This poll was suggested by Malhirviel who sent in an email asking when we think the epic story in game will reach the end of Tolkien’s trilogy.
How long do you think it will be before the epic story of LOTRO reaches the end of Tolkien's trilogy?
- Never: Turbine/WB will shut the game servers down before we reach Mordor (31%, 346 Votes)
- 3 years: within the next 3-4 expansions (25%, 279 Votes)
- 4 years: within the next 5-6 expansions (20%, 230 Votes)
- 5 years: not in the foreseeable future of expansions, but sometime (12%, 138 Votes)
- 6+ years: not for a long time (8%, 87 Votes)
- 2 years: the next expansion beyond Western Rohan will be Mordor (4%, 41 Votes)
- Other (Leave a Comment) (0%, 10 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,130
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January 26, 2013 at 12:51 pm
Well we are still at eastern rohan so probably next expansion will be western rohan with helms deep in. I think it will take turbine a few more years to actually reach mordor.
January 26, 2013 at 12:55 pm
After Western Rohan, there’s still Gondor, and there’s plenty of stuff to fill in before finally attacking Mordor. I’m lookin’ at Rhun, of course. Plus there’s upper Mirkwood and the Lonely Mountain and stuff, depending how how stupid licensing BS happens.
January 27, 2013 at 4:45 pm
I think we’re getting the only look at northern Mirkwood and Erebor that we’ll ever get with these upcoming raids unfortunately, but I hope I’m wrong.
January 26, 2013 at 1:29 pm
If there’s money to be made…the epic will go forth!
January 26, 2013 at 2:08 pm
didn’t want to be a pessimist, but i answered honestly. found out i was the majority.
January 26, 2013 at 2:44 pm
What I was going to say exactly. I love the game but I just don’t see us getting to the end of the books before the money runs out due to the slightly meandering route.
January 26, 2013 at 3:57 pm
If not for the two-year doldrums between Moria and Dunland, we might be in Gondor by now.
January 26, 2013 at 4:01 pm
with more of rohan left, Gondor (which will most likely be a few expansions), I have heard talk of the grey havens and possible going back up noth i dont think the game will be going down for at least 5+ years as long as people continue to play.
January 26, 2013 at 4:48 pm
Elder Scrolls Online will end a lot of people’s LOTRO play…that combined with the way Turbine is handling the community and the store could cause it to end in the next 2-3 years… definitely before Mordor (unless instanced)
January 26, 2013 at 6:05 pm
I doubt ESO will end peoples LOTRO play. thats not saying it won’t be great. I would second the community treatment stuff. I think in the end that will be what brings it all down. Will we get to Mordor? Yes. The epic will go to Mordor and beyond I think. Remember, there will be a big mess to clean up after all is said and done. Rebuilding and recovery, dealing with despots trying to rally the leavings of Saurons forces for they’re own. What will the game be like when we are at the point though ? Maybe a skeleton crew at Turbine ? eventually the game will become bigger than there budget can handle.
January 26, 2013 at 10:36 pm
When every new MMO is announced, the Horn of LOTRO’s Doom is inevitably sounded. Some day this prediction will be correct – but it is not this day.
January 27, 2013 at 3:44 pm
“Gordon Spencer Says:
January 26, 2013 at 10:36 pm
When every new MMO is announced, the Horn of LOTRO’s Doom is inevitably sounded. Some day this prediction will be correct – but it is not this day.”
^^ This and this again. For over 5 years I’ve been reading comments that when “such-and-such” MMO comes out, LOTRO will suffer and possibly be shut down. So far this hasn’t happened. I’m guessing that 5 years from now I’ll still be readings comments like that when I’m taking a break from playing LOTRO.
January 26, 2013 at 10:38 pm
I fully plan on playing both.
January 27, 2013 at 9:00 am
TES games are ok, I really enjoyed oblivion but found skyrim fairly dull. Though that dullness may have spawned from the fact you seem to be meant to play a nonstealth melee fighter with a companion. Only time I took a companion by choice was to sacrifice them.
ESO could very easily go the same way as swtor, people will be hyped for it due to the name but under the surface it could be a very standard mmo.
Due to my lack of interest in skyrim I wont be jumping ship just to say I played it.
January 28, 2013 at 7:43 am
Along with SWTOR, and GW2, and AOC, and … you get the idea.
LOTRO is never going to be one the ‘big boys’, but it’s still going strong (as far as I can tell anyway) and assuming it continues to do so and makes WB some money I don’t see that changing (possible post-2014 licensing shenanigans aside).
January 31, 2013 at 1:18 am
Yeah, I’m very much more concerned about the license ending or some other Tolkien Enterprises or WB or Turbine tomfoolery than by possibility that ESO will draw off too many players for LOTRO to continue.
