在线版《指环王》对新玩家来说太贵了吗?

2020-01-13 1031

在我上一篇讨论Minas Morgul故事的文章中，论坛上的讨论转向了《指环王》在线多年来是如何将其内容货币化的。这让我思考:真正体验中土世界的入口成本对新玩家来说是不是太高了?

我一直在玩LotRO，因为个人电脑仍然需要dvd驱动器来安装游戏。从第一天起，我就开始了中土世界的旅行，主要是和朋友、亲戚一起，但最近我经常发现自己一个人在独自探索。这是游戏风格的一个巨大变化，这是由于与朋友的生活变化，与亲戚朋友的时区差异，以及缺乏新的玩家，我知道在MMO中有足够的进展，可以在内容的后期阶段与我一起探索。

我们论坛上关于我上一篇文章的讨论让我思考——LotRO的内容结构是否为那些可能对古老的MMO感兴趣的新粉丝定价?

它已经存在了12年——有很多内容需要介绍。大部分内容只需支付每月14.99美元的费用即可获得——但即便如此，你仍然需要担心内容的扩展。由于LotRO的故事情节也很丰富，所以它并不是一款能够轻易通过或推动的游戏。

然而，当你购买了最新版本的资料片时，这些升级是存在的。Minas Morgul将你提升到120，但即使是在提升开发者的时候，你也需要去玩《魔多任务黑书》去真正理解Minas Morgul。

的确，即使有些故事揭示了在扩张过程中发生的事情，但即使是在盎格鲁时代的阴影时期，对这些故事的了解也确实让故事变得更加引人入胜。

然而，这是一个艰难的过程——对于想要利用LotRO免费游戏功能的新玩家来说，当你考虑到这些扩展的成本时，你可能会震惊于自己的钱包。

不同于其他mmo游戏，特别是魔兽世界，购买最新的LotRO扩展并不能让你获得所有之前发布的内容。你仍然需要购买《摩瑞亚之矿》，《艾辛格的崛起》，甚至《魔多之崛起》，如果你想体验当前内容之前的所有故事。

虽然在过去的12年采购每个扩张似乎并不像你买他们一块吃饭,您还需要考虑增加新的区域和任务的内容更新游戏不是扩张的一部分——但仍然成本免费冒险家的钱享受。

新球员不愿把钱花在接头的费用,特别是对于他们可能不过去的一个月,玩的游戏越来越进入起动器区——夏尔,赔率Luin和Breeland——是一个很好的方式来建立力学和让他们在整个故事中全神贯注。然而，任何超过这个范围的任务，你会发现，为了在一个区域完成常规任务，你会花费LotRO点数。

虽然你可以通过完成契约、任务和事件来获得这些游戏内的奖励，但这是一种缓慢的方式去解锁带有附加费用的任务包和生活质量系统。如果你想要在MMO中解锁任务包，你需要在LotRO职业生涯中花费近2万个LotRO点数。这还不包括像Minas Morgul和Mordor这样的资料片。事实上，在写这篇文章时，获得最新扩展的唯一方法是通过网站，而不是通过游戏中的货币。所以，如果你真的是一个坚持自己辛苦赚来的钱并通过游戏积分来解锁所有内容的人，你甚至需要等上几个月才能享受到新内容。

对于全新的玩家来说，这也是难以克服的。当你购买《魔兽世界》等其它mmo游戏的新资料片时，它会包含所有之前发布的内容，这些内容会引导你进入新的故事区域。这是令人难以置信的方便，因为它提供了一个单一的价格点，让人跳进去，并有选择，要么开始一个增强的字符，或通过多年的历史，哇提供。

有了LotRO，你真的没有办法做到这一点，除非你花钱去玩或者不断地去玩所有的老故事和区域去获得当前的内容，或者干脆放弃所有内容并使用一个道具去开始玩新的资料片。

就LotRO点数和现实生活中的钱相比，如果你什么都想要，你就要花200多美元。当你将价值超过200美元的内容放到MMORPG的历史背景中去看时，你会发现这并不是一笔大数目，对于一个刚刚开始MMORPG的人来说，想要体验完整的中土世界可能是一个过高的价格。

由于这个原因，VIP价格是很有吸引力的——你不仅可以获得所有的任务包(除去扩展包本身)作为你的sub的一部分，你还可以获得在商店消费的点数津贴。拥有终身账户的人日子过得很轻松——虽然在最初几年200美元的价格让人觉得很贵，但拥有终身账户可能多年来为这些用户节省了数百美元。不幸的是，这已经不可能了。

