Thursday, September 4, 2008

LotRO: Where is the fun?

As I searched to figure out what is wrong with lotro for me. I came across some suggestions that the game would get better at 20. I also read it would get better in the 30s.

Of course bookend that with mention the endgame at lotro is lacking....where is the fun? Only between levels 30-50? What makes it so fun for those levels and not up to 30?

I've cancelled yet again, but just like WoW my account won't kick me out for a few months. That gives me plenty of time to find out if things really get better.

I want to give it a chance because I remember starting a druid in WoW wasn't all that fun. I tried leveling 2 before the 3rd stuck. I hit 20 or so and never looked back, ending up with a L70 eppiced druid that I wouldn't mind leveling some more in WotLK.

So maybe something will happen in LotRO, some magic level will make me powerful and I'll start having some fun and desire to continue on.

One problem could be lack of kinship and community. Many say they don't miss Barren chat or trade channel, but LotRO chat is so bare you almost think you're playing a single player game. And that is a huge problem. Yes everyone likes the ability to solo, but grouping with people, playing against other people or simple interacting with a PC instead of a NPC is the draw of MMORPGS.

I found out I can transfer to another highly populated server for 25 bucks but do I really want to pay that to find out things aren't any better? The sad thing is I haven't enjoyed playing enough to just level a brand new character to 20 just to save myself the 25 dollars. I could just put that toward one of the existing single player games.

I see several players on the forums who have 3 or 4 capped characters. I'm amazed. How could they stand leveling twice, let alone three or four times?

I can and did do that in WoW, but I can't fathom it in lotro.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think if you've reached level 20 (not very far really, but) and have not enjoyed the game, you're probably not going to like it. Though you could try some other classes, they do play quite differently.

Have you read the books? Not required certainly, but it's amazing to be able to explore the world you're familiar with from reading.

I do play on Landroval, which is one of the more popular servers I guess. There are hundreds of kinshps and thousands of active players. I never play alone, unless I really want to for some reason.

I have two accounts (both Lifetime), so I can take my time and enjoy the game. I have a 50 burg, hunter, minstrel, and champion, and I have several other characters who are 40+. Although a few of the quests are not fun to repeat, for the most part I've really enjoyed playing all of them. Each class is a very different experience.

The quests are great, exploration is fun, there's not much grinding, the instances (most) are quite good, and of course there's PvMP if you like that.

But as I said, it sounds like you're more focused on the power aspects, and less on the story. You could try a Lore-master I guess (they are quite powerful, but it takes a while), but my guess is that this is not the game for you.

Yane (Yet another night elf) said...

I have to admit I am focused less on the story.

I'd like to say I'm one of those players that reads the quests through and through but that's just not true.

Yane (Yet another night elf) said...

And yes I agree, I think if I had read the books I would enjoy it much more.

Traveling to weathertop and seeing it for the first time, although it is an impressive sight, doesn't make me exclaim like I imagine fans of the books would.

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