Lord of the Rings Online

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Daidraco

Golden Baronet of the Realm
9,071
9,100
I've never played LOTRO (as much as I love LOTR and all related things), but I have this vision of a fellowship of two men, an elf, a dwarf, a wizard and four hobbits running around.. and they're all Pharone.
If they would have spent a modicum of money on the UI, resolutions, etc. I would play the game. But I have no desire to deal with that horrid shit right every single time I log on.
 

Pharone

Trakanon Raider
1,125
997
If they would have spent a modicum of money on the UI, resolutions, etc. I would play the game. But I have no desire to deal with that horrid shit right every single time I log on.
Resolution... Have you seen my stream lately? twitch.tv/pharone The game looks pretty damn nice.
 
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Rajaah

Honorable Member
<Gold Donor>
11,003
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I reached level 35 on my hunter last night, and got the vast majority of Lone Lands completed. The only things I have left to do in Lone Lands is the top right corner with all the elite mobs and the instance in that area. If anybody has a character on the Gladden server and wants to hit up the elites, let me know.

Other than that, I am going to move over to North Downs. I still have a boat load of stuff to do in that zone to satisfy my completionist goals.

That's as far as I got with the game, either Lone Lands or North Downs (was appropriate level for both and visited both, stuck with one until I stopped). Level 33 Hunter. This was back during the Shadows of Angmar era (aka classic) and I really wanted to get to the level 50's and go to Angmar and Forochel because they actually looked like awesome zones. One being dirty and hot / industrial while the other is naturey and cold reminded me of the two paths in EQ's Serpent's Spine expansion. Unfortunately Lone Lands and North Downs were so ungodly boring that I didn't make it beyond 33. Back then I had the graphics turned all the way down, which meant the ground everywhere was just a flat plain of mud which added to the redundancy.

I'd love to play this again someday and do the rest, but MMOs are such a daunting timesink compared to knocking off a single-player game in your spare time over a couple weeks.

Lamest thing that happened in the game was when I very carefully went for the title you get for never dying, The Immortal. Level 20 I think? I got to 18 or 19 and then died in a completely avoidable way. Was in an instance and trained the exit instead of fighting a few mobs to get there...only to find I couldn't actually leave until I finished the quest. So I ran the mobs around looking for an exit, training more mobs. Eventually I was running in a big circle in this forested area with like 20 mobs chasing me, with no way out and no way to avoid taking a lame-as-hell death. Ran around for a few more minutes, then stopped and stood there and got beaten down. That was pretty deflating to say the least. I think I might have restarted and gotten The Immortal on another try, but can't remember right now.

My biggest regret in gaming is not playing this with my mom, who played it and really wanted me to resume my Hunter and play alongside her. Asked me about it from like 2009 to 2013 and I always had something else to do. Eventually she just sorta stopped asking, and year after year I have it in the back of my mind that I need to play this again (with her) while she's still around. It's the only game I know of that she's played regularly for any amount of time, and it was for like five years no less. I don't know why it was so hard for me to make some time for playing this with her but at least I still have the opportunity to do it.
 
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Flobee

Vyemm Raider
2,579
2,973
Man, I gave this game a shot but killing every mob instantly even with a "low" dps guardian was just not doing it for me. Maybe it gets better later, but up to level 10 its just incredibly unsatisfying to instagib every mob as a naked newb. I'd love to give this game an actual whirl but I need longer ttk otherwise it just feels like doing chores. Combat matters
 
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Tide27

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
1,504
7,418
Combat was certainly the Achilles heel of this game. Granted, I haven't played it since it was relevant and in Era.

Despite the combat, I did enjoy my time there back when I played.
 

Rajaah

Honorable Member
<Gold Donor>
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Combat wasn't great, movement felt a bit delayed... back in the classic era it seemed like the game bent over backwards to not let anyone cast any spells, cause there are only five wizards in the lore and stuff... so I wanted to play a caster and I was SOL. Best you could do is one class could "cast" fireball by making one out of grass and throwing it or something. The way the game seemed so limited by the lore was a bit of a turnoff. Like I figured that meant we'd never fight Shelob, or a Nazgul, or anything since none of the above can die ingame because of the world lore.

I appreciate what they were going for but I don't think it's the way I would have done things.

