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I was hyped to play the game, installed it...and not long after uninstalled. Why? UI was terrible and doesn't work well on a 4k screen. Aspect ratio on load screens is stretched, tiny text, etc. Just gave a bad first impression and you only get one chance to make a good first impression...at least usually. Long story short, a couple weeks later I gave it another shot. Once I got past that initial bad impression and info overload...it has been one of the best gaming experiences in years. Unfortunately I don't think most people give it that second chance.
@@SodoMojo22 I’m so glad people put these comments forward because it is a very really reality of playing LOTRO for many. Not everyone is so resilient to look past it. Thanks for taking the time to watch.
@SodoMojo22 I fully understand people's complaints about the game though, I bought a 4k monitor to play before I knew about the lack of optimization but in general game looks and runs fab on 1440p screens, graphics are a little outdated, combat can be iffy and alot of lag, but can't complain when the map is one of the biggest going with alot of on screen objects etc, if you can look past that, you'd generally love the game, it's fantastic especially once your class starts rolling with skill points, armour, hear etc and you reach some more of the better regions, moria, rohan, gondor, evendim etc
I loved LOTRO when Turbine owned it, I was away on Deployment during the sale of the game to the new owners, and missed the email to merge my account, hence I lost everything, not touched it since, the new owners refused to listen and refused to help in anyway.
The issue as a new player, is I don't want to know that I have to buy a shit ton of old content to have access to 100% of the game. or buy an expansion, sub and still have to buy some quest packs. They should keep the expansions buy to play, but there is absolutely no reason for not having the latest expansion include all the previous content, except corporate greed. Not even triple A games force you to have to buy a couple of previous expansions to have acces to their content, despite having the latest expansion.
Try and explain reason to the LOTRO zealots, they will never tolerate it. The problem with "strong mmo communities" is that they refuse to admit any fault and see everything through rose tinted glasses. Same with FF XIV, got forbid you daring to say the game is not perfect and all they will tell you is how clueless and hateful you are lol
A sub gets you everything for the duration except (currently) for the last two endgame expansions. We could say they should bundle in a sub or other paid content with the latest endgame expansion, but they've been including level boosts (and other stuff) with endgame expansion purchases which then renders the other paid content unnecessary if you do use the boost, especially now that they're including a 150 level boost with all three of the upcoming expansion's bundles. Two boosts in the ultimate bundle. Should they include the boosts and all previous content in the bundles or in new bundles, is the question. 1. For free, you get the content for the original L1-95 zones, plus the Before the Shadow expansion (alternate L1-30 zones), plus the ability to earn premium currency which you can also use to unlock more content. 2. For VIP, you (currently) get everything else between the L95 to L130 content, plus various extras, for the duration. Plus a stipend of premium currency. 3. For buying the upcoming endgame expansion, you get the new L150 content, plus at least one L150 boost and potentially other extras. So, again, my question is - Should #3 also include #2 or at least parts of #2? (Also, honestly, new players shouldn't start with #3. They'll be so confused. Go with #1 or even #2 and progress normally first. That's already hundreds of hours of content. Someone tell me if boosting in this game is doable as a new player, but as far as I understand it, level boosts are for alts of veteran players.)
@@Caerulean Thanks for taking the time and details it makes things a little bit clearer. How about merging all the content from part 1 & 2 behind VIP, if you pay for VIP monthly you shouldn't have to worry about gated content ever as long as you're a VIP. Then keep latest expansion buy to play. Or maybe have a bundle a reasonable one time purchase price, let's say 50$ (excluding latest expansion) I'm pretty sure Lotro would see a huge resurgence of playerbase And pretty sure they would be making more $ from subs. A lot of players want to play/commit to playing lotro, but it's not very appealing when they stumble upon a reddit thread with several steps $ explaining how to unlock all early quests/content I know everything that you have mentioned seems logical for oldschool player as they are used to the system and by now don't even care as they have everything they need, however don't forget that this is from a new player's pov. Simple = good, complicated = a lot won't bother.
@@JinZuS #1 is free, which means everyone has it. The current situation is almost exactly as you describe it: VIP covers (almost) everything except the latest endgame expansions. The expectation is they'll add the L130 expansion to the VIP when enough time has passed, and then the L140 expansion in the future, and so on. The info on the Reddit thread you came across might be outdated. There were major monetization updates in 2022 and then a couple of other things were also added to F2P and VIP afterwards in 2023 to present day, like Before the Shadow which was just added to VIP and then to F2P in the last two months.
I was a veteran in this game. More than 800 hours played and more than 50,000 LP farmed (I used to do A LOT of LP farming with minstrel before the nerf). I'd even given my character some backstory and RP'ed a bit on Laurelin. I quit the game in 2019. I got a new PC and tried some other games. My biggest reason for quitting is not the outdated graphics (I don't really mind that, having played and still replaying from time to time games from the 2000's). My biggest issue is the game's unstable performance. I just can't get over the fact that this 2007 cannot under any circumstances give me stable and smooth gameplay. And I'm not just talking about cities like Minas Tirith. There's microstutters EVERYWHERE that just cannot be fixed until the engine gets updated/fixed. From time to time I redownload the game to see if it's fixed or not. I tried again in September 2024. Still the same issues...
