Whats Isengard like

Shari

I know its early days but I just wondered how it is compared to Mirkwood?

Robsolf

Originally posted by Shari

I know its early days but I just wondered how it is compared to Mirkwood?

Much, much better, IMO.  I'm not quite done yet (level 73), but the zones and the story both are more interesting.  Open area loot drops are much more on par with quest rewards and non crit crafting items.  Isengard is pretty cool(you spend a good bit of time in there in one story arc, long before you hit 75).

I'd say it's not quite as big as MoM, but then alot of MoM's bigness seems to come from difficulty getting around.  RoI is much more manueverable, and quick travel is an option for every stable's destination, like Mirkwood.

Alot of the basic quest objectives are similar to everywhere else in-game, "kill-get-use X" divided out separately, but the objectives seem alot more coherent and related than they have been in the past.  And each area flows into a climax of some sort.

Things I don't like... there's some mild Duo quest gating.  RoI isn't like most areas in LotRO, where you tend to have WAY more quests than you need to advance and spend as much time clearing outdated quests as you do getting new ones.  RoI is a bit like the 1-60 WoW revamp in that the story is more linear(but not as much), and so if you hit one of these duo gate quests and decide to come back and do it later, you'll be running out of other quests pretty quick, and you'll find yourself having to get it done before you can move on.

Also, if you liked Mirkwood with its truckload of dailies to run, RoI has very few... I counted 4 of them, so far(again, not done yet).  But at least you collect them all in the same place.

Lastly... MoM gave us Legendary Items and 2 new classes.  SoM gave us a truckload of quality of life improvements and skirmishes.  RoI gives us... well not much of anything, in that regard.  The classes have been redone, and they have truly changed significantly.  But they redid them all throughout last year, and here they are re-redoing them.  Some of those changes I've like, some I don't, but I've only been using one class.

 

Moodsor

All I know is i love my Minstrel now Theres some things that could have been better, but overall its a decent expansion.

Shari

Originally posted by Robsolf

Originally posted by Shari

I know its early days but I just wondered how it is compared to Mirkwood?

Much, much better, IMO.  I'm not quite done yet (level 73), but the zones and the story both are more interesting.  Open area loot drops are much more on par with quest rewards and non crit crafting items.  Isengard is pretty cool(you spend a good bit of time in there in one story arc, long before you hit 75).

I'd say it's not quite as big as MoM, but then alot of MoM's bigness seems to come from difficulty getting around.  RoI is much more manueverable, and quick travel is an option for every stable's destination, like Mirkwood.

Alot of the basic quest objectives are similar to everywhere else in-game, "kill-get-use X" divided out separately, but the objectives seem alot more coherent and related than they have been in the past.  And each area flows into a climax of some sort.

Things I don't like... there's some mild Duo quest gating.  RoI isn't like most areas in LotRO, where you tend to have WAY more quests than you need to advance and spend as much time clearing outdated quests as you do getting new ones.  RoI is a bit like the 1-60 WoW revamp in that the story is more linear(but not as much), and so if you hit one of these duo gate quests and decide to come back and do it later, you'll be running out of other quests pretty quick, and you'll find yourself having to get it done before you can move on.

Also, if you liked Mirkwood with its truckload of dailies to run, RoI has very few... I counted 4 of them, so far(again, not done yet).  But at least you collect them all in the same place.

Lastly... MoM gave us Legendary Items and 2 new classes.  SoM gave us a truckload of quality of life improvements and skirmishes.  RoI gives us... well not much of anything, in that regard.  The classes have been redone, and they have truly changed significantly.  But they redid them all throughout last year, and here they are re-redoing them.  Some of those changes I've like, some I don't, but I've only been using one class.

 

thnx for the awesome post, most helpfull to me:)

GrumpyMel2

I've only played a few hours of it but so far I'm pretty underwhelmed. It doesn't feel like I'm doing much different then I was in Enedwaith...just with different names. Overall, the story arcs and quests all feel like things I've seen and done plenty of times before. I haven't encountered anything new or particularly interesting about gameplay either.

It's not badly done.....it's just for a paid expansion....I would have expected a little more "Ooomph" or something.....something to change it up a bit or add some new experience/feel to the game given how stagnant it's been for a long time now.

I really think they should have done something to try to make the story/region feel different from what we've experienced before.... (for example Forochel...free expansion back in the sub days....was a very decent sized zone and had a distinctly different feel as a zone and story arc to elsewhere in the game).

