I’d just like to open by saying that Lord of the Rings Online is a fantastic game. We’ve all quit in a sudden and sullen rage, mind you, but it’s still a great game, and one I’m glad I’ve played most of the way through. Codemasters’ account cancellation page doesn’t even make the pretence of wanting to know why you quit however, so I tap out my own personal post-mortem here instead. Here are some of my reasons for giving up on it all:
The Epic
The main storyline quests, collectively called the ‘Epic’ line and made up of the Volumes, Books and Chapters you may have heard me going on about on the show, were initially a huge draw for me, and something that set LOTRO above WoW. I love a good meaty narrative, even in my MMOs, and this is Lord of the Freaking Rings! A curious parallel ‘Alternate Adventures’ reimagining of the Tolkien saga, only with us as main characters too! A heady concept with a lot of promise; a Unique Selling Point, in fact, and to begin with, it was brilliant. We agreed to work together as a fellowship of our own, and priority was doing Chapters over any other content, if they (and we) were available.
To begin with, it worked well as we found ourselves intertwined with the desperate flight of Frodo and the Ring, from our respective homelands, through Bree and the Old Forest, and on to the Lone Lands. We met Strider, Gandalf and Radagast the Brown! We thoroughly geeked out! We… got sent to the North Downs? North whatnow? The North Downs section (Vol. 1, Book 3) marked the end of the honeymoon for us, and was a book spent mostly watching a badly animated horse’s backside; a very poor Travelling-to-Doing-Stuff ratio indeed, and from there onward, unreasonable amounts of travel featured highly. Without the outstanding forbearance of Ed, our Hunter, and later on Melmoth’s Captain, and their various team teleport abilities, we wouldn’t have made it to the Rivendell chapters of Vol. 1, I suspect. A strange duality in that I really didn’t mind the extensive travelling about when solo, but felt it was a cynical timesink when in our group. We meet once a week to do Group Things; what’s with all this Travel cutting into our precious gaming sessions?
Speaking of solo, the Epic story seemed very inconsistent regarding group requirement and this was a frustration too. Continually, we would bounce between quite tricky six-man content and enforced solo instances as we tried to follow the Epic through in a linear manner. The books contain an awful lot of ‘Now go talk to some guy on the other side of the world!” steps and also “Now go get me twelve Things from nearby solo-mobs!” steps, which is all a bit trivial when bull-rushed by a six-man tank-healer-dps team, but does mean you often need six times the Things.
This kind of thing got markedly worse from Vol. 1, Book 9 onwards, and you can really see the seam between Book 8, the end of the day-one content of Shadows of Angmar and Book 9, the start of the ongoing later-added expansion stuff. 1 to 8, while tedious in places, makes for a generally interesting tale of The Flight of the Ring to Rivendell with the players at the periphery, but involved nonetheless, while 9 to 15 mostly detail an entirely made-up new nemesis and an increasingly irrelevant series of long-distance revisits to old and tired content, punctuated only by the excitement of Evendim and Forchel being featured. We don’t see Frodo again until the Prologue of Vol 2, which must have been pretty demoralising for those playing at the time. It was for us, and our grand team-based static project only made it to Vol. 1, Book 10 intact, deciding in the end that there were better uses of our group’s time, and going off to start Moria, Vol 2 instead. Vol 1 remained abandoned for most of us, picked at in a desultory solo manner by others, until Turbine solo-ified the entire thing some time later; an acknowledgement that at the end of the day, story works best as a solo activity. Even so, less than half of our group have since found the time to complete Volume 1 under their own steam, even with its new soloability.
