LOTRO, Secret World, & Rift with an End-Game View
Interesting News Day for Turbine and LOTRO
Two news items from regarding LOTRO today.
I will admit, I was surprised to see PC Gamer’s announcement about LOTRO being their MMO of the year for 2010 as I was expecting either STO or WoW based on the previous buzz. But like I mentioned over on Stratics, I think it is more then just the game they’re looking at.
The other item which I’m really curious about is the “scavenger hunt†that seems to be building anticipation for either the new raid or Isengard. It has been confirmed via twitter that at least 2 of them are live – so the race is on!
Darn you Turbine for de-railing my leveling and reputation grinds!
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Which is probably why it doesn't bother me... And usually when I kick off LOTRO, since it takes […]
Tolkien’s work and world, and how Turbine translated them into a MMO give the game an edge over the competition, as does the still breathtaking graphics style. I wish I could say the same about the animations and some early armors that look like shirts, but all in all, this world has a lot of appeal and style.
That’s what many other MMOs simply do not have. While I like Guild Wars, there are people who don’t like the looks. There are people who are fed up with comic style a la WoW as well. Right now in terms of somewhat natural/realistic looks, Rift and and LOTRO really have breathtaking and immersive environments.
Then think of the class mechanics. Wardens, Champions, Runekeepers, Hunters and the other classes as well – a LOTRO player might take it as a given, but “Fervour”, “Focus”, “Gambits” and “Attunement” are interesting and diverse class mechanics that other MMOs don’t feature in that way.
Then the smooth and super successful F2P conversion… I doubted it, but it worked out wonderfully.
Then Turbine has the smartest community managers in the industry as well. We know them and we know the others, none are as smart and professional as Turbine’s CMs. IMO, ofc, but I think its pretty obvious.
I think they might do even better if they revamp some low level content. For veterans killing 300 Wargs or Hillmen does not seem much, for a new player it is frustrating. Selling acceleration deeds or virtues in the shop is a bit too much nickle and dime and letting players pay to get away from parts of the design that is frustrating them is likely to backfire, IMO. Later on killing Orcs in Moria or kill deeds in Enedwaith or Mirkwood – they are done while you are questing, en passant. This is not true for the early virtue grinds, some of them are VERY grindy and frustrating, even now that skirmishes often speed up some kill deeds.
Then think of other MMOs – besides WoW and GW which is not for everyone (I love GW, as everyone knows) there is a heap of low quality bullshit. I want to mention STO, it is very special and thus might be interesting for Trekkies and those who want another kind of MMO.
But for everyone else – right now they have the choice between Rift and LOTRO. Or stick with WoW, for whatever reason.
2011 brings SWTOR, Rift, GW2… let’s see who will be around when the dust settles! I don’t think that LOTRO will become the big winner, but I am 100% sure it won’t be among the losers.