Why isn't "Lord of the Rings Online" more popular?

GPrestige

This baffles me. I have played many MMORPGs. I have played FFXI, WoW, EQ, EQ2, Vanguard, WAR, AOC, Lineage 2, DAoC, and I have NEVER come across an MMO as amazing as Lord of the Rings Online.

I'll start off with the obvious - the graphics are amazing. The scenery is unbelievable, and the scale of the world is so well done that you feel miniscule in comparison. The atmosphere is THE best I have ever encountered in an MMO. It is as if you are actually in Middle Earth. The music is great, the story is awesome, the classes are fun, and there are a ton of things to do. Not to mention that it has one of the best, most mature playerbases that I have come across.

 

If all of this is the case, then why isn't it more popular? Is it the lack of PVP? Does PVP really matter that much? I think it may have something to do with the case that it isn't extremely well known and not many people have played it. I'm sure if they tried it they would absolutely love it. Does anyone have any idea why? Better yet, is it more popular than I am led to believe?

 

Edit - added some pictures

 

 

bastii

I thought it was quite popular, Xfire shows it as second most played P2P game after WoW. Xfire might not be very reliable, but a lot of my friends are playing it though.

GPrestige

Originally posted by bastii


I thought it was quite popular, Xfire shows it as second most played P2P game after WoW. Xfire might not be very reliable, but a lot of my friends are playing it though.

 

Oh then I could be wrong.

Nizur

I thought LotRO had very good numbers? It's one of the most popular MMOs out, I believe.

And yes, it does have outstanding scenery, music and atmosphere. Also the epic quest line is very well done.

gnomechef

Well i have been following LOTRO ever since the web domain was first registered and i went through the phases with more and more info about it coming in, and i got into the closed beta as soon as it started and i was a real huge lord of the rings fan so i thought this game was gonna be so great and when i got in it actually was really great, infact the best game i had ever played.

And then i continued as a happy LOTRO player for around 2 years, then turbine failed really badly with Mines of Moria (like as bad as SOE in SWG) they turned the game into another gear gated, raiding, repetitive, WOW style game, WHen the game was first released in shadows of angmar, it was really great because it focused on the story and roleplay, not about how long it takes you to kill a giant octopus with your 600 member large elitist guild. Thats where they failed so badly, i quit about a month or two after the release of MoM expansion. The thing i loved about Lotro was walking around feeling as if i really was a character in middle earth. then the Lotro General chat on most servers turned into some sort of barrens chat replica from wow and people were not friendly and everyone just cared about how much gold they can get and how much more +HP their gear gives compared to yours. It turned from a game all about story, immersion and roleplay into another one of "those clones". Nowadays i think only like 1/10th of lotro players even read the quest dialogs, when it was first released that was what it was all about and reading the story.

 

Its so sad how they could ruin such a great game but you know its happened and previous games before and it will happen again in the future so, just gotta move on i guess.

 

So thats my experience with LOTRO, great when it started, FAILED LIKE SWG after the first paid expansion called mines of moria.

 

Also in response to OP - the friendly community that used to be is now a rare find as most of those people got driven out by the arrogant hardcore players.

 

So in conclusion i dunno if it was too many players from other "clone games" ruining it for the originial lotro players or if the developers just stuffed up bigtime, but one things for sure it just hurts me so much i can never return to LOTRO ever again unless they completely remove the changes laid down in MOM.

Thanks for reading my opinion

Swanea

Lack of real PvP , lack of a second faction, the fact that it's a story game, and not GO GOGOGOGOGOGOGGO to 60.

 

Gameloading

Well actually I think Lotro is doing quite good.

Why it's not doing even better? I think that is because it doesn't really bring a new experience from either a gameplay or world perspective. It's no secret that The Lord of The Rings series has been very important for modern fantasy, and it's obvious that games like World of Warcraft and Everquest draw inspiration from TloR in some way.

The problem with Lotro is it's late release. We already have a lot of traditional fantasy MMORPGs around with orcs and elves. Lord of the rings might have started it all, but Lord of the Rings Online is just late to the party.

Swanea

I will mention, on my server, I notice lots of new, low level players, and players just getting to 60.

Caleveira

The fact that its got no pvp (from what ive heard) is a kind of a dealbreaker for me. Also, i loved Tolkiens lore from the books but the movies were so long and boring they kinda killed it for me (they werent bad and were good adaptations, still...).

