Ah yes, another trial question thread.

I too like many who seem to find their way to LOTRO played Everquest 1 & 2 for years.  I must say that overall my experience has been positive.  But I think I am a bit bored with Norrath and thought I would spin my wheels in Middle Earth for a change.

My main questions are:

• Are there any dragons to fight/raid (I don't mean drakes either)?  I really enjoy killing a huge powerful dragon.
• Is it possible to enjoy the game without doing the quests?
• What would you say are the top features of the game itself?
• I am going to playing pretty casual, is it too late to enjoy the game as it was from release?
• What kind of mounts are there?
• I enjoy collecting things in an RPG, are there awesome items, weapons, armor, house items, etc to collect and show off?

EQ2 is a fun game, but because of their rubbish graphics engine I have bad performance often times.  I am hoping LOTRO is newer and the engine more polished.

Thanks

Originally posted by Johnhost

Ah yes, another trial question thread.

I too like many who seem to find their way to LOTRO played Everquest 1 & 2 for years.  I must say that overall my experience has been positive.  But I think I am a bit bored with Norrath and thought I would spin my wheels in Middle Earth for a change.

My main questions are:

• Are there any dragons to fight/raid (I don't mean drakes either)?  I really enjoy killing a huge powerful dragon.  Ya i think so.
• Is it possible to enjoy the game without doing the quests? I hardly "do" quests. I take them all then do all my deeds and traits and crafting...end up finishing quests along the way. Rest xp and killing mobs is the way to level IMO. I was level 30 when I left lonelands for North downs...questers usually hit north downs around 23-25.
• What would you say are the top features of the game itself? dont have to reach level cap before you can have fun. The game is fun all the way through.
• I am going to playing pretty casual, is it too late to enjoy the game as it was from release? Its 10x's better now than at release.
• What kind of mounts are there? horses
• I enjoy collecting things in an RPG, are there awesome items, weapons, armor, house items, etc to collect and show off? yes on all. Just added fishing, now you can take your rare fish to the taxidermist and then put it up in your house.

EQ2 is a fun game, but because of their rubbish graphics engine I have bad performance often times.  I am hoping LOTRO is newer and the engine more polished. LOTRO runs much better IMO

Thanks

hope that helps, anything more specific ya wanna know just ask.

Originally posted by Johnhost
...

My main questions are:

• Are there any dragons to fight/raid (I don't mean drakes either)?  I really enjoy killing a huge powerful dragon.
• Is it possible to enjoy the game without doing the quests?
• What would you say are the top features of the game itself?
• I am going to playing pretty casual, is it too late to enjoy the game as it was from release?
• What kind of mounts are there?
• I enjoy collecting things in an RPG, are there awesome items, weapons, armor, house items, etc to collect and show off?

...

Dragons - no, no real dragons in LotRO cause Frodo, Aragaon and the lads didn't fight dragons in the books either. Plenty of drakes though. However, there are other huge things you can fight. 

Not doing quests - no, the game is the quests. Some quests (notably the class quests) you will have to do unless you want to gimp your character. A number of quests (the epic ones) are the best content of the game. The majority of the quests you can do or not, but remember that quests are the prime source of XP in LotRO.

Top feature of the game - Good Middle Earth immersion, polish, good graphic, plenty of content (areas, quests, raids, solo-content as well as group-content), very casual friendly, very solo-friendly, very easy game.

Casual game play - no problem at all, the game is hyper casual-friendly all the way to level 50. Note however that obtaining the best high-end items requires some effort. You will not be able to deck-out your character in all the best shiny things when you don't group up for high-end content. Not directed at you but there is currently some whining on the official boards from solo-ers and so-called casuals that they can't get the best gear during an easy half an hour walk in the park.

Mounts - Horses. Currently there are 8 different horses (different skins) in game that players can acquire. One of them very difficult to get, 3 of them reasonably difficult, 4 of them easy to get. Small races (dwarf, hobbit) get the same mount as Pony. ;)

Collecting things - Possible, there are somewhat rare items in the game. But to show off? Nah, all items that you might find have been found 10.000 times already since launch.

Dragons - no, no real dragons in LotRO cause Frodo, Aragaon and the lads didn't fight dragons in the books either. Plenty of drakes though.

What's the difference between drakes and dragons?

Originally posted by Shangala

Dragons - no, no real dragons in LotRO cause Frodo, Aragaon and the lads didn't fight dragons in the books either. Plenty of drakes though.

 

What's the difference between drakes and dragons?

