A new review, it's not too bad !

delete5230

Sure I only played to level 30,


I spent much time studying the do and don't of Free, cash shops, expansion's and VIP (subbing). I have to say you HAVE TO DO A LOT OF HOMEWORK if you decide to take this game seriously.  I think this is a big turn off for the majority.


It's a very impressive game for being dated, the graphics are amazing and an extremely lot to do.  I selected a very popular server (brandy wine) and the population is somewhat healthy.  You do see players running around here and their and as you get above 20 not so much.  I'm good at using the social panels in mmo to do player counts at different levels and the population is not really their to do group content.  I actively tried a few times with no luck using different methods, not to yield anything. 


In games like this, You have two choices to embrace the community.  Spam players directly asking for help or rely on Guild's, I'll admit the people and Guilds are friendly but I was hesitant to really get involved with asking them because of my unsure desire to stay, and they mostly consist of level 105s, I would hate to ask for charity help.  Again spamming players, chat or using the tools yield nothing.  However I was able to accomplish everything myself anyway......


I could sum LOTRO like this:

It's lonely, unless you really really try and embrace, and yes, definitely this can be done  


I would have continued my semi solo path, but the quest system is what did me in.  This is hard to explain.

Only so many quest are displayed on the UI.  As you take more quest they sink to the bottom of the list then disappear off the screen.  If your actively involved in one and bam it's gone if you except another or worst yet take five then all your active quest are gone of screen.  It's then up to you to re-put it back on the UI. This makes the player have to do a lot from memory.

The main play screen has to be used in conjunction with the map to locate your objectives.  Now, this is standard in mmos with quest helpers. But in LOTRO it's disjointed.  It's very hard to explain this, a player would have to experience it to understand but I'm sure anyone would agree, and it does get somewhat better as you play.......This I think is the kicker for me in quitting.


Overall, Its fun.  Do a lot of homework, play to level 20 then decide yourself how much you would like to get involved.  If the answer is yes, then this mmo is truly a gem !!

delete5230

My suggestion merge all the servers, ramp it up a little harder, and do something with the quest UI.

immodium

delete5230 said:

 
Only so many quest are displayed on the UI.  As you take more quest they sink to the bottom of the list then disappear off the screen.  If your actively involved in one and bam it's gone if you except another or worst yet take five then all your active quest are gone of screen.  It's then up to you to re-put it back on the UI. This makes the player have to do a lot from memory.

You can lock quests so that they don't get removed from the quest tracker when it gets full.

Octagon7711

immodium said:

delete5230 said:

 
Only so many quest are displayed on the UI.  As you take more quest they sink to the bottom of the list then disappear off the screen.  If your actively involved in one and bam it's gone if you except another or worst yet take five then all your active quest are gone of screen.  It's then up to you to re-put it back on the UI. This makes the player have to do a lot from memory.

You can lock quests so that they don't get removed from the quest tracker when it gets full.

I think there's a limit on the number you can lock.  Then it unlocks some for you.  I had to reopen the quests menu a lot to keep them all organized.  Not so bad if you stick to one area and complete everything before moving on but if you run around doing dailies in different areas and end up doing quests strings in different areas it becomes a mini-game to keep them organise.  All in all not a bad game and worth checking it out.

Warlyx

update the skill animations and im back

Sovrath

Warlyx said:

update the skill animations and im back

update the skill animations and avatars and I'm back.

Po_gg

delete5230 said:

Only so many quest are displayed on the UI.  As you take more quest they sink to the bottom of the list then disappear off the screen. 

As it was mentioned above, that's just the default option, you can turn it off any time, or you can manually add / remove quests to the tracker. I think it has historical reasons, the whole "active quests on screen with status updates and indicators on map where to go and what to do" shebang was added later, probably because other games have it. At start there was no such thing, you got your hints and directions by interacting the NPCs and quest givers. Actually those are still there within the quest texts, so if you want to play without the tracker, you totally can.
Personally, loved that aspect, too bad it is rare nowadays... TSW has it too with a couple investigation missions, you have to figure out your next goal and location yourself. (of course in the era of wikis, it's totally optional)

delete5230 said:

The main play screen has to be used in conjunction with the map to locate your objectives.  Now, this is standard in mmos with quest helpers.

Also the historical reasons I guess   (but seems a common issue, Peon complained about the map too in his video...) Maps were like maps in LotR, worn and used parchments, drawn by ink, and most importantly, they started empty. You mapped the world while explored the zones. Really miss those days, if I could bring back any aspect into the game what's gone, the old mapping system would be a strong candidate (but maybe I'd still pick the old trait system instead of the lame trait trees )

Later they changed it into full maps right from the start, and after that they even changed the maps into fancy, coloured ones with little trees and little mountains with white peaks... (where's the previous forum engine's puke emote when in need )  But yeah, it is not zoom-able, have nothing fancy map features Peon cited from other games, and the quest objective indicators are not always accurate either. Still, it gives way more infos and help players had back in the days...


Anyways, nice feedbacks, glad you had fun in Middle-earth :waving:

Mendel

I agree with @delete5230's post.  LotRO is well populated, but most of the population is at the very high end (100-105).  The game from 1-99 is mostly solo players or alts, either farming for crafting materials or deeds for points.  It is very difficult to find a group at certain levels, Garth Agarwen for instance.  The elite level mobs there make it tough to move around unless your character is above the level range.

The UI makes it difficult to find players around your level.   The default social finding abilities are for Area, Friends and Kin.  The difficulty is that there are so many places for a level 30 to go, there's no easy way to determine where there's a large population of 30-33 levels to try to group with.  I've never seen any results on the search by Quest option, I have no personal experience with that feature.  A cross-area "/who all 30-35" would be very useful for making low level groups.

