LOTRO Store Rise of Isengard Expansion Bundle

This could have been released with the launch of Update 5 and I just didn’t hear about it. Since I pre-ordered my Rise of Isengard expansion, I don’t see it offered in the store. I did overhear in the advice channel last night that the ROI expansion bundle is available in the game and wanted alert others in case they weren’t aware and perhaps waiting for this information.

Expansion: Rise of Isengard

Cost: 4995 Turbine Points

This is the complete expansion content like the Turbine Web Store offers (minus the cosmetics/horses) and includes:

• Expansion Quests: Isengard – The quest packs for the three new regions
• Instance Cluster: Isengard – The five new instances added with update 5
• Raid: Draigoch’s Lair
• Skirmish Trait Max Rank: 35

This is an account wide purchase opening all these pieces for all your characters on every server.

Value of the Turbine Point Bundle

To start out, its important to note that you may not need all of Rise of Isengard. If you are a casual player who doesn’t step foot into raids, then purchasing Draigoch’s Lair may not be necessary for you and you can save yourself some TP. If you don’t like the skirmish system, the skirmish trait max rank is not going to be much value to you. The items are broken up in the store so you can pick and choose which pieces you want.

That being said, let’s break down what the value of buying the entire expansion with Turbine Points is. Individually in the store the pieces are sold for these prices:

• Expansion Quest Pack: 3250 TP
• Instance Cluster: 1495 TP
• Draigoch’s Lair: 1250 TP
• Skirmish Trait Max Rank: 195 TP

Total = 6190 Turbine Points if you would buy them all separately.

This makes the 4995 bundle price roughly 19% cheaper if you want to buy all pieces of ROI.

Value vs. the Turbine Web Store

I’m going to base my comparison off the “Base Edition” of $29.95 USD as it is the closest to what you are getting in the Turbine Point Bundle. The Base Edition also includes a horse and cosmetics that are not included with the in-store bundle.

During a “best sale” like a double bonus point promotion, the larger bundles available all the time or from the game cards found in stores, a Turbine Point roughly equals $0.01 USD. That would make the 4995 Turbine Point Bundle to approximately translate to $49.95 USD.

Given that comparison you may be tempted to think the in-game LOTRO Store is a little less than a stellar deal. There’s a 40% price increase between the lowest price on the Turbine Web Store and the Turbine Point Bundle.

The thing that you will have to take into account is:

How many of your Turbine Points you have were actually purchased?

Here’s some things to consider when making your decision:

• You earn many Turbine Points in game while playing. The price may be greater but you may have earned those Turbine Points without paying actual currency. In the end, it may be cheaper monetary wise to go with the in-store version.
• You also may have gotten some Turbine Point Cards over the holidays. Merric got three himself which equate you buying the ROI expansion as a gift for yourself.
• You may not be close in level to 65 at this point. You could actively decide to save up the TP you earn with the goal of purchasing the expansion with Turbine Points when you’re ready for it.

I have purchased parts of ROI but still see the bundle in the store?

This is what I learned last night from the discussion with the advice channel. The player had purchased just the quest pack to go questing in the new regions and was confused to see the 4995 bundle option still in the store.

The general discussion in-game around this believed that it was still appearing because the player didn’t own all of ROI and still was offering it. That if the person purchased the rest of ROI, the bundle would no longer display as Turbine doesn’t offer items you own in the LOTRO Store.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, I pre-ordered my ROI and I do not see it in the store at all. I am not able to verify if buying all of Isengard’s pieces would make the bundle offer disappear but it seems likely that this information is correct.

I am not sure if this is how Turbine intended it. It seems that if you purchased pieces of ROI, you probably would not want to the bundle option. It would be like re-purchasing the piece you already bought.

I just wanted to bring it to your attention in case you run into this in the store. If you purchased pieces of Rise of Isengard, you most likely do not want to purchase the bundle.

In the end, it’s up to you how you want to purchase Rise of Isengard and Turbine has given you many options. You just need to figure out which method works best for you!