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Elikal 6/27/07 10:39:02 PM
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Elite Member
Joined: 2/09/06 |
When I came to LOTRO I was fleeing from Vanguard. Vanguard has successfully established a new definition of the words “cold” and “boring”, bringen blandness to new heights. Coming to LOTRO I felt ecstatic! I saw things I had NEVER seen in MMOs, and things I ALWAYS wanted to see in them!
I have finally seen a MMO with acutally story-telling! And damn good one. Well, for a game. Going through the instances, reading the quests and how each region has its own story going on, small stories forming a bigger one, and they weaving into one big story-carpet, its really excellent to follow it! I really appreciate it, and I think, after playing dozens of MMOs over the years, I never have seen such great story telling in any MMO yet.
The other thing I am still in awe about is the graphics. Its not so much the level of detail in itself, but the ideas! The way they designed valleys, rivers, grassy hills, ruins, EVERYTHING radiates atmoshpere in a deep, emotional way, as I have never seen before. Its hard to describe what exactly makes this atmosphere. Just find you way the Old Forest for the first time and you understand. It’s the way the place things, how they colour things, how they use light and shadow, that makes the world of LOTRO beautiful like a masterpiece painting.
So whats the downside? The downside is… coming from huge games like SWG, EQ2 and also Vanguard the degree of complexity in LOTRO feels… underwhelming. You have those 4 races, 9 or so classes, 3 starting areas and that’s it. No fancy selection of many different mounts, no player cities, VERY limited crafting possibilites. (I loved to craft furniture in EQ2: something entirely useless but pretty and visible. Things, people placed in their houses to display it to their friends.) Its all so… little you can do if for a time you have no will to quest. Sure, you can RP, smoke, dance, the summer soltice is great fun atm, but altogether there is so little alternative. I am a great re-roller. I make alts in great numbers to see other classes and races, other lines of character development. In LOTRO… I feel no desire to make alts. I tried, but I dont feel like it.
Or grouping: 95% of the time, I join or make a group, we do our one or two quests together, and then the group disbands. I have never seen such a short lived grouping EVER before! I think the reason for this is, that quests are ususlly short and has a limited complexity. If I recall some quests from EQ2 or VG, god… often I was on the road HOURS and DAYS on one quest alone! In LOTRO I can relatively quickly rush through quests. I understand this is a great benefit for casual players; they can enter the game and have results even in a short session. The downside is, I don’t feel the feeling of going into a BIG adventure most of the time, like doing some BIG quest. I get 15 min into this, fetching something then back, next step, kill some mobs, 15 min, back to NPC ad nauseam. I miss those “here is your task” and then the group is on the road for hours and days!
I never thought I would EVER hear myself say that, but the levelling is too fast. I really loathed the endless VG levelling, but LOTRO is quite a way to fast. I feel rushing through the levels and areas, even though I do play quite casual, exploring all areas, gathering titles and all. But still, whenever I make some friends, 2 weeks later I am hopelessly outlevelled and I loose contact. I have forced myself to a slow pace, but most people level quite fast, FAR too fast IMO, and LOTRO should slow them down somehow.
Or take PVP: I loved Monsterplay. For 2 weeks. Then I had seen all. How many time can you conquer the same keep over and over without getting anything from it or getting anywhere? You don’t advance your faction, you don’t get loot or levels. Nothing. It is GREAT fun, but it is too less complex and too little to advance into. Overall, LOTRO is a REAL gem of a game. I am quite fond of it and wish it well. However, I can already see my intermezzo in it will be short. I know they add a lot of stuff, fast and in high quality. No doubt. Likely I am just not the right target audience being not SO new and casual. No houses, no flying mounts, no ships, no 15+ races or 20+ classes. I know the Tolkien Loremongers will hate me, but Turbine really has to step over some limits to make LOTRO a game with a more lasting appeal. Otherwise there is a real chance many of those who came in great numbers will also leave in half a year, especially with the many complex MMOs on the horizon.
