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What are the top reasons for returning to Middle Earth?
Talin
Member UncommonPosts: 923
So I played LotRO when it first came out, beta into release, and played a minstrel for a while. I was in 'solo' mode at the time, and I think I burned out on the experience of trying to solo the chapters around level 20; groups were also hard to find (yes, even as a minstrel).
I'm thinking about returning, and probably looking for a guild (fellowship) this time around, but I wonder, what has changed with LoTRO in the last year or so? What are the features that its players embrace and consider the reasons for playing? I have no intention of going to WoW again, and while I am playing WAR it satisfies a very different experience than most MMORPGs (I play it exclusively for the PvP content). I want a solid PvE game, and while I don't like raiding for the most part, I do enjoy a great group-based game.
Any feedback/insight would be much appreciated.
Comments
"Freedom is just another name for nothing left to lose" - Janis Joplin
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i have already dissolved the 50+ gold and over 50 beryl shards i amassed in playing this game for just over 2 months amongst former guildies but i have to say.... that isnt a AA community, its more like AARP community. the peeps i met playing this game mostly needed a party to wipe their own asses (though truthfully there were VERY few kiddies). no exaggeration, i saw people looking for parties that involved running across town. couldnt even read the INCREDIBLY easy to understand quest log, they just got the quest and started spamming for parties.
the game does keep trudging along, ill give them credit in that but i hit cap on 3.90 characters (champ, loremaster, hunter, and nearly cap) and the game just doesnt have that much to offer (woo hoo fishing!::sarcasm::). what am i expected to cap each class despite the fact that i hate playing it?
the way i play just isnt viable in this game, its for softies, ladies, maybe good for newbies. the most fun i had (because i found rift runs to be just over nerded "we have to do this this way" 30 min. monolouges by someone who supposedly knew what they were talking about {{watched a video on youtube}}) was stealing those beryl shards from the [i cant use the word to describe people that camp things like this] that were camping for them while i was gathering crafting resources.
it just isnt a solid game, i personally feel anyone would be better off waiting until next year and trying some of the next few games to launch. i will never be playing this game again because even if they do another years worth of content it will only take me about a week to play through it (including pvp ranks, which alot of [again cant use the word] cheat at getting). i gave away all my shit because i knew i wouldnt be back, it isnt keeping me from going back. met some real nice people (and taught them to use vent) but this scene IS for what i will just call the "slowbies".
The number one reason would be that in 3 weeks LotrOs first expansion Mines of Moria will release so alot of new players and people rolling the new classes meaning it will b alot easier to get groups at lower levels!
They have added alot of content during its first 1.5 year and have alot to offer for PvE players both for solo and groups, and the PvP can be alot of fun with huge raids taking keeps from eachother! Housing, The outfit system, and all the new zones are stuff that they added in content patches.
As a lvl 50 player I really look forward to the Legendary items that they are adding with the expansion that you will level and custimize yourself!
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
The number one reason would be that in 3 weeks LotrOs first expansion Mines of Moria will release so alot of new players and people rolling the new classes meaning it will b alot easier to get groups at lower levels!
They have added alot of content during its first 1.5 year and have alot to offer for PvE players both for solo and groups, and the PvP can be alot of fun with huge raids taking keeps from eachother! Housing, The outfit system, and all the new zones are stuff that they added in content patches.
As a lvl 50 player I really look forward to the Legendary items that they are adding with the expansion that you will level and custimize yourself!
ie. i cant wait to play dress up.
Also this is one of the top reason why LotrO is such a great game! It doesnt cater to this type of players^^
So if you play MMOs to have fun and socialice with nice people then LotrO is for you... If you play to be uber 1337 then there is better games for you to play...
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
"Freedom is just another name for nothing left to lose" - Janis Joplin
.jpg)
This is the number 1 reason why I might return when Moria releases. I've seen Age of Conan and WAR in my time off from LotRO (EvE doesn't count because I just ALWAYS go back to or are in EvE) and one thing was a real torture there: Community.
What really set LotRO apart was the community, mainly extremely nice people, mature, literature freaks, people you wanna sit down with, drink a glass of wine and talk, that did make the difference. Also best RP in any MMORPG alive atm.
