Quote Originally Posted by Darkheart06 View Post
That all being said, I'm still on the fence about returning to LoTRO (a game I have played since launch and have loved in the past). I went from horrified to intrigued by the class changes but many of my old concerns remain. Is focus still placed on solo-content grind? What happened to LoTRO's formerly stellar group content? What is the point in making us specialize now if none of the content requires any specialization? The big battles sound horrible. Is there still terrible lag in Rohan and the Ettenmoors? Are they making any attempt at trying to balance the Moors and addressing concerns players have had with keep and OP mechanics for years? And the biggest complaint: THE GRIND. MY GOD THE GRIND. Grind LIs (please drop this system entirely), grind your horse, grind for random drops, grind to upgrade them. LoTRO is as grindy as the hardcore '90s MMOs. I think even Everquest had less grind.
Solo-content grind focus? Yes
LotRO's group content? Not in this xpack... people will largely focus on the smaller group or solo battles... there's not enough benefit for running the raid battle to entice people to care beyond a few weeks or months after it's been ground to death.
Specialization? That's a question for the devs... perhaps they'll be designing content that requires punitive specialization, but that would mean exclusion of play styles which would be a disaster... testers can't really answer that one for you.
Rohan/Ettens lag? Not in beta... I noticed no lag in East Rohan or Ettens... Doesn't mean it won't hit live servers and get slaughtered by masses. TBD
Moors issues? Short answer, no... There's rumble of them doing things out here in the future, but it's not coming w/ HD or any time on the near horizon that I can tell.
Grind? Grind, slave, grind!!!!!!! Yes, seriously, grind for everything you want.

(Hopefully succinctly answered those questions for you... if you want any extra detail on them I'll try to expound.)