LOTRO Legendarium: How should LOTRO handle ‘the levels issue?’

Legacy of Morgoth comes out next week for Lord of the Rings Online, and I’m generally excited for it. I wasn’t initially, since desert zones aren’t my thing, but after seeing some of these area previews, I’ve come around on that. And it’s always a welcome day when I can continue my long-running character’s journey through Middle-earth.

However, this expansion doesn’t come without a modicum of controversy. The main point of contention has swirled around the fact that, unlike Corsairs of Umbar, this expansion will feature no additional leveling. We’ll start at 150 and end at 150. It’s not anywhere near a deal-breaker for me, personally, but it does bring up a good discussion topic: How should this game handle “the levels issue?”

So let me begin by explaining what I mean because in my mind, “the levels issue” is multi-faceted. For some people, by virtue of its age and 10 expansions, LOTRO’s grown from a game where the initial level cap was 50 to one that’s now 150. These high levels start to look absurd, so calls for some sort of level squish — to what end, I have to ask — occasionally pop up on the forums.

But what I see as the far more important topic is how LOTRO handles character progression and what more levels add (or don’t) to that. For, say, the first 80-odd levels, progression in this game feels good. Levels don’t only move you through zones but unlock virtue caps, add more talent points, and introduce new skills.

But somewhere along the line, you stop getting more abilities because your hotbars can only hold too much and the devs don’t want to bother with the additional balance. For example, the last time my Minstrel received a normal skill, it was level 70, with a bunch of level 75 skills for the mounted combat system that nobody uses. That’s it. Since level 70, I haven’t gotten any new abilities outside of perhaps unlocking some in the talent trees.

Thus, the value of leveling decreases the higher you go. You’re getting more base stats, opening up new zones, increasing the legendary item cap, and increasing the virtue cap, sure. But trait trees take a hit. Trait points start to decrease in frequency the higher you level.

You get one trait point per level until you’re 21, then it’s one every one or two levels until you’re level 140 and capped out at 98. If you’re paying attention, then you’ll notice that it means we didn’t get any additional trait points for Corsairs of Umbar and the journey from 140 to 150. SSG said that it doesn’t want to add any more for the time being as that would make our builds unbalanced or somesuch.

In summary, the higher in levels we go, the less we get for each step of the leveling ladder. All we’re really seeing these days is the occasional bump of the legendary item and virtue cap, which simply represents a modest stat increase across the board. That’s not very exciting to behold.

Now, LOTRO isn’t solely about progression, but it is still an MMORPG, and progression is important. There are many avenues to increase your overall power, and the current endgame is mostly focused on gear, essences, legendary items, and virtues for this. Yet it doesn’t change the fact that the dev team hasn’t addressed the lack of exciting and meaningful leveling since somewhere around Riders of Rohan.

Maybe there is no good answer to this. Sure, LOTRO could keep stacking another 10 levels on top of each expansion so you have the illusion of character growth, but it’s not meaningful. It’s not exciting. It doesn’t get us jazzed to hit that next milestone. Statistical increases certainly don’t.

So what could? That’s what I think SSG needs to answer before it starts adding any more levels to this game. What could make leveling in the mid and high portions of the game genuinely engaging?

There are a few possible answers that I can think of, and probably many more besides. Another row of talents and more points would be a temporary fix but doable. What about offering “legendary” upgrade choices to certain talents, maybe one when you hit 75, then 100, then 125, and then 150?

What I see as far more exciting a prospect is if LOTRO offered a secondary class profession — a kind of “multiclass” once you got high enough in levels. Maybe these could be secondary supporting mini-classes, or maybe players could “major” in their main class but “minor” in another class with fewer abilities and talents.

So my Minstrel could expand to include a Hunter’s ability to use bows and run faster, or a Captain could take a dose of Lore-master and have a second pet in the form of a raven or bear. I mean, balance issues come to mind almost right away — but you have to admit this would be thrilling and fun! And why not? Even if this is only on landscape and not in raids or instances, a multiclass would open the door to so many possible builds.

Other possibilities? Elite talent trees (shared among all classes or archetypes?). Alternative advancement points, perhaps coupled with yet another reworking of the legendary item system. Borrowing from WildStar’s path system or Vanguard’s diplomacy system as inspirations.

I don’t have one perfect answer. All I know is that as much as I love adventuring through this game, its world, and its story, LOTRO’s leveling leaves me feeling underwhelmed. I dearly wish that would change.