After looking back at what Isengard did a year ago, I thought it would be good to compare the two expansions as un-opinionated as possible for me. I hope you find this article informative and educational as we compare Isengard VS Rohan Pre-Order week.
Knowledge of Orders
After looking back at the show notes for Episode 92 (Pre-Order week for Isengard) and compared it with the show notes for Episode 146 (Pre-Order week for Rohan) I have come to an interesting discovery that I think many people including myself have forgotten.
Isengard
In the week of the pre-order coming available we really only got information about the pre-order and a cinematic trailer of Saruman in his tower.
Rohan
In the week of the pre-order for Rohan we had more information about the expansion than we ever did with Isengard even though it still was not very much.
We received two trailers, tons of screenshots of the new zone (not just the pre-order items like with Isengard), information on endgame content, crafting tiers, changes to PvMP, there is not a skirmish, number of skills we will get, false instance information (even false info is more than given with Isengard), and the Pre-Order information.
Conclusion
So what happened? Why did players (and myself) react so terribly to Turbine? I think the answer for most is rather simple. We were being tasked with making a decision on expansions that is $10-$20 more than its counterpart of a year past with what seemed to be worse rewards.
Many people thought that Turbine was unprepared for E3 but I think Turbine just did not realize what they were asking players to do. I think they were prepared for the questions they got a year ago, not the ones they got with a $10-$20 more expensive expansion.
Pre-Order Items
For this segment we are going to assume that the $10 extra for the base cost is because we are actually getting $10 extra of game content since Turbine had stated that this expansion will be much bigger than Moria or Isengard. Also I am guestimating monetary values on items that will likely never make it to the store so that you can get an idea what it would cost if it were in the store. These items are extimated by looking at similar items on the store.
Base Edition
Isengard
- Steed of the Gap
- In-game Title
- 25% XP boost to 65
Rohan
- 1,000 Turbine Points
- The Steed of the Eastemnet – An exclusive Rohirrim Mount
- Friend of the Mark – An exclusive in-game Rohirrim title
- Rohan Elite Guard statted Cloak
- Four level 20 statted cloaks
- Rohirrim Soldier on Landscape Appearance
Conclusion
With the base version of Isengard you only get a steed, title and XP boost compared with Rohan where you get similar things as well as 1,000 Turbine points, statted cloaks and a soldier appearance. This creates around $12-$15 of extra stuff in the Rohan edition which is encouraging moving forward. This version was already a better deal before the addition of the Turbine points which has now caused this to be a very good deal for anyone who doesn’t want to spend more. It is also a good deal if you don’t want many of the things in the other versions.
Heroic Edition
Isengard
- 1,000 Turbine Points for use in the LOTRO Store
- Steed of the Gap and armor with color choice
- In-game title – Guard of the Isen
- 25% XP boost to level 65
Rohan
- 1,000 Turbine Points
- The Steed of the Eastemnet
- Hauberk of the Eastemnet
- Friend of the Mark
- Evendim, Moria, and Lothlórien Quest Packs
- Rohan Elite Guard Statted Cloak
- The Outrider’s Token
- Rohirrim Soldier Appearance
Conclusion
With Isengard Heroic you got 1,000 Turbine Points, a steed and armor, an in-game title and the XP item. With Rohan you get similar items (excluding armor) and also get a Hauberk , Evendim, Moria and Lothlorien quest packs, statted cloaks and a Rohan Soldier Appearance.
With Rohan Heroic you are getting around $30 of extra stuff over Isengard which is an amazingly good deal. Before Turbine added in Turbine points this version was still good. This is easily worth the lack of armor in this version.
Overall this version has the most bang for your buck if you don’t already have the quest packs.
Legendary Edition
I must first state that the Rohan Legendary Edition does cost an extra $10 from the base cost of the expansion which will be factored into the conclusion.
