A fresh LOTR mmorpg.

[Lindele]

What do you guys think the market for this is right now? Lotro is dead and out-dated, despite how much work they put into it. Would you play a Lotr themed mmorpg? I would create a poll but I'm new here And are you looking forward to the Amazon game studios Lotr mmorpg?

[Queen of Hamsters]

No MMORPG is going to draw me in and away from WoW at this point in time.
The day that I no longer enjoy WoW, I'll just not bother with MMORPGs again.

I'm sure people would check out a new IP using the LOTR brand, but unless they crafted something objectively superior to what's on the market currently, it'd just end up the same way more than likely.

[Merryck]

If the MMORPG comes out with the new tv show it could be very big. It seems like the middle earth universe is going to make a comeback. This is assuming both will be qualitiy stuff.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

First of all, we are long past the era when corporations poured tens to hundreds of millions of dollars into making a themepark MMO.

Second, LotR is falling out of vogue. The Christian themes of the source material doesn't resonate with the mainstream. LotR laid the foundation for modern fantasy as we know it. If you just look at the surface level elements, it looks like an incredibly vanilla fantasy story. The LotR were great action movies but the Hobbit dampened the public's thirst for the franchise.

[Lindon]

the Hobbit dampened the public's thirst for the franchise.

Until a release date of the LotR TV-series starts closing in.

[oplawlz]

I mean I at least take a look at every mmo that comes out, but to be perfectly frank it's impossible to create a ftp mmo that gives me what I want from a game. The fact that it comes from Amazon only detracts from my preconceptions, sadly.

[Reiry]

Isn't it set to go into the public domain soon? Not having to pay for the IP would be a big incentive.

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Wait I think I missed a crucial point in OP. I thought Amazon was working on some conquistador sandbox mmo not lotr... I have a hard time imagining a company in 2019 working on two MMOs at once.

[Kyphael]

No MMORPG is going to draw me in and away from WoW at this point in time.
The day that I no longer enjoy WoW, I'll just not bother with MMORPGs again.

I'm sure people would check out a new IP using the LOTR brand, but unless they crafted something objectively superior to what's on the market currently, it'd just end up the same way more than likely.

This is my mentality as well. I know there are probably better MMO's than WoW out there (subjective), but after investing ten years of my time on WoW, I just don't have the desire or time to invest in any other MMO and start fresh. Classic is the closest thing. I love lord of the Rings, but the movies and books is as far as my passion extends.

[Theoris]

No MMORPG is going to draw me in and away from WoW at this point in time.
The day that I no longer enjoy WoW, I'll just not bother with MMORPGs again.

I'm sure people would check out a new IP using the LOTR brand, but unless they crafted something objectively superior to what's on the market currently, it'd just end up the same way more than likely.

Pretty much this. If none of the already numerous alternatives to WoW have made me want to try them out then no new MMO probably ever will.

I lost interest in LotR games after Battle for Middle-Earth, anyway.

[Baconeggcheese]

If anything I think it'd hurt the game since the franchise is not at all relevant at this point and it'll remind people of LOTR online.

Better to make something fresh

[jellmoo]

Licensed material can bring initial interest, but only great gameplay and thew ability to adapt will keep it. Time and again we've seen publishers license a brand for an MMO only to have it fail, largely because they end up constricted by what the brand allows them to do. Making something that's faithful to LotR, that the Tolkien estate will greenlight, and keep that fresh enough with content is a tall order.

[SirCowdog]

What do you guys think the market for this is right now? Lotro is dead and out-dated, despite how much work they put into it. Would you play a Lotr themed mmorpg? I would create a poll but I'm new here And are you looking forward to the Amazon game studios Lotr mmorpg?

LOTRO just announced a new content release for Minus Morgul.

DDO, their sister game, also is consistently releasing new content.

As much as I'd like those games to use more modern engines and game design philosophy, I don't really think that it's going to happen as long as LOTRO/DDO have enough players and income to keep churning out content.

[Skizzit]

I never played LOTRO, but I never felt the LotR universe was interesting enough to make into an MMO. As far as fantasy settings, it is actually pretty bland. Yes, hugely influential, but as a result of that, everything in it has been done to death in 100 other series by now. I am sure there would be some initial interest because of name recognition, but I would rather see a completely original setting or one based on a more interesting franchise like The Wheel of Time or Stormlighr Archives or something.