Hear me out as a new player, if you wish. I'll offer a constructive feedback of my first month impression: 3:05 That's where we disagree, brother. LotRo is not for the masses, and that's the charm of it. It's a cozy little mmo corner for a specific target group. There are many other mmos with flashy animations, fast paced combat, next gen graphics, etc, and LotRo isn't and shouldn't be one of them. As a matter of fact, I came to LotRo just because it is not like those other mmos. LotRo should keep investing on its strengths (pace, immersion, exploration, lore, community driven playground, etc) and improve its weaknesses which are: the OVERWHELMING and confusing categorization, acquisition and use of content; server stability; ui (although personally I love its old-school vibes, but I get why people complain about it), panels navigation (map, deeds, quest log etc). And of course, the ATROCIOUS support. I had to wait for 5 days for them to reply to my ticket regarding why the LotRo store keeps giving an error message when I try to subscribe through Steam. In the end they couldn't fix the problem, and visiting the forums I saw many others who had the exact same issue. Now with the Legendary Servers, people HAVE TO ask for your support to give you their money, and you don't make it your priority as a company to fix the problem? In the end, the way LotRo is managed it gives the feeling that is a game that works only for those who have figured out how it works, and the rest of us have to figure it out ourselves. Personally, I did figure it out, 'cause I had the patience to go above and beyond, as I love what this game offers and I couldn't find it anywhere else. But how many other are willing to do the same? You might answer "Well, that's what's all about. This game is not for everyone. It's for people who had the patience and will to discover what you did and stay." To that I reply, "Then if that's the case, why do we even need to discuss of why LotRo doesn't attract/keep new players?" Peace. P.S: In the end I still couldn't manage to subscribe. I play as a F2P, enjoying the adventure on the PLENTY freely offered content and farming deeds for LotRo points, hoping to gather enough to buy expansions when they get on sale.
I started and stopped lotro at least five times and never leveled a toon more than level18. as you mentioned my main issue is the fluidity of the graphics and clarity of the map and information. the game is pretty good , great fantasy , basic combat mechanics , some endgame , huge world to explore . but when i spent so much time trying to read the map and realize where i have to go or how to activate the ability to ride my mount it’s pretty detrimental in 2024. many mmo games don’t have flashy graphics but you can access things easily or mechanics explained . this time around i am playing the game on my steam deck and being more chill about it . we will see
as others have said the UI is my biggest hurdle! i thought i could do it this time after switching from a 4k tv back to my 1440p ultra wide (Running aroung LOTRO on an ultrawide is pretty great also) and the bags are so damn small lol shame too cause i was really digging the start with a stout axe dwarf, so i just went and played EQ2 instead where i know i have options to fix any UI issues. I'm actually surprised there isnt more community fixes for these things but what do i know about how lotro was designed or UI stuff lol I love indie games and older mmo's so that's mostly it for me, i think if they were actually given the resources to cater to younger or modern gamers it would absolutely kill and possible alienate the current player base. is it worth it to take that risk? i mean if they could replace the old school fans and get even more i'm sure exec's would say hell yes and i would say it can burn than but hey thats just my take on mmo's lol games like EQ1 EQ2 and lotro nobody is throwing money around to make more of them, i said it the other day somewhere else about EQ2 but i think some of these old school mmo's that still get expacs even if i may not be anywhere near the content i'm buying one cause i would be sad if the games went away. So if LOTRO ever actually gets the time and resources to tackle the UI i'll pay for a year sub and expac without question!
I enjoyed what I've played of LOTRO, and I can't say it's a bad game. Even on the free servers, I didn't really encounter any issues to complain about. The only thing I would say is that I'd describe it best as "It feels like an MMO". It reminds me of the Neverwinter MMO, D&D Online, Guild Wars, The Old Republic. LOTRO and all of them games all feel "like an MMO" to me and unfortunately that's just not what I'm looking for at the moment. I've never played WoW, but I've always viewed that as the 'vanilla' MMO, and a lot of the rest of them kinda feel like reskins of that. Sure each of them have their own unique gameplay and such, but I've played far too many MMOs 'singleplayer' now that it's just a bit tiring to do haha. The only one I've consistently gone back to is ESO, but that feels sufficiently like an 'elder scrolls' game to not entirely feel like another MMO. Still get tired of that though :P
I do think if i hadn't started playing 13 years ago, i doubt i would get into it now unfortunately. Not because it's bad, but I think the older graphics and slow pace would not allow me to take the time to love it, I just don't have the time to give games enough time before I begin to enjoy them anymore.
