Lord of the Rings Online - Is it me?

Or is it something else? Something more within the game itself that keeps me from thinking it is worth the time or effort to even load up on my PC.

Well, this weekend my decision about LOTRO has been made.

Has it really made progress since launch. Or is it the same old crud I always just wanted to rip my hair out about.

Next week, Scarybooster will be out of town, and needed some bloggers to help him out as he gets his animal change to a cross between a transvestite and a beetle, with lion legs and crows feet (for eyes...). I offered my assistance for a post, but, I needed fodder for my post. Well, Turbine was kind enough to hand me a free weekend (Source) for me to take for a spin, and see if all the time I have been away has mellowed me.

I actually have become kind of easier to please in some arena's. For example, I do not HATE Warhammer Online as much as I did at launch, and they have made progress. I was able to go back to EQ2 and I am having a blast.

But, as many who read my blog know, my LOTRO hate is something more...something seething under the surface, waiting to make me feel all Hobbity in that Turbine special way (i.e: I will ALWAYS feel like I have a full diaper as I run around in their world...)

It's preciousss iz nots so preciousss to me'sss

*Hrmmm*

Anyways...

What was it about LOTRO and this deep seated feeling of gut wrenching horror that drove me away? The forced grouping to complete major quest lines? The horrid performance that made uber hardware feel sluggish with all the hitching? The need to kill so many bears and wolves and boars that the genocide of these creatures became the all encompassing mission? The fact my guy had a size two waist? The fact my female avatars all had hands as large as their heads? Where was the fun and glory of most MMO's? Why did I feel like it was always a "been there, done that" kind of rat race for that next kill 10x quest?

As you can see, I have a lot that I am asking of LOTRO. I did not enjoy the crafting at the time, but I have changed since those times. I also understand the grind concept, and as long as I have my team (the family) the grind seems to disappear. Who knows...maybe grouping may even be fun?

So, this weekend, LOTRO is back on my list of "Try it again" games.

I need to know "Can we ever go back?"

Everquest 2 - Modeling is fun

Yesterday, a small Twitter discussion was had over the quality of the models in EQ2. I, of course in my infinite wisdom, decided to compare the models of LOTRO to EQ2, which started a small storm of "EQ2 models make my eyes bleed" as one person put it.

There is no doubt that when it comes to models for games, EQ2 and LOTRO are just not winners anyways. Especially with us coming from Age of Conan, it is hard to compare their realistic and gorgeous models to any other on the market.

Take The stock models of Clay that EQ2 provides. Those are truly ugly to look at.

Luckily, thanks to an alternate model system, I feel the EQ2 visuals of their models get a boost in quality over LOTRO.

As someone pointed out, the females do have an issue with standing to attention...yet, they visually are more appealing.

Another thing of note is thanks to a lifelike skeletal system, the run animations for EQ2 models and their fighting animations are truly much better. Hand motions for emotes are good, and armor at least looks like it is worn instead of painted on.

LOTRO suffers from some issues of oversized hands, a multitude of ugly female faces (which from my understanding are much better on NPC's than the characters which is just wrong), and males with size two waist...which all detract from the visual quality.

Men also have a terrible issue with beards looking like they are also painted on. Here is a perfect example of the size two waist, painted on spandex armor and painted beard. I really dig the "That 70's show" Ashton Kutcher hairdo also.

But, all of this does not matter if the animations look good...which we again run into an issue where all of the models look like Mechs when they run (they twist at the waist which gives the sensation that they are robots), and combat looks to be done at 30FPS in a 60FPS+ game.

These are all personal beliefs, and would finally all not matter if the games are fun. EQ2 has so much to do, and keeps you occupied that a majority of the time, thinking about how your model looks becomes a moot point...

We are having fun.

LOTRO never did this for us in our household.

I have in the past really griped about LOTRO, so everyone knows my views. I will just leave with what my wife says when I ask her if we should go back and give it another try...

"I am sorry, but I want to feel and look pretty while having fun. LOTRO offered me neither of those".

MMO support - Get what you pay for?

Since my issues over the past several months in using DX10 and Age of Conan, I started to think real hard on what our MMO publishers offer us for that 15 bucks a month.

What do some of the original archaic systems as offered by the big name MMO's like WoW, EQ2, Lineage 2, DAoC, AoC, LOTRO offer for that monthly fee.

What are their terms of service? Lets see what we can find...

First off, has anyone opened their game and found anything that says "This is what you get for 15 bucks"? I keep trying to think back, and as far as I can remember, I do not know of anything like a normal monthly service that shows what you receive.

Think of paying for Cable or Satellite TV, or phone service? When we pay we receive guidelines of what a company can or will not offer service wise.

But, is it that when we pay that monthly fee for an MMO, we ONLY get access to their servers?

Lets start with WoW, due to their size. They must cover their bases. If we read their Terms of Use (found through Google), we get this nice little bit o' text.

Warranty Disclaimer.

THE GAME AND THE SERVICE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND BLIZZARD DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE GAME OR THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT THE GAME OR THE SERVICE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. BLIZZARD EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

In so many words, hey bud you paid for this, and don't expect anything in return...WHA? Boy do they ever cover those bases, and add padlocks even.

