I just installed LOTRO for the first time since I played the beta for the free version.
Anyone else play?
Discuss.

:wave:

I play! Possibly entirely too much. Which server are you on? My two characters (at the moment; really need to create an alt to play around with the jeweler profession) are both on Crickhollow. My main is a Hunter (probably my favorite class so far), level 31. Second character is a Warden, level 13.

I play off and on, love my server, laurelin, the RP one.
Had some amazing adventures there with a very mature player base

I play a bit here and there. Though currently I am playing Crysis 2 for now, I may jump on sometime this weekend. I have a level 35 Elf Champion named Thadon on the Meneldor server.

I played before I uninstalled it but I'm going to make another f2p character soon because Isengard comes out this year :spotted owl:

I have a couple of characters on Meneldor that I might play again if the upcoming change to DDO doesn't suit me.

I just started playing Guild Wars. GW is my first MMO. Why should I be trying the LOTRO? I went to it before when we had this thread a few months ago, but it didn't apeal to me.

So what am I missing? I do love the LotR movies and books.

:shrug: I've played both GW and LotRO, and they're both very different: there's some things I think GW does better, and some things I enjoy more in LotRO. Guild Wars has all non-town areas instanced, for example, so there's no having to wait in line to kill a certain named NPC for a quest. (On the other hand, you can't form groups on the fly like you can in LotRO--if you find you need help on a quest in GW you have to go back to town, recruit up a group, and then go back.) Guild Wars has the benefit of being totally free, once you purchase the game. LotRO is free to download and play, but you'll find yourself running out of content around level 35 or so if you don't either pay real money for quest packs and the like or go grind up some Turbine Points.

How far did you get in LotRO the first time? I think the starter areas are the weakest parts of the game, which is a shame...it wasn't until I got out of the first 5 - 6 levels or so that I really found myself enjoying the game. It might depend on which server you're on, too, in terms of the quality of the community. I think I really lucked out with Crickhollow; a majority of the people on it are friendly and helpful, and I found a great kinship (The Kights Who Say Ni) that I think pretty much made the game for me.

If you don't like it, no one's making you play it. For me, LotRO isn't perfect by any means, but it's still a lot of fun (and made much more so by my kinship), which is why I keep playing it.

I played GW to death and now whenever I go on I can't stay on for over 5 minutes...just nothing to do. Have all expansions as well, just played it way too much.

I'm playing an elf Lore-Master right now, wishing I could be a Rune-Keeper without paying for it. :shocking:
On the server that starts with a V, can't remember the name.

Needs a bump anyway but...
My Lore-Master draws way too much aggro and the pets don't hold it well enough. I made it to level 20 and am now "Edhuil the Undying" but I just get mobbed in group skirmishes.

Are you doing the skirmishes with a group, or trying to solo them? If you're with a group...granted, I've not yet played a Lore-Master, so I'm not too sure how they work, but I'll assume it's like the Hunter when it comes to group skirms: deal out tons of damage without drawing aggro.

What I usually do to reduce aggro with my Hunter is: hang back, and switch targets frequently (so I'm still doing plenty of DPS, but not all to the same target--if you stack up too much damage on one target, and it's more DPS than your group's tanks are dealing to it, it'll focus in on you instead). If I do draw aggro and it's more than I can handle, I run toward the nearest tank. Running away just makes it harder for the rest of your group to catch up to you and rescue you.

Also, to be honest...a lot of the responsibility for aggro management falls on the tanks. They have the ability to absorb all that damage, while us squishier classes don't. Make sure you're waiting for the tank(s) to attack a mob first, rather than charging ahead (and thus drawing aggro). And if your group's tank isn't doing his job and isn't holding aggro like he should, well...time to find one who will, IMHO. (Granted, mistakes do happen. But if this is happening consistently...well.)

Can't LMs heal as well, or is that Runekeepers I'm thinking of? Can you not heal fast enough to absorb some of the damage while the rest of your group pulls the mob off you?

I play it, mostly on the Brandywine server though. I also have characters on Windfola, Landroval and Meneldor. But I probably won't play on any other server than Windfola and Brandywine because I have about 9 characters over the span of those two servers and it's all I can control.

The latest update is pretty cool, it's what has me playing again..for a while at least.

I have pretty much 1 of every class except Warden, although I might make one down the road again.

