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Lord of the Rings Online goes F2P

Metro

Arcane
Beg Auditor
Joined
Aug 27, 2009
Messages
27,792
Worth playing through as a sort of single player experience or do too many quests require grouping?
 

Angthoron

Arcane
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Jul 13, 2007
Messages
13,056
Mangoose said:
It's definitely soloable from beginning to end.

Some Book quests require grouping, but otherwise pretty singleplayerable.

Unless they totally redesigned it all again. There was one nerf earlier that I remember being done, if they made another one...
 

made

Arcane
Joined
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Location
Germany
Depends what you consider soloable. Can you reach max lvl without ever grouping? Most likely. But you miss out on a ton of quests (and rewards) along the way, as well as some exceptionally atmospheric dungeons. Really, the instances in this game are huge, not these 15 minute affairs you find in WoW nowadays, and chock-full of lore. That is, if you care about Tolkien lore. And while I normally don't, I found they did a good job breaking away from the faggotry associated with the movies, and go with a darker style, more reminiscent of the Silmarillion.
 

Angthoron

Arcane
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Messages
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While I agree on dungeons being atmospheric, I'd also have to say that they are pretty badly designed half of the time. You could enjoy running them once or twice with a bunch of friends, get lost a dozen times, and all that kind of fun, yes. But as dungeons go, WoW's are far more entertaining, although, indeed, unfortunately too short.

However, extreme largeness of instances and at the same time, messy design and lack of maps makes navigating them a nightmare, and a random group will likely fall apart three times over while trying to complete Fornost or Garth Agarwen. Still, the good thing about LotRO is that at least until MoM the instances are completely skippable as you can find a ton of things to do outside them and the crafted armor is only slightly inferior to the Tier armor from raids.
 

made

Arcane
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Angthoron said:
However, extreme largeness of instances and at the same time, messy design and lack of maps makes navigating them a nightmare, and a random group will likely fall apart three times over while trying to complete Fornost or Garth Agarwen.

Yea, you're right ofc. GA in particular was very frustrating because people would whore quest items and drop group after the mainboss. For Fornost I was lucky enough to join a guild run with experienced players and it was a blast. The endgame dungeons at the time like Uru and CD were easier to find people for, although finishing the whole instance in one sitting with a pug was rare as well.

No idea how things have changed after the 2 xpacks, though I guess you can solo most of these places nowadays when you outlvl them.
 

Angthoron

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Messages
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Well, MoM instances were actually pretty nice, there were solo, 3-man and 6 man instances, 6-man ones had hard modes as well, which usually meant you had to either fight the time limit or do it in some special way (one was stealth, which was really cool). They made instances a lot shorter, too, but still atmospheric and neat.

Thanks to some broken design decisions they were unfortunately too easy though, and you could just charge through most of it. Then they nerfed most classes instead of fixing instances and I had enough so I don't know how things are in 3rd expansion.
 

Phelot

Arcane
Joined
Mar 28, 2009
Messages
17,908
I'm a bit confused here. I downloaded it though it said it was "Siege of Mirkwood" and it kept mentioning that I had to get an activation number.

I originally applied for the Beta, but don't think I was picked or something since I never got an email about it.

So, is the F2P started yet? DO I need to buy the game first and then get F2P?
 

Angthoron

Arcane
Joined
Jul 13, 2007
Messages
13,056
F2P hasn't started yet. You can get a trial for free at the moment, but F2P starts in about a month or something, the link in my first post here has the details.
 

Kattze

Andhaira
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So after watching the latest Hobbit movies (which are shit for the most part) I got the hankering to try this. It's pretty good for a MMO. Even though the engine is dated, it still looks pretty, esp. with Sweet FX.

Anyone here playing?

Obligatory:

:necro:
 

Angthoron

Arcane
Joined
Jul 13, 2007
Messages
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Post some screenies, at least.

I dunno, from what I gathered, the F2P model pretty much butchered the game just as I predicted, last I checked it was on the way to P2W with buyable tier armor. It might be nice for a while, lowbie zones should still be cool, but don't expect any lasting appeal unless you actually sub. Micros are just not worth it.
 

GreyViper

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Estonia
So after watching the latest Hobbit movies (which are shit for the most part) I got the hankering to try this. It's pretty good for a MMO. Even though the engine is dated, it still looks pretty, esp. with Sweet FX.

