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MMO Vet Looking for advice
n3verendR
Member UncommonPosts: 452
Hello, in order to keep this as itemized and short as possible, I am going to... well... itemize it.
Intro: I have been playing MMORPG games since 1999. I am seeking to get in to LOTRO as I had played it in the past on a friends account and never got back in to it because at the time I was stuck on WoW. Wasn't really a bad thing, because now it's F2P and having already dove and conquered DDO - I know Turbine means business when they enter into the world of F2P. That, and I already liked the game.
What I need:
- Class Recommendation
- Server Suggestion, Guild Recruitment is always cool.
- Helpful Hints, things that might make my game experience more enjoyable.
Class Recommendation -
Classes I have enjoyed in the past from other MMOs, and I mean REALLY enjoyed.
Mage - WoW
Shadowknight - EQ1
Ritualist - GW
Is there anything at this point similar to these? I have played and enjoyed Captain and Loremaster in the past, but maybe you have a better suggestion?
Server Recommendation -
I tend to play rather a completionist style. I enjoy PvP, then Social Gaming, then Roleplaying in that order. I would love to join a guild that I could eventually become a helpful member of, not a leech.
Helpful Hints -
I have in the past absolutely bested (In a manner of speaking, saw and did everyting there was to see and do) Guild Wars, WoW, EQ, Planetside, Shadowbane, and DDO.
Is there something I would have missed in those games that may apply in LOTRO you would deem helpful to me.
I know I haven't said it yet, but thank you in advance. I really want to dive in to the game but if memory serves right - simply making a character and leaving the newbie area is a huge investment of time and patience - albeit an enjoyable one. Both of my characters in the past have been human, I am considering an Elf this time. In any case, feel free to just throw a single helpful hint in or a dozen. Everything helps 
People think it's fun to pretend your a monster. Me I spend my life pretending I'm not. - Dexter Morgan
Comments
Loremaster is definitly a fine class, but i would also advise you to take a look at the minstrel, in warspeech he becomes an animal that rips through mobs like nobodies buisness. Some of the better skills only come around 30-50 though so you would need some patience(just check them out at your trainer, they are good and hit hard).
Obvious class would be the RK though, it requires the MoM expansion but its an awesome class with a damage output that even hunters envy at times. Its a very powerful and fun class, good classmechanic aswell.
Unless i missed it you didnt specify where your from, regardless of that if you plan to make your own guild i would start on the new servers, nothing like starting fresh.
In regards to what i deem useful ... its probably nothing new to you still a good idea to keep in mind that classes go through growing pains, so many people drop their class around a problematic level thinking it wont get better, just tough it out and you will be fine.
Seems like you have quite a mix of experiences, as such you maybe like me when faced with a new MMO, looking for a class thats a bit different, one that you may not have played before.
Therefore I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest a 'Warden'
Its a medium armor class that has both ranged and melee skills, soloable and good in groups acting as either off-tank or DPS.
its a lovley class that offers a new experience. It may sound like a Ranger or Hunter class, which could also be described similar to the above but the way in which the combat works for the Warden is quite refreshing and quite new.
As for other tips and advice, hmmm, well the only thing which put me off about lotro was that I'd got to about level 35 on a Hunter and found myself fedup with having to miss 'group quests' there are a lot of them and no class can solo them really. The reason I had to miss them was simply finding a group was hard, or took time which I didnt have.
Now with F2P I'm exciting about there being a lot of new players to play with and a lot of active guilds! So for the first, say, 20 levels solo.. get used to the map, where things are! (like storage, AH, crafting) then start to look for a guild (Called a Kin) but dont go for a kin that has tons of high level players in, look for a young kin, because high level characters come a long and spoil things, they trivialise the adventure.
I think thats all I'm gona say for now, if you have any question on my comments above dont hesitate to ask.
Warden is an awesome class and my main, its not a offtank though but a maintank. Ofc you can still be a offtank, but dont get shocked when people expect you to tackle that balrog. Its a rather unique experience, being a tank with medium armor.
