Thank you for Minas Morgul! (Spoilers)

[Oddessia]

Its been awhile since I've done an extolling post but its certainly not for a lack of reasons to!

Minas Morgul is great! Thank you for yet another fantastic expansion. I haven't even explored half of it and I just wanted to come here and say its beautiful!

-Landscape is really well done, and perfectly balanced with what Mordor is now and what it was. TREES! I mean, thats cool. And a sky, it has an actual sky. (Yes Im easily satisfied)
-Going between Morder than and Mordor now is so cool. I love the idea and the execution. I wandered around Dingarth in Besieged in awe that it used to be so....big lol. The landscape is still similar enough to be recognizable in terms of area but different enough that I truly feel like Im "back then."
-Story is, as always, incredible. No surprise there, lol. I love seeing all the familiar faces from other stories in the game that didnt play a big part. I mean, I know they were at that battle, but its still exciting to see them and interact with them in a bigger way.
-I really enjoyed discovering the different 'camps' in Mordor Besieged, each with their own Alliance grouping and feel. It felt so real and truly how I imagined it.
-Housing item port thingy - hell ya.
-The voice acting for the characters is fitting and Im happy to see lots of it! Lotro has always been pretty good at this but the last few zones have been even better.
-Crafted decor, such a great idea I'm happy its being continued. And of course the decor/cosmetics in this game have always been top notch, best Ive seen.
-Yay for crafted gear that's relevant!
-I like the stat tweaking work. Making some previously useless stats more desirable. Thank you
-I approve greatly of the Valar package, from what I've seen inside its a big step up from previous Valars. (It does have a number of bugs, like LIs having passives for the wrong class, but a great improvement nonetheless.)
-I rolled a Stout Axe and LOVE HIM, gah I think its my new favourite race. The intro was amazing, and I love the way he looks. Even the voice/combat noises are perfect. I'll have to be careful or Ill soon have an army of stout axe toons and nothing else :P

There's plenty more I could go on about in this expansion, but I think you get the idea.

The previous regions leading up to this expansion deserve the same attention and sentiment. Grey Mountains was a stunning release, the visuals in this game never disappoint, not a single time. The music in all the regions is so good Ive started using headphones to better hear every nuance. Darth Celtics always nails it.

Vales - same thing. Such a totally unique feel to every zone before it, visiting the Beos and Wild Men and seeing their way of life. Of course seeing the iconic landmark parts were pretty sweet too. And that KK housing item reward...one of my top favs, its just awesome. The dailies in the Vales were the best daily set in a long time, and I truly appreciate that. Quick, easy to do on all toons and great rewards. I really prefer this way over Skarhald's for example where running dailies on multiple toons took hours and hours. I'd love to see the Hultvis type dailies continue in the future.

Anyways point of this post being a huge THANK YOU for it all. Yea, we whinge a lot and overreact and make much doomsday fuss it seems, but it always works out in the end and I'm never disappointed with any content released. And of course, not many people post about what they love on the forums, so often the page reads like a scathing roast. I can assure you many more of us love this game than the forums would have you believe. But, I'm sure you all know that


Well done with your consistent hard work <3 I look forward to 'fan-girling' over Cord's hair on Friday's livestream.

-Ody

[Cordovan]

Thank you!

[Thurinuor]

Its been awhile since I've done an extolling post but its certainly not for a lack of reasons to!

Minas Morgul is great! Thank you for yet another fantastic expansion. I haven't even explored half of it and I just wanted to come here and say its beautiful!

-Landscape is really well done, and perfectly balanced with what Mordor is now and what it was. TREES! I mean, thats cool. And a sky, it has an actual sky. (Yes Im easily satisfied)
-Going between Morder than and Mordor now is so cool. I love the idea and the execution. I wandered around Dingarth in Besieged in awe that it used to be so....big lol. The landscape is still same enough to recognizable in terms of area but different enough that I truly feel like Im "back then."
-Story is, as always, incredible. No surprise there, lol. I love seeing all the familiar faces from other stories in the game that didnt play a big part. I mean, I know they were at that battle, but its still exciting to see them and interact with them in a bigger way.
-I really enjoyed discovering the different 'camps' in Mordor Besieged, each with their own Alliance grouping and feel. It felt so real and truly how I imagined it.
-Housing item port thingy - hell ya.
-The voice acting for the characters is fitting and Im happy to see lots of it! Lotro has always been pretty good at this but the last few zones have been even better.
-Crafted decor, such a great idea I'm happy its being continued. And of course the decor/cosmetics in this game have always been top notch, best Ive seen.
-Yay for crafted gear that's relevant!
-I like the stat tweaking work. Making some previously useless stats more desirable. Thank you
-I approve greatly of the Valar package, from what I've seen inside its a big step up from previous Valars. (It does have a number of bugs, like LIs having passives for the wrong class, but a great improvement nonetheless.)
-I rolled a Stout Axe and LOVE HIM, gah I think its my new favourite race. The intro was amazing, and I love the way he looks. Even the voice/combat noises are perfect. I'll have to be careful or Ill soon have an army of stout axe toons and nothing else :P

There's plenty more I could go on about in this expansion, but I think you get the idea.

