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Lord of the Rings Online: Returning to LOTRO

SBFordSBFord Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129

MMORPG.com writer Phil James has hit the wall with his old MMO favorites, WoW and EQII. It's time, he has determined to go back and revisit one of the countless number of MMOs that he's tried and discarded after the free month trial is over. In his quest to find something to fill his time, Phil has reacquainted himself with Lord of the Rings Online. Find out if Phil's return to Middle Earth is more engaging, more fun, more -everything- than the last time he played.

The first game I thought of coming back to was Lord of the Rings Online. While I didn’t play it for long, I do have very fond memories of it. Before I first played, I had been reading the books, so I rolled a hobbit to adventure in all the places in the Shire I had been reading about. I wasn’t disappointed, I loved delivering pies around the villages of Hobbiton, Tuckborough, and Little Delvin. I made a point of looking for the Party Tree as soon as I got into the main world. The sights and sounds of the game did a great job of conjuring up the feelings I got from reading the books.

Read more Returning to LOTRO.


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Comments

  • VyethVyeth Member UncommonPosts: 1,461

    Not sure which server the population was on, but I seen about 1 player in about 4 hours of playing.. I logged off..

  • kevjards1234kevjards1234 Member Posts: 30

    having played lotro for well since release i have to say the population on my server has gone thru the roof. i dont care wether or not they guys are f2p or not..its nice to see so many playing.and welcome to those guys that are f2p, hope you guys stay with us for the ride.

  • UsualSuspectUsualSuspect Member UncommonPosts: 1,243

    "The only downside is that a lot of them required me to group up.."

     

    I had to read that twice. He's playing a massively multiplayer game online and having to group is a downside? I'm confused here. What did you expect when you joined an online multiplayer game? Man, MMO's are really going to the dogs..

  • McGamerMcGamer Member UncommonPosts: 1,073

    This is a great article by the OP. Lotro has greatly improved over the years and the new F2P model has greatly increased the population on all servers, despite the misinformation by the other poster.

    As far as mmo's go, they do seem to being pulled down by almighty greed basically. More console gamers are enjoying the content that constantly gets added into an mmo but they don't like grouping. So those gamers whine insessantly for devs to make mmo's more soloable. Unfortunately the devs are doing so.

    As far as Cataclysm goes, I wouldnt waste time with that, I gave it a shot and it is the most over-hyped expansion I have ever played. Blizzard needs to worry more about moderating their amoralistic community that creates more problems than lack of new content. 

  • gaeanprayergaeanprayer Member UncommonPosts: 2,341

    "WARNING! People who think like this are deranged and should be avoided, whatever you do, don’t make eye contact."

    That made me choke on my coffee. Nice job. Lotro has actually improve a lot over the years, but it hasn't changed drastically from the game it already was. So if you didn't like it before, you're not going to suddenly like it now. But if you did, and just took a break from it, then yeah...totally give it another go.

    "Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."

  • phil_jamesphil_james EverQuest II ReporterMember Posts: 32

    Originally posted by UsualSuspect



    "The only downside is that a lot of them required me to group up.."

     

    I had to read that twice. He's playing a massively multiplayer game online and having to group is a downside? I'm confused here. What did you expect when you joined an online multiplayer game? Man, MMO's are really going to the dogs..


     

    This is my fault for not making my point clear.  Many of the quests couldn't be soloed, and at my current level I'm finding the player base a bit thin.  I had to read your comment twice to see if you really thought I was unaware of the concept of mmos.  I will assume that you did.

  • VyethVyeth Member UncommonPosts: 1,461

    Originally posted by naesa

    Originally posted by Vyeth



    Not sure which server the population was on, but I seen about 1 player in about 4 hours of playing.. I logged off..


     

    This comment made me raise my eyebrows. There's no area in lotro as populated as Ogrimmar primetime but come on, this game is very populated. Either you were in the middle of nowhere or you are a trolling wow fanboi.  

