Thread: Estimated cost in TP for RoR

Following my TP purchase or RoI (bare-bone version) on sale at 2600, I had exactly 5 TP left. There aren't exactly a ton to get from RoI, and update 6 coming out soon will also cost TP. Free-to-Play is getting farther and farther from the truth since the earned TP while leveling just isn't enough anymore, and my alts are all in the 40 range where I have no purchased areas. At this pace I don't have to worry about RoR since I'll never play it anyways, but what do you think is a fair amount of TP for a full expansion which provides a few months of content?

I would expect the point cost to be at least what RoI was, and possibly even more. It's also possible that, like RoI, it won't be available for points right away, meaning not only will you essentially pay more if you do it with points, but you won't be able to play it as soon as those who pay cash for it will be.

And that is, after all, the point. they aren't doing this for free, they have to make money somewhere. And this is one of the areas. if you absolutely insist on not paying any money for it, but you want the expansion, then you're going to have to grind points one way or the other. one option would be to start alts on other servers, grind through the low level/ newbie areas, then delete and do it again to build up points. It's one way to play and never pay.

But really, if you're enjoying the game that much, and for that long, wouldn't it be considerate of all of the hours and work they put into the game to put a little $$ back into their pocket? You wouldn't expect to work for free, so why should they? And that's why, while they will make it possible to play completely for free, they're not going to make it easy.

Originally Posted by Lenris

Following my TP purchase or RoI (bare-bone version) on sale at 2600, I had exactly 5 TP left. There aren't exactly a ton to get from RoI, and update 6 coming out soon will also cost TP. Free-to-Play is getting farther and farther from the truth since the earned TP while leveling just isn't enough anymore, and my alts are all in the 40 range where I have no purchased areas. At this pace I don't have to worry about RoR since I'll never play it anyways, but what do you think is a fair amount of TP for a full expansion which provides a few months of content?

The number of TP you can earn per character will always be limited, but the number of TP you can earn on account is not. Even if you do every single TP deed on your main character, sooner or later you will have to switch to your alts and repeat the process. Or pay some money already.

Personally, the cost seems fine to me. I have all quest packs, all expansions and all essential account unlocks. Also, already have enough TP for Update 6 and already saving for Rohan.

I have around 8k TP atm but will pay for the expansions with smile on my face. Reason for this is to give my respect and support for the devs to keep working on this excellent game, and eventually take us to very gates of Mordor itself and make that tower fall forever =).

I have over 12k in Turbine Points but I'll pay for the expansion as I want to see this game last well into the future with more regular updates. As it is, as a former lifer I get VIP access and no monthly charge, so I could theoretically play the game for free well into the future and never pay for anything again (including expansions, given my accumulation of points), but I want to support the future direction of the game and feel paying once a year for an expansion is more than worth it.

Movies last less than 2 hours and cost about as much when you're going with someone (in my case, my two kids), so the 'per dollar' entertainment value of a game like this is more than worth it.

I heard that the expansion might be delayed until they can perfect a new way to explain to players EXACTLY what they are and are not purchasing:

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1. This is a QUEST PACK not the expansion do you still want it?
2. This is NOT a pre-order so you won't get [INSERT ITEMS] do you understand?
3. Our Web Store is OPEN and has the entire expansion selling for $29.99 Do you still want this?
4. You have calculated out the cost in points to be what you feel they should be, we are still charging you "X" amount of points, do you still want this?
5. There might be a point sale right after you purchase this item, no we don't give refunds, do you still want this?
6. Yes, we know you are a Lifer/VIP, you still wont get everything that is in the expansion in a Quest Pack, do you still want this?
7. Yes, we know there are still bugs in ROI, seriously, dude, do you want this flippin quest pack?
8. Finally! Last Question! Our Web Store is OPEN and has the entire expansion selling for $29.99 Do you still want this?

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Of course that won't stop the months of calculations by armchair accounts that compute the cost of the quest pack in points to be equal to the national debt. Of course they still will buy it and threaten to bring in lawyers. This part of course is always the most amusing. Someone claiming to work for a fortune 500 company as a CFO will explain that the laws in Omaha demand that the points be calculated on the highest possible value (game point cards) and then treated as currency, therefore the loyal customers using points paid to much and a class action suit should be started! Yeah, because at their $750 an hour they clearly can't afford to take a $2 hit on a gaming expansion.

Originally Posted by Lenris

..., and my alts are all in the 40 range where I have no purchased areas. At this pace I don't have to worry about RoR since I'll never play it anyways, but what do you think is a fair amount of TP for a full expansion which provides a few months of content?

