I played LOTRO bata way back, and fooled around with the free trial. I'll admit this mmo seems a bit boring and I don't like playing with others that are trying to play F2P, but people saying the community is great.

Everything seems to be stacked against me as far as what I would like to do :

1) I don't ever play F2P.  F2P people are trying to Play for free bottom line ( not everyone but most ). People playing free to play are solo players another bottom line ( not everyone but most ).  How can you expect to play with others if your F2P or others are F2P. Some pay for packages others pay for other packages........Who in your guild, friends list, or open world has what packages ?

2) Healing classes - I've been playing healing classes in my mmo's, and enjoying being need for groups. With LOTRO you only have two choices. Minstrel or Rune-Keeper.

Minstrel - does not turn me on. For me there is no room to play instruments in a battle game. Sorry that's just me.

Rune-Keeper - What I'm reading is that the Rune - Keeper is not as good at healing as the Minstrel with it's Heal Over Time. Well that bums me out.  So if I would like to play a Ruin Keeper I would have to buy the Mines of Moria Expansion pack right out of the gate. So that also bums me out, again F2P and purchasing the Rune-Keeper is out of the question. I only monthly sub.

3) The official LOTRO web site is a mess.  The site is designed to talk you into signing up for free.  Every page you click on is tailored to talk you into that option.

4) How much is the game and the Mines of Moria ?......I must say I did not search the web site deep for the magic link for prices, but they seem as If they don't like you to go with the pay for monthly option. and it's a hard pill to swallow that I have to already pay for an expansion to play Ruin- Keeper just because I don't like playing music for healing

I guess in typing all this I find LOTRO is not for me !

Originally posted by page

I guess in typing all this I find LOTRO is not for me !

I'm glad I could help.

Good night!

Originally posted by page

I guess in typing all this I find LOTRO is not for me !

Your analysis is sound. Its definitly a problem of LotRO that theres only a limited amount of classes viable for each role. And only one class best at each role.

That being said the Runekeeper is awesome at healing, and personally im doing better on him than on the minnie. But you do have to go out of your way and buy that class, which is a bit ... crappy if you just want to find out wether there is a healer in the game you might like.

About F2P games and the soloing syndrome.

I wasn't thinking like that in the past, but I ve already seen two games going from subscription to "Freemium" or however you wanna call it, and in both games, you had more players than ever un server and yet finding a group was harder than ever.

If you really are into group playing, Lotro is not for you. That game is very solo oriented, to a point were lots of players get to the level cap without ever having grouped once. Turbine has spent years nerfing down group content and making it soloable. It has gone to a point were now the game offers you forced soloing: Instances that force you drop your team in order to run them solo.

Originally posted by page

I guess in typing all this I find LOTRO is not for me !

You should put this at the top so you don't waste anyone else's time.

 I dont experience any of the above mentioned.. I haven't gone a single day Im pretty sure without grouping up for something, wether it be  two strangers meeting and happen to be heading for the same quest boss, or full instance runs.. maybe multiple times to get yourself or a friend (gasp) some instance tokens.

The game is extremely social oriented.. Whoever says otherwise I guarantee has not made it past level 10-15.

And yes with F2P the early areas are ridden with the human trash that F2p attracts.. but as you get higher and higher pretty much everyone is P2P.. And I really havent had a bad experience with a person worth mentioning..

I dont care wether you play or not.. Just stating the truth for anyone else reading this post and thinking of playing..

PM me on this site if you want to try it.. Play on Vilya I will help ya as it can be a little confusing at first.

( meaning they dont use the standard MMO fare of names/attributes for everything)

Edit: subscribing gets you everything that was in the game pre-f2p, sorry they arent going to give you full fledged expansion packs with months of content for absolutely free.. other then that the cash shop is all fluff items. I subscribe and take part -heavily- in the fluff items.. its a really fun game :)

The community has always been very overrated and full of themselves. It's the best, because they consider themselves to be better than everyone else, not that anyone has given them the title.

As to the soloing thing, sure you can get to 65 solo. But you miss out on quite a bit of content, especially as most of the new stuff has been aimed for groups - instances, raids, etc.

You also won't even come close to getting the best gear solo. So soloers are pretty much second class citizens in the game, I don't know why groupers have such a perscution complex...just because soloers can now actually do the story quests (theoretically), the game is somehow ruined for them.

