Heya all.
I plan to buy and install this game this week. I have been pretty happy with FFXI since NA PC release, but I am just too much of a LOTR fan not to try this, plus it looks and sounds very fun.
I played WoW too and found much of it enjoyable, except the social scene of the game (or lack there of, unless you are 11-12 years old). I am hoping LOTRO will have much of what I love of WoW and FFXI combined into one game. WoW gameplay, diversity, and FFXI community, RP, and overall story fulfillment.
Anyway, here are my questions:
1) There is no Fifth Star? Is the guild still active? Is there a website? If it is active, what is the guild about, social? RP? End Game?
2) The obligatory my PC spec questions:
P4 2.4 Ghz
2G of 333DRR PC2700 RAM
ATI 9550 256MB
A pretty old PC, I upgraded the ram to 2G just for this game, I am hoping that will be enough to be decent at least. I know I wont be able to go High settings, but I don't want to play bare bones either. A new PC is a year or so off.
3) Any former FFXI players have any advice on the game for me? What level should I start to group? etc. I will solo some, but I prefer groups as I have plenty of Wii and PS2 games I still need to beat if I want to play alone lol. I plan to try out Guardian or Minstrel first.
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Going to install this week, few questionsFollow
1. TINFS. Pretty much an autonomous collective. Hang out and pass around your extra stuff. Lots of master tradeskillers. Variety in the level ranges so you can pretty much find people to help you do things too.
2. My 3 year old Dell lags some. You might need more than 256MB.
3. You can solo as much as you want. Some of the quests with beter rewards you need a fellowship to achieve, but sometimes you can do them with 2 or 3 people. Have not tried a guardian. Minstrel is a little different, but easy to solo and definately wanted in groups. Big difference in play-styles between the two obviously, but you will find out. I mostly solo but I am getting better in group situations with the minstrel. You may find yourself solo just to figure out what is going on and the geography. I found I did not want to drag a group of people around just to explore, and at the beginning you usually only group to do specific tasks. If you have someone to pal around with, that helps.
2. My 3 year old Dell lags some. You might need more than 256MB.
3. You can solo as much as you want. Some of the quests with beter rewards you need a fellowship to achieve, but sometimes you can do them with 2 or 3 people. Have not tried a guardian. Minstrel is a little different, but easy to solo and definately wanted in groups. Big difference in play-styles between the two obviously, but you will find out. I mostly solo but I am getting better in group situations with the minstrel. You may find yourself solo just to figure out what is going on and the geography. I found I did not want to drag a group of people around just to explore, and at the beginning you usually only group to do specific tasks. If you have someone to pal around with, that helps.
You pretty much hit the nail on the head there. That's why I love LotR so much. It's a story I already know and love, but don't have to deal with a community of kids and e-peen waving. (At least not yet)
Solo/partying, you'll pretty much know when to do each. Most of the content in the 1-20 area is mostly solo with an occasional fellowship quest here and there. 20-30, it starts to even out. 30+, it turns mostly fellowship, but with the content update on Wednesday, here's hoping that changes. Lol.
As far as being able to get groups, it depends. If you're a Min, it'll prolly be a little easier than a Hunter, but that's natural in any MMO. Personally, I've been stuck on the same quests for a couple weeks now, unable to really advance any further cause I can't find a group to do some of these. (DD & GA can burn in hell. And Fornost too for that matter) But your mileage might vary depending on server conditions.
Afaik, TiNFS is active, but then I'm not on that server, so I don't know. (Tho I wouldn't mind making a char on that server and starting over)
Happy hunting. ^^
Solo/partying, you'll pretty much know when to do each. Most of the content in the 1-20 area is mostly solo with an occasional fellowship quest here and there. 20-30, it starts to even out. 30+, it turns mostly fellowship, but with the content update on Wednesday, here's hoping that changes. Lol.
As far as being able to get groups, it depends. If you're a Min, it'll prolly be a little easier than a Hunter, but that's natural in any MMO. Personally, I've been stuck on the same quests for a couple weeks now, unable to really advance any further cause I can't find a group to do some of these. (DD & GA can burn in hell. And Fornost too for that matter) But your mileage might vary depending on server conditions.
Afaik, TiNFS is active, but then I'm not on that server, so I don't know. (Tho I wouldn't mind making a char on that server and starting over)
Happy hunting. ^^
Oddly, you will start grouping at about level 10 ;) You can solo (I hear) up till level cap, but if you want story, you will find yourself grouping pretty early. And when you can't group, there is always stuff to do, killing a few more wolves for a deed, or following random solo quest lines around the world.
