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My thoughts on LOTRO
tfox2k1
Member Posts: 215
LOTRO is the MMO for people who want to play a game and not experience a lifestyle change. LOTRO is not about chasing the invisible carrot that you can never obtain. Its not about being 'leet' or ganking people.
MMOs in general are not 'hard' in any aspect. They simply have different levels of consuming time and annoyances. No MMO I've experienced to date has thoughtful puzzles like Portal or intellectual challenges like online chess, or really intense split second decisions like those in a game of Counterstrike. All MMOs are all basically dumbed down for the masses (Except maybe Eve which I haven't played.)
So stating WoW or EQ or <insert random MMO> is hard is not true. LOTRO is less annoying that a lot of those so called 'harder' MMOs in that it doesnt require you to camp 24 hours to get a single piece of +1 loot. It also doesn't mean you have to raid endlessly to compete in the end game PVP and have a chance.
LOTRO is about providing you with a very interactive storyline based upon the greatest work of fiction in modern history. Giving you the best graphical experience of any current MMO. Attracting the most mature audience in an MMO I've seen. LOTRO has an experienced developer team that seems to really care about the community and the product and not to make a fast buck at the expense of the gamer or the IP.
LOTRO also does something no other previous MMO has come close to accomplishing. LOTRO made a primary healer class that is actually extremely fun to play in the Minstrel.
Overall LOTRO isn't perfect but the future is bright and its the best MMO we have in a rather stagnant market.
If you need to get spend 8+ hours camping or raiding to get a +1 Axe of Leetness every night of your life, then LOTRO isn't for you. If you need to run around ganking a bunch of 'noobs' with your +1 Axe of leetness and fooling yourself into thinking you're skilled while watching your EPEEN grow, then LOTRO isn't for you. If you're a mature gamer who enjoys a high quality, immersive MMO, get it now!
Hurry though, lifetime membership for $199.00 (hell of a deal) ends 1 June 2008.
Comments
Hmm..Are you adverticing for Turbine ?
Also, LOTRO looks nice but it doesnt have "the best graphics" wich is a technical term, othervise it's YOUR opinion that the art inside LOTRO is the best..
must be a bot (or unoriginal at best) as he posted the exact same thing in another thread.
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/2000970#2000970
"For a wounded man shall say to his assailant, 'If I live, I will kill you. If I die, You are forgiven.' Such is the rule of honour..."
I take it as a compliment my review of LOTRO was so well written two of you assumed I was working for Turbine or a bot. Simply not the case. Just my thoughts on LOTRO. I've been playing MMO's for many years, been in just about every major MMO released, and LOTRO deserved my thoughts.
Same reason I'll post a review on IMDB about a great movie that many people maybe haven't seen. Trying to get the word out.
I decided to repeat my post just to get it noticed by a few more people.
If someone is seeking an MMO that actually lets you eat the carrot rather than beat you over the head with it. Play LOTRO.
Turbine is running subscription specials until 1 June, so if you're interested never been a better time.
I wish they would have done something different. The one huge thing they could have done different than most MMO's is to make the game skill based. I'm tired of the level/class systems in games. I prefer skill based and classless, but of course, there really aren't any of those that are any good. Oh well.
so...
The good thing about lotro IMO is you can have fun right out of the box, no need to max level before you can do anything that you want. Although it has levels which I dont enjoy, l hardly ever notice what level I am unless Im in an area thats too high for my level. I also hardly notice when I do level. Many times Ill be out and gain 1-2 levels without realizing it. So, there are a couple reasons I can enjoy this game where other level based games make me sick to play. The group dynamics are some of the best out there too. Other than that its your standard MMO done "very' well. Keeps getting better. Game is alot better for level 1-50 than it was at launch. IMO of coarse.
See you in the dream..
The Fires from heaven, now as cold as ice. A rapid ascension tolls a heavy price.
I have played LotRO shortly after release. Back at this time I could not get into love with any of the classes. Somehow I felt that it made no difference which spell to use since they had almost the same effect anyway (beat or beat or maybe beat?). Has this changed? And could you please explain what you mean by "group dynamics"? Furthermore I would like to hear about dungeon design. Is it like WoW which is all about tank, spank, heal? WoW's dungeon design is really horriblly boring imho. If you cannot beat a dungeon you just need better gear (more DPS, more healing power, more damage reduction).
