LOTRO - State of the game

[TiLT]

Better yet, do as many quests as you can in Bree and head directly for North Downs. The Lone-lands is widely regarded as one of the most boring zones in the game, which means it's a good thing they're giving it a second look (actually, I seem to recall they already changed it a bit soon after launch, which makes this their third attempt). North Downs on the other hand is one of the most fun zones in the game. The difference is huge.

[Jag]

Better yet, do as many quests as you can in Bree and head directly for North Downs. The Lone-lands is widely regarded as one of the most boring zones in the game, which means it's a good thing they're giving it a second look (actually, I seem to recall they already changed it a bit soon after launch, which makes this their third attempt). North Downs on the other hand is one of the most fun zones in the game. The difference is huge.

I would but both the Epic and Class quests are forcing me there right now. Once I get there and see all those shiny quest rings, I can't help but click them all!

I have 4 days left on my trial. I figure if I don't sleep, I can hit the level cap and not have to buy the game.

[Scraper]

Better yet, do as many quests as you can in Bree and head directly for North Downs. The Lone-lands is widely regarded as one of the most boring zones in the game, which means it's a good thing they're giving it a second look (actually, I seem to recall they already changed it a bit soon after launch, which makes this their third attempt). North Downs on the other hand is one of the most fun zones in the game. The difference is huge.

I would but both the Epic and Class quests are forcing me there right now. Once I get there and see all those shiny quest rings, I can't help but click them all!

I have 4 days left on my trial. I figure if I don't sleep, I can hit the level cap and not have to buy the game.

Ah but there is so much more to do than just reach lvl 60, there is lvl 60, then there is a LVL 60. It takes time to get your character to be uber badass even after hitting 60. There are so many things to do and collect. I've been 60 for about 3 or 4 months now and I still have a ton of things I need to do to improve my toon.

[Jag]

Better yet, do as many quests as you can in Bree and head directly for North Downs. The Lone-lands is widely regarded as one of the most boring zones in the game, which means it's a good thing they're giving it a second look (actually, I seem to recall they already changed it a bit soon after launch, which makes this their third attempt). North Downs on the other hand is one of the most fun zones in the game. The difference is huge.

I would but both the Epic and Class quests are forcing me there right now. Once I get there and see all those shiny quest rings, I can't help but click them all!

I have 4 days left on my trial. I figure if I don't sleep, I can hit the level cap and not have to buy the game.

Ah but there is so much more to do than just reach lvl 60, there is lvl 60, then there is a LVL 60. It takes time to get your character to be uber badass even after hitting 60. There are so many things to do and collect. I've been 60 for about 3 or 4 months now and I still have a ton of things I need to do to improve my toon.

I know, I was kidding. I played endgame WoW for years. I just don't want to get caught up in that again. For $10, I'll buy the freaking game 

[ericb]

Well...I finally got hit by the LOTRO bug again and was thinking about activating my sub again...only to realize I missed the 9.99 pricing (again) by about a week.  I'm installing the client now but I haven't decided yet if I'm going to sub at the $15 rate.

[Farscry]

I actually like the Lone-lands.

[Gryndyl]

I actually like the Lone-lands.

I do too

[Wargus]

I also like the Lone-Lands, especially as you get past Ost Garuth into the Red Pass, Agamar, and Garth Agarwen.  I have a set group, a Gaurdian, Warden, and Rune-keeper (me), and that was the first area were we really were consistently challenged.

Also, you need to push to find a full group (hopefully a good one) to do the Barrows and Retaking Weathertop.  You really need to see a couple of the epic group instances, and those are both great ones.  I'm sure people can post others to do as well.

[ericb]

Well...I finally got hit by the LOTRO bug again and was thinking about activating my sub again...only to realize I missed the 9.99 pricing (again) by about a week.  I'm installing the client now but I haven't decided yet if I'm going to sub at the $15 rate.