Dragons fly? I dunno. They also use lore from the book " the hobbit"..so its possible that there "could" be a dragon in game even though the lads didnt fight any in the lotr books. However. I am no expert in middle earth lore so I could be very, very wrong.

Originally posted by Shangala
...

What's the difference between drakes and dragons?

I always thought Dragons have wings and can fly and drakes don't, but then I'm not really sure, hehe.

Anyway, my post that you quoted was wrong anyway, brainfade on my part - of course there is a dragon in the game. :)

lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Monster:Thorog

Originally posted by Larsa

 

Originally posted by Shangala
...

What's the difference between drakes and dragons?

I always thought Dragons have wings and can fly and drakes don't, but then I'm not really sure, hehe.

 

Anyway, my post that you quoted was wrong anyway, brainfade on my part - of course there is a dragon in the game. :)

lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Monster:Thorog

Can I ask you what you mean by lotro being a very easy game? Not that Im saying you're wrong, I just like to see what people's definitions of easy and hard are in mmo's..if you have time that is. Just curious, thats all. Thanks.

Originally posted by FikusOfAhazi

Can I ask you what you mean by lotro being a very easy game? Not that Im saying you're wrong, I just like to see what people's definitions of easy and hard are in mmo's..if you have time that is. Just curious, thats all. Thanks.

Well, my definition of easy in this case would be that it's next to impossible to make any errors - and if you do so it hardly matters anyway. Here are a few examples of what I consider easy-mode for combat situations:

1. No real death penalty. You only loose a few silver and a few minutes time to go back to the mob that just killed you.
2. You cannot fail a quests. Just repeat the quest until you've done it.
3. Any class can comfortably defeat any normal mob, up to a mob a few levels above you.
4. Rather narrow aggro range reduces chance of adds.
5. Player characters can out-run almost every mob.
6. Find yourself in a tight spot with mobs all around you? No problem, just teleport out.
7. For most fellowship quests a full fellowship is hugely overpowered and can just steamroll the mobs without any risk of failure.

Originally posted by Larsa

 

Originally posted by FikusOfAhazi

Can I ask you what you mean by lotro being a very easy game? Not that Im saying you're wrong, I just like to see what people's definitions of easy and hard are in mmo's..if you have time that is. Just curious, thats all. Thanks.

Well, my definition of easy in this case would be that it's next to impossible to make any errors - and if you do so it hardly matters anyway. Here are a few examples of what I consider easy-mode for combat situations:

 

1. No real death penalty. You only loose a few silver and a few minutes time to go back to the mob that just killed you.
2. You cannot fail a quests. Just repeat the quest until you've done it.
3. Any class can comfortably defeat any normal mob, up to a mob a few levels above you.
4. Rather narrow aggro range reduces chance of adds.
5. Player characters can out-run almost every mob.
6. Find yourself in a tight spot with mobs all around you? No problem, just teleport out.
7. For most fellowship quests a full fellowship is hugely overpowered and can just steamroll the mobs without any risk of failure.

Thank you. It would be interesting (to me) if you put a "compared to" whatever game after each of those so I could get a better understanding, but I wont ask you to do that. Those are all valid opinions. Thanks again.

Originally posted by Larsa

 

Originally posted by FikusOfAhazi

Can I ask you what you mean by lotro being a very easy game? Not that Im saying you're wrong, I just like to see what people's definitions of easy and hard are in mmo's..if you have time that is. Just curious, thats all. Thanks.

Well, my definition of easy in this case would be that it's next to impossible to make any errors - and if you do so it hardly matters anyway. Here are a few examples of what I consider easy-mode for combat situations:

 

1. No real death penalty. You only loose a few silver and a few minutes time to go back to the mob that just killed you.
2. You cannot fail a quests. Just repeat the quest until you've done it.
3. Any class can comfortably defeat any normal mob, up to a mob a few levels above you.
4. Rather narrow aggro range reduces chance of adds.
5. Player characters can out-run almost every mob.
6. Find yourself in a tight spot with mobs all around you? No problem, just teleport out.
7. For most fellowship quests a full fellowship is hugely overpowered and can just steamroll the mobs without any risk of failure.

I have to agree with most of this but don't recall any teleport?

I have to say I really love the game. I was in closed beta, when to open but ran into some issues because most of the quests I had were fellowship quests. Took a break, came back and I like the game much better now.

Drakes don't fly. I think there is a large drake. To the op, I think you need to realize that this game can be similar to WoW but it's not like wow. so there really aren't a lot of raids and though there is "better gear" you can make due without it just fine. It is an easy game but if you like quest based games (I think you said you didn't?) and story lines then this game is fun.

