Without elaborating needlessly, all I will say is that this game is getting gutted from a MMORPG to a single player game with the added benefits (not for the players, but for warner brothers) of a cash shop and/or a monthly sub.
The lotro that I played and loved is gone and all the friends that I made here have moved on as well. I will remember this game for what it was and good luck to those who still play it for what it is.
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A proud User of [[Adblock Plus]], to block out all the bullshit paid advertisements (also read as "game reviews") spam on mmorpg.com.
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I was banned for pointing out the obvious faults in a game 2 months before it released. Now after release, repeating the very same words from back then would be like preaching to the choir on this site.
Without elaborating needlessly, all I will say is that this game is getting gutted from a MMORPG to a single player game with the added benefits (not for the players, but for warner brothers) of a cash shop and/or a monthly sub.
The lotro that I played and loved is gone and all the friends that I made here have moved on as well. I will remember this game for what it was and good luck to those who still play it for what it is.
LOTRO was never very focused on groupig anyway. A lot of people enjoyed it for the levelling experience, the quests, lore and to see the world. It has always suffered from mediocre group content and very few raids etc. PvP was never that great either.
If you sub to lotro, you don't need to buy anything from the store. Sub and buy expansions (as you would have when the game was p2p) and not much has changed in terms of gameplay. Now you can actually unlock pretty much the entire game without any limitations with TPs.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
I haven't played the game for a while and wonder if it is still active.. is there still a big playerbase? or does the game feel empty? The world is in the first place huge and therefore I fear that the game does indeed feel empty since I doubt there are as many players as before. What servers are active? is the game still worth looking into now with all the other titles around?
Would love if someone could answer these questions.
It was at launch. A few of the epic book quests required groups to complete. Even the non-instanced group content required a group.
Now you can select a solo instance or your given a buff stone for the open world stuff. IMO the introduction of Mirkwood and skirmishes killed the game for me.
It does have a huge open world however it seems Turbine has turned it's back on doing anything with it. Especially the Shadow of Angmar stuff.
You had great raids then aswell. Helegrod, The Rift. Moria introduced Filikul, Vile Maw. Loads of 6 man fellowship stuff on top of that.
It was at launch. A few of the epic book quests required groups to complete. Even the non-instanced group content required a group.
Now you can select a solo instance or your given a buff stone for the open world stuff. IMO the introduction of Mirkwood and skirmishes killed the game for me.
It does have a huge open world however it seems Turbine has turned it's back on doing anything with it. Especially the Shadow of Angmar stuff.
You had great raids then aswell. Helegrod, The Rift. Moria introduced Filikul, Vile Maw. Loads of 6 man fellowship stuff on top of that.
Have to agree with macwood and SlyLoK.
Much of the grouping content scales to player level and is still availalbe... Seems they will add some new grouping and raid content in this years updates.... They might stick at level 100 for some time and add some progressive group/raid content for that level, and offcourse more story/books/skirmishes/epic battles...
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
LOTRO was never very focused on groupig anyway. (plus: "A lot of people enjoyed it for the levelling experience, the quests, lore and to see the world.")
It was at launch. A few of the epic book quests required groups to complete.
I think it was somewhere in the middle.
The Book line had forced grouping, that's true. But only the book line.
There were instances and raids (pretty good ones, Garth Agarwen and Helegrod are still among my favourite ones from all games combined), but those were optional for levelling and the story - true, the best gear was there. And some story conclusions too, I mean after waking the dragon, who'd just go forward to Angmar and let her in peace sitting in Helegrod?
There were plenty of group quests in the world. Also optional, someone could bypass those and continue levelling and questing. Not to mention pretty soon Turbine helped those kinda players with adding Evendim and Forochel, thus providing a parallel, solo-focused route besides North Downs, Trollshaws and Angmar, which were heavy on group quests.
I'd say at launch LotRO was a "regular" mmo in the matter of grouping, maybe a bit more solo-friendly than the average. Then at first they leaned more onto the solo side, then with Moria swung back towards the group-focused side, and since then, step-by-step with every expansion made the game more and more friendly to the solo players.
But that doesn't mean the grouping is not there Hele is rarely played nowadays, but for example Rift is not scaled and they said it won't be in the future either. There are peeps who started new characters and stopped at 50 to have a Rift-only raid toon in their stable for the fun. As I've heard it's not as tough as it was, but that comes from the trait tree changes and not from the content. Rift is still Rift...
is there still a big playerbase? or does the game feel empty? - depends on the server I think, on the active ones you can bump into players everywhere (though lots of them are beornings, levelling up)
What servers are active? - if you're planning to play on Eu timezone, Withywindle and Snowbourn are the most active english ones, with Laurelin as close 3rd (the roleplay server).
is the game still worth looking into now with all the other titles around? - a look? Definitely worths a quick look maybe even a bit more too. (but if you played under Codemasters, there's a chance your account is not available now)
Without elaborating needlessly, all I will say is that this game is getting gutted from a MMORPG to a single player game with the added benefits (not for the players, but for warner brothers) of a cash shop and/or a monthly sub.
The lotro that I played and loved is gone and all the friends that I made here have moved on as well. I will remember this game for what it was and good luck to those who still play it for what it is.
LOTRO was never very focused on groupig anyway. A lot of people enjoyed it for the levelling experience, the quests, lore and to see the world. It has always suffered from mediocre group content and very few raids etc.
