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Smacx
Bandit Worker
139 Posts |
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Qatrina
Bandit Kitten
10434 Posts |
 Posted - 03/25/2010 : 16:13:44
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That sounds very familiar. I have a hobbit minstrel myself. I have even asked some of the same questions of the NPCs and gotten the same answers.
I love the game so far. Leveling seems to happen a lot faster than WOW and not grindy at all. Also, when you get new skills it is not the same skill, higher level but a whole new skill. Your skills that you have level up with you. Like in my late teens I got a buff skill for fate and will. Started out as +20 each and is now like +40 each, 20 levels later amd those extra points were just added as I leveled.
There is some down time to craft and sell stuff as well as travel but overall, once you get to an area, the leveling is pretty swift. And it is not the same kill X mobs or collect X item. As you can see from the quests that Shamus shows you, the game continues to give out interesting quests like those. Delivering pies and avoiding hungry hobbits who will steal and eat your pie. Or delivering the mail and avoiding nosy hobbits who will steal the mail cause they want to read it all first. Fun stuff. :) |
LOTRO costars: Qatsmeow level 39 Elf Runekeeper Tinker, Qitqat, Qatastrophy, Qitty, Purrfyct, Qatrisma, Stalkeress, Qitten
Syrdeth: If excuses were mooses, this would be Alaska.
Member of Pillow for Poco, Inc.
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Edited by - Qatrina on 03/25/2010 16:15:13 |
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Pach
Bandit Dwagon
17210 Posts |
Posted - 03/25/2010 : 20:23:24
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The graphics ARE stunning!
It's not very grindy, except for crafting (a bit). Let me give you an example:
In WoW, there is a quest to kill elementals in the Tanaris desert for a 'perfect water gland'. The glands only drop from a *specific kind* of elemental. You go there, and spend hours grinding that one kind of elemental (and twice as many of the other kinds, because there are tons more of those, and of course, you need to kill the RAREST kind). Finally, after hours of slaughtering elementals in the desert sun, and you are nearly sick with sunstroke... the gland drops! YAY! You can ride back and turn it in.
Now, a similar quest in LOTRO. You must go kill an auroch for a hide. You find a big herd of the beasts, pick one on the fringes, and slaughter it.
Your hide drops on the first (or at worst, second) kill. Off you go!
(quest items have a very high drop-rate: 75% or so)
Another example:
In WoW, one of the daily quests in Outlands is to use keys on chests at... what is it, Onslaught Harbor? Except you and everyone else is doing the same daily. You clear all the mobs in the area, and some yahoo flies in, and opens every chest in the area you swept clear, and flies off. You spend another hour in the area looking for respawn chests, or clearing to more.
In LOTRO, you get a quest to piles of snow for the Yule festival. You dash out to where they can be found--you and everyone else is in the same spot, but you see plenty of piles of snow. Why? Because when someone else uses the item, it's still available for YOU to use it! You go gather your snow (perhaps even right behind someone else) in just a few minutes, and go turn in.
(many quest items (not all) don't disappear for everyone else when you use them, so multiple people can use the same item--makes questing in a group very easy!)
Also, I have yet to run out of quests for leveling. In fact, if you sit and grind mobs, you are playing the game ALL WRONG, and it will take you LONGER to level! Most of your xps comes from quest turn-ins, NOT killing stuff, like in WoW... so if you run around doing quests (and there are often multiple quests in the same area), you are better off (and they are more fun, too ;) ).
There was a lot of effort to put lore into the game. While you still have your kill X and gather X quests, there's usually a lot of reasoning behind them, or a link to something in the original books!
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--Pach
Pacha, 48 hobbit burglar
Pachahontas, 30-something elf huntah
... and a whole bunch of other alts with "Pach" in them...
(retired) WoW: Pach, level 80!! Night Elf Rogue (Pockaholic with dragon flying mount)
"Life is good. Flight is better." -- me |
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Amy
Bandit Angel
18114 Posts |
Posted - 03/26/2010 : 06:36:01
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Well, Qat and Pach seem to have covered the grind in LOTRO...there is none. Pach's describtions are right on. Each starter area is different. Well I have only tried, Hobbit, Elf, and Human, Dwarf area I have not done, but...of the three I have done, each of them is completely different from the other. The Lore is basically the same only told in a different races perspective. Even if your quests states to collect 6 wolf paws, the drop rate is so high you will have them usually in the first 6 wolves you kill. When entering a new area, if you collect all the quests there, and just run out and start killing the likelyhood is very high that you will need something from everything you kill. The game is very fun, and the best part of it, is the lore !!!
