Game world massive?

iftachby

Hi everyone. 

Whenever I play LOTRO I feel like the Middle Earth that turbine created is just massive. The scale feels better than in other mmos, and the world feels more like a natural world than in most other mmos.

 

Is the game world actually as large as it feels (I guess only having relatively slow mounts helps make the world feel large) or is it actually bigger than say WoW?

What do you guys think about LOTROs game world?

Destai

Originally posted by iftachby

Hi everyone. 

Whenever I play LOTRO I feel like the Middle Earth that turbine created is just massive. The scale feels better than in other mmos, and the world feels more like a natural world than in most other mmos.

 

Is the game world actually as large as it feels (I guess only having relatively slow mounts helps make the world feel large) or is it actually bigger than say WoW?

What do you guys think about LOTROs game world?

The game world is beautifully crafted. The Shire is incredibly charming, feels like a piece of serenity before the storms in the east take over. The world feels storied and charming, and actually makes one feel like roleplaying in it.

arctarus

Nope, its a very instance world, even when you ride a horse from  point 1 to 2, it will switch to load screen, going inside your castle, zone, its a very very small world if you wanna compare to wow.

 

 

Hockeyisthegame

Originally posted by arctarus

Nope, its a very instance world, even when you ride a horse from  point 1 to 2, it will switch to load screen, going inside your castle, zone, its a very very small world if you wanna compare to wow.  

 

Yeah no offense but you may not know what you are taking about. If lotro you can travel from Thorins Gate, through Rivendell up the Misty mountains, down to the entrance of Moria there you would find you first load screen in the open world. Once in Moria you can travel the entire area open area from one end to the other. That entire journey I just mentioned would take a few hours. Yes the housing, dungeons, and raids are instances but the open world is huge. Even in WoW you can't travel from one end to the other without a few loading screens.

Hariken

Originally posted by arctarus

Nope, its a very instance world, even when you ride a horse from  point 1 to 2, it will switch to load screen, going inside your castle, zone, its a very very small world if you wanna compare to wow.

 

 

You sure as heck don't own a horse if you can say this. You must be talking about swift travel from stable masters. 

Po_gg

Originally posted by arctarus

Nope, its a very instance world, even when you ride a horse from  point 1 to 2, it will switch to load screen

Riiight... that's why we could take the hobbit to Isengard without any loading screen, because we were on foot... wait, nope

 

OP, "What do you guys think about LOTROs game world?"  for me it's an explorer's wet dream. Huge world, with lots of small details, hidden gems, great scenery, etc. From time to time someone starting a thread like this on the official forum as well, I love to read those in case I've missed something myself

https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?549322-Favorite-small-details  for example, or https://www.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?549311-Dance-of-the-dead-Orc

Madatan

Awww dayum, now I have to install it again!

Sovrath

Originally posted by Hockeyisthegame

Originally posted by arctarus

Nope, its a very instance world, even when you ride a horse from  point 1 to 2, it will switch to load screen, going inside your castle, zone, its a very very small world if you wanna compare to wow.

 

 

 

Yeah no offense but you may not know what you are taking about. If lotro you can travel from Thorins Gate, through Rivendell up the Misty mountains, down to the entrance of Moria there you would find you first load screen in the open world. Once in Moria you can travel the entire area open area from one end to the other. That entire journey I just mentioned would take a few hours. Yes the housing, dungeons, and raids are instances but the open world is huge. Even in WoW you can't travel from one end to the other without a few loading screens.

That's not "quite" true.

Going from Thorin's gate you would encounter your first load screen at the entrance to the shire. Unless that's changed?

Obviously going from Moria to Lothlorien is a load screen.

I thought there was a load screen going from Rivendell to the north snowy region, Misty Mountains, but that's a but fuzzy for me.

It is a large world but there are a few more load screns than just going into an out of moria.

Po_gg

No loading between Rivendell and Misty Mountains, but there's one when entering Goblin Town.

The loading between Falathlorn and Needlehole I could never understand personally, and even less after they added Enedwaith, Dunland and the Gap into the world without loading screens... so it can be done even with expansions. It'd be so easy to link those two with a passage... Ok, it'd be a long one, but still better than a loading

F2Pelerin118

I'm not sure how big the world is compared to other MMOs, but I really enjoy the Middle-earth Turbine has created.

It feels large when you explore it and it's mainly persistent, there are so many little details, it looks really good IMO (despite aging graphics) and the atmosphere of the world is fantastic.

I think the background music helps a lot too, I love it.

Bruhza

I've always wanted to play this MMO farther in because of the massive world I have heard about and seen pictures on.....Sadly the combat for me is too boring to grind out something like that. It just feels slow or something. (I'm normally not picky on combat at all either....so idk why I don't like this)

Destai

Originally posted by Bruhza
I've always wanted to play this MMO farther in because of the massive world I have heard about and seen pictures on.....Sadly the combat for me is too boring to grind out something like that. It just feels slow or something. (I'm normally not picky on combat at all either....so idk why I don't like this)

You're not alone, the combat is extremely sluggish. 

Jaedor

I found LOTRO to feel the same way, OP. When I started playing it back in 2008, you could go anywhere in the world. Later, the only gated content was Moria and Lothlorien. Then Mirkwood.

