@SSG New Landscape Difficulty - Testing Feedback Report

[SniperCT]

My understanding was they were going to put this in play on a legendary as sort of open testing and then move it to the existing servers once its good. Did I misunderstand?

Maybe I misread it, but it sounded like they were going to make a second (third?) legendary server for this, then consider eventually putting it on life. Which makes no sense to me, might as well just push it live to begin with. Might work if they don't limit it to VIP like Anor is...

Unless it's going to be a limited time server but then it just becomes a race and how long does that server need to be up before closing to allow people time to level when they've made it much harder to level?

Just seems like a waste of time imo.

[Boraxxe]

Maybe I misread it, but it sounded like they were going to make a second (third?) legendary server for this, then consider eventually putting it on life. Which makes no sense to me, might as well just push it live to begin with. Might work if they don't limit it to VIP like Anor is...

Unless it's going to be a limited time server but then it just becomes a race and how long does that server need to be up before closing to allow people time to level when they've made it much harder to level?

Just seems like a waste of time imo.

Lets imagine that they push it to the Live servers and it has serious problems...

Nah, never mind. That never happens after testing on BR. Right?

I think it might be a good idea to set up a temporary server to run extensive testing. Much more extensive than a few weeks on BR where lots of other stuff is also being tested.
If there is a server setup for this, I will be on it the moment I hear about it.
I would like to be able to transfer that "test" character to a regular server, but if not...I'll be OK with it anyway.

Turbine/SSG gets a lot of flack for not thoroughly testing stuff. I think they would be wise to thoroughly test a major change like this.

Concerning "much harder to level"... I don't see this change as a slow-down to leveling.
The end result may be that it does take a little longer to level because your character needs to retreat a few more times, but I don't really see it as an impediment to leveling.
It will be an impediment to walking through the game with no risk. But, isn't that what we are asking for?

Edit: Also Concerning "much harder to level": I just watched a youtube video of someone testing this new difficulty system. Based on what I saw, it looks like we will be getting a little more XP for defeating mobs.
So, instead of "harder" to level, it could be that it will actually be "easier" to level.
Looks like a sort of reward. Not what I was expecting, but Ok, I'll take it...grin.

Speaking of rewards for playing while this "difficulty" system is activated, I just had an idea.
How about an exclusive (bound) Revive Token?
We have asked to have the game be more challenging, so a reward that makes things "easier" does not seem appropriate, so how about something to compensate for retreating more often?
How about an exclusive (bound) Revive Token. A new item.
You get one of these when you complete a level while one of the difficulty degrees is active. But just 1.
I don't want to make this too complex and therefore hard to create, but it would be cool if you only get this reward if you complete the Level while never retreating through the entire level.
Thoughts?

Bo

[TearMaker]

How about an exclusive (bound) Revive Token. A new item.
You get one of these when you complete a level while one of the difficulty degrees is active. But just 1.
I don't want to make this too complex and therefore hard to create, but it would be cool if you only get this reward if you complete the Level while never retreating through the entire level.
Thoughts?

Bo

I imagine it would be quite difficult to implement and certain classes would have a different advantage.

Let us look at your favoured class: the Burglar.... Would you class HIPS 1 and 2 as retreating? I know I never use my HIPS to retreat especially when I played in the moors, I would use it as a feint even if that meant I was certainly going to die as well but many others do not and use it as a retreat skill.

Now, does SSG remove these skills from access if you are playing at a harder level? Wouldn't that fundamentally change the class though?

And if they leave it in and you can double hips (probably level and trait dependant I know IIRC) that leaves classes that cannot in a poorer position.

Also what about Hobbit faint skill? Again is it retreating?

There will never be a level playing field and there are always going to be golden classes or class of the month, however you say it but if a system whereas you get reward for doing something it has to be closer than that.

[Arabani]

One of the biggest issue of nowdays mmorpgs is risk versus reward system. People want the easiest and optimal way to achieve or get something. Time has become precious nowdays.

Very few will use the difficulty system just for the sake of difficulty. Yes, many will try it for a week or two, but they will go back to thier regular gameplay after. If you want the system to be popular, to justify the development time spend at least, there should be a proper reward system. A couple of titles is just not enough. Add some currency that can be earn (the higher the difficulty, the more you get) and spend on the new mounts, pets, furniture, cosmetic, scrolls, crystall, shards, gear, after all.

As for a special server, I do understand the need to test the system there. But once again, the server will be deserted after month, as the tournament server had been long before its time ran out.

