Im about to go out and buy lotro, is it really as good as its ratings?

It's a good game as long as you keep your expectation realistic. As long as you take it for what it really is, which is an MMORPG that is nearly identical to WoW, you'll have a good time.

What Lotro does, it does well. Just don't expect a revolution in mmo gaming.

Originally posted by butter1011

Im about to go out and buy lotro, is it really as good as its ratings?

First off...  LOTRO is a good game.  I liked it, but do not like Turbine for the way they treat their players.

Now to your question...  It all depends on wether or not you have played any other games that were rated and if you agreed with it.  If you have had problems with other ratings then you might have the same problems with LOTRO.  If you have had no problem with other games and their ratings, then buy LOTRO and enjoy it.  Just make sure you read up on it and that LOTRO is the type of game you want.

I found LotRO boring. Really, really boring. I'm not a fan of the visuals, and I've never liked the books.

However, I encourage everyone to have a go at the trial before you buy the game - you may like it, or you may not.

I like LOTRO alot. I dont know what the one guy means by how turbine treats there players i have not had a single problem with them infact i get more help from them then i do from blizzard lol. LOTRO is a simple game and its not a 100% copy of WoW like s few other games i have played. There is a bit more stratagi involved in the combats. The warden class can pritty much solo its way though the lvls. B ut so can other classes. The comunity is mainly mature players who are willing to help (on most servers if i remember right firefoot players are pritty inmature compaird to silverlode players) but the selection in classes is simple. The tutorial is nice. If you want i can give you a 14day trial key.

I'd say try this game before wow or eq2, I gather lotro is more about the journey than just racing to end game.

There are dead zones in all 3 games as regards social/grouping factor, however it strikes me that lotro has a significantly better small group content i.e solo to 2-3 man quests/dungeons.

This here guy is a slow learner, surely he knows by posting here there's no such thing as a good MMO

:the advice is, do not listen to forumers and see for yourself:

Paulscott is right.  Everyone has their own opinion.

I can only give my opinion, and my opinion is that I love it.  Like others have said, it's not about racing to endgame.  You will not have fun that way.  Have fun with the story and other players.  Everyone seems really mature and fun to party with.

I like it because it can be played casually.  Yesterday I was gonna go lvl my Warden but got caught up dancing with other players in Bree-Town.  And truth be told, it was a lot of fun!  We danced and joked and just messed around for like 3 hours...But I like that kind of stuff and there is a lot of it in LotRO.

The best thing about lotro, in my opinion, is the community. Type something into the advice channel, and as long as you are asking in a nice, mature manner, you are almost sure to get a response. There are lots of friendly kinships that cater to both casual and hardcore gamers.  I have been playing the game for about eight months, and i have never seem spam advertisements.

Another great thing about lotro is that Turbine releases a free content update every 3 months or so. Add that to the release of Mines of Moria in November, and there is an almost infinate amount of content for new players.

I tried the free trial, and was hooked right away.

I enjoyed the game to 50, which was top level when I played.  But being a purely PvE game, there just isn't any way for them to create content fast enough to keep me happy at "end game".   The graphics are great, combat is decent, quests are exactly like every other PvE MMO. 

If you make a class that gets to wear heavy armor, you can look pretty cool... but all the light armor looks like either a clown suit or hobo rags.  If you can wear heavy armor, you can show the appearance of any armor... but if you can only wear light or medium, you will pretty much always look like a rodeo clown someone threw up on you after eating fruity pebbles.

the lower level light and medium armors do look pretty bad, but IMHO you can get some pretty nice looking medium armor at least (havn't leveled a light-armor wearing class up that high)

No. it is not as good as people say. It is better.

LOTRO has a very pretty game world, and plays pretty well.

This makes it one of the better games released in a while, certainly better than anything released this past year.  It is boring in some ways, but I am a jaded fan of nonlinear games and there haven't been many of those lately.  It's very easy to play.

Originally posted by Marimzirtud

the lower level light and medium armors do look pretty bad, but IMHO you can get some pretty nice looking medium armor at least (havn't leveled a light-armor wearing class up that high)

~ Minstrel Light Armor Radiance Set; level 58-60 ~

Yes this is my character; all pieces of the gear are dyed Burgundy, and I think it looks really nice, much better than everything else! 

{Course the helm is not but its better looking than most, and the shoulders are not....havn't yet successfully downed the Watcher for a chance at those pieces of gear!  The Shield is the best for Minstrel as is the Sword....not a Leg, but the Cururist from Grand Stair!}

I reckon it helps if you have read the book(s) primarily. If not then if you liked the movies you will enjoy the game.

I've played WoW, AoC and LotRO. The most engaging and sophisticated of the 3 is LotRO.

Just dont approach it with pre-concieved ideas, like the earlier posts say.....try it for yourself first.

I'd never play either an Elf or a minstrel just on principle, but that armour set looks really good.

 I think a lot will depend on what is it you find fun in a game. If you play because you love dungeons and  aesthetically pleasing gear/armor, then I'd say this is not the game for you. Lotro has some of the worse looking gear. As the person posted the pic shows that is sadly the best looking gear for a none heavy wearer or minstrel in this case at high levels. It looks ok, its not drool worthy to say omg i have to have that. No offense to the poster of the pic.

If you play because you like quests and realistic world enviroment, then this is probably a good game for you. Whenever people ask me what I think of it, I say its a nice little boring game. How it manages to be both nice and boring is because I love most of the game except the gear and weapons. So there is no excitement for me to want to go do any of the dungeons.

