Longtime LOTRO player looking to shift gears

jimbobfurley

I've been a dedicated LOTRO player since summer of 2010, and save for a few months in 2013 playing Secret World, and a few months in 2012 playing SWTOR, its been the only MMO I've been a part of.  Unfortunately, the men in charge, SSG, have recently instituted some highly offensive end-game mechanics that have pissed off a lot of players, me included.  To the point that I have decided to finally pack it in after over 7 years with LOTRO.

I've now taken a gaze at the MMORPG landscape now that I am looking for a new home and am wondering wtf ?  Is there a game for me out there right now ?  I do not PVP or fiddle about with strongholds or bullshit like that, I stick with good 'ol PVE.  Would anyone be able to shed some light on a possible replacement to LOTRO ?  I do not know the pitfalls and such of the other games out there right now, etc. etc.   Much thanks in advance !

Wizardry

There is only one game different than what you have played but they also pissed me off with end game crap.
End game is maybe the worst phrase i have heard since the troll and noob words were thrown around.

It is just so cheap and easy to keep making end game instances for the developer and players having stayed that long feel a need to keep going so it sells.Well for me,i simply don't start a game knowing that is the end result,i seek a game that is about longevity and NOT looking at any end game.

All we need is a lot of ideas to keep our character busy and growing ,that creates longevity w/o getting into Boss A in instance 34567 is dropping l33t loot...NO thanks to that crap.

I guess i could have said it faster by just saying ,you could play FFXI to 75 and get a whole new experience "at one time",now even that part is dumbed down to solo play and end game is just Wow 2.0 with a ton more grind.FFXIV is also a tad new experience but ends up yet again Wow 2.0 better graphics,so your not going to find any good new experience out there right now,you will find clones and nothing else.

Iselin

I also played LOTRO for a few years and IMO, the best full-fledged, PVE-focused, MMORPGs going at the moment not named WOW is ESO.

The Lore is rich and Western-focused but not nearly as Tolkien-derivative as most other Western MMOs. The world is large, questing is plentiful and there are many 4-man dungeons and raids.

Character development is deep in a build-your-own kind of way with a few things class locked but most things not.  Good graphics and sound and also fully voice acted for even the most trivial vendor interactions.

Best of all the standard edition, which is good enough to get your feet wet is on sale right now direct from them for $9.99 US. No sub required either although subbing does give you a lot of QOL perks.

Jakdstripper

went back to ESO a few weeks back (because trying to play BDO was giving me seizures) and i'm actually very pleasantly impressed. world and graphics looks amazing, quests are fun, there is so much to do, and lots of people everywhere......it has really come a long way since launch. 

of course WoW is most likely still PvE king, but next up i would definitely put ESO, if you are into that. 

gervaise1

The ability to get a black key every day has helped I think but I understand your comment.

The most obvious pitfall of course is you don't like the "look" of a game - checking out vids etc. will go some way to avoiding this along with a trial if one is available.

So I had a think - below was written after a real time pause!

Assuming you are not looking for a complete change though I am going to suggest you take a look at ESO. Why?

Its a quest heavy game - very quest heavy. There are several months worth of quests; even if you play on a regular basis probably over half a years worth. Leveling to max will take several months as well - although gear mostly maxs out round about a quarter of the way in (at what is called CP160). In time you will be able to add a minor upgrade - think teal to gold - but its minor. 

All areas are "level CP160" and like LOTR instances characters are scaled up if below CP160. You do progress above 160 and do become more powerful but its nuanced / horizontal. 

Gear - as alluded to gear comes in different grades much like LOTR. There is white, green, blue, purple, gold so not exactly the same as LOTR but it will be familiar. And some of it has set bonuses. The big difference is it caps. You may find yourself collecting sets - as you might have dome in LOTR - for different roles.

World chat! In the same way that you get random stuff in LOTR you will get the same in ESO. The "proper chat" takes place in adecent guild. Finding one that is right for you is a crap shoot as in LOTR and any other game but the cap is 500 players so if you get in a decent sized guild there will be chat. If you are not bothered don't join one. (You have the option of joining up to 5). Unlike LOTR though you won't get "familar voices" - a lot more players with - in LOTR parlance - "dynamic layers". For long term play I would assume you would want a guild - although you can play solo ....

