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Lotro, once a great game destroyed...
The_Big_Boss_61
Member Posts: 3
The Lord of the Rings online, made by Turbine a great mmo game is now a joke. Everything is pay 2 win now. New expansion announced. Only questpack LOL no raid/group content whatsoever and they said they will not work on it because raiders are minority of the playerbase. So they sell a questpack for $40-70, add 10 more levels and call it an expansion...
Game already has abysmall pvp, and now raids,6 mans,3 mans are gone. And people in Lotro forums are extremely rude. When people say 'what the hell why only solo content with the last 2 expansions?' fanboys call them haters,whiners etc...
Community manager bluntly told everyone instances/raids and pvp are not their priority in fact, they won't add any more of them anymore. What a joke.
Long story short; if you ever heard of this game and want to try out, be warned. This is one of the grindiest mmos out there. Also if you happen to start, you will have to pay huge amount of money to unlock basic things like traits, gold cap etc and pay for overpriced expansions without any endgame in the end. LOL no endgame at endgame, how about that 
And fanboy excuses are they never liked or did any group content so they prefer solo expansions more.
Also game support is lacking and also rude. I heard someone wanted to cancel their preorder. When Turbine said no he told them he will sue them if they don't. Turbine threatened to ban his account if he tries to get his money back via his legal rights...
Game is 6 years old now and what left of the old players are leaving one by one. They make their goodbye speech on forums also why they think the game is going down, only to get vomitted over by fanboys saying stuff like 'good grief,just leave already whiner' ...
My advice, don't even bother with this game. If you are fan of Tolkien, read the books, watch the movies, play other Lotr games but stay away from this one...
Comments
I used to play it from Shadows of Angmar till pre-Isengard(had to quit due to failing grades).
As far as I remember it was a splendid game on its own.(note-points onwards will be from my past experience)
Content-wise, it is not exactly challenging/diverse as other mmos(WoW, Rift, Aion etc). But it was a beautiful game, a well done translation from the books. I like the details on the world/instances, almost each of them had a reason why it was there (unlike modern day mmos, where dungeons were there just because the zone need a group content, most stories were slapped on it).
Granted, some things were lore-breaking/bending *cough*runekeepers*cough. But it was somewhat balanced(not perfectly ofcourse).
As far as I remember, the dev made it clear about gear progression in the game(up until i had to quit).
Solo/story players will get gears fitting to their playstyle(which is why most of story rewards have decent basic stats, but no set bonuses or skill alterations.)
Group-players will get gears fitting for the content(which is why most instance rewards have slight resist stats/minor skill alterations etc)
By the near release of Isengard, Im pretty sure the game had already sealed in its identity as a more pve-oriented, a roleplayer's paradise.
I did try to return somewhere in Rohan release, but I was 'occupied' with other games. But I did took notice to the chages to the store. Played only for a few weeks, but I did some homework on the forums and some longchat with old guild members.
What the OP said is quite true, the game did some pretty ridiculous turn from where I left. Turbine did quite the significant effort to squeeze money from the players, regardless of your payment model. Even the VIP felt constrained with the current system with how Turbine store is integrated with the content it self.
From the way I see it, Lotro may have failed it's actual 'f2p' conversion. At this point, you may be better of subscribing the game rather than being a f2p player(doable, but its really grindy to get off from start), and even as subscriber you can feel Turbine's breath on your shoulder waiting for you to bring out your wallet.
Cant really comment on the pvp-content, since Im a solo warden on the ettenmoors, so dont really pay attention to the actual actions/balances.
Overall, it seems the fluff things are mostly unchanged, so roleplayers will still be having fun here I think. Modern day mmo-players( raid/instance-based players) might find the game is going down. I do plan on coming back on Lotro just for the sole purpose as a light MMO, something to play just for the fluffs and roleplaying, although IM not sure my wallet can handle Turbine's greedy schemes.
TL;DR : Turbine jacks up LotrO's store, better play as VIP than other model, game is still fine if you love rp/lotr/tolkien.
Mostly agree with you (especially with the "roleplayer's paradise" part) but the quote above is not correct. Or not entirely correct.
LotRO's model is heavily favors subscribers, both current and former ones. That's the key. That's why you can see a lot of places on web the "subscribe for a month" advice, which is a perfectly viable way to play the game. After that one month you're settled.
