suprise

I was quite shocked on Friday morning as I got prepared for work, turned on my computer, checked my Twitter feed, and low and behold, there where several tweets about LOTRO going Free-to-Play. Now, having just read an article over at Mordor or Bust (see the article here), where the prediction was made that LOTRO would go Free-to-Play in 2010, I thought that these tweets where in reference to that. Little did the author know at the time how true this prediction would be!

Upon further investigation, I saw that this all originated from Turbine. I quickly put out a basic announcement on the blog, and then went off to work in shock. I really think that that is what most of the negative discussion from the community is coming from. Shock.

My thoughts? I love LOTRO. I like LOTRO the way that it is. I play the game in many different ways, everything from Alts and Monster Play to crafting. I don’t want it to change.

Why?

Now that I’ve had some time to think about it, I think that my  original negative reaction was due to the stigma that comes along with having LOTRO move to a Free-to-Play model. I feel, in some dark, scary place in my mind that by going Free-to-Play, Turbine is admitting that LOTRO is a failure. I took great pride, and would trumpet it at every opportunity, that LOTRO had not had any server mergers. And that from all indications we where getting from the developers, the LOTRO player base was actually growing. It wasn’t as big as WoW, of course, but it held it’s own. Now that little devil on my shoulder is screaming in my ear that LOTRO is a failure.

I think it’s time that I told that little devil to screw off!

Going Free-to-Play is NOT a failure. Yes, LOTRO is not growing as fast as WoW is, nor will it. Yes, LOTRO does not have a multi-million player subscriber base. Yes, Turbine wants to make the game more profitable.

None of that means that LOTRO is a failure.

I see this as an opportunity. Properly executed, this could be a great change for the game. By introducing more players to the game, we could see this game become even better than it is.

I know that this relies on Turbine executing this very tricky move to Free-to-Play perfectly, but I for one think that they have earned our patience as they try to improve the game. Turbine has always shown a desire to make a great game for it’s fans. By making the game more profitable, they can gain more resources to make more great content.

What will this mean for End Game content? What does this mean for a million different aspects of the game? At this point, WE DON’T KNOW, SO STOP GUESSING!

At this point, we wait. We see. We hope.

I hope that I continue to see you in-game for many more adventures!