I’ve been having a hard time getting into the groove of LOTRO. Not because I dislike the game– far from it actually– but because I’m still trying to discover all there is to do. Right now, I just get ingame, do some quests, level up, perhaps get a fellowship quest going here or there, but that’s basically it.

It feels as if a large part of this game for many people is the roleplaying aspect, which unfortunately, I’ve never really been into. I’ll blame that on my WoW “upbringing” =P I’m positive my husband would be thrilled to join a group of RPers, but I’m sure it’d really break the mood to look over the desk at me after saying something particularly “roleplay-y” and see me making a barfing motion or just snarking at him! Basically, I’m just a gigantic fun-sucker when it comes to roleplaying. I’m not really sure I could change that.

I love my characters in this game. I’ve always been particularly attached to the female characters of a game (which is one reason why I adored the Tauren female… too cute), but I guess to talk about my characters as if they were myself is just a little strange to me. Hey, no judging people that do enjoy roleplaying though! I think it’s more of a personal preference than anything to be perfectly honest.

Who knows? Maybe one day I’ll actually try it and really enjoy it! …Or maybe I’ll try it and I’ll still be a snark. Hrmm…

Questions:

How do you feel about roleplaying?

What is your ingame persona like?

Do you have any memorable moments?

I wish I could put a subtitle like “And Why It Is So Badass! >=D” Ok, seriously? I scream at stuff… and it dies. This is -exactly- what I want to have in real life sometimes. “I made a C on this exam!? How would you like having your brains forced out of your ears because I scream at you!?” See? That’s what it’d be like. But actually much cooler, I imagine. And with more brain matter.

But on a more serious note, I’m glad that my yell has a pretty long cooldown (without War Speech, but even then, ten seconds isn’t short or anything). I doubt I’d be able to hear my minstrel yelling like that all of the time. My warden? Dear God…. it can get pretty bad sometimes. =) I guess that’s my only real complaint about the class so far– sounds, I mean, not just the yell. Just for the heck of it, I went and bought the training for all of the instruments, and I don’t know. I guess they just get tiring after a few uses. I have to admit the flute was probably the worst for me! I’m liking the drums the best, but I’m thinking of picking up bagpipes for when I believe that I deserve the punishment =P

Healing has always been my thing. For the 4+ years I played WoW, my main character was always a healer. I started as a priest, and then swapped over to a druid (which is seriously the number one thing I miss about that game. I loved that character. =)). I mean, sure, I leveled other classes up to top level, but none of them were really my main character. So, I feel as if I’ll pretty much always be in a spot to heal. But don’t get me wrong, I truly enjoy it. Tanking is far too stressful for me and DPS is just… very boring.

I have to admit, I like the tiering system that’s in place for ballads. To me it means (and since I’ve only played this Minstrel for 25 levels, I could be utterly wrong) that in order to be the most effective minstrel you can be, you should be throwing a few DPS spells when possible to unlock the higher tier ballads to buff your group. It’s much more interesting than just sitting and healing.

Overall, I’m most definitely enjoying the Minstrel. It’s fun to solo and fun to group (whether I’m DPSing or healing).

Question:

What class do you play? Why do you like playing it? What do you wish you could change about it?

I’m not going to go completely off on a “WoW SUCKS!” rant, but I will say that they made some pretty terrible decisions that totally ruined that game for me. Since Wrath of the Lich King was released for WoW, my opinion of the game has gone majorly south. Everything is a grind, and content is a total mess. Raiding was a complete joke. Pretty soon, my husband and I began searching for a new MMO (with me leading the charge). We went through City of Heroes/Villians, Vanguard, would have given Age of Conan another shot since I have a 61 Tempest of Set(? something like that lol), but we finally seemed to settle down with LOTRO. We are sincerely loving the classes and content so far (granted we’re only 20 at the moment =D). Generally, people are just much nicer in game, though I guess with how many people play WoW, you’re just bound to run into more mean dumb people there.

I love the crafting system in this game. I mean, there’s nothing entirely special about it, but it’s well executed, and it keeps me entertained. Quests are engaging and though there is a quest helper on the map, it doesn’t feel as if your just blindly going to a location, killing a few mobs, and trudging back to retrieve your reward. Oh, and of course, the game is very pretty. That’s one thing I’ve really enjoyed (and AoC nailed it as well)– the environment is fantastically crafted and it felt like there was a ton of time put into each and every little thing.  The only thing that really stands out to me is how terrible the UI is… It just seems a little bulky with ornate nonsense. And from what I understand, there aren’t any mods for the game? Please correct me if I’m wrong. I’d love to see a bar mod and a mod for my minimap! That thing is my number one complaint!

I’ve never been a rabid Lord of the Rings fan, but my husband… O.O It’s scary sometimes. Hehe. Even with my limited knowledge of Middle Earth, I feel quite at home with this game. I think it’s truly a winner and I see myself having quite a bit of enjoyment from it.

Best of luck and happy hunting!

Amku/Iradel