Volume 2 seems to mark a change in Turbine’s design philosophy, and the entire first four Books are soloable, and often mandatory solo-instances where you can’t take a group even if you have one. The story starts well, especially the Doors of Durin bit (Vol 2, Bk. 1, Ch 8), where Moria is opened a second time. Here, after seeing Frodo off from Rivendell, you follow along quite far behind, in the company of a dwarven expedition attempting to reclaim the mines. Again the inconsistencies rear their head and after a considerable amount of soloing, group bottlenecks appear in the way, notably Bk 4, Ch7, Drowned Treasury, an often spammed LFG request. We had a group of course, but by this point, we were so out of synch on the quest journal that it became a herculean effort of monumental patience as our more advanced members spent multiple weeks waiting about and repeating solo content for the members who don’t play as much, or simply were so bored by the solo shenanigans that they hadn’t done their homework.
Eventually, we got through Bk4, Ch7, which was quite fun, despite having to do it two weeks running for slack missing members, only to be dropped back in soloville again on the other side, which half the group then didn’t do in time for the next group push. Last night we just about finished Bk 5, Ch5, Drums in the Deep, which was a massive three-part hold-the-fort extravaganza, which was my last best hope to keep the group going; rousing group-required action combat. There was a lot of grumbling though, and I think by this point, general fatigue had taken its toll. We got out, I threw myself down the well at the Chamber of the Crossroads (The one Pippin drops a stone in, in the book), logged off and then unsubbed.
Further in, I’d previously soloed a bit of the Lothlorien bit (V2, Bk7) and a fair bit of the Mirkwood stuff too (V2, Bk 9, to Ch12). Fun and all, but all solo, and not really the reason we’re there as a group. I expect somewhere at the end of all that is a big roadblock of group stuff which we’d have a nightmare getting the entire group in the same quest stage for, having been left to our individual devices so often in the interim.
I think the story is a great asset to the game, but needs to be tighter with far less obvious make-busy filler, and more importantly, needs to be all solo, as Vol 1 now is, or all group. By last night, the overall stop-start fatigue had gotten us to the point that pretty much anything the story had for us next, would make us all cross and quit-tey. I imagine that once Volume 3 gains a few more Books, they’ll pull the magic Solo-ify Lever on Volume 2 just as they have on Volume 1 already, which will probably come as a welcome relief to many players. A shame though – for once, I actually had a reliable and competent group of pleasant and polite people on-hand, and wanted to use that to finally play MMOs properly, only to find that somewhen since my early EQ1 days, the definition of Proper MMO has changed considerably while I wasn’t paying attention. Heigh ho!
Scanty
While being generally impressed with the Mines of Moria expansion, the Siege of Mirkwood has been a bit of a let down by comparison. Skirmishes are a neat addition, but also something of a repeatable time-filler and do give the impression of being there to keep folks occupied until the next big update. We crashed through Southern Mirkwood from beach to tower in less than two months of quest-hubbing, and having reached Helethir and Thangulhad and done most of the non-repeatables on the way, seem to have hit the buffers for non-Epic questing, for now at least. Southern Mirkwood is comparativ
ely small; one zone with about nine distinct regions and a five level spread across the whole thing, meaning you’re in and out of a given region in about two sessions. Mirkwood does all feel a bit phoned in, and coupled with the big F2P move coming soon, I get the impression that neither the time nor resources were there to recreate something as grand as the Mines. Depending how the F2P takeup goes, they may not be there ever again. Also, it’s all just gloomy trees! Quite a depressing zone to be in. At least Moria mixed it up with different coloured rocks, architecture, etc.
Raiding Endgame
Technically, we never raided, per se, but did have a damn good go at the various six-man dungeon instances available in Moria, and experience many lower levelled group instances on the way up too, Carn Dum, Fornost, Garth Agarwen, etc. Barring the Epic storyline, these should have been our group bread and butter, but here too, frustrations crept in.
On the one hand, the Grand Stairs became trivially easy, mostly by dint of our repeated runs of it, farming tokens for decent gear. At the same time, we’d be completely flummoxed by the obscure choreography of some of the more advanced instances, a progression order which was never made immediately apparent. Much swearing, trying to find guides and general stubbornness – these things were no substitute for trying the same boss over and over and over again. All in all, quite unappealing. We are indeed lightweights and casuals and probably did much better than we deserved, but the prospect of spending months learning to beat one specific encounter in one specific dungeon never really seized the group and we’d bounce off a lot of content which, I imagine, was aimed at folks like us – regular six-man static groups. There we some fun dungeon crawls and some very memorable moments of absolute lung-bursting hilarity, but we only managed to complete two of them in the end; Grand Stair (Hard Mode) and The Forges of Kazad-Dum (Normal Mode), and I’m not sure I could have coped with another stretch of months of just doing dungeon crawls. DDO is better for that kind of thing, I think.
