Are you sure this is the actual news? People here at MMORPG "knew" LOTRO was shutting down soon. Most of the time the prognostications here are so level-headed and reasonable so I suspect this must be referring to another game.
Are you sure this is the actual news? People here at MMORPG "knew" LOTRO was shutting down soon. Most of the time the prognostications here are so level-headed and reasonable so I suspect this must be referring to another game.
Yeah these are the same guys who at least once a week need to post a thread about the doom and gloom of the mmorpg genre...they are so knowledgeable about a genre that has passed them by...
Yes that's great news indeed, I kinda liked LOTRO but for some reasons I never really played it for too long. In retrospective I knew I didn't like my characters too much, if I don't care for my characters generally I don't care for the game either. I know it sounds a bit shallow, but immersion is a big part of the reason I play Fantasy MMORPGs, and in LOTRO sometimes characters seemed out of place compared with the beautiful scenarios. So I am glad they are updating characters and animations, that gives me the chance to give LOTRO a second chance.
It's not shallow at all and it's exactly how I approach these games.
I look at it as yet a another axis "of interest" that these game need to have for me to enjoy.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
I got to say the high elves addition is weird... if you think of them as the Jedis of Middle Earth, this is like the NGE all over again
I thought this was the sort of thing the LOTR license prevented. Guess not.
"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
I got to say the high elves addition is weird... if you think of them as the Jedis of Middle Earth, this is like the NGE all over again
I thought this was the sort of thing the LOTR license prevented. Guess not.
It's amazing how many mmos have had an NGE to you guys...sorry only a bad game like swg had an NGE no other game has had it no other game will have it...
I got to say the high elves addition is weird... if you think of them as the Jedis of Middle Earth, this is like the NGE all over again
I thought this was the sort of thing the LOTR license prevented. Guess not.
Well, the whole game is out of whack when it comes to "lore".
Why are there elves and humans all over the shire? Why are there hobbits and humans running around lothlorien?
The dwarves shouldn't be in Moria at this point.
My thought is that "at this point" players need to create reasons in their minds as to they "why this and why that" if they are going to continue to enjoy the game.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
Redownloading on steam. Something about the game always captivates me and this right here what they are promising, if it gets delivered properly, will make me stay. I definitely hope I will, as the community in Lotro is hard to compare to any other game.
Although I'm not a big fan of the High Elf thing. But if it appeals to some people than ehh, more options for them. Personally, I will be leveling a whole new dwarf champion ready to pave his way through orcs with a mighty axe lol.
I got to say the high elves addition is weird... if you think of them as the Jedis of Middle Earth, this is like the NGE all over again
I thought this was the sort of thing the LOTR license prevented. Guess not.
Well, the whole game is out of whack when it comes to "lore".
Why are there elves and humans all over the shire? Why are there hobbits and humans running around lothlorien?
The dwarves shouldn't be in Moria at this point.
My thought is that "at this point" players need to create reasons in their minds as to they "why this and why that" if they are going to continue to enjoy the game.
If the game were picky about lore, why would anyone even want to go in Moria? Rohan can't be that far away, or maybe a journey north to cut across the mountains and come down the Great River.... past Dol Guldur?!!?!?? On second thought, Middle Earth seems a lot like Atlanta -- there's not many good east-west routes.
If anything, I'd think that SSG might beneath the notice of the great eye of the Tolkien Estate. Because, this is just the kind of mangling of lore that the Tolkien Estate's lawyers have been against over the years.
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
@Mendel Having read most of the books and seen the movies in full at least twice i have to say i agree with you on the flimsy reasoning of the current lore although at this point an overhaul of the lore might be a bit useless due to falling popularity anyway. So unless some major change in public interest happens i would just let it go its current course until it reaches the end of its road.
I got to say the high elves addition is weird... if you think of them as the Jedis of Middle Earth, this is like the NGE all over again
I thought this was the sort of thing the LOTR license prevented. Guess not.
It's amazing how many mmos have had an NGE to you guys...sorry only a bad game like swg had an NGE no other game has had it no other game will have it...
If you're literal-minded, no thing is like any other thing.
"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
I got to say the high elves addition is weird... if you think of them as the Jedis of Middle Earth, this is like the NGE all over again
I thought this was the sort of thing the LOTR license prevented. Guess not.
It's amazing how many mmos have had an NGE to you guys...sorry only a bad game like swg had an NGE no other game has had it no other game will have it...
If you're literal-minded, no thing is like any other thing.
The point is every game that someone doesn't like or play and has an update they don't like or agree with they always resort to calling it an "NGE". To date they have never been correct except for swg...
Don't know why people are so upset by lore. MMO's that try to stick blindly to lore just die because they are far too inflexible. I think the Lotro devs have been very concious of the lore and have done a great job trying to keep at least close to it.
