LOTRO still worth getting into?

makken

Golden Member
Aug 28, 2004
1,476
0
71
Been having an itch to play an MMORPG for the last few days...

Now, I've played WoW for a couple years, but I've lost interest in that game since the lich king story was concluded. I came back briefly to see the changes in cata, but had no interest in the storyline anymore; plus I really don't like the recycled end-game content.

To satisfy this itch, I'm looking for something similar to WoW in terms of gameplay mechanics and casual-friendlyness; and from what I've heard of LOTRO, it seems to fit that bill. However, my info is over a year old, pre-F2P. So, is the game/community still active? Is the game worth getting into if I have no intention of spending money on it?
 

gothamhunter

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2010
4,466
6
81
To sum up an answer:
Yes

To clarify a little bit as I have little time to:

There are still constant updates, and soon a new expansion

Everything available to premium users are available to free users except just a few things. Check the LOTRO website for the comparison chart.

To further clarify the last statement - the in-game store currency is fully attainable within the game, as long as you devote the time to gather it.

I still play LOTRO regularly, and I love it.
 

makken

Golden Member
Aug 28, 2004
1,476
0
71
Thanks, downloading the client now.

Been skimming over the main website trying to wrap my head around the game mechanics and classes. The game mechanics actually seem pretty unique, and the classes don't seem to really fall into the standard warrior/priest/mage archetypes based on what I've read.

I generally enjoy playing hybrid classes; I'm looking for something that'll play like an enh shaman or ret paladin from WoW. It seems the captain is the one that sounds most similar; any other classes I should consider?
 

bactiman

Member
Apr 26, 2004
173
0
0
For your 1st class try a hunter (ranged dps), very easy to play. You can pretty much solo to max level. For crafting choose explorer, and sell everything in the auction house.
 

datalink7

Lifer
Jan 23, 2001
16,765
6
81
I just got back into it after a long long break (I stopped right after they raised the cap to 65, had a level 62). It is still fun. I like now how they made it so you get a huge buff on the storyline quests if you do it by yourself, so you can do them if you can't find a fellowship. I'm going back and doing some of the old storyline quests now that I wasn't able to do before because I could never get a group together (some of them are out of the way and people would rather go for good gear I guess).
 

JoshGuru7

Golden Member
Aug 18, 2001
1,020
0
0
I logged back in tonight for a while because Rift was down, and it reminded how much fun the LOTRO Warden class is to play. It's definitely not for everybody, but it rivals the DDO Sorcerer as my favorite class from any MMO.
 

M0RPH

Diamond Member
Dec 7, 2003
3,305
1
0
How does LOTRO compare to Rift? Besides the obvious difference that it's free to play.
 

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
348
126
I've been thinking of trying LOTRO. Warden, eh? Who would like or not like it? I played a mage over a Sorcerer in DDO, something I liked better about the spell setup.

I bought both LOTRO and Mines of Moria, but never installed them, so not sure what advantages they give today.
 

clok1966

Golden Member
Jul 6, 2004
1,395
13
76
OP wow clone...

Ruins of Magic-F2p, and very close to wow in style, fairly good game
Allods- Another F2P- this one is almost a clone of WoW in many ways, love the game, but hate the slow down in leveling past about 10.. really pushs you hard to buy exp pots. One of the best looking f2p games IMHO.
Forsaken World- yet anotehr CLONE.. very close to wow, and a pretty good game to boot.


LoTR- was good game, still is, good player base but unfortanlty some poor quest lines (just some) the fetch quests in the shire are almost painful, thankfully the later game is vry impressive.

Vindictus- a very nice looking ACTION RPG.. try it I think you will enjoy.

personally I would look at Allods or Forsaken World if you want a WoW wanna be.


and they are all not wow clones (yes, even if I said it too) they are EQ clones.. it was the first true 3D MMORPG. they all copied it. WoW is just the largest (over 75% of its player base is located in GOLD farming areas (asia).. so while it HUGE ( no doubt about it) that 11 million number is kinda misleading.. 2-4 million are players, the rest farm gold to sell to those players who "never buy gold".
 

