Lord of the Rings Online

Am I the only one who thinks they are destroying this game with the overuse of reputation?

I played Turbines previous game Asheron's Call.. and during the winter for a very short period of time Hoary Mattekars appeared and rarely dropped their hides... as I was running around forochel  I found a Hoary Auroch and I knew it had to be a homage to Asheron's call so I killed one and recieved a hoary mattekar hide which I hoped would give me a Hoary Mattekar Robe (same reward in AC) to my suprise I was right, I went and found that I could purchase a Hoary Mattekar Robe Recipe but could only use it if I had Kindrid Reputation..

What a freaking drag.   Not only is kindrid rep insanely difficult and time consuming to obtain but how freaking pointless is it...   as time went on they made rep grinding more and more mandatory and this book takes it to the next level.

I know what some of you are thinking "whats wrong with adding rewards for getting reputation?" And taht answer to that is its absolutely wrong to make everything in the zone require a rank of reputation that you have to GRIND OUT. I heard rep grinding is what made WoW a nightmare, Turbine following this is a huge mistake.

*edit* the h barely works on this keyboard :/

1. You are talking about AC, this is LOTRO - while similarities exist they are two distinct different games.

2. WOW forces you to grind rep, LOTRO gives you the option - if you don't do it, you are not slighted as rep items offer a few perks but nothing amazing.

3. You build up rep (much better description for LOTRO) by questing so there is no that much grind. The new area of Forochel is also very generous in regards the NPCs dropping reputation items.

4. No insult meant but you have EQ II signature and you are not the first of EQ II folks to come here and poke for the sake of poking (look at openedge1). Plus EQ II is hardly grind free.

Don't be hard on Druz 'cause of his sig, he's a LOTRO fan alright :)

As for the rep - I had *never* grinded in WOW for rep, as I did not like the concept at it was insanely tedious.

However, in LOTRO I have reached Kindred status with the Elves of Rivendell, even though I did not put any focus on it :) i was just playing along, doing quests (that, on the sidebar, give reputation:), killing goblins (giving reputation) in Goblin town, cashing in Elvish relics, etc. Of course, being an LM did help a lot :) so i could craft rep items galore as well.

So - while it's not a short trip to get a kindred reputation, it is also not totally unreachable unless you grind 24/7 for months - like in WOW.

One more thing: the reputation items being perks and little nice loot (as opposed to being super über loot/skills etc), is actually a *very* smart idea. If you could get the Ultra-mega-über DPS superweapon from a kindred rep - everybody would be grinding reputation and it would really ruin the game (also the economy of rep items in the AH...)

DB

Originally posted by Illyrian

4. No insult meant but you have EQ II signature and you are not the first of EQ II folks to come here and poke for the sake of poking (look at openedge1). Plus EQ II is hardly grind free.

Eh... that's rather unfair don't you think?

Druz is in Forochel and going through the content... He's obviously on a higher level character and is playing the game. He's voicing a concern about something that he's noticing in the game and asking if anyone else is noticing it. Nothing wrong with that. Having an EQII sig banner means nothing more than that he plays EQ2. It doesn't make him "like someone else on here", or reduce his criticisms to "poking for the sake of poking". He doesn't mention EQ2 once in his post, and you're arguing how "EQ2 hardly grind free"... That's completely out of the blue.

Comments like that are what give the impression that we can't handle any criticism of the game around here.

For one, I agree that "finding ways to make players grind more, in as many different ways as possible" does seem to be a growing trend in various MMOs now and it is annoying. It's like "Yes, we know it annoys you... but we know you're going to do it anyway and it's the easiest way for us to add new content, so... Here... grind more!"

That said, I think DB also makes a good point that reputation in LoTRO isn't handled quite the same... or rather, doesn't reward quite so prominently as it does in other MMOs, so you really aren't "missing out on anything vital" if you don't do it. Hell, I only occasionally look at my rep just to see where I'm at. I'm not at top rep with anyone yet and I don't feel it's holding me back at all. Though my approach to anything in a MMO is "I'll get there when I get there".

