I have been playing this game now for the past couple of weeks.  On the whole, I have been enjoying my time here, and think I have found a new MMO to subscribe too.

There is just one thing that is niggling with me, and perhaps you can help me out with it.  I have yet to reach level 20, so my knowledge of the gaming world is somewhat limited.  However, so far, I get the feeling that towns and villages are very close together, and it does not give me the sense that the gaming world on the whole, is truly 'massive'.   This might just be new player syndrome though, as I had the very same reaction to WoW.  I thought the whole game was about a thousandth of what it truly was. 

Is the same true with Lotr?  I know that the world is getting bigger with each new book, and that there is the Moria expansion to look forward too.  But I keep seeing level 50's, all the way down to low levels in the same areas, and have wondered about the scale of the game.

I'll probably realise how big the game is in a few levels time, just that at the moment everything seems so close together.

THe Auction house is in Bree, that is why you see a lot of higher levels in the towns. Also Bree is your main hub as well and I think it was smart design  by Turbine to make sure that as new players are lower levels , they see that , yes there are higher level players play the game ... Keep in mind we are only in the beginning of the story so a lot of what is going on is time lined for Eriador

You'll see higher level characters in just about every area.

Dunno how much you've learned about the Deed/Accomplishment system yet. In every zone, there are deeds you can complete to earn titles and Virtue Traits. You use those Traits to (minimally) specialize your character. Virtues are generally boosts to your attributes, hit and power points, or resistances. They have ranks, too. The first time you acquire a specific Virtue, you get a small bonus. When you get the same Virtue in another reason, the bonus increases a little bit.

This means there will be players coming back to regions to finish up Virtues that they didn't complete while they were in that zone leveling (or perhaps they even outleveled the zone before they made it there.)

Plus, every time they add a region, they add Virtues there. So while some of the newer zone have not been L50 content (like Evendim before and now Forochel), L50's still need to come there if they can get another rank on their Virtue in that region.

So you'll always be spotting higher level characters grinding or farming in places below their level for Traits, but not because the world is small. It's a double-edged sword, though. While it's can be frustrating that they are competition for quest or deed mobs for lower level players, sometimes they will group up with lowbies and help them finish a deed faster than they would otherwise and it's nice to have them around to answer questions in the /advice channel.

EDIT: They also put the Housing Areas in the lowbie zones so that everyone can get to their house without being hassled by purple mobs. So you are probably seeing people not just doing Traits, but also getting to their house as well as the features that are only in the major cities (the auction halls, the bank vaults, trainers, bards for equipping Traits, etc).

About the size of the world, otherwise, I don't think I would classify it as "massive." The game is only a year old. It's definitely grown in size since launch and there's every reason to believe that will continue. Not only have they added regions, but they have expanded existing ones. Plus, they are only in Eriador so far, there is a LOT more territory in Middle Earth to develop.

But I will say that my primary frustration with the world size is that there is pretty much one path for leveling. Everyone starts in different areas up to L14 or so. Then everyone is in Breeland, then the Lone Lands, then the North Downs, then the Trollshaws. They've got plenty to do around L40; the Misty Mountains, Evendim, Forochel, and Angmar. But the grind up to L40 is really repetitive when you're working on alts. Even if you try a different race and starting area, you'll quickly find yourself repeating the same repetitive quests (seriously, the kill quests are redundant within a region and across multiple regions) when you are right back in Bree, LL, ND, and TS.  I have 3 alts stalled out around L30 because I like other classes, but can't bring myself to do those quests again.

My recall spot is in Combe, so I always travel into the lowbie areas to see if anyone needs help . Personally , the game size is pretty good, might not be massive "yet" but it is a comfortable size to find kinships and new friends.  Once the land mass grows even more, the population will spread out more, so I think again Turbines game ethics on population and growth is above most mmo's.

I too play LOTRO now, and I must say it is one the largest mmo's out there. The world is absolutely beautiful. I have done betas on allot of mmo's through out the last 10 years and have tried most them after release. So I have a home for a while longer. LOTRO has the best storyline of all of them. I find that the players in general r very helpful our server has a very good community. SOO I hope you stay anad get involved with this mmo :) enjoy!!

I think with LoTRO, the way the areas are designed/utilized, it makes the world "feel" bigger than it is. This is why I've always said that there's so much to see if you really explore in LoTRO... It seems every "nook and cranny" has some little area hidden... some point of interest.

