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Hi all;
In the midst of a Mmorpg lull right now and have been looking around at my options. I'm currently considering LOTRO. Ive heard great things about the community and gameplay. I have tried the trial (very briefly) which may have created a mistaken impression about the gameplay.
In a nutshell my experience of the game in the newbie zone was that there was not very much to do. It was basically questing and level grind that I encountered in it. I never got out of the newbie zone, due to that impression.
I'm looking for both good solo play and grouping. I really enjoy doing instances/dungeons with other players and am wondering how much of this kind of thing is available throught the levels.
I also enjoy an active economy. The player economy is normally how I make my money in a game.
I'm hoping my impression of the game being one big long solo/group quest line is incorrect. Can someone can set me straight?
Thanks
Comments
The first dungeon is Great Barrows and can be done at around level 20. There are other group quests available at earlier levels in zones. The epic quest line for the prologue and I believe Bk 1 now is all soloable content but the other books require groups for ceratin chapters to complete (most anyways). After Great Barrows there are several other dungeons/ instances for group content throughout the game.
In addition to the epic quest line and dungeon crawling there are other quests to do some of which are chained that have separate stories associated with them some which are soloable and some which is group content. There is also crafting, fishing, and eventually you can build reputation with certain groups of people to obtain different types of things based on your rep level.
There is alo Player versus Monster Play although I almost hate to mention it myself because frankly I think far as PvP goes this game sucks however it is there for those that like it and there are those that enjoy PvMP.
Overall, there's quite a lot to do in the game least in my opinion. The starter areas tend to have the most solo oriented quests and the most mundane ones least to me although there are some of those spread throughout the entire game. You could essentially level to 60 without grouping at all with the amount of content available but I'm not sure why you would want to because it would be rather boring and the more interesting quests, stories, and dungeons are group oriented material so you would miss out on a lot.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
You are right about the newbie zone, there is absolutely nothing to do there but quest. It's supposed to be an introduction that eases you into the game while you learn the controls and some other basics.
In the real game there is a ton of group only content (enough that some players bitch about it...), a PvP mini game, crafting, an oddbal system for learning new emotes, tons of traits to unlock, and a (somewhat basic) housing system to mess around with. There's certainly more to do than you will get to before the next big MMO comes out.
I don't want to write this, and you don't want to read it. But now it's too late for both of us.
Hey thankyou both for the solid replies. I'm strongly considering the game. In fact, Im re-downloading the trial again.
I'm reading on the official forums that Minstrels are in demand. I like healing and tanking. Any other classes that are currently in demand?
Thanks again for the replies and any other tidbits you guys can offer.
There are a number of things you can do besides the questing, xp grind as have been stated, but from your comments I'd say just hanging out and fishing or playing/listening to music in the local Inn isn't what you want in a game.
Best bet is to try the trial again with an eye to getting out of the intro zone and into the game so you can check out the questline. Try it as a dwarf and concentrate on the epic line you first get from the head dwarf Dwarlin. Nr. 1 you'll get through and out of the intro zone fairly quickly and Nr. 2 once out will see a pretty good story line that ends with a large joint dwarf / elf assualt on XXX. I could tell you but it would ruin the fun.
SWG (pre-cu) - AoC (pre-f2p) - PotBS (pre-boarder) - DDO - LotRO (pre-f2p) - STO (pre-f2p) - GnH (beta tester) - SWTOR - Neverwinter
Captains and Guardians are...least on Elendilmir anyways from what I have seen.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
I've been playing LotRO for a solid 15 months now and i've just rolled my first Minstrel. I feel bad that i overlooked this class for so long, as it's sooo much fun.
Other popular newbie classes are Champions (Light tank with great DPS and Area Effects) and Hunters (Nuker). Our Kinship (guild/clan) has a tonne of 'em. Both are easy to play, very soloable and always welcome in groups. (personally, i have a maxed out (lvl 60) champ and a hunter at lvl 37).
The only class i wouldn't recommend (from personal experience) is Lore Master. I didn't enjoy the pet aspect of it. But i'm sure there are a lot of LotRO fans who love them.
I'd also like to echo the replies above and say that the starting area is very guided and structured, but there really is a lot to do. Leveling is quick, but not rushed (like WoW has become). Once you get out in the wide world it can feel like you've got too much to do (loads of quests / epic story arcs to follow / deeds to increase stats / crafting / fishing / festivals (the summer one is running atm)/ or just exploring off the beaten track).
