Originally posted by aurick

Originally posted by dreamscaper

Originally posted by Mrbloodworth

Originally posted by dreamscaper

I'll admit that I'm looking forward to this expansion. However, the one thing I'm not looking forward to are skirmishes. Everyone seems to be horribly overestimating how dynamic these are going to be. Let me bold this for emphasis.

The only thing dynamic about skirmishes are which monsters you'll be facing, which scale to the size of your party.

That's it. The areas are static. The objectives are static.  Just the monsters. All in all, I've seen nothing that separates this system from the crafting instances, other than the scaling. Which is nice, but at the end of the day, I still have the same problem with it - I don't want to run the same stuff over, and over, and over, and over. I don't care how dynamic you think it is, it's simply not as good as fresh content.

Granted, I'd rather have it than not have it in the game - more stuff is always better. But I wish they'd focus less how much they can make us grind the same content and focus more on the content that really makes the game (the book quests).

I'll receive the expansion automatically, so I'll definitely be playing. But if it proves to be more of the asinine hamster wheel they put us on in Moria, I'll be canceling my subscription very quickly.

<3

 

Developer Diary: SoM Skirmishes: Randomization and Scaling

 

I've read that dev diary, yes. It basically just confirms what I said above?

 

Which is less monotonous and predictable?  This skirmish system, or every WoW dungeon ever made?

Turbine is taking things in the right direction.  Why bash them for it?

Because everything they've written about the system hints that it's primary purpose is a time sink, grinding away for the little rewards offered by the tokens the enemies there drop. We don't need more of that - we have far too much of it in Moria already.

There are few things I hate more than repeatable quests. While the skirmishes are going to be different, there so much better stuff they could been working on. Give us more interesting story-based questlines. Give us more sections of Middle Earth that are something besides quest hubs. Reward explorers. Redo animations and models. Give us better UI skins that are on par with LedMirage's work.  Fix the valley-itis that so many areas suffer from. Add more hairstyles and textures (and replace the DDO copy and paste jobs we have currently). Add a system that displays jewelry on your character. Fix the game engine so that interiors can be handled without zoning.

I know these things won't pad Turbine's wallet in the short term the way raising the level cap and handing out more grinds, but if it wants to be able to seriously compete with WoW it can't do it half-assed the way WoW does. WoW can get away with it due to their own inertia - Turbine can't.

<3

Originally posted by dreamscaper

Because everything they've written about the system hints that it's primary purpose is a time sink, grinding away for the little rewards offered by the tokens the enemies there drop. We don't need more of that - we have far too much of it in Moria already.

There are few things I hate more than repeatable quests. While the skirmishes are going to be different, there so much better stuff they could been working on. Give us more interesting story-based questlines. Give us more sections of Middle Earth that are something besides quest hubs. Reward explorers. Redo animations and models. Give us better UI skins that are on par with LedMirage's work.  Fix the valley-itis that so many areas suffer from. Add more hairstyles and textures (and replace the DDO copy and paste jobs we have currently). Add a system that displays jewelry on your character. Fix the game engine so that interiors can be handled without zoning.

I know these things won't pad Turbine's wallet in the short term the way raising the level cap and handing out more grinds, but if it wants to be able to seriously compete with WoW it can't do it half-assed the way WoW does. WoW can get away with it due to their own inertia - Turbine can't.

<3

Isn't that what all MMO's are...a time sink?  I really enjoy LotRO and am happy that Turbine is offering Skirmishes to off-set the monotony of questing.  I think it's an innovative system that I think will be copied to other MMO's soon. 

As far as your other points...they are more QoL issues.  They have addressed some concerns with that in the expansion...like the mount system, auto-compete mail, and the ability to solo some of the epic quests if you want/need to.  I think exploring is it's own reward and doesn't really need to be an extra incentive to do so.

I, personally, don't get the "valley-itis" comment.  If you couldn't access the hills, I could understand it, but most of the hills in LotRO are accessible via a path or just walking up a slope.  I don't see it as an issue. 

I do agree with you on the animations and hair, but it isn't a game-breaker for me.  And the time they spent re-doing all of that could be spent adding more content.

One thing I wish they would address is the housing system.  They implemented it and just kinda forgot about it.  Make it more useful.  Give me shelves for my potions and dyes.  Give me a closet to store outfits.  Give me events in neighborhoods.  Give me the ability to add a storage shed for even more storage. 

Everyone has pets now to do skirmishes? What is this a solo game? Why not grab another person playing instead? I don't think I want any part of this solo MSO (Massively Solo Player Online)

Originally posted by qombi

Everyone has pets now to do skirmishes? What is this a solo game? Why not grab another person playing instead? I don't think I want any part of this solo MSO (Massively Solo Player Online)

You can also group if you wish.  Apparently, you haven't played because there is a lot of group content and more is being added with the expansion.

Originally posted by junzo316

Originally posted by qombi

Everyone has pets now to do skirmishes? What is this a solo game? Why not grab another person playing instead? I don't think I want any part of this solo MSO (Massively Solo Player Online)

 

You can also group if you wish.  Apparently, you haven't played because there is a lot of group content and more is being added with the expansion.

I see no problem with options. Solo, 3, 6, 12 man for skirmishes is fine. You can also increase the difficulty as well. The 12 man will have the most rewards and easy solo the least. What is wrong with that?

Grouping and interaction is always the best way to play MMO's. The problem is that your friends may not be on or you don't have a lot of time and you would just like the option to try skirmishes. Or any other option available. Just because you can play solo doesn't have to mean everyone will play solo and never group.

Originally posted by artemisentr4

Originally posted by junzo316

Originally posted by qombi

Everyone has pets now to do skirmishes? What is this a solo game? Why not grab another person playing instead? I don't think I want any part of this solo MSO (Massively Solo Player Online)

 

You can also group if you wish.  Apparently, you haven't played because there is a lot of group content and more is being added with the expansion.

 

I see no problem with options. Solo, 3, 6, 12 man for skirmishes is fine. You can also increase the difficulty as well. The 12 man will have the most rewards and easy solo the least. What is wrong with that?

Grouping and interaction is always the best way to play MMO's. The problem is that your friends may not be on or you don't have a lot of time and you would just like the option to try skirmishes. Or any other option available. Just because you can play solo doesn't have to mean everyone will play solo and never group.

What's more, if you do go on a 12 man raid version, each person will still have his or her own follower.  That means that the developers are able to craft the challenge of a 24 man raid, without requiring players to deal with the massive headaches involved with trying to get such large raiding parties together and organized.  And a small group of friends can also enjoy the challenge of a 12 man raid.

I would have played a pet class if I wanted a pet. I like to play my character, not my character + bot.

Originally posted by qombi

I would have played a pet class if I wanted a pet. I like to play my character, not my character + bot.

While I appreciate new content for the freeps, when are the creeps going to get some loving? Its seems the good guys always get all the lovin'. I used to love roving on my warg, and especially in a duo or as a pack, but it gets old, being stuck in that little area. It gets old on both sides actually. I would dearly love to see pvp expanded upon, and adventuring on a warg and other "monsters" (they're not monsters, they're just misunderstood) made possible. One would think with the battle supposedly heating up in Mirkwood, pvp would be expanded too. But I haven't heard anything about that. I'm very disappointed by that, tbh.

to me lord of the rings seams to be the most inovative fantasy mmo around . i know some people dont like it because they find it slow paced but i ve never really had a problem with this . i too would like to see some more pvp options . i m keeping my fingers crossed for volume 3 in that respect . looking forward to siege of mirkwood . it should be a lot of fun .