LotRO expected 1 million players, which they haven't achieved. Is it a failure?
Can you provide a link to back either one of your statements up?
I like to see some documentation on that too, please
You won't, because Turbine won't say. But I guarantee you that if they had hit a million sales, they'd crow about it everywhere. best guesses from server capacity and the fact that they haven't needed to add any are between 4-600 K worldwide. Certainly not a bad number.
How can anyone compare WoW and EQ? EQ is much more difficult and challenging, and it caters to a much more mature player base, since the leveling can be difficult.
Mature? Long level grinds and ridiculous raiding are the purvue of the teenager and no lifers. No mature person in their right mind would waste their life away with that kind of game play.
With PvE raiding, it has never been a question of being "good enough". I play games to have fun, not to be a simpering toady sitting through hour after hour of mind numbing boredom and fawning over a guild master in the hopes that he will condescend to reward me with shiny bits of loot. But in games where those people get the highest progression, anyone who doesn't do that will just be a moving target for them and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay money for the privilege. - Neanderthal
LotRO expected 1 million players, which they haven't achieved. Is it a failure?
Can you provide a link to back either one of your statements up?
I like to see some documentation on that too, please
You won't, because Turbine won't say. But I guarantee you that if they had hit a million sales, they'd crow about it everywhere. best guesses from server capacity and the fact that they haven't needed to add any are between 4-600 K worldwide. Certainly not a bad number.
Actually, my info came from another post that said the EU version had it on their boxes. But that link you provided is much more credible. http://www.lotro.com/article/301
LotRO expected 1 million players, which they haven't achieved. Is it a failure?
Can you provide a link to back either one of your statements up?
I like to see some documentation on that too, please
You won't, because Turbine won't say. But I guarantee you that if they had hit a million sales, they'd crow about it everywhere. best guesses from server capacity and the fact that they haven't needed to add any are between 4-600 K worldwide. Certainly not a bad number.
Actually, my info came from another post that said the EU version had it on their boxes. But that link you provided is much more credible. http://www.lotro.com/article/301
One of the Largest North American MMO Pre-Launch Events
Ever Scheduled to Begin On April 6th!
that was how many slots they were providing for the open beta , reading comprehension for the win. When the open beta was foping on they had a counter going and about 850, 000 keys were distributed
LOTR is a great game.....its not about getting max lvl in 1 month. Its the game exp. getting there. The story line is great and i find myself just exploring the world. Granted it is not easy like wow, and its not a headache like EQ was. It suits my play style, and will only get better once things are ironed out.
this game is gonna be left to rot to the fanboys and tolkien admirers
That would be fine by me. Good riddance to the so-called "power gamers" and no-lifers that don't really appreciate the setting and the lore, but prefer instead to blow through content so they can spend all day in 6-8 hour raids. The fewer of them there are to complain about end game content, content a vast majority a players will never see, the more attention other things will receive. In the end there are WAY more fanboys and Tolkien admirers than "l33t" gamers....
this game is gonna be left to rot to the fanboys and tolkien admirers
That would be fine by me. Good riddance to the so-called "power gamers" and no-lifers that don't really appreciate the setting and the lore, but prefer instead to blow through content so they can spend all day in 6-8 hour raids. The fewer of them there are to complain about end game content, content a vast majority a players will never see, the more attention other things will receive. In the end there are WAY more fanboys and Tolkien admirers than "l33t" gamers....
The l33t games have probably moved on by now or are waiting for the next expansion, I was speaking of those more casual players who dont care much for tolkien and just play because theirs not much else out right now thats better, and their are way more players that fall into this category than both l33t gamers and tolkien fans I imagine.
Once this game looses that chunk of the population, it will be like an Eq1 or L2 deal, a low, close knit population, and new players will find it difficult to progress due to the lack of a lower lvl player population.