I also really think they should have been able to add at least 1 semi-significant gameplay addition...... Mounted-Combat, a new hobby, a new crafting proffesion, class, horse-breeding, pvmp zone, stamp collecting, anything..... something to breath a little new life into the game.

(IMO) We've been patient enough with F2P and the stasis mode it's put on actual game-play improvements for long enough that they REALLY needed to bring something more to the table.

As it is.....myself and most of the guild members I've talked to get a sorta "meh" feeling from ROI.  It's nice to be gaining levels again and have some more content to do....but it all seems very "been there, done that" .

At least Dunland does so far...maybe the Gap and Isengard itself will feel different.

elocke

Originally posted by GrumpyMel2

I've only played a few hours of it but so far I'm pretty underwhelmed. It doesn't feel like I'm doing much different then I was in Enedwaith...just with different names. Overall, the story arcs and quests all feel like things I've seen and done plenty of times before. I haven't encountered anything new or particularly interesting about gameplay either.

It's not badly done.....it's just for a paid expansion....I would have expected a little more "Ooomph" or something.....something to change it up a bit or add some new experience/feel to the game given how stagnant it's been for a long time now.

I really think they should have done something to try to make the story/region feel different from what we've experienced before.... (for example Forochel...free expansion back in the sub days....was a very decent sized zone and had a distinctly different feel as a zone and story arc to elsewhere in the game).

I also really think they should have been able to add at least 1 semi-significant gameplay addition...... Mounted-Combat, a new hobby, a new crafting proffesion, class, horse-breeding, pvmp zone, stamp collecting, anything..... something to breath a little new life into the game.

(IMO) We've been patient enough with F2P and the stasis mode it's put on actual game-play improvements for long enough that they REALLY needed to bring something more to the table.

As it is.....myself and most of the guild members I've talked to get a sorta "meh" feeling from ROI.  It's nice to be gaining levels again and have some more content to do....but it all seems very "been there, done that" .

At least Dunland does so far...maybe the Gap and Isengard itself will feel different.

I agree with this.  I too have only played a few hours and that is due to how boring it is.  I just don't think the game is offering much with this new expansion except more levels and quests and 3 new zones that look like the last 3 zones put into the game.  Lack of a new game system is apparent here as well, like you said.  Anything would have been nice, a new hobby, mounted combat, something to break up the monotony of the how the game has been for the last 2 years.

Actually, I should be honest and say my 2 main issues with Lotro and most MMORPGs these days are:

1.  Quests that send me back and forth to the exact same area more than once.  STOP doing this!  Holy crap, just give me all the quests for that area or make them continue while I'm IN the area instead of making me plod back through the 30 orcs I just killed, AGAIN.

2.  Mobs, regular mobs mind you, do they really need to stun me in every fight?  It just makes the fight tedious, boring and makes the flow of combat feel extremely slow.  Stuns should be reserved for elite mobs or bosses.

Robsolf

Originally posted by GrumpyMel2

At least Dunland does so far...maybe the Gap and Isengard itself will feel different.

There's alot of subtle new art, but yeah, it's pretty similar, at least in the beginning.  Once you start crossing into the Gap, things change significantly.  YMMV.  It's kinda the rub of using an already existent IP.  They couldn't exactly, for example, send you into a portal where you're running around on floating planet fragments(ala Last Crusade)...

But there are snowy areas, and bogs(which are notably different from those previous) and areas with some cool, old, gnarly lookin' trees.  And the Hilltop Battlefield in the Gap looks pretty cool.  And of course, Isengard.

The roads are fairly safe, Maybe you should take a ride around and hit all the stables.  Just don't go too far west in the Gap...  But with care, you can ride almost completely up to the Isengard gates, and it's a pretty cool view.

Robsolf

Originally posted by elocke

 

I agree with this.  I too have only played a few hours and that is due to how boring it is.  I just don't think the game is offering much with this new expansion except more levels and quests and 3 new zones that look like the last 3 zones put into the game.  Lack of a new game system is apparent here as well, like you said.  Anything would have been nice, a new hobby, mounted combat, something to break up the monotony of the how the game has been for the last 2 years.

Actually, I should be honest and say my 2 main issues with Lotro and most MMORPGs these days are:

1.  Quests that send me back and forth to the exact same area more than once.  STOP doing this!  Holy crap, just give me all the quests for that area or make them continue while I'm IN the area instead of making me plod back through the 30 orcs I just killed, AGAIN.

