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Game is kind of dull
olepi
Member EpicPosts: 3,080
I haven't played a whole lot, just since B1, with only a couple of toons into the 20's. A lot of people have said the game is lacking something: "can't put their finger on it". Here is my idea for why some feel this way. The game is polished, beautiful, and dull in a mechanical way.
- The scenery is beautiful, and sterile feeling. Mobs are spaced out and don't interact. In some games, for example Ryzom, the carnivores chase and kill prey. In this game, the mobs feel "placed", and don't interact or affect each other. You don't really get the feeling of a living world. Minor things: no footprints when you walk across snow, and when the wind blows, the trees don't move. (improvement idea: have the mobs move around and interact. Have mother bears fishing and showing their cubs, who keep running off, how to fish. Let the wolves chase rabbits. Have a pack of crows land, and get scared off. Stuff like that).
- gameplay is very generic, and many of us felt like we were playing WoW when we first started. There are few classes, and few ways to make your toon stand out. Almost all the toons look the same as others of their same class. The quests are the regular tried-and-true fetch, kill, or discover quests. Combat is simplistic for the most part. It is not bad, but nothing inspiring either.
- Most of the areas have music that is slow, heavy, and ponderous. Perhaps in the real LoTR things were kind of dark and threatening, with little uplifting and snappy/happy music, but this game needs some spritzing up. More light, fast, snappy feel to the music would help liven it up.
I was watching a show on why people like fireworks. It turns out that our brains have a kind of "storm" when we see massive fireworks, and people like that. This game does not have that effect, I think that is what is "missing". The lack of magic effects, while admirable from a lore point of view, limits the "wow" effect. It is a well crafted, slow moving, generic game with nice graphics and a deep storyline/lore base. It is not awe-inspiring, amazing, or groundbreaking.
What the game is missing is that crackle, that sizzle, that brain-storm effect like when you watch fireworks. It is not heart-pounding excitement, but steady, methodical plodding in a beautiful, but strerle feeling, world. The game is well done, and will probably be successful. I plan to play it. But there is something lacking, the sizzle.
- The scenery is beautiful, and sterile feeling. Mobs are spaced out and don't interact. In some games, for example Ryzom, the carnivores chase and kill prey. In this game, the mobs feel "placed", and don't interact or affect each other. You don't really get the feeling of a living world. Minor things: no footprints when you walk across snow, and when the wind blows, the trees don't move. (improvement idea: have the mobs move around and interact. Have mother bears fishing and showing their cubs, who keep running off, how to fish. Let the wolves chase rabbits. Have a pack of crows land, and get scared off. Stuff like that).
- gameplay is very generic, and many of us felt like we were playing WoW when we first started. There are few classes, and few ways to make your toon stand out. Almost all the toons look the same as others of their same class. The quests are the regular tried-and-true fetch, kill, or discover quests. Combat is simplistic for the most part. It is not bad, but nothing inspiring either.
- Most of the areas have music that is slow, heavy, and ponderous. Perhaps in the real LoTR things were kind of dark and threatening, with little uplifting and snappy/happy music, but this game needs some spritzing up. More light, fast, snappy feel to the music would help liven it up.
I was watching a show on why people like fireworks. It turns out that our brains have a kind of "storm" when we see massive fireworks, and people like that. This game does not have that effect, I think that is what is "missing". The lack of magic effects, while admirable from a lore point of view, limits the "wow" effect. It is a well crafted, slow moving, generic game with nice graphics and a deep storyline/lore base. It is not awe-inspiring, amazing, or groundbreaking.
What the game is missing is that crackle, that sizzle, that brain-storm effect like when you watch fireworks. It is not heart-pounding excitement, but steady, methodical plodding in a beautiful, but strerle feeling, world. The game is well done, and will probably be successful. I plan to play it. But there is something lacking, the sizzle.
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2025: 48 years on the Net.
Comments
Part of that I will say I thin is because you are as I am.. getting older and in getting older you tend to expect more and your imagination becomes less geared towards such things, as you have more real world things to worry about and think about.
I still remember the feeling/s I got from playing EQ (Ever Quest) back in the pre-Luclin days, that was the biggest rush, there was the most comradery and feeling of accomplishment and family I have had in any game. Hell, those people were my family and many of them I have come to meet and call friend in real life. To date there has been (no game) to hit the market that has come close to giving me anything near those feelings. Then again, I am near ten years older, have a child on the way and real world things to be more concerned about.
