Is LOTRO solo/ casual friendly?

Wowgian

As the title says... Is this game friendly to solo/ casual players?

Knightblast

It seems aimed mostly at casual players.  As for soloing, you can solo most of the quests, but you will need fellowships (LOTRO groups) to do most of the quests in the epic storyline, and as the game progresses, you'll see a greater percentage of your quests being fellowship quests than at the earlier levels.

Wowgian

Thanks... Sounds like WOW then... but how many players does a fellowship require? Is it a small group of approx 4 to 8 players, or is it a raid sized group >25 players?

KinslayerX

Early quests can be solo'd but the more you level, the more group orientated it is. It get's very frustrating later in the game as there are so many of them and they all insist on the healer/tank combo which is a pain as there are no real hybrid builds in LOTRO and in LOTRO there's no real way of levelling without questing meaning you can't log on for 20 minutes and feel you can accomplish something on your own

SpectralHunter

Solo/Casual play is relative so I'll include a comparison.



LotRO is fairly casual but nowhere near the soloability of WoW.  In WoW, you can pretty much solo the entire game and with the new expansion, you don't even have to raid really.



Yes you can solo in LotRO but the epic storyline (which is the best) pretty much requires you to group up unless you outlevel the quest by a large margin.

Greyhawk4x4

I am a soloist and I am having no problems doing so in the game.



I am having to make adjustments like waiting until I am a few levels above group quests before I can do them solo.



Works for me.

Bellira

I have done some of the epic quests with only two players but to be honest 3 made them much easier.  It was nice for my minstrel to stand back a bit and heal more than fight.

 

Right now a fellowship is 2 to 6 players.

Knightblast

Originally posted by Wowgian

Thanks... Sounds like WOW then... but how many players does a fellowship require? Is it a small group of approx 4 to 8 players, or is it a raid sized group >25 players?

Small groups mostly, but raids are coming for higher level characters.



It's not quite as solo-friendly as WoW is because the epic storyline quests generally require groups unless you want to wait several levels to do them (and that starts early -- the epic storyline quests at level 12 still are fellowship quests that are virtually impossible to complete solo at that level).

Werppa

Unfortunately yes

seabass2003

So far me and my cousin have duoed to 16, and are having a lot of fun. Plenty of solo quests lots of quests for 2 - 3 people but I am sure we will eventually need more people to group with later on. I am a Captain and he is a Minstrel. Sevastian and Vadimer on Brandywine if anyone sees just throw us a shout.

fiontar

Another thing to note, Turbine has already promised more solo content at the higher levels asap, I would assume starting with the first free content additions in June.



I think they probably started out with the design that some MMORPGs follow of slowly making grouping more necassary as you enter the higher levels, but seem to have truly gotten the message that people want soloability the entire way, even people who prefer grouping but don't want to be dependant on groups. The addition of more hig level solo content has been noted as a very high priority by Turbine, so I'm not too worried about it at this point



As far as casual friendly, yes indeed. There is substance beneath the surface that will appeal for the non-casual gamer, but it is very casual friendly. You can be productive even in fairly short play sessions and the experience drop off for tackling challanges below your level isn't as severe as in most other games. Players who want a real challange will take on quests and foes at or above their level, but most people can stick with content below their level with less challange and still be productive.

Huntn

---

Originally posted by SpectralHunt
In WoW, you can pretty much solo the entire game and with the new expansion, you don't even have to raid really.

---

Based on my past WoW experience you can solo about 50% of the time of course maybe it depends on how hard core and talented you are.

Yeebo

I'd say solo ability is about on par with WoW.  Some content won't be available to you until you've greatly out leveled it if you insist on playing solo 100% of the time.  But that's true of WoW as well.  There is plenty of solo content and lots of good gear you an quest for solo (as opposed to WoW where the gear available to a solo player bites compared to instance loot until you get to 58 and can start questing in the out lands.).  All of the classes can solo fairly well, perhaps even more so than in WoW where certain class/ talent spec comboes  (for example resto Druid or Holy priest) have a very slow time of it solo. 



Fellowships are like groups in WoW.  I'm not sure how many players you can have in one, at least six.  Most of the fellowship quest scan be done with three or four players.  There is no raid content yet, but in about six weeks a 24 man raid dungeon is going in.  Turbine claims that you'll still be able to get really good gear solo or in small parties at high levels, but given the giant stiffy that the Devs of these games have for raid loot I'm a bit skeptical.  As it stands now at least, it's just as solo/ casual friendly as WoW (if not more so). 

narva

I pretty much expect LOTRO to follow WOW recepie of forced grouping and raids at higher level for advancement. If I'm wrong I might stay longer then I initially planned to, if its the same as WOW I only plan on playing for a couple of months until AOC comes out.