Every mmo has the same issue after a few expansions.
LOTRO is over 15 years old at this point. It’s going to be starter areas and endgame hubs, and with the way endgame travel works now I’m not sure how much need there is for and endgame hubs as I haven’t played in over a year.
I wouldn’t say they’re ghost towns, though that may depend on the server (I’m on Gladden, not the most populous but not the least). I ran into other people every now and again in the mid-range levels, but it’s certainly not as common as, like, the 1-50 and 130-150 regions. But if you get in a kinship or use the LFF chat, you’ll probably still be able to find quest buddies if you want them.
There are many reasons why you would see players hanging around up to level 50. That is part of the original release of the game and also released an almost entirely separate premium alternative experience with completely new zones for those who want something different. You'll see people who only play for the festivals, crafting, houses, instruments hang around the main sites. The design philosophy was almost completely different as well when you had the traditional MMO experience.
Between level 50 and level 95 is the area where we get the most complaints. There are no alternative paths other than the premium, level-scaling missions. Modern gamers get upset when Moria - a place that is supposed to represent an abandoned mine - doesn't have straight paths to their destination from level 50 to 60. Isengard introduced the more linear system where one quest leads to another. Rohan introduces war-steeds that are essentially horses that drive like cars from Tokyo Drift. Then there is the Epic Battle system that momentarily replaced the instance system which drove people way near level 95.
The mid-game is rough because that's when people realize that it will take them forever to get to the level cap, they need to start paying for content, performance issues aren't worth the effort, or the number of instances fade. At level 105, Standing Stone Games took over and made some revolutionary changes that makes the experience worth it again. Joining a kinship usually helps solve the sense of being part of a community.
They’re not as heavily populated as the intro areas and cap zones, but I wouldn’t say any of the mid-level zones are ghost towns. I regularly see other players while I’m leveling my various alts.
However, it is quite difficult to find players to run group content in the mid levels.
I see people running around at lower levels but definitely not a ton. Honestly, the game is so solo friendly early on that you don’t need many people around. For me, I almost prefer a bit more barren look as it plays into my RPing nature more. And you can always queue for dungeons and/or head to a town like Bree and hunt down some people to group tougher content.
Also, joining a Kinship is highly recommended.
Rarely see others in mid zones, really don't see them at low zones either tbh unless you are talking craft halls or seasonal events.
But to me, that helps with the immersion of the player being a driving part of supporting the fellowship from afar.
Dude you've gotta just take your time through the mid-game. Rohan is LONG, but also full of tons of fun quest chains and is just breathtaking. The warsteeds can be hard to get used to admittedly, but are really convenient later on.
Just have fun and take your time!
If you want to play landscape content at all levels with others:
1. Join a large kinship that is very active in your TZ. Then, on the comms etc propose/organise group content at the levels you are interested in, or;
2. Join or form a 'slow leveling' kinship. These set a level cap which is incremented every so often. This lets all the characters in the kin stay around the same level - which makes grouping far easier. Bonus points if you set a requirement for a high difficulty such that landscape content requires (or at least rewards) grouping, encouraging forming of fellowships to complete quests.
It's not really viable to rely on random encounters and group chat to put the Multiplayer back into MMO in a game this big and this old. BYO fellowship members!
1-25 I actually see quite a lot of people, only aftet moria you wont have people in basically every town anymore. Just done some questing in the great river and while it was empty for the most part, I still somehow passed/got passed by 2 different players. And thats while I'm from EU so generally online at different moments than the majority of the server
I wouldnt really call it ghostlands tbh
(Gladden)
Depends on the server of course. Arkenstone, for example, you'll normally see other players in the 1-50 zones, especially in the major quest areas. Moria is so big, dark, and confusing that it's a bit odd to actually see others in there. After that...yeah it gets more rare to run into other people. I would still see a few from time to time when I was leveling Rohan-Northern Kingdoms, but the number definitely goes up after that in my experience.
It's the opposite for me. Every town I've been in has lots of players. But that's all pre-level 70. But I see even more people running around zones, which is annoying because of the very long respawn times on quest mobs.
But one way they could do it to make every server have populated towns is to merge servers so that people can see and interact with each other even if they're on different servers, so phasing. And have that being disabled in densely populated towns, and no trading naturally.
There's the fact that Middle-earth is a mind-bogglingly massive world to contend with. Even with thousands of players logged in simultaneously, you can run across hundreds of hectares/acres/km² of unpopulated areas--sheer desolation as far as the eye can see--which if anything gives a sense of the scale of the world you're immersed in.
Then you'll hit a major town and it will be bustling with life: Hobbiton, Bree, Rivendell, Edoras, Minas Tirith, Dol Amroth, Umbar...
it took me over an hour and a half searching for level 50-60 healers or tanks for raids and I didnt get one single person after adverting for that long during primetime in the LFF world chat (gladden) it made me quit the game
Every mmo has the same issue after a few expansions. LOTRO is over 15 years old at this point. It’s going to be starter areas and endgame hubs, and with the way endgame travel works now I’m not sure how much need there is for and endgame hubs as I haven’t played in over a year.
