In an interesting marketing move, the LOTRO Store is now offering “The Steed Of Night” until 3AM EST, December 1st, 2010 (-5 GMT). It is a 250 health horse that travels at 168% speed; which puts them at the same morale and speed as reputation mounts that are accessible by completing deeds; or by achieving Rank 12 in PvMP. However, the price on this mount is steep; costing 1995 Turbine points. Which if you ask me, is a lot of points just for a mount. This may be because this is a limited time/preview offer, where the steed will become unavailable, but will return in the future.
A LOTRO Store Exclusive!
*The Steed Of Night will return to the LOTRO Store in the very near future, but here’s your chance to be seen on this stunning mount now!This magnificent steed has a dark charcoal coat with glistening chocolate undertones and amber eyes. It is bedecked with a glimmering saddle pad, a fiery neck guard and reinforced leather saddle, bridle and leg boots. This steed has 250 health and allows you to travel 168% faster than running on foot, making it faster and stronger than many other mounts!
Level Usable: 5+
Classes Usable: All
Store Location: Travel > Mounts > Store Exclusive
My advice? Skip it. Seriously. It’s around $19.95 USD, depending on what price point you purchased the points; and there’s a lot of other things that you can get in the store for a lower price. Don’t be fooled by the marketing of the item either. This is not going to be a “scarce” item, and it is not unique in it’s nature Personally, I think that you can get the Elf Ambassador’s Horse quite easily which has the same stats, plus you can accomplish other deeds in the process. If you can’t (or don’t want to) get the Ambassador’s deed completed, then my suggestion would be to concentrate on another reputation and take the 6% speed loss. You probably won’t know the difference anyway.
Loading ...
November 30, 2010 at 1:52 pm
It’s basically a Sparkle Pony but without the sparkle :p
November 30, 2010 at 1:54 pm
LOL, yeah I thought the same. For those wondering what that is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCjuFpQ3EeA
November 30, 2010 at 4:39 pm
Love the video and totally agree. This is the store stuff I’ve been talking about recently that is starting to make me want to vomit.
November 30, 2010 at 1:58 pm
Meh. I looked at it and thought “That’s a stupid boy pony all dark with red trim… no thanks”
November 30, 2010 at 2:04 pm
We have our own TRH! I can discriminate based on what mounts people are riding now, too! Squee!
November 30, 2010 at 3:07 pm
What is TRH?
November 30, 2010 at 5:47 pm
check the above video, you have to listen to it to see what the acronym means, but you’ll get it.
November 30, 2010 at 2:14 pm
I love animals, especially horses, in real life and in-game but some of their choices for tack lately are just, well, awful. Now, I have not played WoW since a free trial a few years ago, and I don’t read anything about it or see any screenshots of the game, but my first thought when seeing and reading about this horse was of WoW. Also, this horse does not have a bridle, and yes I am nit-picking.
Ok, so I looked at that video…that is one fugly mount! Why on earth would anyone want to buy it even in that game?
November 30, 2010 at 2:19 pm
I have seen people spend a lot more money on a lot more stupid things in my opinion. We after all spend hours and hours of our time playing a game, when we could be out doing XX other real things. It isn’t my cup of tea, but if you get pleasure out of having it then $20 isn’t so bad, I certainly wouldn’t sneer at someone on one, and if they released one I really liked I would possibly consider it.
November 30, 2010 at 2:30 pm
If they would sell the Skeleton Horse from the recent fall festival I’d buy it.
November 30, 2010 at 2:31 pm
So they’re not going to allow players to buy the appearance of a 40+ faction horse at level 5… but they are going to allow level 5 PC’s to purchase the stats of said 40+ horse.
Bad form, Turbine. Bad form.
December 2, 2010 at 12:21 pm
Thus spake Turbine:
“We have reviewed much of the feedback players have offered regarding reputation mounts and what they represent in terms of accomplishment and time invested. You’ve made it very clear that these mounts should be special and reflect the effort required to earn them. We agree! Reputation mounts have received an upgrade in their stats. These mounts will now have 250 health and receive reduced critical damage.
We have also added many new reputation mounts to the game. You may want to revisit some old stomping grounds to see if there is something new for you at an old beloved faction! You might find them on vendors or from barterers.
In the future, some mounts purchased through the LOTRO Store may share appearances with the reputation mounts, but will be weaker than their earned counterparts”
And they were not ashamed, for though it was a bald faced lie, they are a corporation.
