Incline The Lord of the Rings Online - Corsairs of Umbar expansion out now

[Kem0sabe]

Tried it this weekend, but i just cant get past how bad the gameplay and graphics are. There's a noticeable lag while playing and trying to use my hunter's abilities, the UI is just atrocious, the map is extremely low rez... fuck this.

 

[Sykar]

Josh found it:

 

[curds]

Josh found it:

This guy just generally annoys me, but I also think it's a bit of a dick move that he's called this series "worst MMO ever" when it's essentially just reviews of less popular MMOs. Just seems like shitting on a games reputation for the sake of a nice clickbait title.

 

[Sykar]

Some of the MMOs he tried out are exceptionally rancid though.

 

[curds]

Some of the MMOs he tried out are exceptionally rancid though.

Yes but some of them are decent but niche/unpopular games whose reputation he is damaging for the sake of a catchy title for his videos.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

He should really change the title or have multiple series. It's clear he doesn't think it's even a bad MMO from what I watched(because it's not, it's just... clunky.)

It's one of the few MMOs I can remember where I not only read all the quest text, but I'd complete quest chains far below my level just because I liked them.
Also, dunno if he covers it, but there's a lot of not-so-obvious quests in out of the way areas. You can find them even in the starter zones.

[edit]
the devs of lotro should definitely watch it though

[edit2]
ok, skipped a bit but finished the video. tl;dr: he mostly liked it and his criticisms are also mostly wellfounded. Good watch if you're thinking of playing it, he came to basically the same conclusion as most people: janky, has some issues, but the atmosphere is unmatched and the quests are (mostly) great.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

If he makes another list then it's really going to look as if the ones in the "worst ever?" list are indeed incredibly terrible. As it is there are currently there are 65 videos on that playlist so it just sounds like comic book guy's hyperbole used for anything that disappoints him in some way.

 

[ADL]

Final 36 hours. I'd really recommend doing this if you haven't already.

Tons of free stuff until May 12th for the 15th anniversary including multiple collector's edition bundles of the most recent expansion packs, cosmetics, level boosts in addition to everything below that was made permanently free
The Anniversary Event begins at 10:00 AM Eastern (-4 GMT) on April 20th, 2022, and runs until 3:00 AM Eastern on May 12th.

https://www.lotro.com/news/lotro-15th-anniversary

 

[tet666]

Grabbed the free stuff but yeah i think i'm not going to touch this again until they at least overhaul the UI (they mentioned this a while back from what i remember) it's extremely low res and tiny and if i try to scale it up it becomes a blurry mess and the map is almost useless.

I think i had less issues with classic Everquest in this regard when i played it a few years ago.

 

[deama]

I've installed this again and while I was on the menu trying to figure out what class to make I just closed it.

The only classes that look somewhat interesting are minestral (which I played before) or the new brawler class, but I like to play classes with high attack speed and movement speed, and none of those classes have any speed buffs or dash type abilities.

The classes that actually do have the movement speed I really don't like the gameplay of.

 

[ADL]

https://wccftech.com/marvel-mmorpg-...sed-on-smaller-projects-based-on-current-ips/

The company had planned to invest more than SEK 500 million in the Marvel MMORPG project over the next three years. The company will now diversify this investment across multiple, smaller size projects within the group, including the previously announced major upgrades to The Lord of the Rings Online and DC Universe Online, and new game opportunities with our first party, original IPs. Along with this reallocation, the company expects a write down of approximately SEK 230 million in project related assets in Q2 2022. As one of the long-term investments, the change to the Marvel project plan will not impact near to medium term revenues and profits other than the balance sheet and P&L impact related to the write-down.

 

[Saerain]

wtf I love wealth redistribution now

 

[Endemic]

So did they fix the UI?

 

[RapineDel]

Shadows of Angmar/Mines of Moria era LOTRO was comfortably the best MMO I've played.

Everyone having mutual respect for how faithful the game was to the books seemed to keep the community in check without it being forced and culty like FF XIV.

The quests were great, the world is huge and the music is top tier, some of the best I've ever heard in a video game.

After Warner Bros. bought Turbine a few years in there was complete silence on content updates or expansion news for something like a year. Finally there was announcement, the game was going free to play with an immersion killing cash store and after a years wait we were going to get a tiny paid expansion that was around the size of previous free content updates.

I dicked around in the game here and there after that but eventually spent years not touching it.

Recently I reinstalled it but to my surprise the newer content is actually pretty good and feels more in line with the original 2007 release. Whoever is investing in it is making a good decision, if they can fix the lag issues it's a solid looking game and no publisher with a brain bigger then a Hobbit's testicle is going to green light an MMORPG of this scope in 2022.

The game dropped off for a fair while when the feeling of maintenence mode kicked in in the mid 2010s so if they can spread the word that they're going to be investing in it heavily I think it'll bring a lot of old schoolers back.

