Keen had a post in August on ‘MMO reboots‘ that I missed while I was away. I’ve been debating whether to have LoTRO or Rift as my backup/solo game for a week now and the level gap is a big issue here.
In a few of the MMOs I played I’ve started long after launch and, as is common in PVE theme park gameplay, the majority of the playerbase is probably already at the level cap doing ‘end-game’ stuff. So new players only have veteran players alt characters to play with. This can be very unrewarding as often such players want to rush to their new alt to the cap as fast as possible since, in part, they’ve already done all the content before and are motivated by having a new character to gear-up or play in the late game.
LoTRO has had multiple expansions and currently has a level cap of 75 (soon to go up to 85 in the Rohan expansion). My highest character is level 56, so I have still got the rest of Moria, then Mirkwood, then Isenguard and soon Rohan to play through before I’m caught up with the bulk of the playerbase. That’s a heck of a long leveling path to get to a place where I most of the grouping is happening.
Option 1: LoTRO
In Rift I have a level 50 cleric, the Ember Isle update added a lot of end game PVE content that raised the gear levels significantly but didn’t change the level cap. So with the expansion I will have a unique opportunity to catchup via general quest gear on the current gear-level of the bulk of the playerbase – this is the reboot to which Keen is referring.
Option 2: Rift
I have a lifetime sub to LoTRO and do enjoy playing it so I could save money and settle back into Middle Earth. But each expansion only offers a reboot opportunity for players at the previous level cap – it doesn’t help players much lower down the level ladder. With Rift at least I have this one-off chance to catchup, a future expansion wouldn’t help me if I stay stuck at level 50. Although it is still a sub game, the current deal of a year’s game time + the expansion for only £72 is pretty hard to ignore…
GamingSF 
I’m intrigued you picked Rift – because your other posts imply that you much prefer levelling content (first time rather than repeats) than to end game. From your description, you have a lot more exploring left in Lotro to do than Rift. I guess you do have an eye on leaving the posibility of end game grouping open by playing rift that you can’t have with Lotro – but it sounds life you have mOnths of gameplay left in Lotro…
LoTRO has great stories, but there are negatives. The game is very restricted by the licence with the types of opponents, I’ve already fought through 5 zones of orcs and goblins, it does get old. Also the game engine isn’t as good as Rift – in all MMOs we spend a lot of time fighting, I prefer the cadence of combat in Rift. Also despite my love for good story (and Rift has it as well) I do find myself wanting dynamic content, open world to encourage casual grouping. This is the best gaming style for me where I’m not wanting to do organised raiding – I can group with random people and have fun doing some rifts or invasions without the commitment. Just questing all the time (as I was in LoTRO) can get boring – public group content in Rift offers the perfect compliment to the questing in the game.