Last dumb question. I promise!

[Nebu]

So... I've played two toons to 10 and I'm left with one question: Am I missing something? 

The world is beautiful.  The story is interesting.  I just feel like my 2h play sessions are nothing more than running all over the countryside pressing my 2 attacks and a debuff. 

Do things get better?  If so, when?  I'm starting to feel like I did playing WoW shortly before I quit. 

[Soln]

Several Deeds and Levels unlock new skills.

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Skills
http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Traits
http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Deeds

[Nebu]

Several Deeds and Levels unlock new skills.

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Skills
http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Traits
http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Deeds

Thank you! 

Sometimes I'm glad that I ask stupid questions.

[Tarami]

To get a fair taste of the classes, stick it out till 20 atleast, in my opinion. The combat is sorta slow so it needs more time and skills to be appealing, but it does have some great depth to be a hotkey masher.

The game in general takes a while to get rolling, really. At 15 you do your first class quest, you get surnames, housing, cosmetic armour and start acquiring your first pieces of nice gear. Around there you can also try to get the first purple crafted set which is really good and will last you some way beyond 20.

[Ard]

Alot of classes don't really come into their own until the 20-30 range also, skill wise.  Most classes continue getting class defining abilities all the way up, sometimes including the legendary traits you can't slot until 41.  I just got my armor debuff at level 42 on my Loremaster, and that's a significant ability.

Some classes also have problems with abilities that don't feel like they do much at lower levels, because they're % scaled to be effective at max level, mostly with debuffs.  Loremasters can debuff things into the ground at higher levels, but they didn't feel like they did much before 30ish, the numbers they affected just weren't significantly large enough to notice.

Class diversity also starts coming in more as you unlock class trait slots, since those all affect different gameplay styles for each class, especially now with the class trait set bonuses.

[Soln]

Ard beat me to it.

A lot of the skills of some classes don't make sense or are really useful until you are grouped.

A lot of LotRO combat is strategic, skill-queued -- burgs start conjuncts, minstrels chain cast # of short term buffs (5 secs) to unlock a better #+1 buff that last longer, etc.

[Ard]

Also, certain class combinations have absolutely absurd skill synergies in small groups. 

I mostly duo with my girlfriend as loremaster and hunter, and between us we have so much crowd control we can keep groups of mobs pinned down indefinitely, barely able to hurt us.  No tank other than my bear that can't keep aggro off a hunter, but works for offtanking, no real healer other than my emergency heals.  We only die doing stupid stuff like full fellowship quests above our level, although we did managed to kill that stupid Master level signature Drake that wanders in the North Downs north of Estelldin in our high 30s.  That felt good, I thought we were just going to suck and die, it has like 14k health.

Also was running with another group last summer as loremaster, burglar, and champion, I think.  Again, no real tank, no real healer, but used conjunctions from the burglar to do utterly stupid things, along with tons of crowd control from both of us, while the champion burned everything in sight to the ground.  We were pulling off full fellowship quests above our level without any problems up through the mid 20s when the other two burned out.  I think the only thing we couldn't do was the Weathertop fight by ourselves, but that one is just rough even with a tank and healer.

Anyhow, point is, while there IS the holy trinity type setup still, it's not even remotely necessary for non-dungeon related stuff in this game, although my viewpoint as a primary loremaster might be a bit biased, since that class alone enables some utter stupidity.

[Miasma]

So... I've played two toons to 10 and I'm left with one question: Am I missing something? 

The world is beautiful.  The story is interesting.  I just feel like my 2h play sessions are nothing more than running all over the countryside pressing my 2 attacks and a debuff. 

Do things get better?  If so, when?  I'm starting to feel like I did playing WoW shortly before I quit. 

Running all over the countryside is rammed down your throat with a passion, it gets much worse as the zones get bigger and then the quests have you start running between zones.  I think I got to about forty or so...

And I hope you like killing boars of every shape, size and colour.

At least the scenery looks amazing as you run down the same path for the tenth time.

[Cheddar]

So... I've played two toons to 10 and I'm left with one question: Am I missing something? 

The world is beautiful.  The story is interesting.  I just feel like my 2h play sessions are nothing more than running all over the countryside pressing my 2 attacks and a debuff. 

Do things get better?  If so, when?  I'm starting to feel like I did playing WoW shortly before I quit. 