Graphics!! OMG ... they are just as stunning if not more so than you can see in any pictures. Since loading Windows7 I am actually able to run the game in DirectX 10 and talk about a difference. There are places I have been that have just taken my breath away they are so beautiful.
And housing, oh do not forget housing. At lvl 15 your old enough to purchase your home. Each race has their own area of housing. You can decorate your home, and you even have your own mailbox by the front door. Homes come with chests for storage depending on the size, and the Kinship house is huge!! Also, another neat feature is costumes. I hate it when I have all mis matched armor...yuck!! But in LOTRO, you can actually have 3 separate types of clothing. You first need your armor, but then there are 2 other spots for dresses, etc... and you can also dye things!! So while your still wearing yoru armor, what folks see is the costume you have on!!
There is a very small group of us playing LOTRO. We have a few folks with higher levels, and for us playing there is no rush to be the highest level..so we have no issues, with dropping what we are doing, and running off to help others. We use Vent alot, and all anyone needs to do is say they need help with something, or say something in chat, and if we are on, we are surely going to help them. We have tried to work it so that when folks have group quests, we can try and do them all on a certain day and get as many folks involved that need them to come along. Groups in LOTRO are 6 and 12, and I do think there may be a couple of things that require 24, but what those are I have no idea, since I have not reached the top level yet!!
As Mum posted you can get the complete game for 9.99 and honestly how can you go wrong if you are even the least bit curious. What an excellent way to give the game a try, and see if its for you. I know since release the game has greatly improved. Poco and I both have lifetime memberships to LOTRO, so for us playing is free now. But I have to say I have not been happier in a long time. There is no drama. There is no UBER this or that. Folks are invited to come along, no matter what their armor is, as long as they are the right level. Its like a breath of fresh air !!
So if you decide to give the game a try, make sure you look at the list of folks that can invite, post your character name so we can add you to our friends list. Also, due to the mechanics of LOTRO invites are not permitted until you have completed the intro. But as long as you have added us to your friends list, and you to ours we can chat back and forth. We can also chat with you in Vent....
Come join us!!! |
Many people will walk in and out of your life; only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.
Good friends are like stars...You don't always see them, but you know they are always there.
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Smacx
Bandit Worker
139 Posts |
Posted - 03/26/2010 : 09:19:31
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Hi all, and thanks for the responces.
So, have you all (Amy,Pach,Qat) tried AC lately?
How would you compare the two?
I never tried WoW, so going back to AC wasn't all that difficult for me visual-wise, as I don't have high expectations. The gameplay of AC is much better than is was back in 2000-2005 time frame, but you still certainly need groups for the more difficult quests and better quality items. This is somewhat of a problem for me as I don't play much during weekend days, which seems to be the primary time that quests are run.
That and I'm not l33t enough to be doing Colo runs for coins or win-flags, so I don't get a lot of the alternate currency that in now needed in the game. |
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Qatrina
Bandit Kitten
10434 Posts |
Posted - 03/26/2010 : 15:57:51
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Smacx, because of being in the west coast, I don't see folks a lot except on the weekend. But there is still lots for me to do solo to keep me busy. I have not tried AC since back in 2004ish. There are plenty of folks on early during the week though. Well, early for me but evening for most everyone else. :)
One of the things I absolutely love about crafting is that is where all the best armor is. At least for my levels and for most of the leveling process from what I hear from the higher level folks. If I want some nice armor, I just craft it. Joining a crafting guild once you are high enough craft level is really helpful too. You get 2 recipes that you can make. One is daily and one is every three days. You get craft level for making them too and rep for making them so you can get recipes from the guild which are nice items.
While crafting is a little grindy, you can usually gather what you need while you quest. And the stuff you make is usually good for your current level if you are using the same stuff that you collect while questing.
Overall, it is very relaxing and fun to play. You get to read the story thru the quests, you get to meet people like Strider, Gandalf, Elrond, etc. They interact with you, let you know what is going on in the story and send you on quests.
