Originally posted by Skooma2

 

Two thousand players out of how many who maintain a subscription? If there are more than 200,000 players then your group represents approximately 1% of the playing population.  They are not going to replace, rework or otherwise muddle with housing when such a small percentage of the players complained about it.

 

I cannot comment on your complaints regarding customer support as I have not had any recent dealings with them, except to say that in the encounters I have had with customer support, I never had a problem with them.

This is actually based on something that happened in early 2008. And you are reffering to a number of Subs sold, not active. The number of people was accumilated in a matter of 3 weeks or so. Given enough time, it would have been quite larger. The housing is not an upgrade from games 2 online gaming  generations back, other than the graphics.

I had said in the past how the Lotro CS was the best I had worked with, but as of recent, it had become something other. I am hearing my dealings with them are not uncommon from a few friends, but they shrug it off. I was told to just play the game for the friendships and ignore the bad service. It troubles me that it is okay to treat people rudely and still get their bussiness. I am waiting for Turbine to respond to the recent interaction I had, as I think I probably got the lower end of the spectrum. I find it hard to believe such behavior is anyones standard.

Due to a recent run in with the Turbine customer support, I have to agree with the rumors that I shrugged off as random people not getting their way. I was hung up on twice after 30+ minute waits, and treated rudely after the third attempt to resolve my situation. I was calling to reactivate my account, which I had to step away from for a short time. I was coming back and bringing my fiancée to the game. The conversation went something like this.

S - Support
C - Customer (me)

S: Hello, I am so and so, how can I help you.

C: Hi, I would like to activate my account, and was wondering if I can reinstate my account from the previous plan it was in.

S: What is your account name?(I tell him my account name)

S: That account doesn't exist. (He didn't ask for clarification on the name, spelling or anything of the sort, and tries to hang up here. I tell him to try again please, and spell the name of the account.) Oh, here it is. What did you want to do? (He already forgot I was trying to reactivate my account)

C: I am trying to reactivate my account, and inquiring if I can get the same plan reinstated.

S: No, we can't do that, is there anything else I can do for you today. (At this point I see he is not interested in helping me at all. I was going to reactivate my account either way, but was attempting to keep the holiday plan that I was on since I started the game back in 07)

C: I am trying to reactivate my account.

S: Oh, Well, I can't give you the plan you were on, it was cancelled. Have a nice day. (Where in my last statement did I mention the plan I was on. I simply said I wanted to reactivate my account.)

At this point I got tired of his short talk and inability to provide customer service. Needless to say, I did not activate my account, even at the full rate, which would have been done, if he had not treated me so rudely. My fiancée and I are now looking for another game, while I wait for a response from Turbine about the service. You would thing they would treat someone who was bringing someone with them, had 5 people join the game through him previously, and had a good history with the company with a little respect. Instead I was an inconvenience to his day. I later talked to a friend of mine who said this is the norm. It was once said how helpful they were with their customer support. I am sad to see it fall to the waste side.

The housing has always been a big blunder for Lotro. It is sad to see little to no attnetion to request of the players about this. We had over 2 thousand people between many of the servers join a forum post on Lotro to get their attention which just ignored and eventually deleted, or perhaps just hidden from view. This going with the decline in customer support as of recent has been quite disturbing. It seems that Lotro is following the shoes of Verant. The problem with resting on the idea of once having a good name, is when the people find out you are no longer holding that standard, it is a huge disappointment.

I am getting close to having 4 50's, with a Hunter, Minstrel, and Burglar all level 50, and a 46 Gaurdian. I enjoy the way that each class holds their own. The Mins has the hardest time, but it is still a blast. I am planning on a Lore Master for my 5th.

While I am not saying what you typed is not true, I have not had the same experience. The support team online have been very fast to respond, and helped out a lot. There was recently a change to the squiddie fight in Carn Dum, and it caused the boss to bug. The response I got was fast, and explained it is being worked on, and a description of how to avoid the bug.

