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Don't buy this game unless you are a solo'ist.
Params7
Member UncommonPosts: 212
This game is dying a slow death. Groups are incredibly hard to find in places that have been now made useless (like Angmar...as in Shadows Of Angmar..forget about finding a group to help you finish 6 man quests here). Even in the most populated server, Brandywine, its going to be incredibly hard for you to find groups, do old raid content like fighting the freakin' Balrog of Morgoth.
The game's major population is dominated by soloists, who don't even want the LFF/LFG options to improve. Who have absolutely no problem with Turbine turning every group quest into a solo quest. They have already started, Lone-Lands, which was 80% 6 man quests 6 months ago, is now 100% (yeah - One Hundred Percent - Means all of it) Solo content. And its the direction they are heading in now. Very disappointed and hurt to see Turbine take LoTRO in this direction.
I guess they want the game to be incredibly easy to the new players so they can experience the end-game faster. But deleting group quests just pisses me off, I don't get it. Its an "MMORPG" for ****'s sake, and the game already barely has any real raiding content at all. Helegrod and Rift are the only 2 real raid instances in this game and nobody, literally nobody, in all the server never visits those places anymore.
So, just giving you heads up on the state of things. 1. Even on most crowded server - Brandywine - in lots of areas it will be impossible to complete group quests 2. Before they are deleted/converted into kid easy solo quests. 3. Raid content is impossible to do at this moment unless you join a really special raiding kin that likes to do the old raid runs for fun only.
Pretty game though and if you play the trial and think you'll enjoy solo'ing to 65 all the way then buy the game, otherwise, don't. Its a PVE game, means if you want to solo you can just buy a single player RPG out there for much less than you'll end up paying for LoTRO.
Comments
You can take a look at these threads and see for yourself. Turbine is just trying to keep their remaining playerbase now as its their only source of income. All these threads are basically some people voicing their complains about group content being shot down and LFF (looking for fellowship/grouping options) not being focused on, and old raids being impossible to do now.
http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=312265
http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=313325
http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=312955
http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=312905
Truly a shame...LOTRO was THE best mmo before Moria came out. Since Moria LOTRO has been going steadily downhill for many people. Two of my buddies finally called it quits last week after seeing what Mirkwood had to offer.
I played from closed beta for alittle under a year and I loved it! I always felt the combat somewhat boring and the character models/animations below par but it was still a great game. Once Moria was released I leveled my main to max level, saw the gated content and boring rep grinds and /quit within a month of buying Moria. Being a raiding officer of one the biggest casual kinships on Landrovel didnt matter to me...I was bored sick.
IMO Turbine did a horrible job with Middle Earth. Its really nothing like I would expect a Tolkien MMO to turn out like. My biggest problem with it is the lack of PvP which I always felt was a huge mistake on Turbine's part. Who the hell wants to run around in a world that never feels "dangerous'? Open servers or allow us to roll monsters to play in the world against the freeps would have been brilliant...but again Turbine /failed imo.
I truly wish another company would give LOTR a shot and show Turbine the way it should be done because what we have now is a pile of garage pve MMO with very little to do other then grind quests until your blue in the face. Don't get me wrong I love pve but one can only handle so much of it before they grow bored of the same old thing. Since leaving LOTRO I stick with MMOs with at least some decent pvp, at least I got something good out of LOTRO....I realized I need well designed pvp in an MMO to keep me happy.
Hopefully one day we see a Middle Earth MMO the way it should have been done....in the meantime I'll avoid LOTRO like the plague and watch the movies or read the books for a "real" fix.
"I play Tera for the gameplay"
Sounds to me that you are a pro grouper who is pissed with the way the game has gone but it just seems like there is another agenda here as well.
Surely you have seen enough "solo vs group" threads where the solo players have time and time again refuted that last statement of yours.
Players who mostly solo play mmo's because of the unique social experience an mmo can offer. This doesn't always translate into grouping but having an actual living world.
