I think raiding (as in massive scale) does have a place, but there has to be alternatives, viable alternatives. I'd prefer raiding in LotRO as something fairly casual that wasn't the only mean to progess in the endgame, but rather a kind of massive scale dungeon/event to do with your whole kinship. Simply something to do a night when alot of people are online, not to plan your life around. Raids don't have to be prestigeous.
Back on topic anyhow. From what I can tell, class popularity goes something like this;
Although, should be noted that minstrels seem to have a heinous drop-off at level 25 or so, the first "wall" for them in the soloing. I don't think martyrdom in MMOs counts towards karma, so I understand them.
- I'm giving you this one for free. - Nothing's free in the waterworld.
However, Turbine is putting a great deal of effort in to retain a rough feel of Middle-earth, almost to the point where it seems to cripple game design decisions, so on the other hand we might never see the typical raid encounters in LotRO. Personally I'd like to see the real, legendary bad guys remain alive. Middle-earth is meant to be dangerous and with entities powerful enough to withstand armies, let alone a shoddy bunch of adventurers.
Turbine is smart to put this effort in. They need to find niche that differentiates their game from everyone elses, especially since we're in the catch up to Blizzard stage of MMOs.
DAoC and EVE - pvp and large scale pvp
EVE - setting
Guildwars - sport pvp
WoW - raiding and polish
etc.
I play LOTRO because of well-done world and lore, and pretty good story based quests/play. As someone said, it has the feel of a good solo rpg with the benefit of being able to play with your friends.
Regular roll outs of new zones and story based quests as they advance the timeline along to the War of the Ring is pretty much my ideal end game.
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