The support in LotRO is one of the best I have experienced. The forums are full of complainers that want things easy, however. I would not recommend focusing on them for the true situation. Thus the take over of Populs. Long Live Populs!

It is also Kins. There are no guilds =-P

The graphics of LotRO are good, but they are not the amazingly best. I actually find that it reminds me of Neverwinter Nights. The game has some of the best scenes however. I love to go up the top of the pass into Rivendell, or to Ever-Swim, and look at the view. I am looking forward to the up-coming improvements, once Mines of Moria comes out.

Also remember, these games use different schemes, and that makes it difficult to compare the templates.

Originally posted by Netspook

Originally posted by blindside044

(without trying to sound like an ass, like some :P )

 

/failed

Your desperate repeated attempts on trying to tell how wonderful everything really is, tells a different story.

I quit LOTRO several months ago, and would love to check it out today. But only 5 days trial, that's a bad joke. Heck, I finished TWO MONTHS free "welcome back" EQ2 time (Living Legacy campaign) a few days ago.

Everquest 2 was doing their episode to draw people in. LotRO is actually multi-puprosing this. The expansion is going to be released soon, and a lot of people are going to be coming back anyways. They did this 5 days, mainly to see how the server will hold with a huge influx. It is a smart way to go about it, I believe.

Originally posted by Suplyndmnd

First, as i know im gonna get heat for posting this some credentials. I played LOTR:O for months during beta, for 3 months after initial relase so all told i got about 5 months of playing in this game.  As true as it may be that a lot has changed my points that i make are going to be valid. If you can't argue them and feel the need to just call me an idiot, just hit the back button and don't bother replying.

 

So, i'm checing my email the other day when I see an email sent out about a "Welcome Back" campaign.  I play other MMO's s i thought nothing of it at the time but i grew weary of FFXI (I take small breaks in MMO's and right now it's FFXI's turn) and decided while i had the free time, i'd jump back in and see what has all changed in Middle Earth.  I waited a couple days and even had already downloaded the game thinking "Well, i can just download it, install the updates and it be much easier than searching for my boxed version".

So game is installed and lo and behold the 2nd arrives. I find that i gotta wait until 10 so at 1 i decide to log in to find that my account is still inactive so I click the "Reactivate".  The first problem appears here.  They want me to supply a credit card for a "Welcome Back" 5 day event.  To me, i think they should have just been fine with my logging in being able to activate my account.  So i go ahead and just click the "Activate" and it activates the account. It's then i see that the credit card on file is not just no longer valid, it expired january this year yet it still activates.  It activates an hour later mind you but activates.

So i log in to realize, it's been quite some time since i've logged in and damned if i remember where my characters were.  This obviously is a problem because Turbine deems showing this information unnecessary too so it took logging on to a few servers before I realized which I was on so many many months ago (this is yet another problem).  So i go to select my characters and my level 38 Loremaster and my 24 Hunter cant be used because the game i downloaded?  Oh no, that wasn't the game that was just the noob area of it.  Despite having tried many times to check for updates and such to download everything i needed the game felt it was ok for me to just have the noob area for now.  So, now here i am stuck, waiting for what should have been done to begin with.

However, i take it in stride as i'm trying hard to get back into the game and 2 hours after maintenace i find that the noob area has 2 people in it. Me and someone else.  This reeks of a dead game from this perspective and as it's the one i'm stuck with at the moment (and most likely others coming back are aswell) this doesn't give a good showing to what the actual numbers are in this game i feel.

So Turbine, Thank you for the 5 days, i will continue for a few more hours to get back to my higher level characters but unless i'm able to actually see that anything has changed from my initial reasoning for quitting before, i won't be back and another attempt will fall on deaf ears.  Unfortunately, it will probably fall on many deaf ears.

Also, congratulations to anyone who even bothered to reading to this point. Gotta love long and rambling posts.