We never did manage to find another six people and try Watcher or Turtle, so I can only imagine what those were like.
Me
Ultimately, I suspect most of my dissatisfaction is just me. We hung on for too long, having first voiced dissatisfaction months ago, and rather than quit, contented and wanting to return again soon, we laboured on, scratching around various types of alternative gameplay, hoping for some magical rejuvenation, when really, we were probably, and quite naturally, bored. These things aren’t supposed to be played religiously for years at a time.
I’ve loved LOTRO, particularly the early sections; Shire, Breeland, Ered Luin. Meandering through the Horsefields, delivering pies and post in Bywater, creeping through the Old Forest and Barrow Downs and the whole thing is worth it just for that. Later the game becomes more desolate and remote, in both necessary world design, and unnecessary tedium and pacing. As far as I can tell wherever the game follows the Fellowship of the Ring, it follows very well, but when it strays from the path, it does so in more ways than one.
In spite of all of the above, I still recommend it heartily! Immerse yourself in The Shire, stick with the story as far as Rivendell and Volume 1, Book 8, then get through Moria and relax and take a big long break when you get to Lothlorien, much as Frodo and Co do, and I wish we did. Do it as part game, part interactive book tour! Lord of the Rings Online is a quality game, but can, like any MMO, be taken to excess quite easily. It has problems, but many of them are endemic to all MMOs, yes, even World of Warcraft! When it stops being fun, hang it up; and come back later, as we intend to. I don’t regret playing it at all, but do regret outstaying my welcome in it.
Some of the gang are continuing to play as solo or small group, but as a regular Static Group, we’re done for now, and will gloriously return on the Premium F2P ticket in future months or years. The Monday Night Group seems to be off to Warhammer Online next for a bit of something different.
9 comments
Blue Kae
June 22, 2010 at 2:34 pm (UTC 0)
I think you really hit on it there at the end, for me MMOs always seem to go through a cycle of interest/apathy and after burning out on EQ and DAoC, I’ve learned to pay attention to that and not try to force it. With LotRO that’s meant taking six months off every so often, but then I’m a lifer so I don’t have the overhead of cancelling and resubbing.
Good luck in Warhammer, I’m interested to hear what you all think of it.
Sentack
June 22, 2010 at 2:47 pm (UTC 0)
Sounds like a good chance of pace is what you guys need, although I wonder if you can all stand leveling up again in a new MMO.
Warhammer is a fun PvP MMO but I just know you guys are going to get real frustrated with the PvE. That is namely the complete LACK of any high end PvE. Including what’s there, has timers associated with it, so you can’t do the few modest dungeons the game has with any regularity. Joy.
If you guys do manage to make it up to level 25, a little hint. When "Land of the Dead" (LoTD) opens up, try and get there and level up. You’ll be automatically boosted to level 40, and if you take on level 40 monsters, you’ll see a HUGE exp increase. Of course, if LoTD flips ownership to the enemy side and you die, you’ll get sent right back to the city once you release.
Note, to enter LoTD for the first time, you must do so from your capital city. After that, you can fly there from any flight master.
You’re welcome to Badlands if you haven’t found a home server yet for your Destruction characters. In the mean time, good luck!
Akely
June 22, 2010 at 5:11 pm (UTC 0)
As a new player I will heed your advice about taking breaks. I did not in EQ2 and now struggle to log in, at all.
