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This past week, many of us were shaken out of our self-absorption with LotRO's F2P switch as we were suddenly joined by -- of all things -- the good folks at EverQuest II. I don't think anyone could've predicted two such high-profile MMORPGs moving to a subscription/free-to-play hybrid model this year, which makes LotRO and EQII comrades-in-arms for the time being. Both titles are currently in testing, with their F2P release coming this fall.

Other than the mutual surprise of two game communities that were taken off guard (except for that one guy who, y'know, totally called it and won't stop crowing about it), there are a number of similarities as both SOE and Turbine look to replicate DDO's F2P success and bolster both the number of players and number of dollars coming in to both games. However, there's certainly a major difference in how the freebie players will be handled: LotRO is integrating them with subscribers on normal servers, whereas EverQuest II Expanded will segregate the free players on their own unique servers.

So I thought that this would be an excellent time to talk about one of the crucial factors of F2P switches, which is the potential growth and/or fracturing of the game's community. Which MMO has the better idea, LotRO or EQII? Hit the jump for my thoughts.

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