6/22/08 Finished Book 13- and Back in LOTRO.
Finished Book 13 today, hurrah! Taranon is fully up-to-date on epic quests. The 4-person group that has been doing the Books over the months has been enjoyable. Kul said his farewells as he will be playing in AoC. I'm going to stay in LOTRO for now. Forochel is the latest zone- the expansion is coming up this fall.
5/4/08 Hitting 50 in LOTRO during an amazing epic quest.
In LOTRO, my Guardian/Explorer Taranon hit 50 today. In LOTRO hitting level cap is easier than in other games I've played, but it was a worthwhile experience.
I was a part of a weekly 4-person group. We were doing Book XI, Chapter 12- Prisoner of the Free Peoples- a solo instanced quest, so we split up. I hit 50 during the quest, an eerie flashback sequence of what had gone on before in the past regarding prominent characters in the main storyline. Very powerful. Turbine did a masterful job with this game. I can say I've played the ultimate quest-centered class/level PvE game for now.
I decided to keep my subscription to the game on the strength of today's gameplay.
Not to take away from the experience at all, but I hope someone will do a skill-based sandbox game down the
road. UO showed the way, someone pick up the torch!
4/27/08 Humorous last words in Goblin Town.
4/16/08 Solo Serenity.
I solo the majority of the time now- what a sea-change from 4 years ago!
The
shrinking of in-game community and the rise of the solo/casual
playstyle I'm sure are linked. I like soloing, although I'm sure that
fond memories of MMO play will consist of things done with others. I
have little doubt that soloing will mean an increase in game-hopping as
well. Exploring the remoter reaches of the Misty Mountains alone is
pretty neat, though. Memorable? We will see.
4/16/08 Weekly Group.
For the past couple of months I've been in a regular 4-man group in LOTRO. Rakul, Thorlan, Basso and Taranon are going through the epic quest Books, which are quite well-done. This is a nice break from the typical soloing (or even duoing). Not exactly DAoC-level community, but...well, in this day and age, it's pretty good.
2/3/08 DX10 Screenshot Contest Winner!
That's my pic on the LOTRO website!
1/5/08 The Shire, LOTRO.
The Shire is a labor of love. Well-done, Turbine. The scenery, the NPCs and their antics, the quests and deeds- all exceptional. Carrying pies, delivering mail, collecting eggs, dodging nosey and hungry hobbits, drinking yourself senseless in a series of taverns- excellent!
1/1/08 New Years Eve, LOTRO.
Quite a few people showed up for music and fireworks in Michel Delving!
11/7/07 LOTRO Again.
I'm back playing LOTRO and am enjoying it, particularly the lore and the scenery. I'm more of a solo with the occasional duo / pick-up group type of player now, the days of server-wide communities are over and I'm adapting fairly well. I've pretty much stopped following unreleased games, since many have folded or have been delayed again and again, or have turned out disappointing. When they release I'll try them if I don't hear they are a disaster. Heh.
7/8/07 Jaded MMORPG Syndrome.
Despite playing AO occasionally- it's free, has some nostalgia, I can play it windowed and do other things at the same time- I'm firmly in the grip of Jaded MMORPG Syndrome.
I've played MMOs for 6 years now, on and off. The initial wonder and excitement are nostalgic to think about, but they are gone. The more I play, the less they tend to thrill. Vanguard's failure was a serious blow- I expected a great game of the sandbox variety, with plenty to do in a large world. That was there to a good extent, but performance issues and an unfinished release hurt the game severely. In some ways I still like the game, but it has that Horizons feel that keeps me from going back. The population is very low, and servers will be consolidating 6 months after release.
I'll admit that I'm looking forward to Warhammer- Mythic made DAoC, the MMO I had the best time in- and such different themes coming up in the future (Roman mythology, spy, post-apocalyptic) are of some interest too.
