Why isn't LotRO more popular?

[XDurionX]

Because it is fucking boring i guess.

[bbr]

Because it is now 2022. LotRO looked dated when it originally released, people don't generally want that now. Having played it a bit last year, it also just feels dated, too. There are just better options. At least to me. Subjectivity and all that.

Pretty much this.

It looked old when it was released, it looks retro now.

And you'd have to be a lotr fan to really even have an interest in the game to begin with,
add to that - the game is rough and unpolished.

MMOs aren't as mainstream as people may like to think.
Now you have niche upon niche upon niche. It just isn't going to get very big to begin with, and most who try it will leave it alone pretty quickly.

[T-34]

1. The store/payment model. It is so unbelievably intrusive, annoying and P2W, that everyone who thinks that a game like WoW should go F2P should be forced to play LotRO for some time
2. Gameplay... Nuff said.
3. It feels very outdated.

Apart from that it probably the best from a story perspective, but that shouldn't surprise as it is a based on a cohesive story/world made by a good writer...

But LotRO is a prime example why story/lore is the least important aspect of an MMO, if the payment model and the gameplay is shit then the lore won't keep people playing.

[Amarys]

I tried it like 5 years ago but it looked dated and bad.
Also it looked slow and grindy, which I don't mind in a live, active game but it felt dead.
And lastly, it didn't have a good magic ranged class.. I don't like playing melee or support or hunter type classes generally.

[Katchii]

I've played it off and on many times. It's not a bad MMO. But it is absolutely not even close to the level of polish of even most other MMOs.

Input delay is a big one for me, and it just feels unresponsive in comparison to other MMOs, especially WoW. When playing classes with cast time abilities, I am constantly getting error messages about not being able to cast while moving when I'm not moving, because I JUST let go of the running button and hit a casted ability. It takes a bit for the game to register that you're not moving anymore.

Animations for action abilities feel floaty, with no substance. You see the animation go off and you see the enemy health go down but it's quite often that the two don't really line up. Enemies will keep running at me even after my final attack lands only for them to drop dead a second later, or vice versa, they'll drop dead before my attack finished because that's when the server registers the hit.

The graphics don't help, but they're fine. The story is decent. Really the only thing keeping it from being a game I play FAR more often is the combat.

And customer service....it's HORRIBLE. I have two tickets that have been open for THREE MONTHS, with no response, for the same issue/ two related issues. I won't be playing again until those tickets are resolved. If they ever get resolved.

[Athredas]

The game would be probably much more popular (at least initially) if it actually had the movie aesthetics.

[scubi666stacy]

I have been playing LOTRO for some years because of RL friends who got me into it, also because Cata and MoP burned me out on WoW. I have enjoyed it actually - until the expansion came where they have exchanged their special talent system which I have liked into a boring talent tree (which I did not enjoyed in WoW, and I was glad when we got something else). At the same time they changed my favorite class so much that it became unplayable for me. I left.

[qwerty123456]

Looked like it should have come out years before WoW instead of after. And didn't like the classes and gameplay. Plus has there ever been a good LoTR game? The Middle Earth games were good but it wasn't because of the story/setting it was because of the nemesis system and combat.

[jackofwind]

Looked like it should have come out years before WoW instead of after. And didn't like the classes and gameplay. Plus has there ever been a good LoTR game? The Middle Earth games were good but it wasn't because of the story/setting it was because of the nemesis system and combat.

LotR: The Third Age was awesome for its time (if you like that FF style of RPG), and LotR: War in the North was pretty good too.

[ParanoiD84]

Looked like it should have come out years before WoW instead of after. And didn't like the classes and gameplay. Plus has there ever been a good LoTR game? The Middle Earth games were good but it wasn't because of the story/setting it was because of the nemesis system and combat.

Best game was a mod for medieval 2 total war imo called Third age total war, there is one on the way for atilla total war too called Rise of Mordor.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

There's also the The Last Days mod for Mount & Blade Warband, which is based off of the books and not the Jackson movies.

[Felmourn]

I jump on every once in a while to level my Human Bard and I like to put on my RP flag. Sadly I see the game as pretty dead except the occasional high level running through. World chat is quiet. My gripe with it is the UI and how jumbled everything feels. I like the crafting system, I make my own cloth armor and it's better than quest rewards which gives me a goal to explore and kill npcs.

Otherwise, I love LoTR lore, world, scale(impressive), best water graphics I've seen in any mmo.

[ercarp]

I had a blast playing the paid version of LOTRO with my brother when it came out years and years ago, but I don't think it has stood the test of time; the game looks incredibly dated compared to almost every other MMO out on the market, including F2P titles (which it is now also competing with). Speaking of which, I feel like going F2P did not benefit this game in the slightest. They added a ridiculous number of restrictions locked behind paywalls, including bag space (hate when any MMO does this) and that just sucks the fun out of everything for me.

[xenogear3]

The main reason is the graphic and user interface are outdated.

Some other complains are "pay 10 cents to teleport".
That is just so stupid.

The new expansions are worse than the old ones.
You can tell that the new expansion has less budget than the old ones.

Shouldn't the developers become more experienced?
Shouldn't they do a better job with the same budget? No!