LOTRO Community Reactions vs Umbar Expansion & New Roadmap

[@Beriathan]

Something I briefly mention on one of my upcoming playthrough videos is that King's Gondor and Outer Gondor were necessary from a worldbuilding experience. I had a lot of fun going to the areas that were previously covered by the Dawnless Day and seeing how beautiful they actually are, plus the areas we didn't get initially that players have been asking for a long time. I think it's safe to sat the devs wanted to provide us with a full Gondor before moving to new and unexplored territory. If anything, it seems like they rushed through the old areas, as they don't have as many quests as they did with the pre battle versions.

[@Trumpkin777]

I agree 100%, I am enjoying going back to a bright sky, and not chasing the corsairs from place to place. That said, I wish they would have had more linear path through some of the areas, instead of running quests back and forth, most specifically in the Vale near the Stone of Erech. Also the western Gondor Slayer deeds are too high, I don't want to get all the exp in Kings Western Gondor, I want to level throughout the 4 areas. Note: just finishing Kings Western Gondor, doing all quests and deeds.

[@Domaister420]

Not only world building but also story development is a big thing why it is important to make that journey through King's Gondor. You dont have any particular reason to go to Umbar beside a "maybe" growing threat in a land far far away. In the beginning you were not on a mission to umbar. This is what we could experience long before the expansion even launched. But if people just don't care for the story i dont wonder why they think its stupid to do these "recycled areas". Imo the story catch up was great and very necessary before heading to the shield isles...

[@melmartinez7002]

@@Domaister420 - I agree 100%. Having a good storyline driving the expansions is crucial for me. I have been playing LOTRO since the game came out and I got bored of the gear grind through endgame boss raids ages ago. I guess folks who are still into that are probably disappointed in this expansion but for me it’s been great because there is so much story building and a lot of stuff to do.

[@thatsoupguy]

Great video! I really appreciate the fact you went over the comments (not just mine). It's important to discuss topics like this to hear opinions from all camps and avoid any potential bias, so I'm glad you're objective on this matter. I think we can all agree that they should've released the post about future content on the release and that they should've emphasized that this was an Early launch made more for landscape and questing players. If they said that they did that to make repeatable content and instances higher quality it could've shifted the whole community reaction to be positive because landscape players will be happy with the early landscape and quests, and raiders will be happy with more higher quality repeatable content. Looking back, the graphic setting part was probably because I have Reshade and NVIDIA settings for game enhancements turned on which honestly made the game look 10x better for me. Or it could've been just youtube being youtube with their compression.

[@Lediath]

Hard to sell a $130 ultimate fan bundle if you say that the end game is going to be missing on release.

[@Metalliss]

Great video! As a relatively simple "LOTRO Enjoyer" in general, I'm honestly not too bothered by this admittedly shoddy release. I am having, so far, quite a lot of fun with the new expansion, however I've been really taking my time to quest all the way through King's Gondor. I still enjoy the landscape and the quests are engaging enough, also just cleaning up every deed in each zone. I did take a break from Gondor to just go right to the Shield Isles for mining/crafting. I share the same disappointed sentiments that a lot of folks are speaking off. The crafting overhaul is something I was and am very excited for, and to see it fall pretty flat on release was a disappointment, but it didn't really detract from my playtime. The decision to keep the delving system accessible without any appropriate rewards was also a disappointment, I really do enjoy going through delvings solo to get some nice gear, and I highly agree with the comment that there should just be lower tiered rewards for the time being, nothing raid tier, just yellow/purple equipment. I agree they should have just disabled it for now. Speaking again on crafting, it was nice to see a decent host of craftable items and gear right off bat, however I haven't been able to craft the level 141 set of uncommon (yellow) items, and the mastery for it seems to only allow selection of stat appropriate versions of this gear (I could be wrong). As for the rest of the missed or botched content grievance, it does give a little sour taste in my mouth to know that they really did seem to rush the expansion out, however I am happy to see a proper roadmap for changes and fixes. For the time being, I'm just taking things very slowly and questing in Gondor which has been great. I feel as though by the time the content that's missing is implemented, I may personally just be getting to the point where it's more relevant as I don't have so much time to play. With that said, I can absolutely understand the frustration for folks who are already level 150 with barely anything to dig into. Basically speaking, I'm enjoying myself greatly with the new expansion but acknowledge the faults from the release. It's not fun to see, but, well... it'll be here eventually. I think a lot of this boils down to how individual players go about the game and how they personally enjoy it. Already level 150 with nothing to do? Yeah, that does really feel bad. I'll leave my hope with SSG to wrangle everything together within a good timeframe. Overall, I'm happy with the expansion thus far, but it is really shaky.