As far as grinding... well, you "could" grind but it just seems to be a waste as you are bypassing any content. Having said that, I had decided to explore Goblin Town and in my explorations I noticed I made 25% xp toward lvl 50. So it is possible.

To answer OP's questions:

Are there any dragons to fight/raid (I don't mean drakes either)?  I really enjoy killing a huge powerful dragon.

There is only one official dragon in the game, and it's not really alive. It can be fought though, however it's in a raid, so it'll be some time before you get there, and very casual players don't usually participate in raiding anyhow.

The lore for the time this game is set in dictates there's probably not an actual living dragon left in Middle-Earth. The last known dragon, Smaug, was killed by Bard in the Hobbit, which is prior to the setting of LOTRO.

That said, there are two other classifications of dragon kind in this game: worms and drakes. Worms are ground dwelling creatures, usually normal mobs that spit fire at you on occasion. Drakes seem to have the greatest variation within the game. There are strictly ground dwelling drakes, generally elites. There are also more challenging quests and instances in which you come across flying drakes - namely in Angmar, which is high level content. For all intents and purposes, fighting these flying drakes is close enough to fighting a dragon. My personal experience was that these things are quite massive, and if they were only drakes, I'd hate to ever come across a live, breathing, and fully functional full-fledged dragon.

Is it possible to enjoy the game without doing the quests?

I would say not for an extended period of time. One of the weaknesses of MMOs in general is the difficulty of putting in a story. Turbine endevored to remedy this situation, but it created an effect where the game is very, very quest centric. For me, that's fine. I love doing quests. For others, that's not necessarily their thing, so they don't enjoy the game as much.

I highly recommend taking the time to read the quest text. It's very well written, and from what I've heard, top in the MMO genre. There has been numerous testimony that folks got bored when they didn't read the quests and just started grinding them, but when they took the time to read the quests, they felt a much greater connection to the game and world. They enjoyed their time much better.

That said, there are things to do in the game that isn't questing, however quests is the primary way of getting xp. Strictly grinding xp from mobs will be very slow to level your character. The other activities are aquiring deeds, which basically rewards grinding beyond xp, crafting, and hobbies (only fishing in the game so far for hobbies). Otherwise, you're looking at questing.

What would you say are the top features of the game itself?

I'm a big fan of quests and story, so that is probably my favorite part of the game, however, the quality of the world is up there as well. Each part of the world is hand crafted with great care and doens't seem just plopped in for the sake of getting content out. The graphics are beautiful and really help pull the player into the world. So, quests and graphics. Both immersion type features for me.

I am going to playing pretty casual, is it too late to enjoy the game as it was from release?

Absolutely not. People in this game have serious cases of alt-itis and so you'll see a good spread of levels, even a year after release. That said, the lower level areas will be noticeably less populated than other areas. Once you get to Bree, you should be fine. Don't agonize over not completing fellowship quests, and even though the epic storyline in the starter zones does have a fellowship rated section, you can go back once you've leveled above the quest and finish it solo if you absolutely cannot find a fellowship to complete it. I'd highly recommend going through the epic storyline.

What kind of mounts are there?

Just horses, with various skins. You have to be level 35 to aquire a horse, though you might see folks after 25 have a horse - that was a special promotion to people who had lifetime subscriptions in December 2007. I had to wait to level 35 for my horse and it wasn't a big deal.

I enjoy collecting things in an RPG, are there awesome items, weapons, armor, house items, etc to collect and show off?

There are definitely things to collect. The value of which is of course determined by you. If you think it's something nice, keep it. The best way to do this is store it in your bank vault or house. However, showing off collected items isn't as advanced. You can decorate your house, and there are trophies you can get stuffed for killing various animials. Sometimes you'll get a drop that can be taken to a taxidermist and you can put that in your house.

The other way is to wear the gear you feel is special. Now, you can actually wear it for the stats, or you can put it on as a cosmetic outfit. My character has one set of gear which is his stat gear and a whole 'nother set that is his cosmetic gear, which I think looks better than the stat gear.

I'm not sure this is exactly what you want though. There has been hints to expanding the collection aspect by adding in items and functions, but it's not really fully flushed out yet. The absolutely uber items that are the rarest come from raiding or high levels in PvMP in the Ettenmoors. Not exactly casual friendly, but not super hard-core either.

I hope that answers your questions well enough and I hope you enjoy the game.