Ok, well… I figured I’d take one post per ‘Game-breaker’ item that I mentioned earlier.  Give  a little more detail as to why I think it’s serious, and maybe some ideas on how to change it.  The first one was about the slow-down in free content, and I’m not really too concerned with explaining… y’all get it, I’m sure.

So, I’ll go on to Legendary Items… not really one of my original three systems I had problems with, but I think it’s showing itself to be as important as pretty much anything else, due to the absolute superiority of LI’s at the high end of the game.

**Disclaimer**  I’m not a creative genius.  I’m a critic, and hopefully a good, constructive one.

Problems with LI’s

• Hard to find the one you want with the legacies you want
• Can’t use until level 45+
• Casual gamers may never see a First Age (current system, I’m sure they’ll be more popular as level cap is raised)
• They are completely superior to all appropriate level quest and crafted weapons/class items
• Lore-breaker (yes, the hobbits got four third-age weapons from the Barrow, and Gandalf, Thorin, and Bilbo each got a first-age from the troll cave… but there weren’t 1000’s looted in the battle of Five Armies - current drop rate there would have been)
• Only certain slots can use legendaries… Shouldn’t a guardian get legendary armour?  Lore-master a legendary amulet?  Where are legendary rings???  There’s a lot of lore supporting that!

Good Things with LI’s

• New method (alternate) of character advancement
• Excellent variety in weapons/class items
• Feel like we have something truly great (when it’s levelled up)
• Nifty interface with relics and deconstruction, etc
• Casual gamers can enjoy the LI’s and their associated instances (or could, before the lockout and eating of shard on fail)

So, my proposal is this:

Allow LI’s at any level.
LI’s would have to be reforged by a crafter capable of it, or a few Forgemasters scattered around.
LI’s can not be reforged more than once for a regular item, twice for a rare, and three times for the “super uber rare”.
Each reforging would give a modest stat boost (say 5% or so) and one additional legacy.
All LI’s would start with two legacies, except for the “super uber rare” which would start with three.
LI’s would display a similar ‘level’ xp bar, but the scale of the first 10 levels of xp would be proportional to the base level of the item (i.e. if it’s a lvl 15 sword, to get it to level 10 would not take 22k points… more like 5k).
Every 10 levels, an LI would need to be reforged, same as current system.
When it’s reforged, it automatically has it’s base level adjusted to the level of the player it’s bound to, up to a max of 10 levels higher with each reforging, with any necessary dps, Armour, or stat adjustments that should accompany such a change.
If a level 20 found a level 12 sword and quickly levelled it to item level 10, when they reforged it, it would be base level 20 and still item level 10.
Allow slotting and unslotting of LI’s, so that more than six LI’s could be worn/used at once, just that only six could be levelled at a time.
Only equipped LI’s get item xp.
LI’s would be forged by a capable crafter from any regular crafted/looted/quested weapon.  For example, an Armourer (or the appropriate NPC) could take that level 15 hardened bronze armour and reforge it (if he has the skill) into an LI, where it will start at level 1, and because it was a critical craft it will have three more potential reforgings.  Or, you could take that level 50 Rift Armour/Weapon and Forge it into an LI, and then when it’s item level 10, reforge it into a level 60 piece.
LI’s would get their base stats from the original piece (and they would look the same, except maybe slightly glowy ) though the stats would be modified to meet the new level at each reforging.
LI’s would truly be a quest hub… if you want to change the legacies, each one has a quest, you get a scroll, at a reforging the scroll is used in the reforging and your new legacy that you picked replaces the existing one you didn’t want.
Relics would be essentially the same as now, but I think more variety would be good.  Possibly five of each slot at each tier.
Regular loot and regular craft and normal quest would be one reforge, critical craft, rare loot and rare quest would be two reforges, crit of single use recipes, extremely rare loot, and bartered items (Helegrod, Rift, Anuminas, Rad instance, etc) would be top LI’s with three reforges.
Any weapon/armour could be deconstructed for relics, maybe would have to reforged first.
Crafters could potentially crit on a reforge (3% chance or so) and end up with the next tier of LI, or a critical tier of Legacy.

Benefits:

• LI’s still top of the line.
• Start earlier.
• LI’s not as much greater than other stuff.
• Loot, quest, and craft will be extremely important.
• A manageable money sink (each reforge and deconstruct).
• More casual friendly.
• Very crafter friendly (cheaper with a crafter, possibility for crits)
• No new item models!
• Existing system is good starting point.

