We Need to Talk - LOTRO Umbar Expansion

[@richardwicker8456]

I think a major problem is we don't actually have that many *new* areas, because not only is a large chunk of the Umbar xpac taking place in Gondor, a lot of it is areas of Gondor we already saw at lvl 100. The Umbar xpac honestly needed more...Umbar.

[@choogheem]

to add to that is that too many of the quests are just the same quests (or feel like the same quests) we did on our way to minas tirith.

[@thedisconnectedwife4165]

Thank you! Finally somebody talked about the big pink elephant in the room. I feel all those quests up till your voyage to Umbar should have been Chapter 1. Chapter 2 should start the expansion Corsairs of Umbar. I feel like I paid $$ for only 1/2 the content. All the recycled Gondor quests really made me a bit perturbed. All that should have been chapter 1. When the release notes say.. "over 350 new quests" what they don't tell you is that more than half are in Gondor and not the expansion you paid for. I feel slightly duped.

[@Gutlard]

Wow, that does seem like a bait and switch and pretty lame. I hope the devs get their act together on the rest of the expac sooner than later....

[@Oxy80111]

In this episode, Louey takes umbrage with Umbar! Appreciate everything you do for the community. Youve helped a ton with my knowledge and enjoyment of the game. Keep being you.

[@NOIDEAIWILLJUSTUSEHAILEYIGUESS]

Honestly i feel the opposite the location and all the big lore drops in the deeds quests and the epic felt amazing. Unlike Gundabad where it was just moria 2.0 this epic had a lot more heart despite the technical issues. Gave us a huge glimpse into a brand new culture with small inspirations from Numenor, but mixed together with another never before seen culture with its own values and history. I actually read the epic this time and it’s something i havent done in a long time, since Gundabad and return to carn dum bored me so much. The previous expansions have felt like a lot of copy paste and this is finally something brand new and a breath of fresh air. Something new and a topic not covered in detail in Tolkien’s work. That said I have not been lagging nearly as bad as I did in Gundabad and Minas Morgul where the game was so laggy you could not move at all.

[@richardbritt6524]

Hoping that you see the changes in the expansion that will bring you enjoyment in playing. Would hate to see the content slow down, but if you don't enjoy it then don't force it. Thanks for your insight on the expansion thus far!

[@drinkingwalrus7644]

I’m at 144 and still haven’t even gotten to outer Gondor. I understand what you mean about having to quest through Gondor for the first half of the expansion. It is still a good questing experience from my part.

[@gscgold]

I really liked questing through Kings Gondor myself. I hit 150 before I even got to shield Isles, people were complaining non stop about Kings Gondor which I'm on Ark and it's like World of Warcraft..they will complain about everything all the time doesn't matter. It's the first part of the expansion so I'm not too worried about it, wait and see how it goes in the next few months. I'm just happy to be above ground.

[@choogheem]

seems too apologetic. what do you do after 150? there isn't really anything - landscape mobs? i'm disappointed in the feeling of rushing release when the expansion highlights aren't even present - take extra time to finish things instead of releasing and then updating to fulfill the promised features.

[@gscgold]

​@choogheem Well 6 months later I don't see any improvements to the game, So my optimism has turned into discouragement. I do like the crafting update though I know they haven't fully delivered on everything they promised yet like being able to have 4 professions on one character.

[@goblinsnacks4047]

I've actually experienced lots of server lag this last week in low-level zones. I've been dreaming of Umbar for years but I do think it would have been OK if we had waited another 6 weeks and had everything work.

[@NatoRadeX]

6 years*

[@NJM0324]

As someone who has reached level 150 and completed questing through all the expansion zones, I can confirm there is basically nothing to do after completing it. No resource instances or public instances. There is no way to earn tokens for the new allegiances other than leveling up the allegiance. Once you get to rank 10, you have 50 tokens and no way to earn more. That's only enough to barter for a single item. The only form of repeatable content there is are 2 or 3 basic daily quests that only give you a small allegiance rep item, and 5 fellowship bounty quests to fight elite master landscape bosses. These bounties also give a small allegiance rep item and 20 embers. Completing the same delvings we've already been doing is also pointless because delving gear is still level 140. It just feels unfinished, and I think they should have delayed it further.

[@christianoneil7655]

While Umbar is really cool, Southern Gondor is the most beautiful place in LotRO to quests since the Floodfells.