It's not too bad this time around.  What I've been seeing is that the quests are handed out in 3's or 4's; the "slay" quest often covers a whole area or significant size, and the 2-3 other objectives are within that area.  The instances of different camps having quests in the exact same spot are few, and quite often are done via instance the second time. In some cases, if there's more to do in the area, the objectives are given to you via a quest drop, or a mobile NPC that goes with you.

In one example, the overall objective is to take over a Dunland camp on a hilltop nearby.  You start off with a kill quest.  Once that completes, the objective changes and you burn some fortifications.  Once that's done, you sound a horn, and some 5-6 Rohirrim show up and help you take out the main cheeze at the top of the camp.  So, I didn't have to go back once, but be sure to watch for the new objective instead of just running back once you finished the kill quest. 

2.  Mobs, regular mobs mind you, do they really need to stun me in every fight?  It just makes the fight tedious, boring and makes the flow of combat feel extremely slow.  Stuns should be reserved for elite mobs or bosses.

Stuns still exist.  No more, no fewer.  They don't bother me much, though the 45 second warg move speed debuff is also still there to annoy the crap out of me.    Fear debuffs are still long but not as long. 

 

Jounar

Originally posted by elocke

Originally posted by GrumpyMel2

I've only played a few hours of it but so far I'm pretty underwhelmed. It doesn't feel like I'm doing much different then I was in Enedwaith...just with different names. Overall, the story arcs and quests all feel like things I've seen and done plenty of times before. I haven't encountered anything new or particularly interesting about gameplay either.

It's not badly done.....it's just for a paid expansion....I would have expected a little more "Ooomph" or something.....something to change it up a bit or add some new experience/feel to the game given how stagnant it's been for a long time now.

I really think they should have done something to try to make the story/region feel different from what we've experienced before.... (for example Forochel...free expansion back in the sub days....was a very decent sized zone and had a distinctly different feel as a zone and story arc to elsewhere in the game).

I also really think they should have been able to add at least 1 semi-significant gameplay addition...... Mounted-Combat, a new hobby, a new crafting proffesion, class, horse-breeding, pvmp zone, stamp collecting, anything..... something to breath a little new life into the game.

(IMO) We've been patient enough with F2P and the stasis mode it's put on actual game-play improvements for long enough that they REALLY needed to bring something more to the table.

As it is.....myself and most of the guild members I've talked to get a sorta "meh" feeling from ROI.  It's nice to be gaining levels again and have some more content to do....but it all seems very "been there, done that" .

At least Dunland does so far...maybe the Gap and Isengard itself will feel different.

I agree with this.  I too have only played a few hours and that is due to how boring it is.  I just don't think the game is offering much with this new expansion except more levels and quests and 3 new zones that look like the last 3 zones put into the game.  Lack of a new game system is apparent here as well, like you said.  Anything would have been nice, a new hobby, mounted combat, something to break up the monotony of the how the game has been for the last 2 years.

Actually, I should be honest and say my 2 main issues with Lotro and most MMORPGs these days are:

1.  Quests that send me back and forth to the exact same area more than once.  STOP doing this!  Holy crap, just give me all the quests for that area or make them continue while I'm IN the area instead of making me plod back through the 30 orcs I just killed, AGAIN.

2.  Mobs, regular mobs mind you, do they really need to stun me in every fight?  It just makes the fight tedious, boring and makes the flow of combat feel extremely slow.  Stuns should be reserved for elite mobs or bosses.

+1

The quests in the ROI expansion really are just dull and boring rehashes of each other not to mention 95% of them involve killing the same mob types with just the amount of kills needed being different. The amount of fetch and carry questlines right from the start along with the insane amount of  collect X amount of rocks, traps or some other stupid items type quests are way out of control.

The sheer amount of running back and forward to the same spot time after time is dreadful game design not to mention the so called story of the quest feels like it was all worked out in an afternoon. Even the so called epic book quests for the most part involve more fetch and carry with no memorable characters involved anywhere along the way.

