LOTR Noob welcome

[uhgungawa]

most of the questions asked here were answered nice enough, the noob hate went to those that just threw out bad info to try and sound S-M-R-T.

[Alabore]

most of the questions asked here were answered nice enough, the noob hate went to those that just threw out bad info to try and sound S-M-R-T.

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I would be inclined to politely dissent.
Forums are a thing - in-game chat is another.

[cdbd3rd]

.... If you explore someone's home in the homesteads, make sure NOT to drink from the big barrel of mead if they have it. I was teleported to the Barrow Downs drunk and 'pants-less'. ....

ROFL!!

Cheapest transportation in town. Not sure how the limits are set on those for the F2P folks, but at least one of the possible landings is way up north where you most certainly don't want to go swimming. (Think Arctic version of Deep Lava.)

[Stormanne]

I think I was lucky when I first logged in. I had a LoTRo account a long time ago. I logged in my main character (a whopping level 13 champion) was on five minutes when a real life friend sent me a tell. I saw no complaining my first day there. It wasn't until my third day that I saw someone complaining. It was only one player and most of the others were telling him to calm down and that it wasn't going to be as bad as he thought. This was on Brandywine. I even chipped in, relaying our experience here in DDO and that at first things were going to take some adjusting but would eventually calm down as the new players either learned the nuances of the game or left for the next flavor of the month.

[uhgungawa]

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I would be inclined to politely dissent.
Forums are a thing - in-game chat is another.

Most of the general chat bashing is against people giving horrid advice. Just goto the harbor or market and watch, people are giving really bad answers to question in the guise of vets. Then the bashing starts.

I personally just open general chat when I need a good laugh. Although I will give out a pointer or two, to a question that isn't easily found by doing a little research.

The rest of the bashing is the little twerps going back and forth

[Bekki]

ROFL!!

Cheapest transportation in town. Not sure how the limits are set on those for the F2P folks, but at least one of the possible landings is way up north where you most certainly don't want to go swimming. (Think Arctic version of Deep Lava.)

*Thinks of bad encounter with (Arctic version of Deep Lava.)
*shivers...

I think I will pass on that...

Bit that cask of ale does sound fun....
I wish they could bring something like that to DDO...

I would definitely serve it in... My tavern!

[Durion]

There were some helpful folks, especially in the evening. Maybe I just found their Khyber. Most of the really rude folk were in the lower level areas, Combe for example. I actually found more helpful people when I entered Bree itself where more higher levels were hanging out.

Iirc, thats how it was here with the influx of the "froobs" also.

Most of the rudeness came from the influx of "vets" that were also brand new to the game. They were rude because they didn't know the answers.

When the F2Pers got to higher levels, they were complaining because the no longer trusted the "vets" after how they (their fellow level 1-3 F2Pers acting as "vets") had treated them on Korthos.

I imagine it was the same way there, the rudeness from the "vets" was because they didn't have a clue either and that was the best way to cover up not knowing.

[Dunfalach]

I was running about on Dwarrowdelf with an Elf over the weekend and it wasn't too bad. I did a lot of reading while it was downloading and installing, mostly about the classes and how they play. I noticed that in the starter areas, players are rather fellowship (party) shy. You'll be out there running about in an area, and with all the new people there's a bit of a wait to kill things to complete your quest. However, few people are interested in grouping even though it seems to speed the process.

I'm on Dwarrowdelf as well, as an F2P, currently with a "Man Captain". I've always wanted to play LOTRO but couldn't afford to be doing any subscriptions. So I applied for the f2p beta as soon as I heard of it. I had the same experience you did of no one being interested in grouping up, even when you encountered them in the same instance of an area. Part of this I think is because the game is more biased towards being soloable than DDO is. DDO of course can be soloed by veterans in much of its content, but LOTRO as it stands (though I've heard it was different earlier) seems designed to ensure that most of the quests can be soloed. Indeed, there are even chapter storyline quests that are limited to single-person instances, forcing you to split up a fellowship to complete them. My halfling in his early levels on the beta server found an elf to run with for a bit, but then we hit an instanced chapter quest that forced us to split up the fellowship, and sent us to different race-specific areas upon completion.

