Will become free later on.
Tag: Lord of the Rings
Report: Amazon Cancels Lord of the Rings MMO
The latest in a string of failures from Amazon’s game studio.
Continue reading “Report: Amazon Cancels Lord of the Rings MMO”
Turbine Lays Off Unspecified Number Of People
As it is, layoffs in the MMO industry are common. Jobs are often based on contracts and temporary in nature, and developers tend to over-hire when developing the game itself or a large piece of content, and then follow the launch with a round of layoffs. In that regard, I’ve always said here at MMO Fallout that more information is needed than a simple “X developer is laying off staff,” before we are all free to run around screaming about the end of the world. In today’s case, developer Turbine Entertainment has laid off a number of staff as part of restructuring at Warner Bros. In an email, Spokeswoman Remi Sklar stated:
“As part of the continual review of our business operations and fluctuating market conditions, we have had to make reductions in our Turbine workforce,”
Our thoughts go out to the unknown number of Turbine ex-employees, and we hope you all find jobs quickly.
(Source: Boston Globe)
Europeans Are Playing LOTRO Free
I’m starting to think Europeans got the better deal with this delay. Assuming you’ve been following LOTRO’s transition to free to play cash shop, you are well aware that Codemasters has delayed the transition since Turbine moved the North American servers over ten days ago (the 10th). What you may not be aware of is that Codemasters has set up a free play period for the duration of this transition, opening up old accounts and inviting new players to this period with the “trial” account system.
To be quite frank, this sounds like a better deal than the American players are getting on the US server. Sure, the cash shop might be down, but doesn’t this mean that players (for the moment) have access to the whole game for free? Obviously not the expansions they don’t own, but the other restrictions that free accounts under the new system have. If anything, being a European player of LOTRO makes now the best time to get into the game, and experience as much of the whole initial game for free before your account turns into a basic, and you’ll know which features are worth paying for when the full free to play experience rolls out.
I might be missing something, but to me it sounds like “Sorry the official cake, which you’ll have to pay for the icing and more than once slice, has been delayed. Have this unofficial cake while you wait, we couldn’t make it official because the period at the end of the lettering is actually a comma, but otherwise it’s the same cake. You can eat the whole thing while you wait.”
Is it too late for Turbine to delay the free to play?
Lord of the Rings Online: Europe F2P Delay
Even solely a subscription game, Lord of the Rings Online ranks in the higher tier of games that are not World of Warcraft, in terms of population. Turbine has been setting up for the past few months in preparation for the transition to partially free to play, doing everything from beefing up existing servers to adding in new servers. With today’s launch of the head start, Codemasters is having stage fright.
Unlike the United States servers, where the transition went live today, the European servers have been delayed for a yet to be announced time.
“Given the complexities and challenges faced in the preparation and implementation of the new store to work within our infrastructure, we feel more time is needed to deliver the high level of service our players have quite rightly come to expect. As a result, we have decided to delay launch to ensure that we can support the massive increase in players that we are anticipating and deliver them a Free to Play experience like none other.”
I feel bad for the European Turbine fans. I mean, sure the delay may only be the rest of tonight, or it may be next week, but it seems like the European players always get the short end of the stick. Look at how long it took Dungeons and Dragons Online Europe to transition to the free to play model after its much more Yankee counterpart.
I, on the other hand, will be downloading the client off of Turbine’s website, as my special edition (seen below) is so out of date that the client it installs won’t even update.
Turbine Trucking In 8 New Servers: LOTRO
Are you an ex-Lord of the Rings Online player who enjoyed the game but couldn’t pay for the subscription for one reason or another? If so, you are very likely aware of Turbine’s highly popularized moved to free to play (with cash shop) that is coming soon, so soon in fact that many of us former players are waking up with the taste of ale and hobbit foot shampoo on our teeth. Current and former subscribers will have access to the head start on September 8th, with everyone else allowed in on the 10th.
I knew Turbine was adding new servers in preparation for the flood of new players, and eight new servers sounds much more logical when broken down across regions.
US:
- Riddermark
- Crickhollow
- Dwarrowdelf
- Imladris
EU:
- Anduin [DE]
- Gwaihir [DE]
- Withywindle [EN]
- Celduin [FR]
By former subscribers, I should point out Turbine includes beta testers in that category. So if you’re returning for the sweet free to play action, you should be downloading the client now (to beat the rush) and gearing up for the 8th when you can reserve your username on one of the new servers (free players aren’t stuck on these servers, it’s a matter of preference). Turbine, to my understanding, is not allowing transfers to these new servers.
More on Lord of the Rings Online as it descends into free to play.
2010: The Blue Moon Year
We enter January as 2009 comes to a close, we look at the year before us, and the year ahead, and remember that life goes on, no matter what happens in the present. I’ve dubbed 2010 the blue moon year because it has the pleasure of beginning with a blue moon, an event that won’t be occurring on New Year’s Eve for a long time to come.
I’m going slightly out of character with this article, if anything just to be the one time a year I get to be a jerk and pick on the same companies I spend the other 364 days vying for the attention of (Thank you Tork, Hasbro, Aventurine, Cryptic). This is a comprehensive list of some questions I have going into the new year, that I hope to get answered by this time next year.
Lord Of The Rings Online: Still Kicking
Turbine has a modest list of titles, three to be exact (Asheron’s Call, Dungeons and Dragons, and Lord of the Rings), but I have no doubt that Turbine has a vested interest in all of their products (as long as you don’t bring up Asheron’s Call 2). Even Asheron’s Call, that hits a decade old this year, still receives updates regularly.
So I’m glad to see Turbine is bringing about the epic conclusion to Volume 2 in Lord of the Rings Online, with the upcoming expansion: Siege of Mirkwood. Turbine isn’t just looking for the normal increased level cap, new areas, new items, and balances, oh no. Siege of Mirkwood is expected to bring in a new skirmish mechanic, that allows players to run customizable soldiers through randomized instances, leveling them up as they go along.
Those of you who know Turbine will know that they do PvE, and they do it well. Whether Lord of the Rings or Dungeons and Dragons, any player who delves deep into the story will be asking themselves, “What PvP?”
Siege of Mirkwood is launching as a paid expansion this fall. If you’re interested in diving into the existing game, LOTRO costs ten dollars USD a month, only two thirds the cost of most mainstream MMOs
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