I'm a current subscriber.  Coming up on my one year anniversary.

I LOVE the game and play at least two hours daily.   But the key things that keep me coming back are:

1) 4 months ago, I found a terrific group of people / guild.  [ Shout-out to "Krit Happens" (Order) and "Hammer Kult" (Destro)! ]

2) The huge number of character classes, plus the fact that each one has three different "paths" of mastery skills you can go with, makes each character quite interesting to play. 

Yes, there are days when I wish there were more people online.  But those days are rare.  I really don't have any problem with a zone only having only 10-20 people in it.  You can still have some pretty intense fights and zone-struggles with those numbers.  And there are MANY when EACH side has roughly 48 people in that zone.

The thing I don't like is how quite often the BALANCE of those numbers is clearly out-of-whack.  There are days when it's the Destro Zerg steamrolling over 4 Order players.   And there are days when Order has that Zerg and it's hard to find a Destro player to throw a stick at.   

Another example of that is the current "Live Event".  There are something like 10 objectives you have to complete in order to finish it.  Well, I think three of the objectives require a particular scenario to pop.  We're playing Tier 2 right now nightly and that scenario just is NOT popping.  Scenarios, again, require a number BALANCE between the sides... or at least something reasonably CLOSE.

That's the part that can be a real drag....low enough numbers to cause a huge imbalance between the Factions.   So perhaps opening up the game to F2P would help that situation. 

That and I DO wish there was more reason to do PVE... because whenever I do go do some PVE, I find the game world to be very, very interesting.   Some of it is truly gorgeous and some of the towns and their "problems" (PVE story line) are interesting.

Even if they go F2P, I would probably continue to pay monthly, because I'm having tons of fun every night and I don't want any limits imposed on my favorite toon:    ShammyDavisjnr (Shammy...errr....Shaman) !!

Posting here, in part, because it helps me to clarify in my head just what I want and what I enjoy.:

I played LOTRO for about a year and a half, until a graphics card upgrade and crappy drivers caused me to give up trying to play.... last April or May, I think it was.   Anyways, the kinship I was in back then fell apart soon thereafter (they were a small group that been around for several years... the leadership just became exhausted, I think).

The only other MMO I've ever played is, I think, Star Wars Galaxies.  Oh wait, I played City of Heroes for about a year too.  But I'd like to play another fantasy game.... at least until DC Universe comes out.

Well, I'm on a new video card now.  I've played maybe 1-2 hours of D&D online.  Still mulling over whether I like it or not.   Instancing seems to reduce contact between others, compared to LOTRO.    So, while I continue to try that out, I thought I'd ask if anybody has any other MMO recommendations for me.

What I really liked about LOTRO:

1)  The setting (huge game world and back-story, high-quality / "realistic" visuals, the whole sense of immersion)

2)  The in-game community

3)  Occasional RP-ing

4)  Going on quests with my kin

I'm not into PVP.  I think I've only been in one raid... ever.   And I typically don't even get any toons up to the top ranks.  My highest toon in LOTRO, after one year, was level 43, I think.  I had two other toons there that I seldom played.   So, I guess you could call me a "casual player", though my wife would argue about my LOTRO time-commitment on that.

What I kind of hated about LOTRO or things that keep me from going back to it:

1)  Oh Lord, I'd have to play essentially the same starter areas.... and probably also later areas.... AGAIN ?!?

2)   The whole sad feeling of starting over, missing my former characters and friends

3)  Would actually like to step away from that game world for now.

Some friends have suggested:

a) Play WOW.    -- My reaction:   The graphics are so, so "cartoony".  The community has a reputation of being... shall we say... immature?

b) Play Vindictus --  Isn't that the one where you're forced to play one of three specific characters??   Didn't the review here say that if you're a casual gamer, stay far, far away from this game?

Your thoughts?  Questions?   

Thanks very much!

-= Dave =-

Thunder ... Thunder.... Thunder.... Thundercats!  Ho !!!

( That Mum-ra guy was, I think, one of the cooler, smarter villains ever.)

Greetings All!

I'm finally thinking about giving LotRO a try.  But I hear that the "Mines of Moria" expansion is about to be released.

If I buy that, will that include the entire game?  Or do I have to buy the LotRO software package first, then the Moria expansion?

Just trying to estimate my costs in advance.  I earned an easy $100 recently and thought I'd treat myself to LotRO for my birthday (which will be the end of this month).

Thanks!

-= Dave =-

Ugghhh....  the cheesy graphics / screenshots are a HUGE turn-off for me.

I don't want to play a comic-book, I want to play a real-life MOVIE that's comic-book-like (a la Batman Begins, the upcoming Ironman movie, etc.) !! 

I am a current CoH player.  I've played for 15 months now.  And while the promise of being able to customize your powers and the hint that you won't have to fit into certain classes like Tanker, Blaster, or Scrapper sound promising... I would have HOPED the graphics would have taken a leap in realism (since it's been several years since CoH started using its current graphics engine)!

How disappointing.  But then, I realize this is simply an attempt to salvage all of the work that they've put in on the Marvel game they had been working on.

Not sure if I'm going to try this one... probably not.  I'm getting quite bored now with CoH.  (I think I may need to switch to a fantasy / D&D genre MMORPG.)

-= Dave =-