Well another boot to the groin…
As the chatter on the net of LOTRO slowly sliding into ‘Maintenance Mode’ increases scary news about Warner Brothers letting go more TURBINE staff!
How this impacts LOTRO, if at all, is still very unclear!
Maybe, me, myself and I have been picking up the negative news more than the positive of late as I went and got a little stuck in Mirkwood in my play through of LOTRO.
(This is the second time I have posted this today..the first was lost due to internet issues at work…no draft saved either! I do apologize if it comes across as slightly rushed…thats because it is!)
Now I realize that LOTRO player numbers are shrinking, this is almost exasperated by the last few updates…
So I hope TURBINE can turn around LOTRO’s fortunes, I do believe in it as an MMO, an MMO that I would recommend over ALL others but with quite a warning list attached:
It will not blow your head off graphically! (Or physically for that matter…)
You may laugh your head off at some of the older character design.
Game play is dated, it is grindy, progression is SLOW!
There is a lot of progression (see above) needed to reach some of the more modern content, soon to be lv100+!
To begin with it will be lonely, very lonely…later it can be less so…
It will not be the end game/raid/skirmish/housing/group/p2p game you have always dreamed of…
Its not going to fix all the little things that bother players, although it should…
But if you like fantasy MMOs and like deep immersion, great story-line, and want to explore with the friendliest, most supportive and even quite intelligent gamers then I feel it is the only MMO worth playing.
tsuhelm 
It also has one of the friendliest communities of any MMO I currently play. Of course I do play on a role-playing server (Landroval) which also has an awesome music scene. If you are new to LotRO you will have more fun if you resolve yourself to enjoying the journey and not simply grinding levels to reach max.
Thats is true as well. I will amend my post tomorrow. I would recommend Landy as by far the most friendly server I play on… but on Withy i have found a kin that really suits me 🙂
I’m sure there are great kins on all servers. You may have to try a few before you find the one for you.
There’s a lot to be said for the RP servers though, both Landroval and Laurelin depending on what timezone suits best.
Thanks for the kind words about the kin buddy, your checks in the post 😉 (it took some doing but once I’d got his hands tied the rest was easy) 😈
Finding the right people is certainly key. I started on Vilya, migrated to Landy, left for about a year, and now have been back for almost a year. Each time was moved by the people. When you find a good community, it is hard to leave.
From the inside, QA for Lotro is down to five people. And the game does not have its own art department (recycled stuff all over, right?). So… here is hoping.