It is in fact a sign of how well it is doing that the local naysayer population takes the time to take shots at it. If it were truly doing poorly in any way, the forum rats would have swarmed elsewhere.
this game is gonna be left to rot to the fanboys and tolkien admirers
That would be fine by me. Good riddance to the so-called "power gamers" and no-lifers that don't really appreciate the setting and the lore, but prefer instead to blow through content so they can spend all day in 6-8 hour raids. The fewer of them there are to complain about end game content, content a vast majority a players will never see, the more attention other things will receive. In the end there are WAY more fanboys and Tolkien admirers than "l33t" gamers....
The l33t games have probably moved on by now or are waiting for the next expansion, I was speaking of those more casual players who dont care much for tolkien and just play because theirs not much else out right now thats better, and their are way more players that fall into this category than both l33t gamers and tolkien fans I imagine.
Once this game looses that chunk of the population, it will be like an Eq1 or L2 deal, a low, close knit population, and new players will find it difficult to progress due to the lack of a lower lvl player population.
Ok....
Firstly i think you are doing a very great disservice to a very critical fact here..."L33t gamers waiting for the next thing to arrive and in leaving will steal away the majority of Lord of the rings online subscriptions"?? Ok. How many players do you think are tolkien fans and are indeed first time MMORPG players because now a game exists in their much loved setting? Then of course not to mention that with that fact a good percentage of these could be fresh players to the genre completely? Then of course their is the fact that the IP behind this game is massive, and should not be underestimated? As Turbine expand into and across the many more areas of middle earth this game will not only become extremely large but also it will strengthen the appeal of the IP even further down the road for new players interested in their favourite locations from the books and films that are not necessarily available yet so its remarketability as a continuing product is very promising. It has Solid lore to follow, has been executed with polish and quality, will be built upon and exapanded, and has one of the best looking MMORPG engines currently in "Live" service. Not a bad start.
Lets also not forget this game has the privlidge of using, the IP, which forms the basis, of the majority, of modern fantasy and is based on a series of books second only in sales worldwide to the Bible. Ok so from that point i would say this game has produced a rock solid start into this now "mainstream" gaming genre and will continue to grow from strength to strength.
The Argument here i think isnt really whether Lord of the rings online is a failure...it clearly isnt. Its release near enough next too the questionably illegal sale of Vanguard Saga of heroes, should really show that. One is a very clear case of utter product failure at launch, Lord of the rings online is in fact a great distance from that, and in its own right can be quantified at the present time as a game that has had an incredibly strong and promising launch. And a game that because of it future prospects, the IP it is based upon and its sheer expandability looks very promising and set to earn the title of a successful product for both players and fans and developers alike.
The Argument here really is whether you are the type of player whom really appreciates the casual, authentic and fun atmosphere that Lord of the rings online is trying to create. Or whether you are the type of player that is heavily based in the MMORPG community following multiple games with multiple accounts and devoting more than average numbers of hours to gamesplaying. I think to be honest that Turbine never set out with the mission statement of creating a game aimed at the latter, because otherwise they would make a similar mistake to Sigil before them in january, aim an already fast becoming mainstream product base to satisfy morso a small niche of subscribers within that potential player base, it just doesnt make business sense at all.
Lord of the Rings online in my opinion is a great way to spend a few hours, or several hours, immersing yourself in the games atmosphere and lore and look and feel of being in middle earth during the war of the ring, which ultimately is where its attention to detail lay in spades. It was never made nor intended to provide a challenging raid packed end game, nor continued stimulation for MMORPG veterans putting in thirty or more hours a week, nor those wishing to build vast pvp and guild empires with player owned property, nor the ability to fly around wielding the +6 Dominator sword on the back of a flaming demon mount. It just isnt that product.
Great game and looking forward to its future. Providing of course it is the product for you. If it isnt then other titles exist and we all have the element of choice.
