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- Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
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- Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
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- Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
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- Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
The Lord of the Rings Online: Helm's Deep
Released On: Nov 18, 2013
Metascore
Available after 4 critic reviews
3.2
All Platforms
Helm's Deep is an expansion pack purely meant for the fans of the books. It contains less action sequences compared to Peter Jackson's movies, but the newly added Big Battles make up for it. On the other hand is Rohan finally showed in all it's glory, which is a sight to behold.
The problem with the big battles of Helm’s Deep is that it’s a story we all know, and it’s possible the concept could have been stronger if Turbine had included other battles from Middle Earth’s history for variety. All too quickly, the repetition grows tiring and the appeal wears thin, and that’s true of the questing content as well.
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 61 User Ratings
3.2
21% Positive
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
10% Mixed
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
69% Negative
42 Ratings
42 Ratings
User Score
Generally Unfavorable
Based on 61 User Ratings
3.2
21% Positive
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
10% Mixed
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
69% Negative
42 Ratings
42 Ratings
All of these “End of LOTRO”, negative threads and the Helm’s Deep expansion getting smashed on Metacritic held me back from buying this expansion for almost a year. I ended up purchasing HD using TP that I received from my cash purchase of ROR when expansions were 50% off in the store. The truth is…. I would have rather kept my TP and paid real money for the expansion because I’m having just as much fun as I did in all past content.
People seem to be upset the game is becoming a “Solo Players” game. They talk about boring fetch quests and a lack of innovation. They claim the F2P model was the beginning of the end. Some people don’t like the Big Battles; others are upset about the lack of Raids, and the traits revamp appears to have irked many; Along with housing not being revamped.
Personally I have no problem with the new trait tree, housing seems sufficient to me, and gathering quests are the norm. What MMORPG doesn’t have gathering quests? I will admit that a single Big Battle doesn’t hold long term interest, but it was fun the first time through and this may improve in update 15.
I used to Raid heavily in other MMORPG’s and got really burned out, along with a growing family and real world responsibilities I decided to give LOTRO a shot. I appreciated the ability to craft gear rather than having to Raid and grind for it. I appreciated a well written story. I appreciated great scenery. I simply had no need for an “End Game” and Raiding and that works for me. I appreciate a game where I can solo content and group when I can and still have the interaction of a Kinship and world chat.
Additionally I really like the F2P model; I’ve spent relatively little money (outside of expansions) and like the fact that I don’t have to pay a monthly subscription to check in on my friends and Kinship. I may not play for a couple weeks at a time while I’m working on a large project in real life, but I usually have at least 10 minutes a day to login and talk to my Kinship. Along these lines, if LOTRO hadn’t gone free to play and become more solo friendly, I may not have purchased ANY expansions after Mirkwood. I only have so many monthly subscription dollars I can spend and I don’t exclusively play one MMORPG.
For better or worse, I think my style of play has become that of many early adopters of MMO’s. As we’ve aged, gained more real world responsibilities and other online content has become readily available, we require the flexibility of solo content and a F2P model and for many of us we simply have no need for an “End Game” and Raiding. I think Turbine has picked up on this trend and I believe it’s the main reason they are still profitable and producing content.
In summary, people like me are being out posted and out trolled on the forums, and discouraged from buying expansions…. however that does not mean LOTRO is not worth purchasing and playing. Simply put, I think LOTRO has become a solo friendly, F2P game, with great scenery and story that lacks PVP and Raids; and that suits me just fine.
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PC
(Okay, I'm giving this expansion 10 because this is what Lotro in general is worth.) So after a long steady stream of 80/100 and more, Lotro's helm's deep is barely able to score at 2/10 on metacritic (even though in general most critics liked the game), the reason being HD changes a lot (and I mean a lot) of Lotro's gameplay mechanics. It updated the class trait tree into a talent tree, a change which has been hated by players whom are no longer able to do their hybridisation or quest grinding progression. I honestly don't like this change but being one of the big reasons behind all the flak aimed at this xpac I'm a bit disappointed in the community. Raids/Dungeons are being replaced by Epic Battles. They are played the same, they act the same, they feel the same, they just look different. This was a unnecessary change, but I don't see all the fuss. Apart from these two changes, it's another expansion. A new feature which is the epic battles (which are quite fun), slight graphic update. New quests. New area. And (for those who are upset about the constant xpacs) they are now going back to the Moria "We add updates on a regular basis" mindset according to sapience. All in all an xpac which is hated for updating the game.
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PC
I love the expansion. The epic battles are fun, even solo. The talent trees needed to happen. A great many of the abilities that you think you lost are still there, but they are in the tree and need to be unlocked. Any time a new expansion or large patch comes out in an MMO, there are bugs. They aren't game breakers.
The graphics are stellar even though the character models are still the same and are good but not outstanding.
The sound design is stellar as usual. Sound effects are crisp and the environmental sounds are great and very immersive.
I love this game and have played it off and on for five years and I still love it.
I hope they get through all of the story line so I can experience each corner of Middle Earth!
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PC
The Helm's Deep expansion was a controversial one. It brought a lot of changes, like trait-trees and epic battles, but there's been a lot of controversy about this expansion for its "solo" player content.
Unlike the previous expansions, there were no raids or instances at the end of the expansion/level cap, but Epic Battles. Epic Battles are 5 different instances using new mechanics, which all center around defending Helm's Deep. Personally, I find these instances enjoying and like doing them with my friends, but a lot of players were very negative about Epic Battles. It's more a question of taste than a real difference between instances and Epic Battles.
