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Lord of the Rings Online: Volume III, Book 1 Now Live
MikeB
Community ManagerAdministrator RarePosts: 6,555
Volume III, Book 1: Oath of the Rangers is now live! This latest update to Lord of the Rings Online introduces four new 12 man skirmishes to the game, Duo mode, new high-level skills, and the Spring Festival to the game.
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Read more about Volume III, Book 1: Oath of the Rangers here. Also, be sure to check out some new screenshots provided by Turbine in our Lord of the Rings Online gallery.
Comments
Not even this can make me go back to the game and I have a lifetime membership.
Yet another butch of stuff. This time they gave us level 64 skills, and the LM's 2 times in a row get kicked in the teeth, and not even one dev would even stand up. You got to wonder why they refuse to listen to their player base.
The dev's in this game certainly have an ego, and no mater what is said they plow forward with bad and lackluster skills, while saying the reason the skills are not used is folks forget about them. The real reason the skill was a joke in the first place.
Pretty much what i have to say.
LOTRO is a great game, im a lifer for a reason! But its obvious that the devs just dont care anymore. They are spending too much time going back and forth on the same issues and not spending enough time and resources on fixing classes and such.
As for the new skills...woah. Just...woah. Im not sure why the hell the devs responsible for those skill "upgrades" are still employed.
Im VERY QUICKLY losing interest in LOTRO, in-fact i only ever log on now to chat to some old friends.
I just hope when the Rohan expansion, if it is indeed in development, is in the scale like Shadows of Angmar with new starting areas and so forth, but if it is anything like Mirkwood, or even Moria with just more end game, and gear gating then frankly Turbine doesn't deserve this IP.
If it is indeed like this, my time will be done in Middle Earth more than likely.
It's time for some fresh ideas on how to move the game forward again. Repeatable instances(skirmishes), and more of the same, gear gating, end game encounters is not going to keep this game alive IMO. I mean, what developer would read their forums and see that the player base is tired of doing the same things over and over and over again, then develop...wait for it...skirmishes, which are repeatable instances. Oh sure they scale to the group, but beyond that it is the same 4 encounters over and over and over again. Turbine gave the players exactly what they said they didn't want, and what makes it even worse is that skirmishes made up the bulk of the Siege of Mirkwood update/x-pack/adventure pack....
I have been here since beta and I am a lifer. I have seen some great times and developments in this game but that all seem to change with MoM. The mentality of the playerbase changed then, as did the direction of development. It went from a game that had many different options to achieve similar goals to one in which there was only one path(gear gated instances and the instances to obtain said gear). The forums took a marked turn towards negativity where once there was always friendly banter and a positive vibe.
*shrug* I hope they can turn it around and get it back to the glory that were the days before MoM, but given recent happenings I do not hold out much faith. Turbine just doesn't seem to have the focus they once did on LOTRO.
Einherjar_LC says: WTB the true successor to UO or Asheron's Call pst!
I have stopped with MoM expansion
While it was amazing piece of work. Moria is truly something never previously seen in design or scope, in any video game. Single player or multi.
It was obvious that game slowly shifted from story oriented towards gear grind oriented.
But the biggest hit for me was to class balance.
How utility classes were slowly pushed away (both burglars and lm) and it became just DPS rule game.
Mirkwood. Another favorite area didnt encite me to buy. New area was just to small , and addition of stuff like skirmishes could not interest me less.
Still. I have high fate in Turbine. And do not doubt they can return to old style with next expansion. Provided it will be big and serious.
Well I dont have faith in turbine any more. They really seam to have lost their way.
Anybody can clearly see that LOTRO is on maintenance now. Small xpac, small book update. After last year of getting less and less, is now continued.
This book was an utter failure.
Forochel was part of a free update. That was tons of quests, new land mass. Look back at all the SoA books and they were really well done.
This one focused entirely on skirmishes (which btw, are just a fun side game weren't they?), and 1 book which is walk around and talk to people. There are some small instances so far which is kill 6x, 8y, and talk to the NPC.
No substance imo.
Some really nice changes in this update and its nice to see that Turbine listned to the community with duo-skirmishes, Volume 1 getting scaleable and the crafting changes.
The post-holiday updates have always been abit small for LotrO so its not a huge surprise (book 12 maybe being the "worst" update the game ever got). But I think there should have been another 6-man dungeon or two in this update since thats whats lacking at lvl 65.
Heres hoping that Riders of Rohan is getting announced at pax east!
