LOTRO....

[Gravekeeper]

I just picked this up ( Lord of the Rings Online ) though I haven't really sat down with it yet ( stupid work. ). Anyone else playing it? I know there's a lot of WoWers on the boards but WoW....well, the game itself doesn't suck ( least till the later levels ) but the people in it suck horribly. I always feel like I'm at work when I play it. Surrounded entirely by idiots whom I'm forced to somehow try and work with. No offense to anyone that plays it mind you, I'm sure you'll agree actually. There's a lot of friggan idiots in WoW.

It seems very WoW without the kids and an actual storyline so far. Seems promising.

[lordlundar]

I was in the beta so I can't speak for the community, but the gameplay is basically WoW with more realistic graphics. Heck, for each class in the game, I can come up with a WoW duplicate just skimming the description(they are that basic). The crafting system is certainly more fleshed out though and actually feels useful.

If you want a good group to hook up with, go on the Silverlode server and look up Call of Fate. It's a casual guild so drama is kept to a minimum, and scoring the best loot is a treat as opposed to a goal. The goal is to relax, have fun, laugh, and drive each other batty! I'm living proof of it!:lol:

[Geek King]

Sorry GK, but online people are the same in most games. You just ignore the jerks and try to find some people you can stand.

I played LOTRO for a bit, but moved on. Just not a big enough LOTR geek, I guess. Other friends who can quote the Simarillion from end to end, and sideways, still love it. Our group was "Order of the Grue" when I played.

[Gravekeeper]

Yes, its the same pedigree as WoW, albeit a bit more complicated. Better quests as well ( I haven't hit any "farming" quests where I'm collecting x of item that only has a 4% drop rate. I'm looking at you Blizzard. )

I've been playing online games for ages, and yeah, every game has idiots. But WoW is overwhelmingly idiots. Mind bogglingly so. Mainly because its A) Extremely popular, B) Designed to hook, line and sinker casual players before they realize and C) Will run on even the most weak ass computer.

Horde is better, mind you, but we foolishly rolled Alliance for our return and I have yet to group with a single Alliance player whom I did not want to stab in the throat after 5-10 minutes of play. Combine that with the griefers, farmers, twinks, no lives with ridiculous gear, etc and the players really do ruin WoW. We only made it so far because I was only playing with a friend of mine, period. But he gets deployed too often ( Afghanistan =/ ) to play with regularly anymore. Once I started trying to play by myself it was hard to ignore the flaws and the obvious grinding that takes over your time at later levels. Plus I couldn't find anyone I could stand for more then 10 minutes to play with so I canceled the account.

So I figured I'd give LOTR a whirl since I heard better things about the community and people on the forums could form complete sentences. Something I wasn't use too in WoW. ;p

I use to play DaoC for a few years, still the best PVP system, just a shame the class balance has been completely and eternally broken. Plus the controls and graphics are crap, hehe. Played CoH/CoV for a while too, but its not a deep enough game to hold my interest in the long term.

Tried EQ2, good game too ( Well, now anyway. At release it was awful. ), but very easy and no pvp ( pvp servers don't count, so broken. ). I was in the Burning Sea beta.....pretty meh game there too. Ship combat was fairly cool but everything else was pretty weak.

Satiated myself on Exteel for a while, really good for a free game, but it gets old fairly quick and it has some bad imbalances.

So now I'm on LOTRO.

Killin' time till Warhammer Online. ;p

[iradney]

TTO enjoyed it while he played it. I didn't play it so I couldn't really give an informed opinion...

[Slytovhand]

I shouldn't really reply here - cos I bought LOTRO about 3 months ago - and still haven't even loaded it on my machine.

But - I do agree with WoW descriptions. It was because of the addictiveness that I havne't touched the LOTRO.

I would hopefully presume that the ppl on LOTRO would be more interested in actually playing the game itself, rather than backstabbing players.. but that could be naive of me...

