I’ve come to the decision that I’m cancelling my LOTRO account. Although I still log in now and then, I don’t play enough to justify the monthly fee. I recently bought the Guild Wars Eye of the North expansion, and could justify playing only occasionally because it was free to play.
LOTRO, although pretty and with no glaring game mechanic problems that I could see, was just not as immersive as Warcraft. Although they had villages and NPCs, it somehow felt less of a real world than WoW does. I inhabit a world in WoW, where I play a game in LOTRO.
Guild Wars isn’t immersive at all, but that doesn’t bother me since I treat it as a casual game. To be honest, all the avatars are so pretty, I sort of use it as a glorified dress-up game, trying different hairstyles and such. ;) I can play for a half hour or so on maintenance day, or when I’m sick of WoW, and that’s fine…because I’m not paying a subscription fee.
And Warcraft? Even if I stopped playing for a bit, I would continue to keep paying the fee. I love the world enough to want to know that it was always there, waiting for me.
That’s interesting Ravven. I find just the opposite. Even with all the RP I do in WoW, I thought LotRO was much more immersive right out of the box, and see that it has only increased so. WoW, to me, takes much more imagination and interactivity on my part to make fun, while in LotRO, I felt I was in and a part of Middle-earth from the start, and my imagination got to take a little break since much of what I wanted was already in game. Maybe it’s because I’m such a hardcore roleplayer, maybe it’s because I read The Hobbit and the LotR trilogy every year on my birthday, and have done so since I was 9. Sorry to see you leave, but thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I think it possibly had to do with the fact that I very rarely saw another player. You’re very aware of the other people populating the world in Warcraft, at least on the older servers. In LOTRO, I felt as though I was alone. The NPCs designated “Hungry Hobbit”, etc., also brought me out of the game a bit. I understand why they were flagged that way, but they consequently weren’t “people”. That said, it was a very pretty game, and felt true to the lore.
LOTRO may have pretty backgrounds and locations, but the animations on the whole are just dire. Characters run as though they have a stick up their ass, and beasts fighting are just laughable. LOTRO could have been great, could have been immersive, but the suspension of disbelief never happens as it does with WoW simply for all the reminders you’re playing a game.