All Posts by Krogg

Originally posted by hardcase

Name a Play for Pay game that does not requrie a CC to try their free time play. WoW and EVE all others do this.  If you quit before the 14 days are done you are not charged. If you continue the game itself is 19 and change but you get another 30 days free. This is standard in the industry and your post shows you may be somewhat  naive as to online gaming. If you are interested you might try the game, and simply quit when time is nearly over. CRS has never failed to honor their agreements and are small enought to allow the player base to speak directly with the Rats.

 Those free MMOLRPG are not acutally Massive..You mean TF2 and the other standalones that can struggle to support 32 players?

Perhaps you are too young to acutally have a CC:-)

So he wouldn't be the naive one here, would he?

Originally posted by solareus

This makes me smile, knowing I will see hobbits fishing.

 

Might make for some new recipes and maybe a few stuffed fish for the old wall at home.

2 1/2 Years I've been posting here and in all that time I've never seen this little donkey. 

Originally posted by openedge1

 

Originally posted by Dethnoble

Now, let us move onto the extension.   For all we know Turbine just needed to be that second most popular MMORPG created in North America in it's first year.  They might have only needed to recoup *half* of the money invested within the first year or they might have already had the extension locked up (based on if they released a title in a certain amount of time) and simply waited to finalize or announce things to provide hype and hopefully more sales.

Now, you see, the thing is Turbine has a very VERY shady history.  This is the type of stuff that Turbine has done in the past:

- Released an expansion pack (Asheron's Call 2: Legions) then within a couple months announcement the cancellation of that game.  IMHO, that is far worse than anything SOE has done.  One could even argue that that is on par with the Dark and Light fiasco.

- Conducted a poll about raising the subscription rate of Asheron's Call from $9.95 to $11.95 (or $12.95 I forgot) so that they could also develop the expansion. Nothing wrong with that until you find out they took all of the good programmers and put them on the LoTRO and D&DO teams, and then hired training engineers meant to later join LoTRO.  Meanwhile, they went around eight months without patching the game.  That doesn't seem to bad until yo urealize that the monthly patches were actually one of the reasons why people played Asheron's Call.  Note: tThe sub is still at that higher price even though they played it off as if it was just for the development time of the expansion.

- To tie into the above the expansion was suppose to have this very interesting Elder Game which was later scrapped and later on a gimmick 'rare system' was implemented that ultimately was completely useless except for a few things here and there. Oh yeah and they also introduced a pre-order gem that gave a 10% health bonus even though players on Darktide were 100% against it and wanted it to at least be excluded from Darktide.  They did it anyways.  The augmentation system was the only fairly cool thing that was introduced in the expansion.  Other than that it was just rudamentary art upgrade and a small update to the bits so that you could have more total experience (allowing up to level 275).  Which you could already hit (though your level never displayed past 126).

- D&DO: A game, no different, and IMHO not as fun as Guild Wars has a MMORPG subscription fee attached to it despite it not even being a true MMORPG.  The game released with no crafting, no housing and is pretty much nothing but instances with a fairly low party count.  It also had a extremely low amount of content.  Guild Wars, which had and still has more content is a one-time priced game with no subscription fee.

-  Asheron's Call 2: Revisiting this game.  The first and ONLY MAJOR MMORPG to be cancelled.  While games like Meridian59, The Realm,  Ultima Online continue to this day the first 'next-gen' MMORPG to be created flopped bigtime.  I mean, this game FLOPPED epically.  THough, it wasn't entirely Turbine's fault that it originally flopped what they did, as mentioned above, to the players was completely unethical.

There are more things, behind the scenes things one can mentioned, but all of the above are publically known FACTS about the great game development company known as Turbine.

With the companies major issues, I am surprised that they continue to even exist. AC2, DDO and now LOTRO are all games that are less than admirable entries in the MMO field.

 

I think you had the original quote correct, when you stated the $200 lifetime fee helped keep them afloat, and infused the company with a wad of cash...also, their funds they have held from their original MMO , Asherons Call has kept this company together.

LOTRO is a gorgeous looking game, I will always admit that...but, the actual character models, awful UI, and boring gameplay (to me) just feels all wrong..