In my example, I'm a long-time player (but not lifer, I missed those chances) who cancelled the sub after the server transfer. Since then I bought only the expansions. My gameplay is exactly the same as it was with the subscription - only there's no rest xp, but LotRO's leveling is way too fast anyways, so it's even better: at least I don't have to buy the xp disabler
So, totally f2p is way too grindy, I agree. "better of subscribing the game", also agree, but you need that subscription for only 1 month if you want to play as cheap as possible
And for OP, Rohan was the first expansion which was splitted (Isengard had Draigoch). Helm's Deep is only announced, there are months until it gets near the game. And they didn't say there won't be any raid.
"Community manager bluntly told everyone instances/raids and pvp are not their priority in fact, they won't add any more of them anymore." I'm not a huge fan of Sapience (let's put it this way...), but if he said that, he gets a +1 from me
Raids are nice but not crucial part of the game, instances are bit more important. PvMP never was in the focus, nor on the priority list.
LotRO was never a great game.
Middle Earth Online was a great game, made by passionate innovative devs.
LotRO was the result of scrapping most of the good content and dumping out a cheap WoW clone. The only real good aspects of LotRO are leftovers from MEO's development.
It was only a matter of time.
Turbine had with the original game, pre-moria, a decent little sleeper hit on their hands. It was WoW for people that don't like the "intensity" of WoW. And with that I mean anything from the famous barren chat to having to grind just to be able to join a raid.
The game eventually (before Moria) had two raids, one big and one smaller which gave somewhat okay rewards you didn't need. Raiding was about raiding and not about getting phat loot. I lead plenty, especially Helegrod, were anyone was welcome as long as they met the level requirement to get inside in the first place.
This would be unthinkable in WoW. Lotro was a nice casual MMORPG and was slowly growing.
But apparently not fast enough because with the release of the Moria expansion, the game took a radically different approach. It introduced an area that was literaly a dungeon and dungeon with no "run free" parts. With that I mean that in the original outdoor areas, you could always find a path with no enemies to harass you on your way to an area OR you could at least reach a spot where you can "run free" of your pursuers without picking up new ones. Not so in Moria, just endless corridors with enemies just widely spaced enough that you would always be under attack. The bypass for collapsed bridge was particullaly insulting, just one corrider just narrow enough to have the single mobs always attack you as you run past. Either run the entire bloody long way under attack or spend an hour or two fighting them. BORING!
Moria also introduced gated content, instances you had to grind before being allowed to do the expansion raid. For people who by that time had many alts, it promised to be an unsurmountable hurdle and the end content was regonized by many as not worth the hassle. Ever since the introduction Turbine has made countless changes, everytime claiming that this time they had fully satisfied their customers needs... they haven't yet.
Legendary gear was another Moria abonimation and again often changed.
It was basically Moria that ended Lotro as a casual friendly MMORPG and with F2P it opened the flood gates to the kiddies who want WoW but can't afford it. The problem with that approach was simple, the old paying customers left and the new free loaders didn't bring in enough cash. So Turbine went into cash shop overdrive trying to sell stuff like dyes which basically were free in the game proper and finally resorting to pure p2w driving away more old paying customers and getting only free loaders in return.
The game would have been far better if 9/10 of moria had been cut and instead the time had been spent on a nice non-gated raid and some outdoor alternative areas. It had the RP market locked up but wanted to attract the barren crowd instead. Well. They succeeded.
Perfect summary, sfc1971.
I agree the Store part as well, they changed it only slowly with baby steps, but if you compare it to the f2p-launch Store there's a definite tendency present. I wouldn't say p2w, not yet. Mithril coins are on the verge though... we'll see where will they turn with that.
Moria got revamped a year ago btw, so it's better now, but I still remember the forum threads back then about tactics how-to skip Moria, or "I have a few 50ish characters but I don't want to enter Moria again"
.
I think I posted here once that I still love Eriador the most, and when I roll a new alt I usually level him/her only to the Gates of Moria... but strangely I found it awesome when launched. Tedious and dangerous, but the scenery and the dwarf halls were nice. Only when I got there with my second I got the feeling "no way that I'll do it again all over..."
I'm with OP. I used to play LotRo with a lifetime subscription but have passed that one through eBay. Why? LotRo is no longer the game I used to play at release. Community in general gets worse and worse. 99.5% of all content is solo (sadly). The last 2 expansions just sucked balls...