Anyone here playing?

Obligatory:

:necro:
If its like D&D Online then you dont really have to pay, but they really make it tempting to get some of the stuff to skip the grind. I understand you can get Turbine points without paying but its slow. Also really really dont paly this alone, it can get boring as hell. Other then that everything in previous posts is true and try out Monster Play.

I think I recall Crispy playing it some time ago, so he might have fresher insight to current status.
 

King Crispy

Too bad I have no queen.
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Strap Yourselves In
It's a legit MMO, but definitely dated and extremely grindy. Not subbing means you're locked out of enough to be annoying. You'll either give in and subscribe or you'll start doing to PtW thing soon enough.

Still, there are worse ways to throw away your money.
 

hakuroshi

Augur
Joined
Oct 30, 2006
Messages
589
It's currently piss-easy and grindy at the same time. But earlier zones, up to Moria are very well done and worth the time. It does feel like Middle-Earth.
 

Kattze

Andhaira
Andhaira
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Messages
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Location
Babang Ilalim
Post some screenies, at least.

I dunno, from what I gathered, the F2P model pretty much butchered the game just as I predicted, last I checked it was on the way to P2W with buyable tier armor. It might be nice for a while, lowbie zones should still be cool, but don't expect any lasting appeal unless you actually sub. Micros are just not worth it.

Some quick screens taken at Rivendel at nighttime with Sweet FX enabled. Note it's night, Rivendell looks much more gorgeous during the day. Note that Sweet FX settings can be changed a bit, and the game looks great even without SFX and AA enabled (sweet FX requires AA to be disabled) . Just that the colors look a bit washed out and muddish, and I perfer a more colorful look. My character is a lvl 23 Loremaster on Laurelin server. I have been playing solo. It's quite a bit of fun, and it really feels like I am in Middle Earth. Music is outstanding. Best part is the Loremaster skills and their animations really evoke the feel of Gandalf; I do not feel like a wizard from WoW or D&D no matter how many times I spam the skills. I am looking forward to getting to level 40 when I can dual weild a sword and staff like Gandalf did in the movies

There are instances where you need to join up with a fellowship though, as they are too difficult otherwise. But thus far I have had to trouble by not doing them. The game is old ofcourse, and uses the old style MMO gameplay when lagging was more common due to lower speed connections, where you click on an enemy and then click on your skills until it dies, instead of newer MMOs with action-twitch combat. And being a MMO there is grinding. Lot of wildlife to be killed. OTOH there is a TON of stuff to do, non of which is mandatory. You will have no trouble levelling even if you only follow the 'Epic Quest' which is basically you aiding the fellowship. The quest line has speech, a fun story and passable cutscenes. No need to purchase anything, by the time you need to you will have saved up the TPs if you don't blow them. But there is quite a bit of motivation to purchase shit like cosmetic outfit slots. This game has the best cloaks I have seen in fantasy games and a lot of optional cosmetic outfits to purchase. Cosmetic outfits don't affect stats.

Just wish any codexians were playing so we could make a kinship together. (kinship is a guid, fellowships are temporary groupings)

Ir5Qq9T.jpg


otp3JL6.jpg


c0T16VZ.jpg


SCBccvR.jpg


hv7OVe3.jpg


6ubVhAn.jpg


( Same pic as last but Without Sweet FX)
O8qlTxj.jpg
 

Angthoron

Arcane
Joined
Jul 13, 2007
Messages
13,056
I might reinstall it. Got 3 L60ies with decent gear and gold stash (unless those got sliced by F2P), basically Moria raid-level stuff - Champion, Burglar, Warden. That SweetFX stuff does make the game look prettier, does it take a lot of extra resource to run? My somewhat aged PC might be a bit adverse to this kind of graffixwhoring if it does.

Overall, LotRO was a lot of fun, and I still very fondly remember the Rift raid. It's just too bad that they fucked it all up with MoM expac and then shat all over that with F2P.

Oh yeah, and if you like Rivendell, wait til you see Lorien at night, that place is seriously gorgeous.
 

