With Lord of the Rings Online hitting its 10th anniversary this past week, plenty of bloggers are enjoying the festivities and recalling some of their favorite memories of this beloved MMO.
Lina looked back at her earliest beta impressions of LOTRO and laughed at how she saw the game as “rather stiff, lifeless, and drab” (she since changed her mind). Wilhelm went through the game’s history and noted that the MMO was “a leader in the conversion to a free-to-play model, citing a huge boost in players and revenue to accompany the change.” And Roger recalls the changes: “Looking back now at these early days of LOTRO, the most pronounced difference was the fact that much of the game was designed to be completed in a group or fellowship.”
Is it still a game worth playing? Syl recently returned to LOTRO after a long absence and found it welcoming: “I’ve only been back a few days and already had more friendly encounters and met more silly helpful people on Laurelin than I otherwise would in years.”
Inventory Full: There goes the neighborhood — Twin Saga
“There’s a major tonal shift from nudge-wink to gosh-wow! It’s as though the writer and the translator both got up, took a walk to stretch their legs, came back and noticed what the game they were working on actually looked like. And who the audience might be — either tweenage girls or people who think like them.”
Alternative Chat: You wear it well
“A subject which seems to come up with the regularity of each new patch: what drives people from Azeroth. 7.2 has been the first patch since launch where it’s become acceptable to say out loud that the best expansion that Activision Blizzard has ever made for the franchise might not be all that.”
Gone; Now Back: Patch 7.do whatever you want
“I have said it many times on this blog, but Legion is the best expansion to be playing alts. Leveling is smooth. Zone design is top notch. With the storyline being drip released each week leading up to the release of Tomb of Sargeras, what the Warcraft team is not so subtlely saying is ‘DO OTHER THINGS IN GAME.'”
MMO Bro: Past history shows a rocky road for Secret World Legends
“The fact is that this is still for the most part uncharted territory. Game reboots on this scale are very rare, and none are an exactly perfect analogy for Secret World Legends. However, it does seem to hew closer to the negatives associated with such reboots — poor or dishonest communication, upending life for veteran players — than the positives, like fresh content.”
Greedy Goblin: Three big questions of massively multiplayer games
“Can you change the game world for other players? The simpler version is ‘Is there a world or are you playing parallel single player games?’ Many players prefer to be left alone, while others want to cooperate and compete with others.”
Galactic Antics: Thoughts on SWTOR’s Patch 5.2
“Not to say that there aren’t well-written moments. For example, since Theron is your only companion for this quest-chain, you have the opportunity to flirt with his father whilst Theron is standing right beside you. Oh, and you also have the option to scare him when you come across a mummified corpse.”
Every day there are tons of terrific, insightful, and unusual articles posted across the MMO gaming blogosphere — and every day, Justin reads as many as he can. Global Chat is a sampling of noteworthy essays, rants, and guides from the past few weeks of MMO discourse.