[@Stands-In-The-Fire]

As I'm sure you do, from having watched this one, I have some "complicated" feelings about this expansion. And the communication from SSG around it. It has been strange, for most of this expansion cycle, that there has been a great deal of waiting until more or less the week or even day of something to find out that it's happening or not, what the details are, etc. From River Hobbits and their packs (and the ability to plan for them) through the XPack going on sale to the launch of the new content patch at all, it seems like the SSG team has been hoping at each turn that they can put what they have out the door. And that's rough, it really makes me wonder how much pressure is on their limited-resource team. For reference, I'm taking two characters through the new content right now: my Champ that I blitzed to 150 so that I could explore and just do the Book quests to get to the new stuff ASAP, and my RK who is going pretty fully through the post-war Gondor on their way to Umbar more slowly. Two very different experiences. This feels like what we have now (I think you said it at least once and I totally was thinking it) is a Content Pack containing the post-war King's Gondor continuation, and then an early look at an Umbar XPack. It's... it's rough. Not gonna lie. The new King's Gondor content is actually really solid overall, but it feels *wrong* being so much of this particular XPack. It feels like a content drop that was changed mid-stream and repackaged as the first half of Umbar. And that's a shame, because if it had been pitched differently and in a different release, I feel like it would have been viewed quite differently. Umbar (The Shield Isles and what we have of Umbar proper so far) is frankly awesome, in terms of visuals and just getting a biome that feels different. That can go a long way, just that change of scenery. I was hoping to see more mobs that really introduced new mechanics or threats, but I know the engine is creaky enough without bolting on too much more, so that gets a pass right now. Tasks being disabled. The flame being disabled. No missions, meaning no Delvings to potentially help fill in gear gaps past 140. Crafting requirements. Just... even without a new instance cluster, it feels really incomplete. This feels like half an expansion that's in the testing stages still, and half of a content pack, jammed together and put out the door to meet a deadline. And that hurts. Because there's so much good buried in there. The re-work of the Enhancement Runes is frankly a great thing, in my experience. No more tier-juggling and hoarding runes you can't even use yet. The nicer ones just move the bar faster per rune. Done. Like you, I have had very little server lag, although that I'm sure is heavily dependent on the server (Landy here) as well as your given play times. The writing of characters has been really pretty solid so far, and I'm enjoying the story amongst the fetch/collect quests. And there's still a particular thing that *I Will Not Spoil* early on when you return to Dol Amroth that had me running to Google to find out if I should have known/remembered this ahead of time. All in all so far... it's just such a mixed bag, I can absolutely not fault anybody for putting it on hold for now. I'm enjoying it, but doing so amongst the frustrations and missing pieces.

[@Trigarta]

I haven't played Umbar yet but from the looks, I don't really feel this mediterranean architecture. I can't really say how I expected Umbar to look like but this art style is too bright for me. I imagined it more dark and gritty.

[@roblovicz1257]

They will fix it all. I'm not worried

[@_Malvar]

there are a lot of bugs and there isnt any endgame activities yet. it's bad now but it will get better. but the best thing is the visuals. the world design/art team did an incredible job. every single zone, especially the shield isles and umbar, are very appealing to look at and there is great potential for good screenshots.

[@Domaister420]

