World of Warcraft shows that classic versions of MMORPGs can work well. Therefore, the community also desires such servers. However, the developers of The Lord of the Rings Online (LotRO) see it differently.
What do the players of LotRO want? In the official forum, the question arose whether a permanent classic server for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online is planned. After all, WoW Classic shows how popular such a version can be.
Some players found the beginning, leveling between 1 and 65 of The Lord of the Rings Online, to be the best. Some would like to experience that feeling again as they did at the start of their adventure in the MMORPG. Player LotroVidz compiled a list in the official forum to show why a Lord of the Rings Classic would be a good idea:
- Less Pay2Win in the store.
- Better class balancing.
- The trait system offered more variety in gameplay for each class.
- Tanking threat system that worked.
- Slower but more tactical gameplay (less spam) that felt like a real RPG.
- No crazy legendary item grind as it is currently the case.
- Very good gear progress.
- No loot boxes.
- Balanced instances and raids without the T5 system.
- The skirmishes were worthwhile.
- Much better balancing in PVMP (Player vs. Monster Player).
- Better landscape balancing.
- Better crafting.
- Better endgame gear/better endgame progression
Little Enthusiasm in the Developer Studio
What do the developers think of the suggestion? The idea of a classic version of LotRO is not well received by the team. The developers have a completely different opinion on this matter:
Regarding the issue of “Give us an old version of LotRO” – my answer is the same as always: Why reintroduce all those bugs? You think it was perfect back then, but I remember our bug queues at that time, and I can assure you it was not. Thirteen years of bug fixes just to disappear? Oh dear!
MadeOfLions, Standing Stone Games
Similar to what Blizzard has long experienced, the developers reject a classic server because they cannot imagine that anyone would want to play an old version with all those bugs from before and still think it is good.
What do the players think about this? In the official forum, this statement is being discussed. On one hand, there is little understanding that the developers reject a classic server for The Lord of the Rings Online. After all, there is interest in it, and WoW Classic shows that it works.
On the other hand, some believe that it would be too great an effort to operate two versions of the game. After all, there is still a lot planned for the current game. The latest updates like Minas Morgul or the wedding of Aragorn and Arwen continually expand the story.
- LotroVids explains it this way: “We don’t want the SOM/ROI version of LotRO back because of the bugs that were there at that time. We want it back because of the core gameplay, the instances, the combat, the itemization, the PVMP. It was simply a much better game than the current version, sorry! If WoW Classic can be successful in 2020, so can LotRO Classic!”
- Nelliezz says: “I am a player who doesn’t care about the bugs you mentioned, as that’s not my problem. I would just like to play a version of LotRO before Helms Deep, as I loved the expansions and how the game worked. I don’t find the game any less buggy now than in 2013, or are you talking about internal bugs that only you can see?”
- Druidsfire doesn’t see the idea so positively: “Who is going to go back and dig up an old copy of LotRO, rewire it from scratch to make it compatible and secure with current hardware, and maintain it as a completely separate live service?”
What do you think? Would you play a classic version of The Lord of the Rings Online?
The Lord of the Rings Online has now been around for over 13 years. Nevertheless, it is still an exciting online role-playing game and belongs to the 8 best MMORPGs to start with online role-playing games.
