I've been looking for an mmo like Everquest 2 the only thing I dislike about everquest 2 is that end game is very hard to reach.

I'm also a big fan of Lord of the Rings itself and almost finished reading the silmarillion (tried to read it back in middle school however that was a failure). Is the lore alot like the book? Will I like the lore if I like the book?

There is a free trial you can use to see if you like the game (at least there was 1 year ago, don't think it has changed).

But logically, if you like Lotr lore, questing and PvE, you will like it.

End game is (relatively) easy to reach, and the journey there is worth it, too.

i would say a definate yes . lotro is nt for everyone . but it is very faithful to the lore of  middle earth . i ve friends in game that have come over from everquest 2 who think its a better game . i cant comment because i ve never played everquest 2 . now is a perfect time to start given theres a digital  expansion pack just about to be released and a thrid boxed expansion coming out in 2010 ( guessing april may sort of time ) . one of the best things about lotro is its community the majority of which are friendly and helpful . people who are used to warcraft might say its boring and it is certainly not as fast paced as that but it does follow a good side story to the events in lord of the rings . i ve yet to try the pvp so i cant comment on that .  and good on you managing to read the silmarillion i ve never managed it myself although i ve read many other tolkien works from farmer giles of ham to the children of hurin .

Thanks I think I'm going to buy this. When does the Mirkwood expansion come out? Also how do you buy subscription fees?

Originally posted by Nebulation

Thanks I think I'm going to buy this. When does the Mirkwood expansion come out? Also how do you buy subscription fees?

you can do it either via paypal or time card or credit card . they also have a life time subscription offer which it roughly equivelent to 14 months game play . i managed to get the offer at half price but it was limited offer . ( they may offer it to you at a reduced price when you first start or around the time of the xpac release ) . if you are going to play come on here and ask which server is best for your area . in europe snowborn is pretty good not sure what its like for the north america servers though .

edit . i think mirkwood is dec 1 st

I would recommend this game to you if you liked EQ2 at all, it has great visuals, epic storyline that does follow the lore of the books and takes you deeper into the lore of Middle Earth. It has LOTS of questing and tons of storyline and the gameplay is challenging enough without being overly difficult or frustrating. There is A LOT of lore in the game, I have read the LotR trilogy (every few years or two for over 15 years), the Silmarillion, the Lost Tales and some other works by Tolkien and I still learn a lot of lore about Middle Earth from the game. I have played LotRO since beta with only a couple breaks from it to avoid getting burnt out, it's a pretty fun and enjoyable game, lots of variety of gameplay scenarios be it solo play, group play, raiding and there is small group stuff for 3-player groups as well.

Some North American servers are more populated than others, I don't really keep up with the other server populations as my guild plays on Galdden.

Mirkwood comes out December 1st and there is still a free trial available on the main page of the website.

http://www.lotro.com/
 

Hey Nebu,

I will give you my honest opinion about LOTRO, I hope it will help you make a decision.

I preordered this game when it came out, played it at headstart, then release. I enjoyed the game so much that I spent a lot of "sick days" from at home playing it. It had an amazing community, a great storyline, great gameplay. Some thing syou need to know about the game are...

Though it is LOTRO lore, there are still a lot of differences from the books. Some hardcore LOTR fans had complained a lot about the inaccuracies in the game, especially with some of the classes. But it would be almost impossible to have the exact lore of LOTR in LOTRO and have as many subs as they have (which today isn't a lot, but I'll get to that later). This point is neither a good thing or a bad thing.

The community was very helpful, when you had questions, you'll always have people answering, a lot of guilds were very friendly, there were some elitist guilds, but what game doesn't have those.

The gameplay was addictive, the skill system is fun, the classes are interesting, some more than others. You feel like you are growing with your character, and that to me is important.

Now the not so good things :)

I quit LOTRO 2 months after release because I had done everything in the game with 3 toons. I maxed their levels, got them the best gear. Got all their skills and achievements. I had done EVERYTHING in less than 2 months with 3 characters, and that to me was a bad thing. The game was too easy.

I returned to the game when the expansion came out, but again, I had achieved almost everything the expansion added in 2 weeks of casual play. So I was wondering, was it me the problem, or is there not enough in the game to keep us hooked.

I love PvPing, but the LOTRO PvP system is very limited, you or your enemy plays a monster, you don't level the monster, but you quest and buy their skills, so I didn't feel that attached to my monster, I decided to stick with my main character. The problem was that PvP was limited to one zone, and not much of it was happening. Sometimes you could go running running around the whole zone for an hour to find one creep and then he runs away from you.

I quit the game again, and last month, I resubbed, wanted to see where the game was at. I subbed on a Saturday, played on my main toons server and there was barely anyone on. There wasn't a lot of players in the game, in the higher level zones, there were a little more, but still not enough in my opinion. I played on Saturday and Sunday, and both days the world felt empty. So I checked online to see which was the most populated server, created a new toon on that server and started playing, but it still felt empty. There aren't a lot of people playing the game still. Tried to play the 4 weekends of my sub, but at the end I gave up and canceled again.

I know now that I will not be going back to the game because there isn't a big community. Also, the contect is just lacking, the content available in the game is lots of fun, but not enough of it imo, especially not for a game that's been out for over 2 years now.

I gave you my 2 cents, and whatever decision you take, good luck with it.

Thank you for the posts. Population is an issue for me too. How is the population compared to EQ2?

Also, how is the itemization of the game?

There is a free trial but you might want to wait for the new update/expansion because they are changing a lot! Not dramatically but one good thing is combat will be a lot better. Read the patch notes, or whatever, and decide.