[@Phosypha]

The biggest thing I was looking forwards to was the multiple crafting radars change and it didn't get mentioned on the roadmap 🫡 (Hopefully it's still in the works and the roadmap just mentioned expansion content related updates [though the forester event got mentioned so... 😭7])

[@thegenxgamerr]

I'm glad Cordovan put this out. I made a thread on the forums asking for this specifically. We needed a road map of when Umbar content was coming given how much was excluded from the actual expansion. This is a positive step forward for SSG and for the game as a whole IMO.

[@N1GH7F0X]

I like the expansion. But I dont like the server problems on Belegaer! I cant play snice days. Every loading screen is gambling if is loading or not (mostly not!) and all houses are empty. Nothing works properly and all aspects are buggy in this game. Whats is the ppoint to have a nice new class and expansion if you cant play the game?!

[@cavetroll666]

new zones look gorgeous :D and i don't mind Outer Gondor since in Return of the King books many soldiers came from those lands

[@DeanFWilson]

Regarding Gondor, on the first playthrough there can be a sense of "I want to see the new lands/biomes" (and they're certainly worth seeing), but on future playthroughs you can better appreciate the questing in King's Gondor West (and the new locales of Outer Gondor, which some keep dismissing as old when it is in fact a new zone). There are five zones total, and only one of them (KGW) is a rehash, which isn't bad considering a large chunk of the Minas Morgul expansion was Mordor Besieged. Even if we were to count Outer Gondor as "old" (as in it reuses assets, though I would say it has a unique look and feel to it), that still leaves another three zones (Shield Isles, Cape of Umbar, and Umbar Baharbel) with a completely new aesthetic. It's incorrect for some to lump the City in with the Cape, as it is absolutely huge, has plenty of quests (I think I counted 65, not including the 12 or so City quests from the Epic), its own deeds and deed section, etc. FWIW, I don't buy the arguments that KGW or Outer Gondor were intended to be released earlier and were lumped in with the expansion. There is just no way they would release that amount of landscape as mid-cycle zones, especially with an expansion and level cap rise on the horizon. And if they had done so, they would've had to make even more landscape and quests to fill out the expansion. It would've also been largely wasted content to have so many level 140 zones just months before the level cap goes up. One final point on King's Gondor (East and West): while they are new looks at old zones, they are also pretty lucrative zones for VXP, with about 100k awarded between them (from relatively easy-to-complete deeds). This, to me, is a good approach to take to revisited zones.

[@PyroNL91]

As a new LOTRO player I learn alot from your video''s thank you! Keep it LOTRO :)

[@Haseo89]

Definitely agree on the Delvings part. They could use them as a ramp to gear for instances , having them at a certain max tier , like 5 or 7 and when instance releases go up to 10 and to 12 when raid comes out. With the gear dropping as that forum poster said.

[@DeanFWilson]

Regarding Delvings, my understanding is that they no longer drop 140 gear at all, though those can still be bartered for. Delvings do still have other rewards that players may want though, such as the pots or pets, or even just the weeklies for writs, embers, etc. Even basic t1s giving crafting boxes are very useful with a new crafting tier. I would therefore argue that turning them off entirely is not a good approach, as some people still want to run them. I do agree, however, that maybe it would be better for Delvings to award some kind of gear, even at lower rarities, or maybe just more evergreen rewards that are always desirable.

[@JayTor2112]

I have no issues with the expansion, I'm not an "end-gamer", I just enjoy the questing, story, and exploring new places. The new zones in this one are top notch, especially Outer Gondor, even if the content is a bit sparse in that region. I just made it to the Shield Isles, so we'll see from here. I'll just jump ahead to the new roadmap part...

[@danabell2709]

They either should have announced a staggered release before release or held it until they could have released more than this bare bones experience. It feels like they released half an expansion and we had to raise cane to get any sort of an explanation at all. I do agree the leveling has been pretty good but I've been in no hurry to get to 150 because I just feel they have nothing substantial waiting for me until December rolls around :(

[@sandycreefast463]

The new expat looks beautiful and looking forward to slowly playing through it but right now not a lot of time to play a lot. Plus hearing a lot of negative feedback on discord mentioned a lot of bugs and problems is adding to not being encouraged to play. Thanks for another good content video

[@meinking22]

Anfalas, Pinnath Gelin, the Shield Isles and Umbar are actually really cool places, although Umbar feels more GoT Braavos to me than anything Tolkein. Given the massive amount of quests available in the new map areas, the King's Gondor Renewal questing is totally unnecessary from 140-150 unless you need the Reputation. Were I to do it again from 140-150, I would just run the Epic Book questline up to Anfalas, then start doing the landscape quests at Melgobas through Umbar. That will give one a richer expansion experience of the new areas.

[@servalous]

I am a big lotro fan and has nostalgia to the old days. But it's realy sad to see that a realy good game that was competing with WoW back then is now, meh. To get new people to play and spend money in the game you need to overhaul the game bit by bit. Others made it and I truely believe Lotro can do it to. At the moment it looks like a harley davidson made to a mini van...

