CM Mirkwood pre-order news

I posted this in the discussion thread over at the EU boards:

That UK/EU have to pay more than US is only logical and expected; due to taxes and the market and what not. That the EU customers have to pay more than UK customers is just plain stupid. It's a bit upsetting to think about how much money I could have saved over the years, if only I had known I should have been paying my fees in GBP rather than Euro. Let's look at this, shall we?

Standard prices for subscription fees if your settings give you prices in Euro:
€12.99 (1 month)
€35.97 (3 months)
€65.94 (6 months)
€119.88 (12 months)
€219.99 (Lifetime)

Standard prices for subscription fees if your settings give you prices in British Pound:
£8.99 (1 month)
£25.47 (3 months)
£47.94 (6 months)
£83.88 (12 months)
£149.99 (Lifetime)

With current exchange rates (of course these change from day to day), if we convert the British prices to Euro:
€9.63 (1 month)
€27.29 (3 months)
€51.37 (6 months)
€89.88 (12 months)
€160.73 (Lifetime)

Compare those numbers to the first ones I posted - that's a freakin' huge difference! Codemasters need to make a much better effort to get their prices to correspond to the current conversion rate. I've been scammed of a lot of money over the years, it seems.

And to think all you need to do is to change your country of residence in the account details... Now I can actually afford myself a lifetime subscription, once my current one runs out. I save €80 on it if I change my country to read United Kingdom. Good lord...!

I'm still wondering about the principle of paying for what should be a free content update.  It's not as if it's a proper expansion.  Mirkwood was always meant to be the free stuff that we get before Volume 3 - Riders of Rohan (name speculating).

I will in the end because it's only a few quid, nothing compared to the time I spend on it.  But still, these things used to be free, and I much preferred the trickle of updates one every 2 months than a yearly spazz of content that leaves you with nothing to do for the next 11 months.

Guess they're running low on customers and hence cannot afford the amount of dev work required.  But if only they saw the potential in making old content usable again by implementing an easy level-modifer on entry to instances and some repeatable quest rewards with, say, a weekly cooldown on them, that would give us all something to do again and keep their customers coming.  Alas, logic has failed them yet again (as shown by their pricing stupidity.)

I'm still wondering about the principle of paying for what should be a free content update.  It's not as if it's a proper expansion.  Mirkwood was always meant to be the free stuff that we get before Volume 3 - Riders of Rohan (name speculating).

Yeah. and even though they've promised that the start of Volume 3 will be free instead, I can't help worrying about this turn of events.

Guess they're running low on customers and hence cannot afford the amount of dev work required.  But if only they saw the potential in making old content usable again by implementing an easy level-modifer on entry to instances and some repeatable quest rewards with, say, a weekly cooldown on them, that would give us all something to do again and keep their customers coming.  Alas, logic has failed them yet again (as shown by their pricing stupidity.)

Yeah, and I started playing LOTRO after all the tasty stuff with CD, Annuminas, the Rift, and Helegrod had been added, and didn't reach their level until MoM, in which case neither was interesting for anyone to do anymore. I've spent some time now visiting them for the first time, but the challenge is pretty much gone, which ruins the experience somewhat. The areas are very cool, however, and I share your wish for an update to these instance clusters, to make them viable for end-game once more.

Trailers out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKQSzw015xs

Yeah, and I started playing LOTRO after all the tasty stuff with CD, Annuminas, the Rift, and Helegrod had been added, and didn't reach their level until MoM, in which case neither was interesting for anyone to do anymore. I've spent some time now visiting them for the first time, but the challenge is pretty much gone, which ruins the experience somewhat. The areas are very cool, however, and I share your wish for an update to these instance clusters, to make them viable for end-game once more.

I hear you, Teo! Same goes for me.

Straying a bit off-topic, so cutting myself short here: spent some dev-brain-time on proper algorithms to calculate an average power level to make instances scale to those who enter and *bang*  - loads of content re-usable "just" by adding some maths (no content/story-designers needed).

It's all simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain!

Nal on Lotro.com

[quote author=Teolwyn link=topic=4249.msg39658#msg39658 date=1255626823]Yeah, and I started playing LOTRO after all the tasty stuff with CD, Annuminas, the Rift, and Helegrod had been added, and didn't reach their level until MoM, in which case neither was interesting for anyone to do anymore. I've spent some time now visiting them for the first time, but the challenge is pretty much gone, which ruins the experience somewhat. The areas are very cool, however, and I share your wish for an update to these instance clusters, to make them viable for end-game once more.

I hear you, Teo! Same goes for me.

Straying a bit off-topic, so cutting myself short here: spent some dev-brain-time on proper algorithms to calculate an average power level to make instances scale to those who enter and *bang*  - loads of content re-usable "just" by adding some maths (no content/story-designers needed).
[/quote]

That is the premise of the Skirmish instances that will come with SoM.  Eventually I expect we will see the system rolled out to recycle a lot of the older content for higher level players.

No comment on the price.  International comparisons are worthless.  The only question one should ask is "Is the price I have to pay fair and reasonable?" without considering the price that anyone else, anywhere, has to pay.  If the answer is yes, then well done more LOTRO for you.  If no, then simply don't buy it.  You still have most of LOTRO to explore and SoM will be cheaper in 6 months time.

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That is the premise of the Skirmish instances that will come with SoM.  Eventually I expect we will see the system rolled out to recycle a lot of the older content for higher level players.

Let's hope so...!

No comment on the price.  International comparisons are worthless.  The only question one should ask is "Is the price I have to pay fair and reasonable?" without considering the price that anyone else, anywhere, has to pay.  If the answer is yes, then well done more LOTRO for you.  If no, then simply don't buy it.  You still have most of LOTRO to explore and SoM will be cheaper in 6 months time.

Of course. It's silly to compare to the US prices - my point was that UK prices are significantly cheaper than EU prices, and that is only tied to your account settings, which you can alter at will. There shouldn't be any significant difference in price between the two to begin with; their currency converter is out of date, it seems, and thus those poor sods who have been renewing their subscriptions or buying premium services or new content, without setting country of residence to UK first, have paid a lot more than they actually should have.

Of course. It's silly to compare to the US prices

Oh?

As you know, I live in Sweden. Cost of living is higher, food is significantly more expensive, so is clothing, anything that's imported (which is almost everything), dental, medical... etc, etc than it was in Canada - comparatively speaking. Electronics, computers, games... cars. Housing. The list goes on and on. [Continues raft construction]

I is in ur Fellowships, stealing ur threats.

We should report codemasters to the OFT.  They investigate stuff like this.

Oh?

As you know, I live in Sweden. Cost of living is higher, food is significantly more expensive, so is clothing, anything that's imported (which is almost everything), dental, medical... etc, etc than it was in Canada - comparatively speaking. Electronics, computers, games... cars. Housing. The list goes on and on. [Continues raft construction]

What's your point? Of course everything is more expensive here, than it is in the US, and it's mainly due to taxes or import fees. That's kind of what I meant.

We should report codemasters to the OFT.  They investigate stuff like this.

If anyone knows how to go about doing something like that, then that would be a good idea.