My main bit of advice is to find a good kinship, get swept up in the story and enjoy!
[b][quote]Originally posted by Nebless
[quote]just hanging out and fishing or playing/listening to music in the local Inn isn't what you want in a game.
[/b][/quote]
Strangely enough this line struck a chord with me. What you are talking about is atmosphere. One of the major things that I have missed in Mmorpgs of late is the atmosphere. Lots of grinding, lots of xp gain, going for gear etc. I know that my OP hinted at a tendency toward lots of activity, but Im in no way opposed to this kind of atmosphere. In fact, I'm figuring that you inadvertently gave me something here, that I'd long forgotten. If this kind of thing is in the game, its well worth a look.
I'm such a noob here that i really dont know what the classes do. Time to start reading up on both servers and classes.
Goal number one, get out of the starting zone to get a full idea of the game. You guys are making it sound so good, that I really wont pass this up again. As well, thanks for the friendly responses; I'm pretty sure its a good indicator of what the community is like. 1 hour left on the DL.
One more thing, my system is pretty good, 9800 GX2, 4 gigs ram etc...Any good graphic configuration links out there?
Thanks again
Try this link to a pretty in-depth performance guide:
http://community.codemasters.com/forum/showthread.php?t=163401
I did a lot of in-game experimenting and found that probably the biggest framerate killer was the anti-aliasing. i now set it at 2x instead of 8x for a 10-15fps speed boost on average. (i have everything else maxed out and DX 10 active with an ATI 4870 & 8Gb ram and get 55-60fps average speed)
It sure is a pretty game!
If you want to get into that aspect of the game definitely join Landroval(unofficial RP server), I joined up about a week and a half ago and got in a great Kinship. We just got done running GB(currently hit level 23), and I was actually impressed. Coming from WoW, and WAR(limited instances) this was the best of them I have seen and had a lot of variety. That was a little off-topic, but just running back and forth while crafting I always run into random people roleplaying while in Bree. Last night about 8 hobbits strolled through Bree just rping, and I joined in mocking them(I am a Man) was a blast.
As for the crafting, and player economy I would say they are very strong. Being a low level I have not seen to much, but the demand for what I do sell is great(already have over 1g). A good starting proffesion till you get alts is Explorer, mining, and gathering lumber, and tailoring seems to bring in a lot of cash. Plus if your a light/medium armor class you can make your own armor. One thing I enjoy is all the armor I make is a little better than what I can find, though I have heard in later levels that is not the case.
--------------------
-Currently playing FFXIV, and BDO.
I had tried the free demo of LOTRO several times, but I never really got into the game. Then the $10.00 one-month membership came out and I figured what the heck. After I got into the game some more I found out I started to like it.
The quests are pretty well done. You can solo pretty well. The classes seem very well balanced, no one class is an absolute necessity in groups, and they can all solo quite well. A lot of the quests are instances, and they are pretty good and don't require a huge comitment - you can leave when you want and . They have what they call "fellowship" instances. I haven't tried any of them yet, but I've heard they're pretty good grouping experiences.
I'm not a huge fan of the combat system; it's another clone of the WoW button-flashing minigame. But each of the classes has a different way of working the system, so you really have to try them all out to see if one may be for you.
IF you like tanking and healing then roll a Captain, they can do both
And they are very much in demand for groups/raids and are one of the least played classes.
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
To be completely blunt, at least for me, the newbie zones were by far the most interesting and fun parts of the game. (And why I stupidly splurged for a lifetime account)
Once you leave them, you only have a small amount of content. And what content is, is generally heavily chained, often with a group quest. So you can't really solo effectively, without a lot of grinding. And where I am now in the game (level 44, took me almost a year to get there), there doesn't seem to be any quests at all.
Go to the Lorebook and see for yourself.
http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Special:Advancedsearch?type=quest
From 1-20,. there are about 600 quests
From 20-30, there are 200
From 30-40, there are 300 (but this is misleading, as it includes crafting quests at 30, and horse quests at 35, which aren't available to all, and many of the horse quests are simply trading your horse in for another color)
Picks up after that, but so many are chained, and not available to me.