Did they ever add a real raid endgame? The only raids I remember seeing were like, the tentacled watcher outside Mines of Moria, and I think there was a ten man something or other that seemed more like a glorified group mission.
 

Letsinod

Lord Nagafen Raider
199
281
Combat wasn't great, movement felt a bit delayed... back in the classic era it seemed like the game bent over backwards to not let anyone cast any spells, cause there are only five wizards in the lore and stuff... so I wanted to play a caster and I was SOL. Best you could do is one class could "cast" fireball by making one out of grass and throwing it or something. The way the game seemed so limited by the lore was a bit of a turnoff. Like I figured that meant we'd never fight Shelob, or a Nazgul, or anything since none of the above can die ingame because of the world lore.

I appreciate what they were going for but I don't think it's the way I would have done things.

Did they ever add a real raid endgame? The only raids I remember seeing were like, the tentacled watcher outside Mines of Moria, and I think there was a ten man something or other that seemed more like a glorified group mission.
Except you can literally do Raids to kill Shelob and Nazgul.
 
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Kharzette

Watcher of Overs
4,856
3,473
I did a bunch of the rift, but I don't know that we ever beat that final balrog boss. Never did any of the later stuff.
 

Animosity

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
6,422
5,409
Definitely a game thats more about the journey than the end game.
 
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sukik

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
3,099
8,051
Man, I gave this game a shot but killing every mob instantly even with a "low" dps guardian was just not doing it for me. Maybe it gets better later, but up to level 10 its just incredibly unsatisfying to instagib every mob as a naked newb. I'd love to give this game an actual whirl but I need longer ttk otherwise it just feels like doing chores. Combat matters
I've not played a new character in 4-5 years, but it didn't used to work that way. That must have been something that's changed in the last few years to speed up leveling. Higher level combat doesn't work that way, unless there have been major changes in the last few months.
 
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Pharone

Trakanon Raider
1,125
997
Combat wasn't great, movement felt a bit delayed... back in the classic era it seemed like the game bent over backwards to not let anyone cast any spells, cause there are only five wizards in the lore and stuff... so I wanted to play a caster and I was SOL. Best you could do is one class could "cast" fireball by making one out of grass and throwing it or something. The way the game seemed so limited by the lore was a bit of a turnoff. Like I figured that meant we'd never fight Shelob, or a Nazgul, or anything since none of the above can die ingame because of the world lore.

I appreciate what they were going for but I don't think it's the way I would have done things.

Did they ever add a real raid endgame? The only raids I remember seeing were like, the tentacled watcher outside Mines of Moria, and I think there was a ten man something or other that seemed more like a glorified group mission.
There is a whole raiding scene in the game these days. I'm only 72, so I'm not there yet to tell you what it currently is like.

I highly recommend playing up to 50 and going to Moria. That region is huge and amazing looking. The story is great. Moria is definitely worth playing the game.

Also, they've kinda gotten over the whole we only have 4 wizards thing to a certain extent. Lore Master has a number of spells, Rune Keeper is a caster that they just claim is abilities are based on ancient runes, and the minstrels abilities act a whole lot like a caster while covering it up as affects of the minstrel singing.

So, yeah they have casters. They just are creative of how they word it.

There are a lot of ways to level faster these days, and I truly do not recommend trying to 100% everything at first. That shit will burn you out fast because there's many thousands of achievements, quests, etc in this game. Just follow the epic book quest lines, and do side quests near them to level up and move on. Only try to 100% areas that you enjoy.

Hit me up on Gladden and I can hook you up with crafted gear.

Lorrundor 72 Human Lore Master
 
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Rajaah

Honorable Member
<Gold Donor>
11,003
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Except you can literally do Raids to kill Shelob and Nazgul.

Sounds like they aren't as totally adherent to the lore as they were during the era I'm talking about (2007-2010 or so).

What other raids are in the game? I imagine there are a bunch at this point, hopefully some good stuff in the Mordor region because I've always been super-intrigued by it. Never really got to explore it in a game, except those Shadow of Mordor games. Even those didn't really let you go into the interiors of any of the iconic locations like Minas Morgul, hopefully this game does.

If anyone wants to give a quick rundown of the raids (just like, names and locations) that would be cool. Especially wondering about Mordor. I'm also super interested in seeing Gondor and Rohan in the game, are they fleshed-out (I.e. is Minas Tirith in)?
 