Xenich

Cipher
Joined
Mar 21, 2013
Messages
2,104
The game is old ofcourse, and uses the old style MMO gameplay when lagging was more common due to lower speed connections, where you click on an enemy and then click on your skills until it dies, instead of newer MMOs with action-twitch combat.

The combat systems aren't a result of technology if that is what you are implying. Also, that system is a bit twitchy over its original design. The system used to require the execution of a swing before the skill would fire. This meant the skills wouldn't fire instantly when you hit them as they would have to wait for the standard auto attack weapon swing animations to finish. Weapons also used to be comprised of varying speeds giving flavor and strategy to selection and application of a given build/weapon and execution of it. This was by design, though as LoTRO became more mainstream, many "new school" players complained about the system and eventually they changed it where you can move and use a skill at the same time as well as having the skill fire in unison with auto-attack. It really was a dumbing down of the system and took a lot out of the skill play required for various classes.

The other unfortunate thing is that they revamped all of the instances, which is sad really as they were perfect in their old form. That is, for instance the Greater Barrows used to be one huge zone where you obtained keys and the like to allow for easier entry to later areas. It really felt like an epic dungeon event to do them. Fornost and Carndum were also amazing dungeons where it was an epic story adventure to work your way through them. All of the instances last time I played (been a few years) were streamlined to be quick runs, similar to a lot of mainstream games.

It is too bad you missed the game in its prime. It really is a shadow of its former self as it has been destroyed by the need to appeal to mainstream MMO players.
 

Aenra

Guest
Most people begin by formulating positive opinions, and it is for a good reason; Atmosphere, visuals, auditory input, community;

then they reach 40 or so, upon which point they experience what others call Asian style grind

the few that continue, realise that with no """end game""" and a dead PvP side, all they are left with is said grind plus a store that sells a good number of things that somehow we have no issue branding (and rightfully) P2W in other games. But not in Lotro. In Lotro they are there to "support"

the cherry on top may be tasted upon comprehension of the fact that, the state of the game being thus, what is left to one with some intellect and some taste, is a number of activities that can and are performed at low level areas, and that have no bearing whatsoever on all the shit they had had to endure. And pay for. For nothing.
 

Xenich

Cipher
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Messages
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Most people begin by formulating positive opinions, and it is for a good reason; Atmosphere, visuals, auditory input, community;

then they reach 40 or so, upon which point they experience what others call Asian style grind

the few that continue, realise that with no """end game""" and a dead PvP side, all they are left with is said grind plus a store that sells a good number of things that somehow we have no issue branding (and rightfully) P2W in other games. But not in Lotro. In Lotro they are there to "support"

the cherry on top may be tasted upon comprehension of the fact that, the state of the game being thus, what is left to one with some intellect and some taste, is a number of activities that can and are performed at low level areas, and that have no bearing whatsoever on all the shit they had had to endure. And pay for. For nothing.


I always thought it PTW. In fact, before they even put in the store, I saw FTP and PTW coming with the way they designed the legendary items. A lot of people like Moria, and to be fair it has some interesting designs that were nice (Dungeon mechanics were pretty fun, though ruined by the WoW like speed run and token grind), but for the most part you could tell that Moria was a sell out expansion. It is almost like they changed focus mid development of the expansion. You can see some good things in the game, but then they are over shadowed by store based gimmicks and streamlining.

There was a grind aspect even before the expansion, but it wasn't required (I assume you are taking about virtues ). My friend and I approached the game from different ways. He hates all forms of grind, period. I like them, providing the reward justifies the time spent. He didn't grind traits, only obtaining them as a result of questing and dungeons. He was able to get the bulk of the needed traits to do everything on up to the Rift. I min/maxed mine and there was some advantage to that, but... it wasn't a massive advantage over someone who just played the game.

Other than that, the game was great. They had some of the best designed dungeons in any MMO (SoA), hands down. They had the right atmosphere and feel, difficult mobs and creative encounters that took some real team work to beat. It is a shame they killed the game though chasing after the casual crowd.
 