I can completely understand this mate. Makes total sense. I don’t know what drew me to it so much last year but I’m a rare breed that seems to have joined the game late and loved it!
64bit servers are live now; zero lag. Granted its just the two VIP Legacy servers right now, but they work and the normal servers are going to get those upgrades too. UI is *always* on the teams mind, their level designer talks about it on the official livestreams, but they have
I the game has a slight chance to get more popular with Amazon making a new lord of the rings game and a new movie on the horizon. If the movie is good it might drive people to look for a game and maybe that's how they get in. If/when the Amazon game comes out and if it is just ok or even bad, people might get the itch for a middle earth based game and go looking. What do the devs do though, try to compete for market share before the Amazon game or wait until after it's released and hope it fails so they can pull subs from that. Either way I am content, I don't need this game to be massive to enjoy it.
My brother really wants to play the game with me, but cannot stand the UI and lack of scalability. I know there are vague "rumors" of them working on the UI, but if they could just get this one thing over the line, I think it would do more to bring players into the game than anything else. I am worried they don't see it as a serious issue, but everyone I talk to seems to cite the UI as the reason they don't play.
Its not just that the game is just boring for average mmo player the way it is, especially if you have to do 140 levels of singleplayer before getting to god/newer stuff and actually enjoy social aspect of mmo. Also the game performance is terrible after so many years and feels like game is just old at this point regarding the combat and very slow paced for people who dont have so much time on their hands.
@@jale8455 I really don't think this applies to LotRO, in fact I would really argue that it's the 140 levels of singleplayer that truly stand out as the highlight for the game. It's the whole reason I bothered. If I thought I was getting into another "race to endgame" scenario, I wouldn't have started this game at all.
As a brand new player to this game (joined to try out the Legendary servers) it really is just such a dated game. Otherwise, I would feel more inclined to play more often. Right now, I really struggle to turn on the game and get immersed. Once I am immersed, I am good to go! I love Tolkien's world. Getting to that immersion point is so difficult though. Between the graphics, the combat, the performance, and the dated UI, it really is difficult to get into the game and find that immersive playthrough that's hidden behind all the obstacles.
I tried to like the game, with two attempts, approx 100 hours in total, last time recently on the legendary server. Both times I enjoyed the first 20 levels quiet a bit, but enjoyment dropped quickly with every level. A decent mmo, nothing great, but then it just looses me and I never make it past lvl 30. Its multiple reasons such as the almost meaningless quest loot, too many quests which means you always out-level your current area (unless you focus on the few key/main quests), simple fights. Landscape difficulty helps but the rewards are not appropriate. The game should be hard in default state but Lotro fans are casual players and like it this way. Every Lotro review I see or read mentions the great story as THE selling point. If thats the best thing the game has to offer, then it will never be broadly popular as lore/story just isn't what we are looking for when hunting for a good mmo.
i honsetly gave it 6 trys before i could go past the optimisation and graphics that actually now i love...so i doubt anyone would give them 6 trys...more or less.
If combat is an issue for New Players in this game its because of a disdain against older ''tab-target'' MMOs and not specificly towards LOTRO. LOTRO's combat compared to WoW or SWTOR is already much faster and smoother to me, if you actually know what you are doing with Immediates on most classes. UI & Performance are the real detrement, if you exclude it just being an old game, which is inherently unfixable.
@@marrochir1051 I really want to get behind that statement bro but Lotro’s combat is absolutely no where near as smooth as WoW. That is a heavy statement. I love this game but let’s be real.
@@deployablelover No, its smoother to me due to its faster pace. WoW is too slow for me where you have a constant GCD to wait before your next action. LOTRO allows you to play much faster, with some skills being very rapid and longer ones can be cut with Immediates.
@@deployablelover A note though: Some classes are in need of a rework, but all those that have been reworked are definitely smooth. Guardian, Minstrel, Mariner etc.
Objectively incorrect. WoW is KNOWN for being a much smoother experience and overall way more enjoyable. The proof is in the numbers, and your comment just sounds like the biggest cope in here. Just another myopic LOTRO stan who is perfectly fine keeping the game in the shadows, beyond the veil.
new players think ..i can go thru all game by quest gears/weapons/jewellries lvl 1 ...i think its around lvl +15 when foes start to hit (back) and y need gear upgrade ... well if y do not know how to craft or(buy) upgarde your gears ..its kinda endless loop
As someone who has played wow (mostly classic) and osrs since 2003 and really loves lotr. I've tried lotro multiple times now, as much as I love the world and the quests, the combat is just very boring. Even coming from a slow tab target game, it just doesnt compare to vanilla wow, it just doesn't feel good. And then most of all it's the ui and the map. They could make the map so immersive yet it looks and functions like a PlayStation 1 map. And the ui is just a mess and outdated even for when it released. So much potential wasted sadly.
I agree with you. If they only fixed the map and UI the game would already be 50% better and I have no idea what keeps them back from implementing this ...