It does depend on how you qualify failure IMO, to say that that LOTRO is the 3rd failure of turbine. I 100% agree that AC2 was Turbine's first failure because it was a good game, but not supported well enough to have the longevity expected of modern mmorpgs. DDO was their second failure because what makes a pen and paper game great cant be translated into an mmoprg. Its 2 different mediums: like reading a book verses watching a movie, and the waning player base proves that. But is LORTO in these categories? I would say not yet. LOTRO is close to being a failure however, because it is the most recognizable name in the fantasy genre, it was preceeded by 3 award winning movies, god knows how many book sales and merchandise, and it still had a lack-luster opening at best. If you debate that, how many weeks was it a top seller over The Burning Crusade on the charts? Did it ever beat The Burning Crusade? Its certainly not right now. Check Amazon.com for an example if you want the facts. The biggest name of all time should at least have the biggest opening of all time whether the game is horrible or not. In that regard LORTO is already a failure. Will Turbine recoup their investment? Absolutely. Will they develope new content and generate profit over time. Absolutely. But they are expected to. Will they have the largest box selling, most subscribed to game on the market? Probably not. Right now they are what, 3rd or 4th at best? And thats only until Age Of Conan and Warhammer release. For the kind of press that the LORT name and franchise brings I belive that Turbine has already fallen short of expectations, althogh the game may be good and satisfying for soem. And yes, Im a Turbine flamer, havent been a fan of the company or its practices since what they did to AC2, but my opinion was not based on the gameplay/mechanics or anything to do with devolpmental style of the game. It was strictly based on sales and pop numbers.
It does depend on how you qualify failure IMO, to say that that LOTRO is the 3rd failure of turbine. I 100% agree that AC2 was Turbine's first failure because it was a good game, but not supported well enough to have the longevity expected of modern mmorpgs. DDO was their second failure because what makes a pen and paper game great cant be translated into an mmoprg. Its 2 different mediums: like reading a book verses watching a movie, and the waning player base proves that. But is LORTO in these categories? I would say not yet. LOTRO is close to being a failure however, because it is the most recognizable name in the fantasy genre, it was preceeded by 3 award winning movies, god knows how many book sales and merchandise, and it still had a lack-luster opening at best. If you debate that, how many weeks was it a top seller over The Burning Crusade on the charts? Did it ever beat The Burning Crusade? Its certainly not right now. Check Amazon.com for an example if you want the facts. The biggest name of all time should at least have the biggest opening of all time whether the game is horrible or not. In that regard LORTO is already a failure. Will Turbine recoup their investment? Absolutely. Will they develope new content and generate profit over time. Absolutely. But they are expected to. Will they have the largest box selling, most subscribed to game on the market? Probably not. Right now they are what, 3rd or 4th at best? And thats only until Age Of Conan and Warhammer release. For the kind of press that the LORT name and franchise brings I belive that Turbine has already fallen short of expectations, althogh the game may be good and satisfying for soem. And yes, Im a Turbine flamer, havent been a fan of the company or its practices since what they did to AC2, but my opinion was not based on the gameplay/mechanics or anything to do with devolpmental style of the game. It was strictly based on sales and pop numbers.
All the rumored numbers I have heard put LOTRO at around 500K+ western subscribers. That would place it as the number 2 game in that market. Definitely not a failure. Plus it beat The Burning Crusade for at least 2 weeks. No one expects any game to be a WoW beater. Blizzard's word of mouth advertising machine is pretty much impossible to beat. We will see when the Bioware MMO cames out, since they are about the closest to Blizzard in respect and quality in the marketplace.
Currently playing: LOTRO & WoW (not much WoW though because Mines of Moria rocks!!!!)
Looking Foward too: Bioware games (Dragon Age & Star Wars The Old Republic)
LOTR is a great game.....its not about getting max lvl in 1 month. Its the game exp. getting there. The story line is great and i find myself just exploring the world. Granted it is not easy like wow, and its not a headache like EQ was. It suits my play style, and will only get better once things are ironed out.
failure? not hardly.
