Lord of the Rings Online

[Porn Shop Clerk]

I really like DDO's combat setup and pve. If any of you aren't digging the LotRO you can come over to Dungeons and Dragons Online and give it a try.

[cookinwithgas]

Just got over 200 points to get the horse for my champ. Did it by completing just about every quest in the Shire up to my level (also nice to be liked by the midget faction, lol)... started a new toon there too - Hunter.

Both are good soloers, which is what I prefer to play as 99% of the time in these games. A lot of folks told me to just start random toons on other servers and get em to like level 10 or so to earn points. So that and keeping up with the book should net me a few more.

Question though: If I buy the next set of quests from like North Barrow-Downs for one toon, does that translate to others? Or is it just the one toon can do the quests and I have to buy it for the others as well? That's kinda pricy, but overall worth it to earn even more points in the long run.

I don't know the answer to that but I'd say its your account that gets the expansion. I have no issue with paying for the game and the expansions and kept my account just the way it was.

[Samuel L. Jackson]

So I paid for 6 months worth of VIP access on my account last night..

Quick questions...

I see that they automatically renew 6 months later... If I want, I can change it to a yearly thing then can I not?

Do my extra bags and character slots go away if I choose not to renew? From what I read, I am still considered a "Premium" player even if I go back to non-paying, and that my bags stay but I am limited to one extra character slot (for a total of 3)...

Besides the extra trait slots, extra bags, and extra character slots, what else should I remember to look at/take advantage of with my VIP account?

When do I get my first installment of 500 monthly Turbine points?

Thanks!

[cookinwithgas]

Sorry man I have no idea. I think that you will get additional raids, skirmishes etc. as a VIP. I am glad you are enjoying the game! Whats your name on Landroval?

[Samuel L. Jackson]

Azaz... level 19 right now... Elf Champion Explorer

I also have Beason, level 6 Man Captain Historian... lol

[PanthersFanNY]

Slj won't you be dumping most of your time into New Vegas in a couple of weeks anyway?

[Porn Shop Clerk]

So I paid for 6 months worth of VIP access on my account last night..

Quick questions...

I see that they automatically renew 6 months later... If I want, I can change it to a yearly thing then can I not?

Do my extra bags and character slots go away if I choose not to renew? From what I read, I am still considered a "Premium" player even if I go back to non-paying, and that my bags stay but I am limited to one extra character slot (for a total of 3)...

Besides the extra trait slots, extra bags, and extra character slots, what else should I remember to look at/take advantage of with my VIP account?

When do I get my first installment of 500 monthly Turbine points?

Thanks!

You shoulda just bought the 5k points for 50$. That way everything you purchase is permanent. Right now you're just leasing, and when your lease expires, you lose it all.

[Samuel L. Jackson]

Slj won't you be dumping most of your time into New Vegas in a couple of weeks anyway?

Most likely my weekend free time...

My PS3 is upstairs (we have 2 "bonus" rooms in our house that are upstairs, while the bedrooms and all that are downstairs)... my laptop downstairs...

I have been taking over baby duties every evening when I get home from work, since wifey has been taking care of him during the day (and overnight if and when he wakes up, since I am needing sleep for work)... Therefore, most of my time I have been needed downstairs...

Once New Vegas comes out, I'll probably spend my weekend play time upstairs doing my thing on that, in short bursts... but I will still have evening time on the week days to play around with LOTRO...

Wifey goes back to work on Nov. 1, so we'll both be sharing night duty then, and my playtime for both LOTRO and New Vegas might suffer a bit... Oh well, I'm a casual gamer anyways, and too much grind time burns me out... lol...

New Vegas will probably end up being like Assassin's Creed 2 for me, but hopefully not as bad... I got AC2 last Xmas and still haven't put it in the PS3 lol... All my free time with PS3 this year was spent with going through Fallout 3: GOTY again and playing all the extra content...

[Samuel L. Jackson]

You shoulda just bought the 5k points for 50$. That way everything you purchase is permanent. Right now you're just leasing, and when your lease expires, you lose it all.

Not true the way I read it... Once my time is up, if I don't renew, it defaults me to "Premium" status, and I keep everything (except 2 extra character slots I think)...

Plus, I get 500 points a month for 6 months... that is 3,000 points plus anything extra my VIP status allows me to earn (extra quests and deeds I think)...

[Porn Shop Clerk]

No, you lose all the special perks associated with VIP status. For example, I've run into a few former VIPs on DDO that can't access their old characters because they haven't purchased the classes or races required to run them.

Sometimes I run into people grinding favor for DDO points so they can unlock their monk or warforged sorceror. Heaven forbid you have a warforged monk, then you have to unlock the class and race to play your character.

And if those characters occupy your extra slots, then you lose your extra slots too.

[Samuel L. Jackson]

This guy breaks it down pretty good...

http://www.casualstrolltomordor.com/2010/08/vip-to-premium/

You pick the 3 characters you want active (and as a result, the 2 you lose access to)...

If I login to all my characters, they keep the extra inventory bags and the unlimited gold cap...

I will, however, have to spend points on stuff like: trait slots, skirmishes, quest packs, and the premium classes (I think you even have to spend points on those with VIP status, but if not, they are relatively cheap with Turbine Points (I think I saw Warden for like 100 or so points?))

I can still get most of the stuff I want relatively easy, and with the VIP subscription alone (including using those 3000 points...)... For what I can't get, when I downgrade (if I do, VIPs still get any new content for free as long as they maintain their sub) I will make up the difference by purchasing points in one bulk deal (like you mentioned for $50)...

The whole way Turbine has it setup is kind of strange, but in an evil genius way... There are perks to being VIP, but there are also seeming penalties for being downgraded to Premium...

[Porn Shop Clerk]

I think its a good freemium model.

[Samuel L. Jackson]

I just sat here and calculated it... lol

Over the course of the next 6 months (what I have paid for), I should be able to purchase these items with Turbine points I accumulate through my membership (3000) and any I earn in game (currently have 250) to be prepared for when I downgrade to "Premium" status...

Warden and Rune-keeper classes – 1272 points

Vault upgrade to 75 slots – 990 points (although, this can be achieved with in-game currency in the process too)

Lone Lands quest pack – 600 points

1 Skirmish Pack (I get like 4 anyways, and might not even be all that into them)– 495 points

Total – 3357

After I downgrade, I will probably eventually get these:

Auction Hall Posting ability – 10 slots = 990 points

2 extra Character slots on the server = 1190 points

2 more skirmish packs (if I even want them) = 990 points

NDs Quests pack - 900 points

Enedwaith Quests pack - 750 points

Trollshaws Quests pack - 750 points

4 extra trait slots (may shoot for more or less, depending on how big of an impact they have) – 780 points

Total - 6350

I can probably get all that list with purchase of the 5,000 point pack (might even catch it on sale for cheaper than $50 between now and then) plus whatever in-game points I earn in these next 6 months...

So, it will end up costing me like $128, but I should be setup to be able to continue playing comfortably for at least a couple years... (which at VIP subscription cost would be almost $300...

[Porn Shop Clerk]

They don't lower the price of the points packages during sales, they increase the # of points in the packages.

The 5k package will skyrocket to 6800 pts when on sale, which is what I would recommend purchasing.

All I've spent over the past 6 months on DDO is 50$, which has gotten me everything I needed and then some.

I'll probably drop another 50$ during christmas and get the rest of what I want. 100$ over the course of 1 year to own everything in the game permanently.

And that adds up to 13.6k points.