Setting the Pace

From Relaxed to Rushed...How Will LOTRO Measure Up?

by Shayalyn

---

My playing style is constantly evolving. I started out in EverQuest (EQ) as a tender newb with no distinct goals other than to explore and, hopefully, avoid death. (At first, I wasn’t terribly successful at the latter, but the former was fun.) Eventually, I chose an EQ class that clicked with me, and I learned to play a little harder and faster, and suddenly I wasn’t content just wandering Norrath; I wanted power, and cash, and items. I wanted levels. I played just about every night, for hours on end, in my quest to be the best.

But eventually I realized that no matter how good you get, there’s always going to be somebody better. I reached the upper echelons in my small, casual guild, but I’d never be one of the raid-equipped uber elite. And so I made peace with the idea that I would probably always be ahead of some, while lagging behind others. I was somewhere between casual and hardcore, and that was okay. This trend seems to have followed me from game to game, now, but I still feel the seductive tug of fast and furious power leveling every now and then, even though I no longer succumb to it.

Every game has to have something to drive its players. Generally, that something is progress, and progress comes in the form of levels. How you gain those levels depends on the game. Some games require the endless slaughter of monsters, while others require the completion of quests (which usually require the endless slaughter of monsters), or a little bit of both. And in most games you’ll find a little of both types of gamers, too--the glory-hungry power levelers, and the casual gamers who enjoy taking their time and exploring.

It’s pretty clear to me that Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) will attract gamers who prefer a more leisurely pace, although I could be wrong (it’s known to happen). Still, the evidence I see based on the folks who frequent the official LOTRO forums suggests a potential game population that is educated, literate (imagine that!), and mature. And while I’ve certainly come across intelligent and mature power gamers, most of the real lore junkies who haunt the LOTRO forums and keep the Turbine devs honest don’t strike me as the sort of people who will go rushing full tilt toward the endgame. Most seem to be of a mind that LOTRO will be the sort of game that’s meant to be savored.

But will LOTRO end up being too low-key? While there’s certainly that potential, I don’t see how it can be. Despite the decidedly less hardcore type of players the pre-beta game seems to be attracting, in the end, LOTRO is still a game, and a massively-multiplayer game, at that. This means that players are going to have to find some compelling content within Turbine’s rendition of Middle-earth in order to keep them playing...and paying a monthly fee. If the pace of the game is too slow, eventually even the most dutiful explorers and roleplayers will find themselves growing restless. This is a brilliant understatement, but I’ll say it anyhow: restlessness isn’t good for subscription-based games.

And when it comes to LOTRO, there’s one other preventative to it becoming a low-key and inevitably boring game--an epic story. While Mordor wasn’t breached in a day, and progress toward the end of the War of the Rings was more of a steady journey onward than a rush to completion at breakneck speed, there was never a lack of things happening in Middle-earth. And while the endgame for LOTRO remains a mystery (you know, once the One Ring tumbles into the Crack of Doom, it’s sort of all over), there will certainly be adventures to be had. The Fellowship needs aid, and Turbine has promised that players will be able to give it.

Inevitably, while LOTRO remains a niche game that will never be all things to all people (as if any game could be), the challenge that lies ahead for its developers is to create a game that is as many things to as many people as possible. LOTRO will need to have content to satisfy players from one end of the spectrum to the other, from the crafters and the socialites to the relaxed-paced casual crowd, and even to the power gamers, few though they may be.

I mentioned that my playing style has evolved, and I think the same sort of flux occurs with gamers in general. Whether it’s a niche game or not, the pace of any successful MMOG needs to be flexible enough to suit the changing needs of those who play it. You can’t satisfy all of the people all of the time, it’s true. But the game that satisfies most of the people most of the time is destined for long-term success.

---