LOTRO free-to-play relaunch delayed

By Robert Purchese Published 9 September, 2010

Tolkien its time.

The European free-to-play relaunch of The Lord of the Rings Online has been delayed so that Codemasters can better prepare for the anticipated "massive increase" in players.

Book 2: Ride of the Grey Company and the Free to Play Store will now be available "later than expected".

"We are really pleased with the performance of the game and excited about the response to Free to Play from our players," said Rowland. "Given the complexities and challenges faced in the preparation and implementation of the new store to work within our infrastructure, we feel more time is needed to deliver the high level of service our players have quite rightly come to expect.

"As a result, we have decided to delay launch to ensure that we can support the massive increase in players that we are anticipating and deliver them a Free to Play experience like none other."

Lord of the Rings Online will offer three free-to-play tiers: VIP, Premium and Free. The differences between them are highlighted on the official website. The LOTRO Free to Play Store will be available in-game and stock around 2500 items from clothing and emotes to game expansions and extra character slots.

Book 2: Ride of the Grey Company is a significant update to LOTRO. It opens Skirmishes at level 20, revamps character creation, adds a separate cosmetic items storage and much, much more. The full patch notes can be found on the official website.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (24) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Krusty #1 1 year ago

    Lots of issues in the US, so not as disappointed as I first was.
    We'll have it soon enough I'm sure :)

  • randompanda #2 1 year ago

    Ahhh my eyes! The puns! They burn!

  • munki83 #3 1 year ago

    Gah really interested in LOTRO now but not sure if I should wait or should just go and get the game + mines of moria off of amazon for about £10

  • mingster #4 1 year ago

    nice pun.

  • argus_raphite #5 1 year ago

    This was announced yesterday afternoon, keep up?

  • levitate #6 1 year ago

    The restrictions seem reasonable for a free-to-play. I might consider reinstalling the game and see what's going on.

  • iokthemonkey #7 1 year ago

    Does anybody know if the US servers are region-locked? This could be damaging to Codemasters' plans if they're not, as you may find people migrating to those servers instead.

    I understand there have been issues, but what's pissing a lot of people off is that there's no confirmed date or even vague guestimate as to when they'll be ready for the swich.

  • BigJonno #8 1 year ago

    @munki83

    From what I understand about content unlocks for existing owners, that seems like a very sensible purchase.

  • actionfitz #9 1 year ago

    they better get a move on...
    Cataclysm and The Old Republic are going to soak up any audience this might have with the undecided if they delay too long.

  • killuminati2911 #10 1 year ago

    Codemasters... is there really anything to add to that??

  • Khorrax #11 1 year ago

    iokthemonkey: Nope, the US servers aren't region locked which is why I'll most likely play on them. I don't really trust Codemasters to handle this well.

    And what's with the terrible headline?

  • SAMagic #12 1 year ago

    I'll be honest: do we get anything out of reopening a subscription before the conversion to free-to-play? What are lifetime members getting too?

  • iokthemonkey #13 1 year ago

    Lifetimers get the dungeons/regular content for free, as it's always been. You also get so many ''free'' Turbine Points per month, which can be used for cosmetic stuff, store stuff and so on.

    Subscribers - I think - get the same deal, so long as they're paying, but fewer TPs, IIRC.

    Free-to-play players have to buy the content past Level 20 using Turbine Points, which can be purchased for cash or earned in-game.

    They did a chart detailing it, which is probably somewhere on LOTRO.com.

    And that'd be a great move for me, Khorrax, if I wasn't a lifetimer on the Euro servers... :( If not, I'd be there in a shot.

  • tenebrae #14 1 year ago

    Lifetimers, and subscribers - as long as they subscribe - are both counter as VIP level players. They get everything for free except future paid expansions, and get 500 Turbine points per month to spend in the store.

    Premium players are anyone who will buy Turbine points and anyone who has in the past been a subscriber. They get restricted gameplay. All in teh "former subscriber" category get a few extra perks like waiving of the gold limit.

    Free-to-players are the "leeches" who have never put a dime towards the game and get the most restrictions.

    As said the most notable restriction is that Frees and Premiums have to buy quest packs for everything outside starter zones, which is roughly lvl 20+ content. A full comparison chart can be seen over here.

    Expansion packs are a separate consideration. The base game, Shadows of Angmar, covers level range 1-50 regardless of your player type. Mines of Moria (caps at lvl 60) and Siege of Mirkwood (caps at lvl 65) are both regarded as having the quest pack price in their sales price, so they come with all the quests included, no matter VIP, Premium or Free.

  • iokthemonkey #15 1 year ago

    It's also worth noting if you don't buy Moria, you have to pay for the Warden and Rune Keeper classes, which can be bought in the Store.

  • hobojebus #16 1 year ago

    I was semi interested untill they revealed you could buy permenant stat increases on this very site and at that point my interest died.

  • tenebrae #17 1 year ago

    The stat increase tomes drop as loot too. And in fact, only the lower end of them is available in the shop. The higher end you have to loot or get from the auction house.

  • iokthemonkey #18 1 year ago

    I think the stat increases are capped to one per stat. IIRC. And 20 points on a stat isn't that much in the grand scheme of LOTRO. On your Vitality for example, I think it works out you get about another 60 or so points of ''Health'' - which is less than one slap from an on-level mob in the top 20 or so levels.

  • tenebrae #19 1 year ago

    Stat tomes come in five varieties: +10, +20, +30, +40, +50. Following applies:
    * Last two tomes are loot only.
    * They must be used in order.
    * Their effect is not cumulative.
    * They are level restricted (I can't recall the minimum requirements)
    So if you have 500 might, you must first use might tome +10 to get it to 510, then +20 to get it to 520 etc, up to 550 might. Cap is always 10*level cap, meaning stats currently cap at 650 points. Overall, +50 to a stat is not earthshattering. The signature buff of the captain class, IDOME, gives a +50 to all stats, and can be spammed to hold up continuously.

  • iokthemonkey #20 1 year ago

    Cheers Tenebrae - I didn't realise they went all the way up to 50. But even +50 to a stat - like you say - isn't gamebreaking.

    I read somewhere 600 was the stat cap, which it probably was when 60 was the upper limit.

  • iokthemonkey #21 1 year ago

    Cock.

    http://co mmunity.codemasters.com/forum/l...

  • brider #22 1 year ago

    Dont even bother using turdmasters service
    I'm playing on turbines servers and even though im in the uk I havn't had any lag issues at all

  • iokthemonkey #23 1 year ago

    I would but I have a lifetime sub in the UK and I can't transfer it.

  • actionfitz #24 1 year ago

    i was playing the US normal version - ie not the new free to play version - and im based in Ireland...
    might assume its the same with the FTP versions.