Lord of the Rings Online MMORPG

[Kuruharan]

Yep, I'm still kicking.

I've been playing WoW, Guild Wars (Guild Wars 2 looks like it will be awesome, btw) and single player games.

I haven't even logged in since LOTRO went f2p. What do you think of how the game is now?

[CaptainofDespair]

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

Yep, I'm still kicking.

I've been playing WoW, Guild Wars (Guild Wars 2 looks like it will be awesome, btw) and single player games.

I haven't even logged in since LOTRO went f2p. What do you think of how the game is now?

F2P is, from my perspective, a disaster. Aside from Enedwaith, there is not actually any new content. Somehow turning Helegrod into a skirmish-like instance is suddenly new content to players who have had none since Mirkwood. I don't know what that means for long-term new content. Maybe they'll just keep redoing instances and adding increased radiance to old items that have been recolored as a 'reward' for those instances.

Dynamic Layers are somewhat of a pain when you experience them...one minute you are in Bree with other players, the next minute you've been sent into a new layer and few, if any, other players are visible. It's supposed to reduce lag, but it's mostly just annoying.

I haven't paid much attention to anything else, since I've given up on playing like I used to.

[Kuruharan]

Yuck, the dynamic layers in particular sound dreadful.

I know I said that I'd probably go back to keep up with the story at some point...but I'm not sure anymore. I really have no desire to play that game.

I probably will go back at some point, but I think my days of playing that game are pretty much over.

[CaptainofDespair]

I will probably log into LOTRO from time to time. At the moment, I'm going to wait until the next update (whenever that is), as Turbine has promised to take a closer look at some of the annoying features of the game (like radiance, the legendary item time-sink, etc). If it only gets worse after that point, I'll know I'm done. But I don't expect them to get around to that until early next year, at best.

I shudder to think what "new" or "innovative" ideas they have for Rohan, as all of the choices they've made on gameplay and features since SoA concluded have been major blunders.

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by CaptainofDespair

I shudder to think what "new" or "innovative" ideas they have for Rohan, as all of the choices they've made on gameplay and features since SoA concluded have been major blunders.

Actually, Turbine has blundered ever since changing MEO into the mutant LOTRO. The world was scaled back, the adherence to canon was sacrificed, and the controls and feel of the game were redesigned to emulate WoW. They plopped tedious PvP sandboxes in where players eternally play capture the flag, plopped absurd sci-fi creatures in, segregated the North American and European player communities, and now forced everyone into a free-to-play situation that will certainly rub long-time players the wrong way.

Humorously, the Turbine motto is 'powered by our fans'. They do not know who their fans are, nor do they care.

[Kuruharan]

Originally Posted by CaptainofDespair

Turbine has promised to take a closer look at some of the annoying features of the game (like radiance, the legendary item time-sink, etc).

I'm shocked to see that they are willing to admit that those were all horribly implemented...especially considering that they *still* (years later) haven't officially admitted that a "little" thing like the troll/ranger session play thing was a complete fiasco.

I shudder to think what "new" or "innovative" ideas they have for Rohan, as all of the choices they've made on gameplay and features since SoA concluded have been major blunders.

You and me both.

Originally Posted by Morthoron

Humorously, the Turbine motto is 'powered by our fans'. They do not know who their fans are, nor do they care.

Truer words were never spoken. They really are a joke of a development studio at this point. I am officially coming out and saying that I hope they go belly up and that somebody else can get the Tolkien license...although my level of confidence in most game developers is pretty low.

I personally think that the whole move to f2p across the board in MMOs is caused by most developers not having a clue how to make quality products and their incompetence is being shown by the hordes of small time people who are making small f2p games that are better in quality to almost anything being put out by a big name studio.

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

I personally think that the whole move to f2p across the board in MMOs is caused by most developers not having a clue how to make quality products and their incompetence is being shown by the hordes of small time people who are making small f2p games that are better in quality to almost anything being put out by a big name studio.

The saddest part of all of this is that had Turbine maintained their original MEO concept, stayed truer to the lore and eschewed the WoW influence, they'd have as many loyal customers, if not more, than they do now. Having MEO as a boutique design for 300,000 to 400,000 zealous Tolkien fans worldwide may have commanded a higher monthly fee, and would certainly have assured a higher customer retention rate. How do I know this? Well, from a personal standpoint, I am still in touch with most of the people involved in the design prior to LOTRO's release. It was always Middle-earth and not necessarily the game, a fact lost on Turbine.

Once they cheapened the game with lustful dreams of stealing customers away from WoW, they lost many adult fans, such as me, who would have paid more simply because the game DID NOT attract the WoW crowd. But they lost a ton of money by going immediately for marketshare, offering ridiculously low lifetime rates at the game's release. Start high while the game is fresh and people are excited (that's at least what I learned in college Marketing). You can always go lower, but you can never go higher without attrition.

Just plain ig'nant.

[Kuruharan]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

It was always Middle-earth and not necessarily the game, a fact lost on Turbine.

That's the truth. CoD can attest to how long and how much I bellyached about how the Tolkien feeling was rapidly lost from the game. For me it was gone before I was halfway through SoA and it never returned.

*wonders aloud if some of these developers could somehow grab hold of rights to the Sil*

[Kuruharan]

We'll see if I ever go back.

At the moment I'm leaning no...but never say never.

[Oddwen]

Whee! I finally cleared enough space on my computer to DL this. My hunter Reprimand is on Silverlode from time to time.

So far the the comparisons to WoW are...wow, very similar. I'm not a hardcore MMORPGer anyway, so this'll do.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Oddwen

Whee! I finally cleared enough space on my computer to DL this. My hunter Reprimand is on Silverlode from time to time.

So far the the comparisons to WoW are...wow, very similar. I'm not a hardcore MMORPGer anyway, so this'll do.

Great, somebody else to carry the torch of initial enthusiasm?

[CaptainofDespair]

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

Great, somebody else to carry the torch of initial enthusiasm?

I think it is more akin to a candle in the wind...

[Oddwen]

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

Great, somebody else to carry the torch of initial enthusiasm?

At least until the grinding gets to me. Oh who am I kidding, it's all grinding, in the end.

I'm hoping to drag one of my RL friends onto it as well, she's been looking forward to it, and hopefully that will lead her into becoming active here. She has an account but hasn't used it yet.

Originally Posted by CoD

I think it is more akin to a candle in the wind...

Maybe my second toon will be named Eltundu Iondo.

[xMellrynxMaidenx]

I'm thinking of sticking around, see what chaos they can throw at us next. I log in when I can on my toon on the Silverlode and was hoping to finish up SoM before they came out with Rise of Isengard, but that doesn't seem to be happening. Heck, I still haven't even finished SoA due to not being able to log in as regularly anymore.

I've not even attempted the PvMP yet, mainly because I want to wait until I'm level 65, but I've been to the moors and given the creators' history with this game...I'm kind of leaning towards what Kuruharan said about it. No doubt though, the new zone will just be a copy of the moors, but we'll see.