Thread: Group LF Server - Brandywine?

Hello folks!

I've played all sorts of MMOs and have been with LOTRO on and off for the past two years or so. Fate has brought me back; someone I recently met online is interested in playing (again). We nabbed our Australian buddy and now we're poking around for a server. We ended up jumping on Brandywine last night for no particular reason.

Now, I've been around the forums a little bit and people have complained of everything from physical overcrowding to login queues to server lag. This seems to be consistent across the larger servers (Brandywine, Landroval).

I'm here to hopefully get some helpful dialogue and not just a bunch of people logging in to rage, which seems to be what many game forums are loaded with. Hopefully LOTRO is the quadricorn and you all will come out of the woodwork with something both pleasant and useful to say!

So - is the server laggy, overcrowded, and difficult to get in to? This is important for obvious reasons.

Question 2 - any medium-sized, mega-helpful kins out there that would take us if Brandywine doesn't turn out to be a "nightmare" server? LOTRO is a community game. We'd like somewhere nice to fit. =]

Ultimately, if the server isn't going to provide a good gameplay experience, we'd like to jump ship and reroll on a better server. I've heard good things about Brandywine's community but the technical aspect simply cannot be ignored.

Thanks in advance for whatever you guys can offer!

I've recently returned from a significant vacation from LotRO. Given that I currently have no kin and no investment other than the time spent with the new characters I started over with (so, it could have been any server), there's really nothing swaying my objectivity. That being said...

Queues... have yet to see one. I've logged in during prime time every day for the last two weeks; no queue for login.

Lag... yes, and it's significant at times. It WILL hit you at the worst time, and it will annoy you if you have any kind of tolerance issues at all. That being said, it affects all server systems, too, so if you're lagging, so are the mobs. I've yet to had it actually change the outcome of any fights. It's annoying, yes, but still playable. And honestly, 95% of the time, I'm lag-free; but, that 5%... *shake fist* grr! Again, though, without any investment holding me to Brandywine, it hasn't been enough to make me consider another server.

Overcrowding... this is where I really can't answer, yet. I LIKE other people around and it's great to be in the middle of nowhere in mid-levels and still run into other folks. That being said, I have no idea if crowding is an issue at end-game quest content. No shortage of group content if you put any real effort into looking, at all, though, so...

Kins... they're everywhere, and they're active. I'm very picky about kins and have no interest to even join one until I get closer to end-game, so that I'll know who I -really- have an interest in running with. That being said, I've ended up running around with a couple kins consistently and can safely say that this will be one area I doubt you'll have any trouble with.

Hi there! Just like you, I have returned to Lotro after a long absence. I tried at least 4 other servers before calling Brandywine my home. The community here is active...I would say at least 400+ on the GLFF channel during prime time and maybe half of that during non-primetime hours. I have yet to see a queue line to log in.
I do not have a problem with lag...though I do see people complain about it on GLFF everyday. I have a cable connection and a sweet gaming computer (finally!!) so that may account for that.
There are always people looking for groups and always spams to join a Kin...give Brandywine a try!!

Happy hunting!!!

I played at release until real life was too busy for gaming. Just started playing again last friday. If you guys want some company for instances hit me up in game. I was on Nimrodal back in the day but pretty low pop there. I liked what I saw in the forums community wise on BW so this is where I rolled.

Modig - 17 Man Champion
Billegar - 8 Hobbit Burglar

Rgds
Modig

The only time I've ever seen a log in queue was when the game went to F2P. That lasted about 2 or 3 days and have note seen one since. Ever.

"Crowded" is very subjective. When I'm questing and others are deeding... its seems crowded to me. In other words, there is always someone around just about everywhere. On the other hand, other servers are complaining about droughts and ghost towns. There are times people still can't find groups for things on Brandywine... I can't imagine its 'better' on other servers.

Since Update 6 the server is very laggy. From what I understand all servers are experiencing this. This was not true before Update 6, so I don't blame the Brandywine server specifically (I.E. I don't think choosing a different one will help). I had a very smooth playing experience on Brandywine for several years before U6.

Welcome! hope you enjoy your stay

So - is the server laggy? Yes. Since update 6 I've been lagging a lot, especially while raiding. On the other hand, I've not been lagging much while solo. I've never encountered any lag at all before update 6 so I doubt this issue is due to our population.

Overcrowded? No, not really. It's huge population is what brought me there, after seven months on a server that actually looked like a desert to me.

And difficult to get in to? I've never, ever, seen a queue.

As for the kinship.. There are lots of kins, of every size, all you need to do is to jump in and find one that suits you well