LotR Online — Working for a Living
I plan on getting back in the blogging groove soon but right now I’m still getting re-accustomed to having a full time job. Dealing with PR, editing, assigning, and doing my own writing has put the blog on the back burner for the time being. Sorry about that.
I’m very happy that retired blogmate Todd Brakke is writing for GameShark now; his beta look at LotR Online is live today. I’m tempted to get that game — but do I want another Wow-type experience just because it’s set in Middle-earth? I think I’m just tired of that genre…until Warhammer comes out, anyway.
Dan will be starting a monthly column soon once we get the kinks worked out that is dedicated to Wii, XBL and PS3 downloadable content. That’s right in his wheelhouse. I wantto add a lot more original content to the site — a mod column, an MMO column, and so on.
Right now, there is nothing I can do about the shortcomings of GameShark’s layout. I know you can’t enlarge screens inside an article. I know the database is screwy and I know a lot of other stuff about the site design that needs fixed and/or enhanced. The good thing is that they are in the process of a pretty big overhaul that should make it more user-friendly.
GameShark has a built in advantage because they draw a lot of people to that site because of their codes. (Gameshark is about as popular as sites like Blue’s News, FiringSquad, etc.) so there is a ready-made audience already there. Most sites don’t have that luxury.
My job is help the site’s transition from the old look to the new and to help the content find its niche. That’s why blogging has been delayed…
April 23rd, 2007 at 10:43 am
LOTRO is not worth playing. The MMOification of the Tolkien world is a horrible sight to behold: a “living” world that is really no different from hundreds of other static, mechanical MMO environments.
- Walk outside a city and there are hundreds of things that amble around then try to kill you when you get close. Somehow, this is not how I pictured Middle-Earth to be, even during the end of the Third Age.
- Watch as geeky designers/writers paint a new smile on the mona lisa with their dialog and goofy quests. (My kinship was named “Elves Collecting Chickens” in honor of these quests.)
- Run across the entire world in an hour or less. It’s tiny.
- Heal, tank, nuke, crowd control. You’ve done this a million times already.
Remember all those “Lord of the Rings MMO” parodies that added LOTR names/places/flavor to the stereotypical MMO/MMO player base? Well, this game is pretty much exactly in line with those parodies. Zero imagination, zero originality, zero innovation.
April 23rd, 2007 at 10:55 am
Wow, it’s that small?
April 23rd, 2007 at 10:55 am
Neil,
You should say MMOs are not worth playing as you are clearly biased in that direction. If you don’t like MMOs that is fine, but tearing down LOTRO for being an MMO is kind of like hating on C&C3 for being an RTS.
April 23rd, 2007 at 11:01 am
Bill,
No it is not that small. Neil seems to have something against MMOs. Perhaps he found out the hot Night Elf he was cybering with was really a guy. That aside, LOTRO is not small. I have a few issues with the distance between famous landmarks like the Barrow Downs and Bree, but overall the size is good. Keep in mind they have the entirety of Middle Earth they can add. In June they are adding a whole new area as a free content upgrade. By the time they are done it’s gonna be freaking huge. Check out my site for details on the content update.
April 23rd, 2007 at 11:16 am
Well, I love Tolkien’s world, but if the game is basically just like every other MMO…or if it’s WoW but in The Shire, I dunno if that’s enough to sway me to pay a monthly fee. I already played WoW to death. I’ve already done that.
There is a fine line between ragging on a game in a genre because it’s too similar and banging on a game because it’s an MMO.
Knock-offs happen in every single genre and they usually get panned because of it.
Now, keep in mind that I haven’t played LOTR at all. It might be great. I have no idea. But there is certainly cause to ding a game for not bringing anything new to a a genre.
April 23rd, 2007 at 11:41 am
I played the Beta for a while and I found it to be pretty enjoyable, but it was pretty similar to World of Warcraft.
I’m not sure if I’ll be jumping into LOTRO, but it wasn’t as bad as Neil is making it sound.
April 23rd, 2007 at 11:45 am
Bill, you know I’m not an experienced WoW guy, but as is intimated in the beta preview, mechanically, the game -to me- plays out almost exactly like WoW. The main reason to play it is that that mechanic is either new to you (or you’re not tired of it) or because you’ve got a jones for Middle Earth.
From a gameplay perspective I think it has one asset (maybe only one) to differentiate it from WoW. The quests you do in LOTRO do make you feel like you’re participating in the events that unfold in the world. I only hung in there with WoW through about 12 levels or so, but I *never* had that feeling in WoW.
That said, if you (or anyone) are tired of the WoW formula, I doubt that alone will add enough to make it worth your while.
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:25 pm
I think Todd is spot on in his comments. There are a few new things in LOTRO. Monsterplay is new. Traits are unique and Destiny Points are also fairly novel.
That being said, I am a huge Lord of the Rings geek so that sways me greatly. The game mechanics are extremely similar to WoW and all other MMOs for that matter. It is a genre game set in Middle Earth. If you aren’t sick of the MMO genre then I think you will like it.
On a side note. Innovation in games is great, but a line exists where the innovation once it crosses that point turns the game into a new genre. There is nothing wrong with a game using an already established genre and doing it really well.
April 24th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
Yes, it is that small. It’s maybe 25% of WoW’s size when it was released.
I don’t have anything against MMOs in theory, and I’ve played pretty much all of the western ones. But nowadays they are pretty much all the same game with different skins. I put down the pre-order money on this ($10) and won’t be buying it.
Traits - wow, you get to choose +0.5% to this stat and +1.0% to another one. Or you can choose a different trait that gives you 1.0% to the first one and +0.5% to the second one. Call these sets of stats “Patience” or “Wisdom” or whatever. It’s basically WoW’s talent system with extra bonuses for grinding out kills/quests. Even if I was totally into stats and stat building, I wouldn’t be into stuff like this that barely does anything. It doesn’t make the gameplay any more interesting; in fact, it just encourages me to play in boring ways, killing certain monster types for hours, etc.
Destiny Points does the same kind of thing as “Favor” in one of the EQ expansions. Pretty much a direct rip, and it’s not even that good of a feature. So I can make myself run a little faster for 15 minutes by spending 2 levels’ worth of points. BFD.
The original idea behind MMOs is that you’re a part of a living, breathing world where you can go anywhere and do anything. What it’s ended up as is a dead, unchanging world where 5000 people slave away at dull, repetitive battles in order to build their characters’ power.
The only good thing about this game is the music playing system.
(Another guy plays rhythm on this one) - http://www.dancingrobotstudios.com/blog/files/lotr.mp3
(Solo) - http://www.dancingrobotstudios.com/blog/files/lotr3.mp3
April 24th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
Yeah, I admit of tiring of the grind grind grind theory of MMO design.