It's a shame but the game is damn near life support status at this point.
I almost have the impression that this is the start of the "end game". Players are now facing Nazgul, fighting alongside Gandalf and so forth. A few more updates and then .......?
There were no active threads in the past month on this forum until someone updated a July post about server merges with the Minas Tirith update info. Before that it was a thread about how what a disaster the game is and how chaotic working there was. There just isn't the groundswell of interest in the game that would warrant a feature.
They crippled their game play by going for the ultra-casual market - the release version was fun, but after Moria they "revamped" everything to make the entire game one where you could win using autoattack and no gear. There are deadly videos of people soloing "bosses" wearing costumes and wielding frying pans. Trivial PvE content in a overwhelmingly PvE-focused game plus stunted PvP, not updated for years, is not a recipe for long-term player retention. And any move to make people need to push more than one button to play is incredibly unpopular among the people who've stuck it out, for obvious reasons.
It didn't help that they crippled their income with the lifetime subs, which
was a massive financial loss for a sub-based game once it went on for
more than a year. The people buying life subs are the sort of people
who stay as subscribers for years. But the game was mismanaged in other, deeper ways too.
It's too bad - I'm a huge Tolkien fan and enjoyed this a ton when it came out and through Moria. But the way that they drained every bit of challenge out in the name of accessibility utterly ruined the game for me, and it's not surprising that so few are paying attention to it.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Just thought I'd pop in: we don't have our finger on the pulse of a lot of games. Normally, we rely on press releases from Public Relations employees for when things like this launch. We haven't had anything from Turbine in FOREVER. Not even an invite to a demo or just a "hey, we launched this!"
For LotRO especially, since no one on staff plays it regularly or follows it, we really rely on our social media feeds and PR mailings for news out of Camp Turbine. They used to be really good about setting up coverage with us. Now? Not so much. I suspect the move to mobile means their attention lies elsewhere.
Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
I still play LOTRO but lately have been busy with GW2. I thought the Minis Tirith update was going to hit around Thanksgiving. It was just in beta and seemed to have lots of issues so figured it would be another few weeks. Nope. I was surprised it released. LOTRO is an old man with a cane at this point. But fans like me still love wandering around in Middle Earth, but, yes, the best days are behind this game.
Now lets get to Mordor already! Maybe MMORPG would cover that.
Just thought I'd pop in: we don't have our finger on the pulse of a lot of games. Normally, we rely on press releases from Public Relations employees for when things like this launch. We haven't had anything from Turbine in FOREVER. Not even an invite to a demo or just a "hey, we launched this!"
For LotRO especially, since no one on staff plays it regularly or follows it, we really rely on our social media feeds and PR mailings for news out of Camp Turbine. They used to be really good about setting up coverage with us. Now? Not so much. I suspect the move to mobile means their attention lies elsewhere.
The heathens at Turbine clearly did not pay their blood sacrifice to the MMORPG.com gods. I will pray for them.
Our Page Hits who art in internet Hallowed be thy full-page ads Thy revenue come Thy coverage be done on Massively as it is on MMORPG.com
Give us this day our daily post count and forgive us our trolls as we forgive those who troll against us and lead us not into 4chan but deliver us from dank memes
For thine is the nerd kingdom, and the power and the glory forever and ever
Just thought I'd pop in: we don't have our finger on the pulse of a lot of games. Normally, we rely on press releases from Public Relations employees for when things like this launch. We haven't had anything from Turbine in FOREVER. Not even an invite to a demo or just a "hey, we launched this!"
For LotRO especially, since no one on staff plays it regularly or follows it, we really rely on our social media feeds and PR mailings for news out of Camp Turbine. They used to be really good about setting up coverage with us. Now? Not so much. I suspect the move to mobile means their attention lies elsewhere.
The heathens at Turbine clearly did not pay their blood sacrifice to the MMORPG.com gods. I will pray for them.
