I'm loving LOTRO, it's not my main MMO but it gets plenty of my gaming time. In fact, after 2 weeks in I upgraded to the life time subscription. This is a game I will play on the side for a long time to come. Granted, I'm a sucker for paying a lump sum and never paying another dime. I just hit 37 hunter last night. Go Me.
I am feeling the boredom as well. I've done everything there is to do in the game including pvp. I never felt immersed. There are a ton of quests, the quest log could be followed by my 10 year old nephew, and so long as you were a lvl above the quest you could complete it. Finding groups was easy enough, but even then there wasn't any sense of accomplishment. Crafting is lacking. I never saw an item that was equal to a quest reward.
I felt like I was just spending time between getting home from work and needing to go to sleep.
i made it to day 26 of my free time before i axed it , but i would luv to add to the IDDIOTS that paid 200 for lifetime sub
HAHAHAHHAHAHAH
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHH
AHAHA
AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
AHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
HAAHAHHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA
I wish i could laugh in the face of each of the tools who paid 200 for a lifetime sub , talk about knowing who to target for stuff u want to sell, the gullable and people who dont know how to manage money.
LOTR Online was fun for me for a while, and it's not a bad game. I think I would still be playing if it had more classes to choose from, and being able to really play as a monster and level up in the world and go wherever you want. Oh and better character customization.
But it was never meant to be a sandbox MMORPG, or even a MMORPG for raiders or hardcores. So it does what it's supposed to do and it does it very well.
I personally am sick to death of MMORPG's. So sick in fact that Im heading to Best Buy later and picking up an Xbox 360 and a few games. I think that once you have played a LOT of MMORPG's then your expectations get too high, of what you would like to see next in one. And then you get disappointed. I think I am seriously done with MMORPG's and most PC games in general.
Hahaha, I played beta and knew what gameplay was like.
Boring and not worth my time.
ditto- i knew after a few weeks into beta that this game had no staying power and i confirmed it even more while playing the world tour. thankfully with the world tour and all i saved myself $50 bucks because i'm sure the hype woulda got me to buy it.
Imo, Lotro clearly wanted a piece of World of Warcrafts success. the gameplay is almost identical, especialy since both of them are going for a casual gamer audience.If I wanted to play World of Warcraft, I'd play World of Warcraft.
Its not a bad game, in fact, its quite good. But they clearly took a lot from WoW.
I think that one reason so many are burning out early on this game is that there are no heroes. And it is impossible to be one.
At a particular level, everyone in that class is almost exactly the same. No matter how much or how little raiding you do, you will still look the same and pretty much BE the same as the other 43,000 elf hunters in the game.
The best term for this game is "socialist" - there is nothing hard to get. You can put out almost no real effort and be only very slightly less "uber" than anyone else in the game.
So despite those welcoming the fact that the guy that can buy a crafted item from the AH that is better than what people can get for hours or days of raiding - it also means there is little incentive to do anything. Everything is just handed to you.
Don't feel like raiding or doing hard instances - no problem, here is some uber lootz for you, just so you don't feel left out.
i made it to day 26 of my free time before i axed it , but i would luv to add to the IDDIOTS that paid 200 for lifetime sub
HAHAHAHHAHAHAH
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHH
AHAHA
AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
AHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
HAAHAHHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA
I wish i could laugh in the face of each of the tools who paid 200 for a lifetime sub , talk about knowing who to target for stuff u want to sell, the gullable and people who dont know how to manage money.
LOTRO is a good MMORPG. It's a great kick back MMO to balance out the heavy raiding in EQ2 end game. I spent $200 for a life time sub, so what. A tool? The fact that uber kiddies like yourself are distancing yourself - makes this game even more worth it. It's not my main MMO but I'll be playing it over months to come. I wish more MMO's would give lifetime sub options.
The irony here is that diarheasauce here can't even spell idiot correct when using it as an insult to others. Pot calling the kettle black? I think so. I'm sure that his sparkling personality, as seen in this post... is the reason he no longer enjoys LOTRO - people 86'd him server wide. I'd bet an elven whore on that!
The classes are very generic. At least in WoW you had a variety of differnt abilities and talents. In LOTRO your abilities are all twords you role in the group. If you are a tank your a tank. If you a healer you are a healer. There is no overlapping. In WoW you could spec to be what you wanted regardless of your class. The traits don't really allow you to do this.
