A sincere question.

[Ochner]

Greetings!

Well, i have a question for the REAL players of LOTRO, i'm starting to play now and, and i wish to know if i can have a good char in-game without buying VIP or Turbine Points, etc. I don't want to waste money in game, so... Can i have a good char without paying? Honest answers, please.

Thanks.

[Grapold]

Yes.
You could have a great character if you were willing to put in the effort and put up with a long grind.
VIP or paying for TP just makes it a lot easier and quicker.
Everything is buy-able for TP and TP can be earned in game.
One month VIP is worth it though, it will permanently unlock loads of extras that would take you ages to grind.

[mjk47]

You can spend money, or you can spend (a lot of) time, or whatever mixture of the two you choose. Completely your choice.

[Shukar]

Well, i have a question for the REAL players of LOTRO, i'm starting to play now and, and i wish to know if i can have a good char in-game without buying VIP or Turbine Points, etc. I don't want to waste money in game, so... Can i have a good char without paying? Honest answers, please.

You need TPs to purchase the Quest/Expansion packs that deliver the deeds and non-Epic content. You can get all the other stuff you need to be great by playing the game. You don't need to pay anything to earn TPs... but you may find that in the time you spend getting $8 worth of TPs by playing, you could go out and earn $30 and turn that into a heck of a lot more TPs. So it is your choice of where to put your efforts.

People will tell you "it's pay to win" but it's not. The greatness of your character depends more on how well you play your class than by the equipment you have. You need *decent* equipment but there are many routes to get it... NONE of which *require* TPs. With the exception of unlocking content, they're a shortcut or convenience.

[yawumpus]

You need TPs to purchase the Quest/Expansion packs that deliver the deeds and non-Epic content. You can get all the other stuff you need to be great by playing the game. You don't need to pay anything to earn TPs... but you may find that in the time you spend getting $8 worth of TPs by playing, you could go out and earn $30 and turn that into a heck of a lot more TPs. So it is your choice of where to put your efforts.

People will tell you "it's pay to win" but it's not. The greatness of your character depends more on how well you play your class than by the equipment you have. You need *decent* equipment but there are many routes to get it... NONE of which *require* TPs. With the exception of unlocking content, they're a shortcut or convenience.

Note there is a large chasm between Turbine's "pay to win" that gives players an advantage who have coughed up a $15 to around a subscription's worth and quickly diminishes after that and more recent "f2p" games (I'm mainly looking at Neverwinter, but it seems to be more popular) that are completely opened ended in how much they want you to buy.

[Hatter_of_Bree]

Greetings!

Well, i have a question for the REAL players of LOTRO, i'm starting to play now and, and i wish to know if i can have a good char in-game without buying VIP or Turbine Points, etc. I don't want to waste money in game, so... Can i have a good char without paying? Honest answers, please.

Thanks.

Lets see what F2P restrictions you definitely will wish to buy off:

Riding skill, Gold cap unlock, Extra virtue slots ( you have only 2, can to up to 5), Extra racial traits (also 2, can go up to 5) Extra class trait slots (also only 2, can go to 7), Legendary trait (1 available, can get up to 3).

What you will most likely to buy too:
Extra bags (you start with 3, can go up to 6), Auction Hall access (have 0 post privileges, can get 6 times 5 slot advance), Shared Storage.

What you will buy some parts of:
Quest packs (you will buy some, possibly skip some)
LOTRO Store reference Wiki description Quest levels
1- Quest Pack:North Downs North Downs (Lvl 18-40)
2- Quest Pack:Trollshaws Trollshaws (Lvl 30-50)
3- Quest Pack:Evendim Evendim (Lvl 32-40)
4- Quest Pack:Misty Mountains Misty Mountains (Lvl 39-50)
5- Quest Pack:Forochel Forochel (Lvl 39-52)
6- Quest Pack:Angmar Angmar (Lvl 40-52)
7- Quest Pack:Eregion Eregion (Lvl 45-55)
8- Quest Pack:Lothlorien Lothlórien (Lvl 55-60)
9- Quest Pack:Enedwaith Enedwaith (Lvl 60-75)
10- Quest Pack:Great River The Great River (Lvl 72-75)
11- Quest Pack:Wildemore Wildemore (Lvl 82-85)

Expansions:

LOTRO Store reference Press release Wiki description Quest levels Turbine website
1 LOTRO Store Mines of Moria The Mines of Moria Moria (Lvl 51-60)
2 LOTRO Store Siege of Mirkwood The Siege of Mirkwood Mirkwood (Lvl 51-65)
3 LOTRO Store Isengard The Rise of Isengard Isengard (Lvl 66-75) isengard.lotro.com
4 LOTRO Store Riders of Rohan The Riders of Rohan East Rohan (Lvl 75-85) rohan.lotro.com

PS. I know you dont want to spend real money, but most of these limits disappear with one time VIP gametime purchase.

[Flooz]

I know of one player I quite often chat to who plays a Burglar which is now about level 75, and apparently has never spent a single TP - he enjoys playing the game like this because it presents a much bigger challenge. Remaining free-to-play IS definitely possible therefore and I guess there must be many others who have similar stories.

[edit]I guess he must have at least bought the riding skill as I'm sure I've seen him on a horse - so "never spent a single TP" may be a little bit of an exaggeration![/edit]

[Jula]

Yes this is possible.
I would recommend the following if this is your approach:

1) Be a deed completionist, especially in the starter areas. Do all quests deed in Shire, Bree, Ered Luin, all slayer deeds, all exploration deeds, all reputation deeds. Your experience might be a bot more grindy than an equivalent VIP and you will take longer to hit cap. However, LOTRO is a game worth taking time over.
2) Don't buy any trait unlocks yet - if you like the game a very short spell as a VIP will gain you a lot for a small outlay. NB I still haven't done this and have 3 level capped toons.
3) Save up TPs for sales - you can get 75% off zones, although I don't recall seeing a sale like this recently, there are often great daily sales in December.
4) Bonus character slots are your friend assuming you follow 1) - you will earn more TPs back than you spend - remember zones are per account not per toon costs. Again, wait for a sale....
5) Point 4) is doubly true on very expensive purchases like expansions!

Hope this helps!

[Shukar]

[edit]I guess he must have at least bought the riding skill as I'm sure I've seen him on a horse - so "never spent a single TP" may be a little bit of an exaggeration![/edit]

If the player played his Burglar while VIP, he could get the Riding skill without spending any TP. That's quite a challenge, though! I wouldn't live without my Premium Wallet, or scads of Shared Storage.

[Flixxer]

you can pretty much reach everything without ever spending a single real life cent... but it will take you a pretty amount of grinding the tp for it, but it for sure is possible to achieve it...