The fact that most of LOTRO is not instanced, meaning everyone's running around in one place, makes for both some frustrating things and some useful things. Frustrating is when you have to wait with a dozen other people to try to get in the first hit on the quest mob. Whoever hits first gets credit for the fight, and everyone else gets to wait for the next respawn. Unless you're grouped, then I think everyone in the fellowship gets credit. Useful is when killing the mobs is not part of the objective, and you can mostly let the mobs aggro on others in the instance and pike your way to completion. I piked my way through the spider cave outside Arket. There were 3 or 4 guys a little ahead of me when I got in, so I was able to follow them and snag the diary pages (which are set so every person can grab their own copy, like keys in chests here) with no real combat until the end. And because I was running late and needed to get offline, I then kited my way back through the caverns to the entrance with a dozen or so angry spiders following me, ran to town, and logged off. The other 3 or 4 had already completed ahead of me, or gone another route, so I didn't lead the angry mob into anyone.

The two most beautiful things about LOTRO are the immersion in the theme and the control you have over your own appearance. Besides the ability to dye armor (if you get the appropriate dyes of course), LOTRO has two "wardrobe" slots, which let you assemble a visible outfit that your char will be shown to wear (at least to you, not sure if everyone sees it), which has no actual necessary relation to your equipped gear. You only get the *effects* of your equipped gear, but you can look the way you want as long as you find a means to acquire a desired clothing item. You don't even have to *keep* the gear. You can sell it off and still retain it in your wardrobe. So if you like the look of the jaunty little hat that only gives you 2 armor, you can put it in your wardrobe and see yourself wearing it while actually equipping your ugly 48 armor helmet. Or your elven woman can wear a pretty ball gown visibly, while equipped head to toe in solid steel.

For the immersion, one of my oddly favorite experiences from the beta was sitting on Brandywine Bridge and fishing with my hobbit and an elf. There was a huge battle event going on that had brought large sections of the main map to a crawl, so people were drifting about to find non-lagged areas to park. And the Bridge happened to be one of them. So I spent a couple of pleasant hours comparing catches with my comrade and really feeling the concept that I'm sitting in locations mentioned in the books. And doing a very hobbit thing to do. What could be more hobbitish than fishing while a war goes on in the distance?

[dunklezhan]

What could be more hobbitish than fishing while a war goes on in the distance?

Depends on the type of hobbit - most of them hate water, can't swim and stay away from the river. Though if you're a Brandybuck, its not that odd at all. I'm mid-way through re-reading Fellowship now (I got a hardback set last month. It was my birthday present. My precious. Why are you looking at me like that?), and Frodo's just woken up in Rivendell. The chapter 'Concerning Hobbits' right at the start is very interesting if you like that sort of thing, tells you all about the history of the Shire and the various strands of Hobbit. Its fairly clear for instance which family line Gollum comes from.

[Ainimache]

I then kited my way back through the caverns to the entrance with a dozen or so angry spiders following me, ran to town, and logged off. The other 3 or 4 had already completed ahead of me, or gone another route, so I didn't lead the angry mob into anyone.

I started up this weekend, bought the $5 Mirkwood on Direct2Drive Friday and got it downloaded and installed by noon on Saturday. I'm on a different server... starts with an A, but can't quite remember the name right now.

Someone in that spider cave did what you did, kited a trail of spiders after he'd grabbed what he needed... unfortunately I was between the beginning of the kite and the exit he was taking, and lost my chance at the title "The Undefeated" during the next two minutes.

Other than that incident, I'm having fun, but I'm not asking many questions. Those askers did get some flames on Saturday/Sunday. But it was the general "Why don't the new people go to the new servers! We dont' want them here." I finally piped up with "Because there's no way to know which are the new servers when you start up the game! All it has are which ones are up right now!" Nobody answered me, but it didn't slow down the "We don't want you! Go somewhere else!" bile that was going on from lots of players.

And, to answer the original question: Yes, it was that bad here in the first few weeks.

PS: LOVED the idea of the wardrobe tabs. That is fantastic! Even better than the dyes (though that's really cool too). In answer to someone's question before, only Scholars can make dye. Tinkers can make jewelry and food, but not dye. It really takes a group of crafters to be successful.

And... the wiki is good, but it doesn't make a lot of sense until you've played for a little bit. Kind of like reading about DDO Stone of Change crafting doesn't make any sense until you actually have seen some of the stuff.

[Missing_Minds]

I would definitely serve it in... My tavern!

The Keg of Doom is not needed, dwarf.

[Missing_Minds]

PS: LOVED the idea of the wardrobe tabs. That is fantastic! Even better than the dyes (though that's really cool too). In answer to someone's question before, only Scholars can make dye. Tinkers can make jewelry and food, but not dye. It really takes a group of crafters to be successful.

