Originally posted by Drakkhen

I've played LotRO since closed beta, have a couple life time accounts and volunteered on the LotROVault at launch up until a few months ago.

The game was fun from 1-50, but Moria has basically ruined the game for me. Repeated rep grinds, Legendary Item leveling grinds, and gear gated content await you at max level. It seems Turbine is implementing all of the things that turned me off about WoW (god I miss UO and AC 1).

The game has had rep grinds in it since it released the first Book update way back not long after the game launched. While I'm not a huge fan of it this isn't anything new.  As for the gated content that's only for 2 events - the new 12 man dungeon and the watcher raid. None of the other instances require rad gear and there are quite a few to run now.

I actually like the legendary leveling thing myself because at least it gives you additional things to work for once you hit max level and to an extent anyways you can form a weapon or item to your preference.  I really don't see how people think it was better back then.  Helegrod was pretty cool but quite frankly this game has so much more to offer now for players to do than it did back then.

I know you're not alone in your sentiment by any means but I just don't get it.  I played the game then and I'm back playing it now and besides the crafting issue (which I can agree with to an extent) I don't see what the problem is with the MoM expansion and the other additions they've made.  Although, one thing I will say is it's a bit dissappointing how much content they're making soloable at lower levels but I would imagine that's due to issues some on underpopulated servers are having finding groups for things.

It's a great game if you like to do raids/dungeons in small groups. You're constantly doing them at all the level ranges. It's a nice change from the typical 'grind to max level and THEN raid'

Originally posted by Jellyf1sh

Originally posted by Tangogulf

I'm reading on the official forums that Minstrels are in demand. I like healing and tanking. Any other classes that are currently in demand?

I've been playing LotRO for a solid 15 months now and i've just rolled my first Minstrel. I feel bad that i overlooked this class for so long, as it's sooo much fun.

Other popular newbie classes are Champions (Light tank with great DPS and Area Effects) and Hunters (Nuker). Our Kinship (guild/clan) has a tonne of 'em. Both are easy to play, very soloable and always welcome in groups. (personally, i have a maxed out (lvl 60) champ and a hunter at lvl 37).

The only class i wouldn't recommend (from personal experience) is Lore Master. I didn't enjoy the pet aspect of it. But i'm sure there are a lot of LotRO fans who love them.

I'd also like to echo the replies above and say that the starting area is very guided and structured, but there really is a lot to do. Leveling is quick, but not rushed (like WoW has become). Once you get out in the wide world it can feel like you've got too much to do (loads of quests / epic story arcs to follow / deeds to increase stats / crafting / fishing / festivals (the summer one is running atm)/ or just exploring off the beaten track).

My main bit of advice is to find a good kinship, get swept up in the story and enjoy!

Lore Master is an awesome class once you get into the mid twenties.  Starts kind of boring and lacking signature abilities.  But gets good later.

Once you get dual wield with sword and staff and then legendary items the class is one of the best.  One of the toughest and most versatile classes with very good damage.  You probably want access to a good flanking pet to really feel tough though.

Unlike other games the tank pet is not what makes you tough, although it can be useful.  It is the Eagle and or Bog-Lurker and to some degree the Raven, because they flank so much and you can heal yourself.  Heals + mez/stuns + debuffs = take on 3-4 things simultaneously and still survive.

Early on you don't even have a Raven and only have a bear and can't see the true power !Flank for both offesne (with improved staff strike) and defense.  Same is true for the nuking spec of LM you need a number traits and at least some of the snares and roots to do that.  It is basically not possible to really nuke well until sometime in the 30s.

For tanking do not overlook the Warden.  You need Mines of Moria and they are pretty common since they are a new class, but keep them in mind.

Originally posted by Jellyf1sh

Originally posted by trancejeremy

To be completely blunt, at least for me, the newbie zones were by far the most interesting and fun parts of the game. (And why I stupidly splurged for a lifetime account)

Once you leave them, you only have a small amount of content. And what content is, is generally heavily chained, often with a group quest. So you can't really solo effectively, without a lot of grinding. And where I am now in the game (level 44, took me almost a year to get there), there doesn't seem to be any quests at all.

Go to the Lorebook and see for yourself.

http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Special:Advancedsearch?type=quest

From 1-20,. there are about 600 quests

From 20-30, there are 200

From 30-40, there are 300 (but this is misleading, as it includes crafting quests at 30, and horse quests at 35, which aren't available to all, and many of the horse quests are simply trading your horse in for another color)

Picks up after that, but so many are chained, and not available to me.

Groups are impossible to find, and I've never been able to find a guild (kinship) that would take me. Unless you are an uber geek with no life, apparently you are not wanted.

