The game is only soloist from 1 to 45. After 45 you gotta have your hand held to get everything from then out.
Err.. what game are you talking about? You can solo all the way to 65 in LOTRO, and that's without doing any Skirmishes.
Of course, if you want the best gear, then you will need to group. But not for leveling.
And if you are bent on soloing, why would you even need the best gear? The game is certainly soloable to 65, but the epic quests, story quests, had some issues I heard they fixed later for smaller groups/solo.
parrotpholk-Because we all know the miracle patch fairy shows up the night before release and sprinkles magic dust on the server to make it allllll better.
As a soloist and duo and trio on occasion I would say that yes much of the game is geard towards 1 to 3 BUT instances and endgame are all group oriented. This is so much so that we have had to leave Windfola just to try to get some decent gear. I think there alwasy needs to be a balance and what Turbine has doen with skirms...solo/duo/small/large/raid is brilliant!!!
just my opinion but since I have been there since beta and have a lifetime must say that the solo aspect is just the fluff/backstory leading up to the group content.
For me, I just recently cancelled my sub. I had gone back to the game because I'd heard it was more solo-friendly that it used to be. While that is true, there is still a ton of group-required stuff and if they ever let me have an end game that I can do solo, I may sub back up, but not until then.
What MMO HAS End Game Solo content.Any MMO you can Level TO the End of THE game, but as far as I know (Ive played all the major mmos and some of the not so popular ones) there is no solo End Game content, its all about grouping. I get Online to play with other people, Besides soloing EVERYthing in an mmo kinda defeats the purpose of playing an mmo, imo. some one would be better off playing a Morrowind game. but to each there own I guess.
City of Heroes, for one. And please, let's not go over the many many reasons to play an MMO that have nothing to do with teaming. This very site lists many of them in many threads. If you want to group, great! But I don't understand why MMOs need to force players to group up to experience content.
I do here you, on solo friendly content,guess its just my belif that getting the best or uber gear should some how require a team/group effort. there are times when im playing that i just dont feel like grouping so i go do some solo stuff. If A MMO made End Game content Solo'able or atain'able with out groups, there would be NO reason in an MMO to group at all. btw very well put with out takeing my post personal its nice to be able to have conversations with out every one getting all heated because some one mite have a diff. point of view or idea >.0.
I would go so far as to say there needs to be a grouping track and a soloing track in mmo's.
there is a definite and palpable difference between how group and how solo content plays out. The problem is that dev's are interspersing this content which creates traffic issues when people are leveling. somone is soloing and suddenly needs a group for one or two parts of a quest line. spends some time trying to find one or is not inclined to bother and he/she stops.
Conversely, a person who loves to group is inundated with solo stuff, finally finds the parts where a group is needed, groups up, and when that segment of the quest is done the group disbands leaving a frustrated and disenfranchised individual. I think dev's need to stop creating content that "they" think is fun and start looking at how the players are actually playing these games. Then start making content that works naturally for us all.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
You want to force people into Groups when they are either clearly NOT wanting to group OR even though the majority of the community has outgrown the content.
You really think that changing the content so it requires groups at lower levels will make things better. Think again!
That is, mildly said, a schizofrenic MMO wish. When a game has it's majority outgrown, the game need make the lower levels easier so it becomes more interesting for newbies to join. It is not actually buzzling with life in LOTRO at lower levels, I agree there. Make it harder, and you will not have any more new blood into the game, and the result will be the sure death of the game.
When game dies, after you Group-fanatics had your wishes, you still would be blaming World of Warcraft. How pathetic.
Enjoy your hell. The more you whine, the better. You deserve it. You group-fanatics created it yourself, now live with it.
The game isn't dying, or at least not on Landroval. I even had the little warning icon the other day in Esteldin about my awareness being lowered due to server load. If an area has been "made useless", why are you even worried about finding a group there? Lots of MMOs have older areas not being used when new content comes out. When DaoC introduced SI, the old high level areas took a pop hit, and then ToA caused SI areas to take a hit, etc. Lonelands *may* be 100% soloable, if you don't count Garth Agarwen, but I still see people LFF for the goblin stronghold, spiders, and trolls all the time.
Are there any MMOs that have been out for a year or more where finding groups for lower level areas isn't a chore? A lot of people will join a group if you advertise for one, but don't like to advertise because they don't know the game good enough to want to be the leader.
