Alright, to give you a little background I played LotRO back in  very late beta.  I created a character, and being wildly unimpressed with the character customization and first instance tutorial I decided not to buy it.  However, seeing all of the content they've been adding and hearing all the good things I've been hearing I decided to go ahead and give it a second real try.

I started my 7 day free trial yesterday.  I found that the same instance totorial was still in place.  I found it just as boring as before.  Controls are nice and easy, world graphics aren't bad but the characters themselves are very unimpressive.  I am a healer in every MMO I play so naturally I decided upon the minstrel class.  Although I don't like the idea of no magic I knew this going in so I wasn't letting it affect experiencing my character.  All in all it's not a bad class so far, decent soloability so far with the wide range of attacks and healing ability.  I could grow to like it.  I got past the first few quests and gave it a few hours of my time.  Now being level 5 I am still not impressed.  I know people are going to say "you have to give it time", but I think... why? Why should a game aiming to potentially get my money not hook me from the begining?  My question to those of you who do like this game is, am I missing something?  I haven't had a chance to group yet, but I haven't really seen much oportunity to do so.  When I see other people they are just running around doing their own individual quests, which is one of the biggest things I hated about WoW.  Do I need to just get around and find a dungeon to crawl with a group or is there something else?  I'm a fan of LotR and am tired of waiting around for better MMOs so I really would like to give this game a chance.  I am of course going to continue my trial but if there is any advice or hints any veteran players could give me to start having fun now they would be appreciated.

Your not missing anything really. The game is what it is , a game for role players and fans of the lore. You might want to try something like Vanguard.

I recently started a 7 day trial, and bought the game on Jan, 29. I've already cancelled. My suggestion would be don't let the first 10 levels persaude you into buying the game. Yea, its fun, but it quickly becomes repetitive, and the quest get worse, ie.,  run to Farmer Bill to give him some grain, or save a lynxx by running around the forest collecting rabbit traps. No thanks, I'm not an errand boy.

I'm sure you will disregard my advice, though. Here is a game tip. Collect copper ore and any quality hides. See what they sell for using the auctioneers. I made over 500 silver in 3 hours. Other than that, good luck staying motivated to play.

It would be wise for you to just not buy the game, cause then you will save us all from hearing how you canceled it like the above poster.

Just seems like you don't have the appetite for reading , or enjoying a story, and that is not an insult, a lot of power gamers just don't "get it"

Be well dude .

If you've only made it to level 5, you've not even made it out of the tutorial zone yet.  Keep going to level 10 or so before you make up your mind.

Well if you start to read and play it first...

level 5 is something you go to in a few hours.

You cant even understand the game after that short time.

I have palyed it from beta. I still palying it.

The storie in it is awsome if you compare to other games. But if you dont follow stories that is in the game you miss about 80% of the game.

Most people that dont like this game just dont understand the game. They think its an other boring WoW or everquest ... Its not..

Graphics?? well if you got the hardware/Vista, then you will see something good. If not, then just accept it and play it for the stories..

I love the game....

Greetz

You should get D&D online, it had come a long way since release, You will be grouping your first day, all dungeons are unique and have there own twist to them that you will not find in any other game, lots of people, and if your a clearic (healer) you will never wate more than 5 min. to get a group. it has built in chat that works for everyone. 

 Lord of the Rings was no fun for me at all because I like to group and the quest lines, and chapters make it impossible to find anyone.

Go to the D&D forums in this site and you will find most all positives, i'm only here because I seen your post on the main page of this site.

Maybe its not casual enough for you to enjoy it. I quit it being around lvl 20, went back to WoW, returned to it again and are now looking forward to reach lvl 50. Never had problems finding people to group with. The  only thing  that would make me return to WoW again is the better PVP.

The first few levels,up to 6-8 or so are just to teach a person how to play the game.Learn the interface,controls,movement and such.Believe it or not,there are still a lot of people new to mmorpgs, and need this learning experence.After having a char of the same race get above the new area, you can chose to skip it.

 It does get much better,However,if you don't like story lines or quests your probably not going to be impressed.

Originally posted by dreamer05
...

I am of course going to continue my trial but if there is any advice or hints any veteran players could give me to start having fun now they would be appreciated.