Isengard
- 1,000 Turbine Points for use in the LOTRO Store
- All three Steeds of the Gap, new in-game mounts with matching cosmetic cloak and armor in all three colors for every character on your account
- In-game title – Guard of the Isen
- 25% XP boost for all characters on an account up to level 65
- Access to the Path of the Fellowship Quest Packs
Rohan
- 2,000 Turbine Points
- The Steed of the Eastemnet
- Armour of the Eastemnet
- Friend of the Mark
- 6th Inventory Bag
- Crystal of Remembrance
- Exclusive Rohan Content
- Rohan Elite Guard Statted Cloak
- The Outrider’s Token
- Rohirrim Soldier on Landscape Appearance
Conclusion
With Isengard Legendary we got everything in Isengard Heroic along with 2 new steeds and armor, and access to Path of the Fellowship quest pack. With Legendary Rohan we got similar items excluding 2 new mounts and armor, Path of the Fellowship quest pack and $10 more expensive price tag. To counter this Turbine has given us 1,000 extra Turbine points, Exclusive Rohan content, a sixth bag, a crystal of rememberance, soldier appearance, statted cloaks.
Rohan starts out around -$30 which is a lot to overcome but its extras come in around +$40 making it only a $10 better deal than Isengard. Before Turbine added in the points here this version of Rohan was around -$10 which is one of the many reasons why players were so upset about this version of the game. While this might not be the most bang for your buck it is much better than buying it later in the store which I will get into in the next section.
Store Cost Analysis
The following section takes each edition of the Rohan expansions and tells you how much it would be in the store. Note that prices with est. in-front of them are estimates and are not confirmed costs. Also I am guestimating monetary values on items that will likely never make it to the store so that you can get an idea what it would cost if it were in the store. These items are estimated by looking at similar items on the store.
Also we still have a few things that could increase the store costs if they are not included in the store expansion such as the unlockable trait trees for mounted combat and anything else that comes up. This and any unforeseen things could increase the store cost anywhere from $0.00 to $20.00 or more depending on inclusion and pricing.
Base Edition
- Expansion $42.95
- Soldier skin $2.95
- 1,000 TP $10.00
- Exclusive steed est. ($10.00)
- Statted cloaks est. ($5.00)
- Instance Cluster est. ($15)
Base Edition Store Total Estimate: $85.90
This makes for $45.91 in savings which is a great especially now with the inclusion of Turbine Points and the instance cluster. If you are only wanting to spend $40 or don’t want things from more expensive versions then this one is for you.
Heroic Edition
- Expansion $42.95
- Soldier skin $2.95
- 1,000 TP $10.00
- The Outriders Token $4.95
- Exclusive steed est. ($10.00)
- Statted cloaks est. ($5.00)
- Quest Packs est. ($28.00)
- Hauberk est. ($3.00)
- Instance Cluster est. ($15)
Heroic Edition Store Total Estimate: $119.85
This makes for almost $70 in savings which is an amazing deal especially now with the inclusion of Turbine Points and the instance cluster. If you need these quest packs or you really like Hauberks then this is the version for you and you will love it.
If you don’t need either of those two things then you are really just wasting money here.
Legendary Edition
- Expansion $42.95
- Soldier skin $2.95
- 2,000 TP $20.00
- The Outriders Token $4.95
- 6th Inventory Bag (Account-wide): $9.95
- Crystal of Remembrance: $9.95
- Exclusive steed est. ($10.00)
- Armor est. ($10.00)
- Statted cloaks est. ($5.00)
- Exclusive Rohan Content est. ($10.00)
- Instance Cluster est. ($15)
Legendary Edition Store Total Estimate: $140.75
This makes for $70.76 in savings which makes for about a $1.00 better deal than the Heroic version. This was already an ok deal before they added the Turbine points and the instance cluster but it would have been much worse if you did not already have the quest packs found in the Heroic Edition. All in All this is a good version if you can part with $69.99 and you want most of the things in it. If you don’t want some of the extra things here or you can’t spend $69.99 then the Heroic and Base versions are both great deals in their own right.
Andang’s Final Thoughts
I hope that I reminded us about what information was released when the pre-order for Isengard came out and how we have more information now. This is still a small amount of information and I can see why people might wait to pre-order but that is why we have until September 4th to pre-order. I still don’t know why Turbine puts the pre-order option up so early but they do and for now we have to live with it.
The Rohan offers seem to be better deals now across the board from the Isengard deals of yesteryear. The base and heroic editions really had huge improvements over Isengard and I hope that is valuable to many players.