《Standing Stone Games》最近的两个资料片都是高价的收藏版，唯一的区别就是花费了79.99美元和129.99美元的区别就是一些化妆品，游戏和一个额外的手提箱，以最新的资料片为例。130美元对于一个资料片来说是一个很大的数目，特别是当你在游戏中收到的物品除了虚荣心之外并没有增加很多东西的时候(尽管carry all bag确实为老牌手工艺者提供了一些实用功能)。为什么不把LotRO令人难以置信的故事叙述的全部财富作为打包的一部分呢?或者至少是主要的故事情节和扩展部分，因为并不是每个区域都需要理解整个故事情节。让玩家的钱更有价值，这可能会让他们保持长期——或者吸引一个对LotRO感兴趣的新玩家，但他们会因为所有的任务包和扩展而推迟或害怕，所以他们必须购买完整的故事。

我知道很多人想要进入这款史诗级的MMO游戏，但却因为游戏的盈利结构而无法如愿。天啊，我已经买了三次《盎格鲁的阴影》了，所有的特别版都已经在我的账户上使用了——但是如果我让我的订阅失效了，我就不能进入那些区域了!我已经付钱了!当我带着我的42级吟游诗人在Angmar漫步时，因为LotRO的盈利机制而不能完成我所购买的任何任务并拥有这些碟片，这感觉很糟糕。

如果你对中土世界或托尔金的作品感兴趣，那么《指环王》在线版值得一看。stand Stone Games的团队(以及之前的完整涡轮机团队)在创造故事方面做了一项令人难以置信的工作，在很大程度上，他们觉得自己适合教授的世界。虽然在真空中,价值200美元+ 12年的内容看似不多的宏大计划的事情,为新玩家和行业领导者仍然把扩张相比,年长的网络游戏——站在石头游戏真的需要看他们的免费模式是否现在持有新玩家持续超过几周和真正探索中土世界与他们的朋友。

这个资料片是几个月前刚发布的，而阿肯宝钻的游戏区域已经没有生命了。我的亲属关系仍在继续，但我们很少这样做，而且我们几年来确实没有为我们的队伍注入任何新成员——部分是出于设计，部分是因为我们在冒险中遇到的人并不多。通过确保当新玩家购买你的游戏时能够完全享受你的MMO——同时仍然保留游戏商店中的化妆品，冲突和其他生活质量项目，我希望这种情况能够改变，特别是在一些人口较少的服务器上。

希望在下一次LotRO的扩展中，我们能够看到开发团队能够跟随其他mmo的脚步，在化妆品之外为收藏家的版本注入更多的价值。

越来越多的游戏骗子进入到网游行业，专业玩家网骗子查询为你解除后顾之忧。

原文：

On my last article discussing Minas Morgul's story, the discussion in the forums turned to how The Lord of the Rings Online has monetized its content over the years. This got me thinking: Is the cost of entry to truly experience Middle-earth too steep for new players to overcome?

I’ve been playing LotRO since PCs still needed DVD-Drives to install the game. Since day one I’ve traveled through Middle-earth, primarily with friends and kinmates, but often I’ve found myself lately questing entirely alone. It’s been a drastic change in playstyle and it’s one that is due to life changes with friends, time zone differences with kin mates and a lack of new players I know getting far enough along in the MMO to quest with me in the later stages of the content.

The discussion on our forums on my previous article got me thinking – Is LotRO’s content structure pricing itself out for new fans who might be interested in the venerable MMO?

It’s been around for 12 years – there is a lot of content to cover. Much of the content is available simply by paying the $14.99/month sub fee – but even then, you still have the expansions to worry about. With LotRO being very story-heavy as well, it’s not a game that can easily be rushed through or boosted past.

However, these boosts do exist and are available when you buy certain versions of the latest expansions. Minas Morgul boosted you to 120, but even when boosting the developers caution that you really need to play the Black Book of Mordor quests, the in-game name for the Epic Questline post-Mordor, to truly understand what is going on in Minas Morgul.

Indeed, even with some of the story reveals that have happened over the course of the expansion, knowledge of the stories told even back during the Shadow of Angmar days really makes the storytelling more compelling.

However, it’s a slog to get through – and for new players looking to take advantage of the free-to-play aspect of LotRO, you might be in for shock to your wallet when you consider how much these expansions cost on their own.

Unlike other MMOs, most notably World of Warcraft, buying the latest expansion in LotRO doesn’t net you all the previously released content. You still need to buy Mines of Moria, Rise of Isengard or even Mordor if you want to experience all of the story leading up to the current content.

