Lord of the Rings Online (LotRO)

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I have started playing the game in early December, largely as a concession to a friend who again, at last, wanted to cooperatively play computer with me again. It's been years since we did that, and since we're both into RPGs, and he had become somewhat tired of WoW, already had been playing LotRO as a subscriber and since LotRO was free to play for me it became a natural choice. Notably, LotRO is the first MMORPG that I have ever played.

What shall I say, I have five characters now, two mains, and three twinks (for crafting skills), and I have to say that I greatly enjoy the game.

I play as primary characters:
Guardian, human, lvl 41 (prospector, weaponsmith and woodworker)
Hunter, human, lvl 38 (prospector, forester, tailor [for light and medium armor])
and as secondaries:
Hunter, elven, lvl 30 (jeweller, prospector and cook)
Weaponmaster, dwarven, lvl 20 (my cliché metalsmith and prospector)
Weaponmaster, elven lvl 22 (my scholar, capable to fend for herself - and she complements the char my buddy made, a bard, so we can play synchronously through the book quests - he's buffing while I do the killing)

To my surprise I even ended up joining a guild. It is a thoroughly enjoyable game

Any other players here?

 

Having said all that, I have had the opportunity to put my Guardian though the instances at Fornost, the first 'big one' I played so far, and it has been a lot of fun - about three hours with a party of six, whacking our way around to meet the end boss. Brilliant. Challenging fights, even for a group, and dang, I failed to secure the trophy in the end - the armour of the end boss.

But then, it has to be said, that it is a little tiresome for someone like me who plays solo for most of the time, to at times have no choice but to go to areas dedicated for party play i.e. which have (~ triple hitpoint) elite mobs (that don't yield any more exp for the extra hassle). Annoying.

But the scenery never ceases to amaze, the details are lovingly created, and so far my favourite area is Evendim (lvl 30 to 40). Lots of challenging quests, nice scenery and atmosphere.

But then, on a curious note, how come there are no children in Evendim?

 

All in all, I am currently enjoying myself greatly, having levelled my main to lvl 53, and my secondary to 43.

About one annoying thing: I have previously spoken about the elite mobs. They are still a major nuisance. At lvl 53 I am now able to kill reliably, that is, without being ground down too much, lvl 35 elites* who have about as much hp as I do - and my class, guardian, has about as much HP as any class can conceivably get in the game. So, out of sheer stubbornness I eventually finished about all the quests in Nan Warthen in Esteldin, and it was very challenging to play solo - even though I got zero XP because every enemy there was more than ten levels lower than I was and I thus wasn't attacked on sight any more. In LotRO you need a guild to be able to play these quests when they reward you with kill XP. There is no viable alternative.

* Comparison: When you're the same level, say 35, a normal lvl 35 enemy would have about 900 HP; an elite would have about 4000 HP. Despite that, you do get the same amount of XP (and same quality loot) when you kill an normal enemy or an elite enemy. That does make some sense, because the reward is in the quest XP and some nice items you can get rather early that way. It's just too bad for you if you don't find strong or capable players joining you in these quests. If that happens, well, you wait as I did until you're some ten levels higher (but get no XP for the kill anymore ).

 

The hardship of MMO gaming.

 

It's a poor substitute for WoW.

 

I don't think so at all. I have played WoW and discarded it after a week. I am playing LotRO since December, and I am greatly enjoying it, in particular the book quests where you play along the storyline of Lord of the Rings.

Also, I play on a role-playing server ("Hey, where can I find A" won't work really most of the time; you got to ask "Dear traveller, I have lost my way to A"), which is sometimes exasperating but generally very enjoyable. The role-players are adding a very enthusiastic and personalised touch to the game (as in Hobbits role-playing dancing in front of the Pony in Bree, with other players making music, or as in *walking*, slowly, through town). I have a couple times seen people advertising their wares in the trade chat in rhymes That's something I have never seen in WoW.

 

After I met some crazy damage dealing hobbit bards when playing an instance with some expert veteran players, I decided to go for a fun character myself. So I created a hobbit lass warden. I made her cute - barefooted, with a dress and flowers in her hair.

This class uses so-called gambit attacks, which are essentially combination attacks which are started using a sequence of keystrokes, or even a combination of several combinations. Now who can concentrate on effectively playing the piano while fighting?

So I programmed her class specific gambit attack sequences as macros on my Logitech G15 and then I challenged the first obnoxious player I met along the way to a duel. I positioned myself, took aim and then I pressed G1 and ate some crisps ... beautiful. I'd have loved to see the face of that player (That said, the game stands out in that usually players are exceptionally friendly and helpful, at least on Belegaer (DE), and that includes me).

It is quite the spectacle when some cute little hobbit lass in a dress with flowers in her hair jumps at an enemy with a high pitched scream, stabbing him with her spear repeatedly.

That aside, I have two characters beyond level 50 now, and the game really starts to show interesting nuances inaccessible on lower settings, like high level instances and skirmishes. And I'll head to Moria soon.