Kev

Lifer
Dec 17, 2001
16,367
4
81
Make sure you delete the installer after it has finished installing.

I installed it a few weeks ago, and afterward it ran a torrent in the background of my pc that used a steady 280kb/s for 4 days straight and almost put me over my data cap. I only realized because after being away the whole weekend I noticed my internet connection had gone to shit.

I was so disgusted that I immediately uninstalled the game.
 

datalink7

Lifer
Jan 23, 2001
16,765
6
81
Make sure you delete the installer after it has finished installing.

I installed it a few weeks ago, and afterward it ran a torrent in the background of my pc that used a steady 280kb/s for 4 days straight and almost put me over my data cap. I only realized because after being away the whole weekend I noticed my internet connection had gone to shit.

I was so disgusted that I immediately uninstalled the game.

That's weird. Didn't happen to me.
 

gothamhunter

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2010
4,466
6
81
Make sure you delete the installer after it has finished installing.

I installed it a few weeks ago, and afterward it ran a torrent in the background of my pc that used a steady 280kb/s for 4 days straight and almost put me over my data cap. I only realized because after being away the whole weekend I noticed my internet connection had gone to shit.

I was so disgusted that I immediately uninstalled the game.

Um...no lol.
 

JoshGuru7

Golden Member
Aug 18, 2001
1,020
0
0
The LOTRO Warden reminds me a lot of Magicka. It forgos the typical 30 different skills in favor of three gambits - spear, shield and fist. These can be put together in many different combinations to do damage, threat, mitigations and healing on a variety of targets. When you reach a higher level, you pick up six additional gambit combinations that do two gambits at once with zero cooldown.

This makes it a very complicated class but one of the best solo classes once you get the rotations down, as you are essentially a tank with great damage and moderate healing ability.

Here is an example rotation. I have the gambit execute bound to Q, spear/shield/fist bound to 1-3, and the masteries bound to alt1-alt3 and ctrl1-ctrl3. The alt and shift commands do not use global cooldowns, and there are no cooldowns on using gambits (but each mastery has a short cooldown).

Single target kill rotation:
+10% damage: 1-alt3-alt1-Q.
20% attack speedup: 1-3-ctrl2-Q. (alternate with 1-ctrl2-Q.)
Strong DoT: 1-alt2-ctr1-Q.
Moderate DoT: 1-2-ctrl3-Q.
Weak DoT: 1-2-3-Q.
Repeat

This does a ton of damage (over time) and you can usually get away without needing to heal yourself even against an elite. However if you do need heals, then you just work in:
Small HoT: 2-1-Q.
Large HoT: ctrl2-2-ctrl1-Q.

Also if needed, you can work in mitigations with: 3-1-ctrl2-Q in place of the alternate attack above.
 
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gothamhunter

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2010
4,466
6
81
The LOTRO Warden reminds me a lot of Magicka. It forgos the typical 30 different skills in favor of three gambits - spear, shield and fist. These can be put together in many different combinations to do damage, threat, mitigations and healing on a variety of targets. When you reach a higher level, you pick up six additional gambit combinations that do two gambits at once with zero cooldown.

This makes it a very complicated class but one of the best solo classes once you get the rotations down, as you are essentially a tank with great damage and moderate healing ability.

Here is an example rotation. I have the gambit execute bound to Q, spear/shield/fist bound to 1-3, and the masteries bound to alt1-alt3 and ctrl1-ctrl3. The alt and shift commands do not use global cooldowns, and there are no cooldowns on using gambits (but each mastery has a short cooldown).

Single target kill rotation:
+10% damage: 1-alt3-alt1-Q.
20% attack speedup: 1-3-ctrl2-Q. (alternate with 1-ctrl2-Q.)
Strong DoT: 1-alt2-ctr1-Q.
Moderate DoT: 1-2-ctrl3-Q.
Weak DoT: 1-2-3-Q.
Repeat

This does a ton of damage (over time) and you can usually get away without needing to heal yourself even against an elite. However if you do need heals, then you just work in:
Small HoT: 2-1-Q.
Large HoT: ctrl2-2-ctrl1-Q.