"Does not warrant..."Uninterrupted or Error-Free" "Does not warrant...that defects will be corrected"

So, for WoW, what you are paying for is to be allowed to login to their servers, and they do not need to do anything for you as a customer. At least this is the way I read it.
This does not mean they will not try and help, but hey, if you cannot login, it is not like they will care in the end if they cannot fix it. At least this is how I read it.

Trying to find these same "warranties" for LOTRO and Age of Conan was next to impossible. I was able to find a "Terms of Service" for SOE from their EQ2 page, but it seemed to be about the use of their website, and not the games.

So, why is it these are not easily accesible. Why is it that WE as customers just allow the games to take our money and not question our rights or question what service we are given for those costs?

What should we expect for our hard earned cash while playing on their servers? When anyone discusses what we ARE paying for when we pay a monthly fee, support is always thrown in with the cost to access the server, like it is what we should be paying for...but do we really get it?

When I dealt with my issue for Conan, I decided to use their forums first. A quick access to answers, and a way for the devs to troll what issues others are experiencing. A good "one stop" shop for problems.
But, it seems Funcom does not troll their forums. Unless it is for negative comments about the game, or if you state "I will quit", this instantly gets deleted. (for example, my comment after months of frustration was "Do you guys not want my money?"...instant delete).
Thus I took that argument to a more public forum...MMORPG.com, and there they cannot delete, and what do you know, I got some results.

But, why would I, as a customer, try to make it easy for the company taking my money? Why did I try the forum first? Why have many people been conditioned to try this route first?

Would you try a forum first?

Now, even though I was finally asked, and catered to in the support dept., I still ended up having to figure out the issue on my own. This proved not to be the company's fault, even though it does affect their product in a way that down the road, it could lead to more issues. But, overall they were clueless. And it was an odd enough issue that I hold no grudge.

What was problematic was why it took so long, and why I had to scream and shout to get the support in the first place.

Something I always wonder is why is a tracking system not used for issues. NCSoft is great at this, because your questions go into a wide open database and as the issue is being resolved, all the discussion goes into that database (better than a forum, but like the forum in regards to openness).
And in regards to the forum discussions, Turbine has been really good to get involved. But, they run the same gambit, that if the issue is something they do not want to discuss, the thread will be closed (for example, the 6000 response thread on "hitching" from the launch of the game, that was finally closed as they just kept lieing and getting caught in the thread along with being quite rude as well...).

Finally, I can go all the way back to the issue I was having with Age of Conan, and in the forum thread I created, the devs did state "It is a known issue". Hmmm...yet the support group had no idea what the problem was...so who knew. And if they did know, why did they not offer some type of input instead of closing the thread?

I know a lot of games are starting to switch to the Free with bonuses for fee offerings, and this really does not include those. But, imagine if as a player, you could pay for ticketed services? Would this increase the support response times? Would support improve?
So, if we play a game for free, then pay a monthly, we get "support" as part of the bundle? Would that alleviate certain problems?

So far, support for MMO's has really been a hit or miss issue. In game help for quests and what not seems to work well, but for issues with game client support like graphics, memory issues, it is almost like they do not care.
I can already see those with spittle upon their lips, screaming "But, not all computers are the same..."
No, they are not, but, there are a lot of ways to support generic issues, and get the ball rolling on support for those with problems.

And maybe one day in "Utopia"- Land of Milk and Honey, all computers will run a specific way, and make calls to code a specific way that issues can be handled properly..

Until then I expect some help for my 15 a month...don't you?

How do I feel about the free LOTRO weekend?

Seven least favorite things - LOTRO

Now, of course, I was so nice and positive yesterday, I decided to come back today with my 7 Negatives!

The game of choice will be Lord of the Rings Online.

The simple reason? This proved to be my least favorite MMO game of all time...even moreso than Vanguard, which at least has some redeeming qualities.

Without further ado...

1. Quests - Quests are good...but so many silly little quests to do much of nothing combined with some quite boring kill x quests and fetch quests...and with it being the best way to level, you were stuck or else...Do quests or grind til you die. Then lets not start on the main storyline being forced grouping or else, back to grind.

2. Character models - Even WoW's cartoony visuals have an appeal that the models of LOTRO do not. Matted drawn on hair for beards, oversized hands, homely females, along with their painted on clothing. Then do not start me on the infamous "30FPS animations in a 60FPS world"

3. Animations - Ok...nevermind, I will start. With the various issues of how the characters look to be flailing about when swinging their weapons, run from the hip in an odd fashion, the fluidity of so many other games is not present in these animations.

4. Crafting - So annoying, it forces me to go into downtime to gather so many mats, then once I get the mats, I need more mats to combine with the mats I spent wasting time to get. Then I can stand in front of an object, hit make, and fall asleep. Entertainment.

5. Mob Variety - Never have I seen so many of the same skins used over and over..from human faces for bad guys, to the infamous bears and wolves. I really hate BEARS BTW!

6. UI - Talk about a crappy UI. It may be functional for players needs, but it is NOT friendly with large monitors. The fonts shrink to unreadable status, the toolbar if resized does not have 1 to 1 pixel mapping, and becomes blurry, as it does not have matching resolution sized bars (i.e: the toolbar is a max of 1280x1024, anything larger has to stretch that image, thus making it blurry and ugly).