[@BeyondDaX]

To be honest, they can only improve so much without shutting down the game and make an entirely new one

[@mortenwheeloftimem2911]

I have a different perspective than many people it seems. I did the king's gondor part of the Umbar expansion, and I quite enjoyed it. The questing was very well done, and well written, a bit funny at times too. As a preface, I should explain that I'm a big fan of Gondor zoners (+ Ithilien/Morgul/Old Mordor), so that is another reason why I quite enjoyed it too. I played it on my mariner, and the reason I didn't continue is cause my old altholicism reared it's ugly head, and I decided that I didn't want to play my mariner, and it's my highest char (other is 123, that I don't like). So, off I go thinking about what I want to play and if I should buy a boost, while playing other games and doing other stuff.

[@edevans5991]

I think a town to rebuild like Hybolt but in Kings Gondor would have been nice.

[@DeanFWilson]

My only issue with the expansion so far is the lack of endgame (which that "future plans" post mostly addresses). I agree with you that announcing such before or with the launch, or at least sooner after, would've helped temper player expectations and address fears that nothing more was coming to plug those gaps. As for bugs, while I have noticed some, they were all relatively minor. I've experienced nothing gamebreaking yet. I'm sure if we looked back at previous expansion launches, they were probably as buggy if not buggier (I remember falling through floors in both Gundabad and Rise of Isengard, for example, particularly the latter). If anything, the sentiment I've heard from others is that it's been a fairly bug-free experience getting from 140 to 150.

[@richardwallis9374]

I think once we start getting deeper into the expansion it will be a good one. Just gotta get through the next couple months. It’s a bad launch not a bad expansion.

[@aeasus]

Didn't we get some info that we were getting stat tomb boxes up to T22 with the x-pack?

[@aanadirbloodblade905]

Hell I’m still leveling my first character through it, I’ll hit 150 in a few days and run Storv during the winter festival and then play WoW until the group stuff releases. No big deal

[@darkomen96]

Hey everyone! Is there any information about Loremaster class rework?

[@taylemgames2652]

For me, it is the game's performance that will truly kill it. So many good things in the game, but the performance is just god awful. Secondly, the often crazy monetization and/or grind that game employs with things like older Festival Mounts (to finish Deeds), LIs and essence systems (which I feel damaged the game more than they helped). I am a Lifetimer and still have little motivation to play.

[@Iltar]

What server are you in? looking for an active kin

[@Louey7]

Landroval, here's my kin's website for more info on them! ml.shivtr.com/

[@wkmowels]

They didnt release a roadmap before launch because it would have hurt sales. I havent seen anyone address this point on youtube or the forums. Not sure how gullible the lotro player base is byt ueah.. Its fairly common in the MMO genre to have poor communication prior to new content launches if all the content is not ready.

[@lunhil12]

I'm enjoying the new expansion as a casual player. Some people will always complain no matter what SSG does, it's always been this way.

[@Illthallion]

Notes right on the store page next to the pricing mentioning content: "Lord of the Rings Online: Corsairs of Umbar expansion is scheduled for release on November 8th, 2023, with the instances and raid to follow. In the event of delay, you will receive the initial expansion content and items no later than December 1st 2023, and the instance content no later than March 2024. The Lord of the Rings Online: Corsairs of Umbar is available in English, French, and German."

[@moondog548]

EG7 needs to fund an actual payroll for SSG. The fact that Lotro had a producer just as a little bonus for a little while in the past decade+ is absurd. There are obviously not enough actual developers. DDO's community manager has been filling in as Lotro's community manager when he has a chance for also a good decade plus. The fact that the game is playable, and has had additional wonderful world/story content over the years is absolutely astounding. But it's not good enough. The underlying systemic problems (performance, itemization) only get worse as time goes on. It's great that they have finally been acknowledged, and even better that they've stated plans to work on them (finally!!!), but they still need to actually *do* it, and they obviously don't have the personnel for that.

[@BeyondDaX]

Worse? How?

[@melmartinez7002]

Umm.. worse? Disagree strongly.

[@moondog548]

​@@melmartinez7002 edited my post to clarify what I was actually talking about there.

[@moondog548]

@@BeyondDaX edited my post to clarify what I was actually talking about there.

[@mattcyr2109]

I love Delvings for the record I think its probably the 2nd best thing they added in years and years heh alot of the comments seem negative but I feel like its mostly been positive. Alot of people are dissapointed, but I feel like its self inflicted, or even maybe a little bit of entitltlement on their part "It should be". Bleck.

