Thread: Laurelin or Landroval better for RP for NA hours?

Hello,

I have several characters on Crickhollow but am looking to start over on a server that is RP-centric. I expect Laurelin will have a stronger RP community, but I'm concerned that it will be empty when I'm online, mostly during North American (EST) evenings and weekends. I appreciate any advice or comparisons.

Thanks in advance.

I am in North America and started playing in Laurelin about a year ago. It has fantastic RP opportunities. I think that if you are playing from NA-EST and start early in the evening you will find a good late-night crowd there from Western Europe and Turkey, with a few insomniacs from Eastern Europe and Asia. Many RP events occur on weekends, which at least gives you a chance to get up early for the mid-morning crowd, or sleep-in for the afternoon hordes.

In the past I have played in Landroval, but I much prefer Laurelin for it’s multicultural feel and the consistent RP controls exerted by the community. I think you would find Laurelin very different than Crickhollow.

Greetings!

To start with as you may know, Laurelin is the only official English RP server thus it has special rules to make the server even more immersive. Laurelin seems to be much more RP-centric than any other server, from what i have seen.
Its true that its more active during EU prime times but since Turbine took over the server, the amount of people that play/RP during N/A has increased and keeps increasing since all the new folks interested in RP and for a more immersive experience, instantly join the server with the RP tag next to it, most if not all new folks dont/won't know what RE means unless they look it up further but most wont bother, i guess
Not to mention that now with the new wave of new folks to the game from Steam and later on with Rohan expansion and much later with the Hobbit movie, there will be a massive new wave of rpers too coming into the game and which server you think they will choose...

Its worth saying here that you may hear every now and then that rpers from other servers such as Landroval, or Imladris have moved to Laurelin for its RP, but you will not hear people moving from Laurelin to another server for RP, so that says something too Heck even entire RP kinships have moved to Laurelin

Also there is a big difference about the RP on each of these two servers, i will not go into details here as some might have strong feelings about it but i highly suggest to see and compare for yourself their RP webportals, its another place where you can get a really good idea about the kind of RP each of those servers has

Laurelin Archives for Laurelin and Landroval Times for Landroval. Also take a look at their forums too, to see the difference. Laurelin forums and Landroval forums

With that said, its your choice and go where you feel is best for you and the kind of RP you want

If you join Laurelin, feel free to drop me a tell in-game if you have any questions about RP or if you simply want to talk/meet more roleplayers that are on especially at N/A times

Cheers

I am on both servers and I can say that both servers have good roleplay but it depends on what you are looking for and where you want to roleplay. To judge the rp by reading Laurelin Archives and Landroval Times is unfair however. They are two different types of information, including the reasons they are around.

If you want roleplay on NA evening hours then Landroval would be for you. If you enjoy morning to noon roleplay then Laurelin will be your cup of tea. Both servers are roleplay servers and I enjoy them both. I suggest making a character on each and playing them both, alternate them when you are on in mornings or evenings. That should give you a good idea of how you will fit in on either server.

I'm a NA RPer first started out in Crickhollow (joined many Second Breakfast in front of The Baby and the Bird Inn, that was some good time).

Crickhollow taught be the basics of RPing on my hobbit, and showed me just how in-depth, structured and immersive heavy RPing can be on my elf after I joined a heavy elf RP kin.

But in retrospect, my experience on Crickhollow, which back then was only a 5 months old server, was plagued with griefers during RP event, immersion breaking names, or sometime being mocked for speaking in a more proper form of speech... (apparently some kids are easily bothered by the proper use of punctuation and capitalization of the first letter of each sentence).

On Crickhollow, RPing in public sometimes feel like (what I imagine) holding hand with your same-sex lover in a conservative small-town. While you might be free to do so without all that many harassment, you would always feel the need to be ready to defend your right to be there.

SO I left Crickhollow, and I tried Landroval, and then I tried Laurelin right after the EU/NA server merges. I ended up picking Laurelin for one very simple reason which I'll get to in the next paragraph. Both RP-communities are excellent, and both server have lore-rich, in-depth, and highly immersive RPs (if you know where to look), but the real difference, beside time zone difference, is in how the Non-RP community and the RP community intereacts.

On Laurelin, non-RPers have the curtesey to not interrupt RPs with OOC talk in /say or /emote. On Landroval, it is more acknowledged that /say and /emote are shared by the two groups. On Laurelin, more often than not if you act in-character in a random pick-up instance/skirmish or in the wilderness, other folks would be inclined to do the same and at least light RP can generally be expected. Landroval not so much. On Laurelin, it'd be rare to to hear non-RPer bemoaning the presence of RPers because RPers are the majority. On Landroval, the constant struggle and mutual annoyance between the two group would rear its head every so often in the forum and in-game.

To me, Landroval is like a better, bigger, older Crickhollow; you still need to be ready defend your right to RP. But on Laurelin, you don't have to, because you are protected but the extra set of server RP policy as well as the relatively larger RPer/non-RPer ratio.

Not to mention the all the lore breaking character name and kinship name on Landroval. Some people, myself included, just can't get pass that.