[lordlundar]

Satiated myself on Exteel for a while, really good for a free game, but it gets old fairly quick and it has some bad imbalances.

and a rootkit.

[Gravekeeper]

I would hopefully presume that the ppl on LOTRO would be more interested in actually playing the game itself, rather than backstabbing players.. but that could be naive of me...

Thats the impression I get. The l33tlings are drawn to WoW as their natural habitat so LOTRO doesn't get as many. Especially since there's no pvp focus or pvp servers. Only the monsterplay thing.

Well I'll sit down with it on Sunday when I get off work and see how it goes. I was impressed so far but I only messed around to level 4 or 5ish. The environment feels a lot more natural/real then WoW. You don't look around and get the impression everyone around you just exists to hold up a quest "!".

[Evil Queen]

I used to play Guild Wars but fell out of love with it quickly. Dear brother plays it a lot though so it's not like the money went to waste. I'd rather he play it then it sit on my shelf collecting dust.

I'm more of a miniatures/board gamer myself anyways.

Text based RPGs (web forum based) are a personal favourite of mine though I haven't played since I left the one being run on the Wizards.com website (I think it was called Terisia).

[Andara Bledin]

There's a lot of friggan idiots in WoW.

But WoW is overwhelmingly idiots. Mind bogglingly so. Mainly because its A) Extremely popular, B) Designed to hook, line and sinker casual players before they realize and C) Will run on even the most weak ass computer.

You need a better server, and to find a halfway decent guild. Those two things right there will make a whole world of difference.

I've been on some bad servers and it made me want to stab myself in the ear with a pencil. But even on a bad server, a decent guild can make it fun.

I've not gone near LotRO, so I have no input.

^-.-^

[Anriana]

I disagree that online games are composed of the same type of players. I've played WoW extensively and sampled Eve Online, Hellgate: London, and Tabula Rasa, and the communities for each game have been extremely different. All of my WoW friends who have moved on to other games also comment on the different communities (namely in the form of "Anriana, no one says newb in *my* general chat, come play with me!!!")



I've been playing online games for ages, and yeah, every game has idiots. But WoW is overwhelmingly idiots. Mind bogglingly so. Mainly because its A) Extremely popular, B) Designed to hook, line and sinker casual players before they realize and C) Will run on even the most weak ass computer.

I also disagree with this. Some of the best players I've met have been the casual gamers who started playing because of the popularity of the game. The Blizzard fanbois who have been playing since Beta and the hardcore players are generally the more obnoxious and conceited players (and I say this as a hardcore player.) Yes, the casual players aren't going to have the greatest gear - although everyone has easy access to purples now - and they're more likely to stand in fire, but they're also more likely to be worth talking to and to know how to form a sentence that doesn't involve genitalia or homophobic insults. I'd much rather play with a casual player who was groomed into a good player than a hardcore player who's always been L337.

[Gravekeeper]

You need a better server, and to find a halfway decent guild. Those two things right there will make a whole world of difference.


All my toons were om Misha. Horde there isn't too bad, but Alliance will make you want to punch a kitten inside of 15 minutes. Especially if you make any attempt to PvP or group.

I tend to avoid guilds these days because there's always at least one asshole or drama queen in every guild that everyone hates but is friends with x so no one can get rid of. -.-



I disagree that online games are composed of the same type of players. I've played WoW extensively and sampled Eve Online, Hellgate: London, and Tabula Rasa, and the communities for each game have been extremely different. All of my WoW friends who have moved on to other games also comment on the different communities (namely in the form of "Anriana, no one says newb in *my* general chat, come play with me!!!")

I agree, every game I've played has had a different feeling to the community. Honestly the two best have been Everquest 2 and City of Heroes/Villains. The absolutely *worst* by far has been WoW.



I also disagree with this. Some of the best players I've met have been the casual gamers who started playing because of the popularity of the game.

