I broke down the cost and value of the Mordor expansion when it became available to pre-purchase, so I am following suit with the upcoming Minas Morgul expansion.
I'll have to open with this caveat: I'm not a math whiz. It's entirely possible I messed up in my calculations somewhere. If you think I have, PLEASE don't hesitate to comment and call me on it! I want this breakdown to help people make sound spending decisions so they can enjoy playing LOTRO without stressing about overspending or feeling regret later by not getting it if they really can.
With that out of the way, I'll satisfy those who are impatient first:
Ultimate Fan Bundle
$233.98 USD value if everything was bought individually
est. 26,925 points
+44% value for cost
Collector's Edition
$163.24 USD value if everything was bought individually
est. 18,785 points
+51% value for cost
**This is the best deal of the 3 packs if you don't care about collecting all of the cosmetics.**
Standard Edition
$50.75 USD value if everything was bought individually
est. 5,840 points
+21% value for cost
Explanation
I made the full list of items and then either wrote down their current point value from the LOTRO Store, or used the point value of the closest equivalent that is currently available. If there was nothing like it available, I'll explain the logic behind my price estimate below.
The first value listed (above) is arrived at by tallying the individual costs in USD -- what you would arrive at if you tried to buy everything in the pack separately (using best exchange rate of points to dollars). The second value is the estimated points needed to purchase the items.
One big difference this time was that they didn't include any VIP time in the deal. Despite that, they seem to have learned from a complaint about last time: they offered a lot of items you could already purchase in the store and people fussed as a result. This time, the majority of the items are unique to the bundles, with a few exceptions.
The Breakdown
- The base edition of the expansion will be available in March 2020 for 2495 points.
- The Stout-axe Dwarf Race will be available in March 2020 for 1000 points.
- A character slot goes for 595 points in the store.
- Following the cost pattern of existing level boosts (5995 points for level 95; 6995 points for level 105), I am underestimating the 120 boost to cost 7995 points.
- Cosmetic armor pieces in the store sell for 295 points apiece, and there are 6 pieces per set, making a total of 1770 for one set, and 3540 for two sets.
- Cosmetic cloaks sell for 295 points apiece, costing 590 points for two.
- The newer pets sell for 595 points each, or 1190 points for two.
- Premium mounts which come with war-steed cosmetics, as we're told the expansion mounts do, cost 1995 points each, or 3990 points for both.
- Cosmetic Weapon Auras are a new thing, so I added an additional cosmetic item cost of 295 points.
- The highest available wearable accelerator in the store, Shield of the Hammerhand, sells for 995 so I rounded up to account for the level increase and estimated 1395 points.
- The housing teleport item is a repeat item but not found in the store, so I went ahead and undervalued it by using the price of a Return skill at 295 points. (A more likely store price is probably 695 points, but there's no telling here.)
- The highest tier of purchaseable relics sell for 550 points each, so 3 would be 1650 points. The Minas Morgul-tier relics are probably worth more.
- The Expedition Supplies break down into items that can be purchased and items that can be bartered for:
a.) 5000 Virtue XP: Since you can get 2k virtue xp from most deeds, I estimated that a single Skill & Slayer Deed Boost would net the 5k, so for this item I am underestimating it for 150 points.
b.) 100% XP scrolls x5 sells in the store for 750 points.
c.) Scrolls of Empowerment can be traded at their cheapest for marks (3920 marks for 20, and 1960 marks for 10), so this is NOT factored into the cost of any pack.
d.) Reputation Supply Boost x5 sells in the store for 1000 points.
And there you have it. I hope this helps you decide which pack to purchase if you really gotta have the stuff and the shinies right away. If you aren't that sort of player, I hope this helps you feel better about waiting until March to spend points on the expansion and/or new race. Either way, this took me a couple days to sit down and figure out -- if you appreciate it, leave me a comment and consider making a donation on my Extra Life page linked below!
