Thread: Nimrodel Kinships

What kinships in Nimrodel are good in your opinion? What makes them good, what do you look for when joining kins.... what benefits do kins offer?

I ask because I have know of several kins that have died out. It seems to be because they aren't fullfilling some need, leadership or regulars have real life events that happen and draws them away from the game for periods of time.

black sheep is the best kin in the world, so good they don't let anyone in >.>

Originally Posted by Balthadur

I ask because I have know of several kins that have died out. It seems to be because they aren't fullfilling some need, leadership or regulars have real life events that happen and draws them away from the game for periods of time.

You answered your own question as to how or why kins die.

Yeah, my kinship that I was founder/leader of died out, a lot of people stopped playing frequently, then I got busy and stopped as well...I'm in Defender's of Helms Deep right now, a fairly large and active kin. I like it, they run stuff throughout the week and there's always a fair amount of people on. A few other good ones are Knights of Rivendell, All Shall Fade, Blades of Middle Earth, Sons of Durin.

yes those are all good kins, but i noticed my friend nuve didnt mention a word about my kin =(

flockofmoosen

rossaglyn lvl75 warden

The day of the kin in MMOs is dying! Why? The player base - especially on Nimrodel - has a high degree of 'seasonality' and transcience.

What does that mean?

Players leave the game due to:

• In-game frustrations,
• Finding a new game to play,
• Real life considerations.

Some players come back, whether that's after a break. when time permits, or during the summer. Others are gone forever. Yet more new players make their way up the ranks, making it to level 75.


If you want to run a kinship that survives that 'churn', you have to:

• Create and maintain a large kinship,
• Invest a lot of time into the kin,
• Actively recruit new players on a regular basis,
• Offer unique selling points that appeal to kin members (whether that's raiding, a community feel, friendly banter, Moors play. etc).

You only need take a look at the current number of kinships actively raiding and achieving Orthanc Tier 2 conent (Orthanc is an end-game raid if you're unaware to see the difficulties in hitting all 4 of those points listed above.


I think you either accept the fact that kins are going to be cyclic, join a kinship with real life mates, or (and I think this is where the server's heading) participate in a community/network of players from multiple kinships.

I've held this view for the past 18+ months now: option 3 there - a community where kins become less relevant - is the way to go as the player base fluctuates even further. Why? You meet a larger number and wider variety of players, ensuring when people do disappear into the ether and kin numbers begin to dwindle that you can still participate in content.

To me the server is my oyster - and it's succulent, delicious, tasty, and full of all sorts of people who entertain me to all ends


So... I recommend contemplating less kin loyalty, and fostering more community-building: you'll be happier in the long run, and save yourself SO MUCH TIME AND EFFORT that you can invest in fun


./end speech
./eat pie

I agree with Sethco, my kin for example even after a recruitment drive which wasn't nessecarily needed, is still a fairly small kin. The members before the newest recruitment drive are fairly close and are opening themselves up and making the newer kinnies feel at home. (Or at least I hope so, considering it's my poor luck to only play during the day during the week, which doesn't really fit into my Kin's playing schedule )
I personally try to do things with PUGs because that opens yourself up to a wider range of players and even if you aren't successful in every raid or instance you can still get to know and befriend people outside of a kinship. I find myself gravitating more and more to my friend's list and GLFF to do group content on any level of the game, because unless it's Sons of Durin or another large kin, there just really aren't enough members to maintain any kind of regular playing consistency.
But, it's also heavily dependant on why you joined a kinship in the first place as well.

My kin, Dancing in the Dark, with an alliance channel we've created with other kins/people we trust as good players (and good people) actively raids Orthanc T1/T2, runs draigoch when we're bored or need to help someone get a cloak for an alt, runs old stuff like OD/BG/Rift for deeding and fun, runs skirmish raids (mostly for fun, to hang out with each other in vent) and revived the current phenomenon of freeze tag during this last festival. Most of us are offspring from kins who have either dwindled and died, or from a kin who completely sucked the wrong end of a rhinoceros (one of them rhymes with not-this-day).

Odds are, if you're joining a kin just to join a kin, you're not going to like it. Good kins are made up of people who like each other (most of the time... we all have our days), with low-drama and generally good attitudes towards helping each other out in the game, be it crafting or killing something you can't solo, or helping you gear out your latest alt. All of this without making it seem obligatory, like it's some kind of effort and you clearly have something else to do with your precious time.

Of my many breaks, my last one was the longest, being about a year in length. When I came back to the game, my kin was still here going strong. Most of us have phone numbers/email addresses of one another, so we stay in touch, or even drop by in vent during a raid night to say hello. Some of us leave for real-life things, like making babies or work or vacation, but we always save a space for their return. To me, a good kin seems like family.

Some kins live on in other games, just because they aren't in LOTRO doesn't mean the kinship/guild/tribe has died.

Spidey has a point. My kin's former leaders had left for a galaxy far, far, away at first with sporadic returns simply because they could continue to play with family there. Nowadays they gravitate back and forth because there are friends and kin here in LOTRO and there in TOR.

Another thing to watch for is Kinship purposes. Meaning that sometimes Kins are formed for one reason and then through a natural or forced evolution become a kin with another mission statement. (I.E.- A kin put together for Role-playing has a few more recruitment drives because an officer or three want to do more raids, but for whatever reason decide that the raids need to be all kin run. There's nothing wrong with that, but if it changes the Kinship's main purpose then it's kind of a kick in the face to anyone who joined for another reason, especially if the loot from said raids causes a lot of tension and stress within the kin.) Just things to watch out for.