As you mentioned PVP it exists but takes place in the equivalent of Ettenmoors. There are actually 3 types and one of them is what I call PVP for people who don't like PVP - its realm vs. realm with no death penalty with a hint of "big battle" stuff thrown in. However it is entirely optional, there are no quest chains that have you doing the odd PVP quest to progress. ESO is a quest heavy PvE game.

Like LOTR it has instanced dungeons. Mostly for 4 person groups but there are some larger ones. Not quite up to LOTR scope yet but there are a goodly number.

Payment model. A lot like LOTR - no f2p option though. It is b2p with an optional sub. As with LOTR the sub gives access to "quest packs" but not the (one) expansion and some fluff/tokens to use in the store. And like LOTR you don;t need to sub if you own the content.

AS for buying the game when ESO "relaunched" it did so with a new BASE game and the stuff that has been added up to that point. When it launched on console they released a Gold Edition - BASE game + 4 of the first 5 paid DLCs as well as a quad pack of the first 4 DLCs. (Sound familiar!) Most recently they released an expansion MORROWIND which included the BASE game but not the quad pack. And the are a few other "quest packs" - basically extra dungeons. A reminder though: the base game has many months of content! All options - BASIC, GOLD or MORROWIND are pretty cheap and all offer decent content so not much wasted even if you eventually decide its not a long term home. (The core linking quest has some great voice actors.)

Lore: its not LotR but there is lore. There are 3 "alliances" - periodcally at war or peace with each other. And there are several quest arcs which link to a bigger quest arc for each alliance which involve demonic evil. And an overarching quest arc that encompasses all three. As with LOTR you can play through the stuff "in order", do some of it or ignore it totally. And then there is some other stuff.

Class / race. Different races have very minor benefits as per LotR. Whilst there are classes however unlike LOTR most of your abilities in ESO are available to everyone. So whilst you do choose a class and that decision will give you a few unique abilities most are available to everybody and it come down to what gear, weapons, skills you decide to go with. And you can change almost on the fly - if you want to do the T2 equivalent stuff you will need to be fully focused but a solid build will go a long way.

There are static RTs! Along with public dungeons - as well as the "landscape" quests and "dungeon" instances. (Like LOTR some dungeon instnces take place in a landscape.)

Some holiday events.


Summary: you may not like how the game looks, or how the feel of the combat etc. I put a few into "LOTR" contect though and ESO is the one that struck me as something that would be familiar - but without the "offensive" element you refer to. (It has cosmetic lootboxes but LOTR has had those for years of course.)

Theocritus

I'm going out on a limb and guessing you REALLY like story driven MMOs?

Nebless

Age of Conan.  Lot's of RE Howard's Lore is woven all through it.  F2p restrictions are a bit tight, but not so much as to make it unplayable.  Has some really good quest write up's that you can have fun with depending on how you answer the NPC.

gervaise1

A few other points:

Mobs in ESO are all 160 as mentioned but as in ESO there are degrees of difficulty - the way you can tell is almost the same as well. So if a scaled (so sub cp160) character in ESO walks yp to a static "RT" the result will be the same as if a level 100 walks up to a level 100 RT in LotR. Splat!

As @Iselin said ESO (after the One Tamriel patch) has an open world design - as LotR does. The difference is because of the scaling you have a chance of surviving. As mentioned above if you opt to do quests "out of order" then the story arcs may suffer but its a trade off. Same deal as with LOTR basically.

I did consider FFXIV - a lot going for it - but its not "LotR like". As @Wizardry said it would give you a "different" experience but not an "LotR" like experience.

WoW was obviously an option you passed on when you started with LotR. When LotR launched it had many WoW qualities. Each WoW expansion however added huge change - essentially a "Mordor" type expansion on steroids although without black keys. And its had several expansions ... a lot revolves around end game instanced dungeons.

Some of the others I rejected because of the reason you gave for leaving LotR. ESO started life as LotR did with a sub and changed to a b2p game with a (currently) totally non-invasive store and an optional sub. Unlike LoTR though its passed 10M sales so finances are probably in a better place than those of SSG.


If you do try ESO though and feel its not for you - and it doesn't click with some in the same way that LotR simply doesn't click for some folks. It can be picked up cheaply though. People who don't like it "for the long term" often say its because it has quest after quest after quest - but that they enjoyed the ones they did! 