As far as your whole grouping thing, why don't you just join an established fellowship with like minded people who all love to group?
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
That is the fate of all linear level based games. The progression areas DIE.
The majority of the pop outgrows the areas. You can't find groups in low level because there is no new blood coming into the game. Everyone who was going to give this game a try, did it...probably a long time ago.
So the game has to adapt to its new environment.
The long term problem with LotR especially is it has a linear story built into it. It's a watered down single player game and not a virtual world.
Had it been designed as a virtual world as they originally planed it, this wouldn't be an issue so much. But everyone wants to be WoW.....
Just a note here. I just reactivated LoTRO over the weekend. I previously bought the game when Moria came out and my main (RuneKeeper) was level 43.
I looked at my hotbars and had no idea what all the icons ment so I decided to make a guardian. I have leveled to 25 and along the way have had numerous groups and several invites to others that I turned down. I just ran the Forsaken inn quests. I did the Weathertop Epic storyline quest with a group and it was incredible. Then on my way to the next town I ran across a dungeon which i think is new as I don't remember it. Inside were orcs and dourhand dwarves fighting... as soon as I walked in 3 people asked me to group and we ran the quests and killed the named guys.
is the newbie area packed with people? No.. certainly not.. but there is just so much content spread out in the low levels that people are all over the place. There are whole sections of the land that I haven't visited. I do run across people all the time.. just not packed wall to wall. I think that since the new expansion came out most folks are focused on that content... just like every other game when an expansion releases.
So far I am having a blast. BTW I am playing on Gladden
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I've never had a problem finding a group at any level range. Also the game is far from dying.
But wild accusations are fun to make for no gain at all, more curious as to why people go through the effort of trying to scare people away from a game. Perhaps to try and drive them to whatever game the poster feels they should be playing instead?
LotRO freely gives you the option of getting the majority of what you need without grouping, if you want to solo. But at the same time it gives you the option to group as well. It actually let's you do a lot of things either way. For example leveling up, there are enough quests that you can solo your way up (and hunt things if you wanted). At the same levels there are quests that require a group and will also level you up, but you can get by without ever doing the group quests if you want to just level alone. There are always groups around for these quests, and I've never had a problem jumping in a group to finish those up (I'm a completionist) and then moving on.
This is just another desperation tactic to keep the game afloat. They figure like most these days that if my mmo is soloable they will create more subscriptions. Sorry but it does not work this way. What works is making a great game and keeping the playerbase happy via good content and keeping that game fun. Lotro lost the fun factor 6 months after launch.
I find this post both interesting and encouraging. I joined Lotro at release and liked most of it but quit about 4 months in precisely because my quest log was filled with group-only quests. Let me just say that while grouping can be fun, I very much despise being forced to for even one quest. I find it particularly heinous when that group quest is at the end of a chain that was soloable up to that point, and this is also why I quit Wow.
When I played, there were tons of "elite" mobs that were, for the most part, unsoloable at level. Worse, I'd be doing book quests only to hit a roadblock cause of "group required" popping up. These books quests were must-do's, at least to me. They weren't quests where I could just say screw it and abandon the quest.
This negative post actually makes me consider resubbing. I'm curious now as to how much group-required stuff is left? So to anyone still playing, is it currently possible to get the best loot in the game without grouping? If the answer is yes, I will resub for sure.
I like to solo.
Solo gathering, solo farming, solo dungeons, random pvp that doesn't force me to have a preset team (think random arena),Solo repeatable quests, I even like soloing with henchmen.
It's only a game, I've come to the conclusion that developers make games solo friendly because people suck.
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
So far every time I log on I see people forming groups for 6 mans. My kin runs them all the time so I really don't know what you're talking about. To top it all off I'm on Firefoot which is one of the lowest population servers. All of the high-end gear requires grouping. I think it is pretty great that I can choose to do things as a 3 man, 6 man, or a 12 man.
Also, in what game have you ever seen it easy to find a raid to do content from 2 expansions ago? Not to mention CD is still included in places you need to visit to get legendary traits, unless of course you want to do it through skirmish marks which takes 10x as long.
