Thema: Which is cheaper..

...buying only the quest packs and other various things that I need with TP cards from Gamestop, or paying for VIP? I really REALLY like this game, and I'd like to get to 75 if at all possible, but I'm not exactly rich, and I don't think I can really afford a sub. Or could I get VIP for a month and unlock all the stuff that you retain when the month is up? Just need some advice as to which option is best....

If you're sure you're going to be around for a while - say 10+ months - it would probably be cheaper to buy a month of VIP and quest packs/expansions as needed, keeping a close eye out for sales. You'll miss a few, that just happens, and you can't buy quest packs during your VIP time (though you can buy expansions). You also get 500 points during each VIP month, so that's a bit of a boost to the budget.

If you level toons quickly, it might be viable to go for the 3 month VIP package (30$ US total), quest through the rented content with your main and maybe your favourite alt, if you do alts, and then pick up Moria and other expansions as needed.

A LOT is going to depend on your play style, and how you feel about grinding, though.

Well...

Going VIP for a month does net certain perks - permanent trait slot unlocks, permanent swift travel for all toons you logged in with during the VIP phase - but quest packs and stuff isn't one of the things you keep. Being VIP without having any of the quest packs is more like you renting the content. It also doesn't include expansion packs you will probably want - Mirkwood, Dunland and Moria.

If you purchase them with TP, though, they're yours forever for all characters present and future on your account and regardless of your status. In the long run, I would say getting the quest packs from the store is probably the cheaper option, along with a month of VIP so you don't have to keep purchasing your trait slots. Swift travel is enormously useful and definitely worth the 15 bucks, especially as the character keeps it after the VIP is done.

Also, keep an eye peeled for TP sales on the quest packs and expansions in the store etc.

Also, whenever RoR is finally put up for pre-order, you might look into that as well. People who pre-ordered RoI Legendary (which was, admittedly, the most expensive but had a great bargain) got four quest packs (Trollshaws, Eregion, Moria and Lothlorien) in addition to Dunland, the cosmetics and the mounts. RoR is likely to have similar deals.

You might wanna hold off on purchasing a membership because I wouldnt be one bit surprised if Turbine offers membership sales for there 5th anniversary.

Imo I think it would b better to subscribe in your case, considering all the things you'll need later which to name a few are... trait slots which include -> Virtues/Race Traits/Class Traits/Legendary, and just a whole lot of other stuff that I'll let u fill in the gaps :P also note that whether vip/premium/f2p you'll still need to purchase the expansions.

Anyhow premium will more likely hurt your Visa, especially if your not much of a big spender.

One VIP month is totally worth it and will save you a ton of TP. I recommend it in any case, it will unlock all traits, swift travel (no other way to perma-unlock it!), bags and remove the gold cap for all the toons you login while VIP even if level 1.
As for what is cheaper it depends on you and your play style... Do you plan to have alts? Are you going to run to the cap?

You may consider various things.
One is going VIP and saving up your 500 monthly points for the expansions as you level up and then dropping from VIP when you don't need it anymore. If you want to play the same content later on alts, you'll have either to buy the QP or renew your sub.
One is buying QPs mainly with earned TP you may have to skip some or level up slowly, run some alts... That's what I did and currently own all of the QPs and expansions.
One is buying Isengard legendary edition (isengard+mirkwood+moria+lothl orien+eregion+trollshaws+1000 TP for 50$). You can go free until 30, then go VIP one month and when your sub expires buy any QP you miss to reach Eregion, you should have plenty of TP this way.
You can consider the mithril edition as well (moria+lothlorien+eregion+trol lshaws+2000 TP for 30$).

Hope this helps ^^

Zitat von Lapislazzuli

You can consider the mithril edition as well (moria+lothlorien+eregion+trol lshaws+2000 TP for 30$).

Hope this helps ^^

That is probably the best advice... Its what i've done for my little brother...

He had been ViP for 2 months, getting is Alts to around lvl 40... with the Mithril edition he can freely lvl to 75 now
40-50 Eregion 50-60 Moria, 60-65 Lorien, 65-75 Dunland...

plus with the 2000TP you can buy an expension pack for lvls 30-40 probably...

But atleast one month Vip is usefull to either lvl up 1 or 2 chars to 30-40 and to unlock all the premium player bonusses. (or Vip ^^))

So you are looking at 40-45$ for a game then which you can enjoy for a long long time...