I also thought it was doing good tho, seems like a very popular game.

Tyrantas

Lack of PvP. But the game is good enough for me even as pure pvp player to try it out, but i can't  *mod edit*.

gnomechef

Originally posted by Tyrantas


Lack of PvP. But the game is good enough for me even as pure pvp player to try it out, but i can't *mod edit*

 

Lotro-europe.com

Abrahmm

I gave LotRO a try, and I found it to be very average. Playing it felt like playing a game I had already played and was tired of. I didn't find it to be anything special.

luciusETRUR

To the comment about how the community is not friendly.. are you playing the same game?

Stevane

Yes, your right, LOTRO is all that and more. But its lacking one major feature and thats PVP.  If you strip an mmo with one of the two major features, its going to split your player base.  It doesn't matter if it has gorgeous,detailed graphics or outstanding gameplay. If you take PVE or PVP out of the game, don't expect it to be as popular as games that implemented both PVP/PVE into the game.

Leemeg

Tried it, played it for some months. I do agree that the world looks great, and the feels in it is good. But, I found the combat to be just boring.

Axehilt

Originally posted by bastii


I thought it was quite popular, Xfire shows it as second most played P2P game after WoW. Xfire might not be very reliable, but a lot of my friends are playing it though.

 

Where do you see that?  I haven't perused Xfire much, but all I could find was this (sort by rank) which ranks things as:

1. WOW

2. Aion

3. Silkroad Online

4. Guild Wars

5. EVE

6. Cabal Online

7. Basma (a foreign MMORPG I've never heard of before.)

8. Runes of Magic

Is there a better way of ranking the games?

 

Wolfenpride

lotro was fun the first time, but didn't have much replay value afterwards, since you knew all the quests/books, and didn't have many other things to do except pvp at higher levels.

Lotro is still popular today though, and probaly will be for awhile so long as they keep making new content.

Rageahol

i really don't know why people complain about Monster play TBH it reminds me somewhat of Old DAoC rvr...i really enjoy it and my Black Arrow. Plays as the "creeps" really seems to bring out the mob mentality of the Orc armies. and yeah we are underpowered but when we have numbers on our side...i don't know  i feel like this is a good places for the game and both sidse are good since the Orcs are more about numbers anyhow and the free people are supposed to be heros and all

Swanea

Originally posted by Wolfenpride


lotro was fun the first time, but didn't have much replay value afterwards, since you knew all the quests/books, and didn't have many other things to do except pvp at higher levels.
Lotro is still popular today though, and probaly will be for awhile so long as they keep making new content.

 

Like any MMO, you do the quest once, it's the same thing for any game.  I enjoy leveling in LotrO more than any game outside of GW.

laokoko

I think lotro is doing well already.  I think the mmorpg market isn't big enough for it to have better numbers.

Raven

Originally posted by Zorndorf

Originally posted by Axehilt

Originally posted by bastii


I thought it was quite popular, Xfire shows it as second most played P2P game after WoW. Xfire might not be very reliable, but a lot of my friends are playing it though.

 

Where do you see that?  I haven't perused Xfire much, but all I could find was this (sort by rank) which ranks things as:

1. WOW

2. Aion

3. Silkroad Online

4. Guild Wars

5. EVE

6. Cabal Online

7. Basma (a foreign MMORPG I've never heard of before.)

8. Runes of Magic

Is there a better way of ranking the games?

 

 

Wait for the post launching period of Aion and be sure both AoC and War were also up there in the exact SAME position of Aoin 3 weeks after launch.

And ... AoC and War didn't have "the advantage" of having player loggings of 7 + Hours (due to the shops and waiting queues).

I am pretty sure Aion within 3 months will not better Lotro as a subscription based game.

Unless the shops (read pro gold miners) stay of course )))

 

So was LOTRO and then people realized its a bit crap :S, the story is nice and all but its just too much PVE and tbf the LOTR universe is just not well represented as brutal and constantly in conflict, if I could change the theme of a game to LOTR I would say MO (in its design)  could represent the LOTR world with alot more fidelity and some tweaks, LOTRO is just WoW without PVP and the LOTR theme pasted on top of it.

The instruments are quite cool I will give you that, other than that, the few times I played it it just felt I was quest grinding the same way I have been doing in WoW for the last 4 years. As a matter of fact I bought LOTRO and the compilation pack is sitting in my shelf sealed.