I have done all four areas at least once. The cool thing is while they are all different, they all are a part of the same story and if you do all of them once, you can see the connection. Like you will stop a bad guy in the elf area, he will get away but you thwart his current plans. Later on, he will show up in the human area causing mischief again. |
LOTRO costars: Qatsmeow level 39 Elf Runekeeper Tinker, Qitqat, Qatastrophy, Qitty, Purrfyct, Qatrisma, Stalkeress, Qitten
Syrdeth: If excuses were mooses, this would be Alaska.
Member of Pillow for Poco, Inc.
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Fuego
Bandit Pyromaniac
3097 Posts |
Posted - 03/26/2010 : 21:09:46
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Heya Smacx;
I was with you in AC there for a bit; left gaming completely - and returned in January to play LOTRO. I think others hit the high notes, as for comparison to AC - I like it better as it is more progressive as opposed to just grinding. Loot is good, but crafted can be better and there a ton a diversions when you just want to have fun and explore. Hope to see you in game.
Fuego
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Dumbledalph - Loremaster (51)
Gyblet - Champion
Legsolass - Hunter
Truking - Warden
Frodella - Minstrel |
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Amy
Bandit Angel
18114 Posts |
Posted - 03/27/2010 : 00:42:02
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Smacx, honestly I have not tried AC in years. But if I remember from all those years ago, I can honestly say I find that AC was more of a grind than LOTRO is. You just cannot run out of quests here, well I guess you could eventually but the good thing about it, is we all started LOTRO 2yrs after release. Granted some of us tried it when it released, but folks were still too much involved in WoW to let go of it and so we are basically 2 expansions behind the rest of the people playing now. The great thing is things are not very crowded, but it does seem that no matter where you go, you do not get that empty feeling you had in WoW when an expansion released. Poco and I have just reached Moria, the first expansion for LOTRO. And we have barely touched on it. We are both lvl 61, but with Poco being such an altolic, well....it might be another few months before we hit level cap of 65. But thats ok because with all of us there is no rush to reach the top!!
As far as your time playing goes, if you post when you need help with something, I am sure we can get a group to help you out. We have not done alot of the instances yet, as we are so scattered in levels, and those are things for us to look forward too!!
We will keep the home fires buring for you if you find your way to LOTRO... : ))
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Many people will walk in and out of your life; only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.
Good friends are like stars...You don't always see them, but you know they are always there.
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Pach
Bandit Dwagon
17210 Posts |
Posted - 03/27/2010 : 07:39:51
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I haven't played AC in years, but I remember a lot of time spent doing nothing but slaughter mobs in certain areas for xps, because it was the fastest way to level.
That simply doesn't exist in LOTRO. The amout of xps you get per kill is sooooooooo much less than doing quests, that you just won't level if you TRY to grind.
And yes, we are a small enough group that if you post saying "hey, can folks help me knock out some group quests on Saturday/Sunday" (or whenever you are available), you will likely get assistance--especially on the weekends. :)
And housing is cool. :) I really need to get some spring decoratations... ;)
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--Pach
Pacha, 48 hobbit burglar
Pachahontas, 30-something elf huntah
... and a whole bunch of other alts with "Pach" in them...
(retired) WoW: Pach, level 80!! Night Elf Rogue (Pockaholic with dragon flying mount)
"Life is good. Flight is better." -- me |
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Qatrina
Bandit Kitten
10434 Posts |
Posted - 04/01/2010 : 15:50:04
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Something I have seen a lot in LOTRO and not very often in WOW. Higher level players logging in and offering to help anyone who needed it. Level 65 captain was in the starter hobbit town of Michel Delving offering his services. People overall are much friendlier. When a noob question is asked, it is answered in a friendly manner.
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LOTRO costars: Qatsmeow level 39 Elf Runekeeper Tinker, Qitqat, Qatastrophy, Qitty, Purrfyct, Qatrisma, Stalkeress, Qitten
Syrdeth: If excuses were mooses, this would be Alaska.
Member of Pillow for Poco, Inc.
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Teenytinytbo
Bandit Harvester
5 Posts |
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Amy
Bandit Angel
18114 Posts |
Posted - 07/23/2010 : 15:15:36
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You should get a quest in Michael Delving that sends you to the crafter trainer. Crafters are folks that make things, like: Armor, weapons, dyes, bows, etc. Those items can be crafted by the crafters within the game. They are usually a higher quality, and better dps than you will find at the local vendor.
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Many people will walk in and out of your life; only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.
Good friends are like stars...You don't always see them, but you know they are always there.
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Funny LOTRO series...
