The Ancient Gaming Noob and Potshot have had a couple on interesting posts about LotRO and Why isn’t LotRO More Fun? (Or Why is WoW fun?). Based on my past experiences of having everyone I know that came from WoW head back to WoW except me, it got me to thinking. Why am I staying? Why do I enjoy Turbine’s take on Middle-earth so much?
Chief among my reasons for sticking with LotRO is the fact that it is set in Middle-earth. I first read The Hobbit at age 14. I was blown away. I loved the story of the plucky little Hobbit that had adventures and basically went where only the Big Folk were supposed to go. Lord of the Rings also held my imagination for a long while. In the DnD groups with my friends, we were essentially recreating the adventures of Bilbo and company but in our own stories.
Another reason I’m still around coincides with the first: I get to play a Hobbit - not some stunted elf wanna-be “halfling” or gnome, but a Hobbit. Some folks have suggested that the Hobbits Turbine created are not true to what Tolkien wrote about. I’m not sure what the detractors mean. They may not be true to what -I- imagined them looking like back when I was 14, but Turbine’s version is close enough to the description in the books for me.
Innovative gameplay is also present in LotRO. I like the fact that Turbine is working on finding fun ways to do the same old things. In WoW, I loathed the “Fed Ex” type quests (delivering something for someone – basically a thinly-veiled excuse to take up time and resources). In LotRO there are also “Fed Ex” quests but many became mini-games by themselves. Delivering mail from one post office in the Shire to another was a great deal of fun: grab the mail, plot your course, avoid nosey Hobbits, get the mail to the next post office under the time-limit. Good times. And it’s always neat to watch other Hobbits leaping fences, avoiding nosey Hobbits and running across rooftops to get their mail delivered. The Shire itself is pretty amazing.
I haven’t played every class available, but the Burglar class is exceptionally well done. The way the class functions feels very much like a Burglar in The Hobbit: not a warrior-type but able to win victories through cunning rather than brute force. As a stealth class, I like having options about how to complete quests. I have managed several times to sneak my way into areas and steal the quest objective out from under the mobs surrounding it. Just like any other class, I can choose to simply fight my way in as well if I have to. I abandoned my Champion at level 14 - too much button mashing for me. My guardian sits idle at 37 - well implemented class, but the need to fight everything all the time gets old. My hunter is also sitting at 32 - interesting class and I may pick it back up again.
I appreciate the subtlety of the game. George RR Martin and Tolkien have that in common. No Drizzits roaming around destroying everything with ease. The world is a bitch, you’re not the center of the universe and evil things can kick your ass if you’re not careful. Evil is not a cardboard cutout. Evil is not always the monster in the corner with the horns and pitchfork. Evil doesn’t walk around kicking puppies; it knows that puppies aren’t worth destroying. Games where there is cartoon evil are fine; it’s neat to blast the crap out of the slobbering zombie that keeps saying “braaaaainsss” over and over again; but Tolkien shied away from overt forms of magic to make it subdued, requiring great skill to learn and uncommon. Yes, it means you cannot appear god-like in LotRO but you can still create a viable Tolkienesque character without the uber-leet stuff that comes along with it.
With all the stuff above that I really like comes some stuff that could still use some work.
The combat system can be a bit unwieldy. I’m not suggesting that characters get radical new powers or anything, but combat in LotRO does seem to suffer a lot from lag times or unresponsiveness. If I hit an ability, it could fire off immediately (which is a surprise), after a slight delay (the norm) or after a long delay (which I dread). That changing wait-state until an ability goes off is rattling. Those precious seconds between action and execution could very well change my anticipated strategy for dealing with a mob’s behaviors. For example, if the mob is a healer, I will keep Addle (an interrupt for burglars) in reserve. Once the hands glow green, I’ll fire it off. If the ability doesn’t hit, I will need to know right away so I can use one of my stuns. A long lag time on my Addle means the mob could get their heal off. Or I could miss Addle (or the mob could resist the interrupt) in which case I would also have to wait for my stun to fire. Much of the time Addle works fine but there have been a few cases where Addle got resisted, I hit the stun but missed my chance to stop the heal due to the wait time between abilities.
The content is not lacking. The problem is the abilty to play the system. Whether you’re a die-hard roleplayer or not, you will have to engage in combat countless numbers of times as you move your character from 1 – 50 (the current level cap). That means I will use Addle and all my other abilities thousands of times in many different combinations as I move up. If the process of using my abilities is cumbersome, the game will have a lot of problems retaining people. A game system needs to provide good content, but a good system contributes enormously to a game’s longevity. It is safe to say that no matter how long the game lasts, if I lose interest in the combat moves I need to make time after time after time, I will probably reroll or stop playing.
So overall, LotRO is fun to me. The world alone makes it worth it to spend time there. It is my hope that Turbine will keep up with their innovative approach to game play, keep expanding the world available to players, keep coming up with better ideas with things for players to do and fix some of the issues with combat. LotRO hasn’t been around as long as WoW, so of course it’s less refined. Hundreds of thousands of users playing a game is better to weed out bugs than a couple hundred beta testers. When WoW first came out they had problem after problem with their servers, inventories not getting updated correctly and innumerable bugs to get fixed. WoW is the game it is today because of Blizzard’s diligence in fixing all those problems. The result is the excellent, polished game you see today. LotRO will get there in time.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Embracing Subtlety
Last night I completed two of my three legendary trait books for my burglar. And in the process of grinding for those traits, I dinged 46. As I mentioned previously, the trait books are class-specific books you can get around level 39. Getting all the pages for your book will get you some nice abilities. By completing my Expert’s Guide to Dirty Fighting, for example, I was able to equip a new skill called Expose the Throat which is another conjunction starter (see Fellowship Maneuvers). It’s a handy little skill and, though the miss rate is high, there is only a small cool-down and the comedy value of my little Hobbit leaping up to jab an orc in the neck makes it a keeper.
As I was grinding for pages with my new skill, I got to thinking about when the last time I had trained my Hobbit in any non-trade related skills. I couldn’t remember when the last time I had to train was. It seems like since level 40 (or 42?) I have visited the trainer a number of times but they haven’t had any skills for me to learn, making my new Expose the Throat skill the only new skill in however many levels. Compare this to WoW, where, even when you ding the max level, you have to go train to get your new skills.
I’m not sure which approach I like better. The LotRO way means that I get to work with the same skill set for the remainder of my gaming experience (and it’s not like a burglar is lacking for skills, I have a ton of them). The down side is that another level, is just another level. I get a new number over my head and get a teeny bit more powerful. The change is subtle in a game that seems to embrace subtlety. The WoW way results in a drive to the end so you can complete your skill list and become more able to deal damage / take damage / heal damage / whatever it is your class does. It is important to note, however, that most of the skills one gets at the end of training in WoW are just more powerful versions of skills one already has, a new rank of mortal strike for example, not brand new abilities.
Both games find ways to try to keep people playing: LotRO by extending the leveling process and in providing a large number of time-consuming means for improvements (book pages, other traits) and WoW by getting you to the cap quickly and then providing time-consuming means to improve your character via gear.
As I was grinding for pages with my new skill, I got to thinking about when the last time I had trained my Hobbit in any non-trade related skills. I couldn’t remember when the last time I had to train was. It seems like since level 40 (or 42?) I have visited the trainer a number of times but they haven’t had any skills for me to learn, making my new Expose the Throat skill the only new skill in however many levels. Compare this to WoW, where, even when you ding the max level, you have to go train to get your new skills.
I’m not sure which approach I like better. The LotRO way means that I get to work with the same skill set for the remainder of my gaming experience (and it’s not like a burglar is lacking for skills, I have a ton of them). The down side is that another level, is just another level. I get a new number over my head and get a teeny bit more powerful. The change is subtle in a game that seems to embrace subtlety. The WoW way results in a drive to the end so you can complete your skill list and become more able to deal damage / take damage / heal damage / whatever it is your class does. It is important to note, however, that most of the skills one gets at the end of training in WoW are just more powerful versions of skills one already has, a new rank of mortal strike for example, not brand new abilities.
Both games find ways to try to keep people playing: LotRO by extending the leveling process and in providing a large number of time-consuming means for improvements (book pages, other traits) and WoW by getting you to the cap quickly and then providing time-consuming means to improve your character via gear.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Community
This week, I have been working to promote my kinship’s event for a festival we are having on our server in LotRO. Many players enjoyed the Summer Festival Turbine did for us, so a couple of months ago, us players put together our own festival. It was a blast. We have tournaments (dueling), Monsterplay raids, parties, several RP events, a talent show (which I was part of) and other fun stuff. This time around, people seem to have lost interest. My race across Breeland (which I and others thought would be a fun idea) has gotten no takers. Moreover, the official thread for the event keeps getting buried on page two or three underneath the latest drama threads or other mindless crap.
Tobold’s had an interesting article about community in an MMO. He speculates that forums for the community aren’t really relevant to playing an MMO. I’m not sure. In spite of the troubles getting our festival started (which is more due to apathy than a bad community) I think the community sites help more than they hurt. Just like most forms of research on the Internet, you have to sift through a mountain of crap to find something valuable, but there are good peeps playing the game and posting on the forums. Good people read the forums whether they post or not. So the forums can serve as a tool outside of the game for like-minded people to at least get to know about each other.
Forums often seem like a magnet for the whiney or attention-starved morons that afflict video games with their presence, however, lost in the landslide of crap, there are smart people raising genuine concerns which could help improve a game. As Sanya brings up often in her blog, part of what good community managers do is sift through the junk to find the important or at least noteworthy stuff which they can then answer / take to other folks. The only way I see this happening easily and in mass is on a forum.