One good thing though... If I remember correctly, the license that Turbine holds will expire at the end of this year (or was it next year). And I seriously doubt that the heirs of JRR Tolkien would want to see how Turbine will rape Tolkien's legacy more like it's been done for the last 3 years...
let me add people saving time and money in graphics topic aswell, they cut down overall graphics to make players with crappy computer to run it better in big raids and such, nowadays ultra means medium settings. and simple solution to this would have been want great fps and crappy looking graphics? press this button. want really great looking graphics but fairly ok fps? press this button.
Hahaha! LOTRO is pay to win game, cmon be serious! Currently Turbine has the best free to play model! I didnt pay for that game since Mines of Moria and still i have almost all contents available! It's pretty easy if u don't want to pay - farm Turbine points ...
And btw the new expansion has a lot of raids and 3-man 6-man instance so please be more familiar with the game before posting that kind of crap!
And be more familiar with the term "Pay to win". In LOTRO the only thing u can buy from the shop is cosmetics, steeds and traits if you are too lazy to earn those!
Despite people whining about the Cash Shop, this game is still one of the best themeparks ever made. It's one of the very few games I return to play because it was so well done.
They did what they had to do in the cash shop to keep the game in the black, and it worked. The only thing I ever buy in that shop are mounts and cosmetics, and I've never felt the need to buy any boosters or anything else. They really aren't needed.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
Important news: Because you do not play or like the game does not "destroy" the game!
The game will be doing fine even without you.
The early years of LOTRO was probably the best game made with the best community by far.
No more.
Have to agree with this, if it was so great it wouldn't have been a ghost town and had to go f2p. But I agree with the analysis of the cash shop.
Same logic does not apply to Middle Earth Online...?
LOTRO didn't go f2p because it was a ghost town,. It went f2p because DDO made so much money with its transition that they wanted to try the same thing in LOTRO.
And though MEO might have fit my preferences far more than what Turbine has done with LOTRO, no one knows how well a finished product MEO would have done or how it would have worn over the years.
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
It seems like the überguilds, achiever's lobby, the PvP 1337 and the Counterstrike Club now know what the roleplayers, bread bakers and immersion junkies dealt with back in 2004 to 2005: "you are a minority niche interest, so you don't deserve systems catered to you."
At least the roleplayers, bread bakers and immersion junkies had a good case, however. Besides the typical one of "we pay money," they had other good reasons for developers to throw them a bone.
"We make the games better by doing the things that make the game better," they said, "and our needs are rather minor. We aren't looking to achieve ultimate power. We just want a place."
Not so for the twinks. See, they never really cared about playing. They only cared about winning. The only thing the twinks can say at this point is "we pay money," which is--apparently--not enough money for the games to care.
Because they cause a lot more problems than they solve. Why create raid instances with ultimate loot when it'll all be farmed over in a week by barely 10% of the people, who will then come to boards like these and say "that last expansion sucked?" Too much money to "feed the twinkers." Too little value for the development dollar.
That's what we get when we wage "playstyle wars," calling things we don't like as "niche" or "minority" or "not what the core gamer wants." Because the same reasons that allow us to criticize things we don't like can be turned around and applied to the things we do like.
__________________________
"Its sad when people use religion to feel superior, its even worse to see people using a video game to do it."
--Arcken
"...when it comes to pimping EVE I have little restraints."
--Hellmar, CEO of CCP.
"It's like they took a gun, put it to their nugget sack and pulled the trigger over and over again, each time telling us how great it was that they were shooting themselves in the balls."
--Exar_Kun on SWG's NGE
@ the OP, everyone pretty much know this. We all know that this game quality has gone downhill, it pretty much died during the release of mirkwood. Not going to lie moria/lothlorien days were still fun.
Community was the number 1 good thing about this game (best in all the mmo's out there), but even that is fading. You got jerks flocking in and the forums became a joke. Screw sapience, the guy killed the right to express peoples views.
But then again you got those fanboys who will never admit to anything about turbines wrongdoings.
Unless they are not "wrong doings'
For some creepy reason we have "gamers" who think they can say and do whatever they want on forums.
Sometimes there are decent criticisms but many times it's just some rant from some disenfranchised individual who feels that opinion of theirs is "right".
Sapience had a job and did it. It's their forum and their forum is there to discuss the game and it's there to serve the game company "along" with the community.
It's not there to allow players to rant and rave to their heart's content. No company in their right mind would allow it. Regardless of whether there was merit in the complaints.
And in the interest of full disclosure I despise a lot that they did with this game. But that doesn't mean I think "gamers" should have carte blanche to rail against a game company on their very own forum.
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