I agree with you that LotRO needs more work, it needs better combat scenes, it needs larger City/Towns and a larger spread to the world. It needs better dungeon design (Which I KNOW) Turbine is capable of. It needs more feeling of darkness and impending doom, crafting needs to be reworked, Smiths and Armour Tailors/Crafters need to be able to Repair, not just create.
But to be honest with you brother/sister... I think they are going to do it, things may not really get going until the first expansion but I think they will do it. Turbine took a massively painful hit with the failure (A.K.A-Learning experience) of Ascheron's Call 2.
This game is not for the Casual solo player, this game is very geared towards Kinships (Guilds) and Fellowships (Groups/Parties). Also it is a bit of shagrin for those Power level types, since yes they will be able to gain (some) traits via P/L kill quests, yet alas they will lose out in the higher end of the game due to the fact that the more powerful and important Traits and Skills (Require) actual long term usage of the preceding Skills/Traits. (Example) Ballad of Resonance (Advanced) Skill Trait requires long term usage of Ballad of Resonance. Something that P/L will not get you. Also most if not nearly all of the Skills/Traits that can be P/L'd are not nearly as worthwhile or good or powerful as the ones you will actually have to earn. Personally I would trade and added 10% dmg with every hit and 65.00 Morale/HP for 1.2% Morale regen and .6 Power regen (Out of combat) any day of the year.
The devs are listening this time friend, stick it out because they and we, the other testers/players need ppl like you, ppl who want the game to succeed and need to feel that spark once again that you once felt in other games. Your input actually matters in this game.
Exactly what I wanted to reply: these observations are excellent, I think they should be placed on the BETA boards! (if not done already!)
Cheers,
DB
Denial makes one look a lot dumber than he/she actually is.
LOTRO doesn't "sizzle" for me either, but honestly... I wouldn't want that in Middle Earth.
I think (and these are my opinions), that the game tries to be a bit more realistic and adding the "sizzle" would take away from that.
I still get very awed in the game... often. The atmosphere, scenery, artwork and graphics blow my mind at times. The attention to detail in creating an immersive environment is what does it for me. Seeing flocks of birds fly above you, timid deer run away from you as you approach them, seeing NPC's working in fields, at camps, walking around carrying things... all of it makes the world quite alive to me compared to many other MMO's where the NPC's just stand there like robots.
I think whether a game awes you or not is a personal taste. I personally don't need any more flashy effects or sparkles than what's already in game and some of the effects are quite cool. I've had my heart pounding many times during some epic quests or fellowship quests in places like the Great Barrows or the Lone Lands.
Glad to hear you're still planning on playing the game. I hope as you get further into the game, it becomes more satisfying for you.
_________________________________
JonMichael
Currently: AION, an MMO Beta under NDA
Played: WAR, LOTRO, Hellgate: London, CoX, GW, SotNW, DAOC, EQ2, SWG, WoW, AO, Horizons, Second Life, There, TSO
Beta'd: There, Second Life, EQ2, DAOC:LotM, LOTRO, Tabula Rasa, Gods and Heroes, Hellgate: London, Requiem:Bloodymare, AoC, WAR, DDO, Fallen Earth
I would actually say that the game is not dull but sublime.
Not many people are prepared for that and expect a more "flashy" game.
I do agree with the OP's comment on most of the mobs though. I had made a /bug report about this when I started closed beta as it seemed awful.
However, I don't agree with the music (more sublime). I actually go through the game and constantly think to myself that most players won't understand how good most of the music is (some is a bit bad though, like the music you get when you first start up and are making your character.)
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
But I think LOTR Online has more of an "atmosphere" or "lore" type feel. And I think that it needs that type of feel.
And one thing that I have to say is that I think the NPC's give a lot of life to the game. Sometimes I wander around the settlements just to listen to the scripted conversations.
Sadly I have to agree...
I have played this game since September when I got my Euro beta key, I can still remember the OMG factor as I opened the email but, after six months of testing, I am sad to say that I have decided not to play at release but I am not counting the game out completely, just waiting to see where it goes...