Our Page Hits who art in internet Hallowed be thy full-page ads Thy revenue come Thy coverage be done on Massively as it is on MMORPG.com
Give us this day our daily post count and forgive us our trolls as we forgive those who troll against us and lead us not into 4chan but deliver us from dank memes
For thine is the nerd kingdom, and the power and the glory forever and ever
They crippled their game play by going for the
ultra-casual market - the release version was fun, but after Moria they
"revamped" everything to make the entire game one where you could win
using autoattack and no gear. There are deadly videos of people soloing
"bosses" wearing costumes and wielding frying pans.
It's a regular topic, but dumbification is a genre-wide trend since years, everything get easier with time, and LotRO is not worse in this matter than any older game... True, there was a couple months long period after HD launch (those lame trait trees) when the game was faceroll-kinda easy, but they've fixed it in the following updates. (I think you refer to the video with the auto-attack-only guard killing off a dozen orcs in Helm's Deep without breaking a sweat. That's not the case anymore) I'm familiar only with a few "frying pan" videos, from the early days, when it was actually a challenge. Doing Rift at lvl65 in apron and frying pan for example is a hilarious video and definitely not solo, it was a full raid.
I agree, LTA was a great deal for players, and the same time it became a dead weight for Turbine with the f2p switch. Pvp as player retention tool was never in focus, but still, lately it got a new area (Osgiliath) and some updates. Agree on the less challenge, but again, every other game is easier now than they were at launch - it's the norm nowadays. At least the community is still great, player events are fun, and they updated the music system further in U17
All I am waiting for is the day that Turbine loses the license to this game, and the IP goes to someone who builds us a massive, living/breathing, sandbox. This game has too much lore/history to be on rails.
It would be great as a sandbox, take a lot of elements from good ol Ultima and combine with Tolkien lore, that would be around for many years.
Just thought I'd pop in: we don't have our finger on the pulse of a lot of games. Normally, we rely on press releases from Public Relations employees for when things like this launch. We haven't had anything from Turbine in FOREVER. Not even an invite to a demo or just a "hey, we launched this!"
For LotRO especially, since no one on staff plays it regularly or follows it, we really rely on our social media feeds and PR mailings for news out of Camp Turbine. They used to be really good about setting up coverage with us. Now? Not so much. I suspect the move to mobile means their attention lies elsewhere.
Yeah, if we're being fair, Turbine has to do it's part. They simply have to do some marketing. Blog posts and emailing are still two of the most successful ways to reach massive audiences. Coming from a ghostwriter, they don't take that much time either. They could even have a few of their subscribers do it for them in exchange for something in game as an incentive.
It does make sense to say their attention is focused elsewhere. I would have never neglected this area if I was a part of their Marketing team. There are likely still people out there that have become LOTR fans and would like this game but just don't know about it.
With all the competition out there, developers cannot neglect their promoting.
Just thought I'd pop in: we don't have our finger on the pulse of a lot of games. Normally, we rely on press releases from Public Relations employees for when things like this launch. We haven't had anything from Turbine in FOREVER. Not even an invite to a demo or just a "hey, we launched this!" [...]
Yeah, if we're being fair, Turbine has to do it's part. They simply have to do some marketing. Blog posts and emailing are still two of the most successful ways to reach massive audiences.
That's a frequent topic on forums as well. For some reason they refocused their attention onto f.ckbook and twitter and stuff, and use their own forums, the game's launcher, mail, etc. much less for communication - whilst quite a large chunk of the players don't care about or use those external sites.
It's not Bill and staff's fault of course, so I think you don't need to clarify anything if companies don't send out the word, they won't be heard, easy as that. Just look at the Halloween round-up series here on mmorpg, even the weakest, browser-based games were present with "we changed our background to pumpkins" level of change, but some big(ger) names were missing. In LotRO's case I think there wasn't any announcement, not even on their own turf, about the Fall festival, they simply switched it on with U17. How should an external site keep track on that, without any word of it?
That's why I used to post the news here when I'm around, since my main games' companies are mostly behaving like this - true, STO got some pretty good coverage since Romulus, maybe PWE dropped the extra money on marketing for them besides Neverwinter. Funcom is even weirder, TSW has a moderate coverage so they know how to put the word out, still, AoC has close to none coverage... I even got the Tipster title back in the old-forum days because of some AoC news
Just thought I'd pop in: we don't have our finger on the pulse of a lot of games. Normally, we rely on press releases from Public Relations employees for when things like this launch. We haven't had anything from Turbine in FOREVER. Not even an invite to a demo or just a "hey, we launched this!" [...]