I would also like to say that without the addition of the Turbine Points, these editions were very disappointing for many players. I hope that Turbine learns from this experience in its future tactics with how it handles the fan base. I would also like to include that Horse Session Play is a lot of fun and could be something to consider if you think it might be for you.
I hope I have done a good job informing you and maybe clearing things up to help you to make a decision on which version (if any) you want to buy.
June 18, 2012 at 8:39 am
I think their biggest mistake was not taking into account the disenchanted customers from the last expansion and other numerous marketing fiascos. I think they were depending on the newer player base to keep the ball going but they fell short of their sales goals, hence the points addition.
the article is a nice comparison that removes the emotional aspect of the expansions. It is a good reminder of what has transpired.
June 18, 2012 at 8:57 am
it’s a bit of a stretch to claim the rohan legendary is better value than the isengard one was- isengard came with 5 questpacks (trollshaws, eregion, moria, lorien and mirkwood- pretty much giving you the previous 2 expansions for free) plus it was $20 cheaper. no way a few repeatable session plays and some fluff is equivalent.
June 18, 2012 at 10:10 am
Thet is a valid opinion. If you don’t think some of the stuff counts then you can easily subtract it from the total and do your own math to your opinion. This was set up to lay everything out on the table and then let the reader add and subtract to their opinion.
June 18, 2012 at 12:05 pm
As a counter to Ciramorn, for me as a VIP, quests packs are a useless addition to any edition as I get no benefit from them, however, I enjoy fluff and do have use for some of the statted 75 cloaks and such on less well geared alts. So I guess as Andang rightly says, we have to look at the excellent info he has laid out and make our choice based off that, and what we as individuals want.
thanks Andang
June 18, 2012 at 1:06 pm
I agree with Emma although I am not VIP but Premium player. I own all the other quest packs already, so they don’t count for me. I don’t have time to occupy myself with fluff though. For me, the quest pack and the instance cluster is all that counts. And furthermore, being unable to pay online, I must rely on the shop to buy quests/instances via TP which I get either from in-games deeds or from a TP point card.
June 18, 2012 at 9:06 am
For me the RoI choice was between the various colour options of the heroic pack as I had the questpacks and didnt have the storage space for the sheer volume of cosmetic bits being offered up by the legendary and already had the questpacks via TP purchases as the sales rolled around. I was also a wee bit strapped for cash so couldnt really justify the cost.
This time around the choice for me was between the base and legendary versions. What sold me on the legendary was the promise of some content, which is actually quite fun even if the end result is that odd looking cloak of a horses bum. Coupled with a puzzling choice of giving away a lvl20 cloak with the base edition compared to a potentially more useful lvl70 one with the legendary.
I knew the steed would be a 62%er so would be trained by each character upon hitting 20 and probably never used, especially after this years festival quest and the 68% letter drops I got. Next days announcement of the steam offer made the RoR mount even less likely to be used even by newly made alts.
However I believe the legendary pack offers up a skin for the warsteed thats a bit on the exclusive side which is kind of nice.
I’m always running out of bag space so that was admittedly another selling point, although I’d likely have TP’d it anyway.
Bonus XP items are nice as you can choose when to boost the xp gain by swapping in or out and I tend to prefer the journey in lotro rather than the grinds of the destination so it’s an optional extra that doesnt really matter much.
Although the idea of being able to outlevel stunland’s irritatingly designed mobs is still quite attractive.
Bonus TP’s are always nice for the if/when they release new skirmishes. I really hope they put out more with RoR. The one they did based around RoI was great but they really did miss out on some pretty great locations for skirmish set pieces in places like wulfs cleft. Maybe we’ll get some warsteed based skirms.
And then there’s content.
To me this isn’t just the quests that take you to max level it has to include things to do once you’re there that preferably are enjoyable and not just a mindless grindfest. I play games to relax and for enjoyment but a badly designed daily quest can quickly kill those aspects of a game off. One of the main reasons for leaving wow was the boring repitition at max level with precious little else to do.
While I cant say for certain that my days of raiding are over having instances included are always a favourable option to me. Even if I rarely use them I like to have the option open to me which is why I wasnt impressed by the apparent change of heart that came from deleted faq’s which made me start chasing up a refund.