The shire has lots of quests that are deliver mail here, deliver pie there. Thats not much fun after the first few times you do it.
I still like the game, but I think I'd rather play WoW. Yes the raiding sucks, but the 1-70 content and classes are still more enjoyable. Hopefully Warhammer will have more choices for each race/class.
I still play off and on, not nearly as much as I did a month ago and my playtime will probably start decreasing in the near future. As it stands right now though there aren't a whole lot of good games out.... everything is coming soon heh. Although if I get accepted into WAR or AOC betas I imagine I will be able to cancel my account
Originally posted by truenorthbg It is damn hilarious how overhyped this game was on this web page. It is also funny how otherwise great games such as Vanguard get the bad hype. Look at how badly WAR is hyped on this forum. MMORPG: 603k subscribers, 3/4th are alts and viral marketers. Look at the participation in the polls. rofl.
The ironic thing is this poster signed up to MMORPG.COM today.
It's really funny how you can see the worlds of achievers breaking to pieces now. Everyday some level 50 quit, rantingly complaining about how boring and repetetive this game got. Brings a smile to my face every time...
Why? Meridion
I've been playing for only a month, and only made it to lvl 38. I just can't force myself to login, especially if i'm not enjoying myself. Not everyone who quits is lvl 50. The ones who quit are bored with the repetitive gameplay LotRO offers. And yes, i've tried multiple classes, anywhere from the 10-20. I've tried Monster Play, and there's no freeps to kill. Why? Because it's just as you said, "Everyday some level 50 quit." Wow, you made it to 38! I haven't even hit lvl 33 yet in 2 months and that is with my Kinship helping me to get that far...
I've been playing for only a month, and only made it to lvl 38. I just can't force myself to login, especially if i'm not enjoying myself. Not everyone who quits is lvl 50. The ones who quit are bored with the repetitive gameplay LotRO offers. And yes, i've tried multiple classes, anywhere from the 10-20. I've tried Monster Play, and there's no freeps to kill. Why? Because it's just as you said, "Everyday some level 50 quit."
Wow, you made it to 38! I haven't even hit lvl 33 yet in 2 months and that is with my Kinship helping me to get that far... It's not surprising, I really didnt play much and I hit 31 just before my account ended. I had a bunch of quests in the North Downs still to turn in, so I would have been really close to 32.
For me, the game got really boring in the North Downs. I only remember 2 new creatures there, the elite trolls and the elite aurochs that give you lame xp. Thats when the game got really stagnant for me. Not sure if there were any other new creatures because I quit, but Im guessing no. Same old goblins, orcs, wolves, bears spiders and crows.
I've been playing for only a month, and only made it to lvl 38. I just can't force myself to login, especially if i'm not enjoying myself. Not everyone who quits is lvl 50. The ones who quit are bored with the repetitive gameplay LotRO offers. And yes, i've tried multiple classes, anywhere from the 10-20. I've tried Monster Play, and there's no freeps to kill. Why? Because it's just as you said, "Everyday some level 50 quit."
Wow, you made it to 38! I haven't even hit lvl 33 yet in 2 months and that is with my Kinship helping me to get that far... It's not surprising, I really didnt play much and I hit 31 just before my account ended. I had a bunch of quests in the North Downs still to turn in, so I would have been really close to 32.
For me, the game got really boring in the North Downs. I only remember 2 new creatures there, the elite trolls and the elite aurochs that give you lame xp. Thats when the game got really stagnant for me. Not sure if there were any other new creatures because I quit, but Im guessing no. Same old goblins, orcs, wolves, bears spiders and crows.
I've been playing for only a month, and only made it to lvl 38. I just can't force myself to login, especially if i'm not enjoying myself. Not everyone who quits is lvl 50. The ones who quit are bored with the repetitive gameplay LotRO offers. And yes, i've tried multiple classes, anywhere from the 10-20. I've tried Monster Play, and there's no freeps to kill. Why? Because it's just as you said, "Everyday some level 50 quit."
Wow, you made it to 38! I haven't even hit lvl 33 yet in 2 months and that is with my Kinship helping me to get that far... It's not surprising, I really didnt play much and I hit 31 just before my account ended. I had a bunch of quests in the North Downs still to turn in, so I would have been really close to 32.
