Thread: Greetings from a new face to the Shire!

Hello everyone! Let me introduce myself before some questions.

I always like LoTR and the books and movies (read and saw them all) but I'm not really Lore comprehensive. But I've always had a liking to the Hobbits and will be making one in game (I think it's their feet). I love to mainly explore and discover things as well as craft and adventure.

I will be F2P for now as I get my feet wet (after so many MMOs and games I've bought that either went belly up [Auto Assault] or I disliked after a time, I'm a bit jaded on throwing out money) here's a few questions:

1. What would be a good class as a Hobbit per my love of adventuring, exploring, crafting etc?
2. I won't be able to play all the time because of commitments and will be a F2P er. What class will match tha and #1 as well?
3. How far can I get as a F2Per?
4. Would looking into a guild be a good idea right away?
5. I would like to get into RPing as a Hobbit. What would be a good server and places to do so?

Hope to see you all in game soon!

Welcome to the game!
To start with, LOTRO has been going strong for quite a while and I don't see it going away anytime soon. I find that overall it is an excellent MMO for those with other time commitments (like a family, a job, ect...). It is also an excellent game for those that love exploring and crafting.

For questions 1 and 2, you can really do this with any class, so I would recommend trying them all out and seeing what you like before really settling on a character. A hunter has a lot of travel skills which will help with your exploring, so you may want to start there.

Levels up through 32 are pretty easy to do without spending a dime. You can also purchase areas as you progress individually without having to pay the monthly VIP fees. It will give you plenty of time to see if you like the game or not.

A kinship (guild) is very helpful if you can find the right one. On the Riddermark server, if you are an adult, the Parents of Middle Earth is a great kinship. It is one of the best for those who have work and/or family matters that come well before playing LOTRO. If you have to drop out of a raid in the middle because it is time to pick up kids from soccer or whatever, everyone understands. I am biased, being one of its early members, but I have loved it. There are both advanced and beginning players for any play style. That being said, the RP server would be Laurelin. I am sure there are great kinships there, but not really being into RP stuff I couldn't tell you much about it.

Anyways, hope that helps. Good luck with the game and good hunting!

Originally Posted by Shire_Girl

1. What would be a good class as a Hobbit per my love of adventuring, exploring, crafting etc?

Class mostly affects combat, not "adventuring, exploring, crafting" You may want to pick Hunter for easier travel, but beware - it's the most popular class and you may have trouble finding spot in groups later.

Originally Posted by Shire_Girl

2. I won't be able to play all the time because of commitments and will be a F2P er. What class will match tha and #1 as well?

Hunter class is ideal for F2P, because you get Instant Travel to lots of places which other classes (except Wardens) don't get. That means you won't suffer as much from lack of swift travel, which is a VIP and post-VIP perk. Again, beware of having trouble getting into groups later.

Originally Posted by Shire_Girl

3. How far can I get as a F2Per?

Pretty far - as long as you play, in fact. I played for 14 months straight as F2P before I spend any money at all. And even then it was only the minimal TP purchase for $6 to become Premium.

Originally Posted by Shire_Girl

4. Would looking into a guild be a good idea right away?

If you won't find a guild, a guild will find you I cannot say if your first guild will be a good one though - some people stay in guilds for years, other change them every few months. Neither is good or bad, it's just how things are.

Originally Posted by Shire_Girl

5. I would like to get into RPing as a Hobbit. What would be a good server and places to do so?

Laurelin for European times, Landroval for US/Pacific times. Belegaer or Estel if you're a native German/French speaker, respectively.

Originally Posted by Shire_Girl

1. What would be a good class as a Hobbit per my love of adventuring, exploring, crafting etc?
2. I won't be able to play all the time because of commitments and will be a F2P er. What class will match tha and #1 as well?
3. How far can I get as a F2Per?
4. Would looking into a guild be a good idea right away?
5. I would like to get into RPing as a Hobbit. What would be a good server and places to do so?

Hiya and welcome.

1. There are a couple classes that Hobbits can't be. Out of the classes you CAN play as a Hobbit though they all can do well in adventuring, exploring, and crafting. The one class that does have an advantage in those areas though would be the burglar because the burg can go into stealth mode and sneak by many of the creatures that other classes would have to fight through. This means the burg can explore areas that might normally be a bit too hard for another class such as a higher level area or area with too many critters. Of course the Hunter also has benefits for adventuring and exploring because the Hunter has speed boosts and teleport skills that allow them to travel faster and insta-travel to other parts of the map. For a new player the Hunter is usually the preferred adventuring class.

