LOTRO: Book 7 Update

[Soulchilde]

Well, I have a lvl 13 Warden on Landoval named Forgge.  Where is everyone?

[The Rocketman]

I'm playing on a European server, Laurelin or something like that (English - RP).

[dangerballs]

Apparently, the 2nd Anniversary week starts tomorrow and everyone can play for free and you get +25% xp for all kills for the entire week.
The $9.99 a month pricing is also being offered again. 

http://www.lotro.com/news/377-welcomeback

[Arclight]

I'm in that place most MMO lovers come to. I'm currently not subscribed to any, yet I'm wanting to be. I just left Warhammer. Nice light snack, thats about it.

I had a problem with Lotro way back in the beginning. Being an absolute fan of JRR I thought it was a given I'd love the game. But it always felt like something was missing.
Could never really put my finger on it. Almost like it was too sterile or something. I tried to let it grab me but it never did.

That was then. Has enough changed in Lotro that I might find returning to it to be different than my first run?
I wouldn't re-activate, I'd start fresh from square one.

Is the Hobbit zones still considered the best starting areas?
I play at odd, off hours. What would be a good class for a more than likely solo career?

I need to find a MMO to sub to soon. I ain't going back to WoW..........kicked the CoH idea around. I don't thinks so as I'm planning on giving Champions a run through when it goes live.

[EngineNo9]

A lot has changed since the early days, but I have to admit that I still get that "too sterile" feeling most of the time as well.  (it's funny how so many people express the same feeling in the same way about this game) 

If I were you I'd certainly try out the free week and see what you think.  They have added a ton of content (mostly free) over the last year.

[Arclight]

A lot has changed since the early days, but I have to admit that I still get that "too sterile" feeling most of the time as well.  (it's funny how so many people express the same feeling in the same way about this game) 

If I were you I'd certainly try out the free week and see what you think.  They have added a ton of content (mostly free) over the last year.

Oh really?  Wonder what it is that gives the impression of sterility, or blandness? The graphics are nice. The lore is great. Music everywhere......one of those un-known quantities I guess.

[Lockdown]

I don't even know what "sterile" in the context of describing an MMO means.

I still think LotRO is one of the best, if not the best, MMO's ever released.

By sterile, do you guys mean 'boring' maybe?  Cause I would agree as far as "flash and pop" - LotRO is certainly not a heavy hitter, nor do I think it ever will be.

[Arclight]

I don't even know what "sterile" in the context of describing an MMO means.

I still think LotRO is one of the best, if not the best, MMO's ever released.

By sterile, do you guys mean 'boring' maybe?  Cause I would agree as far as "flash and pop" - LotRO is certainly not a heavy hitter, nor do I think it ever will be.

Yeah, maybe boring could be used in this context. Its like all the parts are there for a great MMO experience but for me it never seemed to happen. I was always saying to myself, oh well, maybe up around the next corner...............................

[Jaddison]

When i first tried LotRO i felt the same sort of feeling...sort of boring.

this time around i did a couple of things differently....I just wander around at times and for me the vast areas where you can explore without having a hostile creature close by is refreshing.  i also bumped up the brightness and vibrance which has helped alleviate that washed out feeling

I think that Runekeeper and Warden also hold my interest more than any other classes so perhaps use the free time to tyr them out.

[Hyperion]

  I heard there are solo-instances now, I have been trying to find more info on them with no luck. 

  Anyone have a link to level ranges and such?  And where to find them?  I am thinking of firing this game up again as I have a lvl 37ish Captain I abandoned about a year ago.

[TiLT]

There have always been solo instances, and you get access to your first before you hit level 10. They are always story instances though, with the exception of the item enchantment quests available in Moria.

[Scraper]

I hit 60 over the weekend with my first character. I'm now one of the few lvl 60 Wardens.