I called Turbine and asked and they added me to the 3 month - $30 plan with no fuss.  On the phone around 5 mins total

Back from the past impressions:
- Harvesting quest items is much quicker
- Leveling is much quicker.  I used to barely hit 6 finishing the tutorial instance.  Tonight I was mid way to 8 before starting that same instance.
- The early "elites" are easier.  Don't hit anywhere close to as hard as they used to (pre level 10 anyway)
- More quests.  I found at least one changed and one added quest in the human 1-7 area.
- Almost every creature seems to drop something now.
- Slight graphical tweaks...haven't noticed much but it's a little sharper, things seem just a tad more detailed and the new quest ring graphic is nice and stands out a little better.
- The 1-10 areas had a fair amount of people playing.  Not as much as a couple months after Moria came out but much more than I saw 6 months after the game first came out.  It actually seems like it's growing instead of fading and the good press (and boxes at Wal-Mart) can only continue to help.

BAD:
- I'm getting random lag spikes that stop me from doing anything...just run in place for 3-5 secs.  I had around 5 in a 30 min period then 1 the next hour.  No one was bitching in chat so I'm leaning towards it being my computer.
- Directx 10 dynamic shadows aren't working for me.  Turn them on and I lose all shadows instead.  Worked when I had Win7 64 bit installed...not working with Win7 32 bit.
- Still has that "slight" delay in combat between clicking the ability and the animation/etc.  It seems better than it was a while back but it still stands out compared to the fluidness of certain other MMOs.

Anyway, can't wait to see the new redesigned quest hubs in the Bree area and the 10-20 area.  Going to have to try the whole book one solo line now too.  I hated trying to find a group for 1.11

[Daehawk]

I just started the Lone Lands last night again. Doing the INN quests right now and will move to Ost in a bit. Im a lvl 20 hunter now...all solo except for my epic which the guild has been running with me...err kinship I mean

Ive heard others complaining of lag lately but Im not seeing any. Im not sure if its a computer, isp, or region thing.

[Barrakketh]

There have been scattered lag spikes lately. It's not just you. It must be something that affects all servers, since I'm on Silverlode and noticed a few last night and the day before as well. A kin-mate mentioned it as well, and he was in Moria, while I was in Breeland, so it isn't localized to a particular zone.

You'll notice a lot of quests in Breeland have been changed, and there are a few entirely new ones as well, most in the Barrow Downs.

[ericb]

Damn I wish someone had mentioned the spider queen is now around three times harder than previously.  Goodbye undefeated to 20 title (again, for around the 10th time).  And that's as a Guardian...the one damn class that shouldn't even have an issue doing it 

[Destructor]

How far does the undefeated line go, anyway? Is 20 the last level that shows up?

[Barrakketh]

How far does the undefeated line go, anyway? Is 20 the last level that shows up?

Level 20 is the last of the undefeated titles, "Undying". The earlier titles come at 5, 10, 14 and 17.

[Jag]

Damn I wish someone had mentioned the spider queen is now around three times harder than previously.  Goodbye undefeated to 20 title (again, for around the 10th time).  And that's as a Guardian...the one damn class that shouldn't even have an issue doing it 

That's the one I lost my title on and had no idea who she was. Thought it was just a random quest and BAM, dead Rune-Keeper. The RK has been a nice solo class so far though. I can easily solo Elites at my level and 1 higher, but not more than 1. I'm at 25 right now and my trial ended today, but I ended up buying it

[Blackjack]

Hey, the winner of a recent contest posted a pic of the reward -- a copy of LOTRO: Mines of Moria, that was signed by all (or at least most of) the LOTRO dev team and community relations members:

We won! Thanks Devs!
http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=280941

My Guardian's approaching 46. What I ended up doing was digging into the Farochel content this time around and not spending so much time in Angmar (which is a cool place, but I've done it all about 3 times at this point). I still feel like Farochel is a great looking snowy place that they filled with way too many "get me X hides, get me Y bones, get me Z tongues, blah blah blah." There is one truly amusing solo instance that maybe makes traveling up there (from Evindem) worthwhile.   There's plenty of quests to do up there, I'm just finding most a little too tedious for my nitpicky tastes.

