Posted by
michael
on from the i-get-to-play-sauron-no-me-me dept.
learithe writes "A new Middle Earth MMORPG,
Middle Earth Online, has just
been announced by Turbine, who produced Asheron's Call 1 and
2 with
Microsoft. It
looks to be just as pretty and cpu/graphics card intensive as
AC2. More
(flash-free) information can be found at
IGN and
Gamespy."
Here's hoping
by
jbellis
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
Sierra tried twice to get MEO (Middle Earth Online) going and failed. It is widely believed in the community that the first dev team [the 2nd didn't even get off the ground] made the "mistake" of making the game too Tolkien-ish, i.e. too realistic and not mass-market enough. Death was permanant, wizards were Gandalf-ish and not some D&D creation, etc. Too bad.
So with that history, I hope Turbine pulls off the game we ("we tolkien fanatics") want to see, but I'm not making any bets on it.
Re:Here's hoping
by
Karhgath
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
Exactly. In fact, a good PD system will nearly eliminate PKillers and that sort of people, and strengthen the community and interaction between players, much more than a conventional game could.
Like I said before, the idea is to solve the problems of PD(death by lags and glitches for example) and not just whine about them, but actually try to solve them. It's easy to say PD won't work because of X or Y, but it's harder and more rewarding, I think, to try to actually solve those problems. These new ideas might revitalize the MMORPG market, EVEN if the game fails, the ideas and new features because of PD might be really useful even for other games.
Check a discussion I'm having on BluesNews about PD, posts #11 and up.
Gandalf and Sauron were both Maiar, immortal beings. They both participated in the Music of Iluvatar before the beginning of the world.
Sauron was a Maia bewitched by Melkor early on. He served as his lieutenant in Endor (Middle Earth) while he was chained in Valinor for three ages. After Melkor/Morgoth was defeated at the end of the First Age, Sauron fled into Middle Earth and started some good old empire building.
Gandalf was the Maia Olorin, clothed in gray by Manwe and Varda and sent off into Middle Earth to counter the evil of Sauron, as many of the Eldar had fled. He was one of the five Istari (wizards), all immortals who took on mortal guise. He was the only one that didn't stray from his task.
Killing them was fundamentally impossible. Even Saruman didn't die. He just fled into the West and was probably cast outside of Arda...but only Manwe knows.
Humans did not come back. They were given the 'gift of Man', ie. they left the world and did not return after their death. Whereas, the Eldar *could* come back. They went to the Halls of Mandos in western Valinor upon death and could be released after a time. It is said that Finrod Felagund was released from Mandos, as were Beren and Luthien, but they were a special case that required the intervention of the Valar themselves.
The Eldar who came back from Mandos, incidentally, were not permitted to depart Valinor again.
Frodo pulled through, beside his very mortal constitution, because of the application of what you might call magic. Athelas, the miruvor of Imladris, and that bit of song that Glorfindel sang over him. All of those were attempts to arrest the progress of the shard of Morgul-blade from killing him. Eventually only Elrond fortified by Gandalf were able to locate and destroy it.
I used to do theme for a Tolkien MMORPG so...sorry for the digression.
-- HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
Will they double charge?
by
Jason1729
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
My objection to MMORPGs is that you have to buy the software and pay a monthly fee. I will pay one or the other, but not both.
Crack Marketing 101
by
asv108
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
If a MMORPG just had a monthly fee, and a freely distributable/downloadable ISO, their increased sales would more than make up for the loss in revenue associated with ditching a retail box. There should also be a free 7 day trial that automatically converts to a paid account after 7 days. They should use crack dealer marketing: give them a free taste and get them hooked. The Safari free trial is a classic example in my case. After bad experiences with ebooks in the past, I didn't even consider trying Safari when it first came out. 2 months ago I saw a free trial offer, now I plan on keeping my Safari account for a long time to come.
There are three main problems with MS/Turbine game
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
As a long time player of Asherons Call 1 (On the Player Killer Only server known as Darktide). There are problems that plauge MS/Turbine games.
#1) Lag, Sweet Horrible LAG!!!
Wanna go PvP on a Player Killer Only Server? Well good luck having huge battles between clans, having more than 50 people in a single area will cause your ping to skyrocket!
Non Player Killer servers suffer from the same thing, which are gathering places where "carebears" hang out for hours on end chatting. Log on or travel to a main hub or spot and get massive lag, sometimes these people create lag on purpose casting excessive spells which slow down your video rendering or spam your chat box with scripted responces.
No matter how fast your Broadband connection is, you will never get a ping under 100ms.
#2) Rules that MS/Turbine dont bother to enforce.
