Originally posted by chrisel  

Game developers have started to to understand this, eventually, and we will see it all be handed more & more to us soloers, as we are definately the biggest force of money outthere.

A working example of this happening in a game would be roughly 24 hours from now in LOTRO when the Siege of Mirkwood expansion pack launches and the Skirmish System (specifically the Skirmish rewards) goes live.

Developer Diary outlining the Skirmish Reward system:

http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/514-developer-diary-som-skirmishes-rewards 

One paragraph of that developer diary entry states:

Solo VS. Group

Ah, the age old MMO debate. I'd prefer not to spend too much time here, as it can strike up a war as brutal as Vi vs. Emacs. With Skirmishes, we have decided to make all rewards in the entire system available to all fellowship play sizes. However, the costs of rewards will be different based on what play size you participate in. This difference is regulated by the level/size tokens mentioned above. A particular Legendary Item blank may require a token that can be only found in 6 and 12-man Skirmishes. However, the Curiosities vendor has the ability to upgrade small group Marks into large group Marks. This upgrade will cost a chunk of SM, but means that any player can eventually purchase any reward in the system.

There seems to be a higher potential for 'puttering along in the journey' in Lord of the Rings Online than some other MMOs out there. While some players do 'rush to the end', there are a good number of folks who choose to amble their way there--because the game itself seems to allow for that to be a more viable (dare I say, "acceptable") choice than some other MMOs.

Originally posted by qombi

What is said they are releasing soldiers for all players to play along with them. The game is already easily to level solo,  I have no idea they are adding this stupid idea.

No, no no.

Turbine is not "releasing soldiers for all players to play along with them".

Soldiers are *ONLY* available within the Skirmish Instances--the gameplay in the Skirmish Instances is designed for the inclusion of these soldiers--and these Skirmish Instances are only available to players from level 30-65.

Here's a Developer's Diary to explain all of this to you:

http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/508-developer-diary-som-skirmishes-skirmish-soldiers

Originally posted by SnarlingWolf

But now we have a brought to you by ad sticker over the pictures on the latest features section? That's beyond overkill and really takes away from the images.

Yeah, my immediate reaction to that ad sticker was a very negative one--enough to quickly scan the current forum activity section to see if there was an active thread regarding that ad sticker... and lo' and behold there was. 

Please make that sticker ad go away. All the other ads on this site are fairly non-invasive--but that sticker ad really is absurd.

Guild Wars 2

Originally posted by X3NO

So I'm thinking about trying LOTRO, or wishing I'd tried it earlier. Is it too late? For example I would advise anyone considering trying their first MMO to stay well away from WoW since they will have hardly anyone to play with till 80 and even then they wont be able to find a guild easily with no experience, gear or stupid achievements. The community would treat them as idiots and second class citizens.

 So would this be the same case with LOTRO? and is the game dying? I love the LOTR lore and couldnt imagine a better MMO universe other than ASoIaF :) The game seems very PvE orientated and the graphics look reasonable.

Is it too late to try LOTRO? Nope, not at all! To even better ensure lots of folks to play with, I would suggest the Brandywine server, as that is the most populated server, and I have yet to see any scarcity of players at any level range on there.

There are kinships of many flavors: casual, new players, mid-range, raiding, and so on. You won't have any difficulty finding a kin to take you in and help you on your journey.

There is a remarkably low amount of asshattery on Brandywine, considering its high population, and the advice channel yields positive and effective help for players who are seeking information.

The game is not dying, and an expansion pack (Siege of Mirkwood) and an adventurer's pack will be released on the 1st of December.

Give it a shot and check out their free trial. Hope you have fun! 

Geezus. Wow, yeah Jon? Swallow your pride and pull the review. Get another reviewer to review the game, and come up with a scoring which is CONSISTENT with how all other scores are given to games in MMORPG.com reviews.

But, perhaps that's the problem in and of itself: the CONSISTENCY of the reviews (and resultant reviewer scores) presented on MMORPG.com? Until then, you might want to pull this review and get that sorted out.