 

 

If that's been your experience of LotRo then i can see why you'd feel quite negative about it.

My experience however couldn't have been farther from that. When i started i wanted to strictly solo. I managed to get my Champion to Level 60 without grouping once. True there are (were since the book 8 update of breeland) some important low level group quests, but i simple ignored them until i was a much higher level, then soloed them.

Not once on my journey did i have a quest log that was less than half full. That's a lot of quests, as the log can hold 40-50 quests (starting at 40, you gain an extra quest slot for every 40 deeds you complete up to a maximum of 50). In fact, more often than i liked, i was having to sacrifice low level (green & light blue) quests to make more room whenever i found a new quest hub.

 

What may have caused you quest drought is the fact that after you leave Breeland (anywhere up to lvl 20-25), the main path splits into two:

One path goes east through the Lone Lands to Trollshaw, Rivendell then splits north to the Misty Mountains and south to Eregion (following the path of the fellowship).

The other starts north to Trestlebridge and the North downs, then splits west to Lake Everdim and Forochel (both areas are gorgeous and were added during free book updates) or north-east to Angmar.

This second route seems to have far more quests than following the fellowship. In fact, it's well documented that you could just stay in the North Downs and level from 25 right up to 40!! A lot of players i've since spoken to rate the North Downs as their favourite area of the game (so far).

 

On the subject of kinships, once i reached lvl 60 with my Champ i looked back on all the areas i missed out on by avoiding groups: The Great Barrow, Fornost, The Rift in Angmar (to name a few), so i took the plunge and joined a Kinship. I had no problem finding one (in fact, i have moved my 6 characters into a second more active kin now).

Most kins on my server (EU server Evernight) are crying out for members and the regional chat has a regular stream of kinship adverts, especially at the weekends.

Both kins i've been in have been nothing but courteous and polite the whole time and a real pleasure to be with (further increasing my annoyance that i waited so long to join one!), and i have never been required to group or give more time to the game than i was prepared to do.

 

I will conceed one point however, that although grouping in random fellowships (not kin based ones) at low levels is easy, i have found some difficulties finding groups in between levels 30-45.

There is usually few problems finding groups to do the epic story arcs or big instanced areas (Fornost etc), but finding groups for the other random fellowship / small fellowship quests can be quite hard. Often i find myself either bypassing them altogether  or coersing my kinnies to come and help me.

I think that LoTRo, like a lot of other MMOs, is like a dumbell, with higher concentrations of players at each end of the leveling spectrum and players spread out over a wide area inbetween.

Unfortunately, i can't see a solution for that, and as the game expands it may get even worse.

I just hope that Turbine doesn't follow the route that Blizzard did with WoW and speed up leveling to a point where it's obvious that you're being led at break-neck speed towards the goal of "endgame content".

The thing about LotRO, is it's all about the journey not the destination.

Great post with very valid points but the fact is that Turbine has increased xp to allow people to level faster. Since Moria's release LOTRO has become very much like WoW as far as gear grinding goes at end-game. I havent seen book 7 or 8 though so I'm too sure what they did with that. I left as soon as I saw what Moria's end-game had to offer.

Originally posted by Ethian

Great post with very valid points but the fact is that Turbine has increased xp to allow people to level faster. Since Moria's release LOTRO has become very much like WoW as far as gear grinding goes at end-game. I havent seen book 7 or 8 though so I'm too sure what they did with that. I left as soon as I saw what Moria's end-game had to offer.

I think that's overstated. I played Wow for 3 years and I've been playing LOTRO for about a year and a half, and the difference is pretty substantial. Right now, you only need to grind gear for *TWO RAIDS* in LOTRO: The Watcher (which is just a Boss in a Box), and DN. Every other piece of content, including the 7 six mans, 2 three mans, the crafting instances, and the LI rep solo instances, can be done with quest rewards and crafted gear that can be bought off the auction house. WoW has a far more extensive gear progression path, and a vastly larger collection of gear to grind through.

Now that Turbine has thrown a little bit of content for the raiders, the non-raiding community has been up in arms. Considering that the next book update will almost certainly be a whole new region, and the expansion will probably follow, I think this is all overblown.

IMO, Book 7 was pretty decent, and Book 8 has been great!

Originally posted by GaryM

Originally posted by Ethian

Great post with very valid points but the fact is that Turbine has increased xp to allow people to level faster. Since Moria's release LOTRO has become very much like WoW as far as gear grinding goes at end-game. I havent seen book 7 or 8 though so I'm too sure what they did with that. I left as soon as I saw what Moria's end-game had to offer.