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
The nerfs to crafting (even worse, the undocumented stealth-nerfs) in this latest content patch has really given me pause. Turbine needs to dazzle the hell out of me Soon™ with some stellar updates and changes to their game, cuz my "Looking for Another MMO to Play" Wandering Eye was activated by this latest patch.
This is a great addition, you guys are crazy.
----------
"Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"No, your wrong.." - Random user #123
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
How are you?" -Me
I been wondering where you been hiding at. We anyway in responce we the player base of the LM class don't like the latest skill upgrade for lore master. It was an insult when they told us a strong skill not used because the lore master comunity forgot how to apply it.
You might be able to solo volume one now, been there done it the hard way. So that leaves us with more skimishes.
Sorry if that is the best we can do, I will say the game is now on maintenance.
I been wondering where you been hiding at. We anyway in responce we the player base of the LM class don't like the latest skill upgrade for lore master. It was an insult when they told us a strong skill not used because the lore master comunity forgot how to apply it.
You might be able to solo volume one now, been there done it the hard way. So that leaves us with more skimishes.
Sorry if that is the best we can do, I will say the game is now on maintenance.
I don't think the game is on maintenance.
What I do think is that Turbine is a small company in an area that is hit pretty hard by the economic downturn.
They only have so many people and I believe they had some layoffs. So, they make due.
I see this as just being a small update within the larger scope of things.
In any case I will be at PAX East and I can't imagine that they won't be there so it will be neat to see what they have in store.
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 been wondering where you been hiding at. We anyway in responce we the player base of the LM class don't like the latest skill upgrade for lore master. It was an insult when they told us a strong skill not used because the lore master comunity forgot how to apply it.
You might be able to solo volume one now, been there done it the hard way. So that leaves us with more skimishes.
Sorry if that is the best we can do, I will say the game is now on maintenance.
I don't think the game is on maintenance.
What I do think is that Turbine is a small company in an area that is hit pretty hard by the economic downturn.
They only have so many people and I believe they had some layoffs. So, they make due.
I see this as just being a small update within the larger scope of things.
In any case I will be at PAX East and I can't imagine that they won't be there so it will be neat to see what they have in store.
Would you please do us all a favor, well those of who who live hundreds of miles away. Put a post up of what you do see. I would be interested to know whats in store. I got a fealing were going to be seing that console game from Turbine.
I been wondering where you been hiding at. We anyway in responce we the player base of the LM class don't like the latest skill upgrade for lore master. It was an insult when they told us a strong skill not used because the lore master comunity forgot how to apply it.
You might be able to solo volume one now, been there done it the hard way. So that leaves us with more skimishes.
Sorry if that is the best we can do, I will say the game is now on maintenance.
I don't think the game is on maintenance.
What I do think is that Turbine is a small company in an area that is hit pretty hard by the economic downturn.
They only have so many people and I believe they had some layoffs. So, they make due.
I see this as just being a small update within the larger scope of things.
In any case I will be at PAX East and I can't imagine that they won't be there so it will be neat to see what they have in store.
Would you please do us all a favor, well those of who who live hundreds of miles away. Put a post up of what you do see. I would be interested to know whats in store. I got a fealing were going to be seing that console game from Turbine.
Oh of course I will. My girlfriend has even offered me her camera so I will have pics.
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 been wondering where you been hiding at. We anyway in responce we the player base of the LM class don't like the latest skill upgrade for lore master. It was an insult when they told us a strong skill not used because the lore master comunity forgot how to apply it.
You might be able to solo volume one now, been there done it the hard way. So that leaves us with more skimishes.
Sorry if that is the best we can do, I will say the game is now on maintenance.
It is amazing that your one personal subjective nitpick somehow is the voice of the people, and has brought doom to one of the more successful MMO's out.
Amazing I say.
Next week, burglars cry doom.
----------
"Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"No, your wrong.." - Random user #123
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
How are you?" -Me
I have been with LOTRO since phase 1 closed beta, i have lifetime account, I am a big fan of the game, for my money it has been the best story driven mmo, I have ever played, and i have been playing mmo's for over10 years..with that said here comes the But, with Mikwood and the new book, I feel let down, Turbine can tell a good story, but I need content, the quality of life patches are good, I know turbine has a new project in the works, and I fear lotro is feeling the lose of allot of the original dev team, several things turbine has done that does not set well with me and allot of people I know, lotro has become a bit more grindy that used to be, with the legendary system and all the randomness, along with gated content..they have quite a treadmill going for the player base now.
