One Shots: Farewell from Middle-earth

@Miffy Feeling better?

@Miffy
Well it wasn't doing THAT bad. Personally I think if they'd launched in a complete state, Age of Conan would have been a big success. The initial sales prove it.

Full voice acting 3 years before SW:TOR would have been nice too.

@BigAndShiny

There hasn't been a single good LOTR game and it's a shame. I would like to see Valve make one simply because they're the best at story telling and creating characters. Everyone seems to think Bioware are but I find their stories to be very cliche, their characters to be stiff when they're just standing there talking with a blank look on their face all the time. Valve's characters always make me feel way more than any other game developers. Play Portal 2 and they animate a sphere robot that shows way more emotion and depth than that tech Rockstar used in L.A Noire, genius.

Would love to see a Raph Koster Middle Earth Online though.

@Miffy Preference for graphics is highly subjective, so no use arguing over that, but as for story, you're wrong. LotRO is the single most story-driven MMO on the market right now. Maybe you should try it again and play for a little longer. You have clearly not seen all that the game has to offer.

@Miffy

I'd have to disagree with your comment. LOTRO wasn't in any sort of financial trouble. Turbine recognized the amazing growth in players and revenue in DDO and decided to switch LOTRO to the hybrid subscription model. What happened after that? Increased revenue and player population. I've been playing for years and the game is more populated than I ever remember it being. As for the graphics and textures, someone already made the comment that analyzing graphics is highly subjective, and I'll have to agree. I enjoy them so we'll just have to agree to disagree. Besides, comparing a 2007 release to a 2011 release, at least graphics-wise, isn't really a fair comparison.

@Miffy This is how I know you haven't played the game on a decent PC. LOTRO is considered to be one of the best looking MMO's on the market especially when you turn on DX11 to get that light extra of detail. Age of Conan is prolly the only MMO that is better looking in the environments and that's solely due to the draw distance. LOTRO's armor is not flat painted on textures. Try turning the settings up to max before making comments like this.

@JaySpeed

I can easily max out LOTRO, it just looks horrible and most people agree with me and that's why they don't play it as well. The main complaints I see, that I agree with are horrible character models and animations.

Like other games like EQ and Vanguard I bet most people don't even bother with them purely on the horrible character models.

@Miffy
Totally agree with you on the disjointed character models and running animations - they are aweful. I also think the combat needs a revamp - the whiffing at air/lack of feedback when you score a hit makes for some boring monster bashing. But I also believe it has a pretty decent crafting system, and just plain nailed the feel of the LOTRO setting. If I were to only choose one MMO to spend the next 6 moths with, it would probably be LOTRO, despite those 2 comlpaints.

@Miffy

I highly doubt most people agree with you. But hey, it's the Internet so we can say whatever we want, now can't we? References and facts be damned!

@Miffy

I don't know, i somewhat agree with you. First time i picked up the game, i literally shuttered and uninstalled it instantly as i just couldn't look at that graphics (everything maxed btw).

After a couple of years, i tried it again, and got completely hooked to it. Levelled multiple characters to 20+ level, and had a blast, but then boredom kicked in.

For some reason, i can't seem to pick it up again. I still keep it installed, and turn it on once in a while, but as soon as i do, i wonder which character to play, and get discouraged.

I usually play healers, but Minstrel just turns me off completely. Runekeeper seems ok, but it just takes forever to level up to a point where groups are needed. Guardian seems really fun, but he levels really slowly due to low damage. Hunter is fun, but viewed the same as the WoW huntards (apparently everyone has one), and i'm a type of person that doesn't enjoy playing an overplayed class. I really want to get into the Warden gameplay, but overly complicated gambit system turns me off.

Other classes don't seem to interest me. Loremaster is dull, Captain's shouts are waaaay too loud (wife gets annoyed with shouting :)), Champion seems to generic and not sure if i'm missing something else.

I REALLY want to like this game, and REALLY want to continue playing it. The community is by far the FRIENDLIEST bunch of people i've ever met in my life. I've never met such a positive, dedicated, and selfless group of players in any game.

So, any tips to keep playing this game? I'm all ears :)

@Loopy

Shuddered, not shuttered ...

@Miffy Then you have horrible and shallow friends if they think it looks bad.

I've played many MMOs and I gotta say that Lotro looks quite good in every graphical department and I've been playing a lot of Age of Conan lately, so that's saying something. To each his own I guess.

@Loopy
The one class you missed in your list is Burglar. Have you tried that one? And Runekeepers are fantastic, in either of their roles as DPS or as healer.

I play LotRO, and I enjoy it, but to be honest what keeps me playing is my kinship. It always feels cliché and generic to say 'find a guild!' or what not, but it really is true.

@Miffy
I hear what you're saying about character models and animations. I'm a LotRO Founder and Lifer, and even back in beta I was rather disappointed that they were re-using the already aged and dated looking DDO character graphics. The world, however, is beautiful, and I'm able to look past the character graphics to enjoy the game. I would be quite happy if character graphics were updated, though!

@Miffy I can easily max out LOTRO too. It looks outstanding and most people agree with me. (See I can do that too.)

That's why the population has grown and Turbine's profits have tripled since going F2P. More people are trying out the game and becoming hooked. Not everyone obviously but there has definately been a population boom.

My characters looks fine to me. Running isn't bad looking but walking is dreadful. The combat animations look fine. When I hit a skill, I swing my axe and it looks like what I imagine a dwarf swinging an axe would look like. That's good enough for me.

@Ghostspeaker
Agreed. Especially when you consider how well the game performs for how great it looks. EQ2, Vanguard and AoC have all struggled to perform as well as LotRO while still looking as good. The only MMO I personally think looks as good as or better than LotRO is AoC and it pulls that off through heavy instancing while still not performing as well.

Actually, Rift seems to be on a par with LotRO for visual quality and pretty darned close in performance as well.

Of course, the visual quality is a subjective thing. Some people fixate on specific things (Heck, I used to cringe at the mood expressions animations -- until I picked up Champions Online. ) but when I take the game as a whole I love LotRO's art style. Try standing in the Bree-fields at night and watching the grass shimmer by moonlight. It's gorgeous. As are the buildings.