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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- Lord of the Rings online (LOTRO) is a free to play, tab target, MMORPG developed by Turbine and released in 2007. This game takes place in Middle Earth and follows a similiar timeline to the literature written by Tolkien. How does the MMO version of Lord of the Rings hold up compared to other adaptations? especially in the year 2023.
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The rubber banding is actually a feature. It prevents one from simply walking into Mordor
🤣🤣
You wim this thread
I died xD
How can one of the biggest franchsie ever not have a single good multiplayer game? Bring back LOTR Conquest already. just like total War franchise or warhammer
@@Dualities meh shadow of mordor series was cool, but yea the more i play lotro (also new player) the more i realize what a piece of tangled jank that lotro is... and ive already spent some real money 😑
I played this around 2010 for a couple weeks until I hit around level 50ish and was forced to buy the expansion, where I quit and instead went back to WoW. But I was never able to stop thinking about this game. I still have flashbacks, vivid memories of quests and zones, characters and abilities. The game had its flaws of course, mostly technical. But damn, if it isn't among the few best MMORPG's that exist. LOTRO perfectly captures the oldschool MMORPG feeling. You will love your character. It will feel epic. Loot will feel valuable. The story is of course the main selling point of the game and you truely will feel a part of Eä and Arda. I'm currently considering returning once more, to relive days of old.
Come home, we're here waiting to quest with you. 😁
this game is such a relaxing time...been addicted since i started around a month ago now, if the lag was fixed i really do believe the player base would grow x5
Same!
the "lag" is an inherent feature and hasn't been "fixed" since at least 2010
@@aboomination897 yeah it killed it for me. ):
@@aboomination897 It's fixed in the new 64 bit servers.
There is a huge secret with this game that I learned while playing. If you star gaze; you'll see actual star signs and constellations from the real world. I had learned the Turbine not only created accurate constellations, but they are also accurate to wear JRR Tolkien lived. So the night sky we see in game would have been one the writer once saw in his live time. How nuts is that?
I played this many years ago. I have able a dozen characters. I never made it to Moria before i quit, but I didn't have a many problems as you had. Turbine use to be on this game with fixes and new content. I tried recently to go back after the but out; but like you, found I was unable to gain access. Hell; the game wouldn't even finish downloading. This was a game that had in-game voice chat before anyone else did. There are some games today that still don't have it. I truly loved this game, but I don't know anything about it today. Shame; really, how far it fell
That sucks man! I’m sorry to hear you had such a bad time. I really think you should try again, maybe you could try to download through steam? The download always take a minute but you should be able anyways. I’m always playing on and off, lately all the problem I’ve had are because of my internet provider, the servers work well and there’s no real problem (I play laurelin)
sadge I was wondering how is it, since it might be first time I heard LOTR online game(before I might just ignored not sure lol) I kinda looking for old MMORPG games but uh most of them gg, my favorite was Dragon Nest named game
@@batuhandurmaz6872 I've been getting into it over the past few weeks and it's really fun. Minstrel is my favorite class of any mmo, and the writing is really good. Highly recommend
The quest packs thing used to be a lot worse, sadly. If you didn't own a boxed copy of the game before the F2P conversion you used to have to buy the vanilla zone unlocks one by one. All of the vanilla zones are free now and all of the expansions up through Helm's Deep were made free to everyone as well, so the only quests this early on that you should be asked to pay for are in a few low-level zones that they added in the last couple of years.
Edit: Oh right, the lockboxes. If you press Alt+R it will bring up a Filter window that will let you block specific loot items from dropping. Add the lockboxes to it and never be annoyed by having to throw them away again. :)
I love you
You do NOT have to purchase the "extra currency" You earn it while leveling. you can unlock the entire game and never spend a single real world cent.
And spend a thousand hours of your life
@@GameClubBGit’s an MMO, you’re gonna do that anyway
@Thewhiteninja32 he's the reason companies don't care about the games and just push DLCs bc they'll just rush through it without playing 70% of the game
@llamacebu216 I am LOTRO player. I love the game for its extensive lore. Just i don't think you can enjoy it as free to play only. Better to pay for some things. To support the game we love and to make our lives easier.
DDO is owned bye the same company now! it has the exact same monetization, locked in paywall content, in DDO there are actual stat tomes that give permanent character buffs, exp stone and mana pots and varies other power ups in the shop! Needless to say there are people that throw up the same type argument you do! saying the game isn't P2W you can earn everything! I know some people on the forums have admitted to spending 10s and 15k thousands on an account! So the argument you hold is pathetic at best!
The lag in LOTRO is unfortunately a well-known and prevalent problem, thô I've only had it as bad as what you showed a couple of times. It happens the most when there's a lot of players online. It's clear to me that Standing Stone Games has been trying to do things to improve the lag situation for some time, but I guess it must be a hard problem to solve for one reason or another.