World graphics look superb but somehow feel a little sterile in places and I found that, after my initial few months, I stopped exploring as there is little to see outside of the main questing routes.
The AI in this game is poor and has actually got worse over the last six months, MOBs just don't act right or consistently.
Most of the bugs currently in the game have been there since september and some were fixed once only to return.
ALL buildings that can be entered (there are not very many) are instanced as in DDO although they have inserted nice pictures into the doorway to make it look a bit better than a gaping black hole.
Character and MOB animation is poor in comparison to the world graphics, PC's tilt left and right as you run making them look like six year olds pretending to be fighter pilots. Many animation still fail to work consistently in combat and weapons fail to unequip when switched, my hunter often has a bow, an arrow and a sword all in one hand.
Quests are plentiful but mostly generic kill x or deliver y and as the best xp comes from quests you end up doing lots. Even before they started slowing the xp gain rates, a solo player would have to complete most quests to even reach level 35 after which pretty much forget solo as just about ALL mobs are elites and therefore you are forced to group. The quests are my biggest bugbear, once out of the starter areas everyone is channeled into two directions, either you head towards Angmar or down to Rivendell and in any event you will need to complete both ways to max level. This means that after you have levelled your first character all the other 'rerolls' will follow pretty much the same route and complete the same quests al be it with a different set of skills.
Monster play was and is the only saving grace for me and it doesn't really go far enough. Oh the joy of killing my first hobbit with my insta level 50 Warg and receiving a severed hobbit leg as a drop LMAO. It has real potential which Turbine may or may not realise. If they marginalise it then it will be a waste of the only original content this game has (except for the lore and that is Tolkien's not Turbines)
Still, LOTRO is still a good game, just not the next generation or even close to it. For those who have played as many MMO's as I have, this game will offer nothing you haven't already got collecting dust on your shelf. For newcomers to the MMO genre, this game is a great introduction and will almost certainly do well (at least initially) due to the current popularity of LOTR.
I tried the game, I gave it a chance, but it just has too many problems. When they make the game more player friendly and less bot-friendly, I'll consider heading back. But as it stands, I might as well use a bot program and leave to run errands for things like the badges. Don't even get me started on resource nodes and crafting.
The game has a great theme and interesting graphics, but ultimately, there's too much that's unprofessional and downright unfriendly to new players.
Less Bot-friendly?
Let me guess, you got to level 15 and decided it was too easy? I can do 1-20 in most MMOs with my eyes closed and never fear dying. I suppose your crafting diagnosis was based on tiers 1 and 2 right?
When a game has hundreds+ hours of gameplay built in it sure seems to me like you should spend more than 1 or 2 to make your decision. But hey, to each his own.
did they ever fix lore masters and spawn camping with pets? basically, when I played last you could set your pet to agressive and sit it on a spawn point. Since LotRO has static spawn points (meaning mobs pop at the exact location every time), this is very easy to do and you just step out of range. When the mob pops, the pet attacks and you're never involved in combat. You could park your toon for hours and do this if you position yourself correctly, and with all the glass walls and boundries in the game thats also very simple.
so does this still exist?
"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a robot foot stomping on a human face -- forever."
did they ever fix lore masters and spawn camping with pets? basically, when I played last you could set your pet to agressive and sit it on a spawn point. Since LotRO has static spawn points (meaning mobs pop at the exact location every time), this is very easy to do and you just step out of range. When the mob pops, the pet attacks and you're never involved in combat. You could park your toon for hours and do this if you position yourself correctly, and with all the glass walls and boundries in the game thats also very simple.
so does this still exist?
I noticed the other day it automatically logs you off if you do not press a key or move the mouse after about a half hour. I had parked one of my characters in town to do a chore for the wife which took longer than I expected, came back and I was logged out. Tried that evening again to see if it would do it again and by golly it did. Amazing isn't it that a company actually uses beta to improve a game and fix issues like this.
I miss DAoC
did they ever fix lore masters and spawn camping with pets? basically, when I played last you could set your pet to agressive and sit it on a spawn point. Since LotRO has static spawn points (meaning mobs pop at the exact location every time), this is very easy to do and you just step out of range. When the mob pops, the pet attacks and you're never involved in combat. You could park your toon for hours and do this if you position yourself correctly, and with all the glass walls and boundries in the game thats also very simple.
so does this still exist?
