LotR's has always been a game on the fringes of my interest.  I played a 10 day trial but decided to continue playing EVE at the time (12 months ago).  One issue that bothered me was the lack of options to run away from NPC's and the closed in world.  I

Looking forward I am very interested in Jumpgate and DF but I am tempted to try out LotR's since its been out for ages now and must have the majority of bugs ironed out and the new expansion seems to have gone down well.

Questions:

Why would someone play LotR's over AoC, WAR or any other similar title? 

Can you run away from NPC's if you know there is no chance of victory?

Community?  Is the game growing still or is it slowly losing numbers? 

PvP - I know there is a PvP element with monsters etc. Is it good or is this really a pure PvE game? 

Things you love about LotR's you can't find anywhere else?

Things you don't like or wish it had?

Is the world more open later on? What does it compare to? 

Is it new player friendly and is it casual enough to play for 1 hour and  have fun still? 

Be great to hear from some veterans on this.  Thanks for your time answering my questions!

Originally posted by chryses

LotR's has always been a game on the fringes of my interest.  I played a 10 day trial but decided to continue playing EVE at the time (12 months ago).  One issue that bothered me was the lack of options to run away from NPC's and the closed in world.  I

Looking forward I am very interested in Jumpgate and DF but I am tempted to try out LotR's since its been out for ages now and must have the majority of bugs ironed out and the new expansion seems to have gone down well.

Questions:

Why would someone play LotR's over AoC, WAR or any other similar title? 

I play Lotro because of the NPC dialogs/stories are much better than other titles, Lotro's crafting is great compared to WAR and AoC, The world seems alive and is easy to immerse yourself in, the community is superb, I dont have to raid to be comparable in PvP or PvE, and the hot female dwarves

Can you run away from NPC's if you know there is no chance of victory?

I must admit, I have never had any problems with this. The critters in Lotro dont follow you for very long, and the world is more than big enough to run away in. Try popping a run debuff/stun before you run away.

Community?  Is the game growing still or is it slowly losing numbers? 

After MoM, the community is definately growing. Lotro has a health population.

PvP - I know there is a PvP element with monsters etc. Is it good or is this really a pure PvE game? 

While im not a fan of the current PvP in lotro, due to too much CC skills, I do play alittle PvMP. At its current state the Freeps are too powerful compared to Creeps, but im certain Turbine will fix it some time soon.

I used to be a hard core PvPer, but in recent years most of it as wore off me. PvMP quell my PvP needs I get from time to time. And on my server, Ettenmorse is always packed with people.

Things you love about LotR's you can't find anywhere else?

Immersion.

Things you don't like or wish it had?

I wish we could get a better mount/riding system, because the current one is not good.

A secondary reward system for people helping others with quest they already completed. Synchronizing quests is a bitch, why not reward people for it.

Full stop on the item/instance grinding path MoM took!

And remove all class set items. Oh how I hate class sets hehe 

Is the world more open later on? What does it compare to? 

I hear it compares to WoW, I couldnt say though since I only played WoW for 2 weeks. But compared to WAR and AoC, its very open.

Is it new player friendly and is it casual enough to play for 1 hour and  have fun still? 

Easy question..Yes

 

Be great to hear from some veterans on this.  Thanks for your time answering my questions!

 

Originally posted by chryses

LotR's has always been a game on the fringes of my interest.  I played a 10 day trial but decided to continue playing EVE at the time (12 months ago).  One issue that bothered me was the lack of options to run away from NPC's and the closed in world.  I

Looking forward I am very interested in Jumpgate and DF but I am tempted to try out LotR's since its been out for ages now and must have the majority of bugs ironed out and the new expansion seems to have gone down well.

Questions:

Why would someone play LotR's over AoC, WAR or any other similar title? 

Because its a very immersive game with good story and alot of fun content.

Can you run away from NPC's if you know there is no chance of victory?

Eh yes you can, but it can be a bit hard depending on class (I found it hard to run away with my RK)

Community?  Is the game growing still or is it slowly losing numbers? 

The population have grown alot with the expansion. We will see if it will remain steady or start to fall again. People seem overall happy with the expansion thou.

PvP - I know there is a PvP element with monsters etc. Is it good or is this really a pure PvE game? 

It can be alot of fun but Turbine have a hard time to make it balanced and fun for booth sides.

