LOTRO: Free-to-Play

I emailed support as I can't get the password reset email to come through... so far no response...

My first glitch with the Standing Stones Games takeover: my VIP status simply disappeared.
Some time ago I went with the yearly subscription rather than the monthly (SO should have gotten a lifetime membership). Suddenly over the weekend I was told to delete one of my characters and couldn't access any VIP features or areas. Plenty of helpful, "get a VIP account" suggestions at those denials. It took SSG 3 days to get back to me, stating they didn't know what happened, but just to get a new VIP membership.

Nothing too serious, I suppose. Just a loss of the only gaming time I've had in weeks, and a poor showing from the new owners of one of my favorite games.

Running Man wrote:

I'm getting back into Lotro, but dumb question: is the Mordor expansion considered the final one? I mean, is it going to involve a showdown with Sauron, or will there be further dlc for that?

I think somewhere in an interview they stated that they had 2-3 years worth of story in mind, though it wasn't obvious how much of that would be additional DLC packs.

Got my log in info back finally... now I can't log in due to this error:

Failed to queue for server (0x80004005)

Everyone here is on Landroval right? Eventually when I log in I intend on goofing around a little... probably not a lot. lol Toddlers and MMOs don't mix well.

manta173 wrote:

Got my log in info back finally... now I can't log in due to this error:

Failed to queue for server (0x80004005)

Everyone here is on Landroval right? Eventually when I log in I intend on goofing around a little... probably not a lot. lol Toddlers and MMOs don't mix well.

I was logged in from about 9:30 pm Eastern until a little after midnight and didn't notice any connectivity issues.

Yeah I got a lot of search hits that it meant the server was down. I also saw one from 2013 that said update the client to a different language and change it back. That didn't help either. Uninstall reinstall is my next step I guess.

I've been playing LOTRO again, currently playing as a hunter named Gwingorviel. Despite getting into the end of the beta and having bought every expansion besides Mordor since then, the highest character I have is level 52. Gwingorviel is now 50, and I'm taking her through the Goblin Town content (I've never seen it before). My original goal was to stick to the Epic Quests as much as possible. In Volume 1, the 'Fall of Morodith' (sp?) turns out to not be very solo-hunter friendly (at least, Ive found it impossible to defeat, and all of complaints about difficulty I have found have been from hunters). I could just skip to Volume 2 content I think, but I've been enjoying leveling up a bit further and finally seeing other things that are new to me.

I created a kinship, primarily because I thought there were some useful bonuses that came from higher-ranked kinships. I suspect I was mixing them up with WoW guild bonuses though, as now that I've actually looked at the wiki, none of the bonuses I was thinking of are listed. But if any Goodjers are looking to join a kinship and don't want to be bothered with any potential requirements from a 'real' kinship, feel free to yell at me for an invite.

How is the community these days? Easy to find other players?

jrralls wrote:

How is the community these days? Easy to find other players?

I've never had issues running into other players. Places like Bree can get particularly crowded.

jrralls wrote:

How is the community these days? Easy to find other players?

World chat on Landroval always seems pretty busy these days. While roaming around low level areas I saw more people than I expected to, but still not all that many, and none of us ever initiated conversation.

World chat being busy isn't necessary always a good thing; it seems like there is a rather large contingent of alt-right and 'alt-right accepting' folks. Fortunately the ignore list is large (though I think there is a cap, I'm not sure what it is), and adding people to it is easy.

absurddoctor wrote:

. In Volume 1, the 'Fall of Morodith' (sp?) turns out to not be very solo-hunter friendly (at least, Ive found it impossible to defeat, and all of complaints about difficulty I have found have been from hunters). I could just skip to Volume 2 content I think, but I've been enjoying leveling up a bit further and finally seeing other things that are new to me.

I'm Kiarmuid, level 108 Hunter on Landroval. Feel free to page me if you'd like some help where you get stuck. The devs made the Epic quests solo-able awhile back, though there can be some sticking points. Its worth the ride, I am convinced.

I'm already in a kinship, but thanks for the invitation to goodjers.

Jakobedlam wrote:
absurddoctor wrote:

. In Volume 1, the 'Fall of Morodith' (sp?) turns out to not be very solo-hunter friendly (at least, Ive found it impossible to defeat, and all of complaints about difficulty I have found have been from hunters). I could just skip to Volume 2 content I think, but I've been enjoying leveling up a bit further and finally seeing other things that are new to me.

I'm Kiarmuid, level 108 Hunter on Landroval. Feel free to page me if you'd like some help where you get stuck. The devs made the Epic quests solo-able awhile back, though there can be some sticking points. Its worth the ride, I am convinced.

I'm already in a kinship, but thanks for the invitation to goodjers.

Thanks! Going through the epic quests is my main goal. Despite playing in beta and ending up as a Founder (though, sadly, not a Lifer), I never got that far down the line even after they were made solo-friendly. I witnessed the departure of The Fellowship for the first time recently, and that was such a cool treat (though, it was a bit odd when I could still run into members in Rivendell right afterwards, I thought maybe they would phase out for me or some such).

