Of Lords and Rings

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I spent about three hours playing Lord of the Rings Online last evening. So far, so good!

A big thumbs up to Turbine for launching a MMOG and not having the bottom fall out of their servers spilling bits all over the countryside. Too often the community is lying in wait, like a flock of vultures to voice their displeasure and devour the attention that they receive for doing so. Turbine gave them nothing to latch onto and for that I am thankful.

The only major criticism that I could discover was that there were queues. I didn't personally run into one, but apparently some people did or possibly heard rumours of some people who did and via forum osmosis posted that they did as well. The official Support Forums seem to have the same minor basket of problems that any other MMOG had at launch

I played long enough to reach level 8, or was it 9? I came across the normal procedural content completing such important tasks as killing five bears, many goblins and numerous creatures that could have been bears or goblins had their model simply been changed. What was refreshingly different was that I enjoyed reading the quest text and that for the first time that I can remember the journey was actually more fun than the resulting increase in levels. It should be no surprise that questing was a more efficient way of leveling than grinding at the low levels that I experienced. It remains to be seen if this is the case as a player hits higher levels.

My views hold some water, but not as much as a guest who stopped by Loading... yesterday. Scott Adams is the person who brought adventure games to home computers. No matter which MMOG you play, you owe some amount of gratitude to Mr. Adams. Among other things Scott had this to say about LotRO,

" I love the fact I am in the world of the books and that I get to see Eldoron and other major characters as I adventure. I like the fact that grinding is really counter productive and not only do I want to do the quests, I read every word of them and they make me feel part of the game. I love traits and accomplishments. I love staying in a zone until I have seen all that I can see and done all I can do.

Also in every MOG I have played a Hydra (me running multiple chars at once) In EQ2 I run 4, in EQ1 I ran 6, you get the idea. It actually has trivialized EQ2 for me as I can handle any heroic instance with no others grouping or helping. Though I do leave 2 spots in the hydra always open for friends and guildmates to join me.

LOTR has changed all that, I enjoy being just ONE character and BEING that in an immersive way that a Hydra never gave. I have even gone so far as to hookup one of my computers to my 50 inch HD TV and have gotten a good wireless keyboard/mouse and I am now playing LOTR from the comfort of my recliner with my feet kicked up! I love this! I could never do this with EQ2 with the hydra!"

Scott's site is located here.

You can read his entire post in Loading... Edition #567.I had a short, but enjoyable chat with Karen Hertzberg, our Vanguard: Saga of Heroes community manager last night. We chatted about the future of Vanguard and of LotRO. Both titles are to some extent niche games; Vanguard much more so than LotRO.

Vanguard is for the hardcore, in my opinion at least. It is a beautifully complex game that a player willing to make a long term commitment should enjoy. That is its niche. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. The perception of Vanguard at launch was that it was quite something else and that was and is the problem. Vanguard as a game is well designed. It has its problems, but so does every other MMOG. Vanguard as a public relations exercise was a disaster, for the most part not through any fault of the public relations staff.

It is a wonderful thing when developers are passionate. Unfortunately, when they pour their hearts and souls out to the public the message is often misread. There is a reason that PR is so tight on most titles. In Vanguard's case the PR side of the company simply couldn't contain a couple of passionate developers and the resulting fallout was a perception issue that the game is still struggling with today.

Turbine did a tremendous job with PR. The game is what people expected it to be. Expectations meshed with reality and whether LotRO is a better or worse game than Vanguard is irrelevant. People who purchased it got what they expected.

I encourage everyone to at least give Lord of the Rings Online and Vanguard a try. They are very different experiences from World of Warcraft and you never know, you just might enjoy one of them.[Vote, rank, share, comment!]

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Today's Exclusive TenTonHammer.com Content!

04.27.2007

Dungeons and Dragons Online: The Knife Fighter
"Not so much an often heard sentiment, but it can apply when using the deadly Knife Fighter build brought to you by Darkgolem." Roma Victor: Review
"Rome wasn't built in a day nor was Roma Victor, RedBedlam's historically-based MMORPG. Released after three years in development, Roma Victor now stands as one of the few MMORPGs that focuses on history as well as realism. Heady from the indie MMO game development conference, Cody "Micajah" Bye was eager to sink his teeth into this niche title by the indie studio." Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - A Future or Failure?
"In this week's newsletter Shayalyn asks the indelicate question: what's in store for Vanguard: Saga Of Heroes, a future or failure? Read her take, plus get all the Vanguard news that fits (and it all fits!), in this week's newsletter." Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - Top Ten Bard Bug List
"This is one in a series of bugs and issues lists the Class Specialists at Ten Ton Hammer will be compiling for review by the Sigil development team. Changul compiled this list with the aid of other Bards on the Vanguard Ten Ton Hammer forums." Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - Shaman Top Bugs And Issues
"The great community at Ten Ton Hammer and Community Manager Ralsu have teamed up to produce a list of bugs and issues for Sigil's development team." World of Warcraft: Scarlet Monastery Guide
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- John "Boomjack" Hoskin