The three day weekend wound up being devoted pretty heavily to LOTRO. My Champion is up to level 28 now, and went through the Great Barrows three times (I think?) this weekend. Enough that I’m not anxious to go through there again, in any event!!
For all the hours I played, I didn’t advance much. Did some deed grinding (the trees in the Old Forest, Wargs and Crows in the Lone Lands) and helped guildies and others with some quest lines. It felt like every time I needed a fellowship for a quest, everyone was about 3 steps behind, so I’d have to catch ’em all up. I don’t normally mind this, but I was on my main and some of the people I was catching up were on their third alts. It’s hard to catch my main up to their main when I’m spinning my wheels killing grays and helping their #3 alts to level.
Finally read a post at Kill Ten Rats about leveling fast. Tried it a bit yesterday and it sure works. I might just skip the Fellowship quests and concentrate on soloing for a while, except at such times that a Fellowship quest reward is going to really help me, or a group is set to go and needs a bit ‘o extra DPS.
As the weekend drew to a close I got it in my head to ride to Rivendell, so I did, on my pokey freebie Bree Horse (from being a Founder). Things got hairy after I crossed the ford where Glorfindel/Arwen (depending on whether you read the books or watched the movies) turned back the Nine. The road peters out after that and everything was purple, but I made it. Coming upon Rivendell for the first time was truly breathtaking (and the Trollshaws were nice too, I look forward to hunting there). I spent a good hour running around Rivendell geekgasming all over the place.
My only regret is that I didn’t get there earlier. I understand it used to be the you could stumble upon members of The Fellowship wandering the roads of Rivendell, but now they’re all sequestered in housing in preparation for the Mines of Moria expansion. (They instance housing so you see different things inside a building/room based on where you are in the storyline.)
Good stuff. I was getting vaguely bored before heading to Rivendell, I have to admit. I kind of feel like LOTRO keeps you in a particular zone for much too long, if you’re anal like me and don’t like leaving unfinished quests behind. I need to let go of that and play in areas that I’m enjoying, rather than grinding through quests because I “should.” Visiting Rivendell refreshed my enthusiasm for the game; I need to level up so I’m ready to explore the Mines of Moria!
But WAR looms on the horizon…
Every time I read a blog post like this, I want to go back and play LotrO but I have to simply keep stopping myself. The reason? I simply get bored far too quickly.
I think it’s a combination of lack of groups that constantly puts me on a stutter, as well as, like you’ve said, being stuck in an area too long. I’ve only made a few characters in truth but every time i’ve tried to play i’ve simply loved the first 10 levels and then felt this great, weighty drag, that simply ended up in a result of me leaving the game.
I remember paying for 3 months on a cheaper rate (founder thing and all) but only played for about 15 days of it. Couldn’t stomach much more.
This is about my 3rd go at the game, and the first time I got very far past level 20. Same experience that you had… levels 1-10 were great, then things started to get really slow, and by the late teens I was bored senseless.
This time I picked up an already started character…one I’d abandoned at 16 or so, and I was able to push through to the Lone Lands, which held my interest for a while. Now I’m getting bored but I need to exercise my options, because unlike that 15-20-ish range, there’s more than one alternative on where to adventure. So now its my own stubbornness that is boring me.
Moving around and not doing all the quests is essential for fun in LOTRO. There are way more quests than you need to level, so it is better to move along and flip between level compatible zones. (Monster play is always a refreshing break for me, as well…)