I like that the PvMP isnt as seriouse as PvP often gets you can just jump in and have some fun.

Things you love about LotR's you can't find anywhere else?

The relaxed atmousphere of the combat, the game design and the community. The epic quest line and the amount of detail that everything in the world have.

Things you don't like or wish it had?

Most of the bad stuff got improved in MoM but I would like to see more bigger instances, Improve PvMP alot. Also improve the social elements of the game and make the housing better.

Is the world more open later on? What does it compare to? 

I guess the world is similar to WoW but the zones are bigger and more open in my opinion. Just lok at a huge zone like North downs or Angmar. Doesnt feel as closed in as AoC or WAR imo.

Is it new player friendly and is it casual enough to play for 1 hour and  have fun still? 

Its very casual friendly. Even the end game is designed so you can have fun and accomplish stuff even if you only have an hour. Can be hard to find groups at some levels thou. 

Be great to hear from some veterans on this.  Thanks for your time answering my questions!

 Hope it helped :)

Thanks Bes :)

My biggest concern for new titles is the amount of time needed to play.  I have 2 EVE accounts and I have to offload soon because of RL committments.  I figured WAR was no good either because I stood around for too long looking for groups to fight with.  I love AoC because I can jump into it for 30 minutes and kill stuff with my assassin and the environment is immersive enough to make it fun.

Is LotRO similar to this?  Could I log into it for 40-60 minutes and still get something done?  Or is it a lot of grind? 

Originally posted by chryses

LotR's has always been a game on the fringes of my interest.  I played a 10 day trial but decided to continue playing EVE at the time (12 months ago).  One issue that bothered me was the lack of options to run away from NPC's and the closed in world.  I

Looking forward I am very interested in Jumpgate and DF but I am tempted to try out LotR's since its been out for ages now and must have the majority of bugs ironed out and the new expansion seems to have gone down well.

Questions:

Why would someone play LotR's over AoC, WAR or any other similar title? 

Well, because it's Lord of the Rings. I feel AoC and Warhammerr are fine games and offer a different type of gameplay.

Can you run away from NPC's if you know there is no chance of victory?

Sure you can. After a while they break off.

Community?  Is the game growing still or is it slowly losing numbers? 

I wouldn't be too concerned with this as it has a die hard player base which seems more than adequate to keep the game going. The game ebbs and flows with population as it isn't really an end game oriented game. Because of this, players who burn through content usually quit unitl a new update. But the majority of the playerbase is satisfied with just being in the game world.

PvP - I know there is a PvP element with monsters etc. Is it good or is this really a pure PvE game? 

It is a pure pve game. There is monster play pvp. I've heard mixed things about it. You don't come to LOTRO for the pvp

Things you love about LotR's you can't find anywhere else?

Well, the Lore and Story of course.

Things you don't like or wish it had?

I wish it had better looking armor and character models

Is the world more open later on? What does it compare to? 

The world is pretty open except for some areas where you need to be on the appropriate quest in order to access it.

Is it new player friendly and is it casual enough to play for 1 hour and  have fun still? 

Game is very casual

 

Be great to hear from some veterans on this.  Thanks for your time answering my questions!

 

Originally posted by chryses

Thanks Bes :)

My biggest concern for new titles is the amount of time needed to play.  I have 2 EVE accounts and I have to offload soon because of RL committments.  I figured WAR was no good either because I stood around for too long looking for groups to fight with.  I love AoC because I can jump into it for 30 minutes and kill stuff with my assassin and the environment is immersive enough to make it fun.

Is LotRO similar to this?  Could I log into it for 40-60 minutes and still get something done?  Or is it a lot of grind? 

 

I have Life sub for LOTRO, as well as AOC. I can get almost everything i want to get done in either game with little amount of time. In LOTRO i ve found the community as stellar, and the guild i m in knows i m casual but still help if i ask. Many games i ve played unless i m on all day everyday, they ll look the other way.

Originally posted by chryses

 Could I log into it for 40-60 minutes and still get something done?

 

Absolootly!

Having just started playing LoTRO (31 Guard) and AoC (2 lvl 80's), here's what I see.

AoC

-Focus of the game is PVP. Yes, clearly there is a good amount of PVE, but the "focus" is PVP.

- Yes, you can log in and play casual or not. There is a fair amount of quests, etc for that.