    Get mad all you want, call me what you want. But like I said, i'm not sure where the pop was (maybe they were hiding from me?) but I didn't see anyone.. But now i'm curious..

    Whats considered the "middle of nowhere" in this game?

  • phil_jamesphil_james EverQuest II ReporterMember Posts: 32

    I have to say, I'm not seeing a lot of players at the moment, though I did see quite a few in the newbie zones.  Maybe it's a Cataclysm thing.

    I'm working on the third part of this feature at the moment, which I'm planning to make about playing with other peeps.  Wish me luck as if the population is, as I suspect, all at the level cap, then I doubt I'm going to make it there within my one month sub.

  • feena750feena750 Member UncommonPosts: 330

    Epic Quests: Some epic quests now give power boosts in proporton to the number of players in your group.  You can do the quest like it would ahve been before with a full fellowhsip, or you can do it solo or with one or two others with an added boost to your power.

    Population: I play on the most populated Server Brandywine and I can barely go a minute out in the middle of nowhere without seeing someone and towns are packed.  I tried Crickhollow as well and its popualtionwas good in the beginning areas, although I didn't get so far on that server so it may have been a bunch of f2p players.

  • MoiraeMoirae Member RarePosts: 3,318

    Originally posted by phil_james

    I have to say, I'm not seeing a lot of players at the moment, though I did see quite a few in the newbie zones.  Maybe it's a Cataclysm thing.

    I'm working on the third part of this feature at the moment, which I'm planning to make about playing with other peeps.  Wish me luck as if the population is, as I suspect, all at the level cap, then I doubt I'm going to make it there within my one month sub.


     

     rofl... its Christmas and he wonders why he isn't seeing many people at the moment. Can you think of why that is? Could it be because people have other, more important, things to do than to play an online game this month? Hmmm, I wonder.

     

    Personally, I haven't been on the game at all in a week. I'm in another country with only a laptop that has no mouse to use, and I haven't seen my family in 3 years. There are more important things to do than log on some game. The game can wait until AFTER I get back home.

     

    Why am I on  now? I was checking email and came across this link sent from mmorpg so thought I'd read it. Soon, I'm going to have breakfast, and then go to a major Christmas party where ALL my family will be. And tomorrow I'm going to another town where my dad's family is throwing THEIR party.

     

    So don't be silly. There's no one on because its the holidays. It always slows down during holidays.

     

    As for the number of people on at later times, there's always alot on when I'm on so I don't know where people are getting this "its so dead" thing.

  • phil_jamesphil_james EverQuest II ReporterMember Posts: 32

    Of course, there is always the possibility that this article was written before Christmas, and that people are talking about their LotRO experiences in general and not just today.

  • erictlewiserictlewis Member UncommonPosts: 3,022

    Well I loged in to lotro to try the new winter quests, you know the holiday quests.  After about 3 hours of playing I just gave up.

    I am still waiting for them to remove radiance.  However after my last experiance this morning, I can say I no longer have the heart to play the game.  I think I will pass my account to my 10 year old and unleash her upon middle earth.

  • feena750feena750 Member UncommonPosts: 330

    Erictlewis what made you give up?  Didn't like the Yule event?

  • Raevyn_DarkeRaevyn_Darke Member Posts: 3

    In most MMOs I've played, population usually *increases* over Christmas, not decreases.  People are off from work or school, and have more time to play. Some get games as gifts and want to dive in before vacation is over.  On Christmas Day itself, sure, things slow down a bit, but that's an exception from the rule for December, in my observation.  So even if the article were written today (which, as the writer noted, it wasn't), that wouldn't be a solid explanation for low server pop.  I think it's more likely what the writer noted -- f2p'ers at the low end, loyalists at the high end, and not as much in the middle.

  • UndeadKingUndeadKing Member Posts: 17
    I am a "loyalist" LotRO is the One MMO to rule all my MMO's. That being said I'm in a bit of a slump with it. A slump caused by the fact that I've done everything in the game and the only things left to do are alt, raid and PvMP. Considering the amount of action I've seen in the Moors lately I think a lot of other people are in a similar place.

