What kind of graphics card do you use?  I also had issues with LOTRO.  I wonder if their engine hates the cards that we use.  I think mine's an Nvidia 8600gt.  I know I recently updated my drivers and that helped (with my framerate too, which is now a solid 60) , but every one and a while I still get a black screen CTD.

I run Vista 32bit and run into crashing issues.  I goes to load the engine, the CTD.  I haven't found a fix for it yet, I find that if I try it again, it normally will work on the second or third time (crazy annoying).  One-time I had to reboot.

I know recently I updated my GPU drivers and it got a lot better.  Are you using the DX10 content?

I hate to be a grammar nazi, but things that are done on a professional gaming site should be grammatically correct.

"What school you choose will effect which spells[...]"

should read:

"What school you choose will affect which spells[...]"

I've found that if I use the raven to distract archers that helps out quite a bit.

I honestly say the LM is pretty durable (if played right) and can last a long time.  I had to hardest time surviving with the RK.

Actually, as per your comments about weapons doing different damages to different mobs. Tabula Rasa did this.

It's an addition for module nine.  As far as I know, it's not in the game yet.  I think it's supposed to scale the dififculty of the enemies based on the makeup of your party.  Or you could always pickup a healbot from the hench vendor.

It's not an MMORPG, but it's good fun (and has pretty good FPS combat).  You also don't kill mobs but other players.

I've recently discovered Savage 2.  It's a FPS, RPG, RTS game.  A bit like a combo of Tribes and Counterstrike and Team Fortress.  Good fun for short sessions too.  Plus it's free.

Man, I'm always impressed at the Captians who can tank.  If I ever tried it, I'd get destroyed.  Then again, I'm a CC player at heart.

The warden is, at heart, a hybrid.  It can tank quite effictively, but doesn't have to.  It does pretty decent dps and can keep itself up pretty well with it's minor self-healing ability.  With the gambits, the class can be kind of complicated to play (there are no OH CRAP, or get out of jail free buttons), but it is great fun!

I recommend trying the Ward if you don't want to tank.  The fact of the matter is that the Guardian is expected to tank, they really don't do enough damage to "dps".  A DPS tank would be better replaced by a champ who could tank in a pinch of a LM who can control the fight.

Originally posted by Daffid011

I bet if you put some effort into networking with players around your playtime you could put together a raid for an hour or two for how ever many days a week you chose.  There are plenty of people with wide open schedules, with alts, casual playtimes like yourself, etc that would most likely jump on the chance to raid in your time slot.  I'm not talking about spamming trade channel for pug players, but put a post up on your guild forum or server forum.  When you group with people in dungeons see if the would be interested and write their names down.   There is almost always a pug raid after a wintergrasp victory that needs more people, etc.  The opportunities are out there if people put in the effort.

 

An hour or two is plenty of time to raid and get the same rewards as anyone else.  My casual 10 man raid already has a specific 1 hour raid night where we clear the first 3 encounters in ulduar.  This lets us spend our 3 hour raid night just on progression with other encounters.  It didn't take to long to get to the point of clearing naxx in one 3 hour night and I suspect ulduar will turn into the same thing in the coming months. 

I think the real problem with the casual crowd that is upset that they "cannot" raid is that there is noone to do the organization and have something ready to jump right into.  That is not meant as an insult.  Facts of life are that some people are leaders and some are followers. 

I see your point.  And you are right.  If I did take some time to put together a nice like of friends from people I do other group content, before long I would have a huge list to take from.  I guess, then, for me it does come down to feeling like it takes more time than an hour or two.  I really haven't done any raids in quite a few years and from what I understand (and what you've just said too!) is that it no longer takes three to four hours to do a single raid.  I don't agree that it has anything to do with organization.  I guess if I really wanted to raid that bad, I would be working on networking and getting more people.

I think the biggest problem is the "casuals" who demand the same rewards to easier content.  Like I said, I would love to get the best gear from just grouping (or crafting), but there does need to be an acheivement for raiding.  Something tangible is best (raid treadmill agrument aside), and gear fills this void (especially after you've hit max level).  I completely agree that the "hardcore" raiders need better gear for their work (but at the same time dislike how it denys other people from joining a raid because...as someone else said... their gear "isn't good enough".).

I think we can all agree that it's a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" catch-22 situation.  But I think, honestly, that WoW does a great job balancing small group content with large group content, and solo content.  There is enough of everything that should keep the majority happy (and, let's be honest, has for a while considering thir massive subscriber numbers).

It is, though, difficult to find a guild sometimes that will accept "casuals" but still has enough people to throw together a raid at odd hours (well, it used to be, like I said I haven't worried about raiding so much.  I am an altaholic).

In response to the Orignial Poster, there is a specific reason a great number of casuals say there's a good deal of "content [they will] never see."  It's because they will never see it.  It has nothing to do with someone saying they have a "rockstar" lifestyle.  It has nothing to do with being poorly organized.  It has everything to do with unpredictibility of life.  There are, honestly, two examples that I can think of this that apply to both schools.

