Grouping should be done for fun and for expediency, never out of necessity.
Exactly. If you have 6 people who are soling along and suddenly part of the quest chain requires a group, they will find that group/make that group, do the quest and then everyone will leave.
this is NOT the way to do it.
The converse is true as well. Having everyone be in a group and then suddenly have a soloable part. It tends to break up the momentum.
People don't find grouping to be fun in Lotro because:
The kill exp is too slow. Like in Vanguard, for players that seek to hit the cap as fast as possible, give large group experience killing bonus, so fastest grind exp per hour is doable in group.
Improve item or coin drop for group mobs. For players that seek to improve their gear as often as possible during the level up, this would be an adequate motivation.
Exactly like you mentioned, don't make the quest lines solo solo group solo group, either make a pure solo quest chain or pure group chain. Anyway, the less chains and requirements - the better.
Make the most graphically attractive looking places, to be group-only. Give there best loot for that level, and lots of experience.
Turbine discarded all this (too hard to implement I guess), and basically just removed all the group based content during their area revamp. Now noone is looking for groups, everyone is playing alone, and when they hit the end-game, they keep playing alone in their own instanced solo skirmishes. Great game.
You're blaming the game because the players choose to play solo?
Newsflash, you can still group even if the content is solo. Groups do get experience bonuses in the sense that you LEVEL FASTER if you're in a group.
Of course this is not true.
Players choose to solo, because group content give them not enough reward, and because of the horrific LFG in-game tools, and because they made the leveling so fast, that there's basically too few people around your level. I remember it was easy to find a group 1-2.5 years ago. (basically before the level up speed nerf)
It's not like people have a strong inclination towards solo or towards group. People want to get things done, and they want to do it the most accessible way (in most cases anyway). If you give them plenty of options to socialize, they will. But Turbine went the other way.
You're right that group content doesn't give you enough of a reward in the game, but that doesn't make my statement that you level faster in a group un-true. Just because you're in a group it doesn't mean you're restricted to group content.
I used to get headaches back at release when I would be flooded with group quests and unable to find a group to do them, I missed out on so much experience if I tried to move on and not complete them, sometimes they would lead to more solo quests. Being forced to find a group to progress isn't fun. Now you have the option, do the group content, or don't. I prefer to have the choice. Like I said, you only have yourself to blame if you're pissed off that others aren't wanting to group to do that content, you can't blame them for not wanting to do them. Unfortunately, most social interaction in MMOs outside of end game requires you to deal with complete retards. Unless you're playing WoW, then 95% of the population are all retarded.
WoW has definitely opened up the entire genre for failure, in the sense that any average joe can install the game and start playing. Having a max level character in MMOs used to mean something, now it just means you spent time doing 1 or the other to get max level, but it doesn't mean you know ANYTHING about the game, unfortunately.
Of course this is not true. Players choose to solo, because group content give them not enough reward, and because of the horrific LFG in-game tools, and because they made the leveling so fast, that there's basically too few people around your level. I remember it was easy to find a group 1-2.5 years ago. (basically before the level up speed nerf) It's not like people have a strong inclination towards solo or towards group. People want to get things done, and they want to do it the most accessible way (in most cases anyway). If you give them plenty of options to socialize, they will. But Turbine went the other way.
You're right that group content doesn't give you enough of a reward in the game, but that doesn't make my statement that you level faster in a group un-true. Just because you're in a group it doesn't mean you're restricted to group content.I
Yes you are right that groups can also do solo content and be faster, but that only applies to pre-build groups that do everything together.
What kills group pugs doing solo content in Lotro is the extreme over use quest chains and their requirements. It is impossible to synchronize the solo quests for the whole group.
And as I said, most people don't care if they do it alone or in group. They want to get things done and move on. They will not spend a long time to get a group to do a few solo quests, that could eventually do alone in a few minutes.
And no it should not be a balancing act like WoW. They need to stick true to the Lore and there story and develop a PvPvE zones. They could take PvP to whole new never before seen level in all MMORPG's. Gondor and Rohan as in the story is where the War rages. And PvPvE should be the main focus.
Thats what I mean by heavy Focus in PvP. Mounted Combat, new combat system, A large PvP conquest system the way Osgiliath was like a conquest battle for Middle Earth.
