LOTR Online: Shadows of Angmar Dated/Pre-Order Details

[Sandman]

According to the game's pre-order site (http://www.lotro.com/preorder) the Lord of the Rings Online game from Turbine has been dated and it has some tempting pre-order bonuses.

Exclusive Founder's Offer* Includes:
Special Membership Pricing
$9.99 Monthly OR
$199 Lifetime

Open Beta Privileges
Early Access — Be among the first to play
Keep your character after launch

Unique In-game Items
Enchanted Cloak of Regeneration
Ring of Agility

The FAQ for the game lists a regular monthly fee of 14.99 and Gamestop.com (http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=646609) has the release date as 4/24/07. Cheap monthly fees and the ability to keep your beta character after launch is very very tempting.

[walkstheplanes]

Wow, a lifetime fee. I don't play any MMO's besides COH/V. Do most MMO's have a lifetime bit?

[Sandman]

Wow, a lifetime fee. I don't play any MMO's besides COH/V. Do most MMO's have a lifetime bit?

This is the first I've heard of one...pays for itself in 20 months with the 9.99 fee or in 13 with the 14.99.

[Zeal]

The lifetime fee is a dead giveaway that the game is going to bomb.

"Get'em with the lifetime payment and then close the servers after 2-3 years."

[Sandman]

The lifetime fee is a dead giveaway that the game is going to bomb.

"Get'em with the lifetime payment and then close the servers after 2-3 years."

You do know Turbine's track record right? They've kept Asheron's Call open for seven years and D&D Online is still up.....they did end Asheron's Call 2 though but I don't think Turbine would try anything like what your suggesting. Especially with LOTR fans.

[GrinR]

I got in the beta so I'll be giving this a shot tonight...

[flinxz]

The stress test is this weekend. Any of you who signed up for the beta should get to check it out this weekend. (Check your email, they were sent out Monday or Tuesday.)

[dotbomb]

That lifetime subscription is a nice feature. You can bet you'll see lots of twinked accounts with lifetime selling for a premium on ebay soon after launch.

[Rangoth]

Is this game any good? I realize this is a subjective question but what does the LOTR license give that makes it different other then names?

[Sandman]

Looking over the races and classes available an Elf Lore-Master sounds right down my ally.

[Mondopest]

I know alot of people are skeptical of the special rate/lifetime membership offer but when you are trying to break into a market where WoW has like 8 million members, you have to give perks. I figure, preorder it, try the beta and if you dont like it cancel your preorder.

[arne]

The lifetime fee is a dead giveaway that the game is going to bomb.

"Get'em with the lifetime payment and then close the servers after 2-3 years."

except after 2 years you've still saved money

Lifetime = $199
$9.99 x 24 months = $239.76
$14.99 x 24 months = 359.76


basically, as Sandman said, as long as you plan on playing this for a year+, you'll save money.

[Sandman]

I think if I like the beta enough I'll do the lifetime subscription. That way I can keep this and WOW going at the same time.

[flinxz]

Open Beta Privileges
Early Access — Be among the first to play
Keep your character after launch
Keep your character after launch. This shit has got to stop, I am sick of this god awful practice. Fills the world with a bunch of high level characters, most of whom probably used beta exploits / non-balanced game play to get there. Playing the game for a free demo should be all you need for testing the game.

The membership fees are a pretty good deal. (Coming from someone who forks out way to much a month for MMOs) Shoot Ultima Online alone has gotten around $1,400 from me.

Open Beta Privileges... well it is open beta, so that shouldn't be too hard to get in to...
Unique In-game Items, these are fine, and should be given to those who pre-order. I just hope they are not something that can be abused.

[Headcase]

except after 2 years you've still saved money

Good catch.

A lifetime subscription could be good or bad, but I don't like it because it's an ongoing service and should be charged as such. At the end, either the thing will go down much sooner than expected, in which case the customer feels ripped, or it will be popular and last a long time, in which case the customer would have happily paid more if they had to.

It's a gamble, but worse than that, there's a bit of a conflict of interest at play, especially if most subscribers happen to go for the lifetime deal: "Keeping this thing running is costing us more money than the non-lifetime members provide".

This feels like if an ISP said "For $500, we'll give you unlimited internet access until we decide to pull the plan". It's unsettling to me. Then again, if most people don't go for the lifetime, the deal could make sense.

In any case, I wish the best of luck to Turbine.

[Xerxes]

Lifetime Fees are a way to get a huge chunk of money up front instead bleeding it from customers. Not really a sign failure. That's like saying TiVo is failing for offering subscription. Let's say I'm liking it a lot so I buy the Lifetime deal. I could miss several months or quit early but they'll still have my money. In turn they'll still make money off me from expansion packs. Hell, I'd probably would pay for WoW like that even though I know I wasn't going to play much anymore if they had that.

[tombofsoldier]

They made so many mistakes with this game its laughable. First off not getting the movie license was idiotic, if only that they can't use the award winning art direction/music/ect. Next they set it at the time of the trilogy (Frodo and all that). But you can't participate in any of the cool stuff (Battle for Minas Tirith, Helms Deep, ect.) Next, instead of doing what Peter Jackson did and say "how can I make this cool", they apparently sat their and read the Silmarillion (a series of notes Tolkien wrote most likely while drunk) and decided everything had to be based exactly off that. I could go on but I won't.