M
Also this is one of the top reason why LotrO is such a great game! It doesnt cater to this type of players^^
So if you play MMOs to have fun and socialice with nice people then LotrO is for you... If you play to be uber 1337 then there is better games for you to play...
1,000,000,000,000,000,000% agree
AAA repelant of the leetzor pp pwnzor crowd
yep, could not have said it better myself but here are my reasons
plenty of content for group and solo players
excellent crafting system
good roleplay tools for the RPers
great community
good performance on a variety of machines
great developers who are in tune with the community
I miss DAoC
SPOT ON !
great performance, lore, pve, community, and best of all not many kiddies
my first post...
anyway, i just wanted to say i think LOTRO is a fantastic game.
i consider the fact that it is for "slowbies" a plus; it is a great game if you can't spend 6 hours a day playing computer games. though a lot of players do that in LOTRO like any other game.
the middle-earth they created is magnificent (and with dx10 looks so great), and the community, in kinship and out of it, is superior. i think the community would be my top reason!
i love it. and i love that it doesn't make me an addict like WOW did. i never feel like i have to get levels fast in LOTRO; it sort of happens naturally as i wander middle-earth.
I never understood this game and for that reason I have never played it. I love the lore and the movies, but I do not understand how an mmo can be made out of it. So does it take place before, after, or during the ring was destroyed. Wouldnt this mmo be limited to the limited material thats n the movies? I dunno, it looks like your playing a game that has a central storyline to which you know the ending. So why play?
Why should I try this game?
Firstly i'd like to say i don't play for end game content as i hate spending hours upon hours raiding and thats really the biggest thing at end game, crafting is too simple and raid drops being the so called best gear makes crafting at end game pretty unimportant, PvMP (ettenmoors) is ok for a while but PvP isn't high on my list of enjoyment either. With that said i do enjoy the game upto End game, i played for a year then left for a month or 3 to have a break and do my duty as deputy clan leader for a Call of Duty 4 clan.. i've resubbed recently so i have something to tide me over till Call of Duty 5 is released..
Ok i've strayed and apologise... Lotro for me contains the best story/quests in an MMO out today, it has the usual "go get 10 whatever" but what MMO doesn't? simply put for me there are no decent MMO's today, lotro is the lesser of the evils.
*Just for the WoW lovers*
Yes i tried WoW and the server i tried contained nothign but profanity and abuse, no thanks.. not for me..
ohoh. now i am making my second post...
the game progresses along with the storyline of the book. right now, the fellowship has not passed through moria. yes, that means that although the game opened in 4/07, you haven't been able to go to moria, rohan, lothlorien, mirkwood, dale and the lonely mountain, gondor, mordor, harad, or any part of the maps in the tolkien books except eriador.
but there has been plenty to do fighting against the shadow.
to progress the game along, including the main tolkien story and turbine's many other storylines, some of the locations are instanced; so the first time you go to the prancing pony in bree you might find aragorn waiting for the hobbits; but after you move along the story quests, you will no longer find aragorn in his room. he has left with the hobbits. just as in WOW before you do a quest there is a yellow exclamation mark, and after the quest there is not one for you but it is there for someone who hasnt done the quest.
this means you might be unable to visit aragorn in his room at the pony and another toon can visit him (a toon that hasn't moved along in the story far enough); but it works just fine in practice. the vast world is not overly instanced and those 2 characters can interact in the bree tavern just fine. and they do.
there is a lot of tolkien story that was not in the movies, and turbine was allowed some leeway in adding story to parts of the land that in the books are just passed through.
knowing the ending of the story doesn't change my game experience, any more than knowing there is no story at all in most mmos.
to its credit, turbine allows free trials, so don't take my word for it or against it.
edit: free trials are temporarily stopped to sell more of the expansion i suppose...
Also this is one of the top reason why LotrO is such a great game! It doesnt cater to this type of players^^
So if you play MMOs to have fun and socialice with nice people then LotrO is for you... If you play to be uber 1337 then there is better games for you to play...
I agree.
I'm sorry megafluxmega but quite frankly, your post is needlessly dismissive and rather assuming.