Class - You mentioned you like PvP, and that you've tried the Loremaster and like it. I'm going to recommend the Loremaster. They are one of the most dominant solo classes, and one of the most desired classes in groups. They do nice burst AoE damage, have some sick dots, and crazy CC. In groups their ability to manage power, distribute stun immunity and slow the enemy with tar makes them a must in any PvP group. I don't know why I haven't levelled one up yet lol.
Server - Again going with the PvP theme, I would choose Riddermark because it is a new server, and of the new servers it will have the most dedicated PvPers. And I think playing on a new server will make it easier to find groups while levelling.
Since you are a completionist this bodes well for you. Completing many deeds will gain you Turbine Points and will limit your financial investment. On my first toon I played completionist style and had a great time. If you reach out to form groups you won't be disappointed. Just remember to /joinchannel glff, it will help you with finding groups. Good luck and enjoy the game.
You mentioned you like PvP? I would highly recommend another game. PvP in LoTRO trivializes one side, and therefore, makes one side ridiculously over-powered. Not a whole lot of fun unless shooting fish in a aquarium is a challenging endeavour for you.
While PvP in Lotro is both neglected and flawed, there are many people who play who enjoy it. Check the Riddermark PvMP forum to see how many people are going to PvP on the new server. And there is no side that is "ridiculously over-powered" as you say. Freeps in general have the advantage in raid vs. raid, while creeps do better in 1v1s and unorganized zergs. However this is a generalization because there are a total of 15 classes involved.
Sorry but as with any PvP..when it is on for the night it is fun as hell....when it is off it's a little frustrating, and it's on most nights...at least on Elendilmir. Going to reroll on "The Mark" and it should be fun...happy Creeping!
Are you suggesting coconuts migrate!?
I agree and did the same thing. Level 10 so far
Gamer-4-Life
any idea yet on which of the new servers is most popular..can't get it out of my head that at least 2 of the 4 might not have enough people to play with.
LOTRO really isn't that good lol, it's not even worth playing for free imo, subscribing yes, grinding through areas no.
This game could've been SOOOOOOO much better, but after levelling 4 characters to 55 I just got burned out.
ive tried a ton of games i thought werent that good.
yet in those games i didn't like, i never got one character near max lvl let alone 4.
i can just see the wheels spinning
" man i can't believe i bought this load of crap, ill show them..im going to put 500 hours into just to spite them"
Goodness, its quite amazing how there are so many holes in two statements using so few words xD
you say its not a good game such that Its not weven worth playing for free, but is worth subscribing too?.. lol
4 charactes to level 55, when the cap has never been 55! it was 50, 60 then 65.... hmmm
Then you use the term "coud've been" for an MMO?...
I think someone's blowing smoke hahaha
Ermm, not that i agree with him but he didn't actually mention top level. He could of levelled to 55 and then stopped, that's not the same as saying i levelled to top level then got burnt out.
Aside from the nancys at the bottom, this is all A quality advice.
Having carefully read over everything being said - I have come to these conclusions (also doing research on the aspects mentioned in this thread)
Class:
Runekeeper - I like the Healing / Damage ability one of these have - this would be my top choice if it doesn't require two sets of gear. If only one set is required, I believe that I have the Turbine Points to buy it outright.
Warden - Definitely my choice if RK requires two sets of gear. I enjoy the "Tank to DPS" aspect almost as much as DPS - Heal. However again, will this require two sets of gear? If so, then I will definite be a LM.
Loremaster - Choice if the above two have the flaws I believe them to.
Minstrel - I just don't know that this really applies to me. Then again, I may be getting put off by the musical aspect of it. I know for a fact you can compose some amazing songs, and the utility one of these brings to a group is great but I think all the three above classes are more my taste.
Server: The new server you are all mentioning is a definite for me. Thank you very much for that.
Hints: You have all been a great help, I am hoping the RK works out well. If he does, I'll be as happy as anything with my typical style of playing. Thank you again - I'll revisit this thread some more in the future.
People think it's fun to pretend your a monster. Me I spend my life pretending I'm not. - Dexter Morgan
From my experience you don't really need 2 sets of gear in LotrO even as a Rune keeper. The only thing is that you will probably want 2 sets of legendary items, 1 rune stone and 1 satchel for healing and for dps but that is not a big problem.
