Thread: Help From People Who Have Gone VIP->Premium

With how little benefit there is of subscribing, I'm trying to explore the possibility of going Premium, but I've pretty much ignored anything store or TP related up to this point in time, so I have a few questions:

Here is what I have purchased:

Game Version History
Extra Character Slot
Shadows of Angmar™ Trial
Shadows of Angmar™ Pre-order (Best Buy™)
Mines of Moria™ Standard
Shared Storage
2009 Anniversary Program Reward
Shadows of Angmar™ Special
Shadows of Angmar™ Standard
Siege of Mirkwood™
Extra Character Slot
Shadows of Angmar™ Open Beta
Rise of Isengard™

What quest packs/instance clusters do I not have?

What else will I be missing re: character slots? I have 2 from MoM AP, and I've bought 1 more with TP...do Premium players get only 1 free slot, making my total currently 4?

Anything else I'll be missing other than PvP access?

I may just stay VIP, since it's cheap, and the transition to Premium may be more complicated than I am not-lazy, but I'm curious about my options.

The first post in this thread is chockfull of information. You might especially want to look at the 'if my VIP subscription ends' secton:

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...Your-Questions

Unless they were included as part of one of you expansion purchases
you will be missing access to the quests in several regions.

No 500TP a month
Rested experience goes away.

The "Game Version History" does not have enough information to tell us what quest packs you don't have. You'd have to tell us what you've bought while not VIP. Assuming RoI was not Legendary, and you did not purchase Steam nor Mithril, you are missing all quest packs except the 4 free, the 3 expansion, and Lothlorien (assuming you bought MoM while it included Loth).

You will have 6 character slots. 2 free + 1 premium + 2 MoM + 1 extra.

Very helpful link!

I've been VIP for the entire life of the game, so I haven't been able to buy any quest packs. It looks as if I just bought Heroic RoI, so no Path of the Fellowship. I only have the 4 free areas + expansions.

Do most quest packs come combined with the region's instance cluster, or are they usually separate purchases?

So I have 3 character slots + 2 for Moria + 2 for Adventurer's Pack + 1 purchased. I only lose 2 free ones from VIP, I guess.

I'd lose access to crafting guilds, it appears? Pretty rough.

Originally Posted by Frisco

Very helpful link!

I've been VIP for the entire life of the game, so I haven't been able to buy any quest packs. It looks as if I just bought Heroic RoI, so no Path of the Fellowship. I only have the 4 free areas + expansions.

Do most quest packs come combined with the region's instance cluster, or are they usually separate purchases?

So I have 3 character slots + 2 for Moria + 2 for Adventurer's Pack + 1 purchased. I only lose 2 free ones from VIP, I guess.

I'd lose access to crafting guilds, it appears? Pretty rough.

Keep in mind previous expansions you bought may have come with alternate areas (or may not have) Through various purchases I ended up with the entire game (to date) path of the fellowship was included in one of my purchases, steam starter pack filled in my last 2 zones I didn't have. (north downs, misty mountains though I think evendim comes with that one as well but I already owned it before)

You lose the ability to advance in the guild. Current level and abilities are kept.

Most quest packs come with the instances. Halls of Night and Inn of the Forsaken are separate. In Their Absence comes with Enedwaith despite being all spread out.

Originally Posted by Nakiami

You lose the ability to advance in the guild. Current level and abilities are kept.

Nakiami is correct. I got all my craft guilds up to max rep before my subscription expired, and I can still access all guild services on those characters.

At this point, the only 'free floating' instances (not part of a quest pack or expansion) are Halls of Night and Forsaken Inn. RoR instances are said to be included with the quest pack at a later date, so whatever they are and whenever they come out, if you buy RoR you won't pay extra for them.

Given that it'll probably be one more subscription period until the new crafting tier, you might want to start stockpiling emblens, crests, or whatever your crafts use now and turn them all in on Day 1 of the expac. I tend to do that even though I'm not VIP, but I'm weird (and have 11 guilded crafters).

Sales are your friends. I picked up crafting guilds when they were 25% off and there was a simultaneous 30% off your entire cart sale going.

I've not bought RoR and don't know if I will, but my concern would be losing rest XP, as when RoI came out it was nearly impossible (by design) to get from 65-75 without it, skirmishing, tasks, repeatables, etc., and I wouldn't be surprised if the journey from 75-85 is just as bad, at least until there's a patch because of complaints, Then again, how many things are you going to be killing? as that's all rest XP covers.

Originally Posted by Nakiami

You lose the ability to advance in the guild. Current level and abilities are kept.

Most quest packs come with the instances. Halls of Night and Inn of the Forsaken are separate. In Their Absence comes with Enedwaith despite being all spread out.

Good to know. I guess the ideal time to drop VIP would be right after the new tier comes, presumably, with RoR (since I've hoarded enough guild rep items to cap the next level right away).

Originally Posted by Chanah

At this point, the only 'free floating' instances (not part of a quest pack or expansion) are Halls of Night and Forsaken Inn. RoR instances are said to be included with the quest pack at a later date, so whatever they are and whenever they come out, if you buy RoR you won't pay extra for them.

Sorry but instances will not be included in RoR. They claimed it was a "typo" though it was specifically written into the page of the time. They reversed course and came out to say it is not actually in the purchase. More money to the store after all.

Originally Posted by Chanah

I've not bought RoR and don't know if I will, but my concern would be losing rest XP, as when RoI came out it was nearly impossible (by design) to get from 65-75 without it, skirmishing, tasks, repeatables, etc., and I wouldn't be surprised if the journey from 75-85 is just as bad, at least until there's a patch because of complaints, Then again, how many things are you going to be killing? as that's all rest XP covers.

With all the XP enhancers I've won in lotteries, I don't think it will be an issue. The RoI thing was fixed shortly after launch to give enough XP to level--I don't think it was intended or is likely to be repeated with RoR, but you never know. All my characters other than my main will probably be starting Great River once the cap is lifted, giving them a couple levels of extra content.

Originally Posted by Jassiminn

Sorry but instances will not be included in RoR. They claimed it was a "typo" though it was specifically written into the page of the time. They reversed course and came out to say it is not actually in the purchase. More money to the store after all.

I think they revised that revised course to say that the instance cluster will be free for everyone who purchases the RoR expansion

Originally Posted by Jassiminn

Sorry but instances will not be included in RoR. They claimed it was a "typo" though it was specifically written into the page of the time. They reversed course and came out to say it is not actually in the purchase. More money to the store after all.

No longer the case.

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.p...Purchase-packs.

.......Additionally, some players had questions about the instance cluster coming after the launch of RoR. While we are still not ready to talk about the details of the cluster we did want to confirm that we will be releasing a new instance cluster in an update after Rohan launches, and that the cluster will be free to all players who have purchased the Riders of Rohan expansion.

FYI, the only detail I see missed is rest XP doesn't "go away", the amount you currently have is there and you work through it, it simply does not accrue additionally once you upgrade to premium.



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