But Vanguard- with a proven team, plenty of funding and time- failed. I can't see putting myself into closely following a game and anticipating one eagerly ever again. There are no guarantees when sure things fail as bad as the no-name efforts.
The genre may need a revolutionary change. Maybe I need a change. The lack of a widespread sense of community (I haven't seen one since 2004 on Hibernia Nimue in DAoC) is also a big issue- soloing can be fun to putter around a while, but it doesn't tend to last long.
We will see. Hard to tell. A combination of things are making MMOs seem like a past good time to me right now.
5/17/07 Here we go again.
I
canceled my LOTRO subscription last night. I mainly soloed there- most
people do, until they get lots of the group quests- and groups there
are purely a one-off deal to do quest X, disband, then people go look
for another group to do quest Y, I had quest Z to do but if players
have already done quest Z there is no incentive to repeat it- quest
experience is the dominant way to level, grinding is not very
rewarding. Many people have done a quest and don't need it and there
is no reward for repeating it to aid another in doing it. So groups
are very temporary, typically 10-15 minutes to do one quest and then it
is time to go. I never grouped with the same person twice. Since I
didn't have a guild of friends there to play with, nothing is really
keeping me there. Playing with a group of players for more than 10
minutes may have led to knowing other players better, but the game
mechanics did not support that.
The game is casual and
solo-friendly (more solo quests coming in next month's free expansion),
but really, there's little keeping me there.
Game longevity for
me is directly tied to what a community is like. I played DAoC for
over 3 years, mainly because of the tight community on my former
server. I haven't played a game longer than a year since. Those games
I mainly played solo/duo. Not a whole lot keeping a soloer around for
years, since most games after a few months are rather routine and
predictable. Community keeps me around. Lack of community gives me no
reason to stay after the newness wears off.
I'm convinced that community is encouraged or discouraged by game mechanics. Not saying there isn't other factors, such as people having less time to play than they used to, but...
Jaded MMORPG Syndrome plays a part, certainly. Fiddling around with AO since it is free :-P
5/9/07 LOTRO- First Impressions.
I didn't expect to like LOTRO, really.
Having made it to level 16 in Bree-Land, I thought I'd share my
thoughts from the point of view of someone who did not follow the game
or play beta before release.
The first thing I noticed right off the bat is that the game is
polished, it runs well, and that it looks good. This is a solid release
of a finished product. This might sound basic but having gone through
Vanguard's troubled release- of playing a good game that was
poorly-executed and released too early- a lot can be said for a smooth
release. Not every game does this, and it is an accomplishment to be
recognized.
The world is well-done. I'm a Tolkien fan who wasn't really
interested in playing this game until 4 days ago. I expected to find a
McDonald's version of Middle Earth to tell you the truth; I was
pleasantly surprised to find that the world matches the lore quite
well. Sure, there are gaps that had to be filled in, and some things
work better than others in that area. For instance, Bree seems like a
teeming urban metropolis, unlike my image of a rustic town from the
book. But on the whole Turbine did a good job bringing Middle Earth to
players in an MMO setting. My first trip into Buckland had me gawking
like a tourist- it looked just like I had envisioned it would. There
are lots of nice touches, such as the hobbit fishing from the dock on
the Brandywine River- in the brown water a large fish hovers, looking
at the line in the water. A woodsman limps through Combe, favoring a
crippled hand. Townsmen lean against a fence, or polish a sword, or
play a lute. Or chat with friends. A hobbit gardener speaks of his wish
to plant trees where flowerbeds are. Very natural. Some NPCs say
different things when you run by them again. I've doubled back to read
what new they have to say.