Muligan

Trakanon Raider
3,209
890
If any of the entertainment news is true and they use their brain any at all, LotRO could really hit some solid timing and capitalize on an opportunity. I hope it works out for them. I liked the game myself but just thought it was a little thin in terms of being a MMO. I'm excited for them and as a LotR/MMO fan.
 

Rajaah

Honorable Member
<Gold Donor>
11,003
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Found a list of all the raid fights in the game, lot more than I thought. A few Ringwraith fights even. Looks like Mordirith is kind of the recurring Big Bad for a lot of the game and sort of an honorary 10th Ringwraith. He's even positioned as above them in some of the later raids which is interesting. Looks like once the Return of the King war was over in the LOTRO storyline it freed them up to do some more interesting stuff (i.e. break from the lore), like clean-up in Mordor. Having a few Ringwraiths survive the destruction of the ring was a cool idea.

1678051210541.png

This upcoming Citadel of the Witch-King raid zone has a real "final area" feel to it, wonder if the game is basically done. I imagine they still have a lot of untapped map to fill in with Rhun and Harad (if they haven't already) if they want to though, and ten more levels to add (140 is a weird number to end on).

Makes sense that Angmar would be the first and last raid zone of LOTRO if they go that route, since it's basically Mordor Jr and the place the bad guys are most likely to use to regroup after the destruction of the ring.
 

Runnen

Vyemm Raider
1,743
4,026
I imagine they still have a lot of untapped map to fill in with Rhun and Harad (if they haven't already)

Imagine a company in 2023 making a raid in Harad where players go to kill black people.
 
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Rajaah

Honorable Member
<Gold Donor>
11,003
14,659
Imagine a company in 2023 making a raid in Harad where players go to kill black people.

Oh yeah, Harad is basically Africa. Which means Rhun is...Russia? Or Eastasia, depends on whether Mordor is Germany or Russia in this equation.

I think they should bump the cap to 150 and end the game's progression / main campaign where it started, in this next Angmar update. Easy for me to say that since the game already has more content than I'll probably ever get to play.
 

Wombat

Trakanon Raider
2,003
773
Sounds like they aren't as totally adherent to the lore as they were during the era I'm talking about (2007-2010 or so).

What other raids are in the game? I imagine there are a bunch at this point, hopefully some good stuff in the Mordor region because I've always been super-intrigued by it. Never really got to explore it in a game, except those Shadow of Mordor games. Even those didn't really let you go into the interiors of any of the iconic locations like Minas Morgul, hopefully this game does.

If anyone wants to give a quick rundown of the raids (just like, names and locations) that would be cool. Especially wondering about Mordor. I'm also super interested in seeing Gondor and Rohan in the game, are they fleshed-out (I.e. is Minas Tirith in)?
There is so much god damn geography in the game at this point, and yes, there's a lot of Gondor and Rohan. To be accurate, there's a lot of time of (especially) Gondor and Rohan, as there were (in WoW speak) point releases for Minas Tirith pre, during, and post battle. (If anything, it sounds like people were getting sick of Minas Tirith by the end.)

And yes, the game has continued after Sauron's defeat, currently covering the dwarves retaking Gundabad and revisiting the Shire, presumably to remind everyone before the Scouring. And yes, the Mordor maps list Nurn / Rhun / Karad / Khand / etc., with the devs stating there's no reason why they couldn't continue to cover more of the world after Sauron's defeat.

That said, the (end) game is in a weird spot right now, with not even a point release since Gundabad nearly 18 months ago, with the last 'expansion' being an odd combination of new intro area and Mythics for level capped characters. Frankly there is so much game that they should copy WoW's timewalking system and just let people play the regions they want after Before the Shadow's intro, but instead they just include level boosts with the expansions.
 

amigo

Lord Nagafen Raider
337
353
Used to play this a lot in the early days. Angmar+Moria, that was kickass (figuratively, and literally with you on the receiving end). After that, with Lothlorien, they startedf turning it into more and more solo-friendly. Waltzed straight into Dol Guldur, waltzed into Isengard and knocked at Saruman's door in Orthanc while being 8 levels underlevelled, etc. Stopped playing at that point because they switched to F2P and I couldn't stand all the extra buy-me crap in UI.
Glad to hear there is at least some endgame content nowadays.Might revisit it some day if the stars align.