I'm trying to solo my way through it for the first time - I'm a Founder but always been in two person groups. Now my LM is lvl 42 and just about to finish Evendim off. The only annoying thing is that while they may have made all the Epic stuff soloable, they haven't done the same to the Tomb of Elendil. I think in all my time I've only done that once, with a 6 person PUG.

I wish I could figure out why I can't log in, but the pull is not strong enough for me to keep wasting evenings uninstalling reinstalling.

davet010 wrote:

I'm trying to solo my way through it for the first time - I'm a Founder but always been in two person groups. Now my LM is lvl 42 and just about to finish Evendim off. The only annoying thing is that while they may have made all the Epic stuff soloable, they haven't done the same to the Tomb of Elendil. I think in all my time I've only done that once, with a 6 person PUG.

I think I started that quest with a group once and never was able to complete it, I'd love a chance to do so at some point.

manta173 wrote:

I wish I could figure out why I can't log in, but the pull is not strong enough for me to keep wasting evenings uninstalling reinstalling.

Yuck :/ Wish i had some ideas that hadn't already been mentioned.

Any recommendations on websites to look at for class spec info similar to icy-veins? Or other sites with game info other than lotro.com?

lotro-wiki.com is pretty good, I use that a fair amount.

davet010 wrote:

lotro-wiki.com is pretty good, I use that a fair amount.

Thanks!

Dadi's Lotro Guide is pretty good too http://dadislotroguides.com/category... although most of the content deals with end game stuff.

I imagine most folks this applies to already know, but in case someone who's left the game wasn't aware:

Standing Stones just implemented a Legendary Server. The scope of the game has been reset to the original Shadows of Angmar setting, though the mechanics retain all of their innumerable upgrades. Level cap is currently 50. Their intent is to allow players to experience the Lord of the Rings story line in chronological order, adding further chapters (the expansions) as a certain percentage of characters hit level cap. I believe I heard that they've slowed xp a bit in order to encourage staying in the story longer.
Its open to VIP players, but if you're intrigued by this and a F2P player, it might be worth trying out VIP for a bit.

Echoing what Jakobedlam said - but just for information you don't have to transfer to the server (which I think is called Anor) in total, you just create a character on that server.

More information

Legendary Server information

I was in at the start, so I've already done the content like this...it'll be interesting to see whether they've kept the inspiration that allowed players to solo/small group the epic quests or not.

Just my opinion but I’m not feeling the legendary server. There are super long lines just to log in and the leveling process is pretty slow (I believe it’s been nerfed by 40 percent). Combat also feels needlessly tedious though YMMV.

I switched over to a normal server and the difference was night and day. The game’s progression may not be as smooth as WOW or ESO but it’s still good. I also appreciate the quest writing which is excellent.

I started a Warden on the new Legendary server Arnor. I have to say I'm enjoying it. It's nice playing with other people in low level areas again. The speed of leveling has been slowed down, but I can't make a determination if that's a bad thing yet. Lotro always bogged down after lvl 30 for me (the Lone Lands and Evendim are my character graveyards). That's when everything just grinds to a halt. So I'm make my call then.

One thing that hasn't changed is the outrageous AH prices. I don't think the greedy people realize that you can't charge 5g for 20 opals since no one has 6 alts to grind gold yet.

If this new server doesn't work out I'll head back to my 105 Champion* (edit) on the regular server. After all these years I've never had a max level character in this game.

Inn the Shire (my favorite part of the game, by far) there is a truly epic fight (at least for low level characters) against a werewolf. I died a bunch of times against it on my first play through and ended up getting together a good crew and we just barely managed to defeat it. It was a well earned victory. Five or so years later I decided to replay the game and went back to the Shire. The whole time I was dreading / looking forward to my encounter with the werewolf. And when I finally reached him for the second time ... it was a curb stomp battle. I quickly slew the beast and felt ANGRY at how much they had nerfed what, in my mind, was the most epic fight of the Shire.

Same with much of what in the originally released game were the early memorable encounters; the nightmares of the Old Forest and the Barrows, are nothing like they once were. That said, while there are those of us who loved that content, its entirely possible the game would have long since closed down if it had stayed that way. If you're looking for those encounters in the game these days, Mordor has them in spades.

Yeah, I certainly don't miss the days of waiting around Rivendell for a pick up group to do some of the epic missions - thinking of that one with Legolas against the wood trolls, for one.

It is noticeable that the only mission that still seems to require a team of 6 rather than beefing up a single player is the Tomb of Elendil in Evendim...that's probably the only content I couldn't solo with my current LM.

Why isn't currency in this game called J.R.R Tokens?

Heh, can only imagine the Tolkien estate’s reaction to that one

They already get some money off this, don't they?
I often think its a shame Tolkien died with minimal financial reward, and regarded as an eccentric author of hippy-beloved books, while his son and grandchildren have reaped the financial rewards his now-highly-regarded work has afforded them.
His son, at least, has worked hard for it.

The whole Tolkien Estate versus Saul Zaentz Co versus Warner Bros thing is a mess so who knows where the money goes these days