Wow.... this is pretty amateurish.

MMORPG.com might want to consider hiring a GROUP of PROFESSIONAL reviewers who have the capacity to review games in a manner which is unbiased and CONSISTENT THROUGHOUT when reviewing all games.

Folks who are aware of these gross inconsistencies in reviews (reviewers) will never be able to take MMORPG.com's reviews seriously, whilst at the same time, those less aware of these inconsistencies, will take these reviews as gospel--and both scenarios only end up doing the MMO genre a tremendous disservice.

Here's a link regarding starting stats that will hopefully help a bit in answering your question: http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Starting_Stats

Main stat for Champion is Might. Main stat for Hunter is Agility. (http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Character_Stats)

Now, as far as which class to play, I am very partial to the Hunter because combat is fun--but even more, for me, is the Hunter's ability in providing me with the ability to romp and explore easily and freely (via a run buff and ports) throughout Middle Earth--and yes, anyone can get a horse at level 35, but I still really like having that run buff! Unfortunately, there is a bit of "Hunter hate" to be had from some players, because there is quite an abundance of Hunters--but dammit to hell, if Hunter is the class you really want to play, don't let it stop you!

The server I'm on is Brandywine. I've been quite happy with it, as its well-populated (I believe its the most populated server?), and in general the amount of asshattery is surprisingly minimal. And please don't feel like you're behind--there are folks levelling up throughout all of Brandywine--I've not yet seen any scarcity of players at any  level range, so you'll be fine! :-)

If she follows lore closely, I believe she would find AoC to be frustrating and lacking in that regard. There were tremendous opportunities to follow the Conan lore (both canon and pastiche), but too much was disregarded throughout development for it to be a fully lore-rich and lore-consistent experience for those who really want to be immersed in the fullness of Conan's world of Hyboria.

Yeah, I too been wondering why Dawntide hasn't been given any mention on this site. It's a shame that it hasn't, but hopefully information about Dawntide will be forthcoming on this site soon.

http://www.dawntide.net

Originally posted by MMO-Rogue

This site is also a contributor to the hype AND relies on hype - it feeds on and is fed by hype.

The gaming sites and magazines hold a tremendous amount of responsibility--as they are the direct conduit from the game companies to the gamers.

Gaming sites and magazines make money by telling the public about the hype coming from the gaming companies so it's hard to imagine these sites and magazines setting forth a set of standards and expectations for information from the gaming companies that does much to ensure accountability and accuracy, and to quell the premature explosion of information.

And until then, this issue will assuredly be left unchecked.

What an incredible abuse of the justice system--yet, unfortunately, very typical.

Originally posted by Darkholme

Hopefully Colin Cragg will do well for AO.  

 Colin is a fantastic choice, he will do right by Anarchy Online.

Originally posted by WSIMike

He gave the person who spoke up a raise... he fired the others who'd been blowing smoke and wasting more of his money in the process.

And just imagine a game development company that would do the exact opposite of that...

*jaw drops*

NPC Mercenaries? In Everquest? Whoda thunk!!

That could really change the dynamics of the game in so many ways. It will be quite interesting to see how this plays out.

That image looks familiar, swore I've seen it posted on here before...

(Found it: http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/188009)

Originally posted by tokini 

[Esgoliath(GM)]: In the meantime, wanna cyber?

  just added the bit you cropped at the end

Haha!

I wonder how many players bug the GMs about that during petition conversations now.

Originally posted by MORB

 

---

 Hi Nepentheia :)

MORB!!! *tacklehug* I've missed you! I'm so glad to see you're still about and telling it like it is! You're awesome.

Originally posted by Unfinished

Originally posted by Nepentheia

 *grits her teeth and nods quietly* Yes, I did

 

 

In what capacity, I must know, I was a 5+ year AO Vet, I want the inside dirt !!!!!

Officially: Lore Master, Quest Designer.

Unofficially: Loud, Disruptive American Who was a Target for Middle-Management Hostility.

(And years back, for AO, I did the in-game "Huge-Map". And yes, I still absolutely adore leets! )