Lord of the Rings Online

[Haywood]

I've been hooked on this game for a couple of months and really enjoy it. It is basically a less-crowded version of World of Warcraft set in Middle-Earth during the War of the Ring. What makes things interesting is that they have two different payment models. You can play the game for free, but pay cash for points that can be used for a variety of useful things like unlocking additional quests or additional storage or you can subscribe for the typical $9.99/mo. I started out with a free account, but realized that at the rate I was playing, the subscription was a better deal. What I liked about it was that I had a chance to play a bunch without spending a dime to determine whether or not l liked the game.

 

[yromj]

That does sound like an interesting way to demo and pay. I may look into; though, my one hesitation is that I either won't get enough play time for my money or I will get waaaaaay too much play time for my money. (These things can be a real time-sink for me.)

John

 

[Haywood]

The nice thing about the pricing model is that there is no time limit on free play. If you don't play much, just keep the free account and maybe buy a few things here and there ala carte. $20 worth of points can last a really long time if used wisely. The subscription basically gets you access to all of the quest packs and skirmishes, plus extra inventory pouches, attribute slots and a few other perks. The subscription also includes 500 points per month that can be used to buy extra stuff like riding ability or XP boosters.

The game has a seemingly silly feature that I really like. You can either have the appearance of your character wearing whatever your actual equipment looks like or you can buy "cosmetic" items and create outfits that give you a consistent appearance regardless of what your actual equipment is. You can also turn the appearance of different pieces of equipment on and off. That means you don't have to look like a dork just because you're awesome helmet looks dorky.

The world is huge and is full of beautifully rendered places. I am often amazed at how intricate and often pretty the landscape is, even in obscure backwater areas of the game. They clearly put an amazing amount of work into it.