While I find the quest tracker fairly helpful, there are a couple Farochel quests well to the West/NW where the quest tracker needle basically "lies" or is pointing to items in a sequence which you already found (thank goodness for the fan-made item/place/quest databases out there).

You also get some interesting "one-shot" items as quest rewards, like a bag of "stun dust", that are kinda fun to use.

[Blackjack]

Saw a fascinating new Web site script for LOTRO guild web sites, called "LOTRO PHP Roster", detailed here:
http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=282114

This PHP application will extract guild roster information from Turbine's data.lotro.com XML feeds, and display them in a table, allowing you to have a detailed, highly configurable roster display available on your website. The data is locally cached for best performance, either in files located on disk, or in an SQL database (both MySQL and PostgreSQL are supported).

A demo of it is here:
http://www.lostrealm.ca/lotrosterdemo/

My webmastering days are well behind me, so I'm lost on most of the scriptological terms.

[Blackjack]

I really enjoy Ferochel more as I work my way up to the west and NE regions. The sky textures are really nice...

I do wish they'd find a way to let us use the sleds the Lossoth do as "mounts," at least in that particular region. I'm always jealous when they slide by.  

I'm a sucker for any quest that doesn't involve killing yet another X number of beasties, or gathering (basically) garbage off the ground, or guts and body parts from an X# hunt. There's one that adds a "bag of feathers" to your inventory, and part of the quest involves reaching a somewhat difficult-to-reach spot in an enemy outpost, and then...

The quest tracker map guidance (if turned on, I know many prefer not to use it) is very helpful on this sort of thing. While I'm loathe to waste an inventory spot on something un-useful, you get to keep the bag of feathers after quest completion, and it can be fun to just "toss the feathers" as a social animation.  

And, sometimes I just forget to take a picture of my character fighting...


If you're into thick, furry cloaks, it's the place to be (available from rep vendors after reaching the required standing):

It just feels a little strange wearing it in "hot" zones...

[TiLT]

The fur cloaks are awesome, and I've been using the Kindred one ever since I got it. I see almost nobody else with them, which makes them feel really unique.


That's me in the middle, wearing my trusty fur cloak. We're standing on the throne of the Witch-king, now occupied by Mordirith (who we defeated in a very challenging battle). This was before Mines of Moria, I believe.

[Jag]

My RK is at 32, close to getting a horse. This running around is really starting to get to me though. Makes me wish I rolled a Hunter for ports and runspeed. I still may start over with one.

[Blackjack]

Hunters are handy. Guardians have a trait that gives them 5% speed buff in and out of combat, which is nice, but I've not been willing to give up more combat focused traits for it.

Once you've had a mount, and unlocked more of the "fast travel" options at the stables, it gets a lot less tiresome traveling between places even if you're not a hunter.  

[TiLT]

It also helped that those of us who had an active subscription at the beginning of July (I think) got a free item that reduces the cost of all automated horse rides by 20%.

[Scraper]

Wards have 25% run speed out of combat and they also have ports to several major locations. The only thing Hunters have on them is the group port ability.

[Blackjack]

We weren't trying to start a Hunters vs. Wardens "who has a bigger schlong" contest.   They're both fabulous.  

This does explain why when I team with a high level warden, I'm sometimes yelling, "Hey, wait for me!!!" 

[Jag]

We weren't trying to start a Hunters vs. Wardens "who has a bigger schlong" contest.  They're both fabulous. 

and make leveling the other classes look like much more of a burden. Seriously, Turbine needs to revamp their travel a bit if they want to keep players.

[Scraper]

We weren't trying to start a Hunters vs. Wardens "who has a bigger schlong" contest.   They're both fabulous.  

This does explain why when I team with a high level warden, I'm sometimes yelling, "Hey, wait for me!!!" 

No I wasn't trying to compare spear size. Actually, the hunter is the better traveler, the group port ability rules.