This is a ridiculous rant, because you didn't get your way. If you had a copy of the game, or downloaded it from the link that I personally supplied twice, you would have more than the new player zone. All of the other complaints are just silly banter to say you want to be catered.

There were over 20 people that I know of that came back on the first day, that haven’t been on in over 8 months. Some of them have told me of many they are re-meeting as well. The world does not circle around you, and patience is a virtue. It can take a while to get activation. Considering it took Everquest over 8 hours my first time playing it (many years ago), I consider this good.

My favorite part of your rant is the ever cushiony complaint of ‘this game is dead’. This shows that you only want to complain, and buffer the blows with your header, stating that 3 months of released play means you are an expert of this game.

You my friend are the new age of trolls. I do give you credit for being the better of the versions, as you are at least intellectual, but none-the-less, you are still a troll. If you were as experienced of a player, as you claim to be, you would have read what you were downloading in the first place.

This sounds much like the way SWG was going to do the Jedi. I am not sure how they ended up doing it, but they had the same type of plan for the Jedi introduction. I do not see this happening, but it is an interesting idea.

The one thing I gathered from how magic was mentioned in the books, and interviews, is that magic was not abundantly used. Wether a lost skill of old, or a skill for the elder, or even a skill that belonged only to a chosen few, it was obvious that it did not flow as abundantly as the Rune-Keepers will. Beyond that, I can not honestly cast an opinion on that which I have not tried.

From the way Erandur states demi-god, I am gathering he means a minor god, which is one of the definitions. From how you state it, I agree. It is a poor word of choice in general as the definitions are many, and can be vague, including, "A person who is highly honored or revered." I also do not believe Gandalf was Manwe, as I have heard many of the discussions on this. You will find many of them on the Lord of the Rings Fanatic Plaza.

As we get further into this, from this point, it is reaching technicalities. That is not to say, it will not be interesting, but it is not something that one can be wrong or right on, unless the author states one way or the other. This is why I have watched or listened to many, if not all, of Tolkien's interviews.

Originally posted by erandur

Originally posted by Lazer7

Originally posted by erandur

Hrm, I'd not only read the books , but read the lore! Magic is supposed to be only for gods and demi-gods (like Gandalf). The loremaster was already a minor violation of the lore, the rune-keeper is a major violation... Even Turbina said they were walking away from the lotr-lore. That together with the increased level cap, made me quit...

 

I am sorry to say, you do not know the lore. Gandalf was not a god or demi-god. Magic is not a violation of lore. Turbine was speaking about the person that would be using the magic. Aragorn used magic, when he healed those at Minas Tirith, leaves and magic. It was also magic in The Hobbit, that Gandalf struck the wargs and wolves with fire. I could go on for quite some time on these things, but my point is made. You do not know the lore.

To the OP, Rune Keepers will be the magic using class. They will be quite a powerful class, and very nice in that aspect. Be sure to read some more on MMORPG.com on this.

Gandalf is a maiar (demi-god), servant of the Valar (gods). You can't really call them gods, that's true, but there isn't really any difference.  http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/m/maiar.html  As for the other 'magic', that's more like the lore-master's magic. Which I barely find any more supernatural than hunters who keep pulling arrows, without having any. ;) Not sure if Aragon used any magic at Minas Tirith, should read the books again. But of course Gandalf used magic in the hobbit, as he is a maiar...

So you do not know the lore. ;)

 

You once again are wrong. Maiar is not a demi-god... and you are taking it from the Silmarillion. He is an Istari in the Lord of the Rings. Eru is God. Gandalf is a lesser Ainur, or a holy one. He serves the servents of Eru. If you still don't agree with that, the very words of Tolkien, both in 1965 and 1971 refers to Gandalf as an angelic being, not a demi-god.

 Look again at how Aragorn healed the people in Gondor. It also mentions how he learned it from the elves, from Elrond Half Elven.

Here is a quote from Gandalf for you as well: 'I once knew every spell in all the tongues of Elves or Men or Orcs, that was ever used for such a purpose. I can still remember ten score of them without searching in my mind.'