Groups are impossible to find, and I've never been able to find a guild (kinship) that would take me. Unless you are an uber geek with no life, apparently you are not wanted.
R.I.P. City of Heroes and my 17 characters there
I am playing the game now , great game
System Specc
Intel I7 4770K 3,5 ghz
16Gb RAM 1600 mhz
Nvidia GTX 780
If that's been your experience of LotRo then i can see why you'd feel quite negative about it.
My experience however couldn't have been farther from that. When i started i wanted to strictly solo. I managed to get my Champion to Level 60 without grouping once. True there are (were since the book 8 update of breeland) some important low level group quests, but i simple ignored them until i was a much higher level, then soloed them.
Not once on my journey did i have a quest log that was less than half full. That's a lot of quests, as the log can hold 40-50 quests (starting at 40, you gain an extra quest slot for every 40 deeds you complete up to a maximum of 50). In fact, more often than i liked, i was having to sacrifice low level (green & light blue) quests to make more room whenever i found a new quest hub.
What may have caused you quest drought is the fact that after you leave Breeland (anywhere up to lvl 20-25), the main path splits into two:
One path goes east through the Lone Lands to Trollshaw, Rivendell then splits north to the Misty Mountains and south to Eregion (following the path of the fellowship).
The other starts north to Trestlebridge and the North downs, then splits west to Lake Everdim and Forochel (both areas are gorgeous and were added during free book updates) or north-east to Angmar.
This second route seems to have far more quests than following the fellowship. In fact, it's well documented that you could just stay in the North Downs and level from 25 right up to 40!! A lot of players i've since spoken to rate the North Downs as their favourite area of the game (so far).
On the subject of kinships, once i reached lvl 60 with my Champ i looked back on all the areas i missed out on by avoiding groups: The Great Barrow, Fornost, The Rift in Angmar (to name a few), so i took the plunge and joined a Kinship. I had no problem finding one (in fact, i have moved my 6 characters into a second more active kin now).
Most kins on my server (EU server Evernight) are crying out for members and the regional chat has a regular stream of kinship adverts, especially at the weekends.
Both kins i've been in have been nothing but courteous and polite the whole time and a real pleasure to be with (further increasing my annoyance that i waited so long to join one!), and i have never been required to group or give more time to the game than i was prepared to do.
I will conceed one point however, that although grouping in random fellowships (not kin based ones) at low levels is easy, i have found some difficulties finding groups in between levels 30-45.
There is usually few problems finding groups to do the epic story arcs or big instanced areas (Fornost etc), but finding groups for the other random fellowship / small fellowship quests can be quite hard. Often i find myself either bypassing them altogether or coersing my kinnies to come and help me.
I think that LoTRo, like a lot of other MMOs, is like a dumbell, with higher concentrations of players at each end of the leveling spectrum and players spread out over a wide area inbetween.
Unfortunately, i can't see a solution for that, and as the game expands it may get even worse.
I just hope that Turbine doesn't follow the route that Blizzard did with WoW and speed up leveling to a point where it's obvious that you're being led at break-neck speed towards the goal of "endgame content".
The thing about LotRO, is it's all about the journey not the destination.
Originally posted by Nebless: ...just hanging out and fishing or playing/listening to music in the local Inn isn't what you want in a game.
Posted by Tangogulf: Strangely enough this line struck a chord with me. What you are talking about is atmosphere. One of the major things that I have missed in Mmorpgs of late is the atmosphere. Lots of grinding, lots of xp gain, going for gear etc. I know that my OP hinted at a tendency toward lots of activity, but Im in no way opposed to this kind of atmosphere. In fact, I'm figuring that you inadvertently gave me something here, that I'd long forgotten. If this kind of thing is in the game, its well worth a look.
First off let me say you're welcome Tangogulf. Yea your OP made it sound like this wasn't what you wanted and I'm glad I stumbled across it to give it to you. There is SO MUCH atmosphere in the game. Depending on your server you may have to look a bit but it's there. Example is currently the Summer Festival is going on. My son's and I have a blast running behind the NPC's we picked in the different races cheering them, yelling at them, coaching them on etc.... or just random RPing while we wait for the dancing to start to learn a new emote.