I have said it before though...a lot of people have experienced their first MMO with LOTRO...reason being it was bought on it's name alone. The game shines as a good beginners MMO, with pretty landscapes and hand holding gameplay...and eventually a lot of these players will graduate to the bigger daddy MMO's (WoW, EQ2, Eve Online, CoH)...and this can only be a good thing.

Later

Bigger daddy mmo's?

I've played all of them to endgame except EVE (maybe 4 months of that was enough for me), they are just other games, nothing makes them bigger daddy at all.  If anything is a beginner MMO I'd say CoH is.

Originally posted by Dethnoble

Nothing wrong with you enjoying the game.  I have no doubts there are those who enjoy this game.  Of course, I do wonder how many people force themselves on a daily basis to defend the game because they did fork out that $200 for the lifetime subs.    Sometimes, people can convince themselves that they are enjoying something they put alot of money into yet if they were to clear their thoughts and take look at it from other perspectives they might realize that it just might be that they convinced themselves they are.

Of course the best argument to date about LoTRO and why it doesn't appeal to that many people is the lack of any real announcement/public release from Turbine.  There is nothing about units sold.  Some argue that Turbine doesn't have to release those numbers and of course they don't.  However, you really think Turbine would keep the 500k or one million boxes sold milestones tight-lipped? Those are BIG, VERY BIG milestones in the PC industry for both MMO and non-MMO alike.

This is the biggest, and most solid evidence, anyone can use in the argument of LoTRO being as big of a success as Turbine tries to play it as being. 

Then let us go into the next argument: Units sold doesn't equal subscriptions.  Well of course it doesn't but the ratio of people who subscribe to a MMORPG who bought that MMORPG is fairly low.  Furthermore, for an MMORPG, 200k subscriptions, 300k subscriptions or even as low as 150k subscriptions are considered milestones.   Turbine, without admitted a lack of 200k subscriptions, did admit to having at least over 150k subscriptions when they announced they were the second most popular MMORPG  (later including an * which noted they meant developed in North America).  This meant that they were somewhere above Everquest 2 and thus they hit above 150k.

Once, if they ever do (which I'm beginning to doubt) hit 200k subscriptions then you'll get another announcement from Turbine......-->

Argument?  There is no argument, there is just people trying to convince other people that their opinions are right.  When it comes down to enjoying a game, it's about - THE GAME.  I'm sorry if I don't give a rat's bleeding arse about how many official numbers, blah blah... I care about whether or not I'm having a good time.  Sure the pop #'s will have an effect on that, but I don't go to the headlines, data collectors or Turb's official release statements to see if there are enough people playing - I go INGAME.  And guess what?  The servers are very much alive and well.  At least mine is, and I don't play on Brandywine.

Really though, when you start suggesting that some of the people that claim to enjoy it really do not, and are just trying to convince themselves, you are starting to sound a bit nuts.  Why do you care so much about a game you don't enjoy and I'm guessing don't play, to come here and try to lay down so much nonsense?  You've talked about how the gameplay isn't enjoyable, but you gave no examples, you yammer on about pop #'s but have you played lately?  I'm turning down invites all the time and always passing people in the middle of nowhere..200k subs?  I don't know if they have it, and I don't care, like I'm ever going to play with 200k different people anyway.  Give me my kinship and a few on the side and I'm loving life in Middle-Earth.

The end of all this is simple:  In one hour the servers will be back up - hopefully - and I'll be back in my game having a great time, you can spout off about how this game is a letdown all you want, I just hope you are having as much fun doing that as I am questing in Arda.

Housing (and new changes since it was added)

Outfits

New Zone

New Quests

New Skills

New Armour

New mobs

L25 Mounts for founders and L-time subs

Pops are looking really good (always people around me anyway)

Revamped Angmar

and more!

Originally posted by Dethnoble

Ratings on this site mean nothing at all to be honest.  What I've noticed from 'LoTR' fans is they tend to jack up the scores and hype for the game based upon their love of the IP (not necessarily the game).  If you strip out the LoTR IP and have the same gameplay, cutscenes, Instances (same game with a different story/characters) you'd have ratings much lower. 

Furthermore, that extended contract only shows that the whole lifetime sub thing managed to pad the overall subscriptions/financial figures enough to get at least the bottomline for an extension.  However, since Tolkien Enterprises didn't really have that much experience in the mmo gaming industry and went primarily with a company who has shown a history of failure/bad public moves I believe they don't realize how subpar LoTRO truly is compared to what it could have and should have been.

