Beta Players Now Free-to-Talk about LotRO Free-to-Play

Turbine announced on Monday that the NDA on the new Free-to-Play version of LotRO is lifted. All players are now free to talk about this new subscription model and the many other changes in the game. So, what's new? Quite a few things!

• LotRO Store will offer many conveniences for sale, as well as piecemeal content
• Intro and Tutorial quests have been reworked/streamlined.
• Starting zones (Ered Luin, Shire and Bree-land) revamped.
• New Gift Boxes to help new players.
• Three subscription models: Free, Premium and VIP
• DirectX11 support
• Improved zone map with color-coded quest-area highlighting
• More contact with the Epic storyline of the books including more meetings and near-misses with the central characters of the Fellowship

Of course, the biggest change is the introduction of the LotRO Store. So what kinds of things are free players going to be paying for? And how about extra goodies for non-free players? Well, first off, the difference between Free and Premium is, if you have spent any cash to buy Turbine Points within the last 30 days you are now Premium instead of Free. This gives you a 30-day unlock of some content that Free players would not have. All of the intricacies of this are not really known yet as we could not buy Turbine Points during the Beta and so could not really see this difference in action.

Here are a few things that Free players can buy.

• Quest Packs - All zones beyond the starting three must be unlocked by buying the Quest Pack for that zone. You can still travel there and see the world for free but all the quests are locked.
• Traits - You get the first two Virtue slots for free but after that you have to unlock each extra slot for a small fee. Class, Race and Legendary also give you a free slot or two with the rest requiring cash to unlock.
• Auction House - As a new Free player you cannot sell on the Auction House. You have to unlock it in 5-slot parcels.
• Extra Vault Slots - you get 30 for free. Extra blocks can be unlocked with Gold or Turbine Points.
• Bags - Free players get only two inventory bags. Extra bags can be unlocked in the store.
• Mounts! - Free players must buy the Riding skill to unlock mounts. Premium and VIP players can do a quest to unlock them at level 20 if they do not want to pay for it.
• Gear - At every level there is some gear that can be bought that is better than Crafted and almost as good as End-Game gear.
• Food, Potions, Amulets, etc. - Lots of consumables can be bought that increase Experience gain or protect from/cure various "bad things".
• Costumes and Furniture - Lots of items are for sale that do nothing but look good, for the fashionistas.

One more nice thing: The Store is integrated into the game. When you are blocked you click the Unlock button and a browser-like window opens direct to the LotRO Store. No need to switch windows, open your browser and go do stuff, then wait for it to post to your character. Access is immediate!

We should add that, for the existing players, prepare to have your socks knocked off by the graphics. Up close stuff is very good and the trees are really nice, but what really drops your jaw, at least for us, is landscapes. Walk over a hill and see the Shire spread out before you like a photograph. The vistas we have seen in Beta were, quite simply put, stunning.

All in all, our Beta experience has been pretty good in Middle-earth, and better than some others that shall remain un-named. We can't wait for the changes to go Live this fall (rumor says it will be around Bilbo's birthday, for those in-the-know).