The LotRO Store & Turbine Points

BlitzCanuck

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If you guys haven't been spending turbine points, you should have more than enough to 'buy' storage to suit your needs. I've expanded storage on my max level characters to 90 or 105 slots and i've yet to need more.
 

Palantir

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I have about 10K in Turbine Points now... :pIMP: And I have one alt hanging around the vault in Bree just so I can dump all those TP's on the floor and roll around in them from time to time to make the noobs envious & tick off the Store guys. :laugh:


If I planned on getting back into the game I'd just reopen my Kinhouse etc. and still wonder why with 12,000 feet of floor space on 3 levels I can only fit 3 small chests and 1 table with no chairs in it. :hmmm: Oh and a door mouse.

But, for just a quick run I'd need to do a lot of shuffling of gear or bring in a 1st lvl alt, to get them "into" the game, Kinship them so I can get their vault activated then transfer the stuff. Can't mail the stuff- at one item at a time... that’s screwed up as well. :angry:

All my characters are Mules now. :horse:


Edit- Buy more space? That sounds like a STORE ONLY deal. Gee if only I could PLAY the game and earn more space, but that would be strange wouldn't it? Although... by earning TP's by playing I guess that would be considered "earning" more space. But then I'd still have to go thru the Store... It would be better if Butterburr would just reward you with an extra chest or two for a job well done. It's all perspective I guess.
 
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Redwolf

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It's realistic though is it not? You pay for upkeep in the real world. Even if you don't have a mortgage you still have to pay property taxes.
I don't like mixing real world time and game time. When I log out it should find my game characters and their belongings in exactly the same state regardless of whether I log in the next day or the next year.

I don't want anything in-game on my real-world calendar, like "log in to pay upkeep".
 

BlitzCanuck

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I don't like mixing real world time and game time. When I log out it should find my game characters and their belongings in exactly the same state regardless of whether I log in the next day or the next year.

I don't want anything in-game on my real-world calendar, like "log in to pay upkeep".
but presumably you knew about the upkeep costs when you bought the house? I mean, it's not like that has changed.
I don't have a house in the game. It isn't necessary and it seems to me that it's more of an inconvenience than anything. My map home is already on cooldown way too much.
 

BlitzCanuck

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snip...
Edit- Buy more space? That sounds like a STORE ONLY deal. Gee if only I could PLAY the game and earn more space, but that would be strange wouldn't it? Although... by earning TP's by playing I guess that would be considered "earning" more space. But then I'd still have to go thru the Store... It would be better if Butterburr would just reward you with an extra chest or two for a job well done. It's all perspective I guess.
So tell me how having the 'option' of using TP's to buy storage is a bad thing?
You can get more storage from playing the game........ the old-fashioned way; pay for it with gold.
Personally i'm happy to have more than one option. Prior to the store, you could only get more storage by paying with gold and it took a lot of gold. Besides that limitation, i believe there was also a cap on how much storage you could get.
I don't think there is a limit now. If there is, it's quite high.
 

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You must be playing the game for a very short time. The cap used to be 50 slots shared, now supposedly it is 100, but I haven't logged in since then. The personal chests with in-game money get prohibitively expensive very quickly. I can't just drop 4.5 gold on a 15 slot chest. This is a leftover from when it was level-capped and then priced at a level where only high-level characters can afford it. I have nowhere close enough money for that.

If you don't run out of storage very quickly you must play very differently from me.

FYI, I have spent all VIP points I got on several VIP accounts since f2p, including the pre-launch loyalty points on shared storage and wardrobe space. None left.

I am beginning to think you are speaking more from theory here. What is you highest level character? Did you ever do a festival? Do you have a cook? What crafts did you level?
 

BlitzCanuck

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You must be playing the game for a very short time. The cap used to be 50 slots shared, now supposedly it is 100, but I haven't logged in since then.
"shared"? are we talking about the same thing? Do you mean shared storage where you can move items between characters on your account? If so, why would you need more than that since it's only temporary storage anyway?

The personal chests with in-game money get prohibitively expensive very quickly. I can't just drop 4.5 gold on a 15 slot chest. This is a leftover from when it was level-capped and then priced at a level where only high-level characters can afford it. I have nowhere close enough money for that.
I mostly agree which is why i think it's great that i now have the option to get more storage with TP's that i've earned. Actually if you play the game regularly as i do, 4.5g isn't really hard to acquire. My characters have acquired around 25 gold by the time they reach max level. And that is after purchasing all storage up to just before the increase that costs 4.5g


If you don't run out of storage very quickly you must play very differently from me.
You mean if i had never increased storage from the start? Yes, of course that is insufficient.

