For three weeks now I have been reporting on the news from Mordor Beta builds, mentioned some bugs and posted a few videos and screenshots. This fourth week I have started with an announcement of the pre-order and the possible (not likely) date that the expansion will be released \u2013 July 31st. And that article was very mild if you have followed any of my other ones. The reason for that? Shock, maybe. Hoplessness that this game will do anything right. I am in dire need of a real life +6 hope token.<\/p>\n

So, several days ago this was announced and the forums lit up like a Christmas tree. And who could blame the people for reacting? SSG certainly can\u2019t. What was the issue?<\/p>\n

For some the issue was pricing. And yes, even in the first article, I wrote that the price of the various packages for the expansion was a little bit steep. Being very generous with the wording there. But when we look a little bit deeper, what can we read there? It is not that we were saying (yes, I was among those people on the forum) that we do not have the money to pay for this. Although, there were such comments also, I don\u2019t feel like those were the majority. We mainly focused on several key things.<\/p>\n

We did not see the value of those packages. What SSG fails to recognize is that the value is not the a la carte price of all the items put together, the value is determined by the players and if they consider something valuable or not.<\/p>\n

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The editions<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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The standard edition package is coming only with what the expansion will include \u2013 quests, deed, allegiance, group content \u2013 and a new item called Aria of the Valar that will bring one of your characters to level 105. Basically, since the instances are coming out much later, you are getting a glorified quest pack. The race of High Elf was announced quite some time ago and it was spoken about in the forums and Cordovans streams and it was always announced to come with Mordor. Now, we do not get this race with Mordor if we decide for the standard edition. Why? Well, that is because SSG thinks that High Elf is not a key part in experiencing Mordor. They may or may not be right, but when something was mentioned over and over again in the same sentence as Mordor then it would be only natural to have it in the standard edition. So, the issue doesn\u2019t become if they are right or not, the issue is who in their right state of mind says for months that something is coming with Mordor and then changes their mind and unbundles\u00a0this. No other MMO has ever done that. And I don\u2019t know who wants to pay 40 USD more for a privilege of cosmetic changes to the elf.<\/p>\n

So, if we are not getting the High Elf in the standard edition, why do we get the Aria of the Valar at all there? Well, that is so we do not need to level up and still are able to experience Mordor. Is it safer to assume that by now people are ready and waiting for Mordor or that there is some low-level who wants to go there immediately? I am not sure about everyone else, I understand that there are players with less play time on their hands or just aren\u2019t as into it as others, but I have six characters on level 105 and ready for a t2c raid. I have one more who is level 41 and I do not intend to level him up, as it is a duplicate class, made for scouting servers on transfer and became my crafter. So, Aria of the Valar for me and people like me or just the people who like to level up while questing and experiencing the story has zero value.<\/p>\n

Aria of the Valar, or any Valar package for that matter, has that much less value because it doesn\u2019t really prepare you for anything. You gain levels, the trait points that go with those levels, usually 4 virtue levels, some gold, legendary items and some weak purple gear to get you by. If we were to compare this level-up service to other games you would have been much better prepared to go into the level cap content than you are in LOTRO. Valar packages do not give you trait points you usually get from certain quest lines that you are now way over the level for, it does not give you safe passage through Angmar if I recall correctly and it doesn\u2019t even unlock the stables in Middle Earth for you. So, what other games seem to consider mandatory SSG considers priviledge.<\/p>\n

I mentioned my six raiding characters. I\u2019m not a real big fan of elves, but I do have an elf Rune-Keeper. I have a captain, also, so High-Elf doesn\u2019t bring anything ground breaking for me that I would want to purchase it to level it up from the start. However, because of very bad racial traits of the \u201cregular\u201d elf, I would gladly pay for an \u201cupgrade\u201d to my \u201cregular\u201d elf, which, of course, isn\u2019t offered and it is questionable if it will ever be. So, value of the High Elf to me and similar players \u2013 also 0.<\/p>\n

The highest package that SSG is offering also has a one month VIP code included. And admittedly, players who have a life-time VIP are not in the majority, they do not have any need for a VIP code. So, this is another item with zero value to those players.<\/p>\n

And I must admit I am surprised that after all the hype about Chance Thomas, the soundtrack is not included in any of the packages.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, SSG thinks that the High Elf, which is planed to be priced 1000 LP at U22 launch (which is called U22 for now, may be a dot update), and several other things like cosmetic armor, cloak, kite, character slot, title and alliance mount are worth the jump from 40 to 80 USD. Well, first of all, who flies a kite in Mordor?! And second of all, this is probably the worst value for money you could decide on. This now begs the question is SSG really that divorced from reality and has no clue about business or PR or is this only a stunt to get people to buy a massively overpriced package and spend 130 USD. Sadly, I am convinced that SSG has allowed itself to ask for so much based partly because of what is in the package, but also based on the sentimental value of getting near the end of the story. We are not being sold a cheaper expansion because we are being sold our adventure, maybe our childhood, our dreams\u2026 Certainly not quests.<\/p>\n

Not to speak of, and of course I will, that this is not a pre-purchase in any other way than that it is available before the launch of the game. But it will also stay available after the launch. So the people who are pre-purchasing aren\u2019t actually getting anything from the packages as a reward or a perk for supporting the game, those are being sold and used to badly justify the price they are asking. Also, more on price\u2026 I would guess that SSG would like more real money from a pre-purchase than some real and some fake money from LOTRO points. So how come that you are punished for buying the expansion now? The expansion will be priced at 2495 LOTRO points and, as said before, the High Elf will be 1000 LP. That is much less than 40 USD. So, basically, people who are pre-purchasing and paying with money and supporting the game are punished and people waiting for the U22 are rewarded?<\/p>\n

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The business practice and the history of the game<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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And we do not have here only a case of overpricing the expansion packages, we also have a case of\u2026 Well, first of all no advertising, even if it has been told that there will be some. But also false advertising because players have been told for weeks that the price of the expansion would be similar to the older ones, but none of the old ones went above 100 USD, to my knowledge.<\/p>\n

LOTRO has made much more money when it went F2P, so it didn\u2019t need to learn on mistakes or successes anyone else did, they had their own. So, instead lowering the price and attracting more people to buy it, their excuse for the VIP in the package is that you can gift it away. Whatever money they make now I am positive that they would have made twice as much if we were able to make our own packages. I\u2019d gladly raise the price with the mounts, I have gotten them with the other pre-purchases too, why not now, and with the XP item, etc. But what I do not want is to be cheated out of money with things that have 0 value for me.<\/p>\n

All of this has only been made worse by the release date that SSG offered us. Some of us have been on all the iterations of Mordor Beta builds and we have seen the work that needs to be done. It would be generous to say that this release is rushed. We are falling through bridges, NPCs are in the ground not being able to finish quests, High Elf still needs work, avatar upgrades are not finished, skins of mobs are not all there, loot tables are not finished, various items are not showing their correct level, whole camps pulled by attacking one mob, etc. And we now need to work with another yet unfinished iteration of an update\/expansion, allowing for possible exploiting or otherwise caused frustration by the rushing of the release date. I am not aware that LOTRO has any competition now.<\/p>\n