What The game has done exceptionally is create a PvE Story driven experience better than any I have seen. I feel like I am really in the books and LotrO was the first game where I read every single quest. As they did this through the norther regions it fit perfectly. But if They expand south toward Mordor and Harad, the only way to stick to the book would to merge it with PvP and make it PvPvE.
Of course this is not true. Players choose to solo, because group content give them not enough reward, and because of the horrific LFG in-game tools, and because they made the leveling so fast, that there's basically too few people around your level. I remember it was easy to find a group 1-2.5 years ago. (basically before the level up speed nerf) It's not like people have a strong inclination towards solo or towards group. People want to get things done, and they want to do it the most accessible way (in most cases anyway). If you give them plenty of options to socialize, they will. But Turbine went the other way.
You're right that group content doesn't give you enough of a reward in the game, but that doesn't make my statement that you level faster in a group un-true. Just because you're in a group it doesn't mean you're restricted to group content.I
Yes you are right that groups can also do solo content and be faster, but that only applies to pre-build groups that do everything together.
What kills group pugs doing solo content in Lotro is the extreme over use quest chains and their requirements. It is impossible to synchronize the solo quests for the whole group.
I agree with ya on that. Pre-made groups are definitely easier to quest with.
I think that's another advantage to having quest hubs. most people can group with each other who are working on the same quest hubs, and move on together.
To be honest, without quest hubs, the quests in LOTRO end up making the synchronizing with the groups a pain.
I like to solo. Solo gathering, solo farming, solo dungeons, random pvp that doesn't force me to have a preset team (think random arena),Solo repeatable quests, I even like soloing with henchmen. It's only a game, I've come to the conclusion that developers make games solo friendly because people suck.
And no it should not be a balancing act like WoW. They need to stick true to the Lore and there story and develop a PvPvE zones. They could take PvP to whole new never before seen level in all MMORPG's. Gondor and Rohan as in the story is where the War rages. And PvPvE should be the main focus.
Thats what I mean by heavy Focus in PvP. Mounted Combat, new combat system, A large PvP conquest system the way Osgiliath was like a conquest battle for Middle Earth. What The game has done exceptionally is create a PvE Story driven experience better than any I have seen. I feel like I am really in the books and LotrO was the first game where I read every single quest. As they did this through the norther regions it fit perfectly. But if They expand south toward Mordor and Harad, the only way to stick to the book would to merge it with PvP and make it PvPvE.
I would rather leave the PvP out of my PvE game. I think the PvMP is good enough for this kind of game (PvE). If you like PvP, there are a multitude of games that offer that if you don't like PvMP.
And no it should not be a balancing act like WoW. They need to stick true to the Lore and there story and develop a PvPvE zones. They could take PvP to whole new never before seen level in all MMORPG's. Gondor and Rohan as in the story is where the War rages. And PvPvE should be the main focus.
Thats what I mean by heavy Focus in PvP. Mounted Combat, new combat system, A large PvP conquest system the way Osgiliath was like a conquest battle for Middle Earth. What The game has done exceptionally is create a PvE Story driven experience better than any I have seen. I feel like I am really in the books and LotrO was the first game where I read every single quest. As they did this through the norther regions it fit perfectly. But if They expand south toward Mordor and Harad, the only way to stick to the book would to merge it with PvP and make it PvPvE.
Well, that's one way to go.
However, just because there is a war doesn't mean that the game has to change focus. You can have a war utilizing complete pve because pve players are in it for the story elements, not the pvp competition elements.
still, I do think they could expand monster play into new areas and open up areas that are pvp areas but that make sense to the game world.
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Don't worry. While all you guys who canceled your subs go on about how the game is dying, us people who are actually playing will be having fun grouping.
Of course now everyone will say they're playing, right?
Well with the OP thread, he only helps ensure that LOTRO will move even further toward soloing. If only solo players buy it, then even more content will become solo friendly. Thanks, I guess.
LOTRO has always been Solo friendly. If one didn't know that already, then that's a failure on your part.
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Like I said before, sum total of 6 man quests until you reach level freakin' 35..are 2 instances, GB and GA. Both instances have been now broken up as well so each one of those instances can be thoroughly completed in under a night. A player who makes it though level 35 with mostly solo'ing suddenly wouldn't start grouping, so he's going to play the rest of the game solo as well until he reaches end-game. Turbine's giving a clear message here and that's groupers are not what they are catering to anymore.