@@ivansalamon7028 They opened up customization for characters that added more faces, features, hair, etc. and one thing they changed was allowing female models to now have facial hair if they want. Honestly a pathetic thing to quit a whole ass game over if you ask me, but to each their own.
As a new player, and in response to some prior comments: It's important to consider that you can't expect a 17-year-old game to fully support 4K gaming; even modern games struggle with that. The 'old content' refers to the base game, which is hand-crafted and still looks quite nice in high resolution. Complaining about an MMO selling new areas and expansions seems out of place. Which games are you used to playing? WoW, ESO, and GW2 all operate on a pay-to-play model. In ESO, you get the base game plus Morrowind for free, but that's about it. Comparing this is somewhat unfair. Lastly, I personally have no issues with the UI, but that might just be my experience.
Well, of course one DOES expect a game that supposedly has been updated over time (it's an online game that is being regularly patched after all) to run decently at a minimum. Also, no one likes to be told about buying sh1t from the CASH SHOP in every single game interface including loading screens - It's tacky, cheap and unappealing. I so hope for another LOTR online game as I deeply love the IP, too bad the company running the current LOTRO are a greedy bunch with little care for actual code optimization. But hey, there will also always be people like yourself who purposely choose to see matters through rose tinted glasses and talk as if everything is dandy. I get as little as 30-40 fps at times and the game stutters and lags like there's no tomorrow on my rig which is quite high end (5ghz 16-core cpu, 32gb ram and rtx 3090ti), it's actually horrible no matter how you choose to put it.
I first played LOTRO in 2008 at the recommendations of friends; I was playing Star Wars Galaxies at the time. I actually loved the game at the time, although I only really played it for a few months. I tried LOTRO last year again, and the age of the graphics really shows. I played for like 30 mins and just kept asking myself, "why play this when you can pay for WoW, BDO, or FF? (all of which offer better gaming experiences). There is no way this game can ever become popular again.. the UI, textures, and meshes are all so old.. they feel like N64 level content. The only way this game could ever be revived would be a port into Unreal Engine 5 but the cost of doing so would be huge (all the assets would basically have to be rebuilt).
I used to play and raid in this game 5,6 years ago, I downloaded it recently and instantly uninstalled it when I saw that the first quest is still the same and how dated the game looks and feels. Cant imagine how long it would take to level and get all skill points nowadays from 0-140 since I dont have access to mail my old account was on. Apart from dated combat and bad performance game is too slow paced for people who want to enjoy group content and solo gameplay is just not it. There should be option to start at like lvl 130/140 at least for people who want to do newer stuff and avoid solo leveling for ages especially if you have already done it before and group content should be all scaled to max lvl and give incentives for people to do it like older raids at least which would make experience of new player mostly todays average mmo gamer to do meaningful stuff right from the start rather than lvl for 140 lvls as it is singleplayer game because grouping at lower lvls is just not there and game gets boring quick for people who want to play mmo.
The first quest *isnt* the same; they added two whole new starter zones with its own storyline in 2022, so you either didnt actually do this or you missed the giant button at the top of character creation where you select the starting zone you start in.
I played LOTRO in beta, eventually fell off as Discord killed Guild Chat. Now it looks like a bloated Premium fest. You know those free mobile apps with a hundred gimmick mechanics that bombard you at the beginning? That's how early LOTRO feels.
Everyone would expect a game that supposedly has been updated over time (it's an online game that is being regularly patched after all) to run DECENTLY at a minimum. Also, no one likes to be told about buying crap from the CASH SHOP in every single game interface, including the character panels and all loading screens - It's tacky, cheap and unappealing ( quite similar to mobile games). I sincerely hope for another LOTR online game as I deeply love the IP, too bad the company running the current LOTRO are a greedy bunch with little care for actual code optimization, and no, I don't buy the cost-benefit bullshit. There will however always be people who purposely choose to see matters through rose tinted glasses and talk as if everything is great. I get as little as 30 fps at times and the game stutters and lags like there's no tomorrow on my rig which is quite high end (5ghz 16-core cpu, 32gb ram and rtx 3090ti), it's actually quite horrible no matter how you choose to put it.
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I was hyped to play the game, installed it...and not long after uninstalled.
Why? UI was terrible and doesn't work well on a 4k screen. Aspect ratio on load screens is stretched, tiny text, etc. Just gave a bad first impression and you only get one chance to make a good first impression...at least usually.
Long story short, a couple weeks later I gave it another shot. Once I got past that initial bad impression and info overload...it has been one of the best gaming experiences in years.
Unfortunately I don't think most people give it that second chance.
@@SodoMojo22 I’m so glad people put these comments forward because it is a very really reality of playing LOTRO for many.
Not everyone is so resilient to look past it.
Thanks for taking the time to watch.
Yea it's a clunky mess - It's the IP that makes people put up with it, some people that is.
games not optimised for 4k thats why, swap to 1440p monitor and youll have a blast, they are working on 4k
@@Stonecrow99 I caught wind of that in a recent video. Needless to say I'm looking forward to it.