I have never had a problem with grouping when needed. I play on Brandywine and see a constant string of players in the lower lvl areas. I have about 6 different alts, and am not in a rush to get to the end game, I'm just enjoying the game. I do think the LFF system needs improving, but even without it, I haven't had a problem finding a group.
I think the game has actually increased in pop since Mirkwood. It might be just alts wanting to play the new Lonelands content, but more peeps are running around Bree, imo. I think a lot of the people who went to try Aion have since returned, at least in our Kinship. They commented the grind was too much and the PvP was bad in Aion.
Our Kin also gets new blood everyday. People who are just starting out the game. So, I think all the doom and gloom about the game dying is just that.
Personally I could care less what MMO people play. I only give my past experieces with LOTRO because some folks considering playing may end up saving some money if they have the same playstyle I do.
"I play Tera for the gameplay"
We could have a lengthy, rant filled, insulting trollfest about solo vs group I suppose but it never really solves anything.
I would offer that while Brandywine is likely the most populous server it is also filled with the most established guilds and alt runners. You won't find any many new players as they are directed to other servers upon initial login.
So you have a large population of people who have run that mid level content several times already and it seems as if this is a common pattern in many mmorpgs who have grown beyond release caps.
Dearest OP,
There is no grand conspiracy here by Turbine to turn their world into a solofest. They took an honest look at their game and made the best decisions to ensure the health of the game and progression for their players.
Matter of fact, most of the players are max level or near to it. Those who either roll alts or start the game fresh, like you have pointed out, have a hell of a time getting things done that were previously set up for groups to do.
So they went in and smoothed it out and made it so that you don't have to skip content in order to level up, giving you a chance to see and do more than otherwise would have been possible.
I am sure that Turbine would have preferred to leave their encounters and quests alone but realistic thinking forced that to change.
This hits it on the head. After a period of time the playerbase reaches a point where the game becomes a meeting place for socializing with their friends and maybe doing some crafting. The skirmishes are fun for a time but I do not think they will hold peoples interest for long. As you say, it happens to all games after they reach a certain age, I see it in EQ2 as well.
Well IMHO the bigger picture issue with all of these level grinders isn't whether they are solo-able or not, it is the linear format.
The dungeon at level X on the way to cap is just a brief stop. Think of it as a bus trip. You stop for a few short minutes and then move on until you reach your destination. That puts a very limited useful lifespan on any non-cap content.
They don't have longevity at all. Now we will witness the slow death of all these WoW clones that launched from 2005 - today. The ones that took no risk and dared NOT to be different.
Sorry to say I'm not the least bit sad. They failed to evolve so now they will die and make way for what MMO's should be. Open worlds to explore and adventure in, just like they started.
Except that they didn't change the Book I'm stuck on so Volume I remains unfinished until I can get a level 50ish group together. Really soloing more than 1 champion class mob when they stun... not cool =P
LotRO, WoW and EQ2 have it right though that non current outdoor content should be easy street to the cap. WoW's new LFG tool is just awesome for group content and the other two are in catch up.
Really depends on the server you're playing on, but yes it's a shame how much they're revamping content to make it soloable because of the issues some are having completing group oriented content. It would be nice if other steps were taken such as improving the lfg model used in the game before simply making it solo designed material.
Although I suppose that's probably the simplest way to solve the issue. Doesn't mean it's the best though.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
I'm not trying to drive any players from this game, my thread title indirectly states if you are a soloist - BUY THIS GAME. Also I'm not a pro-grouper. Infact I was kinless until level 50 when I finally decided to join one. I solo through 3 mans group quests and the only groups I join for 6 man quests, which by the way, are rare, they are mostly final quests of a chain of solo quests and very, very rarely will you come across a chain of quest that requires 6 man grouping in more than 1 quests in the chain.