Something I find very interesting in is your feeling that travel felt OK then solo, but not in a group. You state it felt like a time-sink, since you only played once a week. I think your feeling is the old Explorers/Socializers Bane. That feeling that you do not want to take up valuable time with reading Quest dialog, travel, craft…
I totally agree with the opinion that the Epic quests should be all solo or all group. The way it is now chops the experience up a lot and makes it hard to find people on the right quest step. Having a once-a-week group only makes it worse.
Lastly: what will happen to the Kinship?
Liz
June 23, 2010 at 12:00 am (UTC 0)
This all just about hits it on the head for me. LOTRO’s got a great world, a nice story, and quite a bit of content…
But it’s not very FUN.
Playing the game bores the crap out of me. Go here, kill ten rats, take their intestines, ride ALL THE WAY back to the other side of the game world, find out that the rats were actually under the command of the evil king weasel, ride BACK to the OTHER other side of the world, fight the evil king weasel, watch as he runs away, go talk to another half dozen NPCs who all tell you that your rat intestines lack the proper flavor and thus require you to acquire alternate intestinal tokens, ride back AGAIN, tell the main NPC about the King weasel’s escape, get sent to forge the great boots of weasel stomping which can truly defeat the weasel king, then go off on another dozen fetchquests to get the materials for the boots….
I will say that I enjoyed the Warden class greatly. The combo system is fun and I wish more games had something like it. The game also looks nice, if a little blocky at times. But the main thing about the game that I love, and the reason I haven’t canceled my subscription, is my Kinship. It’s a fun group, and I like them all a lot; despite hating the game. They’re the reason I’ve never unsubbed in the last year or so I’ve had LOTRO.
That’s why I’m so excited about the upcoming F2P change. Sure, I’ll lose access to some content; but if I’m honest with myself I’m never going to get to level 60 anyways. I only play it now to chat with friends every now and then. F2P is going to let me do that without paying a fee every month.
So while I’m not going to unsubscribe from LOTRO in the foreseeable future, I’m not going to recommend it to anyone either.
Van Hemlock
June 23, 2010 at 9:20 am (UTC 0)
RE: Hobbington Crescent; it’ll keep going – we’ll want it to be there when we do all pop back! We’ll be appointing Melmoth as caretaker Guild Master in the mean time so he should be about for any admin type stuffs fairly regularly, but I’d completely understand if you wanted to find some more active peoples instead!
Akely
June 23, 2010 at 10:50 am (UTC 0)
Nah. I’ll stay. I’ll try to bring a few more people in to. I have a few friends that are interested, especially when the whole thing goes F2P. Also, there is alts. Melmoth can sort all that. I hope.
Melmoth
June 23, 2010 at 7:28 pm (UTC 0)
Oh, I sold the kinship house and moved my characters to a casino hotel in Las Vegas in order to spend it all on hookers and blackjack.
Now you know why I don’t get put in charge of nice things.
Hung Donkeyman
June 24, 2010 at 7:56 am (UTC 0)
Funny that you should be going to WAR , I’ve played Lotro for the last couple of years but always have break when it starts to get a bit boring , I just downloaded the trial after Tim had been talking about it . I’m tempted to sub up to it for a month or so to see what there is now after I played for a bit after release .
Scott
June 24, 2010 at 3:39 pm (UTC 0)
I took all of ’09 off from all MMO’s because of this very feeling. I’m back in LOTRO now and loving it again, though. Honestly, I don’t think it’s just LOTRO. It’s MMO’s period — or at least the DIKU-based ones. The "collect these then travel all over" quests get annoying in LOTRO but ya know what? Every time I think back to my days in WoW on the Alliance side, the quests were exactly the same. So was the little time I spent in EQ2, and the majority of Vanguard and… pretty much every other DIKU-MMO I’ve ever played. It’s just a matter of picking one that has enough features you’re willing to stick with, and play in moderation. I’m trying to ween myself from being an MMO Tourist because other than graphics and sounds, I’ve essentially already played them all. Level up, Kill Monsters, Loot, Upgrade Gear, Repeat. Why do I need to do that in umpteen bazillion MMO’s when there is so much more out there to Gaming than *just* MMO Gaming?