Did you ever play it when it first released? The opposite is true. It was made very much with grouping in mind including the unique Fellowship Maneuvers and it had some pretty damn good raids.
Later on, after it went F2P, they did go with the solo flow and changed a lot of the former group content to give you a solo option, but in the beginning it was pretty obvious they wanted you to group and encouraged it heavily.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
is there still a big playerbase? or does the game feel empty? - depends on the server I think, on the active ones you can bump into players everywhere (though lots of them are beornings, levelling up)
Very much the case. It was almost time for the next update before Firefoot got its server unlock for Paths of the Dead; it's that quiet. After dealing with that though, I decided to roll my Beorning on Brandywine, and that server is hopping no matter what time I get on.
I was getting a bit burnt out with the last few max level grinds they came out with, so the Beorning class couldn't have come at a better time for me. I LOVED going back and redoing the old, revamped lower level areas.
is there still a big playerbase? or does the game feel empty? - depends on the server I think, on the active ones you can bump into players everywhere (though lots of them are beornings, levelling up)
Very much the case. It was almost time for the next update before Firefoot got its server unlock for Paths of the Dead; it's that quiet. After dealing with that though, I decided to roll my Beorning on Brandywine, and that server is hopping no matter what time I get on.
I was getting a bit burnt out with the last few max level grinds they came out with, so the Beorning class couldn't have come at a better time for me. I LOVED going back and redoing the old, revamped lower level areas.
That's exactly what I did a few months ago. I lt my high level LM and Burglar just sit and started a new character... another LM... what can I say? I love the class
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
Very much the case. It was almost time for the next update before Firefoot got its server unlock for Paths of the Dead; it's that quiet. After dealing with that though, I decided to roll my Beorning on Brandywine, and that server is hopping no matter what time I get on.
I was getting a bit burnt out with the last few max level grinds they came out with, so the Beorning class couldn't have come at a better time for me. I LOVED going back and redoing the old, revamped lower level areas.
That's exactly what I did a few months ago. I lt my high level LM and Burglar just sit and started a new character... another LM... what can I say? I love the class
LM's probably the class I've touched the least. Only gotten to about lvl 25 with one. Not really a matter of preference though; I just need to set my interface up to command pets better.
I've got a bajillion programmable kb and mouse buttons, yet I'm still playing hunt n' click onscreen.
I've never really played LM, though it looks like fun. Minstrel seems a bit complicated but certainly quite original.
I started a Beorning about a week ago. I rolled on Crickhollow as that's the current recommended server and so will have more at lower levels. Server choice is unfortunately very important. While I appreciate some players like lower population servers, a couple are extremely low, and there's no way to know that officially. Thankfully, at least, the recommended server is always a good choice for new players.
Very much the case. It was almost time for the next update before Firefoot got its server unlock for Paths of the Dead; it's that quiet. After dealing with that though, I decided to roll my Beorning on Brandywine, and that server is hopping no matter what time I get on.
I was getting a bit burnt out with the last few max level grinds they came out with, so the Beorning class couldn't have come at a better time for me. I LOVED going back and redoing the old, revamped lower level areas.
That's exactly what I did a few months ago. I lt my high level LM and Burglar just sit and started a new character... another LM... what can I say? I love the class
LM's probably the class I've touched the least. Only gotten to about lvl 25 with one. Not really a matter of preference though; I just need to set my interface up to command pets better.
I've got a bajillion programmable kb and mouse buttons, yet I'm still playing hunt n' click onscreen.
Yeah. It's one thing that hit me right away when I went back and played some LOTRO.
It'd been a while since I'd played an MMO with the standard, old-fashioned bucket full of abilties with many bars. I'd gotten so used to playing new ones with my 15 mouse buttons (Cyborg MMO7) that there was quite an adjustment period. I still prioritized my most used abilities to mouse buttons but it's unavoidable having to do some clicking.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
Without elaborating needlessly, all I will say is that this game is getting gutted from a MMORPG to a single player game with the added benefits (not for the players, but for warner brothers) of a cash shop and/or a monthly sub.
The lotro that I played and loved is gone and all the friends that I made here have moved on as well. I will remember this game for what it was and good luck to those who still play it for what it is.
LOTRO was never very focused on groupig anyway. A lot of people enjoyed it for the levelling experience, the quests, lore and to see the world. It has always suffered from mediocre group content and very few raids etc.
Did you ever play it when it first released? The opposite is true. It was made very much with grouping in mind including the unique Fellowship Maneuvers and it had some pretty damn good raids.
Later on, after it went F2P, they did go with the solo flow and changed a lot of the former group content to give you a solo option, but in the beginning it was pretty obvious they wanted you to group and encouraged it heavily.
I played it at launch and it was definitely not mae with grouping in mind. There was group content but the vast majority of it (90% or more) was solo content.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
Without elaborating needlessly, all I will say is that this game is getting gutted from a MMORPG to a single player game with the added benefits (not for the players, but for warner brothers) of a cash shop and/or a monthly sub.
The lotro that I played and loved is gone and all the friends that I made here have moved on as well. I will remember this game for what it was and good luck to those who still play it for what it is.