I didn't mean that casual players are all idiots. I mean when a game is THAT popular ( as WoW is ) and draws everyone and the kitchen sink its going to swarming with idiots, much like the general public is. In other words I have just as much trouble finding people to talk too in WoW as I would in a room full of John Q Public.

Before WoW, mmo's were basically niche communities. You had idiots, yes, but the very nature and subject of an mmo would attract mainly a specific type of person ( Geeks, nerds, fantasy/sci fi/book buffs, etc ) . The original Dark Age of Camelot community for instance was one of the best online communities I had ever been in. Because a lot of the people that originally played it were big fantasy/mythology buffs that were drawn to it.

LOTRO has a similar draw, mainly that its Lord of the Rings. So you're going to find at least some people in it that have actually read a book in their lives. Which is a step up from the average Alliance player in WoW. =p

WoW's other big flaw is that it rewards time over skill. All mmos due this to some degree but WoW leans on it more and more heavily the higher level you get. Till you end up being defeated by an opponent's gear rather then talent. Which is an awful awful model if you have pvp. With twinks you get that affect at both low and high level. There's also that catch 22. Guild x would let you raid y till you have z gear but you can only get that by being in a guild that raids y.

Other pvp models, like DaoC's ( Or hell, even CoH/CoV's or Exteel's ), cap out. You can only gain so much of an advantage from gear so you end up reaching the final level ( 50 ) then spending some time building your suit. But once you do, thats it, its good for life and you can go raid / pvp till your heart's content. Which is a better model and one I hope they continue to use in Warhammer Online.

[XXDarrienX]

Well I was interested in LotRO till I found out theres no epic battles like Helms Deep, you can only be monsters to pvp. There is no pvp otherwise and if there is its another dumbed down version of pvp like WoW has. Thats why I am looking forward to Darkfall Online to come out, pvp like Eve Online.

[unholypet]

Killin' time till Warhammer Online. ;p

I'm beta testing it. Unless they change it to stupid, somehow, get ready for a butt-whirling adventure of fun and brutality.

[draggar]

I'm on Silverlode server. It's not bad, but I'm spending more time on Everquest. Most of the worthless people have left EQ for better games. Sure, you get the occasional person who bought a level 70 toon off of ebay, but they're minimal now.

The community as matured a lot since WoW and EQ2 (and I'm glad).

I should poke back onot LOTRo to check it out, again

[Chanlin]

I have a character I play occasionally on Nimrodel (not sure if I spelled that right :p )

Anyway I haven't had too much community interaction on LoTRO as I have had with WoW.

I do have to say it is the community that makes the game and the reason I play WoW most anymore is because I have several real life friends that also play the game. I agree that WoW has its fair share of jerks, idiots, and morons and it is a real pain in the back side that gear makes such a huge difference in the game anymore. I disagree with the Horde Vs Alliance assessment. It really depends on the server but really both factions will have their fare share of idiots morons and just plain dickwads.

I've tried pretty much every MMO on the market with a few exceptions. I've done COH, Eve, EQ, EQ2, WoW, FFXI, DaOC,LoTRO and even a few of the free to play MMO's. I have to say in terms of game play I've liked EQ2, WoW, and LoTRO the most. In terms of community FFXI and WoW have been the best by far for me, both due to having several real life friends that play.

Overall FFXI, WoW and LoTRO have been my top favorites MMO's with EQ and EQ2 being a distant second. My only gripe with FFXI is that it is complete impossible to solo in the game. If they could fix that I would play FFXi and drop every other MMO with the possible exception of LoTRO.

[Andara Bledin]

I tend to avoid guilds these days because there's always at least one asshole or drama queen in every guild that everyone hates but is friends with x so no one can get rid of. -.-

You've had some crap guilds, then.

