m fine w a significant handicap (maybe a pre-cap handi-cap), if they want to do that.

  11. I would point out that levels 1-50 have been so streamlined and XP boosts are so abundant, that my last character to make the run from starter instance to moria did it in a little under 3 weeks, and that was only moderately playing. (an hour here or there during the weeks and some significant time on the weekends)

    So it’s not like this item is saving you six months of play time — unless you are going through and completing every quest and deed in each zone.

    Levels can be had very quickly if you only do white/yellow/orange quests and skip anything that turns blue or green.

  12. As many have said, I would use this on alts. I have at least one I can think of right now who I’d love to raise up in the ranks but no desire to grind through the content again.

    I do, however, think that this should not become available for purchase until you get at least one character to level 50 on your own.

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Permanent Level Boost to 50 Confirmed | LOTRO Players - […] changes were initially rumored by Contains Moderate Peril earlier this […]
  2. LOTRO: Pulp Fiction; kitties going boom, goats admiring fancy plastic and auto levelling! | tsuhelm - […] LOTRO PLAYERS: http://lotroplayers.mymiddleearth.com/2013/09/09/cmp-article-level-50-character-start-pack/ […]

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