Even though i play for several hours per Day, i would consider myself still casual in most cases. Actually there aren't many things i disslike about the expansion. Disclaimer: Since i Valared my Main at level 80 up to 130 during previous expansion i haven't played in Gondor before - so the thing with Recycled Content/Questing in Kings Gondor doesn't count for me. Lucky me. Story and Content in Gondor: It was foreseeable that we get to Umbar at a later Point. Yes it might be dull to not spend more than just half the time in the new Zones. But tbh. it doesn't really matter to me. I think the story itself is very well writen and its good that there is no "rush" to get to Umbar itself. There are still other Problems that need to be solved before heading there and you need a good reason and good investigation for having a particular Intent traveling to Umbar. I strongly believe it does this well. Worldbuilding Besides Eastern/Western Gondor wich i haven't played prior to the Umbar Expansion - Anfalas, ShieldIsles, The Cape and the City of Umbar look Awesome. I prolly spent more Hours RP walking through those Zones than playing the Story itself. Its a beautiful new region and the Devs have delivered, showing us 'New Biomes' as they have promised. Going Fishing at the Cape or exploring all the small Islands of the ShieldIsles makes so much fun and i feel like a child again, exploring a big World with a sense if Danger and Unknown in it. Crafting: Yes the requirements of the new Crafting Tier are huge. But i like to mention that it is fairly easy getting a lot of Ressources. This is unspoken in many Threads, Videos and such. Even if you have not good Armour at Release, the Questgear will just do fine and is in some cases even better than previous. There is no actuall need to craft level 141 Items, and yes - it might be a hell of a waste of ressources. But... If i wouldn't have sold most of my Ore on the AH, i would own about 1200 to 1500 Ores at this point, just by picking them up during questing. And if i farm Ores specifically i could easily get about 100 ores every 20 minutes. So even if they wanna change the requirements for good, i wouldn't consider it that bad. If you think so then just hold onto it for a later point when they fixed it as they already want. Bugs/Issues: It must be fair to say (even this is NO excuse) that there are always Bugs kn new releases and specially in Online Games. And they don't even have the amount of Employees as many big titles/companies have that still provide Shitty Games with plenty of Bugs on Release, even in 2023. If this is something that bothers you then you might wait just a week or to. There is no need that you have to rush content, just to stumble across broken Quests and such. Actually and for my servers there are some bigger problems that have been there since combe forester event that still haven't been fixed or even communicated. Like Loging in from Character Screen, just to get an unfinished loading screen over and over; changing Characters and getting the Same problem - specially the Surprise in Characterscreen when your Main is suddenly naked. Or missing housing items for the whole KinSettlement. Over the past years ive played lotro again, we never had these kind of issues before and that bothers us more than a missing Questmob in Umbar. This is a real reason why people on my server actually just pause to play the Game. Normal lags as usual would be fine, actually it runs pretty stable since launch, bjt these 2 problems suck. Very very much. Gameplay/Conent. Yes its sad that there are no instances right on release - even no missions wich are supposed to arrive in december. But whats the point in it. Get your characters up, so you can play multiple ones when they have finally arrived. I do think - specially because of the SystemIssues in General that Lotro should remain its Story-driven playstyle instead of trying to compete with other MMO's that do endgame stuff way better. Of course i want to do groupstuff. But what the heck, its your own fault if you rush the content during the first few days and then get bored. Because there is 'nothing to do'. Common Player Issue, not Game Issue. There are several different and good Quest and Story lines to discover. Yes, if you are not that type of player who reads it all, then its not for you and that is sad overall. But this is also not the way that Lotro delivers its main Gameplay features.

[@zefjansen5011]

There is just so much stuff that has been delayed. At this point I am questioning the management decisions that pushed out the questing to be released this early.

[@kaskae7240]

Great summary. It will be interesting to see how SSG react to the negative feedback and how this expansion develops. The lack of LP from deeds, rewards from quests, craft mat drops, tasks, and more has been really disappointing.

[@michaelreid5307]

I've never quite understood why SSG implement such poor rewards from quests. Go back to the early game and quest rewards were often really good - especially the epic arcs.

[@BoblopZmuda]

I'm glad someone didn't get lag, it's been pretty terrible in other areas for me

[@gamingvibrations5320]

"We need to talk." *swallows* Oh, boy... Elrond speech incoming.

[@alpksa9372]

I think issues we have can be solved. Worse thing is that there are nothing to do rather than questing. But I do wanna mention that I really liked new expansion. Landscape is amazing. Normally Lotro has tradition to copy-paste every sound, building, NPC, voice over for evey expansion. But Umbar has very unique characters that we havent seen before in Lotro. New voice-overs. new type of orcs. So I wont count this one as bad expansion.

[@bobrossthegod8434]

The content to me was also upsetting in the sense of upon launch of the Umbar, you had to go through Gondor, which i didn't know this at the time but apparently, parts of that book were in the game before the expansion anyway. So much so I ignored the quests and used Exp tomes to keep my level to the book until I got to Umbar, and once I got there it was a fun experience and I enjoyed the questing. In my honest opinion I do think it was intended for them to release a base on launch day, kinda bare bones just the infrastructure that they're going to build upon, I know we paid for the expansion and it technically launched but I imagine they had it in mind to release the "full" expansion in bits over the next months etc until the next Mini expansion (which on launch tbh this kinda felt like one of those mini expansions). I do think it is upsetting that it seems a lot of features were just.. not tested in Palantir, im not sure if there was a bullroarer phase, but we dont know how long they were working on Umbar we dont know how long it was tested for, and I do think it is quite a let down to see so many issues on something they could of potentially took more time to work out, it did feel a bit rushed I will say. over all the actual Umbar part of the expansion to me was really amazing and I enjoyed the landscape/exploring the city, Which wasnt hard to navigate! I know in the past I had some very difficult times trying to find my way around certain places and cities later in the game. I do think this expansion will be great and I am excited for it, because lotro has always in my opinion kind of released unrefined things and just polished it over time in phases so I am hopeful that will be the outcome. I do think some will find this expansion undesirable just as their opinion and thats okay we're allowed to dislike content, but the one thing that kinda transcends that is all the issues that we got upon release, along with the crafting revamp not fully coming which i was extremely happy for and specifically mained my guardian to be able to use the new crafting stuff on armor and shields. Overall it is nice and I will continue playing it and see what comes in the next weeks/months. I think you did a very good job summarizing a good majority of the players feelings along with your own while not seeming biased everything felt valid and good points, good video! ^^ The staff team would do a good service by taking a look at your points. They do really need player feedback it is essential with such a community as lotro who fuels the game to be where it is today.