Well, then you probably made a tactical mistake somewhere down the road by not getting any level 40 content. Especially since the deeds are easily grindable by higher levelled chars. As it stands, I recently fast-levelled a char from 60 to 75, and completed a few essential deeds. That gave me 1500TP and I still had about half the deeds to do in these levelling zones. Your mileage may vary.

Considering that, the TP price of a new expansion actually must be high, since Turbine created so much TP inflation with their gazillion deeds that complete by themselves. A price of 5000TP is indeed fair for a $30 expansion (wether the content is worth the title "expansion" is a different question).

Originally Posted by sirwillow

... It's also possible that, like RoI, it won't be available for points right away, meaning not only will you essentially pay more if you do it with points, but you won't be able to play it as soon as those who pay cash for it will be. ...

RoI could be bought with TP the very minute the servers went online. I know you´re speaking of the preorders here, but the "start advantage" of pre-purchasers that you are trying to lament here was the 20 seconds it took to buy the expansion in the store after the patch.

Originally Posted by Lenris

Free-to-Play is getting farther and farther from the truth since the earned TP while leveling just isn't enough anymore, and my alts are all in the 40 range...

If you've bought all the content up to that point via earned TP and haven't had to do some major-league TP grinding, Turbine has clearly screwed up. The point of "free" isn't to be a long-term charity for broke gamers, it's to entice more prospective customers to come and get hooked on the game - then start paying to experience it without all the limitations and tedium that comes with "free". Sure, the entire game is "free" in theory. But in practice, it should be designed so that few will stick around long-term without paying anything.

If someone is playing a lot month after month and aren't spending at least $50/year on the game, Turbine is almost certainly losing money on them. I'd expect that RoR would cost on the order of 4000 TP when new, falling to more like 2500 later. With the very best deals available for TP purchases, that's like $28... pretty cheap for month's worth of entertainment IMO. It's common for me to spend $50 on other games, and basically be done with them in a week or two.

Khafar

Originally Posted by Vandervahn

Well, then you probably made a tactical mistake somewhere down the road by not getting any level 40 content.

QFT. Angmar pays itself with two toons, and has tons of great content to enjoy (it once was the end-game). I like misty mountains less, and it needs more toons to match the TP price with deeds. Eregion is also nearly matched with two toons.

So if you really don't want to buy any TP at all, create two new toons on an alternate server, do the deeds up to level 20 with both, and go buy angmar and then eregion when angmar will be cleared twice. This will help you move your alts through eregion, moria and mirkwood (assuming that you already have the extensions if your main is 75).

I didn't do those zones with my rerolls for points since I am a VIP, but I certainly did them for the fun of playing the quests and instances. I still have tons of deeds to finish (even with my main), but I barely have time for raids so grinding is out of question for now. Don't forget to come back here in a few weeks and tell us how it went for you.

This is a full expansion, so probably upwards of 4000 tp. Even in a f2p model it's pretty customary to buy expansions with cash.

Yes as an expansion it will be cash only per order and for some time after release.

How long was it after RoI was released before you could purchase it with TP? I am asking as I do not know. Was it 2 weeks, 3, 4?

Originally Posted by Maxal

Yes as an expansion it will be cash only per order and for some time after release.

How long was it after RoI was released before you could purchase it with TP? I am asking as I do not know. Was it 2 weeks, 3, 4?

0 days. Unless you are talking about the full expansion including the instances, which weren't released until December. In that case, it was more like 10 weeks.

Originally Posted by Maxal

Yes as an expansion it will be cash only per order and for some time after release.

How long was it after RoI was released before you could purchase it with TP? I am asking as I do not know. Was it 2 weeks, 3, 4?

We had to wait to Update 5 to purchase the entire expansion with Turbine Points. It was on sale in the web store for five to six month for dollars before it was populated to the Lotro Store. This time includes the preorder period plus the time from live launch until Update 5 in December.

I suspect a number of people were faced with either buying the expansion for 30 dollars in the web store. Or buying it piece meal in the Lotro store when the expansion live launched paying close to 6,000 Turbine Points. Or they had to wait until Update 5 in December for Rise of Isengard to arrive in the store.

Clearly Turbine was trying to push customers into buying the expansion with dollars not Turbine Points. It will be interesting to see what is done in 2012 for this expansion given the way Rise of Isengard was handled.

Well, of course they prefer real money instead of a virtual currency which you can also earn ingame.
And I totally understand and support that.
SOMEONE has to pay their bills after all.

So if there will be a pre-order offer again for real money and not all too expensive I'll buy that again, even if atm. I have spare points. Those I'll use for some other stuff over time.