I could easily accept you saying that your playing style doesn't fit the game. That at least was mature and made sense.
But this whole idea that it's for ladies and noobs and you can't wait to play dress up? Please. You can't be more than 12 or a complete jughead with comments like that. It implies some sort of toughness or manliness in playing video games that is just not there. I"m sorry but you could be the definitive male icon but from what I've seen for online game players they just don't impress me as being "that' and range from stringy, looking like 12 year olds, unkempt in many cases, having a bit too much padding and in some cases bordering on the obese or just plain average.
And yet your language seems to paint you as some sort of man's man (will you even understand what that means? could be an antiquated saying by now) who eschews anything that is not hardcore.
So "yes' lotro is more than leveling and it's obvious you haven't realized that. No worries, ,as you intitially said, it doesn't fit your playing style and there's nothing wrong with that.
But to go beyond that with your statements seems to be a bit 2 dimensional at best.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
You ask for possible reasons to return to this game?
hmmm...
this demands creative thinking!
1) All other MMO's out there are closed.
2) something really bad happens to your brain and it's demand to be used. (huge drug consume, illness, accident...)
honestly, stop fooling yourself, if you found LOTRO boring once it will not take long before you yawn in front of the screen again.
returning to this game is a weird idea.
Bursche
To the fans who like this game: Enjoy it. This shall be the game for you.
I agree with this. Seldom do games change so drastically in that they appear like "night and day".
There is a difference between not having enough quests for solo or not enough for group or not having enough customization and just not enjoy how the game plays.
LOTRO plays exactly like it did before. It might have more content and land mass and some interface changes in the quest log but other than that it is the same game.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
I agree with this. Seldom do games change so drastically in that they appear like "night and day".
There is a difference between not having enough quests for solo or not enough for group or not having enough customization and just not enjoy how the game plays.
LOTRO plays exactly like it did before. It might have more content and land mass and some interface changes in the quest log but other than that it is the same game.
In the OPs defense (if you want to put it that way), he didn't necessarily say he found the game boring, but rather the lack of socializing made the game boring. I would probably feel the same way if I didn't have a great kinship. So I think what he really needs, as he said himself, is to find a good Kinship.
The game is pretty darn fun itself, but the community makes it great.
I agree with this. Seldom do games change so drastically in that they appear like "night and day".
There is a difference between not having enough quests for solo or not enough for group or not having enough customization and just not enjoy how the game plays.
LOTRO plays exactly like it did before. It might have more content and land mass and some interface changes in the quest log but other than that it is the same game.
In the OPs defense (if you want to put it that way), he didn't necessarily say he found the game boring, but rather the lack of socializing made the game boring. I would probably feel the same way if I didn't have a great kinship. So I think what he really needs, as he said himself, is to find a good Kinship.
The game is pretty darn fun itself, but the community makes it great.
Well that's a good point.
But socializing comes from the player. I've always found that. I sometimes think that players expect to sign up for a game and get instant friends.
You've got to find a good group as many times they aren't going to come to you.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
"Freedom is just another name for nothing left to lose" - Janis Joplin
.jpg)
I agree with this. Seldom do games change so drastically in that they appear like "night and day".
There is a difference between not having enough quests for solo or not enough for group or not having enough customization and just not enjoy how the game plays.
LOTRO plays exactly like it did before. It might have more content and land mass and some interface changes in the quest log but other than that it is the same game.
In the OPs defense (if you want to put it that way), he didn't necessarily say he found the game boring, but rather the lack of socializing made the game boring. I would probably feel the same way if I didn't have a great kinship. So I think what he really needs, as he said himself, is to find a good Kinship.
The game is pretty darn fun itself, but the community makes it great.
Well that's a good point.
But socializing comes from the player. I've always found that. I sometimes think that players expect to sign up for a game and get instant friends.
You've got to find a good group as many times they aren't going to come to you.
I disagree that socialising comes only from the player, thats too simple.
The setting and circumstances you are thrown in as a player plays a big role.
In the old MMO days massive player interaction happened by advertising and selling your wares. Now you have 100% automised auction halls and no interaction happens.
