LOTRO free to play going ahead.

I've been back online in Lotro for a couple of weeks now, mainly playing on my lowbie Warden and Rune-Keeper characters. I was a little underwhelmed with the first level or so of Lothlorien and gave up on my Loremaster.

I have to say, going back to the lower levels was a real treat. Turbine have fairly tidied up a lot of the quest hubs and its almost like there are too many quests and too many choices of where to level (at least up to 30 or so).

I'm really impressed with how they have reworked these earlier stages.
 
If there's one sure way to aggravate mmo players, it's to continually give them quests that send them back to areas they've already been in. Lothlorion did this all the time, and it drove me spare.

Go to the mystical glade and kill ten boars, they're mucking up the mystical aura.
Done? Right, head back there and pick ten flowers, I want flowers.
Oh, you're done! Great, get right back there and water some trees!
Done with the trees? Oh. Right. Well, get right back there and uh.. meditate for a bit, k?
 
Yea, for some reason I couldnt get back into it after I tried it again.

I loaded up the game and I was like, hrrrmmm, what have I got to do next, what was the last thing I did, oh I have to go exploring and stuff and kill or collect things for EXP .... why not just load up Guild Wars instead and dig right into some random arena fun, or join a guild group for Malyx or Underworld?

... So I did Random Arenas and Malyx in GW instead, and it still feels just as grand as it ever does, whereas the typical level grind fest MMOs with 'kill X, collect Y, craft Z, spend ages running around just to do stuff' type gameplay bores me far too quickly now.

Bring on GW2 naow!!! :(. They are putting in a similar system where when you load up the game, you simply warp to wherever you want to go, and get stuck right into dynamic quests or PVP, rather than having to spend ages wandering around to kill 5 wolves and collect their pelts for some random unexplained reason.

And it has dynamic stories and lots of different unique character development pathways of playing through the game. The typical current MMOs dont have any of that :(
 
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bhavv said:
Bring on GW2 naow!!! :(. They are putting in a similar system where when you load up the game, you simply warp to wherever you want to go, and get stuck right into dynamic quests or PVP, rather than having to spend ages wandering around to kill 5 wolves and collect their pelts for some random unexplained reason.

And it has dynamic stories and lots of different unique character development pathways of playing through the game. The typical current MMOs dont have any of that :(
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But I like wandering around MMO worlds !! I dont want to just be insta warped to whereever, no point in creating a game world if you just warp to whereever you want, might as well just make a game where you just pick a "level" to play on at the start. Epic fantasy worlds where I can travel from mountain to mountain, exploring around areas which seemingly have nothing to do with plot, finding my own vistas and corners of the world are part of what makes the MMO genre so special to me, I dont want to be warped to the top of a mountain because thats where the "action" is, I want to walk from the town, choosing my own route, across the countryside, rivers and fields and scale the mountain to reach the top, even if there is nothing up there.
 
But it does get a bit mind numbing had a few today where i get the quest, go talk to a guy then walk all the way back to be told to go back and talk to the guy that was beside him, why not say talk to both guys when i was there :(
 
Last Kronin said:
But it does get a bit mind numbing had a few today where i get the quest, go talk to a guy then walk all the way back to be told to go back and talk to the guy that was beside him, why not say talk to both guys when i was there :(
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Well yeah, thats not the best construction of a quest, would be better all done at once but even then I'd much rather walk to the guy than simply be beamed there and back
 
There is still a little of this in Lotro and its to be expected tbh. However they have generally gathered all the quest givers into little camps so its easier to grab a whole bunch of stuff and plan a circuit around a zone that it was in the early days.
 
Tombstone said:
But I like wandering around MMO worlds !! I dont want to just be insta warped to whereever, no point in creating a game world if you just warp to whereever you want, might as well just make a game where you just pick a "level" to play on at the start. Epic fantasy worlds where I can travel from mountain to mountain, exploring around areas which seemingly have nothing to do with plot, finding my own vistas and corners of the world are part of what makes the MMO genre so special to me, I dont want to be warped to the top of a mountain because thats where the "action" is, I want to walk from the town, choosing my own route, across the countryside, rivers and fields and scale the mountain to reach the top, even if there is nothing up there.
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Exploring is good, but having to spend so much time getting to whatever you need to do gets tiresome after a while for me.