 

[Comte_II]

I ended up playing this recently after my buddy asked me to play. It just feels like a boring wow clone. Also I found myself annoyed even reading the lame quest pitches from the NPC's. I quit wow forever ago and this felt eerily like that. So I uninstalled. This mmorpg shit just don't interest me anymore. I think I am too old for this bullshit.

 

[deama]

I ended up playing this recently after my buddy asked me to play. It just feels like a boring wow clone. Also I found myself annoyed even reading the lame quest pitches from the NPC's. I quit wow forever ago and this felt eerily like that. So I uninstalled. This mmorpg shit just don't interest me anymore. I think I am too old for this bullshit.

The machine learning text to speech is progressing nicely these days, see my thread here as an example:
https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/i-made-lilura-sound-sexy.137295/

They could probably integrate something like that as an option for quest voice overs to help, because the issue I find is that, I don't mind reading, it's just that, if I'm gonna do it, might as well read something good instead of an old mmorpg, plus it helps with the larping.

 

[ADL]

LOTRO is getting its first private server and it's getting a lot of attention. Vanilla up to Volume I Book XI.



Not sure how I feel about it versus the retail server with 15 years worth of content because the monetization doesn't really bother me but it's definitely more appealing as a 'classic server' than the legendary servers were. Frankly I'm surprised in how many people actually want classic servers for this game because I feel the game hit it's stride in Mines of Moria and only got better from there.

 

[Ranselknulf]

Nice,

I managed to pick up the free expansions last time I tried the game (last year I think), and even spent some shekels on a few minor upgrades (banking stuff I think).

I've been meaning to play LotR online at some point in the nearish future, a vanilla server might just be the impetus I need.

Is this going to cost an extra fee or anything? Not that it matters much tbh.

I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't just a "classic" server either, but turned into a "progression" server where they do content releases similar to the original release schedule.

 

[gurugeorge]

LOTRO is getting its first private server and it's getting a lot of attention. Vanilla up to Volume I Book XI.



Not sure how I feel about it versus the retail server with 15 years worth of content because the monetization doesn't really bother me but it's definitely more appealing as a 'classic server' than the legendary servers were. Frankly I'm surprised in how many people actually want classic servers for this game because I feel the game hit it's stride in Mines of Moria and only got better from there.

I played the game fairly intensively up to just before the Mines of Moria and then dropped it. When I came back a few years later, the monetization was intrusive and horrible and along with the pervasive collection-itis totally ruined the feel of the game for me. I can understand people wanting to return to the vibe of the halcyon days when it just felt like a whole, open Middle Earth (even though a smaller part of it) centered around the game's main conceit (that you're effectively doing side-quests for the Fellowship), with a fairly tight/contained gameplay system.

I actually think a lot of MMOs suffered from similar problems - there was always a period when the game was getting into its stride, then it hit its stride, then the developers started introducing new elements to attract new customers, with the game eventually ending up feeling like a Rube Goldberg contraption. I think you're always going to see private servers that prefer the moment when the MMO "came together" at its peak (even if in some cases some of the later content was quite good).

 

[logrus]

LOTRO is getting its first private server and it's getting a lot of attention. Vanilla up to Volume I Book XI.



Not sure how I feel about it versus the retail server with 15 years worth of content because the monetization doesn't really bother me but it's definitely more appealing as a 'classic server' than the legendary servers were. Frankly I'm surprised in how many people actually want classic servers for this game because I feel the game hit it's stride in Mines of Moria and only got better from there.

I played the game fairly intensively up to just before the Mines of Moria and then dropped it. When I came back a few years later, the monetization was intrusive and horrible and along with the pervasive collection-itis totally ruined the feel of the game for me. I can understand people wanting to return to the vibe of the halcyon days when it just felt like a whole, open Middle Earth (even though a smaller part of it) centered around the game's main conceit (that you're effectively doing side-quests for the Fellowship), with a fairly tight/contained gameplay system.

I actually think a lot of MMOs suffered from similar problems - there was always a period when the game was getting into its stride, then it hit its stride, then the developers started introducing new elements to attract new customers, with the game eventually ending up feeling like a Rube Goldberg contraption. I think you're always going to see private servers that prefer the moment when the MMO "came together" at its peak (even if in some cases some of the later content was quite good).

You dropped in the worst possible moment, release of Mines of Moria was THE peak of LotRO. After that it had its ups and downs, but all is covered by grind and monetization. Mordor was suprisingly good on release though.

 

[BoroMonokli]

This is very cool. Does anyone know where one can DL the server emulator package? I've played a whole lot in Ered Luin (the dwarf music always caught me, it also made the rest of the areas feel less interesting), just new characters running the story, but not much further.

 

[ADL]

Private server hasn't launched and honestly I doubt it ever will. Which I'm fine with honestly. It would have been a cool novelty since that was the era of the game I played most but the live server is fine and the monetization went from bad to pretty reasonable over the last two years. Not sure I really see the appeal in a vanilla server when that means removing 15 years of content including many of the best expansions and quest packs in the game.