LOTRO was never very focused on groupig anyway. A lot of people enjoyed it for the levelling experience, the quests, lore and to see the world. It has always suffered from mediocre group content and very few raids etc.
Did you ever play it when it first released? The opposite is true. It was made very much with grouping in mind including the unique Fellowship Maneuvers and it had some pretty damn good raids.
Later on, after it went F2P, they did go with the solo flow and changed a lot of the former group content to give you a solo option, but in the beginning it was pretty obvious they wanted you to group and encouraged it heavily.
I played it at launch and it was definitely not mae with grouping in mind. There was group content but the vast majority of it (90% or more) was solo content.
Dungeons
the main story book quests
a lot of open world areas
all required grouping.... Thats more grouping oriented then any other PVE AAA+ ( with maybe the exception of Vanguard) since the release of WoW.
to advance, grouping was a requirement,
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
...well LoTR itself was a joint venture was it not ? The FELLOWSHIP of the ring... ?
and what an inbalanced (and also buffed to almost exploit-ish magnitude) fellowship... a tank who only cares about his master, a cappy with a low will (but at least uses IDoME right and also dies well), a typical, text-book hunter, and champ (even though his bark is two-handed, so not perfectly from the text-books... any decent champ uses dual-wield, for a better shing-shing ). And 3 hobbitses just for the fun. Not even a dedicated healer.
BUT, then there's the exploit-like buff, they have an istari (seriously? almost like having a GM in the fellowship), and a ranger - we do know from the Etten how OP a ranger can be
Well I saw this thread and thought I would give the game a go. I've not even got in the game yet and I'm already not impressed - the installer says "game ready to play", but then it loads another window and starts downloading more files. I know it's only a little thing, but already feel lied to...
Also, the payment structure of this game looks like a complete and utter mess. I read earlier in this thread that by subbing you'll have no restrictions. But on the VIP subscription page, there's this small print: "*Helm's Deep™, Riders of Rohan™, Rise of Isengard™, Mines of Moria™ and Siege of Mirkwood™ are not included" - so it seems subbing doesn't unrestrict all content, and looks more like a version of Rift's Patron system.
The wording in the copy puts me off too - for the quad expansion it says "all expansions for xxx", but this doesn't include Helms Deep, so it's not "all expansions" but rather a portion of them.
I know I may be being a bit picky, but after dancing with Trion with ArcheAge I'm very cautious about the games I play. I do not want to play a game that'll be riddled with extra DLC, or parts locked off unless I fork out more and more money on top of a subscription.
It's free to try, so I'm going to try it, but my initial view of the game is it's a mess.
Well I saw this thread and thought I would give the game a go. I've not even got in the game yet and I'm already not impressed - the installer says "game ready to play", but then it loads another window and starts downloading more files. I know it's only a little thing, but already feel lied to...
Also, the payment structure of this game looks like a complete and utter mess. I read earlier in this thread that by subbing you'll have no restrictions. But on the VIP subscription page, there's this small print: "*Helm's Deep™, Riders of Rohan™, Rise of Isengard™, Mines of Moria™ and Siege of Mirkwood™ are not included" - so it seems subbing doesn't unrestrict all content, and looks more like a version of Rift's Patron system.
The wording in the copy puts me off too - for the quad expansion it says "all expansions for xxx", but this doesn't include Helms Deep, so it's not "all expansions" but rather a portion of them.
I know I may be being a bit picky, but after dancing with Trion with ArcheAge I'm very cautious about the games I play. I do not want to play a game that'll be riddled with extra DLC, or parts locked off unless I fork out more and more money on top of a subscription.
It's free to try, so I'm going to try it, but my initial view of the game is it's a mess.
Actually its the best F2P system of any MMo out there... As long as you realise nothing in this world is free..
You get the first 30 levels for free, allmost unrestricted, during that time you can earn ingame store points for those little things you need...
And after level 30 you need to pay for the content, weather in expansion packs, or questpacks. Which actually seems rather fair to me.. If you buy all the content you need, there is no reason to subscribe.
If you want to play the whole game for free, be prepared to invest a whole lot of time, as you need to do all the little deeds and other things that give you free storepoints... but it is still possible.. Just takes dedication and an awfull lot of time.
Otherwise, be prepared to pay a little fee once in a while... nothing bad, as long as you realise its not a free game.
Sadly with your current mindset, i guess your game experience is doomed to fail... just try to enjoy the game step by step, get pas the intro and venture into the world enjoying the quests and story it has to tell...
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
Lord.B was faster and with a bit stingy reply I'd rather answer your concerns instead:
Installer: I guess you picked the HappyCloud option for the download. It's an option of convenience (lot of games have this, like your later mentioned Rift). You quickly download the intro part of the game (hence the: ready to play), and while you're creating your character and playing through the tutorial, the client downloads the rest of the game in the background. There's no lie in it, you can jump into the game pretty fast, and if you like you still can choose the original method and download the full client first.
Subbing unlocks every restriction. But that doesn't include the expansions, like in most MMOs. You mentioned Rift, in there you don't get the SL souls with the Patron either.
Also worth mentioning you "only" don't get the quests and deeds in the expansions (only in brackets, since those are the most important part of them). You can play the expansions for free, level there via the Story quest line (which is free to everyone) or by slaying mobs, can gather and craft there, you get all the mechanics added with them (for example you can use Lengendary Items even if you don't buy the Moria expansion), etc.
