Originally Posted by Nimrandil Originally Posted by

Hi,



I've just joined LotRO. The main reason - I wanted to try some Tolkien-based game. And so far - I only went through my intro and few quests after that - it doesn't feel much like Middle-Earth. Let me explain what I mean and please let me know what I am missing and if the game gets better later.

And I really hope that I am missing something. Otherwise I would've abandoned the game without making the post.



1. Quests feel generic.

I tried reading all quests to get some immersion, but apart from the main quest they are pretty bland, feel like WoW quests with descriptions nobody really cares about. You just click through them, do what you are told, turn them in and run to the next quest. I understand that Knights of the Old Republic, The Division and The Elder Scrolls Online required more effort to make quests fun - voice overs, dialogues, animations - and not every game can afford it. But even single-player RPGs like Baldur's Gate, Divinity: Original Sin etc were having more engaging purely text-based quest descriptions.



2. Doesn't feel like there is much reason to explore.

Even in WoW there was always interesting to check what is behind that corner. Sometimes there is a quest, sometimes a rare (or at least unusual monster), some building etc. And just running around maps for exploration achievements and in order to reveal the whole map was kinda worth it. Same goes for TESO, Secret World, Firefall, Wildstar. KotOR was pretty uninspiring exploration-wise. But LotRO feels just empty. Yes, there are forests, ruins, but it feels like nothing is there to be found.



3. It is Middle-Earth setting, not a Middle-Earth feeling.

If you have experience with KotOR - let me use it as an example. Imagine KotOR without its quests. It would be just a WoW reskinned with Orks looking like Ithorians and metal swords glowing pretending to be lightsabers. It feels like LotRO is just a reskinned version of WoW as well.



4. It feels empty.

I've just ran from Bree to Hobbiton on foot. Some monsters walking around, few NPCs at some key points and few gathering nodes didn't feel like enough to fill the world. It feels like even Ubisoft open world games are more engaging than this.



5. Bree and Hobbiton feel the same.

It just felt like reskinning again. "We have generic men, let's make them short with hairy legs and let's make their houses underground with round doors. Nice, we have Shire. Good enough".