20.  Burglar is awesome when they come into their own.

[Yegolev]

I think I used the same two skills with my RK for many levels, then a third one, but that was mostly because I was soloing and because I hadn't gotten into the bit about laying the HoTs before I got into a fight.  Really I did not need them much, however later I was able to get where I made use of the healing turret and saved my own ass.  Also the first two healing runes stack, and that's pretty nice.  Lately I have been experimenting with using Static Touch(?) to paralyze enemies for a bit so my cooldowns can catch up or so I can heal a bit.  Yes, starting out as a RK (and most other classes I assume, definitely with the Guardian and Hunter) you do just zap things a lot at first because new skills open up gradually.  Now I have a few fire and ice skills that I actually don't think I know how to use properly.  I probably need a fire- and ice-attuned runestone to make proper use of them.

[Mrbloodworth]

So... I've played two toons to 10 and I'm left with one question: Am I missing something? 

The world is beautiful.  The story is interesting.  I just feel like my 2h play sessions are nothing more than running all over the countryside pressing my 2 attacks and a debuff. 

Do things get better?  If so, when?  I'm starting to feel like I did playing WoW shortly before I quit. 

Running all over the countryside is rammed down your throat with a passion, it gets much worse as the zones get bigger and then the quests have you start running between zones.  I think I got to about forty or so...

And I hope you like killing boars of every shape, size and colour.

At least the scenery looks amazing as you run down the same path for the tenth time.

Please to be seeing book 7 dev diary =)

Developer Diary: LOTRO Book 7 New Player Experience

[Yegolev]

There's still a lot of hoofing in Lord of the Runs.

[Mrbloodworth]

There's still a lot of hoofing in Lord of the Runs.

There is.

[Azuredream]

None of the quests are anything past 'bring foozle/kill ten rats' but the epic questlines are engaging and interesting and will lead you from zone to zone, the crafting isn't too bad if you pay attention to it (or at least 2/3 of your vocation) as you go, and the combat is fun once you have enough abilities that you're using 5-6 in any given fight and more when the situation calls for it. Deeds are a good side-distraction but apart from the immersion/epic quests and the end-level PvP there isn't a whole lot that is different from WoW. The Ettenmoors are very reminiscent of DAoC pre-ToA and if you enjoy that kind of PvP LotRO delivers (balance considerations for Freeps vs Creeps are always there, however, but they don't make it unplayable) very well.

If you aren't enjoying it beyond level 20-25 (when you have your mount are still a turtle), start up a Monster Character and see if you enjoy that. Other Monster Players are usually more than happy to teach people new to the Moors and if you find you enjoy it, it could give you motivation to level up your Freep.

[Mrbloodworth]

Mounts are at 35. 

[Azuredream]

Mounts are at 35. 

It's been a while.

Forgive my bad memory 

[Nebu]

I want to thank all of you for the thoughts and information.  I didn't want to abandon this game without giving it a solid try.

[Ard]

Mounts are at 35. 

Alternately, make friends or play with or as a Hunter.  Teleport everywhere and often.  They get their runspeed buff in the teens, and their teleports and evac starting in the 20s.

[Soln]

Wardens also have an always-on speed buff.  Much luv there.

[Tale]

There's still a lot of hoofing in Lord of the Runs.

More than in at-release Age of Conan?

[Nebu]

More than in at-release Age of Conan?

I can only compare to beta Aoc, but the answer is YES!  LotRO requires you wear a brown jumpsuit and drive a panel van.

[HaemishM]

Mounts are at 35. 

Didn't I see some mounts you could get with faction rewards at level 25? Something from the Men of Bree that you take to the stables out in north Bree-Land.

[Ard]

Mounts are at 35. 

Didn't I see some mounts you could get with faction rewards at level 25? Something from the Men of Bree that you take to the stables out in north Bree-Land.

I know there was some sort of founder reward of some sort at some point in the past, but I have no clue how it works.  All your characters get an item they can trade in for a low speed horse at 25.  I got it, was a founder, and played after launch, my girlfriend didn't, and wasn't a founder, and another friend of mine was a founder, but didn't activate the game after launch, and didn't have it either.