Quad pack vs. All - that's true, and if I said "All", then I apologise. Quad pack was introduced before HD, and had all the expansions in one bundle. After HD launch it went on sale frequently. And since no more expansions were released after HD, I guess there was no urge to them for slap HD in it, to bundle them into a "penta-pack". Also on the Market it's fixed, and says "All four award-winning expansions" - since HD wasn't awarded, it's not included
Well I saw this thread and thought I would give the game a go. I've not even got in the game yet and I'm already not impressed - the installer says "game ready to play", but then it loads another window and starts downloading more files. I know it's only a little thing, but already feel lied to...
Also, the payment structure of this game looks like a complete and utter mess. I read earlier in this thread that by subbing you'll have no restrictions. But on the VIP subscription page, there's this small print: "*Helm's Deep™, Riders of Rohan™, Rise of Isengard™, Mines of Moria™ and Siege of Mirkwood™ are not included" - so it seems subbing doesn't unrestrict all content, and looks more like a version of Rift's Patron system.
The wording in the copy puts me off too - for the quad expansion it says "all expansions for xxx", but this doesn't include Helms Deep, so it's not "all expansions" but rather a portion of them.
I know I may be being a bit picky, but after dancing with Trion with ArcheAge I'm very cautious about the games I play. I do not want to play a game that'll be riddled with extra DLC, or parts locked off unless I fork out more and more money on top of a subscription.
It's free to try, so I'm going to try it, but my initial view of the game is it's a mess.
Oh please don't bother.
After what you just said.... LOL
Lied to by a loading screen,,,,,,hahaha thats hilarious!
FFA Nonconsentual Full Loot PvP ...You know you want it!!
Well I saw this thread and thought I would give the game a go. I've not even got in the game yet and I'm already not impressed - the installer says "game ready to play", but then it loads another window and starts downloading more files. I know it's only a little thing, but already feel lied to...
Also, the payment structure of this game looks like a complete and utter mess. I read earlier in this thread that by subbing you'll have no restrictions. But on the VIP subscription page, there's this small print: "*Helm's Deep™, Riders of Rohan™, Rise of Isengard™, Mines of Moria™ and Siege of Mirkwood™ are not included" - so it seems subbing doesn't unrestrict all content, and looks more like a version of Rift's Patron system.
The wording in the copy puts me off too - for the quad expansion it says "all expansions for xxx", but this doesn't include Helms Deep, so it's not "all expansions" but rather a portion of them.
I know I may be being a bit picky, but after dancing with Trion with ArcheAge I'm very cautious about the games I play. I do not want to play a game that'll be riddled with extra DLC, or parts locked off unless I fork out more and more money on top of a subscription.
It's free to try, so I'm going to try it, but my initial view of the game is it's a mess.
Actually its the best F2P system of any MMo out there... As long as you realise nothing in this world is free..
You get the first 30 levels for free, allmost unrestricted, during that time you can earn ingame store points for those little things you need...
And after level 30 you need to pay for the content, weather in expansion packs, or questpacks. Which actually seems rather fair to me.. If you buy all the content you need, there is no reason to subscribe.
If you want to play the whole game for free, be prepared to invest a whole lot of time, as you need to do all the little deeds and other things that give you free storepoints... but it is still possible.. Just takes dedication and an awfull lot of time.
Otherwise, be prepared to pay a little fee once in a while... nothing bad, as long as you realise its not a free game.
Sadly with your current mindset, i guess your game experience is doomed to fail... just try to enjoy the game step by step, get pas the intro and venture into the world enjoying the quests and story it has to tell...
Thanks for the reply.
I'm not expecting to play a game for free - I'm an ESO subscriber, and I've also put a fair bit of money into Rift and Guild Wars 2. But on these games, the payment structure is quite straightforward. My concern with LOTRO is that it's not clear from the myriad of pages, and the contradictory copy, about what you're actually getting with the money you spend. There's expansions, VIP, store points, more content unlocks (steeds?); and after reading these pages I've walked away unsure and unclear about exactly what I'm paying for (and what I need to pay for).
And regarding your comment about my current mindset; this has unfortunately come about from LOTRO themselves; I actually felt quite hopeful from reading the opening post to this thread, you made the game sound really good. But after spending some time on the LOTRO website, I left feeling concerned, and cautious to proceed.
Well I saw this thread and thought I would give the game a go. I've not even got in the game yet and I'm already not impressed - the installer says "game ready to play", but then it loads another window and starts downloading more files. I know it's only a little thing, but already feel lied to...
Also, the payment structure of this game looks like a complete and utter mess. I read earlier in this thread that by subbing you'll have no restrictions. But on the VIP subscription page, there's this small print: "*Helm's Deep™, Riders of Rohan™, Rise of Isengard™, Mines of Moria™ and Siege of Mirkwood™ are not included" - so it seems subbing doesn't unrestrict all content, and looks more like a version of Rift's Patron system.
The wording in the copy puts me off too - for the quad expansion it says "all expansions for xxx", but this doesn't include Helms Deep, so it's not "all expansions" but rather a portion of them.
I know I may be being a bit picky, but after dancing with Trion with ArcheAge I'm very cautious about the games I play. I do not want to play a game that'll be riddled with extra DLC, or parts locked off unless I fork out more and more money on top of a subscription.