Yeah, if we're being fair, Turbine has to do it's part. They simply have to do some marketing. Blog posts and emailing are still two of the most successful ways to reach massive audiences.
That's a frequent topic on forums as well. For some reason they refocused their attention onto f.ckbook and twitter and stuff, and use their own forums, the game's launcher, mail, etc. much less for communication - whilst quite a large chunk of the players don't care about or use those external sites.
It's not Bill and staff's fault of course, so I think you don't need to clarify anything if companies don't send out the word, they won't be heard, easy as that. Just look at the Halloween round-up series here on mmorpg, even the weakest, browser-based games were present with "we changed our background to pumpkins" level of change, but some big(ger) names were missing. In LotRO's case I think there wasn't any announcement, not even on their own turf, about the Fall festival, they simply switched it on with U17. How should an external site keep track on that, without any word of it?
That's why I used to post the news here when I'm around, since my main games' companies are mostly behaving like this - true, STO got some pretty good coverage since Romulus, maybe PWE dropped the extra money on marketing for them besides Neverwinter. Funcom is even weirder, TSW has a moderate coverage so they know how to put the word out, still, AoC has close to none coverage... I even got the Tipster title back in the old-forum days because of some AoC news
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I miss this game a lot. I had tons of fun in it. But everything after Mines of Moria was disappointing for me. I doubt this expansion is any different.
Just thought I'd pop in: we don't have our finger on the pulse of a lot of games. Normally, we rely on press releases from Public Relations employees for when things like this launch. We haven't had anything from Turbine in FOREVER. Not even an invite to a demo or just a "hey, we launched this!"
For LotRO especially, since no one on staff plays it regularly or follows it, we really rely on our social media feeds and PR mailings for news out of Camp Turbine. They used to be really good about setting up coverage with us. Now? Not so much. I suspect the move to mobile means their attention lies elsewhere.
interesting to know. They're pretty weak on Development Diaries these days, as well. They used to have them all the time. Now you might get a producer letter every year in the forum, and some occasional updates to that.
I used to be one of their biggest supporters, but lately I just haven't felt much like logging in. They've started gating parts of the main story behind epic battles(they apparently forgot why they needed to undo grouping req's for Books 1, 2, and 3.). Also, the game's high level zones run horribly on my machine that runs modern MMO's and games at Max without a problem. This poses an even bigger problem since most of the higher level areas are mounted combat. Mobs often don't draw until you've passed them.
I don't post much here about the game. There is little point. I do post on the LotRO forums.
The game is still good. I'm still subscribed. The update is good and Minas Tirith looks awesome. Performance (in Minas Tirith) is mediocre just like parts of Rohan.
In other news the server migration-consolidation is going pretty smoothly all things considered. Turbine has done a pretty good job with that.
The current community argument du jour is whether we need a level cap increase from 100 to 105. I vote no thanks.
I've found performance to be passable on foot, unplayable on horse.
I'm not interested in 5 more levels, either. At this point, I'm not sure what additional levels would add, anyway.
Glad they got to a crafting update this time around, though.
I thought this game was good. The community was much better than WoW. I played this game when it first came out on dial up. I hit max level and was able to regular group, but not raid so I kinda reached a dead end. I still play off and on, but the game has changed a ton. Instances are still fairly difficult, but I always thought they were well done. The combat is kinda clunky/slow, but its like FFXIV to me. If you are obsessive you can spend hours and grinding deeds. Kill 50 wolves / kill 200 wolves / kill 1 million wolves etc etc. Music in the game is top notch and the graphics hold up very well for how old the game is. Also you can play an instrument and write music for it. I have a good rendition of "Hall of Fame." I wish they would create a star wars game like LOTRO with better combat. SWTOR just does not do it for me.
Just thought I'd pop in: we don't have our finger on the pulse of a lot of games. Normally, we rely on press releases from Public Relations employees for when things like this launch. We haven't had anything from Turbine in FOREVER. Not even an invite to a demo or just a "hey, we launched this!"