@SodoMojo22 I fully understand people's complaints about the game though, I bought a 4k monitor to play before I knew about the lack of optimization but in general game looks and runs fab on 1440p screens, graphics are a little outdated, combat can be iffy and alot of lag, but can't complain when the map is one of the biggest going with alot of on screen objects etc, if you can look past that, you'd generally love the game, it's fantastic especially once your class starts rolling with skill points, armour, hear etc and you reach some more of the better regions, moria, rohan, gondor, evendim etc
I loved LOTRO when Turbine owned it, I was away on Deployment during the sale of the game to the new owners, and missed the email to merge my account, hence I lost everything, not touched it since, the new owners refused to listen and refused to help in anyway.
The issue as a new player, is I don't want to know that I have to buy a shit ton of old content to have access to 100% of the game. or buy an expansion, sub and still have to buy some quest packs.
They should keep the expansions buy to play, but there is absolutely no reason for not having the latest expansion include all the previous content, except corporate greed.
Not even triple A games force you to have to buy a couple of previous expansions to have acces to their content, despite having the latest expansion.
This!
Try and explain reason to the LOTRO zealots, they will never tolerate it. The problem with "strong mmo communities" is that they refuse to admit any fault and see everything through rose tinted glasses. Same with FF XIV, got forbid you daring to say the game is not perfect and all they will tell you is how clueless and hateful you are lol
A sub gets you everything for the duration except (currently) for the last two endgame expansions. We could say they should bundle in a sub or other paid content with the latest endgame expansion, but they've been including level boosts (and other stuff) with endgame expansion purchases which then renders the other paid content unnecessary if you do use the boost, especially now that they're including a 150 level boost with all three of the upcoming expansion's bundles. Two boosts in the ultimate bundle.
Should they include the boosts and all previous content in the bundles or in new bundles, is the question.
1. For free, you get the content for the original L1-95 zones, plus the Before the Shadow expansion (alternate L1-30 zones), plus the ability to earn premium currency which you can also use to unlock more content.
2. For VIP, you (currently) get everything else between the L95 to L130 content, plus various extras, for the duration. Plus a stipend of premium currency.
3. For buying the upcoming endgame expansion, you get the new L150 content, plus at least one L150 boost and potentially other extras.
So, again, my question is - Should #3 also include #2 or at least parts of #2?
(Also, honestly, new players shouldn't start with #3. They'll be so confused. Go with #1 or even #2 and progress normally first. That's already hundreds of hours of content. Someone tell me if boosting in this game is doable as a new player, but as far as I understand it, level boosts are for alts of veteran players.)
@@Caerulean Thanks for taking the time and details it makes things a little bit clearer.
How about merging all the content from part 1 & 2 behind VIP, if you pay for VIP monthly you shouldn't have to worry about gated content ever as long as you're a VIP.
Then keep latest expansion buy to play.
Or maybe have a bundle a reasonable one time purchase price, let's say 50$ (excluding latest expansion)
I'm pretty sure Lotro would see a huge resurgence of playerbase And pretty sure they would be making more $ from subs.
A lot of players want to play/commit to playing lotro, but it's not very appealing when they stumble upon a reddit thread with several steps $ explaining how to unlock all early quests/content
I know everything that you have mentioned seems logical for oldschool player as they are used to the system and by now don't even care as they have everything they need, however don't forget that this is from a new player's pov. Simple = good, complicated = a lot won't bother.
@@JinZuS #1 is free, which means everyone has it. The current situation is almost exactly as you describe it: VIP covers (almost) everything except the latest endgame expansions. The expectation is they'll add the L130 expansion to the VIP when enough time has passed, and then the L140 expansion in the future, and so on.
The info on the Reddit thread you came across might be outdated. There were major monetization updates in 2022 and then a couple of other things were also added to F2P and VIP afterwards in 2023 to present day, like Before the Shadow which was just added to VIP and then to F2P in the last two months.
I was a veteran in this game. More than 800 hours played and more than 50,000 LP farmed (I used to do A LOT of LP farming with minstrel before the nerf). I'd even given my character some backstory and RP'ed a bit on Laurelin.
I quit the game in 2019. I got a new PC and tried some other games. My biggest reason for quitting is not the outdated graphics (I don't really mind that, having played and still replaying from time to time games from the 2000's). My biggest issue is the game's unstable performance. I just can't get over the fact that this 2007 cannot under any circumstances give me stable and smooth gameplay. And I'm not just talking about cities like Minas Tirith. There's microstutters EVERYWHERE that just cannot be fixed until the engine gets updated/fixed. From time to time I redownload the game to see if it's fixed or not. I tried again in September 2024. Still the same issues...
