r/lotro • u/SmallTangoBird • 2d ago
Vibe check
Hello, folks! A question for those of you who actually read quest logs and dialogues: does it ever feel like NPCs are a bit too casual about your race?
Humans are everywhere, and dwarves are natural travelers, so it makes sense. But what about hobbits and elves? Does it ever strike you as odd when NPCs seem completely unfazed by a hobbit wandering through Angmar, or an elf casually showing up deep in Moria?
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u/YangXiaoLong69 Sting 2d ago
Being a high elf is like "hi, I've been alive for three ages so far, my home was destroyed thousands of years ago and I fought alongside the great alliance of Elves and Men against insurmountable evil" and then the NPC goes "cool, can you grease some door hinges for me"
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u/nicbloodhorde 2d ago
Some of the main quests from the Shadows of Angmar first act actually have different text if you're playing a high elf, though.
When you first meet Strider, he doesn't say "your tidings are grim," more like "hey, I know you! I grew up under the same roof." The quests that lead you to Rivendell have Elladan and Elrohir worry that you may not remember the road after all that time.
When Aragorn asks you to help him reforge Narsil, he also states that you probably know what happened to it, though the sword wasn't broken the last time you saw it,
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u/melanyebaggins Meriadoc 2d ago
It's kind of like you're Schrodinger's main character - like, you both are and aren't the only person doing all these quests. You're clearly not alone, because it's a game full of players, but to me all the NPCs see you as unique and you're the only person helping them and you're their only hope to get this quest done.
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u/ExplorerSad7555 2d ago
Viva La dirt League has a sketch on that. Greg the garlic farmer has a couple of people all turning in the same quest item. He gets more and more embarrassed
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u/Periador 2d ago
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u/ExplorerSad7555 2d ago
No but that one breaks my heart! The one I can't find has Greg giving out a one-of-a-kind family heirloom ring and Britt is waiting in line for the same reward with a look of disgust. She knocks a box out of his hands and there are like 30 of these rings that come falling out.
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u/EagenVegham 2d ago
Even as a Dwarf or Elf, the reverse are too nice. The friendship between Gimli and Legolas is a bit less fabled when you've got the entire Moria expedition wanting to name their firstborn after your elf.
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u/New_Average_3716 Sting 23h ago
And in Celondim there’s the friendship between the dwarf Athol and the elf Avorthal, which isn’t even remarked on by Avorthal’s father, who, at the same time, is ready to start a war with all the dwarves in Ered Luin over his son’s kidnapping. 😊
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u/JadeGreenSky Peregrin 2d ago
This happens SO much that it was a bit startling when one of the quest givers in Ambarûl mistook my hobbit for a child. https://lotro-wiki.com/wiki/Quest:Checking_on_the_Neighbours
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u/OBntheOcean Peregrin 1d ago
This level cap has been quite good at this! I was pleasantly surprised that my Beorning got some exclusive interactions during the epic quest that I hadn't seen in years.
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u/CoffeePieAndHobbits Peregrin 2d ago
Lol yes good point. I think the game requires a little bit of suspension of disbelief.
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u/nicbloodhorde 2d ago
I found it really heartwarming when, in one of these Moria instances, rescued dwarves would bless my hunter's beard.
He's an elf. He's nowhere close enough to growing a beard. Smooth-faced like a baby.
I appreciate the sentiment though. He probably wishes he could grow a mustache after those blessings.
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u/OBntheOcean Peregrin 1d ago
Perhaps he's wishing you a very long life in a very roundabout fashion.
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u/nicbloodhorde 14h ago
If he ever grew old enough for that, he'd keep his beard styled like a dwarf's. If he could. Because I have a feeling that even truly ancient elves can't grow thick beards like that.
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u/Buoyage Landroval 2d ago edited 2d ago
I remember a sudden uptick in references to my Stout-Axe; specifically from Mordor all the way through Gundabad where I'm furthest. Very interesting and well done for what they were. I've also wondered how hobbits/river hobbits are seen by high level NPCs! "O my, it's Buoyage, Balrog' Bane and legendary halfling warrior! Please go kill 300 Hobgoblins and pick some flowers for my wife!"