The problem I have with it is that I read the book, saw the movie, and the story in LOTRO simply does not compare.
Sure i'll call it a third failure if people stop playing it like Vangard... but get over it the game has a stable and large playerbase. This game is for all the AC players of old after AC falls in the near future. Hate it or love it ... LOTRO will be around for a while.
Games Enjoyed: UO,EQ,AC,EQ2,COX,LOTRO Games Played(-Above):WoW,MXO,GW(beta),RFO,ArchLord,V:SOH,Rappelz,Ryzom,DDO Games I felt were a rip-off: DDO,ArchLord,V:SOH - all newer how ironic
LOTRO is close to being a failure however, because it is the most recognizable name in the fantasy genre, it was preceeded by 3 award winning movies, god knows how many book sales and merchandise, and it still had a lack-luster opening at best. If you debate that, how many weeks was it a top seller over The Burning Crusade on the charts? Did it ever beat The Burning Crusade? Its certainly not right now. Check Amazon.com for an example if you want the facts. The biggest name of all time should at least have the biggest opening of all time whether the game is horrible or not. In that regard LORTO is already a failure.
Lack-luster opening? If you check the NPD numbers for April you'll see it was the #1 selling PC game for the month. Yes, it beat out Burning Crusade which came in at #2. Also the special edition of LOTRO was #8. I'm pretty sure it was #1 at Amazon for quite some time too. It's probably safe to say that Turbine was very happy with the launch. I don't see how anyone could consider it even being close to a failure.
I think another problem LOTRO will have is that in the very near future some of the most anticipated MMOs in development are coming out. There's so much buzz over games like WAR and AoC, I don't think LOTRO will be able to go anywhere but down once those games near launch.
"Because it's easier to nitpick something than to be constructive." -roach5000
I really don't care how popular Wow is. WoW being popular does not make LOTRO less good. You assume it is a zero sum game, that the MMO fan base is fixed and the same people will either chose WoW or LOTRO. But they are different games and will attract different people for different reasons. With the Lord of the Rings being the #2 bestselling book in all of human history I don't have to go far out on a limb to say there are way more Tolkien fans than people that have ever played WoW, and if over time just a fraction of them make LOTRO their first MMO this could be a HUGE hit without taking even one subscriber away from WoW, or even AoC when it comes out.
While its not really teh game for me, I can recognize that it IS a well-made PvE game for the casual gamer.
I am a little resentful, mind you. LotR is the biggest, most expansive IP to be tapped for an MMO. Fact is, most other Fantasy games and books take a great deal of influence from Tolkien. That said, this game should have been a massive sandbox game, above and beyond UO in its glory days. These is simply so much infomation available in the literature, and it just feels like a great deal of it will be wasted. But, its a narrow-focused, low-risk PvE game, and thats just the way it is.
In time, maybe the game will become more evolved. At least the environments look good, even if they are way small next to Tolkien's map of Middle Earth (meaning fish-bowl Scale). I look forward checking back here in a while.
Frank 'Spankybus' Mignone www.spankybus.com -3d Artist & Compositor -Writer -Professional Amature
Yes, and gonna be 3d failure, not now but in few months
1° Most of players are waiting for WAR and AOC.
2° if we don't have housing in october and Moria in december it will be the end of lotro
3° turbine made a mistake with this STUPID Chicken play !!!! Most of RP players are disappointed !!!! Thought it was a joke...
4° most of bugs aren't fixed; spe. for dungeons and "high lvl content"
5° MP isn't working at all! it's a dead zone.
6°In shops, Lotro has been a success 1 month, now, nobody talks anymore about lotro. WOW/BC is one more time on the Top 5 of MMOS. (1rst place) If you need a Special Edition of Lotro you can find one easily...
