Quote of the Day – Whiny Old Timers are the Real Problem

The truth is, in any community, the veterans, the old hands, are the ones that are the biggest reason why the community doesn’t grow.

Harbinger Zero, post Adventures in Missing the Point (since removed)

And we have the case for insta-levels, spurred by various posts about the Lord of the Rings Online “Gift of the Valar” level 50 offer,  in which Harbinger Zero hurls anything not nailed down at people complaining about the idea.  He manages to complain about the use of loaded terms… he doesn’t like the word “scheme” for example… while raining down a torrent of abuse littered with similarly loaded terms… pot, I’d like to introduce you to the kettle.  His basic conclusion is that the current player base is the root problem.

13 thoughts on “Quote of the Day – Whiny Old Timers are the Real Problem”

  1. HarbingerZero

    “Torrent of abuse.” I like that. See, I’m not sure it was so much the word “scheme” that set me off as when you said that I and people like me must have hated the first 300 pages of the Fellowship of the Ring. After that I figured loaded terms and eye-rolling insults must be the weapons of choice for this commentary. :-p

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  2. Wilhelm Arcturus Post author

    @HZ – Yes, that is exactly what I meant. I certainly wasn’t trying to find an amusing way to sum up exactly how little of the whole adventure you actually skip by jumping ahead to the road outside of Moria. Remember, my argument was that the jump wasn’t far enough.

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  3. HarbingerZero

    I’m having a hard time seeing that as being a jab at Turbine and not at players who might want to opt-in to buying a 50. But if that’s just me, then, yes, I missed the boat on what you were looking to accomplish there.

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  4. Wilhelm Arcturus Post author

    @HZ – “I’m having a hard time seeing that as being a jab at Turbine…”

    That was the only entity I was addressing in that section, so I have a hard time seeing how you would see that as an insult. I was ascribing the action to Turbine and throwing out a patently silly motive because there did not seem to be a rational one.

    I, on the other hand, was clearly on the list of people “Whining and sniveling and boohooing,” one of those “bitter vets” who are part of the problem.

    Who should be getting all testy here?

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  5. carson63000

    If Turbine sell more than a tiny handful of these to “new players”, I’ll eat my hat.

    Take a tiny group (people who want to play an ancient and not particularly well-spoken-off MMO that they have somehow not already tried in the last six and half years).

    Then take a small segment of that tiny group (people who are willing to drop fifty bucks in one hit on a game they’ve only just started playing).

    Then take a tiny segment of that small segment (people who like the game so much they’re willing to spend fifty bucks on it.. but also want to skip over the gameplay that they’re currently enjoying so much, perhaps to get closer to high level friends).

    And then take a small segment of that tiny segment (people who don’t go “hang on, if I’m paying a pile of money for a high-level character, why don’t I get a high-level character? why do I only get a mid-level one?”)

    No, this SCHEME is clearly 99.9% aimed at giving the existing playerbase something more to consider purchasing – the opportunity to take a new alt and skip over the low-level content that they’ve already played many times.

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  6. HarbingerZero

    You left out the most important part “..and not at players” – who is the other entity involved in the post. Unless you thought you were writing to Turbine, its the players you were talking to, saying that this was a bad move.

    I’m not questioning your right to get testy. I clearly called people to the carpet and given the reactions thus far, blindsided them in the process. Testy is a legitimate reaction.

    Do you think I should not have been testy also, after reading the four posts I did (not just yours)? Or do you think I just should have excluded you from the torrent?

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  7. Jidhari

    @Harbingerzero – The title of your article is a bit ironic as I think you completely missed the point of his article. The point (as I understood it) on the 300 pages was merely that Turbine’s lvl 50 character offer does not put you that far ahead in the story and their set of expansions. This does beg the question of what is the point since it obviously isn’t to allow new players to catch up to fully leveled ones and play together. I still can’t as my friends are at 95 and I am at 50.

    And yes, you are right that people should get testy at your article. Ad hominem attacks and cherry picked sentences that do not reflect the underlying points of the article tend to do that.

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  8. Wilhelm Arcturus Post author

    @HZ – You took a wide brush and tarred four fairly different reactions to the LOTRO thing… which I would sum up as “not far enough (me),” “not a good deal (Goldenstar),” “hate insta-levels (Syp), and “Pay to win (SynCaine)”… and wrapped them up all in one package like we were some sort of united front to hold down new players and make them pay their dues.

    If you’re proud of that work… whatever… but you clearly didn’t want to open up a discussion on the topic, you just wanted to vent. Your right to do so, but I think the title was too apt by half. You reap what you sow.

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  9. HarbingerZero

    Yep, I had no intention of starting a discussion. My only purpose was two point out how four people each had a different take on this move, and all of them were wrong. If people want to include me in the list of people missing the point, fine by me. Doesn’t make anyone else’s any closer to right.

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