Originally posted by nerovipus32

Failing with an IP as vast and loved as lord of the rings tells me turbine are not a great developement studio, the original lord of the rings game middle earth online was a far superior idea.

I agree 100%. Pity that one of the best IPs is wasted by Turbine.

I like Lotro a lot.  Been playing it for the last year and am having more fun with this game than with most others I've played.  That said, the new expansion is very disappointing.  No new dunegons, no new game modes, nothing really groundbreaking.  They updated existing systems and made them work a little better.  The quests are smoother.  The number issues are better.  The gear grind is more friendly.  But there's nothing new or amazing, and at level cap there's nothing to do besides run old instances at the higher level, and the one new raid.  The new raid is really cool, but it's a huge investment.  A good kill takes around an hour, and a practice attempt can run even longer, and you may not even get to the parts you need to practice.

When LOTRO launched and right up to Moria, I felt that the developers were truly dedicated to producing a game based faithfully on the spirit of Tolkien's works. The art of storytelling and world design came first. Since then, every expansion introduces more blatant commercialism and more ways to completely skip the art, storytelling and world.

Its become a bunch of menus and a town hub, thanks to Instance Join.

If you've never played LOTRO and like the IP, then it's absolutely worth trying.

I'm totally disenchanted with the game have already abandoned it for the foreseeable future after reaching the level cap in ROI.  They barely release content and the expansions are getting smaller and smaller.

Originally posted by Sporin

Aesthetics: 9/10

I clearly must not have played the same game as you? Because the LotRo I bought looks awful, the characters are wooden, the horses are even worse, the background scenery is the only thing that looks any way half good. Yes, it has a ok story & nice, helpful people playing it, but thats about it. Most of it was empty, dead & very boring. Sorry.

 

Wooden characters Oo

Clearly you need to buy new pc man better then the wooden pc you got at that time ....

Lotro went from being my favorite mmo to making me want to barf out of boredom. i log in about once a month, sigh heavily, and then log out again.

I was so looking forward to Rise of Isengard, but since the expac released I never came further than level68-69, before I became totally bored out of my skull!

The whole Expansion is an On Rails SOLO experience, forcing you to follow the Main Epic Questline to unlock one questhub after the other.

No more freedom to go and quest where you want. NOPE! Somehow Turbine found it necessary to totally dumb down the game into a boring On Rails SOLO experience with this new expac.

The new crafting Tier is also a total joke, with lack of recipes!

I remember people complaining about the Size of the previous Mirkwood expansion and that it wasn't really an expansion in their eyes.

But sad truth is, that the Siege of Mirkwood expansion offered tons more content, more fun, fellowship quests, instances, new skirmish system with tons of skirmishes!

Rise of Isengard is nothing more than a questpack and then they had the nerves to charge FULL expansion price for it!

A total Rip Off for the loyal VIP subscribers!  As at this moment VIP has become a total joke! You actually get more worth for your money staying Premium! /facepalm

I am totally done with LOTRO. One of my favorite games has become one of my most hated one overnight!

I have totally lost any respect I had for Turbine! As this expansion was nothing more than a sick money grab!

PS. And don't even talk about the poor Monsterplayers who have been totally screwed over once again!





 

Isengard is the worst expansion i ever tried in my 15 years on MMO-gaming. I already made a post on the forum about it. Tell how much they motivate people to buy it but how little it actually has to offer. The expansion "Rise of Isengard" is the closet it ever felt to a totally rip-off in any MMO, and i've even played AOC when it launched and other, but this is worse. It offers no content only a area to level to 75. It offers close to no gameplay in the zone Isengard. Which they advert it to have.

I can only strongly advice anyone, who have play lotro since the beginning and trough out all the expansion, that this is the worst ever, dont buy it, it has nothing to offer you haven't seen already, and half the stuff does not work (such as crafting, they just put in items to craft to say "check, we made new recipes" - New relics that are worse then the old once ...)

The only raid they added, the dragon. I have to say it looks amazing, actually one of the best animated encounters i've seen for long. But wait, its bugged, few different thing will make it bug out and their customer service basically just tell us "go screw your self" ...

DONT BUY IT .. i quit again after 3 weeks.

In all honesty, someone in the US should file a lawsuite against Turbine due to fales marketing, creating hype, motivate and encourage  people to by an expansion under fales truth about what it offers. They have stepped on several issue in the marketing law. False marketing is serious business.

 

Thanks to the coders for RoI who put out an expac that crashes 32 bit OS's quite well.  It's a known problem...let's see if they fix it. I would not mind, but the log in time keeps getting longer with each expansion...very slow now. 

Originally posted by avalon1000

Thanks to the coders for RoI who put out an expac that crashes 32 bit OS's quite well.  It's a known problem...let's see if they fix it. I would not mind, but the log in time keeps getting longer with each expansion...very slow now. 

 

 Ohh i also crash every now and then, every hour

I tried to download LoTR several times a couple of months ago. Unfortunately there was some major glitch or virus in Pando (the program they use to download) and not only couldn't I get it to work I had to restore my computer twice because of it (I kept trying different methods to download it because friends said it was great and I was sick of WoW).

