Thread: Character Saving

Hello,

When I created my first character, I did a couple of quests, changed zones into a dungeon/instance or some such, but then had to log. When I next logged on, I was right back to where I started, lost my xp, quest progress and location. Are there specific times when characters get saved? I'm used to other MMOs where you're always up to date regardless of where you log out, so this was a big surprise to me

Your progress is never saved in instances.

That's fine, but what about all the quests I did prior to entering? What about the xp and items I got? All are gone. I can understand my location not being saved, but quest progress, xp and items??

No, the items XP and other items are kept, every time you get XP, earn an item, Do a quest, that information is logged into the system, I cant help you with the quest progress, although if you were in an instance and thats what you mean by progress, Whenever you enter a dungeon it doesn't ave your progress in said dungeon. If you die and need to retreat/Log. You will be taken out of instance.

To my knowledge the only place where there might be a problem with saving is the very start of the game. When you enter the game you're first taken to a private intro area. After completing this around level 1-2 you are transfered into a intro area with other people. After this you are moved to the general lotro world at level 6-8.

Normaly the game saves everything, xp, items, location, continually but at least in the very first private area this might not be the case. You should be ok when you start seeing other player characters or at the lates when you enter the general world.

Originally Posted by HellsChicken

That's fine, but what about all the quests I did prior to entering? What about the xp and items I got? All are gone. I can understand my location not being saved, but quest progress, xp and items??

You shouldn't lose this stuff unless there's a major server crash which I have not heard about recently.

In the intro there are no instances and you don't change zones till the end; and you don't really change zones. You can't save till you are out of the intro area and have completed the end quest; the game will tell you as much and ask you to prepare for it. Once that is done you can save. It really shouldn't take more then half an hour to run through the intro part and be in to the real game to save.

Originally Posted by manstan

You can't save till you are out of the intro area and have completed the end quest; the game will tell you as much and ask you to prepare for it. Once that is done you can save.

I'm pretty sure this isn't true. I know for a fact that it wasn't true as of last fall (nor any other time I've started a new character between open beta and then). The game saves continuously, including in the intro area. It's only if you're in a private instance that that instance gets reset if you log out. The intro area starts and ends with private instances, but in between them it's open landscape questing that saves continuously just like it does in the main game world. (The warning you get when taking the final quest just says that you won't be able to return after finishing that quest, so complete anything you want to complete here first. It has nothing to do with saving.)

Originally Posted by manstan

It really shouldn't take more then half an hour to run through the intro part and be in to the real game to save.

If you just focus on getting through it, that's true. But new players especially spend most of their time exploring and learning the game interface rather than completing quests, so might take considerably longer. My first character I took about a week or so in the intro area. Even on recent characters (after several years of playing the game) I still usually spend a couple days there.

The game should keep track of everything you've done, regardless of level or area, as long as there wasn't a serious server crash.

Originally Posted by HellsChicken

When I created my first character, I did a couple of quests, changed zones into a dungeon/instance or some such, but then had to log. When I next logged on, I was right back to where I started, lost my xp, quest progress and location. Are there specific times when characters get saved? I'm used to other MMOs where you're always up to date regardless of where you log out, so this was a big surprise to me

Can you tell me what level you were when you logged off? There may be some things that don't get saved during that level 1 instance you do first.

I've also never tried to log off during the starter instance exit quest (level 6-ish). There might be a bug there.

Normally the game saves everything immediately and you don't notice any change when you log off and back on. Sometimes during a major server crash you can lose a few minutes of adventuring but that's pretty rare.