For me, the game got really boring in the North Downs. I only remember 2 new creatures there, the elite trolls and the elite aurochs that give you lame xp. Thats when the game got really stagnant for me. Not sure if there were any other new creatures because I quit, but Im guessing no. Same old goblins, orcs, wolves, bears spiders and crows.
Drakes. Ahh thats right, I had that quest to kill some of them but I never did it. Leathery Hides of the Drakes or whatever it was called. Thanks for reminding me
I never believed the LotR hype, and I never flamed the game in the forum on this web page with 603k subscribers (3/4ths are alts).
I never believed in the negative Vanguard hype with all the people flaming the game.
I have tried both.
MMORPG positive hype on LotR: WRONG.
MMORPG negative hype on Vanguard: WRONG.
I play Vanguard and love it. Do not trust this web page. The amount of bad information is truly remarkable. lol.
I am playing Vanguard and EQ2 as my MAIN MMO's (EQ2 only on raiding days for my guild) and LOTRO as my backup. I love both Vanguard and LOTRO. *shrug* Both are great games with lots of room to grow.
At first I was happy with how "casualfriendly" it was..
But as days passed by, I found the game more and more like a "singleplayer game with human NPC's helping me get through a singleplayer "you are the hero behind the curtain" storyline...
Basicly, as I reached up in levels, 20-30... I didn't feel immersed in the world of tolien... I felt like visiting a Tolkien themepark, where everythingwas aimed at me doing the rides...and then..done.
I could ofcourse do the rides again with another character... but by then, I allreayd knew the rides, I knew the way the game went, the story..everything.
So in beta, I went from "This is cool"(like when you watch a cool movie) to "I've done this" (like when you watch that movie for the 5'th time).
And ended up never buying the game.
It was too static and "Themepark" for me. Not a tolkien world that I could "live" in, explore and make fantasies about... It was a one time read book.
i made it to day 26 of my free time before i axed it , but i would luv to add to the IDDIOTS that paid 200 for lifetime sub
HAHAHAHHAHAHAH
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHH
AHAHA
AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
AHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
HAAHAHHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA
I wish i could laugh in the face of each of the tools who paid 200 for a lifetime sub , talk about knowing who to target for stuff u want to sell, the gullable and people who dont know how to manage money.
LOTRO is a good MMORPG. It's a great kick back MMO to balance out the heavy raiding in EQ2 end game. I spent $200 for a life time sub, so what. A tool? The fact that uber kiddies like yourself are distancing yourself - makes this game even more worth it. It's not my main MMO but I'll be playing it over months to come. I wish more MMO's would give lifetime sub options.
The irony here is that diarheasauce here can't even spell idiot correct when using it as an insult to others. Pot calling the kettle black? I think so. I'm sure that his sparkling personality, as seen in this post... is the reason he no longer enjoys LOTRO - people 86'd him server wide. I'd bet an elven whore on that!
Typical lotro fanboi response.
Lotro is not a typical game.
If u want pvp u have 1 zone
If u want to raid, u have 2 crappy zones
Thats what lotro delviers NOTHING, only reason it sold maybe 200k copies is casue of the movies. It aint gonna last, it bring nothing new nor fun to the table. If i wanted to be another dwarf, human elf ill play one of the 123412498120948 Games that are exatly like lotro and have more stuff to do.
Lotro is not a complete game its grabage put in a box and marketed towards morons like u who drop 200 bucks then in 3 years the game gets cancled.
Market to the droves and droves of iddiots who see lotr and think WAR and get lame.
MEE SOO SHRY I CANHT SPELL RIGHT< WOUDL U TEACHH ME HOW TO MAKE U FEEL BETTA NUB PIE?Your post is the typical Troll post so I guess you guys would go great together on match.com
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
I think lotro is only doing okay right now because it took what other mmo's did right and threw them toghether into somthing that makes sense. And other mmo's atm are either old, been played, or just suck atm
As soon as Warhammer, AoC, Tabula Rasa, and other upcoming titles are released, this game will consist of those who just like the lotr storyline and tolkien worshippers.
... and the minimal amount of Roleplayers, and casual players... let alone PvE lovers... oh, and socializing people maybe... and well, thinking hard, probably group players...