I have enjoyed the community team interaction with players from LotRO. They seem to have a genuine interest in the players and how to make the game fun. I am worried that they will place too much stock in the opinions of whiney little kids, but for the most part, they seem pretty well balanced.
So I'll tolerate the forum trolls and morons as long as I can get the occasional bit of useful info from the forums and as long as they provide a useful link between those outside the company building an MMO and those within. I just wish a couple of 'em would sign up for my bloody event. >_<
Tobold’s had an interesting article about community in an MMO. He speculates that forums for the community aren’t really relevant to playing an MMO. I’m not sure. In spite of the troubles getting our festival started (which is more due to apathy than a bad community) I think the community sites help more than they hurt. Just like most forms of research on the Internet, you have to sift through a mountain of crap to find something valuable, but there are good peeps playing the game and posting on the forums. Good people read the forums whether they post or not. So the forums can serve as a tool outside of the game for like-minded people to at least get to know about each other.
Forums often seem like a magnet for the whiney or attention-starved morons that afflict video games with their presence, however, lost in the landslide of crap, there are smart people raising genuine concerns which could help improve a game. As Sanya brings up often in her blog, part of what good community managers do is sift through the junk to find the important or at least noteworthy stuff which they can then answer / take to other folks. The only way I see this happening easily and in mass is on a forum.
I have enjoyed the community team interaction with players from LotRO. They seem to have a genuine interest in the players and how to make the game fun. I am worried that they will place too much stock in the opinions of whiney little kids, but for the most part, they seem pretty well balanced.
So I'll tolerate the forum trolls and morons as long as I can get the occasional bit of useful info from the forums and as long as they provide a useful link between those outside the company building an MMO and those within. I just wish a couple of 'em would sign up for my bloody event. >_<
Monday, September 17, 2007
Hrm ... so not I'm part of this whole Internet Meme thing.
Lessee here
Four jobs I have had in my life (not including my current job):
• Lawn Mower (a person that mows lawns, not the machine)
• Busboy
• Line Cook
• Inbound Call Rep
Four films I have watched again and again:
• Ronin
• 300
• The Italian Job
• Matrix 3 (those machines with guns for arms do it for me)
Four places I have lived:
• A house
• An apartment
• Another apartment
• Yet another apartment
Four Programs I love to watch:
• Samurai Jack
• Futurama
• Family Guy
• Learning Channel Specials
Four Places I have been on vacation:
• Orlando, FL
• Washington, DC
• A Buddhist Temple in the Catskills
• The Adirondack Mountains
Four of my favourite foods:
• Pizza
• Sweet and Sour Chicken at PF Chang's
• Steak
• Sub sandwiches at a local deli
Four favourite drinks:
• Beer (I've been on a Heieken kick lately, Corona is good and Labatts in a pinch)
• Coffee
• Earl Grey Tea
• Water
Four places I would rather be right now:
• Any place where I can see mountains
• Any place where I can hike in the woods and not see anyone.
• Someplace cooler than here but not so cold it's snowing.
• A quiet place by a lake.
Four People I Command to Do This:
• George RR Martin
• Peter Jackson
• Harrison Ford
• Uma Thurman
*Snrk* Yeah, like any of those people come here. :)
Lessee here
Four jobs I have had in my life (not including my current job):
• Lawn Mower (a person that mows lawns, not the machine)
• Busboy
• Line Cook
• Inbound Call Rep
Four films I have watched again and again:
• Ronin
• 300
• The Italian Job
• Matrix 3 (those machines with guns for arms do it for me)
Four places I have lived:
• A house
• An apartment
• Another apartment
• Yet another apartment
Four Programs I love to watch:
• Samurai Jack
• Futurama
• Family Guy
• Learning Channel Specials
Four Places I have been on vacation:
• Orlando, FL
• Washington, DC
• A Buddhist Temple in the Catskills
• The Adirondack Mountains
Four of my favourite foods:
• Pizza
• Sweet and Sour Chicken at PF Chang's
• Steak
• Sub sandwiches at a local deli
Four favourite drinks:
• Beer (I've been on a Heieken kick lately, Corona is good and Labatts in a pinch)
• Coffee
• Earl Grey Tea
• Water
Four places I would rather be right now:
• Any place where I can see mountains
• Any place where I can hike in the woods and not see anyone.
• Someplace cooler than here but not so cold it's snowing.
• A quiet place by a lake.
Four People I Command to Do This:
• George RR Martin
• Peter Jackson
• Harrison Ford
• Uma Thurman
*Snrk* Yeah, like any of those people come here. :)
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Various Ramblings
It’s been a while since I’ve posted, so here’s what’s going on for those who are interested or just morbidly curious.
WoW – closed down my account again. Most of my friends have moved on and it’s pretty much the same as I remember: meh. It’s a great game, but it’s one I’ve played already (at least as much as I care to). That will probably be my last foray into the World of Warcraft. Even with upcoming expansions, I can’t imagine wanting back in.
EQ2 – I dabbled in EQ2 a bit for the past month. It’s a neat game. Nicely done graphics, for the most part. I liked the animations. Once I had triggered a “heroic opportunity” (a special chain attack) the light-show was impressive. The seizure warnings on the box and in the game are apt. I dabbled in crafting and it seems they have some interesting ideas there.
As has been noted elsewhere, figuring out what things mean is a real challenge in the game. In the beginner island, there are many NPCs that will explain most of the abilities. However, it’s sorta like being handed a massive manual and being expected to read it cover-to-cover before it’s taken away for good. If you have problems outside beginner island, I’m not sure what players are supposed to do. Overall, EQ2 is a very well-done game but it has some gaping holes in it. I haven’t played it in a while and will let my free month expire.
LotRO – My Hobbit Burglar is now 45. I’m still enjoying LotRO. I’m happy that I didn’t race to the end and actually restarted my character when I realized I wasn’t as happy playing my other two (hunter and guardian). It seems like many of the people having problems enjoying LotRO are the power-gamer types that force themselves to pick a character and get to the end. Getting to the max level in LotRO is tough and if you’re not happy with your character at 30, the next 20 levels will be brutal.
Last night was mostly grinding. There are books in LotRO where, after your character is 39, you can begin collecting pages to get a couple of class-specific epic traits. I got all three of my books (one from a drop, one a kinshipmate gave me, and the last I bought on the auction house for a cheap 100 silver). Pages drop from different mobs. So you farm the mobs to get your pages. I didn’t mind grinding too much. I can burgle the humanoid mobs before killing them so I get some nice loot that way. The area I’m in is also somewhat challenging. Sometimes I’ll need to take out two or three baddies at a time. Or take down one and vanish before a patrol passes too close. I have three of the four pages I need from the Hillmen before moving on. I’ve also managed to get some nice items for kinshipmates and a lot of coin for the stuff I sold.
In other LotRO news: the kinship I’m in made me an officer. Obviously, they’re not readers here or the last thing they’d give me is power. :) Mu wu ha ha ha! Er … *cough* Since a lot of what I enjoy doing is coming up with unique ways to enjoy the game world, they made me the Events Coordinator. It’s been neat thus far. I made an event where we cleared out the orc fortress in the Weathered Hills just for yucks. People seemed to have a lot of fun with that even though my idea for an epic battle on the bridge leading into the fort didn’t pan out – the bloody orcs all reset before I could get them to group up on the bridge. It’s like herding cats attached to bungie cords: even if you get them where you want them, sooner or later *zoiiiing* back into the living room they go. At least my girlfriend wasn’t there to yell at me this time. Er … something. *shiftyeyes* (And for those reading with a sense of growing horror, no I don’t do that to cats.) So we took the orcs out in a rather silly, one-at-a-time manner.
Orc Captian: “We’re under attack!”
Underling: “Should we form a front at the bridge, the narrowest part of the entrance, to force the intruders away?”
Orc Captain: “Fool! That’s the first thing they’d expect! We need to keep milling about as if nothing is at all amiss! We’ll lure them in with our complacency! They’ll get cocky with their belief that they are in control. And then.…”
Underling: “We attack in a surprise move to push them from the fort?”
Orc Captain: “Umm … maybe. Ok, I haven’t worked that part out yet, but just stroll around until I do.”
My server has some server-wide events coming up soon as well. It’s been challenging coming up with an event (a race, in particular) and then figuring out all the rules and regs that need to go along with it. It would be nice to be able to assume that people of average intelligence and good hearts were playing, however one has to assume the worst. That or some jackass will map to the finish line and declare victory because “LOL U NVR SAID I CUDN;T, LAWL!!11” So most of what I have been working on is a rule set which should make it abundantly clear even to the extremely dense what it means to be in a race. Now that it’s all worked out, it should be a good time.
WoW – closed down my account again. Most of my friends have moved on and it’s pretty much the same as I remember: meh. It’s a great game, but it’s one I’ve played already (at least as much as I care to). That will probably be my last foray into the World of Warcraft. Even with upcoming expansions, I can’t imagine wanting back in.
EQ2 – I dabbled in EQ2 a bit for the past month. It’s a neat game. Nicely done graphics, for the most part. I liked the animations. Once I had triggered a “heroic opportunity” (a special chain attack) the light-show was impressive. The seizure warnings on the box and in the game are apt. I dabbled in crafting and it seems they have some interesting ideas there.
As has been noted elsewhere, figuring out what things mean is a real challenge in the game. In the beginner island, there are many NPCs that will explain most of the abilities. However, it’s sorta like being handed a massive manual and being expected to read it cover-to-cover before it’s taken away for good. If you have problems outside beginner island, I’m not sure what players are supposed to do. Overall, EQ2 is a very well-done game but it has some gaping holes in it. I haven’t played it in a while and will let my free month expire.