The high end content is kinda sparse and lacking and once you hit the higher levels (35+) it's hard to solo as you get more and more quests that requires a fellowship to complete. I'd say give it about 6 months more time for the game to mature and more game content to be added then LOTRO will be really great. But of course there's no changing the minds of those who already made up their minds. This game is also geared for casual and group players and hardcore/soloist will find it hard to advance their characters once you hit the higher levels (probably that's the reason of hate coming from the naysayers). For those who complain about the delay in your skill activating... there's a game mechanic called induction duration that many people do not know about... basically it's a game mechanic that controls how fast between activating your skill and your skill actually doing something, in fact there are items and skills/songs in the game that reduces induction duration giving you a slight boost in how fast your skill activates. Unlike WoW where every skill activates instantly barring cast time, this game mechanics is what differentiates in how WOW and LOTRO skill works and stops it from being a skill twitch spamming game.
Comments
I think the game is a sucess. It has a pretty good subscriber base!
If LOTRO, with its sales and player base, is not a success, then one's got to wonder what mmorpg - apart from WOW and maybe Lineage - is.
Can you provide a link to back either one of your statements up?
I like to see some documentation on that too, please
Can you provide a link to back either one of your statements up?
I like to see some documentation on that too, please
You won't, because Turbine won't say. But I guarantee you that if they had hit a million sales, they'd crow about it everywhere. best guesses from server capacity and the fact that they haven't needed to add any are between 4-600 K worldwide. Certainly not a bad number.Here's one mention of the million number: http://www.lotro.com/article/301 , and that's probably where the idea came from.
Bite me, Turbine.
I dont think the game did that well considering theirs only 1300-1500 people per server daily...and theirs not alot of servers.
The game didnt do bad, but I think once the next batch of mmo's comes out this game is gonna be left to rot to the fanboys and tolkien admirers
Mature? Long level grinds and ridiculous raiding are the purvue of the teenager and no lifers. No mature person in their right mind would waste their life away with that kind of game play.
With PvE raiding, it has never been a question of being "good enough". I play games to have fun, not to be a simpering toady sitting through hour after hour of mind numbing boredom and fawning over a guild master in the hopes that he will condescend to reward me with shiny bits of loot. But in games where those people get the highest progression, anyone who doesn't do that will just be a moving target for them and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay money for the privilege. - Neanderthal
Can you provide a link to back either one of your statements up?
I like to see some documentation on that too, please
You won't, because Turbine won't say. But I guarantee you that if they had hit a million sales, they'd crow about it everywhere. best guesses from server capacity and the fact that they haven't needed to add any are between 4-600 K worldwide. Certainly not a bad number.Here's one mention of the million number: http://www.lotro.com/article/301 , and that's probably where the idea came from.
Actually, my info came from another post that said the EU version had it on their boxes. But that link you provided is much more credible. http://www.lotro.com/article/301
Can you provide a link to back either one of your statements up?
I like to see some documentation on that too, please
You won't, because Turbine won't say. But I guarantee you that if they had hit a million sales, they'd crow about it everywhere. best guesses from server capacity and the fact that they haven't needed to add any are between 4-600 K worldwide. Certainly not a bad number.Here's one mention of the million number: http://www.lotro.com/article/301 , and that's probably where the idea came from.
Actually, my info came from another post that said the EU version had it on their boxes. But that link you provided is much more credible. http://www.lotro.com/article/301
One of the Largest North American MMO Pre-Launch Events
Ever Scheduled to Begin On April 6th!
that was how many slots they were providing for the open beta , reading comprehension for the win. When the open beta was foping on they had a counter going and about 850, 000 keys were distributed
I miss DAoC
LOTR is a great game.....its not about getting max lvl in 1 month. Its the game exp. getting there. The story line is great and i find myself just exploring the world. Granted it is not easy like wow, and its not a headache like EQ was. It suits my play style, and will only get better once things are ironed out.
failure? not hardly.
― James O'Barr, The Crow
“Sarah: "Buildings burn, people die, but real love is forever...”
