LOTRO’s fast pass to level 50

I guess it’s what all the popular kids are doing these days and it makes the money, so LOTRO has succumbed to peer pressure and begun selling instant level 50s in the store.  This is something I’ve been hearing about for well over a year now, and with something similar in DDO I assumed it was just a matter of time.  Turbine’s projected an impatience for people not being at the level cap with all of the XP pocket items and double XP months and the like — they want to sell expansions and get people up there with their friends.

Now I’ve made my feelings clear on this trend of giving/selling fast passes to higher levels, so I’m not interested in rehashing that today.  I just feel it cheapens and weakens the game overall.  What I am interested in discussing is how this will work within LOTRO itself.

First things first, Goldenstar has her own analysis of this that I’d like you to check out.  Read it?  Cool.

So what you’re getting here is a fast pass to the doors of Moria, skipping pretty much the entirety of the Shadows of Angmar content.  You get the riding skill, a mount, some level 50 gear, 4 ranks of each virtue, and some other consumable boosts.  For this, you’re going to be paying about $50 — more than the cost of the current expansion or more than the cost of the first four expansions combined.  The price is the one point of solace here — it’s a hefty fee to pay for a fast pass, and I don’t see a ton of people using it because of this.

I also don’t see a great appeal to this even if you’re in an all-fire hurry to get to the level cap.  You can get to level 50 in a month even if you play somewhat casually — as with most MMOs, the fastest levels are in the beginning.  Skipping these levels means that you’re going to be missing some really terrific zones that are often stated as the ones that got players invested in the world of the game.  And you’re going to be starting right out by diving into Moria, a gauntlet that has swallowed many an underground adventurer’s enthusiasm.  I mean, Moria’s better now than it once was, but do you really want that to be the first thing you do?

The virtues thing concerns me a little, too.  Four ranks of each is a lot overall, but usually I’m at rank 6 or 7 with my chosen five virtues by the time I get to Moria.  There will probably need to be some backtracking done here.

I’m curious how the game’s going to handle the story.  Maybe you’ll start with the first quest of volume II and go from there — that’s what makes the most sense to me.

It just doesn’t seem like a prudent purchase for a newbie, especially one who is still learning the ropes of the game and his or her class.  For veterans, I guess it’s more appealing, but they’re also more likely to have a high-level character and will probably just see this as a way to get a jump-start on an alt.

For me, LOTRO is a journey that is assuredly long, but because it’s about the journey itself I’ve never been in an all-consuming rush to get to this fabled glorious land of the endgame.  $50 to have part of that journey taken away is lose-lose in my view.