A good lesson for other game makers. If you don't keep on top of your programming you're gonna lose some potential customers forever.

While it is true that the game is in a steady state of decline look 'n feel-wise, it's still a great game, but it's become this big budget thing which is expected to gain even larger revenues and the way to do this is to shift focus. Basically, it's all about becoming more Warcrafty.Who cares if a thousand vets leave in the process, there's 10.000 Warcraftees to replace em. That's called good business.

I'm one of those vets and have cancelled my account for various reasons. The main one being Turbine's arrogance and reluctance towards communication. Guardians have been asking to be heard for over a year now. No response. Europeans are being overcharged and demand an official statement. No response.

Good game for anyone who's considering to start. It's one of the best MMOs out there. For MMO Vets? Time to call it quits.

I have played LotRO since beta myself and have always had a fondness for it until lately. I have been losing interest in the game for over a year now and RoI was enough of a disappointment that I will probably be moving on to a new MMO soon. I will most likely stay around to see the instances that are supposed to come in the December update, if they manage to get them out by then. But I seriously don't see myself subbing beyond this month or December.

RoI was hyped up like it would deliver something akin to MoM in terms of content, locations and group stuff but instead it came off more like a Mirkwood mini-expansion. It feels as if they are more interested in the LotRO store than the actual game itself.

Originally posted by nerovipus32

Failing with an IP as vast and loved as lord of the rings tells me turbine are not a great developement studio, the original lord of the rings game middle earth online was a far superior idea.

 

"Failing?"  It's one of the most popular MMOs around, and has aged very well.  There are some obvious issues with the direction that Turbine has taken it, and I didn't find the RoI expansion particularly awe-inspiring, but to say this game has failed in any respect is just incorrect.  It's one of the most polished, visually-impressive, immersive, and content-filled MMOs on the market today.  I'm always amazed when people believe a game has "failed" simply because they don't prefer it, no matter how many other people do.

Originally posted by fenistil

Originally posted by Czanrei

Unfortunately it's gone beyond trying to convert to single player mode. They have totally dumbed down their crafting/harvesting system the same way SWG tried to do with the NGE because they were worried about WoW. Except this time I think Lotro is worried about SWTOR. Game devs need to stop worrying to the point of paranoia and just stay true to their fanbase. 

I had played Lotro ever since alpha testing and was in the beta for RoI as well. Sad to say, I cancelled my subscription and won't be going back unless Turbine changed back some of their bad choices. I am sure it won't happen anytime soon if at all, but I know I am not alone on this view because others have agreed with me on their official forums. 

But like many devs these days, they choose not to listen to the people making their paychecks possible.

THIS.

 

+1

 

Additionally I don't really like F2P mode, cause it clearly changes devs focus to make game connects to store in as many places as possible, to increase store sales as far as changing game mechanics to boost store sales (it was done in Lotro).  

It 'feels' like it is more about the store than game itself. 

 

 

 

the game was nerfed before f2p, it is now even worse.  ROI was not worth the $ I paid for it.  I ended my sub.  MMO's are now all about greed, it is single player games for me.. they are still about making a profit but until I see a cash shop in a single player game I am good.

Turbine is the gaming company where golden franchise opportunities go to die.

This could have been a great game and actually deserve a 8.3 rating but now its not even close.

The first 2 years lotro was a solid game with a great jump into the market and the last 2 years have been lost with a f2p money grab.

Rise of Isengard as a stand alone $50.00 expac can be argued as the biggest rip off in mmo's ever.

MMORPG.com why not give a honest review of ROI as a stand alone expac? Don't forget the new pvmp map lie. Or the free dragon raid lie. Or the ROI ships with 3 massive zones lie. Or the convoluted turn of events where you are a fully armed prisoner of the bad guys helping to fight for them.

Well I honestly can't blame you for blowing smoke up everyones backsides with a generalised f2p fluff piece and just ignore that ROI even happened.

The sooner the lotro license ends the sooner a real game company can do a proper run at Lord of the Rings. Not Turbines vision of us trailing the fellowship with with a shovel and pooper scooper.

You all fail, this is a 1/10 game. 

Copy and paste environements, scenarios and monsters. Kill small spiders for 10 levels the next are larger with different color. Then an end game boss is just a REALLY big spider with some spells. If you read the books, do yourself a favor and DO NOT PLAY. 

Tie that in with the fact they want to profit on basic MMORPG elements makes this crooked publisher a zull on 0 /10 

SO MUCH better F2P out there. I am currently enjoying several. Enjoy the fail your trolls and wanna be tolkien fans. 

Best F2P model and game out there, didn't care for this expansion thou, but the game over-all for what you can access and later buy in bits, is perfect. Other companies should watch this company closly on how to do it right.

Good customer reviews for this product seem very far and few between considering it is some sort of record breaking expansion (which record we aren't being told).

Why are the official reviews so far out of line with customer reviews?