Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Back in "That" Game and LotRO Post-Mortem Thoughts

I did resub to WoW. I felt dirty doing it, and tried to cancel in time to not get charged, but ultimately the credit card processing doohickey won and I resigned to try it.

I found out, it's not so bad after over 6 months off. All my old gripes with the game seemed vanished. The Honor system is a LOT less of a grind now, as Arenas are where the real "competitive" PvP is at. I'm fine with that. I'll work towards my awesome Grand Marshal gear and be happy, thanks. :)

I'm nearly 67 already, after one solid night of questing, which in and of itself was refreshing. Being able to solo quest is a godsend. I spent a solid month in LotRO feeling like I was ramming my head into a wall and making a teeny bit of progress per hour. So it was nice to log in and see my quest log filled with doable quests and things to hunt down. That's not to say I didn't have stuff to do in LotRO, it's just that stuff in LotRO required a group that I didn't have and/or couldn't find.

So I'm back in Azeroth at least for now. Still eagerly awaiting Pirates, and thinking about rolling a character in LotRO on my father in law's account (lifetime sub that he doesn't use) and playing with my buddy Keen on his server to see if a group of friends might help me get over some of the frustrations. At least this way I can stay subbed to WoW as a backup. I make a point to never pay for 2 subs at once. I hardly have time for one game lately, much less 2 so why pay for them both?

Anyway, it's times like these I'm glad my FIL is a gamer packrat. He buys tons of stuff, plays it maybe once or twice, and never touches it again. LotRO he got on pre-launch release, played so far to level 10, and hasn't touched it since early July. He's just a collector of games, not much a player.

Good for me, I guess. I get the runoffs. :)

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

OH oh... we are going to have to force you to play asian games as punishment!

Bildo said...

Now now, Adele. That's no way to get GDC funds out of me, now is it? :P

Kidding, and please don't force me to do that. I'll gnaw my own mouse-fingers off 1st.

Link said...

...just one month... I won't get hooked again ... I can maintain. You junkie.

Kidding, of course.

Please give us a follow up post in a couple weeks.

Anonymous said...

kek, bur, and LOL

Bildo said...

I can't help it! I'll cut you if you take it away! :)

Nah, not that bad. I'm actually way more addicted to an upcoming game that I can't tell you lot about yet. But as it's not due out for some bit of time and I don't want to burn myself out on it. I just do weekly bughunts and stick to an already released game.

WoW it is, for now.

PCmodem said...

I get the feeling that your problem with lotro isnt solo'ing, its that you got bored.

You unfairly point the finger at your perceived lack of solo content, all while ignoring the same flaws in WoW. I have a hard time believing you exhausted all your solo options in LOTRO just because you've played it for a long time "banging your head against a wall". People with much less experience in MMO's than you have somehow managed to solo well past 37.

As for LOTRO, My experience has somehow been completely different than yours - did we play the same game? Yes, its easier and faster to level with a group, but in no way is it a requirement.

I made it to 70 with 3 chars in WoW before I realized how much a waste of time it truly is. I played WoW no differently than LOTRO - yeah, I'm not 50 yet, but im enjoying my 43, 34 and 25 more than I did those 3 70's. And in a couple of months, I bet you'll be saying the same thing.

Anonymous said...

Wish I had your FIL! lol...

Bildo said...

Different strokes for different folks, PC, you know?

I never said I'm done with LotRO. I said I need a break, which I'm taking. But it may not last long. For all I know I could create a character with my friend Keen on my In Law's account and end up re-falling in love with it again.

But I'm an "in the now" type of person. I go where my gut leads me in a game. I tried to just stay and muscle past the issues I had with LotRO, even took a 2+ week break from it. But ultimately I ended up hating playing my level 37 Champion as much the other day as I did weeks before.

So what would you have me do? Stay and punish myself by playing a game I wasn't enjoying?

No thanks. So instead, after hearing a lot of good thoughts from a real life friend about how WoW's still working for him, I decided to shell out 15 dollars for it. Will I stay? I haven't the feintest. But at least right now, it offers what I want. A game I can log in and play and accomplish something in.

I don't doubt that you're sick of it. I was before too. A lot of folks are. But I've been off of WoW for a good part of 6 months. Like LotRO, it turned out I needed a break, and now find the game fun again.

It's called burnout, and it happens. Maybe that's all this phase of my LotRO career is as well. I have been playing it for a year, after all.

Thanks for the comments guys, and keep em coming.

Bildo said...

Oh, and PC, there was nothing unfair about me pointing the finger at perceived lack of solo options. That's a bit of an oxymoron.

If I perceived a lack of solo options, it's entirely "fair" that I point my finger at them as a cause for my distaste with the game.

Now, if you mean to say...

"Bildo, I think you're wrong about the solo content, because I've not experienced a problem."

Then say that. Don't tell me my opinions on something are unfair. That's just mularkey. Your feelings on my feelings are "unfair". See what I did there?

I hope you get my point and take no offense.

Anonymous said...

Don't worry B. I also left LOTRO for similar reasons as yours (as well as a few other reasons). You're not the only one.

Didn't go to WoW though ;)

Anonymous said...

Hopefully its WAR that is keeping you so interested. They need to drop the NDA on that so we can finally get some non-press inpressions...

Bildo said...

Alas, if it was WAR I'm in I'd be proclaiming it from the rooftops as the NDA allows you to tell people you're part of the beta but nothing else.

Nope, no WAR for me yet.

Anonymous said...

Bummer. Although I guess that means another game coming soon is quality as well, so that's a plus.

These damn NDA's need to be lifted so all us bloggers get something to write about :)