FYI, I have spent all VIP points I got on several VIP accounts since f2p, including the pre-launch loyalty points on shared storage and wardrobe space. None left.

I am beginning to think you are speaking more from theory here. What is you highest level character? Did you ever do a festival? Do you have a cook? What crafts did you level?
Why would you think i'm speaking only from theory? Is something i've said not accurate? If so, please explain. I do have 2 max level characters and another almost there. I also have a guilded cook and scholar. Yes, the cook does need a lot of storage which is why i've increased that character's storage to either 105 or 120 slots, i don't recall which off the top of my head. And i save quite a lot of stuff. Some of it definitely is not necessary.
Maybe i've not needed more because i keep some things on mules, things that aren't class specific like dyes, gems, hides, etc.

I'm starting to wonder if we are playing the same game. I know that prior to the f2p update, storage was issue for some people. Turbine listened and gave us the wardrobe, the wallet, increased stack sizes for some items, and the ability to more easily attain additional storage and now it's not an issue.
 

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Actually if you play the game regularly as i do, 4.5g isn't really hard to acquire.
I have tons of gold, I can crank out 1 gold per hour very easily so that’s never a problem. So I already have all the storage allowed IN-GAME via gold. I just haven't stooped to use the store-only items. I joined to play the LotRO game not to use the Store of the Rings so I don't have to play the game.

I think 1 alt has 22 gold alone... yet I still craft my own stuff, my alts are each maxed out in a different crafting profession. I've spend time finding that 1 resource I need in-game for a dye instead of simply buying one off the store.

I know that prior to the f2p update; storage was issue for some people. Turbine listened and gave us the wardrobe, the wallet, increased stack sizes for some items, and the ability to more easily attain additional storage and now it's not an issue.
All of that was a huge improvement no question about it. :D


It's sort of like playing a table top RP game- sure you can jump off and start playing at 20th lvl with all the stuff you can ever want but what’s the point, where’s the adventure & challenge of playing your way from 1st to 20th and "growing" your character?

The Store is like a detour around having to actually experience everything the game offers. Why actually ride to the next town when you can just teleport everywhere? (It’s coming). (Yes I map places but not everywhere. I also refuse to ride “goats” outside of Moria but that’s another issue entirely) Why waste time traveling to that section of the map to look for something when I can just mail-order it via the store? Convenince…

I guess it comes down to why & how you want to play the game. Problem is Turbine literally beats you over the head the entire time you are playing to play it THEIR WAY via the store which is not how it was before the money guys took control from the content guys.

For a lot of "vets" this was not why they decided to play or how they wanted to play.

Sure you can "ignore" all of it: players buying special / better mounts, buying improved potions, buying improved weapons, improved gear, better looking gear, having to battle longer and take more time to accomplish what the store buyers are doing quicker as the content becomes geared to the store & not the game and on and on. That is until you get tired of trying to ignore the constant hawking of it in your face and overlooking it's presence everywhere you go and on every screen.

Then there’s the dum’ing down of parts of the game since F2P, reduced mob aggro range, inattentive mobs... all because the new players were whining about how "inconvenient" it was to them. And we all know that the Store & game now is about convenience.
 

BlitzCanuck

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I agree with your view on growing your characters. Part of the fun is leveling up.
The problem is, as with any RPG, that after you've experienced all the content with your first character, it's just not as much fun with the second, even less with the third, and so on.
You seen it all, there is nothing new. So it gets to be a bit of a grind.
So personally i like that we have the option to reduce the grind somewhat by buying things in the store. Anything that speeds up travel, for example, is a good thing IMO. Another is being able to purchase additional milestones. I like the scrolls that give you 2x for every monster you kill when you're out grinding slayer deeds for virtues. That just isn't fun after the millionth critter. Hell if there was a 3x scroll i'd be buying those!

There might be things in the store i'd rather they not make available.....i don't know as i've not really looked at much of it.....but i do like a lot of what i've seen. Not that i use them all the time but it's nice to have the option when you want it.

I must not be seeing the same screens that you are because the store icons that i see on my screens take up less than 1% of the screen and are easy enough to ignore. You may find this hard to believe but i can actually play the game for hours without the store even crossing my mind!

Anyway, i'm done talking about the store. It's clear that we'll never see it from the same perspective and at this point we're just repeating ourselves.
 

Palantir

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I'll repost Blitz's comment here since it should be in this thread & not the "Hobbit Thread."