You have to remember despite all the lore Tolkien developed, it was only a tiny glimpse into the Lotro world.
Don't know why people are so upset by lore. MMO's that try to stick blindly to lore just die because they are far too inflexible. I think the Lotro devs have been very concious of the lore and have done a great job trying to keep at least close to it.
You have to remember despite all the lore Tolkien developed, it was only a tiny glimpse into the Lotro world.
I got to say the high elves addition is weird... if you think of them as the Jedis of Middle Earth, this is like the NGE all over again
I thought this was the sort of thing the LOTR license prevented. Guess not.
It's amazing how many mmos have had an NGE to you guys...sorry only a bad game like swg had an NGE no other game has had it no other game will have it...
If you're literal-minded, no thing is like any other thing.
It's not like the NGE at all. They won't be a super op compared to other classes and races. Beorning would be the same way but they're not. With LotRO it's more like everyone is the super powerful, brave, noble version of their race and class.
Characters in LotRO don't die. They have a morale pool and get defeated when it's depleted. This device is used to sometimes buff characters or explain how they can face other more powerful enemies. It's used to explain how allies and foes retreat from battle but aren't dead. There is no true resurrection. The minstrels and captains inspire their fellows and return their morale so they can rejoin the battle.
With this in mind the humans, hobbits, elves, and dwarves are essentially of the same mettle. Not all hobbits could have carried the ring but Frodo did. A high elf certainly couldn't handle the task, just ask Galadriel. An Istari couldn't, just ask Mithrandir. So high elves wouldn't need to be more powerful like Jedi were in SWG because no PC is normal in LotRO.
The reason high elves will be powerful is because SSG will want to sell whatever they're packaged in. I'm okay with that too.
Maybe I should have said jumping the shark again instead of NGE lol.
I played LOTRO for the better part of 2 years when it released so I'm very well acquainted with the game and the pains Turbine took in the early days to be consistent not just with the lore but with the time frame.
There WERE some concessions to playability of course but they tried very hard to keep things in line (Loremasters throwing burning embers even if they looked an awful lot like D&D fire darts, for example.)
But beginning with the Rune-keeper and Moria that all started to change. I guess the moral of the story is that once you start jumping sharks you might as well keep going and jump a few more.
"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
Deviating from the literary lore is not the same as "jumping the shark", which is just another metaphor for the NGE which was about the same thing. If that's the lens you want to view it through then go for it. It's not much different than what SWTOR has done or ESO has done with that IP. It works for fans of those games and that's what really matters.
Yeah? How does SWTOR or ESO do that? SWTOR takes place in a completely different time frame from the original source, the movies. ESO does the same thing compared to the original single player source material. And in both cases in world abilities classes and races are totally consistent.
If ESO had added Dwemers with shotguns you'd have a point but setting the game in a somewhat obscure past time is not anywhere near the kind of shenanigans LOTRO is up to.
Rune-keepers added magic to a system that had previously taken great pains to not do that because that was the way it was at the time the books, movie and MMO take place. If they had set the MMO 1.000 years earlier then yeah, whatever... go crazy with what things were like then.
Jumping the shark for shit and giggles was exactly what they did with the RK.
"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
In ESO just about every zone has alliance war echoes in PVE quest lines. Yeah Auridon doesn't have dark elf internment camps but it does have racist high elves that don't want the savages and beasts in the AD. And the guild system is just MMO mechanics - it's not one of my favorite features either but it doesn't really affect the lore... you're reaching.
And in LOTRO prior to the RK, Captains and Loremasters did fine as secondary healers or even primary ones with some effort. The RK was introduced for one reason and one reason only: some players wanted a more magical class like all those other MMOs had.
"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
And in LOTRO prior to the RK, Captains and Loremasters did fine as secondary healers or even primary ones with some effort. The RK was introduced for one reason and one reason only: some players wanted a more magical class like all those other MMOs had.
I'd say two birds with one stone... I agree, the "we want a glass-cannon mage too, like those other games" voices were loud, and it had a part of the RK arrival. But Torval's also right, game really needed an another main healer. You're wrong in LM and cappy, pre-Moria LM's were only capable of some backup heals, and even for that they had to give up quite some support capabilities. Cappy was a nice off-healer, and could main-heal some (emphasis on some) instances, but not Rift or Hele obviously. So RK brought a nice variety for healers. (and a 3rd stone maybe, the new class mechanics. With RK and warden Turbine showed that they can add new and innovative class mechanics into the engine.)