I rarely have trouble finding a group on the occasion I'm looking for one. I group all the time for 2 minutes to do one soloable quest just to share so people aren't waiting for spawns. I ran Great Barrows dungeon twice last night and the first time it took less than 15 minute to fill out the group and the 2nd time it literally took 2 minutes.
Biggest reason I quit. Could never find groups to finish my quests with. I didn't want to solo. I wanted to group and do an instance but it was getting annoying being logged in for an hour trying to finish quests and not getting any help.
I will usually find a group to do fellowship book quests. Sometimes guildies will help me out and other times I have had others. Perhaps I am just lucky so far.
I understand the frustration in trying to group for lvl1-60 group content. But that content has been around for 3 years now and most people have done it enough. The rewards for grouping outside guild is just not up to the time cost so people will solo/duo up to then. If you were on an active kin you would arange groups for those instances.
Making volume 1 soloable was a great thing cause you can at least follow the story and get the good loot.
But quitting the game for lack of 1-60 grouping would be really stupid trust me.
Once you hit 58 you'll start doing moria 6mans (6 of them) and 3mans (2 or 3). Always groups for those. Also it will be easy to find groupsfor volume 2 group dungeons. Then, running all those and soloingmirkwood on your downtime will get you to 65 and you can start mirkwood 3mans (3 of them) and 6man. LOADS of groups for those ALL the time.
Then if you are in a descent kin, once you get 60 radiance from the moria and mirk instances above you can start lvl60 12 man raid that is still a challenge at 65 and all kins run it (even pugs). By the time you get 120rad you will have grouped constanly for 1-2 months and now you can start the mirkwood 12 man. Still you will want to go keep doing the lvl60 moria raid to complete the set cause its the best in game. In my (casual) kin we still havent cleared the mirkwood 12man so there's plenty stuff to work on.
I have the main char with full DN set doing mirkwood raid, another 65 doing 3mans and the moria raid, and a lvl42 that's soloing through eregion. And most people in the game have a similar mix of characters. So as you may begin to understand I will not be bothered to group with you for lvl30 Dol Dinen since I've cleared it 10+ times in the last 3 years and it really has nothing to offer me
But please don't say that there is no grouping in Lotro cause you don't know what you're talking about :P
Stick with it and it will reward you with something more than 48man tank and spank
You want to force people into Groups when they are either clearly NOT wanting to group OR even though the majority of the community has outgrown the content.
You really think that changing the content so it requires groups at lower levels will make things better. Think again!
That is, mildly said, a schizofrenic MMO wish. When a game has it's majority outgrown, the game need make the lower levels easier so it becomes more interesting for newbies to join. It is not actually buzzling with life in LOTRO at lower levels, I agree there. Make it harder, and you will not have any more new blood into the game, and the result will be the sure death of the game.
When game dies, after you Group-fanatics had your wishes, you still would be blaming World of Warcraft. How pathetic.
Enjoy your hell. The more you whine, the better. You deserve it. You group-fanatics created it yourself, now live with it.
You make no sense. Soloing all the way is boring, you gotta have a balance, this is MMO and hell even single player RPG's are all about grouping these days, from Dragonage to Final Fantasy 13 and even Demon Souls you can co-op with 3 players if you go online. War In The North LoTR game releasing next year is 3player co-op 100%, no other way to play the game.
Though, here's what's wrong with your post : Making stuff easy =/ Making stuff interesting.
You want to force people into Groups when they are either clearly NOT wanting to group OR even though the majority of the community has outgrown the content.
You really think that changing the content so it requires groups at lower levels will make things better. Think again!
That is, mildly said, a schizofrenic MMO wish. When a game has it's majority outgrown, the game need make the lower levels easier so it becomes more interesting for newbies to join. It is not actually buzzling with life in LOTRO at lower levels, I agree there. Make it harder, and you will not have any more new blood into the game, and the result will be the sure death of the game.
When game dies, after you Group-fanatics had your wishes, you still would be blaming World of Warcraft. How pathetic.
Enjoy your hell. The more you whine, the better. You deserve it. You group-fanatics created it yourself, now live with it.
You make no sense. Soloing all the way is boring, you gotta have a balance, this is MMO and hell even single player RPG's are all about grouping these days, from Dragonage to Final Fantasy 13 and even Demon Souls you can co-op with 3 players if you go online. War In The North LoTR game releasing next year is 3player co-op 100%, no other way to play the game.
Though, here's what's wrong with your post : Making stuff easy =/ Making stuff interesting.
