Lifetime sub deal for LOTRO Europe
While all of the fuss over the lifetime deal for Champions Online was going on, Codemasters quietly added a comparable deal for returning LOTRO Europe customers. MMeOW has more details, but basically it works out to about the same: ~a year’s cost for a lifetime sub.
It’s fairly late into the release of LOTRO at this point, so the price reduction makes sense to me. I don’t understand why Turbine keeps raising the price (when it’s available, which is sporadic) on the lifetime subs in North America. Last I looked it was $299 U.S. Shouldn’t the price go down as the game ages?
Either way, most of the players I’ve met who’ve taken the LOTRO lifetime sub deals seem to be pleased with their purchase, regardless of when they bought in or which side of the pond they’re on.
Lifetime sub?
Cryptic has announced a limited offer on a $200 lifetime subscription for Champions Online.
My first take was an expletive because the offer ends before the game launch. That’s the nature of a carrot though, it’s meant to get the horse moving.
Then Michelle and I discussed it. We calculated the time we’ve spent in MMOs together over the past few years. Assuming that such an offer had been available for each game we’d planned on playing awhile, the only game where we would have gotten seriously burned on was Age of Conan. The savings from other games (especially WoW for 3+ years) would have us at least breaking even overall, or better.
So risk-wise, it’s a win. For us at least. I think we’re generally good at figuring out which games we’d like ahead of time. We also prefer to spend a long time in a game, that’s our preference. We’ve been nomadic lately, but that’s not in our nature.
Value-wise, it’d be hard to argue against if we stay in Champions for a year or more. I’d feel more foolish passing this by and wishing I hadn’t, than betting on the wrong horse if the game doesn’t live up to expectations. Regrets are unlikely.
I also wonder how relaxed I may get without paying month to month. I don’t usually return to games I’d left, not even for “free weekends” but if I take an honest look at previous games there are a few I would have popped back into from time to time if it weren’t for the monthly fees.
Finally, there’s the source of the offer: Cryptic, whom I have mostly nice things to say about. I asked Michelle to rank MMOs in order of how much fun she had and the top three went: WoW > CoH > LOTRO. City of Heroes hasn’t aged well, but the launched game we played initially was more enjoyable than most of the other games out now.
I wish they would extend the offer, although not for myself. If I’m going for the savings I’m going to do it from day-one anyway, but I have friends that would like to get their feet into the game first before paying a big lump sum.
Now the trick is to factor this unexpected bulk payment into our already stretched thin budget.
Free as in Pay?
You’re standing outside of a restaurant called “Free Food”. There’s a big lineup in front, so you think to yourself “maybe it’s not a scam, maybe it’s actually free”. You get in line, it moves quickly. The tables are not as crowded as the lobby. The exit is at the back so you never noticed anyone leave as you walked in.
You sit down at your table. Drink some water, pick at the basket of bread. The waiter comes and hands you a menu.
The menu has prices on it. The food on the menu is similar to the all-you-can-eat buffet across the street.
Do you?
- Say “WTF? This isn’t free” and walk out.
- Eat a full meal, paying more than you would across the street.
- Eat some more bread and water.
- Ask the waiter why the prices are a little high, to which he replies “Free is popular”.
- Order a small snack and come back when you get hungry again (which will probably be soonish).
If the choice of answers seems loaded, they are. These are what I’d consider realistic options for “Free to play” MMOs. It’s a bad comparison you say? I agree. Games are not restaurants.
Apparently “Horse” is overpriced on the Runes of Magic menu.