[wispsong]

One of the biggest issue of nowdays mmorpgs is risk versus reward system. People want the easiest and optimal way to achieve or get something. Time has become precious nowdays.

Very few will use the difficulty system just for the sake of difficulty. Yes, many will try it for a week or two, but they will go back to thier regular gameplay after. If you want the system to be popular, to justify the development time spend at least, there should be a proper reward system. A couple of titles is just not enough. Add some currency that can be earn (the higher the difficulty, the more you get) and spend on the new mounts, pets, furniture, cosmetic, scrolls, crystall, shards, gear, after all.

As for a special server, I do understand the need to test the system there. But once again, the server will be deserted after month, as the tournament server had been long before its time ran out.

And this is why this system in the long run will not be used much. For high end players there is not much risk involved but they constantly insist on special rewards. Besides, I have come to believe that some of them just want harder to hinder those who are not as good as they. I have seen this in a lot of Mordor comments or whenever I have problems with one quest...get better, learn your class, group, grind for gear, just plain arrogance that the quest is easy and they can face roll the/se mob/s.

This is also something Joe constantly points out when I ask for story mode through instances, like players will stop grouping because now they can do it solo. Funny that he doesn't have any concern here.

[Joedangod]

I have seen this in a lot of Mordor comments or whenever I have problems with one quest...get better, learn your class, group, grind for gear, just plain arrogance that the quest is easy and they can face roll the/se mob/s.

This is the bit I don't understand, if you are using an optimal rotation and you've built your character properly then yes, you will face roll through landscape content. For me, if I die on the character the first assumption I make is that I screwed something up and my next move will be to correct whatever mistake it might have been. I really don't understand the people who ascribe all fault to external factors first.

[wispsong]

This is the bit I don't understand, if you are using an optimal rotation and you've built your character properly then yes, you will face roll through landscape content. For me, if I die on the character the first assumption I make is that I screwed something up and my next move will be to correct whatever mistake it might have been. I really don't understand the people who ascribe all fault to external factors first.

I try more then once. And optimal...that requires a constant grind of virtues, ILI items and trait points. Somebody at one time posted the perfect red mini tree...I couldn't build it because I was missing points. Now that I have them playing mini is so much better. Optimal essences rarely drop and my chest piece has half the stats of the gold piece. You tell me optimal... doesn't that also include stats being high enough and enough damage on your LIs? Optimal rotation? What does that even mean in landscape. I'm glad most mobs die with heartseeker or 3-4 other shots. Rotation in landscape would mean tedious long fights like in raids. Could I get through Mordor without dieing to much, yes. I just had a few problems in over filled camps. You know what it was...tedious to very tedious, not challenging at all. You know why? Finesse and LoE. With other words not having the right gear/essences is a big problem which became even worse once they removed the drops. But that of cause doesn't matter, like the stats just fall into place. With all the balance changes I don't care anymore. I have given up on my red RK. And with all the grinding the above systems require my new characters will not go into Mordor.

I play 4 classes, blue hunter, blue LM, red RK, red Mini, all 4 are over 120 and have maxed crystals but just the hunter is even close to maxing the 5 slotted virtues. She did every deed before the change and after there are not even enough to keep up with 5. I'm a medium player, I know the stats I need and outgoing healing is not one I need for dps builds, yet it's on quest reward items and barter items for will classes. Why? We talk about landscape rewards here. I never run a healer in a fellowship either...to much stress. You tell me who is messing up stats.

You of cause can play with just free lvl ILIs and the worst gear winning the game. You play major league and not everybody can do that. You are Michael Jordan and play with those who are at the same level...most are not. You basically say lvl 1 gear is good enough for 130 landscape. MM quest gear at this point is already completely outdated although it was good enough to run 130 instanves, you kknow that some player catching up will play just that and then try Gundabad? What a disaster that will be and no easy catch up because no viable crafting.

[miss_tessa]

I try more then once. And optimal...that requires a constant grind of virtues, ILI items and trait points. Somebody at one time posted the perfect red mini tree...I couldn't build it because I was missing points. Now that I have them playing mini is so much better. Optimal essences rarely drop and my chest piece has half the stats of the gold piece. You tell me optimal... doesn't that also include stats being high enough and enough damage on your LIs? Optimal rotation? What does that even mean in landscape. I'm glad most mobs die with heartseeker or 3-4 other shots. Rotation in landscape would mean tedious long fights like in raids. Could I get through Mordor without dieing to much, yes. I just had a few problems in over filled camps. You know what it was...tedious to very tedious, not challenging at all. You know why? Finesse and LoE. With other words not having the right gear/essences is a big problem which became even worse once they removed the drops. But that of cause doesn't matter, like the stats just fall into place. With all the balance changes I don't care anymore. I have given up on my red RK. And with all the grinding the above systems require my new characters will not go into Mordor.