I noticed the other day it automatically logs you off if you do not press a key or move the mouse after about a half hour. I had parked one of my characters in town to do a chore for the wife which took longer than I expected, came back and I was logged out. Tried that evening again to see if it would do it again and by golly it did. Amazing isn't it that a company actually uses beta to improve a game and fix issues like this.
ya I remember the community talking about logging people out who are idle as part of a solution to solve what I explained above. Of course, thats a solution for that issue but I really didnt like the spawn points and how they operated. The reason why, theres another thing that happens (unless this has been fixed) at these static spawn points that there is no timer when the mob spawns for its aggression. So a person could park himself on top of a spawn point and before the mob even completely rendered on the screen it would aggro that person closest to its spawn point and in turn, mob belongs to that player. A small party could dominate entire areas if they spread out to multiple spawn locations, if theyre in the right spot they pretty much owned every spawn location. This was extremely exploitable and I dont think a 30 minute timer could resolve this issue (depending on how the mac is set up). It is very easy to macro your toon to attack when attacked, and even still its an issue even if its not automated.
I was hoping they would put a timer on these spawn points for when a mob spawns until it became aggressive, and also made the spawn points a bit more dynamic. At least make them spawn around a certain perimeter instead of at the exact same pinpoint.
has this has also been fixed as well? I know I preached about it enough before I took my leave, very early on.
"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a robot foot stomping on a human face -- forever."
did they ever fix lore masters and spawn camping with pets? basically, when I played last you could set your pet to agressive and sit it on a spawn point. Since LotRO has static spawn points (meaning mobs pop at the exact location every time), this is very easy to do and you just step out of range. When the mob pops, the pet attacks and you're never involved in combat. You could park your toon for hours and do this if you position yourself correctly, and with all the glass walls and boundries in the game thats also very simple.
so does this still exist?
I noticed the other day it automatically logs you off if you do not press a key or move the mouse after about a half hour. I had parked one of my characters in town to do a chore for the wife which took longer than I expected, came back and I was logged out. Tried that evening again to see if it would do it again and by golly it did. Amazing isn't it that a company actually uses beta to improve a game and fix issues like this.
ya I remember the community talking about logging people out who are idle as part of a solution to solve what I explained above. Of course, thats a solution for that issue but I really didnt like the spawn points and how they operated. The reason why, theres another thing that happens (unless this has been fixed) at these static spawn points that there is no timer when the mob spawns for its aggression. So a person could park himself on top of a spawn point and before the mob even completely rendered on the screen it would aggro that person closest to its spawn point and in turn, mob belongs to that player. A small party could dominate entire areas if they spread out to multiple spawn locations, if theyre in the right spot they pretty much owned every spawn location. This was extremely exploitable and I dont think a 30 minute timer could resolve this issue (depending on how the mac is set up). It is very easy to macro your toon to attack when attacked, and even still its an issue even if its not automated.
I was hoping they would put a timer on these spawn points for when a mob spawns until it became aggressive, and also made the spawn points a bit more dynamic. At least make them spawn around a certain perimeter instead of at the exact same pinpoint.
has this has also been fixed as well? I know I preached about it enough before I took my leave, very early on.
I like your idea Rexnor however as with most design issues there is always give and take, cost vs bang for the buck, performance vs bang for the buck etc. The clipping with weapons and cloaks is a good example. Ideally the issue should be fixed, reality however is that the time and resources and the performance hit issues renders that an impossible thing considering the client side hardware and the development manhours available.
A lot of times when designing something you have to compromise for the best solution. I have to do that every day in my job unless a client comes in and tells me that cost is absolutely not an issue, and I can count the number of times that has happened on on hand and still have 4 fingers and a thumb left over.
I miss DAoC
I have to agree to... some of us are way to jaded now, or perhaps I should use the term "experienced" with mmorpgs like this. I keep hoping for some real innovation in this genra of games, but each realease seems as uninspired as the last.
EQ,DAoC,FFXI,EQII,WoW,GW,SoR,EVE,CoH/CoV,VSoH
Beta Testing: LotRO
I wonder if is just that the fun factor has been established and the only things left to add are the little touches. SoR, AA, WWII Online, Roma Victor, Neocron are all examples of MMORPGs that are significantly different but are really not very popular, While WoW was a tremendous success and it is simply a polished graphical DIKU mud.