I'm with you Ganzor. Lets hope everyone reads this forum and comes to understand that Turbine is not in fact a charity and is in business to make money before they waste years of their gaming time enjoying LOTRO in complete ignorance of that fact.
Because if they only come to find out after they've been enjoying LOTRO, like i did, they will surely regret enjoying LOTRO all that time. I haven't gotten to the regret part yet....i must be in denial.
And if by chance they don't enjoy LOTRO, they can just stop playing and start posting here. :) To answer the OP's question though, No, i don't think it will have much of an impact. Anyone that is into PC games and specifically MMORPG would've already heard of LOTRO by now. Besides that, if everything you read here is to be believed, by the time the Hobbit movies are released, Turbine will surely have FUBAR'd LOTRO to the point that it will be unplayable.

Wow, I think you've failed to read all the posts in this forum from how we LOVED the game when it was SoA & A+ across the board to it's current A+ graphics, B content, and D- administration of the game and slide since Warner Brothers bought it out.

Turbine wants to make a profit- scheech: No one said they couldn't make a profit. Heck I paid a ton of money UP FRONT for 3 lifetime accounts when no one knew if the game would survive or not in the age of WoW. I'd still be paying a monthly fee if they hadn't "begged" us for money to stay afloat; but that’s not important I guess.

What I object to is having to "ignore" having the store tossed up in my face in every single thing I do, even before I get in the game. I think by now I know there's a store and they have sales every single day on everything... Why is it they are not tossing game play or content at me at every turn? Also the selling of items superior to what you an earn in-game ticks me off- this is NOT what they said was going to happen, but a little lie between friends is ok I guess. Playing the game iis not the main focus as much as nickle & diming you to death. If they gave me an otion to turn off all their store "add's" and buttons I'd be happy.

{As I've said playing to earn TP's is in a way getting those items in the game- sort of.}

Forum- I don't know if you've heard this but Turbine really doesn't want players to comment negatively about what they see going south in the game anymore on their forums, unless you want to get banned. So this wonderful site called GS allows players to comment freely & express their ideas on the game both good & bad. It just so happens that at this time it's "bad" news.

When there's good news we talk about it like the Fall & Winter Festivals which were great fun & A+ efforts. Did you read those threads? The Spring Festival however bombed to put it nicely.

I for one am quite happy you are posting and giving another view of the issues and shedding light on them. Please post a topic of interest to you for discussion.

But a question for you or anyone:
How will you feel if they start selling flying mounts in Middle Earth? (And don't think that hasn't been discussed.) I give it an F- and will hate it and that will be the end of my playing in "Middle Earth." Basically it's a "why do you care if another player has a flying mount or not" question.
 
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Michael Dorosh

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I agree with your view on growing your characters. Part of the fun is leveling up.
The problem is, as with any RPG, that after you've experienced all the content with your first character, it's just not as much fun with the second, even less with the third, and so on.
So the remedy to that is to SELL SELL SELL all kinds of ways to level up EVEN FASTER?

Seriously?

RW posted several months ago that the obvious solution is to provide the player a switch so you can turn OFF the levelling, in cases where you want to just enjoy certain areas instead of moving up and out too fast. Honestly, I don't think I'd have the patience to get a second character up to level 65; actually, I have only gotten my main one up to level 57, barely scratched the surface of crafting, and got into the tracking of deeds relatively late in the game mostly because I look at it as a casual pastime rather than something I want to throw a lot of time at. Having said that, though, I paid full price, retail, for all the expansions - have yet to set foot in Mirkwood - and pay VIP with no regrets. That's how they need to make their money.

I must not be seeing the same screens that you are because the store icons that i see on my screens take up less than 1% of the screen and are easy enough to ignore.
Or you're purposefully ignorant, because they come up at the start of every log-in, and come up persistently in various screens in the game now as well.
 

Redwolf

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You have a bad case of tunnel vision when it comes to understanding how others reacted to the game, BC. But it's all right, apart from nothing being wrong with you enjoying it you have good posts elsewhere. What Palantier said, before the Paiz hit the fan we enjoyed the game (as far as I can tell) even more than you do now.

The question remains, how long did you play, did you craft and did you do festivals? Your storage will melt away quickly unless you skip some major areas of the game. I suppose spending real world money on storage can solve this. But the VIP points have no legs since storage is so expensive.

When it comes to shared storage, I badly needed the 50 slots just to unload characters that came back in from question, plus holding a couple shards and ingots, and of course my famous bag space waster, rep items.
 

BlitzCanuck

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So the remedy to that is to SELL SELL SELL all kinds of ways to level up EVEN FASTER?

Seriously?

