Lord of the Rings Online Pre-Orders

Well, as we just posted over on Gaming Trend, Midway and Turbine have just announed their pre-order program. The press release is on the main site, but I wanted to talk about a few of the things I'm thinking on reading this.

First off, I'm in the beta (and have been since they went from alpha to beta), but haven't been in much lately due to other things. This'll change, and soon, especially when the NDA drops. Speaking of, also, I've got a key still for this weekend's stress test. No one's emailed. So...is no one reading, or does no one want it? :)

Anyway, here's the list of what you get for pre-ordering:

The Lord of the Rings Online Founder's Program(a) offers players two different membership options:

Only $9.99 per month subscription price!

OR

Just $199 for a Lifetime Membership!

In addition to these special pricing options, The Lord of the Rings Online Founders receive:

• Open Beta: Guaranteed access provides Founders the first opportunity to create a character and enter Middle-earth currently planned for March 30, 2007
• Character Roll-Over: Moves the character that you created during the Open Beta into the live service --along with the stats, levels, items, and experience that character earned prior to launch!
• Bonus Items: Two special in-game items that are only available to those who pre-order:

          -- Enchanted Cloak of Regeneration
         -- Ring of Agility

So. The big thing here is the pricing. $14.99 (presumably) for subscription, or, if you pre-order, either $9.99 or a one-time fee of $199.99. There is a catch on the $9.99, which is if you cancel, presumably it knocks you to $14.99 or whatever. It's interesting to see a flat fee for a lifetime subscription. On one hand, it's aimed at getting as many boxes in the hands of players Day One as possible for that quick influx of money. On the other hand, the $200 lifetime membership gives the same message, but much, much more strongly.

It really makes you wonder if either Turbine is having money issues, or if Midway is seriously pushing for this game to Hurry Up And Get Out. Not that the game looks bad (which is all I'm saying right now, understand), it's just what jumped into my head on reading the press release. Still, locking in a $10 subscription rate for what's aiming to be a AAA title....isn't a bad deal. And the $200, if LOTRO goes for 5-7 years, that's a sweet deal, but if it only lasts a year....ow.

The Open Beta and Character Rollover really catch the attention. For those not paying attention, this means that if you pre-order and purchase the game (within 30 days of launch), you effectively get a month's head start. You can believe that the UBAR guilds will be all over this one, since it lets them grind grind grind to their hearts content and unlock as many things as possible before the game even launches. Look for a large number of strategy websites and such to hit pre-launch. Also, look for a crapload of patching and nerfing to happen Launch Day.

Honestly, though, if you're even remotely interested in LOTRO, it's worth the pre-order (which many places is only like $5) just to get into the open beta, and then if you like what you see, buy the game and get the $10 subscription fee and keep your same character.

More on LOTRO when the NDA drops, which will probably be within the next few weeks.