- Grind is truly subjective imo, but I found AoC to be one of the easier games to level up in. There is a slow-down in the upper levels (60+) but over all not a biggie.

- Crafting is kinda, meh. There is a system, but not all that great.

LotRO

- Focus of the game is PVP. Yes, cleary there is some PVP, but he "focus" is PVE. Haha, just flipped the first bullet from above.

- Zillions of little quests to do for a short time, so don't worry about that. Also, a robust crafting system. As you have heard before, they really do have good lore and quests.

- Community seems, well more "mature". Not that I thougth AOC was bad, just well less whiny.

Summary: Both are good games and if you want to just be casual then frankly you can't really go wrong.

Enjoy,

Pooks

Oh man I seriously think I would enjoy LotRO.  I may have to try it out and give it a good go.  DF is what I am waiting for but as always it will take 6 months to find its feet or crash.  Its nice to jump into a polished game and not killed the fun at launch.  I kinda feel a bit cheated when I see players joining AoC for the first time and seeing it now when like a lot of players I started at launch when it was bugged up.  Still enjoy it now but I feel I need an alternative.

Last question from the noob!

- I like crafting but haven't found anything deep enough since Vanguard.  Is there any point for a new player to start crafting?  Or is it done to death by other players who have been around for years?  The crafting in Vanguard was amazing because even new players could do something different for the very first time on the server.  

By the way thanks for all the feedback.  The players how played AoC and LotRO gave great insight into similar tastes since I play AoC now.  Cheers all

Im sorry to say, but you wont find lotro crafting to anywhere near as deep and "hard core" as Vanguards crafting. I had to give up crafting Vanguard after awhile, because my poor old mouse couldnt handle it; needless to say, I appreciate my mouse more than some crafting levels in Vanguard.  

As said, I think crafting in Vanguard is deeper, but its not "better" in my book. Lotro's is "better" in the sense that its more causal and just as rewarding (I know it has some issues atm, post lvl 50). Maybe its done to death, but does it matter if you can still craft superb items for your friends, alts and guild mates?

Another point about lotro crafting is the legendary items...at the moment, its pretty much broken, but there is great potential there. If Turbine gets that worked out, crafters can really start making unique items - like, you almost never see the same result twice, kinda thing.

There are some exciting months ahead of us, waiting to see what Turbines does with crafting and PvMP...atleast I am

Originally posted by chryses

Thanks Bes :)

My biggest concern for new titles is the amount of time needed to play.  I have 2 EVE accounts and I have to offload soon because of RL committments.  I figured WAR was no good either because I stood around for too long looking for groups to fight with.  I love AoC because I can jump into it for 30 minutes and kill stuff with my assassin and the environment is immersive enough to make it fun.

Is LotRO similar to this?  Could I log into it for 40-60 minutes and still get something done?  Or is it a lot of grind? 

 

I think your initial OP has alrady been answered but I can give a big yes on this one because I make it a habit to log on for a hour every morning. Sometimes I will do a solo quest. other times I will use the time to knock off a boring craffting task like skinning hides or making ingots while I shoot the breeze with some of my kin( guild) or I will go mine ore or maybe farm some hides or do part of deed. Killing 250 foozles for a deed sucks if you try it all at once but killing 50 a morning for 5 days then doing something else in the evenings isn't bad.

BTW  all MMORPGs are a "grind", it is just a matter of whether it is a fun grind for you or a boring one.

I am looking at buying the game today.  Probably dumb idea since I am expecting my wife to go into labour any day now but I feel like I need to have some change in MMO's and I am going to trial AoC and LotR side by side.  I can jump into AoC for some fatalities and PvP and then take my sweet time in LotR and really enjoy the lore casually.  

Final question from me for a bit - Any suggestions on a good server?  is the game Regions specific? I know I can look at the forums etc but if anyone can shout out and let me know the servers to avoid or go to that would be fab.

Thanks all!

Game is region specific, but as far as I know there are euro players in US servers and vice versa. Euro region might have bit tighter IP blocks though - for example most of Asia is blocked.

If you are RP oriented, then androval in US and Laurelin in EU are good alternatives. For the non RP servers I think Snowbourn in EU and Brandywine in US are the most populated but in my experience - which is Euro only - any server has good population enough for teaming up.