The same goes for tradeskills... old school MMO's had inter dependancies where some stuff could only be created by certain classes or races. This cause players to interact and make deals to trade stuff. In LOTRO you have exactly as many char slots as there are professions and i saw enough people who used this exactly for that, Grandmaster on alts in everything = no more interdependancy = no more interaction, the needed resources are bought in the auction house automatically.
Most Quests are hand held and idiot proof easy explained - > this is relaxing but makes interaction useless in most places. I could go on and on - the usual conversation is reduced to who needs what quest and i guess they will automise that soon so you are auto grouped with quest needers.
The main difference between LOTRO and the old school mmo's is that its not a world, rather a theme park - you put yourself into the queue of the various attarctions and play them down when its ur turn. This game has nothing of the free open world Asherons Call had or games of that time.
For the same reason will RP servers always be a joke, unless they change some of the automised stuff back to give people more playground to be more creative.
QFE!
Just give me a first person mouse look toogle damnit!
Also this is one of the top reason why LotrO is such a great game! It doesnt cater to this type of players^^
So if you play MMOs to have fun and socialice with nice people then LotrO is for you... If you play to be uber 1337 then there is better games for you to play...
I agree.
I'm sorry megafluxmega but quite frankly, your post is needlessly dismissive and rather assuming.
I could easily accept you saying that your playing style doesn't fit the game. That at least was mature and made sense.
But this whole idea that it's for ladies and noobs and you can't wait to play dress up? Please. You can't be more than 12 or a complete jughead with comments like that. It implies some sort of toughness or manliness in playing video games that is just not there. I"m sorry but you could be the definitive male icon but from what I've seen for online game players they just don't impress me as being "that' and range from stringy, looking like 12 year olds, unkempt in many cases, having a bit too much padding and in some cases bordering on the obese or just plain average.
And yet your language seems to paint you as some sort of man's man (will you even understand what that means? could be an antiquated saying by now) who eschews anything that is not hardcore.
So "yes' lotro is more than leveling and it's obvious you haven't realized that. No worries, ,as you intitially said, it doesn't fit your playing style and there's nothing wrong with that.
But to go beyond that with your statements seems to be a bit 2 dimensional at best.
pretentious much?
if i put time into a game i expect to feel some sort of ..i guess achievement from it. i just blew the hinges off this one.
i'm also not some lore nazi, and honestly i dont even think the books are THAT great, people say everyone steals from tolkien, i find that he stole from shakespeare. so yea being that i am not DRESSING UP like anything to attend nerdcon 2009 i may not be the ideal person to play this game. but when i play ANY game pretty much the last thing i care about is how my gear looks, naturally i would rather it looked neat, but i am not about to go grind rep so i can have a COSMETIC set of armor. that is what i see in this game. ALOT of people running pointless quests for rep to get "pretty" armor.
the game IS for slowbies (and lore nerds)! if ANY not even hard core, but moderately dedicated player plays it they will blow through it. now sure it might be nice for families to all play together (and i HAVE IN FACT played with great grandmothers). but to people looking for a game that you feel you have accomplished something in, this is the worst case scenario. you cap, get pimp gear, and say now what? maybe ill go to the moors and grind to rank 10? i mean really. oh yay, i get to go kill trolls for 3.5 hours to complete a deed. better yet ill go fishing so i can hang fish all over my wall. if it doesnt make my character stronger, faster, in any way better i just dont care about it or count is as content, the only reason i had houses was to store all the useless crap i had amassed.
cater to me? this game couldnt keep up with me if the whole team was trying to, they are bound by the lore! of the 10 people i jumped into this game with i was the last to leave, everyone else capped once and stopped. it isnt like i didnt give it a chance, there is just not much there.
you go ahead and push the hype about how great this game is (for whatever reason, dunno maybe you people are just lonely) but people who fall for it will find out that at the end of the day there really isnt much there. 4 starting points , yay.. by level 20 you are on 1 of 2 maps (like 12 hous later if you stop to admire the view alot). at level 30 everyone is on 1 of 2 maps (though 35 really is the time to jump). all the rest of the way its 1 of 2 maps, that REALLY isnt much variety. sure its pretty, but that can only take it so far. its boring and repetitive (joy kill 150 of these now 300 of those). where the hell does that come off as first class?
yea i am hard core (in the oldest sense of the word), and sure im a man for all seasons (even though i did play a hunter), but that does not eliminate me from having an opinion. it would be false representation if threads like this were allowed to be circle jerks of "what a great game" this is.
