LOTRO: Following an Established Formula or Demonstrating a Lack of Vision?
Standing Stone Games have announced that Fate of Gundabad, the next expansion for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, will launch on November 10th. Pre-orders are now available and like the last three expansions, the latest will be available in three different versions. A Standard Edition which retails for £30. A Collector’s Edition with some additional items priced at £60. And then there’s the so-called Ultimate Fan Bundle which is loaded with trinkets and baubles. This costs £100. Whether the more costly versions offer anything tangible and of “value” is obviously subjective and is already up for debate. However, there are no real surprises here. This pricing model has been established since August 2017 and the release of Mordor. And the game content is similarly formulaic.
Fate of Gundabad will contain new PVE quests, raids and instances. There will be new reputation factions and because of the increase of level cap from 130 to 140, new gear to obtain. A new class, the Brawler, will be included (where in the past we’ve had new races), as well as new crafting levels to earn and recipes to gain. Effectively, players of LOTRO will be getting more of what they have already. Variations on existing themes. In the past I’ve used the analogy of a fast food franchise, where you know what you’re getting and it is always consistent. This comparison is not meant in a derogatory manner and simply highlights what developers SSG are offering. However, LOTRO is 14 years old and the game is showing its age. Nothing radically different has been added to the game for a long time. Are SSG following an established formula or simply showing a lack of vision?
Not so long ago when EG7 acquired Daybreak Game Company, there was a brief period of optimism, mainly due to the promising statements made by then CEO Robin Flodin. However, he’s now left the company and the acting CEO is Ji Ham, who has been CEO of Daybreak for the last six years. The success of Ji Ham’s tenure at Daybreak is debatable. The perspective of a gamer who has seen beloved titles closed or left in maintenance mode will naturally differ from an investor who is focused purely on the bottom line. I am curious to see whether titles such as LOTRO will get any of the upgrades that were referenced in last year’s investor presentation from EG7. Or whether energies will be diverted elsewhere, now that Flodin has left the scene. Remember that EG7 are currently developing a triple A MMO based upon a licensed property.
I have a great fondness for LOTRO but my relationship with the MMO has certainly changed over time. I now find myself in a position where I am not very enthusiastic for this forthcoming expansion. It isn’t offering anything new, other than a new class. In the past resources, staffing and a host of other reasons have been cited as to why SSG haven’t done anything radical with LOTRO under their tenure as developers. I now think that they no longer have the in-house skills and expertise that they did a decade ago. Therefore they produce “more of the same” because that’s all they have the capacity to do. All things considered, it may be time to replace the fast food analogy I’ve previously applied to LOTRO. It’s now like meeting up with an old school friend who hasn’t moved on in life and is still doing the same things they did back in the day. Mind you, couldn’t the same observation be applied to most ardent players of LOTRO?