LoTRO's success so far has been because of the IP not the gameplay. 

Says you, I like the gameplay.  Alot.

Tell yourself whatever you like, but some of us are really enjoying the game, and that's what it's all about, IP or not. 

Yeah I know, I wish I had some info about it to put in here as well, but I figure it's just around the corner and soon we'll start to see information leaking out about what to expect.

I suppose we'll see some minor class changes, maybe new armor and clothing introduced, but I'm really curious what the theme/focus of it will be.

Yeah I'm still playing Book 12, but the servers are down so I figured I'd drop a thread for us to speculate in.

Will we see a new explorable area?

Will we see a new, as-of-yet unheard of, feature?

What do you think they are brainstorming up for us over there at Turbine HQ?

I love this game.

/bow to my fellow Elendilmirians.

Originally posted by Ita+Chups

Something to remember when ppl discuss this:

There is no warning on the box that says the game can lead to addiction. A person usually can't state with certainty that they are perceptible to it.

You can't compare this to drugs or alcohol at all. People usually know those risks.

Blaming the gamer when an addiction does occur is a bit easy. The MMO created the situation the person is in now. It's up to the person to cut her losses, but the MMO was the cause of the situation.

I think MMO are much more to blame than the player in those circumstances.

Something else to remember:  you make your own choices.

Quit trying to pass the blame, unless a person is tied down and forced to participate in something until they are addicted to it - it is 100% their responsibility.

Originally posted by Narug

Originally posted by Krogg

 

 

I'm an armorsmith as well, and the way I see it is it's like character levels, it's a long road to the top but then you get there you can go back and do anything you want.  I craft economically until I've mastered a tier.  As for calculating what I need.. I grab a pen and paper=)  Don't be afraid to learn your art.  If you grab every node you see while running about you should have well enough metals for your craft, a horse and a house.

And I appreciate that these recipes have to be somewhat difficult, or we'd have the market flooded and it would be a no-profit business.

Not difficult but I'd say more of a time sink.  Like I said thought I doubt I'd wanna see the complexity turned down.  Just got artisan err artisan proficiency in metalsmithing and tailoring so I have to be honest and say it felt good getting that tonight.

Yep I use pen and paper but it sure can get tiresome after a bit.  Although mapping out a dungeon like my Eye of Beholder days would peak my interest.

Have a horse but haven't got into housing just yet.  May wait till after I can settle down with issues outside the scope of the game.

I just let my house fall into arrears, got my coin back.  I like the idea so far but I'm waiting until the neighbourhoods have more functionality before I buy again, or until I don't need my gold so much anymore.

Originally posted by Jadar

What am I looking forward to? The eventual release of Age of Conan. I would say allot more nice things about this game, but every time I start enjoying it, I have to stop everything and hustle up a group. I don't think I'll be around for another free update. I don't think I'll resubscribe.

I'll be playing that, and playing LOTRO still as well.  This game is easy to keep up with once you put the work in to get your char to full potential - skills and trades.  It's not high maintenance IMO, but still alot of fun and with a future almost too exciting to imagine.  AoC should be a blast too.

You will have to make the account with Turbine itself.  Probably through the LOTRO site, under "my account".

Originally posted by pavs6453

Hey i'm coming from WoW, and i'm already at level 20, and can already see the pointlessness in the game. I was looking to buy Lotro around the same time i got WoW, but passed it up for some stupid reason. I tried the trial about 4 months ago, and it was pretty enjoyable.

So what i'm asking is should i get this game?

p.s.--i really don't like the gameplay in WoW at all, and the armor is too flashy. i saw some recent screens of Lotro, and it looked absolutely beautiful.

The actual gameplay mechanics are similar, with moving around and attacks, but the skills themselves are a bit different..but that's the case with most mmo's. 

I am concerned about your viewing WoW as pointless though, as most games are.  The only real point to playing any of these is to have fun (unless your a gold farmer), so if that isn't happening it would be pointless to continue.

LOTRO is alot of fun IMO, but that is just MO.   To be honest I enjoyed my time in WoW as well though.

Give it a try and see if it's your thing, that's the best suggestion I could make.