It's free to try, so I'm going to try it, but my initial view of the game is it's a mess.
Actually its the best F2P system of any MMo out there... As long as you realise nothing in this world is free..
You get the first 30 levels for free, allmost unrestricted, during that time you can earn ingame store points for those little things you need...
And after level 30 you need to pay for the content, weather in expansion packs, or questpacks. Which actually seems rather fair to me.. If you buy all the content you need, there is no reason to subscribe.
If you want to play the whole game for free, be prepared to invest a whole lot of time, as you need to do all the little deeds and other things that give you free storepoints... but it is still possible.. Just takes dedication and an awfull lot of time.
Otherwise, be prepared to pay a little fee once in a while... nothing bad, as long as you realise its not a free game.
Sadly with your current mindset, i guess your game experience is doomed to fail... just try to enjoy the game step by step, get pas the intro and venture into the world enjoying the quests and story it has to tell...
Thanks for the reply.
I'm not expecting to play a game for free - I'm an ESO subscriber, and I've also put a fair bit of money into Rift and Guild Wars 2. But on these games, the payment structure is quite straightforward. My concern with LOTRO is that it's not clear from the myriad of pages, and the contradictory copy, about what you're actually getting with the money you spend. There's expansions, VIP, store points, more content unlocks (steeds?); and after reading these pages I've walked away unsure and unclear about exactly what I'm paying for (and what I need to pay for).
And regarding your comment about my current mindset; this has unfortunately come about from LOTRO themselves; I actually felt quite hopeful from reading the opening post to this thread, you made the game sound really good. But after spending some time on the LOTRO website, I left feeling concerned, and cautious to proceed.
It is exactly like he said.
If you are cautious about spending money then just walk away. The market is a bit intrusive in the game and you need to get past that. After the first 30 free levels you will know if you like the game or not anyway.
I enjoyed the game and when it came to a point where I had to spend money I did. I even bought the four pack of expansions for 20 bucks and haven't used them. Stupid me but actually don't feel bad for having supported this game. I got my moneys worth and I can always go back.
FFA Nonconsentual Full Loot PvP ...You know you want it!!
I enjoyed the game and when it came to a point where I had to spend money I did. I even bought the four pack of expansions for 20 bucks and haven't used them. Stupid me but actually don't feel bad for having supported this game. I got my moneys worth and I can always go back.
Not to mention (as I wrote last year too, when it was first offered at that low) 20 bucks is almost a steal for it True, it's not a new stuff, but at launch even the base packs were 30 bucks each, and now you get four of them (with half of the game, since lvl50-85 content is close in magnitude to lvl1-50), plus steeds, cosmetics, 2 character slots, and the Moria classes.
Btw when there's no discount in the store, just the warden+rk+2 character slots costs more than 20 bucks, without any expansions on top.
Well I saw this thread and thought I would give the game a go. I've not even got in the game yet and I'm already not impressed - the installer says "game ready to play", but then it loads another window and starts downloading more files. I know it's only a little thing, but already feel lied to...
Also, the payment structure of this game looks like a complete and utter mess. I read earlier in this thread that by subbing you'll have no restrictions. But on the VIP subscription page, there's this small print: "*Helm's Deep™, Riders of Rohan™, Rise of Isengard™, Mines of Moria™ and Siege of Mirkwood™ are not included" - so it seems subbing doesn't unrestrict all content, and looks more like a version of Rift's Patron system.
The wording in the copy puts me off too - for the quad expansion it says "all expansions for xxx", but this doesn't include Helms Deep, so it's not "all expansions" but rather a portion of them.
I know I may be being a bit picky, but after dancing with Trion with ArcheAge I'm very cautious about the games I play. I do not want to play a game that'll be riddled with extra DLC, or parts locked off unless I fork out more and more money on top of a subscription.
It's free to try, so I'm going to try it, but my initial view of the game is it's a mess.
Actually its the best F2P system of any MMo out there... As long as you realise nothing in this world is free..
You get the first 30 levels for free, allmost unrestricted, during that time you can earn ingame store points for those little things you need...
And after level 30 you need to pay for the content, weather in expansion packs, or questpacks. Which actually seems rather fair to me.. If you buy all the content you need, there is no reason to subscribe.
If you want to play the whole game for free, be prepared to invest a whole lot of time, as you need to do all the little deeds and other things that give you free storepoints... but it is still possible.. Just takes dedication and an awfull lot of time.
Otherwise, be prepared to pay a little fee once in a while... nothing bad, as long as you realise its not a free game.
Sadly with your current mindset, i guess your game experience is doomed to fail... just try to enjoy the game step by step, get pas the intro and venture into the world enjoying the quests and story it has to tell...
Thanks for the reply.
I'm not expecting to play a game for free - I'm an ESO subscriber, and I've also put a fair bit of money into Rift and Guild Wars 2. But on these games, the payment structure is quite straightforward. My concern with LOTRO is that it's not clear from the myriad of pages, and the contradictory copy, about what you're actually getting with the money you spend. There's expansions, VIP, store points, more content unlocks (steeds?); and after reading these pages I've walked away unsure and unclear about exactly what I'm paying for (and what I need to pay for).