Regarding difficulty, you seem to have missed the Hardened Traveler NPC. There was one in Archet and there's another in Bree, near the Prancing Pony milestone. That's not going to solve the issues you experienced with the lag or mechanics or the monetization, but it definitely enables making the game a challenge. The Hardened Traveler offers 10 difficulty levels, where 0 is the default and 9 is the hardest. In difficulty 3 and higher, in addition to all enemies taking less damage from you and inflicting more damage to you, if the enemies you're fighting are at or above your level, they get random corruptions (buffs that are normally only found in instances), and after a while, you get a debuff called "The Eye of Sauron" which spawns AoE attacks that you have to dodge in addition to the standard enemy attacks. I've been playing at higher difficulties for awhile now and it makes potions feel actually important, as well as some mechanics I initially didn't really notice or feel I needed to care about originally.
I wish the lootboxes that get dropped all over the place could at least be sold to vendors for coin, or disenchanted into other currencies. I've only ever opened lootboxes on the occasions that they give out free keys. Otherwise, same as you, I just toss them. The filter feature can help with that, thô: you can use a filter to make it always destroy any lootboxes you pick up. The only reason I don't have that enabled anymore is because of that one time when I did want to get lootboxes because of a free key and forgot that I had the filter set.
The lag is a daily experience on war steeds in some zones.
Im of the age where I remember a song.. Like a Rubber ball i come bouncing back to you.. Its interesting a few times, then annoying, lol I one was on my warhorse running through a zone, and ended back up at the start after hitting the halfway mark. I doubt the devs will ever solve it tbh.
Correction, everything up to and including Helms Deep is accessible free of charge, putting you roughly at lvl 95 and 500 hours of content (unless you zoom).
By then, regular gameplay will have you earn enough store currency for both utility and content purchases.
Combat is aged, but no more than for games of similar age, and getting into a 16 year old game with corresponding amount of content, you can't expect low level zones to be booming with activity.
As for lag, it comes and goes. Mostly in infrequent spikes, rather than being permanent.
Yeah, I'm not really understanding the complaints about somehow not being able to complete the game for free. What does 'complete' mean anyway? There is just a huge, huge amount of game content to play that is completely free.
@@melmartinez7002 endgame raids are important part of MMO experience. Otherwise its just a single player game.
@@teemumiettinen7250 And if you are interested in endgame raids, you should definitely know how the monetization works with that, but you don't NEED to do endgame raids, and you can very much play this game as a singleplayer (or multiplayer with a few other people) game. And for that, you only really need to purchase 1-2 expansions (iirc) and VIP, and even then only after hundreds of hours of free content.
@@teemumiettinen7250 No. Then it's just a single player game for folks who only play for the raids. Plenty of other folks play MMOs for other reasons than raids and they interact with each other plenty. Especially in an MMO like LOTRO.
What are you talking about? The game isn't free.
It won't let me log into the game client with the account i created, i get "no subscription for lotro found"
So there is a lot you missed when it comes to LOTRO and trust me, I've been playing the game since 2012. A lot has happened in the 12 years I've been playing and I've gotten to know the game pretty well, especially when it comes to new player characters.
First, leveling, each region is level specific. Before entering a new region it is always best to make sure you are at level of the new region when starting. If you are having a hard time leveling up, from questing or just straight fighting mobs. Task Boards are very good for leveling up, you can find them nearly in every major camp, and getting region faction points. All those drops you get from mobs can be turned in as task items if you don't want to sell them. Also making sure you're gear is up to your level as well. Your gear says at what level you can equip it at.
Second, Crafting, much like leveling in each region. Each region has different crafting items to collect that corresponds to you're crafting experience. Much like how you level up you're character's exp, the crafting also levels up with you're crafting exp at the same time. Plus using you're crafting skill to make yourself gear is always a bonus. Like if you choose metalsmith you can craft you're own heavy armor, weaponsmith to make your own metal weapons, or jeweler to make your own jewelery, woodworker to make wooden weapons, farming to make hardened food, fortifying food and stat boosting foods.
Third, Deeds, are way more important than a lot of new players realize. You can open your deed log for different areas and see what they give. I mean they are basically quintessential and they give massive rewards when you complete them. You get free LOTRO points especially a lot from getting kindred in the different factions, they help you upgrade your virtue traits.
Fourth, Combat, basic combat for basic enemies in the lower level regions is straight to the point, but as you get to harder areas and stronger foes they do require some strategy to fight. Also if you do want even tougher enemies to fight against, there is a NPC called the hardened traveler and speaking to him gives you the option to increase difficulty for all enemies.
