BadTrip

@Rubi we're having a nice one here too. Just hanging out grilling, volleyball, badminton, that type of thing. Mom's having a blast watching the kids play. About 65 and partially cloudy, nice and cool here. Popped on to see if there were any new Xsyon stories... you know we got animals Friday!!!

Happy Mom's day Rubi!

@Nerves

Now I feel guilty. I was being sarcastic and I apologize. You seem like a nice person and a prime example of why I loved LotRo so much while I played. Thank you for being so helpful in your reply.

I stopped playing because I (me personally; I'm not recommending my opinion) don't feel any sense of accomplishment earning something in a game when I could just buy it.

I (me personally) feel that in a themepark type game (nothing wrong with themeparks imho) , the only actual impact that you can have on the world, that others can see, is how you look. Having a certain weapon or piece of armor is not about being better than anyone else as much as it is to say "hey - I've been there too" or "look what I finally made it through." From logon to logon, how I and others choose present ourselves is the only persistent difference we can make in the game world.

In my opinion ( ), when there is an item shop, it no longer makes sense to work hard to be the the guy who, for example, can make the red dye for your guild when it just costs a couple of bucks in a streamlined, in-game pop-up window.

I'm a Tolkein fan and Turbine did an absolutely gorgeous job on the world, but what I loved most about LotRo and the community was that even though crippled with only being able to make individual visual changes to the world, people escaped that box, banded together and did some amazing things that had nothing at all to do with quests or boss fights. Those are the types of things that bring a static world to life.

With an item shop, seeing a 30 strong regimen of uniformed players on horses parade double file through Bree isn't as impressive to me. It no longer represents the culmination of many weeks worth of guildies working together towards a common goal organized by good guild leadership and fueled by excitement about the game world. It means they had at least $15 and can walk a horse in a line.

The need to depend on others to help accomplish your goals is erased if there's an item shop, even cosmetic, and if you remove interdependence then chat is the only social game left imho.

For me, if the significance of the only thing I can change about the game world is removed, I have nothing to show for my accomplishments because the rewards I get can be purchased, the effort expended doing anything really creative in the world can be replicated with a couple of dollars, I can't contribute to anything greater than myself because we don't really need anything from each other, I can purchase what I need to kill any monster in the game, double xp past quests and buy teleports to skip through the world then the only effort it would take to play the game is due to self-imposed restrictions.

I could attack the game trying not to pay anything just to complete it, but free games lean towards long grinds to encourage item sales. That's not entertaining for me at all.

Entertainment is very personal - it exists to delight and not even you can decide what makes you happy so I'm definitely not trying to tell anyone what should make them happy.

I've been a fan of middle earth as long as I can remember and I loved the game. Having things pop up in the item shop that I spent time attaining made all the time I spent grinding mobs seem like a big waste and I'm kind of bitter. That game was the first MMO that kept my attention for more than a couple weeks, the first one I joined a guild in and really, the first one I had any fun in.

Nerves - none of the stuff in parentheses was directed at you. I just wanted to make it clear that my opinion was mine, I wasn't pushing it and try to avoid any flames coming from outside the conversation.
Thanks for reminding me that a sarcastic comment doesn't really add anything at all to the dialog.

Do you have to wait to get to Moria to buy your first legendary item with cash?

Aren't lightsabers supposed to sever limbs and melt through metal?
Did they have weaker ones back then where a chick in a cloak can take multiple hits?

Well, at least they faithfully reproduced Jedi armor.

There are definitely too many games based on old PnP combat.
Yeah, so the original dream was to get inside D&D... done. Now let's move on. Computers are a completely different technology - let's have some new mechanics ideas.

Do you get to fight the Muppet Babies at some point?

LOL; just kidding. Not a big fan of the art style myself is all.

@BadTrip
Actually, I think "The Grind" and the resulting sales are an essential component in the ability to succeed with a FTP model. Is there a FTP game that doesn't rely heavily on it?

If they sold you the Astral ship and you played it out they wouldn't be able to sell you junk over and over and over for the grind.

You're actually complaining about their FTP financial model, not a design flaw... at least to them.

@Triskelion
I agree - did anyone else check out this "Janco" site? You know, the source of the information?
It looks like some po-dunk wannabe site including links for both games research and investment banking. In fact, the gentleman quoted in the article has his own page of stock predictions... with his phone number on top. Can't get much more inexperienced than making a wild-haired guess about the performance of an MMO and then leave your number around for the fans.

And even if they are legit - there are many, many more reputable firms involved in the same line of work who's numbers and predictions are recognized and trusted throughout the MMO community. Why is this news coming from a site built with Frontpage 98?