Lord of the Rings Online from Turbine has announced they have decided their "Friends Don't Let Friends Tank Balrogs" policy just wasn't going to cut it. So they have decided to make raid encounters and as described they are nothing more than stolen World of Warcraft raid instances! World of Warcraft sort of stole the idea from Everquest, but Blizzard just happened to make them quite a bit more fun, challenging, and less exploitable. Everquest pretty much stole the idea from MUDs, but raised the number of people and added 3D graphics.
So, isn't Turbine just following suit and offering the next upgrade in raid content? If this article is anything close to their final system then this is going to be a near CLONE of the WoW raid instances. Replace LotRO in this article with WoW and you couldn't tell the difference other than the raid party sizes. WoW has 40 and 20 person raids, while LotRO will have 24 person raids.
I really could go on and on about how this is such a blatant rip off, but its not worth my time. Turbine doesn't fucking get it. DDO is basically being redesigned and LotRO has a different design idea being tossed back into the game every other week. None of the ideas are original and there are so many of them (faction, raids, etc) that just STINK of rip off that it amazes me someone isn't suing.
Wake up Turbine! World of Warcraft is here and they have hit the nail on the head for achiever oriented game play. You have THE MOST BELOVED fantasy license of ALL TIME in your hands (Lord of the Rings is 2nd only to the Bible in all-time book sales BTW). Do something true to the nature of Tolkien's work. Don't throw the MMORPG copy-cat bullshit out on shelves with the LotR trademark as you did with Dungeons & Dragons Online. Screwing up DDO is recoverable, fucking up LotR is not.
NOTE: I realize that a big budget AAA title is nothing to go hog wild with. There needs to be a solid and proven game design under the hood. However, this does not mean Turbine needs to go back against their initial designs to include things that are DESTROYING other online communities. Turbine had a very different game with Asheron's Call and I can't understand why all their new games stink of copy cat bullshit. They don't even make the slightest attempt to hide it...
Update: 5 Aug, 2009 - Edited post, applied labels.
You mentioned Asheron's Call, and I think that's where the problem lies. AC and AC2 were different and interesting, and look where it got them. Now maybe they feel they have to do the same as everybody else just to keep up. :(
ReplyDeleteWhat was different about AC2? They tried to make Everquest. Been downhill ever since. Should of stuck to what they do best... monthly content updates.
ReplyDeleteThey go out on a limb early and talk up how they are going to make this radically different game. By release its the same ole' crap.
Maybe they do feel the need to keep up, but they can't expect to suceed this way. WoW has shut the market down for that type of game. Copy cats will go no where and Turbine should know this... its how they carved out an existence with AC.
I agree with you heartless. It is down right unforgiveable for these duesch's to make a WOW rip off. If they were going to make a WOW rip off, the LEAST they could have done was to give us the option to play for Isengard Or Mordor but no, they can't even do that; instead we have to play as the "good" guys-when the bad guys in the novel ruled!- and on top of that they are going to cut and paste WOW for dungeons. Unfuckin believeable.
ReplyDeleteI think you are going a bit far with this. Just because raids are mentioned does not mean the entire game is a copy cat.
ReplyDeleteThere is a reason why WoW has over 6 million subscribers. In my opinion there is plenty of room there to gain market share.
WoW is a good indication of what the gaming community is looking for. To come out with another MMO that does not use at least some of the aspects of WoW could easily end in disaster.
just my 2cp
You're seriously surprised that LoTRs won't be a groundbreaking game? I was on the LOTR game forums before I every played AC2 and it was being called MEO. I don't buy why they never released it back then - supposedly to get the actual license. Many of the features that I was drooling to have then wont be in the game they are marketing for release now. I won't be on LOTR unless I hear RAVE reviews. I'm not sure what Turbine is doing but the fear of releasing another MMORPG that doesn't succeed in the market probably influences many of their decisions. WOW is the current monster and it isn't hard to see why ppl would rather mimic and capture part of the player-base with the new settings and content, than risk missing the mark entirely.
ReplyDeleteAs for AC2, I didn't feel any EQ to it personally. Still dont if I think back on it. They got story right, immersion right, adventuring right - but the game failed. Does that mean that players dont really want that type of game?? I know my son wouldn't and nephews couldn't, leaving players such as I in the minority i guess.
I think you are making some big mistakes. WoW essentially has cornered the market on their type of gameplay. You can not build an MMORPG thinking you will be picking up ex-WoW players. Those gamers are in the market for WoW and I think it's foolish to believe they are going to stick around for your game.
ReplyDeleteIf your business model is to leech off another titles playerbase then your game is fundamentally fucked. Developers need to be looking towards new players by creating a better, newer, and more up to date game. Rehashed ideas will flop and Turbine should know this after the disaster called AC2!!!
two thoughts-
ReplyDelete1: endgame raiding in WOW is what it is because its very difficulty to design content that lasts longterm. Raiding isn't great, but it does provide some epic encounters and you get a lot of mileage out of a small amount of content (while you build an expansion) - I realize many many people don't like to raid but outside of pvp and raiding, the only other alternative is new content - and you simply can't add it as fast as players can chew it up. WOWs endgame is not perfect but no game's is.
2: The key for LOTR is not what it does or does not copy - the key is that it be FUN. We can argue about WOW endgame but 1-59 is FUN. I played DDO and it was NOT fun. Archlord beta is not much fun. EQ2 was not much fun. If LOTR is fun and polished it should be ok. If not it won't be, regardless of what ideas it is or isn't recycling.
Pete