And regarding your comment about my current mindset; this has unfortunately come about from LOTRO themselves; I actually felt quite hopeful from reading the opening post to this thread, you made the game sound really good. But after spending some time on the LOTRO website, I left feeling concerned, and cautious to proceed.
Oh come on...after reading your comments it's clear you are here to derail this thread. So you say you sub to ESO? What exactly do you get from subbing to ESO? Well once you answer that you will get your answer to what you get when you sub to Lotro. The fact you think you would get all the "PAID EXPANSIONS" because you sub is ridiculous, nobody who ever played an MMORPG would honestly think that. Which if you want my honest opinion proves you are using an alt account in an attempt to derail and bash lotro...
Well I saw this thread and thought I would give the game a go. I've not even got in the game yet and I'm already not impressed - the installer says "game ready to play", but then it loads another window and starts downloading more files. I know it's only a little thing, but already feel lied to...
Also, the payment structure of this game looks like a complete and utter mess. I read earlier in this thread that by subbing you'll have no restrictions. But on the VIP subscription page, there's this small print: "*Helm's Deep™, Riders of Rohan™, Rise of Isengard™, Mines of Moria™ and Siege of Mirkwood™ are not included" - so it seems subbing doesn't unrestrict all content, and looks more like a version of Rift's Patron system.
The wording in the copy puts me off too - for the quad expansion it says "all expansions for xxx", but this doesn't include Helms Deep, so it's not "all expansions" but rather a portion of them.
I know I may be being a bit picky, but after dancing with Trion with ArcheAge I'm very cautious about the games I play. I do not want to play a game that'll be riddled with extra DLC, or parts locked off unless I fork out more and more money on top of a subscription.
It's free to try, so I'm going to try it, but my initial view of the game is it's a mess.
Actually its the best F2P system of any MMo out there... As long as you realise nothing in this world is free..
You get the first 30 levels for free, allmost unrestricted, during that time you can earn ingame store points for those little things you need...
And after level 30 you need to pay for the content, weather in expansion packs, or questpacks. Which actually seems rather fair to me.. If you buy all the content you need, there is no reason to subscribe.
If you want to play the whole game for free, be prepared to invest a whole lot of time, as you need to do all the little deeds and other things that give you free storepoints... but it is still possible.. Just takes dedication and an awfull lot of time.
Otherwise, be prepared to pay a little fee once in a while... nothing bad, as long as you realise its not a free game.
Sadly with your current mindset, i guess your game experience is doomed to fail... just try to enjoy the game step by step, get pas the intro and venture into the world enjoying the quests and story it has to tell...
Thanks for the reply.
I'm not expecting to play a game for free - I'm an ESO subscriber, and I've also put a fair bit of money into Rift and Guild Wars 2. But on these games, the payment structure is quite straightforward. My concern with LOTRO is that it's not clear from the myriad of pages, and the contradictory copy, about what you're actually getting with the money you spend. There's expansions, VIP, store points, more content unlocks (steeds?); and after reading these pages I've walked away unsure and unclear about exactly what I'm paying for (and what I need to pay for).
And regarding your comment about my current mindset; this has unfortunately come about from LOTRO themselves; I actually felt quite hopeful from reading the opening post to this thread, you made the game sound really good. But after spending some time on the LOTRO website, I left feeling concerned, and cautious to proceed.
What is so confusing? A subcription gives you access to everything but the 5 expansions the game has. The expansions come into play from level 50 onwards. You need to buy the expansions.
4 of the expansions are bundled in one pack for $20 and the latest expansion costs $20. On a sale you can get them even cheaper.
Basically all the expansions cost $40 if they are not on sale. But then again you don't need them till you are level 50.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
Comments
I dont share the OP's views.
Without elaborating needlessly, all I will say is that this game is getting gutted from a MMORPG to a single player game with the added benefits (not for the players, but for warner brothers) of a cash shop and/or a monthly sub.
The lotro that I played and loved is gone and all the friends that I made here have moved on as well. I will remember this game for what it was and good luck to those who still play it for what it is.
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Now after release, repeating the very same words from back then would be like preaching to the choir on this site.
LOTRO was never very focused on groupig anyway. A lot of people enjoyed it for the levelling experience, the quests, lore and to see the world. It has always suffered from mediocre group content and very few raids etc. PvP was never that great either.
If you sub to lotro, you don't need to buy anything from the store. Sub and buy expansions (as you would have when the game was p2p) and not much has changed in terms of gameplay. Now you can actually unlock pretty much the entire game without any limitations with TPs.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
I haven't played the game for a while and wonder if it is still active.. is there still a big playerbase? or does the game feel empty? The world is in the first place huge and therefore I fear that the game does indeed feel empty since I doubt there are as many players as before. What servers are active? is the game still worth looking into now with all the other titles around?
Would love if someone could answer these questions.
It was at launch. A few of the epic book quests required groups to complete. Even the non-instanced group content required a group.
Now you can select a solo instance or your given a buff stone for the open world stuff. IMO the introduction of Mirkwood and skirmishes killed the game for me.
It does have a huge open world however it seems Turbine has turned it's back on doing anything with it. Especially the Shadow of Angmar stuff.
You had great raids then aswell. Helegrod, The Rift. Moria introduced Filikul, Vile Maw. Loads of 6 man fellowship stuff on top of that.
Have to agree with macwood and SlyLoK.
