No instaports? Oh my whatever will the ADD generation of gamers do?
Back when I started playing MMOGs in classic EQ, my character had to run everywhere and sometimes it would take 30 minutes to reach a destination. I also had to wait on boats to take me from one continent to the next. Real travel slows the game down and creates opportunites to meet other players and feel the game world is real and that's the way I like it.
Back when I started playing MMOGs in classic EQ, my character had to run everywhere and sometimes it would take 30 minutes to reach a destination. I also had to wait on boats to take me from one continent to the next. Real travel slows the game down and creates opportunites to meet other players and feel the game world is real and that's the way I like it.
I also agree! I remember when we discovered shortcuts, like the path between Freeport and the Dark elf area. That was a big deal, and it was fun. Even then, we would sometimes go through FP and go all the way around. Travelling and seeing the land for it's vastness was not a bad thing.
This was ruined by the requests for quick rewards. The Santa Clause syndrome: wanting rewards, gifts, prizes, and anything/everything for nothing. Surely there is a middle ground that can keep the luster of the game, and satisfy the give-me generation of MMO players.
Edit: I am speaking of not only in this expansion, where mounts are thankfuly not summonable, but future lands as well.
I also agree! I remember when we discovered shortcuts, like the path between Freeport and the Dark elf area. That was a big deal, and it was fun. Even then, we would sometimes go through FP and go all the way around. Travelling and seeing the land for it's vastness was not a bad thing. This was ruined by the requests for quick rewards. The Santa Clause syndrome: wanting rewards, gifts, prizes, and anything/everything for nothing. Surely there is a middle ground that can keep the luster of the game, and satisfy the give-me generation of MMO players. Edit: I am speaking of not only in this expansion, where mounts are thankfuly not summonable, but future lands as well.
Actually, mounts ARE summonable. It looks like you buy them from a Rep vendor... I mean, really, is MoM just one giant rep grind?... you also get the new traits from rep grinding.
That's funny. That's really funny. Oh well, c'est la vie.
I have no problem with fast travel from Eregion to Lothlorien, and I suppose the mounted travel in the mines is alright considering it's not a horse/pony, but the goat thing really stretches it, IMO.
Immersion is one of those things that seems to be more of a choice than something that just happens. Sure the game design helps with graphics, mechanics, ect, but at some point, you just have to say to yourself, "I'm willing to suspend disbelief."
If you want to fight your way through Moria, that's perfectly doable. If you want to stable through Moria, that's doable too. There shouldn't be an either/or mentality considering both are choices on the part of the player.
Check out my LOTRO Blog: www.middleearthadventurer.blogspot.com
Of course you are not going to be able to use the stables until you find them so you will have to fight your way through once. And BTW if you read the descriptions on the goats it looks like the highest rep one is faster than the others. So maybe you get on to start but it is not as fast as the rep ones.
And BTW what is wrong with a goat. You realize how much of an uproar there would be if you couldn't rent a mount or use one...they are in the books.
Of course you are not going to be able to use the stables until you find them so you will have to fight your way through once. And BTW if you read the descriptions on the goats it looks like the highest rep one is faster than the others. So maybe you get on to start but it is not as fast as the rep ones.
I agree. Turbine just cannot win it seems. They please one side, and then the other is pissed off.
I actually think they have done a great job. No other MMO has, in my opinion, had to pay so much attention to lore and fine details. It is one of the aspects of Lotro that I love. I'm always coming across small details that if I didn't pay close attention too, I would miss. Just think how anal they have had to be just to please the fanatics. I myself have been a huge Tolkien fan, ever since I was a young kid, but I also see it from their viewpoint, whereby they are tring to make a game as commercially successful as possible. Which, by the way, is good for us, as it means we will get more lavish expansions, bigger events, etc.
I've just been reading The Hobbit for the first time since I was a child. Whilst it looses some of the magic, as it is primarily a children's book, it still brought back all the old memories, as it was the first proper book I ever read when i was about seven. In it their is mention of the kinds of trees that we come across in Lotro, so even minute details like that have been carefully choosen. In fact, bearing in mind the sheer size of the game, it boggles the mind how many decisions they have had to make to recreate Middle-earth. Even the pine trees oustide of Rivendell.
Guys, you have to face facts. Whether we like it or not, the bulk of players of Lotro are more casual gamers. Can you imagine the outcry if there had been no travel in Moria? Turbine would have been universally condemned, and the gaming media would have went to town with their reviews. As it stands, Mines of Moria is shaping up to be the single most ambitious and best expansion pack for any MMO, ever. The previews in the press have all been touting this as being a commercial, and artistic success. Would Turbine risk all their hardwork just to cater to a miniority of gamers? And guys if you think that the majority of people want to have to run through Moria everytime, then sorry, but you are deluded.
