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The Premium Experiment #5

October 13, 2010

Guides, New Player Advice

In this episode Bryandt departs from his original goal of not spending any Turbine Points.  Finding that grinding purely off of reputation quests, epic quests, and killing mobs as well as today’s 24-hour sale (that we recommend you take advantage of) an incredible bargain, Bryandt continues the experiment outlining what value he puts in store items and what importance they hold for those who are not VIP’s.  Following in that theme, Bryandt demonstrates how to purchase quest hubs and explains his view on what value purchasing the ability to open reputation beyond Acquaintance for  a Crafting Guild holds for different players. 

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About Merric

Co-founder of CSTM and an avid LOTRO fan.

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12 Responses to “The Premium Experiment #5”

  1. F2P Says:
    October 14, 2010 at 3:41 am

    Nice video.

    I agree that the 75% off quest packs sale was too good to ignore. I purchased those as well on my new Free To Play accounts.

    I also comlpetely agree that the main value to be gained from kindred guild crafting status is crafting tier III relics for your end-game level 65 Legendary Items. You can have other folks craft your tier I and II relics. But tier III’s are bind-on-acquire, so you have to craft those yourself. If you’re not shooting for level 65 and maxed LI’s, then you probably don’t need to shoot for kindred guild status in your craft.

    Reply

    • Bryandt Says:
      October 14, 2010 at 7:58 am

      Exactly. Especially with the changes that have been made to crafting. Anything that you may have needed to crit before is easier to do so at an earlier point in time now. Some of the guild recipes are nice to have, such as being able to create multiple potions or dyes with the scholar’s guild for the cost of one, but they aren’t necessary. But those tier three relics? Oh, yeah, you’re gonna want those in a big way.

      Reply

  2. Harperella Says:
    October 14, 2010 at 10:46 am

    I have no problem with you buying things from the store as part of your experience. You are still playing for free–you earned all those points in game. So as far as I’m concerned, its still a free to play experiment.

    –Harperella

    Reply

    • Bryandt Says:
      October 14, 2010 at 11:30 am

      Thank you. And it shall continue in that vein. I have a rather large backlog of deeds to finish now that I’ve unlocked those three zones. So I should have plenty of TP, and I still have 4 empty character slots on that account should I need more.

      I will not be spending money on TP. If I was going to do that, I’d do it for my Lifetime account. ;)

      Reply

  3. Erirdar Says:
    October 15, 2010 at 10:40 am

    This is BS.
    I have leveled 1 character all the way to 65, and I have
    3 more around level 55.

    I purposely leveled all 4 of these characters using ONLY skirmishes and epic book quests, because I absolutely hate landscape quests, yet love skirmishes.

    If I can do it on 4 characters without having some grand project I’m writing, why can’t you finish your project?

    There is absolutely no reason, which means this is B.S.

    Reply

    • Bryandt Says:
      October 15, 2010 at 11:32 am

      Sorry you feel that way. All I can say is, I’m not you. Can it be done? Sure. Never said it couldn’t. Am I the one to do it? Obviously not.

      Bottom line is this: They put three quest packs up for 75% off for a period of 24 hours. It may be a long time before we see a discount on those quest packs that steep again, if ever. So I grabbed them. I’m not going to apologize for that.

      Reply

    • Avatar of Goldenstar
      Goldenstar Says:
      October 15, 2010 at 11:47 am

      To be fair, I believe Bry adjusted his strategy, not abandoned it. He wasn’t going to spend any points and adjusted it to only spending points he owns. When I spoke to him last night about it he said if he was going to spend money, it’d be on his VIP account. That makes sense to me.

      He was able to buy 3 zones for the price of 1 and do it only using the Turbine Points he earned grinding deeds in game. This really isn’t a huge departure from the original plan. All along it was called the Premium Experiment not the “i’m going to grind completely everything from zero on a free account experiment”.

      Those quest packs were an amazing deal. I don’t blame Bry one bit for buying them!

      Reply

      • Bryandt Says:
        October 15, 2010 at 12:17 pm

        Pretty much. The experiment isn’t over, but it has changed for the sake of my own sanity. On a Premium account, you’re only given 2 skirmishes. And at the point I’m currently at in the epics, it takes a lot of grinding to get to where you can continue the book without asking for high-level help or getting a group.

        Given all of that, my patience had just about run out. It could be done, but it’s not going to be done by me. It was either this or quit altogether. I don’t want to quit just yet, so I went the route I’m now on instead.

        Reply

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