I play 4 classes, blue hunter, blue LM, red RK, red Mini, all 4 are over 120 and have maxed crystals but just the hunter is even close to maxing the 5 slotted virtues. She did every deed before the change and after there are not even enough to keep up with 5. I'm a medium player, I know the stats I need and outgoing healing is not one I need for dps builds, yet it's on quest reward items and barter items for will classes. Why? We talk about landscape rewards here. I never run a healer in a fellowship either...to much stress. You tell me who is messing up stats.

You of cause can play with just free lvl ILIs and the worst gear winning the game. You play major league and not everybody can do that. You are Michael Jordan and play with those who are at the same level...most are not. You basically say lvl 1 gear is good enough for 130 landscape. MM quest gear at this point is already completely outdated although it was good enough to run 130 instanves, you know that some player catching up will play just that and then try Gundabad? What a disaster that will be and no easy catch up because no viable crafting.

This. Like I said before, I play to have fun. Grind is not fun for me. Repeatables is not fun for me. For the most part, I do alright on landscape with my "sub optimal" build. I'm not trying to be Michael Jordan (Great analogy, Wispsong!) I'm just tryin to shoot some hoops on my days off and unwind. And honestly, if you're worried about "everyone will just take the easy way" that's a whole other topic, but honestly I don't care how others play. It doesn't affect me. If you want to advocate for that hard toggle, I'm happy to advocate right along side you. It increases YOUR enjoyment and doesn't affect me. My only concern with this was when I thought it was going to be an across the board difficulty increase. My misunderstanding. Now that that's cleared up. I really can't understand why having a -1 is such a big deal. It doesn't affect you or your play style. Honestly, I hope they increase the rewards a bit if they do the hard modes. Y'all that go through that deserve it! I love watchin some of your (the collective you) YouTubes of raid and stuff. Its impressive!

[SniperCT]

Seconding (thirding?) the mention of grinds not being fun. They're not challenging, they're not hard, they're not fun.

There are a 130 levels, they HAVE to do things to make it faster/easier to level so people can get to cap quicker to do the current content treadmill. Honestly I'd argue for a level and stat squish but I have absolutely no idea how that would work with the way lotro handles content, and is probably too much work for too little gain lol

This. Like I said before, I play to have fun. Grind is not fun for me. Repeatables is not fun for me. For the most part, I do alright on landscape with my "sub optimal" build. I'm not trying to be Michael Jordan (Great analogy, Wispsong!) I'm just tryin to shoot some hoops on my days off and unwind. And honestly, if you're worried about "everyone will just take the easy way" that's a whole other topic, but honestly I don't care how others play. It doesn't affect me. If you want to advocate for that hard toggle, I'm happy to advocate right along side you. It increases YOUR enjoyment and doesn't affect me. My only concern with this was when I thought it was going to be an across the board difficulty increase. My misunderstanding. Now that that's cleared up. I really can't understand why having a -1 is such a big deal. It doesn't affect you or your play style. Honestly, I hope they increase the rewards a bit if they do the hard modes. Y'all that go through that deserve it! I love watchin some of your (the collective you) YouTubes of raid and stuff. Its impressive!

Lotro is very much my lazy unwinding game. If I want to challenge myself there are other games I do that in *long suffering stare into the middle distance thinking about one specific encounter in ff14 that even the devs joked about being soul crushing*

In Lotro I just want to level my alt army and RP with my wife. Challenge comes in by how efficiently I can move through a zone, or over pulling an area which can in fact still get you defeated on some classes. (hell, some classes are fun but I'm bad at and I would in fact use a -1 setting on those, wheras I'd be normal or even a +1 or +2 setting on other classes. I imagine the guard/min duo we run might be fun doing that with)

[Strider5548]

Maybe I misread it, but it sounded like they were going to make a second (third?) legendary server for this, then consider eventually putting it on life. Which makes no sense to me, might as well just push it live to begin with. Might work if they don't limit it to VIP like Anor is...

Unless it's going to be a limited time server but then it just becomes a race and how long does that server need to be up before closing to allow people time to level when they've made it much harder to level?