Like I said before, sum total of 6 man quests until you reach level freakin' 35..are 2 instances, GB and GA. Both instances have been now broken up as well so each one of those instances can be thoroughly completed in under a night. A player who makes it though level 35 with mostly solo'ing suddenly wouldn't start grouping, so he's going to play the rest of the game solo as well until he reaches end-game. Turbine's giving a clear message here and that's groupers are not what they are catering to anymore.
LOTRO never catered to groups. It has always had an emphasis on solo-friendly content.
And by starting this thread, with its title, you help promote more solo players joining LOTRO. By promoting it as a solo-only game, more solo content will thus be added because that will be the only people playing it.
_____________________________ Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
You people spend more time thinking about crap in MMOs than playing them (yes..I said than...no then...cause I can spell)
The only thing I thought of after the 7 pages was...WHO CARES?!?!
umm.... So why post if you don't care? Yes I said don't and not dont because I know punctuation.
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Like I said before, sum total of 6 man quests until you reach level freakin' 35..are 2 instances, GB and GA. Both instances have been now broken up as well so each one of those instances can be thoroughly completed in under a night. A player who makes it though level 35 with mostly solo'ing suddenly wouldn't start grouping, so he's going to play the rest of the game solo as well until he reaches end-game. Turbine's giving a clear message here and that's groupers are not what they are catering to anymore.
Because they revamped the LOWER LEVEL QUESTING AREAS?
They're not catering to casuals because they made it easier to leveling in the lower areas.
To the OP, Find a Kinship. I run on the brandwywine server and whenever i roll an alt (have 2 new ones, one at lvl 22 and another at 37) i never have any problems grouping and i see group replies all the time. FYI, there are only 3 group quests that where removed, Goblin-Leader, Weavers in the Ruins and Our Greatest Find and that was because they were quest-chains that started out as solo and ended up as group. All the GA quests are still there and that revitalized a somewhat hated are. Lone-Land was (not anymore) the zone that people hated the most in the whole game and Orion did a hell of a job with it. Maybe if you weren't such a douche you would find more groups.
lol look an idiot :
Retake Weathertop
Sever the White Hand
Weavers Beneath the Ruins
The Goblin Leader
Our Greatest Find
Enemies of the Eglain
Book 2 epic quests (including Breeders of the Dead)
Pursued by the Past
Plus various Agamaur quests.
Doesn't like 3 quests to me, dumbass. Good point about the kin though but like I said I already joined one when I reached 50. I wouldn't be posting this right now if I would have gotten a group for any single one of Angmar's 6 man quests after 2 weeks of searching.
And you still wonder why you don't find groups... lol.
So, 5-8 quests that ended up as a group (but started as solo chain) got downed... thats like in 200 or so quests and deeds in the Lone-Lands.. big deal.
You still have GA to 3 and 6 man. If you wanna group up, do those. No landscape quest should need a group.
Like I said before, sum total of 6 man quests until you reach level freakin' 35..are 2 instances, GB and GA. Both instances have been now broken up as well so each one of those instances can be thoroughly completed in under a night. A player who makes it though level 35 with mostly solo'ing suddenly wouldn't start grouping, so he's going to play the rest of the game solo as well until he reaches end-game. Turbine's giving a clear message here and that's groupers are not what they are catering to anymore.
Sorry man, but this is actually completely false.
GB and GA are the only fellowship instances before level 35.
There are plenty of regular, non-instance, 6-man fellowship quests before level 35.
It's okay to criticize a game, but at least do it honestly. Why you should we take you seriously if you make false claims?
Like I said before, sum total of 6 man quests until you reach level freakin' 35..are 2 instances, GB and GA. Both instances have been now broken up as well so each one of those instances can be thoroughly completed in under a night. A player who makes it though level 35 with mostly solo'ing suddenly wouldn't start grouping, so he's going to play the rest of the game solo as well until he reaches end-game. Turbine's giving a clear message here and that's groupers are not what they are catering to anymore.
LOTRO never catered to groups. It has always had an emphasis on solo-friendly content.
And by starting this thread, with its title, you help promote more solo players joining LOTRO. By promoting it as a solo-only game, more solo content will thus be added because that will be the only people playing it.
I only played the bata, and back then Lotro felt like it was very hard to get everyone on the same page to do the same part of the group quest, so I never subbed. I 100% believe that chain quest killed grouping.