Also if needed, you can work in mitigations with: 3-1-ctrl2-Q in place of the alternate attack above.

Oh man. I use that DOT rotation too. I love the warden.
 

Xed

Golden Member
Nov 15, 2003
1,453
0
71
Make sure you delete the installer after it has finished installing.

I installed it a few weeks ago, and afterward it ran a torrent in the background of my pc that used a steady 280kb/s for 4 days straight and almost put me over my data cap. I only realized because after being away the whole weekend I noticed my internet connection had gone to shit.

I was so disgusted that I immediately uninstalled the game.

It's Pando media booster they use for the downloaded installer. Same thing with League of Legends. Just uninstall it after the game is done.
 

bactiman

Member
Apr 26, 2004
173
0
0
The LOTRO Warden reminds me a lot of Magicka. It forgos the typical 30 different skills in favor of three gambits - spear, shield and fist. These can be put together in many different combinations to do damage, threat, mitigations and healing on a variety of targets. When you reach a higher level, you pick up six additional gambit combinations that do two gambits at once with zero cooldown.

This makes it a very complicated class but one of the best solo classes once you get the rotations down, as you are essentially a tank with great damage and moderate healing ability.

Here is an example rotation. I have the gambit execute bound to Q, spear/shield/fist bound to 1-3, and the masteries bound to alt1-alt3 and ctrl1-ctrl3. The alt and shift commands do not use global cooldowns, and there are no cooldowns on using gambits (but each mastery has a short cooldown).

Single target kill rotation:
+10% damage: 1-alt3-alt1-Q.
20% attack speedup: 1-3-ctrl2-Q. (alternate with 1-ctrl2-Q.)
Strong DoT: 1-alt2-ctr1-Q.
Moderate DoT: 1-2-ctrl3-Q.
Weak DoT: 1-2-3-Q.
Repeat

This does a ton of damage (over time) and you can usually get away without needing to heal yourself even against an elite. However if you do need heals, then you just work in:
Small HoT: 2-1-Q.
Large HoT: ctrl2-2-ctrl1-Q.

Also if needed, you can work in mitigations with: 3-1-ctrl2-Q in place of the alternate attack above.

FYI, ROI update ( according to the dev notes) that is coming at the end of September will revamp the warden bleed dps. The higher dot will replace the weaker dot while giving you an additional burst damage.
 

bactiman

Member
Apr 26, 2004
173
0
0
Warden is cool. I, however, play the true tank (Guardian). :p

Can you tank while healing your teammates. :cool:

I have played most of the other classes, but warden is my main. They are really the jack of all trades class, they really shine in a 3 man fellowships.

If you are starting out with wardens, there are plugins that will help you out with gambits.
 
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bactiman

Member
Apr 26, 2004
173
0
0
Warden's have the tendancy to out-tank Guardians and are the only ones that can fully claim to be the best at soloing, all because of their amazing ability to self-heal.

For example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC8BXAHJsO4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZUlg8h9gI4

Well, one of the advantages of playing a guardian is that they are easier to play (tank). In general, you tend to see more guardians that are better tanks than wardens.

If I was pugging I would be more inclined to take a guardian over a warden if I didn't know their skill level.

For the record, you can solo to max level with all the classes, but wardens tends to take it up a notch.
 
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terry107

Senior member
Dec 8, 2005
891
0
0
This thread makes me want to fire LOTRO back up. I played for a little while until life pulled me away, but the Warden sounds interesting. Is Mines of Moria required to play one?
 

chihlidog

Senior member
Apr 12, 2011
884
1
81
LOTRO is a pretty game, but honestly, expect to have to rush through a lot of content. There is plenty of stuff that was designed for the high-level players originally, but since the cap was raised doesnt get touched anymore, so you have to rush to max level just to play the same couple things everyone else is doing. And the PvP is, honestly, terrible.

HOWEVER, for free, its worth downloading. No reason not to try it. It looks good, the community is for the most part very friendly and mature, and there are some cool bits in it. If you're a LOTR fan then its definitely worth it just to see the environment, they did a good job if re-creating the books IMO. An amazing job, actually.

I played it for about 8 months, for whatever that's worth, before it went free.
 
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