I was planning on getting the Legendary Isengard expansion with all the PotF plus Mirkwood, and then using the 1000 TP to buy the gold cap removal and Evendim. I (foolishly) spent about 400 ground up TP on cosmetics, but I got my lil bro running a main and alts on a different game world and he's grinding out TP inadvertently. If I go VIP for a month how many character slots would I get? 5? 7? I forget how many. And would I keep all character slots and created toons even after the sub expired? Thanks for all the helpful advice...

I have to Disagree with almost eveyone ... Please correct me if I'm wrong.

The Cheapest way to get the most bang for the buck is Rise of Isengard Legendary Edition for $50 ... http://isengard.lotro.com/purchase.php

You get to lvl 30 for free ... then from 30-75 you get Trollshaws, Eregion, Moria, Lothlórien, Mirkwood and Dunland!
Plus 1,000 Turbine Points to buy whatever.

Zitat von StoneSpeak101

I have to Disagree with almost eveyone ... Please correct me if I'm wrong.

The Cheapest way to get the most bang for the buck is Rise of Isengard Legendary Edition for $50 ... http://isengard.lotro.com/purchase.php

You get to lvl 30 for free ... then from 30-75 you get Trollshaws, Eregion, Moria, Lothlórien, Mirkwood and Dunland!
Plus 1,000 Turbine Points to buy whatever.

But do you really get the most out of the game? I heard that the Trollshaws weren't exactly the best place to level through 30-40.

Zitat von Aerulen

But do you really get the most out of the game? I heard that the Trollshaws weren't exactly the best place to level through 30-40.

You can always buy Evendim for TP, and 3 bags + 3 toon slots per server isnt so bad ... so is not having swift. Only thing is to unlock the gold cap.

Zitat von Aerulen

I was planning on getting the Legendary Isengard expansion with all the PotF plus Mirkwood, and then using the 1000 TP to buy the gold cap removal and Evendim. I (foolishly) spent about 400 ground up TP on cosmetics, but I got my lil bro running a main and alts on a different game world and he's grinding out TP inadvertently. If I go VIP for a month how many character slots would I get? 5? 7? I forget how many. And would I keep all character slots and created toons even after the sub expired? Thanks for all the helpful advice...

If I were you I'd go for the legendary edition + ONE vip month. This way you won't have to buy traits, swift travel, gold cap and bags on any pg you login during that month. Note there is really no way to unlock swift travel permanently without going VIP.

To fill the gap Evendim is a good QP, will bring you to 40-42, then you can consider Angmar, they're both great zones, while Trollshaws is kinda awful when it comes to leveling.

While VIP you'll have 5 slots, but you'll only retain 3 when you drop it. The last two toons won't be deleted tho, you'll have to lock them and can unlock them anytime purchasing more slots from the store if you want to.

Zitat von StoneSpeak101

You can always buy Evendim for TP, and 3 bags + 3 toon slots per server isnt so bad ... so is not having swift. Only thing is to unlock the gold cap.

I consider not having swift travel the single worst, restricting and inhibiting character malus.

Zitat von Lapislazzuli

While VIP you'll have 5 slots, but you'll only retain 3 when you drop it. The last two toons won't be deleted tho, you'll have to lock them and can unlock them anytime purchasing more slots from the store if you want to.

So in theory, I could use the 1000 TP from Legendary and the 500 from the VIP month to buy some extra slots? Cause I really would like more than just 3 chars per server.

Zitat von Aerulen

So in theory, I could use the 1000 TP from Legendary and the 500 from the VIP month to buy some extra slots? Cause I really would like more than just 3 chars per server.

Sure, you can

Zitat von Aerulen

So in theory, I could use the 1000 TP from Legendary and the 500 from the VIP month to buy some extra slots? Cause I really would like more than just 3 chars per server.

Ya,
but if its just extra slots you want you can always buy TP http://www.lotro.com/lotrostoresale/...blebonuspoints

But with VIP you get swift, and bags ... about Virtues though, you only get virtues for your current level, once you stop VIP and become premium you will need to unlock the other slots unless you reached lvl60 already iirc http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Traits
Edit: inaccuracy, see noradaddy's post below.