The combat due to the class revamps means my Champion is now constanly running out of power and along with the insane amount of stuns from every mob during every fight makes fighting even green critter type mob a chore. The new armors design is pretty meh as well with only 3 style for heavy armor wearers (maybe more not light and medium armors types) and one of these is the end game raid gear which is just a reskin of older designs. Worse the crafted armor set dosent even match

Worst of all and completely unforgivible is the lack of quests in ROI. The offical forums are full of posts about people having to grind out the last half a level due to lack of content and along with no new 3, 6, 12 or 24 man dungeons/raids, ROI comes accross as a very unfinished expansion.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

vtravi

Originally posted by I_Return

Originally posted by Jounar

+1

The quests in the ROI expansion really are just dull and boring rehashes of each other not to mention 95% of them involve killing the same mob types with just the amount of kills needed being different. The amount of fetch and carry questlines right from the start along with the insane amount of  collect X amount of rocks, traps or some other stupid items type quests are way out of control.

The sheer amount of running back and forward to the same spot time after time is dreadful game design not to mention the so called story of the quest feels like it was all worked out in an afternoon. Even the so called epic book quests for the most part involve more fetch and carry with no memorable characters involved anywhere along the way.

The combat due to the class revamps means my Champion is now constanly running out of power and along with the insane amount of stuns from every mob during every fight makes fighting even green critter type mob a chore. The new armors design is pretty meh as well with only 3 style for heavy armor wearers (maybe more not light and medium armors types) and one of these is the end game raid gear which is just a reskin of older designs. Worse the crafted armor set dosent even match

Worst of all and completely unforgivible is the lack of quests in ROI. The offical forums are full of posts about people having to grind out the last half a level due to lack of content and along with no new 3, 6, 12 or 24 man dungeons/raids, ROI comes accross as a very unfinished expansion.

As far as I know, RoI has plenty of new dungeons and a 24 man raid... This entire post I quoted is miss information. Hope people can tell the difference between posters who played since pre launch (me) and some random troll who just blasted 3 full paragraphs oof horse shit.

 

Lets look at Isengard :

a. Sam and Frodo went in the opposite direction.

b. Gandalf still isn't back from his battle with the Belrog

c. Gimly , Legolas, Stryder are chasing the orcs that stole pippen and merry

d. the riders of rohan are off doing shit

e. the king of rohan isw incapacitated

f. we aren't even in Rohan yet.

This is the Bridge to fangorn forest(spell check) Rohan itself and helms deep, whichRohan  will probably be a completely new land mass map that will link Eriador to Gondor.

What is sad, this would of been a free patch, but Turbine like every other company has to deal with the currenct economic state of the United States Economy, aka a recession. Instead of laying off 100's of workers, they are charging for this patch, which I don't mind.

 

troll + post history = priceless

Sorry Dude but the other guy is 100% correct. there are no new 3,6 or 12 man dungeons in ROI. NONE (they are set to come in December though) There is a 1 boss 24 man raid. There are a grand total of 4 group quests in the whole expansion.  So the expansion is totally for soloist and people that haven't done School/lib/BG/annuminas 4 million times already, as it seems these will be the only instances to do for the next 3 months. Overall ROI at release has to go down as the lamest expansion in MMO history. In 6 months I may change my tune, but for now it is not very good.

starwarsnut

Heres why i cancelled this

 

1.New pvmp map (said to come later) I heard this same thing in moria theyve lied 2 times now about pvmp map so they can go bleep themselves as far as im concerned

 

2.New areas? Theres no such thing since moria id say from mirkwood fwd all the "new areas" are just remeshed former areas with rehased npcs wtih god awful character models to add.

3. Turbine/wb claimed they made 400% revenue back from f2p wheres the investment back into the game? this is just rehashed garbage

 

Im going to enjoy seeing swtor take 1/2 of lotros people and guild wars 2 the other half. swtor and guild wars 2 from what ive seen at least offer real  "new areas" and they seem to care about pvp and not spend time coding a tree with a bird into the moors as a 4 year update lolz

 

Like i said one has to ask themselves is the game better now then it was 4 years ago?

When i look at the moors and how they cant fix it 4 years in i realize they wont be able to fix in 8 and if they did guild wars 2 and swtor and future mmos will have already leveled lotro except for the rp'rs who will be comatose at shutdown

as for isengard seriously 4 years in and were at isengard? we should have been long past isen a year ago at the least. sigh...

Jounar

Originally posted by I_Return

Originally posted by Jounar

+1

The quests in the ROI expansion really are just dull and boring rehashes of each other not to mention 95% of them involve killing the same mob types with just the amount of kills needed being different. The amount of fetch and carry questlines right from the start along with the insane amount of  collect X amount of rocks, traps or some other stupid items type quests are way out of control.

