Lord of the Rings Online MMORPG

[Kuruharan]

Having people around that you know definitely helps. That, actually, is the reason why many people continue to play MMOs for ages and ages; they don't want to lose touch with their friends.

CoD and I are both on Silverlode...I'm not sure how much either of us will ever be around though.

My toon on Silverlode will be very easy for you to find.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

Having people around that you know definitely helps. That, actually, is the reason why many people continue to play MMOs for ages and ages; they don't want to lose touch with their friends.

CoD and I are both on Silverlode...I'm not sure how much either of us will ever be around though.

My toon on Silverlode will be very easy for you to find.

Good! So I should mark Silverlode as first for making any new characters... although probably both of you are some ridiculously high level, so we could at most come and chat (if I start from zero there, I definitely could not go with you to some ridiculously dangerous areas from beyond the borders of my map - although again, if you are barely around, then maybe I will have time to get to a ridiculously high level too before I meet you ). Also, right now I got quite happy with playing for my new character and developing her, and perhaps would like to focus on her, most of all... But if it seemed reasonable and possible to maintain contact with the rest of you there, it'd be nice.

Originally Posted by Eönwë

Well, Legate, I'm about to download it now (through the US bit, since it isn't officially Free-to-Play in the UK yet), and I'll tell you what I think.

Nice to hear that, Eönwë. I think it's quite good, you must judge for yourself. If you want to, then you could make your first character(s) on Meneldor and if you feel like it (maybe after you get the handle of things, or I could be of some advice in the starting mechanics, if you needed them), we could eventually meet up somewhere and even join into a fellowship for some quests (or just as an excuse to keep around each other) - given that I am not very far in the storyline and exploring. Currently my elven champion is ripe for travelling anywhere (and maybe I will also recover my old dust-covered man captain from Bree someday). Anyway, if any of you folks happened to be on Meneldor these days, you could look out for Curufinwen (or Guthlic)... Well, surely we could contact each other about anything specific anytime anyway...

[Eönwë]

Well, it turns out I downloaded the wrong version (And it was 10GB! )

Anyway, I think I'll just wait until it becomes Free-to-play in the UK before doing anything else, so 'll get back to you all when that happens.

[Kuruharan]

Probably the best thing to do if you want to see me is to schedule it...otherwise I probably won't turn up.

Although scheduling isn't always easy either as I'm married now and don't have as much time for this sort of thing as I once did.

[Alkanoonion]

I just returned to the lotro game after getting an E-mail that it was free. I got all nostalgic about LOTR and the chance to visit places that I had read about was not to be missed… that is until I tried to play the game. What a disappointment. The game has no feeling of being in the realm of middle earth. If anything it felt like wow without the cartoon avatars.

I just can’t be bothered to play it after the letdown to my expectations.
I think I will just read the sil again instead.

[Durelin]

I'm still on Silverlode as is CoD...we don't really play much right now, but...we got lifetime subs way back so we're not paying for anything.

It was a good MMO for me, and my first MMO. I enjoyed it. I was in a good, active guild for a long time. Unfortunately it failed, partially simply because they did not have the money backing them, and probably they didn't make the money to put back into the game because of bad decisions, etc. They haven't been able to put out any real content for a long time.

Anyway, I think the landscape design was great, actually. I'm not a huge lore person, and I never expected an intense adherence to lore out of an MMO which necessitates a gazillion epic heroes running around and lots of epic enemies to kill. Basically if you want the *real* Middle-earth...you're not going to get an MMO out of it. Which is fine. No need to have an MMO...but I enjoyed a Middle-earth-based MMO and the style of MMO they developed, with pretty much no emphasis on PvP (also part of why it failed).

Certainly it could have been done better. But part of what is necessary for better (such as for WoW), is lots of money. And yes, every MMO is trying to be WoW, because what does everyone compare every MMO to now...WoW...haha. Even though it was far from the first.

Anyway I'm still going to play occasionally, such as when I get more time... Legate already found me (I still need to respond to his mail...) My main is Rakein.

So once I get time again I'll be glad to do some questing and instances with people and help you out with getting gear and such.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Looks like what Dury says is mostly what I would think... I think the bad part is when one starts to make compromises, as I think the LOTRO guys did, and retreating from their original "pure" idea more towards the "classic WoW"-type, but they still cannot completely move it into that type, so it tends up to be some awkward crossbreed which eventually probably disappoints the "pure LotRists" while still not satisfying the "commercial public". Not that I would advise them to continue in that direction, though...

As for right now, actually, I seem to be on relatively frequently (fresh enthusiasm still works), also as now the Harvestmath Festival is going on and since I have never before experienced anything like that, I find it's a lot of fun (unlike I expected, as I thought it will be just some silly big thing to appease the audience... but I like it. Best experience: running around the Shire with the aim to get acquaintance with the Inn League... I think everybody knows this already, but that seriously made my day). I have started developing my character on Silverlode, so now I can join other 'Downers who happen to be around.

[CaptainofDespair]

Originally Posted by Durelin

I'm still on Silverlode as is CoD...we don't really play much right now, but...we got lifetime subs way back so we're not paying for anything.

...

So once I get time again I'll be glad to do some questing and instances with people and help you out with getting gear and such.

Yea, I'm not around much. I do still pop in from time to time, mostly to check my mail and auctions. But, if I happen to be online or anyone wishes to schedule "adventure", you can usually find me on one of my main characters: Sevira, Sordatha, or Letania.

And, since Rakein mentioned getting gear, I also do the armor and jewelry crafting for both of our character sets. I probably still have a lot of left over materials...