LotRO – My Hobbit Burglar is now 45. I’m still enjoying LotRO. I’m happy that I didn’t race to the end and actually restarted my character when I realized I wasn’t as happy playing my other two (hunter and guardian). It seems like many of the people having problems enjoying LotRO are the power-gamer types that force themselves to pick a character and get to the end. Getting to the max level in LotRO is tough and if you’re not happy with your character at 30, the next 20 levels will be brutal.
Last night was mostly grinding. There are books in LotRO where, after your character is 39, you can begin collecting pages to get a couple of class-specific epic traits. I got all three of my books (one from a drop, one a kinshipmate gave me, and the last I bought on the auction house for a cheap 100 silver). Pages drop from different mobs. So you farm the mobs to get your pages. I didn’t mind grinding too much. I can burgle the humanoid mobs before killing them so I get some nice loot that way. The area I’m in is also somewhat challenging. Sometimes I’ll need to take out two or three baddies at a time. Or take down one and vanish before a patrol passes too close. I have three of the four pages I need from the Hillmen before moving on. I’ve also managed to get some nice items for kinshipmates and a lot of coin for the stuff I sold.
In other LotRO news: the kinship I’m in made me an officer. Obviously, they’re not readers here or the last thing they’d give me is power. :) Mu wu ha ha ha! Er … *cough* Since a lot of what I enjoy doing is coming up with unique ways to enjoy the game world, they made me the Events Coordinator. It’s been neat thus far. I made an event where we cleared out the orc fortress in the Weathered Hills just for yucks. People seemed to have a lot of fun with that even though my idea for an epic battle on the bridge leading into the fort didn’t pan out – the bloody orcs all reset before I could get them to group up on the bridge. It’s like herding cats attached to bungie cords: even if you get them where you want them, sooner or later *zoiiiing* back into the living room they go. At least my girlfriend wasn’t there to yell at me this time. Er … something. *shiftyeyes* (And for those reading with a sense of growing horror, no I don’t do that to cats.) So we took the orcs out in a rather silly, one-at-a-time manner.
Orc Captian: “We’re under attack!”
Underling: “Should we form a front at the bridge, the narrowest part of the entrance, to force the intruders away?”
Orc Captain: “Fool! That’s the first thing they’d expect! We need to keep milling about as if nothing is at all amiss! We’ll lure them in with our complacency! They’ll get cocky with their belief that they are in control. And then.…”
Underling: “We attack in a surprise move to push them from the fort?”
Orc Captain: “Umm … maybe. Ok, I haven’t worked that part out yet, but just stroll around until I do.”
My server has some server-wide events coming up soon as well. It’s been challenging coming up with an event (a race, in particular) and then figuring out all the rules and regs that need to go along with it. It would be nice to be able to assume that people of average intelligence and good hearts were playing, however one has to assume the worst. That or some jackass will map to the finish line and declare victory because “LOL U NVR SAID I CUDN;T, LAWL!!11” So most of what I have been working on is a rule set which should make it abundantly clear even to the extremely dense what it means to be in a race. Now that it’s all worked out, it should be a good time.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
LoTRO: Book Ten
Book Ten – The City of Kings is here in LoTRO. I haven’t had a chance to see all the changes yet. Most appealing to me is the new reputation system. WoW has done it already, but LoTRO’s take on it seems promising. As a Hobbit, I ran out to the Shire to start getting rep quests for the Mathom House. They changed the MH itself so it’s now a building that can be entered with the right amount of rep. I remember thinking what a waste of building space it was to have a building that large in the Shire that you couldn’t enter, so I’m looking forward to getting enough rep that I can see what’s in there. Rep quests also exist for groups of rangers, Men, Elves, Dwarves and a couple groups I’m sure I’m forgetting.
There was a lot of buzz on the Burglar forums about how horrible the Burglar changes would be. Turbine implemented a change to Counter Defense making it a percent debuff instead of a total nullification of the block and parry chances and also a change to decrease the power and effectiveness of different conjunctions. The Counter Defense changes didn’t make much difference that much that I could tell. The mobs usually take the debuff in such a way that they can’t block or parry anyway. With regard to the conjunctions, my kinship also ran the last chapter in Book Five last night (fighting a very tough boss) which involved alternating YYYYYY (a very large damage over time effect) and GGGBBB (massive heal, heal over time and near-total power restore for the whole group). It was a very long fight but he conjunctions made it a lot easier and we all lived. The text from the listed changes, however, states that the nerfs would apply to “high end” conjunctions. Perhaps our simple color patterns aren’t “high end” enough? That or the outcome of the changes wasn’t that pronounced.
And, sorry burglars, the swim speed bug has been fixed. No more speedy swim for you. :) It was fun while it lasted, but right is right and it was a bug. Thank GAWD I am no longer questing in Evendim. Given the travel times with normal swimming, if Turbine proposed putting in a catapult which would fire me to the other side of the lake but kill me in the process, I'd take it as long as I could rez where I landed.
Overall, I’m excited to see more of the changes, including the new zone of Annúminas, some of the legendary play changes in the Ettenmoors and, of course, chicken play.
In other news, while I am still enjoying LoTRO, I have reopened my WoW account. LoTRO leveling is slooooow and sometimes it's just nice to fire bomb stuff ala WoW rather than the more subdued combat option LoTRO has. I'm still in LoTRO, but I'll be working on my Ally hunter (and yes, he's a nelf) to see Outlands from the Ally side of things.
There was a lot of buzz on the Burglar forums about how horrible the Burglar changes would be. Turbine implemented a change to Counter Defense making it a percent debuff instead of a total nullification of the block and parry chances and also a change to decrease the power and effectiveness of different conjunctions. The Counter Defense changes didn’t make much difference that much that I could tell. The mobs usually take the debuff in such a way that they can’t block or parry anyway. With regard to the conjunctions, my kinship also ran the last chapter in Book Five last night (fighting a very tough boss) which involved alternating YYYYYY (a very large damage over time effect) and GGGBBB (massive heal, heal over time and near-total power restore for the whole group). It was a very long fight but he conjunctions made it a lot easier and we all lived. The text from the listed changes, however, states that the nerfs would apply to “high end” conjunctions. Perhaps our simple color patterns aren’t “high end” enough? That or the outcome of the changes wasn’t that pronounced.
And, sorry burglars, the swim speed bug has been fixed. No more speedy swim for you. :) It was fun while it lasted, but right is right and it was a bug. Thank GAWD I am no longer questing in Evendim. Given the travel times with normal swimming, if Turbine proposed putting in a catapult which would fire me to the other side of the lake but kill me in the process, I'd take it as long as I could rez where I landed.
Overall, I’m excited to see more of the changes, including the new zone of Annúminas, some of the legendary play changes in the Ettenmoors and, of course, chicken play.
In other news, while I am still enjoying LoTRO, I have reopened my WoW account. LoTRO leveling is slooooow and sometimes it's just nice to fire bomb stuff ala WoW rather than the more subdued combat option LoTRO has. I'm still in LoTRO, but I'll be working on my Ally hunter (and yes, he's a nelf) to see Outlands from the Ally side of things.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
LoTRO: Misc Stuffs
I’ve been having a lot of fun just goofing off on my Hobbit Burglar lately. I got him to 35 and passed his pony quest, so I’ve just been riding around and kicking the bejezus out of any mob that’s on my list of mobs for traits. I leveled so quickly as a Burglar that many of my traits are under-powered. I’ve been hunting mobs (mainly spiders, wolves, orcs and goblins) to get some better stats. How can this be fun? I make it my own little game. I’ve taken it as a chance to explore more. A couple of days ago, I killed spiders in Bindbole Woods (way north of Hobbiton). The day before yesterday, it was in Midgewater Marsh where I also decided to take down goblins. Yesterday, it was Ered Luin where it snowed much of the time. In addition to exploration, I try to come up with more creative ways to kill mobs. Trip one, trick and stun one and try to kill them both before the stuns wear off. I also PvP-dance around trying to fire off skills while moving. Problem is, in Ered Luin, most of the mobs die really quickly, so sometimes I’ll keep dancing around while I look for another target. Yes, it looks somewhat silly. Especially when I realize a lowbie has been following me asking for directions for several minutes while I’ve been going ape-s$#t beating up a level-8 spider.
In spite of my current in-game project (Stabbing Things in Exotic Locations), I have also managed to get close to level 37. I’m progressing in levels because I still do the occasional quest worth actual xp AND an in-game friend of mine is hell-bent on completing book 4 in his mid-thirties. I have a hard time saying no to friends that want to drag me off on their adventures so, of course, I went with him. It’s been a rough ride. Last night, I got to evasion-tank a level 42 elite (I’m level 36). The mob was bright red and didn’t like the gall of some silly Hobbit stabbing him in the ankles. Fortunately, we had a top-notch minstrel and a tank that saw the wee Hobbit running in circles, arms flailing, so I didn’t have to keep aggro that long. One of the frustrating things for me is getting the group to coordinate on conjunctions. Conjunctions* are new to most of the people I was grouped with so it took some effort just to pull off a GGGBBB let alone a nice named one like Chill of Bone (GYYYYB) or March of the Ents (GRRRRB) or some of the more complicated ones. Something we need to work on.
In other news, my kinship (not mine but the one I was in) imploded. The leader apparently decided that our mind-reading skills were inadequate to know that he was unhappy so he nuked the kinship and took down the website. I logged in yesterday to find myself without a kinship as did the rest of us. Fortunately, a few officers banded together, reformed the kinship and within ten minutes of logging in, I was back with my online family again. They’re really good peeps and it was amazing watching how quickly things got back to normal for us. There was a lot of encouragement from the other kinships on the server too.