There in lies the rub with LOTRO. It has been made so easy that you can now get from 1-65 within a 4 week time span playing part time. The game was handed an easy mode in volue II book 7. they adjusted the xp curve and gave all the players and easy button with the exception of the radiance runs. Thus they made it easy for all the new blood they were recruiting to hit the level cap to replace the vets that had been leaving in droves.
Easy button for the win. and whith lotro we forgot intereting and replaced it with easy and booring.
I've never had a problem finding a group at any level range. Also the game is far from dying.
But wild accusations are fun to make for no gain at all, more curious as to why people go through the effort of trying to scare people away from a game. Perhaps to try and drive them to whatever game the poster feels they should be playing instead?
Personally I could care less what MMO people play. I only give my past experieces with LOTRO because some folks considering playing may end up saving some money if they have the same playstyle I do.
Why should I believe you? You know what most normal people do? They move on when things are done. They don't go around bashing things.
We would be better off if players stop putting themselves in the postion to persuade or disuade others from playing games. It would keep a lot of the drama and manipulation out of the forums. It would make for a healthier environment.
You want to force people into Groups when they are either clearly NOT wanting to group OR even though the majority of the community has outgrown the content.
You really think that changing the content so it requires groups at lower levels will make things better. Think again!
That is, mildly said, a schizofrenic MMO wish. When a game has it's majority outgrown, the game need make the lower levels easier so it becomes more interesting for newbies to join. It is not actually buzzling with life in LOTRO at lower levels, I agree there. Make it harder, and you will not have any more new blood into the game, and the result will be the sure death of the game.
When game dies, after you Group-fanatics had your wishes, you still would be blaming World of Warcraft. How pathetic.
Enjoy your hell. The more you whine, the better. You deserve it. You group-fanatics created it yourself, now live with it.
You make no sense. Soloing all the way is boring, you gotta have a balance, this is MMO and hell even single player RPG's are all about grouping these days, from Dragonage to Final Fantasy 13 and even Demon Souls you can co-op with 3 players if you go online. War In The North LoTR game releasing next year is 3player co-op 100%, no other way to play the game.
Though, here's what's wrong with your post : Making stuff easy =/ Making stuff interesting.
There in lies the rub with LOTRO. It has been made so easy that you can now get from 1-65 within a 4 week time span playing part time. The game was handed an easy mode in volue II book 7. they adjusted the xp curve and gave all the players and easy button with the exception of the radiance runs. Thus they made it easy for all the new blood they were recruiting to hit the level cap to replace the vets that had been leaving in droves.
Easy button for the win. and whith lotro we forgot intereting and replaced it with easy and booring.
They're just following Blizzard's example. Easy sells. Square Enix is perhaps the only big-name MMO developer out there that don't dumb down content for new players as time goes on. FF11 is still just as much challenging as it was 10 years ago when it released. But at least Blizzard improved their LFG (introduced cross server questing for old areas) instead of flat out deleting group content.
I've never had a problem finding a group at any level range. Also the game is far from dying.
But wild accusations are fun to make for no gain at all, more curious as to why people go through the effort of trying to scare people away from a game. Perhaps to try and drive them to whatever game the poster feels they should be playing instead?
Personally I could care less what MMO people play. I only give my past experieces with LOTRO because some folks considering playing may end up saving some money if they have the same playstyle I do.
Why should I believe you? You know what most normal people do? They move on when things are done. They don't go around bashing things.
We would be better off if players stop putting themselves in the postion to persuade or disuade others from playing games. It would keep a lot of the drama and manipulation out of the forums. It would make for a healthier environment.
Good points made (not sure if the poster you quote is one of these types) but I love the ones who bash a game and also include a comment like "I max levelled in x days". Well if you played it to max it must have been fun til then? And I especially love the claims people make about how fast someone can make it to max level like "now you can make it to max level in like two weeks and that's even playing part time." . And hopefully the poster above recognizes that last statement he actually just made and it is foolish and untrue, depending of course on what he considers a part time player and anything approaching 3-4 hours a day is not part time to me but I am fairly certain LOTRO hasn't changed so much that that is an attainable goal.
MMO players need to go a step further in their criticism of games in general because if you maxed the game you certainly shouldn't be advising others against even playing the game.
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
Whenever I re-subscribe I find it harder and harder to find people to do these quests with. I first started when the game first released then resubbed later and was shocked at how easy all of the bree quests had gotten... but when I tried to group in lone lands/bree/etc. it took me hours to find a group during prime time hours! I don't mind them simplifying some quests- making them to mini-fellowships etc. as long as they don't dumb down instances.
