Is Moria killing the game for me?

Nizur

I have a lifetime sub to LotRO. I was in the private beta before the game was released and played it from opening day all the time until the Moria expansion. I brought my main into Moria and within a few weeks lost interest. I figured maybe I was just bored with that character, so I created another and leveled them up until I again hit Moria. And again, I lost interest.

I've tried a couple times in the last few months to get back into LotRO, but every time I bring one of my toons into Moria, I lose interest and log out. I'm not exactly sure what it is about Moria, or if it's even Moria itself. Maybe it's the Legendary treadmill BS that kicks in around then? Does anyone else feel the same way or am I just odd?

natpick

i havent played lotro for some time now but felt exactly the same as you when hitting moria

its so dull and boring and endless,but with help from a few friends i got through it so i would advise grab some mates and just push on through it.its worth it at the end.

 

flizzer

I'm a LOTRO lifer also from 2008 and dislike Moria also.  However, I have multiple characters and usually can enter Moria around 55 or 56 and leave in a level or so.   The content after Moria is an improvement. I just wish it could be totally skipped. What bothers me , especially after GW2 , is the slow, clunky, stand in one place type of combat.   Still believe the story/lore and community in LOTRO are top notch and love my war mount I recently acquired.

Drakynn

Haven't Played for years either but Moria is one of the most uniquely designed zones in any MMORPG...I thoroughly enjoyed my characters journey through there....but I doubt I'd ever want to repeat it on an alt.

A lot of people hate Moria because it is a hassle to navigate around in that regard it resembles Moria in the books perfectly..You need to join a helpful guild to help hurry you through there if your not enjoying it.Most folks get there guild to rush their alts through there.

Bigmamajama

Its not you its Moria, leveling my character through Moria was one of the most painful memories I have with regards to any MMO.  Its was simply not fun, or scary or interesting just totally annoying.  The travel maps, quests, zone layouts pretty much everything about that expansion was bad,  just couldn't wait to get out of the place.

ReaperUk

When the Moria expansion came out I created a Runekeeper and having reached the appropriate level worked my way through most of the new content then took a break to play something else. I went back for the Lothlorien expansion and created a Warden but found by then, what with skirmishes and other repeatable content I was already level 55 I think, before even entering Moria. I wasn't keen on repeating everything again myself and quickly made a few more levels from repeatables to level my weapons and then moved onto Lothlorien on the other side. The content there is a total contrast to that in Moria. It's a much happier place.

My advice if you don't like Moria would be to level up as much as possible before entering and then to exit to Lothlorien around level 58/9. You don't need to stay long.

Po_gg

It's not you (or at least not only you), there were multiple threads on it, even with guides how to skip Moria entirely and getting into Lorien in a few hours   Lots and lots of people dislike Moria. The revamp made it better though.

And yep, the introduction of LI grind didn't helped either... But Moria brought the warden, that should mention on its favour.

bubaluba

Game was killed for me at level 36. I never killed so many boars in my life, lotro has worst questing  system ever.

Lithuanian

I felt the same: a huge maze, map won't work (and sometimes it's better not to use it), enemies all around so sometimes "run for your life" was the best option. I really hated Moria and my only escape from this "daily grump" were festivals and some crafting.

Moria is a very contradictive region: you will find those who praise it; you will find those who hate it.  Moria instance are good for a quality groups. I did some of them and was very satisfied. It was hard, with many detahs, but still possible. Filikul in Moria looks to be favourite instance since it rewards with tokens (and tokens means better LI). For those with huge patience Moria offers some 800 Turbine points for deeds. Doing instances does help, I can confirm it with my experience. 2 instamces, 1 little raid - and my spider slayer deeds were finished.

On the other hand, Moria is dark, grumpy, hard to navigate and killing stuff is sometimes painfully long.

In short: Moria may make you feel depressing (you are not odd...nor are many many players), you just have to: a) level up a bit; b) find some group to locate stables (will help a lot, it's a safe travel after all) and so some content.

If you happen to be on Withywindle, you may contact my toon NaktiesKarys, he is always trying to do soe usefull things in Moria and typically waits in 21st hall.

Destai

Originally posted by Nizur

I have a lifetime sub to LotRO. I was in the private beta before the game was released and played it from opening day all the time until the Moria expansion. I brought my main into Moria and within a few weeks lost interest. I figured maybe I was just bored with that character, so I created another and leveled them up until I again hit Moria. And again, I lost interest.