For lack of better mmo's to play, as I just re-played EQ2 and it sucked, and I'm tired of WoW. I was thinking of playing Lotro, but I like to group, so I guess this game is out too.
My problem isn't so much the ample amount of solo content it's that even when you get a group for group content *random high sounding %* of the time some high level joins the team and steam rolls the content for you. It's so unsatisfying. I realise I'm able to leave the group or whatever - however the culture of the 2 servers I play on are supportive of this style of play.
The game is not dying. If anything, there were more players with the release of Siege of Mirkwood.
Most MMO's as they grow end up with huge area to explore compared to what was available when the game was first released. Even, if the population was evenly distributed, the population in each area would be sparse. The bulk of the population in most games is exploring the new content, so this makes the older lower level zones even more empty.
LoTRO's developers have recognised that this is an issue and that the population was not sufficient in these old areas most of the time to do quests that require full groups. Their solution was to change the content so that it can be soloed. This has made the Lonelands more popular as there is more content that you can actually complete now.
In other games, I have seen servers support a higher population. They did this by making duplicates of any zones that were really popular. So you might have 4 duplicates running of a highly popular new content zone and only one version of an old zone with lower player population. Anti-instance posters in this forum consider this solution a form of instancing and undesirable.
Another issue is many chain quests are linear, which means there is no point in grouping with people who are ahead of you in the chain as you will get no credit for quest completion. This further reduces the population of possible people for grouping. I think this one area in which LoTRO and many other games could improve their quests to make them more group friendly.
While a better looking for group system may make it easier to find a group in highly populated areas, it will not help when the population in a particular quest area is low.
In your post you do not give any solutions, only criticism. What is your solution to low player population in older low level areas, an issue that plagues many older MMO's?
Why do you think there is low population in low level areas? LoTRO has everything going for it, ever wonder why the most brilliant PVE MMORPG ever created based on the most brilliant fantasy world ever written with monthly costs as low as 10bucks a month experiences crappy population in low lever areas when other mmo's don't?
People leave this game because they can't get their quests done unless they solo by skipping the group quests. Fix the grouping tool, you'll fix a lot of problems. People will create alts more, solo'ing is already a piece of cake in LoTRO so that's no problem any n00b can do it but with easier to find groups you help them not get pissed off. IMO, that's the root of all things wrong with LoTRO.
I mean WOW has 2 expansions to it, what did BLizzard do? Bring out the dungeon finder, an improve to their LFG system so that people would group more in low level areas. They did not delete their group content like Turbine is doing right now. The things that Turbine really need to copy from Blizzard they don't.
So the drowned treasury group run I did in Moria yesterday was some strange dream? Crap and those LFF for 12 man turtle raids and skirmish runs must be a symptom of my growing psychosis. It must be the cabin fever from the large amount of solo play I do.
God I really hate forced groupers. Go eff yourselves and don't tread on me you petty tyrants. Sick of this crap. There are plenty of kins that group often on Londroval go join one and don't tell me how to play you clingy needy ass bitch. Yeah mods ban me if you want but it needs to be said. You know it does.
So the drowned treasury group run I did in Moria yesterday was some strange dream? Crap and those LFF for 12 man turtle raids and skirmish runs must be a symptom of my growing psychosis. It must be the cabin fever from the large amount of solo play I do.
God I really hate forced groupers. Go eff yourselves and don't tread on me you petty tyrants. Sick of this crap. There are plenty of kins that group often on Londroval go join one and don't tell me how to play you clingy needy ass bitch. Yeah mods ban me if you want but it needs to be said. You know it does.
Everybody and their dog knows grouping is never hard in end game in any mmo. This thread is about lower level areas and areas that have been made useless by the expansions (Angmar, Forochel, Fornost), where grouping in extremely difficult, you noob. And Turbine's decision to combat that by deleting group quests with every revamp. Also I'm no forced grouper, I'm not even much of a grouper, solo'd most of my way to 56. Read the complete thread before you post in anything next time.
So the drowned treasury group run I did in Moria yesterday was some strange dream? Crap and those LFF for 12 man turtle raids and skirmish runs must be a symptom of my growing psychosis. It must be the cabin fever from the large amount of solo play I do.
God I really hate forced groupers. Go eff yourselves and don't tread on me you petty tyrants. Sick of this crap. There are plenty of kins that group often on Londroval go join one and don't tell me how to play you clingy needy ass bitch. Yeah mods ban me if you want but it needs to be said. You know it does.
