Recently, rumours that LOTRO would potentially be shutting down started to spread again; but during one of the “Take the Hobbits to Isengard!” events, community manager Sapience reassured fans that Turbine’s license had been renewed until 2017.
What initially set these fears in motion was the fact that there are currently no plans for any new instances, raids, or Rohan housing; nor are there any plans to merge servers. However, Sapience did suggest the possibility of an older zone getting a revamp this year.
Keeping all of these things in mind, and knowing that there will be no new expansions this year, either, we thought about what things we might like to see in lieu of new dungeons. And, being female gamers, all seemed to agree that hairstyles were the most important change needed!
ALICE
I’m at the beginning, around level 27, so I haven’t properly explored Middle-earth yet. But I’d like to see new hairstyles, especially for the she-elves, because I noticed that the males have beautiful hairstyles with golden leaves, circlets, braids and so on. It’s unfair that the males have all this beauty!
BRITTA
I would love to see more options in character creation. One of the biggest ways in which other MMOs steal my attention away from LOTRO is the ability to truly personalise my character. With LOTRO’s limited options, making my characters stand out from one another is quite challenging; not to mention there’s nothing worse than walking into the Prancing Pony and seeing an almost exact replica of yourself! I don’t expect a complete overhaul, but I would love to see longer hairstyles for the Elves, maybe some head tattoos (or scars) for the Dwarves, and some unique hairstyles for the Women.
Another part of the game I would love to see revamped is the housing system. While it would be great if each of my characters could purchase their own home, I don’t entirely mind this limitation. I would, however, love to see some changes in decorating – I currently own a home in Falathlorn, and adorning my yard is always a challenge because the large hooks are too close to my house, so big items, like my swan fountain or theatre stage, seem to merge with my outer walls. Additionally, it would be equally fun and easy to decorate my yard if the housing system observed seasons (I collected all of the snowmen from the Yule Festival, but they look silly on a grassy yard!). LOTRO was off to a good start by having changing weather in Middle-earth; unfortunately, it’s either rain or shine, but never snow.
But perhaps the biggest change I’d like to see is with currency. I still don’t understand why we need Turbine Points and Mithril Coins, and why items I used to be able to purchase with the former (a Task Limit Upgrade/Reset, for instance) can now only be purchased with the latter. It’s frustrating!
MARIA
One of the things I’d love to change is the gender of the dwarves. I’d love to have some female dwarves. Can you just imagine their amazing hair styles? Speaking of which, I think it would be a nice idea to update some of the hairstyles for female elves and humans. It took me ages to find a hairstyle for my elf hunter and I’m still not 100% satisfied.
Another thing that bothers me a lot is the introduction sequence after I’ve created a new character. I think, when a user already has at least one character, let’s say level 10 or higher, the introduction for their additional characters could be just skipped.
Last but not least, I’d love to have the option to have more than one house per account. At the beginning, I thought that each of my characters would have their own house in their corresponding location. Naturally, I was very disappointed to find out that this was not the case.
MYLA
To start, I really wish there were more hairstyles to choose from. In my opinion dwarves and male elves get the best choices! I wish the ones for female elves were just as nice as the males. And there aren’t enough curly styles for hobbits! One more thing, the longest choice for hair is still not long enough for my liking. Hopefully one day in the future we’ll be able to have the option to give our characters longer hair.
Now that I got the hair rant out of the way I want to talk about housing, which I still really like. But the it bugs me that everything is assigned a spot, I wish I could bring a bench closer to the fireplace for when my hobbit feels like reading a book near the fire. I’d also like to be able to move me housing chest to another room. And why is the bed in standard hobbit homes stuck in the middle of the room? It looks so awkward.
Though I’m at too low a level to get war steeds for my characters, from what I’ve seen and read I hope there will be changes for those. I had no idea it cost so much to just dye them.
I’d also like to add that I really dislike how female characters sit. Have you ever tried to sit like that? It’s not comfortable!
What’s on your LOTRO Wishlist for 2014?
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