Who else doesnt like thet fact that Vol II gets revamped,all soloable?

[Eric...]

i wanted to complete the Vol II while it is still normall and challenging but it seems that i cant because vol ii gets revamped, or i should say vol ii gets nerfed and becomes a piece of cake in just some months and i am still not close to Moria
Anywaythis seems more solo for lotro and more power to soloers again :/ while those who like to experience LOTRO normally the way it was supposed to be get nothing
Forced solo quests havent been fixed yet ,of course the team thought that making vol ii soloable was a priority but for those who like grouping and want the forced solo quests to be fixed the team doesnt care as it seems

[AlphaMan]

I don't mind at all. After all, grouping is still an option if you want. Find the people group up, have some fun.

And I would say "the way it was supposed to be" is subjective.

Just my opinion of course.

[Fredelas]

The epic quests in Volume II aren't exactly being made soloable. They're being given the Inspired Greatness treatment. This way, when players attempt the group parts with less than a full fellowship, their odds of completing it should be higher.

Players who have friends who will complete the group quests with them (or who don't mind waiting weeks or months to find a group) can continue doing so.

I think this is a very positive change, and I'll probably try it out on some of my alts.

[PsychobabbleJJ]

you haven't done these instances so you don't know how annoying they are. If there were moderately fun or challenging instances then I could see your point, but they're not. They are stupidly easy for groups of players, have almost no reward apart from completing the quest and worst of all are way too long. This is especially the case in 2.5.5 which has timed waves of attcks which do not speed up if you kill the previous wave more quickly. So given how easy this stuff is with high level characters now, you spend most of the instances waiting around. Your biggest threat is dying of boredom. Oh, except for the last encounter in the 21st hall one which can wipe an unprepared group (not that it's hard, but there's a few trolls and a boss and people going silly with aggro can cause issues) and if you do that then it's another timed 45min run through the instance...

Don't worry yourself about the amount of group content. There is PLENTY of good group content in moria. Far, far more than you're experiencing now. There's extremely good loot and barter tokens that comes from these instances so there's always people running them. And it helps that it's still reasonably near the level cap so L65 players will still join in your groups (and not make things totally insta-kill either). There's a dozen or so 6-mans from L54-65 many of which are commonly run and for the less common ones you can easily pull together groups to do them for quest rewards and just to break up the GS grind which many people stick to.

[Eric...]

hm so you are saying that there will be still an option for fellowship mode? because tending the glade was a forced solo quest, the elf stone activates by itself without activating it, this is forces solo not an option to group and makes the quest entirely much less challenging and normall

[tkdyoo]

Im happy we get the option to do 2.5.5 with less people or even solo. It is ridiculously hard to find a full group for that quest, and even then its hard to convince people to stay and try again if you fail, they just leave. So, I am quite happy about this revamp.

Lets put it this way, I would be fine if they left all the rest of Vol 2 alone and only revamped 2.5.5. Thats how annoying it is to get a group together AND complete it. Besides, if its like inspiration, then that simply means that you have the option to solo or 3 man it. Inspiration doesnt activate if you have above 3 people. So, you do it your way, Ill do it mine, we are both happy.

[Brandon_Blackbird]

hm so you are saying that there will be still an option for fellowship mode? because tending the glade was a forced solo quest, the elf stone activates by itself without activating it, this is forces solo not an option to group and makes the quest entirely much less challenging and normall

The elf stone does not activate by itself. You have to click it in a certain area to get it to work. It is possible to do "Tending the Glade" without touching the IG buff. It is also possible to group to do this quest. It is not forced solo by any means.

Volume 2 is getting the same treatment as Volume 1. They didn't take away ANY fellowship quests with Volume 1. They simply added a solo/fellowship option for instances, and the elf stone for those quests which were not instances.

[PsychobabbleJJ]

inspired greatness scales depending on fellowship size. it gives a 500% bonus if you are solo and a lesser bonus for each additional member of your fellowship that you add up to no bonus if you have 6. All of the Vol 2 fellowship quests are instances so there's no elf-stones either.

[MilkPudding]

Just because they are made soloable doesn't mean they are not challenging, and you can still choose to group if you want.

We have way past the stage where everyone was about the same level and doing the same things. New players should not be punished in terms of core gaming experience just because there aren't many people around to group with them.

[Trilwych]

Man.

In doing any of Vol I after the revamp, I assume you never bothered to read any of the brightly colored red text, if you read anything at all. (I mean, the elf stone activates by itself? How the heck does that happen?)

There's nothing forced about it.

[Eric...]

Man.

In doing any of Vol I after the revamp, I assume you never bothered to read any of the brightly colored red text, if you read anything at all. (I mean, the elf stone activates by itself? How the heck does that happen?)

There's nothing forced about it.

hm yep it is activates by its own, i remember that iw anted to do the defend of tresstlebride normally without cheating with the elf stone and didnt activate it but once i went to the bridge the buff activated by its own, its lame and not realistic

[trancejeremy]

I just don't get the whole rationale behind punishing solo (or small group) players in the first place.

You don't get to do X. You can't go to Y. You don't get to have Z.

Groupers aren't any better customers or players. Just because you group shouldn't entitle you to do more stuff, or get better stuff.