Have they also been simplifying low level instances or are they the same?
Whenever I re-subscribe I find it harder and harder to find people to do these quests with. I first started when the game first released then resubbed later and was shocked at how easy all of the bree quests had gotten... but when I tried to group in lone lands/bree/etc. it took me hours to find a group during prime time hours! I don't mind them simplifying some quests- making them to mini-fellowships etc. as long as they don't dumb down instances.
Have they also been simplifying low level instances or are they the same?
Which ones? You mean like Great Barrows? It's a bit easier than I remember from wayback, but most of the mobs are still elites and you still need a group to do it. I agree the starter area quests are now waaaay easier than they were at launch...too easy IMO.
I've yet to have trouble getting a GB group on Landroval, but Garth Agarwen in LL has been a bit harder, probably partially because of the head scratching decision to make the some of the instanced portions like Ivar and Grimbark of GA 4 mans instead of 6 like the Red Maid.
What server are you on? I hear Brandywine is the most populated server, and that Landroval is third, but I forget which is supposed to be second. If you aren't already on one of the more populated servers, maybe try on of those. Good luck.
Originally posted by Rockgod99 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 suc
It is only a game! I totally agree. And I think if you join a good kinship you'll get a healthy mix of solo and group play.
This game may not be for everyone but like everything else in life, it is what you make it.
Lots of hate for LOTRO I see. The game is dead or dieing is something ive read here at one time or other about every MMO on the market. Join a Kin or sub to a different game is good advice that has been given many times on this thread and others. But that would take the fun out of proclaiming death to the game.
I have found it very easy to get a group, but you can also go alone through game, dont know about high lvls. What kills this game is that you just get higher and higher lvls and no challengue, there is no real passion playing this game, there is no risk, nothing changes, i am starting to get bored. If this game had pvp, it would rock, cant understand
Blade with whom i have lived, blade with whom I now die. Serve right and justice one last time. Seek one last heart of evil. Still one last life of pain. Cut well old friend. Then farewell!
You will get some challenge by level 40-end game but it remains to be seen if they nerf the other areas like they nerfed Lone Lands. I get a feeling they are planning to delete more group content.
I can sympathize with the OP to a certain extent. The problem is more with the placement of the fellowship quests in the game.
I played LotRO for a couple months shortly after its release, but it didn't stick for various reasons (and grouping wasn't the issue, since in those days there was zero issue with finding groups). I've just recently come back in the last week to give it another try since it's changing business models later this year and I figured I'd give it a go to see if I want to come back for that. I made a burglar just like I did back when I played way back when because I like the playstyle of them, and I quickly noticed something when going to different places and checking the social panel: I was one of the few people that wasn't a hunter, champion, or warden. This immediately alerted me to the fact that most of the people were obviously playing solo, which doesn't surprise me at all given that the game has been out for a while and the majority of people playing have gone through the content enough times that they want to solo their way through, which is completely understandable and is what you're going to find in any game that's been out for a couple years. I'm sure most of them would be willing to group with someone if asked, but that's not the point of my post. My point is on the placement of fellowship quests.
The way fellowship quests are put in, at least up to where I am at level 20, is completely irradical. I made a hobbit burglar, and burglar's are not the most soloable class (but certainly not the least soloable either). What I found is that I had absolutely zero reason to find a group for a while. The first time I ran into a case where I couldn't handle the situation on my own was the quest "A Gift From The North" (or something along those lines) way up in the northwest part of the Shire. I wandered around to a few hubs within the Shire and checked the social panel, and for whatever reason almost everyone I saw was level 65. So, I just decided to skip the quest for a couple levels and come back to it when I could solo it (sadly, the first attempt annihilated my goal of getting the Undying title). The next situation that comes up is the Great Barrows, which I'll definitely need a group for. This completely coincides with the problem others have pointed out in this thread: solo solo solo solo group solo solo solo. Sure, you can complete quests and get XP faster by grouping for everything, but the placement of quests which really require a group if done level-appropriate completely disrupts the flow. In the end, you end up with everyone soloing and then finding a fellowship to complete one quest every 10 levels or so and then going back to soloing.