I can't speak for Turbine. I don't know if the things they sell in their store were intended by them to be used for my purposes. But regardless, i'm glad to take advantage of them.
Although i enjoy the leveling part, after i spent 8 months leveling my first character, i don't want to stop and smell the roses on my 3rd, 4th and 5th.

RW posted several months ago that the obvious solution is to provide the player a switch so you can turn OFF the levelling, in cases where you want to just enjoy certain areas instead of moving up and out too fast. Honestly, I don't think I'd have the patience to get a second character up to level 65; actually, I have only gotten my main one up to level 57, barely scratched the surface of crafting, and got into the tracking of deeds relatively late in the game mostly because I look at it as a casual pastime rather than something I want to throw a lot of time at. Having said that, though, I paid full price, retail, for all the expansions - have yet to set foot in Mirkwood - and pay VIP with no regrets. That's how they need to make their money.



Or you're purposefully ignorant, because they come up at the start of every log-in, and come up persistently in various screens in the game now as well.
There is a screen that comes up when you log on but as i've stated, i never see it since i hit the escape button. As for seeing screens of it while playing the game, i really don't recall that. Honestly. No purposeful ignorance about it. I guess when you're not looking for something you don't find it.
 
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BlitzCanuck

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You have a bad case of tunnel vision when it comes to understanding how others reacted to the game, BC. But it's all right, apart from nothing being wrong with you enjoying it you have good posts elsewhere. What Palantier said, before the Paiz hit the fan we enjoyed the game (as far as I can tell) even more than you do now.

The question remains, how long did you play, did you craft and did you do festivals? Your storage will melt away quickly unless you skip some major areas of the game. I suppose spending real world money on storage can solve this. But the VIP points have no legs since storage is so expensive.

When it comes to shared storage, I badly needed the 50 slots just to unload characters that came back in from question, plus holding a couple shards and ingots, and of course my famous bag space waster, rep items.
Like i said, if there is a cap on storage i'm not aware of it because i've yet to reach it. As i said, i have an SM cook and scholar and yes, i use them to craft consumables for all of my toons, from my max levels down to my level 17 Burglar.
So i need to keep a lot of ingredients on hand.
I don't believe i've skipped any "major areas of the game". I'm sure if i didn't have any mules that storage would be more of an issue. But then i could increase my personal storage since i'm nowhere near the maximum allowed, whatever that is.
 

BlitzCanuck

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Or you're purposefully ignorant, because they come up at the start of every log-in, and come up persistently in various screens in the game now as well.
I went into the game to see if i could find all these screens you talk about.
I logged off and on 6 times and only one of those six times was a store item being advertised.
Once i got into the game, i 'zoned' by entering and exiting a building as well as swift travelled back and forth a number of times and not once did i see a screen with anything related to the store.
No wonder i never noticed; for something so "persistent", it's remarkably obscure.
 

Redwolf

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Personally I don't mind the full-screen things so much. I don't see any of the startup garbage anyway since the Linux client doesn't know how to display them in the first place :D

What I mind is the store buttons everywhere that clutter the ui and are easy to hit by accident. And when you do this so-called "store" comes up that is slow as hell and has a UI that looks like a 13 year old intern's first work. I also don't like that my panel for important notifications has store-related things come up, e.g. suggest to reset tasks for cash.
 

Palantir

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I went into the game to see if i could find all these screens you talk about. I logged off and on 6 times and only one of those six times was a store item being advertised..
I find that hard to believe as I got them every time, how do you think I knew to take a SS of all 3 of them? All 3 are promoting the store not just selling an item- or is that what you meant, you didn't see one advertising an "item" for sell?

No wonder i never noticed; for something so "persistent", it's remarkably obscure.
Then my friend you are a lucky guy and I'm envious! But do you think I'd really get irked at something thats remarkably obscure- if only it was. :)

EDIT-
I logged in to check it out here''s what I got- they must be on a rotation or something so you may have missed the 3. I have to say I like the Isengard screen. :D
View attachment 33602
 
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Redwolf

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Is there and ETA for Isengard?

I suppose should visit their forums at least once more?
 

Michael Dorosh

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I don't recall the ETA. I think they're too busy telling you to BUY BUY BUY it on preorder so you can get the gimmicks NOW NOW NOW and, like, worry about the good stuff later.

Is summer tradtionally a good time for video game releases? In the northern hemisphere? I usually think blockbuster action movies, and, I don't know, going outside.

Then again, I'd be curious what the demographics are. Older people are the ones who are more likely to: have unlimited access to credit cards, steady stream of cash, and be Tolkien fans to begin with I think, as well as the slow, friendly, warm and fuzzy gameplay. Maybe it is the MMO for shut-ins or somefink.
 
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