Lord of the Rings Online

When you buy a game, some obvious things are the target of most reviews.

Does it install? Can it be started, does it crash every 30 seconds? Can the controls be figured out.

In MMORPG's the server stability matter, do items suddenly disappear, do people keep getting disconnected.

Rarely reviewed, you might ask why, is customer support.

MMORPG's are not just very complex games where the question is not wether you need a GM to fix something but when. Invariably some thing will go wrong, needing a GM to interfere.

Lotro has one famous instance by know that throws up bugs so often GM's don't even need to read your post anymore, just by being in the area they know what you are petitioning for.

In general, Lotro scores well here, fixing script bugs quickly.

However, recently the game has started to suffer from random disconnects. It rarely affects me personally, but if a person in a raid is DC'ed, he no longer can get loot for that boss. Very annoying and GM's refuse to deal with it.

This is annoying as the DC's are new, so clearly it is something that was introduced to the game and not the customers fault. Why should a bug on the server deprive the player of loot?

So, 1 win, 1 fail.

It gets worse. MMORPG's are also social games, thousands of players in one area. This means there will be friction. Some one misbehaves and must be dealt with. You can't take the law into your own hands, so that means the police must do it, or rather the GM's.

If they don't, then those who wish to cause disruption can get away with whatever they want.

So how does Lotro, or rather Codemaster deal with this?

By doing nothing. A particulair player who has annoyed dozens of other players and causes constant disruption is deal with that those who speak harsh words to him, are banned. Those who file petitions against him are threathened with being banned themselves and the guy in question knows this and enjoys it.

So, with Mines of Moria coming up, my recommendation for anyone considering giving this game is this.

Do you think that if a player is widely considered a pain in the ass and deliberately griefing, that the way to deal with this is for everyone else to leave the area (despite that fact he can follow anywhere), if you do, and do not want to be griefed I suggest you take CM's advice and leave the game.

The game itself is okay, nothing special, although decently done. But CM's support makes PvP unplayable because of one bad apple and their absolute refusal to deal with.

Buyer beware.  

Its ok dont cry.

Hear of /ingnore or take screenshots send to support?

I personally never had any problems with ppl in lotro. (cant say the same about most mmos i played). And most ppl are good, but there is always the on f***** that will annoy people, this is why you can ignore him and not inv him into grps.He cant kill you ingame.

The disconnect problem might be due to a lot of factors so pointing fingers isnt the most intelligent thing to do. However do post in the official forums, detaield posts telling what you were doing during crash.

I dont know if your just trying to flame lotro a bit, but if you had played other mmos before lotro you would know that none of them are perfect. And if lotro had quite a few major problems everything is usually fixed pretty fast.

Anyway here is you minor troll award

So far the only people I have had problems with dealing with lotro is people on forums that think they are badasses over the internet... as far as people in game... there is not many like that but there are those select few

While I am not saying what you typed is not true, I have not had the same experience. The support team online have been very fast to respond, and helped out a lot. There was recently a change to the squiddie fight in Carn Dum, and it caused the boss to bug. The response I got was fast, and explained it is being worked on, and a description of how to avoid the bug.

The support in LotRO is one of the best I have experienced. The forums are full of complainers that want things easy, however. I would not recommend focusing on them for the true situation. Thus the take over of Populs. Long Live Populs!

Originally posted by Lazer7

While I am not saying what you typed is not true, I have not had the same experience. The support team online have been very fast to respond, and helped out a lot. There was recently a change to the squiddie fight in Carn Dum, and it caused the boss to bug. The response I got was fast, and explained it is being worked on, and a description of how to avoid the bug.

The support in LotRO is one of the best I have experienced. The forums are full of complainers that want things easy, however. I would not recommend focusing on them for the true situation. Thus the take over of Populs. Long Live Populs!

I mention the three different types of support people need. First bugs in quests, this is as said fast.

Bugs in the game itself resulting in disconnects and being unable to obtain loot. It was known for a long time post book14 there was a bug with the RAT that caused massive disconnects, nonetheless, nothing was changed in their stance to account for this.

But the harrasment handling is a joke, reports go unanswered, mails go unanwsered, screenshots? How about a recorded video of the event? No response.

Yet people who in the heat of the moment lash out at this particular guy get banned. File to many complaints, at one point a dozen players filed a petition in the Ettens and you get threathened with a ban.

So, well done on ignoring the point of my post. I did not claim they do not respond to bug petitions, it is the harrasment handling that fails.

Do me a favor, open the ticket window and read the things you need to do before you can file a ticket. Remove yourself from the situation. Basically, let the griefer pester you out.

Is that what you look for in support?

[quote][i]Originally posted by beaverz[/i] Its ok dont cry. Hear of /ingnore or take screenshots send to support? I personally never had any problems with ppl in lotro. (cant say the same about most mmos i played). And most ppl are good, but there is always the on f***** that will annoy people, this is why you can ignore him and not inv him into grps.He cant kill you ingame. The disconnect problem might be due to a lot of factors so pointing fingers isnt the most intelligent thing to do. However do post in the official forums, detaield posts telling what you were doing during crash. I dont know if your just trying to flame lotro a bit, but if you had played other mmos before lotro you would know that none of them are perfect. And if lotro had quite a few major problems everything is usually fixed pretty fast. Anyway here is you minor troll award [/quote]

You apprently don't play PvMP in the game. Someone pulling every NPC onto you can most definitly kill you.  

As for screenshots, I send them plenty, so did others, even a fraps made movie. No action, no response. Oh wait, that is wrong, those who petition for this guy to removed a bit to often get threathened with a ban.

Those who get a bit to harsh in their words get banned. If you actually read my post you should have noted that I have this guy on ignore, doesn't stop him from requesting invites to an open raid (standard practice in the ettens) and the window pops up asking for permission to join regardless of ignore.

So, congrats on not reading the post at all, you missed every single point. So here is my own reward for you.

To repeat myself, this is NOT about a spammer or general asshat, this is about a person who OUTSIDE the group tags others and then pulls NPC's on top of the raid, running out of the way to try and get the raid to kill them for him so he can get the loot and/or cause the raid to fight both npc's and enemy players at the same time. /ignore and such do NOT work against him. I once managed to get a response from a GM who basically said they know what he is doing but won't do anything because their policy is that players should just remove themselves from the area.

Lotro is indeed a fairly decent MMORPG, but Codemaster has made their customer support a bit of a mess. They deal fast with bugs, although that they themselves admit they are starting to dream about the tentacles suggest that Turbine hardly fixes problems fast. Helcham has always had bugs.

The CM customer support in other areas however is less then stellar.

I understand that you are pissed of that soemone is ruining your fun but there is a really easy solution!

Roll a Creep with a bunch of friends and then just focus all you got to kill him... if he is such a jerk Im sure the other freeps will let you kill him easily :)

Turbine customer care and the lotro devs are the best team i have ever seen..