Just seems like a waste of time imo.

I agree, I don't want to wait for the next Legendary Server to try this out. I have low level characters I want to play now and would prefer the option sooner than later.

I get that testing needs to be done, but I would hope they could test this out in a couple weeks rather than go through an entire LS cycle which could take half a year or more.

[Forgotten_Legend]

how would this affect open world fellowships?

say 1 person is using deadly +6 while another player is using normal difficulty: would these people be able to group up? would the "normal" player just be more powerful than the "deadly +6" player if they did group up? would multiple people be required to use the same difficulty to group up?

[Joedangod]

how would this affect open world fellowships?

say 1 person is using deadly +6 while another player is using normal difficulty: would these people be able to group up? would the "normal" player just be more powerful than the "deadly +6" player if they did group up? would multiple people be required to use the same difficulty to group up?

They can group up. Provided both players are equally skilled the "normal" player would be significantly stronger than the Deadly +6 player.

[Forgotten_Legend]

They can group up. Provided both players are equally skilled the "normal" player would be significantly stronger than the Deadly +6 player.

thanks for the answer... back to my thinking.

doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of the difficulty slider for the deadly +6 player?

are there difficulty notifications for other fellowship players? ( i would think that at the bare minimum, a notification should popup about the other player's (or players' ) difficulty slider/s to allow for choice. this could / should be included in the fellowship panel and the fellowship request panels. )

[Joedangod]

doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of the difficulty slider for the deadly +6 player?

It does, although I'm not sure casually grouping with others happens all that often. I think the more likely scenario is that you're trying to level in Deadly +6 and somebody of a lower difficulty just comes along and tags/kills the mobs you're fighting, hence Eowene requesting difficulty levels be tied to layers instead.

[Thurallor]

Can't wait to level up a crafting/festival alt on Deadly +9 without ever killing anything.

[SavinDwarf]

This game mode is ''Completely optional''
there is 9 difficulty modes

Normal (currently what you play on)
Hard
Dangerous
Deadly
Deadly+1
Deadly+2
Deadly+3
Deadly+4
Deadly+5
Deadly+6
.....

Is this some sort of percentage progression or is something else going on to increase difficulty?

From a landscape perspective (not instances) at what level would a person really need to be in a group in an average Landscape? (not Limelight for instance )

Has anyone ever calculated the average difference between a typical solo player and a raider in terms of the impact of the armor/weapons etc. as a percentage? For example, a level 100 character with average equipment versus a raider with grind's equipment.

[Joedangod]

From a landscape perspective (not instances) at what level would a person really need to be in a group in an average Landscape? (not Limelight for instance )

Not entirely sure what you mean by this. From testing we were generally fine running around solo on Deadly +6, it's not too hard provided you know how to play your spec well.

[BadJuju]

The whole point of difficulty is immersion and a steady progression style of gameplay. Making landscape difficulty optional was the one thing they could have done to miss both of those objectives.

If the rest of the player-base can whiz past you and reap all of the equipment rewards in a fraction of the time, it becomes clear that your "tier 10 difficulty" journey is nothing but a fruitless self-nerf. Its not a real experience. Imagine if SoA was like this, and with the click of a button, you could render the entire world face-roll easy, or super difficult.

It is an extremely bizarre idea when you think about it, having that much power over the entire world. There is such a thing as authenticity, even in a fantasy MMO, and for the world to be believable there needs to be a single difficulty level that everyone has to contend with, not a meter which the player can adjust to utterly stomp the enemies of the free-people. This isn't a single player RPG...


The merit of normal levels of difficulty (which I would reckon is somewhere around the new tier 7 or 8) and a progression style journey through an MMO is that the rewards feel sweeter once you attain them. That feeling of accomplishment, and victory of each and every of the thousands of small obstacles MMOS throw at you, will be absent if players who select easymode attain them as well.

[wispsong]

In the end this is no different then taking your armor off...artificial difficulty determined by you.

[BadJuju]

In the end this is no different then taking your armor off...artificial difficulty determined by you.

yup

[SavinDwarf]

Not entirely sure what you mean by this. From testing we were generally fine running around solo on Deadly +6, it's not too hard provided you know how to play your spec well.

Sorry for the confusion -- its Friday and i'm old What I was wondering, with all these difficulty levels, about how much things get more difficult as you gone down the levels.

I personally always hate having tons of levels when there is no real understanding of the difference. For example, would anyone take deadly5? or would anyone thinking about deadly5 really just take deadly6?