What really needs to be done is to have more group-oriented content around so that it feels more natural when you do them rather than it seeming out of place. I have no problem with a game allowing a player to solo their way to endgame, and in fact enjoy that since my schedule is completely sporatic and solo play is generally the best way for me to go. However, I enjoy the reward and satisfaction that comes with completing a tough quest with a group as well. I can't stand playing WoW and gave it a good try, but I will admit that they did a lot of things right. And one of the things WoW did right was putting those group-oriented instances in for every 5 levels or so. I really wish LotRO had the same offering, but quite frankly, it doesn't; at least not in the low levels. After going through so many levels just soloing because it just ends up being more convenient to solo and there's so few things that you would actually need a group for, when it comes time to actually need a group (like with the Great Barrows), it just ends up feeling totally out of place. Had there been more instances up to that point that offer good challenges for groups along with good rewards, it'd be a different story.
To reiterate, I -PREFER- to solo quests when it comes to leveling and progressing through the ranks. But I enjoy group challenges for better rewards thrown in along with it, rather than soloing my way through and every now and then needing to group for 1-2 quests.
I think it'll be really interesting to see what happens when the business model changes. Even if a lot of them don't stick around, the first few months of switching over is going to bring a lot of people interested in the game since they don't have to worry about paying for anything for a while in doing so, and the low level areas are going to be teeming with people wondering the same thing: "Why am I grouping? It's making everything too easy, and if we just go to higher level areas to actually have a challenge, I can't use any of the rewards I get for at least 4-5 levels." Seriously, I couldn't imagine how quick and easy all the low level content would be in a fellowship if a class that's on the lower end of the soloing spectrum has zero problems breezing through it all on its own. If only there were more fellowship-oriented instances scattered around which existed more for the challenge and rewards than for the experience...
This game is dying a slow death. Groups are incredibly hard to find in places that have been now made useless (like Angmar...as in Shadows Of Angmar..forget about finding a group to help you finish 6 man quests here). Even in the most populated server, Brandywine, its going to be incredibly hard for you to find groups, do old raid content like fighting the freakin' Balrog of Morgoth.
The game's major population is dominated by soloists, who don't even want the LFF/LFG options to improve. Who have absolutely no problem with Turbine turning every group quest into a solo quest. They have already started, Lone-Lands, which was 80% 6 man quests 6 months ago, is now 100% (yeah - One Hundred Percent - Means all of it) Solo content. And its the direction they are heading in now. Very disappointed and hurt to see Turbine take LoTRO in this direction.
I guess they want the game to be incredibly easy to the new players so they can experience the end-game faster. But deleting group quests just pisses me off, I don't get it. Its an "MMORPG" for ****'s sake, and the game already barely has any real raiding content at all. Helegrod and Rift are the only 2 real raid instances in this game and nobody, literally nobody, in all the server never visits those places anymore.
So, just giving you heads up on the state of things. 1. Even on most crowded server - Brandywine - in lots of areas it will be impossible to complete group quests 2. Before they are deleted/converted into kid easy solo quests. 3. Raid content is impossible to do at this moment unless you join a really special raiding kin that likes to do the old raid runs for fun only.
Pretty game though and if you play the trial and think you'll enjoy solo'ing to 65 all the way then buy the game, otherwise, don't. Its a PVE game, means if you want to solo you can just buy a single player RPG out there for much less than you'll end up paying for LoTRO.
Ok... so what. Its not a slow death, its just not a grouping game. Oh the world is ending. NOT
Yes ive heard its a "solo game" before. Ive also heard "wow clone" and "theme park" and other unkind comments about the game. Funny though, now that F2P has been announced all of a sudden its the second coming. Everybody loves LOTRO now and the vets that are leaving due to the change are "fear mongers" ..." knee jerk reactionists" and "doom and gloomers".
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
OP, spoken like a player who is not in a good kinship. I hear this online as well, but when we suggest they join a good one, they balk. I figure they just like to whine.
In ours we never have these issues, 24/7 we have someone to fellow with at 99% of the levels/stages of the game. And we are not a huge kinship. Plus on Landroval I have not had a problem with finding (or helping others with) pickups either.
Comments
Err.. what game are you talking about? You can solo all the way to 65 in LOTRO, and that's without doing any Skirmishes.
Of course, if you want the best gear, then you will need to group. But not for leveling.
"There is as yet insufficient data for a meaningful answer."
And if you are bent on soloing, why would you even need the best gear? The game is certainly soloable to 65, but the epic quests, story quests, had some issues I heard they fixed later for smaller groups/solo.
parrotpholk-Because we all know the miracle patch fairy shows up the night before release and sprinkles magic dust on the server to make it allllll better.
