The newest LotRO update the prepares your client for F2P is now up so that you can begin updating. Current players will be able to start playing now, and everyone will be able to start playing on the 10th!

If you are curious as to what changes will be available, then check out the patch notes here.

In addition Turbine held an awesome developer chat with WarCry earlier today. You can read the full chat below:

<WarCry> Welcome everyone! Anything new going on today? Oh right! LOTRO is going Free To Play!
Well since we are all impatienctly waiting for the servers to come back up, the developers have taken
the time to stop by and answer some questions. General Chat is available in #warcry, make sure you
send your questions to [QT]Hobbitz.

<WarCry> And now on to our honored guests

<@katepaiz> hello! i am kate paiz, executive producer for the lord of the rings online.

<@Jalessa> Hello, I’m Jalessa, the Games Systems lead here on LOTRO. I’m super excited for this week’s
launch….sooo many things I want to buy…with Sapience’s Turbine points…

<@Tolero> Hi everyone! I’m Tolero with the Community Team! Usually I help with DDO, but also with
LOTRO during this exciting time!

<@Sapience> Hi I’m Sapience. I’m a member of the community team and I’m currently sealed in an
undisclosed quarantine location for your protection. PAX Cold FTL.

<@Ransroth> Hi there, Ransroth here. I am on the Engineering team. For V3B2, I did a bunch of backend
work having to do with integrating systems with F2P, and also worked on the vault. Excited about this
chat

<@jwbarry> Hey everybody, I’m jwbarry. I’ve spent the last several months working to extend our
skirmish tech to create scaling instances.

<@Raskolnikov> Hey there, my name is Tim “Raskolnikov” Lang and I am one of the System Designers on
Lotro.

<@Victorie> Greetings everyone. Victorie here as a representative of the Account Management
department. Many of you may know me from the forums. ,)

<WarCry> Honvik: Question: Are Turbine still going to develop non‐Skrimish orintated instance
content where random loot will drop from chests as currently there does seem to be a trend to
moving to a skirmish like system. Is a new raid planned that hasnt already been announced and when
will it be released?

<@jwbarry> Yes, very much so. In fact we’ve got a full cluster, capped with a new raid, in development
as we speak for a future tbd release. The plan is that spaces that scale will utilize the skirmish barter
system and that spaces that don’t scale will have unique random drops in chests. Since new dungeons at
cap won’t scale, they’ll start off with random drops until such a time as the level cap has

<@jwbarry> passed them by and they get scaling applied to them.

<WarCry> mptyspace: Will, in the near future, monster play// ettenmoors access become available for
non‐VIP people, for a fee of course.

<@Jalessa> Not in the near future, however, ideas like this are a part of our long term planning.
However, we are still updating Monster Play for our subscribers (VIPs!). We have class changes coming
for MP classes in the short term.

<WarCry> Honvik: Question: When are we likely to see a new hobby added to the game?

<@katepaiz> ah hobbies! all of us devs really want to make golf next, but it’s a tricky undertaking, so we
don’t have a timeline yet, but feel free to start practicing your backswings!

<WarCry> TheFrank: On the soon‐o‐meter how soon(tm) can we expect a currency/barter item
wallent to show up in the game?

<@Ransroth> We are working on something for the barter item wallet ‐ I don’t have the soon‐o‐meter
handy, and can’t give any exact dates, but outlook definitely good for it happening in the pretty near
future.

<WarCry> Honvik: Question: Are there any plans to introduce PvMP Skirmish instances where
monster’s and fight freeps?

<@Raskolnikov> Yes, that is currently under investigation with (very) early spec’ing happening. More
detail than that I can’t say.

<WarCry> Crell: #2 What are the $‐>TP rates for LotrO, (Do they differ from DDO, etc.)

<@Victorie> Crell #2 ‐ Yes, at this time the LOTRO point prices are the same as DDO, though this could
change in the future. For anyone who isn’t familiar with the prices they are: 420 points for $6.50, 1550
points for $19.50, 2500 points for $29.50 and 5000 points for $49.99.

<WarCry> Crell: #3 Is there /Will there be a way for non‐subscribers to skip the introduction/starter
area? (IE, is our inability to find this a beta bug, or WAI?)