I do think some people see something like reputation as an implied "must have", though. And because of how other MMOs have handled it, they see those bars and feel like they *have* to grind the reputation.

Honestly, I wish MMO devs would get away from the "rep grind" approach, find some other system that produces the same results but is more passive and not so "in your face".

I've been enjoying this game, but I can relate to the OP. Guild Wars, in an effort to keep its low level cap, instead made everything from PvE-focussed skills to expensive skins of armor dependent on Rep Farming.

But the difference between the LOTRO and GW rep farming vs WoW, as someone pointed out, is at least we have the option to grind in these towards a reward, but are not penalized  or broken for not having them. At least at current state.

Let's cross finger that 10 extra levels on the Expansion doesn't give the Turbine folks crazy ideas.

Yes, I too despise the reputation system. 

I've come to the conclusion that people just don't know how to play these games.

So here is a clue. Don't rep grind. You got it.. don't do it.

DO collect the items that you use for rep points and when you are in town turn them in. I've noticed that my rep for a variety of factions are slowly but surely creeping up there.

What happens is players have gone nuts... you probably border on obsessive compulsive and are "completeists" (or however one spells that).

It's like the players who complained about the undying title. They started ranting and raving. That's a brand of insanity you don't want to buy!

So stop it. Just stop it. Play the game and take things as they come. Stop forcing yourself to do things that should just come as it comes.

Originally posted by Sovrath

I've come to the conclusion that people just don't know how to play these games.

So here is a clue. Don't rep grind. You got it.. don't do it.

DO collect the items that you use for rep points and when you are in town turn them in. I've noticed that my rep for a variety of factions are slowly but surely creeping up there.

What happens is players have gone nuts... you probably border on obsessive compulsive and are "completeists" (or however one spells that).

It's like the players who complained about the undying title. They started ranting and raving. That's a brand of insanity you don't want to buy!

So stop it. Just stop it. Play the game and take things as they come. Stop forcing yourself to do things that should just come as it comes.

I don't rep grind, but it's annoying when they block you from doing things just to justify the rep grind being there.   Swift travel in Forochel is a great example.  And the superior workbench in Thorin's Hall.  It was ridiculous to have the superior forge and workbench so far away when my metalsmith recipes call for items that come from both. 

The OP's example is a good one too. 

Originally posted by Wrymstrum

 

Originally posted by Sovrath

I've come to the conclusion that people just don't know how to play these games.

So here is a clue. Don't rep grind. You got it.. don't do it.

DO collect the items that you use for rep points and when you are in town turn them in. I've noticed that my rep for a variety of factions are slowly but surely creeping up there.

What happens is players have gone nuts... you probably border on obsessive compulsive and are "completeists" (or however one spells that).

It's like the players who complained about the undying title. They started ranting and raving. That's a brand of insanity you don't want to buy!

So stop it. Just stop it. Play the game and take things as they come. Stop forcing yourself to do things that should just come as it comes.

 

I don't rep grind, but it's annoying when they block you from doing things just to justify the rep grind being there.   Swift travel in Forochel is a great example.  And the superior workbench in Thorin's Hall.  It was ridiculous to have the superior forge and workbench so far away when my metalsmith recipes call for items that come from both. 

 

The OP's example is a good one too. 

The regualr travel is available without the rep and lore wise Lossoth were very unwelcoming bunch.

I agree with Sovrath's post and that is how I normally play. Or at least try to:)

And to answer WSIMike - having in mind the OP's tone (I hate grinding - LOTRO is forcing grinding) I don't feel I was unfair. LOTRO is giving you an option to build reputation, if you don't you will miss perks but you will not be slighted. In WoW you are forced to grind rep or you will not be competitive.

Further more you can build a lot of rep just by questing withotu the need for a thread mill approach. The crafted items offered by Lossoth are decent for mid 40s but inferior to the gear of level 50 character, not to mention that it is very area flavoured gear:) Quite simply you don't need to grind as it is a perk gear and not top notch thing you HAVE to grind for.

Difference in the level of options imho:) I plan to do it for fun as I love questing in Forochel:)