[@davidhenderson8842]

As always with LOTRO. Landscape, music and questlines 10/10. The rest. Struggling to give more than 3/10. It's so obvious that it'was no where near ready for release. I'd say another 4 weeks and it would have been in a far better state. Sev said in a cord of the rings, he would delay it if he wasn't happy. He can't be happy with how things currently are? The lack of any end game is criminal!

[@trecide]

You are quite valuable to the lotro community, thank you for your content

[@MegaMarine4ever]

As always in nowaday gaming - the early adopters, preoders and launch day players get the rough beta version. Play the content a year later and you get the fixed and finished product

[@koheletcalaforexclan6508]

Tangential but, at first I thought the city looked kinda weird, seeing more gameplay in it though I actually think it’s beautiful! Currently on my Burglars Journey I’m 750 hours in and just finished Riders of Rohan and I’m going to Grind out the Survivors of Wildermore Rep for those beautiful cloaks! I’m excited for Helm’s Deep and I must say, though I only ever intended to play all the way up to Sauron’s Defeat, I think I may keep going. Just taking it slowly but surely. And after 750 hours, The Lag is something I don’t mind, now it’s definitely annoying when you’re riding through the Balewood on a War Horse! 😂 Nearly ran me into the Huorn Big Boss in there!😅

[@moondog548]

The major problem REMAINS E7 refusing to properly staff SSG. I have every bit of faith in SSG's devotion to the game (which was not always the case). I have almost lost any faith in their *ability* to bring their plans to reality.

[@Erranruin]

As of yesterday I have played through all the expansion quest content and I haven't found anything to do at endgame but I have to say to me it's all so forgivable in an expansion where we know the major workload was the new assets they had to make from scratch to properly realise such a new biome. Cus yeah they really excelled with that, Umbar is incredible to play through visually. And actually even the new Anfalas and Pinnath Gelin Gondor areas felt unique and beautiful to me in new ways, I was always excited to play. Although on the other hand the book quest line vs the landscape quest line have never felt so counter to each other, it's a somewhat disorientating experience narratively but still, I really enjoyed it either way.

[@thatsoupguy]

while i do wish that overall, the expansion released in a more complete state, especially regarding crafting and endgame, as someone who mains landscape and doesn't have much time in my hands (especially in the coming weeks) I appreciate the early launch since I still had a ton of fun with landscape and questing and didn't run into any major issues (only missing quest markers which isn't that bad, easy to figure thing out without it). Honestly a lot of the issues are just minor and really don't impact the gameplay that much, and for me who isn't free in the coming weeks, I would rather have these issues in an earlier launch than have it delayed and not be able to play at all. Right now, since launch, I played basically every single quest and explored everything, only missing slayers, and I had a ton of fun, way more than in Gundabad at least. Endgame and crafting is more evergreen as it will play a role for the next 2 years and I'm glad they are at least delaying it and taking their time with it than getting instances at launch that are broken. I mean, most probably won't even play instances at launch since people need time to quest and level up for that, so I hope they will come before holidays. Also, unrelated, but are you playing with lower graphics settings? The landscape and especially the city looked WAY more detailed on my end and imo doesn't do it enough justice to show a less detailed version. I mean, some could think that this is how it looks without knowing that some settings are dialed down (i see this a lot when people say it needs better graphics and then see them playing on medium 💀) I do agree it's a planning mistake on SSGs part that they didn't plan out the release better especially regarding crafting bugs and the Gondor problem (it plays very well and its a lot of fun, just the fact it should've been included in Kings Gondor quest pack and they should've added more regions in Haradwaith) but eh things happen.

[@bwhite501]

Thanks for this video. I've got 3 toons working through Kings Gondor but haven't decided if I should buy Umbar. This doesnt help me decide 😂 but I do appreciate seeing the new areas and hearing your thoughts. It's hard to be enthusiastic about taking my time to enjoy the epic line when so many people are already 150 and complaining they're disappointed.