The Fellowship of the Ring, Book I, page 400
 

Originally posted by erandur

Hrm, I'd not only read the books , but read the lore! Magic is supposed to be only for gods and demi-gods (like Gandalf). The loremaster was already a minor violation of the lore, the rune-keeper is a major violation... Even Turbina said they were walking away from the lotr-lore. That together with the increased level cap, made me quit...

I am sorry to say, you do not know the lore. Gandalf was not a god or demi-god. Magic is not a violation of lore. Turbine was speaking about the person that would be using the magic. Aragorn used magic, when he healed those at Minas Tirith, leaves and magic. It was also magic in The Hobbit, that Gandalf struck the wargs and wolves with fire. I could go on for quite some time on these things, but my point is made. You do not know the lore.

To the OP, Rune Keepers will be the magic using class. They will be quite a powerful class, and very nice in that aspect. Be sure to read some more on MMORPG.com on this.

I ignore all the naysayers about population. It is an empty argument, mostly used to get attention. In such a start, I am reminded of the phrase, 'don't feed the trolls'. After all, what do they gain in a games population, or declaration there of. It is only a way to get a response, and hopefully anger some who take offense of the game they enjoy being called a dyeing breed. One of the strengths we have on the side of LotRO's fans and players is that we are not childish enough to breed our own trolls; instead we get roaming trolls from other games. Let them rant; they will be bored of it eventually and move on.

Originally posted by trancejeremy

The game gets worse, though. The population thins out a lot (once people stop their free trials). And the quests become more and more grinding and really half-hearted. Kill 30 bears. Kill 20 Lynxs. Kill 20 wargs. Kill 12 wargs. Kill 20 Aurochs (group quest, because they are signatures and have tons of hp). Kill 12 Auruchs (another group quest). Go to X (on the other side of the map) and talk to Y  (for no reason except to offer "help"). (Those are pretty much all the quests I've been doing since I hit 25 or so.)

I dunno what happened, it's like they used all their creativity early on, and just mailed it in the middle part of the game.

There will always be mondaine quests in any game, but it is not as you proclaim it. North Downs has a lot of kill such numbers of this and that, however, there is capturing the enemies flags, freeing the wrongly accused, escorting, collecting, and even a somewhat riddle of a quest, in which leads to an ambush. Even with that, North Downs is the most boring questing land of what is availible.

My favorite is Trollshaws. I enjoyed Bilbo's riddles, Bilbo's trolls, and the quest of Gollum. There are others, but it takes more than just grinding to find it.

You can easily grind your way to level 50, just taking quests, and never read why you are doing it. If you take a moment to read the story, you will find most of them very intriguing. If you do not read the quest, it will always be a grind, no matter what it asks of you.

I am online right now, on Brandywine. It Esteldin, it is quite populated. There is no truth to that statement of no fellowships, from this viewpoint.

They were fixed within the first week. They don't take long to fix serious bugs, sometimes on the first day even.

Try this site.

Originally posted by jarish

Of course you are not going to be able to use the stables until you find them so you will have to fight your way through once. And BTW if you read the descriptions on the goats it looks like the highest rep one is faster than  the others. So maybe you get on to start but it is not as fast as the rep ones.

 

And BTW what is wrong with a goat. You realize how much of an uproar there would be if you couldn't rent a mount or use one...they are in the books.

http://www.glyphweb.com/ARDA/o/oxen.html

http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/k/kineofaraw.html

The links you put are all well and good, but it does not mention Moria. Moria was a name feared by men, elves, and dwarves alike. Beasts were afraid of the mines, and it was not such a place for them. The links also speak of burden carriers, not mounts. They road horses and ponies still. And for men, ponies were not for riding. In general, the dwarves disliked riding beasts as well. (The books cover this quite well.)

I do not disagree with having mounts as much as I dislike it being goats.

Corey Tailor used to play Medal of Honor.