2. All classes do well in casual play and can solo pretty well for those times you don't have time to look for groups.

3. All free players can get to max level (75) though you will start to run out of free quests around level 30. During your time playing though you can earn free store points (TP) which can be used to unlock more quest packs. So if you want to play totally free all the way to max level you can it'll just require more time spent grinding free TP for the quest unlocks.

4. Looking for a guild (called a kinship in LotRO) is a very good idea for a new player starting out. Kins can offer a wide variety of help, advice, gear and friendship for new players. Just look for a kin that is geared toward your style of play (casual/hardcore, raiding/non-raiding, family friendly/adults only, etc.).

5. Landroval is a more casual RP server (officially the RP Encouraged server) meaning RP names and rules aren't enforced, merely encouraged, and has a mix of RP'ers and non-RP'ers. It's also more of an American timezone-based server so may have less players during the off-hours.

Laurelin is the official RP server and has a more strict naming policy and enforces chat rules a lot more. Before this server was transferred to the US it was previously Europes English-speaking RP server so most of it's players are European though there has been an influx of US players since the transfer.

So you can pretty much choose whether you want a more casual or more strict RP experience and choose whichever server. Keep in mind that there are also RP'ers on all the other servers too, just not as many, so if you don't want to pick either of the two above you can go with any other server and still find RP.

You have gotten good answers so far. Thus: Welcome to Middle Earth!!!

Well met and well come!

Originally Posted by Shire_Girl

I love to mainly explore and discover things as well as craft and adventure.

Then I'd say you want a Class that has strong Solo abilities...

1. What would be a good class as a Hobbit per my love of adventuring, exploring, crafting etc?
2. I won't be able to play all the time because of commitments and will be a F2P er. What class will match tha and #1 as well?

Crafting is not class-dependent - those can be mixed/matched as you please.

Also sounds like you want a Class that is easy to learn/play and relatively quick to level, since you won't be putting a lot of hours into the game. (Can be frustrating to have played for "months" and still be "low level".)

Hunter is a classic start - easy to learn/play, and rural hobbit-appropriate. A Ranged Class, you just sit back and pew-pew-pew away. Can be a bit on the "squishy" side at times, so you have to know when to run, but if you're not dense you can make it sing just fine. (I'd recommend Tinker(Jeweller) or Explorer(Tailor) Crafts)

Guardian is a strong solo class, but doesn't level/advance quite as fast. A melee class, it wades in and goes toe-to-toe with its opponents. It also relies on heavy (metal) armour - not sure if that fits your RP yardstick. (I'd recommend Tinker (Jeweller) or Armourer (metal armour & crafting tools) for this one.)

Minstrel is one that might work, but is a "spell caster" class, and advanced to play, and the combat sequence can get complicated - not prohibitively, but it does require you to be on top of it. (Tinker or Explorer Craft for this one too.)

(Burglar is another "advanced" class and more targeted at group-play, but still strong solo. "Warden" might be the right choice, except that it is not F2P.)

3. How far can I get as a F2Per?

In theory, all the way. As you play, you can earn "Turbine Points". TP are used to buy advanced content and unlock character abilities. With enough(!) TP, you can have everything that pay-to-play have.

Practically speaking, if you don't play often, you won't need to worry about that for a looong time.

However, by the time you get there, if you really like the game, you might want to take the option to throw $15 at the game to become VIP ("paying") for one month, which permanently unlocks a LOT of material. Lots of players take this option, even ones (like me, aherm) who started off fanatically Free-to-Play, once they decided that, for them, this game is worth just a little cash investment.

4. Would looking into a guild be a good idea right away?

Yes and no.

Yes, b/c Kins are a good thing, but don't go pimping yourself for the quickest one. Listen to (read) the /chat, the advertisements, find one that suits you, and feel them out a bit. Don't be shy about stating all your needs/expectations (and reservations/limitations!), nor about saying "no thanks" is a Kin doesn't seem to be everything you are looking for.

And if you join and then change your mind, don't be shy about leaving/changing - happens all the time.

5. I would like to get into RPing as a Hobbit. What would be a good server and places to do so?

Jeffm's description (previous post) is a good thumbnail summation.

Of the ~30 Servers, 2 are designated as "Role Play" ones. Landroval is "EN-RE" - English speaking, RolePlay Encouraged. On that server is a great and respected group of hobbit RP'ers, the Bounders of the Shire (not my kin, btw, so I'm not self-promoting) - check them out.

The other RP Server is Laurelin RP, the designated "English" RP server. (There are also some designated RP servers for some specific foreign languages). This has a rep for being more serious/higher-expectaton RP than Landroval, which has a mix of RP and gamer-types, and players who switch between the two modes.

Thank you for all the advice!

I am on the Laurelin server as a Hobbit Hunter named Lurlia. Hope you see you in game!