Im just corious if the population has risen with the MoM expansion?

It sure has  :)  ...I definitely see more people running around everywhere I go.

It is seriously packed right now, atleast in moria. I stopped playing once i hit 50 back in summer 07' due to lack of interest, came back for the expansion (lvl 55 right now). Every quest haven there is you see other players, every quest location you see other players...I honestly can't say iv'e gone longer than a few minutes without running into someone in any part of moria.

Now i can't speak for what the population was prior to the launch, but who cares? There are a lot of people playing right now and that is what matters. BTW im on brandywine....which is the highest population wise (or one of the highest) so keep that in mind.

Im seeing lots of folks also, Landroval server. Not just high levels or new classes either lots of lower levels as well as big guys  of all classes running about.

It definitily rised, I see so many players (not just lv 50 to 60, but 1 to 40 too) so i guess it rised.

Played this game since launch, on and off, and never reached 50 with any of the characters. While I do not believe that this game needs alot of other players to be seriously fun, it makes it easier to actually complete the fellowship quests :)

Anyway, whith the new expansion I created both a Warden and a Runemaster and there have definitely not been a lack of low level players around, so things have been great.

I also decided to finally take my lvl 25 minstrel to new heights, and to find people for the fellowship quests have been very easy.

The auctionhouse seems alive and kicking too, wich I think is one of the most important things in LOTRO, since I have always thought of Middle Earth as a rather desolate place outside the small towns - that is the way I like it :)

Oh yeah, I am playing on European Laurelin RP Server

Yeah most servers are packed even euro ones, but we need mroe night gamer. Seems like lotro's pop is only made of regular people. I'm all laone when i log on at 3am and want to go questing around.

At first the population didnt rise much, but now the numbers are increasing big time.

Probably word of mouth spreading that there is new fun to be had here and this game has never created the ill feelings most other MMOs create in people who leave. So people come back when they hear this.

Today I made a warden, when I entered Archet there were 31 people there.

At the first hub in Moria there were so many people that I lagged badly, I counted between 50 and 60 and there werent even an AH there. A guildie of mine said that it was much worse at the AH.

So yes many have returned to try out the expansion. No one knows how long it will last though.

Originally posted by afoaa

At first the population didnt rise much, but now the numbers are increasing big time.

Probably word of mouth spreading that there is new fun to be had here and this game has never created the ill feelings most other MMOs create in people who leave. So people come back when they hear this.

Today I made a warden, when I entered Archet there were 31 people there.

At the first hub in Moria there were so many people that I lagged badly, I counted between 50 and 60 and there werent even an AH there. A guildie of mine said that it was much worse at the AH.

So yes many have returned to try out the expansion. No one knows how long it will last though.

About as long as last time, when about 6-10 weeks after release many achievers quit, followed by the killers. For the last year or so the game was crowded with RP/socialize/explorer type players, I don't think this will have changed when you take a look into the game around Feb.

M

People are coming back because they see that lotro keeps on delivering.

After over a year of gametime i bought my lifetime sub. this week, because turbine/codemaster have proven their competence with the last patches and especially the mom expansion, i think the future is bright for lotro, people realise that and come back to the game.

Agree. They have definitely delivered with the patches. Being a Tolkien fan, and also one that has played LOTR pen & paper RPG for many yearss previously, it is a treat to be able to walk around in the world. Of course, the world being so extensive in Tolkiens writings, it is probably too much to hope for to be able to visit exactly the whole of Middle earth, but I will stay with the game until all hope is lost (wich will be in roughly 8-9 years time), and it is time for LOTRO 2 :)

Lots of new faces on all the servers.

It peaked last week and looks like things are coming back down a bit. I figure the pop will level out to a bit more than pre expansion levels in a month or so.

Originally posted by Mixxathon

Agree. They have definitely delivered with the patches. Being a Tolkien fan, and also one that has played LOTR pen & paper RPG for many yearss previously, it is a treat to be able to walk around in the world. Of course, the world being so extensive in Tolkiens writings, it is probably too much to hope for to be able to visit exactly the whole of Middle earth, but I will stay with the game until all hope is lost (wich will be in roughly 8-9 years time), and it is time for LOTRO 2 :)

  A few months ago I would have said the same thing but I have noticed that Turbine has really started a downhill slide as far as their QA and paying attention to customers goes. Started back in book 14 and has really shown up in the new expansion and post expansion.

 Even on the ultra low population Vilya I've seen lots of people running around in all the zones, not just Eregion and Moria.  I hope it holds up so there will be people around when I get to finishing all the book quests.  This was a problem in SoA.  Lots of people rush though the content (and the books) leaving us slowpoke "smell the roses" type players on low pop servers scrambling to finish the epic quest line.  I'm still trying to finish Book 7.   Yes, book 7.

Originally posted by Jackdog

Originally posted by Mixxathon

Agree. They have definitely delivered with the patches. Being a Tolkien fan, and also one that has played LOTR pen & paper RPG for many yearss previously, it is a treat to be able to walk around in the world. Of course, the world being so extensive in Tolkiens writings, it is probably too much to hope for to be able to visit exactly the whole of Middle earth, but I will stay with the game until all hope is lost (wich will be in roughly 8-9 years time), and it is time for LOTRO 2 :)

  A few months ago I would have said the same thing but I have noticed that Turbine has really started a downhill slide as far as their QA and paying attention to customers goes. Started back in book 14 and has really shown up in the new expansion and post expansion.

Having gone through Desert of Flames, Kingdom of Sky, Echoes of Faydwer, The Burning Crusade, Red Moon Rising, Revelations just to list some of the more recent ones, how does Turbine tend to lower their standards QAwise?