Manestream

I have been around many and have to agree that ESO (Elder Scrolls Online) is probably the best to move over to. It is B2P meanign you purchase the game and purchase the expansions, you do not need to use the item shop (as thats cosmetic and purely a choice and nothing else). 
No monthly sub fee's but you can purchase the main game and become a patron that would then give a monthly fee but you would get everything free with that. But once you end the subscription you would of course lose access to all but the main game (unless you have purchased them).

Ridelynn

ESO and FFXIV are the two leading PvE MMOs that are not WoW right now, and as others have said in much better words than I can, ESO is probably the closest thing going to LOTRO.

If you haven't experienced it, WoW may not be a bad choice either. For as much crap as it gets on this site, more people play it (or have played it) than will admit it, and it isn't a horrible game at all.

All three of those games have very strong player bases, so  you can't really go wrong any which way, it's just a matter of your own preference. Each of those do require some money to get started in though.

For some quick fix F2P options, I'd say.... Rift and Wildstar aren't bad options to try out. Rift still has a fairly loyal base playing (and close to what older WoW was a few years ago, WoW has evolved way beyond what Rift is now though - for better or worse), Wildstar is ... an experience and probably as far opposite from LOTRO that you could get and still be in the MMO realm. Both have pretty good PvE experiences, in different ways.

TERA wouldn't be a horrible option either, it is more action oriented than LOTRO was. The graphic style puts some people off, and attracts others, just another F2P option with a decent PvE storyline.

You've already tried SWTOR, which was another F2P story-heavy option. I've tried going back to it and finishing out all the class lines, but I just get bored of all the common quests you have to do inbetween the class quests, after having done it 4-5 times over now.

wanderica

What was it you liked so much about LotRO?  If, like me, it was the feel of the world; the feeling that you're in Tolkien's Middle Earth, then I haven't found that level of Immersion in many other MMOs.  ESO, however, was a contender.  It feels as much like Tamriel as LotRO feels like M.E.

If ESO isn't your bag, then consider FFXIV or even XI.  Both are Story Focused.  It's a numbered Final Fantasy, though, so story is not optional in either game if you're a "skip the cutscene" type of player.  XIV is more like LotRO in its approach to gameplay than XI is, but XI has developed nicely over the years (compared to the once similar EQ).  All but the tail end of the story of XI can be done solo while XIV will take group finder activities the whole way through.  Both are worth a shot if you find yourself with nothing to play.

Po_gg

Similar path here, @jimbobfurley even the detours of SWTOR and TSW (except that the latter I've played from beta till its death), and it's a sad thing to see someone's leaving for good.
But, as @gervaise1 said above, it is totally understandable... this whole black keys issue is a cheap and shady move from SSG.
Luckily I'm not an endgame-focused player, and with having many alts all over the world I still can play any (level-range) part of the game without even looking at the Mordor situation, but that's just me... for an endgame player I couldn't suggest Mordor in good faith in its current form, sadly.
Don't get me wrong, LotRO is still an amazing game, just the very end they've made lootbox-infested and that's chasing away a fair amount of players unfortunately.


So, for the actual question of

jimbobfurley said:

Is there a game for me out there right now ?  I do not PVP or fiddle about with strongholds or bullshit like that, I stick with good 'ol PVE.  Would anyone be able to shed some light on a possible replacement to LOTRO ?

It might sounds weird, and with opposing voices incoming (though @Nebless took some those punches ) I'd say AoC. Honestly I was surprised to see someone else dropped it in already.
Really good game and writing, if that's what you seek.

If you want a LotRO-like game purely just by mechanics, maybe Rift. The lore and quests are fairly dull, but otherwise it is a decent game, with great housing and class building.

jimbobfurley

I have tried ESO, actually from launch I gave it a go, subbed for a while, could never get "into" the game.  The content of the quests themselves lack depth, and the storyline also is wishy-washy.  The immersion is not there for me for ESO.

I have heard too many negative things about the AoC playerbase, as well, Funcom seems to have left it for dead, dev-wise, now that the new Exile game is the star of the show.

I have thought about going back to SWTOR, but the one thing that makes me hesitate is that when toons would hit the old level cap, the gear grind was just absolutely brutal.  Not to mention you needed beaucoup de bucks to stay afloat.  I don't know if I want to go back to that again.

