Here is the bottom line for anyone still reading this.

LOTRO is a 6 year old MMO. Many many loyal players have been here for the 6 years. We have gotten used to how our characters play. When HD goes live this is what you will find :

Your character WILL have less skills available than they do now no matter how you spend your points
The variation in builds you can achieve right now has been cut to cookie cutter levels
You will have to re-learn how to play your class. This applies in varying degree's to all classes

This is one hell of a gamble Turbine have taken with an ageing game.

Turbine have simplified the game by removing your options and giving you less choice. Removing options, placing them behind gates and restricting the decisions you are able to make as a player can only be described as simplification. Less skills available = simplified gameplay. Implementing cookie cutter builds is all well and good if you have a healthy MMO, with loads of vibrant gameplay requiring the traditional trinity. However these builds are introduced into a game that Turbine have spent the last 3-4 years creating small group content where the trinity is not needed. This makes this decision even more mind blowingly stupefying.

So they have upset long standing customers who will login to empty skill bars and a toon they don't recognise, who they will have to re-learn how to play after 6 years of trying, whilst at the same time seemingly rendering design decisions and scaling content that were previously made obsolete.

It is an incredible gamble.

Skill tree's are not bad. How these have been implemented is an unfortunate design decision. The manner in which the beta community were communicated to, people who are in fact paying customers, was in my opinion shocking and was indeed a large factor in my final decision.

Get into beta and try the changes for yourself before giving Turbine any money. This is that large a change you owe it to yourself to make your own mind up.

After being here from the very start, purchasing every expansion, purchasing TP my journey in Middle Earth has come to an end.

This is not a rage quit, it is a sad quit.