The more things change, the more they stay the same … this old axiom is very true for Lord of the Rings Online. There are parts I truly love about the game, it’s intense focus on lore and bringing the books to life for example. But after taking a break from WOW and playing LOTRO for two weeks, once again the frustration outweighs the benefits of LOTRO.
Bag space is a HUGE frustration in LOTRO. Seriously, six bags of twelve slots is just not enough. Having to stop and empty bags every time you run across a vault location or a seller is time consuming and not fun, but failure to do so means that shortly you will be out of bag space. Another frustration as a SUBSCRIBER is that the game is overly monetized for the cash shop. I get that it is a niche game with a smaller player base but seriously if I’m spending real world money on mounts (or anything) then those mounts need to be account wide.
And while I love the old world complexity of MMO’s that still exists in LOTRO, it is also the downfall of LOTRO. I don’t have the bag space to carry multiple weapons of varying damage types. And to be honest, as a casual player that flits in and out of games having to remember what damage is best against what critter is annoying. The game play mechanics are also old and outdated, Helm’s Deep may fix some of those issues but can’t possibly fix all of them. Quest is slow and the mechanics are outdated. I understand why it is do X, return to quest giver and then go back to the SAME EXACT AREA and do Y but it is annoying, tedious, and a huge time sync. At some point, efficiency of my time is more important that running to and from a quest giver for the sake of lore immersion.
Don’t get me wrong, the game is drop deep gorgeous but the mechanics are too flawed. I will stop in and play every once in a while but it is too frustrating to commit long term to an overly monetized game with expansions that are over-priced for the value of what a digital only expansion offers. I’m not leaving LOTRO with a bitter taste in my mouth, more with frustration with Turbine and the slow pace of the game.
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