Lord of the Rings Online

Ah yes, another trial question thread.

I too like many who seem to find their way to LOTRO played Everquest 1 & 2 for years.  I must say that overall my experience has been positive.  But I think I am a bit bored with Norrath and thought I would spin my wheels in Middle Earth for a change.

My main questions are:

• Are there any dragons to fight/raid (I don't mean drakes either)?  I really enjoy killing a huge powerful dragon.
• Is it possible to enjoy the game without doing the quests?
• What would you say are the top features of the game itself?
• I am going to playing pretty casual, is it too late to enjoy the game as it was from release?
• What kind of mounts are there?
• I enjoy collecting things in an RPG, are there awesome items, weapons, armor, house items, etc to collect and show off?

EQ2 is a fun game, but because of their rubbish graphics engine I have bad performance often times.  I am hoping LOTRO is newer and the engine more polished.

Thanks

Originally posted by Johnhost

Ah yes, another trial question thread.

I too like many who seem to find their way to LOTRO played Everquest 1 & 2 for years.  I must say that overall my experience has been positive.  But I think I am a bit bored with Norrath and thought I would spin my wheels in Middle Earth for a change.

My main questions are:

• Are there any dragons to fight/raid (I don't mean drakes either)?  I really enjoy killing a huge powerful dragon.  Ya i think so.
• Is it possible to enjoy the game without doing the quests? I hardly "do" quests. I take them all then do all my deeds and traits and crafting...end up finishing quests along the way. Rest xp and killing mobs is the way to level IMO. I was level 30 when I left lonelands for North downs...questers usually hit north downs around 23-25.
• What would you say are the top features of the game itself? dont have to reach level cap before you can have fun. The game is fun all the way through.
• I am going to playing pretty casual, is it too late to enjoy the game as it was from release? Its 10x's better now than at release.
• What kind of mounts are there? horses
• I enjoy collecting things in an RPG, are there awesome items, weapons, armor, house items, etc to collect and show off? yes on all. Just added fishing, now you can take your rare fish to the taxidermist and then put it up in your house.

EQ2 is a fun game, but because of their rubbish graphics engine I have bad performance often times.  I am hoping LOTRO is newer and the engine more polished. LOTRO runs much better IMO

Thanks

hope that helps, anything more specific ya wanna know just ask.

Originally posted by Johnhost
...

My main questions are:

• Are there any dragons to fight/raid (I don't mean drakes either)?  I really enjoy killing a huge powerful dragon.
• Is it possible to enjoy the game without doing the quests?
• What would you say are the top features of the game itself?
• I am going to playing pretty casual, is it too late to enjoy the game as it was from release?
• What kind of mounts are there?
• I enjoy collecting things in an RPG, are there awesome items, weapons, armor, house items, etc to collect and show off?

...

Dragons - no, no real dragons in LotRO cause Frodo, Aragaon and the lads didn't fight dragons in the books either. Plenty of drakes though. However, there are other huge things you can fight. 

Not doing quests - no, the game is the quests. Some quests (notably the class quests) you will have to do unless you want to gimp your character. A number of quests (the epic ones) are the best content of the game. The majority of the quests you can do or not, but remember that quests are the prime source of XP in LotRO.

Top feature of the game - Good Middle Earth immersion, polish, good graphic, plenty of content (areas, quests, raids, solo-content as well as group-content), very casual friendly, very solo-friendly, very easy game.

Casual game play - no problem at all, the game is hyper casual-friendly all the way to level 50. Note however that obtaining the best high-end items requires some effort. You will not be able to deck-out your character in all the best shiny things when you don't group up for high-end content. Not directed at you but there is currently some whining on the official boards from solo-ers and so-called casuals that they can't get the best gear during an easy half an hour walk in the park.

Mounts - Horses. Currently there are 8 different horses (different skins) in game that players can acquire. One of them very difficult to get, 3 of them reasonably difficult, 4 of them easy to get. Small races (dwarf, hobbit) get the same mount as Pony. ;)

Collecting things - Possible, there are somewhat rare items in the game. But to show off? Nah, all items that you might find have been found 10.000 times already since launch.

Dragons - no, no real dragons in LotRO cause Frodo, Aragaon and the lads didn't fight dragons in the books either. Plenty of drakes though.

What's the difference between drakes and dragons?

Originally posted by Shangala

Dragons - no, no real dragons in LotRO cause Frodo, Aragaon and the lads didn't fight dragons in the books either. Plenty of drakes though.

 

What's the difference between drakes and dragons?

Dragons fly? I dunno. They also use lore from the book " the hobbit"..so its possible that there "could" be a dragon in game even though the lads didnt fight any in the lotr books. However. I am no expert in middle earth lore so I could be very, very wrong.

Originally posted by Shangala
...

What's the difference between drakes and dragons?

I always thought Dragons have wings and can fly and drakes don't, but then I'm not really sure, hehe.

Anyway, my post that you quoted was wrong anyway, brainfade on my part - of course there is a dragon in the game. :)

lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Monster:Thorog

Originally posted by Larsa

 

Originally posted by Shangala
...

What's the difference between drakes and dragons?

I always thought Dragons have wings and can fly and drakes don't, but then I'm not really sure, hehe.

 

Anyway, my post that you quoted was wrong anyway, brainfade on my part - of course there is a dragon in the game. :)

lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Monster:Thorog

Can I ask you what you mean by lotro being a very easy game? Not that Im saying you're wrong, I just like to see what people's definitions of easy and hard are in mmo's..if you have time that is. Just curious, thats all. Thanks.

Originally posted by FikusOfAhazi

Can I ask you what you mean by lotro being a very easy game? Not that Im saying you're wrong, I just like to see what people's definitions of easy and hard are in mmo's..if you have time that is. Just curious, thats all. Thanks.

Well, my definition of easy in this case would be that it's next to impossible to make any errors - and if you do so it hardly matters anyway. Here are a few examples of what I consider easy-mode for combat situations:

1. No real death penalty. You only loose a few silver and a few minutes time to go back to the mob that just killed you.
2. You cannot fail a quests. Just repeat the quest until you've done it.
3. Any class can comfortably defeat any normal mob, up to a mob a few levels above you.
4. Rather narrow aggro range reduces chance of adds.
5. Player characters can out-run almost every mob.
6. Find yourself in a tight spot with mobs all around you? No problem, just teleport out.
7. For most fellowship quests a full fellowship is hugely overpowered and can just steamroll the mobs without any risk of failure.

Originally posted by Larsa

 

Originally posted by FikusOfAhazi

Can I ask you what you mean by lotro being a very easy game? Not that Im saying you're wrong, I just like to see what people's definitions of easy and hard are in mmo's..if you have time that is. Just curious, thats all. Thanks.

Well, my definition of easy in this case would be that it's next to impossible to make any errors - and if you do so it hardly matters anyway. Here are a few examples of what I consider easy-mode for combat situations:

 

1. No real death penalty. You only loose a few silver and a few minutes time to go back to the mob that just killed you.
2. You cannot fail a quests. Just repeat the quest until you've done it.
3. Any class can comfortably defeat any normal mob, up to a mob a few levels above you.
4. Rather narrow aggro range reduces chance of adds.
5. Player characters can out-run almost every mob.
6. Find yourself in a tight spot with mobs all around you? No problem, just teleport out.
7. For most fellowship quests a full fellowship is hugely overpowered and can just steamroll the mobs without any risk of failure.

Thank you. It would be interesting (to me) if you put a "compared to" whatever game after each of those so I could get a better understanding, but I wont ask you to do that. Those are all valid opinions. Thanks again.