I am wondering to see if this game has grown since I last played.

I played last September, and just recently started back up. It does seem to be a lot more popular, more players in cities, and easier to find a group. That is probably related to all the promotions/ads that have been going on for the last month though.

hi !

to be onest mate if i check my friend list ingame i see alot off ppl inaktive for 3-4 mounths..so  i guess alot of players are dissapointet after the MOM and  to be onest the MMO market is so big  u can try a new game when u want  and thats a big reason why lotro is keep loosing players..imo Codemasters need to invest some more in the new expansion if they wanna keep it alive...cheers

I am only logging in occasionally, but it's definitely PACKED, anywhere I go. No numbers published, but it surely seems a lot more crowded than a year ago.

DB

Yes.

It seems pretty crowded. However, I haven't been logging in as much lately.

To be honest I'm not sure this game needs to grow. growth would be good but it has a pretty loyal fanbase so I don't see this game being in trouble at all.

I agree with most on this subject. I've returned to the game recently after a long break and there seems to be more people just about everywhere. I'm on Gladden and it has picked up....I rarely ever wait long to get a group going and there's also a ton of lower levels around now too.

I'm on Silverlode, and judging just from the free week the cities seem to have emptied out pretty badly. If you have a high level character this might not matter depending on where the endgame folks hang out, but they sure as hell aren't in Bree. More importantly to me, the people in the low and mid level areas are a lot quieter than they used to be, even considering their numbers. I get the sense they are trying to level out of there as quickly as possible.

The Ettenmoors are also very quiet, people seem bored and the mood is negative in the extreme, even compared to this time last year.

Originally posted by einexile

I'm on Silverlode, and judging just from the free week the cities seem to have emptied out pretty badly. If you have a high level character this might not matter depending on where the endgame folks hang out, but they sure as hell aren't in Bree. More importantly to me, the people in the low and mid level areas are a lot quieter than they used to be, even considering their numbers. I get the sense they are trying to level out of there as quickly as possible.

The Ettenmoors are also very quiet, people seem bored and the mood is negative in the extreme, even compared to this time last year.

That's funny I'm seeing just the opposite on Arkenstone.  I've been logging on mainly to fish and the chat in the newbie zone near Celondim is much more active than I am used too.  Save for the open beta and the first few weeks after launch, I've never seen the game as active as it is now. 

Originally posted by einexile

I'm on Silverlode, and judging just from the free week the cities seem to have emptied out pretty badly. If you have a high level character this might not matter depending on where the endgame folks hang out, but they sure as hell aren't in Bree. More importantly to me, the people in the low and mid level areas are a lot quieter than they used to be, even considering their numbers. I get the sense they are trying to level out of there as quickly as possible.

The Ettenmoors are also very quiet, people seem bored and the mood is negative in the extreme, even compared to this time last year.

Quite the opposite on Brandywine.  Everywhere I look there are people and a lot of groups forming.  The chat is lively as well.

Originally posted by einexile

I'm on Silverlode, and judging just from the free week the cities seem to have emptied out pretty badly. If you have a high level character this might not matter depending on where the endgame folks hang out, but they sure as hell aren't in Bree. More importantly to me, the people in the low and mid level areas are a lot quieter than they used to be, even considering their numbers. I get the sense they are trying to level out of there as quickly as possible.

The Ettenmoors are also very quiet, people seem bored and the mood is negative in the extreme, even compared to this time last year.

Exactly the opposite. (Snowbourn EU). I was just logging in to check my stuff in the AH in Michel Delving, and it had 4-5 people standing in there.

Now, I've been playing this game since closed beta, and have never ever seen more than 1-2 guys in there at the same time (very unlike Bree).  Also, all my stuff (40+ items) sold in half a day, made a great deal of money. All level morale potions were sold like cupcakes. There is clearly a huge demand for those, they will sell at ridiculously high prices... good to be a scholar these days :D
 

DB

Originally posted by einexile

I'm on Silverlode, and judging just from the free week the cities seem to have emptied out pretty badly. If you have a high level character this might not matter depending on where the endgame folks hang out, but they sure as hell aren't in Bree. More importantly to me, the people in the low and mid level areas are a lot quieter than they used to be, even considering their numbers. I get the sense they are trying to level out of there as quickly as possible.

The Ettenmoors are also very quiet, people seem bored and the mood is negative in the extreme, even compared to this time last year.

I"m on Silverlode. I'm not sure when you were in Bree to think it was so empty. I was playing a fair bit over the free weekend and at times there were 90+ players in Bree/Breefields. I admit chat is rather quiet, but not for lack of people. I did answer 3 or 4 questions in /advice, and they were obviously questions from newer or returning players, not alts. Plenty of Action in North Downs as well.

On my main, I saw a fair number of people in both Dolven View , 21st Hall and Foundations of Stone, as well. I did not check the Moors, but right now on Silverlode Freeps are getting the XP buff for control, so it would appear at least some Freeps are active.

I am also on Silverlode which is far from the most popular server and my play times are mostly during off peak hours ( 0600- 0800, 1200- 1500 EST) and I see a fair number of players in all areas from Bree all the way up to Lorien.

I would have to guess that LoTRO has had a 15 - 25% increase in population since MoM released.

I played last weekend for the first time in a while. It was definately more crowded. I was finding groups at 1-2 am easier than I remember at prime time. Nice to see this game still growing. This game is great in short bursts. I just can't last more than a few days before i take a break for a week or 2. Played for a long time before though, probably why. Minstrel is still fun. Didnt get nerfed while I was away.