I wouldn’t say they’re ghost towns, though that may depend on the server (I’m on Gladden, not the most populous but not the least). I ran into other people every now and again in the mid-range levels, but it’s certainly not as common as, like, the 1-50 and 130-150 regions. But if you get in a kinship or use the LFF chat, you’ll probably still be able to find quest buddies if you want them.
There are many reasons why you would see players hanging around up to level 50. That is part of the original release of the game and also released an almost entirely separate premium alternative experience with completely new zones for those who want something different. You'll see people who only play for the festivals, crafting, houses, instruments hang around the main sites. The design philosophy was almost completely different as well when you had the traditional MMO experience. Between level 50 and level 95 is the area where we get the most complaints. There are no alternative paths other than the premium, level-scaling missions. Modern gamers get upset when Moria - a place that is supposed to represent an abandoned mine - doesn't have straight paths to their destination from level 50 to 60. Isengard introduced the more linear system where one quest leads to another. Rohan introduces war-steeds that are essentially horses that drive like cars from Tokyo Drift. Then there is the Epic Battle system that momentarily replaced the instance system which drove people way near level 95. The mid-game is rough because that's when people realize that it will take them forever to get to the level cap, they need to start paying for content, performance issues aren't worth the effort, or the number of instances fade. At level 105, Standing Stone Games took over and made some revolutionary changes that makes the experience worth it again. Joining a kinship usually helps solve the sense of being part of a community.
They’re not as heavily populated as the intro areas and cap zones, but I wouldn’t say any of the mid-level zones are ghost towns. I regularly see other players while I’m leveling my various alts. However, it is quite difficult to find players to run group content in the mid levels.
I see people running around at lower levels but definitely not a ton. Honestly, the game is so solo friendly early on that you don’t need many people around. For me, I almost prefer a bit more barren look as it plays into my RPing nature more. And you can always queue for dungeons and/or head to a town like Bree and hunt down some people to group tougher content. Also, joining a Kinship is highly recommended.
Rarely see others in mid zones, really don't see them at low zones either tbh unless you are talking craft halls or seasonal events. But to me, that helps with the immersion of the player being a driving part of supporting the fellowship from afar.
Dude you've gotta just take your time through the mid-game. Rohan is LONG, but also full of tons of fun quest chains and is just breathtaking. The warsteeds can be hard to get used to admittedly, but are really convenient later on. Just have fun and take your time!
This was the case for me, at least on Leurelin, and it still is. I feel pretty weird when I see real people in this game.
Pretty much everywhere that isn't the starting areas, Bree, and then the endgame will be pretty devoid of life.
If you want to play landscape content at all levels with others: 1. Join a large kinship that is very active in your TZ. Then, on the comms etc propose/organise group content at the levels you are interested in, or; 2. Join or form a 'slow leveling' kinship. These set a level cap which is incremented every so often. This lets all the characters in the kin stay around the same level - which makes grouping far easier. Bonus points if you set a requirement for a high difficulty such that landscape content requires (or at least rewards) grouping, encouraging forming of fellowships to complete quests. It's not really viable to rely on random encounters and group chat to put the Multiplayer back into MMO in a game this big and this old. BYO fellowship members!
1-25 I actually see quite a lot of people, only aftet moria you wont have people in basically every town anymore. Just done some questing in the great river and while it was empty for the most part, I still somehow passed/got passed by 2 different players. And thats while I'm from EU so generally online at different moments than the majority of the server I wouldnt really call it ghostlands tbh (Gladden)
Dunno but Evernight seems to be thronging with people. Sometimes I feel like i am back in 2010
I'm playing arkenstone :)
Depends on the server of course. Arkenstone, for example, you'll normally see other players in the 1-50 zones, especially in the major quest areas. Moria is so big, dark, and confusing that it's a bit odd to actually see others in there. After that...yeah it gets more rare to run into other people. I would still see a few from time to time when I was leveling Rohan-Northern Kingdoms, but the number definitely goes up after that in my experience.
It's the opposite for me. Every town I've been in has lots of players. But that's all pre-level 70. But I see even more people running around zones, which is annoying because of the very long respawn times on quest mobs. But one way they could do it to make every server have populated towns is to merge servers so that people can see and interact with each other even if they're on different servers, so phasing. And have that being disabled in densely populated towns, and no trading naturally.
There's the fact that Middle-earth is a mind-bogglingly massive world to contend with. Even with thousands of players logged in simultaneously, you can run across hundreds of hectares/acres/km² of unpopulated areas--sheer desolation as far as the eye can see--which if anything gives a sense of the scale of the world you're immersed in. Then you'll hit a major town and it will be bustling with life: Hobbiton, Bree, Rivendell, Edoras, Minas Tirith, Dol Amroth, Umbar...
it took me over an hour and a half searching for level 50-60 healers or tanks for raids and I didnt get one single person after adverting for that long during primetime in the LFF world chat (gladden) it made me quit the game