Much of the grouping content scales to player level and is still availalbe... Seems they will add some new grouping and raid content in this years updates.... They might stick at level 100 for some time and add some progressive group/raid content for that level, and offcourse more story/books/skirmishes/epic battles...
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
I think it was somewhere in the middle.
The Book line had forced grouping, that's true. But only the book line.
There were instances and raids (pretty good ones, Garth Agarwen and Helegrod are still among my favourite ones from all games combined), but those were optional for levelling and the story - true, the best gear was there. And some story conclusions too, I mean after waking the dragon, who'd just go forward to Angmar and let her in peace sitting in Helegrod?
There were plenty of group quests in the world. Also optional, someone could bypass those and continue levelling and questing. Not to mention pretty soon Turbine helped those kinda players with adding Evendim and Forochel, thus providing a parallel, solo-focused route besides North Downs, Trollshaws and Angmar, which were heavy on group quests.
I'd say at launch LotRO was a "regular" mmo in the matter of grouping, maybe a bit more solo-friendly than the average. Then at first they leaned more onto the solo side, then with Moria swung back towards the group-focused side, and since then, step-by-step with every expansion made the game more and more friendly to the solo players.
But that doesn't mean the grouping is not there
Hele is rarely played nowadays, but for example Rift is not scaled and they said it won't be in the future either. There are peeps who started new characters and stopped at 50 to have a Rift-only raid toon in their stable for the fun. As I've heard it's not as tough as it was, but that comes from the trait tree changes and not from the content. Rift is still Rift...
is there still a big playerbase? or does the game feel empty? - depends on the server I think, on the active ones you can bump into players everywhere (though lots of them are beornings, levelling up)
What servers are active? - if you're planning to play on Eu timezone, Withywindle and Snowbourn are the most active english ones, with Laurelin as close 3rd (the roleplay server).
is the game still worth looking into now with all the other titles around? - a look? Definitely worths a quick look
maybe even a bit more too. (but if you played under Codemasters, there's a chance your account is not available now)
Did you ever play it when it first released? The opposite is true. It was made very much with grouping in mind including the unique Fellowship Maneuvers and it had some pretty damn good raids.
Later on, after it went F2P, they did go with the solo flow and changed a lot of the former group content to give you a solo option, but in the beginning it was pretty obvious they wanted you to group and encouraged it heavily.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Very much the case. It was almost time for the next update before Firefoot got its server unlock for Paths of the Dead; it's that quiet. After dealing with that though, I decided to roll my Beorning on Brandywine, and that server is hopping no matter what time I get on.
I was getting a bit burnt out with the last few max level grinds they came out with, so the Beorning class couldn't have come at a better time for me. I LOVED going back and redoing the old, revamped lower level areas.
That's exactly what I did a few months ago. I lt my high level LM and Burglar just sit and started a new character... another LM... what can I say? I love the class
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
LM's probably the class I've touched the least. Only gotten to about lvl 25 with one. Not really a matter of preference though; I just need to set my interface up to command pets better.
I've got a bajillion programmable kb and mouse buttons, yet I'm still playing hunt n' click onscreen.
I've never really played LM, though it looks like fun. Minstrel seems a bit complicated but certainly quite original.
I started a Beorning about a week ago. I rolled on Crickhollow as that's the current recommended server and so will have more at lower levels. Server choice is unfortunately very important. While I appreciate some players like lower population servers, a couple are extremely low, and there's no way to know that officially. Thankfully, at least, the recommended server is always a good choice for new players.
Yeah. It's one thing that hit me right away when I went back and played some LOTRO.
It'd been a while since I'd played an MMO with the standard, old-fashioned bucket full of abilties with many bars. I'd gotten so used to playing new ones with my 15 mouse buttons (Cyborg MMO7) that there was quite an adjustment period. I still prioritized my most used abilities to mouse buttons but it's unavoidable having to do some clicking.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
I played it at launch and it was definitely not mae with grouping in mind. There was group content but the vast majority of it (90% or more) was solo content.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
Dungeons
the main story book quests
a lot of open world areas
all required grouping.... Thats more grouping oriented then any other PVE AAA+ ( with maybe the exception of Vanguard) since the release of WoW.
to advance, grouping was a requirement,
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
and what an inbalanced (and also buffed to almost exploit-ish magnitude) fellowship... a tank who only cares about his master, a cappy with a low will (but at least uses IDoME right and also dies well), a typical, text-book hunter, and champ (even though his bark is two-handed, so not perfectly from the text-books... any decent champ uses dual-wield, for a better shing-shing
). And 3 hobbitses just for the fun. Not even a dedicated healer.
BUT, then there's the exploit-like buff, they have an istari (seriously? almost like having a GM in the fellowship), and a ranger - we do know from the Etten how OP a ranger can be
Well I saw this thread and thought I would give the game a go. I've not even got in the game yet and I'm already not impressed - the installer says "game ready to play", but then it loads another window and starts downloading more files. I know it's only a little thing, but already feel lied to...
Also, the payment structure of this game looks like a complete and utter mess. I read earlier in this thread that by subbing you'll have no restrictions. But on the VIP subscription page, there's this small print: "*Helm's Deep™, Riders of Rohan™, Rise of Isengard™, Mines of Moria™ and Siege of Mirkwood™ are not included" - so it seems subbing doesn't unrestrict all content, and looks more like a version of Rift's Patron system.
