Gaming freedom: The Lord of the Rings Online

Victor Barreiro Jr.

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Victor takes you on a virtual tour of Middle Earth by explaining the ins and outs of The Lord of the Rings Online

MIDDLE EARTH. Take a trip to Middle Earth with The Lord of the Rings Online.

MANILA, Philippines – Welcome back to another edition of Gaming Freedom. As I promised at the end of last week’s introduction to RIFT, today’s discussion will be about a massively-multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) set in an established universe that perhaps many of you know and love.

This week, I’d like to take you on an unexpected journey to Middle Earth by introducing you to The Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO). Available for PCs and Macs, LOTRO lets you play the most epic sidestory known to Man, Elf, Dwarf, or Hobbit.

Aiding Frodo’s journey

Set specifically in the time of The Lord of the Rings books rather than in the time period of The Hobbit, LOTRO lets you adventure in MIddle Earth in a tale that runs parallel to the books, except you’re not playing the main characters.

Instead, LOTRO puts you in the shoes of the rest of the free peoples of MIddle Earth, running quests and going on adventures to interfere with Sauron’s plans. The premise is that, if Frodo, Gandalf, and the rest of the Fellowship of the Ring are trying to fulfill the objectives of their mission, your adventures are there to buy the time Middle Earth needs to survive the darkness.

You could be running quests to fight bandits, defeat witch-kings, and reclaim a certain dwarven hold after Frodo passes through it. You could also just as simply be helping out hobbits with their domestic troubles or having a pie-eating contest. The fun of LOTRO comes in the realization that Middle Earth is a world you live in, and with that realization comes a reason to fight for it..

A bevy of features

After a tutorial and starter zone that acquaints you with the controls and game systems, the game throws you into the world proper, providing you with quests and a number of other features that allow your character to grow stronger and progress through an epic story of your own.

Players can choose from a combination of the 4 races – Man, Dwarf, Elf, and Hobbit – and one of up to 9 classes – Burglar, Captain, Champion, Guardian, Hunter, Lore-master, Minstrel, Runekeeper, and Warden. Depending on your choice of race, you will start out in one of two zones, through the world opens up considerably after your first few hours.

As of the game’s most recent expansion, Helm’s Deep, the game also has a number of different activities players can delve into. LOTRO has two systems – skirmishes and big battles – that allow you to play through a number of flexible battle scenarios on foot, with big battles allowing you to go through the battle of Helm’s Deep as much as you please.

The game also features mounted combat as part of an earlier expansion, Riders of Rohan, where you can train a war steed to help you fight in the fields of Rohan.

FIGHTING TROLLS. Victor's character, Civrot, facing a troll at Weathertop.

Aside from these, there are a number of roleplaying and quality of life enhancements that players can enjoy. You can gather resources and craft, weapons, armor, and food.

You can actually play music with the game’s music system. There’s also a housing system in place for you to adorn your own home with the spoils of your victories, along with a dwarven keg of ale or two.

Lastly, players can also choose to become the bad guys in a separate system called Monster Play, which allows you to act as one of Sauron’s minons and fight the free peoples for honor and glory.

STORE INTERFACE. The Lord of the Rings Online's in-game store interface.

Turbine Points, Mithril Coins, and the free-to-play system

LOTRO’s revenue model does not have the same flexibility as RIFT, but it’s still worth a look if you’ve ever wanted to talk about slaying goblins with Gimli.

LOTRO’s system relies on two forms of currency: Turbine Points and Mithril Coins. Some of the functions of the two interlap, though the premise of having both is that you can purchase anything you need or want with Turbine Points, and can use Turbine Points to buy the Mithril Coins, which then pay for additional conveniences, such as fast travel from one location to another or instant teleportation to a person you need to report back to for a quest.

Turbine points can be used to unlock restrictions on your account, purchase the ability to ride a mount – as well as actual mounts – right after leaving the starter zones, or buy cosmetic items like costumes, hats, and items for your house.

The game has three tiers of users, divided into Free players, Premium players, and VIP players. Free players have never spent money on the game, VIP players are players who currently have a subscription to the game, and Premium Players are those who’ve either purchased Turbine Points at least once or have had their subscription lapse.

Disregarding the time-saving Mithril Coins system, it’s important to note that Turbine Points can actually be earned while playing the game by fulfilling deeds, which are essentially a record of your character’s in-game achievements.

One of the main issues hobbling the game for players who don’t wish to spend money is that while most of the world can be visited, new players need to purchase quest packs to actually have quests in certain locations past level 20. While you could fulfill deeds to earn the Turbine Points for certain quest packs, it can be time-consuming to go that route.