Hear me out as a new player, if you wish. I'll offer a constructive feedback of my first month impression:
3:05 That's where we disagree, brother. LotRo is not for the masses, and that's the charm of it. It's a cozy little mmo corner for a specific target group. There are many other mmos with flashy animations, fast paced combat, next gen graphics, etc, and LotRo isn't and shouldn't be one of them. As a matter of fact, I came to LotRo just because it is not like those other mmos.
LotRo should keep investing on its strengths (pace, immersion, exploration, lore, community driven playground, etc) and improve its weaknesses which are: the OVERWHELMING and confusing categorization, acquisition and use of content; server stability; ui (although personally I love its old-school vibes, but I get why people complain about it), panels navigation (map, deeds, quest log etc).
And of course, the ATROCIOUS support. I had to wait for 5 days for them to reply to my ticket regarding why the LotRo store keeps giving an error message when I try to subscribe through Steam. In the end they couldn't fix the problem, and visiting the forums I saw many others who had the exact same issue. Now with the Legendary Servers, people HAVE TO ask for your support to give you their money, and you don't make it your priority as a company to fix the problem?
In the end, the way LotRo is managed it gives the feeling that is a game that works only for those who have figured out how it works, and the rest of us have to figure it out ourselves. Personally, I did figure it out, 'cause I had the patience to go above and beyond, as I love what this game offers and I couldn't find it anywhere else. But how many other are willing to do the same?
You might answer "Well, that's what's all about. This game is not for everyone. It's for people who had the patience and will to discover what you did and stay." To that I reply, "Then if that's the case, why do we even need to discuss of why LotRo doesn't attract/keep new players?"
Peace.
P.S: In the end I still couldn't manage to subscribe. I play as a F2P, enjoying the adventure on the PLENTY freely offered content and farming deeds for LotRo points, hoping to gather enough to buy expansions when they get on sale.
I started and stopped lotro at least five times and never leveled a toon more than level18. as you mentioned my main issue is the fluidity of the graphics and clarity of the map and information. the game is pretty good , great fantasy , basic combat mechanics , some endgame , huge world to explore . but when i spent so much time trying to read the map and realize where i have to go or how to activate the ability to ride my mount it’s pretty detrimental in 2024. many mmo games don’t have flashy graphics but you can access things easily or mechanics explained . this time around i am playing the game on my steam deck and being more chill about it . we will see
as others have said the UI is my biggest hurdle! i thought i could do it this time after switching from a 4k tv back to my 1440p ultra wide (Running aroung LOTRO on an ultrawide is pretty great also) and the bags are so damn small lol
shame too cause i was really digging the start with a stout axe dwarf, so i just went and played EQ2 instead where i know i have options to fix any UI issues. I'm actually surprised there isnt more community fixes for these things but what do i know about how lotro was designed or UI stuff lol
I love indie games and older mmo's so that's mostly it for me, i think if they were actually given the resources to cater to younger or modern gamers it would absolutely kill and possible alienate the current player base. is it worth it to take that risk? i mean if they could replace the old school fans and get even more i'm sure exec's would say hell yes and i would say it can burn than but hey thats just my take on mmo's lol
games like EQ1 EQ2 and lotro nobody is throwing money around to make more of them, i said it the other day somewhere else about EQ2 but i think some of these old school mmo's that still get expacs even if i may not be anywhere near the content i'm buying one cause i would be sad if the games went away.
So if LOTRO ever actually gets the time and resources to tackle the UI i'll pay for a year sub and expac without question!
I enjoyed what I've played of LOTRO, and I can't say it's a bad game. Even on the free servers, I didn't really encounter any issues to complain about. The only thing I would say is that I'd describe it best as "It feels like an MMO". It reminds me of the Neverwinter MMO, D&D Online, Guild Wars, The Old Republic. LOTRO and all of them games all feel "like an MMO" to me and unfortunately that's just not what I'm looking for at the moment.
I've never played WoW, but I've always viewed that as the 'vanilla' MMO, and a lot of the rest of them kinda feel like reskins of that. Sure each of them have their own unique gameplay and such, but I've played far too many MMOs 'singleplayer' now that it's just a bit tiring to do haha.
The only one I've consistently gone back to is ESO, but that feels sufficiently like an 'elder scrolls' game to not entirely feel like another MMO. Still get tired of that though :P
Mordor and Angmar are ok. All they need to do is change/fix/improve Nazgul encounter.
I do think if i hadn't started playing 13 years ago, i doubt i would get into it now unfortunately. Not because it's bad, but I think the older graphics and slow pace would not allow me to take the time to love it, I just don't have the time to give games enough time before I begin to enjoy them anymore.
I can completely understand this mate. Makes total sense. I don’t know what drew me to it so much last year but I’m a rare breed that seems to have joined the game late and loved it!
64bit servers are live now; zero lag. Granted its just the two VIP Legacy servers right now, but they work and the normal servers are going to get those upgrades too. UI is *always* on the teams mind, their level designer talks about it on the official livestreams, but they have
It’s funny because this was recorded on the Mordor server where the was terrible! Weirdly enough switching to evernight made it really smooth.