LOTRO needs more of many things. More classes. More races. All the stuff other MMOs have. Making a great world and wonderful stories is one things, but people desire complexity these days. Otherwise it can fall into a niche much sooner than anyone thinks today, and LOTRO really has deserved better. The true verdict yet remains to be seen. |
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| "Who is the greater fool, the fool or the fool or replies to the post of a fool?" |
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jnewl 6/27/07 11:27:16 PM
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Apprentice Member
Joined: 2/01/04 |
I totally disagree. LOTRO has the longest legs of any game currently out there. That its strengths--its storyline, for example, which has a looooong time available to it to play out--don't appeal to you doesn't mean that there's something wrong with the game. It simply means that you should be playing something else. I don't happen to like WoW. I don't therefore conclude that WoW is on its last legs. I conclude that I should be playing LOTRO instead. |
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| Some ancient cultures used to worship cats as gods. Cats have never forgotten this. |
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Die_Scream 6/28/07 12:45:44 AM
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Hard Core Member
Joined: 9/11/06
"I don''t care! I''m gonna eat somebody." |
To be honest, it just sounds like "culture shock" coming from Vanguard. You went from a 10MPH game to a 100MPH game, if you get what I mean. Not that one is better, but you were used to VG's leveling curve, suddenly in this game it seems like you hit the nitro, level speed wise. However, I think the leveling speed is fine, you get used to it, and then it seems to be normal. Also, I think you underestimate LOTRO, its only going to get bigger and better, at least for the next few months. Turbine are going to pack content in over the next year I believe. Its already one of the most polished games out there, and its still a baby. Just think, at this point in the story, the fellowship hasn't even left yet. Think of the content geographicaly as well thats possible to add. Imo, LOTRO will be around for a long time to come.
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| "nerf rock, paper is working as intended." - Scissors. |
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Elikal 6/28/07 1:10:04 AM
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Elite Member
Joined: 2/09/06 |
Before someone flames: I want to point out I hold LOTRO in very high regards! Its only the long term appeal I am somehow afraid of, but open to hear opoinions! This aint a doomsday post! ^^ And yeah, coming from VG indeed IS a kind of culture shock. In VG I used to POWER POWER POWER play - and oh noes just one more bubble... and now in LOTRO I made a few quests here and there only lazily and whoopsy - hey I already made 2 more levels! |
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| "Who is the greater fool, the fool or the fool or replies to the post of a fool?" |
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Die_Scream 6/28/07 1:33:05 AM
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Hard Core Member
Joined: 9/11/06
"I don''t care! I''m gonna eat somebody." |
Yeah, I meant no flame, I read your post, and agree with some points. |
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| "nerf rock, paper is working as intended." - Scissors. |
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Lobotomist 6/28/07 3:31:50 AM
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Hard Core Member
Joined: 5/20/07
I got so much |
It is no secret. What Turbine did is to launch smaller game and launch it polished , instead like VG launch huge game and launch it broken. There is not much juice in LOTRO at this moment. But it is set to grow. 1 month after release another area was added. Next month housing will be added... and so on and so forward
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sylum69 6/28/07 3:37:15 AM
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Apprentice Member
Joined: 5/04/05 |
Originally posted by LobotomistI think there's a lot of truth in that. It's one of the reasons why a lifetime membership is worthwhile.
Baby steps...baby steps.
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Jackdog 6/28/07 6:15:01 AM
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Elite Member
Joined: 3/19/04 |
I starterd re reading "the Hobbit"t week and was reminded that Bilbo and company reached the Trollshaws which is a lvl 30 area ingame by the end of the second chapter. Turbine has shown with their other games that expansions can and will happen on a regular basis, In the meantime I am not even at 40 on my main, have not started a "monster", and did very little crafting. Also Bioshock releases in August and AoC is still slated for October release. That is why I bought the lifetime membership. I plan on playing LoTRO for years down the road however I will take a break now and then. I like steak and baked potatoes but don't give it to me every night for 3 years straight. |
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Jackdog 6/28/07 6:39:17 AM
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Elite Member
Joined: 3/19/04 | ||
