Will Mines of Moria bring ppl back
Noobie to the threads but always listen to the podcast and love it. In Junes show, the new games due out this year where discussed and while MoM was mentioned nothing further was said about it so I wanted to ask a question.
As a LoTRO player i saw alot of ppl stop playing with the release of AoC, I myself bought AoC and played it for a month b4 cancelling my subscription and returning to LoTRO mainly because I just didnt like how ridged the game seemed. (I once ran into a piece of water that apparently I wasnt supposed to and I was instantly insinerated, thats right instantly set me on fire in water)
My question is this;
Do you think with the release of Mines of Moria later in the year, will it see a return of the people who left to play AoC? or are you waiting for something else? or is AoC ur game now?
Just wanted ppls opinions.
Cheers
Jonea
Every so often i load it up to see whats new. I played from A2 all through a month after release and each time i load it up after that i see the same thing. Excellent well built game, but boring. To me it's just a virtual play ground for Middle Earth. Great place to visit but i dont want to live there.
Gamer Tag: Rantyr
Does lotro lend itself to exploration and lack heavy zoning a la wow?
IMHO it lends itself to exploration very well indeed; zoning is barely noticeable.
I think LOTRO is going to enjoy a big bump in subscriptions when Mines of Moria is released not because people are coming back but because that many more Tolkien fans will be ready to try an MMO by that time. At the Tolkien places I hang out, there's an enormous potential base, which largely goes untapped because the ways of MMO's are still strange to them.
ou gar dokein aristos, all' einai thelei
http://livingepic.blogspot.com: where Classics and gaming meet
How will Mines of Moria change that?
ThePolypusher
WAR - Dolz
It'll be a catalyst that gives them the necessary little push. (IMHO, of course.)
ou gar dokein aristos, all' einai thelei
http://livingepic.blogspot.com: where Classics and gaming meet
But if LotRO itself wasn't enough to get them unafraid of an MMO, why will something making the game bigger and more complicated make it easier for them to transition into an MMO? Do people who don't play the game or pay close attention to the industry really going to know that an expansion came out?
I know The Burning Crusade expansion got my boss into WoW but that was because of media coverage related to the big release and the number of people subscribing. LotRO doesn't have nearly the same kinds of numbers or media hype that WoW had going into TBC. I just find it hard to believe that the release of the expansion is going to suddenly make thousands or hundreds of thousands of people suddenly buy a game they were unwilling to buy before (unless there is some compelling addition coming with said expansion).
Fletcher wrote:
I think there are tons of them who don't even know about the game, or only barely know about it, who will be intrigued by the idea that they can enter Moria. I'm always stunned when a fellow Tolkien fan evinces complete ignorance of LOTRO, but it happens very frequently.
ou gar dokein aristos, all' einai thelei
http://livingepic.blogspot.com: where Classics and gaming meet
Granted, I would expect the Gamer:Tolkien fan ratio should probably be higher than the Gamer:General Population ratio, but I'm not all that surprised that there are a good number of Tolkien fans who are not aware of LOTRO. Why should they be familiar with it? Just because it has the Middle-Earth IP? Why should id be any more interesting to them than the slew of other games that also leech off their beloved IP?
If you're not interested in playing an MMO, the IP will only get you so far and if you weren't aware of the release of the MMO based on your favorite IP, you probably wont be aware of the Expansion to the MMO you are unaware of that is based on your favorite IP.
I'm not saying you're wrong, but you haven't sold me on your reasoning yet.
Fletcher wrote:
XBL: nearly there
I'll be giving it a whirl when Mines of Moria releases. The lands that are being added are of significant interest to me, and the game seems to have really grown very well since release.
My fundamental thought is that Mines of Moria won't do much to bring people back. I'm sure it stands to enjoy a brief bump, but what it will do is provide further incentive to maintain population. People who are loyal to LOTRO will remain so, and these kinds of expansions are good for building a nice plateau of players. Once a game like this loses its momentum in generating new players, I think it's incredibly difficult to restart the process. Kind of like trying to restart the sun, but MoM could be good medicine for maintenance.
