Hello everyone! I hope you are all well. Getting straight to the point, I discovered LOTRO at the beginning of the year, I have been playing for a few months and I would like to share my impressions about the game (not that anybody cares lol). Coming from a completely new player, with no knowledge whatsoever about any aspect of the game prior to my first sessions. I had not even seen any videos about it.
Negative Points
- There are several things that make me want to pay for the game. Expansions with new areas, new quests. The occasional cosmetic. But storage is definitely not one of them. Having such a low limit, both in inventory and in "Storage" is absolutely frustrating. I increased the entire limit that is possible to purchase with gold coins, house included, but it is still simply not enough. If you want to keep a stock of items for crafting, forget it.
- Oh, how it breaks. I play through Steam, using Windows. Every time the operating system updates, I have to redo the steps to fix the game recommended by the community to get it working again.
- I believe that, at this point, lag is considered a tourist attraction.
- As a matter of honor, I have to condemn lootboxes. But it is perfectly possible to ignore them and I believe they have no significant impact on the game.
- If you're a new player, skip Monster Play mode. It's not for you. Aside from literally competing against experienced and equipped players, your only chance to get stronger is by doing missions while hiding. That is, if you can kill the monsters on the map. Or you just pay-to-win with LOTRO points, wich sucks.
Positive Points
- No one can deny that the amount of detail in the game is absurd. Each quest, each character, is a great complement to the books and I recommend it even to my friends who don't play but like Tolkien's work. There is a big difference between reading about the Shire and walking through it. Thank you for this experience. This was the reason that made me buy a few months of VIP.
- This point is so important that I need to emphasize it again. The game is huge. Some days I spent several minutes just walking around the map, looking at the scenery, textures, and following guards (NPCs). Some details of the scenery left me thinking for hours (Ex: Gollun's painting in the Goblin City, amazing)
- I've encountered a number of bugs on my walks. Fences near stables that can lock you out if you buy a trip from the wrong side, bodies of water with no water mechanics, bridges where bosses can fall off and be attacked from above with no chance to fight back, etc. But I'll list these as positives because out of all the games I've played, these are pretty minor bugs. Most of the time, you'll only find them if you're actively looking for them.
- I LOVED being able to enter expansion areas before purchasing them. I mean, I was able to walk around Cardolan and get to know the area and then decide whether or not I wanted to do the regional quests. This is just amazing, wish everygame did something similar with their tons of DLCs.
- I've tested all the free classes. Of course, given my limited time, they've been quick runs so far and I haven't been able to see them all in detail, but they seem to be well-balanced. Except for one thing, this is the first game I've played where your character can be a healer and deal a lot of damage at the same time. I'm talking to you, Rune-keepers. My main is a Hunter and the learning was quite intuitive. In the first levels it is already possible to identify the limits of what I can and cannot do without having to kill myself to find out.
I need to take a paragraph to talk about the game's community. I've never received so much help in any other game in my life. It's amazing how many people are willing to take a few minutes (or hours) to guide you, teach you the mechanics, help you with quests, etc. I'm sure I've made some lifelong friends there. If you ask for help, in less than five minutes someone will help you with your quests, craft you a new set of gear, give you a pile of gold, and be available to answer any questions you may have. The only thing they will ask in return is that you return the favor to the other person in the future (I try to dedicate some time to this activity, even if it's just crafting fishing rods lol). The only downside to the community is that, like any "old" game, you'll only start participating in interesting events in the end-game. I mean, you could do instances and gather points to be ready when you reach 150, but no. If you're not asking for help, no one will do instances or events with you until you reach level 150. This means that there are two possible paths: 1) you ask for help and someone will "carry you" until you're leveled up enough. I don't like to bother anyone lol 2) You level up by doing quests until you're strong enough to do an instance in solo mode. In a way, this made me feel like the game "pauses" at level 100 (When you should already be able to manage on your own or with people of the same level as you) and only continues when you reach, by any means, 150 (I'm currently at 107).
Again, not that anyone cares. But in case anyone reads this thread and is wondering if the game is worth it: If you're a Tolkien fan, by all means. If you're not, the game is still worth it.
Again, not that anyone cares. But in case anyone reads this thread and is wondering if the game is worth it: If you're a Tolkien fan, by all means. If you're not, the game is still worth it.
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