<@jwbarry> Currently no. The way the introduction/starter areas are set up is in a specific way to help
balance load and stress on the server, because they have the highest traffic and density areas in the
game. The sections after that don’t have as tight restrictions on them because we are more comfortable
with the lesser amount of players going through them.

<@jwbarry> To allow large amounts of characters the ability to skip ahead and start in the next area
would cause some pretty nasty server perf issues. We felt it was better to have everyone have to go
through that experience and keep the servers up, than risk having lag, rubberbanding, crashes, etc.

<WarCry> Crell: #5 To each contributer: What homages in the game exist to you? (Be it a mob in e&g,
or whatever.)

<@Ransroth> Nothing to me (yet)

<@Raskolnikov> This one’s an easy question for me: Firefly! Mostly in the funny festival consumables
I’ve created, where I’ve added in several Firefly jokes. I may have even gotten in trouble once trying to
get a picture of Hypnotoad into the game.

<@Victorie> I’m just not that cool (yet?)

<@Tolero> When I first joined the Turbine team I picked a cute fish avatar for the forums. Little did I
know fishing had a whole history around here and players thought I was the herald of fishing at that
point.

<@Jalessa> The Deep Toad shares some resemblance to a certain hypnotic toad in a TV show…

<WarCry> Larmoth: Will there be a next tier of crafting in the near future? Will the crafting guilds get
some upgrade in the (near) future?

<@Jalessa> We are not currently planning on adding new tiers of crafting at this time. However, each
book cycle has tons of crafting love and we will continue to fully support crafting guilds and add new
recipes to the game. We have some very nice things coming for crafting soon! Two letters: U and I.

<WarCry> Eisberg77: If I own SoA, MoM and SoM, will I still need to buy the quest packs for SoA to do
the questing beyond the starter zones?

<@katepaiz> yes, the zones that launched with soa will need to be purchased by players who are not
subscribers, but moria and mirkwood areas come with the purchase of those expansion packs, for all
players.

<@katepaiz> the soa zones do come as part of the subscription, though, so subs won’t need to purchase
them separately.

<WarCry> Honvik: Question: Are Turbine planning to add Player Event Support by requesting a GM to
help host a server event?

<@Tolero> We’re happy to forward that feedback along to the team. One thing to always keep in mind
about “in person” events is that they are like a game of musical chairs: the chairs are static. It gets less
fun when you crank up the number of people all fighting for a chair

<@Tolero> But we are always open to suggestions and input from the community!

<WarCry> Eisberg77: is the monthly subscription fees staying the same, meaning 3,6,12 months
staying at 9.99 a month?

<@Victorie> The subscription plans are often on sale, as they are currently. The plans available
currently are $14.99 monthly, $29.97 for 3 months, $59.94 for 6 months and $119.88. The current
prices are always available to be selected on the Account Management website. If you already have a
subscription plan, you can stay on that plan indefinitely, as long as the account remains active.

<@Victorie> $119.88 for a year.

<WarCry> Honvik: Question: The class revamp month’s will we see buff’s to each class or nerf’s? for
example currently I find my Minstrel lacking compared to the rune‐keepers ability to keep the group
healed for less power usage.

<@Raskolnikov> Mostly buffs! I can’t speak to specific changes for the Minstrel (as we haven’t gotten to
that class yet). But having made a lot of changes to the Lore‐master, I can say that 90% of those changes
have been buffs. Our goal is to polish each class, and nearly all of the time when we polish it’s by buffing
a class (because nerfing stinks, even though it is sometimes necessary).

<WarCry> Honvik: Question: Any plans to add challenge modes to exisiting raid instances i.e Watcher,
DN, Turtle with some enhanced loot for completing them?

<@jwbarry> The plan is to ultimately convert all of our instances over to scale, raids included. Part of
this conversion includes daily quests, random quests, and challenge quests to upgrade the spaces to our
new standards.

<WarCry> Honvik: Question: Is turbine intending to release regular updates once F2P goes live much
like they did once DDO went Free2Play and what can we expect from them?