Originally posted by synergi

 I think a lot will depend on what is it you find fun in a game. If you play because you love dungeons and  aesthetically pleasing gear/armor, then I'd say this is not the game for you. Lotro has some of the worse looking gear. As the person posted the pic shows that is sadly the best looking gear for a none heavy wearer or minstrel in this case at high levels. It looks ok, its not drool worthy to say omg i have to have that. No offense to the poster of the pic.

If you play because you like quests and realistic world enviroment, then this is probably a good game for you. Whenever people ask me what I think of it, I say its a nice little boring game. How it manages to be both nice and boring is because I love most of the game except the gear and weapons. So there is no excitement for me to want to go do any of the dungeons.

You have no idea what you talk about when it comes to gear.

LOTRO has since quite some time appearance tabs and a large variarity of cosmetic outfits. More so that you can combine and mix appearance outfits with amor to make your character look trully unique.

Also with the coming of MoM the dye scheme has been expanded, so you have even more choice in colours.

Especially the Elven armor and some of the dwarven armor are wicked.

The dungeon and reputation armor sets look pretty good overall.

It is not as extreme as the sets in WoW. But frankly, I didn't like most of the armor sets in WoW anyway.

It's all a matter of taste. And sure some of the helmets, especially minstrel or Lore master hats look a bit weird. But overal most armor sets look pretty nice.

The armor sets in LOTRO are more streamlined, bit more realistic and elegant. They cannot go crazy and wild like in Asian grinders and WoW.

Cheers

Its not bad, worth trying since only you can decide if you like it or not.

id like to try the game b4 paying 4 it, how do i go about that, i really cant find an answer, i cant find anywhere to dl the client, and how do i set up a free trial? do i have to have a buddy key?

After playing WoW for over a year I decided to give LoTRO a try last November and haven't looked back. As some have said the community is amazing with a mature player base.  The world is beautiful!. The atmosphere of the game encourages you to slow down and enjoy the journey.  

how is it starting anew? Are there still people playing the starter areas?

Originally posted by butter1011

Im about to go out and buy lotro, is it really as good as its ratings?

No.

Originally posted by Zsavooz

how is it starting anew? Are there still people playing the starter areas?

at least when I'm on one of my low level alts there's not a lot of people on... but I only seem to play those at non-peak hours, and I don't play on the most populated server either... I think that if you log on at the right time you should find people... anyway, you can solo most of the starter stuff, or join a kinship and get people to help

Originally posted by JeroKane

Originally posted by synergi

 I think a lot will depend on what is it you find fun in a game. If you play because you love dungeons and  aesthetically pleasing gear/armor, then I'd say this is not the game for you. Lotro has some of the worse looking gear. As the person posted the pic shows that is sadly the best looking gear for a none heavy wearer or minstrel in this case at high levels. It looks ok, its not drool worthy to say omg i have to have that. No offense to the poster of the pic.

If you play because you like quests and realistic world enviroment, then this is probably a good game for you. Whenever people ask me what I think of it, I say its a nice little boring game. How it manages to be both nice and boring is because I love most of the game except the gear and weapons. So there is no excitement for me to want to go do any of the dungeons.

 

You have no idea what you talk about when it comes to gear.

LOTRO has since quite some time appearance tabs and a large variarity of cosmetic outfits. More so that you can combine and mix appearance outfits with amor to make your character look trully unique.

Also with the coming of MoM the dye scheme has been expanded, so you have even more choice in colours.

Especially the Elven armor and some of the dwarven armor are wicked.

The dungeon and reputation armor sets look pretty good overall.

It is not as extreme as the sets in WoW. But frankly, I didn't like most of the armor sets in WoW anyway.

It's all a matter of taste. And sure some of the helmets, especially minstrel or Lore master hats look a bit weird. But overal most armor sets look pretty nice.

The armor sets in LOTRO are more streamlined, bit more realistic and elegant. They cannot go crazy and wild like in Asian grinders and WoW.

Cheers

whoah, wait a minute...

I don't think he is wrong about the gear at all.

I have a pretty sophisticated aesthetic sense (in my opinion) and could at least adequately debate on a vareity of topics concerning such. And though there are costume tabs which have been a lifesaver as far as "look" I believe that the majority of gear isn't so great.

I don't think people are wanting outlandish gear such as Lineage 2 or World of Warcraft, but more often than not I spend way to much time trying to find a new look since it's so horrendous in my opinion.

this is not to say that they haven't added more stuff and better stuff (and I have even marvelled at some of the 2nd age weapons and one of the top end  helmets and armor) but I find most of it odd and not elegant.

Yes, there is elegance in simplicity but a good amount of LOTRO gear seems a bit like a mix of Carney and well dressed hobo.

I do think the game is good, especially if one doesn't mind the type of gameplay it offers. I do get tired of players trying it and then giving their opinion of how horrible it is because it's not Middle Earth online, or "sandboxy" or open world pvp, especially since all this info is already known.

But it's one of the only games that I actually play regularly. Actually, it IS the only online game I play regularly until Aion comes out.

I find LOTRO fun and I think if a player has a bit of imagination they will love the world. But I do think the gear is sorely lacking as far as being pleasant.

Originally posted by Zsavooz

how is it starting anew? Are there still people playing the starter areas?

For the most part, but not so much in the beginning areas!  There is starter area that you can get to lvl 5-7 in before you're released into the full game world.  New Players can't skip it, but when you've completed it once when you start a new char you can skip it which many of vets do.

I personally enjoy going down to the nub areas often and helping other player if they ask so if you're on Elendilmir watch for me and I'll help ya with anything!