- Right now there's spam threads and porn on the official boards which have been there for ages.
- The last expansion was buggy as shit and STILL remains unfinished.
- There is huge amounts of lag for many players which Turbine refuses to even acknowledge.
- Turbine are consistently lying to its playerbase.
- Turbine refuse to make any more group content and is bleeding players because of it; their replacement for end-game content, big battles, are shockingly bad.
It's time to give this beloved IP to another developer to salvage something from it. Turbine used to be an excellent dev but I no longer recognise this company.
Comments
Fine, we'll compromise. I'll get my way & you'll find a way to be okay with that.
I agree with most those points, except the group content one.
Only a small fraction of the game groups, and they only ever group with each other, so making new content for a small portion of the players is crazy.
Of course, Turbine's problem is they didn't make much content for anyone in HD. They really thought people would want to do the BB, I guess.
R.I.P. City of Heroes and my 17 characters there
Bad. I'd like to play a true Lord of the Rings game true to Tolkien's legacy. Lotro was even OK for a while but went right downhill after Moria imo.
Turbine was bought by WB.
Its now a corporate run company, profit first, game second, players last.
"People who tell you youre awesome are useless. No, dangerous.
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http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/10/14/on-getting-criticism/
Said the one with an avatar from an EA game...
Profits first.
Profits second.
Game and players last.
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It has been a long time since I played LOTRO. It was one of my favorite games in spite of not being a die hard fan of the lore and disliking the amount of grind needed for traits. It just had a good combination of features, community, and mechanics for me. Honestly OP, I thought you were just trolling when I read your post as I couldn't imagine things being that bad with a game I loved. Then, I decided to go check the forums and I see there is truth in what you wrote to my dismay...
Unlike some I do think Turbine is a good MMORPG company in spite of issues that have occurred in the past. I think they have had some good game ideas and for all the love Tolkein's IP gets I often felt it held them back from making a cool MMORPG with all the bells and whistles we like from flying mounts and booming spells onward.
I read the forums, saw the spam and porn, checked into the unusual lag... WTF? Really what's going on over there? And three years isn't a long time for the license agreement either.
I hope they can get it together and come back with a new game that builds on their strengths established with LOTRO. They do have the talent.
Overall, yet another "because game does not fit MY genius, game is nonsense, unfinished, devs are lying and Apocalypse is near" post.
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I actually do think that this game would be better off in another developer's hands or at least a developer with a different vision. However, I don't agree with a lot of your post.
I can't speak to the first one as I haven't been on the forums since before the expansion but at the time I saw no issue.
I think the last expansion is the best expansion they have ever done because it feels more like "lord of the rings" to me. Granted I think Helm's deep should have been either a pve or pvp map but it feels much more on par with being in the books than any other expansion.
There is lag and they have not only admitted it to me by an in game gm but also with a customer support ticket.
You would have to tell us why they are lying to us. For all I know you are lying to us.
It's true they should make more group content but I highly doubt that is the reason they are losing players if indeed they are losing players. I've been playing this game off and on since one of the earlier closed betas and since launch the game has always gained and lost players after new content has been introdcued.
I doubt another developer would make another Lord of the Rings mmo.
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
Not because they wouldn't want to, but rather Disney will NEVER let go of those rights. Of all companies in existence, Disney has done more lobbying to extend patent duration and coverage than any other. (OK, I may be wrong on that, maybe some other company has done more, but Disney has done a LOT.) In fact, Disney is one of the companies spearheading the charge for everyone's favorite internet regulation changes, stuff like SOPA and everything that has spawned off of it.
Sounds a LOT like the Everquest 2 Devs.... Sadly. And I wouldnt even call eq2's last 3 expansions "expansions" They are smaller then game updates....
Well, I'm afraid I'm for extending patents being someone who does create and does get paid for it.
Having the owner of a patent or intellectual property retain their rights is always ok by me.
I think we will have to wait quite a few years before anyone is willing to invest in another Lord of the Rings mmo. I think it will eventually happen (look at the star wars IP) but it's going to be a while.
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 got a kick out of that, too.
I never found anything bad about Turbine. I mean, I did not like AC2 at all, but I'm not going to hate on a company because they made a game I didn't enjoy.
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Well as a DDO player I can say Turbine has more often than not not tested stuff properly and releases buggy crap and this has gotten much worse since WB took over, at least for DDO.
It is ridiculous the amount of bugs that they just have no clue about or just plain don't care about. DDO has mournlands and lammania to test things but mournlands is more a place the YES MEN go to stroke the devs egos and lamm is more a preview server rather than a feedback test server.
Turbine tests their stuff live and we are the ones that test it free of charge!
Brenics ~ Just to point out I do believe Chris Roberts is going down as the man who cheated backers and took down crowdfunding for gaming.
Let's party like it is 1863!
I'm all for a living creator retaining rights to their work as well. However, Disney is attempting to extend the post death rights beyond 100+ years after death of the original creator. I do not believe Walt Disney's grand kids (and more likely the Walt Disney Corporation) deserves to exclusively rake in all income off stuff Walt Disney created. Especially since Walt Disney pulled HEAVILY from public domain for the majority of his stuff. It's only fair that what he created reenters the public domain to inspire further creativity.
That being said, if Disney had access to the Star Wars IP, they would never have let it go to another company unless they were receiving heavy licensing fees (read: pure profit). Maybe we will see a studio willing to pay more in licensing fees than Disney is making with LotRO, then it could happen. It's all in the flow of money in the end.
Nah, I still dont' agree. If someone retains the rights of an IP they should always have control over it, leave it to another, sell it to another, etc.
I never believe the public should automatically get the rights to something just because a certain amount of time passes.The issue of "pulling from public domain" is a separate thing. If someone is pulling from public domain then I would think that anything he "borrows" should always be public domain. Meanign he/the corp. should never have been given permission to solely have control over it. But once they legally do have control over something they should always have the right/option to allow their predecessors to control it. But again, that's my opinion.
So, bringing it back to the topic, at least obliquely, whoever has control over Tolkien's work should retain it and be allowed to sell it, license it, etc, to whoever they want for years, decades to come.
Whether or not another game company sees value in a lord of the rings mmo is another thing. I imagine it would be very different.
Whether or not it's what players want, or a majority of what players want, is another thign entirely.
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
*golf clap*
Payment models have no bearing on whether a game is shit or not. DDO has been on a downward slope for many years now since Mirkwood. Bad content and design decisions drove everyone away, not the cash shop.
Kind of missing the point here I think you are. It is not a question of the games being F2P or premium or sub based, it's about the quality going downhill.
Warner Brothers bought Turbine and there has been a steady change in how things are done. Some of it good lots of it bad.
Try and keep this thread about what it is and not some F2P vs Subs tangent.
Brenics ~ Just to point out I do believe Chris Roberts is going down as the man who cheated backers and took down crowdfunding for gaming.
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I loved this game. I haven't played in ages.
Is the storyline up to where the big battles start?
The game always did lag in areas where there were a lot of players.
People seriously need to stop thinking that just because they don't like a game that it's "in trouble" or no one likes it. LOTRO has some balance problems since last xpac but it was over-all pretty high quality expansion and I still enjoy the game when I play it.
I was agreeing with you up until you said "Bad content and design decisions drove everyone away, NOT THE CASH SHOP". My guild jumped out of LOTRO within two months of the introduction of the "cash shop" BECAUSE of the introduction of the CASH SHOP.
Let's party like it is 1863!