The sheer amount of running back and forward to the same spot time after time is dreadful game design not to mention the so called story of the quest feels like it was all worked out in an afternoon. Even the so called epic book quests for the most part involve more fetch and carry with no memorable characters involved anywhere along the way.

The combat due to the class revamps means my Champion is now constanly running out of power and along with the insane amount of stuns from every mob during every fight makes fighting even green critter type mob a chore. The new armors design is pretty meh as well with only 3 style for heavy armor wearers (maybe more not light and medium armors types) and one of these is the end game raid gear which is just a reskin of older designs. Worse the crafted armor set dosent even match

Worst of all and completely unforgivible is the lack of quests in ROI. The offical forums are full of posts about people having to grind out the last half a level due to lack of content and along with no new 3, 6, 12 or 24 man dungeons/raids, ROI comes accross as a very unfinished expansion.

As far as I know, RoI has plenty of new dungeons and a 24 man raid... This entire post I quoted is miss information. Hope people can tell the difference between posters who played since pre launch (me) and some random troll who just blasted 3 full paragraphs oof horse shit.

 

Lets look at Isengard :

a. Sam and Frodo went in the opposite direction.

b. Gandalf still isn't back from his battle with the Belrog

c. Gimly , Legolas, Stryder are chasing the orcs that stole pippen and merry

d. the riders of rohan are off doing shit

e. the king of rohan isw incapacitated

f. we aren't even in Rohan yet.

This is the Bridge to fangorn forest(spell check) Rohan itself and helms deep, whichRohan  will probably be a completely new land mass map that will link Eriador to Gondor.

What is sad, this would of been a free patch, but Turbine like every other company has to deal with the currenct economic state of the United States Economy, aka a recession. Instead of laying off 100's of workers, they are charging for this patch, which I don't mind.

 

troll + post history = priceless

Drugs are bad, Mkay

Nirvy

Originally posted by I_Return

Originally posted by Jounar

+1

The quests in the ROI expansion really are just dull and boring rehashes of each other not to mention 95% of them involve killing the same mob types with just the amount of kills needed being different. The amount of fetch and carry questlines right from the start along with the insane amount of  collect X amount of rocks, traps or some other stupid items type quests are way out of control.

The sheer amount of running back and forward to the same spot time after time is dreadful game design not to mention the so called story of the quest feels like it was all worked out in an afternoon. Even the so called epic book quests for the most part involve more fetch and carry with no memorable characters involved anywhere along the way.

The combat due to the class revamps means my Champion is now constanly running out of power and along with the insane amount of stuns from every mob during every fight makes fighting even green critter type mob a chore. The new armors design is pretty meh as well with only 3 style for heavy armor wearers (maybe more not light and medium armors types) and one of these is the end game raid gear which is just a reskin of older designs. Worse the crafted armor set dosent even match

Worst of all and completely unforgivible is the lack of quests in ROI. The offical forums are full of posts about people having to grind out the last half a level due to lack of content and along with no new 3, 6, 12 or 24 man dungeons/raids, ROI comes accross as a very unfinished expansion.

As far as I know, RoI has plenty of new dungeons and a 24 man raid... This entire post I quoted is miss information. Hope people can tell the difference between posters who played since pre launch (me) and some random troll who just blasted 3 full paragraphs oof horse shit.

 

Lets look at Isengard :

a. Sam and Frodo went in the opposite direction.

b. Gandalf still isn't back from his battle with the Belrog

c. Gimly , Legolas, Stryder are chasing the orcs that stole pippen and merry

d. the riders of rohan are off doing shit

e. the king of rohan isw incapacitated

f. we aren't even in Rohan yet.

This is the Bridge to fangorn forest(spell check) Rohan itself and helms deep, whichRohan  will probably be a completely new land mass map that will link Eriador to Gondor.

What is sad, this would of been a free patch, but Turbine like every other company has to deal with the currenct economic state of the United States Economy, aka a recession. Instead of laying off 100's of workers, they are charging for this patch, which I don't mind.

 

troll + post history = priceless

Plenty of new dungeons? there are NONE! The new dungeons didnt even make it, they are not due for another 3-4 months yet.

The 24 man raid is one single boss - thats it. So dont lie to people about how many new dungeons there are.

 

This was a poor expansion, i will keep playing, and have done since day one, but this expansion is the worst yet, it should have been a patch only.

JeroKane

RoI will indeed go into the history books as one of the most lame expansions!