I would go so far as to say there needs to be a grouping track and a soloing track in mmo's.
there is a definite and palpable difference between how group and how solo content plays out. The problem is that dev's are interspersing this content which creates traffic issues when people are leveling. somone is soloing and suddenly needs a group for one or two parts of a quest line. spends some time trying to find one or is not inclined to bother and he/she stops.
Conversely, a person who loves to group is inundated with solo stuff, finally finds the parts where a group is needed, groups up, and when that segment of the quest is done the group disbands leaving a frustrated and disenfranchised individual. I think dev's need to stop creating content that "they" think is fun and start looking at how the players are actually playing these games. Then start making content that works naturally for us all.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Interesting dilemma you (OP) are in...
You want to force people into Groups when they are either clearly NOT wanting to group OR even though the majority of the community has outgrown the content.
You really think that changing the content so it requires groups at lower levels will make things better. Think again!
That is, mildly said, a schizofrenic MMO wish. When a game has it's majority outgrown, the game need make the lower levels easier so it becomes more interesting for newbies to join. It is not actually buzzling with life in LOTRO at lower levels, I agree there. Make it harder, and you will not have any more new blood into the game, and the result will be the sure death of the game.
When game dies, after you Group-fanatics had your wishes, you still would be blaming World of Warcraft. How pathetic.
Enjoy your hell. The more you whine, the better. You deserve it. You group-fanatics created it yourself, now live with it.
Make us care MORE about our faction & world pvp!
The game isn't dying, or at least not on Landroval. I even had the little warning icon the other day in Esteldin about my awareness being lowered due to server load. If an area has been "made useless", why are you even worried about finding a group there? Lots of MMOs have older areas not being used when new content comes out. When DaoC introduced SI, the old high level areas took a pop hit, and then ToA caused SI areas to take a hit, etc. Lonelands *may* be 100% soloable, if you don't count Garth Agarwen, but I still see people LFF for the goblin stronghold, spiders, and trolls all the time.
Are there any MMOs that have been out for a year or more where finding groups for lower level areas isn't a chore? A lot of people will join a group if you advertise for one, but don't like to advertise because they don't know the game good enough to want to be the leader.
I rarely have trouble finding a group on the occasion I'm looking for one. I group all the time for 2 minutes to do one soloable quest just to share so people aren't waiting for spawns. I ran Great Barrows dungeon twice last night and the first time it took less than 15 minute to fill out the group and the 2nd time it literally took 2 minutes.
Biggest reason I quit. Could never find groups to finish my quests with. I didn't want to solo. I wanted to group and do an instance but it was getting annoying being logged in for an hour trying to finish quests and not getting any help.
I will usually find a group to do fellowship book quests. Sometimes guildies will help me out and other times I have had others. Perhaps I am just lucky so far.
I understand the frustration in trying to group for lvl1-60 group content. But that content has been around for 3 years now and most people have done it enough. The rewards for grouping outside guild is just not up to the time cost so people will solo/duo up to then. If you were on an active kin you would arange groups for those instances.
Making volume 1 soloable was a great thing cause you can at least follow the story and get the good loot.
But quitting the game for lack of 1-60 grouping would be really stupid trust me.
Once you hit 58 you'll start doing moria 6mans (6 of them) and 3mans (2 or 3). Always groups for those. Also it will be easy to find groupsfor volume 2 group dungeons. Then, running all those and soloingmirkwood on your downtime will get you to 65 and you can start mirkwood 3mans (3 of them) and 6man. LOADS of groups for those ALL the time.
Then if you are in a descent kin, once you get 60 radiance from the moria and mirk instances above you can start lvl60 12 man raid that is still a challenge at 65 and all kins run it (even pugs). By the time you get 120rad you will have grouped constanly for 1-2 months and now you can start the mirkwood 12 man. Still you will want to go keep doing the lvl60 moria raid to complete the set cause its the best in game. In my (casual) kin we still havent cleared the mirkwood 12man
so there's plenty stuff to work on.
I have the main char with full DN set doing mirkwood raid, another 65 doing 3mans and the moria raid, and a lvl42 that's soloing through eregion. And most people in the game have a similar mix of characters. So as you may begin to understand I will not be bothered to group with you for lvl30 Dol Dinen since I've cleared it 10+ times in the last 3 years and it really has nothing to offer me
But please don't say that there is no grouping in Lotro cause you don't know what you're talking about :P
Stick with it and it will reward you with something more than 48man tank and spank
You make no sense. Soloing all the way is boring, you gotta have a balance, this is MMO and hell even single player RPG's are all about grouping these days, from Dragonage to Final Fantasy 13 and even Demon Souls you can co-op with 3 players if you go online. War In The North LoTR game releasing next year is 3player co-op 100%, no other way to play the game.