7. Community - Thats right, the one thing the game is know to be great for, also has an issue of having fervent fans who cannot see past these issues, and still think LOTRO is a good game. It is not, with WoW like conventions, crappy animations, and bad quest design. But, try to suggest changes, and watch the rabid boys go wild with name calling, etc.

But, hey, the game has pretty landscapes. If I could count how many times I read this, I could vomit.

All I can say is at least Turbine is committed to this product, and updates are on a regular basis, and the fans love it..(not what I can say for some other games...*cough* WAR, AOC *cough*)

But, no matter how many times I have returned, the game fails to me on so many levels...so it gets my vote for the 7 worst game conventions...

Cheers

Turbine starts the downsize

Announced today, another MMO developer takes a cut.

Turbine announced layoffs in the QA and Accounting areas of their offices. This is almost along the lines of the Funcom layoffs.

I am assured that most could see this as an issue with the recession, and this could be possible. Yet, with the recent launch of the expansion pack, sales should have been brisk, especially so late in the year.
Add to this a steady player base, it is unclear why they felt the need to do this before Christmas even.

As noted by the Turbine rep.

"As part of this transition some of our talented colleagues will not be with us going forward."

But, as another commenter noted...

"is it not counter-productive to sack your talented colleagues in order to achieve your strategic goals?"

Again, this takes me back to the SOE argument. Turbine, don't you have a dead weight MMO sitting around to shut down instead, and put your 100% focus into the one which IS doing ok?

This begs the question of what happened with the recent influx of cash Turbine received. Where did this money go? What exactly is a private company doing? The worst part is their privacy, as no one really knows what is going on behind closed doors. This can lead to frustration on a perspective customers part if they believe (based on what type of impression this layoff gives) the company may not be around for long.

We know why Funcom did their layoffs. AoC really messed them up. Yet, they only laid off their American brethren, while the European offices are doing fine.

This is quite odd at this point, and I question their motives, and of course we must ask the question "Are the games really not doing that well"? It has been noted over and over that Turbine is profitable. If so, why these layoffs?

This is really sad for the genre as a whole, and hopefully the economy starts a turn around. Otherwise, the only MMO choice will end up being WoW.

X-Fire review - trending popularity

If we were to take the scales from the X-Fire charts, we can get a pretty good idea of popularity of the various Western based MMO's, and actually create a chart.

Like, for example, we all know WoW is #1 in sales and players. But, can we guesstimate how popular the other games are using this methodolgy?

Lets take a look.

#2 - WAR - Easily the second most popular MMO.
We have heard rumors of customers leaving, yet the latest patch added in two of the missing classes, and the times being played correspond to it's place in our chart. It's popularity still places high on the list, and makes WAR the #2 most popular MMO.


#3 - LOTRO - No matter how much I do not want to admit it, based on the X-Fire chart, and thanks to a new expansion, LOTRO gets in at #3 for popularity. The return of customers who originally bought the game, and lifetimers overall add to time played.
Well done Turbine.


#4 - Age of Conan - Still charting, and being consistent, this is pretty good. There have been new issues with the merges, and some slow response on the next patch. But, there is no doubt that there is a group of people who want their game to be a little different. I still have confidence in them. Now, if they would just speed things up ..


#5 - Everquest 2 - Well, thanks to some brisk sales of their latest expansion, they have made some huge leaps on the X-Fire charts...actually up 20 spots from when I last looked upon them..
This easily drops them into the top 5 Western MMO's


Note, we did not include Guild Wars here, due to one issue. They are not subscriber based, and that is what we are looking at. If we were to include them, they are by far the second largest MMO. But, we also question the MMO connotation, so for our purposes, we will note that WoW and GW are the two most popular fantasy online games. Here is hoping Guild Wars 2 proves to be a powerhouse like it's predecessor.

Now, this makes for our top 5. I do want to include a couple here that I have discussed in the past, and wanted to follow up on.

Dungeons and Dragons Online - The game has seen an upswing, which may be due to the new module that was released. I also have noted in the past that new technologies drive players to some games. With the addition of DX10, I think this also drives new players in.
So, with the upcoming henchmen system (hirelings) and the continued support of the DX system, who knows...maybe this game could do a turnabout (I also want to note that since release, all new content and updates have been FREE, with no expansions or costs associated with this...nice move to help drive new business)


Tabula Rasa - So, what happens when you announce the closure of your game? Bye Bye customers (even though the game is not scheduled to end for another 3 months...OUCH!)



Thats it for now. I am hoping to see a couple of more titles here soon. I may look at the Asian Market and check on games like Cabal, Shin Megami and later Spellborn.

Cheers

Interesting NPD sales numbers...

This is a major shock, and I have been trying to understand how this worked out.
Basically one of the titles on the list is not known to carry a very high "Brick and Mortar" awareness...

Anyways, the latest charts have showed up, and Kotaku has posted the top 10...

Most are predictable...BUT...

1. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
2. Left 4 Dead
3. Call Of Duty: World At War
4. The Sims 2 Mansion & Garden Stuff
5. EverQuest II: The Shadow Odyssey
6. Spore
7. Fallout 3
8. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe
9. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Collectors Ed
10. The Sims 2 Apartment Life

Yet, no LOTRO!