[Panahasi]

Sorry, but I surely hope all past/present/future Book content continues to be "solo friendly".

I play on a mid-low population server (Meneldor) during "off hours" when the server has merely 40 folks in GLFF (if not less).

Sorry, but there is plenty of fellowship content (raids/instances/skirmishes) to be had and there will be even more group mandated content in the future.

No need to worry folks... all is well on the LotRO PvE front.

[Lynchpin13]

I just don't get the whole rationale behind punishing solo (or small group) players in the first place.

You don't get to do X. You can't go Y. You don't get to have Z.

Groupers aren't any better customers or players. Just because you group shouldn't entitled you to do more stuff, or get better stuff.

It's technically still an MMO as in Massively Multiplayer Online, soloing isn't multiplayer in any way shape or form.

[Brandon_Blackbird]

hm yep it is activates by its own, i remember that iw anted to do the defend of tresstlebride normally without cheating with the elf stone and didnt activate it but once i went to the bridge the buff activated by its own, its lame and not realistic

That wasn't the elf stone. That was IG, something that scales down the more people you have in the group.

[Brandon_Blackbird]

It's technically still an MMO as in Massively Multiplayer Online, soloing isn't multiplayer in any way shape or form.

Multiplayer =/= Group.

[Sneezer]

I don't have a problem with them making the epic story line soloable.

There's no reason that anyone should have to a) wait up to several months (as i did on my warden) to do an epic quest (2.5.5) or b) out level the content so they can do it in a smaller group.

[mwm5062]

hm yep it is activates by its own, i remember that iw anted to do the defend of tresstlebride normally without cheating with the elf stone and didnt activate it but once i went to the bridge the buff activated by its own, its lame and not realistic

It activates on it's own because you went in solo. Go in with a group and it won't activate. If you are on level and try a fellowship instance solo without that buff you will fail quickly. And it's not cheating. I solo'd all of Vol 1 on level while leveling my warden, and it was a challenge and it was fun.

Also have they announced this as to coming soon? Or is this just a random post?

[Thrignar]

Perhaps it has been a long time, but I don't recall that ever being a fellowship quest.

Anyway, I look forward to volume 2 becoming soloable. Running through instances with that buff is a blast. Also, finding a group for 2.8.# is nearly impossible (the hall of mirrors and the water works instances)

[Lynchpin13]

Multiplayer =/= Group.

Would you call a solo game with say built-in yahoo messenger or some other chat box(which what lotro is overwhelmingly becoming) multiplayer?

[KTROz]

It activates on it's own because you went in solo. Go in with a group and it won't activate. If you are on level and try a fellowship instance solo without that buff you will fail quickly. And it's not cheating. I solo'd all of Vol 1 on level while leveling my warden, and it was a challenge and it was fun.

Either that, or you specifically picked the "Solo" quest option. In doing these for the 4th or 5th time on my alts, there is now a prompt of two versions you can pick. In either case, in no way is IG forced upon you. You always are given a choice, whether by quest/grouping option, or by clicking it in the quest. All of the IG quests specifically state that if you choose to do it solo, you will be given buff/elfstone/etc to allow you a better chance if going solo. Grouping up will mitigate/remove this.

Please keep trolls in the moors.

[Brandon_Blackbird]

Would you call a solo game with say built-in yahoo messenger or some other chat box(which what lotro is overwhelmingly becoming) multiplayer?

This is an argument that has been rehashed over and over and over and over. I am tired of being questioned for preferring to play solo. This game allows BOTH solo and group play. This means that people who want to solo can do so, and people who want to group can do so (barring the solo-only/group-only content). This does not mean that people who group are doing it wrong, nor does it mean people who solo are doing it wrong.

There is NOTHING in "multiplayer" that means group. Have you grouped EVERY quest from the starter instance on? I'm betting not.

[Trilwych]

It activates on it's own because you went in solo. Go in with a group and it won't activate.

This.

INSTANCE quests will auto-ignite the buff because simply by entering the instance, you already CHOSE to go solo and use the buff, and you don't get the elf stone. But OP specifically mentioned Tending the Glade, which is an open-world fellowship quest. Then the elf stone has to be clicked at a certain point when entering the area to give the buff.

Even at level 65, soloing a full fellowship quest many levels below will be very challenging and impossible for a number of classes--LotRO has multiple tiers of group questing. If you thought you were going to solo an on-level fellowship quest "for the challenge," well.... Heh.

[Sneezer]

Would you call a solo game with say built-in yahoo messenger or some other chat box(which what lotro is overwhelmingly becoming) multiplayer?

I don't think anyone wants to see group content eliminated altogether.

But many people want to be able to do the epic story line without having to wait around to get a group.

2.5.5 can be extremely hard to get a group for because it is so long.

I'm personally all for more group quests/area/instances, but I think it is a good move on Turbines part to allow people to do the epic story line at their own pace.

[Alakranus]

They are revamping 2+ yr old content that many people have been unable to complete for various reasons. I have no problem whatsoever with the devs making more of the older content accessible to more people, there is no point in having stuff that nobody is doing. I have already run all of the group stuff several times so them changing it to solo does not affect my enjoyment and will even make it fun again when running through on lower lvl alts. Besides, the epic storyline is something that every LOTRO player should experience because it is the centerpiece of this game.