LoTRO really is fun but I am the first to admit that there is very little in it that has not been done previously in other games. The player generated music and the MvP as a major feature is about all that could be considered different. However it did take a lot of the cool features from a dozen different games and combine them into a single well polished package.
I miss DAoC
I wonder if is just that the fun factor has been established and the only things left to add are the little touches. SoR, AA, WWII Online, Roma Victor, Neocron are all examples of MMORPGs that are significantly different but are really not very popular, While WoW was a tremendous success and it is simply a polished graphical DIKU mud.
LoTRO really is fun but I am the first to admit that there is very little in it that has not been done previously in other games. The player generated music and the MvP as a major feature is about all that could be considered different. However it did take a lot of the cool features from a dozen different games and combine them into a single well polished package.
Why did you got rid of your fanboi sign Jackdog?eqnext.wikia.com
I wonder if is just that the fun factor has been established and the only things left to add are the little touches. SoR, AA, WWII Online, Roma Victor, Neocron are all examples of MMORPGs that are significantly different but are really not very popular, While WoW was a tremendous success and it is simply a polished graphical DIKU mud.
LoTRO really is fun but I am the first to admit that there is very little in it that has not been done previously in other games. The player generated music and the MvP as a major feature is about all that could be considered different. However it did take a lot of the cool features from a dozen different games and combine them into a single well polished package.
Why did you got rid of your fanboi sign Jackdog?you mean the snoopy sig that said "upsetting fanboys since 1997" ? I change sigs about once a month. Working on another one to replace this one soon.
You give up on Sigil fixing Vanguard yet and coming over to play LoTRO now?
I miss DAoC
You've got to be kidding me, level 15? I was bored within three levels of starting and played through level 10. You can't see the NPCs because their names are the same color as the PCs, you can't get to higher tier crafting because the nodes are so sparse that it's a nightmare to find just one node muchless the two or three you need for just one craft (assuming you're lucky and get the ingredients you need), and the entire game is set up to be bot friendly.
As others have mentioned here, you can just camp a bot on a spawn point. If all I need is a mouse wiggle or click every so often, a bot can easilly provide that in three lines of code.
This is one of my benchmarks in how I rate games now. I want a game where the bot-using credit farmers cry and have to actually work to ruin my experience. If they can set up a room of 50 computers and walk away, why should I bother playing?
I love the setting, find the graphics interesting, but the game is a waste of computer code.
I used to be more of a hardcore raider type of player.. Now that i am playing LOTRO and enjoying it for the quests and storyline I have a different approach. I have since started reading the books again, it really adds alot. Not saying everyone would want to do that but, it makes a big difference when the books are fresh in my mind.
-Allegria
Thor,
It seems to me you are worried about people being ahead of you, whether that is in gold, levels or equipment. If you feel like that, you won't like any online game because someone will *always* be ahead of you. You wouldn't care about people "botting" or camping if you didn't feel like that. If you don't like hunting for crafting mats, level up more, get more money and buy them off the AH. There are always many ways to do things and if you don't want to explore that why bother getting up in the morning, ffs what a whiner. NPC's names are the same colour? Have you had a lobotomy? Lol, if you can't determine what is an npc and what is a player I don't know what to tell you. Rofl.
I wonder if is just that the fun factor has been established and the only things left to add are the little touches. SoR, AA, WWII Online, Roma Victor, Neocron are all examples of MMORPGs that are significantly different but are really not very popular, While WoW was a tremendous success and it is simply a polished graphical DIKU mud.
LoTRO really is fun but I am the first to admit that there is very little in it that has not been done previously in other games. The player generated music and the MvP as a major feature is about all that could be considered different. However it did take a lot of the cool features from a dozen different games and combine them into a single well polished package.
Why did you got rid of your fanboi sign Jackdog?you mean the snoopy sig that said "upsetting fanboys since 1997" ? I change sigs about once a month. Working on another one to replace this one soon.
You give up on Sigil fixing Vanguard yet and coming over to play LoTRO now?
I'm not that crazy!Sticking with my guns. And i predict LOTRO will also required some fixing after it is release.
Sorry LOTRO peeps. I'm out. Just funny to see an "anti fanbois" acting like a "fanboi"
eqnext.wikia.com