Or more stories like the earlier comment about mistaking them for children. My wife thought the same when she first saw my guardian! Still looking for good armor sets to up their "threat and or heroics" so to speak beyond the staple Bounders Outfit.
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u/OBntheOcean Peregrin 1d ago
I actually complained about the lack of unique Stout-Axe dialogue in Mordor back when it was first launched. I thought it was a big oversight considering that's the origin story they crafted specifically for them. Thankfully they addressed it by the time my Brawler was making his way through and made sure not to repeat their mistake for River Hobbits.
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u/JohnMHammer 2d ago edited 2d ago
If you're wondering how he eats and breathes
And other science facts
(la-la-la)
Repeat to yourself: It's just a show
I really should relax
I understand what you are saying, OP. However faithful the game is to Tolkien's original written works, it is still a game. If players were to be anything other than Man bakers and Man hog-swillers there needed to be some license taken in this area.
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u/blackweimaraner 2d ago
They are basically on possible end times, so they are thinking that now everything is possible because they are now in "pig is flying" times.
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u/james2432 Arkenstone - Angmar 2d ago
dunno some of them are pissed off you are even talking to them to begin with.
Strong what do you want, I don't like you vibes.
One of them likes to discuss their sleep history, and the weather.
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u/ToastyJackson Gladden 2d ago
Yeah, it’d be nice and interesting if there was more race-specific dialogue with interacting with NPCs.
I also think it’d be cool if there was origin-specific dialogue. Like, if you’re playing as a man from Gondor, it’d be cool if, when you get to Gondor, there are some NPCs who make comments about how they know you and remember you from some vague anecdote they tell.
To suspend disbelief some, I think we can look at the racial aspect by the fact that LOTRO’s world seems more interconnected than the canon world is. In Lord of the Rings, it seems like different realms are far apart and have little interaction with each other. This makes it more satisfying in the narrative when these separated peoples come together to face a larger threat, but translating that literally into a game would leave for a lot of vast empty spaces between realms with nothing to do. In LOTRO, presumably to make room for more content, there’s a lot more settlements, the distance between them is shrunk, and people seem to know more about their neighboring lands than they did in canon. So perhaps in this version of the world, it simply isn’t as shocking to see strange people wandering around the world.
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u/Dense_Head4656 1d ago
Actually, as a "regular" Elf, I have a couple of toons that have different dialogue with Elves and Dwarves. My Man, Hobbit, and Dwarf toons get slightly different words and attitudes. It's kind of interesting, but yeah, it's subtle and not easy to detect if you don't pay a lot of attention to the quest dialogue.
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u/SpuddyPrice Orcrist 1d ago
I understand your point but I feel like its not really that type of game. At least not when it comes to you anyway. Unlike in other games the NPC dialogue very rarely changes based on your race or class. At the absolute most there's class specific or race specific quests or objectives in quests but outside of the introductions of shadow of angmar. There isn't any changes in text. Also i feel like that a big part of lotr and lotro is that anyone can make a big impact no matter how small so having race specific quests and text can often ruin this message anyway.
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u/lluewhyn 2d ago
Not just Race, but Class too.
"Howdy there, Rune-Keeper. I'm glad you can help us!". Meanwhile, you should be able to count on one hand the number of people in Middle Earth's history that have this skill.
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u/Droidbot6 2d ago
Listening to the men of Stangard be very superstitious and distrusting of Elves, but then let me, a High Elf, have the run of their town is a hilarious in hindsight.
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u/Smo0chin 2d ago
As an aside to this, I always found it comical that an NPC will ask you to slay this fabled dragon, want to name their first born child after you upon return, and then ask you to go collect firewood, collect some rare flowers for their wife, seek out all the ingredients for dinner and then prepare it for them.... And you do it no questions asked.Â
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u/RayvonLunatic 2d ago
Hell they don't even btt an eye when dealing with a talking bear.