Hey all,

I've been using visiting this site for a long time now and finally decided to register :)

I'm an ex WoW player, played for 2 years. Tried WAR for a few weeks while I was waiting for Aion headstart. Currently playing Aion.

What I enjoyed about WoW was PvE raiding/instancing/grouping, never did arena, didn't really like BG's (ZERG). Didn't like questing or rep farming (does anyone?). I quit when i was sick of constant rebalancing for Arena, the game becoming too casual and the community getting worse.

So I consider myself a PvE player. Though I must admit the BG's in WAR were much more fun, but I seemed to waste most of my time trying to get parties together for PQ's. Aion is probably the most fun Ive had for PvP, never felt so dominant 1v1 as I do with my 32 ranger, though I find the PvE stale and am starting to doubt whether end-game will be any fun or just one long AP grind. The defining attribute of Aion IMO is the character customisation, I spent forever creating and now drool over my toon :P

So I'm thinking about trying LOTRO, or wishing I'd tried it earlier. Is it too late? For example I would advise anyone considering trying their first MMO to stay well away from WoW since they will have hardly anyone to play with till 80 and even then they wont be able to find a guild easily with no experience, gear or stupid achievements. The community would treat them as idiots and second class citizens.

So would this be the same case with LOTRO? and is the game dying? I love the LOTR lore and couldnt imagine a better MMO universe other than ASoIaF :) The game seems very PvE orientated and the graphics look reasonable.

Any thoughts from new and veteran LOTRO players would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Its as good a time as any, although I would recommend waiting til after the 1st of next month.  The expansion is bringing some sort of combat change (details are sketchy at the moment) which may change the way the game feels. 

Originally posted by X3NO

So I'm thinking about trying LOTRO, or wishing I'd tried it earlier. Is it too late? For example I would advise anyone considering trying their first MMO to stay well away from WoW since they will have hardly anyone to play with till 80 and even then they wont be able to find a guild easily with no experience, gear or stupid achievements. The community would treat them as idiots and second class citizens.

 So would this be the same case with LOTRO? and is the game dying? I love the LOTR lore and couldnt imagine a better MMO universe other than ASoIaF :) The game seems very PvE orientated and the graphics look reasonable.

Is it too late to try LOTRO? Nope, not at all! To even better ensure lots of folks to play with, I would suggest the Brandywine server, as that is the most populated server, and I have yet to see any scarcity of players at any level range on there.

There are kinships of many flavors: casual, new players, mid-range, raiding, and so on. You won't have any difficulty finding a kin to take you in and help you on your journey.

There is a remarkably low amount of asshattery on Brandywine, considering its high population, and the advice channel yields positive and effective help for players who are seeking information.

The game is not dying, and an expansion pack (Siege of Mirkwood) and an adventurer's pack will be released on the 1st of December.

Give it a shot and check out their free trial. Hope you have fun! 

Though I stopped playing LOTRO myself, it is a great fun game if you are a PvE player and it is far from dying. I agree with going to Brandywine as that is the most populated server. You will have no issue finding groups and kinships to join. Also, the treatment of new gamers in Brandywine is top notch. They are very polite and helpful. The players want the game to succeed and want new blood in the game, many go out of their way to help, with many vets who roll new characters just so they can help newbies out.

Thanks for the replies, from what you've said the community sounds really mature and friendly and everything i've read has been great so I'm ordering the vol I & II combo pack, then I'll roll on Brandywine and try to get to level cap before the next expansion :)

I wouldn't recommend Lotro for PvE nor PvP at this moment in any way. If you enjoy the leveling and making alts - then Lotro might be a good option. But if you look for something with variability and more activity options at end-game, you look elsewhere. Lotro abandoned the model from SoA where there was more activities equally rewarding and changed it to you either grind dungeons to get radiance gear or you're gimped. THis is all due to the fact that Lotro offered very cheap Lifetime offer at the release and so they have to attrack a different sort of players at the moment.