Hey all.  I started playing LOTRO when it first game out, but I had an internship for college and had to go outside of the country for an extended period of time. Sadly I only got to level 10 so i didn't have any time to play.

Now that I am back and able to play I wanted to know if this game is somewhat more for the casual players. I will only have about 2-3 hours of play time a day so I was just checking.

<p>I'd say It's up to you and how you normally play mmos...</p>
<p>There's this guy in my kinship who's gone up a single level (39 to 40 I think) in like three weeks... But apparantly he's having a blast anyway so I guess you could say it's casual ;)</p>

One level in three weeks could mean that he doesn't play much, or it could mean that it takes a huge amount of time to gain a level.

3 hours per day is NOT casual - that's core gaming (3-6 hours/day), if you have a regular job and a family 3 hours per day is far from realistic, unless you sleep for 3 hours per night.

30 minutes per day average (like 3 hours once in 6 days) is casual...

M

EDIT: Oh, concerning the question. If in your mind 3 hours/day are casual you can bet your head that LotRO is a casual's game. You can do whatever comes your way (except the old raids) in a 3 hour block.

Originally posted by Quizzical

One level in three weeks could mean that he doesn't play much, or it could mean that it takes a huge amount of time to gain a level.

I think he mostly helps others with their quests and don't care too much about his own ones... But yeah I don't think he's been playing too much over the holidays either..

Casual friendliness is one of the main reasons why I play lotro.

Originally posted by Meridion

3 hours per day is NOT casual - that's core gaming (3-6 hours/day), if you have a regular job and a family 3 hours per day is far from realistic, unless you sleep for 3 hours per night.

30 minutes per day average (like 3 hours once in 6 days) is casual...

M

 

EDIT: Oh, concerning the question. If in your mind 3 hours/day are casual you can bet your head that LotRO is a casual's game. You can do whatever comes your way (except the old raids) in a 3 hour block.

I think two/three hours a day is casual compared to other games like WoW.

Originally posted by leinad312

Casual friendliness is one of the main reasons why I play lotro.

QFT. Even if someone gets 10 levels above me...its still compleatly viable to group with them (i didn't say optimial )

 2-3 hours a day (14-21 hours a week) is far from casual.  Good grief, someone has really raised the bar if they think spending 20 hours a week playing a game is casual.  What't hardcore these days?  60+ hours a week? 

Has anyone ever defined an "official" scale of "casual to hardcore"?

'cause I seem to see different variations on it every time it comes up.

In all, can you log in and get something done in, say 30-60 minutes? Absolutely. You're not going to be raiding or anything like that in that time-frame, but you can do a few quests, do some harvesting or crafting, etc.

Yes this is a VERY casual game.

The game is what you make of it -- up to this point the game has focuss'd far more on casual details that allowed for a great RP system etc.  Housing, cosmetic clothing etc.    Although as the story line progresses I'm sure there will be more things that are considered *hardcore*

2 to 3 hours a day is plenty for this game.    The top end raids have all had a lock system that means you can go in clear up to a certain part in one night and come back and start where you left off the next night so that makes it easier.

I'd echo that 3 or 4 hours a day isn't hardcore imho -- I am married, have 2 jobs and children and that's about how much I play.   Then again -- I don't watch much tv if at all.    You'll generally find the average north american watches 2 to 4 hours of tv a day -- I play games for that time.  It's all the same hehe -- how you spend your leisure time.

IMO hardcore would be 6 to 8 hours a day -- and the devs have made it so this level of playing isn't necessary to progress through all content between updates.    FOrtunately there is a ton of replay value to the content imho but at 6 to 8 hours or more a day I think you'll find that you'll be repeating so much of the content on such a regular basis that you may need to find other ways of spending your time.  PvMP, crafting, RPing or another game to fill in the gaps.    There still are is a good chunk of the community that plays that much, but I'd say the bulk of the LOTRO community plays 3 or 4 hours a day.

Originally posted by Coloader

Originally posted by Meridion

3 hours per day is NOT casual - that's core gaming (3-6 hours/day), if you have a regular job and a family 3 hours per day is far from realistic, unless you sleep for 3 hours per night.

30 minutes per day average (like 3 hours once in 6 days) is casual...

M

 

EDIT: Oh, concerning the question. If in your mind 3 hours/day are casual you can bet your head that LotRO is a casual's game. You can do whatever comes your way (except the old raids) in a 3 hour block.

 

I think two/three hours a day is casual compared to other games like WoW.

That may or may not be true but 3 hours per day is not casual. No married person with children or professional person that I know could spare such time.