Thanks in advance.
Almost every skill is like that, especially the non-damage skills. The way they can be used in groups is endless. Then they way they can be used in combinations with other classes skills is even more dynamic. But solo, or just rare grouping you dont get to see that kind of thing. At low levels this is hard to see because its easy and you dont have alot of skills, so its basically smash it til it dies cause that works.
Dungeon design is about tanking and healing if you wanna play it like that. But knowing how to use your skills and using them in conjunction with other peoples skills, you can do things with pretty much any make-up. Not counting raids of coarse..thats a different beast. There is no dungeon you wont be able to do because of your gear(including raids). Its all about knowing how to use your skills..all of them. Raids are the only thing that require specific classes to finish them.
See you in the dream..
The Fires from heaven, now as cold as ice. A rapid ascension tolls a heavy price.
I really wanted to love this game because of course I grew up with the books. Gameplay is pretty dumbed down imo and that's the reason hasn't really taken off to a greater extent. I thought it was fun for about 2-3 months and then the excitement really dropped off. I stopped playing around Christmas.
The OP talked about how great it was to not need to camp things, hit the ground running and not need every piece of L33T gear to have a good time. All true, but there really isn't much feeling of reward without some fun loot items and awesome but challenging encounters that demand skill and repeat attempts.
Still the shire was a fun newb experience, perhaps the best I've seen in any game, so maybe I'll jump back in again someday after some expansions and sharpening of the game experience by Turbine.
See you in the dream..
The Fires from heaven, now as cold as ice. A rapid ascension tolls a heavy price.
Certainly LOTRO isnt perfect but one thing it has going for it is QUALITY. The graphics are great, the engine works very well on many many many systems, the game has very few bugs, the patches and expansions come out VERY ready, the dev. team has changed and modified things but you see very few wholesale class or item nerfs, the servers are stable etc.
LOTRO is not all things to all people. Everquest 1/2 have better dungeon crawls, WOW has better raids, but in this time of really sub par releases and sub standard quality you can feel comfortable knowing that TURBINE is putting out a well thought out high quality product.
For me its just about perfect for where I am in my life/gaming career. I was in eq1 at release, spent years on hardcore raids and camps. Grew up, acquired more responsibility, less patience, dont quite have the time or the mindset to sit in one spot for 10 hours or to raid and hit 5 buttons once every thirty minutes for 4 hours. LOTRO is deep enough to be rewarding but shallow enough not to shame you into an all consuming playstyle to advance.
So...good quality, good dev. team, good mix of depth and casual, and a growing customer base, growing dev. team, frequent expansions and a paid/major expansion class/level cap coming this fall. All in all when you consider vanguard/fury/hellgate/tabula rasa/potbs id say LOTRO is a pretty damn good place to spend some time.
Vantras, perfect summary of why play LOTRO. I too have a similar gaming history and lifestyle. No way at this point in life would I do those extremely long EQ camps again.
WoW was fun until end game and then trying to complete with 14 year olds in PVP who could farm and raid many more hours than I could as a working adult, was not for me. PVP in WoW is no where near skil based, its almost entirely loot and level.
The other MMOs, either very buggy, dead or dying, and just not worth the time, investment, or effort.
For now and in the near future, LOTRO is the best we have in the MMO genre.
I've only been playing this game for just under a month now, but what I love about it, is the attention to detail. There are so many little touches, it is quite amazing! Like the change in atmosphere and sound when you first enter The Old Forest, or like the other night, when off in the background I saw Mt Weathertop. It was genuinely astounding how realistic this looked off in the horizon, and it was not just a painted background, for as I got closer then so did the mountain, and it grew in relation to my vicinity. The Shire is just how you imagine it, homely and so lush that you wish you actually lived there! I have yet to see the dwarven places, or Rivendell, which I am told is a sight too behold. If you love all kinds of nuances within your game, then you will certainly enjoy this game.
