Free to Play (LotRO)
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With the publication of the Enedwaith content patch (Sept. 10th, 2010) Lord of the Rings Online introduced the option to play for free. There are, however, many differences between the F2P and Paid Subscription (VIP) models.
Turbine Points can be earned by completing Deeds, but this is very slow. Completing every deed available to you in a zone will not earn enough TP to buy the next Quest Pack, let alone any to spare for goodies like a horse. What many free players do is create and delete toons, accruing TP from each (new toon, new deeds), then use them all on one toon while continuing to use the second slot to grind TP.
As a F2P Player, it will be much harder to level beyond the mid-20's. Because of this it has been said that LotRO is not really Free-to-Play but merely Free-to-Try. There is no time limit to your Free play, and you can explore the entire world (up to but not including the content of the Mines of Moria expansion).
Restrictions
Nearly every restriction on F2P players can be relieved by using Turbine Points in the LotRO Store to purchase an unlock.
- only 2 characters per free account can be created.
- limited to 2
(You must be a VIP or Premium subscriber to remove this limit)
- 2 Virtue Trait-slots (extras start at 95
($0.95) )
- cannot use Destiny Points to buy Perks (You must be a VIP or Premium subscriber to do this)
- cannot send or receive coin in the mail (You must be a VIP or Premium subscriber to do this)
- cannot trade coin to or from other players (You must be a VIP or Premium subscriber to do this)
- cannot sell items in the Auction House AH listings can be unlocked in blocks of 5 slots, starting at 95
- Cannot obtain Quests outside of the starting areas of Ered Luin, The Shire and Bree-land. Recently, Lone-lands was added to the "free" quest zones. The others can be unlocked, one zone at a time, by purchasing Quest Packs.
- Start with only 3 15-slot bags in your Inventory, 30 slots in your Vault and no Shared Vault.
- mounts cannot be acquired in-game. They must be bought through the LotRO Store.
- sending mail is metered, allowing only 1 mail to be sent every so-many minutes. This is to prevent spammers and other ne'er-do-wells from abusing the in-game mail system from free accounts.
Below is the commercial Turbine made to announce the new Free-to-Play service.