They (Zenimax) may have some great design ideas and be making all the right noises at the moment, but they still have to execute on those ideas. They still have to build a game that not only attracts a lot of players, but holds their interest over the long-term. We’ve already seen a number of MMOs open to a lot of hype only to fade to an also-ran position within a year.
Even if ESO beats the odds, and no matter how good ESO is, there are a lot of diehard Tolkien and LOTRO fans that will keep playing LOTRO as long as the servers are on.
January 26, 2013 at 5:22 pm
Its more of a question of how long will the game last. As long as the servers are up they need new expansion content, and with that will come Epics.
I have to vote never for that reason, because even if the game lasts to Mordor and beyond, there will be more Epic quests to thread through that content. It might not involve the ring directly, but….
January 26, 2013 at 5:34 pm
I do not think we will ever see Mordor. Gondor may be as far as we go, unless Turbine cleans up the store and gets ad campaign going.
January 26, 2013 at 6:46 pm
My major concern is licensing.
January 26, 2013 at 6:54 pm
2 years max, whether or not (and I’m banking on not) it reaches Mordor. I think each of the big name titles released in the last couple years, along with Turbine’s ridiculous handling of every aspect of Lotro, more and more people leave permanently. And ESO will be no different. But, I think there are a HUGE number of those vanished players who would not have left if it weren’t for Turbine’s idiocy. I am of that last group of players. Love the game, hate the developer. (I am an original founder with 2 lifetime accounts, been around a while, the number of people playing IS dwindling)
January 26, 2013 at 10:40 pm
I would have to say that with experience playing WoW that Turbine seems a lot more responsive and approachable than Blizzard… I know I came into the game as FTP and have had this become my main and fave game. I left it for a couple of months to play Skyrim but wish I hadn’t because I missed out on a lot of the GR grind. But I happily pay $10 a month for this game and would plunk down $200 in a heartbeat for lifetime.
January 26, 2013 at 7:15 pm
3 entirely possible possibilities, depending on whether or not the game keeps making money.
1) About 3 years to reach Mordor at the current pace, and end the LotR trilogy.
2) It will go past Mordor, using special reflection pools to play through Silmarillion content, which could theoretically go on almost forever. God damn it would be fun to play Melkor and Ungoliant’s rampage, or Beren’s quest to steal a simlaril.
3) Turbine stop making a profit, and the game ends pre-Mordor.
Honestly, I see them all as being strong possibilities. But considering that the game has seen record numbers since going FtP, and I -believe- a strong increase in revenue, I would rank 2) as the most likely. If they finish the story in Mordor, and they’re still getting profits, they’ll create silmarilion content. If they stop getting profits, but can still sustain the game, I can see developers taking pay cuts to finish up the Epic with Mordor.
January 27, 2013 at 11:42 am
Silmarillion is not a possibility ever. The Tolkien estate will not release the license for any content beyond the Hobbit and LotR and intends to keep it that way. ANY movies, games, etc… can only be based on things found in those four books, which does include the extensive appendices in Return of the King, but absolutely means Sil, Unfinished Tales, etc. are off limits.
If one day the estate allows for licensing of other works, maybe… but at the moment they have put their foot down and forbade anyone from creating derivative work from those books/sources.
January 26, 2013 at 7:19 pm
Who says they won’t try to push things into the 4th age given a chance?
January 26, 2013 at 7:21 pm
We most likely will reach Mordor, but I don’t think Turbine will let the epic
quest end. I think it will end up having some sort of “Frodo is on his own now, there’s nothing you can do”, and then have some super-hardcore raids that never end and only finish when you’re dead (no respawn). Also, I don’t think Turbine will stop expanding after Mordor; places like where-ever-those-guys-that-rode-the-Oliphants-came-from, the Iron Hills, etc will be made.
January 26, 2013 at 7:50 pm
Goodness, what a lot of pessimism.
Especially considering that MadeOfLions just said on the forums “I have many, many plans for the Epic story following the defeat of Sauron. I want to keep exploring Middle-earth for as long as you guys are interested! There certainly isn’t a lack of possibilities, that’s for sure!” and “we’ve got long-term plans” in this thread: http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?498614-Future-of-LOTRO
As far as I can see, the only people with any real insight into how well the game is going (Turbine) indicate that it is doing very well. And all the people predicting the game’s downfall (players) are doing so based only on their own anecdotal experiences (the least reliable thing to go on). Players go on and on about how players are leaving. Yeah. That’s what players do. People don’t go into the MMO business expecting their playerbase to remain the same year after year after year because a high turnover rate is simply one of the realities of this type of game. The important question is whether players are coming in to replace them and as far as I can see all reliable evidence points to yes.
January 26, 2013 at 10:12 pm
You said it, man.