Aenra

Guest
i have read some of your posts in this subforum

while you have your points, you seem a touch fixated with the term "casuals"
i should remind you that themeparks (and most of the games you seem keen on commenting on ARE themeparks) are not made with you in mind as the central target audience; additionally, your "casuals" are how productions of millions get to be a reality. And mmorpgs even world excel in space cost millions. On top of that, without said "casuals", economies do tend to die and we all know where that leads. Even the hardcore games need their casuals;

you are most, most entitled to having and expressing your own opinions, but do remind yourself that for a vast majority of people gaming neither was nor is a way of epeen measuring, extreme competing, or even a venue for compensating over real life's inadequacies. Most people accept those and just move on. Be those inadequacies in stature or worth. Gaming should also not be solely related to one-hour corspe runs and four-hour boss campings. He who has "all day long to play gaemz" has only himself to blame for expecting a venue where HE gets to feel special. Finally and at last, special, i'm doing something here :)

for said vast majority we just described by defining its opposite, whether we like it or not, gaming is about escapism.
so to me, "casually" oriented means a specific number of things and the choice on whether i am addressed through them or not. Neither good nor bad. Mere choice for those seeking it.

now if i was the person that just could not staaand those filthy casuals...why, i see plenty of choice for "hardcore" people. Ultima Online and DAoC are still up, EvE is going stronger than ever, Darkfall, Mortal Online, Fallen Earth, Wurm and other semi/non AA titles are still up, Archeage is up, Crowfall, Camelot Unchained and Albion Online are to be launching soon.

so either you need reconsider the factors affecting your judgement in regards to what should and should not be (because you have choices, so its not the casuals' fault but yours)
or
high time to understand that what you complain about has nothing to do with "casuals"

ie you need to stop using words just because others use them as well. What the term denotes has nothing to do with lack of intellect, misdirection or lack of self-respect. They too can enjoy qualitative, they too expect more of it, just like you do. The problem is with games being shit, unimaginative, repetitive, shallow and overall uninspired. And this has nothing, absolutely fuck all to do with your "casuals" :)
 

Angthoron

Arcane
Joined
Jul 13, 2007
Messages
13,056
Wait wait, what? Combat was remade? I didn't get the memo, what happened? I remember the old tick-based combat being a bit of a hit and a miss all in one, is it still the same thing but with the cycle between the ticks significantly reduced, or what's going on with it?

As for casuals vs hardcore, meh. LotRO was actually fairly casual as things go, keep in mind that it came out during Burning Crusade's early-to-mid days, which were actually fairly "hardcore" by today's MMO standards as well - it was just the standard difficulty of the time, and it was actually more forgiving than BC's hard modes, at least in my opinion, and as long as the groups weren't catatonic. Once you went higher, people split into two - even the raids reflected it, you had the fairly involved and difficult Rift, and then you had the braindead zerg in the mountains, I forget the name of it, that had one semi-difficult boss where Captain or Burglar needed to start an FM at the right time. Big woop - but a lot of people did that and were happy and pretty proud of it, so whatever goes. Though yeah, levelling instances were p.hard and also p.long, especially if you had no idea what to do, Fornost is fucking huge men, fucking huge. Loved and hated it both at once.

RPer elitism is much more fun to discuss in LotRO, especially on said Laurelin, there was a bunch of hilariously stuck-up folk back in the old day that tried to form some type of RP police, make their own board of elite individuals and then had their little fights there, that kind of stuff. It was funny. Though I guess it's one of those "You had to be there" kinds of things.

In general, I agree with Xenich on the transformation of LotRO from a moderately difficult but still beginner-friendly and somehow pleasant MMO to some sort of an abomination. It's pretty funny in hindsight, too, I remember writing a few massive posts about it in MoM feedback thread that fanboys took as "omg u just cry bcuz champs got nerfd lol git gud" that actually outlined the problems that eventually took down the game and brought it to the P2W territory.
 

Xenich

Cipher
Joined
Mar 21, 2013
Messages
2,104

Casual vs Hardcore isn't a PvP thing. The games you mentioned are all PvP games. Casuals (modern definition) are those who want entertainment, not game play. They want to win, always get the good loot, always be the hero, etc... without difficulty or consequence. Their reasoning is the excuse of "my fun" and "they don't have time...". This mentality results in games that attempt to cater to such, but the problem is, if you cater to that, there is no room for the other type of player because the casual will get upset claiming they should be able to have/do the same, but according to their own terms (as I described).