Which is annoying, because part of the trouble with this game is that there are lousy grouping tools, and people rarely, if ever, group outside of their guild/kinship. People rarely talk outside their guild/kinship.

Originally posted by seabass2003

Originally posted by page

I guess in typing all this I find LOTRO is not for me !

You should put this at the top so you don't waste anyone else's time.

No kidding...

Originally posted by trancejeremy

Which is annoying, because part of the trouble with this game is that there are lousy grouping tools, and people rarely, if ever, group outside of their guild/kinship. People rarely talk outside their guild/kinship.

This may be true for you, but I find the complete opposite to be true. RARELY do I have a full Kin group and the glff channel + private channels are amazing for opening communication between multiple select Kins.

Wow is the title missleading. You dont seem to be sold on the game at all, quite the contrary.

And yes your analasis is correct, this game is probably not for you.

- The community is good in the way that there is very little (if any) bs like "where's mankriks wife" in general chat and if it does happen it dies out very fast. A relief tbh. Not like that other game where you have someone say "anal dirge" in chat and it goes on for about 2 hours. Also if asked politely, you'll get help with almost anything. If you spam and use harsh language, you will be mostly ignored (rightfully so).

- There is no more or less grouping than any other MMO I've played. Ppl generally dont group for solo content while leveling, just like any other MMO. Ppl do group for the harder group content where much of the more cooler story is played out after all, much like most MMOs etc.

- Who has what quest packs etc is not a problem. You just look for someone interested in a specific quest like you do any other game. Ppl will know what quests they have access to. If its a RL friend, just make sure you get the same packs, this is best achieved by communicating.

- You do not have to buy Mines of Moria, you can buy the runekeeper class separately. The runekeeper is a valid healer.

- The official site is abit of a mess, they are ofc trying to get as many as possible to try it out with f2p obviously, but just make an account and you'll be able to set up whatever you like from there. The forums are helpful, as are the lorebooks (useful for checking out what your class might be like in higher levels for example).

So this is as helpful as I can do it, sorry if the tone is abit hostile but I was looking forward to helping someone interested in the game and it turns out the title is grossly missleading and you're not interested at all, I'm not really sure what I'm reading here tbh.

Originally posted by page

Minstrel - does not turn me on. For me there is no room to play instruments in a battle game. Sorry that's just me.

That might be you and you are welcome to your thoughts on that but you are aware that musical instruments were very much used during many battles and not just horns and drums?

so it's not just thrown in there "just because".

Originally posted by Sovrath

Originally posted by page

Minstrel - does not turn me on. For me there is no room to play instruments in a battle game. Sorry that's just me.

That might be you and you are welcome to your thoughts on that but you are aware that musical instruments were very much used during many battles and not just horns and drums?

so it's not just thrown in there "just because".

 Used yes.

Used to cast magical spells which give magical powers to people around them, instantly heal wounds, kill enemies, etc... no.

Yeah i know, its a fantasy game, just saying the way theyre used in games isnt what theyre used for in reality. Mainly they were just used for things like to drive fear into their enemies, or to raise the morale of their own armies, and in some cases actually used to give coded orders and to coordinate the battle over a large area (as far as the sound could be heard).

Here's a question I'll ask in this thread rather than start a new one:

How is Lotro for a f2p mmo? As in do free players get all the content? Is the cash shop over kill in this game? Ect how is it for a free game overall?

Originally posted by kaiser3282

Originally posted by Sovrath

Originally posted by page

Minstrel - does not turn me on. For me there is no room to play instruments in a battle game. Sorry that's just me.

That might be you and you are welcome to your thoughts on that but you are aware that musical instruments were very much used during many battles and not just horns and drums?

so it's not just thrown in there "just because".

 Used yes.

Used to cast magical spells which give magical powers to people around them, instantly heal wounds, kill enemies, etc... no.

Yeah i know, its a fantasy game, just saying the way theyre used in games isnt what theyre used for in reality. Mainly they were just used for things like to drive fear into their enemies, or to raise the morale of their own armies, and in some cases actually used to give coded orders and to coordinate the battle over a large area (as far as the sound could be heard).

Except that in the case of the minstel "healing wounds" they are not healing wounds. they are bolstering morale. This has been explained many times.

Minstrels don't heal wounds. And you don't "die" in LOTRO, you are defeated. One might not like this or roll their eyes but it is what it is.

Originally posted by quentin405

 

 

The game is extremely social oriented.. Whoever says otherwise I guarantee has not made it past level 10-15.

