Palantir
Member #86
You buy a house in the country surrounded by woods and it's GREAT (Shadows of Angmar).
Neighbors begin to move in and it's still very good (Forochel, various new areas & Mines of Moria).
Then business move in and it's still good (more new areas & Seige of Mirkwood).
Then more business move in and the neighborhood has changed (more new areas, Rise of Isengard & now Riders of Rohan).
Your house is still there surrounded by the grass & trees on your property as it always has been but, the woods are gone and there's pavement & traffic everywhere. (current state of LotRO).
Thats how I found the game after a 7-8 month hiatus from it. It's still there (good & very good in places) but the ambiance of what made it great is gone.
I decided to jump back in when RoR was released SINCE my very first character, a Burglar, was from Rohan & his homestead location should be in the game. So of course I have to visit & see it and I do like games subject. The mounted combat stuff doesn't excite me...
I was shocked & dumbfounded by all the changes I've just found so far.
A vault on almost every corner, no more having to walk or even fast ride clear across Bree any more, stable points around every bend, changes made to the landscape to make it "easier" (don't have to go CLEAR around that hill any more to get to camp - they took it out) crafting made almost worthless as the items you find on a wolf are better than what you can craft. You can now "buy" coins that allow you to jump to quest locations/givers (no more having to actually walk/ride there- how pedestrian!) You don't even have to actually GO to the dead bodies you kill anymore to loot them: their loot automatically jumps into your bag (talk about making it easy being a hunter) And now in Rohan (I just made it into it) you don't even have to get off your mount to mine ore or pick up branches just do it from the back of your horse (are you kidding me?).
The game has been made so players have to exert the least effort to do anything unlike SoA where just walking around was a challenge, an exciting life & death adventure. Sure, most of the things have been changed to be more "convienent" and easy and they are but, just dumbed down the game as I see it.
But besides all of that goofy side stuff the quests in the game are STILL it's saving grace: fun, interesting, meaningful & exciting. (THANK GOODNESS!)
Yes my house is still there surrounded by trees as always but, for it to be as GREAT as it once was I have to shut my eyes to what is all around now and just play as it once was and shake my head as I shoot and kill an orc 100 yards away and his loot appears in my bag (btw- you now have an "overflow" bag that holds all the stuff YOU CANT CARRY for an hour - good grief).
On the good stuff: the creatures/mobs are still good & random, locations are different & new and the graphics as always are top notch. They did announce they are FINALLY going to start kicking players out of their defaulted houses & will REVAMP the housing issue (somehow & some time). In my early neighborhood only 5 of 24 (?) building are still occupied & I heard that was a higher number than in most older neighborhoods.
I'm a LotR nut so I'll keep playing just to see and experience Turbines version of LotR's while hoping I get sucked back in the closer we get to Mordor. I did send 6 of my alts "home" from their various locations in Middle Earth to hangout at the kinhouse as I can't see playing them (continuing their back ground missons) any further.
For new players the game is probably seen as great but nothing like it was for old timers.
Neighbors begin to move in and it's still very good (Forochel, various new areas & Mines of Moria).
Then business move in and it's still good (more new areas & Seige of Mirkwood).
Then more business move in and the neighborhood has changed (more new areas, Rise of Isengard & now Riders of Rohan).
Your house is still there surrounded by the grass & trees on your property as it always has been but, the woods are gone and there's pavement & traffic everywhere. (current state of LotRO).
Thats how I found the game after a 7-8 month hiatus from it. It's still there (good & very good in places) but the ambiance of what made it great is gone.
I decided to jump back in when RoR was released SINCE my very first character, a Burglar, was from Rohan & his homestead location should be in the game. So of course I have to visit & see it and I do like games subject. The mounted combat stuff doesn't excite me...
I was shocked & dumbfounded by all the changes I've just found so far.
A vault on almost every corner, no more having to walk or even fast ride clear across Bree any more, stable points around every bend, changes made to the landscape to make it "easier" (don't have to go CLEAR around that hill any more to get to camp - they took it out) crafting made almost worthless as the items you find on a wolf are better than what you can craft. You can now "buy" coins that allow you to jump to quest locations/givers (no more having to actually walk/ride there- how pedestrian!) You don't even have to actually GO to the dead bodies you kill anymore to loot them: their loot automatically jumps into your bag (talk about making it easy being a hunter) And now in Rohan (I just made it into it) you don't even have to get off your mount to mine ore or pick up branches just do it from the back of your horse (are you kidding me?).
The game has been made so players have to exert the least effort to do anything unlike SoA where just walking around was a challenge, an exciting life & death adventure. Sure, most of the things have been changed to be more "convienent" and easy and they are but, just dumbed down the game as I see it.
But besides all of that goofy side stuff the quests in the game are STILL it's saving grace: fun, interesting, meaningful & exciting. (THANK GOODNESS!)
Yes my house is still there surrounded by trees as always but, for it to be as GREAT as it once was I have to shut my eyes to what is all around now and just play as it once was and shake my head as I shoot and kill an orc 100 yards away and his loot appears in my bag (btw- you now have an "overflow" bag that holds all the stuff YOU CANT CARRY for an hour - good grief).
On the good stuff: the creatures/mobs are still good & random, locations are different & new and the graphics as always are top notch. They did announce they are FINALLY going to start kicking players out of their defaulted houses & will REVAMP the housing issue (somehow & some time). In my early neighborhood only 5 of 24 (?) building are still occupied & I heard that was a higher number than in most older neighborhoods.
I'm a LotR nut so I'll keep playing just to see and experience Turbines version of LotR's while hoping I get sucked back in the closer we get to Mordor. I did send 6 of my alts "home" from their various locations in Middle Earth to hangout at the kinhouse as I can't see playing them (continuing their back ground missons) any further.
For new players the game is probably seen as great but nothing like it was for old timers.
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