..........................how interesting.

Lord of the Rings Online - Moria launches, fanbois rejoice..

Tobold made a post about Moria, that went something like this...

"I don't have the time to play this, I don't have the level to play this, and I don't know anyone who plays this. I haven't even read anything about Mines of Moria on any of the MMORPG blogs I follow"

Note the bolded section.

Why is this?

Recently as "some" know, Turbine released Mines of Moria to ...well, I am not sure.

Seems someone posted in the comments..

"Turbine can release Moria so close to WotLK because they are confident that there sizeable current player base simply won't be playing WotLK. We are seeing jam packed servers at the moment, as busy as I've ever seen them."

LOTRO players always good to get a WoW dig in...

I decided to post a comment...

"LOTRO is what they call a "wanna be' in the biz!
Moria is only good for those who play LOTRO already."

I feel the last point is valid. Moria was made for the current player base. Moria has nothing to offer to bring a new player in. All high level content. Two new classes, but it has been argued that one of the classes is a travesty to the Tolkien lore even. But, it is an MMO, and not having a proper "Magic using" class was unheard of.

The commenter I was discussing this with feels I have lost touch with reality though...

"The fact of the matter is, you are simply not in touch with reality when it comes to LotRO. It's a solid, very playable, fully featured MMO, and it has been a huge success for Turbine"

Yes, I agree actually. The game is solid, playable and stable. I do argue with the fully featured (the class selections for example are definitely questionable), the models are ugly, the animations are 30fps in the 60fps world (even the latest videos show the jerky movement, kinda like G.I.Joe's in 3d).

I guess I need to ask. Is LOTRO really relevant in our MMO stable? It definitely has done better than Vanguard, Tabula Rasa, Hellgate and quite a few more (Age of Conan has had better sales, yet retention has been crap).

So, why is it not stomping WAR or even getting close to WoW numbers (and for that matter, what about Guild Wars, whose play times on XFire and overall sales has been crushing).

I looked at Xfire for LOTRO which really shows the player base stomping down on this game big time. It placed 16th overall.


But, when we compare this to WAR which is placing above (15th actually) we see something amazing...


The overall number of players is considerably lower for LOTRO than WAR. So, we are mainly seeing Expansion envy by the current player base if anything.

You would think with such an IP, that it could garner a larger audience.

There is no doubt that Turbine has to be happy with it's current base.
But, why not go for the bigger pie?

When you go in search of loyalty to the game, by way in regards to blogs, news stories, etc...it just seems to be a small part of the overall genre universe.

As I originally stated...is LOTRO an MMO wannabe?

Lord of the Rings Online - Patch Notes for Moria

Posted here...with my favorite note...

"All Kinships must now maintain a membership count of 8 or more. If your Kinship membership count drops below 8, it will be disbanded if you do not recruit enough members to meet the minimum within five(5) days."

Really?

How many other games put such a limitation on Guilds? Can anyone point me to one? Is this really a good thing to do?

Playing with Xfire

Well, that title really screamed to be made....

Anyways, this weekend and today I decided to review some of the games I have kept an eye on, and specifically those with changes this past week or two (or upcoming).
The charts allows us to note trends in the popular and maybe some less popular games, and come away with basic conclusions of playtimes.
A LOT of updates, expansions, content updates, etc. have been made to a majority of MMO's which are in the spotlight.

Please keep in mind, the reason we even look at these charts is they do show trends, not REAL numbers.
Make sure to keep that caveat in mind as we look at the scales.

I looked at a LOT of games, but at this point I want to note some I did not include.

Everquest 2, who DOES have an expansion coming soon (like tomorrow...lol). YET, I see no major spikes except for a huge dip last month which must have been a GU.
Due to it's niche, it seems to hold it's own in the scales and is about in the 90th-100th spot.
I will go back to them real soon as I would like to see if the new expansion causes any interest, or if the game has it's dedicated audience and is on cruise control.

Vanguard had a huge update a little while back. But, the game continues to nosedive (example from previous days it has dropped from #195 to #218...yea...pretty bad.)

I think we should probably just let it rest in peace.

Tabula Rasa. I really wanted to include this due to NCSoft's current issues, and having a minor interest in the game. As well, I could have included CoH/CoV. But, the games are low on my radar, and there has been nothing major as of this point on their games for updates.
I will note that Tabula Rasa ranks higher than Vanguard and CoH ranks higher than EQ2.
And as a side note, Lineage 2 is their best averaging subscription based MMO, resting in the 40's.

Finally, I did not include any Free to play's or Asian grinders. Our scales would look bizarre indeed. (For example, Guild Wars ranks #9, which if people accepted it as an MMO, would make it the 2nd most popular North American MMO.)

I mainly looked at current subscriber based games on the markets mind or having a real recent update and is popular. (I guess we could define this as "hyped")

WoW, WAR, LOTRO, AoC, DDO.

Most of these make sense...but, let me explain DDO being here before I continue.

Drastic changes were made to the game recently with Module 8, with the hirelings system (still kicking in) and DX10.
I am of the mind that people who are on the cutting edge of gaming are always looking at ways to see more horsepower.
DX10 games fill that bill.
The game has been a real major group focused system. Seeing the hirelings makes me wonder if this will also bring in more players who want to try and solo (/waves).