Originally posted by Berndr

 

Originally posted by Grindalyx

 

Originally posted by jerkson

I would love to see updated NPC animations, and a heavier arsenal on armors in cloneland. Fix that, and I might, just might have myself come back :) Tired of looking at wolfes etc. running like they have a latency of 5000.

Oh and also, discard PvMP, worst excuse for a pvp solution ever, and add real pvp. Really sad such a great story, got lost on such a bad project. This game could use tweaks so many places, yet they went ahead and released it, half done.

Thank you for you opinion. and that is all it is. Cause it is your opinion that the game is halve done and needs tradtional PVP. It is also your opinion that it was a bad project. Have you stopped to think of all the lore that would have to be created to just make the evil side playable in the same way as the good side? Lore that under the license they don't have the right to do. Only tolkien enterprise can do that and they won't. I have been playing this game since closed beta started and if it was only halve done by your standards then wow must of only been a quarter of the way done.

 

Since they had a crappy launch were LOTRO had a near flawless one and yes i was there for the launch. Nice try but you fell short.

Well I love this game but common dont be a fun boy and confest that he has got a point .....

 

"that game is only half way done" is not an opinion its a freaking fact...

even  this pool  list so many area missing ,

its barely 10% of middle earth in the game so by my opinion it  is a 10% game finished

but that does not mean that game is bad ......

in fact its having a great potential

In that context, every mmorpg is unfinished.  The addition of content over time is part of what makes these games special, and to say that we are playing an unfinished game because all of the content hasn't yet been released is kind of short-sighted.

Regardless, this thread is about locations, not armor, wolves or pvmp.  I think we already have a few threads covering those topics (and probably this topic as well, but I still wanted to post it).

Originally posted by dA_fReAK

 

Originally posted by vingvega

I think a portal will open and you will end up in Undercity.

 

Its not funny, seriously... Go back to playing WoW...

stupid fanbois

I had a good laugh, and now I keep picturing my Guardian warping into UC... with the texture difference and all, it would be something interesting...I need more pipe-weed brb..

edit: oh and to address the actual topic of the thread, it's a tough one, they could expand content wise for sure in all existing zones and possibly add underwater - but that might be in before then, who knows. Hero classes and pvmp expansion, but again this might all happen before Mordor. 

It's such a hard thing to really guess at as theres going to be so much going on between now and then.  No doubt several additions to the way the game is played from instanced wars to player owned and operated structures (not that these things will happen either).. I can imagine a different places where they might take us.

Originally posted by Hrothmund

 

Originally posted by Krogg

 

Originally posted by Hrothmund

Originally posted by Vrika
Most of Lotro players probably wouldn't like the idea of real-time dodging.

Which is kind of sad. People prefer the easy, care-bear style of playing, and I think this is one of the pitfalls that has caused much of the decline in the quality of recent MMO releases.

 

It's not sad at all, I wouldn't want it because it's not a dependable action.  I want to play on as even a playing ground as possible, and allowing movement to escape attacks would not be fair as not all players are capable of smooth, lag-free motion.

Nothing care-bear about it, but nice try.

Right. Like someone posted before, even ground regarding what, dependaböe regarding what? Explain this and I might be able to give you and answer.

 

If you are stuck on 56k modem, upgrade. If your computer is not adequate enough, upgrade. Most people are able to move their characters efficiently, and if you don't have any disability that is barring you from doing so, I suggest learning to move properly.

haha, is this thread still kicking?

I don't want you to give me an answer, I didn't even realize I had asked you a question..and I don't need to explain myself twice, just read the bleeding thread jimmy.

For the record I have a great system, and a top connection, don't worry about me.

I just think this idea is beyond stupid, and then you come in and throw out a nice little internerd term like 'care-bear' which has nothing at all to do with the mechanic we are talking about.  By your standards EVERY game is care-bear.  If you try telling me planetside wasn't I'm going to laugh even harder.  Oooh no I died!  Good thing the truck is ten feet away so I can die again and again and again with no consequence...And while we are at it, get your head out of your arse and realize not everyone has the $ to upgrade upgrade upgrade!  And thanks for your suggestion about 'learning to move properly", LOL!  You're funny.

Originally posted by solareus

Moria would make a great Player vs Monster player section ....

Yes it would, I hadn't even thought about that.  The entire Mordor zone would probably work also.