Fifth, LOTRO Store, always keeping up to date with weekly to monthly LOTRO Letters, they give out free or discounted items with coupon codes. I think it was a while back but LOTRO had a coupon code that basically unlocked all regions in Eriador for Free.
Sixth, from Free to Play to Premium account, With just one purchase of the lowest cost of lotro points, 7.99$ your account status jumps from Free to Play to premium in which you unlock so many features that used to plague you. For instance you get 3 extra character slots, your access to the game becomes a higher priority, gives full access to your wallet, you unlock more bag space automatically.
cope lmao
as someone who's been playing lotro for 13 years. Lag of the Rings is still one of the games out there.
I agree 100%. I also tried to get into this game and had a very similar experience. The game is beautiful but had too many issues with performance or just frustrating things like questing issues.
Just some notes from a longtime casual player who goes in and out of phases of playing this game.
That rubberbanding and the connectivity issues... yes, I have seen them be this bad before, but it is rare. In the 2000ish hours that I have played this game over the years, I have maybe see it be this bad a grand total of 3 times. Connectivity issues are a problem sometimes, but it looks to me like you got unlucky on when you gave the game a try. This is, from what I have seen, not the average experience at all.
The monetization criticism are fair, and I won't take away from them. I would however like to add a little context. First off, the game regularly has events where it gives away these quest packs, and sometimes even entire expansion packs, for free. I own most of the content in the game, and have spent under $10 on the game personally. I run into some things I can't do, occasionally, but the amount of content I am able to do has been enough to warrant over 2000 hours of gameplay for me for $10. A movie ticket costs more nowadays.
There is also the fact that, if you focus on them, these deeds (achievements) you briefly mentioned, fairly generously reward lotro points as well. As a completionist player who does all achievements in a zone before moving to the next, the added premium currency is fairly substantial. Not enough on its own if you want access to everything, but it adds up.
As someone with a similar mmo experience to you (growing up on Runescape and Wow, and playing most other big mmo's around at least to some extent to see what they have to offer), I would be the last person to try and claim your criticism of the game are invalid. I don't think I have very rosetinted glasses on when I say: This may be one game that genuinely deserves another try at some point when connectivity issues may not be as bad. The game may yet surprise you.
This!
Stop lying, that rubberbanding is a daily occurence on a war steed.
@@Supadrumma441 yeet!
I bought moria collectors edition on ebay for like $12 in 2010. And unlocked all other regions earning currency in game.
@@Supadrumma441 Only he's not lying, I've also spent a lot of hours in Lotro over the years and still play and can confirm it just as he wrote it.
I am also a type of mmo gamer that likes the journey. Hence i ve been playing the game almost 9 months now and i am only at around lvl 105 with my character. I don't play every day or for longer periods of time but i always have the itch to come and play coupe of times in a week :) Such an amazing journey
What class is your character? My main character is a captain which is a support class😊
Enjoying the hunter :) Having multiple teleport options other than milestones are a big convenience for me to play the hunter :) I honestly don't know what i would do without those teleports :D @@morrowoblivion13
@@morrowoblivion13I love captain
@@avalokiteshvara113 fellow captain! For gondor!
Im playing for over 10 years and in level 69😂
You need to go to the cosmetics tab in the character paneled set your actual visible gear. Otherwise as you keep adding gear (loot, quest rewards, etc., etc.) and equip it, your actual equipped gear can look like a complete fashion disaster. But you can choose to 'display' different gear than what you have equipped and put to gather a ... nicer looking outfit..
There is a difficulty slider to make the landscape much harder, also yellow (aoe) champion is probably one of the clunkiest specs in the game, which might have made the combat feel more slow, wish u tried red its smoother.
I am sure this has been mentioned before but this is one of those MMORPG's that you want to sub for one month to unlock the "premium" player experience. Can't confirm this but the servers never run poorly for me like you experienced as a "premium" player. Bag space is automatically maxed without purchase. You get access to everything while vip until the sub ends so you can level through a certain spot. Gold limit is increased as well to the point I haven't ever had to think about it again. Just my 2 cents that it is worth it but with the caveat that you need to sub for at least 1 month to get the best experience.
I strongly recommend trying out Echoes of Angmar when it releases (hopefully later this year) - it's a recreation of the original game with no expansions, no server lag, no cash shop, and all of the good stuff you saw hidden away in the current game without the bad
This used to be one of the best games in 2007-2010. Amazing community back then, it'll never be the same again.
Really loved this game. Wish I didn't have a job and could live in a Hobbit hole and play this for the next 111 years. Then I would disappear see mountains again and find a quiet place to finish my book and live happily ever after until the end of my days. :)
What I really love about playing this game is how chill it feels. That combined with following a story across Middle Earth with famous characters, and the fun crafting systems, can easily make me lose time while having so much fun.