During the course of things, we got to talking about how unfortunate it was that one person (the designated leader) could destroy the kinship without taking into account what the people in it wanted. It got me to thinking about the grouping (groups / fellowships as well as guilds / kinships) dynamics of most MMOs. Most will assume there is one person in charge and that they and only they get to promote / demote people. There is little room for democracy (i.e.: everyone voting on a leader) or some other dynamics. If a group of two people meets a group of three people all on the same quest, it would be nice if the two groups could merge together instead of disbanding one and waiting for and invite. The current system (absolute control of one person) probably cuts down on a lot of chatter and bickering that could otherwise ensue (“ok, folks, we’re now in hour seven of the loot rules debate, bathroom break for 15 minutes then we’ll deal with the light-hide conundrum …”), but it would be neat to see some more options possible.
* Conjunctions in LoTRO are events that can trigger deliberately (via burglar skills or a guardian skill) or they can also fire off at random. A color wheel will appear and each person can choose a color. So if you need a heal, you can click green (G). Direct damage is red (R). Damage over time is yellow (Y) and more power (think mana) is blue (B). While each person can select their own color, selecting a pattern of colors gets a more powerful result. GYYYYB (Chill of Bone), for example, will result in a heal over time for the whole group, a large damage-over-time effect on the target mob, power restoration and the target will have their movement and attack speed reduced. The blue player will also summon a ghost to fight for you.
In spite of my current in-game project (Stabbing Things in Exotic Locations), I have also managed to get close to level 37. I’m progressing in levels because I still do the occasional quest worth actual xp AND an in-game friend of mine is hell-bent on completing book 4 in his mid-thirties. I have a hard time saying no to friends that want to drag me off on their adventures so, of course, I went with him. It’s been a rough ride. Last night, I got to evasion-tank a level 42 elite (I’m level 36). The mob was bright red and didn’t like the gall of some silly Hobbit stabbing him in the ankles. Fortunately, we had a top-notch minstrel and a tank that saw the wee Hobbit running in circles, arms flailing, so I didn’t have to keep aggro that long. One of the frustrating things for me is getting the group to coordinate on conjunctions. Conjunctions* are new to most of the people I was grouped with so it took some effort just to pull off a GGGBBB let alone a nice named one like Chill of Bone (GYYYYB) or March of the Ents (GRRRRB) or some of the more complicated ones. Something we need to work on.
In other news, my kinship (not mine but the one I was in) imploded. The leader apparently decided that our mind-reading skills were inadequate to know that he was unhappy so he nuked the kinship and took down the website. I logged in yesterday to find myself without a kinship as did the rest of us. Fortunately, a few officers banded together, reformed the kinship and within ten minutes of logging in, I was back with my online family again. They’re really good peeps and it was amazing watching how quickly things got back to normal for us. There was a lot of encouragement from the other kinships on the server too.
During the course of things, we got to talking about how unfortunate it was that one person (the designated leader) could destroy the kinship without taking into account what the people in it wanted. It got me to thinking about the grouping (groups / fellowships as well as guilds / kinships) dynamics of most MMOs. Most will assume there is one person in charge and that they and only they get to promote / demote people. There is little room for democracy (i.e.: everyone voting on a leader) or some other dynamics. If a group of two people meets a group of three people all on the same quest, it would be nice if the two groups could merge together instead of disbanding one and waiting for and invite. The current system (absolute control of one person) probably cuts down on a lot of chatter and bickering that could otherwise ensue (“ok, folks, we’re now in hour seven of the loot rules debate, bathroom break for 15 minutes then we’ll deal with the light-hide conundrum …”), but it would be neat to see some more options possible.
* Conjunctions in LoTRO are events that can trigger deliberately (via burglar skills or a guardian skill) or they can also fire off at random. A color wheel will appear and each person can choose a color. So if you need a heal, you can click green (G). Direct damage is red (R). Damage over time is yellow (Y) and more power (think mana) is blue (B). While each person can select their own color, selecting a pattern of colors gets a more powerful result. GYYYYB (Chill of Bone), for example, will result in a heal over time for the whole group, a large damage-over-time effect on the target mob, power restoration and the target will have their movement and attack speed reduced. The blue player will also summon a ghost to fight for you.
Friday, August 10, 2007
LoTRO Journal: 8.8.2007
My Burglar hit 34 last night making him one level away from getting his pony. He’s been in Evendim for a bit now in addition to some Trollshaws and the
Though this is my third time in Evendim, I’m not tired of it (except for the travel distances – swimming across the giant lake in the middle of the map gets old fast). It’s familiar enough that I’m not lost all the time but still unfamiliar enough that I’m finding new things.
I also got invited by some upper-level kinship mates to go on one of their upper-level romps through an instance. Sadly, I’m not even sure what the place is called (for those in the know, it’s the instance with the blue lady and the giant turtle boss). Most of what I remember is how ineffective I was at level 33. I had fun running around with the crew but for all intents and purposes, they five-manned it with a short guy (me) that just kinda poked things with knives on occasion. Unlike many of the instances I’ve been in thus far, this instance didn’t seem to be that long. We were in there a couple hours tops and the people I was with seemed to know where they wanted to go.
Monday, August 06, 2007
Wrath of the Whatever
Zoso has an interesting post on MMO Musings about the Wrath of the Lich King expansion coming for the World of Warcraft. While I’d love to get psyched about it, I just can’t. It’s ten more levels of ten more levels and then we’re off to the same old content bottlenecks that got me out of WoW in the first place. Zoso’s post and a similar one in Melmoth’s Inferno pretty much sum up my emotions about many of the titles around today or due out in the future: meh. Being in what is now my third MMO (LotRO), I’m having a hard time getting handed the same old leveling crack in a shiny new wrapper and trying to act excited about it. Were LotRO in something besides Tolkien’s world of Middle-earth, I think I’d probably not be playing that either.
What we need is some kind of paradigm shift in the MMO genre. Why must MMOs all be level-based? I’m tired of leveling. I’m tired of NPCs that stand stock still to spew forth quests / dispense loot like some kind of anthropomorphic vending machines. I’m tired of running through a zone where I quested before and seeing that nothing has changed at all. “You mean to tell me that I killed all those damned wargs and you still have a warg problem? Did no one follow up on my hard work?”
We need new ways of implementing what Sid Meier defined as a good game: “… a series of interesting decisions.” I’d like to see worlds that, when I pass through a zone I’ve already been in it could still be different. The worlds need to change. As PvP objectives fall, the zone control changes. Or make it similar to Oblivion, events unfold which open the way for more events. Gates for the demon army open up. Demons could turn the area into an invasion zone. Close the gates and they go away (but can pop up somewhere else). Decisions about what to fight and where would lead to consequences. Ok, save the town by the stream to preserve the water-supply but the city in the center of your supply routes to the North could fall.
Quests could be worth credits (or gold or whatever) which would then be spent on armor / weapon upgrades thus relieving the need for the same quest NPC to hand out the same quest and there-by the same items. The available quests could change but the credit amounts for the area would be the same (IE: the warg problem we had has been resolved but now there’s all these dead wargs all over the place so here’s your shovel and corpse-handling gloves … ok, maybe something more fun, but you get the idea).
A world that was changing would also be a world worth exploring. Even a zone you have been to will be different when someone else is in charge of it. And if there were “hidden” facets to the world (secret entrances, areas that become accessible / inaccessible due to natural calamities / player actions, you could go past a place you’re seen before but which has changed significantly).
And while I'm in full-out babble mode, I’d like to see a crafting system which actually felt like a crafting system rather than an exercise in watching character animations.
I think I’ve ranted enough for one day. *pauses for cheering* Long story short, I think until MMOs get over the slump they’re in, LotRO will be the last for a while. I won’t be getting the WoW expansion or heading back there any time soon. I don't think the changes the industry needs will be easy but nothing worth doing is.
What we need is some kind of paradigm shift in the MMO genre. Why must MMOs all be level-based? I’m tired of leveling. I’m tired of NPCs that stand stock still to spew forth quests / dispense loot like some kind of anthropomorphic vending machines. I’m tired of running through a zone where I quested before and seeing that nothing has changed at all. “You mean to tell me that I killed all those damned wargs and you still have a warg problem? Did no one follow up on my hard work?”
We need new ways of implementing what Sid Meier defined as a good game: “… a series of interesting decisions.” I’d like to see worlds that, when I pass through a zone I’ve already been in it could still be different. The worlds need to change. As PvP objectives fall, the zone control changes. Or make it similar to Oblivion, events unfold which open the way for more events. Gates for the demon army open up. Demons could turn the area into an invasion zone. Close the gates and they go away (but can pop up somewhere else). Decisions about what to fight and where would lead to consequences. Ok, save the town by the stream to preserve the water-supply but the city in the center of your supply routes to the North could fall.
Quests could be worth credits (or gold or whatever) which would then be spent on armor / weapon upgrades thus relieving the need for the same quest NPC to hand out the same quest and there-by the same items. The available quests could change but the credit amounts for the area would be the same (IE: the warg problem we had has been resolved but now there’s all these dead wargs all over the place so here’s your shovel and corpse-handling gloves … ok, maybe something more fun, but you get the idea).
A world that was changing would also be a world worth exploring. Even a zone you have been to will be different when someone else is in charge of it. And if there were “hidden” facets to the world (secret entrances, areas that become accessible / inaccessible due to natural calamities / player actions, you could go past a place you’re seen before but which has changed significantly).
And while I'm in full-out babble mode, I’d like to see a crafting system which actually felt like a crafting system rather than an exercise in watching character animations.
I think I’ve ranted enough for one day. *pauses for cheering* Long story short, I think until MMOs get over the slump they’re in, LotRO will be the last for a while. I won’t be getting the WoW expansion or heading back there any time soon. I don't think the changes the industry needs will be easy but nothing worth doing is.
