My early take on the game

[Nexus6]

Hey guys, having finally after all these months started to experience burnout on Guild Wars 2, I thought I would give LOTRO a try. My first thoughts up to about level 3 was that it was kind of nice, if nothing overly special. By the end of the intro/tutorial, however, my opinion of it had grown considerably. That was a really nice touch having a mini-dungeon at the end of the intro level, and the dreams showing images of the Witch King, to say nothing of Gandalf and the Balrog, was a great teaser. If their intent was to get me to keep playing, they did a great job.

The only trouble is, now that the tutorial level is over the game seems to have opened up and grown in complexity considerably. I suppose though that if all else fails, do the quests, right? One question about crafting though. My inventory is already getting full, but I'm afraid to sell too much yet for fear that I'll sell stuff I need for crafting. Any thoughts on this? Speaking of selling, are the crafting npc's the only ones you can sell stuff to? At any rate, I expect that just as with STO and GW2, there will be a bit of a learning curve to go through learning the game's crafting and economic system.

I'm noticing a lot of lag in their Turbine store. Probably a good thing though, saving me money.

I heard the LOTRO community was really good, but I've not been playing long enough to judge. I think that was my main complaint about GW2. That is, a really hardcore, cutthroat, and generally obnoxious community where elite titled people dominate the chat.

Speaking of GW2, the graphics in LOTRO are not as good as that game, but they're not bad either. They look to me to be about 4-5 years old.

Anyway, at this point I give LOTRO a strong B+.

 

[Redwolf]

How many bags do you have?

You should put in one month of VIP which gives all currently existing characters 5 bags.

I wouldn't bother with crafting since the game is easy enough without crafted items and the LI system starting level 45 makes many things obsolete anyway. And it costs a lot of gold, and I mean a lot, while selling raw materials on the AH bring gold.

 

[Nexus6]

How many bags do you have?

You should put in one month of VIP which gives all currently existing characters 5 bags.

I wouldn't bother with crafting since the game is easy enough without crafted items and the LI system starting level 45 makes many things obsolete anyway. And it costs a lot of gold, and I mean a lot, while selling raw materials on the AH bring gold.

Hey Red, I think I have 3-4 bags. FYI, I said the heck with it and went ahead and sold everything I could to one of the crafting npc's.

So don't bother with crafting? Ok, a pity though, because I rather like crafting in GW2 and STO. In fact in GW2 crafting also gives you experience and achievement points. Still in all though, I did find in GW2 that although crafting was kind of fun, it could get very expensive the higher up you go, and you could get along well enough without it by buying everything you need on the exchange. I would also add that it was kind of nice being able to craft things exactly to the specifications you want. Again though, LOTRO might be a lot different than GW2 in that respect.

Anyway again, I think it's just a matter of being at that hump players usually encounter in mmo's right after the tutorial, where the game at first seemed manageable, but is now big and daunting. I'm going to see if I can get over that hump today.

And yes, per your suggestion I'll buy some vip time, providing the Turbine store isn't quirky and lagy today.

 

[Redwolf]

Crafting gives you XP in LOTRO, a hated change. Leveling is too fast anyway and this was blowing crafting alts out of their possible future questing. In any case the only cure is the XP disabler, which is $7 per character (not account) and was miraculously introduced at the same time as XP from crafting.

You shouldn't bother making weapons as that's useless with LIs. Armor and clothing is better because although you get better quest rewards you can use them for cosmetics. Jewelry still better. Food and scholar things are worth it. But leveling a craft costs a lot of gold, compared to just collecting raw materials and selling those to other players.

ETA: If you buy VIP time make sure you start all your alts you think you will want during that time so that all get premium benefits.

 

[Palantir]

Crafting gives you XP in LOTRO, a hated change. Leveling is too fast anyway and this was blowing crafting alts out of their possible future questing. In any case the only cure is the XP disabler, which is $7 per character (not account) and was miraculously introduced at the same time as XP from crafting.

You shouldn't bother making weapons as that's useless with LIs. Armor and clothing is better because although you get better quest rewards you can use them for cosmetics. Jewelry still better. Food and scholar things are worth it. But leveling a craft costs a lot of gold, compared to just collecting raw materials and selling those to other players.

ETA: If you buy VIP time make sure you start all your alts you think you will want during that time so that all get premium benefits.

Crafting can be fun if you want to wear & use your own gear or be self-sufficient. And as RW mentioned it's a way to lever quicker (you get I think 110 exp per "thing" crafted or refined), it's not as much as completing quests just some added exp. Selling raw resources will also bring you a lot of gold.

I have a max out Alt crafter in all the crafts. I supply the low level crafters (lvl 45-55) with raw materials they can't get themselves (yet) gathered from my higher characters.
The game however now offers found items that are as good as or better than the items you can craft in many instances which sucks. Although making the "off-hand" weapon yourself is usually better than a found one at high levels.
One advantage of crafting your own gear is that you can outfit yourself or alts with all the "good/best" items the second they level & don't have to hope you find them or can buy the next step item when you get to that next level.

You can also put items you make but don't need on the Auction Hall for more money.