Everybody and their dog knows grouping is never hard in end game in any mmo. This thread is about lower level areas and areas that have been made useless by the expansions (Angmar, Forochel, Fornost), where grouping in extremely difficult, you noob. And Turbine's decision to combat that by deleting group quests with every revamp. Also I'm no forced grouper, I'm not even much of a grouper, solo'd most of my way to 56. Read the complete thread before you post in anything next time.
The dungeons mentioned are no longer endgame as they are in Mines of Moria which is predates Siege of Mirkwood. I do agree there are fewer players in areas that are below level 50 than in the Mines of Moria areas.
Comments
Exactly. If you have 6 people who are soling along and suddenly part of the quest chain requires a group, they will find that group/make that group, do the quest and then everyone will leave.
this is NOT the way to do it.
The converse is true as well. Having everyone be in a group and then suddenly have a soloable part. It tends to break up the momentum.
People don't find grouping to be fun in Lotro because:
Turbine discarded all this (too hard to implement I guess), and basically just removed all the group based content during their area revamp. Now noone is looking for groups, everyone is playing alone, and when they hit the end-game, they keep playing alone in their own instanced solo skirmishes. Great game.
You're blaming the game because the players choose to play solo?
Newsflash, you can still group even if the content is solo. Groups do get experience bonuses in the sense that you LEVEL FASTER if you're in a group.
Of course this is not true.
Players choose to solo, because group content give them not enough reward, and because of the horrific LFG in-game tools, and because they made the leveling so fast, that there's basically too few people around your level. I remember it was easy to find a group 1-2.5 years ago. (basically before the level up speed nerf)
It's not like people have a strong inclination towards solo or towards group. People want to get things done, and they want to do it the most accessible way (in most cases anyway). If you give them plenty of options to socialize, they will. But Turbine went the other way.
You're right that group content doesn't give you enough of a reward in the game, but that doesn't make my statement that you level faster in a group un-true. Just because you're in a group it doesn't mean you're restricted to group content.
I used to get headaches back at release when I would be flooded with group quests and unable to find a group to do them, I missed out on so much experience if I tried to move on and not complete them, sometimes they would lead to more solo quests. Being forced to find a group to progress isn't fun. Now you have the option, do the group content, or don't. I prefer to have the choice. Like I said, you only have yourself to blame if you're pissed off that others aren't wanting to group to do that content, you can't blame them for not wanting to do them. Unfortunately, most social interaction in MMOs outside of end game requires you to deal with complete retards. Unless you're playing WoW, then 95% of the population are all retarded.
WoW has definitely opened up the entire genre for failure, in the sense that any average joe can install the game and start playing. Having a max level character in MMOs used to mean something, now it just means you spent time doing 1 or the other to get max level, but it doesn't mean you know ANYTHING about the game, unfortunately.
Goodness I hate what WoW has done to this genre
You're right that group content doesn't give you enough of a reward in the game, but that doesn't make my statement that you level faster in a group un-true. Just because you're in a group it doesn't mean you're restricted to group content.I
Yes you are right that groups can also do solo content and be faster, but that only applies to pre-build groups that do everything together.
What kills group pugs doing solo content in Lotro is the extreme over use quest chains and their requirements. It is impossible to synchronize the solo quests for the whole group.
And as I said, most people don't care if they do it alone or in group. They want to get things done and move on. They will not spend a long time to get a group to do a few solo quests, that could eventually do alone in a few minutes.
REALITY CHECK
Never said Main focus. I said Heavy focus.
And no it should not be a balancing act like WoW. They need to stick true to the Lore and there story and develop a PvPvE zones. They could take PvP to whole new never before seen level in all MMORPG's. Gondor and Rohan as in the story is where the War rages. And PvPvE should be the main focus.
Thats what I mean by heavy Focus in PvP. Mounted Combat, new combat system, A large PvP conquest system the way Osgiliath was like a conquest battle for Middle Earth.
What The game has done exceptionally is create a PvE Story driven experience better than any I have seen. I feel like I am really in the books and LotrO was the first game where I read every single quest. As they did this through the norther regions it fit perfectly. But if They expand south toward Mordor and Harad, the only way to stick to the book would to merge it with PvP and make it PvPvE.
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Please, elaborate on the mounted combat. Everybody keeps talking about mounted combat in Lotro, but how would you imagine it?