Turbine never added horses, to keep the purists happy, and to me, even though it looks pretty lame, I can live with it, as it is a fair compromise.
Now if we were talking about the Rune Keepers... (only joking)
Of course you are not going to be able to use the stables until you find them so you will have to fight your way through once. And BTW if you read the descriptions on the goats it looks like the highest rep one is faster than the others. So maybe you get on to start but it is not as fast as the rep ones.
The links you put are all well and good, but it does not mention Moria. Moria was a name feared by men, elves, and dwarves alike. Beasts were afraid of the mines, and it was not such a place for them. The links also speak of burden carriers, not mounts. They road horses and ponies still. And for men, ponies were not for riding. In general, the dwarves disliked riding beasts as well. (The books cover this quite well.)
I do not disagree with having mounts as much as I dislike it being goats.
I also agree! I remember when we discovered shortcuts, like the path between Freeport and the Dark elf area. That was a big deal, and it was fun. Even then, we would sometimes go through FP and go all the way around. Travelling and seeing the land for it's vastness was not a bad thing. This was ruined by the requests for quick rewards. The Santa Clause syndrome: wanting rewards, gifts, prizes, and anything/everything for nothing. Surely there is a middle ground that can keep the luster of the game, and satisfy the give-me generation of MMO players. Edit: I am speaking of not only in this expansion, where mounts are thankfuly not summonable, but future lands as well.
Actually, mounts ARE summonable. It looks like you buy them from a Rep vendor... I mean, really, is MoM just one giant rep grind?... you also get the new traits from rep grinding.
Congrats on breaking the NDA I am sure they have in place or helping to facilitate someone breaking the NDA.
"It is easier to be cruel than wise. The road to wisdom is long and difficult... so most people just turn out to be assholes" Feng (Christopher Walken)
The links you put are all well and good, but it does not mention Moria. Moria was a name feared by men, elves, and dwarves alike.
While I don't think the mines in general were all fluff and kittens, what directly led to the downfall of the dwarves was when they woke up the Balrog. I think it's reasonable to suppose that they would have started trying to recolonize the mines once Gandalf eliminated it.
There was a failed attempt to recolonize the mines in between the fall of Moria and when the FS goes through, but we are not given the impression from the books that they were a very large party of dwarves and we don't really know exactly what befell them (the implication is that they were overun by orcs). Even this mid sized party of dwarves was able to hold part of the mines for quite a while. Given the personality of dwarves, I would expect them to eventually get around to recolonizing the mines in force (especially with the Balrog eliminatedl).
It's certainly a stretch to have dwarves show up in force just a few months after the FS goes through the mines. In fact I don't think it realistically would have happened until after the wars of Dale that are mentioned in the appendices (which happened around the time of events in Return of the King if I remember right). However it at least doesn't fly in the face of all reason.
I don't want to write this, and you don't want to read it. But now it's too late for both of us.
Comments
No instaports? Oh my whatever will the ADD generation of gamers do?
Back when I started playing MMOGs in classic EQ, my character had to run everywhere and sometimes it would take 30 minutes to reach a destination. I also had to wait on boats to take me from one continent to the next. Real travel slows the game down and creates opportunites to meet other players and feel the game world is real and that's the way I like it.
I agree 110%
I also agree! I remember when we discovered shortcuts, like the path between Freeport and the Dark elf area. That was a big deal, and it was fun. Even then, we would sometimes go through FP and go all the way around. Travelling and seeing the land for it's vastness was not a bad thing.
This was ruined by the requests for quick rewards. The Santa Clause syndrome: wanting rewards, gifts, prizes, and anything/everything for nothing. Surely there is a middle ground that can keep the luster of the game, and satisfy the give-me generation of MMO players.
Edit: I am speaking of not only in this expansion, where mounts are thankfuly not summonable, but future lands as well.
Actually, mounts ARE summonable. It looks like you buy them from a Rep vendor... I mean, really, is MoM just one giant rep grind?... you also get the new traits from rep grinding.
A goat? A freakin' goat? ROFL !
That's funny. That's really funny. Oh well, c'est la vie.
I have no problem with fast travel from Eregion to Lothlorien, and I suppose the mounted travel in the mines is alright considering it's not a horse/pony, but the goat thing really stretches it, IMO.