LoTRO Journal: 8.06.2007
Last week the friend of mine that originally got me into the Lord of the Rings Online informed me that he too was returning to the World of Warcraft. Thus it has come to pass that every single person I know that went to LoTRO from WoW has returned. His complaints about LoTRO as well as the complaints from my other friends that left all got me to thinking about what it is that WoW has the LoTRO doesn’t. It has been gnawing on me for some time as well. I have been enjoying my time in LoTRO and will not be returning to WoW since I’ve really done all I care to in the game. WoW is a great game, but the fun for me runs out quickly once I reach a level cap.
So what is it about LoTRO that is different? Most of the complaints I have heard thus far have to do with the level of refinement in LotRO verses WoW. WoW is a very polished game. At this point, most of the stuff in the game happens because that’s exactly what Blizz wants to happen. The look of things, the way a combat animation appears, what happens when character x interrupts ability y to do action z and so forth. LotRO has a number of things that, while not broken in an I’ll-quit-the-game-if-it’s-not-fixed way, are not right.
Take the number of stackable debuffs on guardians, for example. Animals can wound a guardian such that they cannot block, evade or parry blows. Blocking and parrying attacks open up reactionary attacks for a guardian. Remove those, and a guardian can only use a handful of low-damage attacks and auto-attacks. Add to that the relative expense of leveling a guardian and it has become an undesirable class for many people to play. My burglar can also get hit with all three debuffs but I really don’t care much since all my abilities would still be available, I’d just take more damage for a bit.
There are some map / image oddities. For example, last night I was swimming around in the lake in Evendim (with my burglar where there’s a bug that if you swim stealthed you actually move at running speed – yet another glitch). Near the fortress at the southern end of the lake, I noticed a giant seam down the middle of the lake. The waves on one side are moving out of synch with the waves on the other side. Some things seem out of place, like the large statue of a king on the Kingspan in Evendim. It took away from the epic feel of the place to see something I could make out of Lego blocks.
Mob placement issues abound. Using a mount is next to worthless in some areas due to the presence of stealth mobs that can unhorse you in a single hit. Too many of these mobs are actually on the roads. There’s another glitch with swarms of locusts following players out of the farm areas in Evendim and all over the map until the player kills them or the guards pick them off. Even then, there are ways into town without passing any guards, so there are random clumps of locusts in some spots or piles of dead ones lying around town.
Quests are inadequately or inconsistently labeled. I have easily soloed some quests labeled group quests and have needed a full group for others that I could supposedly do solo. The sheer number of group quests is a problem too. Many players want to create an level one character, so if they advance along with the rest of the server, they can do all the quests. New people or those that roll a lot of alts, such as myself, tend to have to abandon the group quests because there’s not enough people around to bother with them.
In summary, LotRO’s problems aren’t one huge, game-breaking thing. It’s more like a death of a thousand cuts. Each little problem or bug makes the game less fun and more frustrating to the point where people are walking away to more polished games like WoW. The good news is that LotRO is still young. WoW has been around for two-and-a-half years now. I believe it’s DAoC that has been around for ten? (Or maybe I’m thinking of Ultima Online?) There are still people playing Everquest one. LotRO is only a couple months old, post-beta. They will fix or change things for the better including the anomalies and content issues. Expansions are in the works. LotRO will improve.
The question is will Turbine manage to implement the fixes before they lose too many people? I suspect that the really trying time for LotRO will be when the Age of Conan and Warhammer Online come out. There are still a lot of WoW refugees in LotRO – people that got tired of WoW and may be willing to try anything new to find their next game to play. If the problems with LotRO persist, they may be tempted to make a permanent move to another game.
I have high hopes that LotRO will pull out of the problems and make as a great and as engaging a game as WoW or EQ or CoH. Time will tell.
So what is it about LoTRO that is different? Most of the complaints I have heard thus far have to do with the level of refinement in LotRO verses WoW. WoW is a very polished game. At this point, most of the stuff in the game happens because that’s exactly what Blizz wants to happen. The look of things, the way a combat animation appears, what happens when character x interrupts ability y to do action z and so forth. LotRO has a number of things that, while not broken in an I’ll-quit-the-game-if-it’s-not-fixed way, are not right.
Take the number of stackable debuffs on guardians, for example. Animals can wound a guardian such that they cannot block, evade or parry blows. Blocking and parrying attacks open up reactionary attacks for a guardian. Remove those, and a guardian can only use a handful of low-damage attacks and auto-attacks. Add to that the relative expense of leveling a guardian and it has become an undesirable class for many people to play. My burglar can also get hit with all three debuffs but I really don’t care much since all my abilities would still be available, I’d just take more damage for a bit.
There are some map / image oddities. For example, last night I was swimming around in the lake in Evendim (with my burglar where there’s a bug that if you swim stealthed you actually move at running speed – yet another glitch). Near the fortress at the southern end of the lake, I noticed a giant seam down the middle of the lake. The waves on one side are moving out of synch with the waves on the other side. Some things seem out of place, like the large statue of a king on the Kingspan in Evendim. It took away from the epic feel of the place to see something I could make out of Lego blocks.
Mob placement issues abound. Using a mount is next to worthless in some areas due to the presence of stealth mobs that can unhorse you in a single hit. Too many of these mobs are actually on the roads. There’s another glitch with swarms of locusts following players out of the farm areas in Evendim and all over the map until the player kills them or the guards pick them off. Even then, there are ways into town without passing any guards, so there are random clumps of locusts in some spots or piles of dead ones lying around town.
Quests are inadequately or inconsistently labeled. I have easily soloed some quests labeled group quests and have needed a full group for others that I could supposedly do solo. The sheer number of group quests is a problem too. Many players want to create an level one character, so if they advance along with the rest of the server, they can do all the quests. New people or those that roll a lot of alts, such as myself, tend to have to abandon the group quests because there’s not enough people around to bother with them.
In summary, LotRO’s problems aren’t one huge, game-breaking thing. It’s more like a death of a thousand cuts. Each little problem or bug makes the game less fun and more frustrating to the point where people are walking away to more polished games like WoW. The good news is that LotRO is still young. WoW has been around for two-and-a-half years now. I believe it’s DAoC that has been around for ten? (Or maybe I’m thinking of Ultima Online?) There are still people playing Everquest one. LotRO is only a couple months old, post-beta. They will fix or change things for the better including the anomalies and content issues. Expansions are in the works. LotRO will improve.
The question is will Turbine manage to implement the fixes before they lose too many people? I suspect that the really trying time for LotRO will be when the Age of Conan and Warhammer Online come out. There are still a lot of WoW refugees in LotRO – people that got tired of WoW and may be willing to try anything new to find their next game to play. If the problems with LotRO persist, they may be tempted to make a permanent move to another game.
I have high hopes that LotRO will pull out of the problems and make as a great and as engaging a game as WoW or EQ or CoH. Time will tell.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
LOTRO – Switching Gears
True to my alt-rolling, flip-flopping ways, I have placed both of my primary “main” characters on the back-burner and rolled a Hobbit Burglar. My Human Guardian and my Hobbit Hunter are fun but I got a little tired of only having them as options. So I rolled a class I hadn’t tried since Open Beta … and I’m loving it!
To put my Burglar to the test, I visited some ruins in the Weathered Hills. The mobs there were the same level or slightly above my level at the time. Some of them are also elites. Were they to catch me at my sneaking, I would be dead fairly quickly. I managed to get all the way inside the fortress, picking pockets all the way. I had to take out one non-elite guard who was standing in a doorway (which was pretty tense as there is an elite patrol in the room he was guarding and another elite mob standing just inside the room). I took him out and re-stealthed without incident. It was a blast! And I was hooked.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
LOTRO Journal 7.10.2007
Tired of grinding Hillmen for the Man racial heal, I switched over to my hunter and finally got him to 30 last night. I got a couple neat new abilities and my level thirty class quest.
*** Hunter Level Thirty Class Quest Spoiler and Man / Hobbit Intro Quest Spoiler From Here Till The End ***
I role-play a lot with my hunter and have even gone so far as to create an origin story for him. In my story, my Hobbit deals with a vicious warg threatening Overhill and in the process finds out that he likes adventuring and realizes the need for good people to fight against the evils in Middle Earth, hence the reason he’s an adventurer and not one of the many Hobbits sitting around in taverns while Evil is spreading. The level thirty hunter quest was a real treat for me, since defending Overhill against a warg attack is exactly what I ended up doing! I had to fight off a warg boss and his buddies and defend the quest NPC in the process. The whole Overhill area is recreated right down to the NPCs I needed to warn to get into their little Hobbit homes because the wargs are coming!
Unfortunately, as much as I enjoyed the quest, now I’m caught in something of a bind: keep my story at the risk of being told that I stole the idea from the class quest or come up with a new one. Since I won’t be making money off the story, I doubt Turbine would care one way or the other, it’s more the appearance of impropriety I’m concerned about. *sigh* I had a really kick-ass story too. :(
One thing I think Turbine nailed in LOTRO is the process of getting the player involved in the world the have created. For example, Men and Hobbits share the same introductory area of Archet. It starts as a normal, somewhat boring town. In the instanced event which moves you from the tutorial into the game world, you will watch as Archet burns. If you’re a human, you enter the world in the destroyed town of Archet, giving the player the feeling that you were a part of a history that everyone can now witness. “I was in Archet before it became the ruin you see before you.”
The feeling of being involved with the world is the same in the level thirty Hunter quest. The same NPCs are there that you’d see in Overhill if you went there in the normal game world. In the quest instance, you get to interact with them to warn them to get into the safety of their homes. You end up standing with the quest NPC in an empty town square (all of the Hobbits are hiding thanks to your warning). After you have defended the town and completed the instance, you can still return to Overhill in the game world, but it will have a certain new sense of significance: the Hobbits there are carrying on normally thanks to you. (It would be interesting to see if Turbine added phrases to the NPCs about your aid in the defense of the town similar to the way fellow Bounders will greet you if you’re a Bounder.) It’s one of those things in LOTRO that keeps me coming back for more. I may not be Gandalf or Aragorn, but my characters are heroes and play critical parts in the world.