Gorlaran is my name on Brandywine, A level 65 Guardian. I've also been playing my LM who just reached level 50 today, his name is Galdiror.
On Windfola I have a lv 63 Champion, Vikdairic

My other characters on Brandywine:
Haloradan- Lv 44 Champion
Tammily- Lv 32 Minstrel
Kosioinimili- Lv 32 Hunter
Thriliori- Lv 28 Runekeeper

Then I have a lv 7 Burglar (had one up to 22 on Windfola before I deleted him a long while back)
Also a level 1 Captain (had one on Windfola up to lv 30 before he got axed as well)


Also Northwind, still play DDO huh? I know I asked you that question back when this thread hit the first page a few months back but haha. Good to see that, I was thinking about starting it up again but I don't know. As long as I don't jump back to the console again so I can justify paying for it I probably will.

We have a single other-heal spell with a long recharge as well as a big self heal spell with a super-long recharge. That's it for healing. I use one Crack Earth or whatever and it hits the crowd and they all come at me. It doesn't even do that much damage.

Question: If I subscribed for a month, would I get my 500 turbine points for being VIP and whatever the other bonuses are?

You should also have Sign of Battle: Wizardry (I think it's called that), it heals if your pet happens to..well I don't remember what it's called but it shows up as mouth with sharp teeth de-buff on the enemy. That heals for a little bit. Also make sure you are making use of your Blinding Flash skill, that's a staple to facing more than 1 or 2 enemies at once. But remember if you damage the enemy who has it on, you'll break it and wake him up..so no AOE attacks if he's in the range of your AOE. Also Inner Flame is a heal skill, but to use it in battle you need to make sure you put any enemy under Blinding Flash or root them with Herb Lore (lv 36 skill so can't do much for you right now)

You should also be making use of any de-bufs you have. Sign of Power should be cast on every enemy you face right away and make sure it stays on them. Fire-Lore is a good one to use against enemies who do pretty high melee damage and Wind-Lore against those who used range attacks. Although I put it on melee sometimes cause of the + attack duration. Make sure you are sending your pet in to aggro your enemies first, and then you can Blinding Flash, or attack as you need to. I usually start off with the Fire skill and then I go to Gust of Wind or Cracked Earth, but only if the mezzed mob (that's what LOTRO players call enemies under Blinding Flash) is not in range of those attacks. Otherwise I sit there and throw my fire skill at them and then move up close and use the Staff attack. It can be pretty tricky at first, but once you get the hang of the LM it's a deadly class.

Also gotta make sure you have the right virtues and traits on, well there isn't a right way but there is a preferred way. Loremasters rely on Will and Fate for their main stats, second is Vitality. So make sure your armor, traits and virtues represent that.

Are you a subscriber or F2P?

I've been a subscriber since the game released in 2007

I forgot to answer your other question, I don't think you'd get 500 bonus points until the next month after that but I'm not 100%. If you don't get your bonus points within the first 5 days, then it probably won't be till when your month would renew. As for the benefits, yes you'd get all those.

Not sure if I wanna sub or buy ME2...

How can I tell if my bear gave the enemy the "Flanked!" debuff thing? And how often does it happen?

It's a random chance, happens more often if they "flank" the enemy but I've gotten it from non-flanking positions. But you can tell because that de-buff appears on the enemy's de-buff section below their morale and power.

As to whether or not to sub, it's $9.99 for 30 days. You can play 5+ hours for those 30 days and still have stuff to do (unless you rush though it I suppose). ME2 lasts 30-40 hours on one playthrough, at least for me it did and I read 95% of those information things and did most of the quests, had a relationship etc, so do the math. You can always pick up ME2 when you get the money for it again. But it's up to you and whether or not you really like LOTRO. It works a lot better if you're into LOTR, because then you can take your time and explore and view the land and see all the sites you read about.

Everywhere I look it's $14.99.

What is, the LOTRO subscription? It says $9.99 right on their site.

Those tricky bastards have it saying $9.99 on the promotion but it's actually $9.99 per month when you buy the 3 month package.

Oh haha, well that's worth it too if you can afford it. I've had that same price for the past 4 years, couldn't afford the lifetime ever and now that it's gone I just keep it to give them money. And cause it's easy. $28 for 3 months isn't half bad. Hard to find a new game that will give you that much playtime.

This is what is bugging me. I'm enjoying the free LOTRO, but I feel like right after I subscribe I will get bored like I have been with most games lately.

Well you'd have to try it and see I suppose. Kind of a crappy way to find out, but if you're enjoying the free version, one would think you'd also enjoy the the VIP version of it, even more so.

Looking at http://www.gametimezone.com/games/lotro.php, do the expansions come with game time?