I admit the more I think about it the less I understand the high elf part. Maybe for marketing and sale purposes it could be fine, but even for that there will be some backlashes. Otherwise it is unnecessary (or plain dumb). -If they add it only as a new race, well, races are only cosmetics, even more so since the stat revamp (maybe their racial traits had some weight after launch, but when we left the level 65 cap, it's just cosmetics). Game was fine with the 4 races for a decade, why adding a new race now? (beornings were a class addition, it's a race as well only for technical reasons) If it's just a race, they will be like regular elves with some different art design. -however, if they add it as a race more powerful than the others, so not just cosmetics, then it will ruin the gameplay for all the classes they will be eligible. Nobody will pick a human, or heck an elven LM, when the high elf LM is much more powerful...
Basically if it's just a regular race, then it wrecks "only" the lore (more than lore-breakers, a.k.a. RKs did back at Moria ). If it's a race with more power, then it wrecks the lore and the gameplay as well. Quite a puzzling move... Maybe we should wait for more details before discussing it further... So, let's be happy for the housing update instead :awesome:
Actually it's the worst IP for a sandbox pvp mmorpg.
Not unless you want to completely rewrite the setting.
The original development, when it was with Sierra and called Middle Earth Online was a perma-death sandbox MMO with PVP. They obviously kept very little of that when Sierra went belly-up and Turbine took over.
"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
Actually it's the worst IP for a sandbox pvp mmorpg.
Not unless you want to completely rewrite the setting.
The original development, when it was with Sierra and called Middle Earth Online was a perma-death sandbox MMO with PVP. They obviously kept very little of that when Sierra went belly-up and Turbine took over.
Comments
I look at it as yet a another axis "of interest" that these game need to have for me to enjoy.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
I thought this was the sort of thing the LOTR license prevented. Guess not.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Wonder how much a Lifetimne Account could be worth nowadays if there was some one who sell one...
Why are there elves and humans all over the shire? Why are there hobbits and humans running around lothlorien?
The dwarves shouldn't be in Moria at this point.
My thought is that "at this point" players need to create reasons in their minds as to they "why this and why that" if they are going to continue to enjoy the game.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Although I'm not a big fan of the High Elf thing. But if it appeals to some people than ehh, more options for them. Personally, I will be leveling a whole new dwarf champion ready to pave his way through orcs with a mighty axe lol.
If anything, I'd think that SSG might beneath the notice of the great eye of the Tolkien Estate. Because, this is just the kind of mangling of lore that the Tolkien Estate's lawyers have been against over the years.
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
You have to remember despite all the lore Tolkien developed, it was only a tiny glimpse into the Lotro world.
All the High Elves in Bree be like
When everyday peeps be trying to drink some beer
I played LOTRO for the better part of 2 years when it released so I'm very well acquainted with the game and the pains Turbine took in the early days to be consistent not just with the lore but with the time frame.
There WERE some concessions to playability of course but they tried very hard to keep things in line (Loremasters throwing burning embers even if they looked an awful lot like D&D fire darts, for example.)
But beginning with the Rune-keeper and Moria that all started to change. I guess the moral of the story is that once you start jumping sharks you might as well keep going and jump a few more.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
If ESO had added Dwemers with shotguns you'd have a point but setting the game in a somewhat obscure past time is not anywhere near the kind of shenanigans LOTRO is up to.
Rune-keepers added magic to a system that had previously taken great pains to not do that because that was the way it was at the time the books, movie and MMO take place. If they had set the MMO 1.000 years earlier then yeah, whatever... go crazy with what things were like then.
Jumping the shark for shit and giggles was exactly what they did with the RK.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
And in LOTRO prior to the RK, Captains and Loremasters did fine as secondary healers or even primary ones with some effort. The RK was introduced for one reason and one reason only: some players wanted a more magical class like all those other MMOs had.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
(and a 3rd stone maybe, the new class mechanics. With RK and warden Turbine showed that they can add new and innovative class mechanics into the engine.)
I admit the more I think about it the less I understand the high elf part. Maybe for marketing and sale purposes it could be fine, but even for that there will be some backlashes. Otherwise it is unnecessary (or plain dumb).
-If they add it only as a new race, well, races are only cosmetics, even more so since the stat revamp (maybe their racial traits had some weight after launch, but when we left the level 65 cap, it's just cosmetics). Game was fine with the 4 races for a decade, why adding a new race now? (beornings were a class addition, it's a race as well only for technical reasons) If it's just a race, they will be like regular elves with some different art design.
-however, if they add it as a race more powerful than the others, so not just cosmetics, then it will ruin the gameplay for all the classes they will be eligible. Nobody will pick a human, or heck an elven LM, when the high elf LM is much more powerful...
Basically if it's just a regular race, then it wrecks "only" the lore (more than lore-breakers, a.k.a. RKs did back at Moria
Quite a puzzling move... Maybe we should wait for more details before discussing it further... So, let's be happy for the housing update instead :awesome:
Anything stated about that?
Not unless you want to completely rewrite the setting.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
https://www.engadget.com/2011/06/21/the-game-archaeologist-and-the-what-ifs-middle-earth-online/
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo