Ok, so the Turbine offers surrounding Siege of Mirkwood have already raised a few eyebrows. They’re a little confusing until you sit down and read them properly and realise lifetimers are being treated differently from those without a lifetime sub.

Me, I think it’s great. Let’s face it, they need to make regular money. That’s their development lifeblood. And yet they had the lifetime offer and obviously through all the returns to the offer, they’ve gathered quite a number of lifetime subscriptions. In terms of big wads of cash the lifetimers represent one-off payments, but no regular money. Which has long been seen by us, the audience, as a great offer if you love the game and get your money’s worth, but for the company must have more dubious status compared with people paying a monthly fee.

I was really happy to see that Siege of Mirkwood comes free with a multi-month subscription. Presumably those wanting to level to 65 and see the new content who aren’t lifetimers will buy a 3 or 6 month sub anyway at some point, but if not, this might get them to do that vs. buying monthly. In addition, they save some money when purchasing multi-month, and Turbine get a cash injection just before Xmas. And the lifetime offer returns to its lower price, so that may mean even more money to put towards the next expansion, next game, Xmas presents for employees (don’t get excited Turbine employees, I doubt this is where the money is headed).