The previous regions leading up to this expansion deserve the same attention and sentiment. Grey Mountains was a stunning release, the visuals in this game never disappoint, not a single time. The music in all the regions is so good Ive started using headphones to better hear every nuance. Darth Celtics always nails it.

Vales - same thing. Such a totally unique feel to every zone before it, visiting the Beos and Wild Men and seeing their way of life. Of course seeing the iconic landmark parts were pretty sweet too. And that KK housing item reward...one of my top favs, its just awesome. The dailies in the Vales were the best daily set in a long time, and I truly appreciate that. Quick, easy to do on all toons and great rewards. I really prefer this way over Skarhald's for example where running dailies on multiple toons took hours and hours. I'd love to see the Hultvis type dailies continue in the future.

Anyways point of this post being a huge THANK YOU for it all. Yea, we whinge a lot and overreact and make much doomsday fuss it seems, but it always works out in the end and I'm never disappointed with any content released. And of course, not many people post about what they love on the forums, so often the page reads like a scathing roast. I can assure you many more of us love this game than the forums would have you believe. But, I'm sure you all know that


Well done with your consistent hard work <3 I look forward to 'fan-girling' over Cord's hair on Friday's livestream.

-Ody

Best thread I read in 2019. You nailed it with every word. Minas Morgul is great and I liked the dailys in the Vales, too! I did them til yesterday - almost every day.

Thanks SSG for your hard work! Looking forward to play all the new and upcoming content!

[Daniyel]

I agree with OP Odessia.
very well done =)

Any word on when I might possibly be able to change my race from Elf to Stout-axe?

[Laurelinarien]

Indeed an excellent "thank you" thread, O! I couldn't agree more... I've loved questing around Mordor Besieged, it is so well done I just don't wanna move on... yet :3 (kudos to LOTRO team developing the best MMO skies I've seen).

Crafted Housing Decorations had been missing for a long time till the Vales, and I am too excited to see them again! Tho my Tailors feel a little left out of the party :P

I've thanked MoL on another thread for the Black Book storyline (as far as I've reached till now & knowing it'll be a jewel till the very conclusion)

Also, a little footnote regarding light gear: usually it's the worst looking gear, cosmetic-wise, and I'm glad that you're reverting that trend.

Stat-wise, I must say it'd be nice to get more detailed notes when you guys make changes like what we're seeing. So, I'll hold my opinion on balance & itemization till I see more... tho I must add that, given the very few recipes we've received for gear, locking them behind random instance loot (where the odds for solo/duo being real low compared to 3 man versions) is not a very welcome thing. I don't mind, I run the instances, but it's not raid gear, and it gets gated like that? uhmmm...

[Elmagor]

Yeah, it will be very great thing if they continue to expand 2nd age content

[ENDrain]

Isn't it lovely that SSG's respond to a praise thread is instant, while at a criticism thread - not so much?

[Narthalion]

Isn't it lovely that SSG's respond to a praise thread is instant, while at a criticism thread - not so much?

Hmmmmmmm...interesting point. If what you're saying is true, it might be worth a reverse psychological approach. For example, if enough of us said, "Hey, we LOVE your approach to the LI grind/crisis that so many of us are frustrated with."...do you think they would get on it faster?

Worth a shot.

[RiverBirch]

Thank you, O, for taking the time to write an excellent post - you saved me time. Because I agree with everything you say!

I would add that I very much like how the orc camps are laid out. I feel like I move thru them just as I would in real life - I can climb up on the rock ridges, snipe at enemies, avoid enemies I don't want to fight by using the ridges. And I think, not absolutely sure, the line of sight is operating. It seemed at one point as I got up on a rock to snipe, as soon as I climbed up, my target saw me, even though I wasn't closer to him. It felt like such a realistic encounter!

The changes to the landscape and to built environment over a three thousand year period seem realistic to me. Gives me a time machine experience, just like I wish I had IRL to see the ruins of the ancient world in their glory days. Great experience!

Still have a lot of exploring and questing to do. Haven't even begun to look at crafting. You've given us a lot of stuff to play with - thanks!

[drongo]

Adding my 2c.

I'm currently stealthing around the lower tiers of Minas Morgul and I can't remember when I've had more fun in a game.

Very immersive, quest lines make sense, I'm reading every word and am fully engaged.

You know its good when you don't want it to end, I'm doing this as slowly as possible to savour it (even with 1000 other things to do ingame).

Thank you, please be proud of what you've done.

[Starsmith]

So far, having played a bit in Morgul Vale...I have been hammering the screenshot key. That section of the books was the most evocative to me, and I have been looking so forward to seeing how you guys handled translating it into the game.

