Lord of the Rings Online

First, as i know im gonna get heat for posting this some credentials. I played LOTR:O for months during beta, for 3 months after initial relase so all told i got about 5 months of playing in this game.  As true as it may be that a lot has changed my points that i make are going to be valid. If you can't argue them and feel the need to just call me an idiot, just hit the back button and don't bother replying.

So, i'm checing my email the other day when I see an email sent out about a "Welcome Back" campaign.  I play other MMO's s i thought nothing of it at the time but i grew weary of FFXI (I take small breaks in MMO's and right now it's FFXI's turn) and decided while i had the free time, i'd jump back in and see what has all changed in Middle Earth.  I waited a couple days and even had already downloaded the game thinking "Well, i can just download it, install the updates and it be much easier than searching for my boxed version".

So game is installed and lo and behold the 2nd arrives. I find that i gotta wait until 10 so at 1 i decide to log in to find that my account is still inactive so I click the "Reactivate".  The first problem appears here.  They want me to supply a credit card for a "Welcome Back" 5 day event.  To me, i think they should have just been fine with my logging in being able to activate my account.  So i go ahead and just click the "Activate" and it activates the account. It's then i see that the credit card on file is not just no longer valid, it expired january this year yet it still activates.  It activates an hour later mind you but activates.

So i log in to realize, it's been quite some time since i've logged in and damned if i remember where my characters were.  This obviously is a problem because Turbine deems showing this information unnecessary too so it took logging on to a few servers before I realized which I was on so many many months ago (this is yet another problem).  So i go to select my characters and my level 38 Loremaster and my 24 Hunter cant be used because the game i downloaded?  Oh no, that wasn't the game that was just the noob area of it.  Despite having tried many times to check for updates and such to download everything i needed the game felt it was ok for me to just have the noob area for now.  So, now here i am stuck, waiting for what should have been done to begin with.

However, i take it in stride as i'm trying hard to get back into the game and 2 hours after maintenace i find that the noob area has 2 people in it. Me and someone else.  This reeks of a dead game from this perspective and as it's the one i'm stuck with at the moment (and most likely others coming back are aswell) this doesn't give a good showing to what the actual numbers are in this game i feel.

So Turbine, Thank you for the 5 days, i will continue for a few more hours to get back to my higher level characters but unless i'm able to actually see that anything has changed from my initial reasoning for quitting before, i won't be back and another attempt will fall on deaf ears.  Unfortunately, it will probably fall on many deaf ears.

Also, congratulations to anyone who even bothered to reading to this point. Gotta love long and rambling posts.

Well to me it seems somebody did not read up on all the info for the WB period, i'm sorry but i have no pity for incompetence..with that said maybe you did not see many ppl due to many facts such as,

1. Maybe you are on a low pop server?

2. Maybe there are already tonnes of ppl still playing and dont need to come back?

3. Maybe you are playing in a timezone where as other ppl are not playing?

4. Maybe some of the ppl playing have already out lvl'd you?

And so on and so on,

 honestly dont know what to say? you made a bad choice by not reading all required info relating to the WB period and you want to blame Turbine? yep that makes sense to me.

Another thing, 25% xp bonus only comes from killing mobs and not from quests... pure fail on Turbine's part imo, considering you get the most XP from questing.

Originally posted by logicbox9

Another thing, 25% xp bonus only comes from killing mobs and not from quests... pure fail on Turbine's part imo, considering you get the most XP from questing.

This i agree with :)

Originally posted by charlizd

Well to me it seems somebody did not read up on all the info for the WB period, i'm sorry but i have no pity for incompetence..with that said maybe you did not see many ppl due to many facts such as,

1. Maybe you are on a low pop server?

This may very well be but that leaves me with the option of playing with a low population server or having to pay to move.  Either option sound good to you? Doesn't to me.

2. Maybe there are already tonnes of ppl still playing and dont need to come back?

This may very well be the case but the problem is i cant get to Middle Earth because the game did not update with the full game until now when i'm trying to actually play.  I said that it was unfair to base it off what i was seeing but they should have sent the full game out in an update with the other updates so i'm not sitting around waiting for the game to update now.

3. Maybe you are playing in a timezone where as other ppl are not playing?

I'm playing in the Eastern Time Zone.  Granted this may be the case but again, i cant get to Middle Earth to find out.

4. Maybe some of the ppl playing have already out lvl'd you?

This is most likely true but the problem is, i cant get to Middle Earth where i have a Level 38 Loremaster.  My whole point of doing this coming back thing is because when i left Loremaster was wholly broken and i wasn't going to pay per month waiting for them to fix it since they knew it was broken during Beta.

And so on and so on,

 honestly dont know what to say? you made a bad choice by not reading all required info relating to the WB period and you want to blame Turbine? yep that makes sense to me.

I read the informationt hat was sent to me from Turbine. Did I actively go and research it? No. As it's Turbine trying to win me back as a customer i shouldn't have to go out of my way to find information.  Also, what information are you referring to that says that "oh, we aren't sending the full game out to you in an update. you're going to have to wait several hours while it downloads"

Like i said, i fully expect people to come in here and try to completely pick apart my arguement but everything i've said is the truth.  As they're trying to get me back into the game they should try to make the transition as smooth as possible.  They failed to do this.  Also the 25% is considerably paltry and like stated only goes for kills and not quests.  The not for quests part isn't as annoying as the 25% part is.

*wonders if people would be complaining if it was just a free weekend with no 25% -->BONUS<-- at all*

But to the OP (without trying to sound like an ass, like some :P ), I am pretty much repeating what has already been said. It is mid day, people are still at work/school, I can guarantee it will get more populated towards the evening time, and then on the weekend. But is also depends what server you are on; which one are you on btw? And low level areas are usually empty because it is really easy and fast to level up in the early stages so people usually move on within 1-3hrs.

Regarding the activation issue, they actually were having issues with some accounts but that should of been fixed by now (there is a thread on it in general discussion on the lotro forums) I find it really strange you do not have your old characters, are you sure you are logging into the same server as before were you had your characters? Contact account management support just in case, that should get resolved.

The one complaint I found a little humourous (not sound like an ass) but regarding having to download more stuff after having downloaded the game. I wouldnt find it funny if you didnt have Guild Wars in your sig. As a fellow Guild Wars player, that game only downloads the bare minimum to start the game and then downloads every part seperatly as you enter; a lot worse than LOTRO. If you installed using the CDs you wouldnt have the issue. (but I am not bashing, just found it a little funny :P )

"I find that i gotta wait until 10 so at 1 i decide to log in to find that my account is still inactive so I click the "Reactivate". The first problem appears here."

You said it.

Originally posted by Slampig

"I find that i gotta wait until 10 so at 1 i decide to log in to find that my account is still inactive so I click the "Reactivate". The first problem appears here."

 

You said it.

and I said this... http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/45/view/forums/post/2359752#2359752