I had the opportunity so to speak to take some time off, so of course I did just that. Giving my ample time to dedicate toward some adventures in the Lord of the Rings Online. My main character Abellio is now level 38 and loving his new horse he bought at level 35 just a few days ago. I have to admit I had a friend of mine ask if you could play the game solo all the way through. Now that I look back on most of the quests I have been doing since I reached level 30 I would say No.
Well, of course you could just be a grinding machine and kill stuff for each level, but in this game that just doesn’t make sense. I would say at least 75% of the quests I do these days are fellowship / group type quests and even if you wait to do them a couple levels above the prerequisite you would need a partner to complete. I myself prefer to split my time up in the game between fellowship and solo play. I have noticed in this game I have a lot more friends, this is surely because of the fact I have been playing it a lot lately and people need to group a lot more for quests. I know everyone likes to do their own thing a lot of the time, but in order to reach higher levels it is imperative you learn your role in a fellowship and make friends quick. I have met a lot of good players and really cool people along my journeys and at any given moment I would say there are about 3 to 5 people logged on in my friends list, this makes it quite nice when forming a group for quests. Also, the main grouping party in my kinship is averages around level 40 so I get to be included in a lot of things I otherwise would not. I have to say Turbine put thousands of hours into thought and presentation for the quests, I am not even close to being bored with them yet and every new area I venture into leaves me breathless at times.
Upon learning my racial skill return to rivendell I quickly took a trip back to the homeland. I have found my sanctuary to rest and enjoy the scenery. Also, you can meet Frodo, Samwise, and just about everyone else here as well.
I got to take a walk with Frodo for a quest to ease his mind, I was so taken in by it I started having a conversation with him.
Also a few days prior to that I found out there was a raid happening in the North Downs so I was invited and was curious what was happening. I followed the crowd which seemed to be led by a GM, only reason they say he was is because he had a + sign after his name. He would call the raid to an area and then all of a sudden all these high level beasts, orcs, trolls would spawn and it was chaos. The lag was terrible at times, I ended up turning off the floaty names to help out some. Here are some shots…
In the end it only lasted around 25 minutes, the server was suffering I think and it was just one of those rare occasions you hear about, I feel lucky to have been there for it.
Lol at your helpful advice to Frodo.
I also find myself grouping a lot in this game, far more more than in World of Warcraft for example. Of course there are times when real life demands mean I have to play solo. Luckily I haven”t hit the famous brick wall at lvl 35 where apparently solo quests run out. Hopefully the expansion will be out by the time Throg (now level 31) gets there and that promises a lot more 35-45 solo content. I am really enjoying the mix of solo and grouping at the moment.