In my opinion, the change from traits to a trait tree was necessary. My character had all 4 skill bars almost completely full, and the last expansions brought only a few new skills and a lot of "improved" skills. For this reason I had no problems with the new trait trees. Also, this makes it easier for Turbine to change skills without having to rebalance everything. Personally, I like the trait trees.
The quests and other content of Helm's Deep were fine. However, compared to the last expansions (Riders of Rohan and Rise of Isengard), this one is worse. The area is comparable to Riders of Rohan, only less interesting. The areas are wide and empty, with the exceptions of warbands. Comparing this to East Rohan, it has less interesting areas like caves, towns, ruins and forests. The quests are like expected from Turbine: great dialogue and interesting stories. However, if you do not read this dialogue the quests can seem boring and uninteresting.
In conclusion: it is a good expansion, but not good for everyone. It is more a matter of taste than the previous expansions. Personally, I liked Helm's Deep and still run Epic Battles with my friends. If you lean more towards soloplay, this expansion is very enjoyable. I give this expansion a 7.
Good points:
- (Expected) great scenery.
- Great dialogue in quests.
- Iconic places.
- Better trait/skill management.
Bad points:
- Little multiplayer content.
- Less interesting areas.
- No new mountlevels.
- Bad Soundtrack (Fixed in an update)
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PC
After a 2 year hiatus I decided to give this game with the new expansion "Helm's Deep" another try. And I have to say: I am very disappointed of Turbines vision from "Epic Battles" in Helm's Deep. I really don't know what's epic in standing around and clicking either on things or NPCs to trigger some meaningless actions like repairing things or getting a buff. In a far distance you can see thousands of inactive orc sprites (maybe really 3D, but who cares, if they are more than 500 yards away from you There are never more than maybe 50 ACTIVE NPCs actually on your screen, most of the time less. So not very inspiring, don't expect the epic feeling of Peter Jackson's films Besides these 5 new Epic Battles (for me more like Skirmish 1.5) there are no new instances, raids or Skirmishes. So it will get soon boring as hell. To be honest I am bored already after 1 week.
With this expansion you get skill trees like in WoW until Cataclysm. I have to say I'm not a huge fan of it, but at least it's not a game breaker. The versatility of many classes from the past is nonetheless gone, it's more or less uninteresting cookie cutter now. If you don't like that kind of skill selection, stay away from LotRO.
The worst part for me is the combat. I play this game since early Closed Beta (2006) and it always felt a bit slow, unresponsive and laggy. But it got worse over time. Or maybe all other games do it so much better in the meantime, that it bothers me more and more. Who knows? Fact is: the combat is really bad compared to newer games. Airswings 5 or more seconds after I pressed a button isn't something I wanna see 2014 anymore. And it happens all the time (with a 50 MBit connection, really good ping and a hell of a rig, so really bad netcode is my guess).
The item shop gets more and more so called "pay to win" Items, which personally doesn't bother me too much, but could be a game breaker for others. Prices for really useful things are high.
To end with something positive: the new landscape and especially Helm's Deep are really well made. LotRO always was a game where you can get lost, simply riding around and exploring. And the new expansion is no exception in that case. For what it's worth: I always will love this game just for its environment.
TLDR: mediocre expansion at best with nothing you really have to see or play. Wait until next expansion (if there actually is a new one, the license could end in 2014) to get this for a good discount.
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PC
Truly disappointing.
Lets start with the positives of Helm's Deep; Western Rohan is a joy to explore, as usual the views are magnificent and the atmosphere of the world is great. However, this is as far as the quality goes.
The levelling process is ok, there are quest lines that are interesting and gripping, but the occasional quest that tasks you, the conquerer of evils such as the watcher or a balrog, to inspect the Rohirrim's lavatories and run around doing petty errands are tedious.
Now for the bad; traditonally LOTRO expansions include end game content, usually a series of instances and a raid or two. Turbine made a mess of Riders of Rohan last year leaving players disgruntled at a long and disappointing wait. This year, Helm's Deep includes no instance cluster, Turbine announced they had no plans for one and that the new 'big battles' was the content for end game.
As for these 'big battles', the potential is huge, taking part in the battle of Helm's Deep? fantastic. However the word 'big' is massively misleading. Looking over the battlement at a poor arrangement of what look more like stick orcs is somewhat underwhelming, the player can assemble and fire siege weapons. This is a long process, which is typically rewarded by a message informing you that you have killed two orcs. To the rest of the 'big' battle, there are small groups of around a dozen rohirrim, which you do not get to control, you can command them to focus on damage or defence for example, but they will not move. Occasional waves of orcs will attack the rohirrim, but the npcs will down the orcs in one or two hits. Realistically the player cannot be involved in the actual combat. All that is to be done by the player is react to random events, typically go to point A, prevent the orcs doing something bad while the NPCs fight it out. Big Battles were littered with bugs and pathing issues, they have no atmosphere, the player feels detatched and not involved, they look incredibly poor, and it seems that Turbine have spent very little time and effort on this feature, which to be honest is an insult to player's intelligence.
Worst of all is the price, Mines of Moria was £20, and arguably Turbine's best expansion. I only wanted the basic Helm's Deep which was priced at £39.99. Added to that if you are in Europe, turbine have the cheek to add the tax afterwards. I paid somewhere in the region of £47 for this expansion. It just is not worth the money.
Overall Helm's Deep is a very poor showing which offers very little in the way of incentive for the player to renew their subscription. It is overpriced, represents poor value for money and Turbine will see further amounts of players leaving their already dwindling player base.
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