In LotrO you have class traits that define your "spec" but its cheap and easy to change from being healing specced to dps and you will gain most traits as you level.
Both RK and Warden are abit more fast paced than the old classes if you enjoy that playstyle more.
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
RK it is then.
Oh and, LotRO = Led Zeppelin. If you listen to much Zep you'll know why.
People think it's fun to pretend your a monster. Me I spend my life pretending I'm not. - Dexter Morgan
OK, a presumtion on my part. However I cant think of any reason to get *4* characters to 55 only.. MMO's are about end game, raiding and completing things which requires a good active guild. So if he did only get to 55 then he must have been soloing.. in which case, duh! lol. Even then its not hard to hit max, especially if you have the time to level 3 other characters.
Lotro is one of the last few MMO's which have dumbed down so much that max level is soloable (WoW) which would explain why he burnt out.
I just found the entire sentence very suspicious and presumed it was just BS
but you could be right there are a lot of weirdo's out there, which just dis-credits himself even more 
I dont think Warden requires two sets of gear either.
The reason why the Warden can switch is because of the way in which the combat works, you have a set of skills and when you active these skills in a certain order or a certain pattern you finish with a combo move, depending on which combo your going for this move can either enhance your armor, evade skills, DPS skills it can even heal, pull aggro.. loads of different things.
RK is also is one of the newer classes, but they are very squishy! Too much healing and they pull aggro, too much damage and they pull aggro... However RK are very flashy and noisy
I'd say roll one of each and get them to level 10.. which doesnt take long at all. Anyway, you soon realise you need an alt so you may as well =]
You might not need two full sets of gear, but going from tanking to DPS does take some switching of gear. For example you take of items with parry/dodge/evade rating and put on stuff like +melee crit or something and you probably would aslo want to go with more might/agility over vitality.
Really gear is still important, and will still make or break your char. Thats why people are so excited about the removal of radiance, it would allow them to use crafted gear or skirmish gear, whatever really.
Edit: Same RKs, healing RKs use slightly different stats than damage RKs. But many times you get away with just changing jewelry or something.
hehe, well to each his/her own but LotRO was closer to Debbie Gibson than Zep in my experience.
You hear it all the time but I really would suggest you try the classes in this game. I could never quite put my finger on it but none of the classes in this game played like I expected (or wanted). Not to detract you from playing the game, it just seems like this game went further away from the 4 basic class arch-types defined in other games.
As for the Debbie Gibson knock... well it comes from my dislike of the goody goody race models and classes. I can't tell you how many peeps from my old EQ1 guild wouldn't even consider the trial of this game because there were no 'evil' characters.
Ya I know about monster play and respect the games origins from the books but just sayin... there were a lot of people that looked at this game and thought it would have been worth trying if there were some agnostic or evil race/class choices.
Good hunting!
not having an 'evil' character sounds like a bit of an emo reason to me.
I play games to have fun, to excercise my brain my imagination and to escape the stress of daily life.
If you can only do this by pretending to be... well, a tard, then your probably someone who has a few issues, which, lotro could do without!
I dont mean to be insulting but the very fabric of the entire Lord of the Rings story is about the good in human, good people are in the community, a pleasure to to talk to, a pleasure to play with, Selfless, funny, entertaining, reliable... HONEST! There is no place for dispicable people who seek pleasure from causing others discomfort.
I for one am glad that people who "dont like to be good" find the game off putting, you really dont deserve to be in such a place and I'm aware that the 'f2p' retards that come along will eventually tire and grow sick.
To each his own, for me every game since classic EQ has been a failure so ultimately that's still the yardstick I judge all games on.
In terms of associating avatar images with personalities... I'm referring to classes like necros and shadowknights and races like dark elfs and iksar. If you think people are tards because that's what they prefer in terms of their class/race alter-ego in game then we can just agree to disagree.
I'll say this, the level cooperation required to succeed in the orignal EQ far exceeds every solo-friendly game that's come out since WoW was introduced including LotRO. Real tards generally didn't survive in EQ because they would be outcast be every worthwhile guild on the server.
Good hunting!