Were going to step waaay back fromRise of Isengard today (screenshots notwithstanding) to address a question that Ive seen pop up time and again. The question comes from players on the free-to-play side of the game who are wondering What do I need to do or buy to get the most out of my LotRO gaming experience?
Bags For YouThe Road to Mordor: Getting the most out of your F,In my opinion, the lovely aspect ofLord of the Rings Onlines hybrid model is that you, the player, have a wide range of choices when it comes to how you want to fund your gameplay. If you decide not to go the subscription/VIP route, it can get a little confusing, especially in light of just how much there is in the LotRO store. Do you need to buy anything at all? What are the essentials? How should you go about earning some free Turbine Points to finance these purchases?
Unlike many other recent MMO F2P conversions, LotROs offers you more flexibility than just suffer with F2P restrictions or subscribe, which should give you hope that you can tailor the game to your exact needs. In todaysRoad to Mordor, Im going to put myself in the shoes of a F2P player and tell you exactly what Id do to get the most out of my account.
Living within the bounds of F2P
The first thing to get straight in your mind is that Turbine isnt providing a free-to-play option out of charity; the studio wants your money but is willing to work for it and meet you more than halfway. So yes, there are restrictions on a purely free account if youre unwilling to spend any money, but youd be surprised by just how much you do get before you drop a single penny.
Ive always been impressed that Turbines made a continual effort to open up more of the game to free players. You will not only get all of the quests up through Lone-lands (level 31ish) but can go anywhere in the world, experience the full epic storyline (which is the true meat of the game),Buy Ugg Boots Online grind to your hearts content, and with Rise of Isengard, step into monster play PvP. So my point here is that if you dont want to put money into this game, thats fine and its your choice, but it also doesnt mean you get to complain about the walls that youll occasionally bump up against. Free doesnt mean entitled to everything; it means having fun on the studios dime and consideration.
Its important to have a right mindset going into F2P because it can be tempting to look at VIP players and want everything they have (but, you know, for free). No matter what choices you make with your cash, LotRO is a remarkably enjoyable and satisfying game, and I think its amazing just how r you can get with no money down.
LotRO store essentials
Because LotROs hybrid model is conducive to an a la carte approach by which you buy only the features and content you want, you can cut right to the chase and get the pure essentials without having to load up on extra calories that really do nothing for you in the long run. The problem is that the store is packed and its easy to get confused, especially if youre new to the game.
So after looking over the price list provided byLotro-Wiki, I put these forward as the three essential purchases that I think all F2P accounts should consider:
Fourth and fifth inventory bonus bags (495 TP or approx. $5 each): Three inventory bags are really not enough, especially since you as a F2P player will probably want to take advantage of the task system, which requires picking up a lot of vendor trash. Suck it up and get your inventory up to spec.
Trait slots (95 TP/$1 per virtue Brand Name Bags Wholesale, class or race slot, and 195/$2 per legendary slot): To put it bluntly, without a full range of trait slots, youre going to be piloting a gimped character. If you have to choose, go for class traits first, then legendary, then virtues (racial traits are nice but not as essential).
Riding skill (95 TP/$1): Not only is this cheap, but man is it wonderful to be able to ride a horse at level 5. Free players have to buy this skill to ride mounts, period. Once you have the skill, you need a mount. You can either buy one for 500 silver, purchase one from the LotRO store, or get one through a special promotion (such as the expired Rise of Isengard pre-order deal). My thought is that if youre a free player,Bags Wholesale Online youre going to be doing a lot of grinding up front for TP anyway, so 500 silver really isnt out of the realm of possibility.
Note that by buying something — anything — from the store with real money, your account status is upgraded to Premium. This gives you two additional character slots, a higher currency cap (five gold vs. two), higher login priority, and 30 days of full customer service. Thats not bad as a bonus to your purchase at all! Five gold is more than enough for most of your daily shopping needs, and I find that Im rarely spending money these days outside of repairs anyway.
Quest packs are up to you, since there are several bundled offers and regions are often discounted. North Downs and Evendim are solid picks to get you from 18 to 40 (although you could conceivably skip North Downs if you do all three starter areas, all of Lone-lands, and worked on tasks and the epic storyline). Likewise, skirmishes are a personal choice. They are terrific for free accounts since they are repeatable and scale, giving you access to XP at any level.

Earning points
Part of the fun of LotROs F2P version is that Turbine actually gives everyone — free player and VIP alike — the ability to earn Turbine Points through gameplay. Sure, youre not going to get heaploads at once, but the option is there to earn free content and account upgrades without spending money.
Depending on your tolerance for the grind Designer Handbags Discount, you can earn TP by completing as many deeds and epic storyline chapters on as many characters as possible. The now-defunct Mmorsel hasseveral great guides on maximizing your TP gain andestimates that free players can earn up to 1610 TP per character — enough to get a couple of quest packs or to start saving up for expansion content! The site also postedan inspiring tale of a player who spent only $10 and managed to buy over 6,800 TP worth of content by taking full advantage of the system.