This is very story driven (or can be, I guess there are some people who grind and ignore the story), and you get that story alot earlier than you do in FFXI. No waiting until you hit 50 to get to that big payoff (don't get me wrong, once I was able to fight teh Shadow Lord, it was awesome), they don;t make you grind out levels to participate in stuff and while some stuff is naturally higher level, there is plenty to do and see. So advice is to hit the "Epic" (think City missions for lack of a better analogy) early on. You'll level as you complete it, and pretty much keep pace level wise (at least for the first 20 or so levels).
There is a huge emphasis on exploration, many Deeds associated with "finding all the orc/dwarf/whatever ruins" in a particular area, levelling is pretty quick (even up to where I am at 38, though rumour has it that it slows down some after 40). Something that would have been nice in FFXI, getting some exp or something for making it alive to the Hall of Gods or some of those extremely cool, out of the way places in Vana'diel apart from just the (albeit very cool) view.
I play LOTRO for the same reason I play FFXI, I really like the story and the world. The gameplay is totally different though. They hold your hand (but it doesn't really feel like that) from the start, and its alot more action oriented. It seems like its got enough for both the soloers and the group people, though there is a very group oriented feel to it.
And you get to see things like this:
http://jkohl.smugmug.com/gallery/2950417#159687997
Edited, Jun 11th 2007 10:58am by Ariones
This is very story driven (or can be, I guess there are some people who grind and ignore the story), and you get that story alot earlier than you do in FFXI. No waiting until you hit 50 to get to that big payoff (don't get me wrong, once I was able to fight teh Shadow Lord, it was awesome), they don;t make you grind out levels to participate in stuff and while some stuff is naturally higher level, there is plenty to do and see. So advice is to hit the "Epic" (think City missions for lack of a better analogy) early on. You'll level as you complete it, and pretty much keep pace level wise (at least for the first 20 or so levels).
There is a huge emphasis on exploration, many Deeds associated with "finding all the orc/dwarf/whatever ruins" in a particular area, levelling is pretty quick (even up to where I am at 38, though rumour has it that it slows down some after 40). Something that would have been nice in FFXI, getting some exp or something for making it alive to the Hall of Gods or some of those extremely cool, out of the way places in Vana'diel apart from just the (albeit very cool) view.
I play LOTRO for the same reason I play FFXI, I really like the story and the world. The gameplay is totally different though. They hold your hand (but it doesn't really feel like that) from the start, and its alot more action oriented. It seems like its got enough for both the soloers and the group people, though there is a very group oriented feel to it.
And you get to see things like this:
http://jkohl.smugmug.com/gallery/2950417#159687997
Edited, Jun 11th 2007 10:58am by Ariones
22 posts
My PC sounds pretty similar to yours in way of specs, though I have only 1gig of RAM, and I have to say that at 1440x900 resolution, with all settings fairly high, the game runs pretty sound. The odd bit of lag is expected, but with your 2gig of RAM you should be able to handle most situations perfectly.
The game itself is great. I have grouped several times already, usually to complete quests that need it or just for some extra fun, and every time I have much much more fun than I have ever had with WoW. At the moment the community is, thankfully, very mature- I have not even met anyone with a name that is somewhat 'out of context' (like Noobinater etc.) as is often found in WoW. The community is growing day on day. I remember that there was comparatively little talking in Thorin's Hall (on Snowburn EN) just last week, but now there is always some advice being requested (and answered) whenever I am there, which is encouraging to see. What is more nobody seems too frightened to ask for advice, and also it is good to see that people are giving it without the customary 'n00b' at the end.
Soloing is a must at lower levels- and anyway this game does involve (though not requires) a lot of exploring. I myself spent about an hour yesterday trekking through Ered Luin, just because there is so much to take in and admire. But as I said, the game does give you quests that require grouping at low levels, and most of the killing quests are compatible with group play. The only quests that aren't so much geared towards grouping are the 'collect this item and bring it here' sort of quests. Generally though, you can start grouping as soon as you are out of the beginning quests (which is about level 5/6).
The game itself is great. I have grouped several times already, usually to complete quests that need it or just for some extra fun, and every time I have much much more fun than I have ever had with WoW. At the moment the community is, thankfully, very mature- I have not even met anyone with a name that is somewhat 'out of context' (like Noobinater etc.) as is often found in WoW. The community is growing day on day. I remember that there was comparatively little talking in Thorin's Hall (on Snowburn EN) just last week, but now there is always some advice being requested (and answered) whenever I am there, which is encouraging to see. What is more nobody seems too frightened to ask for advice, and also it is good to see that people are giving it without the customary 'n00b' at the end.
Soloing is a must at lower levels- and anyway this game does involve (though not requires) a lot of exploring. I myself spent about an hour yesterday trekking through Ered Luin, just because there is so much to take in and admire. But as I said, the game does give you quests that require grouping at low levels, and most of the killing quests are compatible with group play. The only quests that aren't so much geared towards grouping are the 'collect this item and bring it here' sort of quests. Generally though, you can start grouping as soon as you are out of the beginning quests (which is about level 5/6).
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