*** Hunter Level Thirty Class Quest Spoiler and Man / Hobbit Intro Quest Spoiler From Here Till The End ***
I role-play a lot with my hunter and have even gone so far as to create an origin story for him. In my story, my Hobbit deals with a vicious warg threatening Overhill and in the process finds out that he likes adventuring and realizes the need for good people to fight against the evils in Middle Earth, hence the reason he’s an adventurer and not one of the many Hobbits sitting around in taverns while Evil is spreading. The level thirty hunter quest was a real treat for me, since defending Overhill against a warg attack is exactly what I ended up doing! I had to fight off a warg boss and his buddies and defend the quest NPC in the process. The whole Overhill area is recreated right down to the NPCs I needed to warn to get into their little Hobbit homes because the wargs are coming!
Unfortunately, as much as I enjoyed the quest, now I’m caught in something of a bind: keep my story at the risk of being told that I stole the idea from the class quest or come up with a new one. Since I won’t be making money off the story, I doubt Turbine would care one way or the other, it’s more the appearance of impropriety I’m concerned about. *sigh* I had a really kick-ass story too. :(
One thing I think Turbine nailed in LOTRO is the process of getting the player involved in the world the have created. For example, Men and Hobbits share the same introductory area of Archet. It starts as a normal, somewhat boring town. In the instanced event which moves you from the tutorial into the game world, you will watch as Archet burns. If you’re a human, you enter the world in the destroyed town of Archet, giving the player the feeling that you were a part of a history that everyone can now witness. “I was in Archet before it became the ruin you see before you.”
The feeling of being involved with the world is the same in the level thirty Hunter quest. The same NPCs are there that you’d see in Overhill if you went there in the normal game world. In the quest instance, you get to interact with them to warn them to get into the safety of their homes. You end up standing with the quest NPC in an empty town square (all of the Hobbits are hiding thanks to your warning). After you have defended the town and completed the instance, you can still return to Overhill in the game world, but it will have a certain new sense of significance: the Hobbits there are carrying on normally thanks to you. (It would be interesting to see if Turbine added phrases to the NPCs about your aid in the defense of the town similar to the way fellow Bounders will greet you if you’re a Bounder.) It’s one of those things in LOTRO that keeps me coming back for more. I may not be Gandalf or Aragorn, but my characters are heroes and play critical parts in the world.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Guilds
As I mentioned in a previous post, my LoTRO guild (kinship) was falling apart. We all came to LoTRO from the same guild in WoW. Some of the people, I've known for over a year now. One of our members returned to WoW, another wrote in to tell us she wasn't going to be around hardly at all. This left myself and another person in the guild as "regulars." The other person is also going through school and won't be on that much. So essentially, it was just me. After much thought, I decided to leave the guild I was in and join a more populated one. I spoke with the remaining member and they were ok with my decision and we still have each other on our friends lists so it's not like we're breaking all ties.
The whole episode got me to thinking about why we join guilds (kinships, supergroups, whatever ... they're all "guilds" to me even though the names are sometimes different). Zoso had an interesting series of posts on his blog about kinships and associations in video games. The game theory parts were actually quite interesting, especially the part about the iterative prisoner's dilemma. Over a possibly infinite course of successive runs of an activity where selfish behaviors will gain temporary advantages, cooperative behaviors were much more beneficial over the long-term. Guilds can then function as repositories of memory: people guilded a long time will, in theory, be those that work with each other for mutual support in a cooperative fashion rather than individuals only out for themselves. Hence the reason why PUGs are usually terrible and guild runs of an instance are much more enjoyable from an effort-v-reward point-of-view.
While the game theory certainly describes the material interests one may have in a guild and perhaps the motivations for many players in joining one, it doesn't quite hit the mark for me. I do enjoy the "security" in running an instance with guildmates. However, I also enjoy the sense of togetherness being in a guild holds. Even when I'm soloing, I enjoy chatting with guild mates about, well, just about anything. Sports, women, games, tv, why brand x sucks and brand y is great. I find it enjoyable when I can talk to people I know (even just on-line) about problems in my life or theirs. I like people that make me laugh and those that laugh at my jokes, even though most of my jokes are a) stupid or b) stolen from Seinfeld or The Simpsons. It's nice to have a group with whom I can just chill without the petty oneupsmanship nonsense that occurs with too many gamers where the anonymous nature of the Internet ensures they won't be getting the punch in the mouth they deserve. It's kind of like a "safe zone" where you can relax because you're among friends even if you're not doing something with them right at the moment.
So I was very sorry to see my guild go away. I have since joined a new guild and am still in the getting-to-know-you stages. They seem like ok peeps to me and I think I'll like it there. But I still miss my old friends too.
The whole episode got me to thinking about why we join guilds (kinships, supergroups, whatever ... they're all "guilds" to me even though the names are sometimes different). Zoso had an interesting series of posts on his blog about kinships and associations in video games. The game theory parts were actually quite interesting, especially the part about the iterative prisoner's dilemma. Over a possibly infinite course of successive runs of an activity where selfish behaviors will gain temporary advantages, cooperative behaviors were much more beneficial over the long-term. Guilds can then function as repositories of memory: people guilded a long time will, in theory, be those that work with each other for mutual support in a cooperative fashion rather than individuals only out for themselves. Hence the reason why PUGs are usually terrible and guild runs of an instance are much more enjoyable from an effort-v-reward point-of-view.
While the game theory certainly describes the material interests one may have in a guild and perhaps the motivations for many players in joining one, it doesn't quite hit the mark for me. I do enjoy the "security" in running an instance with guildmates. However, I also enjoy the sense of togetherness being in a guild holds. Even when I'm soloing, I enjoy chatting with guild mates about, well, just about anything. Sports, women, games, tv, why brand x sucks and brand y is great. I find it enjoyable when I can talk to people I know (even just on-line) about problems in my life or theirs. I like people that make me laugh and those that laugh at my jokes, even though most of my jokes are a) stupid or b) stolen from Seinfeld or The Simpsons. It's nice to have a group with whom I can just chill without the petty oneupsmanship nonsense that occurs with too many gamers where the anonymous nature of the Internet ensures they won't be getting the punch in the mouth they deserve. It's kind of like a "safe zone" where you can relax because you're among friends even if you're not doing something with them right at the moment.
So I was very sorry to see my guild go away. I have since joined a new guild and am still in the getting-to-know-you stages. They seem like ok peeps to me and I think I'll like it there. But I still miss my old friends too.
Monday, June 25, 2007
LoTRO Journal: 6.25.2007
Well, level 35 at last for my guardian! Woo! Went and got me my horse right after dinging ... sorta ... kinda. And yet not. In WoW, once you hit level 40, you bought your riding training and then your mount. There was no questline (unless you're a Warlock or a Paladin). I went through the one on my Paladin and it was a cake-walk (if not a little silly):
Newly-40 Paladin: "Hi, I'd like a horse."
Quest NPC: "Really? That's great! Talk to me again and I'll give you a horse!"
Newly-40 Paladin: "Hi, I'd like a horse."
Quest NPC: "A horse? Sure! Here you go!"
I'm not sure why you have to ask twice. :) I'm also not sure what the Warlock one is like ... probably similar to the demon-training quests, I'm guessing.
Some people on the LoTRO forums were rather upset about the horse quest. Most of the upset people didn't like the fact that you had to quest for a horse at all. "I made it to 35! I deserve it!" Other than the frustrations of the first course of segments, overall I liked the idea of the quest for the mount. The ending is rather fun even if you have to redo it and it gave me a certain sense of accomplishment to actually have a horse outside the "I leveled! Gimme!" context.
* ~~ Spoilers ahead about the horse quest!! ~~ *
In LoTRO, once you get to 35, you head on over to the Bree Horsefields and talk to the horse trainer there. But you need to SHOW him that you can handle a horse. The first run is simple enough: deliver a horse to the Bree stable master. You're on a timer (channeled like the mail quests) and you need to follow a certain path to get to your destination. The problem is that the paths are not all that clear. The first quest (to the stable master in Bree) is no problem. I rode south from the horse farm and then rode in the North Gate of Bree to the stable master. Then I took a horse to Trestlebridge to get back (the stables are on the way, so I'd jump off there). And here's where it gets interesting.
The next one is to deliver a horse to Michael Delving (sp) in the Shire. I got my horse, reviewed the map, plotted a course and away I went ... to fail in the middle of a field. I tried that route a second time (heading southwest across country) and failed again. I reviewed the quest text. It said something about following my "course" but it didn't say what my course was supposed to be. So I tried again, this time staying on the road. After each failure I had to run back to the horse master to try again or head to Bree and take the fast horse again. I failed again shortly before Adso's camp and then called it a night.
The next day, I stuck to the road ... right in the middle of the road. No variation at all. I also passed through the intersection outside Bree until I got the text saying I was there BEFORE I made the right-hand turn to head down the road towards the Shire. Long story short: success! I took a fast horse back.
The last delivery quest was to Orthikar (sp) in the North Downs. Once again I passed.
The last part is to show you can ride fast. You race around the circle track around the farm. This part was actually the fun part that made the other frustrating bits not that bad to me. You need to think like a racer. It will be close regardless of how well you ride and the section of track on the far side gets confusing. Just remember: it's the gates in the correct order and under the time limit that will win, not how well you follow the path.
The good news is that the race occurs on the farm where the horses are, so redoing this piece is easy.
