stat-gear
Latest
The Soapbox: Credible currency
Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column. With all of the other crises hitting the gaming world, it's easy to have missed the fact that Lord of the Rings Online has started selling statted gear in the cash shop. It's not endgame gear, of course, and it's mostly there for low-level players to get a minor boost. Really, as has been said by others, it's not something all that unusual, nor is it game-breaking in the slightest. It's just a convenience thing. It's also something that Turbine promised would never be done. I don't have an issue with the sale of low-level armor with stats on it, in Lord of the Rings Online or in other games. What I do have an issue with is the matter of credibility, the one currency that every company starts with and loses over time. Credibility is something you have to spend carefully, and every so often, a company spends it wrong. And the results, in the long term, are never pretty.
LotRO reverses policy, plans to sell PvE stat gear through the store [Updated]
In July 2010, Massively was told by Turbine that the then-coming LotRO store "would not sell any gear with stats attached." And while the studio has so far kept to the letter of the law, it has fudged the spirit of it with the sales of stat tomes (which boost stats independently of gear) and the addition of statted gear to PvMP (monster play). Consider the law cast aside today, then, as Turbine's announced the coming sale of statted gear in the LotRO store to normal PvE play as well. Light, medium, and heavy armor pieces will soon be available for purchase in the cash shop, and will come with beneficial stats attached. In addition to the typical stats, the store boots will come with a 8% run out-of-combat run speed boost attached. While the gear in question has reasonable stats, it certainly raises the specter of the game's heading toward pay-to-win territory by having it for sale at all. Massively has reached out to Turbine for an official comment. [Update: On the official forums Sapience commented about the sale saying, "It's lower level gear. Many players have given us feedback that there is a sparsity of gear on the AH at these levels and they wanted an alternative. We're trying to accomodate that."]
