Lord of the Rings Online MMORPG

[Oddwen]

So, come September 10th, LotROnline will be free-to-play. Something which is very close to what I can afford!

Does anyone still play?

[Kuruharan]

Meh...sort of.

I hate to be a party pooper but the game has gotten steadily worse over the course of its lifetime. I was playing pretty regularly up until a month or so ago but when I saw the changes they were going to be bringing in with it going f2p and, more importantly, some of the glaring problems they were not fixing I...uhh...kinda sorta did a.../ragequit.

CaptainofDespair is probably wondering what in the world happened to me.

I do intend to keep playing some...I already had a lifetime membership which means I automatically have premium when it goes f2p...but as far as really *playing* it for more than just advancing the story for my characters, I don't see myself willing to do that anymore. The game is just not that great and there are much more fun things for me to spend my time on.

[Morthoron]

Hmmm...where do I start about LotRO?

I was once closely related to the game and the developers, but having gone through the alpha and beta stages of the game, it was evident to me that the vision of the game had digressed from 'living in Middle-earth' to amassing piles of swag, endlessly killing mobs and basically emulating World of Warcraft. In fact, the head dev admitted his desire to compete with WoW, rather than deliver a gaming experience solidly entrenched in the lore and ethics of Middle-earth.

Interesting to so see LotRO has declined to the point where it requires free-to-play status. Perhaps if they catered to the very folks who believed in the original game design (MEO or Middle-earth Online) and were avid fans of Tolkien's Middle-earth, then they may have maintained a loyal customer base without the need to use such desperate tactics to remain viable.

[Snowdog]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

Hmmm...where do I start about LotRO?

I was once closely related to the game and the developers, but having gone through the alpha and beta stages of the game, it was evident to me that the vision of the game had digressed from 'living in Middle-earth' to amassing piles of swag, endlessly killing mobs and basically emulating World of Warcraft. In fact, the head dev admitted his desire to compete with WoW, rather than deliver a gaming experience solidly entrenched in the lore and ethics of Middle-earth.

Interesting to so see LotRO has declined to the point where it requires free-to-play status. Perhaps if they catered to the very folks who believed in the original game design (MEO or Middle-earth Online) and were avid fans of Tolkien's Middle-earth, then they may have maintained a loyal customer base without the need to use such desperate tactics to remain viable.

Couldn't have said it better myself. My early high hopes for MEO were dashed before release, and I never came to ever starting to play it.

[Kuruharan]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

basically emulating World of Warcraft. In fact, the head dev admitted his desire to compete with WoW, rather than deliver a gaming experience solidly entrenched in the lore and ethics of Middle-earth.

That's what I'd figured. The problem with competing with WoW is that nobody can compete with WoW because nobody can do WoW better than WoW (follow that sentence, I dare you ). Its sad but true, WoW is just a better game than LOTRO. Having played WoW, which I hadn't until earlier this year, it is depressing with that perspective to see how LOTRO never had a shot because of the misguided intentions of its developers.

When one adds in the excruciatingly bizarre decisions made by Turbine over the course of the game's life its kind of amazing that it’s lasted as long as it has.

Originally Posted by Morthoron

Interesting to so see LotRO has declined to the point where it requires free-to-play status. Perhaps if they catered to the very folks who believed in the original game design (MEO or Middle-earth Online) and were avid fans of Tolkien's Middle-earth, then they may have maintained a loyal customer base without the need to use such desperate tactics to remain viable.

It’s sad to see Tolkien's amazing world sink to the level of Allods Online (even though Allods is probably a better game) and the other myriads of such offerings that don't even deserve a mention. It could have been so much more than this. When I look at the things that are planned for games like Guild Wars 2 and compare it to the twaddle Turbine peddles...its just pathetic.

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Snowdog

Couldn't have said it better myself. My early high hopes for MEO were dashed before release, and I never came to ever starting to play it.

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

That's what I'd figured. The problem with competing with WoW is that nobody can compete with WoW because nobody can do WoW better than WoW (follow that sentence, I dare you ). Its sad but true, WoW is just a better game than LOTRO. Having played WoW, which I hadn't until earlier this year, it is depressing with that perspective to see how LOTRO never had a shot because of the misguided intentions of its developers.

When one adds in the excruciatingly bizarre decisions made by Turbine over the course of the game's life its kind of amazing that it’s lasted as long as it has.

You may be amused to read my final review of LotRo from February, 2007, when I washed my hands of the whole thing in as scathing a fashion as possible. It set off a firestorm between Turbine sycophants and brown-nosers VS. the Tolkien crowd. I must say, I was furious when I wrote it, particularly after championing lore-appropriateness in a Middle-earth MMORPG since Sierra had the designing rights in the late 90's. Be warned, the language is not pretty or civil, but in retrospect, I still believe I was entirely correct: I Will Not Be Playing LOTRO

[CaptainofDespair]

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

CaptainofDespair is probably wondering what in the world happened to me.

Nah. I could tell from your last month or so in-game that you were not terribly pleased with Turbine's continued direction. Good to see you are still kickin' though. ;-)

[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.

[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.