― James O'Barr, The Crow
That would be fine by me. Good riddance to the so-called "power gamers" and no-lifers that don't really appreciate the setting and the lore, but prefer instead to blow through content so they can spend all day in 6-8 hour raids. The fewer of them there are to complain about end game content, content a vast majority a players will never see, the more attention other things will receive. In the end there are WAY more fanboys and Tolkien admirers than "l33t" gamers....
That would be fine by me. Good riddance to the so-called "power gamers" and no-lifers that don't really appreciate the setting and the lore, but prefer instead to blow through content so they can spend all day in 6-8 hour raids. The fewer of them there are to complain about end game content, content a vast majority a players will never see, the more attention other things will receive. In the end there are WAY more fanboys and Tolkien admirers than "l33t" gamers....
The l33t games have probably moved on by now or are waiting for the next expansion, I was speaking of those more casual players who dont care much for tolkien and just play because theirs not much else out right now thats better, and their are way more players that fall into this category than both l33t gamers and tolkien fans I imagine.
Once this game looses that chunk of the population, it will be like an Eq1 or L2 deal, a low, close knit population, and new players will find it difficult to progress due to the lack of a lower lvl player population.
What are you smoking?
LOTRO is doing just fine.
It is only going to grow, and get better.
It is in fact a sign of how well it is doing that the local naysayer population takes the time to take shots at it. If it were truly doing poorly in any way, the forum rats would have swarmed elsewhere.
That would be fine by me. Good riddance to the so-called "power gamers" and no-lifers that don't really appreciate the setting and the lore, but prefer instead to blow through content so they can spend all day in 6-8 hour raids. The fewer of them there are to complain about end game content, content a vast majority a players will never see, the more attention other things will receive. In the end there are WAY more fanboys and Tolkien admirers than "l33t" gamers....
The l33t games have probably moved on by now or are waiting for the next expansion, I was speaking of those more casual players who dont care much for tolkien and just play because theirs not much else out right now thats better, and their are way more players that fall into this category than both l33t gamers and tolkien fans I imagine.
Once this game looses that chunk of the population, it will be like an Eq1 or L2 deal, a low, close knit population, and new players will find it difficult to progress due to the lack of a lower lvl player population.
Firstly i think you are doing a very great disservice to a very critical fact here..."L33t gamers waiting for the next thing to arrive and in leaving will steal away the majority of Lord of the rings online subscriptions"?? Ok. How many players do you think are tolkien fans and are indeed first time MMORPG players because now a game exists in their much loved setting? Then of course not to mention that with that fact a good percentage of these could be fresh players to the genre completely? Then of course their is the fact that the IP behind this game is massive, and should not be underestimated? As Turbine expand into and across the many more areas of middle earth this game will not only become extremely large but also it will strengthen the appeal of the IP even further down the road for new players interested in their favourite locations from the books and films that are not necessarily available yet so its remarketability as a continuing product is very promising. It has Solid lore to follow, has been executed with polish and quality, will be built upon and exapanded, and has one of the best looking MMORPG engines currently in "Live" service. Not a bad start.
Lets also not forget this game has the privlidge of using, the IP, which forms the basis, of the majority, of modern fantasy and is based on a series of books second only in sales worldwide to the Bible. Ok so from that point i would say this game has produced a rock solid start into this now "mainstream" gaming genre and will continue to grow from strength to strength.
The Argument here i think isnt really whether Lord of the rings online is a failure...it clearly isnt. Its release near enough next too the questionably illegal sale of Vanguard Saga of heroes, should really show that. One is a very clear case of utter product failure at launch, Lord of the rings online is in fact a great distance from that, and in its own right can be quantified at the present time as a game that has had an incredibly strong and promising launch. And a game that because of it future prospects, the IP it is based upon and its sheer expandability looks very promising and set to earn the title of a successful product for both players and fans and developers alike.