I wish there were descriptions instead like:

Deadly 1 - solo and top non raid equipment,
Deadly 3 - solo but you need some raid equipement.
Dealdy 6 - don't even think about going solo

(I know the above make no sense, but a description lets people know what to expect and also keeps a target for SSG to maintain ... easier for everyone.

[SniperCT]

The whole point of difficulty is immersion and a steady progression style of gameplay. Making landscape difficulty optional was the one thing they could have done to miss both of those objectives.

If the rest of the player-base can whiz past you and reap all of the equipment rewards in a fraction of the time, it becomes clear that your "tier 10 difficulty" journey is nothing but a fruitless self-nerf. Its not a real experience. Imagine if SoA was like this, and with the click of a button, you could render the entire world face-roll easy, or super difficult.

It is an extremely bizarre idea when you think about it, having that much power over the entire world. There is such a thing as authenticity, even in a fantasy MMO, and for the world to be believable there needs to be a single difficulty level that everyone has to contend with, not a meter which the player can adjust to utterly stomp the enemies of the free-people. This isn't a single player RPG...


The merit of normal levels of difficulty (which I would reckon is somewhere around the new tier 7 or 8) and a progression style journey through an MMO is that the rewards feel sweeter once you attain them. That feeling of accomplishment, and victory of each and every of the thousands of small obstacles MMOS throw at you, will be absent if players who select easymode attain them as well.

But you're getting rewards for choosing difficulty. They may not be to your liking, but you're getting rewards. If you turn off your difficulty you lose your shot at those rewards on that character, forever. So you can't just toggle it off for like a single fight if you want the rewards.

Thing is, they have the impossible task of not alienating the vast majority of players while also trying to provide something of a challenge to certain kinds of players.

What's easy for one is not for another. What you consider 'normal' might be impossible for some or too easy for others. Hell! Sometimes something can be hard one second and easy another. (I was taking my hunter through enedwaith, she was one level below the area I was in, there was a pull where 2 shadow wolves somehow ate through my health super fast like it was a tasty snack, I ressed in place, did it again, and killed them with my health at about half, so IDK lmao I've been noticing that a lot in that zone, going through an area, one pull I'm handling 4 mobs no difficulty the next pull 2 of the same type of mob is making me have to health pot. )

But if every single pull from level 1 to 130 was like that? I'd quit. It would be too frustrating, I don't play games to be frustrated or to feel stressed all the time. Once in awhile is fine. Sometimes I'll go after a mob that's a high level and/or an elite or something just to challenge myself, but if every pull was like that that's not fun. I'd just feel weak and useless and disheartened.

That's tedious and frustrating.

I'm not adverse to challenges. FF14's has savage content where even a single player out of place a single step can wipe the whole group. That was fun, but it was only fun because it was a small part of a very large game. If the whole game was like that I wouldn't play it either. (and much of the regular dungeon/trial/raid content at the high levels, not even the cap, can be challenging unless you're massively overgearing them, which is nice, but again it's fine because I can do the rest of the game without feeling weak and also because 80% of the challenge is coordinating with the other players lol )

[BadJuju]

What's easy for one is not for another. What you consider 'normal' might be impossible for some or too easy for others. Hell! Sometimes something can be hard one second and easy another. (I was taking my hunter through enedwaith, she was one level below the area I was in, there was a pull where 2 shadow wolves somehow ate through my health super fast like it was a tasty snack, I ressed in place, did it again, and killed them with my health at about half, so IDK lmao I've been noticing that a lot in that zone, going through an area, one pull I'm handling 4 mobs no difficulty the next pull 2 of the same type of mob is making me have to health pot. )

But if every single pull from level 1 to 130 was like that? I'd quit. It would be too frustrating, I don't play games to be frustrated or to feel stressed all the time. Once in awhile is fine. Sometimes I'll go after a mob that's a high level and/or an elite or something just to challenge myself, but if every pull was like that that's not fun. I'd just feel weak and useless and disheartened.

But your standard of ease and difficulty would be different in such a game. I don't think a player would feel weak and stressed that he can't mow down 5 mobs brainlessly if that player is not used to mowing down 5 mobs brainlessly.

People who played MMOs circa 2003-2007 weren't abnormally competitive either, they were just handed a different set of expectations, and adjusted to the standard which was set for them. "Power" was being able to handle 3 mobs at once.

