LOTRO going F2P

Apparently business has been good enough for Turbine's DDO in the past seven months for them to also make the jump for LOTRO as well.  You just know many other developers are watching this closely.  I'd still like to see the financials for DDO, but Turbine wouldn't be making the change unless it made true business sense at this point.  I never played LOTRO and never played DDO, but once it goes F2P I just might try out LOTRO.  I've always been a tremendous Tolkien fan but was never entranced enough about LOTRO to pay a monthly subscription.  Now that that impediment is being removed I just might give it a look, though I do still have misgivings about the F2P model.  You will always be second guessing the developers why specific development decisions are being made, and why game play is exactly as it is.  Are game decisions being made to force you into paying for items from the cash shop (of course they are) or not?  You can play the game free, but is it unnecessarily grindy because they want you spending money in the cash shop?  I tend to not like that very much.