I'm bored of exploring now.
 
Semiskimmed said:
Im not at max level yet but im just wondering if theres any raids or dungeons, similar to wow once you get to a high level?
or are all the items just crafted etc?
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Quite a few of them, yeah. Plus all the skirmishes, some pretty good gear to be gotten from those.

If you type /joinchannel globallff you're into the global looking for fellowship channel, you'll see almost constant requests for people for raids, skirmishes and instances.
 
bhavv said:
Exploring is good, but having to spend so much time getting to whatever you need to do gets tiresome after a while for me.

I'm bored of exploring now.
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I dont mind it too much to be honest, most MMOs have somekind of teleport system or mount or "travel" class with which to move around quicker when needed, the rest of the time I'm happy to travel about, its just all part of the world rather than the "level/zone" I am playing on :)
 
Sleepery said:
Quite a few of them, yeah. Plus all the skirmishes, some pretty good gear to be gotten from those.

If you type /joinchannel globallff you're into the global looking for fellowship channel, you'll see almost constant requests for people for raids, skirmishes and instances.
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ahh thanks a lot.
i will join that channel tonight!
 
http://community.codemasters.com/fo...tant-announcement-regarding-lotro-europe.html

Originally Posted by Turbine

Turbine TO ASSUME OPERATIONAL CONTROL OF ​


THE LORD OF THE RINGS ONLINE™ IN EUROPE​



NEEDHAM, MA – APRIL 26, 2011 -- Turbine announced today that it will be expanding its global operations and will assume full control ofThe Lord of the Rings Online™ (LOTRO) in Europe beginning June 1, 2011. As part of this transition, Codemasters Online will continue to operate the European LOTRO service until June 1st when the existing European players will begin the migration to Turbine’s global service. For more information on the transition, please visit http://www.lotro.com/news/latestnews/1157.

“We are working very closely with our partner Codemasters Online to facilitate a smooth transition to our new global service. We will be providing free account transfers to our new global service and players will be notified when the transfer utility is available,” said Kate Paiz, Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings Online. “We thank Codemasters for the outstanding job they have done publishing and operating LOTRO and we look forward to continuing to deliver one of the world’s best online entertainment experiences to the gamers of Europe.”

“After 4 years of successful publishing and operations we are proud to be handing over a vibrant and healthy service to Turbine,” said David Solari, Vice President and General Manager of Codemasters Online. ”I’d like to thank our many customers over the years for their commitment and look forward to bringing more service-based entertainment to them in the future.”

The Lord of the Rings Online is the ultimate adventure. This award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game delivers an interactive experience brimming with life and filled with the familiar people, places and monsters from the most famous fantasy of all time. From the picturesque surroundings of the Shire to Moria, the most fearsome underground realm ever imagined, players can experience the world of Middle-earth for free! For more information, visit www.lotro.com.
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Should please a lot of the whiners, they have been whining on the forums for years now that Codemasters are useless at running it, so now they've got their wish.
 
tbh I don't care who runs it as long as theres no impact upon the gameplay or quality of service, personally Codies were decent and kept the community quite friendly.
 
Was predicted and extensively denied at the time of the FTP release and the massive delays EU had. Be interesting whether its Turbine wanting to take back control or Codemasters wanting out of it. My guess is the former.

At least they are honouring lifetime accounts if I ever decided to get back into it.
 
daver said:
Was predicted and extensively denied at the time of the FTP release and the massive delays EU had. Be interesting whether its Turbine wanting to take back control or Codemasters wanting out of it. My guess is the former.

At least they are honouring lifetime accounts if I ever decided to get back into it.
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Yeah it is the former, friend of mine works for Codemasters (specifically on LoTRO) and he has been saying for a long time now that Turbine wanted it back, was just a matter of contract complications which have prevented it happening sooner.
 
Which is good news if you play lotro really because it means the game must be making decent money. Maybe it will make it to mordor after all
 
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