<@katepaiz> yes, lotro plans to follow a similar release cycle as DDO has had in the last year. we’ve got
a lot of amazing content and systems in development and will be getting them out to players as often
and as soon as we can. each of you can let us know through chats like this and forums, etc, what you
are yearning for, and we will be happy to consider it!

<WarCry> Honvik: Question: Anymore info on Isengard? When we will see it and what will it contain?

<@katepaiz> isengard is tentatively slated for next year, and we’ll be approaching the zone in the
timeline in which saruman has already denuded the area, and has created his orc factory.

<@katepaiz> players will likely have access to some of the underground areas, but obviously with
saruman in the big tower, access to the upper regions is likely to be challenging

<WarCry> Honvik: Question: Could Turbine explain a bit more about instance layering and is it present
in areas like the ettenmoors?

<@Jalessa> Dynamic layering will be mainly used as a population control in high density areas, like Bree
town, to make sure that server performance stays stable. It is not currently present in the Ettenmoors ‐
although since we now have the technology, we could explore using it in other ways.

<WarCry> Larmoth: Can we expect some new pets for the LM class?

<@Raskolnikov> Sort of, we’re introducing new appearances for the Eagle, Sabercat, and Bog‐guardian.
We’re also changing around how Lore‐masters can change their pet appearances: instead of needing to
equip a necklace to change the way your pet looks, you’ll now get a new separate skill.

<WarCry> Honvik: Question: Any planned world event like Bizzcom to be hosted by Turbine in the
near future? there would be nothing greater then to meet the team behind the game!.

<@Sapience> PAX East is returning to Boston next year, and we’ll definitely be out in force on the show
floor. We’d love to get something put together for our fans, but that’s it’s own massive undertaking. So
yes it’s something we’d love to do, but we’ll have to see what happens. Of course, if our fans put
something together for PAX East, I’d show up! Plague and all!

<WarCry> Honvik: Question: Are anymore mini‐games planned for LOTRO for example Tag, chicken
football etc?

<@Ransroth> You can definitely expect more fun minigames, particularly associated with festivals. I’ve
seen some very neat specs lately.

<WarCry> Honvik: Question: A lot of people in my kinship are worried about addons and that it will
trivialise content, how far do Turbine want to go with promoting addons?

<@Ransroth> The intent with Lua is to make it possible for players to create custom interfaces for
information that’s already available to them, not to give an actual advantage.

<@Ransroth> Jwbarry is threatening bodily harm if we make addons that trivialize his content

<WarCry> Laddergoat: Any plans to have a recruit‐a‐friend type of program with F2P?

<@Tolero> We’ve had a lot of great response to our referral efforts on DDO side, and we continue to
expand these programs because we feel it is important to allow our users to connect to their friends in
our games. Being “free” doesn’t mean that we can relax our efforts to help our fans reach their friends
and share the joys of the game together!

<WarCry> Crell: #8 Please disccus Challenge modes. #8a, Why tell us challenge mode exists in the GB
via a deed that pops at 50, when we can’t do challenge mode at that level? #8b Why does the
challenge mode mechanic operate even at prior levels (GB Maze‐with the arms buff), even when you
can’t do the challenge quest because it isn’t bestowed and get credit?

<@jwbarry> 8a ‐ The deed is meant to encompass everything you can do in that dungeon, challenge
mode being one of the things. We don’t have tech that hides that, or changes it’s description to say “Get
level 65 and then I’ll show you what to do.” We’ll monitor the feedback on that and if players feel
strongly may change it to remove it from the deed.

<@jwbarry> 8b ‐ For some of the challenge mechanics it’s a lot of work to restrict the gameplay. The
quest and the dungeon are only loosely connected in code, so it can be difficult for certain things to
trigger or know, and actually create a far more complicated setup to try and restrict parts of the
mechanics to only cap. Plus, it creates an upkeep nightmare of having to go back through every space

<@jwbarry> when cap is raised.

<@jwbarry> As to the specific challenge quest, the arm buffs are part of the regular difficulty and
intended that way. It adds a layer and depth of teaching target focus.

<WarCry> mptyspace: @KatePaiz how do you like your new job with the whole lotro thing

<@katepaiz> it has been amazing working with the lotro team ‐ we’ve got a group of really dedicated
and creative developers who have real love for this game and for tolkien’s story.