Two of my last three guilds I was in were both started based around forums. Neither one put up with any form of drama. In fact, my current guild just kicked someone for being an ass. The one between was another anti-drama guild. All have been casualcore. Which means, basically, that while they want to progress through raid content, they're not going to try to make anyone change their spec or cut people for being under-geared so long as it's not ridiculous.

^-.-^

[Gravekeeper]

Yes, I've had some crap guilds. ;p Aren't you on a PVP server though? Those are usually the Bastion of the Asshole. >< I think it would drive me batty trying to level up on one.

I'm beta testing it. Unless they change it to stupid, somehow, get ready for a butt-whirling adventure of fun and brutality.

Good to hear. For all Mythic's flaws ( and there are many. ) they still created one of the best pvp systems ever. If they can just carry that spirit over and start from scratch as to avoid all the shit from DaoC, it should be a good game.


I disagree with the Horde Vs Alliance assessment. It really depends on the server but really both factions will have their fare share of idiots morons and just plain dickwads.

Oh, both sides have their dickwads, yes. But the Alliance has by far more younger players. There are a few servers where its not too bad ( or so I've heard.. ) but every server I've played Alliance on has driven me insane. The only reason I made it as far as I did into Alliance was, as you mentioned, because I was playing with real life friends. But once they couldn't play as much it forced me to interact with the community. <shudder>


I've tried pretty much every MMO on the market with a few exceptions. I've done COH, Eve, EQ, EQ2, WoW, FFXI, DaOC,LoTRO and even a few of the free to play MMO's. I have to say in terms of game play I've liked EQ2, WoW, and LoTRO the most. In terms of community FFXI and WoW have been the best by far for me, both due to having several real life friends that play.

I've done quite a few as well. Though I skipped on FF over complaints of how grindy it was. However, if you have real life friends to play with I don't think that counts as the community. ;p heh. If anything real life friends was what shielded me FROM the community in WoW.

[lordlundar]

I'm beta testing it.

I officially hate you.:devil:

[karath]

Seems like everyone here has pretty much hit the hammer on the head, so to speak. I've tried both games, but for me WoW was better, if only because I'm primarily a loner in the games with lots of alts, so if I can't find a group for one character's quest/dungeon I just switch to a different one and continue. I will be the first to admit that's not the best system, but that's how things wind up working.
LOTRO was, in my opinion, definitely interesting with magnificent graphics and, from what I could tell, a nice take on crafting.

That said, after spending a couple of years on WoW, I simply could not play LOTRO without comparing every. damn. thing. to the equivalents I encountered in WoW. Coupled with the fact that I'd finally found a good (horde) guild for my main warcraft character, I never got really hooked into LOTRO and my account died a tragic death shortly afterwards.

About people in WoW...some of the biggest @$$holes I've ever met were on horde (fortunately their intelligence was inversely proportionate to their mouths so taking them down was easy), but en masse alliance does have a much higher quantity of little sh*ts. One time I logged onto an alliance character with the full intention of auctioning my latest dungeon loot and gaining a level or two...five minutes in trade chat later I was on my horde pvp toon.

About the only possibly relevant advice I can think of goes for any MMO and Andara nailed that. Find a good server and get a good guild/supergroup/whatever that doesn't take any shit and stick with 'em. Thinks should go uphill from there :)

p.s. Did you prefer CoH or CoV?

[Gravekeeper]

p.s. Did you prefer CoH or CoV?

CoV all the way. -.-

Mainly because they took everything they learned from CoH and built it from scratch from there.

I was a Dominator pioneer. =p I think my Dom Guide is still up there, ehe.

I like to wander around and do my own thing in mmo's as well, which is kind of where WoW falls flat. Its honestly a painfully boring game solo. Painfully.. Then when you do go to group, or god help you, PVP, which is the main thing I enjoyed, you end up logging off in frustration in 10-15 minutes. The difference between Horde and Alliance in PvP is immensely frustrating. I thought it was just my imagination then I actually looked at the Win/Loss polling for the BGs......annnnd yeah, don't bother rolling Alliance if you want to pvp. Ever. ;p

I did try to start up Horde again but I was already too burned out from all the time put into my Alliance toons. So I just canceled the account. Bored of the game, burnt out from the people + grinding and no one to play with.