I really hope the mounted combat is as good as they’re making it out to be. Certainly allowing classes to keep some of what makes them unique is a good move otherwise it turns into just a contest of charging ponies at each other until someone goes down. It’s a task I dont envy them taking on but am looking forward to it despite some dodgy angles and bad cutting of the videos showcasing it thus far.
Long story short I went for the legendary this time around but after the events that followed am much less likely to jump in and buy the next one, even if it does end up revolving around helms deep. Turbines motto has shifted from powered by our fans to caveat emptor.
June 18, 2012 at 10:04 am
I think everyone will not just jump on the expansion next time unless the rewards are clear and valuable. That being said we do have until Sept. 4th to pre-order meaning Turbine does not expact everyone to pre-order day one or even month one.
June 18, 2012 at 9:13 am
In my opinion, everyone complaining was acting like a whiny baby. (As I speak from experience as someone with 4 kids.)
“Wahhh! It’s not good enough for me! Waahhhh! You broke my trust in you and it won’t be restored until you give me more stuff! Waahh! No, more stuff NOW!!!”
I bought the legendary edition as soon as it was announced. I’ve always thought it was great. The 6th bag is a life saver and the cosmetics are awesome. But if you don’t think it’s a good deal, if you’re not interested in those extras, then you’ve always had the option of… wait for it… not buying it.
You can pre-order the xpac for $40. If you still think that’s too much then just wait for it to come out and see for certain whether or not the content is worth the money. The Heroic and Legendary editions are essentially collector’s editions. Buy it if you like the extras included. Don’t buy it if you don’t. End of story.
June 18, 2012 at 10:08 am
I completely agree! Everyone asumes they are entitled to the Legendary but in reality that is a special version only for players who want everything. If you don’t like the Legendary then don’t get it and moreover don’t complain about it. The prices were set and you had a choise and there is nothing wrong with pre-ordering any version or no version at all.
June 22, 2012 at 11:27 am
What you both call whining I call customer feedback. Any sane company marketing team should be interested in this feedback once they have to explain why the numbers of the pre-orders cannot meet those made last year.
June 18, 2012 at 9:15 am
Just wanted to add that the legendary edition of Isengard also added Mirkwood expansion, which is an additional ~$10
June 18, 2012 at 9:29 am
It’s not so simple AT ALL!
1.) Prices are higher for EU players (+15%), Legendary cost 69.99*1,15= 80.5$!!!
There was no taxing last year!
2.) Prices are high anyway regarding price of other games expansions and other new games
3.) Heroic RoI vs Legendary RoR – RoI includes valuable questpacks, RoR contains just 6th bag + cosmetics (not everybody interested in expensive cosmetics)
4.) Pre-order of RoR is messed up – adding TP & instance cluster later, problem with turbine store and taxing (EUR prices are taxed twice etc.)
I like Lotro and bought basic edition but Pre-order made bitter taste in my mounth..
June 18, 2012 at 10:12 am
I never said it was simple and I had no idea about the EU thing. And there is nothing wrong with the base edition because it is still a better deal than the store just on content alone.
June 18, 2012 at 3:53 pm
Turbine can’t help adding the VAT tax. That’s something they must do to comply with selling items to Europeans. That is hardly Turbine’s fault. I cannot speak to what they did or didn’t do last year but VAT is a law. Not a choice Turbine gets to make.
June 19, 2012 at 12:27 am
The double charging of VAT to Europeans that have the purchase page opened to the English version is a Digital River issue at can be worked around by not letting Digital River convert the price from US dollars to Euros (Let your credit card or PayPal do it.) or using the French or German versions of the page if you understand either of those languages well enough.
June 19, 2012 at 7:31 am
Thats weird. I got mine for £45.50 Stirling which was $70 (now a bit more), looks like they forgot to include tax. (I bought it as soon as it became available, its now gone upto £52 and says includes VAT).
July 3, 2012 at 2:06 pm
Not true. I paid VAT last year over my Isengard expansion. I’m in the EU.
June 18, 2012 at 10:06 am
Thanks for posting this great overview, it is very helpful! It is also good to see things in perspective regarding the information we had available last year and this year.