I don't raid.  It's not that I don't want to.  I find that I don't have the time.  It's not because I'm running around with Bono or Bruce Springstean being a Rockstar.  It's because I enjoy the time I get to spend with my wife.  The way our schedules work out is I get home about two hours or so before her, so that's the time I have scheduled (yes, scheduled) to play MMORPGs.  Unfortunately, no one raids at one or two in the afternoon.  So I'm stuck out of raiding.  Do I complain that I might not be ever able to access "phat lewts", sure.  But honestly, who wouldn't.  One of the major points of most MMORPGs is the progression (and yes, gear progression is a big part of that feeling of being successful).  Would it be nice if I could buy some crafted gear that nice, sure!  Am I getting onto forums nerd-raging about the "banality" of common television and insulting those that choose to schedule their lives around their families and not a video game?  No.  When push comes to shove, it's all a matter of different priorities.  I choose to spend time with my wife and friends at night and play MMORPGs during the day.  I know the bed I've made and choose to lay in it.  Yes, it does "suck" that I'll never see a large number of raids, but trying to stick to a schedule (and nine hours out of my nights for the whole week is, in essence, giving up one half of my nights) is just too time consuming.  Also, to someone's example about FFXI, playing with a 25 year old "child" and having an 8 year old living with you are two completely different things.  The game completely changes when they're infants.

On the other hand, I have a good friend who raids religiously.  I think he raids three or four nights out of the week!  He married his wife about the same time I married mine, and lives in a similar situation as I do.  He, on the other hand, chooses to schedule his MMORPG time at night so he can participate in his guild raids.  Is there anything wrong with what he does?  Of course not!  Is going to have better gear that I do, of course.  Is it THAT big of a deal, no!

I think that you'll find a great number of the casuals aren't as whiney as you seem to think they are.  I'm sure there are some that are out there that complain constantly, but not all of us are like that.  Trying to insult people who have different priorities than you is, well, childish and banal.

To repeat, I don't think anyone who said they can't raid has ever said it was because they have a "rock star" life.  It's because they don't have the time.  The reason (and I think anyone who thinks they don't have the time will agree) is because, not of their own schedule, but that of their family.  They have different priorities and goals.  Is one set of priorities better than another?  Hell no.

Originally posted by RedwoodSap

Originally posted by winter

[...]

 

 I'm confused why would you want to grief underaged players?

 Oh i get it you mean you miss being a asshat. I Think WoW still allows some of that. Also Darkfall might be right up your alley.

I don't see where the OP mentioned anything about "underage" players. I guess you just invented that to reinforce your opinion.[...]

You do realize that he was just making a PUN about his usage of the term minor, right?

It might also depend on what server in the cluster you're on.  I know yesterday they shut Jita down, so if you were in Jita when you logged off, it might not have let you on.

Eve's server is pretty good, especially withe all the new hardware!  53k concurrent users. 

Originally posted by miagisan

Originally posted by chrisleko

Originally posted by miagisan

Originally posted by chrisleko

It's impossible to have a "seamless" world, it's just to the extent that you notice the seams.

Look at EVE, HUUUGGGEE world, but not seamless.  In order to house many people on one server, they need to "chunk" or "zone" areas together onto multiple servers that make up a cluster. 

 

you do know every mmorpg is on a server cluster right?

 

Is that not what  I just said?  Everything hitches slightly when you cross from one server to another in a cluster.  It's just a matter of how well they hide it and how long it takes (and how noticable it is).

sorry i just misread what you said, my apologies

No worries mate.  sorry if I jumped a little too soon on you too.
 

Originally posted by miagisan

Originally posted by chrisleko

It's impossible to have a "seamless" world, it's just to the extent that you notice the seams.

Look at EVE, HUUUGGGEE world, but not seamless.  In order to house many people on one server, they need to "chunk" or "zone" areas together onto multiple servers that make up a cluster. 

 

you do know every mmorpg is on a server cluster right?

Is that not what  I just said?  Everything hitches slightly when you cross from one server to another in a cluster.  It's just a matter of how well they hide it and how long it takes (and how noticable it is).

It's impossible to have a "seamless" world, it's just to the extent that you notice the seams.

Look at EVE, HUUUGGGEE world, but not seamless.  In order to house many people on one server, they need to "chunk" or "zone" areas together onto multiple servers that make up a cluster. 

You can also go into production (you generally need a bit of money first), which just requires your wits. 

Of all three, I think eve requires the least amount of actual dexterirty.

The eve forums have some read resources to help.  They can even show you how to outfit your ship and what skills you should train.

Another great thing about EVE is that it's all driven by the mouse, so you don't have to worry about individual finger dexterity.  Just the speed of your clicking finger (which doesn't even have to be that fast).

Combat can be fast paced, but it also can be quite slow.  You tend to always doing something, but it's more about thinking ahead and pre-planning.

It's been said that if you enter a fair fight in EVE, then you've done something wrong.

While I never really solo, I do tend to wander off from the group on my bard semi-often.  I would have to say that the warchanter is rather easy to solo.  Self-healing, self-buffing, dps machine.

Other than that, I really recommend grouping.  It's not too difficult to find a group often, sometimes I have to wait a few minutes (think the longest I waited was about 10 minutes before i convinced the group to pick up a pally and go without the cleric.  It wasn't an easy time, but we ended up completing).

Grouping is so much more fun and so much more entertaining than soloing.

That being said, I do solo rarely.  If i can't find a group, or want to do a short quest for some quick xp.

You do realize that an Isometric viewpoint IS a third person viewpoint, right?