So on to LOTRO. Which I'll sit down with when I get off work and get a better idea of. ;p

[Andara Bledin]

Yes, I've had some crap guilds. ;p Aren't you on a PVP server though? Those are usually the Bastion of the Asshole. >< I think it would drive me batty trying to level up on one.

Actually, it's not as painful as you'd think, if you find a decent server. My main is Horde (Orc Hunter, always), and the last PvP server actually had higher Horde population that Alliance. The current one has more Alliance, but there aren't many truly douchewad guilds, and they're pretty easy to avoid if you have any alts.

p.s. Did you prefer CoH or CoV?

I like a lot of the stuff in CoV because it's often built on what they learned in CoH. Unfortunately, the starting area is very, very repetitious after your first character, and that's pretty painful. I think the whole darkness of the zone is what really does it to me.

The difference between Horde and Alliance in PvP is immensely frustrating. I thought it was just my imagination then I actually looked at the Win/Loss polling for the BGs......annnnd yeah, don't bother rolling Alliance if you want to pvp. Ever. ;p

I've never had a problem soloing my way up to top level in WoW. Even back in the early days just after launch. And with the last few major patches, they've improved soloability for the lower and mid-level ranges. My main is level 33, and that's with about 30 hours of game play. The only group anything I've done were a run through Ragefire Chasm (the mid-teens instance in Orgrimmar) that was run by a couple of over-levels, so there was no experience, just the quest objectives, and a run through Shadowfang Keep, for which I and another were notably overleveled, so again, not much xp gain, but for the quest objectives.

As for PvP imbalance, it changes with every single patch. It used to be, before the last patch, that Alterac Valley, the Alliance bosses had twice the hit points of the bosses on the Horde side. They equalized it in the patch and suddenly the Horde is winning again.

The problem isn't a lack of balance so much as the fact that except for decent guilds, there's not much in the way of actual PvP coordination on the Alliance side. For whatever reason, the douchebags seem to prefer that to the Horde side. Even after they added the blood elves to even out the "omg half-naked elf chicks" factor.

^-.-^

[Gravekeeper]

I've never had a problem soloing my way up to top level in WoW. Even back in the early days just after launch. And with the last few major patches, they've improved soloability for the lower and mid-level ranges.


Niether have I. But solo'n is boring as fsck all and makes you focus on how weak the non-instance/raid content really is. Me and my friend were doing a Hunter/Priest combo and we duo'd every flipping instance up till we quit ( Which was in the 50's ). My old Horde toons are higher but I don't play them anymore as they're pre-BC ( They have PVP titles for chrissakes ) so they're gear is laughably weak compared to the current stuff in the game. Since gear is ALL it comes down too in the 60-70 range there's utterly no incentive for me to play my horde toons anymore.


As for PvP imbalance, it changes with every single patch. It used to be, before the last patch, that Alterac Valley, the Alliance bosses had twice the hit points of the bosses on the Horde side. They equalized it in the patch and suddenly the Horde is winning again.

AV imbalances aside its always been tilted towards Horde simply because Alliance tends to attract younger, stupider players with an inflated sense of self worth. 98% of the BGs I've been in on Alliance have follow the exact same pattern. Everyone runs off and tries to solo the Horde team alone and doesn't listen to shit all anyone else on their team says. Even if its the most blatantly obvious like where our flag is or that there isn't a single person on D or the Horde's inc to Mine, etc etc.

Horde tends to work together. Playing my Horde toons in PVP is always a breath of fresh air from my Alliance toons where I'm just gritting my teeth the entire time at how fantastically stupid my team mates are. As even the most basic concepts like "Stab the guy with the flag" elude them.

