Did you love it, like it, or leave it?

Summary:

If you tried LoTRo how do you feel about the game? What features did you really enjoy and what elements turned you off? If you are still playing, what keeps you going? If you quit, what drove you away? If you could change anything about the game what would it be and how would you change it?

Did you love it, like it, or leave it?

Koal 1182790486|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

For me LoTRo is just OK. I like it well enough most of the time but I definitely don't love it. The game has some good features and tons of room to grow but to me it seems like the tofu or vanilla ice cream of MMO's. Most of what it does is just fine but nothing (except the graphics perhaps) really excells. Many of the features are copied from other games and many are also copied poorly.

Raid/Instance id's and Lockouts spring to mind being my most recent headache. In a private instance there are two markers for progress. One is what stage you have completed and the other is what the instance id or flag is. Everyone who starts an instance together gets the same initial id and stage info. As they progress through the instance they complete stages, usually by killing a boss, that saves the progress of the instance so that you could come back later and resume where you left off. However, every time you complete a stage you also get a new Flag.

For example:
Players A,B, and C start the raid instance helegrod.
- Their initial setup is Flag 1: Stage 0
Being particularly uber they kill the first boss.
- Their raid info is now Flag 2: Stage 1
They continue to the next boss but player C disconnects during the fight
- A,B's info is now Flag 3: Stage 1,2
- C's info is still Flag 2: Stage 1

The next day they get together to finish the instance BUT THEY CAN'T
Because player C disconnected his raid ID (Flag 2) does not match what Player A or B have (Flag 3) and they cannot enter the same instance. Player A,B can recruit people w/ no id's or locks at all and those new people will inherit A/B's raid info but there is no way for Player C to rejoin A,B. Even if player C were to get a couple new people and complete stage 2 their new info would be Flag 4: Stage 1,2 which still does not match what A,B have so they Still cannot join them.

Why turbine decided to implement this sort of moronic raid id system baffles me. How could anyone be so stupid?

Re: Did you love it, like it, or leave it?

Kyllen 1184526653|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Seems hard to believe but it looks like the designers of the raids didn't really understand the mechanics that they were implementing… Anyways they've announced that they are going to fix the system to be more logical. see this URL [http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=65009]

My big problem right now with LotRO is that:
1) There aren't enough solo quests between 40-50. They fixed the 35-40 range with the release of Evendum but 40+ is still a wasteland of group quests which can be a crapshoot in finding anyone that needs the same quest as you.

2) The crafting system is interesting but I'd really like to see a crafting system where you would actually use the goods you produce. I've seen a handful of items that I'd actually use and none of them are armor or weapons.

3) The riding system is really annoying. Turning off all toggles? Come on…

The couple of things that LotRO excels at are:
1) Graphics and music are the most gorgeous I've seen so far.

2) Use of personal instances to extend storyline with these instances being very unique with many triggered events.

3) Extending Tolkien lore without trampling all over it. I actually feel like I'm playing at the time of the Fellowship of the Ring book.

Re: Did you love it, like it, or leave it?

Koal 1184633066|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

I really think they have some exceptional dungeon designs as well. Vast areas of not entirely linear content that have more depth to them than clearing from boss to boss for loot. I think they went a bit overboard on populating them though there is literally hours worth of trash that has to be dealt with until you learn your way around and know where the shortcuts are.

The placement of the end game instances is terrible too. it will take an hour or more after getting a group together just to reach Urugarth or Cairn Dum and you cant get there solo at all.

I do like respawning at the dungeon entrance better than the graveyard especially considering how far off the beaten path some instances are.

I've pretty much lost interest in LoTRo now and am just biding my time till something else comes along. I will be interested to see how some of the changes promised in the next push work out and if it is enough for raiding to pick up again.