[@edsobk]

I used to be vip, now I am free to play, I have everything up to Mordor and that is where I stopped. (Ring destroyed, story over) I have enough content to through each class through to Mordor. I think they may need to look at starting from scratch and restart Lotro from the beginning, in a brand new MMO. Thanks for you opinion Louey.

[@cavetroll666]

Im enjoying it myself

[@the_zocker100]

Like I said in your last stream, I'm just not really motivated to keep playing in the new expansion because it's just not that fun😅

[@dfgclan]

To be honest i did not mind the fact, that you start in Gondor and pretty much do half of the expansion content there. That is maybe because i came back from a rather long break and had no expecations at all going back in. I do understand that this bugs people though. Overall i did enjoy the Questing. I thought the story was rather engaging. Also i do love the shield islands, i think they look great and the questing was a lot of fun to me. For me, although is am not that irritated by the fact, that Gondor is half of the expansion, i do wish we would have gotten more of that amazing pirate feeling... it took quite a while to get there. I remember my wife asking my while i was playing for hours already, if i would get to Umbar soon.

[@ThecrusaderWoW]

My only main issue with the expansion so far has been the half implementation of the crafting changes, and the lack of literally ANY end game content, missions etc, Right now I can run capped level delves to farm currency, but i'm not even positive that they plan to put any further development into delves. The spacing between now and when missions and the instance cluster launch do however provide an excellent opportunity to just farm virtue's and deeds. I went through my first playthrough on my captain and capped all of his relevant virtues, and can move on to my warden now without feeling like i need to be doing something on my captain at cap instead. The content in Gondor in my opinion was excellent, at least book wise, and it overall ties together very well.

[@ThecrusaderWoW]

There is of course the moors, if that's your cup of tea, that's THE endgame right now.

[@Supadrumma441]

Not on landy it aint@@ThecrusaderWoW

[@thomasjones4570]

Louey, you make great content. You deserve more than just a few thousand views...you may want to look into a new game. Find something you enjoy playing and whatever it is, will bring your videos more success here also thus making your life even better with more funds. It just isnt possible for the new games fans to not end up liking you.

[@gfimadcat]

Gladden has been a laggy beetch the past week - anyway, my take on this expansion; for an expansion that supposedly introduces Umbar we sure as heck take a very long time getting there. Quest wise, there's (as usual) too many "go to person A, do something, to go to person B across the zone, go back to person A" quests, as well as the quests that happen inside a castle or house where it's mostly "find this particular room"; seems like they added a lot more "irritants" to get people to use mithril coins to fast travel for a quest, as well as time sinks. As far as the new area of Umbar goes, it's absolutely stunningly beautiful - which may explain why there's not that much of it. The mariner class is kind of interesting, it feels like the love child of a brawler and a burglar with a little bit of RK thrown in. I'd say it's a 5/10 expansion and I hope they add more Umbar.

[@neonseas]

I feel like even though there are some rough things, the effort to create such a beautuful and visually unique new area definitely has me giving this one big points for originality and visual appeal. That said, using the forums to get a picture of what the community is feeling is just focusing on that loud minority.... It's been pretty well known for years that a sizable contingent of forum users are to put it very casually; haters that will use any occasion to hate on stuff. I have been playing this game for 10 years and every single update and expansion has had people raking it over the coals in the forums. That is just how the forums are. I don't think that it can actually be used as an accurate measure of how the community actually feels my experience of playing over the last week(at least 2 hours each day since release) has been seeing a lot of people having a good time, pretty much the only issues I've seen is people being confused about the Flame of Ancalamir being turned off, and people not knowing how to find new cooking ingredients.

[@kunafox]

Been wanting to get back into lotro (like many times before) and I went ahead and bought umbar expac mainly because i wanted to play the mariner. Sadly, I couldn't even get past lvl 20 or so before wanting something else. Was hoping a new class (especially one that had dps/support AND some fast travel) would help me stick with it but i can't see it through.

[@Gutlard]

That's depressing! New classes always bring me back to my MMORPG home, so it's sad to hear the Mariner is lackluster....

[@michaelreid5307]

I'm waiting until mid December before I play this expac.

[@willrheinford360]

I think you're being a little harsh in the Gondor-Umbar angle. LOTR was always about Mordor, but the suspense was built as Frodo and Sam journeyed there. I'm enjoying working my way there to face the Kindred at end game. I hope you will, too.

[@myteeone8619]

Even getting to places you have been once you leave it has been impossible.

[@theRatsAmongUs]

I recently came back from a long pause from lotro and as much as i like questing the dwarven environments, gundabad and soon umbar i was heavily disappointed with the big server lag, missing housing items, and a huge grind when it comes to crafting and getting better equipment. Still i enjoy the game, but i hope the developers give it some more love and really try to fix the server issues fast.