And while over the course of 12 years purchasing each expansion doesn’t seem like much as you’re buying them piece meal, you also need to consider the content updates that add new zones and quests to the game not part of an expansion – but still cost free-to-play adventurers money to enjoy.

For a new player who has no desire to spend money on a sub fee, especially for a game they may not play past a month, getting to dive into the starter zones – The Shire, Ered Luin and Breeland – is a good way to establish the mechanics and get them engrossed in the story. However, anything beyond this and you start to see that in order to do the regular quests in an area you’re spending LotRO points.

slow way to unlock quest packs and quality of life systems that come with a sub-fee. If you wanted to unlock just the quest packs in the MMO, you’re looking at potentially spending almost 20K LotRO points over the course of your LotRO career. This doesn’t include expansions like Minas Morgul and Mordor. In fact, as of this writing, the only way to get the latest expansion is through the site, not through in-game currency. So if you were really a stickler for holding onto your hard earned dollars and unlocking everything through earned in-game points, you’re waiting months to even enjoy the new content.

For brand new players, this can also feel insurmountable. With other MMOs like World of Warcraft, when you buy a new expansion it includes all the previously released content leading up to the new story areas. This is incredibly convenient as it provides a single price point for someone to hop in and have the choice to either start with a boosted character or to go through the years of history WoW has to offer.

With LotRO, there really is no way to do that unless you spend money or grind and grind through all of the older story and zones to get to the current content – or simply forgo it all and use a boost to start playing the new expansion right away.

In terms of LotRO Points versus real-life money, you’re spending more than $200 if you want everything. And while $200+ for 12 years worth of content doesn’t seem like a lot when you put it in the context of the history of the MMORPG, for someone who is just starting it now, to fully experience all of Middle-earth it might be too steep a price.

The VIP price is compelling for this reason – not only do you gain access to all the quest packs (minus the expansions themselves) as part of your sub, you also get a stipend of points to spend in the store. Lifetime account holders have it easy – while the $200 price back in the early years felt steep, having a lifetime account has likely saved those users hundreds of dollars over the years. Unfortunately that isn’t an option any longer.

Standing Stone Games has been selling the last two expansions with high priced collector’s editions where the only differences between spending $79.99 and $129.99 are a few cosmetics, titles and an extra carry-all crating bag, to use the latest expansion as an example. $130 is a lot to ask for a single expansion, especially when the items you receive in game don’t add a whole lot other than vanity (though the carry all bag does provide some utility to established crafters). Why not include the entire wealth of LotRO’s incredible storytelling as part of the package? Or at least the main story beats and expansions -as not every zone is required to understand the overarching plotline. Give players more value for their money that might keep them long-term – or entice a new player who is interested in LotRO but is put off or intimidated by all the quest packs and expansions they have to buy piecemeal to fully get the whole story.

I know plenty of people who have wanted to get into this epic MMO yet can’t bring themselves to do so simply due to the monetization structure of the game. Hell, I’ve bought Shadows of Angmar three times have all the special edition versions applied to my account – yet if I let my sub lapse, I lose access to those zones! That I’ve paid for! It feels bad walking around Angmar with my level 42 Minstrel and not being able to do any of the quests I’ve bought and physically own the discs for because of how LotRO’s monetization works.

The Lord of the Rings Online is worth playing through the Epic Story and investing in if you’re interested at all in Middle-earth or Tolkien’s works. The team at Standing Stone Games (and the full Turbine team before them) have done an incredible job of creating stories that feel like they would fit in the Professor’s world, for the most part. And while viewed in a vacuum, $200+ for 12 years worth of content doesn’t seem like much in the grand scheme of things, for new players – and when compared to industry leaders who still put out expansions for older MMOs – Standing Stone Games really needs to look at whether or not their free-to-play model is now holding new players from continuing beyond a few weeks and truly exploring Middle-earth with their friends.

Sitting in the newer zones in the Morgul Vale, it feels empty – this expansion just released a few months ago and already end game areas on Arkenstone are starting to feel devoid of life. My kinship still logs on, but we do infrequently, and we really haven’t injected any new players in our ranks in a few years – partly by design and partly because there just aren’t many we’ve come across in our adventures. By ensuring that when new players buy into your game can fully enjoy your MMO – while still retaining the cosmetics, skirmishes, and other quality of life items in your in-game store, my hope would be that this would change, especially on some of the lower populated servers.

Hopefully with the next LotRO expansion we can see the dev team follow the lead of other MMOs and inject more value into the collector’s editions beyond the cosmetic.

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