January 26, 2013 at 10:49 pm
Just for clarification, I am not basing my pessimism on my own anecdotal experiences, but rather, many people’s anecdotal experiences. I am a member of a forum created by people of my same feelings towards Turbine who, years after walking away from the game STILL have the same void I do about Lotro. People who were original founders like myself and had lifetime accounts like myself. Lotro is not ‘just another game’ for MANY people, and Turbine alone is the reason. Yes, there are many ‘gamers’ who will walk away from Lotro after years or weeks, but there are many lovers of Tolkien and the actual game that are so put off by Turbine that it cannot be overlooked enough to log in.
January 27, 2013 at 1:32 pm
Seeing the way Turbine has been handling hackers, the real world economy of the game and community integration, it is really sad and I hope LOTRO continues on….but the way things are going I don’t know if LOTRO should continue on…
January 28, 2013 at 7:33 am
@Fionnuala:
Just two brief points, because I don’t feel like elaborating about this at this time:
1) People is talking a lot about Turbine, about Turbine making (or lack of) profit, about Turbine having long-term plans… I don’t see much mention of the real “masters of the lash”: Warner Bros. The moment LOTRO “interferes” with Warner Bros.’ bigger plans, the game is history.
2) City of Heroes/Villains’ developers also had lots and lots of ideas and log-term plans for their game (amusingly/depressengly ironic, I was going to link to the forum thread were the developers unveiled all the on-going lore related questions about CoH/V as a final farewell but, of course, those forums are now lost, as tears in the rain, same as the game itself).
January 27, 2013 at 1:49 am
The only reason I said 4 yrs and not ever was the fact that Asheron’s Call is still active after all of these years and they even pulled AC2 out of the moth balls. I hope that Warner keeps it going with Turbine and that by the end of the Hobbit cycle of movies we are at least at Gondor/Mordor or very close. I’m crossing my fingers.
January 27, 2013 at 1:35 pm
that is a great point about AC…but it doesn’t get any new content does it?…it will be interesting to see if it gets to Mordor before they stop updating things…
January 27, 2013 at 4:03 am
I really appreciate Fion’s post which included some evidence to go along with an op…how strange
I hope LotRO continues indefinitely, to Mordor and beyond…but one of the risks we face investing our energies into a mmorpg is that it won’t be around forever, and won’t reach a satisfying conclusion.
I’ve learned more about myself and others from time spent playing with my kin than I ever did from the books…That’s my epic story and in that sense it’s both complete and just starting. These games exist for the people we play them with, the time spent with them.
January 27, 2013 at 9:15 am
Currently rohan has been spun into 3 expansions if we include what will presumably be the last area. Good chance that gondor will get teh same treatment.
The current make or break issue with the number of expansions left to come out of for LotRO would be how they tackle helms deep. It is the stand out location for most people for the realm of rohan and if not done well they could lose a lot of faith from their players.
For me as things stand after the debacle with the last expansion and current ingame playability issues I will not be pre purchasing any more expansions. Fairly sure I’m not the only one that will skip this as well no matter how many carrots are dangled. But at least they’ve had sense to not promote a new one before RoR is fully out.
A single year was over ambitious for the mounted combat system and even now I’d have liked them to have really put more time into making sure that the game could cope with the speed of the mounts without having the player be forced to strip back the graphics. And at the same time they’d have been able to knock on the head issues that poeple can get from riding into or through the new bree.
It’s a great system when it works but that can be scarce. They really need to slow down on the next expac or revamps (lorien will be worse for tree related deaths) and focus on getting their tech side better optimised. Just look at the forum thread regarding baelgar server.
Basically if helms deep doesnt live up to expectations we may never get to even see the black gate or minas tirith let alone be around for the after party in the shire.
January 27, 2013 at 9:30 am
As long as they include the scourging of the shire, I’m happy.
January 27, 2013 at 11:25 am
Okay people, the question was when the epic will end, not if Turbine will go down in flames. With that said, I’d say 2020 we could see the end of the epic. I say that for these reasons:
Attacking Mordor, Rhun, and don’t forget Harad. We still need to get back to the Shire where Saroman defiled it. We need to go to The Gray Havens, see Gladden, The Iron Hills, Lake Town, Dale, The Lonely Mountain, Northern Mirkwood (maybe even see Greenwood), The Dwimaberg (sp?), Bay of Balfalas, and that’s all after Western Rohan, Helms Deep, siege of Isengard, filling in the rest of Fangorn, and of course, what I can’t wait to see, Minus Tirith. There is a HUGE amount of content that has to be explored. Plus, everybody knows Shelob is waiting in her cave for any wayward traveler who has no light for dark places.
January 27, 2013 at 4:26 pm
hate to say it since i have enjoyed my time with lotr but I have no doubts that the game will be shelved before the story gets to mordor. economics, competition, changing player bases and really old code that is already busting at the seams with each update only predicate more gaming quality issues that will drive off the last hangers on.
i know its pessimistic, but i have played other games and watched them close the doors cuz it wasnt feasible any longer. we are already seeing more and more store intrusion as they try to keep up with WB expectations of profitability while cutting staff and devs and quality.