Finally the complete change to the tutorial area screams for a retrial as well.

Dungeons and Dragons (like Lord of the Rings) was a major IP boon for Turbine. Somehow the ball was dropped. If anything I would like to see a better game here. Turbine continues to disappoint me also, as LOTRO is one of the worst high profile games I have played (and note this is my opinion, so not a reflection on those who love LOTRO.)
DDO also did nothing for me, but I enjoyed it more due to better looking models and a better looking world feel to me.
But playing gave me no underlying theme. Like, no story or reason for me to be here in this big city

But, who knows what these changes hold. May just be the ticket to keep me and others around longer.
________________________________

Recently, Xfire has switched to a new display for their data. All charts now go on a weekly listing of numbers. This really helps us get a full overview of the changes depending on updates, expansions, etc.

Lets begin shall we?

World of Warcraft

The launch of Wrath of the Lich King really showed it's muscle.


As we look at the chart we can see the infamous dip for Tuesdays, and then how it scales back up for the weekend.
But, our newest chart, shows a MAJOR jump after the 13th. That is easy to guess.

WAR

The second best listing on Xfire of our titles to review.

But, we can see the major downfall from the 30 day turnover. The game had been noted to have quite a huge population...but...


Makes me wonder how much more this will continue to fall, or if this is finally reaching its set base. A lot of bloggers have corroborated this data of servers feeling empty...

The chart does state no change for 5 days though. So, this may be the spot WAR sticks to. Keeping a close eye on this.
My guess is that WAR is the #2 NA MMO right now.

Age of Conan

The chart speaks for itself. It has found a niche. I thought the change in the content from this past week would have brought it up more. But, it looks like Funcom took too long, and now has to live with the consequences.


This could change if they start to offer the free comebacks or trials. This will be interesting to watch as this and DDO are probably the most different MMO's on this list. Do people want something different if it is working well and offers a good game? Or are we stuck in an MMO rut, and all future releases will rely on WoW mechanics to make their game.

DDO

As I mentioned, quite a few changes. And we can see an upswing of time near the end of the scale...


It may take some time for their chart to grow, but the numbers are holding out ok and a little increase is a good sign.

LOTRO

This will be the one to watch. I feel their release of the expansion (just like EQ2) is a misinformed judgement. Why release it a week after WoTLK?


But we do see some upswing here as well. LOTRO does ok on the charts as we can see, and keeps a good set of subscribers...all die hard Tolkien fans for sure.

But, as an MMO, could it have had what it takes to attract players disgruntled with WoW?

I will keep an eye on this to see if Mines of Moria makes this game spike or not.
They have only ever reached number 14 on the Xfire charts, so unlike WAR or AoC who topped up at #5 and have had major sales, LOTRO never quite grabbed the players the same way.
Yet, the "dedicated" player seems to be more prominent in the LOTRO universe. Says something at least for the quality of the game for those players.

_________________________________

Like I said, I plan to review these once in a while as the Holidays close in. Will any game catch someones fancy?

Could Spellborn end up here? Will watch for that as well.

Should be interesting to see how the rest of the year plays out.

Cheers

MMORPG - Are Lifetime scrips good?

As we know, recently news arrived that Hellgate London is going to shut it's doors for good.

Pumping Irony had a post about this and I noted how Hellgate has who knows how many players burned with their "Lifetime" deal.

No refunds there.

Right now, only two games have offered these lifetime deals (that were commercially viable titles that is...not discussing any freebie or Korean MMO's).
Hellgate London and LOTRO.
Hellgate as we know is a failure.

But, is LOTRO any better in regards to quality? 200+k players think so.

In regards to this conundrum..Scott had this to say in comments...

I absolutely think Lifetime Memberships are valuable, though not without inherent risk.

For me, LOTRO ended up being my main game and the lifetime membership has already paid for itself. Mines of Moria has a feature list (on paper) that is more exciting to me than the lists of any other expansion or full game coming out in the near future as well, so now the personal value of that lifetime has increased.

But if people jumped on the Lifetime for LOTRO or Hellgate without trying the games, just on hype alone, then they were burned. Doubly so for Hellgate since it’s being canceled.

From a players point of view...what about the company?

Remember, for LOTRO, you had to pre-order or had bought the game day one to get the lifetime at their reduced price. You had 30 days to decide in as well...so, not a good window.

How would someone even know if they liked the game as no trial was available yet.

Then they did not offer it again until they started the lowering of the price for the game and scrips and must have seen sales diminishing.

I am sure the influx of cash helped Turbine immensely.

But, what happens to a company that does not continue to have a flow of cash?

These players instead prove to be a burden, as they continue to play with no income being offered to Turbine.

The lifetime is meant for that impulse player who feels that they may be getting a good deal paying forever for that game with just one price...

Yet, it did not do much for Hellgate...

We may never know how many players did this offer there and then got burned.

I still think trials are key. Then reduced pricing, but not lifetime.

I think lifetime scrips lead to less "quality" of content.

Turbine is forced to release content on a regular basis or upset customers..especially those who paid lifetime.