    The Yule Home has a lot of people in it at any given time though, at least on Meneldor and there's always people running around Bree when I stop by to have a drink with the Ale Association.

    The Q1 update is supposed to add new instance clusters and a raid as well as change Eriador since the Rangers are no longer around to keep the bandits out. That update is also removing radiance and adding First Age weapons. Population is only going to increase as people come back or roll alts to check out the changes and if they manage to re-capture the Middle Earth feel, which I feel has been missing increasingly since Moria came out you'll really see a lot of old players come back.
  • swich329swich329 Member Posts: 2

    Originally posted by Vyeth



    Originally posted by naesa


    Originally posted by Vyeth



    Not sure which server the population was on, but I seen about 1 player in about 4 hours of playing.. I logged off..


     

    This comment made me raise my eyebrows. There's no area in lotro as populated as Ogrimmar primetime but come on, this game is very populated. Either you were in the middle of nowhere or you are a trolling wow fanboi.  

    Get mad all you want, call me what you want. But like I said, i'm not sure where the pop was (maybe they were hiding from me?) but I didn't see anyone.. But now i'm curious..

    Whats considered the "middle of nowhere" in this game?


     

    Yeah, that dude was raging...

     

    Can't think of a time where I didn't see anyone on the Brandywine server.  Great MMO with a terrific story and fantabulous players.

  • swich329swich329 Member Posts: 2

    Originally posted by feena750



    Erictlewis what made you give up?  Didn't like the Yule event?


     

    ...the Radiant Yule event?

  • jayartejayarte Member UncommonPosts: 450

    I really enjoyed this article, not necessarily the parts specifically about Lotro, but that feeling of returning to a game after a long break.  The number of times I've returned to WoW after a break of many months, logged onto a higher level character (70+), opened by bags and then ground to a halt.  It can feel quite overwhelming for me because I usually have to respecc as the talent tree inevitable has changed and my talent points unspent.  My addons will be playing havoc as some of them will be out of date.  My quest log will be overflowing with completed, partially completed and not even started quests.  My bags will be full of stuff which I can't think what to do with; I've also ended up in recent months just selling the lot as it is easier.  I was impressed by the suggestion about dragging all abilities of the action bars and slowly building them back up.  In fact, for me, this article was a great mini-guide in how to reduce stress when returning to a game after a long break and trying to play a higher level character.

     

    Regarding Lotro itself; I played on release for several months and really, really wanted to like the game, but somehow (maybe to do with character looks and animation) I just can't.  Shame, because I was part of a great guild, and met some lovely people in Lotro, but somehow it never quite gels with me.  Although these days, that's the feeling I get with most mmo's (*sigh*  Let's it doesn't mean I'm just burnt out and should give up completely.  I have enjoyed Rift beta, though,  and am still really looking forward to GW2.

  • tutistutis Member Posts: 14

    I started playing LotRO recently and I'm enjoying it.  I had been playind DDO a lot and wanted a change.  I do like that LotRO is a bit more soloable than DDO while still having a group be important.  I found in DDO at higher levels it could be difficult to find a group at times.  I got really bored with waiting and puttering around in the auction house until there was a decent group built up for a quest chain or raid.  I don't have any higher level chars in LotRO yet so I don't know if it'll be the same.

    One think I'm really having fun screwing around with is LotRO's music system.  I ended up making a minstrel just to have access to all the instruments.  Quite a bite of fun once you learn how to use it.  The minstrel character class is pretty unique too, don't know of a game that has a healer that works in a similar way.

  • ishistishist Member UncommonPosts: 213

    I've been playing on Crickhollow for 3 months or so. To the poster who couldn't find anyone: the middle of nowhere is not necessarily in the middle of nowhere. There are quite a few towns scattered around the various areas that don't really have anything going on. Michel Delving in the Shire is usually fairly populated, and Bree is almost overcrowded. Because of the holiday festival, a large chunk of the population is in the new Winterhome region playing the seasonal content. I've never had a problem getting into a group when I needed to, I haven't even used the LFF tool, I just hang out in the general vicinity of  the quest objective and usually within 10 minutes a few other people have wandered in. I started a PUG in the Shire yesterday and wound up running with the gang through almost the entirity of the Shire quest-lines. 