I do hope Rohan is a huge expansion at the very least on the scale of Moria, lotro needs a good player morale boost, from what I have seen. I still play the gam,e only I play much more casual now than i used to, I do enjoy a good skirmish from time to time. Lot of new mmo's on the way, for example Biowares SWTOR, these older games are gona feel the crunch if they can't offer thier player base a reason to stay on, with me I have had my liftime account so long I play for free only thing I pay for is new expansions, I have got my money's worth along time ago..:)
I been wondering where you been hiding at. We anyway in responce we the player base of the LM class don't like the latest skill upgrade for lore master. It was an insult when they told us a strong skill not used because the lore master comunity forgot how to apply it.
You might be able to solo volume one now, been there done it the hard way. So that leaves us with more skimishes.
Sorry if that is the best we can do, I will say the game is now on maintenance.
It is amazing that your one personal subjective nitpick somehow is the voice of the people, and has brought doom to one of the more successful MMO's out.
Amazing I say.
Next week, burglars cry doom.
I would hardly say his complaint is personal. There have been numerous complaints about class defining skills, such as crowd control for LM, being rendered useless with the new content since MoM.
I have been here since beta, am a lifetime subber, and while I will not say the game is doomed, because it certainly is not, I will agree that it is not enjoying the usage it did before MoM. The game has gotten stale for many players, old and new. And while I will agree with you that LOTRO is one of the more successful recent MMO's, it's not what it once was. IMO, it has lost it's way from it's SoA days.
I do have faith in Turbine to bring the game back though,
Einherjar_LC says: WTB the true successor to UO or Asheron's Call pst!
If it is indeed like this, my time will be done in Middle Earth more than likely.
It's time for some fresh ideas on how to move the game forward again. Repeatable instances(skirmishes), and more of the same, gear gating, end game encounters is not going to keep this game alive IMO. I mean, what developer would read their forums and see that the player base is tired of doing the same things over and over and over again, then develop...wait for it...skirmishes, which are repeatable instances. Oh sure they scale to the group, but beyond that it is the same 4 encounters over and over and over again. Turbine gave the players exactly what they said they didn't want, and what makes it even worse is that skirmishes made up the bulk of the Siege of Mirkwood update/x-pack/adventure pack....
I have been here since beta and I am a lifer. I have seen some great times and developments in this game but that all seem to change with MoM. The mentality of the playerbase changed then, as did the direction of development. It went from a game that had many different options to achieve similar goals to one in which there was only one path(gear gated instances and the instances to obtain said gear). The forums took a marked turn towards negativity where once there was always friendly banter and a positive vibe.
*shrug* I hope they can turn it around and get it back to the glory that were the days before MoM, but given recent happenings I do not hold out much faith. Turbine just doesn't seem to have the focus they once did on LOTRO.
unfortunately this is what a LOT of mmos do now, and what a lot of players thrive on, Look at WoW and the other games. It toke away the adventure and storyline to apease the power gamers (reminds me of the pencil and paper power gamers), GOT TO GET that next big piece of gear or epic..hell I remember even in wow (pre bc) epics felt more epic because they were a LOT harder to get/atain. I hope too that Lotro does not get converted into the NOW trend.
I just recently came back to LOTRO after hopping around trying out some other mmos, and I remember why I loved the game in the first place. Its got the epic story with some nice cut scenes, the world was very well put together, the crafting system is a krap load better than anyother game (after all the attention/revamps) I have played, I aspecially like the fact that when you do craft it actually shows you crafting and not just beating off in your hand >.0. /cheers
Gear gating is not an issue, and it was only EVER and issue for those that RAID, those that RAID REQUESTED this kind of system, because they NEED IT. The requirements for it have been severely reduced, and there are MANY paths to acquire it now, and most lack repetition.
It is STILL, however the most "lite" version of gear gating you will find in any MMO. So, some people need a bit of perspective before crying doom about it. It is Moot at this point. Its a complaint from months ago perpetuated by those that don't play anymore or refuse to give turbine credit for making feedback based adjustments.
----------
"Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"No, your wrong.." - Random user #123
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
How are you?" -Me
It was not an issue for only those that raid, it was an issue for those that wanted to experience all the content they paid for with the expansions, thanks for playing though. There were epic raids before MoM and there were few if any complaints about them. You know why? They were accessible to everyone and this worked fine for LOTRO.
The requirements have not been reduced. They have added different ways of obtaining said items, but they all require grind no matter how you look at it and no one way is less tedious than the other.
"Lite" version or not, it still exists and is a very relative point. All one has to do is take a stroll through the official forums to see it's still very much an issue.
I guess I am one of those perpetuating this complaint, but I was here in beta, I have a lifetime sub, and I still play. Guess you were wrong on that point. Generalizations FTL!