<@katepaiz> with the introduction of so many new players coming this friday, our focus is going to be
listening hard to the feedback of our tenured players and new players alike, and balancing development
to make sure to extend and enhance the game in the way you, the players, will enjoy the most.

<@katepaiz> we have a lot of story to tell, and are very excited about expanding the world into south,
past enedwaith, and east into the other classic areas of rohan, gondor, and of course, mordor, in the
years to come!

<WarCry> fieldmedic: Question: With the new layering are there any plans to move to a WoW style
“phasing” to begin to move the landscape forward in time, or will parts of ME always be locked in
time?

<@Jalessa> The answer here is similar to the earlier question about the Ettenmoors and layering. The
current technology for dynamic layering does not currently allow this, however, we can possibly look
into advancing the technology so that we can give you unique content experiences like the “phasing”
you see in World of Warcraft.

<WarCry> Hobbitmeister : Are there any plans on adding vanity pets for non Lore‐masters, non‐
Captains?

<@Raskolnikov> Vanity pets are something we’ve always wanted to get into the game. And thanks to
the additional resources from F2P, we’re starting to investigate how we can make vanity pets a reality!

<WarCry> Crell: #4 To each contributer: What one question would you most like to see answered
publically (and its answer!)

<@Ransroth> Are we getting any improvements to the vault any time soon? Yes! Not sure exactly when
it will go live, but I’m pretty happy with the changes we were able to implement. Just hoping that QA
won’t find any terrible problems with it.

<@Sapience> I want to see the answer to the next question.

<@Tolero> If you could see one thing added to middle earth, what would it be? Answer: bacon. More
bacon.

<WarCry> And as our devs need to get back to making sure we are good for launch, we will end with
one last question. The full chat log will be available at www.warcry.com shortly.

<WarCry> Honvik: Question: What enhancements are turbine looking at adding for radiance/LI’s?

<@Jalessa> We took Radiance outside, tied it up to some railroad tracks, and…well…I think you saw the
end of this in Red Dead Redemption. Look for this in the future ‐ we will be removing Radiance from
LOTRO.

<WarCry> Jalessa: Can we have a launch party without Sapience today? And will there be beer?

<@Sapience> Oh now that’s just mean.

<@Victorie> Lets have one without him today, and another one on Friday.

<@Sapience> I know where you work! All of you!

<@Patience> I’m with Victorie on that.

<WarCry> We want to think the devs for taking time to visit us today. Oh and about 5 little birdies told me the Patch Server is UP!

<@Jalessa> mmm beer

<@Patience> Two parties are always better than one.

<@katepaiz> well, friends, it’s been great chatting with you, and we’ll see you again soon! have a great
day ‐ i know we will!

<WarCry> thank the devs even ;p

<@Raskolnikov> Careful man, I’ve got a beverage here!

<@Sapience> Thanks for coming everyone! Go patch your clients!

* @Patience waves from Mission Control.

<@Jalessa> Thanks for the fun folks!

<@Patience> Go patch!

<@Tolero> Thanks everyone! Enjoy Free To Play!!

<@Patience> Just keep in mind the servers may not open once you’re done, but we’re one step closer!

<@Ransroth> Thanks all

<@Victorie> So long, and see you on the forums.

| 16 comments | Add your comments | #dev chat, #F2P, #patching

Comments:

Cheeky Hobbit:

If you played the trial at some point - and thus had the LOTRO client already downloaded - can you start playing F2P from today? I opened up the client and it's doing some long update, so fingers crossed.

Stephen:

Does 'current players' refer to people who already have a character, then? Including characters only created for a free trial?

I've moved computers so i'd have to download it all again anyway. Sigh

Cheeky Hobbit:

Quote: Originally Posted by Stephen

Does 'current players' refer to people who already have a character, then? Including characters only created for a free trial?

I'm pretty sure the answer to that is yes, as I only played the free trial and my client just updated to F2P.

Woohoo!

Stephen:

Quote: Originally Posted by Cheeky Hobbit

I'm pretty sure the answer to that is yes, as I only played the free trial and my client just updated to F2P.

Woohoo!