Just sorting out the UI for modern screens would help.
I the game has a slight chance to get more popular with Amazon making a new lord of the rings game and a new movie on the horizon. If the movie is good it might drive people to look for a game and maybe that's how they get in. If/when the Amazon game comes out and if it is just ok or even bad, people might get the itch for a middle earth based game and go looking. What do the devs do though, try to compete for market share before the Amazon game or wait until after it's released and hope it fails so they can pull subs from that. Either way I am content, I don't need this game to be massive to enjoy it.
My brother really wants to play the game with me, but cannot stand the UI and lack of scalability. I know there are vague "rumors" of them working on the UI, but if they could just get this one thing over the line, I think it would do more to bring players into the game than anything else. I am worried they don't see it as a serious issue, but everyone I talk to seems to cite the UI as the reason they don't play.
If people are turned off LOTRO by the lack of flashy, fast combat effects, then it's definitely not the game for them, thank goodness.
That's a little crazy. You don't want your game to play smoother and have better animations?
Its not just that the game is just boring for average mmo player the way it is, especially if you have to do 140 levels of singleplayer before getting to god/newer stuff and actually enjoy social aspect of mmo. Also the game performance is terrible after so many years and feels like game is just old at this point regarding the combat and very slow paced for people who dont have so much time on their hands.
@@jale8455 I really don't think this applies to LotRO, in fact I would really argue that it's the 140 levels of singleplayer that truly stand out as the highlight for the game. It's the whole reason I bothered. If I thought I was getting into another "race to endgame" scenario, I wouldn't have started this game at all.
@@Syntari What i don't care about is the vacuous "ooo, shiny" effect. To each their own.
As a brand new player to this game (joined to try out the Legendary servers) it really is just such a dated game. Otherwise, I would feel more inclined to play more often. Right now, I really struggle to turn on the game and get immersed. Once I am immersed, I am good to go! I love Tolkien's world. Getting to that immersion point is so difficult though. Between the graphics, the combat, the performance, and the dated UI, it really is difficult to get into the game and find that immersive playthrough that's hidden behind all the obstacles.
I tried to like the game, with two attempts, approx 100 hours in total, last time recently on the legendary server. Both times I enjoyed the first 20 levels quiet a bit, but enjoyment dropped quickly with every level. A decent mmo, nothing great, but then it just looses me and I never make it past lvl 30. Its multiple reasons such as the almost meaningless quest loot, too many quests which means you always out-level your current area (unless you focus on the few key/main quests), simple fights. Landscape difficulty helps but the rewards are not appropriate. The game should be hard in default state but Lotro fans are casual players and like it this way. Every Lotro review I see or read mentions the great story as THE selling point. If thats the best thing the game has to offer, then it will never be broadly popular as lore/story just isn't what we are looking for when hunting for a good mmo.
i honsetly gave it 6 trys before i could go past the optimisation and graphics that actually now i love...so i doubt anyone would give them 6 trys...more or less.
Love your channel. That’s all. Cheers.
That is super kind of you, thank you friend!
Looking forward to blasting through the next diablo season in 3 days so i can get back to lotro
If combat is an issue for New Players in this game its because of a disdain against older ''tab-target'' MMOs and not specificly towards LOTRO.
LOTRO's combat compared to WoW or SWTOR is already much faster and smoother to me, if you actually know what you are doing with Immediates on most classes.
UI & Performance are the real detrement, if you exclude it just being an old game, which is inherently unfixable.
@@marrochir1051 I really want to get behind that statement bro but Lotro’s combat is absolutely no where near as smooth as WoW. That is a heavy statement.
I love this game but let’s be real.
@@deployablelover No, its smoother to me due to its faster pace. WoW is too slow for me where you have a constant GCD to wait before your next action. LOTRO allows you to play much faster, with some skills being very rapid and longer ones can be cut with Immediates.
@@deployablelover A note though: Some classes are in need of a rework, but all those that have been reworked are definitely smooth. Guardian, Minstrel, Mariner etc.
Objectively incorrect. WoW is KNOWN for being a much smoother experience and overall way more enjoyable. The proof is in the numbers, and your comment just sounds like the biggest cope in here. Just another myopic LOTRO stan who is perfectly fine keeping the game in the shadows, beyond the veil.
@@networknomad5600 ''Objectively incorrect 🤓''
new players think ..i can go thru all game by quest gears/weapons/jewellries lvl 1 ...i think its around lvl +15 when foes start to hit (back) and y need gear upgrade ... well if y do not know how to craft or(buy) upgarde your gears ..its kinda endless loop
As someone who has played wow (mostly classic) and osrs since 2003 and really loves lotr. I've tried lotro multiple times now, as much as I love the world and the quests, the combat is just very boring. Even coming from a slow tab target game, it just doesnt compare to vanilla wow, it just doesn't feel good. And then most of all it's the ui and the map. They could make the map so immersive yet it looks and functions like a PlayStation 1 map. And the ui is just a mess and outdated even for when it released. So much potential wasted sadly.
