end game?Follow

I have played ffxi and wow to end game with my wife.

FFXI - Love it, but getting tired of how long every thing takes to do (level, get from point a to point b, learn new spells [blu], watch cs's without an escape button cancel cs)

WoW - After running instance after instance, running the same 10-25 man instances got old. Having said that, I canceled wow for ffxi and went back to sky...

So, my question is how does end game in lotro stack? I cannot even really find information about the end game, but wanted to ask before I sign up for the full version (trial ftw). I am pretty sure getting to 50 will be no problem.

Also, I started as a bard. Is there a good leveling combo for me and the wife or does it matter since you mostly quest?

From what I understand, LOTR doesn't really have an end game yet that WoW or even FFXI has. However, there are a number of areas and instances that cater to level 50 players, and I'd guess that the Rift is very similar to WoW's Kara.

However.... I personally am having a BLAST just leveling! The quest lines sometimes have their own instances embedded in them, and they are just as fun as any instance I ever did in WoW. The plots are interesting, once you get into it, and there are a TON of them.

My main is level 39 at the moment, but I am leveling a minstrel with 2 friends, and play exclusively grouped with them. It's quite a lot of fun.

The beginning is sorta dry. Kill 10 wolves, get 12 bear pelts, etc etc, the usual. It took me a few sessions to convince one friend to keep playing, but now he's started to see why the game is so cool. I'd give it a shot, you might like it!

Some great duo combo ideas (feel free to chime in on these):

Guard/Minstrel - You can take on just about anything. Minstrel might be bored sometimes, but it's good fun.

Guard/Captain - The cap has some nice heals and buffs, and is fun to play. It's what paladins in WoW *should* have been, imho.

Champ/Minstrel - Champ can tank well enough in a small group setting, but would require a bit more heals that guard would, so I'd say go with minstrel instead of captain.

You can get by with just about anything. I wouldn't suggest duo lore masters or anything like that, but you get the idea.

Right now there isn't a huge end game in LOTR:O but none of the big MMO's started with one either. Traditionally they have something small then add more as the game gets bigger and more people are moving up. Right now there are 2 "end game" raids in the game and more to come, especially with the x-pac release.

Minstrel/Guardian would be a great combo, your speed killing this wouldn't be the fastest but as for survivability I believe it would be unmatched.

Minstrel/Champion would be another extremely viable choice and your killing would be sped up with the Champs increased DPS, downtime might increase though since the champ will need more healing.

Captain's work well with several classes as well, they have some healing and in a pinch can stand in as a tank.

I really enjoy my Captain but solo he can be a little slow but teamed up with almost anyone things speed up quite well.

I played FFXI for nearly 6 years and have played LOTRO for just over 1 (including betas).


If you're using sky as an example of end game, there is nothing in LoTRO that compares. There is no massive time sink for potentially no reward in LoTRO. There are no HNM spawns in the same sense as FFXI has. There are Elite mobs, but they drop crafting items and can be handled by 1-4 people easily enough.

In LoTRO the 'elder game' (Their term as they rightly conclude an MMO has no 'end' especially one still so new), is currently a series of raids, so more like WoW I would guess.

There are a number of small, 6 man instances that can be run at will. A few time locked 6 man instances that can be run in various ways (each boss kill locks that boss for a fixed period to prevent farming it). There are also currently 3 24 man raid and 1 12 man raid. Most people aren't even aware of 2 of the 24 man raids because they never bother with them as they aren't instanced. They are simply 'fun' to do with a big group.

Helegrod is a the largest instanced 24 man raid currently
The Rift is the 12 man instanced raid.

Bogbereth and For

If I were to compare them to anything, I'd have to compare them to Dynamis. And Dynamis would pale horribly in comparison. My Kinship is primarily from FFXI (we played together for nearly 6 years and moved to LoTRO at launch)and without fail the first thing anyone says their first raid with us is "Dynamis is nothing compared to this". So far most agree raids in FFXI are much more fun and far less 'work' than FFXI ever were.

AS far as an idea of what they're like...
This is our basic strat info for the rift, a work in progress.
http://www.digitalbackspin.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=7652

And some screens from our fights
http://www.digitalbackspin.com/forum/index.php?autocom=gallery&req=sc&cat=11

There are three 6 man instances we run a lot ( most everyone needs something from them for their class quests or for top gear).

Barad Galum which we run mostly on request

UruGarth: most jobs need a drop from here ( http://www.digitalbackspin.com/forum/index.php?autocom=gallery&req=sc&cat=12 )


Carn Dum:Same as uru in terms of jobs needing to go there. http://www.digitalbackspin.com/forum/index.php?autocom=gallery&req=sc&cat=10


That's a taste of what's there no. More is coming in the expansion around october they say.

Also, if you're looking to find some older people who also play with wifes and what not, and who have some FFXI war stories to swap, you can check us out on Meneldor server. We'd be happy to help.

http://www.dbsblacksheep.com