I'm a huge LOTRO defender. I'm currently 120 on my main with over a dozen alts. Been playing nearly a decade
They launched new legendary servers about a month ago, where you go through the game's expansion progression over time. The cap now is 50 and eventually it'll go up step by step. There's a few big advantages imo: to access these you need a subscription, but that comes with a bunch of quality of life stuff, like max inventory. Is it great that that's behind a paywall? No it's not, but it's a concern less. That sub also gives you 500 points every month, and a bunch of other perks. Might be worth looking into.
Another plus in my book is that everyone is capped at 50 in a much smaller world, meaning you see far more people and end up with far more interactions.
These two new legendary servers are also 64 bit servers, which in my experience so far has vastly improved responsiveness and latency.
And lastly, upon killing an enemy that gives EXP you sometimes spawn a wraith, which is a mob that can be hard to deal with depending on your gear and class. So if you're looking for more of a challenge, this could be it.
All in all though, this is a fair video, thanks!
He's back! Happy holidays! 🎉🎉🎉
This is a great video thank you, I haven't played this game for years, in 2008 I purchased lifetime membership because it was available at the time, but I still haven't made use of it my account receives 500 LOTRO points each month so it allows me to purchase all the expansions, but I still haven't really played it I've walked around the game just to see the famous locations and I really need to get back into this now I've seen your video and actually make use of my VIP membership
I’ve never rubber banded like that. The only time I experience lag is really when there’s 100 people in a pvp battle.
Yeah its strange I never have either! Not to take away from those that experience lag etc, but its very rare I do and my internet is below average.
That is so true 😊 when there is war in the ettenmorres everyone in the server looses😊
Lies, rubberbanding like that is a daily experience on war steeds
No I haven't either, very odd. I occasionally get a small bit of lag Bree and Gondor, but that's the extent of any technical issues I've faced. This guy must have been super unlucky.
Downloaded tonight and played maybe an hour so far, only saw one person. I like this game, and will probably put on many hours in the future.
Good luck.
P.S. Search for which are the High Population servers on Lotro if you want that. Each have their own character so you can search and see which fits you best. I play on the RP-encouraged server of Landroval. It has a decent population. I don't like TOO many people in my gaming world personally and when out in some wilderness area I may see NOBODY else. The wilderness should feel empty. But go in to certain towns, particularly where RPers hang out and where bands are often playing and you'll see lots of people around.
I've been grinding for titles for like 50 hours and im only lvl 26. there are so many deeds to do
The amount of content in Lotro now is a bit overwhelming.
It's an incredibly vast gaming world.
It's a shame you didn't enjoy LOTRO like I do, but I can count the performance issues I've had since 2009 on one hand so I can understand why performance issues would sour your experience. You actually get A LOT of content for free in the game, and you also get a lot for just subbing for one month, which iirc doubles your inventory space but I cant recall. The game has become significantly easier to level through since when I started, but there is a difficulty adjuster to make the landscape content more difficult if that's your thing.
Oh and that slow horse you got at level 4, you used to have to wait until level 20 and then pay a fortune of in-game currency for lol.
I live in Germany and play (on and off since 2013) on the Antonia Bayle server (USA)... never experienced that rubberbanding.
Your negative checklist made me chuckle a little bit. Its an older game, so of course it will be a little clunky and janky. TBH, that's part of the charm. I personally would play an older MMO like this over a newer one any day. It's a throwback to great past times. Not to mention (like you said in the +s), the setting is amazing. Even with a remake, I doubt it would encompass middle earth like this game does. The monetization isn't really a thing as well. Not any different from some other MMO's. As for the ghost town, there are a ton of social events and the world chat to help you get into the community.
disagree with the take but I hear your arguments. I think the game is solid af, love the landscape and the lore. No doubt I would love a ground up remake up all the current content, but that isn't realistic. But for anyone that started when the game came back, it is crazy coming back and opening up the map and seeing how much of Middle Earth is available to explore. The classes are all fairly unique as well imo for MMO standard, the buff/debuff icons are distinct and clear to read, anyways - huge fan. Hope they keep improving the landscape difficulty and borrow a bunch of ideas from Path of Exile.
Amazon is actually making a new LOTR online game! Won't replace the original ofc but maybe it will remake some of that magic
I can't say much about the lag and rubberbanding. It usually isn't that bad, as expected it is worse on the weekends. With rubberbanding, it is best to just wait a bit as the game loads in all the assests in your area.
As for difficulty, you can progress the epic quest line until you get into an area that provides you with more of a challenge. Also as others posted, there is a NPC that lets you up the difficulty for landscape.
As for wanting a multiplayer experience, it is best to join a kinship/guild. You might find other players at similar levels. Or players willing to run Epic Battles which puts everyone at level 100 no matter their actual level.