I've tried a couple times in the last few months to get back into LotRO, but every time I bring one of my toons into Moria, I lose interest and log out. I'm not exactly sure what it is about Moria, or if it's even Moria itself. Maybe it's the Legendary treadmill BS that kicks in around then? Does anyone else feel the same way or am I just odd?

Yeah, it really sucked the life out of the game for me. It was so crowded, the quests weren't fun, and there was a ton of reputation to grind. 

trancejeremy

Yeah.

To a certain extent, they did a good job (especially originally) of capturing the hugeness and darkness of Moria. But it's not a lot of fun to play. Heck, in the books, they got through it fairly quickly.

 

It does get better once you get out of Moria, you can start doing the Elf quests at I think level 56 or so. But the legendary item grind/treadmill is a big part of the game after that, which is like a psychic vampire, sucking all the fun and energy out of you.

Morrowbreeze

For me it has been the problem of getting from point A to point B without being lost for hours. Multiple floor levels for example, should have had  better maping, but I have no idea how a 3D map could be made for the game. Stables, though handy, are no good until both working locations are discovered. Until then its truly a labyrinth.

Nizur

I'm glad it's not just me. I think I'll try doing some repeatable content until I hit mid-50s and then blast through Moria as fast as I can to Lothlorien. And I should probably just buckle down and learn all about the LI system instead of running away from it. It's here for the long haul apparently so I should get used to it.

ElderRat

truthfully I liked LOTRO before they expanded to Moria and beyond. It was a much better game than it is now.. my opinion. I loved Moria when they added it, I think that having a problem finding your way around is part and parcel of it being Moria. In the book they had to sit and wait while Gandalf figured out which way to go next, so yeah getting lost means they did it well.  I guess it depends on what you want from LOTRO and if all you want is to get to end game then yea Moria is a roadblock. If you want to enjoy the adventure then Moria is an integral part. Just my opinion.

avalon1000

As a long time player of LOTRO I level my characters up to the max before going into the darkness and depressing Moria and leave as early as I can (only five levels in Moria). Sorry Turbine, but you need another path besides Moria.

avalon1000

Originally posted by Destai

Originally posted by Nizur

I have a lifetime sub to LotRO. I was in the private beta before the game was released and played it from opening day all the time until the Moria expansion. I brought my main into Moria and within a few weeks lost interest. I figured maybe I was just bored with that character, so I created another and leveled them up until I again hit Moria. And again, I lost interest.

I've tried a couple times in the last few months to get back into LotRO, but every time I bring one of my toons into Moria, I lose interest and log out. I'm not exactly sure what it is about Moria, or if it's even Moria itself. Maybe it's the Legendary treadmill BS that kicks in around then? Does anyone else feel the same way or am I just odd?

Yeah, it really sucked the life out of the game for me. It was so crowded, the quests weren't fun, and there was a ton of reputation to grind. 

After I reached level 75 I pretty much stopped doing reputation grinds. It's a stupid system (like years ago when I used to hammer on a mob for hours at a time in Maplestory...cannot believe I did that). Grinding is stupid and I really like the leveling in GW2 because I can just roam and do dynamic events (even below my level) and before I know it I am the next level. 

lugal

I got the game for the moria expac. I really loved the world and the gameplay. I even got to like the slow combat.
Moria was fun at first, since it new. Finding all the quest hubs and doing the relic grind was fun, for a short time. I think I lasted for 3 months till the burnout was too much. Always having to fight the same static mobs everytime I wanted to go someplace. No varity. Instances were fun and I had a blast doing them with my kin.
Burnout of the samesies made me quit. Still the best pve experince in a mmo I had.

WalterWhite

Having just recently returned to LotRO, I have levelled up a few characters to lvl 50 and am now taking a break before the Moria stage of my levelling process as it does get you down. I think of it as the SAD area, not sad as in unhappy but Seasonal Affective Disorder due to it having no sunlight.

I'm interested to see the revamp of Moria as the last time I pl;ayed there it was endgame area so at least I know there is light at the end of the tunnel (no pun intended)

Lithuanian

And how could that be? Moria is almost unavoidable. It (theoretically) ends with lvl.60. Lvl.61 and higher - Lothlorien or Enedwaith. The only solution may be raids/instances somewhere.