Nah, whatever, it'll be just some freaks left once War "the Messiah" Hammer hits the shelves or Age of "Muhamad" Conan is released. I'll see for myself when these games go live, not a second before that I'd give a damn about what is rumored and announced...
I know what you mean. Lately I've had serious MMO burnout. I've tried most of them, and with each successive one, I end up playing for a shorter and shorter time. First was EQ, and I played that for 6 years. Then, EQ2 was 2 yrs, with AO, SWG, DAOC, CoH, etc. in the meantime. Lately I messed with Vanguard (memory hog) and then tried LOTRO. But I log on to LOTRO now only for about 20 mins, then am off again. It's pretty, but I have the nagging suspicion I won't want to keep it for long. The reason is that I've yet to recreate the excitement and the feeling of endless possibility that I had in my first MMO, EQ. You log on to a game, and immediately someone is spamming you with duel requests, or gold selling ads. Or you invite someone to a group, and he doesn't so much as say hello, then swipes a drop everyone wanted without rolling for it. You get burned out. And I find myself going back to offline favorites like Oblivion, NWN, NWN2, KOTOR 2. Even considering buying an XBOX 360 for Force Unleashed. It's getting tedious to be social. I find that I'd rather pick up the phone and call someone than attempt to play an MMO. And when you get to the point that when someone invites you to a group, you say, "No, thanks," and log off, that you're really not into online gaming as much as you used to be.
So, what would make the difference? Is it really that we're tired of games being too similar, or that we're getting weary of MMORPGs? For me, when an online game starts to feel like work or an obligation, I've had it. Guilds seem to be essential to large-scale exploration, and yet they impose upon your time to a large degree. Some require that you're there for every raid. Raiding is intense. You find yourself completely absorbed in the moment of doing your job, whether it be healing, tanking, or crowd control. And it's fun. It keeps your interest like nothing else when you're in it. But still, you probably have one or two characters that nobody in your guild knows about so that sometimes you can feel like no one pesters you. Then it dawns on you again that maybe what you want is a good, meaty offline game instead of the one where people depend on you. Hey, MMORPGs are a great time. But eventually, burnout got me. I'm still interested in seeing what changes come out in up and coming MMORPGs, but maybe the best thing for now is to stick around in LOTRO and not join any guilds. That way I can putter around to my heart's content without feeling like someone's twisting my arm. And when I get the quests that I can't solo, I'll get a pickup group.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing."
Comments
The Adventures of Fat Gamer - http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs/FatGamer
I am feeling the boredom as well. I've done everything there is to do in the game including pvp. I never felt immersed. There are a ton of quests, the quest log could be followed by my 10 year old nephew, and so long as you were a lvl above the quest you could complete it. Finding groups was easy enough, but even then there wasn't any sense of accomplishment. Crafting is lacking. I never saw an item that was equal to a quest reward.
I felt like I was just spending time between getting home from work and needing to go to sleep.
HAHAHAHHAHAHAH
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHH
AHAHA
AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
AHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
HAAHAHHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA
I wish i could laugh in the face of each of the tools who paid 200 for a lifetime sub , talk about knowing who to target for stuff u want to sell, the gullable and people who dont know how to manage money.
WORD LIFE LAWL SAUCE
But it was never meant to be a sandbox MMORPG, or even a MMORPG for raiders or hardcores. So it does what it's supposed to do and it does it very well.
I personally am sick to death of MMORPG's. So sick in fact that Im heading to Best Buy later and picking up an Xbox 360 and a few games. I think that once you have played a LOT of MMORPG's then your expectations get too high, of what you would like to see next in one. And then you get disappointed. I think I am seriously done with MMORPG's and most PC games in general.
cancelled today
i enjoy the game but i guess it wasn't enough to pull me away from eq2 which basically uses up most of my free time
i actually cancelled today because of this post - almost forgot i was still paying
AC (retired); EQ (retired); DAoC (retired); Horizons (retired); EQII (retired); CoH (retired); AC II (tested); Lineage II (beta); Neocron (tested); Saga of Ryzom (beta); SWG (retired)...
Its not a bad game, in fact, its quite good. But they clearly took a lot from WoW.
I think that one reason so many are burning out early on this game is that there are no heroes. And it is impossible to be one.
At a particular level, everyone in that class is almost exactly the same. No matter how much or how little raiding you do, you will still look the same and pretty much BE the same as the other 43,000 elf hunters in the game.