I get the feeling that the main problem of players with the packs as they were released at first included a combination of the high costs + the 6th bag only being available through the legendary edition while people were not expecting it to come with all. I don’t think people criticizing the options are all “whiners”, as Sarah says above, although I understand how you get that feeling when reading the forums (this is why I generally avoid forums). I’ve actually read a lot of thoughtful blog posts about the different available editions, and they weren’t just mindless rants.
Either way, thanks for the great overview. I should really pick which edition to go for the coming time.
June 18, 2012 at 10:15 am
I agree they are not all whiners and everyone wants the sixth bag which really is what is causing the main objection to the expansion. Now however with the points in the heroic and base editions players can purchase the sixth bag when it makes it to the store.
June 18, 2012 at 11:07 am
I have a question,Is the •Exclusive Rohan Content in Legendary Edition the same as the •Quest Packs est in Heroic Edition? I’m confused.
June 18, 2012 at 11:34 am
There’s a post about the exclusive rohan content here on cstm.
Basically it revolves around the horse that appeared at the stables in Combe and is not in any quest packs as such. So far it’s 9-10 quests with some ingame rewards and titles/deeds attatched. Fun but not vitally vital if you choose not to get it.
June 18, 2012 at 11:17 am
everyone keeps saying the 4 level 20 cloaks but i got 4 minimum level 75 cloaks and they are way better then my tailor can make at westfold master.
June 20, 2012 at 12:53 pm
Legendary comes with the 75 cloaks. Basic and Heroic come with the 20 cloaks.
I’m actually a little annoyed about this – the 20s, I would be able to use on all of my characters right now. I will probably only ever be able to use the 75 on one or two ever (my main is at 60, and maybe someday I’ll be able to get an alt to 75…).
I wish they’d given the 20s AND the 75s to legendary. Oh well!
June 18, 2012 at 12:09 pm
I think “everyone” being described as a whiny baby is unfair.
A huge portion of the complaints were based on the fact that Turbine had contradictory information about this expansion on their FAQ. Elsewhere on their sites they claimed Rohan included the instance cluster in the future, then they told us it didn’t.
People bought the expansion based on that text. Turbine then told us it wasn’t true and the site took some time to fix even after that.
When people demanded refunds over this, one of Turbine’s angles was to claim that since that instance cluster information wasn’t on the marketing site that it shouldn’t matter. Which is obviously ridiculous — it was a FAQ on their customer service site about a feature they had to know people would scour their site for more information on.
They then threatened to ban people who got refunds from other channels.
None of that was handled well. I could say that maybe people should have waited if they wanted to know more about the horses or that they should get the $40 version instead of the $70 version. But not what was going on with the contradictions Turbine was making, wherein it was made to seem like the customers bore all the burden of proof on it.
We spent $70 on something that had more than one feature list with no idea on what their plans were. And if it wasn’t for the people fighting that, no one would be getting that instance cluster for free with the expansion.
I’m pleased with Turbine’s response to it, but I do not agree with the feeling that this was 100% BS. .. The whole instance cluster contradiction fiasco was a lot more than a bunch of us “whining”.
June 18, 2012 at 12:58 pm
I certainly bought mine based on the original faq that included the cluster and wasnt wanting more than was on the list of stuff I’d paid for. I never asked turbine for anything more than was on the list and am very glad I dont have to pay for more international phonecalls on the back of this.
True there were some that may have been whining wanting the chocolate sauce with their icecream but that wasnt the majority.
June 18, 2012 at 3:14 pm
@Andy-I did as well and was very sad when they changed their mind but was glad when they changed it back. They did say that there will be a new kind of endgame and so I think that even if the instance was not included there will still be endgame stuff…just FYI.
June 18, 2012 at 4:41 pm
It’s an annoyance of language that “content” with a subject like this can refer to both what you get listed as well as what the item on that list actually means.
I’m certainly looking forward to speculating about what the new endgame content will be if it’s not instances, raids, skirmishes etc. A topic for another day perhaps.
