Regarding mounted combat, I enjoyed it sometimes. There is an option somewhere that makes your horse control itself during fights, chasing down enemies etc. I had a lot more fun with that turned on & in groups.
Marks were added to almost every zone deed as an extra reward. They retroactively gave us a bunch of them and turned some old festival tokens into marks as well. There are new meta deeds for completing all the other deeds in a zone/etc. Those award Sturdy Steel Keys (I remember those from Asheron’s Call) which you’d probably want to save until you get to the highest levels someday. They open stupid IAP gambling chests, and their rewards are level scaled.
I’m still lost with all the other stuff though, haha. Thankfully they didn’t change Warden gambits!
biosc1
2762
I actually popped in a few times when I knew I didn’t have time to play for an extended period of time. Even just 15 minutes here and there to clean up / figure out the stuff. Then, I was fully sorted out by the time I had a good chunk of time to game.
That’s really the best tip I had. Don’t try and learn it all in one day, especially after such an absence. I wrapped my head around combat again by fighting low level guys. Then I tried a simple quest. Then I adjusted my (I forget the name) skill tree thing. Then I sorted through the crafting changes which reminded me about my scrolls and potions that I could make and use…then my food. Kind of had to reacquaint myself with my hotkey bar along the way.
Good advice. Thanks guys! I will probably read up a little from places like TenTonHammer and Massively, then do exactly as you all describe, taking on one thing at a time until I’m comfortable again. It was comical when I did login over the weekend. I had logged out many months ago in Misty Mountains on the way to some quest or another (I think it was for a book quest). When I logged in I saw all these messages pop up about deeds and being awarded marks and all sorts of stuff, then some things about quests and whatnot, and all the while a warg was attacking me from behind and I didn’t even realize it until all the spam had finally settled down. I damn near died trying to figure out how to fight again after being at half health to start with thanks to the spam covering up the combat indicators. Luckily I survived on the few skills still in my hotbar, and rode off to a safer location for some serious self-examination.
More sales coming up
50% off all quest packs (not counting expansions & Gondor) starting tomorrow
50% off XP disable thing this weekend
75% off Warden class this weekend
instant0
2765
I really need to get back in this game.
I just wish they made the engine run better…
Maybe the ‘shader cache’ option that the latest Nvidia drivers will help… running it from a 7000MB/s ramdrive made no noticeable improvement to mounted combat at least, still get the shitty asset-loading lag or whatever the hell it is.
biosc1
2766
There was some pretty bad lag on the Firefoot server last night.
I ended up grabbing all the expansions during the sale last week. Figured I had a crapton points…
I’ve also cleaned up my quest list and now that I’m focusing on more level appropriate quests, I’m actually leveling up again. I keep getting stuck in these “I don’t want to miss out on anything” ruts. Then I remember I have a couple of lower level alts :)
DTG
2767
After about 2 years of steady LOTRO playing I just up and left about 2 months ago. I’m sure I’ll return one day, but like any game you play for too long, I’m just done for now.
The proverbial straw for me was the epic quest that requires one to figure out Big Battles in Helm’s Deep. I’m a 90% solo player. I was in a groove of doing soloable quests (epic and side), with an occasional hand from (or for) others, and then Turbine tossed a new mechanic at me that’s meant mainly for groupers and people who like repeating the same stuff over and over (BBs apparently have rewards for those who keep grinding it). I wanted to stay on the main story line, but didn’t want to have to master something that new. But like I said, I think I had stuck around too long anyhow. Things change.
biosc1
2768
One nice thing I’ve encountered is that you can solo fellowship quests easier now that they offer you ‘inspiration’ that pretty much multiplies your power/morale x5.
Rock8man
2769
Just popping in with a question. I played this extensively with my fellow Qt3ers back in the day when we all started off in the Shire together and Tom led us through that area. Anyone remember that? Good times. I made it to Rivendell with you guys, before the group kind of dissolved, I think. I’m guessing my character is still sitting in Rivendell in an archive somewhere.
So my question was: have they announced anything about the future of the game? Will they take us all the way to Mordor? If the game wasn’t such a huge time sink I would have loved to see more of the middle earth they crafted. It really was a beautifully crafted world.
instant0
2770
Since it is free to play now you should definitively get on your way through Moria, Isengard and towards Rohan.
Rohan has some of the best video game music there is, and with some graphics tweaks it looks really really nice while riding around (provided it doesn’t start lagging while on horseback).
I remember those days, some of the most fun I’ve ever had in an MMORPG. Right up there with the best EQ memories.