Population is much lower than eq2, that was the main issue to me with LOTRO. When I play an mmorpg, I want to play with people.

Item models in LOTRO to me is something positive. There is a multitude of possibilities. Also you have the esthetic gear which you can equip for the looks, like eq2. Visually, the game looks good in general.

If you have to ask others if you should play a game then chances are you probably shouldn't. Best thing to do is go on the Lotro website, do your homework and decide for yourself.

Originally posted by Golarum

Hey Nebu,

I will give you my honest opinion about LOTRO, I hope it will help you make a decision.

 

Well, since Golarum is giving his honest opinion, it's up to me to give a dishonest one...lol.  Sorry, couldn't resist. I just find it funny when people say they're going to give you their 'honest opinion' as if the rest of us aren't.

Anyway, LoTRO is pretty fun and for the most part-casual friendly. Turbine is constantly tweaking areas in addition to adding new content. The community is great.  Graphics are superb.  And it's a fair (though not perfect) rendition of Middle Earth.

My only complaint is that I'd like to see far more area released than they currently have.  If all we have are Southern Mirkwood -sized areas released once a year, we're not going to acheive the expansiveness that I had hoped for at launch. But we'll see.

These post are SOE Gurilla posts. Turbine is about to release another Xpac and SOe, Blixzzard  are using third partoes to discredit the game in any way possible. THese threads open up with a question of  buying the game or resubscribing to the game. It happened when Moria was about to go live.

Fans of LotrO, shouldn't even be wasting there time clicking these posts. seriously. If someone needs to come to an mmorpg forum and make posts like this, it should immediatley raise a red flag.

^That's probably the most ridiculous thing I've heard of in a long time.

When a game like WoW is crushing the market with numbers of which EQ2 and LOTRO combine don't even make a 50th why would they waste their time sending guerrillas (lmao) out to crush "competition"?

I won't play WoW because it doesn't appeal to me. I have played EQ2 and would happily go back to it if this game doesn't have what I'm looking for because I am indeed a lotro fan and I don't feel that I have to play a video game to support the great works of a literary genius who has about 8+ books out of this world alone.

LOTRO isn't a spec on Tolkien's ***.  But I didn't come here to discuss that, I only want to know if I would enjoy playing this game or not.

Originally posted by Nebulation

^That's probably the most ridiculous thing I've heard of in a long time.

 

When a game like WoW is crushing the market with numbers of which EQ2 and LOTRO combine don't even make a 50th why would they waste their time sending guerrillas (lmao) out to crush "competition"?

 

I won't play WoW because it doesn't appeal to me. I have played EQ2 and would happily go back to it if this game doesn't have what I'm looking for because I am indeed a lotro fan and I don't feel that I have to play a video game to support the great works of a literary genius who has about 8+ books out of this world alone.

 

LOTRO isn't a spec on Tolkien's ***.  But I didn't come here to discuss that, I only want to know if I would enjoy playing this game or not.

Well if your  really interested and not a SOE spy  *eyes neb suspiciously * then yes, the game is worth buying.

Well, I enjoyed it, especially the non-combat aspects of it.
Also, SPY AROUND HERE!

 My biggest gripe with this game was the classes. I was never really able to find one that really made me want to sit down and play to advance his skills. otherwise the game is pretty cool.

Galarum is fairly spot on to a point but also a little misleading in the assessment of the game. To say you got threw almost every thing in 2 weeks of causal play. Ok ill grant that in 2 week you could have gotten threw almost all of the casual play content. Even back then to say in two months you had maxed every thing on multiple toons is likely really not completely honest. There are traits and deeds that where in place as time sinks. I suspect you as a casual player did not really grind them out. So its not that you’re wrong it is just a little misleading.

Since Moria there are weapons in 3 tiers that have to be leveled and because you have little to no control over the abilities they get, it can take weeks or months just to get one you like. Third age drops a lot, second age a lot less but now are craftable and first ages ones only from raid boss mobs. To top it off you do not just have to grind out the weapons and a class item but you need to grind out the settings, gems and ruins placed into them. Again not something that’s going to be done in just a few weeks nor are you going to be a top tier crafter with top faction in the crafting guilds in just a few weeks of play time.

Pre Moria getting the top gear was fairly easy to do as there was 3 sets and only one required raiding to do and they where very similar. In Moria you can not complete the top sets with out raiding and the raids are gated. Which means you can not even try them until you have run the instances to get the rest of the gear first and unlike before there is a difference between what you can get just doing the encounters and the gear you get from raiding.

Personally, I hate all the grinding they have added to the game. I do not need the game to find thing for me to do. Since the NDA is lifted it is not really going to get better they have added more grinding so you can grind some more. I miss the days of Angmar where we had free time in the game instead of the game beginning to feel like a second job.
 

I like LOTRO alot.  In my 10 years of playing MMO's, it is my 3rd favorite behind EQ1 and SWG (preNGE/preCU).  It's got a great and helpful community and a good linear progression with both group and solo content as you move from area to area.  I'm not a big crafting fan, but I have spent a good portion of time crafting in this game.  The classes offer enough variety and uniqueness to keep interest.

It's definitely worth playing the trial and making your own choice.  Just make sure you play on a populated server like Brandywine which I've read to be the most populated.

If you're playing on North American servers, ignore the "suggested servers for new players" unless you like a less populated server.  The biggest servers are Brandywine, Landroval (unofficial RP server) and Elendilmir (fair amount of Aus/NZ players)

Screenshot is from session play quest where you play a dwarf amongst the group that finds Durin's Bane, although we like to joke that Gandalf soloed him.