Well you have Brandywine and Landroval are the 2 largest servers, the rest are about dead. Most folks have moved from other servers to Brandywine and landroval. The populationon theother servers is light at best.

So wile some folks in the above answer say brandywine is crowded yes it is. There is usually about 500 folks in the glff channel and I would suspect 3 or 4 thousand folks who are on in a regular basis. 

One fellow somehow used the datapase to come up with 150,000 total accounts, if thats true then LOTRO is in troulbe as folks are saying warhamer is in trouble and they have 300,000 accounts.

Honestly the player base is down in a big way since moria. Most of my friends left to go play other things. Moria kind of really done a number to folks.  We went from SOA with that gave us really good stuff to moria with so many bugs that are not being fixed to bad customer service.  The official LOTRO forums are full of hate for the devs, before moria you only had a handfull of disconteted people, now there are tons of unhappy folks.

You can tell the LOTRO is in trouble, and you want to ask me how I can tell.  That is every few weeks we have another welcome back weekend.   They are trying to get folks to come back to play, and that tells you they are bleading accounts.  I cant tell you how many welcome back weekends we have but it seams to be once or twice a month since moria rolled out.

Originally posted by erictlewis

Well you have Brandywine and Landroval are the 2 largest servers, the rest are about dead. Most folks have moved from other servers to Brandywine and landroval. The populationon theother servers is light at best.

So wile some folks in the above answer say brandywine is crowded yes it is. There is usually about 500 folks in the glff channel and I would suspect 3 or 4 thousand folks who are on in a regular basis. 

One fellow somehow used the datapase to come up with 150,000 total accounts, if thats true then LOTRO is in troulbe as folks are saying warhamer is in trouble and they have 300,000 accounts.

Honestly the player base is down in a big way since moria. Most of my friends left to go play other things. Moria kind of really done a number to folks.  We went from SOA with that gave us really good stuff to moria with so many bugs that are not being fixed to bad customer service.  The official LOTRO forums are full of hate for the devs, before moria you only had a handfull of disconteted people, now there are tons of unhappy folks.

You can tell the LOTRO is in trouble, and you want to ask me how I can tell.  That is every few weeks we have another welcome back weekend.   They are trying to get folks to come back to play, and that tells you they are bleading accounts.  I cant tell you how many welcome back weekends we have but it seams to be once or twice a month since moria rolled out.

 

Uh...its more than two servers that are well populated but you're right there are a few that are barren.  There always has been too many servers for this game from the word go.  However, you're wrong that Brandywine and Landroval are the only ones with large populations. If you think Elendilmir is a dead server pop wise you're freakin' high or insane

The welcome back weekends are to try and get back players that got burned out on SoA.  I know some like to act like it was the holy grail back then but sorry...it had issues for some of us.  Turbine running thses types of welcome back things is what got myself to come back after they harassed me enough and from quite a few of my fellow kin mates that joined recently its also what brought them back.

There are definitely more players on Elendilmir than what there was when I first came back from what I've seen.  As to other servers I can't say but if I was to take a guess I would imagine the heavy server load ones are getting heavier while the light ones stay just as barren but that's just a guess.

The server I play on seems alot more populated than last year but also the community in game has taken a steep nose dive. Personally I miss the way it was last year since there was a much better community.

Out of the games I have played the community currently in LOTRO on my server (Melendor), is about the same as WOW or AOC. I still love the game since my friends all play and will probably just have to start accepting the problems that come with a higher population.

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Originally posted by jblah

The server I play on seems alot more populated than last year but also the community in game has taken a steep nose dive. Personally I miss the way it was last year since there was a much better community.
Out of the games I have played the community currently in LOTRO on my server (Melendor), is about the same as WOW or AOC. I still love the game since my friends all play and will probably just have to start accepting the problems that come with a higher population.

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Just turn off OOC chat, its where all the new Wow kids seem to gather to talk about Wow.

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Originally posted by erictlewis

Speculation...
Speculation...
and more Speculation...

You can tell the LOTRO is in trouble, and you want to ask me how I can tell. That is every few weeks we have another welcome back weekend. They are trying to get folks to come back to play, and that tells you they are bleading accounts. I cant tell you how many welcome back weekends we have but it seams to be once or twice a month since moria rolled out.

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Please stop. Turbine does a welcome back every time they do a free book release. Nothing more, or less. It just so happened there was an extra one for the two year anniversary as well this year. The foil hat can come off.

Originally posted by kinghart0126

I am wondering to see if this game has grown since I last played.

I left the game 1 1/2 years ago because I thought the classes were boring. Had a level 46 hunter at the time. Came back as a Rune keeper since they finally gave in a added a class for people like me who love magic classes. Lovin it ever since. On Landroval, the population seems pretty healthy. During normal hours, I see a lot of people in any of the main areas and a lot of people posting Looking for Groups. However, I do struggle finding people at around 11:00pm West Coast time for a specific chapter in a book..which can be annoying since the books are fun with great rewards. At those abnormal times, I tend to focus on crafting or my solo quests. Fortunately, I have a good guild so even last night I was doing a couple of fellowship quests at around 1:30am lol. I wish they had a way so that you can select a quest and as soon as other people select it, you are all joined together...like being in a queue in a scenario in Warhammer. Regardless, the population seems very healthy to me and the crowd is definitely more mature then other games I have played.

 No population problems on Wyndfola either.