F2P survival strategies
Strongly consider subscribing for a month! Not only will you be bumping up your account to premium status after the month is up so you can enjoy the full game for 30 days, but youll also eliminate the currency cap on your current characters, keep all of your inventory bags, spend in-game currency instead of TP for your riding skill, retain any trait slots you unlock during leveling that month, and get 500 TP to boot. Thirty days of busy, productive play can pay off in the long run for your free account. Want a cheap alternative to a regular one-month subscription? Hunt down a box copy of Shadows of Angmar (currently $2 on Google Shopping) and use the code for 30 days of play.
Read the fine print! Note that some store purchases affect all of your characters across your entire account, and some (such as buying a mount or additional milestone skills) will be applied only to one character. Pay attention to the store descriptions to figure out which is which.
Look for good deals! Turbine has special sales all the time, usually on a weekly basis, and if youre lucky, you can snag discounted items and better TP bundles. Also,Brand Name Bags make sure to check the LotRO store deals and bundled offers, as these will give you a better bang for your buck (as long as its something you needed to buy anyway).
Mull over the Mithril Edition! Turbines latest big promotion is aMithril Edition boxed edition of the game. Its $30, which isnt cheap, but you do get 2000 TP, a cool mount, and quest packs that will take you from level 40 to 61ish.
Find a boxed copy of Mines of Moria! While the prices on these boxeshave gone up, if you can get a good deal on a Complete Edition of MoM, snag it. Youll get 30 days of game time, all of Morias quests and deeds, the Rune-keeper and Warden class, and a couple of extra character slots. Thats seriously awesome.
Skip Mirkwood! Ive given this some thought, and I really dont think Mirkwood is worth your hard-earned TP at this point. Its only a five-level zone that can be easily bypassed (or justBags For You Buy visited for the epic storyline) in vor of Enedwaith and Dunland.
Keep an eye on the LotRO store page! Not only does Turbine listall the current and upcoming sales, but theres usually a weekly coupon code for a free in-game goody.
Hope that helps both clarify your options and give you a few pointers how to navigate the wild and wooly world of free-to-play!

When not enjoying second breakst and a pint of ale,Justin Syp Olivetti jaws about hobbits in his Lord of the Rings Online column Buy Ugg Boots,The Road to Mordor. You can contact him via email atjustinmassively.com or through his gaming blog,Bio Break.
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1 It takes spending REAL cash to get to premium (JUST buying something w/ earned TP will NOT do that)
2 Moria Retail purchases made after November 2010 do NOT include the lothlorien QP. (See Release notes for U2).; Youll have access during the rental period. Loth QP is RENTAL content for VIPs.
3 Lone Lands easily can carry you to 32ish.
Otherwise, a good article (Crell, Riddermark, and the subject of the MMorsel article.)Reply

Syp- Find a boxed copy of Mines of Moria! While the prices on these boxes have gone up, if you can get a good deal on a Complete Edition of MoM, snag it. Youll get 30 days of game time, all of Moria and Lothlorien quests and deeds, the Rune-keeper and Warden class, and a couple of extra character slots. Thats seriously awesome.
Still not seeing a change here. (See 2). ; You arent permanently acquiring Lothlorien Quests and Deeds via this method.Reply
Yesterday, a friend was telling me of an Rk at lvl 75 that wanted to know why his character sucked in healing. Apparently he forgot to spend some tp points on trait slots. Reply
I am a F2P player and it is great to inform new players on what they should expect and on the best way to spend TP in the game. There were a few times when I first started playing that I spent TP on things I wish I hadnt. For instance, you can spend TP to expand your vault. However, all but the last 2 vault upgrades I believe can be upgraded with in-game gold. I spent TP on two vault upgrades before I realized and I was kicking myself.
I also would stress that new players go ahead and subscribe for a month because you save quite a bit of money on getting your bags and removing the currency cap. Also,Ugg 2011 this article says that you retain any trait slots you unlocked during the month but actually you unlock ALL trait slots for any characters that you log on as during that month of VIP. I can vouch for that because I subbed for one month and I have not had to spend any TP to unlock trait slots on my existing characters. However, if you make a new character after your VIP month is over you would have to spend TP on traits.
I have reached the point on my TP spending that I cant think of anything I want to buy. I eventually got all the quest packs, instances, skirmishes, and a few other things like auction house slots and shared storage. The great thing about being a F2P player, even though you might spend a good chunk of money to get all the content that you want, is that if you continue playing for awhile it will eventually pay for itself because you wont be paying a monthly fee. Reply
Knuxson Clarification: if you sub for a month you unlock all trait slots even if you havent reached the minimum level for that trait slot. I have not had to spend TP to unlock trait slots on the minstrel I have been leveling. When I reach the level for that trait slot it is automatically unlocked without spending TP.Reply
Knuxson Clarification on my clarification (sorry! I wish I could edit): the minstrel I mentioned was created during my one month of VIP but I didnt start leveling her until after my VIP month ended and her traits still automatically unlocked when I reached the required level.Reply
Knuxson
Because of this, its also a good idea to create a full stable of characters and log in with each one at least once during your VIP month. VIP gets you +2 character slots for the duration of your subscription, but the characters you chose to lose access to when it expires retain all of the unlocks.