Newly-40 Paladin: "Hi, I'd like a horse."
Quest NPC: "Really? That's great! Talk to me again and I'll give you a horse!"
Newly-40 Paladin: "Hi, I'd like a horse."
Quest NPC: "A horse? Sure! Here you go!"
I'm not sure why you have to ask twice. :) I'm also not sure what the Warlock one is like ... probably similar to the demon-training quests, I'm guessing.
Some people on the LoTRO forums were rather upset about the horse quest. Most of the upset people didn't like the fact that you had to quest for a horse at all. "I made it to 35! I deserve it!" Other than the frustrations of the first course of segments, overall I liked the idea of the quest for the mount. The ending is rather fun even if you have to redo it and it gave me a certain sense of accomplishment to actually have a horse outside the "I leveled! Gimme!" context.
* ~~ Spoilers ahead about the horse quest!! ~~ *
In LoTRO, once you get to 35, you head on over to the Bree Horsefields and talk to the horse trainer there. But you need to SHOW him that you can handle a horse. The first run is simple enough: deliver a horse to the Bree stable master. You're on a timer (channeled like the mail quests) and you need to follow a certain path to get to your destination. The problem is that the paths are not all that clear. The first quest (to the stable master in Bree) is no problem. I rode south from the horse farm and then rode in the North Gate of Bree to the stable master. Then I took a horse to Trestlebridge to get back (the stables are on the way, so I'd jump off there). And here's where it gets interesting.
The next one is to deliver a horse to Michael Delving (sp) in the Shire. I got my horse, reviewed the map, plotted a course and away I went ... to fail in the middle of a field. I tried that route a second time (heading southwest across country) and failed again. I reviewed the quest text. It said something about following my "course" but it didn't say what my course was supposed to be. So I tried again, this time staying on the road. After each failure I had to run back to the horse master to try again or head to Bree and take the fast horse again. I failed again shortly before Adso's camp and then called it a night.
The next day, I stuck to the road ... right in the middle of the road. No variation at all. I also passed through the intersection outside Bree until I got the text saying I was there BEFORE I made the right-hand turn to head down the road towards the Shire. Long story short: success! I took a fast horse back.
The last delivery quest was to Orthikar (sp) in the North Downs. Once again I passed.
The last part is to show you can ride fast. You race around the circle track around the farm. This part was actually the fun part that made the other frustrating bits not that bad to me. You need to think like a racer. It will be close regardless of how well you ride and the section of track on the far side gets confusing. Just remember: it's the gates in the correct order and under the time limit that will win, not how well you follow the path.
The good news is that the race occurs on the farm where the horses are, so redoing this piece is easy.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
LOTRO Journal 6.21.2007
Last night I got my Human Guardian within spitting distance of 33. Then it’s two more levels and I’ll be able to get a mount! Money-wise I’m almost there too. Three gold and change right now and, the way I’ve been selling metals on the AH, I should be able to get there no problem. My Hobbit Hunter has been on hold and is still 26 but I’m looking forward to playing him again soon. The thing I try to do with my “main” and “alts” is keep them far enough apart in levels so I don’t do some content on my alt that I just completed on my main. That would get old fast.
*dreamfade*
Main: Warg 997 dead … warg 998 dead … warg 999 dead … 1000! Wooo!
*logs off main*
*logs on alt*
*talks to quest contact*
Alt: “Kill 1000 wargs?!?! #$%#!!!!”
*end dreamfade*
In other news, my kinship is falling apart. (Yeah, this post is kind of an emotional rollercoaster ride.) Granted, there are five of us in the guild with only three of us on regularly, so it doesn’t take a lot to derail the thing. I could open up recruiting, however, with so few people in the guild, it would be like inviting people into a ghost town. I have been looking for other guilds we may be able to merge with also. Sadly, while we’re similar enough to enjoy being in the same kinship, we can’t seem to agree on a guild to get into. Meanwhile, one of our most regular members has left LoTRO and returned to WoW. She will be missed.
I’ve been debating returning to WoW also, but haven’t yet been able to bring myself to do it. At the end of the day, WoW is still just WoW. It’s a great game and was a lot of fun. I still recommend it to friends of mine that are looking for a new game but haven’t played it yet. But 2.5 years of the same stuff over and over has prompted me to move on. 2.5 years is the longest I’ve played any game, beating the old record (1 year for Heavy Gear 2) by a whole year and a half. Like I said: it is a great game, but it’s a game I’ve played already. No game lasts forever and no game holds someone’s interests forever.
*dreamfade*
Main: Warg 997 dead … warg 998 dead … warg 999 dead … 1000! Wooo!
*logs off main*
*logs on alt*
*talks to quest contact*
Alt: “Kill 1000 wargs?!?! #$%#!!!!”
*end dreamfade*
In other news, my kinship is falling apart. (Yeah, this post is kind of an emotional rollercoaster ride.) Granted, there are five of us in the guild with only three of us on regularly, so it doesn’t take a lot to derail the thing. I could open up recruiting, however, with so few people in the guild, it would be like inviting people into a ghost town. I have been looking for other guilds we may be able to merge with also. Sadly, while we’re similar enough to enjoy being in the same kinship, we can’t seem to agree on a guild to get into. Meanwhile, one of our most regular members has left LoTRO and returned to WoW. She will be missed.
I’ve been debating returning to WoW also, but haven’t yet been able to bring myself to do it. At the end of the day, WoW is still just WoW. It’s a great game and was a lot of fun. I still recommend it to friends of mine that are looking for a new game but haven’t played it yet. But 2.5 years of the same stuff over and over has prompted me to move on. 2.5 years is the longest I’ve played any game, beating the old record (1 year for Heavy Gear 2) by a whole year and a half. Like I said: it is a great game, but it’s a game I’ve played already. No game lasts forever and no game holds someone’s interests forever.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Design Standards 2: A Tale of Missing Pants
Relating to my previous post about developing design standards, is the following amusing story. I spent a lot of time playing WoW in the past and, more recently, LoTRO. So when I fired up my Oblivion game for giggles, I had to get used to the interface again. Hitting the spacebar next to a horse, will not make me jump over the horse (like WoW or LoTRO), I would steal the horse. Jump is the “r” key; the spacebar is the “use item” key. Also Oblivion’s inventory is one giant list. You are not restricted by “bag space” per se but the weight of the items you are carrying. Equipped items are in the same space as non-equipped items but they are highlighted in gray and all items appear as available items to sell when you’re talking to a merchant.
Well, my bags were loaded up after one adventure to some eleven ruins, so I headed to town and sold stuff. When I ventured out again, I noticed I was taking a lot more damage than usual. As it turns out, I had accidentally sold the pants I was wearing. There I was, a dark elf assassin in a neat-looking helm, gnarly chest protector, fancy gloves and boots carrying a large shield and sword … with my gangly green legs sticking out of the bottom of my chest piece. And the funny thing is, as realistic-acting as the NPCs are, none of them so much as batted and eye at me as I walked on my way out of town without my pants. Then again, they may have recognized me as the hero who closed an Oblivion gate and decided I could be allowed some eccentricities.
So developing design standards for MMOs are probably a good thing if for no other reason than that you won’t accidentally sell your pants. Which reminds me: I still have to return that horse I stole.
Well, my bags were loaded up after one adventure to some eleven ruins, so I headed to town and sold stuff. When I ventured out again, I noticed I was taking a lot more damage than usual. As it turns out, I had accidentally sold the pants I was wearing. There I was, a dark elf assassin in a neat-looking helm, gnarly chest protector, fancy gloves and boots carrying a large shield and sword … with my gangly green legs sticking out of the bottom of my chest piece. And the funny thing is, as realistic-acting as the NPCs are, none of them so much as batted and eye at me as I walked on my way out of town without my pants. Then again, they may have recognized me as the hero who closed an Oblivion gate and decided I could be allowed some eccentricities.
So developing design standards for MMOs are probably a good thing if for no other reason than that you won’t accidentally sell your pants. Which reminds me: I still have to return that horse I stole.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
More Shores of Evendim stuff
After playing last week and this week in the new zone and content, I have to say that I’m still pretty impressed. As I’ve mentioned before, the things that really make a zone for me are the topographical variation and lots to do. Well, Evendim has plenty of both. There are beaches, forested areas, plenty of ruins, a large variety of mobs and several quests that really advance the story and make me feel like my character is involved in the world events in Middle Earth. The other day, I ran around with a kinship mate and we stomped on salamanders and took out a bunch of thugs to get some quest items. It was pretty fun. We even survived what could have been a couple of really nasty pulls and respawns. My only gripes about the expansion are the high respawn rates (though those were explained on the LoTRO forums as necessary due to the large influx of players to the new content) and some of the wound debuffs on my Guardian.
Guardians need to be able to block or parry to activate their special skills. Guardians are also only able to tank because of their increased block and parry chances over, say, a Champion which wears the same armor type and can also carry a shield. There are a couple new wound debuffs which remove the block or parry chances and sometimes both together, thus making a Guardian basically a low-dps Champion. Many Guardian players voiced their discontent on the LoTRO forums so we’ll have to wait and see what happens.
Guardians need to be able to block or parry to activate their special skills. Guardians are also only able to tank because of their increased block and parry chances over, say, a Champion which wears the same armor type and can also carry a shield. There are a couple new wound debuffs which remove the block or parry chances and sometimes both together, thus making a Guardian basically a low-dps Champion. Many Guardian players voiced their discontent on the LoTRO forums so we’ll have to wait and see what happens.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
LOTRO Journal 6.13.2007: Shores of Evendim
Last night was the big patch / expansion for the Shores of Evendim in the Lord of the Rings Online. It took quite a while to download the patch which took up a big chunk of my play time. I’m thinking that my friends are correct in admonishing me to get bit torrent.