REALITY CHECK
You're right that group content doesn't give you enough of a reward in the game, but that doesn't make my statement that you level faster in a group un-true. Just because you're in a group it doesn't mean you're restricted to group content.I
Yes you are right that groups can also do solo content and be faster, but that only applies to pre-build groups that do everything together.
What kills group pugs doing solo content in Lotro is the extreme over use quest chains and their requirements. It is impossible to synchronize the solo quests for the whole group.
I agree with ya on that. Pre-made groups are definitely easier to quest with.
I think that's another advantage to having quest hubs. most people can group with each other who are working on the same quest hubs, and move on together.
To be honest, without quest hubs, the quests in LOTRO end up making the synchronizing with the groups a pain.
LOL I like this Reply.
I would rather leave the PvP out of my PvE game. I think the PvMP is good enough for this kind of game (PvE). If you like PvP, there are a multitude of games that offer that if you don't like PvMP.
Well, that's one way to go.
However, just because there is a war doesn't mean that the game has to change focus. You can have a war utilizing complete pve because pve players are in it for the story elements, not the pvp competition elements.
still, I do think they could expand monster play into new areas and open up areas that are pvp areas but that make sense to the game world.
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Don't worry. While all you guys who canceled your subs go on about how the game is dying, us people who are actually playing will be having fun grouping.
Of course now everyone will say they're playing, right?
Well with the OP thread, he only helps ensure that LOTRO will move even further toward soloing. If only solo players buy it, then even more content will become solo friendly. Thanks, I guess.
LOTRO has always been Solo friendly. If one didn't know that already, then that's a failure on your part.
_____________________________
Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO
Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
Find the Truth: http://www.factcheck.org/
Like I said before, sum total of 6 man quests until you reach level freakin' 35..are 2 instances, GB and GA. Both instances have been now broken up as well so each one of those instances can be thoroughly completed in under a night. A player who makes it though level 35 with mostly solo'ing suddenly wouldn't start grouping, so he's going to play the rest of the game solo as well until he reaches end-game. Turbine's giving a clear message here and that's groupers are not what they are catering to anymore.
LOTRO never catered to groups. It has always had an emphasis on solo-friendly content.
And by starting this thread, with its title, you help promote more solo players joining LOTRO. By promoting it as a solo-only game, more solo content will thus be added because that will be the only people playing it.
_____________________________
Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO
Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
Find the Truth: http://www.factcheck.org/
7 pages of blah blah blah.....
You people spend more time thinking about crap in MMOs than playing them (yes..I said than...no then...cause I can spell)
The only thing I thought of after the 7 pages was...WHO CARES?!?!
"This may hurt a little, but it's something you'll get used to. Relax....."
umm.... So why post if you don't care? Yes I said don't and not dont because I know punctuation.
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"I like wow, I like aion and I like AoC all for different reasons.....the later cause i get to see boobs, but still its a reason!!" - Sawlstone
Because they revamped the LOWER LEVEL QUESTING AREAS?
They're not catering to casuals because they made it easier to leveling in the lower areas.
Goodness you're impossible to reason with.
lol look an idiot :
Retake Weathertop
Sever the White Hand
Weavers Beneath the Ruins
The Goblin Leader
Our Greatest Find
Enemies of the Eglain
Book 2 epic quests (including Breeders of the Dead)
Pursued by the Past
Plus various Agamaur quests.
Doesn't like 3 quests to me, dumbass. Good point about the kin though but like I said I already joined one when I reached 50. I wouldn't be posting this right now if I would have gotten a group for any single one of Angmar's 6 man quests after 2 weeks of searching.
And you still wonder why you don't find groups... lol.
So, 5-8 quests that ended up as a group (but started as solo chain) got downed... thats like in 200 or so quests and deeds in the Lone-Lands.. big deal.
You still have GA to 3 and 6 man. If you wanna group up, do those. No landscape quest should need a group.
People that come to forum, choose some particular thread, and then yell WHO CARES, are simply beyond me.
REALITY CHECK
Sorry man, but this is actually completely false.
GB and GA are the only fellowship instances before level 35.
There are plenty of regular, non-instance, 6-man fellowship quests before level 35.
It's okay to criticize a game, but at least do it honestly. Why you should we take you seriously if you make false claims?
LOTRO never catered to groups. It has always had an emphasis on solo-friendly content.