I will probably start up a new toon soon. The ride to 60 was really rewarding and I can honestly say that this was the first time I hit lvl cap in a game and I didn't feel like I was grinding just to get there. I actually wanted the lvl to hold off because there is so much more left to do. I still have to gather my various deeds, collect reputation, finish books 1.10. on up and so on. I figure there is enough to keep me busy with this toon on and off until the next major expansion comes out.

[TiLT]

Nice coincidence. I hit level 60 this weekend too. The last two levels were spent entirely in Lothlorien, and I still have lots of stuff to do there. I'm almost starting to look forward to heading back into Moria to kick the collective asses of anything that threatened me there before.

Interestingly, I don't own a single legendary weapon at this point. I just haven't found anything I felt was good enough to focus on, and my old weapons both became outdated and were melted down. I now have about 230 000 item xp waiting for my next weapon.

[Scraper]

Nice coincidence. I hit level 60 this weekend too. The last two levels were spent entirely in Lothlorien, and I still have lots of stuff to do there. I'm almost starting to look forward to heading back into Moria to kick the collective asses of anything that threatened me there before.

Interestingly, I don't own a single legendary weapon at this point. I just haven't found anything I felt was good enough to focus on, and my old weapons both became outdated and were melted down. I now have about 230 000 item xp waiting for my next weapon.

You do realize that the legendary weapons lvl up and become much stronger pretty quickly. I haven't used a regular weapon since about lvl 47, none of them hold a candle to legendary weapons. They have all kinds of stat boosts, especially once you start lvling up your runes to slot.

[TiLT]

Of course I know that, but the legendary weapons are also heavily reliant on their minimum level. A weapon with a minimum level of 51 or 53 just isn't going to be able to match quest reward weapons at level 59 (the DPS in particular is very bad in comparison, even when upgraded to its max). I haven't had much luck with Captain halberds so far, so I'm actually much better off using regular weapons until I actually find something decent to use. Hopefully I'll be able to locate a 2nd Age halberd with good stats, but I'm not holding my breath.

[TiLT]

I finally found a legendary weapon worth using!



It started out with 4 very useful legacies right away, and the potential to reach level 40, which is nice indeed for a 3rd Age weapon. It's too bad that it didn't have any gold legacies (only silver), but after getting to level 20, I already have two of those anyway. At the time this screenshot was taken, I hadn't even fought using the weapon. All I had done was to apply item xp I had saved up, which brought it straight to level 26.

The DPS is extremely good on this one compared to what I was using before. I went from struggling to take down enemies to cutting them down like butter. Ah, power!

[Scraper]

That's what IM talking about. You still have an open slot too. I can't hurt to throw something in there even if its a small buff.

[TiLT]

Yeah, I have room for a gem, but I'd rather save that slot until I get a level 5 or 6 gem to use on it. At the moment I haven't got any gems above level 2, I think, which just isn't good enough to even consider using as a temporary buff. I want the freedom to add a more powerful gem in there without losing one I've already placed. Relics are hard enough to build up to a suitable level as it is.

[Scraper]

Yeah, I have room for a gem, but I'd rather save that slot until I get a level 5 or 6 gem to use on it. At the moment I haven't got any gems above level 2, I think, which just isn't good enough to even consider using as a temporary buff. I want the freedom to add a more powerful gem in there without losing one I've already placed. Relics are hard enough to build up to a suitable level as it is.

When it hits lvls 10/20/30/40 you can unslot all the relics and reuse them however you want. So in theory you have 4 more lvls in which you can use the lvl 2, then unlsot it when you hit 30. You wont waste a thing.

[TiLT]

Yes, I know these things. I've been trying to hint at this for a few posts now, but please stop talking to me like I'm new to the game. I've been playing this since one month after the original game launched and have followed the dev feedback about new game systems long before they've been implemented on the live servers. I appreciate that you're trying to be helpful, but in this case it's wasted. Don't take it the wrong way though, I'm not annoyed or anything, just trying to steer the discussion somewhere more constructive.

[Scraper]

[TiLT]

Lol, I don't see that cartoon's relevance to the discussion, but it sure reminds me of some of the battles in this game.