The question for most gamers, as a result, is not whether they should purchase Turbine Points, but when and where they should spend money to get these points and then when to spend the points to get the most out of their money.

TURBINE POINTS. LOTRO tends to have sales or bonuses every few months for its Turbine Points. Screen shot from LOTRO.com

Get more for less!

Whether you’re new to MMORPGs or or a long-time Tolkien Fan, the game is definitely worth experiencing. The question becomes, how much is it worth it for you to get to Middle Earth?

My first suggestion is to actually pick a race and class that appeals to you and then to play through the storyline of your race until you join the general epic quest everyone is meant to be on. Some of the character classes are labeled by their difficulty to master, so picking an easy class may be best for first-timers.

The free areas should be able to put you in the ballpark level range of around 20 to 30. At a couple of hours during the weekends, you’ll probably spend at least two or three weekends playing. This should give you a better grasp of how much you want to spend and what your plans are regarding making the most of your gaming funds.

You now have at least two options available to you. You can either choose to subscribe to the game for a minimum of one month, or purchase turbine points from the in-game store.

Option 1: Subscription

Subscribing for a month or for multiple months confers a number of benefits. Upcon subscribing, you unlock most of the restrictions, increasing the number of bags you can use to 5, removing the chat and mail limitations and the limit on how much gold you can own, and increasing the number of characters you can create on a server. Each month you subscribe also provides a 500 Turbine point stipend.

A subscription will also unlock all the quests leading up to the first expansion pack zone at level 50 or so, and quests for some locales in higher levels that were not part of an expansion pack release. What this means is that you can actually subscribe for a month, unlock a lot of stuff permanently on any characters you create so long as you log into them during your subscription phase, and then keep playing to get to level 50.

While you don’t get a lot of Turbine Points, you leveling journey will be smoother moving forward with a subscription.

Option 2. Purchasing Turbine Points

The nice thing about Turbine Points is that, with some timing and judicious use of sales, you feel like you get a lot more while paying less.

The main idea to get the best value for money is to always wait for sales. These include sales or bonus weekends on Turbine Points, as well as the weekly rotating sale for the in-game store.

As you can see in the above image, LOTRO currently has a bonus weekend for Turbine Points (until March 24), increasing the bonus points given for purchasing points at given price points, with higher bonuses given to people who spend more.

If you’re planning to only play one character for your entire stay in Middle Earth and can wait for sales, this isn’t entirely bad, though your short-term problem is acquiring the quest packs, which may force you to spend more now rather than when you actually want to.

LEGOLAS AT RIVENDELL. Civrot talks to Legolas at the guest rooms in Rivendell.

Recommendations

LOTRO is a game that expects you to eventually spend some money to support development. It doesn’t have the most consumer-friendly revenue model available due to locking away of quest content, but if you’re a Tolkien fan or fantasy buff, paying a premium for Middle Earth may be a small price to pay.

My recommendation is to spread out your purchases over time. Gauge how many hours you’ll play a week, and then subscribe for one month and then discontinue your subscription or buy into a three-month subscription plan if you think you need it.

That said, only subscribe when the beneifts of subscribing significantly outweigh the cost of any annoyances you might feel by not having everything at once.

The stipend of Turbine Points you earn from playing combined with any you get from subscribing will tide you over till you reach the limit afforded by not having the expansions.

You’ll eventually hit a point where you need to purchase the expansions to really experience the areas past level 45. If you followed my advice and became a VIP for one month, you likely won’t have the Turbine Points to buy the expansions in the in-game store.

What you’ll need to do then is to fire up your browser and head to the LOTRO market to purchase the expansion quad-pack for US$39.99 (around P1,700) to continue the adventure into the Mines of Moria and beyond for around 40 levels worth of content.

DANCING KING. Civrot takes the stage to dance to the tune made by another player.

Final thoughts

Take your time, experience the game world, and when you’re ready to continue the story past level 85 or can afford another US$40 purchase, pick up the Helm’s Deep expansion pack from the LOTRO market.

Trust me when I say this: LOTRO is a worthwhile journey. By timing your purchases and focusing on enjoying the world and the story, you may actually find that LOTRO is a fulfilling place to be the hero you always wanted to be. – Rappler.com


Gaming Freedom seeks to introduce people to new games that provide hours of enjoyment without breaking the bank. Victor is a long-time online games enthusiast, and enjoys sharing games recommendations to people who think gaming is always a costly hobby.

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Victor Barreiro Jr.

Victor Barreiro Jr is part of Rappler's Central Desk. An avid patron of role-playing games and science fiction and fantasy shows, he also yearns to do good in the world, and hopes his work with Rappler helps to increase the good that's out there.