It bodes well for when Moria comes out. I am very eager to see how the dev's will tackle doing an entire expansion based around an underground area. Will it be like one, gigantic dungeon? I am very excited to find out, and also looking forward to seeing The Balrog, as I believe it will be something to behold. Before I tried LotR, I was very anxious about how Turbine would treat my favourite book, as I was bitterly disappointed with DDO.
LotR is a truly mammoth undertaking by the devs, which so far, they seem to have handled more than adequately.
Btw the expansion isn't all in moria. I think they said there was 3 new regions in it (correct me if I'm wrong) so you get to go to Lothlorien too. But ofc, as we get more updates, more of the middle earth will be opened out gradually untill the next expansion , which will more than likely be Rohan.
I'm now in my mid 30's and the game actually gets better as you play more.
Similar to the novels, they start off a bit slow, but grow into an epic and incredible story.
LOTRO has a major flaw: the combat system is too damn boring.
You feel like you are waiting for the bus.
I really hate Turbine for making such a fine game, but having such a crap combat system.
Would play it all the time with a more active combat system.
Yes, I know that many people like it, but it takes away the fun when you do not get an "active" feeling bashing the buttons.
BTW, does anyone know why they took this route?
I agree in principle, but I do think they have pushed it a little too far.
Namely, I think someone who REALLY knows how to play their class in certain other games can stand out from the pack a bit more than in LOTRO. EQ had ridiculous camps and I hated it for that and many other reasons, but I liked the slow leveling (its only a problem for us folks who don't play much if you're in a hurry to get to the end-game). What I REALLY liked was that I could feel like I was "good" at my class, and could do things that other folks my level couldn't, do things that folks with better equipment couldn't.
Is it cut and dry that its present in other games and not in LOTRO? Of course not. However at least thus far (closing on level 30) it definitely feels like my ability to actually play my character is less of a factor than it is in other games. That's a shame since I feel like that is something that is less dependent on "how much time you spend" since I knew plenty of high-end-EQ players who couldn't pull off the stuff I could with a character at my level because they always just spent time grinding and getting better equipment and never really learned how to play.
I feel far more effective in LOTRO when I play well than I ever did in EQ. You need to challenge yourself a bit more if you want to see just how skilled you are. I'm 33 and will take on two reds or in a group handle large pulls and feel very skilled when I properly play my LM and save the day.
EQ had the problem of vastly overpowering even con mobs and underpowering each class. EQ had issues of requiring 3-4 classes just to effectively handle mobs at a decent rate. EQ would nearly always link mobs and use numbers to overpower the players. EQ Raids were about zerging not skill. The only place in WoW I felt that required skill was in GoD. GoD just made things nearly impossible unles you had perfect groups.
EQ was nevre about skill, simply about filling the pegs and spending time farming loot.
LOTRO is far more skill based, but it does take some time to develop this skill.
Well I wasn't talking about raiding since that always required WAY more time to even set up then I could put into the game. I was referring to things like the Sarnak Fort where I could pull 3-4 yellow or higher cons at a time as a shaman, people would think I was dead meat, and I'd whittle them down while dodging the aggro radius of everything else there. My guild thought I was crazy, but it certainly wasn't about equipment for me since I was always in junk, except for the occasional even-level drop, or the rare piece I could actually afford to buy.
Maybe LOTRO improves at higher levels, but I have to say my biggest disappointment so far has been that even when taking on higher con mobs, winning seems to require less attention and be less thrilling than it was on EQ. Might just be me though, I certainly respect your disagreement on that.
May I ask what class and level range (if it started earlier than 33) you are referring to? I might want to give that class a try if you're finding some fun challenges soloing stuff that shouldn't be possible:)
mmh, after reading this post I think i wanna try the game ^^
I've heard there is a 14 day free trail!
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waiting for ... nothing..
I think certain classes requrie more attention in combat than other classes. For instance, I found champion combat to be rather boring, but playing a captain, especially in groups, I find that I need to pay attention to a lot more of my surroundings and the order in which I hit skills.
Check out my LOTRO Blog: www.middleearthadventurer.blogspot.com
"Freedom is just another name for nothing left to lose" - Janis Joplin
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