June 18, 2012 at 5:24 pm
A good topic for the next Update Talks in less than a week…more info coming soon
June 18, 2012 at 3:12 pm
@Tony- I agree that Turbine handled it wrong…when I was referencing the whining I was talking about people who were merely complaining that there was a $70 version and that is all they were wining about…nothing else and those people I have an issue with
June 18, 2012 at 5:02 pm
The instance cluster fiasco was stupid. Turbine never said that they WERE charging for the instance cluster. People just assumed that removing the statement about including the instance cluster meant that everyone would have to pay. People were jumping to such illogical conclusions about it on the forums.
It’s clear to me that the instances would always have been included, even if they weren’t ready to talk about it just yet. It was only the stupid assumptions people were making that prompted Turbine to confirm it. People still seem to think that Turbine intended to charge us for the instances and only changed their minds because of the outcry. That is such a ridiculous assumption to make.
June 18, 2012 at 6:04 pm
The original faq could have been left as it was if they were always going to include the instance cluster.
The thing that muddied the waters was that removal coupled with them not saying anything about the inclusion just that they were discussing the TP price. Could be read both ways in the half full, half empty cup kind of way. True they never actually said either way but they didnt do themselves many favours to stop the inevitable flood before it came.
Sometimes evasion isnt always the best tactic.
June 18, 2012 at 12:51 pm
Besides the correction already given above (that Mirkwood was also included in the RoI legendary) there was also a pre-order cloak in all RoI packages.
Also you did a nice marketing trick for putting 3 steeds, 3 armor sets and 3 steeds into a single bullet point for RoI while mentioning the steed and the cosmetics extra for RoR.
However I think that since the addition of the IC and the TP the RoR packages are well worth the money so mostly I agree with the position that we do not get a worse deal than last year.
Content wise it is yet to be seen if we really get more than Moria. Just having a landscape bigger than that does not count.
But I have no doubt it will be more content than RoI which is the point of comparison here.
Generally I think that for people who still needed these quest packs RoI legendary was and is really the better deal than any RoR package.
For VIPs and long time players the RoR legendary offers some nice things as you basically get 3000 TP (995 for the bag).
The base version of RoR costs as much as RoI Heroic which I did get mainly for the TP and the steed at char creation. So these two are a wash for me.
Heroic RoR does not really offer me much so it is either base or legendary RoR for me. Since the difference is mostly 2000 TP and 30$ – I really do not want to count the fluff or the token I know I will not need – I need to decide whether the exclusive content is worth 10$ for me but it probably is.
June 18, 2012 at 3:19 pm
It is still you decision but I really like the exclusive content because it is a preview of mounted combat we will get later (because you are controlling a horse) and so it is nice to have but I can’t really say it is worth it for you because I don’t know how you play.
June 18, 2012 at 1:33 pm
I only care about TPs and content (mainly instances/raids). Thus I preordered RoI Heroic edition back then and now base one has everything I need, so all in all it’s an upgrade from Turbine.
Living in EUrope makes it more expensive, but Turbine has nothing to do with it.
June 18, 2012 at 3:21 pm
I think the base is a great deal now that they added the 1000TP. There really is not a bad version it just depends on what you want.
June 18, 2012 at 2:57 pm
I really have a problem with this article and the attitude that what we’re being shown by Turbine is fair business practices and that we should so quickly move on (time and time again) It’s borne out in the responses. Characterizing people as whiners who had a problem with the ORIGINAL release, but showing what is NOW available is unfair.
Furthermore, the only reason some of those things which now make it more fair are now included are a result of those very people who stood up for not just themselves, but all LotRO players. The practices and attitudes shown by Turbine over the past year is the real telling factor. If NOTHING happened at all in the year up to the announcement, I think there would be much less outrage at the increase in price, but then again, it wasn’t JUST an increase in price. They included less, charged more, then took even more away! Keep in mind also that had there not been a Draigoch raid available, people might not have felt so forgiving about the endgame available at the time of ROI’s release. That content made bridging the gap to the instance cluster much more bearable – even though it was downed within a week…on challenge. We ALSO had “new” skirmishes available with tweaks to skirmish raids that made running those weekly a new experience for many people. Again, there was not just content available, but loot with locks. I know people bought right away last year, but also remember, the last major expansion was not just the year prior. It was the excitement of raising a level cap and a DRAGON to fight and the promise that “soon” we’d be able to fight Saruman if we made the purchase. Would there have been as much early complaining had they shown the in game video that early this year? Probably not as much, but there WOULD have been complaints later if that’s all they had to offer.