Finally with monetization. While the game may reveal a lot of things early on that you can purchase, LotRO has one of the best F2P methods. Complete deeds and earn lotro points. Use those lotro points to buy stuff like inventory space. You can grind out so many deeds that you never need to buy lotro points. Then it becomes a question of time versus money and which is more important. If you do spend money, it is always worth it to buy the subscription for at least one month. You get some permanent benefits even after you cancel your subscription.
In one of the taverns there used to be a player bard that managed to play Remember When by Alan Jackson on his instrument. They used to do free concerts lol
I remember getting so lost into the Moria lol
I divine from the fact that you ran out of space in your quest log, that you aren't particularly completionist in your play. If you were, you'd get LOTRO points often enough that you wouldn't feel the cash shop as predatory as you report. Yes, it's a pain that Riding is in the shop, but it's priced well within one's ability to earn the LOTRO points in-game. And, heck, if one's time is less valuable than one's money (perhaps for a child or someone from the developing world), it's perfectly valid to create alts specifically for the purpose of farming deeds for LOTRO points.
The rubber-banding issues are well-known, even by the devs. People who know more than me suggest that the problem is a server architecture problem stemming from decisions made in 2005-2007 that today's devs are unable to completely fix. But most people seem to have fewer problems with it than you seemed to.
Yours is an outlier among other "trying LOTRO in 2024" type videos in that your experience was mostly negative. That doesn't mean that you're wrong, only that other people reached different conclusions from the same facts.
You should try Embers Adrift, its a low fantasy game but I think you'll like it.
have you been to the cat room in bree? seriously there is a room that has a bunch of cats in it. when i took someone into that room he was like KITTIES! i must pet them all!!!
Good job Man! Thanks for Your video. I think it's hard to find reliable and trustworthy streamers like you these days.
In the previous years playing this game, I've never had too much issues. I've always had fun. I am a returning player to see if anything has changed for the better.
I just came back to the game as a lifetime sub, was also in the beta, I loved this game and even have a full raid set from Moria. I've come back to finally finish everything after moria and the original $200 has gotten me everything I need except the newest expansion. I know that most don't have the lifetime sub, but looking back I'm glad I made the investment.
The joy i feel when i hear of someone else that loves runescape is indescribable. Makes me feel like a kid again.
I laughed at your joke about Sara Oakheart. As someone who has 10+ characters in Lotro, early game quests are mostly repeating the same, meaning that the slowest rescue has to be completed multiple times.
I'm a pretty casual player and even I play on Difficulty 3. This is also the kind of game with really good writing that helps you get immersed in the world. The issues you've talked about in this vid are the main reasons this can't really be my main MMORPG.
Don't understand the rubberbanding and freezing you were experiencing. I started playing way back during the beta and have been playing on/off ever since. I haven't had any of the constant struggles you had since the early days. To me it's a relaxing lore filled atmospheric game which I enjoy and like you said it's very cool to meet and contribute to the fellowship storyline. Sorry it didn't work out for you, maybe it was the server you were on or graphics settings since it is an older game.
Sara Oakheart is a running gag itself. But she is pretty a important person tho
It's one of the best games of its kind. I would play again if they'd fix the rubber banding. Only Everquest has more nostalgia for me. This is a good one.
What region are you in? That lag you were experiencing seemed really bad, but it definitely fluctuates depending on where you are playing from. I disagree with your review overall, but still glad to see you shine some light on the good that this game has to offer. LOTRO is for sure not a perfect MMO, but it is amazing at certain things that it does, and for a Tolkien fan, it’s easy to look past many of it’s shortcomings
Just reached lvl 20 . Its a solid game but if you do not like to grind/invest time, it will annoy you. The best part is you can Still unlock past helms deep IF you save up your earned coins throughout your grinding/questing/lvling up/ and log ins. Just takes time and grind and that is not for everyone..the again you can zoom skip that mess buy buying.
When i played this game i just paid for the VIP pass since its the same price as WoW... so i didnt even notice the monetization stuff because it gives you enough tokens to not have to worry about it if youre just questing.
I've jumped in and out of this game over the years, I'm going to jump back into it for a while but the lag is something that has always been present, I've never made it as far as Moria but Bree has always been a nightmare for lag, if it's still in the game now it will always be there. The only part of your video I wasn't sure on was where you said that guys 'Hero' gear was from a boost, it may have been but there's also a bartering system with some vendors where you hand over trophies for sets of named gear so it could also have been that or similar.
Mr. Waydot, there are 2 new servers with 64 bit arhitecture, it should improve the performance. They were released yesterday.
Honestly, if I want to watch the "You shall not pass" cut scene again, I think that I'll just go and watch the movie again. It's cheaper. I would honestly try it if it wasn't Sub and Micro Transaction heavy.
