im thinking about getting this game

happydan20

i was wondering if anyone would tell me what the game is like, in real terms.  Whats really good about it, what sucks? 

 

How does it stack up to wow?  I'm getting sick of wow again and i saw this was the highest rated mmo on the list.

 

I really enjoy healing classes, how are they treated in this game?  Wow was easy to solo and still be a good healer. 

complaints?  long travel times? slow leveling? hard to solo, hard to find groups?  Any of these things?

WSIMike

 

Originally posted by happydan20


i was wondering if anyone would tell me what the game is like, in real terms.  Whats really good about it, what sucks? 
 
How does it stack up to wow?  I'm getting sick of wow again and i saw this was the highest rated mmo on the list.
 
I really enjoy healing classes, how are they treated in this game?  Wow was easy to solo and still be a good healer. 
complaints?  long travel times? slow leveling? hard to solo, hard to find groups?  Any of these things?

Hmm... While I don't think the trial is quite enough to really get a full feeling for the game - even I felt a bit "claustrophobic" playing it - it is a way to at least try out the classes, see how they feel, how the environments are, etc.

 

Personally, I think the game is great. Very enjoyable, laid-back pace (well, it supports that play style very well anyway , a very mature community for the most part (idiots have no boundries, so you'll still meet some unfortunately), great graphics that still look really good even if you have to turn them down a bit.... frequent and substantial content updates (see the details for Book 13 for an example)... I've only played a Hunter, really, so that's all I can comment on, but to me it's a very fun class.

My only complaint with the game, really, is that I wish the mounts (the ones you can get at 35) ran faster and/or didn't get dismounted so easily. Makes it almost pointless to mount up at all in a aggro heavy area.

Beyond that, I think LoTRO is a great game overall, well deserving of the praise it's received.

But again, don't rely on forum posts - good or bad - to make up your mind. Getting some basic details is fine.. but the only way to really know if you're going to like the game is to get "hands-on", and try it for yourself.

Good luck!

 

 

happydan20

can you be more specific?

how are healing classes treated? some games are very punishing to them, making them expensive or heavily group dependant.  Or as in tabula rasa, completely unneeded or wanted.

 

Why is the trial not long enough for the feel of the game? is this one of those get to the level cap before the real game starts?

rturja

 

Originally posted by happydan20


how are healing classes treated? some games are very punishing to them, making them expensive or heavily group dependant.  Or as in tabula rasa, completely unneeded or wanted.

 

Minstrel - the main healing class is very solo friendly, but then always welcome in to groups as well. Minstrels tend to get pretty many private messages and even nijainvites to groups. In addition by fiddling around with your traits you can go from frontline auxiliary DPS dealer to pure background healer depending on your desires and playstyle.

I think the trial is actually long enough to get the basic feeling of the game - the only really limiting factor IMHO is that you cannot trade with other players or receive/send mail. The limitation is that you are only able to use loot drops or quest rewards, as crafted items at lower levels are definitely better. In the endgame raid/PvP/crafted are on par.

Endgame starts at level 1 - well not exactly, but LotRO is more about the journey, than destination This doesn't mean there wasn't "endgame content" like PvP or raids, but due to the nature of game they are not as mousewheel like as in some other games, no "gotta get this raid and collect all the leet stuff, so I can advance to next raid location" in LotRO.

And there are enough quests, crafting and other non raid/pvp stuff to keep you occupied at 50, the current level cap, if you just wish to do something else.

Zeymere

I as well am interested in this game.  I am curently trying the 7 day free trial.  You should try thre trial its cool so far.  One thing if you have already signed up before, just use another email address and you get a different key to play.

 

Zey

xpowderx

Hi there,

I tried the game just two days ago. I full subbed it yesterday. The game is quite fun and interesting. My main got a trait yesterday. kind of nice. Game is well made. I am enjoying it immensely.

WSIMike

Originally posted by happydan20


can you be more specific?
how are healing classes treated? some games are very punishing to them, making them expensive or heavily group dependant.  Or as in tabula rasa, completely unneeded or wanted.
Well I can tell you that they're definitely needed. That there are relatively few classes in LoTRO seems to result in each class fulfilling an important role - with only some overlap between some of them. So, it's not like you're going to be passed up for 3 other classes that are as good as or better than a Minstrel at what they do.
For anything more specific about the class itself, I'm going to have to defer to someone who's played one, as again, my main is a Hunter. I rolled a minstrel once and only got it to level 5 - hardly enough to have any real experience with it.


Why is the trial not long enough for the feel of the game? is this one of those get to the level cap before the real game starts?
Well, it's not long enough because it's a 7 day trial. You're only going to see so much of the game on a trial account. 
I have to admit that I *did* confuse the length of the trial with what you can see in that time in my first response.
When I posted that (not long after waking up) I was thinking in terms of the  instanced area new players go through as a sort of extended tutorial for the game. That area does feel a bit claustrophobic to me. The world overall does not feel that way at all, and you can certainly see quite a bit in 7 days if you're that driven... or like to explore without concern of possibly dying alot in the process .
The real game starts at level 1. I know a lot of people have come to assume - even expect - that the "point" of a MMO is to get to end game quickly with raiding being the "real game". Sadly, many MMO devs seem to have all-too-happily hopped on board with that mindset and so the content up to level cap is often regarded as "trash" to be raced through as quickly as possible.


