Tome of Defence

After a chat with some people in-game this evening i have found a possible answer to issues we may encounter in our early attempts of Ivar and Fear wing.

For 75TP in the lotro store the TOME OF DEFENCE, will increase tactical, melee and ranged defence for 90minutes by a masive 5%! At the runaway price of 75 TP. (it's effectively a second tolerance + mercy).

hmm, that's interesting, I assume it last the whole 90mins, even if you die.

Even so, and I'm not sure how others feel, but personally, if it takes spending 'real' money (ignoring the in-game earned TP) in order to beat the content, then Turbine can stick it. If anything is that hard to beat, that's its the real 'pay to win', then I'm not playing that game.

I think pay2win is a pretty overused concept tbh.

Notice Earval didn't say it was essential to use these store tomes to beat the boss, you weren't gated unless you had it... just that it MAY make it easier. Pretty much the same as buying DP buffs, stacking virtues and armor/pocket mitigations. None of it is required or necessary, it just makes things a little easier while you learn the fight.

The tp store is there to be used. While it's likely not worth it those on 0tp that'd have to go out and farm for even a single tome, for those of us sitting on 5-10k with little left to buy, giving your raid a little boost is nothing to be sneered at.

Thanks for the tip Earval, I will try to remember to pick some up before the next raid.

Yeah I've known about these for a while but haven't brought them up. I totally understand if people want to grab them, but I personally will not be because I am very uncomfortable with the whole concept. I also, especially, don't want anyone to feel under any sort of pressure to use them. To me, it's the same with the store potions (which are very powerful and don't share a cooldown with in-game potions), tomes and store-bought tomes of attack. If you want to use them then all power to you but I will not be even suggesting that people use them.

Nasda wrote:Pretty much the same as buying DP buffs, stacking virtues and armor/pocket mitigations.

Well, no, I don't consider those to be the same. All of them are in-game earned items while playing and other then the DP buff, none of the rest are consumables.

My overall point, just like the store potions, is that the content MUST be beatable without buying something from the store. If it isn't, then it's either too hard or the players aren't good enough.

If people want to spend TP on store exclusive consumables, then by all means, feel free, I on the other hand, never will. What I will do is grind out my virtues, get my armor, etc, etc even if it takes me hours of solo play.

agree with ant here. I got absolutely no problem if you want to do it, but while I feel that not doing in-game things like grinding necessary virtues, getting the right equipment etc. is selfish to the raid group, I will not make people feel bad for not spending additional real money to gain an in game advantage. If we get to the point where Turbine make content that is so hard that you can't beat it without buying store buffs (which I don't think they have) then this is a game I don't want to play, because that's a seriously twisted business model and creates all sorts of perverse design incentives.

But if you've got lots of spare TPs or just don't mind spending them, then by all means, fire away .

You may not feel they're the same thing Ant, but to an awful lot of people, they actually are. I don't hunt out and farm destiny points, but they build up just the same, and there's little point in not spending them to help my toon. I don't hunt out, farm, and buy a single point of TP with $$. But they build up just the same, and there's little point in not spending them

I hope they release more potions, tomes and raid items that I can actually see a use in having, and let me get rid of some of my TP. Far too much of the store is simply different cosmetic looks for the same item/horse/weapon, yadda.

Now if this was a 'Tome of Fear Wing' that you couldn't enter fear wing without buying, it'd be a different story entirely. That's true gating through the store, especially towards f2p. Since it's not anything close to that, I don't see the problem with it.

I should probably just cut and paste my posts from the 100+ page rantfest on main forum, on whether it is 'ok' to use store items or whether you're contributing to turbine's evil consumer empire

I don't farm destiny points either, in fact I'm not even sure how I keep earning so many. But if I look at my deed log and see something that needs just one more item to be done in order to complete the deed and it earns me TP (along with something else that doesn't matter at all), then if I happen to be in that area or the next time I am in that area, I'll complete that deed for the TP.

I assume you are VIP, where as I am Premium, so my TP goes towards Quest Packs, Expansions, skirms, shared storage, character slots, crafting guilds, etc, etc.

As for the Tome of Defence, if that item is the difference between beating the Balrog or not, then it basically is a 'Tome of Fear Wing', even if you don't need it to get inside. Now I'm assuming it's not needed and that all the various raid groups that have done OD on T2, did it without the store item. As such, then technically, it's not a 'pay to win', and therefore, I plan to keep it that way, by not 'paying'.