[@Gutlard]

Yeah, I was also excited when heard about a crafting revamp, but it sounds like a let down also. Man, the amount of let downs I'm hearing about this expac is keeping me away this time....

[@Gadgetdawg]

I’d prepped a character to run to 150 with missions to turn in and everything else. I’ve gotten to 144 and it just hasn’t grabbed me so to speak. I play but I don’t have that ‘must play’ feeling expansions usually give me. I don’t hate it but I don’t feel driven to hit 150 like level cap increases normally do. I’ll get there but it’ll be a longer process this time. That’s really sad.

[@GoranStosic85]

I think that their team is just too small and their resources too constrained to maintain good quality release cycles. They might and probably will patch things up in time, but it will they ever manage a release like Moria again? I have my doubts.

[@aardee]

I felt the same about Mariner: I was SO excited for the class, preordered to get it (I don't have a character high enough level to access Umbar), but yeah it's not for me. Kind of in a similar spot about a class to bring through it; I have a 120 boost banked, but have decision paralysis.

[@culture_clash]

I really wish I had played this game more back in the day, I played it a little when it was new and stopped, then a little more again after Mines of Moria released, then I didn't touch it again until now. I was busy playing WoW all those years. I would assume this game has gotten much weaker once the Mordor expansion finished, I don't know, though, I haven't gotten anywhere near that far. I mean, all the story content from the LotR books must have been the best stuff in this game, but now that they've finished farming all of the books and Sauron is dead, they're kind of just making it up as they go it seems. WoW had this same problem, too, once they finished farming all of the best lore from Warcraft 3, WoW just constantly went further and further downhill, pretty much after Sargeras and the Burning Legion were finally defeated in the Legion expansion.

[@thegenxgamerr]

I agree, this has been a disappointing expansion. Given all the things that were left out, it would’ve been nice to not have the majority of the content in Gondor. I’ve been playing lotro for 13 years now I’ve adjusted my expectations over the years. So I was prepared still it’s been disappointing.

[@kaioo1658]

It was perfect timing to switch back to age of empires 2 a week ago I’m not missing much

[@SilverPT84]

The shield islands are tiny! Feels like its as big as the Slugs area in Shire but with walls of land. You can swim trough it in no time, and swim is slow... All of the map area should be just for 1 island size to scale up the area in my opinion. I think its a waste to have made this verry good looking area so small 😮 We see all those islands then after walking or swiming a bit you already crosed half a map 😮

[@TheEruvadhor]

I'll wait a couple of months before buying this

[@FenixWindail]

This was what I feared and had already perceived from the fact that on the preorder page there was no mention of crafting... which technically had to be the selling point of the expansion in general... but what makes me even more amaze and shock and that they have not yet managed to solve the problem with the Forest event!... and also disturbing to know from Louey7 that there is no end-game content at 15... the fact of the instances not present at launch and quite standard but no end game activities... makes everything really pointless... also shocking that many quests have been disabled due to bugs or problems... at least I'm not the only one who thinks this expansion was done quickly and not finished.

[@belfastclrq]

Most people reach a burnout phase with the MMO they play. Eventually the pixel veil is off and you start seeing it's all a bunch of variations around a common theme.

[@myteeone8619]

So far all Recipes from drops are single use for lvl 150

[@penguycs4593]

Easily the worst addition to the game in a decade. Finale for the epic makes it absolutely clear they were not ready to release this expansion this year. Shield Isles and Umbar look great, the rest is extremely rushed and unfinished.

[@brucehasan5821]

Please do leveling guide on the Mariner please now that's it live

[@diannahimi7822]

Thank you for the video! My biggest criticism towards the expansion is that I cannot unsee the Mediterranean architecture and how it does not belong. They have managed to nail the atmosphere and visuals of every zone of Middle Earth so far, so I do not know why did SSG opt for these modern/realistic looking houses in the new city. It feels immersion breaking to me somehow, as well as the overall sunny palm beach look of the isles we play on. I somehow imagined it looking differently. Edit: You have also mentioned that the product feels rushed and untested - which is sadly a noticeable trend for me, River Hobbits felt incomplete, without much unique aspects, voices, animations, they feel rushed due to popular demand, with not much effort and polishing behind them. Same as with Umbar so far. Not sure if SSG has only new developers currently, but somehow it feels like that the people who develop the game current and release new content are out of touch with the older design concepts and ideas, not much Quality Control is put into their recent content.. playing with a new character through SoA zones feels almost as if I am playing a different game at this point - sadly, a better one.

