Palantir
Member #86
There are still a number of views per posts here but, are any of you playing?
Seems to be my own personal forum sadly, chime in guys...
Anyway, some current game comments.
I've been playing several of my lower alts (have 10 total) pretty steady lately and going thru the "re-vamped" quests in North Downs, Evendim, Forochel, Moria and have found them to be fun but "scaled back" for a better term.
They are almost all now geared to solo or duo in play difficulty. Where there were once 6 mobs to work thru as you went requiring a Fellowship of 6 to do there are now 4 or less mobs in the encounters.
Running with the wife & her lower alt's we've been gearing ourselves up for some pretty intense fights remembering how hard our adventures were in the beginning with "Shadows of Angmar." My most common comment has been, "well, that seemed easier than I recall..." The designers have really re-made the quests to be for small fellowships across the board (not counting raids / special instances). The days of dreading to go into someplace as in SoA days (in the course of normal questing) is gone.
I have still enjoyed them as you can't just walk in unprepared & win, you still have to be smart about it but the feeling of battling masses of enemies at a time 1:4/1:6 & the sense of dying in each battle has been replaced with 1:1 /1:2 type duels. Which for most players, now, I suspect is better as I see few Large Fellowships in game anymore.
However the questing is overall much BETTER now. The Developers have clustered the quests into logical areas of adventure & don't have you going from one end of the map to another then back again (usually). Also the quest-givers have gotten "smarter" and now commonly send you to do all the missions on one trip instead of sending you back to the same spot 4 times (scout it / pick up boxes / kill guards / kill boss). It was FRUSTATING to go on one mission/quest do all the above then be sent back to basically kill everyone again 3 more times. So the Dev's get a thumbs-up for making it a bit more "realistic."
The quests are still fun to do & the "re-vamps" a nice change of pace as they do make the questing fresh in each area they've re-done so far.
Of course, the fun of adventuring across Middle Earth as different classes & races, seeing the sites and defeating Sauron's minions keeps me playing the game. I have no "gear goal" at all I just enjoy kicking Orc butt in M.E.!!
Personalizing each "alt" makes the game even better: I've had a blast playing my Dwarf from the Nimrais Mts (Gondor/Rohan range) as his mission is to find historical records of his clan, the Ironfist Clan, the Zadar’pered, “Shapers of Stone,” and he could care less about the "problems" in the north. It's been fun to "tell" the quest givers "Not my problem" and move on to quests that actually move him along his personal path & goal. He has no rep with anyone & has massive gaps in quest lines but he doesn't care (he's leveling nicely & now in Moria) he's working his way closer to home. Quiet fittingly he is the ONLY character that I am enjoying being in Moria. His goal to find records has him exploring every nook & cranny for them. (Unlike 2 of my Alts I put on hold once they hit Moria)
Well, I hope you're enjoying the game as much as I am, the new higher level area have also been fun to explore & quest in.
Comments?
Seems to be my own personal forum sadly, chime in guys...
Anyway, some current game comments.
I've been playing several of my lower alts (have 10 total) pretty steady lately and going thru the "re-vamped" quests in North Downs, Evendim, Forochel, Moria and have found them to be fun but "scaled back" for a better term.
They are almost all now geared to solo or duo in play difficulty. Where there were once 6 mobs to work thru as you went requiring a Fellowship of 6 to do there are now 4 or less mobs in the encounters.
Running with the wife & her lower alt's we've been gearing ourselves up for some pretty intense fights remembering how hard our adventures were in the beginning with "Shadows of Angmar." My most common comment has been, "well, that seemed easier than I recall..." The designers have really re-made the quests to be for small fellowships across the board (not counting raids / special instances). The days of dreading to go into someplace as in SoA days (in the course of normal questing) is gone.
I have still enjoyed them as you can't just walk in unprepared & win, you still have to be smart about it but the feeling of battling masses of enemies at a time 1:4/1:6 & the sense of dying in each battle has been replaced with 1:1 /1:2 type duels. Which for most players, now, I suspect is better as I see few Large Fellowships in game anymore.
However the questing is overall much BETTER now. The Developers have clustered the quests into logical areas of adventure & don't have you going from one end of the map to another then back again (usually). Also the quest-givers have gotten "smarter" and now commonly send you to do all the missions on one trip instead of sending you back to the same spot 4 times (scout it / pick up boxes / kill guards / kill boss). It was FRUSTATING to go on one mission/quest do all the above then be sent back to basically kill everyone again 3 more times. So the Dev's get a thumbs-up for making it a bit more "realistic."
The quests are still fun to do & the "re-vamps" a nice change of pace as they do make the questing fresh in each area they've re-done so far.
Of course, the fun of adventuring across Middle Earth as different classes & races, seeing the sites and defeating Sauron's minions keeps me playing the game. I have no "gear goal" at all I just enjoy kicking Orc butt in M.E.!!
Personalizing each "alt" makes the game even better: I've had a blast playing my Dwarf from the Nimrais Mts (Gondor/Rohan range) as his mission is to find historical records of his clan, the Ironfist Clan, the Zadar’pered, “Shapers of Stone,” and he could care less about the "problems" in the north. It's been fun to "tell" the quest givers "Not my problem" and move on to quests that actually move him along his personal path & goal. He has no rep with anyone & has massive gaps in quest lines but he doesn't care (he's leveling nicely & now in Moria) he's working his way closer to home. Quiet fittingly he is the ONLY character that I am enjoying being in Moria. His goal to find records has him exploring every nook & cranny for them. (Unlike 2 of my Alts I put on hold once they hit Moria)
Well, I hope you're enjoying the game as much as I am, the new higher level area have also been fun to explore & quest in.
Comments?