A post like this has been brewing in my mind for a while now.  What are the major ‘Game-breakers’ with LotRO?  What would cause people to leave and go to another game (other than basics like the Lore, Engine, or basic look/feel)?

First, I’m not saying that these would be game-breakers for everyone, or even for most people, but I believe that a significant portion of the players will find them to be game-breakers eventually.

1.  Slower content.  We’ve gone from a major content every two months to one every four months?  That hurts.

2.  Legendary Items.  Two slots is all?  Customization is rather random, not based on player choices or style.  Want that nice weapon?  Be prepared to go through hundreds of weapons, and then when you get the one you want it’s last legacy might be worthless to you!

3.  Housing.  I love having an ‘outdoor’ space that’s ‘mine’.   But…  my house is nearly worthless except as a way out-of-the-way storage unit.  I have no reason to go there.  And if I do go, I hope my map cooldown is up so I don’t have to run out.

4.  Kinships.  Housing kindof meshes with this, because kinhalls suffer from the same problems.  There’s also a marked lack of other features that a kinship should have… and the last several ranks are very disappointing as far as reward. 

5.  Crafting.  There is no customization of crafted gear.  “You want a necklace with Will and Fate??? ROFL.  You’ll have to quest for it!”  (depending on level, of course)  Crafted gear is better than loot/quest at specific levels, but high end?  It’s worthless.  You want your radiance gear or class set, and you won’t use crafted once you run the instances a few times.

6.  PVP.  For some people.  LotRO isn’t promoted as a PVP game, but that doesn’t stop people from expecting it.  And there are definately some very fun things in the PVMP system… I’ve had a blast with my time there, I just don’t have a reason to go back right now.

These, to me, are what I think are game-breakers… once the ‘newness’ wears off, another game with ’such-and-such’ comes out, etc.

I decided to play my Loremaster a bit.  He’s level 58 and has been in Moria for a while but hasn’t made it out the other side yet.

He had finished up most of Dolven View and the Crossroads quests, so I took him down to the Waterworks (not to mention I had kin down there running through quests).  Most of the quests were around level 55 if I remember correctly, but it was still good for a level, basically.  Even soloing down there, he felt extremely powerful… when mobbed by deep-toads he could handle it a lot better than my level 60 champion.  Even the occasional elite (and subsequent Mithril Flake) was little problem.

As an aside, I’ve long thought that Loremaster is the most underated and probably most powerful all around of any of the classes.

Being a questing fanatic, I had some trouble with nearly filling my quest log (only 44 slots).  So, after finishing the Waterworks, with the lone exception of my lvl 58 Loremaster Quest, I decided to go up to Angmar and finish some of the quests I hadn’t taken the time to finish before…

I tested out the drakes on the way up to Bloodwing.  They are tough, much tougher than some of elites in Moria.  I could take them, but there’s no way I could take two unless everything went perfect, and Bloodwing has two that he calls in to help him, so I gave up on soloing that.  I tested the drakes in Dolroth… again, tough.  Level 47 and 48, but each one was difficult for me, but I eventually got the 12 I needed and finished that region.  Gille Andras?  Didn’t even try…  Silk Lady?  Killed me (too many adds).  Imlad Balchorth?  I could run through and get the water easy, the wights were no problem, but the Fell Spirits were almost more than I could handle.  Again, I managed to get what I needed… with only one death when I picked up an add, and several times I picked up an add and ran.

I felt very underpowered.  Level 58 and I’m getting schooled by level 47 elites!  This makes me wonder “What’s fundamentally different about mobs in Angmar versus mobs in Eregion, Moria, even Misty Mountains?”  Why can a character be so powerful against one region and so weak against mobs in another region?

Anyway, that’s my experience from the other night… I found it interesting, and a little puzzling.

JS

Yep.  I did it…. Beretel now has a first age weapon.  Granted, it’s a Filikul Spear, but it’s still a first ager, and with it’s dps maxed it’s at 45.  Not too shabby.  I would prefer a higher roll weapon like an axe, but I’m thinking this is still a good step up from my old third age axe.  And it’s got Glory damage legacy, so I may work towards a first axe and keep the spear for tanking situations.

Well, my real goal here was to post something.