Immersion is one of those things that seems to be more of a choice than something that just happens. Sure the game design helps with graphics, mechanics, ect, but at some point, you just have to say to yourself, "I'm willing to suspend disbelief."
If you want to fight your way through Moria, that's perfectly doable. If you want to stable through Moria, that's doable too. There shouldn't be an either/or mentality considering both are choices on the part of the player.
Check out my LOTRO Blog: www.middleearthadventurer.blogspot.com
Of course you are not going to be able to use the stables until you find them so you will have to fight your way through once. And BTW if you read the descriptions on the goats it looks like the highest rep one is faster than the others. So maybe you get on to start but it is not as fast as the rep ones.
And BTW what is wrong with a goat. You realize how much of an uproar there would be if you couldn't rent a mount or use one...they are in the books.
http://www.glyphweb.com/ARDA/o/oxen.html
http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/k/kineofaraw.html
******************************
Brandywine Global LFF chan "/joinchannel glff"
I agree. Turbine just cannot win it seems. They please one side, and then the other is pissed off.
I actually think they have done a great job. No other MMO has, in my opinion, had to pay so much attention to lore and fine details. It is one of the aspects of Lotro that I love. I'm always coming across small details that if I didn't pay close attention too, I would miss. Just think how anal they have had to be just to please the fanatics. I myself have been a huge Tolkien fan, ever since I was a young kid, but I also see it from their viewpoint, whereby they are tring to make a game as commercially successful as possible. Which, by the way, is good for us, as it means we will get more lavish expansions, bigger events, etc.
I've just been reading The Hobbit for the first time since I was a child. Whilst it looses some of the magic, as it is primarily a children's book, it still brought back all the old memories, as it was the first proper book I ever read when i was about seven. In it their is mention of the kinds of trees that we come across in Lotro, so even minute details like that have been carefully choosen. In fact, bearing in mind the sheer size of the game, it boggles the mind how many decisions they have had to make to recreate Middle-earth. Even the pine trees oustide of Rivendell.
Guys, you have to face facts. Whether we like it or not, the bulk of players of Lotro are more casual gamers. Can you imagine the outcry if there had been no travel in Moria? Turbine would have been universally condemned, and the gaming media would have went to town with their reviews. As it stands, Mines of Moria is shaping up to be the single most ambitious and best expansion pack for any MMO, ever. The previews in the press have all been touting this as being a commercial, and artistic success. Would Turbine risk all their hardwork just to cater to a miniority of gamers? And guys if you think that the majority of people want to have to run through Moria everytime, then sorry, but you are deluded.
Turbine never added horses, to keep the purists happy, and to me, even though it looks pretty lame, I can live with it, as it is a fair compromise.
Now if we were talking about the Rune Keepers... (only joking)
The links you put are all well and good, but it does not mention Moria. Moria was a name feared by men, elves, and dwarves alike. Beasts were afraid of the mines, and it was not such a place for them. The links also speak of burden carriers, not mounts. They road horses and ponies still. And for men, ponies were not for riding. In general, the dwarves disliked riding beasts as well. (The books cover this quite well.)
I do not disagree with having mounts as much as I dislike it being goats.
Actually, mounts ARE summonable. It looks like you buy them from a Rep vendor... I mean, really, is MoM just one giant rep grind?... you also get the new traits from rep grinding.
Congrats on breaking the NDA I am sure they have in place or helping to facilitate someone breaking the NDA.
"It is easier to be cruel than wise. The road to wisdom is long and difficult... so most people just turn out to be assholes" Feng (Christopher Walken)
While I don't think the mines in general were all fluff and kittens, what directly led to the downfall of the dwarves was when they woke up the Balrog. I think it's reasonable to suppose that they would have started trying to recolonize the mines once Gandalf eliminated it.
There was a failed attempt to recolonize the mines in between the fall of Moria and when the FS goes through, but we are not given the impression from the books that they were a very large party of dwarves and we don't really know exactly what befell them (the implication is that they were overun by orcs). Even this mid sized party of dwarves was able to hold part of the mines for quite a while. Given the personality of dwarves, I would expect them to eventually get around to recolonizing the mines in force (especially with the Balrog eliminatedl).
It's certainly a stretch to have dwarves show up in force just a few months after the FS goes through the mines. In fact I don't think it realistically would have happened until after the wars of Dale that are mentioned in the appendices (which happened around the time of events in Return of the King if I remember right). However it at least doesn't fly in the face of all reason.
I don't want to write this, and you don't want to read it. But now it's too late for both of us.