"I think Elysium has the right of it" - Certis
I could obviously be completely wrong, but I perceive a huge shift occurring right now in the way MMO's in particular are viewed as a part of culture. Many people. some of them Tolkien fans, are much more eager to hear about what an MMO is than they were last year. I think we have WoW to thank for that, but also Second Life and various viral influences like TV.
My theory is that Tolkien fans, who are drawn very strongly by the sense of exploration that's present from the very beginning in the work of Tolkien himself, are a really natural fit for an MMO, and that a little bit of word of mouth is going to go a long way when the word "Moria" is attached.
ou gar dokein aristos, all' einai thelei
http://livingepic.blogspot.com: where Classics and gaming meet
Yes LoTRO is much like WoW in the lack of zoning, in fact it only really occurs when entering instances/dungeons, homesteads and to a much lesser extent the buildings/taverns/shops. You can run or ride ur mount from the Thorins gate to the Misty Mountains if you where so inclined.
Im certainly hoping this is the case and Im also hoping that the first paid expansion will included a decent advertising campaign.
I finished my sub when I maxed out at 50 and decided that I wasn't interested in the endgame content. Mines of Moria will bring me back for a couple of months at least.
"sous les paves, la plage !!"
Eve-Online : Elizabeth Lockley
What info has been released to draw people back? Just the fact that you can dungeon crawl in Moria?
I really hope that's not the only trick Turbine has up their sleeve.
Being fangoriously devoured by a gelatinous monster.
Still not tons of info released, but:
Highlights, 3 new huge zones, each as big as anything currently in the game, including Moria which once inside will be completely zone free, and deep.
Two new classes, Rune Keeper and Warden, but no real info released about them yet.
Major additions to Monster Play, but again no details.
A whole new arc of Epic quest, the current quest line closes and the new one will focus on Moria and points after.
Posting on the boards is easy. The trick is to kick someone's ass the first day, or become someone's bitch. Chiggie Von Richthofen on how to transition from lurker to poster.
I don't see you guys mentioning Monster Play? I find that's a really nice change to the rest of the game.
I'm old school, I like a game with story, mechanics that are somewhat challenging and lots of content. Lotro has all of that. Lots of space, beautiful landscapes, enough interesting skill stuff to make leveling worthwhile. And the pvp is actually different depending on which side you play, so there's a whole set of gameplay that's not found in the rest of the game. That's a great touch.
I have not seen a lot of player loss in my guild, luckily. A few people have moved on but most are still around. Lotro had 800,000 subs minimum four months after launch, and even if it's a quarter or an eighth of that now, that's a huge bankroll for the next few years. And the players there now seem quite happy to continue. My take is that they are down to the hard core, and it'll be plenty to keep the game going indefinitely. MoM will only help them.
For me, it's the best game out there.
If wishes were trees the trees would be falling, Listen to reason, Reason is calling
Your feet are going to be on the ground, Your head is there to move you around -- REM
You need to change your forum avatar before you utter such blasphemy!
Heh, yeah this game to me felt too similar to WoW. Mind you this isn't a bad thing, but the fact that I had two level 70 characters and a bunch of alts in WoW gave me the feeling that when rolling up my new character in LoTRO I was just doing more of the same I had just done in Warcraft. It was unique enough to last me till level 40ish, but after that it became a bore for whatever reason.
The Gaming Chronicles
PSN ID: Harbinger01
Steam ID: [GWJ] CrashedHardrive
Elysium wrote:
I love LOTRO, although I haven't played nearly as much as I'd've liked over the past few months, but that's another story. As a long time "hardcore" raider from WoW (I raided 40 mans) I really saw lotro as a saving grace for me. It got me back into more of a casual play style - playing just to experience the storylines and quests the game had to offer. Since I'm a huge Tolkien fan, I paid the 200 dollar founders fee when the game first launched. So even when I do go on a hiatus for a few months I never see a reason to remove the game from my HDD. I will definately be playing more when MoM comes out, can't wait!