And by starting this thread, with its title, you help promote more solo players joining LOTRO. By promoting it as a solo-only game, more solo content will thus be added because that will be the only people playing it.
I only played the bata, and back then Lotro felt like it was very hard to get everyone on the same page to do the same part of the group quest, so I never subbed. I 100% believe that chain quest killed grouping.
For lack of better mmo's to play, as I just re-played EQ2 and it sucked, and I'm tired of WoW. I was thinking of playing Lotro, but I like to group, so I guess this game is out too.
My problem isn't so much the ample amount of solo content it's that even when you get a group for group content *random high sounding %* of the time some high level joins the team and steam rolls the content for you. It's so unsatisfying. I realise I'm able to leave the group or whatever - however the culture of the 2 servers I play on are supportive of this style of play.
Currently Playing: The Game
The game is not dying. If anything, there were more players with the release of Siege of Mirkwood.
Most MMO's as they grow end up with huge area to explore compared to what was available when the game was first released. Even, if the population was evenly distributed, the population in each area would be sparse. The bulk of the population in most games is exploring the new content, so this makes the older lower level zones even more empty.
LoTRO's developers have recognised that this is an issue and that the population was not sufficient in these old areas most of the time to do quests that require full groups. Their solution was to change the content so that it can be soloed. This has made the Lonelands more popular as there is more content that you can actually complete now.
In other games, I have seen servers support a higher population. They did this by making duplicates of any zones that were really popular. So you might have 4 duplicates running of a highly popular new content zone and only one version of an old zone with lower player population. Anti-instance posters in this forum consider this solution a form of instancing and undesirable.
Another issue is many chain quests are linear, which means there is no point in grouping with people who are ahead of you in the chain as you will get no credit for quest completion. This further reduces the population of possible people for grouping. I think this one area in which LoTRO and many other games could improve their quests to make them more group friendly.
While a better looking for group system may make it easier to find a group in highly populated areas, it will not help when the population in a particular quest area is low.
In your post you do not give any solutions, only criticism. What is your solution to low player population in older low level areas, an issue that plagues many older MMO's?
Why do you think there is low population in low level areas? LoTRO has everything going for it, ever wonder why the most brilliant PVE MMORPG ever created based on the most brilliant fantasy world ever written with monthly costs as low as 10bucks a month experiences crappy population in low lever areas when other mmo's don't?
People leave this game because they can't get their quests done unless they solo by skipping the group quests. Fix the grouping tool, you'll fix a lot of problems. People will create alts more, solo'ing is already a piece of cake in LoTRO so that's no problem any n00b can do it but with easier to find groups you help them not get pissed off. IMO, that's the root of all things wrong with LoTRO.
I mean WOW has 2 expansions to it, what did BLizzard do? Bring out the dungeon finder, an improve to their LFG system so that people would group more in low level areas. They did not delete their group content like Turbine is doing right now. The things that Turbine really need to copy from Blizzard they don't.
So the drowned treasury group run I did in Moria yesterday was some strange dream? Crap and those LFF for 12 man turtle raids and skirmish runs must be a symptom of my growing psychosis. It must be the cabin fever from the large amount of solo play I do.
God I really hate forced groupers. Go eff yourselves and don't tread on me you petty tyrants. Sick of this crap. There are plenty of kins that group often on Londroval go join one and don't tell me how to play you clingy needy ass bitch. Yeah mods ban me if you want but it needs to be said. You know it does.
Everybody and their dog knows grouping is never hard in end game in any mmo. This thread is about lower level areas and areas that have been made useless by the expansions (Angmar, Forochel, Fornost), where grouping in extremely difficult, you noob. And Turbine's decision to combat that by deleting group quests with every revamp. Also I'm no forced grouper, I'm not even much of a grouper, solo'd most of my way to 56. Read the complete thread before you post in anything next time.
Everybody and their dog knows grouping is never hard in end game in any mmo. This thread is about lower level areas and areas that have been made useless by the expansions (Angmar, Forochel, Fornost), where grouping in extremely difficult, you noob. And Turbine's decision to combat that by deleting group quests with every revamp. Also I'm no forced grouper, I'm not even much of a grouper, solo'd most of my way to 56. Read the complete thread before you post in anything next time.
The dungeons mentioned are no longer endgame as they are in Mines of Moria which is predates Siege of Mirkwood. I do agree there are fewer players in areas that are below level 50 than in the Mines of Moria areas.