 

 

Hello.

I had killed every boss, raid, three-man or six-man, that was in game to be killed before leaving on my lvl 65 toon. Mi minstrel had the reputation of beeing one of the best healers in server. I was raid leader on my guild. Trust me I made it past lvl 15, and I say this:

The game is extremelly solo-oriented.

To the OP, it's free, stop being a big girls blouse and just give it a try, there's nothing to loose. You may find you like playing another class, hell try em all. it's FREE to get started...

Why does everyone have to over analyse everything to the nth degree. These are games, you all need to lighten up 

Originally posted by gordiflu

About F2P games and the soloing syndrome.

I wasn't thinking like that in the past, but I ve already seen two games going from subscription to "Freemium" or however you wanna call it, and in both games, you had more players than ever un server and yet finding a group was harder than ever.

If you really are into group playing, Lotro is not for you. That game is very solo oriented, to a point were lots of players get to the level cap without ever having grouped once. Turbine has spent years nerfing down group content and making it soloable. It has gone to a point were now the game offers you forced soloing: Instances that force you drop your team in order to run them solo.

 Exactly! This type of gameplay in an MMO is just plain wrong on so many levels it's pathetic. It's not just LotRO but pretty much ALL MMO"S these days. And if this current mentality persists in most if not all of any future MMO's that will be released, I can see myself giving up on MMO's for good in the very near future.

And this really makes me very sad!

Originally posted by Kayless

To the OP, it's free, stop being a big girls blouse and just give it a try, there's nothing to loose. You may find you like playing another class, hell try em all. it's FREE to get started...

Why does everyone have to over analyse everything to the nth degree. These are games, you all need to lighten up 

I agree...

These kinds of post are actually gringe worthy and attention seeking threads. 

I have played LOTRO on and off since release and hold a life time sub. My server Laruelin is very mature and the only official RP server in the whole game. We play alongside FTP players and have a great time doing it,everyone get's along and enjoys the great RP.

People like the OP are not what we need on are server,elitists are the worst kind and are actually pathetic in their way of thinking.

Both the healing classes are great...

Like many MMO's out there, you can solo all the way in Lotro, IF YOU WANT TO. Thank god there is no forced grouping, yet there is plenty of group content should you wish to group. And there are plenty of ppl to do it with, if you dont mind spending a couple minutes looking for them that is. Soloing the entire game you will miss out on many dungeons, raids and alot of story which is instanced for group play. I dont really get the kind of ppl that wish to force others into grouping with them.... I see no place for you in games at all.

Originally posted by ormstunga

Like many MMO's out there, you can solo all the way in Lotro, IF YOU WANT TO. Thank god there is no forced grouping, yet there is plenty of group content should you wish to group. And there are plenty of ppl to do it with, if you dont mind spending a couple minutes looking for them that is. Soloing the entire game you will miss out on many dungeons, raids and alot of story which is instanced for group play. I dont really get the kind of ppl that wish to force others into grouping with them.... I see no place for you in games at all.

It's not that Lotro has forced grouping. It's that it's got forced soloing! Instances that will force you to drop your group in order to do them solo. Have you ever seen anything like that in any game? I haven't.

Wether you like it or not, soloing is the way to go for most players becouse it is the fastest and most effective way to level up. The epic books are soloable, and easier to do solo. The first class quests are soloable and easy to do solo. Solo skirmishes are more effective marks vs time wise than group skirmishes. You can solo craft gear with better stats than end-game raid gear.

It's not that Lotro forces grouping or not. It's that the game encourages solo, and it is getting more and more solo oriented on every patch.

Not a single open-world group area released since the old lvl 50 Angmar days doesn't tell you anything? Not a single 24 man raid released after Helegrod (and Helegrod itsel nerfed down to 12 man) doesn't tell you anything? Ony ONE 6-man instance released when Mirkwood came out doesn't tell you anything? Only 3 raid bosses as all the raid content on the same expansion doesn't tell you anything? The nerfing down in size of so many areas doesn't tell you anything? The threads in the official forums asking for raids beeing soloable and solo quest gear beeing as good as raid gear doesn't tell you anything? The fact that most craftings have been rendered useless doesn't tell you anything? The recycling of old dungeons and its lvl rescaling becouse it was the only way for them to push out more group content doesn't tell you anything?

People will take the most efficient route regardless, and in Lotro, this is soloing. OFC Lotro does not force grouping. It actually encourages soloing.