I always love to see the "Chicken Littles" come out whenever microtransactions are mentioned.

If Steefle really wants to eliminate the subscriptions via MTs, I say it's worth considering. If LotRO offered special armors, mounts, etc., for a price in an MT transaction, I see no harm in that.

People who play in families are looking for ways to play games concurrently (i.e., via multiple accounts). Subscription-based games are just too pricey to do that. MT-based games, however, allow players to pick and choose what they pay for.

Ideal MTs are "add-ons" that they game should be perfectly playable without purchasing, an example might be paying $5 to allow your characters to do the mount quests at level 30 instead of 35 or the purchase of extra character slots or additional vault space, etc.

I don't see MTs coming to LotRO any time soon, but I do not fear them -- as long as they are handled in the right way.

If this happens the game will loose half its population and never recover. The LOTRO customer is not the same as the mere consumer market. They are making a huge mistake.

I now see Turbine taking the same route of SOE if it is true. And their sense of integrity will be damaged. This market is more trendy and frail than the music industry.

They should not do this with this game. This is what an investment of 40 million does. It screws over your customers.

Well done... let the Visa loot begin.