The best term for this game is "socialist" - there is nothing hard to get. You can put out almost no real effort and be only very slightly less "uber" than anyone else in the game.
So despite those welcoming the fact that the guy that can buy a crafted item from the AH that is better than what people can get for hours or days of raiding - it also means there is little incentive to do anything. Everything is just handed to you.
Don't feel like raiding or doing hard instances - no problem, here is some uber lootz for you, just so you don't feel left out.
LOTRO is a good MMORPG. It's a great kick back MMO to balance out the heavy raiding in EQ2 end game. I spent $200 for a life time sub, so what. A tool? The fact that uber kiddies like yourself are distancing yourself - makes this game even more worth it. It's not my main MMO but I'll be playing it over months to come. I wish more MMO's would give lifetime sub options.
The irony here is that diarheasauce here can't even spell idiot correct when using it as an insult to others. Pot calling the kettle black? I think so. I'm sure that his sparkling personality, as seen in this post... is the reason he no longer enjoys LOTRO - people 86'd him server wide. I'd bet an elven whore on that!
The Adventures of Fat Gamer - http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs/FatGamer
It does get a bit dull after a while.
The game has pretty nice graphics.
The classes are very generic. At least in WoW you had a variety of differnt abilities and talents. In LOTRO your abilities are all twords you role in the group. If you are a tank your a tank. If you a healer you are a healer. There is no overlapping. In WoW you could spec to be what you wanted regardless of your class. The traits don't really allow you to do this.
The shire has lots of quests that are deliver mail here, deliver pie there. Thats not much fun after the first few times you do it.
I still like the game, but I think I'd rather play WoW. Yes the raiding sucks, but the 1-70 content and classes are still more enjoyable. Hopefully Warhammer will have more choices for each race/class.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/7300033012
The ironic thing is this poster signed up to MMORPG.COM today.
http://www.greycouncil.org/
For me, the game got really boring in the North Downs. I only remember 2 new creatures there, the elite trolls and the elite aurochs that give you lame xp. Thats when the game got really stagnant for me. Not sure if there were any other new creatures because I quit, but Im guessing no. Same old goblins, orcs, wolves, bears spiders and crows.
For me, the game got really boring in the North Downs. I only remember 2 new creatures there, the elite trolls and the elite aurochs that give you lame xp. Thats when the game got really stagnant for me. Not sure if there were any other new creatures because I quit, but Im guessing no. Same old goblins, orcs, wolves, bears spiders and crows.
Drakes.
For me, the game got really boring in the North Downs. I only remember 2 new creatures there, the elite trolls and the elite aurochs that give you lame xp. Thats when the game got really stagnant for me. Not sure if there were any other new creatures because I quit, but Im guessing no. Same old goblins, orcs, wolves, bears spiders and crows.
Drakes. Ahh thats right, I had that quest to kill some of them but I never did it. Leathery Hides of the Drakes or whatever it was called. Thanks for reminding me
I never believed the LotR hype, and I never flamed the game in the forum on this web page with 603k subscribers (3/4ths are alts).
I never believed in the negative Vanguard hype with all the people flaming the game.
I have tried both.
MMORPG positive hype on LotR: WRONG.
MMORPG negative hype on Vanguard: WRONG.
I play Vanguard and love it. Do not trust this web page. The amount of bad information is truly remarkable. lol.
-----
WoW and fast food = commercial successes.
I neither play WoW nor eat fast food.
The Adventures of Fat Gamer - http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs/FatGamer
I played LOTRO in the beta only.
At first I was happy with how "casualfriendly" it was..
But as days passed by, I found the game more and more like a "singleplayer game with human NPC's helping me get through a singleplayer "you are the hero behind the curtain" storyline...
Basicly, as I reached up in levels, 20-30... I didn't feel immersed in the world of tolien... I felt like visiting a Tolkien themepark, where everythingwas aimed at me doing the rides...and then..done.
I could ofcourse do the rides again with another character... but by then, I allreayd knew the rides, I knew the way the game went, the story..everything.
So in beta, I went from "This is cool"(like when you watch a cool movie) to "I've done this" (like when you watch that movie for the 5'th time).
And ended up never buying the game.