[@RogdushTheMystic]

I still dnot get that negativity. We got a lot of new areas to visit. Gondor is just additional stuff, umbar alone is entirely proper expansion compared to gundabad or even bigger than others earlier. I expected nothing more than just new areas and quests at release. You already got 10 dailies to do also. If you that bored you can always do features instances or older missions. Just normal stuff to run around at begining with couple of alts which I bet most of us got. More stuff coming soon so whats the problem? Just enjoy new content.

[@cavetroll666]

Agreed new zones look amazing

[@TheRetifox]

Some of the chapters of the main quest were disabled due to being broken, the flame of Ancalamír was disabled due to being broken, and umbar task Items were disabled because their reputation was broken. Alongside it, half of the crafting revamp is missing, and the devs didn't say anything about it till lunch of the game. This is inexcusable behaviour. You making it sound like devs doing you a favour by adding lots of new areas, forgetting you paid a minimum of 40$ for that. Don't make excuses for the company, even if the said company makes something you like.

[@TheRetifox]

@@kidnamedfinger2625 Are those posts you mention in the room with us right now? My guy, I could not do Epic Quest, or do crafting, because they were broken. "Just enjoy and wait to fix" is stupid. When you enjoy a game, it’s okay to mention flaws and criticisms. That’s how games improve and get better. Not only will developers not know what to fix if we don’t say anything, but brushing valid criticism under the rug only shows the company/devs/publisher how much they can get away with.

[@deviliciouspanda2430]

I paid 40 bucks, the current state of the expansion isn’t enough for the money. At the moment unbar is just a overpriced questpack

[@TheRetifox]

@@Slaanesh_Puppet40 Not only you hallucinating and confusing me with someone else, but on top of that you missed my point entirely. Considering you have Slaneeshi pfp, you are probably on something hard right now. It's okay, we all can be mistaken, I prefer tzeentch tho

[@jamesmiller1048]

Umbar is really just Gundabad 2.0, tons of quests and deeds, zero rewards, zero gear. They did a great job on the landscape and the cities but it's just empty.

[@mace7077]

To be honest, people have to stop approaching lotro the same way as other mmos. This is an rpg sandbox first and foremost with an inherent focus on quality of the landscapes, visuals, quest experiences, dialogue, lore, continuity and Tolkienian feel. It's a game where the journey is the game, the endgame is not representative of the player base, just as the pvmp is not. The game is about the world and the journey through it, rushing to endgame and expecting never ending content is not and never will be the focus. The expansions come out to fund the servers and game development, the focus should never be on the endgame as only a small percentage of players actually focus on endgame raids, t2+ pve and delvings. The majority of players are traversing the world via alts, completing dungeons at all tiers, running with their kinships to complete deeds with new players, playing in bands, getting solid screenshots, playing with the lotro cosmetic games, crafting and playing with the auction house, decorating player homes or role-playing with friends. Long story short when people complain about new endgame content they really should just be grateful to have what they have, or don't buy it, and just play the rest of the game. The game will take you half a decade to completionist mode the existing content, feel free to go back and enjoy the world back when it had more of a handcrafted experience.

[@duggi4]

a copy paste x-pac thats the same price as Gundabad but has less than half of the content...AND half of the the half that is Umbar is copy paste!! i refuse to pay real money for that

[@paultorney6552]

I have not bought this expansion and I am unlikely to do so in the near term. Way too many AAA non MMO games released currently and I already have a back log to work through. Return to Moria which is not a AAA game just absorbed 120 hours of my time and it was a great deal of fun.

[@mastercoolx1]

Umbar should have been delayed bottom line because first impressions are important but changing the main stats should have been delayed a little bit more to me this is a half expansion rushed out to make a cash grab

[@JayTor2112]

Or they have to release an expansion so people don't cry about where the new content is. Companies really can't win with gamers these days, damned if you do and damned if you don't. Everythign is a "cash grab" when they release it.

[@karmoth6666]

Im not so happy about umbar. It doesnt ......get the lotro feeling for me. Idk

[@FirewalllDivision]

better shut dead games like this down and have them move on to the only mmo out there xD wow ofc ... why handicap yourself over games that eventually will be closed xD

[@Meilock]

Every game will "eventually be closed" at some point... and LOTRO is still going after 16 years. Most games don't even last half of that time... So, you were saying?

[@FirewalllDivision]

@@Meilock 99% of these so called mmo's with zero players online can't afford to keep up. Lotro will die very soon too (meaning closed servers, it's already dead af), unlike others that lasted way longer and a actually bring in money... Multiple closed this year... Gw and this are next sooner than you think.... Better move on and go to the real mmo's like rs or wow. They won't lose relevance in the coming ten years easily and aren't cheap clones or that over the top weeb shit xD

[@melmartinez7002]

Predicting that a game will eventually die out is kind of like predicting that the future will eventually come. Way to go out on a limb. As to whether LOTRO already is “dead”, your comment suggests that you don’t actually play so really have no clue what you’re talking about.