November 30, 2010 at 2:49 pm
This is disappointing to me on several levels. Hopefully it doesn’t sell well and Turbine doesn’t repeat the experiment.
November 30, 2010 at 3:03 pm
Some people view endgame raiding as incentive to hit the level cap. Some people are into gear, or finishing the epic, etc etc…
Me? No. I want the elf pony. ELF PONY FTW.
Seriously, it’s pathetic. I keep trying to figure out the path of least resistance to get my faction up so I can prance around on my pretty horse.
Ah well. I will get there some day!
November 30, 2010 at 3:23 pm
I have no problem with this. Everyone has different motivations for playing the game and everyone gets different enjoyment out various aspects of the game. I prefer store only shiny mounts for sale than them selling the algraig mount which took me days to grind the rep for. Or other rep mounts for that matter.
November 30, 2010 at 3:38 pm
I mean, ok. I get it. It’s awesome they’re trying to see what sells in the store, and I love that they’re being proactive with the community.. But I already drunkbought the Blue Roan for $12 or $15 or whatever, but even *I* can’t get stank enough to drop a twenty on this.
November 30, 2010 at 4:42 pm
Ell, that comment is so win. I wonder how many people have drunkbought some of the junk on the store.
November 30, 2010 at 5:15 pm
haha thank you thank you! And I looked so good on that horse too! …. until i just bought the Mathom Society Horse… who came pre-named “Calamity”… which is specifically awesome.
But yea. Maybe if this horse was $12 or $15 I could be convinced once I had enough Capt. Morgan.
I’m not saying stop making cool store exclusives… but this price point’s too high!
How high?
Too high even for drunkboughting!
November 30, 2010 at 3:44 pm
I’m honestly torn about this. See, in F2P Beta our concern was that they’d add Rep Mounts to the store that people could ride without gaining the rep needed to do so. So they fixed that. Then they announced they’d offer mounts that weren’t as good but had the same skins. Well… ok.
But this is a bit out of left field. Here’s a mount that’s as good as a rep mount but is only available through the store. My wife was going to buy it, but she doesn’t have the TP for it. We’re not about to drop real money on it.
Honestly, I don’t really have a problem with this. It’s limited, it’s expensive, it increases the likelihood of Turbine fixing things and creating new content for me to play around in. But I’m not going to buy it myself. I’m saving up for Isengard.
November 30, 2010 at 4:25 pm
I think that it’s still a skip, though. I expected them to put in one that was the same value as a rep horse, but not at 1995 points. That’s crazy!
November 30, 2010 at 4:34 pm
You can thank Blizzard for that one. They set the bar, LOTRO and EQ2 kinda followed it. But I expect it will generate a ton of sale, simply because it’s a Store Exclusive.
Personally, I’ve given up on collecting horses. I hate to say it, but I have. There’s too many.
November 30, 2010 at 5:04 pm
I just saw a kin mate with the The Steed Of Night. It looked fantastic. And they seemed happy. What else matters?
In real life I’ve spent a lot more on a lot less.
November 30, 2010 at 5:24 pm
I definitely want to see one. I hope someone I know will show me theirs.
November 30, 2010 at 5:41 pm
There was one standing around in Bree on Landy, Golden. Iasant (my champ) also has one, if you want to whistle her up when she’s on.
I like the horse alot. I had spare TP, and a friend bought me some for xmas. Problem solved and shiny horse obtained!
Were it just me-I would have hesitated, it’s VERY expensive and for just one toon? Not a good buy at all.
November 30, 2010 at 5:53 pm
I have mixed feeling about it, like the many posts dev has made I have agreed on some mostly on the store. and I could see how this could win the TRH video prize of the week, and I don’t recall horses having amber eyes. So would i buy it? if i had 10,000 TP for free I might just to see what it is like. but I wont spend real cash on this.
For some reason I have this thought that turbine is only doing this to test and see if the possibility of making mounts with armour on them is possible. which could explain this. and is that horses eyes glowing?
November 30, 2010 at 6:05 pm
Champagne horses have amber eyes….but I am not sure dark horses do.
http://www.horse-genetics.com/champagne-horses.html
November 30, 2010 at 6:21 pm
TRH= Turbine Rep Horse? You get kindred when you spend enough points on the horse.