The graphics are quite good. My first reaction was that they were
'WoWlike' in the sense they seemed artistically stylized, almost a
soft-lens type of effect. Not sytlized as in exaggerated features, such
as the cartoonlike buildings in WoW, but more in the sense of an art
theme. The graphics are more sophisticated than they look at first
blush. Water is the best I've ever seen in a MMO. Certain areas just
look cool, such as the Barrow Downs, hobbit villages and farms. The sky
is surprisingly picturesque with good-looking cloud formations or rich
starfields at night. I find myself taking screenshots that look like
nice watercolor paintings 
Maybe a bit TOO nice as in a slightly-overdone Hallmark card at times,
but overall nice-looking. Interiors are nicely detailed. I find myself
looking at all the little things in taverns, houses, shops. It all
looks convincingly like people live and work in the rooms you visit.
A bucolic scene from Breeland
Well-done interiors
The game runs very well on my admittedly high-powered PC. I've had a
few brief lag spells, otherwise it has run flawlessly. The amazing
thing is that LOTRO looks good and runs good, even in crowded towns
with many players running by you with many NPCs and buildings around.
No lag. Vanguard players (like myself) have to gape in admiration.
Well-done.
The game system...I expected to find it too simple. Overall I'd
say it is well-done here as well. The death penalty is a temporary stat
reduction and respawning at the nearest stone ring (sort of like RvR in
DAoC). Technically you 'retreat', but call a spade a spade, it's death.
The classes are modest in number and fairly basic- nothing to ooh and
aah over- but they fit the game. There's a bit of torturous logic in
the sense that there are no player 'wizards' to fit the lore of Middle
Earth, but you easily look past such accommodations to the setting.
Buildings are common instances which is sort of annoying but they load
quite fast.
Quests are the main way of advancing experience, they are
plentiful and well-done; they fit the lore and are well-written. The
epic quest line that takes you through the storyline is instanced,
cinematic and well-done. NPCs in general say interesting things, a cut
above other MMO experiences. One solos easily to the teens doing quests
and then group quests become more and more prevalent. The Looking For
Group chat channel is fairly active. People tend to like doing things
solo unless they have to group, with the exceptions of duos and
guilds/groups of friends. Par for the course.
Some nifty little things that make leveling less of a chore are
Titles, Traits and Deeds. Titles you earn by doing a number of things,
such as being called Spider Foe for killing 30 spider mobs, or being
known as Watcher of the Roads for killing dozens of brigands. Or being
known as The Undying because...you haven't died yet after so many
levels. You can select which one you wish to display. Traits are small
enhancements to abilities you earn by using skills a good number of
times. Deeds you gain by doing a number of things, such as finding all
of the ruins in Bree-Land. All of this gives you other things to shoot
for within leveling and make things interesting. Since grinding is not
as rewarding as questing in this game, grinding to obtain a Title makes
it...less of a grind, if you know what I mean.
Nothing really startlingly new here, other than player-made music
you can play via your keyboard (pretty creative). Combat is fairly
standard. You can queue your next attacks, which some don't
particularly like. One good thing IMO is that your existing special
attacks get stronger as you level up so that for instance your Battle
Cry grows in power as you level up instead of being succeeded by Battle
Cry II, Battle Cry III etc. One can learn new proficiencies at higher
levels, such as the ability to wear heavy armor or use spears fro
example. Some of the gameplay reminds me of EQ2 for some reason. One
thing to watch out for is that the con system can have variety in it-
some yellow-con mobs might have less hit points than others, making
some tougher than others even though they might be the same con.
I haven't done crafting, monster play (the only PvP except for
duels) or the auction house yet. Dyes can be made and sold. Night isn't
overly dark (which is good) and typical runspeed is about right, not
too slow. One can travel via horse rental as in DAoC. The world is
larger than I thought it would be. The community runs the gamut from
RPers to idiots and seems fairly helpful.
Overall, the game is better than I expected. The IP was handled
well and the game is good. A free expansion is already on the way. Who
knows how it will hold up in the long run, how many things will end up
grating on people after the initial newness wears off, but that goes
for any game really. LOTRO is off to a good start, which statistically
means thay are in pretty good shape. Nice job, Turbine. I hope you keep
up the good work.