No advice can be given.

You write that you find LotRO boring, that you do not have fun playing it. Well, it's easy, then don't play it. You do not tell us what kind of gameplay would be less boring and more fun for you - but chances are you will not find that sort of gameplay in LotRO.

LotRO is a good game, not outstanding but good. But it's also an easy game, casual-friendly, telling lots of stories with sometimes drama and sometimes humour thrown in, it's a solo-friendly game, you level fast and effortless, it's newbie friendly, it's reasonably suited for RP. Whether you like that sort of features I do not know. But when you do not like that sort of features then you should not play LotRO.

Originally posted by Larsa

 

Originally posted by dreamer05
...

I am of course going to continue my trial but if there is any advice or hints any veteran players could give me to start having fun now they would be appreciated.

No advice can be given.

 

You write that you find LotRO boring, that you do not have fun playing it. Well, it's easy, then don't play it. You do not tell us what kind of gameplay would be less boring and more fun for you - but chances are you will not find that sort of gameplay in LotRO.

LotRO is a good game, not outstanding but good. But it's also an easy game, casual-friendly, telling lots of stories with sometimes drama and sometimes humour thrown in, it's a solo-friendly game, you level fast and effortless, it's newbie friendly, it's reasonably suited for RP. Whether you like that sort of features I do not know. But when you do not like that sort of features then you should not play LotRO.

Then you answered my question.  Those things are not what I look for in an MMO.  Looks like I'll keep moving.

Originally posted by dreamer05

Originally posted by Larsa

 

Originally posted by dreamer05
...

I am of course going to continue my trial but if there is any advice or hints any veteran players could give me to start having fun now they would be appreciated.

No advice can be given.

 

You write that you find LotRO boring, that you do not have fun playing it. Well, it's easy, then don't play it. You do not tell us what kind of gameplay would be less boring and more fun for you - but chances are you will not find that sort of gameplay in LotRO.

LotRO is a good game, not outstanding but good. But it's also an easy game, casual-friendly, telling lots of stories with sometimes drama and sometimes humour thrown in, it's a solo-friendly game, you level fast and effortless, it's newbie friendly, it's reasonably suited for RP. Whether you like that sort of features I do not know. But when you do not like that sort of features then you should not play LotRO.

Then you answered my question.  Those things are not what I look for in an MMO.  Looks like I'll keep moving.

Before, try the monster play.

Level 5 is not a high enough level to get a sense of any MMO. Getting to level 5 in Tabula Rasa was fun as they made it interesting.. if only the rest of the game was just as interesting.

But yea that guy outlined the game pretty well except for the end game which is just a tad higher than casual and easy

IMHO the game is the shit what you may need to also find is what are the busiest servers to play on most of the gruop orientated quest start from lvl 10+ and get more group based as you progress along some people flame this game because they say it is forced group based and others say it is solo friendly? who cares the game is the shit lol. it is a journey just like the book/movies the game is not about being the elite epeen with the best gear or about being the first to max out there level the game imo is still a baby as there is so much more of the map to be revealed i think the game was meant to be a journey for the players to grow and love the game but unfortunately the majority of gamers nowadays could care less what the story is about and are just after the rewards heck half of the people dont even understand the lore and ask silly questions like why is there no magic users/dealers e.t.c. and then they give crap biased oppinons on the game which therefore turns people off i would even go as far as saying pay for a sub even if you cancel it after 1 month heck it's only $15 experience as much as you can and give it a true oppinon for yourself.

Good luck on your decision.

I betaed and played some after release and I was not impressed with the game either. LoTRO is all about the story quests, however, the majority of the game is spent wasted doing these petty, chore, menial tasks and I find that VERY boring. There are already games that do that, such as WoW and EQ2 on a much wider scale. The story quests and monster play alone isn't enough to make the game for me. The story quests for example are rushed through by every PUG I've ran, with the exception of the beta groups I was apart of. That makes the story quests worthless to me. The classes offered were very boring and uninteresting to me as well. I don't care what others will say about me for posting this, but I just wasn't impressed with LoTRO. Too much of the same really and nothing that new.