LOTRO being an old game that was never planned to last this long, it has major game engine issues. Now the team behind LOTRO is working hard to update the engine and fix the lag problem, but they have a lot of work to fix before they get there apparently.
that was a really informative and useful review! I was considering trying the game out but after seeing the slow progression and the monetization system, I'll stay away from it. I don't need another RIFT 😂
Man, even though I used to love games like this and what you could do in them was fantastic, I find it near impossible to play games with such dated graphics when games look so damn good now. We need retro story writers and modern environmental artists and character designers to team up for n new Lord of the Rings open-world with updated graphics.
There are ways around most of the jankiness. However, there is still some legit lag at the festivals. Monetization is avoidable, and doing quests can make you enough lotro points to buy what you need (no real world cash needed).
i will try
This author has said it best! Free to try not free to play
Sadly, the lack of population even when I watch some streams makes me hesitate. I know the game is old and most who played this in the past (I didnt know about it) may have moved on. I tried it back in 2021 and loved every second of it, but after playing for about 5 hours and not seeing at least one person had me give it a rest. I do however wish I played it on release and wish I would have made memories many do have this day.
The server issues can really depend on which server you actually joined. The higher population ones tend to have more lag issues. Stopping after barely making it to the Lone Lands is a real travesty of a review since you technically have not even made it out of the beginner tutorial area, the true story and game really picks up when you hit around level 26-28 and head to the Trollshaws. Also, the entire game is FREE up until Minas Tirith now, so level 1 to 105 or so. You can also easily acquire LP (LOTRO Points) by doing deeds, progressing the story, and playing more than one character (Deed LP is PER character and per server, so say you have 5 characters on one server, clearing the deeds of the shire or bree can net you 1-2k LP easily)
It's up to Helm's Deep at level 95.
I loved LOTRO at some point. Its clanky and outdated but the lore is massive, and some locations rock (Shire, Barrowdowns)
I was almost convinced to play the game with you video, until 06:39. Now I'm not sure anymore if wanna start playing it 😭
I literally remember when this game came out it was like considered to have way better graphics than world of warcraft. Also there was a mode where you could play the bad guys and thats literally all I wanted to do.
I had a time experiencing these rubber banding issues in the past and about half a year ago I didn't experience them. Also the game has its built-in and optional HD Texture Pack when installing the game...Idk but your experience also with the small amount of people playing could be a realm-related issue. Means very low on population and therefore maybe less supported (would be a shame and unprofessional for an official server though...). I guess...come to the Belgaer Realm, install the HD Pack and let's play ;D
I've been playing LOTRO off and on since release and have yet to experience the rubber banding in this video.
In my one and a half year experience of playinf LotRO, I have NEVER purchased lotropoints with money, not even once. I bought a subscription for one month, because it gives you some REALLY good account-wide perks that *stay even after your subscription is over*. But lotropoints? Never. All of my lotropoints were earned in-game, by completing deeds on several characters, and that was enough for me to buy several character slots, a stoutaxe race, a brawler class and even a premium house and I had leftover. If you complete the deeds, you will never need to buy lotropoints.
That's all well and good but the constant reminder or feeling like you NEED to buy some as a new player for things like bags etc is the issue as opposed to whether you can earn them reasonably via in game activities. Most of the time, how somehing feels is more important than how it is or can end up esp when it comes to getting and retaining new players. I liken it to the importance of making a good first impression and the one waydot got here with the monetization was not a good one for him.
If you have VIP and buy all expansions with actual money, you dont need lotro points.
Never seen that lag bug you had, and I have played it on and off since 2007, rarely had any issue with the game during those years.
I have to say I was kind of taken back when I heard you picked 2 tradeskills, as that was something new to me. I feel like I played within the last 6 months and it was still a premade tradeskill groupings of 3 tradeskills that you had to pick from. Which always annoyed me since it initially launched years ago. As a person who has played this game when it initially launched as a subscription only game and played off and on as a free to play game, I have to agree with you on a lot of your review. The game felt so much better without any of these microtransactions in it at all, and unfortunately that will never be something that can be experienced again after the game didn't perform enough for Turbine and went F2P. I will say that the F2P model is one of the better ones that I have seen. If someone is dedicated enough they can earn the paid for currency by completing achievements, so earn it by playing the game. It's a LOT of work, but it is possible. I gave it a go once and was able to unlock a few zones with a ton of time sunk into achievement hunting. Annoyed with the reminders of the store and putting basic game features behind paid for currency.
You can now choose whatever 3 crafts you like. Or just all resource gathering ones.