I am not disappointed

I really, really like how the place is laid out too. Really good use of the Z axis. It's so neat to run into hidden little corners and find something new there, that couldn't be seen from a distance. Or to get up high and just look down across *everything*, like I did up near the morrovail.

[Arandour]

Agree with what everyone say,landscape,quests etc are amazing and also i real enjoy playing my champion with so many mobs around most of the time.I am impressed also about how big is the content,quests are so many and to be honest i didnt expect that.Good job guys.Havent finish everything yet but so far so good.

[Valakircka]

Its been awhile since I've done an extolling post but its certainly not for a lack of reasons to!

Minas Morgul is great! Thank you for yet another fantastic expansion. I haven't even explored half of it and I just wanted to come here and say its beautiful!

-Landscape is really well done, and perfectly balanced with what Mordor is now and what it was. TREES! I mean, thats cool. And a sky, it has an actual sky. (Yes Im easily satisfied)
-Going between Morder than and Mordor now is so cool. I love the idea and the execution. I wandered around Dingarth in Besieged in awe that it used to be so....big lol. The landscape is still similar enough to be recognizable in terms of area but different enough that I truly feel like Im "back then."
-Story is, as always, incredible. No surprise there, lol. I love seeing all the familiar faces from other stories in the game that didnt play a big part. I mean, I know they were at that battle, but its still exciting to see them and interact with them in a bigger way.
-I really enjoyed discovering the different 'camps' in Mordor Besieged, each with their own Alliance grouping and feel. It felt so real and truly how I imagined it.
-Housing item port thingy - hell ya.
-The voice acting for the characters is fitting and Im happy to see lots of it! Lotro has always been pretty good at this but the last few zones have been even better.
-Crafted decor, such a great idea I'm happy its being continued. And of course the decor/cosmetics in this game have always been top notch, best Ive seen.
-Yay for crafted gear that's relevant!
-I like the stat tweaking work. Making some previously useless stats more desirable. Thank you
-I approve greatly of the Valar package, from what I've seen inside its a big step up from previous Valars. (It does have a number of bugs, like LIs having passives for the wrong class, but a great improvement nonetheless.)
-I rolled a Stout Axe and LOVE HIM, gah I think its my new favourite race. The intro was amazing, and I love the way he looks. Even the voice/combat noises are perfect. I'll have to be careful or Ill soon have an army of stout axe toons and nothing else :P

There's plenty more I could go on about in this expansion, but I think you get the idea.

The previous regions leading up to this expansion deserve the same attention and sentiment. Grey Mountains was a stunning release, the visuals in this game never disappoint, not a single time. The music in all the regions is so good Ive started using headphones to better hear every nuance. Darth Celtics always nails it.

Vales - same thing. Such a totally unique feel to every zone before it, visiting the Beos and Wild Men and seeing their way of life. Of course seeing the iconic landmark parts were pretty sweet too. And that KK housing item reward...one of my top favs, its just awesome. The dailies in the Vales were the best daily set in a long time, and I truly appreciate that. Quick, easy to do on all toons and great rewards. I really prefer this way over Skarhald's for example where running dailies on multiple toons took hours and hours. I'd love to see the Hultvis type dailies continue in the future.

Anyways point of this post being a huge THANK YOU for it all. Yea, we whinge a lot and overreact and make much doomsday fuss it seems, but it always works out in the end and I'm never disappointed with any content released. And of course, not many people post about what they love on the forums, so often the page reads like a scathing roast. I can assure you many more of us love this game than the forums would have you believe. But, I'm sure you all know that


Well done with your consistent hard work <3 I look forward to 'fan-girling' over Cord's hair on Friday's livestream.

-Ody

well said!
i will add something that is really important to me.........
a big thank you for streching the lore with respect!
you ve learned your lesson with what you did to good old Radagast........
now you are using our top beloved maya with respect this time, just to give a nice flow to your story!
and what a story this is!!!
till the time Glorfidel revealed the truth i was so sure the elf was Karazgar to be! (after what Sauron said)
but i m pretty sure, this gurzyul is somewhere there hidden in plain sight!

[Starsmith]

well said!
i will add something that is really important to me.........
a big thank you for streching the lore with respect!
you ve learned your lesson with what you did to good old Radagast........
now you are using our top beloved maya with respect this time, just to give a nice flow to your story!
and what a story this is!!!
till the time Glorfidel revealed the truth i was so sure the elf was Karazgar to be! (after what Sauron said)
but i m pretty sure, this gurzyul is somewhere there hidden in plain sight!

Ha, yes, on this point--it was definitely lore-stretching, but it wasn't eye-rolling. I'm not sure it was necessary, but it was done well.

I admit I spent a good bit of the Mordor Besieged portion thinking, "Gil-Galad did WHAT?!" but *that* bit of riding hard against the lore-line had a delicious and believable pay off so it's OK