If there's a rep item similar to that, I haven't personally seen it, and I don't see it listed on the lorebook page for the faction.
http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Reputation:Men_of_Bree

edit:  found info on the horse in question:
http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Item:Bree-Horse

edit again:  I see this on the mounts list, but I can't find any info as to what it is or how you get it:
http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Item:Tame_Bay_Horse

edit some more: pictures of various mounts, still no listing of the mount in question
http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Mounts

[rturja]

I think the Bree horse was a reward from purchasing the gold edition of the game or something similar. How about the festival horses though, never grabbed myself one, but did those need riding skill and level 35? As I think we'll see Spring festival about the same time book7 hits the public.

[Ard]

I think the Bree horse was a reward from purchasing the gold edition of the game or something similar. How about the festival horses though, never grabbed myself one, but did those need riding skill and level 35? As I think we'll see Spring festival about the same time book7 hits the public.

From what I remember hearing, you need to be 35 for a festival horse, unless you were a founder, in which case it was 30.  I don't know how much truth there is to that second part.  You still need to have purchased a horse to trade in though, so it's not exactly like a free mount.

[squirrel]

Helpful thread - thanks Nebu for the dumb questions.

I just picked up LoTRO as I was bored of WoTLK and I have just upgraded my gaming box to DX10 capability so I thought I'd check it out. Enjoying it very much so far, it's astoundingly good looking. I had the same problem (Level 10 Hunter/Level 8 Warden) in that I thought the combat was a bit slow, but it wasn't a big deal for me, I kind of made a decision to take this game slow (started re-reading the books for the umpteenth time when I subbed).

Anyway I'm on Brandywine and will ping the Kinship when I can. Good game so far.

[Tarami]

If you're running DX10, remember to update your display drivers to a smoking hot release. After Moria there has been some issues (flickering) with dynamic shadows, but they work as of the latest ForceWare release. Don't know about Catalyst nor if they ever even had the artifacts.

[squirrel]

If you're running DX10, remember to update your display drivers to a smoking hot release. After Moria there has been some issues (flickering) with dynamic shadows, but they work as of the latest ForceWare release. Don't know about Catalyst nor if they ever even had the artifacts.

Heh I had that problem. v182 drivers fixed it up nice :)

[HaemishM]

Another dumb question: Is there a built-in web browser in the game, like there is in EQ2? If so, how do I get it? Alt-tabbing is easy enough, but not having to alt-tab is better when I just need to spoil a quest for myself.

[Tarami]

Short answer: No.

Long answer: In-game lorebook is coming in book 7. There is already a browser of sorts (for bug reporting) that some people have made browse other sites, but I'm not sure how they've done and Google is letting me down. Then again, once book 7 arrives with the quest guide and all, data mining sites will be sort of superflous in that regard.

[AcidCat]

running all over the countryside

I think this was the most enjoyable aspect of the game for me. Great scenery, a world that really feels like a world with a nice sense of scale and not separate zones. Quite relaxing.

Warden is a really fun class too, lots of variety in attacks even at the relatively low level of 21 that I reached.

Quests themselves were "meh" ... I know people praise the storyline in LOTRO but it just didn't interest me. I opted to not subscribe past my free month. I found it an enjoyable gameworld to explore, but just never really felt that attached to my character, the experience was relaxing but not compelling. Just didn't grab me enough for a monthly fifteen bucks.

[Ard]

Short answer: No.

Long answer: In-game lorebook is coming in book 7. There is already a browser of sorts (for bug reporting) that some people have made browse other sites, but I'm not sure how they've done and Google is letting me down. Then again, once book 7 arrives with the quest guide and all, data mining sites will be sort of superflous in that regard.

More importantly, in game quest helper is also coming in book 7, which should cut down 90% of my game related web browser needs personally.

[Nebu]

More importantly, in game quest helper is also coming in book 7, which should cut down 90% of my game related web browser needs personally.

This may be enough to keep me from quitting.  The directions on the quests are so vague as to be frustrating.  I played for three hours last night and about 2.5 of it was spent running around.  Not really my ideal. 

[Tarami]

More importantly, in game quest helper is also coming in book 7, which should cut down 90% of my game related web browser needs personally.

I just have to wonder, do you ever read the posts before you stress in to make a point?

[Ard]

I just have to wonder, do you ever read the posts before you stress in to make a point?

Sometimes I miss words, most of the time, I'm just incoherent and bored at work.