This mentality has destroyed most MMORPGs. EQ is casual now. EQ2 is casual. WoW, while never super hardcore, is absolutely casual now. DDO is casual, LoTRO is casual, etc... Just about every PvE game out there is casual. Vanguard was the only one that was somewhat worthy, but it was shut down.

So excuse me if I don't buy into your argument or accept that in order to have difficult content I have to go play PvP games.
 

Aenra

Guest
Angthoron
i agree with him too on many points [though your reply tells me you probably misunderstood me to some degree] :)

i just do not wish seeing the following misconceptions..especially in this particular forum:

- casual = moron (by default and no exceptions, just because "casual", ie can't play all day long)
- persistent world = play at least 12 hours a day or you "suck"

my point was in regards to the above, and how, be you "casual" "hardcore", or like me, choosing based on what ticks and which fancy, the problem lies with bad quality. And it is a bad quality evident everywhere.
Nothing to do with silly and superfluous brandings and tags

edit: of course, to each their own. As long as everyone can be reminded that the rarer our preferences, the harder to find them met

Xenich read more friend, and type less. Honestly and no offense meant, read my post again, infer/grasp the implications, and then read your reply once more. In the off chance it is needed, not my intent to offend yeah?
Cheers
 

Angthoron

Arcane
Joined
Jul 13, 2007
Messages
13,056
Casuals certainly aren't morons, no - it's usually people with work/kids/duties/whatever, but they are unfortunately a part of a fairly big problem, which is, MMO designers are morons, morons that think that by dumbing the game down and supposedly catering to the casual player they make the game better, more accessible and long-term viable, while in fact they're doing the exact opposite of their intended goal. When you get everything easily within your grasp, be it gear, dungeon, raid, whatever shiny thing there is, you actually get bored sooner. There's no mystery, no challenge, no peak to conquer, you can't tell your online buddies that you did something that they haven't because you're all getting the same uniform content.

This is the problem that "filthy casuals" bring, in my opinion - and it's funny because the groups that actively want things to be "casualized" leave as soon as they got everything they wanted and move on to the next MMO, while everyone else that's a long-term player ends up bitter - both "casuals" and "hardcore" people alike. Sure, it's swell to have bite-sized gameplay that I don't need to arrange my evening/afternoon/weekend around, I don't need to plan, just jump in and do it, but in the end, you just get blandness and boredom. A game doesn't need to be rock-hard, it doesn't need a million complex systems, all it needs is just not hand everything out on a silver plate.

That's how I see it, anyway.
 

Xenich

Cipher
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Messages
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Wait wait, what? Combat was remade? I didn't get the memo, what happened?

You remember how you had to time your skills to coincide with weapon skill animations right? It was less noticeable if you had a fast weapon like a dagger or sword, but if you were using a mace or 2h, the delay was long and what would happen is that you would hit the attack and if you were in the middle of an auto-attack, you had to wait for the animation to finish and it would fire off the skill. When you got really good at timing, you could chain your skills in rhythm with your swings and really put out some damage, do an interrupt, etc... This was all by design, an intended aspect of play.

It was right after lothlorien was released and the game was really being... "streamlined", "WoWified", etc... and there was growing amount of complaints concerning the system and people were complaining about being pushed into certain weapons due to their speeds. I am sure you remember the burgs who complained about "having" to use maces if they wanted max damage, but they wanted to wield daggers, I thought it was a stupid argument because dagger vs Mace wasn't simply an issue of damage pro/con, that was yet another problem of the WoW crowd thinking like WoW players (ie everything is DPS).

Anyway, what it did was change a few things:

1) You could now hit a skill and it would fire simultaneously with an auto-attack. No longer did you need to time your attacks, etc... why,, if you were mid swing, you could also swing again like you weren't mid swing. (was rather stupid logically)

2) Weapon speed was removed. So, a dagger, mace, or a sword... didn't matter, all same speed. Now people could wield whatever they wanted and didn't have to make decisions or weight their selections.

3) It used to be that when you fired some skills, you couldn't move. If I wanted to shielf bash as a guard, I couldn't be running and hopping at the same time. I mean, it requires you to stick to the ground and push right? Not very effective if you aren't using leverage right?

Point is, these were changed to make it more like WoW where the players could run, hop, jump, and spam attacks arcade like without those pesky restrictions or decisions getting in the way.
 

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