How's the expansion so far?Follow

I enjoy it. A lot. I would rate it within my top 3 game expansions of all time, after having played EverQuest for about 7 years.



As far as I can tell, yes. In fact, not only are we getting new players now that Moria is out, but quite a lot of older players who had quit LOTRO have returned.



There's like a 5% global increase of earned exp (which I believe includes quest xp as well) whenever the freeps in the Ettenmoors are in control of a certain relic. Aside from this, nothing was really added to aid in 1-50 with Moria -- I'm not sure when you quit, but it's possible newer stuff was added since (for instance, Minstrel's War-Speech skill/abilities that make them viable for dps. Plus, they added Forochel, Goblin-town, and the eastern reaches of the Misty Mountains (though these may have been in at inception, I'm not sure) in the various books along the way, to make leveling easier.



There are a few three-man instances, a few six-man instances, and one twelve-man instanced raid (against the Watcher of all things). Most of the 3-mans can be done easily enough with a Captain healing, I haven't really played through any of the six-mans except through Grand Stair, which was a bit of a pain (I was only 56 at the time, though, and they were attempting to do it on hard mode with me tanking the boss = not working).

My advice: Come back and try it for a month or so. If you find yourself getting into it, spring for the $200 lifetime membership (if it's still offered now, I don't know). You're a poor college kid like me... it may seem like a lot, but it's well worth it, in my opinion.

To be fair, I think the only three-mans are level 50-ish (Library and School at Tham Mirdain in the southwestern part of Eregion). I'm not sure if there are any in Moria proper, but the 6-mans aren't NEARLY the length of Fornost, Carn Dum, or even Urugarth, they're much shorter (I think).

Edited, Jan 22nd 2009 11:41pm by Paradox

I like the expansion. But the classes are all messed up now. There's so much grey area between class roles. Guardians, Burglars and Minstrels all got the short end of the stick in Moria.

PvMP needs some help as well.

The new 12 man raid (the Vile Maw) relies so heavily on Hunter's that it's...lame.

I feel the expansion was well done, but I just don’t enjoy being in Moria. The outside zone leading up to it has been fun. But Moria itself is, not surprisingly, a dark, twisting maze. And being directionally challenged I’m constantly lost in the maze and that just isn’t fun. If I’m grouped with someone who knows their way around I can enjoy myself there. But as most of my kin have hit 60 I’m not likely to level past 57 until more outside content is introduced.

The expansion also introduced some solo instances for characters in their 50s. These are used to gain scrolls to change the damage type of the epic weapons. But they can also be used as a way to level. I’ve run one of them three times thus far and if I manage to keep leveling its likely to be by grinding these solo instances.

And for level 50 plus characters there are now legendary items. On the plus side they give players something else to grind for. And if you’re lucky to get something with the abilities you want they are a nice addition to the game. But trying to find a decent item can lead to some frustration. My hunter has a decent bow. It certainly does more damage than anything he's had before.

But on the down side the LI system is not what I thought it would be from the hype before the expansion release. There really isn't anything legendary about it. Its all about grinding and luck. It’s rather like going to a junk yard filled with piles and piles of ‘legendary items.’ You pick one up, look at it, toss it over your shoulder and pick up the next one over and over and over and over and over again. When you finally find a weapon you can live with, you use that one till your high enough level to use a higher level ‘legendary item’ and then the process starts all over again. This lottery system isn’t horrible in and of itself, but it’s certainly not what I envisioned.

The expansion also introduced two new classes. And in spite of many lore minded players being unhappy with the rune-keeper, both classes play very well and they add more diversity to the game.

I can’t say if the game has changed all that much from 1 to 50, I’ve been playing for less than a year, but I’m currently playing a level 34 minstrel and I’m not having many problems. I think most of the combat changes people are unhappy with really hit from level 50 on. I’ve not had any real combat problems with my 57 hunter, but from what I’ve read DPS classes have less problems combat wise post 50 than non-DPS classes.