Turbine sucks

[Zeal]

Yeah, but who is going to play the game long enough to justify a lifetime fee.

[Reebdoog]

Been in since alpha 2. Played for a while. Left...came back...logged in even today. I'll test it because it's the right thing to do...but I think the game is boring beyond words.

[bean19]

Is the NDA lifted?

[randir14]

they apparently sat their and read the Silmarillion (a series of notes Tolkien wrote most likely while drunk)

What? I guess you've never read it because it's not a series of notes, and nothing about it sounds like drunken ramblings.

[saulob]

Open Beta ? nice... where where ? I want to try.

No movie-license ? this sucks BIG TIME.

[DubiousQuality]

Got my stresstest email today, will fire it up over the weekend at some point and check it out. Though after how dismal DDO was I don't have high expectations.

[Rirath]

If World of Warcraft had a lifetime fee, I might still be a user. Every MMO should offer this.

[Jesse James 27]

I think the life time fee is a good business model. If you can extract $200 up front, that money can be used immediately for investment or improvement, which ultimatley should lead to better profits for Turbine. I'll play the stress test and open beta and decide from there.

Like alot of people on here, this would have been a hella-crazy deal if Blizz offered this for Worl of Warcraft.... hell, I'd probably still sign up for one for WoW if it was offered.

But, ultimately, we'll see.

[Tenebrae]

Is the NDA lifted?
No, the last I checked NDA is still in full force.

[roboninja]

No, the last I checked NDA is still in full force.
Which will not stop me from saying I think the game is boring. Tried the Beta for a night, but it got old fast for me. Did not hold my interest.

[gzsfrk]

Which will not stop me from saying I think the game is boring. Tried the Beta for a night, but it got old fast for me. Did not hold my interest.

In all fairness, though, WoW is boring as hell (on Alliance side, at least) until you hit level 10 or so and move on to Westfall. Even then, the game really didn't get exciting for me until I hit 19 and first started doing Dead Mines.

I would hesitate to judge how boring a game is based solely on its first few levels.

[Xerxes]

You hear that Blizzard. You can get a easy $200 out of me and probably many others.

[pseudodigm]

They made so many mistakes with this game its laughable. First off not getting the movie license was idiotic, if only that they can't use the award winning art direction/music/ect. Next they set it at the time of the trilogy (Frodo and all that). But you can't participate in any of the cool stuff (Battle for Minas Tirith, Helms Deep, ect.) Next, instead of doing what Peter Jackson did and say "how can I make this cool", they apparently sat their and read the Silmarillion (a series of notes Tolkien wrote most likely while drunk) and decided everything had to be based exactly off that. I could go on but I won't.

Turbine sucks

It's not "idiotic" it's "impossible". EA Games has the rights to the movie content, Turbine has the rights to the books. And as such they have to adhere to the lore. This isn't hollywood middle-earth, it's the real deal.

[gzsfrk]

They made so many mistakes with this game its laughable. First off not getting the movie license was idiotic, if only that they can't use the award winning art direction/music/ect. Next they set it at the time of the trilogy (Frodo and all that). But you can't participate in any of the cool stuff (Battle for Minas Tirith, Helms Deep, ect.) Next, instead of doing what Peter Jackson did and say "how can I make this cool", they apparently sat their and read the Silmarillion (a series of notes Tolkien wrote most likely while drunk) and decided everything had to be based exactly off that. I could go on but I won't.

Turbine sucks

Actually, I suspect that quite a few LOTR fans (those that existed PRIOR to the movie releases) will be very pleased to find a world in which some of the more obscure, less known details of Tolkien's Middle Earth will be expanded upon and explored. If all you're wanting is to play through the movies, EA has 7 or 8 games already available for your gaming pleasure.

[Mortis]

I will be checking this out over the weekend in the stress test as well. I will be buying this if it's even half ass decent, I need a new MMO to get my fix.

[Roc Ingersol]

After beta testing for quite some time, i'm pretty 'meh' on this game. It's exceptionally well done - but it just didn't 'click' with me.

But if I was at all interested in it, I'd definitely pre-order. That's an awesome package.

I do disagree with them giving you in-game items that actually improve your character though. Selling status items is one thing, but selling useful items is walking a very thin line.

You hear that Blizzard. You can get a easy $200 out of me and probably many others.
Why would they do that when you're already hooked? :p
There's a reason tivo doesn't let you buy a lifetime membership anymore.

[Xerxes]

That's it Roc. I'm not hooked. I didn't know TiVo stopped lifetime. That's just ass there.

[Orosco]

Anyone else having problems getting it to patch? It keeps timing out everytime it tries to connect, then waits a minute (!?!) before trying again. I've disabled my firewall quickly to see if that was it, but no luck... Anyone having the same issue?

After checking the official forums, I'm not the only one...

[D_Reaper]

Anyone else having problems getting it to patch? It keeps timing out everytime it tries to connect, then waits a minute (!?!) before trying again. I've disabled my firewall quickly to see if that was it, but no luck... Anyone having the same issue?

After checking the official forums, I'm not the only one...
I could get the update as of 6pm est. I think maybe they were wating for the stress test to begin.