Though, here's what's wrong with your post : Making stuff easy =/ Making stuff interesting.
There in lies the rub with LOTRO. It has been made so easy that you can now get from 1-65 within a 4 week time span playing part time. The game was handed an easy mode in volue II book 7. they adjusted the xp curve and gave all the players and easy button with the exception of the radiance runs. Thus they made it easy for all the new blood they were recruiting to hit the level cap to replace the vets that had been leaving in droves.
Easy button for the win. and whith lotro we forgot intereting and replaced it with easy and booring.
Why should I believe you? You know what most normal people do? They move on when things are done. They don't go around bashing things.
We would be better off if players stop putting themselves in the postion to persuade or disuade others from playing games. It would keep a lot of the drama and manipulation out of the forums. It would make for a healthier environment.
They're just following Blizzard's example. Easy sells. Square Enix is perhaps the only big-name MMO developer out there that don't dumb down content for new players as time goes on. FF11 is still just as much challenging as it was 10 years ago when it released. But at least Blizzard improved their LFG (introduced cross server questing for old areas) instead of flat out deleting group content.
Good points made (not sure if the poster you quote is one of these types) but I love the ones who bash a game and also include a comment like "I max levelled in x days". Well if you played it to max it must have been fun til then? And I especially love the claims people make about how fast someone can make it to max level like "now you can make it to max level in like two weeks and that's even playing part time." . And hopefully the poster above recognizes that last statement he actually just made and it is foolish and untrue, depending of course on what he considers a part time player and anything approaching 3-4 hours a day is not part time to me but I am fairly certain LOTRO hasn't changed so much that that is an attainable goal.
MMO players need to go a step further in their criticism of games in general because if you maxed the game you certainly shouldn't be advising others against even playing the game.
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
Whenever I re-subscribe I find it harder and harder to find people to do these quests with. I first started when the game first released then resubbed later and was shocked at how easy all of the bree quests had gotten... but when I tried to group in lone lands/bree/etc. it took me hours to find a group during prime time hours! I don't mind them simplifying some quests- making them to mini-fellowships etc. as long as they don't dumb down instances.
Have they also been simplifying low level instances or are they the same?
Which ones? You mean like Great Barrows? It's a bit easier than I remember from wayback, but most of the mobs are still elites and you still need a group to do it. I agree the starter area quests are now waaaay easier than they were at launch...too easy IMO.
I've yet to have trouble getting a GB group on Landroval, but Garth Agarwen in LL has been a bit harder, probably partially because of the head scratching decision to make the some of the instanced portions like Ivar and Grimbark of GA 4 mans instead of 6 like the Red Maid.
What server are you on? I hear Brandywine is the most populated server, and that Landroval is third, but I forget which is supposed to be second. If you aren't already on one of the more populated servers, maybe try on of those. Good luck.
This game may not be for everyone but like everything else in life, it is what you make it.
Tearose Underhill, Hobbit Hunter
RaisingtheShire.com
Lots of hate for LOTRO I see. The game is dead or dieing is something ive read here at one time or other about every MMO on the market. Join a Kin or sub to a different game is good advice that has been given many times on this thread and others. But that would take the fun out of proclaiming death to the game.
I have found it very easy to get a group, but you can also go alone through game, dont know about high lvls. What kills this game is that you just get higher and higher lvls and no challengue, there is no real passion playing this game, there is no risk, nothing changes, i am starting to get bored. If this game had pvp, it would rock, cant understand
Blade with whom i have lived, blade with whom I now die. Serve right and justice one last time. Seek one last heart of evil. Still one last life of pain. Cut well old friend. Then farewell!
You will get some challenge by level 40-end game but it remains to be seen if they nerf the other areas like they nerfed Lone Lands. I get a feeling they are planning to delete more group content.
I can sympathize with the OP to a certain extent. The problem is more with the placement of the fellowship quests in the game.