The 'world' just seems so much more alive than others I've seen. An example would be to compare SWG to LoTRO. Go to an NPC city. SWG, most NPC's just stand around. If you click on them 99% of the time you get 'you know who I'm not talking to? YOU'. Go to a LoTRO city, more NPC's are moving around, some are dancing, sleeping, arguing and saying things that are fairly interesting.
To be completely blunt, at least for me, the newbie zones were by far the most interesting and fun parts of the game. (And why I stupidly splurged for a lifetime account)
Once you leave them, you only have a small amount of content. And what content is, is generally heavily chained, often with a group quest. So you can't really solo effectively, without a lot of grinding. And where I am now in the game (level 44, took me almost a year to get there), there doesn't seem to be any quests at all.
.. after that, but so many are chained, and not available to me.
Groups are impossible to find, and I've never been able to find a guild (kinship) that would take me. Unless you are an uber geek with no life, apparently you are not wanted.
trancejeremy
I just find it hard to believe we even played the same game. While I too found the newbie (intro & starter) zones to be interesting (some more than others) I never had a problem finding content after leaving. Between the main quest line that you started in the starter zone and the various side quests I found more than I could handle.
I will agree that there is probably a 'pyrimid' effect as you raise in levels to the number of quests, but the game is designed with 2 zones you can work for each block of levels. For late teens to high 20's it's North Downs and the Lore-Lands, The next set has 2 more etc..... I did find more quests in the North Downs than the Lore-lands but I didn't go real deep into the L-L quests. I'm now at the 'I want to switch area's' point and will be going back to the L-L's to pick those quests back up so maybe I'll see more, maybe not, but with 2 zones to work ......
As far as content being chained; well it is a story. I see the interactions between various quest lines as a good thing. It never feels like something is just a 'one off' mission that has no bearing or effect on the next NPC's missions. With you not being able to do some of them, any game has it's set of run up pre-quest's before you can do the next set of quests. If you're jumping around out of order and can't do missions that's hardly the games fault.
I'm forever turning down kinship requests, in addition I'm seeing a min. of 2 a night on the regional channels plus you can find one's listed on the O-boards or Wiki (and I think the Lorebook too). If you're not coming across good at the interview stage no one can help you there, but they are out there. For quest groups; some missions are either more fun, give better loot, aren't as frustrating or just better to do so yes I can see it being hard to find assistance to do some. BUT I also know of higher level players that just hang around the lower level area's for no other reason than to assist other players.
SWG (pre-cu) - AoC (pre-f2p) - PotBS (pre-boarder) - DDO - LotRO (pre-f2p) - STO (pre-f2p) - GnH (beta tester) - SWTOR - Neverwinter
LOTRO has a fantastic player base (except for me....jking). They are a very helpful and fun loving group of people. The game is very mature and has a fair amount of RAIDs and lots of instances.
To be completely blunt, at least for me, the newbie zones were by far the most interesting and fun parts of the game. (And why I stupidly splurged for a lifetime account)
Once you leave them, you only have a small amount of content. And what content is, is generally heavily chained, often with a group quest. So you can't really solo effectively, without a lot of grinding. And where I am now in the game (level 44, took me almost a year to get there), there doesn't seem to be any quests at all.
Go to the Lorebook and see for yourself.
http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Special:Advancedsearch?type=quest
From 1-20,. there are about 600 quests
From 20-30, there are 200
From 30-40, there are 300 (but this is misleading, as it includes crafting quests at 30, and horse quests at 35, which aren't available to all, and many of the horse quests are simply trading your horse in for another color)
Picks up after that, but so many are chained, and not available to me.
Groups are impossible to find, and I've never been able to find a guild (kinship) that would take me. Unless you are an uber geek with no life, apparently you are not wanted.
Our kin takes all kinds of players (from uber to solo to causual). We are a family and have a great time in the game. You just have not found us yet.
I've played LotRO since closed beta, have a couple life time accounts and volunteered on the LotROVault at launch up until a few months ago.
The game was fun from 1-50, but Moria has basically ruined the game for me. Repeated rep grinds, Legendary Item leveling grinds, and gear gated content await you at max level. It seems Turbine is implementing all of the things that turned me off about WoW (god I miss UO and AC 1).
MMO Strategy Guides
I quit playing for the last week, bored. When I returned to one of my lowbie characters I found that they had added a lot of new content to the game and my lowbie character needs to advance a bit before it can do some quests i did at a lower level. Perhaps we need to look at this game again, myself included. They seem to have addressed the concerns of players to some degree. More will be revealed.