It's nothing but a glorified questpack. That's it!

Tier7 crafting is a TOTAL joke... with so few recipes (I'm armourer) it isn't even funny!

 

I remember the complains about Mirkwood being nothing but a glorified book update, but at least they called it a Mini expansion and charged less than the Isengard expac.

You know what is so disgusting?  The mirkwood expansion actually completely dwarfs the Isengard expansion! /facepalm

Voiidiin

Originally posted by I_Return

Originally posted by Jounar

+1

The quests in the ROI expansion really are just dull and boring rehashes of each other not to mention 95% of them involve killing the same mob types with just the amount of kills needed being different. The amount of fetch and carry questlines right from the start along with the insane amount of  collect X amount of rocks, traps or some other stupid items type quests are way out of control.

The sheer amount of running back and forward to the same spot time after time is dreadful game design not to mention the so called story of the quest feels like it was all worked out in an afternoon. Even the so called epic book quests for the most part involve more fetch and carry with no memorable characters involved anywhere along the way.

The combat due to the class revamps means my Champion is now constanly running out of power and along with the insane amount of stuns from every mob during every fight makes fighting even green critter type mob a chore. The new armors design is pretty meh as well with only 3 style for heavy armor wearers (maybe more not light and medium armors types) and one of these is the end game raid gear which is just a reskin of older designs. Worse the crafted armor set dosent even match

Worst of all and completely unforgivible is the lack of quests in ROI. The offical forums are full of posts about people having to grind out the last half a level due to lack of content and along with no new 3, 6, 12 or 24 man dungeons/raids, ROI comes accross as a very unfinished expansion.

As far as I know, RoI has plenty of new dungeons and a 24 man raid... This entire post I quoted is miss information. Hope people can tell the difference between posters who played since pre launch (me) and some random troll who just blasted 3 full paragraphs oof horse shit.

 

Lets look at Isengard :

a. Sam and Frodo went in the opposite direction.

b. Gandalf still isn't back from his battle with the Belrog

c. Gimly , Legolas, Stryder are chasing the orcs that stole pippen and merry

d. the riders of rohan are off doing shit

e. the king of rohan isw incapacitated

f. we aren't even in Rohan yet.

This is the Bridge to fangorn forest(spell check) Rohan itself and helms deep, whichRohan  will probably be a completely new land mass map that will link Eriador to Gondor.

What is sad, this would of been a free patch, but Turbine like every other company has to deal with the currenct economic state of the United States Economy, aka a recession. Instead of laying off 100's of workers, they are charging for this patch, which I don't mind.

 

troll + post history = priceless

Seriously ?

Ok its one thing to be supportive to the MMO you love and enjoy. I love and enjoy LoTRO and will continue to do so. But this reply comes across as if you really have not played any of this expansion. Why mislead those who have not yet purchased it with false information and overly exaggerated claims ?

ROI is a complete flop for a paid expansion. Its like all they did was make a newer Enedwaith map and threw in one of the Two Towers in to make it seem like they care.

There were alot of great Class changes, some not asked for (minstrel) some needed (champion), but who the hell wants to pay for a simple class patch ?

Who honestly, that plays LoTRO, was just begging for a new 24 man raid ? Not me, i am NOT a hardcore raider, the 12 mans were the perfect size for me, but to leave out any 12 man or 6 man, just mind boggling.

This is the second time they have promised a new PvMP map and not delivered, its very obvious they realised that if they included the new PvMP map that all of the serious VIP players would have left the current moors map and left the F2Ps alone and in the dust.

In all my years as a Fanatic MMO gamer i have always looked to Turbine as one of the more competent developers, this last PAID for expansion has left this opinion on very shakey ground.

Oh and to say that the economy was the driving force to make this a PAID for expansion is just really reaching for lameduck explanations.

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JeroKane

Originally posted by I_Return

First off, some people said no new group content are wrong.

Second off, I'm a soloist.

Third, if you wanna group with people, nothing is stopping except the rewards and "winning. If you are playing LotrO to "win", it is not the game for you.

Everyone knows this is the RAID that was suppose to be released during a FREE update (for VIP's at least) back in Spring and was posponed! /FACEPALM

[Deleted User]

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JeroKane

Originally posted by Voiidiin

Originally posted by I_Return

Originally posted by Jounar

+1

The quests in the ROI expansion really are just dull and boring rehashes of each other not to mention 95% of them involve killing the same mob types with just the amount of kills needed being different. The amount of fetch and carry questlines right from the start along with the insane amount of  collect X amount of rocks, traps or some other stupid items type quests are way out of control.