Honestly, this must be one of the smoothest expansions with one of the vastest content additions, only The Burning Crusade was on par, but Blizzard did not add any new classes or fundamental changes in game mechanics, like Turbine did with introducing legendary weapons and adding skill trees (that - to my surprise - are a lot less out of balance than I expected).

M

Originally posted by Meridion

About as long as last time, when about 6-10 weeks after release many achievers quit, followed by the killers. For the last year or so the game was crowded with RP/socialize/explorer type players, I don't think this will have changed when you take a look into the game around Feb.

M

That is probably true but not necessarily a bad thing. I dont believe games should cater to every type of player since people have so different taste.

Lotro is for the explorers and socializers and delivers for that kind of gamer better than any other current mmo and its good that it caters to its core fans and keep on doing that.

Its actually a failure of many new MMOs that they are not honest about what their core audience is so they leave many many angry people in their wake. Like WaR that was hyped as a RvR game but it really wasnt.

Originally posted by Meridion

Originally posted by Jackdog

Originally posted by Mixxathon

Agree. They have definitely delivered with the patches. Being a Tolkien fan, and also one that has played LOTR pen & paper RPG for many yearss previously, it is a treat to be able to walk around in the world. Of course, the world being so extensive in Tolkiens writings, it is probably too much to hope for to be able to visit exactly the whole of Middle earth, but I will stay with the game until all hope is lost (wich will be in roughly 8-9 years time), and it is time for LOTRO 2 :)

  A few months ago I would have said the same thing but I have noticed that Turbine has really started a downhill slide as far as their QA and paying attention to customers goes. Started back in book 14 and has really shown up in the new expansion and post expansion.

Having gone through Desert of Flames, Kingdom of Sky, Echoes of Faydwer, The Burning Crusade, Red Moon Rising, Revelations just to list some of the more recent ones, how does Turbine tend to lower their standards QAwise?

Honestly, this must be one of the smoothest expansions with one of the vastest content additions, only The Burning Crusade was on par, but Blizzard did not add any new classes or fundamental changes in game mechanics, like Turbine did with introducing legendary weapons and adding skill trees (that - to my surprise - are a lot less out of balance than I expected).

M

server issues, bugged quests, class skills not working properly . Read today's patch notes and the official forums. If you want me to elaborate there is another thread somewhere you can post in that is more on the subject.

This thread is supposed to be about population rise and I should not have even posted that in retrospect. Apologies to the OP for the unintentional derail.

The population will balance back to its pre-expansion levels again. Check in February- March and you'll probably see the pre Moria release sub numbers there. I had a lot of good times in LOTRO, it just got old to me after about 8 months or so of play, including alpha and beta. But if you haven't ever played it, check it out.

Originally posted by levsix

The population will balance back to its pre-expansion levels again. Check in February- March and you'll probably see the pre Moria release sub numbers there. I had a lot of good times in LOTRO, it just got old to me after about 8 months or so of play, including alpha and beta. But if you haven't ever played it, check it out.

Already happening. Seems LOTRO spiked on XFire for a while and made it to #16 on their charts (with only WAR barely beating them)

But, it is already falling now (has dipped down to 25) and will most likely get back to #30 (it's normal position) in several weeks.

Turbine could have made an effort to sell to new customers, but instead stuck with the fanbase. As long as the fans are happy, LOTRO will at least squeek by and make some profit...don't need to be big like WAR or WoW.

no one uses xfire

Originally posted by Wagrof

People are coming back because they see that lotro keeps on delivering.

After over a year of gametime i bought my lifetime sub. this week, because turbine/codemaster have proven their competence with the last patches and especially the mom expansion, i think the future is bright for lotro, people realise that and come back to the game.

 

Hear, hear!

Both myself and my wife play and we aren't ever leaving. Our first and probably our last MMO we'll ever play (major fans of Tolkein's work).

Love the community, the perks like houses and the music system. The RP opportunities and the fantastic PvE and Epic Story. The more people I show this to, the more they subscribe. Now I can't wait until I can afford two lifetime subscriptions.

As for the population count, I'm on Landroval and yes, a definite increase to this already populated server.

BTW, Mines of Moria is incredible!

Originally posted by raizzeen

no one uses xfire

Yet, I will make a bet with you that you are 11,813,001 times wrong...(and counting)...

(2,458 of them are LOTRO users and 93k+ are WoW users...how odd that NO ONE uses it)

Originally posted by openedge1

Originally posted by raizzeen

no one uses xfire

Yet, I will make a bet with you that you are 11,813,001 times wrong...(and counting)...

(2,458 of them are LOTRO users and 93k+ are WoW users...how odd that NO ONE uses it)

 

XFire users are particularly NOT the target audience LotRO is aiming for. So especially the Xfire numbers are biased in favor of games like WoW or WAR.

I agree though that LotRO is consequently aiming for the socializer/roleplayer/casual crowd as they intended to do right away; And I am quite sure they are doing exactly the right thing. If they chose to change course , catering to PvPers or achievers or sandboxers, they'd end up with nobody playing their game, just look at SWG.

It's a very good thing to stay true to your concept, every successful MMO did this so far, be it giants like WoW with PvE and raids or dwarves like EvE with sandbox and PvP.

Don't change a winning team, LotRO is a stable, well performing, healthy MMORPG; like switzerland, they're not big, they're not powerful, they deliever delicious cheese, tasty chocolate and the best payment rates in the western world. Size doesn't matter for a project to work properly.

M

Originally posted by raizzeen

no one uses xfire

You are so right!