For LotRO especially, since no one on staff plays it regularly or follows it, we really rely on our social media feeds and PR mailings for news out of Camp Turbine. They used to be really good about setting up coverage with us. Now? Not so much. I suspect the move to mobile means their attention lies elsewhere.
Ok I am glad you resonded to some of these posts Bill. I see and understand why more coverage on this site wasn't given for this Lord Of the Rings Online update.
Comments
They crippled their game play by going for the ultra-casual market - the release version was fun, but after Moria they "revamped" everything to make the entire game one where you could win using autoattack and no gear. There are deadly videos of people soloing "bosses" wearing costumes and wielding frying pans. Trivial PvE content in a overwhelmingly PvE-focused game plus stunted PvP, not updated for years, is not a recipe for long-term player retention. And any move to make people need to push more than one button to play is incredibly unpopular among the people who've stuck it out, for obvious reasons.
It didn't help that they crippled their income with the lifetime subs, which was a massive financial loss for a sub-based game once it went on for more than a year. The people buying life subs are the sort of people who stay as subscribers for years. But the game was mismanaged in other, deeper ways too.
It's too bad - I'm a huge Tolkien fan and enjoyed this a ton when it came out and through Moria. But the way that they drained every bit of challenge out in the name of accessibility utterly ruined the game for me, and it's not surprising that so few are paying attention to it.
It's focused more to the tourists...
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
My Review Manifesto
Follow me on Twitter if you dare.
Now lets get to Mordor already! Maybe MMORPG would cover that.
Our Page Hits who art in internet
Hallowed be thy full-page ads
Thy revenue come
Thy coverage be done
on Massively as it is on MMORPG.com
Give us this day our daily post count
and forgive us our trolls
as we forgive those who troll against us
and lead us not into 4chan
but deliver us from dank memes
For thine is the nerd kingdom,
and the power and the glory
forever and ever
Amen
It's a regular topic, but dumbification is a genre-wide trend since years, everything get easier with time, and LotRO is not worse in this matter than any older game... True, there was a couple months long period after HD launch (those lame trait trees) when the game was faceroll-kinda easy, but they've fixed it in the following updates. (I think you refer to the video with the auto-attack-only guard killing off a dozen orcs in Helm's Deep without breaking a sweat. That's not the case anymore)
I'm familiar only with a few "frying pan" videos, from the early days, when it was actually a challenge. Doing Rift at lvl65 in apron and frying pan for example is a hilarious video
I agree, LTA was a great deal for players, and the same time it became a dead weight for Turbine with the f2p switch. Pvp as player retention tool was never in focus, but still, lately it got a new area (Osgiliath) and some updates. Agree on the less challenge, but again, every other game is easier now than they were at launch - it's the norm nowadays. At least the community is still great, player events are fun, and they updated the music system further in U17
It does make sense to say their attention is focused elsewhere. I would have never neglected this area if I was a part of their Marketing team. There are likely still people out there that have become LOTR fans and would like this game but just don't know about it.
With all the competition out there, developers cannot neglect their promoting.
It's not Bill and staff's fault of course, so I think you don't need to clarify anything
In LotRO's case I think there wasn't any announcement, not even on their own turf, about the Fall festival, they simply switched it on with U17. How should an external site keep track on that, without any word of it?
That's why I used to post the news here when I'm around, since my main games' companies are mostly behaving like this - true, STO got some pretty good coverage since Romulus, maybe PWE dropped the extra money on marketing for them besides Neverwinter. Funcom is even weirder, TSW has a moderate coverage so they know how to put the word out, still, AoC has close to none coverage... I even got the Tipster title back in the old-forum days because of some AoC news
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I used to be one of their biggest supporters, but lately I just haven't felt much like logging in. They've started gating parts of the main story behind epic battles(they apparently forgot why they needed to undo grouping req's for Books 1, 2, and 3.). Also, the game's high level zones run horribly on my machine that runs modern MMO's and games at Max without a problem. This poses an even bigger problem since most of the higher level areas are mounted combat. Mobs often don't draw until you've passed them.
I'm not interested in 5 more levels, either. At this point, I'm not sure what additional levels would add, anyway.
Glad they got to a crafting update this time around, though.