Seriously: It looks good but not gonna buy it. Too many points. 900-1200 I might think about it. Not gonna bag on anyone who does buy it. No one tells me how to spend my $ and I’m not gonna tell anyone else how to spend theirs.
November 30, 2010 at 7:27 pm
The look of this horse makes me think they’re pandering to 16 year old boys that want to be and look as bad ass as possible, and now, preferrably. Some recent designs are moving more and more towards caricatured “evil”, and thus place them in the camp of our recognized enemy in this game – the forces of Sauron. -Isn’t something amiss here? Wasn’t the point behind playing the free people of middle-earth doing something – in humility – good?
Now if players were allowed to use that steed as a creep and play with it on that side exclusively then it would be better (but orcs don’t really ride do they.. not to mention wargs or spiders!). But by it’s looks now, it should never be allowed on the freep side.
And don’t get me started on the stats! Fastest horsespeed possible can be bought?! What about the statement that only achievements ingame would reward us the best horses, Turbine?!
This ties in with the thrust of the “There’s an in-game store?” article posted on this site just the other day. I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiments expressed there, and do not want this game to become a “throw real money around to get something” game. Tolkien’s Middle-Earth represents and should be represented by a distinct poetic quality and sensibility, and too much of these vulgar visuals and greedy merchant intrusions will break the dream.
-Brilliant MMORPG mechanics notwithstanding.
Turbine; TAKE HEED. You have something good. Do not break it.
Sorry for the long-windedness, but this has been weighing on me.
November 30, 2010 at 8:44 pm
If it was $10 & bind on account for all current & future toons, it might be worth it. That horse seems like it belongs in WOW, kind of reminds me of a warlock mount but without the fire. I don’t blame Turbine for doing this, its the just the “cool” thing to do nowadays.
November 30, 2010 at 10:43 pm
I’d buy this if it was, like the WoW sparklepony, a mount that I got for all characters on that account, which for $25, I consider an okay deal. For just one toon? No thanks.
December 1, 2010 at 9:29 am
Agreed on it being a bit pricey to buy for just one character.
Ever since they made the mounts into skills rather then items that took up bag space I have wanted to collect as many as I can. I prefer getting them in-game anyway, though, so probably won’t have any of the store exclusives unless the price and/or use changes.
November 30, 2010 at 10:52 pm
k, so I kinda like the horse. I DO like the horse. And I’m VIP and have more TP than I know what to do with. I was all set to buy it until I saw the comments here. Oh, the power of peer pressure!
Now I can’t decide if the horse is TRH or if I’m TRPerson for not getting it anyway despite the mockery. Maybe both.
November 30, 2010 at 11:19 pm
Get it if you want it. I have one and while I have had some mockery. I don’t care. It’s my character I’m buying it for, not them. Go for it if you want it.
November 30, 2010 at 11:32 pm
If you want it, get it! It sounds like you have the points, so why not?
November 30, 2010 at 11:40 pm
I think the silliest thing in the world is people who get out of joint over a mount. If you like it, and you have the points, get it! Seriously. There’s a rampant thread on the forums that is just full of rubbish.
December 1, 2010 at 4:09 am
I don’t have a problem with this. I would much rather have unique horses in the store then reputation ones, with or without the stats. The rep ones need to demonstrate that you earnt them. I’m not sure that store ones should share the same stats, that’s my only gripe. If it was just cosmetic, I would be more then happy. People can choose if this is how they want to part with their points.
December 1, 2010 at 7:18 am
Turbine and their tricky marketing schemes similar to drug pushers. Freemiums, Keep your eyes on the prize, stay clean.
December 1, 2010 at 10:38 am
This kind of thing begins to beg a certain question, one that’s nagged me since I started playing LotRO:
What if Turbine had really gone against the grain and created a unique, pure, low magic, medieval fantasy world that was unlike any other fantasy MMOG out there?
Granted, if investors and game companies thought that was marketable then Middle-earth Online probably would not have died. But what if there were no (or very few) flashy effects, no Rune-keepers, severely toned down Lore-masters, no fancy glowing armour, no crazy mounts? Just a simple visual style more like the realistic medieval look many Tolkien artists have adopted.
Would it be boring? They’ve done this for the most part (at least at early levels) but then it gets, and is getting more, into the realm of modern fantasy. Who knows? It’s a debate that’s been raging since pre-beta.
December 31, 2010 at 6:10 pm
This horse is being offered in a special NYE lottery
tonight. You never know your luck!