Once I was finally able to log in, I pretty much bee-lined the new zone: Evendim. Very nicely done! I didn’t have a lot of time to quest or explore but I enjoyed my little run through of the content. It appears that there should be doable quests in the zone starting around level 25 or so. I enjoyed the varied topography (it even has a beach!) and the mob variety seemed interesting (some are identical to what we’ve seen before though there are some new ones). I’m looking forward to my adventures there!
Other changes in the content patch were a lot of minor icon changes and some interface changes. All the little changes are much appreciated. Stable masters you haven’t visited will have glowing icons over their heads. The font on the names had been reduced. There is an /rp on flag which will not only lable you as a roleplayer (which it did before) but also change your name text.
In other news, my Human Guardian finally hit 30! I’m loving my new bow skills. No more body-pulling for me. I’ll probably wrap up some more North Downs quests before heading over to Evendim. Seems like everyone is in Evendim, so finding mobs in other zones should be less problematic. Tonight, I may log in as my Hobbit Hunter to take advantage of the Farming profession changes.
Once I was finally able to log in, I pretty much bee-lined the new zone: Evendim. Very nicely done! I didn’t have a lot of time to quest or explore but I enjoyed my little run through of the content. It appears that there should be doable quests in the zone starting around level 25 or so. I enjoyed the varied topography (it even has a beach!) and the mob variety seemed interesting (some are identical to what we’ve seen before though there are some new ones). I’m looking forward to my adventures there!
Other changes in the content patch were a lot of minor icon changes and some interface changes. All the little changes are much appreciated. Stable masters you haven’t visited will have glowing icons over their heads. The font on the names had been reduced. There is an /rp on flag which will not only lable you as a roleplayer (which it did before) but also change your name text.
In other news, my Human Guardian finally hit 30! I’m loving my new bow skills. No more body-pulling for me. I’ll probably wrap up some more North Downs quests before heading over to Evendim. Seems like everyone is in Evendim, so finding mobs in other zones should be less problematic. Tonight, I may log in as my Hobbit Hunter to take advantage of the Farming profession changes.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Ripoff or Developing Design Standards?
One of the charges often leveled at LoTRO is that it is a WoW clone or a ripoff. I’m not so sure. Yes, many of the icons look similar and function similarly. Bags, for example, function in a similar way and are even in the same location on WoW’s and LoTRO’s toolbars. The combat system is similar as well: clicking special attacks in between auto-attacks. Thus the charges by many WoW players (and not a few fanbois) that LoTRO is just a WoW ripoff. I think that what we may be seeing here is not necessarily a ripoff but possibly the creation of standards of interface design for MMORPGs. Something similar continues to occur in the web development marketplace.
Web design is based on HTML. HTML is very flexible about how you create a web page, yet good web designers need to adhere to some common design tactics. Ever notice that most navigation links for a web site are along the top or the left-hand side of the page? A designer can technically place those navigation links anywhere on the page that HTML will allow them to go, but they are usually at the top or left. Using theories of Interaction Design, web designers create their sites to be user-friendly. The user should be able to use a site and the site’s tools without having to think about how to use the site itself (See Don’t Make Me Think for an example of intuitive design theory.
Rather than ripping off other games, what we may be seeing is a development of MMORPG standards. Perhaps someday you’ll be able to pick up a new game and know as soon as you log in how that basic parts of the game work. Opening bags, using items, equiping items, etc will all be industry standards. The changes that would occur from game to game would relate to class distinctions (like how a WoW hunter and a LoTRO hunter are different), content distinctions (such as storylines and map areas) and content improvements (LoTRO’s Hobbit FedEx quests for delivering mail, for example). Perhaps with some standards in place for basic game-play, the MMORPG industry could focus more on creating cool encounters and content.
Web design is based on HTML. HTML is very flexible about how you create a web page, yet good web designers need to adhere to some common design tactics. Ever notice that most navigation links for a web site are along the top or the left-hand side of the page? A designer can technically place those navigation links anywhere on the page that HTML will allow them to go, but they are usually at the top or left. Using theories of Interaction Design, web designers create their sites to be user-friendly. The user should be able to use a site and the site’s tools without having to think about how to use the site itself (See Don’t Make Me Think for an example of intuitive design theory.
Rather than ripping off other games, what we may be seeing is a development of MMORPG standards. Perhaps someday you’ll be able to pick up a new game and know as soon as you log in how that basic parts of the game work. Opening bags, using items, equiping items, etc will all be industry standards. The changes that would occur from game to game would relate to class distinctions (like how a WoW hunter and a LoTRO hunter are different), content distinctions (such as storylines and map areas) and content improvements (LoTRO’s Hobbit FedEx quests for delivering mail, for example). Perhaps with some standards in place for basic game-play, the MMORPG industry could focus more on creating cool encounters and content.
LOTRO Journal: 6.5.2007
Last night I did MPvP for the first time in a long time. I've done it before, but not since several people on my server had gotten to 50 (the current level cap). When I arrived, all the bases had been taken for the Free People. When I left, they belonged to the bad guys again! Yay, badguys! :) It was neat to be in a raid with all those orcs, wargs and spiders attacking the bases. We had a great raid leader too and *gasp* most of the raiders listened to him!
My experience raiding in the Ettenmoors was a lot different from the zerg v zerg garbage that went on in WoW. Perhaps it's the maturity of LoTRO's target audience, but it seems like a better environment in general if you prefer not feeling like an underpaid babysitter without 'fridge privileges. There's a lot that I still like about WoW, but the average maturity of the player base ain't on the list of likables. There are kiddie morons in LoTRO as well, but they don't seem to stay long and tend to have the volume turned down when they stay.
In other news, a recent post by Tobold about grouping in MMORPGs got me to thinking about the group v solo thing with MMORPGs. Personally, I like the freedom afforded by soloing a lot. It's nice to wind down after work by getting lost in the Lone Lands or the North Downs for a couple hours. It's also nice to be able to pack up and leave when I want to. As I've discussed elsewhere, playing alone in a MMORPG isn't necessarily anti-social or silly. There are times when I leave a zone specifically because there are too many group quests and not enough solo ones. This happened to me in the Lone Lands: I have about eight group quests and can't find any soloable ones. Now I feel compelled to wait until my guildmates are on to work on the group ones.
The reason I'll be waiting for my Kinship mates is because I can pursue other avenues to get xp. The North Downs is a neat zone with a lot of solo content available, so I've been questing there. But what if there weren't solo content available? What if I HAD to group to get something done in the game? The consequences of forced-grouping systems the Tobolds points out in his article are interesting: if you're a known asshat, you won't get groups and you won't level. Blacklisting a player in a game like Everquest has serious consequences for a player. In WoW, even the biggest ass on the server can still get to 70. There's no push towards following the norms of behaviour in a game if you can have everything in the game without following the rules. Perhaps LoTRO's grouping system is a decent balance between the no-group-no-level approach of EQ and the no-pressure system of WoW. Perhaps the grouping system in LoTRO is also partly responsible for the playerbase's maturity? The last statement may be a stretch since I think the subject matter attracts more mature gamers than the grouping construct.
Cool idea I'll never be able asked about by industry insiders: build in a reputation system for players to rate other players. Each person (account) only gets one vote. You can mod someone up if there are a good player / person, or mod them down if they're an idiot. Being on people's ignore lists mods you WAY down. So when you're putting together that PUG, you could see a potential player's mod rating and decide whether you want to chance inviting them or whether you'll take a pass.
My experience raiding in the Ettenmoors was a lot different from the zerg v zerg garbage that went on in WoW. Perhaps it's the maturity of LoTRO's target audience, but it seems like a better environment in general if you prefer not feeling like an underpaid babysitter without 'fridge privileges. There's a lot that I still like about WoW, but the average maturity of the player base ain't on the list of likables. There are kiddie morons in LoTRO as well, but they don't seem to stay long and tend to have the volume turned down when they stay.
In other news, a recent post by Tobold about grouping in MMORPGs got me to thinking about the group v solo thing with MMORPGs. Personally, I like the freedom afforded by soloing a lot. It's nice to wind down after work by getting lost in the Lone Lands or the North Downs for a couple hours. It's also nice to be able to pack up and leave when I want to. As I've discussed elsewhere, playing alone in a MMORPG isn't necessarily anti-social or silly. There are times when I leave a zone specifically because there are too many group quests and not enough solo ones. This happened to me in the Lone Lands: I have about eight group quests and can't find any soloable ones. Now I feel compelled to wait until my guildmates are on to work on the group ones.
The reason I'll be waiting for my Kinship mates is because I can pursue other avenues to get xp. The North Downs is a neat zone with a lot of solo content available, so I've been questing there. But what if there weren't solo content available? What if I HAD to group to get something done in the game? The consequences of forced-grouping systems the Tobolds points out in his article are interesting: if you're a known asshat, you won't get groups and you won't level. Blacklisting a player in a game like Everquest has serious consequences for a player. In WoW, even the biggest ass on the server can still get to 70. There's no push towards following the norms of behaviour in a game if you can have everything in the game without following the rules. Perhaps LoTRO's grouping system is a decent balance between the no-group-no-level approach of EQ and the no-pressure system of WoW. Perhaps the grouping system in LoTRO is also partly responsible for the playerbase's maturity? The last statement may be a stretch since I think the subject matter attracts more mature gamers than the grouping construct.
Cool idea I'll never be able asked about by industry insiders: build in a reputation system for players to rate other players. Each person (account) only gets one vote. You can mod someone up if there are a good player / person, or mod them down if they're an idiot. Being on people's ignore lists mods you WAY down. So when you're putting together that PUG, you could see a potential player's mod rating and decide whether you want to chance inviting them or whether you'll take a pass.