It was too static and "Themepark" for me. Not a tolkien world that I could "live" in, explore and make fantasies about... It was a one time read book.
LOTRO is a good MMORPG. It's a great kick back MMO to balance out the heavy raiding in EQ2 end game. I spent $200 for a life time sub, so what. A tool? The fact that uber kiddies like yourself are distancing yourself - makes this game even more worth it. It's not my main MMO but I'll be playing it over months to come. I wish more MMO's would give lifetime sub options.
The irony here is that diarheasauce here can't even spell idiot correct when using it as an insult to others. Pot calling the kettle black? I think so. I'm sure that his sparkling personality, as seen in this post... is the reason he no longer enjoys LOTRO - people 86'd him server wide. I'd bet an elven whore on that!
Typical lotro fanboi response.Lotro is not a typical game.
If u want pvp u have 1 zone
If u want to raid, u have 2 crappy zones
Thats what lotro delviers NOTHING, only reason it sold maybe 200k copies is casue of the movies. It aint gonna last, it bring nothing new nor fun to the table. If i wanted to be another dwarf, human elf ill play one of the 123412498120948 Games that are exatly like lotro and have more stuff to do.
Lotro is not a complete game its grabage put in a box and marketed towards morons like u who drop 200 bucks then in 3 years the game gets cancled.
Market to the droves and droves of iddiots who see lotr and think WAR and get lame.
MEE SOO SHRY I CANHT SPELL RIGHT< WOUDL U TEACHH ME HOW TO MAKE U FEEL BETTA NUB PIE?Your post is the typical Troll post so I guess you guys would go great together on match.com
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
I think lotro is only doing okay right now because it took what other mmo's did right and threw them toghether into somthing that makes sense. And other mmo's atm are either old, been played, or just suck atm
As soon as Warhammer, AoC, Tabula Rasa, and other upcoming titles are released, this game will consist of those who just like the lotr storyline and tolkien worshippers.
Nah, whatever, it'll be just some freaks left once War "the Messiah" Hammer hits the shelves or Age of "Muhamad" Conan is released. I'll see for myself when these games go live, not a second before that I'd give a damn about what is rumored and announced...
Meridion
I know what you mean. Lately I've had serious MMO burnout. I've tried most of them, and with each successive one, I end up playing for a shorter and shorter time. First was EQ, and I played that for 6 years. Then, EQ2 was 2 yrs, with AO, SWG, DAOC, CoH, etc. in the meantime. Lately I messed with Vanguard (memory hog) and then tried LOTRO. But I log on to LOTRO now only for about 20 mins, then am off again. It's pretty, but I have the nagging suspicion I won't want to keep it for long. The reason is that I've yet to recreate the excitement and the feeling of endless possibility that I had in my first MMO, EQ. You log on to a game, and immediately someone is spamming you with duel requests, or gold selling ads. Or you invite someone to a group, and he doesn't so much as say hello, then swipes a drop everyone wanted without rolling for it. You get burned out. And I find myself going back to offline favorites like Oblivion, NWN, NWN2, KOTOR 2. Even considering buying an XBOX 360 for Force Unleashed. It's getting tedious to be social. I find that I'd rather pick up the phone and call someone than attempt to play an MMO. And when you get to the point that when someone invites you to a group, you say, "No, thanks," and log off, that you're really not into online gaming as much as you used to be.
So, what would make the difference? Is it really that we're tired of games being too similar, or that we're getting weary of MMORPGs? For me, when an online game starts to feel like work or an obligation, I've had it. Guilds seem to be essential to large-scale exploration, and yet they impose upon your time to a large degree. Some require that you're there for every raid. Raiding is intense. You find yourself completely absorbed in the moment of doing your job, whether it be healing, tanking, or crowd control. And it's fun. It keeps your interest like nothing else when you're in it. But still, you probably have one or two characters that nobody in your guild knows about so that sometimes you can feel like no one pesters you. Then it dawns on you again that maybe what you want is a good, meaty offline game instead of the one where people depend on you. Hey, MMORPGs are a great time. But eventually, burnout got me. I'm still interested in seeing what changes come out in up and coming MMORPGs, but maybe the best thing for now is to stick around in LOTRO and not join any guilds. That way I can putter around to my heart's content without feeling like someone's twisting my arm. And when I get the quests that I can't solo, I'll get a pickup group.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing."