Community :
People were not very friendly or helpful. That’s what happens when the game is too simple, idiots are able to play. There was little necessity to interact with other players however, except for asking questions and needing help doing quests. Raids were rare, and there was an auction house and an LFF window, just so we don’t have to communicate. The game valorised the individual and his own achievement (just like in a singleplayer game) instead of the community. You werent too quick on bug rexponses either. In the middle of bree there was a hobbit who materialized from thin air a few feet above the ground, fell down, then reappeared above the ground again and again and again and again. Two weeks after reporting that bug it was still there. How can such an obvious and simple bug not be treated? The Rpers were pretentious and pathetic :
Roleplay and character development:
Roleplay was ridiculous, because of the « Roleplay mode » option and the « family » window it’s like if Turbine was forcing it upon the players instead of letting players implement it naturally in the gameplay and their actions. Then again, how are people supposed to roleplay when everyone is a hero and everyone saves the world and everyone has done the exact same things (just like in a single player game). It doesn’t make a lick of sense. This is not a singleplayer game, not everyone can be a hero there are thousands of players! The lotr characters should not have been implemented, it made things very cheesy and did not do homage do the real lotr stories. I mean, how can everyone be a friend of strider, that doesn’t make sense, it’s silly. Rping is as silly as kids playing pretend. You’re not going to tell kids how they should play with their little imaginations.
Quests
The game was based on finishing quests (just like in a singleplayer game) instead of social interaction and the human element. Since this was basically a single player game with other people walking around you, it was annoying to have to find someone help you in your quests. I don’t wan’t forced moments of social interaction I want to implement social interaction myself. But since there was little necessity to do so social interaction became more of a chore. You went one zone to the other to find quests, just like in wow, and some zones you just couldn’t go.
UI
The UI made things easy, that’s not a bad thing, I don’t think there is much more to add to it. It hit it’s limit.
WoW resemblance :
Character development, social interaction, UI, animations, crafting, combat, quests, gameplay, leveling system were all VERY similar to WoW or identical. It was wow in a lotr world.
Music
Music was nice, but I didn’t hear a, like, « grandiose » music for the big battles and big cities. It sounded « small » and didn’t have much of an effect on the general ambience.
The World :
When I finished the prologue to the epic quest Archet was all burnt and in ruins. I shook my head in shame and disbelief. I could you do such a thing. You can’t just make things (especially whole cities) appear different to other players than others! We’re all in the same world! I liked that there were little loading times, very good, very good for such a big world. But I don’t like the sudden change in environnement, I mean, youre in a swamp and then you walk ten meters to the right and WHAM you’re in a desert. Make it more gradual. I felt like I was teleporting from georgia to texas in half a second. I liked the view distance, but for people with good computers the view distance and object fade should be much farther. By the way, this is Tolkiens Middle Earth, more breathtaking please.
Server and internet :
I never felt any lag and the game never put any real strain on my bandwith. A good netcode indeed, but I don’t like it when there are so many servers, the less the better unless it’s laggy.
Graphics
Slap a few more polygons here and there, and give us a better texture quality on character’s faces. I liked the water. MMORPGs don’t usually have good graphics but I would’ve liked to see bump mappings. Also, the specular on the map was absolutely disgusting, you could see very big pixels. Skydomes at some times of day at some places could use a polish, especially when it was bizarrely red.
Special effects
It is very tacky when you swing your sword and a white trails followed it, it isnt magical or anything! I don’t like the little biright flashes and colours when you use an item or level up or get hit by a special attack. It just looked ridiculous.
Animations
Don’t make a WoW clone : push the limits of MMORPGs. Make realistic animations, no objects appearing out of midair, no random gesturing For example : When you boiled leather, an axe appeared in your hand, you moved it a little and tada, it’s a boiled leather. People wan’t it to be REAL. I’d also like to see some physics, but then again theres the whole netcode thing and that would be very complicated.
Crafting :
Crafting was boring. People do it do have money and not have fun, just like some players play just to make their characters advance. It was repetitive, slow, annoying and unrewarding.
Economy
I found little use for money as most of my weapons came from quests. Making money usually involved camping, or doing boring stuff. However, when I did need an item from another player, I was amazed at the price. People worked so hard to make money (instead of having fun) that there was a huge inflation and I was left behind without a reasonable amount of cash.
The Noob feeling
When I started playing I knew exatly what to do, it was very simple, I didn’t get at any moment of the game a feeling of wonder and discovery or understanding. I like to be confused, its charming, it makes the game look so amazing and full of elements.
Combat
It was the same as in other mmorpgs, right click on the enemy and mash your special attacks. You stood there and watched your little character swing his sword. You could have a revolutionary combat system, where it wouldn’t rely only on your characters strenght (which only time can build up) but also on player skill. Make the combat like oblivion, this sounds incredibly crazy, youre probably saying « how can combat be live and totally interactive in an MMORPG? ». It’s not impossible. Think of planetside, 450 players per map, and it’s a First person Shooter! You could surely do that with an MMORPG. Heck, Ive never seen 450 playerrs in my area in lotro.
AI
Mobs were walking around the place aimlessly, patrolling for no reason, sword in hand. They were just there, standing in the field for no reason, waiting to be killed. And they were everywhere, outside cities, aggressive creatures every five meters, children would be killed everytime they go play in the park.
Sounds
The sounds werent bad, but I got annoyed after a while with the in-combat grunts and shouts. Variety please.
You obviously can’t apply these ideas, but consider them for your next MMORPG.
If you want to make money, you’re on the right track. Keeping it simple and stupid and the kids will love it. If you want to make a good game that will appeal to the real MMORPGers, well, I guess its too late now.