[@janotse]

I want a house there!

[@mechwarrior13]

Did i just watch an Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag video? 😅😂

[@Gravesmasher23]

From your video, i would say the things that keep me from coming back to LOTRO and the Umbar exp, is the graphics looks SUPER outdated. And in your video, you did not see one single player, felt like you were in a empty world

[@peterlengyel3019]

You know when an expansion is not OK when the leveling process is designed to slow you down by giving you small exp rearwards, by including to many quests that are in fact riddles, by making your traveling slow repetitive and unnecessary, by limiting your access to exp boosters, by limiting the daily use of destiny points for exp enhancements and basically slowing you down as much as possible because they don't want you to reach the end game that doesn't exists. In previous expansions maybe during the Turbine era when the end game wasn't ready they would use the skirmish system as raids where you would have decent chance about 40 % for good endgame gear that will get you ready for the upcoming dungeons and raid. That is not happening with SS. It is amator hour and it is very disappointing for the very special LOTRO fan base.

[@glennnorris5208]

I just can’t find a way to get back into Lotro. Have played since the beginning. I played on Treebeard recently and really the only thing I am interested in is the announcement for the next Legendary Server. But this is stretching it at this point. What can a new Legendary Server offer to bring me back. Not sure.

[@RogdushTheMystic]

I dont get all that negative feedback. Crafting is noit done yet and some bugs are there.. Nothing new really, its always the same at release. Cant make it perfect. I still think its total awesome xp and give us loads of new zones and stuff.

[@elobiretv]

I just don't get who wanted a sea theme expansion to a lord of the rings game, being a pirate is the last thing I think of when it comes to lotr.

[@mercster]

Uh oh... when Louey ain't happy, ain't nobody happy! ☺ Thanks Louey!

[@mercster]

While I understand players' disappointments... guys, LOTRO is old. And its being developed by a relatively small team, for an MMO. This could all go away at any time they deem that it is no longer profitable or a going concern. You'll all be devastated and blame the devs... when the truth is, all good things come to an end. Try to keep a little perspective, that's all I'm sayin'.

[@mastercoolx1]

the Umbar Expansion needed to be pushh to december or early Jan this launch is soo bad and barely any endgame for 150 and flame disable bc gwath had ember right now this expansion falls flat on it's face sure the landscape is pretty buttttt i didn't pre order a best test of a expansion. this was not worth my 120 bucks and i'm sick of game companies making a quick buck then saying we'll fix it later SSG needs to be held accountble for this messs bc OH NOO we forgot to change the gwath jewelly into motes but there no way to get geared it like pay us for keys iddk the greed of SSG is showing in my opinion at least the lack of any endgame is stupid idk i feel robbed

[@Benethor]

No server lag? Dude, as a returning player i completely stopped playing after reaching level 150 because it was absolutely unplayable for the whole week

[@gameburn178]

I combine a bit of Umbar questing with a lot of crafting catch-up. I used the included valar to finally get a character to 140/end game -- and then discover the same old problem: crafting/gathering isn't included in the valar lvl increase, and the crafting changes turn out to be useless for this, unlike what was promised. A let down.

[@timothycruz79]

Your Character's Calves are clipping through the boots...

[@timsters5381]

I said this on GHYN's review, this except had stuff in it that literally made me plan to completely quit LOTRO. I am not a fan of forcing anyone to do anything they do not want to do. And having quests that are in your face about certain "topics" (Duinhir's love interest) is a big enough reason to not spend a single cent on this game ever again, and by Summer I am adios. On a Second Note, give props to Orion to make something that is lackluster...seem very interesting... Crafting/Allegiances.

[@cylonscotty7418]

Umbar is the least Lord of the Rings feeling expansion apart from all the technical / implementation issues. The city is boring and bland. It feels like a bunch of statues where NPC's should be. It's lifeless and has no atmosphere whatsoever. The design feels uninspired. The one positive from this expansion is that I needed to take a break from LOTRO and deal with some life issues. This expansion made that change easy.

[@melmartinez7002]

@@kidnamedfinger2625 I don't think it's THAT hot of a take. I'm enjoying the Gondor part of the expansion so I'm not as negative on it as cylonscotty7418 is, but I also feel that the 'Umbar" part of the expansion still feels a little lifeless and flat. I agree with folks who think it feels like it's not really 'finished' - and that's not unlike how it went for a lot of other zones over the history of LOTRO. They need to add more 'living' NPCs who actually do things in the environment (plus maybe grant a few more quests, please?) in order to improve the ambience. There needs to be more 'living details' in the environment such as weeds, litter, random birds & rodents, etc.