I was helping my sis knock out some quests in Breeland and found this little area sunken into the ground off the road heading toward Trestlebridge.. It was well hidden behind a veil of trees and shrubs and only by finding a small dirt path leading down into it did I even figure out it was there - after months of playing the game and passing that spot numerous times.

And that's just one example.. there are little hideaway spots like that all over the map. I'd have to say I don't think I've ever seen land-space so well used as it is in LoTRO, and those little areas are just an example. Nothing goes to waste and even the smallest little "out of the way" spots seem to be given the same attention to detail as the more important points-of-interest.

So... even while the physical landmass isn't that great "as the crow flies"... it's how Turbine's designers utilize that space that makes the world seem much larger than it is.

... to me anyway :)

The LOTRO land mass is probably a little smaller than that of other MMO's at launch. Also the "fast travel" makes it feel smaller than it is sometimes destroying some of the immersion comming from traveling the wide scenery. On the other hand, after u've traveled a certain route 20 times its annoying too.

Anyway, if you look at the LOTR map and see what a small puzzle piece is only designed by now - you know how large it will grow over the next years.

In fact, if you like LOTRO, then land mass size should be your smallest concern.

Enjoy the game ;)

Snorf

LOTR is about slightly below average for an MMO. If I had to rank it, 10 being the largest MMO ever and 1 being the smallest I'd give LOTR a 4/10

Its bigger than WoW without its expansion, a fair comparison since LOTR is only 1 yr old (wow had no expansion at 1 yr out)

Some of the larger MMO's have lots of open space but honestly its just pointless. Look at Star Wars Galaxies, it has huge open planets but it get tedious to travel somewhere occasionally.

LOTR utilizes its space very well. Nothing is wasted. Its rather open feeling as well so I dont feel like Im trapped in a box zone.

Give it another year, with an expansion plus all the free areas they keep adding and posts like these will turn into  "lotr is too big" complaints

4/10? That's absurd, of course, that is just your opinion too... but really. 4/10? LOL

To the OP: keep in mind that Eriador is the only section in the game right now, however, that alone is a good bit of landmass. Think about how massive it will be when all of the lands are represented.

Like to suggest that you look at a Map of Middle earth, its massive indeed allot of the story is still there. They have been diligent in adding new content all the way to book 13 now. Mines of Moria will be released before end of this year.  Look at Rohan, Gondor, Mordor, Rhovanion , so theres allot more to come yet. As I sd before it is one of the Biggest MMo that has come on board. And just to add, all mmos are somewhat easy just a little different in someways.

But this is by far the most beautiful game I have yet to witness, the scenery is just awesome. The dungeon crawls r amazing _ Turbine has put in allot of detail in their design of these, one that you will appreciate a great deal.

Hope that you have DL the trail and do hope that will enjoy the story and adventure!

Originally posted by Smintar

Like to suggest that you look at a Map of Middle earth, its massive indeed allot of the story is still there. They have been diligent in adding new content all the way to book 13 now. Mines of Moria will be released before end of this year.  Look at Rohan, Gondor, Mordor, Rhovanion , so theres allot more to come yet. As I sd before it is one of the Biggest MMo that has come on board. And just to add, all mmos are somewhat easy just a little different in someways.

But this is by far the most beautiful game I have yet to witness, the scenery is just awesome. The dungeon crawls r amazing _ Turbine has put in allot of detail in their design of these, one that you will appreciate a great deal.

Hope that you have DL the trail and do hope that will enjoy the story and adventure!

More intresting will be: How crowded the game will be when its 3x larger in land mass in 3 years. None of us likes empty worlds much. From time to time we can already read threads, where people have the impression, that the newbie areas are ghost towns and that the few you find there are either 3rd or 4th twinks of bored high level players or level 50 players finishing newbie traits.

Not trying to sound like a doomsayer, but given the current population in a 3 times larger land mass would spread people so far that it most likely feels dead. So in fact with landmass also subs need to grow constantly and the big question is: Do Turbine / Codemasters manage to achieve that? Or will the next step after Rohan be server mergers?

Only time will tell.

They can't win for losing. Players want a large world, especially when it's such a famous one as Middle Earth. That takes time to develop, test, and polish. But that will also spread the population out, leading players to complain about ghost towns. Dunno how they are gonna find a good balance. /shrug