I found the first 10 levels to be boring as hell too, but after getting to level 10, I immediately started playing the monster play and I was hooked for about a month after deciding it wasn't worth $15 anymore after discovering all of the monster play zone and seeing the same landscapes over and over again. However, Book 12 or w/e book is the latest is supposed to have a whole new monster play zone right? Has the new book already released?

Level 5?  You will definitely hit lvl 5 inside the tutorial.  I usually get very close to lvl 6 or even hit lvl 6 inside the tutorial, and its so easy a tutorial you can hardly die.  Judging the game based on that is a bit too far fetched.  The game is much bigger than the tutorial.

LOTRo can be played solo or in groups.  There are group quests, and some of them are very hard.  Some lvl 30 group quests will kill a solo lvl 50 almost instantly, unless you are a minstrel or good messer (I doubt if a burglar can solo the last chapter in bk 3).  So its a game balanced for both solo and group oriented players.

The game is based on a good lore, the story drives the game.  You do not have wizards in the game b/c you do not have it in LOTRo.  A wizard is semi-god.  The classes offered in the game reflects the world of middle earth during the epic world conflict during the "ring" days.  The mobs also reflect the world then.  You cannot kill a Nazgul, they are semi-god as well, you need to respect the lore of LOTRo to enjoy the story or you will find the content odd.  That is why the Nazgul did not die during bk 5.  For those who says quests are boring, think twice before paying for LOTRo.

As for errands in quests, no that is not true.  Many of the quests starts as kill X orcs, or so on, but that warms you up.  You go to weathertop, the orc army is there trying to slow and stop the fellowship (according to the lore or Lord of the Rings).  Naturally, you will be trying to clear the weathertop of orcs. Scouting the orc camps and then killing X orcs is naturally step 1 & 2 of the line of quests.  The quests did not stop there, the line of quests leads to scouting the weathertop to find clues as well as clearing the weathertop of orcs.  I would say that is a natural part of the story, and if that is boring, what can I say?

Rushing thru a quest in PUGs, well bad luck my friend.  Find a better team to repeat the quest, do not complete it if you think you have not enjoyed the fullest extent of a good quest story.  Usually you have to talk to an NPC near the end of the instanced quest to finish it.  Do not finish the chat, or select abandon quest at that final point, and the quest is available for you to try it again at pace you prefer.

Try to play it with the lore in mind, and try to play with like minded people.  That will double the feeling of immersion and make the game fun again.

The first real challenges in a group starts around level 20 or so when you can do great barrows instance.Until that it 's more or less soloing and random pickup groups.Later on grouping is more required for a lot of the quests but you can solo to 50 if you want.

A good idea is to get into a good guild.It helps your social life and helps your grouping experiences.

A lot of the fun starts after level 20 then dies down a bit in the 30's and starts again in the 40's+

At 50 it's mostly about helping out guildmates,finishing your deeds,traits,quests,crafting,doing PvP in ettenmoor/ettendeep for new armor/ranks or you can raid a lot both in PvE or PvM if that's what you prefer.

Good luck.     

i usually disagree with the 'give it more time" stance in mmo's, but I have to agree, that level 5 is a bit too low.  if it took you a few HOURS to get to 5, then you are also probably doing something wrong.

Let me also suggest that if you don't like doing errands (which I hate too) don't be the hobbit race.  Remember that most of the lore concerning hobbits usually is that of non-combat, so the mission set in the shire are largely non-combat.

Dwarves, humans, and elves are much more combat based.  Not saying you can't be a hobbit, but you should move from the shire right away if you don't like errands.

Originally posted by smitty0356

i usually disagree with the 'give it more time" stance in mmo's, but I have to agree, that level 5 is a bit too low.  if it took you a few HOURS to get to 5, then you are also probably doing something wrong.

Let me also suggest that if you don't like doing errands (which I hate too) don't be the hobbit race.  Remember that most of the lore concerning hobbits usually is that of non-combat, so the mission set in the shire are largely non-combat.

Dwarves, humans, and elves are much more combat based.  Not saying you can't be a hobbit, but you should move from the shire right away if you don't like errands.

After lvl 10, almost all races move out to Bree.  By then there is little difference.  So from levle 6 to level 10 there might be minor differences in the types of quests available due to the choice of race, and that is only a few hours of gameplay.