Scholar ability is a pita to level also. UGH.

[dunklezhan]

I started up this weekend, bought the $5 Mirkwood on Direct2Drive Friday and got it downloaded and installed by noon on Saturday.

Sadly, its no longer available. Sensible of Turbine to ensure you can't get it elsewhere online for cheaper... but irritating, too. I'd bet you can still find them in retail shops, but since I'm in the EU and playing on the US servers - I will never trust codemasters after how they failed with DDO - then I can't exactly pop out and buy a copy here as I doubt very much the box code will be transferrable.

[LupusVai]

I played LotRO for something over a year and enjoyed it a ton, with a couple of reservations:

1) there were points in the levelling process where there really weren't many (if any) alternative zones in which to hunt. One of the bottlenecks was the zone on the far side of the marshes sw (I think) of the main city- think this was the low to mid teens area. Another bottleneck was 40-ish when you >cound> enter the Mines but would get your butt handed to you if you fought more than one mob at a time. I hung around the zones outside Moria until I was 45ish so that I had a decent chance at survival inside. I'm a big fan of having choices in places to level in all ranges and was a bit disappointed to find that LotRO channelled you along just about as badly as most games

So you completely skipped angmar or the misty mountains (From 40 -45ish) Then Forechel (or however the hell its spelt) Thats 3 areas for you to level in at level 40ish. ;-)

[Dunfalach]

Depends on the type of hobbit - most of them hate water, can't swim and stay away from the river. Though if you're a Brandybuck, its not that odd at all. I'm mid-way through re-reading Fellowship now (I got a hardback set last month. It was my birthday present. My precious. Why are you looking at me like that?), and Frodo's just woken up in Rivendell. The chapter 'Concerning Hobbits' right at the start is very interesting if you like that sort of thing, tells you all about the history of the Shire and the various strands of Hobbit. Its fairly clear for instance which family line Gollum comes from.

+1 for valid lore point

[Alabore]

Most of the general chat bashing is against people giving horrid advice. Just go to the harbor or market and watch, people are giving really bad answers to question in the guise of vets. Then the bashing starts.

Eh... we all have been new at some time, and yet tried to be helpful.
Some scathing replies I've witnessed weren't really warranted.



That said, I've seen equally blood curling advice.
Right now I usually switch to combat log, or create a new chat tab and turn general and advice off.
It helped brighten my mood a bit.

[Skirmish]

Been jumping back and forth a bit between LotR and DDO since first post depending on which group of friends is online. Definitely had a better experience since the weekend. Will see how this weekend goes and if it was just the young crowd that gave an old man a hard time last weekend.

Have found a lot more people are helpful with questions based on how you ask them.
As recomended, I submitted a ticket to Turbine stating I wanted a key for my LotR so I could have one account. As stated, it gives you Premium access instead of just F2P.

Now, if only DDO would adopt a more standard crafting system like LotR has. We could have some serious fun with Artificers!
(and, of course, completely destroy game balance in a week... sigh.)

[LordMond63]

So you completely skipped angmar or the misty mountains (From 40 -45ish) Then Forechel (or however the hell its spelt) Thats 3 areas for you to level in at level 40ish. ;-)

Both of those areas lost a ton of traffic once Moria was released. It was a shame because both had a mob density that allowed you to pull at whatever rate you wished.

Forochel was dead, dead, dead. But then it wasn't exactly overrun with folks even before Moria.

I admit that I basically "followed the herd", especially with my first couple of characters in that level range. It was kinda nice to have other players in the general neighborhood to help out when something went wrong. That's one of the reasons I prefer a non-instanced game to an instanced one (as well as the social aspect).

[phalaeo]

I haven't spent any play-time over there, but I can tell you two things:

1. The people on the LOTRO forums were really super helpful when I popped in to ask a few questions.

2. Yes, you guys were pretty rude right after FtP. I was one of the people who joined within a few days of FtP going live and it was downright hostile. I'm glad that I stuck with it and I love this game and the community, but those first few months were definitely a trial by fire (pun intended).

[Alabore]

As recomended, I submitted a ticket to Turbine stating I wanted a key for my LotR so I could have one account. As stated, it gives you Premium access instead of just F2P.

Thanks for the extra feedback.
I'll be following your posts with keen interest; I am curious about LOTRO - and I'd like to test the crafting and customising features it offers.



Glad to hear the locals relented a bit.
Keep us abreast.