Also seems I'm going into the topic about VIP->Premium so go to this recent thread http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...emium-question

Zitat von StoneSpeak101

But with VIP you get swift, and bags ... about Virtues though, you only get virtues for your current level, once you stop VIP and become premium you will need to unlock the other slots unless you reached lvl60 already iirc http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Traits

I want to clarify trait slots when you downgrade from VIP to premium. For every character that you log in while you are VIP you own all of their trait slots. Depending on their level, they wont be able to access those slots until they get to the proper level, but they do own them. You wont have to buy any trait slots later to have access to them.

Swift travel works the same way. Your characters that you log into while VIP own all swift travel routes. Depending on level/reputation/deed completion you may not be able to use some swift travel routes but when you do finally meet the requirements for it, your characters will be able to use any swift travel route.

Zitat von noradaddy

I want to clarify trait slots when you downgrade from VIP to premium. For every character that you log in while you are VIP you own all of their trait slots. Depending on their level, they wont be able to access those slots until they get to the proper level, but they do own them. You wont have to buy any trait slots later to have access to them.

Swift travel works the same way. Your characters that you log into while VIP own all swift travel routes. Depending on level/reputation/deed completion you may not be able to use some swift travel routes but when you do finally meet the requirements for it, your characters will be able to use any swift travel route.

Ah thank you kindly /bow

Zitat von noradaddy

I want to clarify trait slots when you downgrade from VIP to premium. For every character that you log in while you are VIP you own all of their trait slots. Depending on their level, they wont be able to access those slots until they get to the proper level, but they do own them. You wont have to buy any trait slots later to have access to them.

Swift travel works the same way. Your characters that you log into while VIP own all swift travel routes. Depending on level/reputation/deed completion you may not be able to use some swift travel routes but when you do finally meet the requirements for it, your characters will be able to use any swift travel route.

This is accurate information, I just want to ensure that anyone who does this understands the ramifications of going VIP for a month or so to unlock all these things - you MUST log each character into the game. You don't just create them, you must log them in to get the perks attached to them.

The other consideration is that any characters you create after your VIP subscription ends will not have any of these perks. So if you choose to do go VIP for a short while to unlock traits slots, swift travel, gold cap, etc., it pays to think a little bit ahead. Create all the characters you think you might want to play in the future, log them into the game, and then just park them. VIPs get an additional 2 character slots that are locked after you drop VIP, but you can use those to create "future" characters. When the VIP sub ends you get to choose which characters you want to be active. To access your locked characters you can pay to unlock more slots at any time. Since those characters were initially logged in during VIP, they'll have all the associated perks whenever you do unlock them. Or you can delete an existing character, and get access to a locked one that way.

No matter what you choose to do, enjoy the game!

tbh, i'd do neither since you can easily farm the turbine points needed.
i bought mines of moria to get the premium account so that i have 5 char slots and i've just gotten turbine points ingame for everything else.
currently i have all the quest packs (except RoI area), mount skills on a few chars + all trait slots on my main.
also i still have turbine points to spend.

I'm not exactly interested in farming TP. THat would take months, time that I don't have. I want to be able to enjoy the game, not have to be grinding out TP 24/7

You can find the store wiki with prices for just about everything here: http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/LOTRO_Store

If you live in USA, you might still find an unused Turbine box of Mines of Moria - people are getting them through Amazon, I believe. If you can find one at a decent price, it's a good deal. You'd get Moria, two extra character slots, the warden and runekeeper classes, a skirmish soldier trait top-up, and one month of free VIP.

The Rise of Isengard Legendary is available for 50$ here: http://isengard.lotro.com/purchase.php

That nets you the full Isengard expansion, the Moria quest pack (no runekeeper, warden, or extra character slots), Mirkwood, Trollshaws. Lothlorien, Eregion, 1000 Turbine points and some cosmetics and mounts. You won't get the VIP month with it, but it's still a pretty good deal. You will need to buy at least a couple more quest packs if you want to really enjoy the game, though, trying to level through Trollshaws is well-nigh impossible - the quest levels bounce all around so it's not a straight levelling experience. Evendim is the place to be 30-40, after that either Forochel or Angmar, or both, then Eregion, then Moria. You could be a bit more minimalist, but not if you don't enjoy grinding (I don't, either).

Whether it's worth it to purchase quest packs depends on things like how fast you level, and how long you plan to play. If you wanted some extra character slots and to buy everything, I'd say put aside 125-150$ ballpark. Which may work out cheaper in the long term than subscribing and buying the expansions, but again, a lot depends on how you play.