What MMORPG should I play?

Yes, you can find the links to store in many placed in LOTRO.

Yet, F2P is not only about the number of 'store' reminders. Some games claim that they are F2P while you can hardly do anything serious without paying the money.

The question was how far it is possible to get into the game without paying money. The answer is: you can play LOTRO free for weeks.
 
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LOTRO currently has some problems with scaled content. Very often the combat is unbalanced and very often it is too easy. Usually it is not such a problem because there's a plenty of possibilities to find yourself a challenge. Yet, quite often it is not possible to play certain content on level. With the coming Helms Deep expansion Turbine is going to address this issue to some degree. We'll see.
 
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You can earn TP (Turbine Points) completing deeds. With TP you can buy content. The amount of "earned" TP is reasonable. The Free2Play model of LOTRO is one of the best. That's what people say.

DDO has a similar model. Also belongs to Turbine.
 
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Lotro has Store-buttons pinned to your interface in practically every menu you go into. I'd hardly call that one of the best F2P models. F2P should be transparent, not a constant in-your-face advertisement to bypass gameplay by purchasing unrestricted travel access, crafting ingredients, and character stat points.

I was bothered at first, but it was my very first exposure to F2P stuff. It's not that bad really. I haven't found an instance yet where I felt pressured into upgrading my character with money or using some other paid service.

Is the 100% XP bonus permanent nowadays? The description said something about weekends but it's still active for me. It really helps when soloing though. I grinded my way casually to level 20 over the weekend.
 
Everyone makes their own choice, but to me LOTRO is an incredibly shallow husk of a game. While Shadows of Angmar created a lovely world to peel back the curtain on, that was quite a few years ago. The gameplay has only become progressively more predictable, tedious, and oriented towards grind.

If I had to choose between one of Turbine's f2p games, it would be DDO, hands-down. The character progression, enemy types, locales, and even quests are far, far more varied and interesting. Exactly how many orcs, goblins, wargs, and Uruk of Mordor can you kill with the same skill set over and over and over again and not be bored to tears? How many times must you be sent to collect broken arrows, warg pelts, and mushrooms before the game ultimately rings hollow?

I've had a Lotro lifetime account for years now and, the last time I bothered to enter the game with some resolve, I found myself so bored that no amount (read 20,000 -30,000) of free turbine points on my account could bribe me into staying.
 
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My guess is that if Middle-Earth doesn't do it for you then all other things about LOTRO might not count for much. I'm fairly certain I could have had as much fun with EQ2 but I like the art direction and feel of the setting that LOTRO has.
 
The atmosphere of LOTRO is incredible. Especially in Moria. Man, they did an amazing job with that expansion. Makes me want to play it right now.
 
Yeah, I believe the Moria expansion was the last quality thing they did with the game.

It just makes it all the more sad to think what it could have been.
 
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