The Argument here really is whether you are the type of player whom really appreciates the casual, authentic and fun atmosphere that Lord of the rings online is trying to create. Or whether you are the type of player that is heavily based in the MMORPG community following multiple games with multiple accounts and devoting more than average numbers of hours to gamesplaying. I think to be honest that Turbine never set out with the mission statement of creating a game aimed at the latter, because otherwise they would make a similar mistake to Sigil before them in january, aim an already fast becoming mainstream product base to satisfy morso a small niche of subscribers within that potential player base, it just doesnt make business sense at all.
Lord of the Rings online in my opinion is a great way to spend a few hours, or several hours, immersing yourself in the games atmosphere and lore and look and feel of being in middle earth during the war of the ring, which ultimately is where its attention to detail lay in spades. It was never made nor intended to provide a challenging raid packed end game, nor continued stimulation for MMORPG veterans putting in thirty or more hours a week, nor those wishing to build vast pvp and guild empires with player owned property, nor the ability to fly around wielding the +6 Dominator sword on the back of a flaming demon mount. It just isnt that product.
Great game and looking forward to its future. Providing of course it is the product for you. If it isnt then other titles exist and we all have the element of choice.
Kind Regards
Mag
It does depend on how you qualify failure IMO, to say that that LOTRO is the 3rd failure of turbine. I 100% agree that AC2 was Turbine's first failure because it was a good game, but not supported well enough to have the longevity expected of modern mmorpgs. DDO was their second failure because what makes a pen and paper game great cant be translated into an mmoprg. Its 2 different mediums: like reading a book verses watching a movie, and the waning player base proves that. But is LORTO in these categories? I would say not yet. LOTRO is close to being a failure however, because it is the most recognizable name in the fantasy genre, it was preceeded by 3 award winning movies, god knows how many book sales and merchandise, and it still had a lack-luster opening at best. If you debate that, how many weeks was it a top seller over The Burning Crusade on the charts? Did it ever beat The Burning Crusade? Its certainly not right now. Check Amazon.com for an example if you want the facts. The biggest name of all time should at least have the biggest opening of all time whether the game is horrible or not. In that regard LORTO is already a failure. Will Turbine recoup their investment? Absolutely. Will they develope new content and generate profit over time. Absolutely. But they are expected to. Will they have the largest box selling, most subscribed to game on the market? Probably not. Right now they are what, 3rd or 4th at best? And thats only until Age Of Conan and Warhammer release. For the kind of press that the LORT name and franchise brings I belive that Turbine has already fallen short of expectations, althogh the game may be good and satisfying for soem. And yes, Im a Turbine flamer, havent been a fan of the company or its practices since what they did to AC2, but my opinion was not based on the gameplay/mechanics or anything to do with devolpmental style of the game. It was strictly based on sales and pop numbers.
All the rumored numbers I have heard put LOTRO at around 500K+ western subscribers. That would place it as the number 2 game in that market. Definitely not a failure. Plus it beat The Burning Crusade for at least 2 weeks. No one expects any game to be a WoW beater. Blizzard's word of mouth advertising machine is pretty much impossible to beat. We will see when the Bioware MMO cames out, since they are about the closest to Blizzard in respect and quality in the marketplace.
Currently playing:
LOTRO & WoW (not much WoW though because Mines of Moria rocks!!!!)
Looking Foward too:
Bioware games (Dragon Age & Star Wars The Old Republic)
The problem I have with it is that I read the book, saw the movie, and the story in LOTRO simply does not compare.
Let's say they could have had more succcess if they had released it as a mmo based on the movies and with EA as publisher...
But I'm really glad Turbine didn't
Sure i'll call it a third failure if people stop playing it like Vangard... but get over it the game has a stable and large playerbase. This game is for all the AC players of old after AC falls in the near future. Hate it or love it ... LOTRO will be around for a while.