I played LotRO for a couple months shortly after its release, but it didn't stick for various reasons (and grouping wasn't the issue, since in those days there was zero issue with finding groups). I've just recently come back in the last week to give it another try since it's changing business models later this year and I figured I'd give it a go to see if I want to come back for that. I made a burglar just like I did back when I played way back when because I like the playstyle of them, and I quickly noticed something when going to different places and checking the social panel: I was one of the few people that wasn't a hunter, champion, or warden. This immediately alerted me to the fact that most of the people were obviously playing solo, which doesn't surprise me at all given that the game has been out for a while and the majority of people playing have gone through the content enough times that they want to solo their way through, which is completely understandable and is what you're going to find in any game that's been out for a couple years. I'm sure most of them would be willing to group with someone if asked, but that's not the point of my post. My point is on the placement of fellowship quests.
The way fellowship quests are put in, at least up to where I am at level 20, is completely irradical. I made a hobbit burglar, and burglar's are not the most soloable class (but certainly not the least soloable either). What I found is that I had absolutely zero reason to find a group for a while. The first time I ran into a case where I couldn't handle the situation on my own was the quest "A Gift From The North" (or something along those lines) way up in the northwest part of the Shire. I wandered around to a few hubs within the Shire and checked the social panel, and for whatever reason almost everyone I saw was level 65. So, I just decided to skip the quest for a couple levels and come back to it when I could solo it (sadly, the first attempt annihilated my goal of getting the Undying title). The next situation that comes up is the Great Barrows, which I'll definitely need a group for. This completely coincides with the problem others have pointed out in this thread: solo solo solo solo group solo solo solo. Sure, you can complete quests and get XP faster by grouping for everything, but the placement of quests which really require a group if done level-appropriate completely disrupts the flow. In the end, you end up with everyone soloing and then finding a fellowship to complete one quest every 10 levels or so and then going back to soloing.
What really needs to be done is to have more group-oriented content around so that it feels more natural when you do them rather than it seeming out of place. I have no problem with a game allowing a player to solo their way to endgame, and in fact enjoy that since my schedule is completely sporatic and solo play is generally the best way for me to go. However, I enjoy the reward and satisfaction that comes with completing a tough quest with a group as well. I can't stand playing WoW and gave it a good try, but I will admit that they did a lot of things right. And one of the things WoW did right was putting those group-oriented instances in for every 5 levels or so. I really wish LotRO had the same offering, but quite frankly, it doesn't; at least not in the low levels. After going through so many levels just soloing because it just ends up being more convenient to solo and there's so few things that you would actually need a group for, when it comes time to actually need a group (like with the Great Barrows), it just ends up feeling totally out of place. Had there been more instances up to that point that offer good challenges for groups along with good rewards, it'd be a different story.
To reiterate, I -PREFER- to solo quests when it comes to leveling and progressing through the ranks. But I enjoy group challenges for better rewards thrown in along with it, rather than soloing my way through and every now and then needing to group for 1-2 quests.
I think it'll be really interesting to see what happens when the business model changes. Even if a lot of them don't stick around, the first few months of switching over is going to bring a lot of people interested in the game since they don't have to worry about paying for anything for a while in doing so, and the low level areas are going to be teeming with people wondering the same thing: "Why am I grouping? It's making everything too easy, and if we just go to higher level areas to actually have a challenge, I can't use any of the rewards I get for at least 4-5 levels." Seriously, I couldn't imagine how quick and easy all the low level content would be in a fellowship if a class that's on the lower end of the soloing spectrum has zero problems breezing through it all on its own. If only there were more fellowship-oriented instances scattered around which existed more for the challenge and rewards than for the experience...
Ok... so what. Its not a slow death, its just not a grouping game. Oh the world is ending. NOT
It's definitely a solo game....... which is cool. The only thing hard to solo are the bosses. You do need help sometimes.
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Yes ive heard its a "solo game" before. Ive also heard "wow clone" and "theme park" and other unkind comments about the game. Funny though, now that F2P has been announced all of a sudden its the second coming. Everybody loves LOTRO now and the vets that are leaving due to the change are "fear mongers" ..." knee jerk reactionists" and "doom and gloomers".
WOW isnt great because it has 12 million players. WOW has 12 million players because its great.
Never used to be a problem to find a group when I was playing... but then again that was at launch - 3 month after
I love Lotro, but I dont see myself coming back to it...
:(:(:(:(
~Awesome Tr!x
OP, spoken like a player who is not in a good kinship. I hear this online as well, but when we suggest they join a good one, they balk. I figure they just like to whine.
In ours we never have these issues, 24/7 we have someone to fellow with at 99% of the levels/stages of the game. And we are not a huge kinship. Plus on Landroval I have not had a problem with finding (or helping others with) pickups either.