In LoTRO, you'll find there's alot more to do all the way up. What you do at the high levels is only *part* of the overall experience... not the "main point" of it.
Players who slow down, take their time and experience the ride instead of racing through it have noted time and again that the game is far more enjoyable and that there's plenty to do. The die-hard end-gamers who race through it all to get to level cap, thinking that's where the "real game" is continue to complain about a "lack of content"...
Considering both types are talking about the same game, I think it's self-evident which group is approaching the game with the less ideal mindset.



In all, no... the game does not only start when you get to level cap. The game starts at level 1.

 

WSIMike

Originally posted by Zeymere


I as well am interested in this game.  I am curently trying the 7 day free trial.  You should try thre trial its cool so far.  One thing if you have already signed up before, just use another email address and you get a different key to play.
 
Zey

Welcome to the nuthou.... I mean.... the forums! :-p

Oh, and cool avatar - Equilibrium.. very cool flick.

Wrymstrum

Minstrel is the main healing class.  It's pretty cool.  I've been playing a dwarf minstrel, and I like him a lot.  They more resemble a cleric than a priest.  You can get a shield and medium armor (with a trait).   For some reason it seems a lot of people shy away from dwarves when making a minstrel, but I think they make the best minstrels, and I like dwarves a lot

Katashi-kun

 

Originally posted by WSIMike

Originally posted by happydan20


can you be more specific?
how are healing classes treated? some games are very punishing to them, making them expensive or heavily group dependant.  Or as in tabula rasa, completely unneeded or wanted.
Well I can tell you that they're definitely needed. That there are relatively few classes in LoTRO seems to result in each class fulfilling an important role - with only some overlap between some of them. So, it's not like you're going to be passed up for 3 other classes that are as good as or better than a Minstrel at what they do.
For anything more specific about the class itself, I'm going to have to defer to someone who's played one, as again, my main is a Hunter. I rolled a minstrel once and only got it to level 5 - hardly enough to have any real experience with it.

 

Guess this is my que to jump on in!  My main is a lvl 50 Elven Minstrel, and I'm currently playing a lvl 35 Hobbit Minstrel as an alt.  I've tried the other classes but my love is the Minstrel so thats all I'm playing till the expansion to check out the new classes.

Anyway, yes Minstrel is the be all / end all healer of the game....all raids, all major instances, all major bosses and most of the elite quests n the game are going to require a minstrel to succeed with flying colors.  However some of this can be done without a Minstrel but it'll be pretty tough, unless u have a lvl 50 friend winging you through a low lvl quests which can and does happen alot.

Minstrel to me is along the lines of a Battle Priest, not only do we heal the best and large amounts across the entire fellowship, but we can also break from healing and run in toe-to-toe with just about every mob and really deal out some amazing AoE DPS.  Minstrel are more set up for a 1h club weapon, but I prefer a 1h sword and if you look hard enough u'll find plenty of them with good healer stats like Will and Fate on them. 

Minstrel can also wield shields at lvl 20 {not heavy ever} and can use medium armor via a slotted trait at 20 as well.  I originally played with medium armor on my main for a time and found that it not only didn't make that big of a difference but was also lacking in healer stats most the time.  There are some but you will find a much better variety of stats like Will and Fate on Light Armor so I stick with that and it keeps that trait slot free for something else.

I mentioned above the AoE DPS, the bread n butter of this class besides the healing!  I'm primarily a soloist, but I do like to group up sometimes, and at lvl 20 Minstrel gets the War-Speech stance you can turn on.  With it on all your healing output is reduced by -50% which is pretty taxing trying to heal and keep ppl and sometimes urself alive, but you can switch it off immediately even during casting a heal spell and  be back at normal healing output instantly for emergencies. {That can and will happen alot...solo and grouping}

The Aoe we have hits up to 3 targets and at lvl 50 Minstrel has 4 AoE spells they can cast back to back pretty rapidly, they all have cooldowns from 10sec up to 10min{1 legendary AoE is 10min cooldown}  3 of these are pretty short and you can use them like every other fight and many times in longer fights both solo and in groups!   Its very fun to fight groups of enemies than just one on one, and if it gets hairy u can always fear 1 target for I think 20sec before it'll come back and it doesn't aggro other mobs if/when it breaks fear in the middle of others.

Minstrel for the most part almost every spell can be played while moving around which is alot of fun.  You can just run by a mob and keep moving while u hit it and run it to a safe loc to down it if other mob pats are inc or just in general.

Well anyway...thats a pretty damn good explanation of a Minstrel but there are many ways it can be played including solo all the way to 50 which I'm doing for a 2nd time and will prolly a 3rd time when I'm doen with this one!  I love the class that much.  Just remember all this AoE War-Speech butt-kicking doesn't start happening until lvl 20 and you don't have both ur quick refresh AoE attacks until lvl 34, and more come later on.  Gotta give it a chance and hold out cause if you do you're in for alot of fun times although slow to start Minstrel picks up speed, variety and awesomesauce the whole way......