Book 14 (their last patch before MoM) proved to be quite buggy, and took quite a few months to release compared to previous patches and content updates.
Turbine discussed making UI changes and model updates for MoM when the expansion was first announced...yet all screenshots show the same middling UI and very skinny non-fed males and vapid females...

Imagine if people payed lifetimes for AoC, and the content output is what it is now? YUCK!

I think it hurts the company and the player in the end.

Think of it this way. You did not have to buy AoC, or WAR and could have waited for reviews or a trial.

The LOTRO deal was meant to be a one time offer for those willing to take the leap at launch.

Look how many of those people they spit on with that deal...by offering it again after 6 or so months.

But, this still begs the question. Can "lifetime" scrips be a good thing for an MMO?

Yes, we would pay for one if WoW offered one, or EQ2...i.e: established games.

But, how would this affect the game after the fact?

Weigh in folks..

Lord of the Rings Online - No reason

I deleted my install of LOTRO this weekend.

No reason to continue to even try.

Many times have I tried to get a feel for the game.
And I for one have been harsh beyond belief during this time.

But, for good reason......



This weekend I had a horrible issue running the game.
Yet, so many other games run fine for me.
I had to make major adjustments to the .ini file which controls certain aspects of how the game runs (lighting, aliasing, effects processing).
Due to a bug with their code and ATI cards, I was forced to turn off features that make the game dull and lifeless looking.
Mind you this is it's landscapes.
The models still irk me. Dull and lifeless does not even describe it.
I loaded up after finally doing some text tricks as suggested, and got in.
Then I went to access my main and stood there looking at his waistline.
The character was shapeless and unusual. And the game is suppose to be going for a realistic feel. Yet, the characters are so stylized, it is sad.

I loaded in and of course, I was in Bree. I got to experience the horrendous hitching issues.
I planned to record this, but for some reason X-Fire is disabled for this purpose in LOTRO, yet, I can get this to run in any other game.

I left town, and still stumbled along, watching characters rubberband as they ran by me, saw how I ran. Then I fought my favorite of all mobs...a bear.
It looked goofy.

Mind you this is all personal feeling. But, it truly has shown me that I am not one to be able to accept such a cheap imitation of so many other better games.

I have kept LOTRO in hopes Moria may fix some of my issues. But, I can't do it anymore.
The game is truly a sad second rate, B Grade MMO.

And besides anytime Steefel decides to discuss how the game is the "2nd best thing" to happen to MMO's and is Salmon (not Steak mind you, that would be Funcom /sarcasm off) of the MMO dining elite....I will not discuss this game any more, and count this as my final rant (which should make a few LOTR lorists/fanboys quite happy)

Good riddance Turbine.

LOTRO is not a well made game. And no matter how much people pick on Funcom for AoC, NCSoft for Tabula Rasa, or SOE for Vanguard..they each at least have something special within each of them...

A soul.

Age of Conan - Testlive weekend commences

I have made the appropriate copies and moved my level 50 Dark Templar over to Testlive servers this weekend for the chance to see what has happened to melee combat.
I will hopefully get my X-Fire video working again to see if I can capture some vids to upload as well.
As to X-Fire....well, seems X-Fire did not want to work with LOTRO...

I tried to capture the hitching mess in LOTRO last night, but X-Fire would not capture it. Not sure why.
(PS: No, X-Fire is not the cause of the issues, as I also tested that already with it shutdown. I also have no AV running when running LOTRO..)

But, I found a fix finally on the LOTRO forum for the ATI 4870 issue.

The fix?

Turn off Post Processing.

What does this do?

Pretty much eliminates any and all effects for DX10 whatsoever and creates a dull visual quality akin to Warhammer Online.

I will write more on this.

For now, the AoC test is in progress, and hopefully I can report on the current situation there.

Cheers.

(PS: The patch 3.0 update just finished for AoC. I had it running in the background. I was not aware it was done as I was typing this...but all of a sudden I hear a tribal drum beat...the game actually announced the update was complete...pretty cool)

Lord of the Rings Online - Weekend ends before it begins

Well, so much for logging into LOTRO for the free weekend. It seems that the game and my new ATI 4870 are not friends.
When the game loads up, it resets my desktop to 640x480.
DirectX 10 features in Vista lock up the whole system, and I must CTRL ALT DEL to get the game to shutdown.

(UPDATE: It seems the game will run with all features, but only in desktop mode and not full screen. Guess I will have to see how long I can endure that. Found several forum posts out there also about the 4870 model I have and LOTRO not working correctly due to AA issues, but no fix mentioned...)

(Update 2 : More data appeared on the LOTRO forums about a driver issue. It is a back and forth with the developer and ATI techs it seems. Supposedly the end of October to fix their problem..)

I have Devil May Cry 4, Call of Duty 4 all working in DX10, but thanks to Turbine's half ass implementation, I am relegated to DX9 at 1280x1024.
This really sucks when my card can run Age of Conan at 1920x1200 full blast
I got into LOTRO at one point and as I started to move the stuttering was horrendous.
Then it locked up.
So far two mediocre games fully not liking my brand new video card.
I think I will play with games which have forward looking engines from now on (or at least games that have GOOD engines *Cough...Guild Wars...Cough*.)