The current game progresses a bit too fast, especially if you want to complete all the quests / deeds.  Before you're finished, you will easily out-level the area.  This simply makes completing deeds a needless grind, forcing players to manage the quest / deed lists to manually remove any outdated items that you never intend to do.

The UI for the Deeds is pretty good, but could be better.  It would be nice to be able to search the deeds for the reward type (TPs, Marks, specific traits, etc.).  Trying to plan a character who wants the 'Justice' or 'Tolerance' virtues immediately involves the internet and spoiler sites.

I agree with others that the limit of 5 items on the tracker is also too small. 

kitarad

May I ask you a question OP?  I hope you don't get irritated but you never played Everquest, you have not played Lord of the Rings Online when it came out, how come you did not play these games when they came out ? How about Dark Age of Camelot or Anarchy Online or even FFXI ? Did you play any of these games when they came out ? Just wondering why you missed playing them when they were at their best.

delete5230

kitarad said:

May I ask you a question OP?  I hope you don't get irritated but you never played Everquest, you have not played Lord of the Rings Online when it came out, how come you did not play these games when they came out ? How about Dark Age of Camelot or Anarchy Online or even FFXI ? Did you play any of these games when they came out ? Just wondering why you missed playing them when they were at their best.

I came around 2004, my first mmos was World of Warcraft, I had no one to talk to about mmo's at all back then......It's like no one in my life played video games.  I self thought wow and around level 25 is when I started to do group content and learning from others.  From here I found D&D Online and loved it.  I was well liked for my healing in groups and this kept me playing for a long time.  Later came EQ2 and that was great too....As the years went by playing the above the first generation classics just kept getting older and older and never played them.....However I wish I grew up with the first gen games....Everyone loved them so much>

delete5230

DMKano said:

Sovrath said:

Warlyx said:

update the skill animations and im back

update the skill animations and avatars and I'm back.

Never gonna happen for an aged product that is hardly bringing enough in to keep the lights on.

Just saying Hi DMKano, 


Believe it or not, I'm not saying nothing bad  

kitarad

delete5230 said:

kitarad said:

May I ask you a question OP?  I hope you don't get irritated but you never played Everquest, you have not played Lord of the Rings Online when it came out, how come you did not play these games when they came out ? How about Dark Age of Camelot or Anarchy Online or even FFXI ? Did you play any of these games when they came out ? Just wondering why you missed playing them when they were at their best.

I came around 2004, my first mmos was World of Warcraft, I had no one to talk to about mmo's at all back then......It's like no one in my life played video games.  I self thought wow and around level 25 is when I started to do group content and learning from others.  From here I found D&D Online and loved it.  I was well liked for my healing in groups and this kept me playing for a long time.  Later came EQ2 and that was great too....As the years went by playing the above the first generation classics just kept getting older and older and never played them.....However I wish I grew up with the first gen games....Everyone loved them so much>

Yes pity you missed it but like they say better late than never.

delete5230

It's been only 2 days since I stopped playing and I already miss many aspects of LOTRO.  So I started an offline game for now.



LOTRO has so much potential.  Yet it DEFINITELY misses the mark in several different categories.

First like DMKano stated, it's an aged product and they never recover very well.  Funny how classic's never re-vamp and re-release, at least in a positive way......F2P cash shops have been proven to not be the answer.  In every case they are front end temporary money makers only......Every single time !

Sure, they save some mmos from a certain doom.  But think about this.....Later, as years go by many potential players re-visit only to say " naaaa " It's got a cash shop !

" if anyone uses the re-release of Vanguard, I would say you cant !....SOE used the most poor attempt of re-advertisement of ANY product in history "


I say several different categories and I'll not list them, because a very healthy population would overlook all of them.  Population is the KEY !


The world is buried in red tape, trademarks and advertisement cost. I guess I should let this potential go.  Legally the world is set up for self destruction, with no recovery  

Sovrath

DMKano said:

Sovrath said:

Warlyx said:

update the skill animations and im back

update the skill animations and avatars and I'm back.

Never gonna happen for an aged product that is hardly bringing enough in to keep the lights on.

Well, they indicated they were looking into doing this so I'm going to place myself firmly in the "we'll see" category.

Though, if they are hardly bringing in enough to keep the lights on why did Daybreak agree to publish them? not to say they are making bank but they must be making enough to be worth publishing?

Kyleran

Sovrath said:

DMKano said:

Sovrath said:

Warlyx said:

update the skill animations and im back

update the skill animations and avatars and I'm back.

Never gonna happen for an aged product that is hardly bringing enough in to keep the lights on.

Well, they indicated they were looking into doing this so I'm going to place myself firmly in the "we'll see" category.

Though, if they are hardly bringing in enough to keep the lights on why did Daybreak agree to publish them? not to say they are making bank but they must be making enough to be worth publishing?

Perhaps DB sees the "potential" to make it great again, and plan future updates to restore to glory?

Nah, nevermind I'm just making stuff up, I don't believe that for a minute.

Sovrath

Kyleran said:

Sovrath said:

DMKano said:

Sovrath said:

Warlyx said:

update the skill animations and im back

update the skill animations and avatars and I'm back.

Never gonna happen for an aged product that is hardly bringing enough in to keep the lights on.

Well, they indicated they were looking into doing this so I'm going to place myself firmly in the "we'll see" category.

Though, if they are hardly bringing in enough to keep the lights on why did Daybreak agree to publish them? not to say they are making bank but they must be making enough to be worth publishing?

Perhaps DB sees the "potential" to make it great again, and plan future updates to restore to glory?

Nah, nevermind I'm just making stuff up, I don't believe that for a minute.

yeah, in your head it sounds great but when you say it out loud it sounds funny and leaves a weird taste ... O.o