First impressions of 1-20 of my time in LOTRO

TheScavenger

I'll try and keep this short with just pros/cons. Last time I played was before the free to play move.

TLDR:
Pros-
1. Graphics (not animation which was always meh) still look great to me, when cranked to max. I don't have any problems at all with them.
2. The classes are all tons of fun, and I love the lore-master. Probably in my top 10, maybe top 5 favorite classes out of all the class based MMOs. A lot of the other classes are pretty unique as well
3. Community on Landroval is great, really friendly atmosphere and events, music, bands all the time.
4. Seems to be a lot to do, and the world is huge, they expanded it a lot
5. Story is still as good as I remember, but it is LOTR :P
6. World atmosphere is still one of the better ones out of MMOs, not too many MMOs top it (Saga of Ryzom is still by far #1)
7. The GMs I notice actually talk in chat with people
8. Had an issue because I guess my account was hacked at one point and banned. Literally within 30 minutes of submitting a ticket, my account was back in running shape. One of the best and fastest supports I've had in an MMO. I'd rate it on par with WoW live chat support

Cons-
1. You think WoW is easy? LOTRO has got to be the easiest games I've ever played of any game of any genre. Actually I'd rate it as playing a game made for little kids...no actually even a game for little kids is HARDER. Especially if its a learning game (which most little kid games are). LOTRO used to be way harder. I got on my friends level 100 account, and still incredibly easy compared to max level of WoW in WoD. WoW WoD is vastly harder and I thought endgame of WoD was easy as it was. This pretty much puts nail in the coffin for me...literally had a harder time playing a little kid learning game than this.
2. They removed looting? wtf? You do NOT loot at all anymore. You press a button that pops up on bottom right of the screen and gather loot by claiming the items...or
  2a. Turn on auto loot and the game almost plays for you!
  2b. This really ruins the atmosphere of the game, and it feels so artificial that its 2nd worst change the game has had
3. (this one isn't as a big deal to me, but its still a con) You used to be able to explore and open up areas of the map and it was very fun exploration. I got lost quite a bit and it made the world feel really real and a lot better. Now its all auto explored for you.
4. No one groups anymore, not even for low level dungeons. WoW still has people grouping for dungeons and grouping out in the world, especially more so on PvP servers. But this goes back to how easy LOTRO is

So to sum it up. Classes are my #1 favorite thing about LOTRO, especially loremaster. However, the game is so easy and dumbed down that I think playing it is actually going to make me worse at every other game...

However, the world (outside of auto exploration), quests, atmosphere (and again) classes are top notch as far as MMOs go. And the community (at least on Landroval) is amazing. Just the massive lack of challenge kinda ruins it for me. That and no idea why they removed looting...kinda weird...and like I said, actually not being able to loot and just pressing an artificial button to gather items (or even worse, turning on autoloot). Its so artificial, it completely removes me from the game and makes me not get immersed at all in it.

TheScavenger

The only exception in here that isn't 1-20, is logging onto my friends 100 character to see if it became actually more challenging. Maybe the current raids are harder (but I heard wardens can solo or duo them, heh), but it still felt easy on his guardian in a max level zone. But maybe it was the zone or something, but he isn't that geared up as he hasn't raided on his guardian yet. Everything else is my first impressions of 1-20. And I didn't touch on it, but you can solo dungeons with no issue at all that you used to group for. And no one really groups anymore (at least early on).

But if it DOES get harder at 100, I dunno, the game is so easy and it was still easy on my friends character. WoW is easy from 1-max level, but I still felt I had a lot more challenge in WoW because of grouping up with dungeons which are a lot more challenging than out in the world.

That and the no looting, and just pressing an artificial button pretty much ruins everything for me, even if there is a challenge at max level

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TheScavenger

ah yeah, everyone has their own classes they prefer :P I think its because I found loremaster a lot of fun (my favorite class) and I could get really into it...it is exactly my type of class. Get various animal companions, kinda like a druid at same time...but no annoying morphing powers (never liked classes that morphed into animals. I much prefer animal companions). There isn't many MMOs however (and none that I can think of except for LOTRO) that has a Druid-like class, but instead of mighty morphing, you summon animals. That is probably why I like it so much.

But yeah, I do remember a while back, there was quite a few people who couldn't get into the game because they didn't like any of the classes. I remember reading a few posts about it.

Po_gg

I think those cons are because Turbine is trying to open / reach the new(er) player audience...

Difficulty, indeed the game is easier than it was. I used to say it's a common trend in the genre, every game out there gets easier as the time goes, since that's what the new generation wants, but it's still not an excuse... Turbine could go against the flow - but they don't want to. So, it's up to you   If you want difficulty, you still can have it, by simply keep the content above you, by 3-4 levels. There are entire kinships who are playing like that, you can check them on the forums.

Loot, I'm a bit clueless on that part, those are just options... regular mechanic is still there. Remote looting and auto-loot, just an option for the above mentioned "new gen" players

Maps, I agree on this one... but it's also a change for the new crowd. Heck, there was a review video not long ago by LazyPeon, where one of his key complaint was the archaic map system, "you can't even zoom in it, how horrible". Just imagine how would he flip if we'd say to him, back in the days all you had was an empty parchment, and as you explored the world, you slowly charted the map  
I don't like this change either, it should be on a toggle, like the quest tracker or the quest indicator. Option is king... (but actually it wouldn't matter, I rarely use the maps, I know Middle-earth like the back of my hand :awesome: )

No groups, I think now with the transfers, there's a nice activity on lower levels. There are lowbie-friendly kins too. Folks are helpful, if you ask around I think you will find some help. However, gathering an on-level team can be tough indeed, because leveling is too fast nowadays on the lower region (too much xp), people don't stay for long at a level range, waiting for a dungeon group.

TheScavenger

Well, to follow up, got to level 36. Level up a lot faster than you used to, but that isn't really a con/pro...most MMOs these days have greatly sped up leveling. Even WoW you level really fast (though to compare, I'd say leveling is actually quite a bit slower in WoW if you only do quests, but as fast if not a bit faster if you level through only dungeons). I don't really have much to compare them with since I'm not using a timer or whatever to take note as I'm just playing to play, but that is how leveling feels to me in both. Maybe WoW only seems slower in questing because its...questing :P

Sadly though, I haven't found any groups for dungeons. That is very different than WoW and EQ2 where even though leveling is easy, you have far more reasons to group and can easily find groups for dungeons (especially WoW). Even though everyone says WoW is only a solo game, they don't know about (or are really trolling) the LFG for dungeons built into the game. I spend most of my time grouped up in WoW. Since leveling through quests actually feels pretty slow lol.

Maybe I'm unlucky, but did have one dude in LOTRO say I can solo dungeons with my bear out and grouping is mostly for later levels. Other than him, no one seemed interested in responding to my group requests.

I'm not even trolling chat or anything, I am always pretty polite in chat since I'm not interested in making enemies in what is supposed to be a social game (MMO) lol. That be like stealing from a store you always shop at...which would be really stupid :P Granted, stealing from any store is pretty stupid...but well you get the point lol

But maybe its just timing, or that leveling is just so fast, no one wants to group. I didn't try soloing dungeons like he said I could, since that entirely defeats a purpose of a dungeon in an MMO to me. But if you can actually solo dungeons...I pretty much have no reason to log back onto LOTRO again lol