(PS: If anyone is wondering, I have already run a test on the video card, with several tools, and it comes up with zero errors...same for memory and CPU...so, needless to say..Not impressed with Vanguard or LOTRO...STILL!.../delete)

Quite the weekend coming

And it is all thanks to the "Please come back to us" trials that several of the games are attempting.
I wonder how many will actually try these?

With LOTRO and Vanguard pushing the "Hey looks at us, we made updates, and you may like us now" free time, it is a chance to go back and see what changes have been made...

First off, I already did some Vanguard last night.


My first login was met with disaster, as all 3 of my characters were gone.

Deleted. History.

WTF???

It has not even been 6 months, and they just haphazardly delete your characters? Makes no sense to me.
I left AoC for 4 months, and all of my characters were still there. LOTRO also had kept my characters from the 6 month hiatus I took, and they were on my login screen when I came back for the year anniversary previously.

So, already my impressions were soured.

I then proceed to make a new character using the revamped models.
What a difference. A few issues still exists like limited hair styles for each race. But, dang you could make a pretty Elf now.
I then proceeded to try out the new trial Isle.
I arrive, and as I start to move I am met with massive stuttering.
8500 CPU with 6mb cache, ATI 4870 video which runs AoC at a smooth 60FPS, and 4 gigs of 1066 DDR2 with 64 bit Vista. (For those who do not understand that garbage...just let me say ..."VROOM")

But, hey, maybe I need to make some adjustments. Okey doke.

I change a few settings in graphics, and hit apply...the screen starts flashing between my desktop and the game. All of the UI components disappear. I finally after wrestling with this for a few, get it to shut down (The secret?...I held my tongue in my left cheek, and stuck my right thumb up my nose as I proceeded to chant in Latin. I personally think the sacrifice of the virgin rat helped.)
I proceeded to start it back up (Did I mention I am a masochist?)
And got back in.
I ran around a little to see if textures would load up. I was hitting about 40+FPS, so getting better.
I then realize I have no control to spin my camera to look at myself (usually 99% of MMO's allow you to hold the right mouse, and rotate the camera to look at your character), so I went into control options to see if an item was unchecked.
I did not find anything and hit cancel.
The demonic strobe effect started again.

ARGH!

This equals too much frustration. I was done.

I am sure there are some ways to fix this, but why should I have to hassle with such issues.
And the character deletion really just ruins the whole "Come back and try" deal.
SOE has said "over 1000 bugs fixed..."

Cool. Now only 99,000 more to go!

As to LOTRO, it is loaded and I have sent an email to my old friend to let him know I am coming back, and that I am ready to max out my character (this way I give the game an honest trial...I have a level 40 or somewhere around that, so he is ready to hit 50).
Hopefully we can team up and knock out some quests and see if the game gives me an honest feeling on if I would be willing to give Turbine the benefit of the doubt.
I am still peeved over some things I have seen, but at the same point, many believe I have not been fair to the game.

So, Vanguard got it's shot and I am officially done there.

Lets see if LOTRO can at least offer something better.

Also, as a final note on this wall of text...the wife and I hit level 20 in Tortage strictly doing all of the regular quests. It was a total blast.
We could have left at level 17, but we decided to follow some of the other quest lines which were quite fun (and were not the Destiny quests).
And we eliminated EVERY quest in our log.
I am duly impressed that the quests for one do not ever turn Gray (so they become non-xp quests) and that they last until you hit max.
Basically, the Tortage experience gives you two ways to play the island, and fun can be had in either format (Destiny or Non-Destiny).

We did find one problem.
One zone (The Ruins) has a hidden entrance that when we try to access the door says we need the quest to open it.
Now, we are mystified. I really wonder what is behind that door, and I plan to look into that.
So, our problem? A QUEST WE DID NOT DO!!!!
(lol)
Ok...completionist attitude there, but I GOTTA do it,....ya know?

Anyways, there it is...all this text I am sure you skimmed over.

If you paid attention, you will see that I also am adding a read more option. As I tend to write quite a bit in a day, I figured this will make it easier to skim my posts and just read more of the ones you like...
Hope you enjoy it...
Glad you stopped by...comments always appreciated...
(I feel so happy, that I may be turning off moderation soon...woohoo)

LOTRO - Steefel decides he likes the taste of foot

I am not quite sure where this guy thinks he is.
I try to grasp what knowledge he has that the rest of the MMO audience does not.

According to a new interview at Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Steefel has this to say.

"It’s arguably one of the top MMOs in the industry right now – we’ll see what happens with the new games that are coming out, but probably the second most prominent MMO game right now. It continues to grow in quality and size and the players that we have are great, worldwide. Really interesting community worldwide, even more committed in some respects than some other communities in other games."

As I have said before. Nothing more proud than being #2.

Steefel goes on with nice little tidbits like
"We have been building these kind of games for fourteen years – this is our fourth one. We got it right – as in, totally right – on our fourth try."

For who exactly? You? sure thing...for the MMO audience? You may need some more research there.

He goes on...
"The other thing you do is try and figure out how you can give people play sessions that are not as deep commitment wise – hence the focus on solo play."

That is why you make a MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER game.