Isn't it set to go into the public domain soon? Not having to pay for the IP would be a big incentive.

Not until 2044 at the earliest and that is assuming they do not change the copyright law again before that. Current UK law (where the series was first published) is 70 years after the death of the author. Tolkien died in 1973.

Wait I think I missed a crucial point in OP. I thought Amazon was working on some conquistador sandbox mmo not lotr... I have a hard time imagining a company in 2019 working on two MMOs at once.

They announced they are working on a new LotR MMO back around the start of the year but have not said anything since except it will not be related to the TV series they are also working on.

[Puupi]

LOTR and fresh in the same sentence.... ._.

[Black Rider]

Can'y wait.
I hope Leyou won't make asian style combat. (like blade and soul had)

[Nynax]

I mean I at least take a look at every mmo that comes out, but to be perfectly frank it's impossible to create a ftp mmo that gives me what I want from a game. The fact that it comes from Amazon only detracts from my preconceptions, sadly.

Every MMO? That's quite the dedication! :P

[Tenjen]

Cant wait for the Istari class. 10,000 Wizards in middle earth. Just as tolkien always intended.

[Slau]

What do you guys think the market for this is right now? Lotro is dead and out-dated, despite how much work they put into it. Would you play a Lotr themed mmorpg? I would create a poll but I'm new here And are you looking forward to the Amazon game studios Lotr mmorpg?

Your sentence contradicts itself - it cant be dead if it brings enough profit to maintain 12 servers and and bring out new content consistently (expansion coming on 5th of november). Also looking at the numbers lotro can still bring more than 10k+ players each day playing at the evening and it is a 12 year old game. Yeah compared to wow the number is small but wow is wow. The only thing dead in Lotro are some of the mid level areas because there are so many of them and there are not enough people levelling but even then you see someone from time to time. Most players are level capped or in 1-60 level range - because it is the most fun level range to play and people get burned out before they reach the cap.

One big important thing guys - most of lotr games were terrible cash grabs that were movie tie ins with some notable exceptions of course (battle for middle-earth being awesome and all). The newst lotr games have almost ZERO to do with the lotr lore beside having correct names (Shadow of Mordor/War) and are genuinely terrible stories in that universe. Lotro on the other hand is the only lotr game to really get the grasp and depth of tolkiens sotrytelling while at the same moment not being a straight out copy of the books story. I dont want to spoil anything but the game has a massive huge storyline called the epic story that spans the entirity of the game and has some of the most memorable plot twists i have seen used in an mmo. From a storytelling perspective it is almost always consistent and definitely better than wow story (well lets admit it is not that hard...).

The epic story if anyone is interested is fully readeable on lotro wiki.
https://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Epic_Quests

[therealstegblob]

but the Hobbit dampened the public's thirst for the franchise.

No it didn't lol.

[Slau]

Cant wait for the Istari class. 10,000 Wizards in middle earth. Just as tolkien always intended.

Well lets be honest here if you are going to make an mmo you need to make some liberties with the source materials otherwise hobbit players could not leave Eriador cause there surely werent any hobbits in Gondor during the War :P.

As for magic classes countrary to popular belief magic is not only used by the Istari in lotr. Magic is used by many of Eldar (Galadriel, Elrond, Celebrimbor) and also by black numenorans and eastern people (harad/rhun). It is just not usually the type of magic like throwing fireballs - it is more subtle than that. Lotro dealt with it with having indirect magic with lore masters being more of an alchemist than a wizard and rune keepers using enchanted rune stones to channel magic. It is a bit lore breaky but it is a liberty taken for having some of the cooler archetypes from lotr without the need of playing Elrond.

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Honestly if I picked a world to make an MMORPG I'd pick Eberron, but not in the way DDO did (which was a mess). Place it mainland Khorvaire, have Sharn as the main city. Yes, I know it doesn't have that much brand power but as a fantasy setting it's just perfect for an MMO; it has a massive variety of zones and terrains, many cultures, tons of archetypes to roleplay as, a way to explain many conveniences without breaking the lore.

DDOs world is messy because it is not supposed to be a world - it is not an open world mmo or a sandbox - rather it is trying to recreate dungeon delving and adventure modules from D&D and the fun of playing the D&D 3.5 system. It is also the most unique MMorpg on the market just because of that focus exclusively on instanced adventures.