The sheer amount of running back and forward to the same spot time after time is dreadful game design not to mention the so called story of the quest feels like it was all worked out in an afternoon. Even the so called epic book quests for the most part involve more fetch and carry with no memorable characters involved anywhere along the way.

The combat due to the class revamps means my Champion is now constanly running out of power and along with the insane amount of stuns from every mob during every fight makes fighting even green critter type mob a chore. The new armors design is pretty meh as well with only 3 style for heavy armor wearers (maybe more not light and medium armors types) and one of these is the end game raid gear which is just a reskin of older designs. Worse the crafted armor set dosent even match

Worst of all and completely unforgivible is the lack of quests in ROI. The offical forums are full of posts about people having to grind out the last half a level due to lack of content and along with no new 3, 6, 12 or 24 man dungeons/raids, ROI comes accross as a very unfinished expansion.

As far as I know, RoI has plenty of new dungeons and a 24 man raid... This entire post I quoted is miss information. Hope people can tell the difference between posters who played since pre launch (me) and some random troll who just blasted 3 full paragraphs oof horse shit.

 

Lets look at Isengard :

a. Sam and Frodo went in the opposite direction.

b. Gandalf still isn't back from his battle with the Belrog

c. Gimly , Legolas, Stryder are chasing the orcs that stole pippen and merry

d. the riders of rohan are off doing shit

e. the king of rohan isw incapacitated

f. we aren't even in Rohan yet.

This is the Bridge to fangorn forest(spell check) Rohan itself and helms deep, whichRohan  will probably be a completely new land mass map that will link Eriador to Gondor.

What is sad, this would of been a free patch, but Turbine like every other company has to deal with the currenct economic state of the United States Economy, aka a recession. Instead of laying off 100's of workers, they are charging for this patch, which I don't mind.

 

troll + post history = priceless

Seriously ?

Ok its one thing to be supportive to the MMO you love and enjoy. I love and enjoy LoTRO and will continue to do so. But this reply comes across as if you really have not played any of this expansion. Why mislead those who have not yet purchased it with false information and overly exaggerated claims ?

ROI is a complete flop for a paid expansion. Its like all they did was make a newer Enedwaith map and threw in one of the Two Towers in to make it seem like they care.

There were alot of great Class changes, some not asked for (minstrel) some needed (champion), but who the hell wants to pay for a simple class patch ?

Who honestly, that plays LoTRO, was just begging for a new 24 man raid ? Not me, i am NOT a hardcore raider, the 12 mans were the perfect size for me, but to leave out any 12 man or 6 man, just mind boggling.

This is the second time they have promised a new PvMP map and not delivered, its very obvious they realised that if they included the new PvMP map that all of the serious VIP players would have left the current moors map and left the F2Ps alone and in the dust.

In all my years as a Fanatic MMO gamer i have always looked to Turbine as one of the more competent developers, this last PAID for expansion has left this opinion on very shakey ground.

Oh and to say that the economy was the driving force to make this a PAID for expansion is just really reaching for lameduck explanations.

Turbine and especially Warner Bros aren't suffering from the bad economy at all. They were bragging about how the Free 2 Play conversion has quadruppled their revenue!

But ofcourse all this extra money is going into their new Harry Potter MMO project no doubt and not into our own game we already PAY for!

Voiidiin

Huh? 

Dont play ?

How is that a solution to someone who expects more from their cash then waht most companies push out as a PATCH ?

I never said i hated LoTRO in fact i said the exact opposite, you would think it important to keep all VIPs int he game and not alienate them to the point of quitting.

There is plenty of others things i can do then waste my time in ROI and still enjoy the game. 

Its just very disingenous to give faulty information about an expansion when someoen is asking for information about it.

Sure there are some positive aspects to ROI but they do not impress me enough to warrant the cost of the expansion.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Matt_UK

Originally posted by Robsolf

Originally posted by GrumpyMel2

At least Dunland does so far...maybe the Gap and Isengard itself will feel different.

The roads are fairly safe, Maybe you should take a ride around and hit all the stables.  Just don't go too far west in the Gap...  But with care, you can ride almost completely up to the Isengard gates, and it's a pretty cool view.

