1761

Always wanted to try this game, now that I have a beefier Mac with Win7 on Bootcamp, I can.

I rolled a champion last night, and played a little. I think I am level 9 now. Fun, but very… MMO’ish. How much Tolkien shines through and how much is generic MMO?

Also, does the game reward casual play? I quit WOW a few years ago as I couldn’t make the time commitment to stay current with guild and participate in raids, and I had to give up EVE more or less because that game only really rewards serious commitment (and I loved, loved, loved EVE, just can’t play it to the level where I could really get a lot from the game).

1762

To your last point, I have one character at 45, one at 35, and a bunch in the twenties. I have never been in a group larger than two people, and that’s when I play with a friend or my wife. I’ve never seen the inside of an actual dungeon. LOTRO is a perfect MMO to play whenever you feel like it.

1763

Tolkien shines through. You have to read the quest text, but even “go kill X of Y” quests tend to have some tie to the lore. There are also extensive storyline (epic) quests, and these put you right into the events of the books.

As for casual play, this is perhaps the best casual MMO out there. There are three reasons for this:

  1. The world is huge, and it rewards exploration (even when you’ve outlevelled an area)

  2. Most quests are soloable

  3. The skirmish system provides a way for solo players to grind out high level gear, including some drops that normally take a raid

Note, I have never seen the endgame. I’ve been fiddling around off-and-on for a year, and my highest level character is level 51. So things may change :) But there is a ton of content prior to that endgame.

1764

Also, the best place to start if you’re looking for a true Tolkien experience is the Shire.
Even if you don’t play as a hobbit, spent 1 silver and travel to Michel Delving to do some questing.
The area is beautifully made, and the quests are a lot of fun and very fitting for a Hobbit zone.

1765

I agree with Oghier and Mirriam. The Tolkien does shine through. As far as starter areas go as Mirriam says the Shire is particularly good. I really liked Buckland and the Old Forest too also the Barrow Downs.

1766

Thanks for the suggestions everyone - I am going to finish a few quests in Bree-land then head for the Shire.

1767

So they are handing out beta keys already?

1768

This. But when you get the MD, head to the northwest and talk to the NPC up there (it is up the road a short ways) and get the prelude epic quest from him, instead of the Human or Dwarf one.
BUT if you want to level fast, it is all about Breeland.

1769

Ok, I love this game.

My main is a level 30 race of Man (Gondorian!) champion, and an armsman. However, it seems crafting requires you to rely on other players, so I rolled an Elf hunter (level 16) for the wood collecting to support my main’s woodworking, then I got so into the intro stories and quests and settings, that I rolled a hobbit burglar and a dwarf guardian. All their crafts will support each other. Loving the scenery and writing - very faithful to the setting.

So, is there a Monday night group? I’m on Nimrodel. Am I high enough to participate? I have trouble finding groups because the server pop seems to be low. I missed GB as a result on my main, and luckily found a group to kill the undead boss in the red swamp in the Lone Lands, but unfortunately the next such boss doesn’t seem solo-able either. Argh.

I did like the choice to run a solo instance of GB to move the plot along.

1770

Aw, crap, I’ve forgotten two Mondays in a row now. Sorry guys.

1771

There is a Monday night group, but we are in our 60s. Russmon and I have 27 captains and I was asking him tonight if he wanted to try playing them occasionally. Post your 30 character’s name and I will put you on friends.

Kal

1772

Adanpedhrin

1773

Do not take Ananpedhrin with other NSAID medications. Some users of Adanpedhrin may experience dizziness, vertigo, death, death-like symptoms, incontinence, or rash. If Great Barrows takes you longer than 4 hours, discontinue use of Adanpedhrin.

1774

I laughed.

1775

LOL that was great - for that name I actually geeked out more than usual and went to some Tolkien Sindarin names site, so I could get into the Middle Earth groove.

1776

All my characters’ mounts have silly elvish names. Usually bad translations of classic rock albums.

1777

Sorry Russ and Sidd, but I encountered a problem with my subscription renewal and it looks like it will take a while to solve. I entered a 60 day card and got a green information message indicating it was successful, and I got an e-mail confirmation that my subscription had been renewed. However, I can’t log on and the client gives me an expired account message. After a forum search it turns out that cards have a begninng character set such as GTC29… and that entering the GTC will cause the the game logon to fail. Very bizarre since there is no such warning on the card or Turbine MyAccount page.

I was really looking forward to tonight!

Kal

1778

Wait what? Game time cards are broken? I have a time card that I got months ago that I was gonna wait until F2P comes out to go VIP for a couple of months. They aren’t disabling old, unused time cards are they?

1779

I think he meant that it was a bug with some time cards.

1780

No, they are not broken per se. My alphanumeric game card code began with GTC and I found out after the fact that entering GTC will cause the account reactivation to fail. Reentering the number without GTC told me the number had already been used. If you have that prefix, simply skip it and enter the remaining letters and numbers and your account should activate without problem. There are some other bizarre problems with game cards, though:

From Victorie
Turbine Customer Support

Hey guys,

We are aware of a few issues with the billing system since the updates during the past few weeks. We’re working to resolve all of these issues. There are a few of them that can actually be resolved via the forums. Please note that this is an exception, generally account specific issues cannot be fixed via the forums.

GTCs
In most cases, GTCs can be successfully added to an active subscription without issue.

There are GTCs that give an error which notes that the Game Card is not valid. If this is the case, please contact the Account Management department and they will be happy to assist you. If you call, be sure to have the GTC ready, and if you submit a web form, be sure to include the code.
Please note if the card starts with GTC that you should ignore those 3 characters.
If the code has any “O” or “0” ( O as in Orange or Zero) please enter them as a “Q” instead (like Queen).
GTCs can not be used in the Product Key field.

If you apply a GTC to an inactive account, and it does not add any time to the account, please post here (if you are able to do so). Please be sure to post with the forum login associated with the account that wasn’t properly updated. Please do NOT post your username for your security.

If you can’t post, please contact the Account Management department. You can call or submit a web form. Information for both is in my signature.