Its much cheaper (~400? TP) to purchase an additional character slot to unlock access to one of your locked slots than it is to purchase the trait/bag/virtue slots on each toon.
The 1 recommendation for this article really shouldve been Subscribe for 1 month – its between 10 and 15 dollars depending on if theres a deal going, which is less than the cost of 2 bags and a couple traits.
I really love the LotRO approach to F2P, because it makes me feel like all 3 playstyles (Free, Premium, VIP) are genuinely accepted by the developers as legitimate routes to gameplay instead of forcing you to subscribe. I had a sub for maybe 4-6 months around a year ago, and I have spent some cash on TP and a sub month here and there since then that I would never have done if I didnt still feel appreciated as a Premium player.Reply
TWO THINGS that Massively and its readers SHOULD KNOW and yet it seems that you dont….
1 – 90% of players in almost ALL AAA games (eastern crap excluded) DO NOT GRIND FOR ANYTHING. They actually enjoy playing the game correctly (ie how its intended to be played)
2 – More than HALF of all players DO NOT create more than one character per ction. Most games have a TON of content and players dont find it fun it create 10+ characters to repeat all the same content with.
The problem is that these majorities are busy PLAYING and not sitting online reading mmo blog and websites. They PLAY the game. They dont sit and fight 1000 mobs in a row to feel special about dinging ster. They dont want 20 characters when they can see and do everything with 1-2 and most likely Cheap Handbags Online, will barely get to see for than half the game because they take their time.
Im just hoping MASSIVELY will create a few columns for all the people that ARE NOT the Vocal Minority
That said, GREAT COLUMN! LOTRO does have a lot to offer. I do think Turbine should cut the prices of most store items in half, though there are a lot of cheap stuff. A lot of people play the game but once they finish their starter zone (breeland, etc..) a lot of the epic quest line and other quests are LOCKED OUT. Regardless if someone can visit that particular zone. So they earn points from completing those special achievements so they can get stuff from store. Honestly, it IS pointless for someone to spend $10-20 a month on store items and still be locked out of the game.
Except for FE, AOC and COH, LOTRO does offer the most for free players without spending a dime.
I wish F2p was NEVER an option for any of these AAA games, If they just PROMOTED they would all have millions of new players and wouldnt have to cater to cheap players. I will never play for free, only if its the first month and I play free to see what the game is like. But after a month or less, I either subscribe or find a game I like enough to subscribe.
Even though some f2p players are really cool, having a f2p game brings in more pieces of crap than it keeps out. So all f2p games, no matter how great,fashion handbags will have a large population of the WORST KIND of players – meaning… level rushers, power gamers, gear junkies, grinders, rmers, channel trolls, auction house/channel trade abusers, harrassers, spelling correctors, attention misfits, erotic RP trashbags and the like. ALL mmorpgs have these types of players, but f2p games seem to have them in excess. Probably because they dont have to put down any personal info or a credit card (prolly they dont have one since they are either 10 or a 50yr old living in grandmas basement with a route)
But, except for FE, COH and the dying SWG = LOTRO has the best community of players I have ever seen! Def worth a shot people! GL!Reply
(Unverified) I wonder WHERE you got YOUR numbers when YOU say that MORE than half of PLAYERS dont create more THAN one character. Im pretty SURE altoholism is as RAMPANT in any GAME as is your USE of CAPS here.Reply
As many commenters have already confirmed Ugg Outlet, the subscribe for one month gambit is absolute gold.
With the unlocks that gives you across all characters (as Caerus said, create a full stable of characters during your VIP month), you hardly need to spend TPs on anything other than content from that point onwards. I think the only other purchase Ive made is crafting guild unlocks (which were only a couple of dollars). But apart from that, buy TPs when theyre on sale, spend them on quest packs when THEY are on sale, and you can unlock the entire game, for life, for not too much money.
And the game? Second best quest themepark ever, after WoW, in my opinion.Reply
Purchace: Evindim, Eregion, Moria box (5$, if its still around), Edenwaith, and the new Isen update. Best way to buy Eregion and Evindim is to purchase one with the free month from the Moria box, and re-sub for one month somewhere down the line and use those points for Eregion.
Thats enough content to get as MANY characters as you have slots to level cap + most of the relavant endgame content for just slightly over 45$.
That is the cleanest path through the game in terms of cost and lack of grind, IMO.
VIP is, without a doubt, the least efficient option, purely because they have added no new perks to subscribers since the F2P conversion. VIPs are stuck buying all the new features with their 500TP a month allotment on top of their sub.Reply
They have sales every week. Just be patient and you can get all the quest packs for 20% or more off.
Reply