I think that's overstated. I played Wow for 3 years and I've been playing LOTRO for about a year and a half, and the difference is pretty substantial. Right now, you only need to grind gear for *TWO RAIDS* in LOTRO: The Watcher (which is just a Boss in a Box), and DN. Every other piece of content, including the 7 six mans, 2 three mans, the crafting instances, and the LI rep solo instances, can be done with quest rewards and crafted gear that can be bought off the auction house. WoW has a far more extensive gear progression path, and a vastly larger collection of gear to grind through.

Now that Turbine has thrown a little bit of content for the raiders, the non-raiding community has been up in arms. Considering that the next book update will almost certainly be a whole new region, and the expansion will probably follow, I think this is all overblown.

IMO, Book 7 was pretty decent, and Book 8 has been great!

I was beginning to think rational thinking and posting was dead on this site. Thank you, I am not alone now.

Originally posted by Mrbloodworth

Originally posted by GaryM

Originally posted by Ethian

Great post with very valid points but the fact is that Turbine has increased xp to allow people to level faster. Since Moria's release LOTRO has become very much like WoW as far as gear grinding goes at end-game. I havent seen book 7 or 8 though so I'm too sure what they did with that. I left as soon as I saw what Moria's end-game had to offer.

I think that's overstated. I played Wow for 3 years and I've been playing LOTRO for about a year and a half, and the difference is pretty substantial. Right now, you only need to grind gear for *TWO RAIDS* in LOTRO: The Watcher (which is just a Boss in a Box), and DN. Every other piece of content, including the 7 six mans, 2 three mans, the crafting instances, and the LI rep solo instances, can be done with quest rewards and crafted gear that can be bought off the auction house. WoW has a far more extensive gear progression path, and a vastly larger collection of gear to grind through.

Now that Turbine has thrown a little bit of content for the raiders, the non-raiding community has been up in arms. Considering that the next book update will almost certainly be a whole new region, and the expansion will probably follow, I think this is all overblown.

IMO, Book 7 was pretty decent, and Book 8 has been great!

 

I was beginning to think rational thinking and posting was dead on this site. Thank you, I am not alone now.

We cant compare WoW and LOTRO, come on now. WoW is a gear/loot fest, LOTRO is more of a casual gamers game. But the fact is that since Moria's release LOTRO has been leaning towards a gear/loot end-game, which is never what LOTRO was about. I played LOTRO since open-beta so I know what pre-Moria pretty well.

As for anything released after Moria I really cant say much because I left before they came out. I really do hope that they made some improvements because they lost many who felt the same way I did when Moria came out. You can talk up LOTRO all you want but those with heads on their shoulders saw Moria for what it really was. 

I was once a HUGE lotro fan. I was a die-hard actually but Turbine blew it for alot of people when Moria went live. I re-subbed last night to check out the new content this weekend. My only hope is that some of the new stuff has improved the end-game because I truely do miss LOTRO. At one time I had thought it would likely be the best MMORPG for years to come.

**crosses fingers**

Originally posted by Ethian

Originally posted by Mrbloodworth

Originally posted by GaryM

Originally posted by Ethian

Great post with very valid points but the fact is that Turbine has increased xp to allow people to level faster. Since Moria's release LOTRO has become very much like WoW as far as gear grinding goes at end-game. I havent seen book 7 or 8 though so I'm too sure what they did with that. I left as soon as I saw what Moria's end-game had to offer.

I think that's overstated. I played Wow for 3 years and I've been playing LOTRO for about a year and a half, and the difference is pretty substantial. Right now, you only need to grind gear for *TWO RAIDS* in LOTRO: The Watcher (which is just a Boss in a Box), and DN. Every other piece of content, including the 7 six mans, 2 three mans, the crafting instances, and the LI rep solo instances, can be done with quest rewards and crafted gear that can be bought off the auction house. WoW has a far more extensive gear progression path, and a vastly larger collection of gear to grind through.

Now that Turbine has thrown a little bit of content for the raiders, the non-raiding community has been up in arms. Considering that the next book update will almost certainly be a whole new region, and the expansion will probably follow, I think this is all overblown.

IMO, Book 7 was pretty decent, and Book 8 has been great!

 

I was beginning to think rational thinking and posting was dead on this site. Thank you, I am not alone now.

 

We cant compare WoW and LOTRO, come on now. WoW is a gear/loot fest, LOTRO is supposed to be a casual gamers game. But the fact is that since Moria's release LOTRO has been leaning towards a gear/loot end-game, which is never what LOTRO was about. I played LOTRO since open-beta so I know what pre-Moria was like.

As for anything released after Moria I really cant say much because I left before they came out. I really do hope that they made some improvements because they lost many who felt the same way I did when Moria came out. You can talk up LOTRO all you want but those with heads on their shoulders saw Moria for what it really was. 

