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My new review of LOTRO
Moirae
Member RarePosts: 3,318
I'd like to preface this by saying that I beta'd this game. I also played it for a little bit about a year later, and my husband had an account for a couple months.
Frankly, I hated it. The quests weren't well laid out. The beginning quests didn't explain much, or took place in odd places. The layout of vendor locations didn't make sense. And frankly, I felt the devs ignored their players. For example.. there was a quest where you were supposed to kill bobcats. Every time you killed one it sounded like you were murdering your pet house cat. It was gut wrenching every time you had to kill one. In beta, we BEGGED them to change this sound to make it less personal. Over a year later when I tried it a second time, they still had the sound. So far, I haven't encountered that quest again, so it looks like they finally got rid of it.
Here's the thing though, I tried it again yesterday.
Quests are better laid out. They make more sense. Vendors are in better locations. There's more explanation in the beginner quests to explain how and why you do certain things in the game and more. Its a massive, almost infinite, improvement over anything I've played here before. I was so pleased with the changes that I'll be playing it again tonight.
They must have had a dev turnover.
Comments
Did you pick a different race this time? The Dwarf/Elf starting area was the one with the murder the bobcat quest (which always rubbed me the wrong as well, though it did prepare you well for the game, which mostly has you killing wildlife - boars and bears, mostly - intead of of orcs and such).
Then again, maybe they redesigned it for Elves/Dwarves. They supposedly did, because your sentiments were shared by many others (it being confusing and poorly laid out), but I haven't tried it yet. I did try the human one, which doesn't seem that difference, but it was better to start with (so is the Hobbit area)...
R.I.P. City of Heroes and my 17 characters there
The dev's were going back and re-vamping the various zones to make them flow better and cut down travel time. Not sure how far they got but they were doing the LoneLands mid-last year. An example would be the Mom in Bree that wanted to know what happened to her kids over in the Barrows. Now she's posted over at the enterance of that area so you don't have to go all the way back and forth to tell her what's up (I think you ended up having to talk to her 4 times. 1st boy, 2nd boy, then revenge, then reward.) By placing her closer to the action it really helped.
Same with cleaning up some of the old forest so you can actually get from point A to B now.
SWG (pre-cu) - AoC (pre-f2p) - PotBS (pre-boarder) - DDO - LotRO (pre-f2p) - STO (pre-f2p) - GnH (beta tester) - SWTOR - Neverwinter
I started out as Elf Hunter. I actually wanted to see if they had changed it, actually. And wow, have they ever. They even removed some of the vendors in the clearing after Ered Luin. I am so impressed. I played all last night too, and its such a major difference that its been much more fun. Of course, maybe they moved the cat quest, and I just missed it. If they still have the "murdering your own pet" sound, then I think I'm glad I missed it.
I also tried a Human Warden last night and quite enjoyed it. Its not much different other than that they have added alot more explanation on what the buttons do, and the like. I do wish I had my waypoints that I have in EQ2 though but its simply a different map system and I'll have to get used to it.
Hmm, actually, do you have waypoints in this game? I don't remember there being any last time i played.
Nope, no dev turnover, its stillt he same crew that made the launch version, what has been happening though, is they have been revamping all the zones as they expand the game, and adressing player complaints. Orion has been doing this over the past 6 months or so.
You were the intendaed recipiant of this work. And it seems to have been the right move.
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"Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"No, your wrong.." - Random user #123
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
How are you?" -Me
Oh yes, I've noticed that part. The quests just make more sense, leading you further and further out slowly in all directions so you get to explore at the same time you do quests. I do like how the map shows the general location of what you're looking for. And I didn't get attacked nearly as often in Chetwood where I was attacked every few steps last time I played here. Much more enjoyable. I like the fights, but I also like to explore, and its hard to explore when you can barely move a few steps without being attacked.
Oh yes, it definitely worked. I've had so much fun the last couple days. It hasn't felt like a grind at all. They've been doing a good job in listening if its the same crew.
I was thinking of coming back and starting a new character, but do you guys think i should just wait till they finish all these updates or it isn't that big of a deal? Also is this better layout and direction only for starter towns or will they be doing this to the entire game?
From what I'm understanding, its supposed to be the entire game. But I'm not very far in the game yet to tell how far it goes, and I can't play tonight since we're playing Exalted tonight and the guys are over. Currently they're doing something private for one of the characters so I'm checking my email.
Honestly, I don't see why you'd bother to wait if you're interested. You can always lower your sub anyway once it goes free to play and $15 a month is nothing.
This is probably the best time for a come back, since you will start receiving Turbine points with your subscription. Also, I noticed (on Meneldor) a huge increase of newbie characters, probably because of the lack of high level contents.
Oh sorry looks like i was confused, when you said new review i thought you were talking about the f2p beta so i thought all these updates were coming when the game goes f2p while it seems they all have been already done. Just for confirmations sake, all these updates are in right?
Also no sub isn't a problem as i have a lifetime sub, I was just curious if it had been a better time to start after the updates but seems like those are already in.
Sweet thanks for the clarification, just started my new champion in Bree. Should be fun
Quite a few in my Kin are rolling classes they have been wanting to try and leveling them out of the noobie zones to get them far away from where the freebies will be playing come fall. Working to get them to superior crafting areas and just away in general. I play on Landroval and will be interested to see where the RP folks will go. I doubt they will enjoy Bree very much after the change.
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
Personally I see this as a chance to get more people INTO RP who have never tried it, and possibly have a living Shire on a semi-permanent basis. LOL
If you like to explore then you will love LoTRO. The world is HUGE and once you see Revendale you will be amazed. Totally beatiful. Also your exploration can be rewarded by finding some nice lore nuggets (I wont spoil anything but they are pretty great).
As for the Lynxes (bobcat) you still have quests to kill them (at all levels). But if you disagree with the lynx slaughter then just skip those quests.
If you are a lynx lover then you should play as a loremaster. They get a lynx for a pet.
Playing: Tera, BF3, ME3
Waiting on: Guild Wars 2
I love to explore. Its part of the fun of MMO's. Although some old locations in games are areas I simply love. Like Antonica in EQ2. Its still my favorite area in the entire game and it was released when the game was first opened.
I don't mind the killing the bobcats. Its the sound they make that I don't like. I can handle the big cats, but the bobcats always sounded too much like my house cat when I accidentally step on her tail because she ran under my feet in the dark.