Then F2P, and lots of content became gated by paywalls. If you sub and buy the expansions, you don't see any of those walls. But for everyone else, the world is a lot smaller.

It's a beautiful world, but a lot smaller and more chopped up than it used to be.

Po_gg

Actually the 'paywall' doesn't mean a 'wall' by the letter, you can stroll around the whole world with a free account as well, you only can't take the quests in there until you buy the expansions. But the areas are open.

 

Originally posted by Jean-Luc_Picard

Originally posted by Hockeyisthegamz

 

 If lotro you can travel from Thorins Gate, through Rivendell up the Misty mountains, down to the entrance of Moria there you would find you first load screen in the open world. Once in Moria you can travel the entire area open area from one end to the other. That entire journey I just mentioned would take a few hours.

More like 45 minutes, I've done that once.

And you encounter your first loading screen like 6 minutes after your departure, when you hit the Shire.

I think he ment on foot, not on horse and the world is much bigger now if you start from the north (either Sûri-kylä in Forochel around the icy bay, but Zigilgund is about the same length from the entrance;  or starting in Angmar, all around following the road from Carn Dûm) and going down all the way to Isengard, it's easily 1.5 hours even with a 78% steed. On foot it's quite a tour

And no loading screen of course.

edit: also of course if you don't go for the "fastest route" record and just riding down casually, it's more than 2 hours.

Po_gg

Yep, and at launch the fastest transportation was on foot, you could get your first horse only at around Evendim / Trollshaws, so the world was huge.

 

And I didn't mean zig-zag, just simply following the road. "shortest / fastest route" means sliding down mountains (with occasional leg break), going through everything you can, etc. Which is a great method too, there are player events sometimes about racing where you need to utilise all the explored shortcuts to keep up with the others.

(for example I've learned a tricky crossing place once by following other riders and there was a small 'bank' in the middle of the river just underneath the surface, so with precise jumping you could cross the river without dismounting - or going by the detour and the bridge)

angerbeaver

Do Crosser of Roads achievement as a chicken and tell me how small the world is. It is a big scary world as a chicken on hours long journey that can only survive 1 hit.

Po_gg

Howdy, fellow fowl, owner of the mighty Cloak of the Cluck

On one of the Hobbit to Isengard run I've managed to tag along the raid as a chicken, one of the screenshots of that run is my wallpaper since then. Free chickens of Middle-earth!

Po_gg

My bad, I forgot the Midgewater Pass - Weather Hills shortcut

if you follow the road and turn east below Bree, it's a bit longer. Same within the Trollshaws, based on the times I guess you left the East Road and cut through Tal Bruinen.

Anyhow, I'm sure it was a nice ride, I think I'll ride it myself tomorrow just for the fun

 

edit: make that tomorrow +2, they switched on the Treasure hunt event. I still miss a couple emotes on 2 alts so I'll be hunting them treasure chests this weekend...

(not to mention I don't have the Treasure laden steed on any characters so far... I'm massively unlucky with this event)

Po_gg

Originally posted by Jean-Luc_Picard

Originally posted by Po_gg

Howdy, fellow fowl, owner of the mighty Cloak of the Cluck

My Loremaster is also one of those

Imagine that... a hard to get item without involving any form of raiding or dungeonning!

Exactly, it's hard to get without involving them, and much easier with them

I got mine the proper, solo way, 1 chicken against the whole world, but I also took part once in a run helping for a flock of friends... great sight, pretty much like the hobbit run to Isengard only in a smaller scale, two hobbits running and shooting everything on sight, behind them 6-8 chickens

fodell54

Whatever the actual size of the world it feels massive. It's one of the few MMOs that makes you feel small in a really large land.

koboldfodder

I did Cloak of the Cluck around the time it came out.  They have added a few more travel things to that quest.  The hard part was up the hill at the Fords of Brunien where you have those invisible cats.  The other stuff was actually pretty easy, especially when you take river routes.

Po_gg

Originally posted by Jean-Luc_Picard

... like the addition of goat mounts. An elf riding a goat through Bree would make the good professor cry in his tomb.

Agree. Salt to the wounds... I mentioned above to dive into treasure hunting because I miss the steed from my steed-collector character, well, no change in the misfortune part (and I've spent heavy hours on the field).

Then I switched to an alt for some cave-claw hugging, but I need tokens for that, so headed towards the field. 2nd round, huge chest. Cool. Treasure laden goat. ??... Why, game? On my humble scholar, who wouldn't ride a mount with money bags on its back, and even moreso as an elf he wouldn't ride a goat? Lady Luck, you bi... khm.

Then about 30min later, huge chest. Treasure laden goat - again. Straight into the inventory, because "already know the skill". C'mon, game....

 

True (although sad) story.

oldboygamer

 

Originally posted by arctarus

Nope, its a very instance world, even when you ride a horse from  point 1 to 2, it will switch to load screen, going inside your castle, zone, its a very very small world if you wanna compare to wow.

 

 

 

What? I can ride through 30 zones without a load screen. It only loads when you go inside a building or cut to an instance. Don't post lies about this game.

RemyVorender

LoTRO, for a themepark, is a HUGE MMO, landmass-wise.