    Lotro also has a more refined and much preferable version of WoW's naked night elf dancers. You can play instruments, and you can make or download music files that can be played by your character in the game. Sometimes I'll hang around outside the Prancing Pony and play Led Zeppelin songs to the amusement of people passing by. I've actually gathered crowds and made some decent tips.

    In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move. - Douglas Adams

  • djazzydjazzy Member Posts: 3,578

    Originally posted by phil_james

    I have to say, I'm not seeing a lot of players at the moment, though I did see quite a few in the newbie zones.  Maybe it's a Cataclysm thing.

    I'm working on the third part of this feature at the moment, which I'm planning to make about playing with other peeps.  Wish me luck as if the population is, as I suspect, all at the level cap, then I doubt I'm going to make it there within my one month sub.

    One thing I've found in all of the games I've played is that the older the game is, the less players you will find in the lower and middle level zones. I played LotRO a few months ago and I found the areas of levels 1-20 fairly populated. However, once I got out of lone lands it was pretty sparse.

    I would like to see them make the group quests in these areas more manageable for the low population. I understand that is not a popular opinion on this site but I feel it necessary if you want to retain some of the newer player base. I found it really frustrating in the Trollshaws, Misty Mountains, Angmar (you get the general idea) when I couldn't find a group for days to try to accomplish some of those quests and missions.

  • levsixlevsix Member UncommonPosts: 363

    Originally posted by Vyeth



    Not sure which server the population was on, but I seen about 1 player in about 4 hours of playing.. I logged off..


     

    Interesting. I returned when it went free to play and I still see people everywhere. I am on Meneldor and it is not one of the most populated servers, it is more middle of the road last I checked, but it is busy.

    LOTRO may have some flaws but population really isn't an issue on the two servers I have experienced. I suppose that there could theoretically be a low population server. My advice is to roll on another one if you somehow end up on that server.

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  • jaxsundanejaxsundane Member Posts: 2,776

    @phil_james I couldn't say why you aren't seeing many people on.  what I  learned was coming from WOW to LOTRO is the total number of players in WOW is so high that one's view of what "alot" of players is can become skewed a bit.  I left LOTRO a few months after first playing it because it just seemed so empty (in comparison to the amount of people I was used to being around in WOW).

    Ironically this was my experience on the most pupulous LOTRO server Brandywine, after a while I went back to Landroval which is the unofficial rp server and second most populated and I think my mind just adjusted to the fact that there simply aren't the same amount of people in LOTRO or maybe for some strange reason at the time the population did explode but either way it was never a problem for me again.

    Since f2p though I am at a loss to figure out how you would log on and not see many people at all this game has been packed since the f2p launch, maybe it's a low pop server  *shrugs*.

    In all though it's a great game with more than enough content to facilitate group or solo play.

    but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....

  • lorddeath101lorddeath101 Member UncommonPosts: 315

    Originally posted by UsualSuspect



    "The only downside is that a lot of them required me to group up.."

     

    I had to read that twice. He's playing a massively multiplayer game online and having to group is a downside? I'm confused here. What did you expect when you joined an online multiplayer game? Man, MMO's are really going to the dogs..


     

    auto assault  mmo   :P

  • erictlewiserictlewis Member UncommonPosts: 3,022

    Originally posted by feena750

    Erictlewis what made you give up?  Didn't like the Yule event?

     Actually yes I am one of those who actually did not like the way the events went.  I finally punted on the quests and deleted them then when back to my homestead.

    There have been tons of other post on the lotro forums,  a lot of folks did not like it, some did, others saw it all the way to the end.

    All I can say was somebody at lotro got some deep seatied issue to even write quests like that.

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