@@EmeraldView that's a nice change
It also depends on what server you played. As an EU player I play on Evernight (though all the servers are physically located in the US, sometimes EU players have rubberbanding/lag issues worse than US players :P ) and it is pretty well populated for an old MMO. There are usually a lot of players around the Bree-area and you'll constantly see players run through the game at all levels (though not in all areas), so there are still a lot of new players and many old players have several alts. SSG is still making low-mid level content as well, by filling in blank areas of excisting maps or entire regions that was never covered in the past (like Cardolan, which only recently got an actual playable map). The issues you had can for sure be a bit annoying at times for sure, sometimes it can be REALLY bad, like the point where you played the clip of you discussing that very thing. And it sucks! Especially for new players checking the game out. And yeah, the pop-ups and referrals to the lotro store can be offputting (never had a free-to-play account myself, so I've not experienced it nearly as much as you have).
Other than that your assessment seems fair; it's a beatiful old-style MMO that has a LOT of details from the world of Middle Earth! There are so many great things about it, but there are also some issues. Too bad you couldn't progress further to see more of it. Maybe one day! :D
In MY opinion (I'm emphasizing this, so keep any hate for yourselves) , there are two main problems with MMOs...
1) The ever returning mobs and
2) having the feeling that nothing you do makes a difference and nothing changes in the game world.
Would be cool if they changed the areas / instances after completing certain quests (for example no more Orcs in an area that you have "cleared").
This does actually happen where Regions will have some spots that visually change after completing Quests.
However the "Mobs going away" aspect mostly boils down to one "leveling up" and being a high enough level where mobs no longer attack.
i am free to play, and loving it so much i might pay to play one day
Bro i played this game for a while with my potato laptop when it was freshly released ,it was so awesome and I am so happy to see it going even in 2024 ,I text this while watch Lord of The Rings right after finishing The Hobbit trilogy .
asking other lotro players here: do you experience rubber-banding as well? because i always HEAR about it, but honestly i've never experienced it being that bad? sometimes skills need a few seconds to load, but that usually stops after a few minutes at most. is it because i play in europe (germany)? is the server here better or something? im so sorry that it was that bad for yall, because ive been plaing lotro for 12 years (on and off) now and i would love for more people to play it....what a shame!
It's definitely there. It comes down to Personal Experiences.
If for example one really only plays LOTRO, they'd have no frame of reference how other Games, even ones as Old or Older than LOTRO, run better or seem to run better. It is an Ongoing Issues we've been dealing with for over a decade.
During your video you mentioned that there is a few ways to get lotro points to buy things in game. This is a very under spoken choice of words, there are tons of ways to get ingame coins throughout your journey. Just from playing the game i've had over 1500 coins just playing the game for free.
To be fair ... you don't have to buy a mount with real money. You just get it sooner if you do.
I was tanking threshold t3 4 years ago with 150 ping which was somewhat standard. If only current maintainers (not developers really) could get removed or quit the game entirely as they were the main reason I abandoned the game 3 years ago.
P.S. trailer for the gundabad expansion was lagging if I remember correctly.
if you sub i believe all the quests that you ran across that cost lotro points are free when ever i hop back in and am subbed i am not greeted with any quests like that if I'm remembering correctly except the one at the beginning when you got your mount.
I've been unable to play it on two different computers now because the launcher can't successfully update the game fully ugh
looks like the micro transactions become major transactions, watched your video after the game popped up on steam for me, As an ESO player it seemed like my kind of game, played shadow of mordor and shadow of war and loved them but I think i'll leave LOTRO alone.
thanks for the review 👍
LOTRO is easy to play for free and one of the best f2p models out there in my lengthy mmo experience.
Is this really the case? From the video I gather that VIP is almost mandatory. I find it very annoying that my inventory fills up every second in an MMO and I can't buy more space with in-game currency.
@@matiaszanini1087 Well, I haven't played in a few years but with a player home, a Kinship house and a couple of alts I always managed it somehow. Obtaining LOTRO points used to be pretty easy in game and I think it's still the same now. :)
The UI is unplayable for me on 4k Monitors. Its also not on the road map for 2024.
Dude has chicken legs for arms 😂
I'm enjoying your content very much, but one small thing that gripes me so far - and please do feel free to explain that I'm misunderstanding this! You have a really negative reaction, it seems, to any appearance of monetisation within the free to play games that you play. It comes across almost as if you don't appreciate that these games have to make money (in an increasingly difficult market) to survive. I don't mean to be rude. Definitely not - I'm just wondering what you actually expect?
Thanks man, glad you've been enjoying the videos! And I would actually disagree, in my star wars video or my bdo video for example (2 games well known for extensive over monetization), I actually hardly noticed the monetization as having a tangible effect on my gameplay. Monetization bothers me when its abrasive advertisement within game effects my current gameplay, or even worse when given made up problems in which the company attempts to sell me the solution e.g. inventory space / energy mechanics / tedious progression without boost etc.