January 28, 2013 at 10:15 am
hi there:D i saw todays poll and clicked it thinking of course players are going to say that the lotro will live far beyond the 3 books epic quests:D for my suprise i got chocked when i saw so may pessimism from players in the majority voted that lotro will never reach mordor :S if you have taht idea in your head guys that is the reason that you will never see mordor or beyond that:S not devs fault they need us to their job keep going so we need to be positive and help them reach there and not just stop and cross our arms almost wishing for the one of the bests mmo out there goes down:S that are not the thoughts.
ps: i voted other and my awnser is defeding and my opinion is well defended i guess:D
January 28, 2013 at 12:13 pm
I was surprised my vote landed on top. :/
Regardless, I expect technical issues and outdated engine will make Turbine (and WB) commit Lotro2 before we get to Mordor. But WoW is still out there, so who knows how long it would take.
January 28, 2013 at 3:41 pm
I think 3 years before we get to mirador at least! Assuming they don’t shut the game down before the epic ends I will guess 4-5 years until the end of the epic.
I have doubts that we get that far though.
January 28, 2013 at 5:08 pm
Lots of comments! and lots of pessimism too (although most of it is justified which is sad in my opinion).
I voted other as I really hope that it doesn’t take as long to get Mordor, but I also hope they go back and update areas as well. I think the Trollshaws are in much need of improvement and other areas could use some graphic updates (housing instances for one). So I hope these get updated as well in contemplating future expansions.
Speaking of housing instances, my wife is hoping that they decide to come out with ones for Gondor and Lothlorien, but that is probably wishful thinking.
January 28, 2013 at 5:49 pm
Actually the consolidation of servers may occur long before the ending of the epic tale or the game. I know that rumour was floating around a ways back but it seems possible. LOTRO still has a huge fan base! People are joining all the time, with the growing interest in the Jackson films there is a tide of curious people out there. The game is superior to WoW and every younger person I talk to who plays LOTRO after WoW is shocked at the quality difference. There are still a lot of VIP members myself included. After being an avid Neverwinter Nights player as well as owning a lot of what are considered some of the best games around ie Asassins Creed Collection, Mass Effect collection, Several THQ games and many more state of the art games graphicly. LOTRO is still in my opinion one of, if not the best game on the graphic level, and game play level and no where will you find maps so huge you can ride your horse for days and never see the same place twice. Turbine is a buisness and much like any buisness it has flaws, but it is also people and more often than not I see those people trying to make the best game they can for their “clients” as well as free players. Too often I’ve seen people complain and rip on LOTRO and Turbine, in the real world, the bottom line is money when you’re running a buisness. I love LOTRO and I will pay as long as I can to support the game and the ability for peopole who can’t to be able to play free. That is what I see as community and it’s sites like this (Thank you Goldenstar and Merric and MME) that help me to see that community and feel a part of something that works for me. Ok I’ll get off my soapbox now! LOL o_O
January 28, 2013 at 6:23 pm
I’ve been assuming that the game (therefore the epic story) will end 2014-2017 simply down to licensing reasons. As far as I know the current license ends at the end of 2014 with the option to extend to 2017. I would imagine the game would have to be doing extremely well financially for it to be considered for renewal after 2017. I’m hopeful to be playing until 2017 anyway
January 28, 2013 at 9:09 pm
Here’s the question I can’t answer for myself: So long as the game is profitable, why would WB release an expansion (Mordor) that in the eyes of many players would bring the game to an end? And if the game stops being profitable, why would they devote additional resources to producing another big expansion? That’s why I don’t think we’ll ever see Mordor.
January 30, 2013 at 2:05 am
If Turbine can do a good job of making it clear that Mordor is not the end of the story they want to tell, there’s no reason they shouldn’t release it. I’ve seen a dev state several times that they have tons of content planned post-Mordor.
January 29, 2013 at 11:42 am
Is it me or do the people who hate Turbine and predict doom and gloom for the game more often than not come off as ranting where those who love the game and community and are more optimistic about it’s future often seem more thoughful and deliberate in their responses? It’s probably me.
January 31, 2013 at 10:10 am
It’s not you, you hit the nail on the head!
January 31, 2013 at 10:12 am
OBTW I voted 4 years
February 16, 2013 at 9:56 pm
A bit late adding this, here is an extract from a pre Rohan blog post of mine.
Gazing into Galadriel’s Mirror I will guess how old the blog will be when we finally get to witness the Ring being destroyed. We are currently at book 2 chapter 9 The Great River. That is 21 chapters in 5 years. There are 35 chapters to go until we get to Mount Doom. That means at the same rate there is about another 8 years to go until Mount Doom and about 2 more to The Grey Havens.