It will suck.

Literally skin suit. Modern authors would do well to take notice and preemptively defend their work from post facto changes.

, “I see already that debate going on in the studio. We have some die-hard Lord of the Rings fans, and already [they’re saying], ‘We can’t do that’ or Middle-earth [Enterprises] is not going to allow it, and we’re not going to be able to alter the story, and introduce new characters, or rewrite the books.'”

“Bringing players a fresh take on The Lord of the Rings"

While not directly stated considering the fans that work there hate the changes and them trying to do "a fresh take" makes me think it is going to be woke garbage.

So much mealy-mouthed weaseling.

Let’s say the way [Tolkien] describes the world, maybe the landscape looks a little bit different because either we can’t get it going or the art people feel it might look a little bit different than what people assume it is in the book

Let me guess: it won't be "the landscape" that will be "a bit different".

So every village, town, and city in LotR MMO will be 2023 London diverse. Got it. We'll have rainbow cabal quests and trans elves. And.. if you dare to complain about it you'll be free marketing for Amazon as they call you an -ist.

So, is this at all related to the LotR MMO Amazon was working on with Tencent a couple years ago, or a new thing?

Hartmann also discussed a number of learnings that he and his team discovered during the development and launch of their most recent MMO New World. Specifically he noted MMOs need to have instant rewards.

He explained, “Everything is about instant reward, and since social media and internet and so on, that instant reward thing is so important. It has to be faster and faster.”

“If you just rely on people figuring out the mechanics very fast because it’s very similar to what they had before, that’s great, but it’s all about accessibility and very early having rewards so they feel progress,” he shared. “And then slowly letting them get better and better, and basically give them an option they can start at a different pace, and not getting frustrated. That’s what’s important.”

The most important thing you should have learned from New World is do your networking and server architecture properly and not rely on client-side validation. Oh, and have a solid amount of content (especially non-PVP content) at launch.

But, that aside, and the woke garbage aside, these paragraphs immediately turn me off to the game. MMO need constant, early rewards is code for "flood them with lootboxes, gifts, etc." as soon as they log in. And every single MMO (heck, game, not just MMO) that has done that inevitably ends up pushing you to the cash shop so that you can keep buying more rewards. And forget that nonsense.

then👏it's👏not👏lord👏of👏the👏rings👏👏👏👏

I suppose the LotR is one of the few examples of White mythology. It certainly explains why these ass wipes are so intent on shitting all over it.

Because MMOs are sooo easy to get right and profitable you just can't help make ANOTHER one? How dumb can they get?