I deliberately chose the same server as yuou when i saw your Fellowship thread, like some kind of weird crazy stalker. While that may be an accurate description, we can do some quests together sometime before it's back to uni, if you want.

Cheeky Hobbit:

http://www.middleearthcenter.com/for...565#post370565

;)

zach:

Current = People with lifetime or currently paying the subscription fee.

Cheeky Hobbit:

Quote: Originally Posted by zach

Current = People with lifetime or currently paying the subscription fee.

I never paid a subscription fee and can play?

zach:

You are playing in the head start now?

I could be wrong then.

Heron:

I'm downloading the update now. We'll see if I can play... (My subscription lapsed several months ago.)

Heron:

I just logged in, so I guess it's open to current and former subscribers.

Heron:

Never mind, I'm not interested. They've locked a lot more content than they implied they would, e.g. both the Lone Lands and the North Downs have to be unlocked, even for existing characters who already have quests in those areas. I can complete the quests I already have, but I can't continue the quest chains until I unlock the quests. Basically I can wander the North Downs and Lone Lands all I want, I just can't do any quests there. So it's still "free" to play at level 20-40, there's just nothing to do unless you give them money.

I've been down the "it's just one more point pack" road before, and I don't intend to do it again - the business model is very effective at getting people to spend more money than they otherwise would.

So, what has Turbine given me in exchange for disabling the content I bought e.g. in the Siege of Mirkwood expansion... unless I pay for it again? As far as I can tell, the answer is "nothing".

zach:

They said from the start that the starter zones would be the only free quest packs. You could buy one per month and still pay less than the monthly fee. However you SHOULD have them all unlocked it you bought SOA, MoM, and SoM. I would bug report it, because I have them all unlocked.

Heron:

I guess I'll check again before I do something drastic like uninstall the game ;)

Heron:

Nope, the expansions do not include that content. I quote from here:

Quote: Originally Posted by

D6. What areas and quests are included with Angmar? (The FAQ notes Ered Luin, Shire, Bree-land are free, and Eriador is available for VIP).
-All quests in The Shire, Ered Luin, and Bree-land are available to all players.
-All landscape areas that were launched with The Lord of the Rings Online: The Shadows of Angmar are open to free players, as are all regions opened as part of book releases leading up to the launch of The Lord of the Rings: Mines of Moria. Those areas are as follows: Lone-lands, North Downs, Trollshaws, Misty Mountains, Angmar, Evendim, Forochel, and Eregion. While free players can explore and kill monsters in these areas they cannot complete the side quests contained there without first purchasing the Quest Packs for those areas.
-All players will also have full access to the Epic Story (Volume 1, Books 1 – 15), crafting and class quests up to level 50.

-In order to access Moria or Mirkwood, all players (free, premium or VIP) will need to first purchase the expansion packs to gain access to this content.

D7. What areas and quests are included with Moria?
-When a player purchases the Mines of Moria Expansion they immediately unlock all the quests and areas within Moria, Dimril Dale and Lothlorien for access; including all instances related to the areas and the Epic Story for (Volume 2, Books 1 – 8).
-They also receive 2 character slots, access to Legendary Items and the Rune-keeper and Warden classes.
-Their level cap is increased to 60.

D8. What areas and quests are included with Mirkwood?
-When a player purchases the Siege of Mirkwood expansion they immediately unlock all the quests and areas within Mirkwood; including all instances related to the area and the beginning of the Epic Story (Volume 2, Book 9 and Volume 3).
-They also receive access to the full suite of Skirmishes that became available with Mirkwood.
-Their level cap is increased to 65.

Emphasis mine. Basically the areas providing quest content from levels 18-40 are not included in either of the expansion packs, nor the base game. They must be purchased separately (even for VIP players, it would appear).

zach:

Hmm I will check again. I am a VIP member not a freebie though, however I will be mad if I have to rebuy thee SOA areas.

However for non-VIP members it is still cheaper this way, however you have to restrict your self by only paying for the quest packs and expansions, otherwise it will be way more expensive. I did the same when I played DDO, to play cheaply, you gotta only buy what you need, not say o hey a nice sword ... *click buy button*, o sweet some healing pots .... *click buy button*.

You can see where I am going.

zach:

Alright I just double checked and I do infact have all quest packs unlocked.