[Destructor]

We weren't trying to start a Hunters vs. Wardens "who has a bigger schlong" contest.   They're both fabulous.  

This does explain why when I team with a high level warden, I'm sometimes yelling, "Hey, wait for me!!!" 

No I wasn't trying to compare spear size. Actually, the hunter is the better traveler, the group port ability rules.

And the Warden can't give his speed buff to anybody else. Oh, and the Warden's travel power drains like 90% of his MP while it's running, so you can't go directly into combat anywhere near toggling it on/off without running out of mana entirely.

[Blackjack]

Can't we all just get along?  

My Guardian's nearing 48 now. I schlepped into Angmar for a while to get a few quests done there, but I decided to head back to Forochel for now (which I have misspelled 17 different ways now  ).

There's a couple quests where you have to wade past a lot of Angrim to reach certain sig bosses inside a castle ("longspan" I guess it is)-type wall or two. I was muttering about having to solo that last couple of days, but when I strategically (ie., trying not to draw more than 2-3 at a time) fought my way through the first couple ramparts and was able to take down the latter sig, I actually felt something resembling triumphant.  

I tried fiddling with my equipment and one key trait, and the difference (I suddenly started dropping as if I had no armor at all) was startling. I went back to tried and true, but L53 (when another trait slot opens) can't come fast enough.

I've seem some impressive upper 50 level shields in AH, maybe I should have bought one and stashed it. One had 2,000+AC, and very useful stats, and wasn't completely out of orbit in buyout price. Made me think it must be phony or something.  

The one thing I wish my Guardian had (maybe he can later?) is some sort of skill that would let him charge into a crowd and do a shield bash (at click of a button), which is something I loved doing in both Diablo II (Paladin) and Titan Quest. I guess I shouldn't beg for a hack'n'slash skill (esp. one that contributed to my wrist tendinitis problems in TQ), but, I really loved that effect.  

If you're around, Hanton, I will be ready to help the kin with Turtle Waxing tonight, as promised.  

[Jag]

Where is the next quest hub for a 39? I've got both Trollshaws and Evendium mostly cleared to only Fellowship quests left.

[TiLT]

Misty Mountains is probably your best bet right now, closely followed by Angmar and Forochel. There are so many quests in these zones that you can easily drop any one of them completely.

Edit: Almost forgot about Eregion, which should also be available at this point. And don't forget Tal Bruinen in southern Trollshaws. It's got some quests that you don't want to miss.

[coopasonic]

Very different from when I quit a month after release when I ran out of solo quests around 41.

[Jag]

Misty Mountains is probably your best bet right now, closely followed by Angmar and Forochel. There are so many quests in these zones that you can easily drop any one of them completely.

Edit: Almost forgot about Eregion, which should also be available at this point. And don't forget Tal Bruinen in southern Trollshaws. It's got some quests that you don't want to miss.

I swear I can't hear the words Misty Mountains without thinking of Led Zep.

So I'm packing my bags for the Misty Mountains
where the spirits go now,
over the hills where the spirits fly.

ANYWAY. I have Tal Bruinen too, which I avoided because it's a pain. I'll check out Angmar (I have some quests pointing me there, so I should take the hint), Forochel and Eregion (not sure where that is?)

[Blackjack]

Yes, I did just about every square inch of Ferochel (I always misspell it) with my Guardian this time around. While it's still more hunt-focused than I like, there's lots to do, very beautiful scenery as you work points west and north, and the frost can throw you an occasional curveball. Along with the fact that any water not near hot springs will all but insta-kill you (I don't feel they do enough to warn players new to the zone about that). Very cool, furry "bear rug" capes too, available eventually from the reputation vendors. I've gotten some equipment quest rewards there that are better than I'm getting at Eregion at this point.

I've moved onto Eregion, but I think I gotta get over to Angmar to get that Strength of Morale trait/deed done (the one that lets you gulp back about 2200HP, but has an ultra-long cooldown time). I can't believe I made it to 50 without that handy.  

