Originally Posted by
Radhruin_EU
Because the world is very different nowadays, and you really need to turn the clock back. If you're having to trek around on foot, distance and natural barriers are a huge deal. Deserts, big rivers, mountains, seas. Availability of food and water. Knowing what's safe to eat and what isn't, once you're away from familiar surroundings. The climate of places you have to trek through (we all know about people dying of dehydration in deserts, or freezing to death while trying to cross mountains, or being swept to their deaths by flash floods, etc.). Other natural hazards, such as avalanches. The local wildlife, which may want to eat you, or may just attack you if it feels threatened, or may be just plain aggressive. Poisonous critters (snakes, scorpions, spiders). Disease (like the classic "You have died of dysentery"). And potentially worst of all, other people. Now they may be kind to strangers, but what if they aren't? Are there local customs or laws to deal with? What if the people and/or local regime are cruel? Will they let you pass, or turn you away, or do something awful to you - enslave you, kill you? Are there bandits? And all of this isn't going on in the real world either but one that features Sauron, and the rather unpleasant regimes run by the guys who follow him.
Now obviously this would be far, far easier for some than others. Near Harad is quite nearby. So are parts of Rhun, although the nearer you got to the West the more vigilant and hostile Sauron's lot would be. However, once you start talking Far Harad or the far distant corners of the East then that'd be an epic trek (from months all the way up to years). From a storytelling perspective, that's only feasible if you can tell a good tale without contrivance. For comparison with RL: say it's meant to be 600 CE or so and you want to get a character in a story from either (a) China or (b) equatorial Africa all the way to the kingdom of Mercia, that's going to take a bit of doing. Heck, you could probably get a whole trilogy out of just that bit. And if they've managed to get through all that (or the equivalent in a fantasy world), from a gaming perspective it'd be tough to explain why they're still a n00b.
So, a bit of push-back on what you said: why is it so difficult to understand that there are limits to what's feasible or sensible, and having everyone from everywhere turning up in Bree all at once is a bit much (or really, a lot much)?
Yes, now, quite recently, and it's the exact same issue of SSG being offhand and casual in a way Turbine weren't. That's not really a rationale, it's effectively just saying "SSG can't be bothered to make sense any more so I shouldn't have to".