[@Flash4ML]

There are plenty of issues with the expansion: the Umbar content very much not one of them, in fact it’s one of the brightest spots

[@melmartinez7002]

@@kidnamedfinger2625 For you, it seems there is lot of value in the 'newness' of the Umbar zone content and that's fine. What I'm noticing though is just a lack of fleshed-out 'little details' in it, relative to just how much depth of. detail has been put into their other recent new content. I know from the past that they will likely continue to do touch up and add a lot of those things as time goes on so I don't consider it a big deal. I do very much love the expansion overall.

[@telimektarband3615]

What I try to avoid is the pre-scouting of expansions, whether it is playing on Bullroarer or watching videos such as this. This way I have no preconceptions of the content. But I understand that your videos are designed as information for the viewers and pre-scouting is unavoidable.

[@AxisSabian1]

So far, from a class standpoint, I'm very disappointed with the expansion....no new skills or anything related to classes; just an update to virtue points and LIs. As always though, the landscape is very nice looking. Overall, just more of the same, nothing new :( Like you said, it is a very large quest pack. Sad

[@_Malvar]

they just released Corsair. that is a major class update. they're also working on loremaster, and theyve already done warden, beorning, minstrel, and captain. the classes don't need new skills, they need their current skills/play styles revamped or strengthened

[@AxisSabian1]

@@_Malvar I understand your thoughts, but that isn't my opinion.

[@richardwicker8456]

This is disappointing for me too; without even additional tp from levelling, this lvl cap increase just feels like a forced gear reset.

[@AxisSabian1]

@@richardwicker8456 Exactly, even a few extra trait points would have been nice. Even though I'm not a fan of WoW, every expansion normally has something for the classes too (new skills, new talent tree, points) not just a level increase. For me, it just isnt fun to level for the sake of leveling....it is nice to gain something, like a trait point as you go.

[@choogheem]

no server lag? which server are you playing on Louey? Brandy was only around 5-600 people and there were hiccups.

[@mattchtx]

I just have zero desire to play more areas with created lore until we play out the rest of the book story. Why are we in Umbar and not moving towards the Grey Havens? Everything since finishing the Black Book of Mordor is just blah. I felt like that wrapped up threads in our character’s personal story going back to Shadow of Angmar. Now I want the book story wrapped up and THEN we can join Aragorn or whoever in reconquering everything. It just feels like we’re being strung along. I’ve been playing since closed beta. That’s 17 years. That’s as long was Frodo was in possession of the ring. I want to see Frodo’s story finished already.

[@roksoulja84]

So what else would be left to do if frodos story is done? Isnt the last big baddie sauron?

[@Supadrumma441]

Its just too overpriced for what we currently have content wise. I'm glad I only bought the bog standard edition this time. At the same time, I wish I never bought the expansion at all though. Pretty mediocre all around.

[@choogheem]

how about charging an extra $30 for ultimate and no VIP (subscriber) discount as compared to the last expansion (before the shadow) - is it really a bigger expansion when 1/2 of it is just the same regions we already got. I will say it feels like there are some good graphical upgrades for this expansion.

[@tatemessmer4936]

Lotro does not have the staff to release a new expansion in just a few months..... They announced the xpac and released it like 3 months later. I love lotro but come on man. They probably are desperate for money but this expansion should not have launched until end of next year.

[@Stratigoz]

The useless supporter cosmetic packs should have been your first hint. Every new pack they release contains less and less useful items. They are not only milking the player base but they are scamming them at the same time.

[@meinking22]

Pretty underwhelming expansion. I'm up to level 146 and have only seen Umbar once briefly as a part of the Epic story in an instance with Jajax. I wouldn't mind re-questing in Gondor so much if the Epic story were better. So far the story has been really weak "Hey, come meet the new King" everywhere you go. Really uninspired.

[@frankbonfilio7443]

Sorry I dislike the parrot on the shoulder

[@Kvothe1994]

I'm amazed at how terribly bad the city looks like. It looks very average for a 2004 game, the colors, the models, just the art direction looks so so bad.

[@IzeyurOrlezu]

The "expansion" is lazy. Sure it looks nice, sure the music is nice but that's just a standard at this point. It brings nothing new and fixes/improves nothing old. And I know any new content in the future will be monetized too. It's just lazy, overpriced and they have been relying on the community's tendency of being over forgiving.

[@mario93330]

last expansion, game is dead

[@lynx-s8j]

don't know anyone doing the forester event. Just another grind