We have recently become aware of a group working on a private server project, and we want to share with the community today a letter from Middle-earth Enterprises:

Dear Echoes of Angmar team,

We have noted the Echoes of Angmar game that you have posted and we appreciate and share your enthusiasm for the Tolkien works, and specifically for the developers and creators of the epic MMO, The Lord of the Rings Online. Judging from your website and Discord, you are individuals who possess a boundless enthusiasm for LOTRO, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings. We’re here to acknowledge your enthusiasm, and thank you for your fandom. Unfortunately, we, as trademark holders and stewards of the Tolkien works, more often than we’d like, must deliver some potentially difficult news. As your business is using the Tolkien works and trademarks in an unauthorized manner without benefit of a license, we must ask you to cease.

As stewards of the Tolkien works, we take our role very seriously in order to protect the works for all time, on behalf of fans everywhere. As owners of the intellectual property rights, we are charged with protecting those rights both morally and legally. Unfortunately, Echoes of Angmar uses specific content from the books and from our Licensee for The Lord of the Rings Online without the benefit of a license. Honestly, it breaks our hearts to post letters like this one. It is not uncommon for fans to create things reflecting an affection for the Tolkien works. It is thus with a heavy heart that we must ask that you immediately cease all of your unauthorized use of Echoes of Angmar, and all other Tolkien-related IP on all platforms, including Discord, Youtube and on https://www.echoesofangmar.com/.

We welcome the opportunity to answer any questions you may have on the subject, and wish you all the best in your future duly authorized endeavors.

Kind regards,

Middle-earth Enterprises
https://forums.lotro.com/forums/showthread.php?695616-Statement-about-the-Echoes-of-Angmar-Server

SSG is lucky to be operating the game with the licensing deal they have with Middle-earth Enterprises and they operate primarily on goodwill with the estate. Can't say I blame anyone involved. Try again in 2050 when LOTR goes into the public domain.

Executive Producer had a Q&A today and these were the major topics.

• New 6 man
• Adding area similar to War of 3 peaks
• Developing system that increases difficulty in missions. Will come to skirmishes in future
• New skirmish
• Continued server improvements to address lag and 64-bit servers
• Big announcement coming late August at Devcom (August 23-25th, one week before the Amazon series premieres)

 

[logrus]

New skirmish? Well, that's nice, but I hope it also means revamping skirmish camp barter rewards as now they stop being relevant in any way like 30 levels before level cap.
I do hope big announcement is not "we streamline all game systems to release game to consoles". That would kill the game in like year or two.

 

[ADL]

I think a console release can work with the right UI overhaul but it's hard to imagine when the one we're working with is so dated. FFXIV is a good example of a MMO working really well on a controller.

Whatever they're doing to "refresh" the experience, I want it sooner rather than later because the one we have doesn't scale well at all above 1080p. I have to lower my resolution to 2560x1440 and still make it 30% bigger. Only reason it's tolerable is because FSR 1.0 upscaling. The store could use some serious work too. Used to be in game and now it takes you to your browser. Previewing cosmetics used to be a thing too but now with modern browsers, it's mostly unsupported.

 

[Rahdulan]

There certainly seem to be future plans to improve on what's already there.



Summary and high points via MassivelyOP.
https://massivelyop.com/2022/08/06/...g-system-and-an-alternate-1-30-leveling-path/

The big news that emerged from the Q&A is that Standing Stone Games is working on a “remastered” version of the game’s graphics and user interface upgrades. This isn’t a top-to-bottom overhaul but rather a widespread attempt to bring outdated art, creaky UI elements, and archaic systems up to par with the newer additions. More character creation options are in the works as well.


Other projects in the works include a new endgame six-player dungeon, a “War of the Three Peaks-sized” update that includes a new region in Eriador, the game’s first new skirmish in a long while, an alternative 1-30 leveling path with its own story, server improvements to reduce lag, 64-bit servers, and a “delving” system that will allow players to increase mission (and, later, skirmish) difficulty. Multifactor authentication is another project that the team is working on for the future, as is an “overflow server” that will allow free transfers on and off for high periods of game use.

More endgame content is coming over the course of the next few updates, as Ciccolini apologized for the studio “dropping the ball” on this area of the game. The producer’s letters will slow down in cadence from every three months to every four months.

The studio said that it should have word “soonish” on transfers from closed worlds. Europe-based servers are a non-starter at present, however.

Ciccolini said that SSG is in “a transition period” as it hires more developers to grow the team — and more customer service agents to help reduce LOTRO’s notoriously long ticket time load. He also said that SSG is more likely to hire a lead content director at this point, after which a new producer will be sought.

The new supporter packs were brought up as an ongoing sales tactic. “Supporter packs are a way for people to joyously support our company so we can continue to make more content available for free,” he said.