Games Enjoyed: UO,EQ,AC,EQ2,COX,LOTRO
Games Played(-Above):WoW,MXO,GW(beta),RFO,ArchLord,V:SOH,Rappelz,Ryzom,DDO
Games I felt were a rip-off: DDO,ArchLord,V:SOH - all newer how ironic
Lack-luster opening? If you check the NPD numbers for April you'll see it was the #1 selling PC game for the month. Yes, it beat out Burning Crusade which came in at #2. Also the special edition of LOTRO was #8. I'm pretty sure it was #1 at Amazon for quite some time too. It's probably safe to say that Turbine was very happy with the launch. I don't see how anyone could consider it even being close to a failure.
No way, LotRo is one of the best mmo's to come out in years.
I think another problem LOTRO will have is that in the very near future some of the most anticipated MMOs in development are coming out. There's so much buzz over games like WAR and AoC, I don't think LOTRO will be able to go anywhere but down once those games near launch.
"Because it's easier to nitpick something than to be constructive." -roach5000
I really don't care how popular Wow is. WoW being popular does not make LOTRO less good. You assume it is a zero sum game, that the MMO fan base is fixed and the same people will either chose WoW or LOTRO. But they are different games and will attract different people for different reasons. With the Lord of the Rings being the #2 bestselling book in all of human history I don't have to go far out on a limb to say there are way more Tolkien fans than people that have ever played WoW, and if over time just a fraction of them make LOTRO their first MMO this could be a HUGE hit without taking even one subscriber away from WoW, or even AoC when it comes out.
I said it needs time to Grow.
While its not really teh game for me, I can recognize that it IS a well-made PvE game for the casual gamer.
I am a little resentful, mind you. LotR is the biggest, most expansive IP to be tapped for an MMO. Fact is, most other Fantasy games and books take a great deal of influence from Tolkien. That said, this game should have been a massive sandbox game, above and beyond UO in its glory days. These is simply so much infomation available in the literature, and it just feels like a great deal of it will be wasted. But, its a narrow-focused, low-risk PvE game, and thats just the way it is.
In time, maybe the game will become more evolved. At least the environments look good, even if they are way small next to Tolkien's map of Middle Earth (meaning fish-bowl Scale). I look forward checking back here in a while.
Frank 'Spankybus' Mignone
www.spankybus.com
-3d Artist & Compositor
-Writer
-Professional Amature
Yes, and gonna be 3d failure, not now but in few months
1° Most of players are waiting for WAR and AOC.
2° if we don't have housing in october and Moria in december it will be the end of lotro
3° turbine made a mistake with this STUPID Chicken play !!!! Most of RP players are disappointed !!!! Thought it was a joke...
4° most of bugs aren't fixed; spe. for dungeons and "high lvl content"
5° MP isn't working at all! it's a dead zone.
6°In shops, Lotro has been a success 1 month, now, nobody talks anymore about lotro. WOW/BC is one more time on the Top 5 of MMOS. (1rst place) If you need a Special Edition of Lotro you can find one easily...
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The high end content is kinda sparse and lacking and once you hit the higher levels (35+) it's hard to solo as you get more and more quests that requires a fellowship to complete. I'd say give it about 6 months more time for the game to mature and more game content to be added then LOTRO will be really great. But of course there's no changing the minds of those who already made up their minds. This game is also geared for casual and group players and hardcore/soloist will find it hard to advance their characters once you hit the higher levels (probably that's the reason of hate coming from the naysayers). For those who complain about the delay in your skill activating... there's a game mechanic called induction duration that many people do not know about... basically it's a game mechanic that controls how fast between activating your skill and your skill actually doing something, in fact there are items and skills/songs in the game that reduces induction duration giving you a slight boost in how fast your skill activates. Unlike WoW where every skill activates instantly barring cast time, this game mechanics is what differentiates in how WOW and LOTRO skill works and stops it from being a skill twitch spamming game.