I was in the same boat as you Rock8man. I logged in many months ago for the first time since those days of QT3 fun and found myself level 38ish and outside Rivendell. I went back to Evendim, finished off a bunch of solo quests there and finished out my Wardens of Annumis faction, then flipped back over to Trollshaws to do more questing. Then I stopped again. When I logged in last week to check on my characters after purchasing Rohan in the sale, I was level 43 and just outside Rivendell again, this time in Misty Mountains (which I do not own). When I logged in I was overwhelmed with the flurry of information thrown at me (deeds, marks, inventory stuff, messages, etc) related to all the changes since my last login. I’m still processing it all slowly.
If you login and I am on (Slainte Level 43 Champion) shoot me a tell and we’ll fellow up for some returning player bumbling around Trollshaws or whatever! =)
instant0
2772
If you’re overwhelmed it might be a good idea to level a new character for a while, just to get a feel for everything, before taking the plunge on your “main” character. :)
It’s cool, I’m slowly sorting it out. I started with a total respec on traits since it erased everything I’d previously done (there seems to have been a major change to the trait system at some point in the recent past). I found a couple of online resources that helped me there, and ended up going almost all Yellow (AoE Damage). That was followed by sorting out my hotkeys again, putting combat skills with other combat skills and sorting them so the progression made sense in terms of fervor and whatnot.
A trip to town to sort out my inventory was a bit more involved. My inventory was full, so a few turn-ins and vendor visits later I had a little free space, which was immediately swallowed up by the boxes and gifts I’d accumulated while gone. It was fun opening up my 6 year anniversary box and getting sweet horse barding. I also had a pretty new horse waiting for me courtesy of the Rohan expansion purchase. A few other hobbit presents and some expansion bonus rewards rounded out the free loot haul. I think I still have at least a couple of things left to open all the way.
I’m at the point now where I’m sorting out quests and deeds. I’m probably going to go knock out some of my remaining deeds in low-level areas so that I can practice combat on stuff that doesn’t have a prayer of killing me while still getting some benefit. I’ve also got a crapton of marks now, so I need to swing by the skirmish camp and check out what thousands of marks will buy me these days. If Middle Earth inflation has run rampant, I can probably buy some stale lembas bread.
Ditto here. I actually logged in this weekend for the first time in 2 months, primarily just to patch it up to date. Once patched I logged in to find that all of the trait trees I had so carefully optimized for my Champion had been reset due to changes. Which would be fine if I was playing regularly and keeping up on all this but trying to remember which skills I used/valued the most, how my hotbars were setup, etc, was more effort than I felt like expending on a casual jaunt back to the game so I logged out :(
It occurs to me that, in terms of goals, my Hunter just had to finish up Farochel reputation to get the world renowned deed so maybe I’ll hop on and try that. I’ve also got a new video card coming tomorrow so maybe I’ll see how everything looks on higher graphic settings and see if Rohan is still a laggy mess. Mounted combat wasn’t really exciting me though and it’s been nice reclaiming my evenings so I’m on the fence about returning.
Side note, I wondered if they would try to lure me back in with a sweet Hobbit present when I logged in for the first time in months and was debating which character I should log into – My Hunter or my Champ. Sadly I chose wrong, picking my Champ whose gear is almost entirely maxed out for his level. I did in fact get a piece of gold treasure hunter’s armor but it was spec’d lower than my equipped armor.
Update 15 drops today. Patch notes here.
New class with a new starting area! Beornings?! What the hell is that?
New areas in Gondor, more epic quests, more of that Epic Battle stuff that I’ve never played so I can’t really comment.
Beorn… isn’t that the were-bear guy from the second Hobbit movie?
biosc1
2777
Yah, I heard it was 2000 TP to unlock the Beorning class, but not sure if it’s free for VIP. I just haven’t fired it up yet / investigated. I’m so far behind leveling up my other guys that by the time I get around to the Beorning class, it’ll likely be free / on sale :p
It’s 1000TP, and no it’s not free for VIPs.
I think I can wait for the inevitable sale (not to mention patching) that’s sure to be coming.
biosc1
2779
I actually just burned through a few thousand points last weekend grabbing the mount speed upgrade (ya, 78% speed), some milestones, etc…amazing how fast I went from like 20,000TP to about 3-4kTP. (Granted, I grabbed expansions as well when they were on sale).
I’m not going to argue with some of the imagery:
Sounds like the starting area for this class is Central Gondor?
Out of curiosity, as someone who didn’t love all the horse stuff that got added, does the questing tend to phase that out at all from level 85 up or is that always a big component to the quests? I jumped in for a bit the other day after a hiatus and I felt like I barely recognized half of my level 84 warden.