The game has had rep grinds in it since it released the first Book update way back not long after the game launched. While I'm not a huge fan of it this isn't anything new. As for the gated content that's only for 2 events - the new 12 man dungeon and the watcher raid. None of the other instances require rad gear and there are quite a few to run now.
I actually like the legendary leveling thing myself because at least it gives you additional things to work for once you hit max level and to an extent anyways you can form a weapon or item to your preference. I really don't see how people think it was better back then. Helegrod was pretty cool but quite frankly this game has so much more to offer now for players to do than it did back then.
I know you're not alone in your sentiment by any means but I just don't get it. I played the game then and I'm back playing it now and besides the crafting issue (which I can agree with to an extent) I don't see what the problem is with the MoM expansion and the other additions they've made. Although, one thing I will say is it's a bit dissappointing how much content they're making soloable at lower levels but I would imagine that's due to issues some on underpopulated servers are having finding groups for things.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
It's a great game if you like to do raids/dungeons in small groups. You're constantly doing them at all the level ranges. It's a nice change from the typical 'grind to max level and THEN raid'
I've been playing LotRO for a solid 15 months now and i've just rolled my first Minstrel. I feel bad that i overlooked this class for so long, as it's sooo much fun.
Other popular newbie classes are Champions (Light tank with great DPS and Area Effects) and Hunters (Nuker). Our Kinship (guild/clan) has a tonne of 'em. Both are easy to play, very soloable and always welcome in groups. (personally, i have a maxed out (lvl 60) champ and a hunter at lvl 37).
The only class i wouldn't recommend (from personal experience) is Lore Master. I didn't enjoy the pet aspect of it. But i'm sure there are a lot of LotRO fans who love them.
I'd also like to echo the replies above and say that the starting area is very guided and structured, but there really is a lot to do. Leveling is quick, but not rushed (like WoW has become). Once you get out in the wide world it can feel like you've got too much to do (loads of quests / epic story arcs to follow / deeds to increase stats / crafting / fishing / festivals (the summer one is running atm)/ or just exploring off the beaten track).
My main bit of advice is to find a good kinship, get swept up in the story and enjoy!
Lore Master is an awesome class once you get into the mid twenties. Starts kind of boring and lacking signature abilities. But gets good later.
Once you get dual wield with sword and staff and then legendary items the class is one of the best. One of the toughest and most versatile classes with very good damage. You probably want access to a good flanking pet to really feel tough though.
Unlike other games the tank pet is not what makes you tough, although it can be useful. It is the Eagle and or Bog-Lurker and to some degree the Raven, because they flank so much and you can heal yourself. Heals + mez/stuns + debuffs = take on 3-4 things simultaneously and still survive.
Early on you don't even have a Raven and only have a bear and can't see the true power !Flank for both offesne (with improved staff strike) and defense. Same is true for the nuking spec of LM you need a number traits and at least some of the snares and roots to do that. It is basically not possible to really nuke well until sometime in the 30s.
For tanking do not overlook the Warden. You need Mines of Moria and they are pretty common since they are a new class, but keep them in mind.
If that's been your experience of LotRo then i can see why you'd feel quite negative about it.
My experience however couldn't have been farther from that. When i started i wanted to strictly solo. I managed to get my Champion to Level 60 without grouping once. True there are (were since the book 8 update of breeland) some important low level group quests, but i simple ignored them until i was a much higher level, then soloed them.
Not once on my journey did i have a quest log that was less than half full. That's a lot of quests, as the log can hold 40-50 quests (starting at 40, you gain an extra quest slot for every 40 deeds you complete up to a maximum of 50). In fact, more often than i liked, i was having to sacrifice low level (green & light blue) quests to make more room whenever i found a new quest hub.
What may have caused you quest drought is the fact that after you leave Breeland (anywhere up to lvl 20-25), the main path splits into two:
One path goes east through the Lone Lands to Trollshaw, Rivendell then splits north to the Misty Mountains and south to Eregion (following the path of the fellowship).
The other starts north to Trestlebridge and the North downs, then splits west to Lake Everdim and Forochel (both areas are gorgeous and were added during free book updates) or north-east to Angmar.