They hire 10 admins to enforce the rules governing 500,000 players and it just doesnt work. People cheat, hack, exploit and even if theyre caught doing it, even if they admit to doing it and tell others how, they wont get punished. Massive item duplication sprees that as an end result cause gaming servers to CRASH!! Holy Crap MS! They are crashing your servers and you dont even give them so much as a slap on the wrists!
#3) Scripted/Macros.
Since MS heavily relies on scripts to test almost all their products including their games, this latest game will be prone to macros. Its a shake n bake on AC1. You dont even have to do anything, people level for you by passing up Experience Points (The Vassal/Patron system) through an XP chain. Scripts are created to not only level, but for skills and trades. The products of these skills can be sold, so no need to go hunting for cash.
Of course the more MS/Turbine forbids the use of Macros, the more people do it. Its crazy right now, and the new rules strictly stating that macros are against the TOS have had the opposite effect. People macro more than ever.
PS Their support is horrible.
Re:How can the game mirror the book?
by
Karhgath
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
That's why I think the perfect MMORPG in Middle Earth would be during the second age, or at least long before the LoTR. Times of conflicts between all races, epic wars, easterlings invasions, etc. It's a much better backdrop than the Ring quest and it's backdrop.
Suck the life right out of Middle Earth
by
kabir
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
I can't help but think that an MMORPG will just suck the life right out of Middle Earth. In my head ME is a rich, populated world filled with complexity, wonder and mystery. There's just no way that an MMORPG can do that justice with current technology. I mean, look at _any_ of the current MMORPGs and it's pretty obvious that they're not up to a world as rich a Tolkien's.
Slashdot Mirror
So with that history, I hope Turbine pulls off the game we ("we tolkien fanatics") want to see, but I'm not making any bets on it.
My objection to MMORPGs is that you have to buy the software and pay a monthly fee. I will pay one or the other, but not both.
Jason
ProfQuotes
If a MMORPG just had a monthly fee, and a freely distributable/downloadable ISO, their increased sales would more than make up for the loss in revenue associated with ditching a retail box. There should also be a free 7 day trial that automatically converts to a paid account after 7 days. They should use crack dealer marketing: give them a free taste and get them hooked. The Safari free trial is a classic example in my case. After bad experiences with ebooks in the past, I didn't even consider trying Safari when it first came out. 2 months ago I saw a free trial offer, now I plan on keeping my Safari account for a long time to come.
As a long time player of Asherons Call 1 (On the Player Killer Only server known as Darktide). There are problems that plauge MS/Turbine games.
#1) Lag, Sweet Horrible LAG!!!
Wanna go PvP on a Player Killer Only Server? Well good luck having huge battles between clans, having more than 50 people in a single area will cause your ping to skyrocket!
Non Player Killer servers suffer from the same thing, which are gathering places where "carebears" hang out for hours on end chatting. Log on or travel to a main hub or spot and get massive lag, sometimes these people create lag on purpose casting excessive spells which slow down your video rendering or spam your chat box with scripted responces.
No matter how fast your Broadband connection is, you will never get a ping under 100ms.
#2) Rules that MS/Turbine dont bother to enforce.
They hire 10 admins to enforce the rules governing 500,000 players and it just doesnt work. People cheat, hack, exploit and even if theyre caught doing it, even if they admit to doing it and tell others how, they wont get punished. Massive item duplication sprees that as an end result cause gaming servers to CRASH!! Holy Crap MS! They are crashing your servers and you dont even give them so much as a slap on the wrists!
#3) Scripted/Macros.
Since MS heavily relies on scripts to test almost all their products including their games, this latest game will be prone to macros. Its a shake n bake on AC1. You dont even have to do anything, people level for you by passing up Experience Points (The Vassal/Patron system) through an XP chain. Scripts are created to not only level, but for skills and trades. The products of these skills can be sold, so no need to go hunting for cash.
Of course the more MS/Turbine forbids the use of Macros, the more people do it. Its crazy right now, and the new rules strictly stating that macros are against the TOS have had the opposite effect. People macro more than ever.
PS
Their support is horrible.
That's why I think the perfect MMORPG in Middle Earth would be during the second age, or at least long before the LoTR. Times of conflicts between all races, epic wars, easterlings invasions, etc. It's a much better backdrop than the Ring quest and it's backdrop.
I can't help but think that an MMORPG will just suck the life right out of Middle Earth. In my head ME is a rich, populated world filled with complexity, wonder and mystery. There's just no way that an MMORPG can do that justice with current technology. I mean, look at _any_ of the current MMORPGs and it's pretty obvious that they're not up to a world as rich a Tolkien's.
Behold the Power of Cheese!