Thread: Does the story get better?

I know many hold the story as one of the high points behind lotro but I am not seeing it. I have played in the past, not far though, just before the game went f2p and left in the confusion. I came back and am giving it another go with a friend. We have just left the first area where you level up to about level six; being both of us human. Most of the time I would read the quests aloud since I prefer to read that way and he didn't mind. I tried to get into the story, but I did not; he tried to humor me wanting to like the story, but it was obvious he was even less interested.

So far I haven't met a character I care about yet beyond my own, and even him I only like because of his wonderful facial hair. I love a good story, but so far I am not seeing it. There is a vague idea of a story but it is akin to someone describing a movie to you. You get the feeling that something neat happened, but you weren't a part of it.

Are there some quest chains I should keep an eye out for? My friend is willing to bare with me through more but his attention span is far less than mine. I am willing to give it a decent amount of time, but I will leave with him onto another game should this lose him. Interestingly enough, the next game to try may be DDO.

most of the quests you will be seeing arround the world have a fairly mundain feeling, although some are more interesting than others and the best quests can be found in the shire

the more interesting story is found by following the epic storyline ie volume 1 book 1 chapter 1 etc these will have you following behind the fellowship of the ring, keeping them safe. if your not feeling the story by about book 3 or 4 then the game may simply not be for you...

there is some interesting story in epic storyline and you will meet some iconic figures from the books if you can stick with it long enough that is. but whats interesting for one is totaly dull to another not everybody enjoys the same thing

*Shrugs* I myself cannot stand the story on this game, it is completely and utterly terrible and boring imo. But the rest of the game is alright. It's just different people's opinions.

IMHO, the story line is excellent. This is a great game guys...and it's free to play.

Give the game a chance to progress and I guarantee you won't be leaving. I am having a blast playing this...and we haven't even seen Rhohan, Mordor or Gondor yet. Love this game!

Patience, grasshopers.

Actually, believe it or not, you're getting to the point where the story actually starts to get going. Once you hit the 7th Chapter of the Prologue, you'll meet one of the most central figures of all of Volume 1. And it's not anyone you've ever heard of.

I'm one of those that pick Volume 1 of the Epic quest chain to be one of the best stories in all of the MMOs I've ever played. Completely new, and very interesting. I actually just finished Volume 1 with one of my characters, and am chomping at the bit to get my next one all the way through.

Other interesting stories in my opinion? Evendim has a quest chain that is started by Aragorn in the guest quarters of Imladris. Very awesome story, that one. Others may throw things at me when I say this, but I also consider the Goblin Town quests highly interesting. And the quests outside Tham Mirdain are definitely worth the entire zone's purchase price.

Originally Posted by Finglonger_UK

...the best quests can be found in the shire

the more interesting story is found by following the epic storyline ie volume 1 book 1 chapter 1 etc these will have you following behind the fellowship of the ring, keeping them safe. if your not feeling the story by about book 3 or 4 then the game may simply not be for you...

Is the shire around level 10-16? I believe that is where I leveled at just before I left the game last time. I think it would be wise to avoid it if I can. About the following the fellowship of the ring, does it revolve mostly around them or are there other characters of interest introduced? I don't want to spoil anything, but I have a pretty good feeling that I know what is going to happen with the fellowship. :P

Originally Posted by TiberPancake

*Shrugs* I myself cannot stand the story on this game, it is completely and utterly terrible and boring imo. But the rest of the game is alright. It's just different people's opinions.

The feeling I get so far is that it doesn't tell a story so much as it describes what happens. Such as, the bad guys did x, y died, and z is very not-okay with that. It reminds me of watching TNT/USA original shows. They are all about what happened and less about character development.

Originally Posted by Linathrial

...and we haven't even seen Rhohan, Mordor or Gondor yet. Love this game!

Actually, the main reason I wanted to give it a go again is I never did get to see Moria. it was the main reason I bought the game the first time. The game still looks fantastic in almost every way except for one *cough* animation *endcough* or two areas.