Hey all, I am trying to reactivate my codemasters account, apparently I have one!  Is there a free trial going still or is it over and done with? 

http://www.codemasters.co.uk/trylotro/

I have still all my Moria "kinship keys" available, but not sure if they have any advantage over the keys you get from the above site.

Originally posted by chryses

Hey all, I am trying to reactivate my codemasters account, apparently I have one!  Is there a free trial going still or is it over and done with? 

 

There is still a trial for EU players

http://www.codemasters.com/trylotro/

Thanks again, I am downloading the client now. 3 hours! ouch.  let you know how it goes...

I haven't even read a post in this thread except the OP's, this is just from my personal experience.

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Originally posted by chryses
LotR's has always been a game on the fringes of my interest.  I played a 10 day trial but decided to continue playing EVE at the time (12 months ago).  One issue that bothered me was the lack of options to run away from NPC's and the closed in world.  I
Looking forward I am very interested in Jumpgate and DF but I am tempted to try out LotR's since its been out for ages now and must have the majority of bugs ironed out and the new expansion seems to have gone down well.

---

Questions:

---

Why would someone play LotR's over AoC, WAR or any other similar title?

---

---

Can you run away from NPC's if you know there is no chance of victory?

---

---

Community?  Is the game growing still or is it slowly losing numbers?

---

---

PvP - I know there is a PvP element with monsters etc. Is it good or is this really a pure PvE game?

---

---

Things you love about LotR's you can't find anywhere else?

---

---

Things you don't like or wish it had?

---

---

Is the world more open later on? What does it compare
to? 

---

---

Is it new player friendly and is it casual enough to play for 1 hour and  have fun still? 

---

Hope i was of some help!

Originally posted by chryses

LotR's has always been a game on the fringes of my interest.  I played a 10 day trial but decided to continue playing EVE at the time (12 months ago).  One issue that bothered me was the lack of options to run away from NPC's and the closed in world.  I

Looking forward I am very interested in Jumpgate and DF but I am tempted to try out LotR's since its been out for ages now and must have the majority of bugs ironed out and the new expansion seems to have gone down well.

Questions:

Why would someone play LotR's over AoC, WAR or any other similar title? 

IMHO more polish, nice quests + storyline...Runs much better than both on the same PC and still looks GREAT (some people don't like models but to each his/her own)

Can you run away from NPC's if you know there is no chance of victory?

Yeap. But not in dungeons/instances tho (you can still run out tho :P)

Community?  Is the game growing still or is it slowly losing numbers?

I found it growing, I see a lot of people running around and spoke to many new players in the past two weeks. At worst case, it's stable but it's populated.

PvP - I know there is a PvP element with monsters etc. Is it good or is this really a pure PvE game? 

Monsterplay is decent fun - Feels like WAR keep sieges kind of... Rewarding is a bit different you get destiny points and you improve your monster. You also get these by levelling your main character as well...  When you reach lvl 40+ you can go to the PvP zone with your main character and fight monsters...So far I know you can get some nifty titles and when you rank up you get a prefix on your name - for example "Sergeant at Arms" or similar (haven't been there yet myself, there's info on the LOTRO Wiki tho) and you also get the PvP set gear...

Things you love about LotR's you can't find anywhere else?

Landscapes, the quests, the community....And the LOTR lore ofc :D

Things you don't like or wish it had?

Wish I could send multiple items to same person with a single mail....Can't think of anyting else :P

What I wish it hadn't ? 

Don't know :P

Is the world more open later on? What does it compare to? 

It's similar to WoW system... Open world with instanced raids/dungeons

Is it new player friendly and is it casual enough to play for 1 hour and  have fun still? 

 Yeap new player friendly and casual enough... I played like that for 1 month during exams and still got my guardian from 16 to 24 :)

Be great to hear from some veterans on this.  Thanks for your time answering my questions!

 

And oh regarding "closed world" etc.

You start in a private instance when you finish it you go to an instanced low level area up to level6ish...When you finish the "introduction" epic quest you go to the real world with everyone else:)

= when you finish it the world is the same as WoW :) (works the same way I mean)

Thanks for the more info.  Unfortunately I tried to download the 14 day trial last night (4hours) woke up this morning and the file wont open...bugger....Going to order now.  Its pretty cheap so worth checking out regardless.. Looking forward to posting my thoughts when I get on!

Thanks for the additional posts btw