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Thinking of switching to LOTRO
tubelight
Member UncommonPosts: 276
Well as the topic says i am thinking of starting up in LOTRO but i just wanted to know a few things before i go through the trouble of getting a key.
PVE - How good is the PVE in this game? While grinding and at endgame?
Crafting - Whatever info you can give me 
Grind - Is this game a boring and tedious grind? Whats the max level and hwo much time would it take a casual player to get there?
Thank you in advance for these silly questions...i already know there's no trial and the last time i played this was in closed beta :P
Comments
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
Agree with everything from the previous poster.
Want to add, I firmly believe LOTRO to be the best PVE experience availabe currently in ANY MMO. Especially with MORIA, which in a single word, AMAZING.
Hmm sounds good, do i need to buy the new expansion when i start playing? Also what kind of endgame content is there?
My Brute - Dare to challenge?
Actually, ALL you need to buy is the expansion, as it's a full package with both releases in 1, plus the 30 days free. It's a pretty good deal for new players, and you'll have access to the Warden and Rune-Keeper classes (which are both a lot of fun, but more complicated).
In terms of end-game it really depends. There aren't a lot of "raids" like in some other MMOs, and there aren't really "Battlegrounds/Scenarios" or Arenas. Aside from some raid content, a majority of end-game revolves around the PvP system. That's the PvMP system, where high level players can battle with monster players for control over keeps/control points. There are also additional quests, ranks, and other things you can get via the PvMP system. I personally like it, though there are some critics of course.
My estimates on how long it would take a casual player to get to max level would be several months. With the addition of Moria now, there is a LOT to do. And the "grind" isn't really bad at all. There are plenty of quests to do and stories to follow, and I don't think you really get much of a feelling of just "grinding" out levels/exp. The crafting can be a little tedious, with all the gathering, etc. But that's part of crafting things. It's a tedious process to practice and learn all the time.
There is a lot of grind if you want to do it. You get small benefits from it, but essentially, you can build a decent character including competetive gear without ever grinding at all.
People say LotRO has the worst grind ever, which comes from the fact that they get into the "I so need to get this"-spiral for things they don't actually need, so they grind mob X over and over for 30 more morale (at around 3000 total) just to improve their character some more... or they grind faction forever to get some colored mount (which is not faster than the regular mount). And these grinds ARE very bad if you take them to the limit, still, they are completely optional if you just want to play the game and see all the content...
If you really want to max out fast levelwise, stick to the quests, there are many, many of them are easy and they are rewarded with decent amounts of XP, allowing you to max out within 2 months as a casual player with levelling focus.
Still, this game does not deliver if you are an achiever type. If you do want to power-improve your character you will first cut through the game like butter then end up with all the grind for small improvements and finally get stuck at a point where there is not very much raidcontent and not very much to do in PvMP. I see the first of those that came back for moria now starting to complain about how "easymode" this game is and how there's nothing for them to do... they will leave... again...
this is a casuals/roleplayers game in the long run, if you want to achieve, only plan for about 3 months, you will be top of the line by then and people will /forehead you and not envy you... and I mean it, people who dress in black and pose with their top gear get laughed at for killing their own game experience regularely, at least on my realm (EU RP)...
M
The PvE is good, the quests usually make sense storywise and it contains a feature so parts of the gameworld actually changes for you in relation to the quests you have done.
The crafting is very good. Its not as anal as EQ2 but its a LOT more time consuming than in WoW. Otoh crafted gear is worth the effort! They have found a very good balance between crafting and drops.
There are loads of grinds once you enter the endgame. Factions, personal development, difficult quests that reward you with new special abilitites and so on.
But as someone else said you dont really need to do any of it. Its made for people who love to tinker with their toons over a very long time.
"You are the hero our legends have foretold will save our tribe, therefore please go kill 10 pigs."
I think what is being said is that this game is totally what you make of it:
The PvE is amazing -- awesome immersive stories, and actually the raid content although criticized is very challenging and rewarding. Turbine hasn't put all their eggs in the raid basket though, and there is very decent crafted gear available (that you don't have to raid for), great facility for RP, seasonal festivals, housing to decorate and again enjoy RP parties etc, there is grind available to you but again by no means is it forced. THere are a handful of encounters in game that really do require you to have max'd out traits etc. Most of the top encounters are way more about strategy than what you wear -- which is a really nice switch from my experience in EQ (EQ was really about gear in the end). Gear still matters just not as much -- yet hehe.
The grinding that exists doesn't feel much like grinding either -- you get a ton of deeds and traits done just by going through and questing. However I do find that various people view different things as grinds. It depends on your goals -- if you want to achieve x you'll have to go through a b and c to get there (some think of this as grinding). That's unavoidable, but for me what sets LOTRO apart is the process of achieving is extremely fun. You can range at this point from gearing up to kill the watcher in the water to hanging out at the Prancing Pony drinking virtual ale and developping your own story lines. The great thing is there is ample community actively doing both.
Well, I do agree on most of this, but tbh, killing 180 elite mobs in an area you don't actually have to go storywise, wating for respawn dozens of times... this _is_ grind. Period. You can choose not to do it, or get people and talk over vent and make it fun or build it around an RP quest you invented yourself... it's still grind...
M