Thread: Questions about subscription/premium

Hello there Lotro community! I'm all new to the game, I just started playing a few days ago and I must say I'm kinda hooked and looking forward to further exploring this wonderful rendition of Middle-Earth.

So for now I have a free account, and haven't spent any money whatsoever. I'm absolutely willing to pay for more content, but I'm kind of wondering about the system here. I understand that you can either subscribe for a monthly price or buy content as you see fit. My question is, if I take a subscription what exactly do I have access to? Will I be able to enjoy all the content that for now is marked as premium? (with the little coin/store icon) And once I paid for one month or more, if I decide to unsubscribe when I can't play the game enough, will everything be locked again?

Now on the other hand, premium. If I buy something from the store (say, the riding skill, an extra bag slot or a quest pack), will it be unlocked for all present and future characters on my account?

As I am not a native English speaker (do not hesitate to point out my mistakes!), I hope that I have made myself clear and that my questions are understandable. I wish you all lots of fun ingame, and hopefully some of you might be able to help me out.

once you become premium you will have access to all quests upto the walls of moria including lothlorien, enedwaith and the great river all of which you will loose access to once you downgrade to premium. once you downgrade youll retain access to quick travel, bags, auction slots, trait slots, gold cap on all characters logged in while our ViP

if you purchase any quest packs or expansions (before or after ViP) you will retain access to those forever, questpacks and expansions will be available to all toons

bags and riding skill are purchased per character

this thread should give you more of an idea of what you get to keep or loose as f2p, ViP or premium
Answers to Your Questions

1 - Slight error in the previous post, VIP will give you access to all the region up to Moria.
2 - VIP get access to player vs monster player (PvMP). The monster play can now be bought with TP, but you cannot play your regular character in the PvMP zone unless you are VIP.
3 - One month of VIP is a must. It unlock lots of things, bags, virtues/traits slot, swift travel and other things that I forget, for all existing character that you log with during your VIP period.
4 - Pass that, it's your choice. But be aware that during your VIP period, you cannot buy quest packs, since you have access to it. So, if you stop being VIP, you are left with starting free zones and extension, such as Moria, that you have bought, since everybody must buy them.

Originally Posted by Bergard

1 - Slight error in the previous post, VIP will give you access to all the region up to Moria.

Actually there was no error in that point on the previous post - VIP gives access to all quests and deeds in North Downs, Evendim, Trollshaws, Misty Mountains, Angmar, Forochel, Eregion, Lothlorien, Enedwaith and The Great River as Finglonger says.

Finglonger did make a mistake about bags though - an extra bag purchase is account wide and will apply to all characters, present and future.

Originally Posted by Ozeagle

Finglonger did make a mistake about bags though - an extra bag purchase is account wide and will apply to all characters, present and future.

oh.. good to know

I would recomend that all f2p players sub at least for 1 month for the unlocks that remain permanent, but if you can afford it the 3 month deal for $29.97 US is the best deal since you are paying $9.99/month instead of $14.99/month. After which, I would look to buying Turbine Points (when they go on sale...which they do often enough), to assist in purchasing quests and xpacs when needed.

Turbine Points (TP) is also earned as a reward for completing a type of quest called a 'deed'. There are hundreds and hundreds of deeds that each character you create can do as they work their way through the various areas of Middlearth that Turbine has so far given us. You can easily earn hundreds of TP/month just by doing these deeds, more if you have the time and energy to grind them out.

A sub (VIP) will net you 500 TP/month in addition to your earned TP from doing these deeds, but you can replace that by buying a lump sum of TP from the Lotro Store, which I will add, will cost you less and net you more TP than a monthly sub will do.

The main benefit to VIP is monster play (PvP or PvMP as it is called in this game). As a freep (Free Peoples who fight against Sauron), your character only has access to the pvmp area (The Moors) as VIP. Playing as a Creep (those that fight with Sauron) is not so hindered. The various monster player classes can be purchased from the Lotro Store if you are not VIP, but you only get to try one of them free as a f2per.

Thats my take on your question, hope it helps?

And BTW, I wish you good adventuring in Middlearth!

Welden

Thank you all, your answers were indeed most helpful. I think I will heed your advice and go for the 3 months sub as soon as I am done with the starting area. Just to be sure I got it right, with a VIP I get access to most content except that of the expansions. And those are Mines of Moria, Siege of Mirkwood and Rise of Isengard, if I'm not mistaken?

Originally Posted by Lucasnabis

Thank you all, your answers were indeed most helpful. I think I will heed your advice and go for the 3 months sub as soon as I am done with the starting area. Just to be sure I got it right, with a VIP I get access to most content except that of the expansions. And those are Mines of Moria, Siege of Mirkwood and Rise of Isengard, if I'm not mistaken?

Correct. All of the expansions can be purchased in the LOTRO Store for Turbine Points (Moria and Isengard have expansion listings and quest pack listings, Mirkwood is just a quest pack listing).

If you decide to buy any of them, take a look at all the options to see which is best for you. For instance, buying the Rise of Isengard expansion from the web store (http://isengard.lotro.com/) for cash instead of TP has the option of the Legendary Edition which includes the quest packs for Moria and Mirkwood.

Good luck.

Originally Posted by Lucasnabis

Thank you all, your answers were indeed most helpful. I think I will heed your advice and go for the 3 months sub as soon as I am done with the starting area. Just to be sure I got it right, with a VIP I get access to most content except that of the expansions. And those are Mines of Moria, Siege of Mirkwood and Rise of Isengard, if I'm not mistaken?

A good option. I would suggest the following:

During your VIP time, create as many characters as you have slots and log them in - even if you don't want to play them right now. That way if you choose to play those characters later they will have full unlocks.

During your VIP time, aim to get your main up to level 50 so you don't need to buy any quest packs before Moria.

During your VIP time, travel to every area you can and kill one of each enemy type to open up the first tier of slayer deed. Also try to open up the explorer deeds in each area if possible. You can then complete those deeds post-VIP for the TP (and for the virtues in the case of Explorer deeds). If you have time you may consider opening up the Advanced slayer deeds in the earlier regions as well. Do this for each of the characters you choose to level up!

During your VIP time, be sure to do the riding skill quest at Hengstacer Farm at level 20 on any characters who get that far, save you 95TP per character.

Well that's a whole bunch of good advice

Thank you all for this precious information, I can see more clearly now what's ahead of me. I shall plunge headfirst into the game as soon as I have enough time. I'll maybe see some of you in game, till then, have fun