I agree with Laurefinde that both server have excellent people and many good RP to be had, and it's prudent to judge for yourself which one is better for you. What is a deal-breaker for some people is a non-issue for others and vice-versa.

What bothers me about Landroval might not bother you, but then again, what doesn't bother him might.

p.s. But then again, once you make a couple of good people and have some fun on either server, it is unlikely that you would regret your choice irregardless of which one you chose.

You need to be on both servers to get the full LOTRO RP experience, there are some awesome people on both sides of the fence.

Mistwood hit the nail right on the head in my opinion, great summary.

I agree with Mistwood's excellent summary and comparison of the personalities of the 3 servers. But the question was:

Quote: "I have several characters on Crickhollow but am looking to start over on a server that is RP-centric. I expect Laurelin will have a stronger RP community, but I'm concerned that it will be empty when I'm online, mostly during North American (EST) evenings and weekends. I appreciate any advice or comparisons."

Given that Laurelin has already been ID'd (quite correctly) as the desired server, I would suggest that any respondents with experience playing there during North American hours (EST) share their impressions, as I have.

~I too am curious about what other NA players have experienced on Laurelin~

Originally Posted by PirateNell

~I too am curious about what other NA players have experienced on Laurelin~

As am I. I also recently started a few toons on Laurelin in addition to my established characters on Crickhollow, and would like to know what the experience of other NA players (or EU night-owls/early-birds) has been.

Yes, very well said Mistwood, or should I say Master Razo, Treasurer of Bacon!

As for impressions concerning the server's RP scene during NA hours, I counter with "it is what you want to make it" Yes, the scene is small compared to Landroval during NA evenings. But the people here, the dedicated ones, are truly wonderful and and truly care about RP. I came over here the day NA players could sign up on the server (June 8th, I think), and formed the IA a few days later with the intention of bringing NA rp and non-rp players together since I figured the server would be light on population during our times. Personally, I'm more on the light-medium side of the RP spectrum, but we have a number of folk in our kin, and a number of friends to the kin, who are dedicated, hardcore, RP-everynight kinda of RPers.

So it is there, and if you don't find what you're looking for, you can always create it - there will be folks around interested in RPing with you. Even if joining the Iron Axes isn't for you, there will usually be a few of us around interested in RP'ing, so feel free to reach out and contact one of us.

I started reading this thread and started to think it was me posting. I also have several characters on Crickhollow and have just started one on each of the RP servers. When in Archet on Laurelin I was greeted by an obviously experienced RPer that went out of his way to welcome me and give me some tips. With only a few hours on each server I haven't reached any decisions yet, however that greeting was an unexpected and pleasant surprise. I am on EST and Laurelin was very quiet yesterday evening, of course I'm still in the shire so that may change when I get to Bree.

I'm from NA (EST) and have been with Laurelin server since I started playing in January. I don't RP 100% of the time but when I do find people to RP with outside of my kin its usually a blast. I usually play during my kin's prime-time which is early afternoon to early evening for me. If I am on later I am usually out somewhere farming deeds or finishing quests, so I rarely run into people that are set to RP on.

If you are looking for someone to RP with I'd be happy to. I do have some strict RP guidelines I follow however. My characters are Noldor elves, you will not find me in a town of men wanting to RP. I do not particularly like dwarves but will tolerate their presence. Hobbits I know little of since I have not come across many. My RP areas are usually Misty Mountains, Trollshaws, Rivendell, and Eregion. I RP in other areas only as the need arises.

What I expect of people I RP with is simple. Know your race and how it interacts with others in Tolkien's world. Don't RP your character based on what you know from another world (ie. WoW, Elder Scrolls, etc). Know some of the lore and history of Middle Earth.

Whisper either Denebrian or Tashdel to contact me in game, should you decide to join Laurelin.

Thank you for the replies, as I am looking for an RP server. But what does the little letters next to Landroval and Laurelin mean anyway?

In short they mean Laurelin is Roleplay Policy or something and landroval is roleplay encouraged (RE). Thats why there is a difference in the way RP names are more enforced/policed on Laurelin than Landroval. Also i know Laurelin has a roleplay policy.

The Laurelin name enforcing and roleplay policy from from when the server was administered by Codemaster. When the European servers were taken back on by Turbine they agreed to keep the same roleplay policy attached to the server granted by Codemasters. It was one of the things the European players of Laurelin really voiced strongly to Turbine. In fact it created a long and at times heated debate on the Turbine forums about whether Laurelin should be allowed to keep its RP tag and the fact that Landroval would remain RE.

Originally Posted by Phede

You need to be on both servers to get the full LOTRO RP experience, there are some awesome people on both sides of the fence.

This I agree with, absolutely! I frequent on both, though Laurelin is my native server. I have seen more OOC in the /say chat and silly names on Landroval, but those things I find can be easily ignored.

Cris mentioned not hearing of people moving from Laurelin to Landroval, I can say there are people who have done just that. A roleplay environment that is good for others, may not be good for someone else. I definitely recommend you give both a go. You'll possibly hear "horror stories" about both servers, as well as positive feedback. Ultimately it's down to what makes you happy.

I wish you luck in your roleplay endeavours. Have fun!