And to miss Moria means to miss some 800 Turbine points + 1 free character per server + 2 classes unavailable for free players.

reploidx

I had a love/hate relationship with that damn area. Moria to me was fun, but it was just so BORING! I liked seeing the sites depicted in the movies/books and fighting all the enemies, learning more about the lore of everything, but there are just so many quests. There is WAY to many fetch quests, and all the grinding for the rep gear just killed it for me, and after I got out of Moria, I was done. I haven't gone back to Lotro and for the life of me I just can't bring myself back.

Sovrath

Originally posted by Lithuanian

I felt the same: a huge maze, map won't work (and sometimes it's better not to use it), enemies all around so sometimes "run for your life" was the best option. I really hated Moria and my only escape from this "daily grump" were festivals and some crafting.

Moria is a very contradictive region: you will find those who praise it; you will find those who hate it.  Moria instance are good for a quality groups. I did some of them and was very satisfied. It was hard, with many detahs, but still possible. Filikul in Moria looks to be favourite instance since it rewards with tokens (and tokens means better LI). For those with huge patience Moria offers some 800 Turbine points for deeds. Doing instances does help, I can confirm it with my experience. 2 instamces, 1 little raid - and my spider slayer deeds were finished.

On the other hand, Moria is dark, grumpy, hard to navigate and killing stuff is sometimes painfully long.

In short: Moria may make you feel depressing (you are not odd...nor are many many players), you just have to: a) level up a bit; b) find some group to locate stables (will help a lot, it's a safe travel after all) and so some content.

If you happen to be on Withywindle, you may contact my toon NaktiesKarys, he is always trying to do soe usefull things in Moria and typically waits in 21st hall.

I would have to agree, it's a region with those that praise it and those that hate it.

Personally I loved Moria. But I love huge dungeon crawls that are dangerous and where you can get lost. One of the reasons I preferred the original old forest. I'm actually leveling an alt as quickly as I can to get TO moria. level 48 so "almost". And I'll take my main in there to finish some things I never finished.

Now, having said all this, they just revamped moria according to a friend so perhaps they completely made it palatable to the OP?

rooey

Moria wouldn't be as bad if you could use your horse in there.

chakalaka

OP, mate, I must agree with you as I also played Beta, (not private beta) got the game and enjoyed the F#$% outta it for a long time. Moria hit and it just seemed like something was missing. I feel your pain my friend. 

ElRenmazuo

Moria was my favorite experience in lotro, it was like a whole different world to explore within the game.  Sure getting lost got annoying sometimes but at the same time its a great thing that made me more immersed.

Sovrath

Originally posted by Jean-Luc_Picard

 

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Originally posted by rooey Moria wouldn't be as bad if you could use your horse in there.

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One of the worse parts of Moria are the damned goat mounts. That's when LOTRO started to stray away from the Tolkien lore and turn the game into another "generic" fantasy MMO... goats, Runekeepers who fart more lightning than a Sith Lord with diarrhea, Aliens and Predators in the deeper levels... Poor JRR must have facepalmed in his tomb.

 

You know I can forgive the goats.

Reason being, it makes more sense to use an animal used to weird and rough terrain inside a mine/underground city.

The issue with Moria is that the dwarves coming back to it didn't happen until much later. They should have left it as an evil dungeon crawl and leave it at that.

The Aliens and Predators are more about them "thinking too much". Essentially saying "what types of monsters would be in the deepest darkest depths? Well, monsters without the need of light! But we as players can see just fine so it really just doesn't work. It's too science fiction. Runekeepers are of course "way out" but it is what it is unfortunately.

My biggest gripe other than the horrible dunland quests can be expressed in this example that happened over the weekend.

I took off from Rivendell with the intention of going to Eregion. I wasn't sure the way so I sort of explored in order to find the path. On the path I happened to notice some stairs to the right which led to some hidden practically underground, edifice. It reminded me of being in skyrim when I discovered the secret place of the blades before I knew it was a "place for the blades".

I love discovering the lost or undiscovered and in all my years I never knew this place existed. I saw a door, walked up to it, "clicked" only to get a "you are not on the appropriate quest" message.

That pretty much defines what I hate about the game and what ruins what could be a great experience.

AZHokie54

Add me to the list.

Level 56 toon sitting in Moria. I've tried several times to push my way through and just quit after a few hours. It's just a horrible zone.