It's taken some time, but I think Turbine's done a pretty good job of adding enough zones/content, that you can have a semblance of a fresh experience each time out with an alt. I'm still not a big fan of the quests inside the large instance around the Hollin Gate. Deliver lunches! Pick up garbage off the ground! Clean out Gimli's outhouse! Take fresh slop to the boar pens! I kid, but it starts to feel like that.  

[TiLT]

ANYWAY. I have Tal Bruinen too, which I avoided because it's a pain. I'll check out Angmar (I have some quests pointing me there, so I should take the hint), Forochel and Eregion (not sure where that is?)

You really want to do at least one particular quest in Tal Bruinen. You'll know which one it is once you do it.

Eregion is south of the Trollshaws. You can reach it from two places: Heading southeast up a cliffside from Tal Bruinen or going through the giant territory east of that, heading directly south. At your level you should avoid the giant alternative. If you haven't got the expansion, a small part of Eregion will be locked off for you, but the majority of the zone will be available.

Now that I think about it though, it's a bit higher in level than what I first gave the impression of. It's meant for people reaching the end of their 40s, but you can probably go there from around level 45 or so.

[Blackjack]

Hey, is there anyone on Elendilmir (or whatever, I bet I'm spelling THAT wrong too ) that can make dyes? I have an armor cosmetics set that I really like for my guardian, but after buying a bunch of gold dyes I'm find it looks too drab for my tastes. I've gone red on my other characters, so I'm trying different.

I think I'd like to try all black (I'd probably need about 5 black dyes), but people charge a relative arm and a leg for black dye at the AH (I've see it as much as 175 silver per dye) so I thought I'd ask if there are any scholar types around that could maybe do a few black dyes on request. My guardian's not a money bags mainly cause I've ignored crafting/gathering altogether (a mistake I guess, I don't feel like going back to Combe to work on it  ).

If there is, my guard's name is Geowaru. If you need some special ingredients I can work on buying or finding those I reckon.   I'll ask around Hanton's kinship at some point too -- I'm the noob there, and don't know if anyone's a paint expert.

[TiLT]

I think you can try different dye combinations on your armor even without purchasing any dyes from the dressup screen (not the regular inventory screen). Each armor piece will have its own drop-down menu there where you can choose the dye to use. It'll help you decide what will look good or not.

[Jag]

ANYWAY. I have Tal Bruinen too, which I avoided because it's a pain. I'll check out Angmar (I have some quests pointing me there, so I should take the hint), Forochel and Eregion (not sure where that is?)

You really want to do at least one particular quest in Tal Bruinen. You'll know which one it is once you do it.

Which one? The 3 trolls?

[Blackjack]

I think you can try different dye combinations on your armor even without purchasing any dyes from the dressup screen (not the regular inventory screen). Each armor piece will have its own drop-down menu there where you can choose the dye to use. It'll help you decide what will look good or not.

Sigh. You're right!   I do that constantly when I'm testing equipment. It's just, some of the stuff my guard's wearing (like elven armored boots) to me look great in gold, but some of the stuff just looked like almost dingy gold. It doesn't bother me, I just like to look...   In the game that is (it's a female character).   The dumbest thing I did probably was dying (gold) quest reward armor that was already black. What a waste...

I have learned to look veeeery carefully at even the worst junk loot armor, cause often you find stuff that works very nicely as cosmetics even if it's worthless as regular gear.

[Farscry]

And don't forget Tal Bruinen in southern Trollshaws. It's got some quests that you don't want to miss.

Tal Bruinen? Oooh, I just added to my "Middle-Earth Tourist" checklist.

[Blackjack]

And don't forget Tal Bruinen in southern Trollshaws. It's got some quests that you don't want to miss.

I think he means, "it's not full of brain-deadening hunts that make you want to fast forward through all the quest text."  Tal certainly has some of those, but I remember it having maybe a better % of interesting and/or fun quests that I liked to do than some other regions/sub-regions in the game.