But then again this is my opinion as valid as anyone elses.

Mixxathon

LOTRO is probably more popular than you know, as I see alot of low leveled characters running around in Bree all the time. The is not for everybody, and it did not aim to be. It is impossible to compete with WoW in that department, as they cater for the lowest common denominator, while LOTRO focuses on people who actually might pick up a book and read it.

LOTRO is steeped in lore, have fantastic surroundings (even more so for a person well versed in Tolkien lore), a great storyline and at least tries to stay faithful to the original. Sure, they make mistakes from time to time, but than again, so do we. No biggie. The music is outstanding for the most part, and as a personal opinion, the PVP in the game is actually totally fitting for the setting and pacing of the game. It is not the pubertal hackfest other games seems to aim for, it does not have mangastyle beatings or FX, you cannot PWN n00bs or act as a PK, but you can act in attacks together with  a few, or many, other players in an attempt to overcome the enemy to win the day and get a badge of Honor.

The PVE part has of course  a resemblance to other MMORPG, mostly because noone feels like reinventing the wheel. Where the game shines is in it's well designed Fellowship quests (that is groupquests for you non-LOTRO players) and in it's Epic Storyline book quests. Those are scripted instances for one player up to a full fellowship that furthers the storyline to create your own epic tale in the War of the Ring.

Sure, it is easy to be lured over by Aions' fantastic trilers - myself I am tempted to go over there and download the client just to check out what all this is about. In three weeks time though, I will most certainly be back to LOTRO. I will long for a nice and peaceful game without the need for GOGOGOGO - level-level-level-to-max-level ENDGAME!!

LOTRO has no endgame - needs no endgame. That is why it will always be there, waiting for me.

P.S. As a sidenote - the Radiance... it has not affected me the least. I have played the game since release and still have no problem with this. Why? I have not yet been in a situation where I HAD to have the best gear. Sure, for the players who feel the need to eplore every single quest and raid it will be an issue. I, on the other hand, do not feel I have to do that, and am content with what I can do with the means available to me at the moment. I play, naturally, on the Laurelin RP Server

Vhaln

 I thought it was pretty well done, but what killed it for me was the lack of customization.  My characters didn't feel like my own.  They felt the same as everyone else's, no matter what equipment I used, or choices I made.  I haven't played it in a long time, though.  Has that changed?

 

Ihmotepp

Originally posted by Swanea


Lack of real PvP , lack of a second faction, the fact that it's a story game, and not GO GOGOGOGOGOGOGGO to 60.
 

 

Agreed. Can't believe the OP compared it to DAoC.

Lotro has nothing like DAoC RvR.

luckturtz

Originally posted by Zorndorf

Originally posted by Axehilt

Originally posted by bastii


I thought it was quite popular, Xfire shows it as second most played P2P game after WoW. Xfire might not be very reliable, but a lot of my friends are playing it though.

 

Where do you see that?  I haven't perused Xfire much, but all I could find was this (sort by rank) which ranks things as:

1. WOW

2. Aion

3. Silkroad Online

4. Guild Wars

5. EVE

6. Cabal Online

7. Basma (a foreign MMORPG I've never heard of before.)

8. Runes of Magic

Is there a better way of ranking the games?

 

 

Wait for the post launching period of Aion and be sure both AoC and War were also up there in the exact SAME position of Aoin 3 weeks after launch.

And ... AoC and War didn't have "the advantage" of having player loggings of 7 + Hours (due to the shops and waiting queues).

I am pretty sure Aion within 3 months will not better Lotro as a subscription based game.

Unless the shops (read pro gold miners) stay of course )))

 

Unless Lotor is in China and Korea. Which i don't remember ever reading that happen Lotor can't even come closer to Aion.In 3 months Aion had more subs than Lotor ever had. I am 100% sure you are wrong.Lotor is soild NA/EU game.Aion is global game

edit-I look for it,Some time this year Lotor will be China

Neanderthal

Before I read any of the other replies I'll tell you why I quickly lost interest in it during the free trial I tried.

1.  Solo quest grinding.  I hate it.

2.  The rest of the game would have to be absolutely amazing to compensate for the flaw in my first point, and it wasn't.  The graphics were fine but nothing special.  The combat was very ordinary.  Mobs were ridiculously weak (as usual because it's meant to be a single player game).  There was no sense of community, adventure, exploration or anything else good and fun because it was just a single player guided tour, content on rails type of game.