I am not one to worry for one's marketing lingo. But, Steefel seems really clueless. Or he feels the need to make this game something more than it is.
There is no real data that says this game is the second most "prominent" game. The discussion on the net and the gaming world is minimal at best.

I really hope Steefel has something special here, but I do not hold up hope for Turbine games. All have disappointed me in some shape or form, or for the mass audience. (DDO and AC2 being two fine examples of less than stellar titles...Turbine is averaging a 50% success rate right now...)

Can someone just put a muzzle on this guy? Paul Barnett looks intelligent compared to this guy.

Lord of the Rings Online - Uh...ok

A new image from LOTRO: Mines of Moria.

LOTRO meets Soul Caliber (courtesy Worthplaying.com)

(UH...OMG...LOL!)

Advertising...coming to an MMO near you

Listening to NPR this morning, a discussion of the Emmy's came up (surprise).
With listings of various winners of last nights awards.
One big winner was Mad Men on AMC.
Basically the show talks about big business and advertisers during the 60's.

This then segued into a piece on the new ways of product placement or called "Product Injection.
Advertising is finding it's way into the actual story of the show. "Organically" was the proper terminology they used.
The product is integrated into the story in some way, and actually mentioned or is part of the sets, etc.
For example: Mad Men had an episode where they were finding a way to advertise Heineken beer for women. Heineken paid for this spot, and the product was used profusely during the episode.

This takes me to the awesome show "Eureka" on Sci-Fi network where I felt it was quite "fun".
The story is that in this small town of Eureka, a large company, Global Dynamics, was losing money according to the DoD (Dept of Defense).
So now all projects are sponsored by "Degree" under arm deodorant to help finance their research.
Adding to this fun, regular commercials have been created and are playing on the station (and on the website if you click through above. you can see a banner). These commercials use a "AI" styled robot who is slightly goofy (like the Sherrif, the main character of Eureka) who is AMAZED over how well the deodorant works. All within futuristic settings.
Hilarious.

Ok, so this is a long post and so far, I have yet to discuss the main topic.

How does this involve MMO's?

As of late we have seen the playfulness of our MMO's of choice using funny names or things that represent real world objects.
WoW now even has the Harley in game! (woot?).
But, we can see the execs, their brains trying to wrap around this audience who is NOT watching TV, and how they can sell their products NOW! within the MMO universe.

So, I got a hold of a memo from the "We do it betterz" advertising agency on how they plan to approach these MMO's of choice.
Look at some of these great idea's.

World of Warcraft - They will now have it so each food vendor will be advertised on the main map with a large "Golden Arch". People will eat Big Mac's to renew health, and drink "Coca Cola" to gain mana.
Their motto is "Over 10 11 million served in Azeroth"

Warhammer Online - Trying to play catchup, all dwarven females will be given red pig tails, and all male dwarves will be bearded (whats new) but will all have crowns.
Their motto is "But we grill ours, or if you wish we can get you a frosty"

Age of Conan - Now all clothing that you cannot seem to find in game will be sold at one store...Victorias Secret.
Their motto? "Told you we were mature...no really.."

LOTRO - Lately people have noticed strange new markings on their maps in game, but not too many know about them yet. They look mysteriously like Golden Arches.
Their motto is "We are going to be almost as big as those other guys. Call us No. 2"

I am still investigating, and will report when I have found more of these mysterious ways that advertising will be integrated in our MMO's down the road.

When did the blogosphere become "The News"

WAR is everywhere.
At least that is what Journeys with Jaye proclaims.

She would be right.
It seems so many have become overly emotional with discussion and opinions.
Love, hate, all things that cover a relationship, now seems to be the single crusade of many a blogger.

Isn't that what a WAR is though?

We must give credit where credit is due.
A game comes along only once in a while that requires this type of commitment. Whether it is love or hate.

Warhammer Online is one of those games that either gains the zeal of the player or the rancor of the non-believer of the WAR philosophy...

Why fix what is not broken.

As Jaye states
"And in the past few days, we’ve become witness to a tag team blog-off about Warhammer Online that included references to Kool-Aid, Communist Russia, and the Bible. I don’t necessarily endorse the beehive-prodding strategy of Tipa (although her recent entries are hilarious and have become the only sparkling gem that’s emerged from this showdown), and I also disagree with going so far as to start a crusade against Warhammer fans. But at the same time, it’s slightly ridiculous that the same people over and over are making it personal, and rejecting any thoughtful criticism about this particular game."

She is right.It has really gone too far.
Since Age of Conan and the need for every blog to rant and rave over its issues, and then the developers of LOTRO proclaiming they would be the 2nd largest MMO game behind WoW, it has gone downhill.

I for one started my relaunch for one reason. I wish to not follow this rhetoric. I wish to discuss the games I enjoy.
But, I think there is a slew of blogs who are more homegrown, more real.
Their stories and opinions really have something to say to the web about the games they play.

I enjoy MMO's most, and my focus will be there, so it will be hard to resist these discussions of the "flavor of the month" MMO.
I hope to maybe instead talk about games which are unique in some way or format.
Age of Conan, Guild Wars, Chronicles of Spellborn, Aion...these interest me the most.

I hope that as this blows over, and people learn what is commentary and what is hyperbole, that we can get back to the games we love.

Cheers, and thanks for reading.