But these games were more about the journey than about end-game, which is why they wanted your journey through the lower and mid-levels to be slow-- because those level ranges were the game. In lotro on the other hand, the game really starts at end-game, and they've made all the zones prior to it easy, presumably, so that you can hack and slash your way to end-game as quickly as possible.

The reason I like being far less powerful than we are now is because if I start out being able to slaughter groups of mobs with no effort, what does it mean to be more powerful at that point? Should I be able to kill a balrog solo? lol. I don't want that. The best games make it clear to you that you are no one and nothing at the start, and if you want to be something, its going to take, at minimum, some time and effort. I thought that's what people sub to MMOs for. But there are many people who are really just RPG players who have come to MMOs and drowned out the MMO crowd's voice with their strange disappointment that this massively open online world they entered isn't all easily solo-able.

[wispsong]

But your standard of ease and difficulty would be different in such a game. I don't think a player would feel weak and stressed that he can't mow down 5 mobs brainlessly if that player is not used to mowing down 5 mobs brainlessly.

People who played MMOs circa 2003-2007 weren't abnormally competitive either, they were just handed a different set of expectations, and adjusted to the standard which was set for them. "Power" was being able to handle 3 mobs at once.

But these games were more about the journey than about end-game, which is why they wanted your journey through the lower and mid-levels to be slow-- because those level ranges were the game. In lotro on the other hand, the game really starts at end-game, and they've made all the zones prior to it easy, presumably, so that you can hack and slash your way to end-game as quickly as possible.

The reason I like being far less powerful than we are now is because if I start out being able to slaughter groups of mobs with no effort, what does it mean to be more powerful at that point? Should I be able to kill a balrog solo? lol. I don't want that. The best games make it clear to you that you are no one and nothing at the start, and if you want to be something, its going to take, at minimum, some time and effort. I thought that's what people sub to MMOs for. But there are many people who are really just RPG players who have come to MMOs and drowned out the MMO crowd's voice with their strange disappointment that this massively open online world they entered isn't all easily solo-able.

Lotro for me is very much about the journey and what was really frustrating when I started in 2012 was the amount of required fellowships for the main quest line (the epic). Everything was harder then but not necessarily more fun. There are still more challenging areas in the game and I mostly see them as a test of my limited skill. They are fun and feel very rewarding when I manage but if they are needed for the deed and I just can't finish it that is very disappointing. What I find fun is sneaking around bigger groups of mobs. Sadly in most places the devs hinder this through obstacles. Osgiliath has a lot of these opportunities, sadly not in all places. And Mordor was just plain tedious and that is what this new difficulty slider probably will do...make everything more tedious. Challenge as so many other things is in the eyes of the beholder.

As for the world having to be soloable, how many players below cap are at the same time in the same region on the same quest? You will have to start out with the group and nobody ever can jump ahead.

It's most MMOs where the game starts at cap. Look at WoW...fast levelling and then mostly instances.

[miss_tessa]

But your standard of ease and difficulty would be different in such a game. I don't think a player would feel weak and stressed that he can't mow down 5 mobs brainlessly if that player is not used to mowing down 5 mobs brainlessly.

People who played MMOs circa 2003-2007 weren't abnormally competitive either, they were just handed a different set of expectations, and adjusted to the standard which was set for them. "Power" was being able to handle 3 mobs at once.

But these games were more about the journey than about end-game, which is why they wanted your journey through the lower and mid-levels to be slow-- because those level ranges were the game. In lotro on the other hand, the game really starts at end-game, and they've made all the zones prior to it easy, presumably, so that you can hack and slash your way to end-game as quickly as possible.

The reason I like being far less powerful than we are now is because if I start out being able to slaughter groups of mobs with no effort, what does it mean to be more powerful at that point? Should I be able to kill a balrog solo? lol. I don't want that. The best games make it clear to you that you are no one and nothing at the start, and if you want to be something, its going to take, at minimum, some time and effort. I thought that's what people sub to MMOs for. But there are many people who are really just RPG players who have come to MMOs and drowned out the MMO crowd's voice with their strange disappointment that this massively open online world they entered isn't all easily solo-able.

So 1) Lotro is all about the journey. You already know how the story ends, how can it be anything else but about the journey? (YEs, this is an opinion not objective fact.)

2) It sounds like you think the difficulty option isn't enough and that you think it should just be harder period. Because if you only have the option, you won't do it? Is that accurate?

3) There is no way you should be able to kill a balrog. Does that actually happen at some point?!?! No one short off Gandalf should be able to kill a balrog!