Turbine's out to delete all that. They've already done considerable damage. So far, the TOTAL of 6man quests you'll be doing until Level 35? GB and GA only. Now solo content is excellent, but I have a level 56 Captain, and the only quests I remember from my lower leveling days, are the tough group quests, including a couple from landscape Lone Lands, because completing them gives you a sense of achievement impossible to get from solo quests you pass in 1 try (and the way they've revamped Lone Lands..its a free XP park, a complete yawn fest, you can have character on auto-attack all day and clear the entire LL's mobs).
So please don't think this a rant coming from a pro-grouper. I'm solo'd majority of Angmar and the only quests that I'm stuck on are all 6 man quests in Imlad Balchorth, Battle For Aughaire/Before Rammas Deluon, etc which btw, I've been trying to get a group for since 3 weeks now without success. I've spent entire days (weekends), shouting out in /LFF to get 6 people for these quests without success so to those posters who think its easy to find groups etc, they've obviously are speaking about some crowded place like Moria or Mirkwood now, or they're just in a super sized kin with a lot of good members willing to help.
I feel the problem with this game is the LFF system. They asked for improvements here with Q.3. None of it was implemented and I strongly feel we wouldn't have had to delete any group quests if they only implemented some suggestions offered here :
http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=270349
See Q.3.
I think its too late for all that now anyways, 6 man quests are now a complete rarity until level 35. Remains to be seen how much area they nerf now after level 35 zones.
what server you playing?
Come to Brandywine, this server pops its really good and always has groups going on any lvl range
I start playing this game some time last sept and i did a search on what server to play before i make a character and lots of people say go to brandywine , so far i got 1 lvl 65 and a buch of alts between 15-45ish, and so far i got no problems getting groups for anything i need to do , perhaps you went to the wrong server/low pop ?, i hope you get partys and help for your group quest , lotro its one freaking amazing game , i love everything about this game , from gameplay to exploring to comunity .
Hope this helps
WoW fixed the root cause of group problems with their new LFG tools. Whereas Turbine thought about improving LFG, took suggestions from the community....then forgot all about it..and instead, deleted group quests all together, making the already damaged LFG system even more useless. lol.
WoW fixed the root cause of group problems with their new LFG tools. Whereas Turbine thought about improving LFG, took suggestions from the community....then forgot all about it..and instead, deleted group quests all together, making the already damaged LFG system even more useless. lol.
Thats the thing that really bugged me about lotro it is just horrible trying to find groups for quests and dungeons before you hit max level.
Yes, because so many MMOs have a history of making old raid content worth your while -.-
The game's questing was horribly designed after your first, or second time doing it.
The Bree-land, and Lone-lands NEEDED revamping, big time. Why was I receiving quests on the eastern side of Lone-Lands to go BACK to the western questing hubs just to kill a few boars or lynx, that had a horrible respawn rate and not a designated spawn area? Lone-Lands is a huge example of how bad the questing was designed in the early levels of LOTRO. Bree-Land was also designed by, but it was still fun. You used to have to go hunting for quests to find enough just to level and not enter a new zone underleveled, with the revamp, they're making sure its clear that you know where the questing hubs are and that you leave the zone at the appropriate level.
It shouldn't ever be a chore to find quests to level. Plus, they want to get people out of those areas and into the new ones. What's the harm in that?
Requiring a group or full group to level is a thing of the past. Requiring a group to do end game content is still there, but you're not forced to group at end game to accomplish things.
I don't see the point in complaining about their old content being made easier. If they are dumbing down their new raid content,then its a legitimate concern.
Leveling shouldn't require a lot of forced grouping, it's frankly not that fun.
STILL, you level much faster in LOTRO if you're in a group, even today.
Why? Most experience comes from quests, mobs don't give you a lot of exp unless you're rested, even then it's still not a lot. Grouping to complete quests means you complete them faster which = faster leveling. I just recently leveled a guardian in a trio with the new changes and we flew through the content and the levels. Solo, it never would've gone that fast.
Actually the most xp comes from doing skirmishes now heh only problem is you make next to no money doing them.