FF XIV is JRPG.  'Nuff said.

The last time I tried Rift, every character class felt the same, and the quest system was a complete WoW rip-off.  In fact, I might as well have been playing WoW.

BDO falls under the category of "Korean grinder".  Not wasting my time with that.

I've seen screenshots of TERA and the cosmetics on the toons are just WAY over the top.  Plus it is JRPG, I do believe.

I've actually played Wildstar briefly, subbed for a few months, its not a bad game.  Has some interesting dynamics to it.  The storyline though is questionable, and the action-oriented combat is murky.  It has a decent community, I'm just not sure of it as a long-term choice.

Crowfall is out, and is it essentially a giant PVP world in disguise.

Pantheon: RotF is on my wishlist, whenever it arrives.

Until then, perhaps I go back to my wargames ...

Po_gg

jimbobfurley said:

I have heard too many negative things about the AoC playerbase, as well, Funcom seems to have left it for dead, dev-wise, now that the new Exile game is the star of the show.

That was true after launch and for a few years, but most of those players are gone now. The current playerbase (at least on Crom, but you aren't interested in pvp anyways) is similar to the average other games' community, maybe a tiny bit even better due to the smaller population. Sure, it's not even close to LotRO's community   that one is unparalleled.

Funcom left it, well, that's actually a good thing - if you look at what they did to TSW better on maintenance mode than dead, I think. And to their credit, as much as they are an idiotic company, they take maintenance more or less seriously, just look at AO, they are in maintenance mode since almost 10 years  
or in AoC's case there was a bugfix/restart just a few days ago.

They've just announced an event-like new server, that sounds promising to be fun. There are high chances they will fuck it up as usual, and when it's over Fury will end up desolated and dead as some speculating on forum, but it still sounds fun. No details yet, however.

Nebless

Mars_Orbital said:

I'm a conan player (7years), and would never recommend age of conan to an enemy. Funcom point blank said, they are done developing for it. aoc community is trash , gm are on vacation 24/7 and the forum moderation is that of a communist occupation 

And yet we have a new limited time server coming that sounds like it'll be event driven.  Not really developing, but close.

I don't know about it having a 'trashy' community.  I've been playing off and on since before it went F2p.  World Chat sucks, but that can pretty much be said for almost all games (even LotRO goes dark from time to time) and that's why the 'ignore' button exists.   Never seen any problems with helping people on the New player channel.

Never needed a GM so I don't know on that one, but never had a problem with the fourms.

AoC today is not the same as the one that launched oh so many years ago.  It's still a rich looking world, good combat and some of the best adult quests around.

Nebless

jimbobfurley said:

I have heard too many negative things about the AoC playerbase, as well, 

I'd say that's probably true even now; ON THE PVP SERVER, and I have to say if what I hear in chat is true in the Pvp matches on the PvE server too.    But the OP doesn't pvp so who cares.  So what if the same types that killed Pvp on the the pvp server has come to do the same on the pve server, doesn't effect any of us that just pve.

Po_gg

Nebless said:

Never needed a GM so I don't know on that one, but never had a problem with the fourms.

AoC today is not the same as the one that launched oh so many years ago.

I guess Mars ment the slow response time. Occasionally you need GM help for advancing an achievement for example, and based on your local time it might take a while for receiving the solution.
Forum, I'm pretty sure that was about Anzu   (Jimbob, if you remember Sapience from LotRO, Anzu is a similar quality of a forum moderator)


Agree on the second part, AoC improved a lot over the years. Bugs were mostly squashed (except a few, like the above mentioned achievement-related one ), story-related NPCs post-Tortage found their voices, the leveling route doesn't have "dry" level-ranges anymore where in the past all you could do is grinding xp till reaching a level where you were able to finally take up questing again, new mechanics added, etc.

jimbobfurley

Po_gg said:

Forum, I'm pretty sure that was about Anzu   (Jimbob, if you remember Sapience from LotRO, Anzu is a similar quality of a forum moderator)

I do indeed remember Sapience / Rick ... unfortunately. <wince>

jimbobfurley

I have tried AoC numerous times but could never finish the Tortage area.  I always had my head bashed in in the surrounding jungles