I didn’t really have a problem with people who bought the RoR release early, until I started seeing the attitude THOSE people seem to be displaying. It’s more money. They may not care. That doesn’t mean everyone has that luxury. Even at the base price, it’s more money. Turbine has made claims like “it’s bigger” before and we’ve been left with…Dunland. Let’s not forget that they promised three areas and people squabbled over the division of the maps. The point is that there is a larger and larger group of people that have been waking to the fact that Turbine is doing a worse and worse job keeping us informed, even though they claim to want to be better at it. Better communication doesn’t just mean more information. I can speak to that point as an expert.
I don’t think they’re offering nothing and I think the current offering, while more money for what I’m sure isn’t more content, is certainly more fair than what it was upon first release. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but if I’m a “whiner” then it’s fair to call those buying it up and making apology and excuse for Turbine after every turn as “naive” or much worse. We’re all consumers responding to a product. I’ve listened to plenty of podcasts and pretending that everything is all happy and perfect does not make it so. I’m not blaming Merric or Goldenstar here, but I’m not “Chicken Little” either. We can certainly move forward with Turbine if they treat us fairly, but they’ve proven we must remain vigilant.
If you want to present the article as a factual comparison, then do so, but perhaps more careful response to your replies in the future would be something to work on. Remember also that there is more than just straight comparisons when contextually, we’re seeing a much different game before and after this and the last titled expansions. Sometimes the way the information gets presented gets in the way of the message and sometimes there doesn’t need to be a message at all. That’s my take on what we see here.
June 18, 2012 at 3:27 pm
That is a very valid opinon, thanks for the comment
June 18, 2012 at 3:39 pm
Hear, hear! Calling everybody who complained about the original package “whiners” is a pretty bold and, IMO, unwarranted statement. While I agree “worth” is a matter of opinion and personal financial condition, I don’t think anybody can disagree that the original options were giving less for more as compared to the ROI packages. Personally, I have plenty of expendable income to buy whatever package I want, but I won’t be pre-ordering and in fact won’t be buying the expansion at all until it goes on sale for 50% during the holidays.
I’d say it’s pretty clear at this point that the “whiners” weren’t only responding vocally, but were actually keeping their wallets in their pockets as there is no way Turbine would have caved if Pre-Orders had been strong. Score one for the people this time.
June 18, 2012 at 8:45 pm
Well spoken
June 18, 2012 at 2:58 pm
EU cost drops a shade if you can buy in dollars first and let the conversion happen afterwards. Turbine’s conversion rate is static so doesnt always come out favourably and of course you still have to deal with local vat either way.
June 18, 2012 at 3:24 pm
Well said. I think you are right in every way, we are getting away really cheap with these pre orders and still people are making a huge fuss about $10???
June 18, 2012 at 3:31 pm
Some people have valid arguements about the $10…and some do not but I do think we are getting a much better deal than last year base and heroic before TP and instance were added. I do think Legendary was worse till they added TP and instances but now it seems that they are all better deals. It really just depends on what people want and really I agree with everyone who has commented so far and with most of the comments on CSTM and the forums in General.
June 18, 2012 at 8:49 pm
The point its that the Rohan wouldn’t of been a better deal if the community didn’t take the stand that it did. Before the tp and instance cluster announcement Rohan was a garbage deal
June 18, 2012 at 5:14 pm
You should have done a store cost analysis with ROI’s pre-order stuff as well for comparsion. It might be helpful for some people.
June 18, 2012 at 9:25 pm
The biggest draw back is that RoI included a full 24 man raid AT the time of the release and then additional raid cluster after few months. Where as RoR doesn’t have any sort of group end game content until 3 months in. That is a major flaw in their plan, they can’t expect players to get to 85 and stick around for them to make a raid cluster.
Also consider this: there has never been an expansion without a raid at the start.
SoA had helegrod and rift got added
MoM had VM and DN got added
SoM had BG and OD got added
RoI had draigoch and OT got added
RoR won’t have any at the start and only one will get added so another year with only 1 raid cluster and zero at the start. You can pretty much see why players don’t want to buy this.
