Ok, so you've decided you want to play Lord of the Rings Online. Congratulations! And welcome to one of the most vibrant and exciting online communities of mythical beings and fantastic adventures! In this post I'd like to go over the basics:
The basic idea in an MMO is that you start out by creating a character that's initially at 'level 1' and enter an open world game where you can choose what missions or 'quests' you want to do. Completing quests gives you 'XP', which is short for experience, and as you gain XP you 'level-up'. Leveling opens up new regions to explore, new quests to do and new content to play.
'Crafting' is an important concept in MMOs. The idea is that your character chooses a 'profession' or 'vocation' in the game and collects materials ('mats') by doing things like chopping wood, mining or farming and then uses these mats to create armor, weapons and other in-game objects that boost your character's stats. Each character can only choose one vocation and so you'll have to rely on other players to help you craft items that your character cannot create!
The middle 'M' in MMO stands for 'Multiplayer', and that's the coolest part LOTRO. As you walk around the world of Middle Earth you will see other characters who are actually real players just like you who are playing the game at the same time. They might be doing the same quests you are doing and you can cooperate with them to complete quests and this is called 'grouping' or in LOTRO 'fellowing'. Fellowing and forming 'fellowships' in LOTRO is the best part of the experience as you get to meet other people and chat with them using the in-game 'chat' which is really a huge internet chat room really. Fellowships also make completing quests easier and you gain XP faster! :)
"Aa' lasser en lle coia orn n' omenta gurtha" ("May the leaves of your life tree never turn brown")
-Esv
Read blogs and posts outside of the game.
Playing an MMO requires more information than the game itself gives you. You need to go online and read, yes read, A LOT! (Which is probably what you're doing here =) ). It's tedious at first but pays off well in the game. For LOTRO the link you should visit the most is www.lotro-wiki.com. It's a great compendium of information gathered by players and will be invaluable in your quests in Middle Earth. Bookmark that site and have it ready in your browser to 'alt-tab' into as you need.Dive in!
Well, you can't spend all of your time reading. So dive in and don't worry too much about which 'class' is your perfect fit or which 'race' you should choose! Just pick the first one that you feel like you want to try and jump into the game.Things I learnt on my first day in the game:
LOTRO was my first MMO and so I was not familiar with a lot of MMO concepts such as 'leveling', 'quests', 'crafting' etc. These were things I had to learn on my first day and here I will explain them as if I were talking to someone who has never played an MMO before.The basic idea in an MMO is that you start out by creating a character that's initially at 'level 1' and enter an open world game where you can choose what missions or 'quests' you want to do. Completing quests gives you 'XP', which is short for experience, and as you gain XP you 'level-up'. Leveling opens up new regions to explore, new quests to do and new content to play.
'Crafting' is an important concept in MMOs. The idea is that your character chooses a 'profession' or 'vocation' in the game and collects materials ('mats') by doing things like chopping wood, mining or farming and then uses these mats to create armor, weapons and other in-game objects that boost your character's stats. Each character can only choose one vocation and so you'll have to rely on other players to help you craft items that your character cannot create!
The middle 'M' in MMO stands for 'Multiplayer', and that's the coolest part LOTRO. As you walk around the world of Middle Earth you will see other characters who are actually real players just like you who are playing the game at the same time. They might be doing the same quests you are doing and you can cooperate with them to complete quests and this is called 'grouping' or in LOTRO 'fellowing'. Fellowing and forming 'fellowships' in LOTRO is the best part of the experience as you get to meet other people and chat with them using the in-game 'chat' which is really a huge internet chat room really. Fellowships also make completing quests easier and you gain XP faster! :)
Be a good citizen!
So there you go, that's enough information to get started in the game. Be prepared to read a lot, dive in, build an interesting character who is going to adventure in middle earth by completing quests, choosing a vocation and meeting and helping other people in Middle Earth!"Aa' lasser en lle coia orn n' omenta gurtha" ("May the leaves of your life tree never turn brown")
-Esv
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