I understand that free to play games need to monetize however we have prime examples of games that do this "right", Guild wars 2, SWTOR, FF14.. but there are also games which are much more in your face and friction filled, like in my opinion LOTRO, Runescape 3, Lost Ark etc.
Thank you very much for the thorough reply. I think it may be that I've just been 'unlucky' in that the videos of yours I've watched thus far have been exactly those ones you've mentioned (I started with your EQ2 video - as I think over my decades of playing MMOs, Everquest 2 probably has the pride of place in my heart for immersion and world building) so I suspect I got a slanted view of your opinion. I''ll take a look at your BDO video next, for comparision! Lotro is indeed clumsy with its monetisation but I suspect it's a lot to do with that being bolted on roughly over the years, often by different companies. If there's one thing you don't want touching your beloved game (as a developer) it's the corporate suits having a say in how things are done!@@Waydots
The world is awesome. The monetized nature of the game blows. It's what made me give up. Never mind the INCREDIBLY dated client.
lotro is a game from the by gone age of windows xp, set your .exe to that compatibility and it will run like it had to ;) rubberbanding still included...
Lol have played this game off and on for 15 years and never had issues you had. Might troubleshoot your network and/or find a server in the correct locale.
03:00 "Boost your Stats!" from the LOTRO Store = massive Pay to Win???
That is something that can happen but it is massively underwhelming and basically you only get enough stats from such that several items a character has at higher levels will easily equal or exceed.
22:53 O.O
Lots of people play completely ftp and never spend a penny! It is possible just bloody hard and you will never have endgame at release!
The one immutable fact of the contribution these games have and will continue to provide to the gaming universe is the reminder that predatory monetization is nothing new. So many people screech at games like BDO and others about their monetization, which I understand, but we can't forget that this is nothing new. WoW been doing it to a lesser degree for ages. Not to mention everquest.
Just don't play the game. It's that simple. I can't think of any game that employs heavy p2w monetization that has actually succeeded. They may still be around and have a player base of some size but nothing like what wow/FFXIV has achieved.
The lag on this game just get worse when you get into the end game, doing T3+ Raids and instances is simply the worst experience you can have when the server is on the worst days aka weekends.
The real problem with this game is basically SSG just want to milk the player base who love LOTRO and cant find another MMO of LOTR, the lag issues, abusing pay walls and p2w things its a problem that Daybreak and SSG just will never fix, you can open the forums and see posts from 2010 pointing the same problems. Its sad but if you want a good experience with LOTR MMO the best thing to do is just wait for Amazon MMO.
The money & time I’ve spent on this game 😢 unfortunately the lag killed it 3/4 years ago and haven’t played since ! Shame on you ssg
Play it in a window or use a vpn connected to a us server and the lag goes away.
i yearn to play but everytime i re download on steam it never works :(
Turbine? Don't forget Codemasters :)
Gothic 2 stile🎉
i think this game is quite good i have been playing it for a while its what i look for in an mmo most mmos are either too streamlined and linear or go to the opposite extreme and you are just aimlessly grinding and doing pvp it reminds me a lot of wow but these days wow is worse than this game .i rarely have server issues you had maybe i run into paywalls eventually but so far its optional
i fucking love this game, and i hope they won’t make a lotro 2 because the old graphics and gameplay of this game is the best part for me
There is a difficulty slider now, so you can set difficulty for landscape, and die from every boar. P.S. reading quests will increase immersion:)
That last part is the truest and best part of the game
Yeah you gotta do a video where to play higher difficulty
Tedium slider you mean
Would love it.
@@JPNT7
i wish more mmos had that because its hard to please everyone with difficulty most mmos make thing too easy
The game needs to be remastered with an overhaul UI
Agreed. I''m totally fine with the older graphic engine, but the UI is incredibly ugly.
The UI is fine.
@@Grimhart89 I agree that the UI is fine - it's functional and doesn't bother me - but it also could be far better. I think if the existing game just had a fresh coat of paint from a purely UI perspective - new artwork for loading screens, button and icon design, etc. - the game would look much more modern, and it would require little effort relative to the insurmountable task of upgrading the game engine.
When I first started playing, the visuals themselves actually impressed me more than I expected. It's the UI that does the most to make the game look old. Not sure but I think WoW did upgrade their UI as time went on for this very reason.
@@Grimhart89 The UI is complete fucking dogshit, my guy. The entire thing needs a top to bottom rework to be like WoW or FFXIV's. There is far too much esoteric information stuffed away in windows that could effortlessly be consolidated into something cohesive.
An art pass couldn't hurt either.
No. It objectively is not. Its a 240p low res image that is completely illegible on modern sysrems@@Grimhart89