June 18, 2012 at 11:54 pm
I can’t place it, but I just can’t get behind the last portion of the article(attributing of fictional monetary value to items to compare their value).
CSTM has almost always had a great job with their articles, but this one really misses the mark. It seems more of a forum post converted to a blog, rather then a normal CSTM article that I enjoy reading.
That being said, it’s pretty obvious that the community spoke with their mouths AND wallets this time. Wether that’s due to the package cost or lack of trust in the expansion(or a mixture of the two, or something entirely different) it’s abundantly clear Turbine didn’t like the result.
The addition of the TP bonus was clear cut at trying to reach their goal on pre-orders due to a large gap in expected sales to what was actually purchased. I think [b]THAT[/b] speaks volumes to the ‘value’ of the expansion in the eyes of the playerbase as a whole – moreso then any arbitrary dollar value to specific items ever could.
June 19, 2012 at 1:05 am
I agree. It’s only “savings” if you accept a great number of factors, almost none of which are plausible. It doesn’t account for possible future sales on any or all of the items, but it is presented almost like an advertisement and endorsement. More than that, commentary simply isn’t needed and extenuating circumstances of the releases are left out. Far from being negative for the sake of being negative, I think many of us have calmly and respectfully addressed the issues with the article. I hope it is taken as constructive criticism.
June 19, 2012 at 9:14 am
So far it has all been constructive critisism or complements which has surprised me quite a lot as usually there are one or two purly negative comments that don’t give any reason why they are saying what they are saying. All of the commenters to this post however have provided reasons as to why they think what they think and that is very constructive critisism and gets taken seriously.
Also the total savings is for someone who wants everything…if you don’t want any of it then obviously there is no value there and you are wasting money.
I put all the values on the table for the reader to be able to add and subract what they do and don’t want and get a grasp of what they are actually getting in each version from a monetary prospective.
June 19, 2012 at 12:22 pm
I’m not sure if the deal is still available, but when I bought the Legendary Edition the other day there was an option to pick up 5,000 more TP for $30. I ended up with 7,000 TP and all the swag for $100. I had planned to wait a few more months to purchase, but this worked for me. Thanks go to helpful kinmates who tipped me off.
June 19, 2012 at 1:01 pm
As far as I know that offer still stands and makes the deal better for people that want a lot of points.
June 20, 2012 at 11:28 am
I always bought the “collector’s edition” versions of a game / update, but this time I’m really considering going for the basic one, and the reason for this is that I already bought Evendim, Moria, and Lothlórien Quest Packs and I have more than 10,000 turbine points on stock and since I’m not an altoholic I don’t really find too much use for them.
I really think they should offer a discount if you already have the zones…
… just my 2 cents …
June 20, 2012 at 4:39 pm
Does anyone know if the pre-order “bonuses” are actually going to not be available if you order the sets later on? The price isn’t what made me balk at buying this expansion at the current moment. It’s that if you buy RoI now, I’ve seen it for half the price and you still get everything that was previously offered in the pre-order period. If that’s how it’s going to be again, I’d much rather just wait as I haven’t even hit the last expansion on my main yet. I only bought early last time because I was under the impression that if I bought the expansion later on, I would not be receiving those items. That was probably just my bad, but I’d like to know upfront this time.
June 20, 2012 at 5:40 pm
They did much better this time identifying what is and is not a pre-order item. It was very confusing with Isengard but there was a difference between pre-order and post launch purchases (cloaks & store offered exp item I believe).
This time around their listing is much clearer. The items listed as pre-order bonus will not be available (as a bundle package – some will be in the store) after launch.
You will receive all items listed as bonus items pre or post launch with the LOTRO market purchase.
June 20, 2012 at 7:16 pm
Thank you very much. I will go look again to see if it’s worth it for me to wait or buy it now. =)
June 25, 2012 at 4:20 pm
Thank you for this. So there are approx. $72.85 worth of stuff that comes with the legendary edition that I would buy regardless so I am thinking that it would be the best deal for me. All the other stuff it just icing on the cake. =) Now to convince my husband it is the best deal.