Originally Posted by Mr.Zeathy

Is the shire around level 10-16? I believe that is where I leveled at just before I left the game last time. I think it would be wise to avoid it if I can.

the shire is a starter area much like bree and has enough quests to get you to arround lvl14\15 or so

About the following the fellowship of the ring, does it revolve mostly around them or are there other characters of interest introduced? I don't want to spoil anything, but I have a pretty good feeling that I know what is going to happen with the fellowship. :P

your following way behind the fellowship, usually the epic story has you arrive several days after theyve passed through... that is usualiy, and is not necessarily always the case the epic will also branch off into other areas which the fellowship never touched in an attempt to fill out some of the back story of what is happening in those other regions

Personally I think tying this to a store line is holding it back. I love the Tolkien atmosphere, but the lord of the rings story has been told. I think the game would have been better if it had been set in the after math of the lord of the rings trilogy.

Originally Posted by Mr.Zeathy

There is a vague idea of a story but it is akin to someone describing a movie to you. You get the feeling that something neat happened, but you weren't a part of it.

Expectations unfulfilled can really disappoint. If you were expecting to be the main characters in the books and movies ... well, it's not going to happen.

Instead, take a broader world-view.

In LOTRO we play characters who are not a part of the Fellowship. We don't participate personally and directly (most of the time) in the main story of the LotR books. The game storylines "flesh out" the huge world Tolkien invented, but leave his main storyline alone. We intersect with the main storyline and the main characters from time to time in the game, but we are not them.

The War of the Ring was nearly a world-wide war with large and small events and battles across a wide swath of the world ... Tolkien's books and the movies don't attempt to cover this world-wide war, but follow a nearly linear story limited to the Fellowship and its members. The game attempts to expand into "reality" what Tolkien barely mentions of the wider world and war but then drops in favor of following the Fellowship's linear story.

We play characters, and encounter npcs, locations and stories that supplement, enhance, expand on and support the main mostly linear story in the books. We are a critical part of the War of the Ring, and act as a strong supporting cast. The premise is that without their supporting cast (us) taking care of the things going on that the Fellowship could have encountered but didn't have to (because we "fixed" or deflected that problem for them), it's doubtful that the Fellowship could have succeeded.

An example or analogy is D-day of World War II, June 6th 1944. It's a critical battle for the western allies. But, we weren't there. Instead we were in Italy, defeating the German army there and freeing Rome on June 5th 1944, keeping all those competent troops away from France, helping the landings to succeed, indirectly but importantly. Another analogy: we weren't involved directly in the D-day landings, but were safe in Britain, feeding false information to the German high command, convincing them that Normandy was a feint, that the real landings were to take place in the Pas de Calais; keeping all those 1st class panzer and infantry formations away from Normandy for weeks, helping indirectly but critically in making the landings a success.

That's us in LOTRO.

IF you can adjust your expectations and adapt to the game's premise, then the game can become engaging for you. But if you don't want to realign your expectations, there's no real reason to keep playing, you'll just be disappointed.

Your choice.

(And, oh, btw, this is a life lesson for happiness and success in real life, too.)

the story is pretty good given the constraints.

The real heroes, the fellowship of the ring, are doing the bulk of the story. We are "hero support" and follow them, easing their way and distracting the Enemy. We know how this story ends: someone else saves the day, by throwing the ring into the firey pit, not because hobo the hobbit and leggylas the elf grouped up with "the knights of the epic fail" to raid mordor.... the story is not about US. We are peons, doing our small tasks to try to help save the world and support the real heroes. If we had had a major role in this story,it would have been mentioned in the books, right?

So, yes and no. The story is pretty good for an MMO. Probably one of the best MMO main lines you will find. This is not the game that will not be named, where the developers can invent whatever they want on a whim within a few hard limits of their own lore..... this is a story set in an existing world and heavily limited as to who can do what without messing up the existing and well known plot.

The main quest line, the "book" quests, make a certain sort of sense from this perspective and are "pretty good" when you see it this way. The non-book quests will always be a lame series of "kill this, fetch that" stuff.