John Breeden writes:
"So I have been playing Lord of the Rings online for about a year now, and even though I love the world, based on the books of J.R.R. Tolkien and to some extent the movies too (though technically its only supposed to be based on the books), I was starting to get a little bit bored. Having maxed out my level at 50 and maxed out my arms making crafting at Grandmaster, there was not a lot for me to do other than try to put together some new outfits.
But now developer Turbine has done the impossible. They have unlocked the gates to a place whispered in low tones by Dungeon and Dragons geeks and computer game players in great reverence. Moria. The great mine of the dwarfs. They dug too deep in their greed and unleashed the Balrog, and it destroyed them. In a tutorial type instance, you actually get to play a character that had a central role in that tragedy, so you can experience it first hand. In fact, there is an entire new mini-zone and tutorial that you go though before you even get into the mines, which I actually really loved. It is kind of reminded me of the Isle of Refuge instance from EverQuest II, only this one was designed for high level characters before they were given access to the mine."
Turbine has released five new images showing the Gathburz area in the upcoming expansion for Lord of the Rings Online; Siege of Mirkwood.
IncGamers' MMO Editor Bill Vaughan runs through all the big MMO News from the last seven days:
"As always, there's been tonnes of MMO news around this week, and because I know it's hard to stay on top of it all, I've wrapped it all up in one place. Read on for the very latest on Star Trek Online, EVE, Lord of the Rings Online, World of Warcraft, Champions Online, Stargate Worlds, Star Wars: The Old Republic and Age of Conan."
Shame about Stargate Worlds.
Unless something big changes, I don't think we'll see that for a long time, and by that time the game will be outdated :(
Disappointing but it's high risk to invest in an MMO at this time so not entirely unexpected.
Before the financial crisis, this game would've been a sure bet. So many fans worldwide.
The discussion about the creation of the Republic's capital, Croissant (or whatever) was pretty cool, I missed that, thanks :)
I have friends who are really looking forward to stargate worlds, although not all hope is lost it does look grim...
I don't think Stargate World was ever going to do well, it was always riddled with problems, and it was only a matter of time before this announcement was made.
Veyr very tempted by the eve tester call out but it's such a huge timesink I'm hesistant to go down that road.
Jeff Hollis is back with another opinion piece looking at failed launches of MMOs. We've asked him to go into marketing, but he's not interested. This is a taster of his popular weekly feature:
"It's not like players aren't looking for something new. If anything, the initial launch figures of several games indicate that players are, in fact, sniffing around for a new MMO. For example, both Conan and Warhammer sold over a million copies of their game early on, only to have their subscription numbers dwindle later. It's rather widely believed that LOTRO, Warhammer, and EVE all boast similar subscription figures, at around 300,000. Of course, hard information on all this is very challenging to come by."
wow is no fun to bash, since it's too well armored with billions of dollars. feels no pain...
Hehe, there that international group that does sales figures should do subscription figures :)
WoW is an aberration, and analysing why it's done quite as well as it has, I think, comes down to the fact that it was a polished game that hit at just the right time and has kept pushing and pushing.
Very good point in the mid-game content, though. Online, there's a lot of people vocal about the endgame, but that tends to be the hardcore minority. The beginning content is obviously important as it's what pulls players in and keeps them there, but yes, the mid-game is hugely important. Weird how I can still think of areas in WoW that I hated so much I've never, ever done again, but that there were always others for me to do. I'd not really thought of the mid-game as being that important before.