I love the game and think Turbine is one of the best development houses out there, but I'm also not going to sugarcoat things I think are wrong with the game. It has fallen off the path that made it so successful during the SoA years. They need to get back to that fomula.
Einherjar_LC says: WTB the true successor to UO or Asheron's Call pst!
It was not an issue for only those that raid, it was an issue for those that wanted to experience all the content they paid for with the expansions, thanks for playing though.
That's retarded, you will never experience every bit of "content" in any MMO.
Not all if it is for you, nor are you entitled to it. You are entitled to what you, are ABLE to consume, for whatever reason. Thankfully, there is a ton of content for many play styles in this game, enough for everyone.
The rest of your post is hyperbole. Or, lack of information about the changes the game has undergone.
I am also a lifer.
Raiding is a meta game with in the game, it has its own rules, you want to participate for whatever reason, however you don't want to play by the rules. Don't fault the design for your personal lack of ability to participate. There is so much more than raids in this game, other games even do it better. Its like, 1% of the games content, as was added by player request.
----------
"Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"No, your wrong.." - Random user #123
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
How are you?" -Me
What I never understood was all the crying about gear gating. I mean it was easy as hell to get radiance armor in MoM. You get to 60, get a group and run a dungeon for 45 mins and a token drops. Some need others dont and pass. Take the token and get the corresponding armor to the token. 6 different dungeons, 6 tokens and 6 pieces of armor. I just didnt get it. WIth a 2 -3 hour span you could run a dungeon 3-4 times and for sure get your piece. Over a couple of weeks (at MOST) you have your armor and are ready to kill the Watcher or w/e raid you chose. It wasnt hard.
I mean WoW has a emblem system that you can spend to get your gear but this is a considerable amount of tokens and can take some time. Also they add tokens(or emblems) after the patch has been out for a while. Originally you gotta do raids to hope to get good gear and win the roll. Then you get geared from the 10-man and run the 25-man. Sure its simple to get the gear but it can take a while for a casual player.
I dont like easy mode but due to the overall relaxed nature of LotRO, I prefer the LotRO system because of it simplicity that allows people to not be gear score crazy or all about effeciency so that they can quickly get all of thier tokens or w/e.
It was not an issue for only those that raid, it was an issue for those that wanted to experience all the content they paid for with the expansions, thanks for playing though.
That's retarded, you will never experience every bit of "content" in any MMO.
Funny, I never had any problem experiencing all of the content of SoA. But you say it's impossible so it must be....hyperbole indeed.
Not all if it is for you, nor are you entitled to it. You are entitled to what you, are ABLE to consume, for whatever reason. Thankfully, there is a ton of content for many play styles in this game, enough for everyone.
This might hold water if it were not for the fact that LOTRO by design in the SoA days enabled everyone to do everything. Entitlement has nothing to do with it. It's more about enjoying everything the game has to offer which everyone could do pre-MoM without predefined limitations.
The rest of your post is hyperbole. Or, lack of information about the changes the game has undergone.
Laff! The changes are well documented and I have done much testing with all versions of the game past and present.
I am also a lifer.
Excellent, it was an awesome deal.
Raiding is a meta game with in the game, it has its own rules, you want to participate for whatever reason, however you don't want to play by the rules. Don't fault the design for your personal lack of ability to participate. There is so much more than raids in this game, other games even do it better. Its like, 1% of the games content, as was added by player request.
My personal lack of ability to participate? Again, nice assumption on your part. I have two characters with full radiance gear. I had no problem getting it. I still think it's a poor mechanic that pulls away from the way the game was initially designed and eliminates, or at least makes it extremely difficult for some players to experience that content. I don't think that's right. I prefer the SoA days when everyone was able to participate in everything. Now that is not the case.
Einherjar_LC says: WTB the true successor to UO or Asheron's Call pst!
Einherjar_LC says: WTB the true successor to UO or Asheron's Call pst!
While it can take 1 hour for a dungeon, and there are 6 people in a group, normally they dont take that long and some of the people already have the toekn but are running for something else, like a earring or something. Typically 3-4 people would be seaching for the token and with good groups(normally all groups were good) we would run it a few time back to back. After a 45x4 mins, thats only 3:00hours. With a casual (10 hours a week) play schedule, you can get your tokens rather fast. I think there should be some kind of gating to get gear and I think that LOTRO has it pretty good. I mean gearing up for 3 weeks as a casual player (hell even 4 weeks) is not a long time. Plus, the dungeons are enjoyable thier 15th run. Cant say that for many games.
EDIT: Im a lifer