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)
Also this is one of the top reason why LotrO is such a great game! It doesnt cater to this type of players^^
So if you play MMOs to have fun and socialice with nice people then LotrO is for you... If you play to be uber 1337 then there is better games for you to play...
I agree.
I'm sorry megafluxmega but quite frankly, your post is needlessly dismissive and rather assuming.
I could easily accept you saying that your playing style doesn't fit the game. That at least was mature and made sense.
But this whole idea that it's for ladies and noobs and you can't wait to play dress up? Please. You can't be more than 12 or a complete jughead with comments like that. It implies some sort of toughness or manliness in playing video games that is just not there. I"m sorry but you could be the definitive male icon but from what I've seen for online game players they just don't impress me as being "that' and range from stringy, looking like 12 year olds, unkempt in many cases, having a bit too much padding and in some cases bordering on the obese or just plain average.
And yet your language seems to paint you as some sort of man's man (will you even understand what that means? could be an antiquated saying by now) who eschews anything that is not hardcore.
So "yes' lotro is more than leveling and it's obvious you haven't realized that. No worries, ,as you intitially said, it doesn't fit your playing style and there's nothing wrong with that.
But to go beyond that with your statements seems to be a bit 2 dimensional at best.
pretentious much?
if i put time into a game i expect to feel some sort of ..i guess achievement from it. i just blew the hinges off this one.
i'm also not some lore nazi, and honestly i dont even think the books are THAT great, people say everyone steals from tolkien, i find that he stole from shakespeare. so yea being that i am not DRESSING UP like anything to attend nerdcon 2009 i may not be the ideal person to play this game. but when i play ANY game pretty much the last thing i care about is how my gear looks, naturally i would rather it looked neat, but i am not about to go grind rep so i can have a COSMETIC set of armor. that is what i see in this game. ALOT of people running pointless quests for rep to get "pretty" armor.
the game IS for slowbies (and lore nerds)! if ANY not even hard core, but moderately dedicated player plays it they will blow through it. now sure it might be nice for families to all play together (and i HAVE IN FACT played with great grandmothers). but to people looking for a game that you feel you have accomplished something in, this is the worst case scenario. you cap, get pimp gear, and say now what? maybe ill go to the moors and grind to rank 10? i mean really. oh yay, i get to go kill trolls for 3.5 hours to complete a deed. better yet ill go fishing so i can hang fish all over my wall. if it doesnt make my character stronger, faster, in any way better i just dont care about it or count is as content, the only reason i had houses was to store all the useless crap i had amassed.
cater to me? this game couldnt keep up with me if the whole team was trying to, they are bound by the lore! of the 10 people i jumped into this game with i was the last to leave, everyone else capped once and stopped. it isnt like i didnt give it a chance, there is just not much there.
you go ahead and push the hype about how great this game is (for whatever reason, dunno maybe you people are just lonely) but people who fall for it will find out that at the end of the day there really isnt much there. 4 starting points , yay.. by level 20 you are on 1 of 2 maps (like 12 hous later if you stop to admire the view alot). at level 30 everyone is on 1 of 2 maps (though 35 really is the time to jump). all the rest of the way its 1 of 2 maps, that REALLY isnt much variety. sure its pretty, but that can only take it so far. its boring and repetitive (joy kill 150 of these now 300 of those). where the hell does that come off as first class?
yea i am hard core (in the oldest sense of the word), and sure im a man for all seasons (even though i did play a hunter), but that does not eliminate me from having an opinion. it would be false representation if threads like this were allowed to be circle jerks of "what a great game" this is.
So you play 4 toons to the level cap on a game you don't like (in 2 months... i didn't know that was possible in such a short time). That's how many hundreds of hours? What do you do with games that you do like??