| Lotro is convenient in that it allows you to accomplish small things in a short period of time, either in a group or solo. There is plenty of content for both to take you to 50, and some decent and fun raids at the higher end.
Take group quests when you can, advertise in the LFF channel (the grouping tool is lame and useless, but i hear its getting a revamp in march). often times lots of solo content opens up after a group quest.
the game isnt that item centric compared to wow. the gap between high level group quest rewards and raid rewards is marginal. (this can be good or bad depending on how you like your mmo).
i found the epic quest line quite fun. the quest writers are pretty good, and there are lots of quest gems that are great. there is one story line where you track gollum down by laying a trap of fish, and end up chasing him all over the trollshaws. personally i like the atmosphere, graphics and story of the tolkien world far more than wow. the people seem to be more mature as well, although this is just my experience.
other quests you shouldnt miss: retaking weathertop at 25, and tomb of elendil at level 40.
the trait system and deed system is a creatve spinoff of wows talents. the fellowship moves are so so.
if you are coming from wow, the combat system can be jarring since its a queue system. i got used to it within a week. as far as game mechanics is concerned, i feel that wow is still better in this category, but lotro does just fine.
one feature which i feel will spread to every mmo that will be released is the integrated voice chat. this helps pugs tremendously due to the ease of using it. there are a variety of higher level zones designed for 1 group that require some decent coordination; carn dum, barad gularan, urugarth.
I play on brandywine server, i hear that and landroval are highest population. I dont have any trouble getting groups during regular play hours, but there is a significant amount of people on all the time since the game is popular in new zealand/australia. | 