A few weeks back, I made it through the Helm’s Deep quest chunk in Lord of the Rings Online for the first time, and I have to say, I was pretty impressed! Obviously it has a good narrative foundation to build on, but it also offered me options that you just don’t see in many MMOs that made my experience way less annoying – options that are relatively new to the game.
To wit: Helm’s Deep originally launched in 2013 with the epic battles system, which everyone hated. (Seriously: Here’s Justin’s contemporaneous article on Old Massively calling epic battles a “big bust.”) They took forever, the rewards were crap, and the scale just didn’t work. So back in 2020, SSG added a “storied tale” path that basically cuts out the time-wasting. It still does a good job of moving you through the story and showing off all the set pieces – and trust me, it still feels epic looking down from the parapets at thousands of teeming orcs – but I didn’t have to suffer to see it, nor did SSG have to delete the original version for folks who want that experience.
I’m all for choices, in other words, and this seems to be a clear example of a “do-over” for a major game system that was actually an improvement – and that’s not always something you can count on in the MMO space. I’d love to hear about more in the MMOs you play: Which MMO systems got a do-over that was actually an improvement?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
