Levelling is harder then Everquest2/WoW. Levelling in fact is closest to classic Everquest, at least the second half of the game is. The game starts out very easy up until level 20, so all the beta whiners think its the easiest game ever, and call it casual players heaven.

The truth however is that after level 30 you hardly get any xp without doing quests, and all the quests become group content. Indeed in that sense the game is way more hardcore then WoW/Everquest 2 where levelling to the cap can easily be done solo.

I am one of the few that do not enjoy it and I think each too his own played the beta test of it and did not find anything that made me feel like subscribing to it enjoy playing eve and find that has a lot more fun in it but I am looking forward too some new ones comming out

Originally posted by Meridion
Let's face it, leveling is just as easy/hard as in WoW. It took me 6 weeks to level up to 60 in WoW in winter 2004/05, and at this time, there was ---- NOTHING. UBRS, LBRS, Strat - period. No DM, no Scholo, no MC, no ZG...

So, when I look at LotRO now, it actually offers MORE than what was there in the initial WoW days. I hope you guys can remember. In the first days the ship to Auberdine was even an instant teleport because the ship had not been finished at that time; people were complaining that the brand new Onyxia was a joke and Molten Core offered only cave, fire, cave, fire, and cave, AND fire. With occasional riadbosses in it. People, this was only two years ago, don't you remember? I can even remember riot-like things going on across the forums about how stupidly fast you can level up and how you don't have anythnig to do at the level cap.

So as there is raid content coming up, housing coming, first major update (1/10th of the current landmass added) coming tomorrow - Seriously, I doubt Turbine doesn't know the hardcore crowd needs some entertainment on high levels. Carn Dûm is a real challenge now, heck, even Fornost is a real challenge atm.
Oh, and I play 7 days a week, for 1 to 3 hours a day and I am only level 34

Meridion

Originally posted by flood950
Its funny how much opinions of a game can vary in regards to things that seem like they would be static in certain areas but apparently are not. 

I would never in a million years put hardcore anywhere near this game.  It is probably the most casual MMO I have ever played and I have played quite a few.

See but thats a misunderstanding in my opinion. It is the most casual up until you reach level 30. After level 30 your solo quests dry out, which means you can only level in groups (as grinding gives no XP and all the quests become fellowship quests). To me, group content is not casual, because you can;t do it at your own speed, your dependent on others. Aside from that the quests themselves also become a lot more challenging.

Now compare this to WoW and EQ 2, those games you can easily level up to the cap just playing solo. Now at levelcap WoW and EQ do become more challenging, but in my opinion the "story" that LOTRO is so casual is only partually true. Yes, the first half of the game is casual heaven. After that it becomes hardcore because solo quests dry up and solo grinding does not produce XP. It becomes far more comparable to classic EQ or FF11 after level 30 then to WoW and EQ2 and other casual solo games.

Originally posted by Conley

 

See but thats a misunderstanding in my opinion. It is the most casual up until you reach level 30. After level 30 your solo quests dry out, which means you can only level in groups (as grinding gives no XP and all the quests become fellowship quests). To me, group content is not casual, because you can;t do it at your own speed, your dependent on others. Aside from that the quests themselves also become a lot more challenging.

 

All connected. Though it has instances there is no zoning like in EQ2.

Originally posted by Liliane
I think people are mixing two thing here. Graphics and game play.

If You game FUN is good graphics, then Lorto is excelent game for You. If You want complex game play with good character possibilities and customation, Lorto is way too simple game for You.

Originally posted by Arawon
LOTR = nothing new except Tolken setting(by design).Tis a place for WOW gamers to go.

It sounds confusing, but I guess when you would get the hang of it, it would be really fun.       It's kinda what happened to me when I first started playing EQ2.