Sovrath my entire kinship is made up of married professionals who spare such time =P.   It's just that not a lot of us watch tv we choose to do this.   Many of us are couples that play together and this is how we spend time together.   If married couples can't spend 3 hours a day together then what's the point honestly?   I find your statement very much extreme -- people spend their time different ways -- 3 hours a day isn't that much.

Originally posted by musicman2000

Sovrath my entire kinship is made up of married professionals who spare such time =P.   It's just that not a lot of us watch tv we choose to do this.   Many of us are couples that play together and this is how we spend time together.   If married couples can't spend 3 hours a day together then what's the point honestly?   I find your statement very much extreme -- people spend their time different ways -- 3 hours a day isn't that much.

 

Extreme?

the married couples I know with children are playing with their children, doing things around the house, taking care of family business, teaching for extra money, being with friends, actually doing extra work from the business at home etc.

They DON'T have time to spend in a video game for 3 hours per night (let alone watch TV). In the light of that I find your comment more extreme!

Originally posted by musicman2000

Sovrath my entire kinship is made up of married professionals who spare such time =P.   It's just that not a lot of us watch tv we choose to do this.   Many of us are couples that play together and this is how we spend time together.   If married couples can't spend 3 hours a day together then what's the point honestly?   I find your statement very much extreme -- people spend their time different ways -- 3 hours a day isn't that much.

 

when do you follow your sport? Cook? Help the kids with the homework? Clean? Go to the supermarket?

sure, if I had a wife that does the household during the day and kids that play alone for hours, let's go, but as things stand, if my partner comes home at 5-6pm, we still have to do housework, cook, buy stuff to eat/live, sometimes clean, you wanna go for a jog to prevent getting fat because of your MMORPG hobby that binds you in front of a PC-screen...

At least in my world I get some complete free time at 9pm. And as I have to get up at 6 I won't play till 3 am...

So if - on a regular day - I spend all my free time (which I don't because I like to play the guitar and read, but to each his own) in front of a PC I have 2 hours (normally from 9 to 11)... And I don't even have kids.

M

Originally posted by WSIMike

Has anyone ever defined an "official" scale of "casual to hardcore"?

'cause I seem to see different variations on it every time it comes up.

In all, can you log in and get something done in, say 30-60 minutes? Absolutely. You're not going to be raiding or anything like that in that time-frame, but you can do a few quests, do some harvesting or crafting, etc.

That’s really irrelevant, and complexly subjective. It’s a casual game.

Originally posted by Meridion

when do you follow your sport? Cook? Help the kids with the homework? Clean? Go to the supermarket?

sure, if I had a wife that does the household during the day and kids that play alone for hours, let's go, but as things stand, if my partner comes home at 5-6pm, we still have to do housework, cook, buy stuff to eat/live, sometimes clean, you wanna go for a jog to prevent getting fat because of your MMORPG hobby that binds you in front of a PC-screen...

At least in my world I get some complete free time at 9pm. And as I have to get up at 6 I won't play till 3 am...

So if - on a regular day - I spend all my free time (which I don't because I like to play the guitar and read, but to each his own) in front of a PC I have 2 hours (normally from 9 to 11)... And I don't even have kids.

M

THIS!

All the married people who I know who have children do all this stuff and more!

That's why I said that 3 hours per night was a lot as they generally don't have 3 hours per night to spend on a game.

Originally posted by Meridion

Originally posted by musicman2000

Sovrath my entire kinship is made up of married professionals who spare such time =P.   It's just that not a lot of us watch tv we choose to do this.   Many of us are couples that play together and this is how we spend time together.   If married couples can't spend 3 hours a day together then what's the point honestly?   I find your statement very much extreme -- people spend their time different ways -- 3 hours a day isn't that much.

 

when do you follow your sport? Cook? Help the kids with the homework? Clean? Go to the supermarket?

sure, if I had a wife that does the household during the day and kids that play alone for hours, let's go, but as things stand, if my partner comes home at 5-6pm, we still have to do housework, cook, buy stuff to eat/live, sometimes clean, you wanna go for a jog to prevent getting fat because of your MMORPG hobby that binds you in front of a PC-screen...

At least in my world I get some complete free time at 9pm. And as I have to get up at 6 I won't play till 3 am...

So if - on a regular day - I spend all my free time (which I don't because I like to play the guitar and read, but to each his own) in front of a PC I have 2 hours (normally from 9 to 11)... And I don't even have kids.

M

You should read what he said one more time..  Not everyone does grocery runs, cleans nor tend a sport every day. I know that i don't. Only weird people that are cleanfreaks cleans their house everyday <.<

And oh. On topic.

It's pretty casual, when i play it i feel no rush to do the things like in other games.

Why is this entire thread arguing semantics?