Anyway, on the topic of LOTRO, beautiful beautiful game. Doesn't even feel like an mmo. More like an RPG where you occasionally see an NPC running around like a dingbat. Character models are awful though, to be honest. The faces are extremely well done but the body proportions are fundamentally wrong on most of the races.

Music system is neat. ;p

Seems like a good game, but the core experience is still very much the bread and butter mmo standard. Which I'm honestly not much for anymore these days. If you can't give me fun without giving me pointless time wasting tasks to collect or kill x of y then I'm really not interested to be honest. It does have a lot of neat unique features but I've played so many mmos and its the same ol' same ol' all over again.

I do like the class design, however. Its not the cookie cutter classes you always get in every mmo. Everything has a nice twist on it.

I'm going to get a character to 10 to unlock the monsterplay PVP thing and see if thats worth keeping an account open for.

otherwise I guess its back to Exteel till Warhammer comes out. -.-

[LambChop]

I myself am a player of City of Heroes/Villains (CoX). When I first started playing CoX, it didn't really hold my interest too much. I stopped playing after about 2 months. But a few months later they had a 30-day trial promotion for previous accounts so I decided to give it another shot. Whilst leaping around the zones (Super Jump FTW!), I stumbled across the 'Pocket D', a 'club' zone for players to just hang out and relax. While in there I noticed a bunch of people who could not only type well, but used proper grammar and sentence structure! I was intrigued. So after talking with them a bit, I found out they were Role Playing their characters and were looking for more people for their RP Supergroup.

I've been playing ever since.

I've played almost every class, both Hero and Villain, and 'played' many differant types of characters. Though CoX lacks a good PvP system, the underlying story makes it excellent for RP. Add to that the limitless number of differant costumes you can create and you have THE game if you RP like I do. I've played many differant MMOs and nothing comes close to the level of CoX. I even tried an RP server in WoW when I didn't have my own PC and they didn't even come close, even though the people were better on an RP server than any of the PvP or PvE servers. Though I did get a pretty good quote from that whole mess. While in the beginner zones with my Druid, someone asked in global "What's the differance between a regular server and a RP server?"

My response? "Intelligence." :angel:

In anycase, if anyone out there resides in Paragon City from time to time, look me up on the Virtue server.

Ebon Circuit - Lvl35 DM/DA Scrapper
or
Ebon Circuit. - Lvl47 DM/DA Brute (Don't forget the '.' on the end of the name.)

Or just look up my global: @Chubbalumpakis

[Chanlin]

Ok, I just got my first character up to 20 in LoTRO and I must say you are doing yourself a disservice if you stop at level 10.

In terms of the story and such the geek in me is very much satisfied. I picked up LoTRO due to this thread to try it out again because I had stopped playing at level 12. That was a seriously sore mistake.

The main line of story line quests run in a book style format. IE the quest names are refered to as Prologue: Chapter 1: Quest Name.

Play until you at least complete Book 1. You'll know you've done this you unlock a deed titled Shadows of Angmar. The story that you get to play through in Book 1 is quite fun and has convinced me to stay around for more. I will admit there are farming quests that you play through, but by and large the quests have been exploration and rescue based. Also the farming quests dont have incredibly rare drops at least not that I've encountered yet.

The reason I say stick around for book one is because this is when you start getting to meet and interact with some of the Major players of LoTR. I won't spoil it because it is very well worth the play to see it for yourself. Needless to say if you enjoy the LoTR books then you will very much, at least I did, enjoy the quests because the story being told paralells what happens in the books. It really makes you feel like you are doing something worth while.

Also other major props I give to this game. The major quest encounters in the world are instanced. Not everyone is an instanced zone, but if you don't have the quest the encounter won't trigger at all. So this prevents people from killing most of the quest mobs just because, and it also makes it so they can have the quest mob repop with in a matter of seconds and you don't have to worry because now you have completed the quest and the encounter won't trigger again for you.