I agree with you. If they only fixed the map and UI the game would already be 50% better and I have no idea what keeps them back from implementing this ...
I can't get past the absolutely garbage UI and maps, tried so many times but it just frustrates me to the point where I stop playing
I quit because every time I started a game it told me the server was about to close and kicked me out
That's a weekly thing on Wednesdays. Most mmos have server down times to updates and maintenance
grown human women with full beards is why i stopped playing, that idiotic update from about a year ago killed it for me
😂😂
wait what can you explain LOL
@@ivansalamon7028 They opened up customization for characters that added more faces, features, hair, etc. and one thing they changed was allowing female models to now have facial hair if they want. Honestly a pathetic thing to quit a whole ass game over if you ask me, but to each their own.
@@nevernerevarine8071 Eh, it's death by a thousand cuts. LOTRO has many, many other issues and that is just another tally against it.
As a new player, and in response to some prior comments: It's important to consider that you can't expect a 17-year-old game to fully support 4K gaming; even modern games struggle with that. The 'old content' refers to the base game, which is hand-crafted and still looks quite nice in high resolution. Complaining about an MMO selling new areas and expansions seems out of place. Which games are you used to playing? WoW, ESO, and GW2 all operate on a pay-to-play model. In ESO, you get the base game plus Morrowind for free, but that's about it. Comparing this is somewhat unfair. Lastly, I personally have no issues with the UI, but that might just be my experience.
Well, of course one DOES expect a game that supposedly has been updated over time (it's an online game that is being regularly patched after all) to run decently at a minimum. Also, no one likes to be told about buying sh1t from the CASH SHOP in every single game interface including loading screens - It's tacky, cheap and unappealing. I so hope for another LOTR online game as I deeply love the IP, too bad the company running the current LOTRO are a greedy bunch with little care for actual code optimization. But hey, there will also always be people like yourself who purposely choose to see matters through rose tinted glasses and talk as if everything is dandy. I get as little as 30-40 fps at times and the game stutters and lags like there's no tomorrow on my rig which is quite high end (5ghz 16-core cpu, 32gb ram and rtx 3090ti), it's actually horrible no matter how you choose to put it.
I first played LOTRO in 2008 at the recommendations of friends; I was playing Star Wars Galaxies at the time. I actually loved the game at the time, although I only really played it for a few months. I tried LOTRO last year again, and the age of the graphics really shows. I played for like 30 mins and just kept asking myself, "why play this when you can pay for WoW, BDO, or FF? (all of which offer better gaming experiences). There is no way this game can ever become popular again.. the UI, textures, and meshes are all so old.. they feel like N64 level content. The only way this game could ever be revived would be a port into Unreal Engine 5 but the cost of doing so would be huge (all the assets would basically have to be rebuilt).
I used to play and raid in this game 5,6 years ago, I downloaded it recently and instantly uninstalled it when I saw that the first quest is still the same and how dated the game looks and feels. Cant imagine how long it would take to level and get all skill points nowadays from 0-140 since I dont have access to mail my old account was on. Apart from dated combat and bad performance game is too slow paced for people who want to enjoy group content and solo gameplay is just not it. There should be option to start at like lvl 130/140 at least for people who want to do newer stuff and avoid solo leveling for ages especially if you have already done it before and group content should be all scaled to max lvl and give incentives for people to do it like older raids at least which would make experience of new player mostly todays average mmo gamer to do meaningful stuff right from the start rather than lvl for 140 lvls as it is singleplayer game because grouping at lower lvls is just not there and game gets boring quick for people who want to play mmo.
The first quest *isnt* the same; they added two whole new starter zones with its own storyline in 2022, so you either didnt actually do this or you missed the giant button at the top of character creation where you select the starting zone you start in.
I played LOTRO in beta, eventually fell off as Discord killed Guild Chat. Now it looks like a bloated Premium fest. You know those free mobile apps with a hundred gimmick mechanics that bombard you at the beginning? That's how early LOTRO feels.
Everyone would expect a game that supposedly has been updated over time (it's an online game that is being regularly patched after all) to run DECENTLY at a minimum. Also, no one likes to be told about buying crap from the CASH SHOP in every single game interface, including the character panels and all loading screens - It's tacky, cheap and unappealing ( quite similar to mobile games). I sincerely hope for another LOTR online game as I deeply love the IP, too bad the company running the current LOTRO are a greedy bunch with little care for actual code optimization, and no, I don't buy the cost-benefit bullshit. There will however always be people who purposely choose to see matters through rose tinted glasses and talk as if everything is great. I get as little as 30 fps at times and the game stutters and lags like there's no tomorrow on my rig which is quite high end (5ghz 16-core cpu, 32gb ram and rtx 3090ti), it's actually quite horrible no matter how you choose to put it.