 

I did exactly this, rode down at 65, went to all the stables, visited the Rohirrim. Got as close as I could to the two big Trolls on the gates of Isengard.

free2play

I went down on foot with a Lv. 52 Captain on the launch day, had no trouble getting there. Ran around and gathered 30 Ore but the Lagg on Landroval was bone crushing. I slipped in to a red radar zone and before I could get turned around got stomped and slaughtered. Haven't gone back since, more because I am under level and don't need to be there. The towns I found had a very tribal feel, nothing like Bree, more like Forachel but there may be some further in. I'm working more toward Mirkwood right now, sorry I can't help more. Big thing now? Lagg. Alot.

Matt_UK

Originally posted by Voiidiin

Huh? 

Dont play ?

How is that a solution to someone who expects more from their cash then waht most companies push out as a PATCH ?

I never said i hated LoTRO in fact i said the exact opposite, you would think it important to keep all VIPs int he game and not alienate them to the point of quitting.

There is plenty of others things i can do then waste my time in ROI and still enjoy the game. 

Its just very disingenous to give faulty information about an expansion when someoen is asking for information about it.

Sure there are some positive aspects to ROI but they do not impress me enough to warrant the cost of the expansion.

 

I can see your point and you're right some games have given free patches as big as ROI for no cost, but for me I can't imagine playing a game that's incomplete knowing that there are areas I don't have access to, plus I'm a founder and lifer so I don't pay a monthly sub and I don't mind the cost of an expansion since lotro costs me nothing anyway. That £90 I payed when the game came out was the best money I ever spent on an mmo.

 

For me lotro has always been about following the war south as far as Mordor and Gondor. I don't think i'd carry on if I couldn't progress through Middle Earth.

avalon1000

Originally posted by elocke

Originally posted by GrumpyMel2

I've only played a few hours of it but so far I'm pretty underwhelmed. It doesn't feel like I'm doing much different then I was in Enedwaith...just with different names. Overall, the story arcs and quests all feel like things I've seen and done plenty of times before. I haven't encountered anything new or particularly interesting about gameplay either.

It's not badly done.....it's just for a paid expansion....I would have expected a little more "Ooomph" or something.....something to change it up a bit or add some new experience/feel to the game given how stagnant it's been for a long time now.

I really think they should have done something to try to make the story/region feel different from what we've experienced before.... (for example Forochel...free expansion back in the sub days....was a very decent sized zone and had a distinctly different feel as a zone and story arc to elsewhere in the game).

I also really think they should have been able to add at least 1 semi-significant gameplay addition...... Mounted-Combat, a new hobby, a new crafting proffesion, class, horse-breeding, pvmp zone, stamp collecting, anything..... something to breath a little new life into the game.

(IMO) We've been patient enough with F2P and the stasis mode it's put on actual game-play improvements for long enough that they REALLY needed to bring something more to the table.

As it is.....myself and most of the guild members I've talked to get a sorta "meh" feeling from ROI.  It's nice to be gaining levels again and have some more content to do....but it all seems very "been there, done that" .

At least Dunland does so far...maybe the Gap and Isengard itself will feel different.

I agree with this.  I too have only played a few hours and that is due to how boring it is.  I just don't think the game is offering much with this new expansion except more levels and quests and 3 new zones that look like the last 3 zones put into the game.  Lack of a new game system is apparent here as well, like you said.  Anything would have been nice, a new hobby, mounted combat, something to break up the monotony of the how the game has been for the last 2 years.

Actually, I should be honest and say my 2 main issues with Lotro and most MMORPGs these days are:

1.  Quests that send me back and forth to the exact same area more than once.  STOP doing this!  Holy crap, just give me all the quests for that area or make them continue while I'm IN the area instead of making me plod back through the 30 orcs I just killed, AGAIN.

2.  Mobs, regular mobs mind you, do they really need to stun me in every fight?  It just makes the fight tedious, boring and makes the flow of combat feel extremely slow.  Stuns should be reserved for elite mobs or bosses.

Turbine just is not the same company it was a couple of years ago.  This expac has some glaring problems that never should have made it to release.  I totally agree with the stun comment.  It is over the top and need to be toned down.  Also I am very tired of the garbage rewards for quest completion.  Just give us ixp and exp, cash, or purple items now and then.  Although I do not play the mpvp part of the game anymore, would it have been too much trouble to expand that area?  I am sure it is getting quite stale in there.  We should have been in Rohan by now...way to kill a game Trubine!