[Geek King]

While in the beginner zones with my Druid, someone asked in global "What's the differance between a regular server and a RP server?"

My response? "Intelligence." :angel:


Glad I'm not the only one who has said that. :D

I play WoW almost exclusively on RP, even had a really good Guild for RP play (Azeroth Broadcasting Company) before they disbanded. Anyone on Scarlet Crusade? I have both Alliance and Horde characters on there, and I could use a good guild to play with, until Warhammer and Age of Conan come out, anyway. :lol: PM me if you want to meet up.

I really miss my first MMORPG group, FFXI's Frisky Felines. Sadly, drama tore that group apart, and the game wasn't any fun without everybody poking fun at each other and just generally being goofy in chat. :cry:

I may look you up in CoX. I noticed they finally fixed the issue with Vista, so now I have a mouse pointer again. Much easier to play again. :lol:

[Gravekeeper]

Ok, I just got my first character up to 20 in LoTRO and I must say you are doing yourself a disservice if you stop at level 10.

In terms of the story and such the geek in me is very much satisfied. I picked up LoTRO due to this thread to try it out again because I had stopped playing at level 12. That was a seriously sore mistake.


Yeah, I've been really impressed with the actual story line quests the further I get into it so I'm giving it another go. I unlocked the monster play thing and was really impressed with how actually, you know, half way intelligent and coordinated everyone on my team was. Consistently. Even when I played during prime time or right when school got out. The average player age seems to be quite a bit higher then WoW.

So yeah, I'm going to keep on trucking and see. I have two friends waiting on my verdict as to whether or not they'll join me and pick the game up.

[tsuuga]

My only gripe with FFXI is that it is complete impossible to solo in the game. If they could fix that I would play FFXi and drop every other MMO with the possible exception of LoTRO.
I don't know how long it's been since you played FFXI, but they've made a lot of changes to make it easier to solo, duo, or trio. Small groups get XP bonuses, there are summonable NPC buddies, enemies under Even Match have had their XP rewards increased, and the Dancer Job (which can heal you using TP instead of MP) makes it much easier to solo with a melee job. I would say that Samurai, Dragoon, Warrior, Ninja, and Blue Mage are all easily soloable from 1-75.

[Chanlin]

I don't know how long it's been since you played FFXI, but they've made a lot of changes to make it easier to solo, duo, or trio. Small groups get XP bonuses, there are summonable NPC buddies, enemies under Even Match have had their XP rewards increased, and the Dancer Job (which can heal you using TP instead of MP) makes it much easier to solo with a melee job. I would say that Samurai, Dragoon, Warrior, Ninja, and Blue Mage are all easily soloable from 1-75.

For the record I still play :) I happily have my White Mage at 75 and have paladin at 40 and have all the other jobs at ranges from 15 - 37.

Don't get me wrong the changes they have made are nice, but they still aren't enough to get anything of note done in a relatively short play span. And if I want to solo with another job I'm screwed. Not to mention to solo with these jobs you have to have the gear needed to do so. What I'm saying is if I could get something of note accomplished with whatever job I feel like playing without the need for a party then I would go for FFXi in a heartbeat as the game truly does rock.

Not to mention the 1-75 dance for a job like Warrior or Ninja is going to take hours upon hours of solo play. Heck even for Blue Mage(one of the easier jobs to solo with IMO) its no cake walk I've soloed up to 30 so far, but this is after several weeks of playing. The point is when I'm tired of Blue Mage soloing I can't just pull out any other job and go solo with that if I want to. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying the game as a whole sucks, its just not solo player friend despite them making changes to get to try and get to that point.

[Acolyte]

I'm beta testing it. Unless they change it to stupid, somehow, get ready for a butt-whirling adventure of fun and brutality.

*GLEE!*

If it's even remotely as good as WoW, I'm switching. Warhammer > Warcraft.