This second route seems to have far more quests than following the fellowship. In fact, it's well documented that you could just stay in the North Downs and level from 25 right up to 40!! A lot of players i've since spoken to rate the North Downs as their favourite area of the game (so far).
On the subject of kinships, once i reached lvl 60 with my Champ i looked back on all the areas i missed out on by avoiding groups: The Great Barrow, Fornost, The Rift in Angmar (to name a few), so i took the plunge and joined a Kinship. I had no problem finding one (in fact, i have moved my 6 characters into a second more active kin now).
Most kins on my server (EU server Evernight) are crying out for members and the regional chat has a regular stream of kinship adverts, especially at the weekends.
Both kins i've been in have been nothing but courteous and polite the whole time and a real pleasure to be with (further increasing my annoyance that i waited so long to join one!), and i have never been required to group or give more time to the game than i was prepared to do.
I will conceed one point however, that although grouping in random fellowships (not kin based ones) at low levels is easy, i have found some difficulties finding groups in between levels 30-45.
There is usually few problems finding groups to do the epic story arcs or big instanced areas (Fornost etc), but finding groups for the other random fellowship / small fellowship quests can be quite hard. Often i find myself either bypassing them altogether or coersing my kinnies to come and help me.
I think that LoTRo, like a lot of other MMOs, is like a dumbell, with higher concentrations of players at each end of the leveling spectrum and players spread out over a wide area inbetween.
Unfortunately, i can't see a solution for that, and as the game expands it may get even worse.
I just hope that Turbine doesn't follow the route that Blizzard did with WoW and speed up leveling to a point where it's obvious that you're being led at break-neck speed towards the goal of "endgame content".
The thing about LotRO, is it's all about the journey not the destination.
Great post with very valid points but the fact is that Turbine has increased xp to allow people to level faster. Since Moria's release LOTRO has become very much like WoW as far as gear grinding goes at end-game. I havent seen book 7 or 8 though so I'm too sure what they did with that. I left as soon as I saw what Moria's end-game had to offer.
"I play Tera for the gameplay"
Great post with very valid points but the fact is that Turbine has increased xp to allow people to level faster. Since Moria's release LOTRO has become very much like WoW as far as gear grinding goes at end-game. I havent seen book 7 or 8 though so I'm too sure what they did with that. I left as soon as I saw what Moria's end-game had to offer.
I think that's overstated. I played Wow for 3 years and I've been playing LOTRO for about a year and a half, and the difference is pretty substantial. Right now, you only need to grind gear for *TWO RAIDS* in LOTRO: The Watcher (which is just a Boss in a Box), and DN. Every other piece of content, including the 7 six mans, 2 three mans, the crafting instances, and the LI rep solo instances, can be done with quest rewards and crafted gear that can be bought off the auction house. WoW has a far more extensive gear progression path, and a vastly larger collection of gear to grind through.
Now that Turbine has thrown a little bit of content for the raiders, the non-raiding community has been up in arms. Considering that the next book update will almost certainly be a whole new region, and the expansion will probably follow, I think this is all overblown.
IMO, Book 7 was pretty decent, and Book 8 has been great!
Great post with very valid points but the fact is that Turbine has increased xp to allow people to level faster. Since Moria's release LOTRO has become very much like WoW as far as gear grinding goes at end-game. I havent seen book 7 or 8 though so I'm too sure what they did with that. I left as soon as I saw what Moria's end-game had to offer.
I think that's overstated. I played Wow for 3 years and I've been playing LOTRO for about a year and a half, and the difference is pretty substantial. Right now, you only need to grind gear for *TWO RAIDS* in LOTRO: The Watcher (which is just a Boss in a Box), and DN. Every other piece of content, including the 7 six mans, 2 three mans, the crafting instances, and the LI rep solo instances, can be done with quest rewards and crafted gear that can be bought off the auction house. WoW has a far more extensive gear progression path, and a vastly larger collection of gear to grind through.
Now that Turbine has thrown a little bit of content for the raiders, the non-raiding community has been up in arms. Considering that the next book update will almost certainly be a whole new region, and the expansion will probably follow, I think this is all overblown.
IMO, Book 7 was pretty decent, and Book 8 has been great!
I was beginning to think rational thinking and posting was dead on this site. Thank you, I am not alone now.
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"Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"No, your wrong.." - Random user #123
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
How are you?" -Me