The wording in the copy puts me off too - for the quad expansion it says "all expansions for xxx", but this doesn't include Helms Deep, so it's not "all expansions" but rather a portion of them.
I know I may be being a bit picky, but after dancing with Trion with ArcheAge I'm very cautious about the games I play. I do not want to play a game that'll be riddled with extra DLC, or parts locked off unless I fork out more and more money on top of a subscription.
It's free to try, so I'm going to try it, but my initial view of the game is it's a mess.
Actually its the best F2P system of any MMo out there... As long as you realise nothing in this world is free..
You get the first 30 levels for free, allmost unrestricted, during that time you can earn ingame store points for those little things you need...
And after level 30 you need to pay for the content, weather in expansion packs, or questpacks. Which actually seems rather fair to me.. If you buy all the content you need, there is no reason to subscribe.
If you want to play the whole game for free, be prepared to invest a whole lot of time, as you need to do all the little deeds and other things that give you free storepoints... but it is still possible.. Just takes dedication and an awfull lot of time.
Otherwise, be prepared to pay a little fee once in a while... nothing bad, as long as you realise its not a free game.
Sadly with your current mindset, i guess your game experience is doomed to fail... just try to enjoy the game step by step, get pas the intro and venture into the world enjoying the quests and story it has to tell...
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
Lord.B was faster and with a bit stingy reply
I'd rather answer your concerns instead:
Installer: I guess you picked the HappyCloud option for the download. It's an option of convenience (lot of games have this, like your later mentioned Rift). You quickly download the intro part of the game (hence the: ready to play), and while you're creating your character and playing through the tutorial, the client downloads the rest of the game in the background. There's no lie in it, you can jump into the game pretty fast, and if you like you still can choose the original method and download the full client first.
Subbing unlocks every restriction. But that doesn't include the expansions, like in most MMOs. You mentioned Rift, in there you don't get the SL souls with the Patron either.
Also worth mentioning you "only" don't get the quests and deeds in the expansions (only in brackets, since those are the most important part of them). You can play the expansions for free, level there via the Story quest line (which is free to everyone) or by slaying mobs, can gather and craft there, you get all the mechanics added with them (for example you can use Lengendary Items even if you don't buy the Moria expansion), etc.
Quad pack vs. All - that's true, and if I said "All", then I apologise. Quad pack was introduced before HD, and had all the expansions in one bundle. After HD launch it went on sale frequently. And since no more expansions were released after HD, I guess there was no urge to them for slap HD in it, to bundle them into a "penta-pack". Also on the Market it's fixed, and says "All four award-winning expansions" - since HD wasn't awarded, it's not included
Oh please don't bother.
After what you just said.... LOL
Lied to by a loading screen,,,,,,hahaha thats hilarious!
FFA Nonconsentual Full Loot PvP ...You know you want it!!
Thanks for the reply.
I'm not expecting to play a game for free - I'm an ESO subscriber, and I've also put a fair bit of money into Rift and Guild Wars 2. But on these games, the payment structure is quite straightforward. My concern with LOTRO is that it's not clear from the myriad of pages, and the contradictory copy, about what you're actually getting with the money you spend. There's expansions, VIP, store points, more content unlocks (steeds?); and after reading these pages I've walked away unsure and unclear about exactly what I'm paying for (and what I need to pay for).
And regarding your comment about my current mindset; this has unfortunately come about from LOTRO themselves; I actually felt quite hopeful from reading the opening post to this thread, you made the game sound really good. But after spending some time on the LOTRO website, I left feeling concerned, and cautious to proceed.
It is exactly like he said.
If you are cautious about spending money then just walk away. The market is a bit intrusive in the game and you need to get past that. After the first 30 free levels you will know if you like the game or not anyway.
I enjoyed the game and when it came to a point where I had to spend money I did. I even bought the four pack of expansions for 20 bucks and haven't used them. Stupid me but actually don't feel bad for having supported this game. I got my moneys worth and I can always go back.
FFA Nonconsentual Full Loot PvP ...You know you want it!!
Not to mention (as I wrote last year too, when it was first offered at that low) 20 bucks is almost a steal for it
True, it's not a new stuff, but at launch even the base packs were 30 bucks each, and now you get four of them (with half of the game, since lvl50-85 content is close in magnitude to lvl1-50), plus steeds, cosmetics, 2 character slots, and the Moria classes.
Btw when there's no discount in the store, just the warden+rk+2 character slots costs more than 20 bucks, without any expansions on top.
Oh come on...after reading your comments it's clear you are here to derail this thread. So you say you sub to ESO? What exactly do you get from subbing to ESO? Well once you answer that you will get your answer to what you get when you sub to Lotro. The fact you think you would get all the "PAID EXPANSIONS" because you sub is ridiculous, nobody who ever played an MMORPG would honestly think that. Which if you want my honest opinion proves you are using an alt account in an attempt to derail and bash lotro...What is so confusing? A subcription gives you access to everything but the 5 expansions the game has. The expansions come into play from level 50 onwards. You need to buy the expansions.
4 of the expansions are bundled in one pack for $20 and the latest expansion costs $20. On a sale you can get them even cheaper.
Basically all the expansions cost $40 if they are not on sale. But then again you don't need them till you are level 50.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.