All Posts by Settingsun

I didn't like the grind. It gets very very annoying. I didn't like the weakness or maybe the strength of mobs. You have very limited control over what your character done sin combat. You get a few skills after the newbie levels, but ieven then it limited. Its all about click and watch then once you get a few adds run away.
Quest xp is crap so its all grind. Everyone looks the same.

Originally posted by mstic

Originally posted by damian7    
maybe they tried it, and it sucked, so they stopped ...

I don't know. It might be no win no matter what. Even if they had set the game in the 1st age, then people would be yelling that its a mistake and that noone who just has a casual interest in Lotr will understand what's going on, etc.

The real question is has any game based on a hugely popular movie/novel done well as an mmo? SWG failed. It failed so bad it  went against the lore that was within the timeline, then rather than changing the timeline to match the new lore (lots of Jedi) they pretended nothing was different.
Matrix didn't cut it. Any others?

"there's a Nazgul on his dark horse fighting the Dunedain. As he stabs him, the Nazgul turns to you and your entire screen goes nuts, with freakishly disturbed music playing. He starts coming towards you and then some wood collapses blocking the way. He screeches and rides off, promising to see you again."

That sounds like a movie clip to me. Can you attack the rider? Can you do anything? No? So you are basicly watching an event unfold. Events you unlocked by jumping through a few hoops.

Its my understanding (granted second hand knowledge) that all the story line events are like that. You watch. You can't fail. Or at worse you die jumping a hoop and have to run the event over again.

Sorry that's not my idea of LoTR. I loved the books. I liked the moives. If I am going to invest a lot of time to a LoTR mmo. I except it to be of the same quality as what has gone before. There are tons of 'okay, decent, not awful," mmos out there. I want something better. I want to be a hero in the style of LotR. From Frodo to Aragorn to Theodred, these are hero's because they resisted falling, overcoming their inner demons and struggled to do what was right.
This game is about getting on a tour bus and seeing some of Middle Earth and meeting a few of the characters from the book. There is one story line. You can't branch off down different paths because of your actions.

Now maybe the game changes so much before going live that it adds all this in. However, I've seen enough mmos go live to have my doubts about this.

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Originally posted by SignusM
You are actually pretty significant to the plot, as the tutorial will show you right off the bat. It IS the Shadows of Angmar, so you ARE stopping an invasion by the Witch King (I assume)

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"If you actually bother reading the Fellowship of the Ring, you'd understand there are many, many evil forces at work that Aragorn and the rangers had long since been fighting to keep the Shire, and other lands safe from harm. With them gone, who will guard these lands? We can!"
"The time they chose was an excellent choice. Take a step back, and realize that there's much more going on in the background than just the Fellowship's story in the books."

You just summed up why I think the game will not be great. We get to be in the background? Wow, gee-wiz. Do we change the outcome of the story by our actions? No. We are tourist. We get to run around a small bit of the world of Tolkien. We get to meet a few of the stars. We are underlings, yay. I guess that means since WE are guardianing the shire, Saruman and Wormtongue won't be there to greet Frodo?

From what I have read including from those who broke NDA either to praise or blast, most quests are standard run of the mill style.
As to the storyline quests, I ask this, does your actions effect the story? I guessing you are like a mouse in a maze. Do XYZ and watch a little story movie. How is that kind of quest better?

Classes are all the same. At least from 1 to end game. People have said the talents or whatever they are called are so small that they hardly matter. Now maybe at 50 there is some huge difference, but I've heard nothing about that.

I guess we will just have to wait until open beta to get a real idea about this game.

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Originally posted by Jackdog

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Originally posted by Aetherfang 
this community is just getting better and better....

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the commmunity willl get a lot worse after release when all the WoW kiddies drop their subscriptions to WoW and run over to LoTRO

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Akira

Ambassador

Miranda

Danube

Defiant

Galaxy

Hope

Intrepid

Nebula

New Orleans

Nova

Prometheus

Saber

Sovereign

Steamrunner

Wells

What is the most crazy late game damage build? Controllers, fire/kin/fire is insane. Everyone in the player base knew it, so what's the surprise?

Opening classic servers would never work. You all are looking at the past with rose colored glasses. Even if they turn the game back to what it was few would be happy with it, because they aren't the same people they were when they fell in love with the game. You can't forget the past. You can't wipe away the memory of the other games you have since played. You can never go back. You have changed.

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Originally posted by Billius8

I agree with the O.P.  Maybe setting the game 50 years before the events of LOTR would have been optimal. 

Remember, this is a game about the player adventurers, not Aragorn, Frodo and Gandalf (with the players hanging out in the background and standing in their shadows or holding up the tails of their robes).

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You might have been able to set it after the ring's end, but then you'd have even a bigger problem explaining why elves are still around.

Setting it before, while allowing you to have more open lore, makes it to alien for the average player.

They want to go mass market. In order to do that you have to set the world in a time that people know.

Look at the hulk moive. How many people, including reviewers were flipping out because the only 'hulk' they knew about was from the tv show.

Also keep in mind you have to sell your idea to backers.

The sad thing is, players who would have gotten why it was pre-lotr, are they same ones would who have stuck around and made a community. They ar also the ones who are playing just because its the lotr world no matter the time frame, but they are a minority.
The others only think they want it set during lotr, once they figure out they can't be Frodo or Gandulf they lose interest and leave.

They best thing to do is make a game that is fun and interesting and set it (if based on a book or movie) in a time that supports these things. It might never be Wow, but it will have a solid and steady base of players.

Lotro is not going forward, but rather lateral. They are going to make the world bigger, but still locked within that small time frame. What does that really offer players who stay with the game? Sure 3 years down the road new players will love how big the world is, but at some point even they will ask, "okay I have seen a lot of the world and helped with the war efforts...so when does the ring fall into Mount Doom?"
At least with SWG is was a sandbox, so you could sort of make your own history.