Also, an MMO changing their business model, especially _to_ F2P, can only mean one thing: the company is letting it to rot.

This is purely ignorant. LOTRO and D&D Online still offer a sub that means everything stays the same as you'd expect. The fact is that all these MMOs are going after the same players. All of them. How many people in the world do you think want to play an online fantasy MMO? Going free to play means that if you decide today that you want to log in and fart around with LOTRO, you can do so without buying a month of game time. As a publisher, it also eliminates any and all trepidation people have about playing your game. Players get to test the waters for free and only when they hit a ceiling do they need to spend money. 15 bucks a month or 10 bucks here and there. What's the real difference?

Champions Online is a game I had a lot of fun with, but once I finished my trial and the prospect of playing that or quitting WoW was staring me in the face, I had to move on. When Champions goes F2P, I will be back in there. F2P lowers the barrier of entry and allows more players to truly give your game a try, as opposed to free trials which are almost always painfully limited in scope to the point that you don't feel like you're playing the real game.

Do I think WoW will or can go free to play? Nope. Most of these free to play games do a lot of instancing and zoning, which makes it easy to lock out content until you've paid for it. There is no load screen when you go from Westfall to Duskwood. However, to assume that all F2P games are instantly inferior to games like WoW is foolish. LOTRO was a fine game when it was 10 bucks a month and I am sure it's still a fine game, now.

I agree. I'd suddenly find myself with a lot more time to work on my motorcycle.

Totally agree F2play is the biggest scam going. Blizz, listen up: F2play = F2quit. That simple.

@Bionic

If you read the whole article it clearly says it's not totally free. While it doesn't go into great depth it does illustrate a couple of things like VIP priority log in. Now I don't have a problem logging on my server but I think there are lots of players out there that would be pretty offended if they had to pay extra to be able to log in and play when they had the time. Of course there would also be players who would love that opportunity. After all time is money.

@Nathanyel
Obviously, F2P is for casual players. Serious players would opt for the VIP account. I disagree with your 'letting it rot' opinion. The F2P model increased Turbine's income.

@Bionic Radd
I agree. With my WOW account, I was paying even if I wasn't playing. As a casual player I felt obligated to log in just to get my money's worth. However, I feel Turbine's execution of F2P is a little flawed. I tried the VIP account and still felt the need to pay out an additional $20 the first month. If LOTRO wants to compete with WOW, the VIP account should be equivalent to a WOW subscription.

As far as I'm aware, D&DO was always under this subscription model, while LotRO only recently changed to that. Surely it will (re)attract many players in the first months, but that will wear out in time.

@ Bionic Radd

The idea that everything would stay the same is brutally incorrect. You'd keep paying $15/month for an environment that would now include a massive influx of people who only showed up because it was free - in large part gold sellers, "powerleveling services" and assorted scam artists - who couldn't give a rat's ass that their appearance just destroyed an experience that you thought would be sacred if you agreed to keep paying for it.