I was once a HUGE lotro fan. I was a die-hard actually but Turbine blew it for alot of people when Moria went live. I re-subbed last night to check out the new content this weekend. My only hope is that some of the new stuff has improved the end-game because I truely do miss LOTRO. At one time I had thought it would likely be the best MMORPG for years to come.

**crosses fingers**

Not sure from your post if you have a 60 or not.

If you do have a 60, there are new three man instances in the Mines.  They are rumored to be excellent, and even as a casual player you can now get up to 40 raidiance (which is at least close to what you need for the watcher).  Crafted armor also got a big boost.  The highest  level pieces are now just as good as the stuff from regular mode 6 mans (still no radiance though).  Lothlorian is very pretty and well worth checking out.  I personally didn't care for the quests there however.  Might be more up your alley,  There's also the crafting instances.  The one I ran was pretty fun and well tuned for a solo player, but I honestly haven't messed with them much.

Originally posted by Ethian

Originally posted by Mrbloodworth

Originally posted by GaryM

Originally posted by Ethian

Great post with very valid points but the fact is that Turbine has increased xp to allow people to level faster. Since Moria's release LOTRO has become very much like WoW as far as gear grinding goes at end-game. I havent seen book 7 or 8 though so I'm too sure what they did with that. I left as soon as I saw what Moria's end-game had to offer.

I think that's overstated. I played Wow for 3 years and I've been playing LOTRO for about a year and a half, and the difference is pretty substantial. Right now, you only need to grind gear for *TWO RAIDS* in LOTRO: The Watcher (which is just a Boss in a Box), and DN. Every other piece of content, including the 7 six mans, 2 three mans, the crafting instances, and the LI rep solo instances, can be done with quest rewards and crafted gear that can be bought off the auction house. WoW has a far more extensive gear progression path, and a vastly larger collection of gear to grind through.

Now that Turbine has thrown a little bit of content for the raiders, the non-raiding community has been up in arms. Considering that the next book update will almost certainly be a whole new region, and the expansion will probably follow, I think this is all overblown.

IMO, Book 7 was pretty decent, and Book 8 has been great!

 

I was beginning to think rational thinking and posting was dead on this site. Thank you, I am not alone now.

 

We cant compare WoW and LOTRO, come on now. WoW is a gear/loot fest, LOTRO is more of a casual gamers game. But the fact is that since Moria's release LOTRO has been leaning towards a gear/loot end-game, which is never what LOTRO was about. I played LOTRO since open-beta so I know what pre-Moria pretty well.

As for anything released after Moria I really cant say much because I left before they came out. I really do hope that they made some improvements because they lost many who felt the same way I did when Moria came out. You can talk up LOTRO all you want but those with heads on their shoulders saw Moria for what it really was. 

I was once a HUGE lotro fan. I was a die-hard actually but Turbine blew it for alot of people when Moria went live. I re-subbed last night to check out the new content this weekend. My only hope is that some of the new stuff has improved the end-game because I truely do miss LOTRO. At one time I had thought it would likely be the best MMORPG for years to come.

**crosses fingers**

I don't understand where some get this notion.  There are only two...I repeat two events that require having rad gear.  You don't even need any rad gear for the turtle raid so why some keep acting like you have to grind for this gear to be able to do anything at end game is beyond reason.  If you don't want to get the rad gear then don't.  There are plenty of other instances to run through.  The only things not having the gear will stop you from being able to partake in is the watcher and the new 12 man raid.

Every other Moria instance/event is completeable without any rad gear at all and there is quite a few to choose from.  The new instances are especially challenging least in my opinion.  I know some think they're too hard but I find them to be rather fun.

Heh, although I will admit the first group I tried Hall of Mirrors with got spanked silly. Since then I've completed it but its been quite a while since I was so badly owned in an mmorpg as I was when I first tried running it.

Like Moria or hate it but acting like those that like it weren't around in beta or missing "heads on their shoulders" is just ridiculous.  There are some of us from launch that believe it or not like the changes and this whole venting that Rings is going WoW when its only two things that require gear to do is just silly, and what's with you saying you can't compare the two games when someone tries to point out the differences yet its okay to compare the two games when you're trying to point out similarities or the direction they're heading in?

Its really starting to sound to me now that I've been running around at lvl 60 for a bit that people saying this bullshit don't have a level 60 and haven't even tried the content available now and are just spewing the same nonsense they see others post.  I mean the game does have issues and isn't perfect but amazingly the actual viable issues and concerns get left mostly untouched and yet this bullshit about not being able to do anything end game unless you grind for certain gear and Rings is WoWified crap goes on.