LOTRO Steam Pack $15 (50% off)

[gothamhunter]

Since it's not posted...

LOTRO is finally on Steam! For those of you who play or have thought about playing, they have a Steam Starter Pack available for 50% off currently. Details are below:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/213174

Exclusive Noble Grey Steed: Saddle up on this striking grey steed as early as level 5 and travel across Middle-earth 68% faster than on foot.
A free horse is always nice, and this one looks pretty good.

Three Bonus Quest Packs: Continue your adventures through the troubled Northdowns, tranquil Evendim, and frigid Misty Mountains
If you are f2p then getting these will help you a lot! I believe it will give you quest content to about level 35 or 40, possibly more if you do all these of those zones.

25% XP Boost Token: Earn 25% more experience from monsters while you have this token equipped, all the way to level 65
You level really fast in LOTRO already, but this is a nice perk. Takes up your pocket slot as equipment.

1,000 Turbine Points: Customize your experience in Middle-earth with 1,000 Turbine Points. Buy cosmetic gear, rare mounts, experience boosts, buffs, and more.
You can use this for cosmetics, game content, more classes, etc...

I'm a lifetime account LOTRO player and I enjoy the game greatly and it's a very well done transition to a f2p game, considering you are able to earn the Turbine Points you can use for buying content in the store by playing the game.

 

[ibex333]

How is this game? Especially when playing FREE? How limited are you? How much grinding is needed to earn a descent amount of turbine points?

How are the parties in the game? How easy/hard it is to find someone to play with?

Are there cookie cutter classes/builds that everyone wants, and classes/builds that do not get accepted into parties?

 

[gothamhunter]

How is this game?

The game itself is great; the best parts of it are the atmosphere, storyline questing, and overall maturity of the population. Even the roleplaying server is great to hop into once in a while.

Especially when playing FREE? How limited are you?

Playing for free, you are limited to the content you can access. Below is a link to a chart that can explain it better than I can; click on the Details tab: http://www.lotro.com/free.php

Overall, I play with a friend who is F2P only and by just playing the game he was able to purchase some content while on same just with in-game earned TP, but he did enjoy the game so much that he bought some too.

How much grinding is needed to earn a descent amount of turbine points?

A lot of the "grinding for TP" goes hand-in-hand with playing the game; you gain TP from doing things like finishing quests, exploring areas, doing deeds to give yourself stat buffs, etc.. Below is a link that shows what kind of TP you can earn in each zone and how to earn TP in general:
http://lotro.mmorsel.com/2010/08/how-to-earn-turbine-points.html

How are the parties in the game? How easy/hard it is to find someone to play with??

I usually play solo or with friends, so I don't have much to say with this one for normal questing; however doing skirmishes and instances is pretty easy as everyone wants those medallions.

Are there cookie cutter classes/builds that everyone wants, and classes/builds that do not get accepted into parties?

It is definitely a cookie cutter build kind of game - DPS, Tank, Healer, and CC. However, a lot of classes can do more than one of these - the Warden can DPS or Tank effectively, and the RuneKeeper can DPS or Heal effectively; LoreMaster can DPS or CC, Champion can DPS or sometimes tank as well. I would say most people are pretty open.

If you are seriously interested in the game, you can own a crapload of content for very minimal up-front cost. Look at a recent thread here:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2251532

If someone spent $65 on the game (Mines of Moria box, Mithril Edition and Steam Starter), you get basically the entire game up until the last expansion, Rise of Isengard, not to mention like 3500TP. There is Seige of Mirkwood, but I'm honestly not entirely sure how that all fits in content-wise.

I would say buy the Steam Starter edition, see if you're enjoying it, and if so pick up the Mines of Moria expansion box from Amazon since it contains so many benefits.

 

[Dahak]

I would say buy the Steam Starter edition, see if you're enjoying it, and if so pick up the Mines of Moria expansion box from Amazon since it contains so many benefits.

The only BUT to that is you dont want to purchase the codemasters versions, which was for the European users as the keys will not longer activate.

Even that, its really hard to find the boxed us MoM anymore now.

 

[gothamhunter]

The only BUT to that is you dont want to purchase the codemasters versions, which was for the European users as the keys will not longer activate.

Even that, its really hard to find the boxed us MoM anymore now.

Here is the link to the US version; the other one on Amazon is the EU version:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Lord-Rings...mines+of+moria

 

[Sulaco]

Back up to $30 already?

 

[datalink7]

The game is one of the better MMO's in my opinion. I still casually play. I bought a lifetime sub some time ago so I go back every now and again and have access to all the content. They did a great job with the atmosphere.

 

[Wardawg1001]

Any PvP?

 

[gothamhunter]

Any PvP?

Not in the world, but there is a zone for PvMP, which is where players play against other players that choose to be the evil minions (orcs, spiders, etc...) for control points.