This week in the Way Back Machine, MMORPG.com's Drew Wood takes a look at Danielle Vanderlip's May 18th, 2006 article previewing the then forthcoming Turbine MMO, Lord of the Rings Online.

I know this is a game that many Tolkien fans are looking at with both excitement and trepidation. What will Turbine do? How close to the storyline will they stay? I can assure you that Turbine is doing their utmost to do right by the Tolkien and are working very closely with the foundation in order to make sure they make the most use of the Intellectual Property (IP) as well as tell a compelling and interactive story.

Read more here.

Lets talk about Middle Earth Online and how that never happened because of the industry shift away from sandboxes.

Naaa... only thing you can say abou that is... It did not happen.

We asked about how exactly magic would work it was explained that not everyone could be a Gandalf and that with there only being 5 wizards in the world the likelihood of wizards being available in the game was unlikely to keep with the tradition. That said, magic would be in the game and is an ever-present part of the world of Middle Earth. Players could get access to magic however it would be through other means like potions and flash powder bags as an example. Magic would be a more subtle part of the world but that doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to see a visible effect of some sort when using it.

I really wish they kept things like this. 

magic sucks in that game, and in lord of the rings the only magic they used was making a flashlight with their staff.

Originally posted by halidbi1

magic sucks in that game, and in lord of the rings the only magic they used was making a flashlight with their staff.

Someone needs to read the books.

And I agree with Loke.

Oh stop hating the Runekeeper will ya?

it is a great game, if you do not like it no one is forcing you to play it. I don't like WoW and do not play it. I also do not post bad things about it. The game keeps me entertained and few mmorpg's do that. EVE, AoC and LOTRO are the basic list.

Originally posted by wormywyrm

Lets talk about Middle Earth Online and how that never happened because of the industry shift away from sandboxes.

You beat me to it. MEO was such a great game when I played the alpha, and the devs working on it were huge fans/nerds. But then a mere year later, and Turbine NGE'd the game, shuffled those devs off to other projects, and made a WoW clone, killing off the most mature and fun community I've ever seen in an MMO.

I'll never forget what you did to MEO Turbine. You'll never see my money.

Originally posted by Garvon3

Originally posted by wormywyrm

Lets talk about Middle Earth Online and how that never happened because of the industry shift away from sandboxes.

You beat me to it. MEO was such a great game when I played the alpha, and the devs working on it were huge fans/nerds. But then a mere year later, and Turbine NGE'd the game, shuffled those devs off to other projects, and made a WoW clone, killing off the most mature and fun community I've ever seen in an MMO.

I'll never forget what you did to MEO Turbine. You'll never see my money.

...please dont bring this up...IT HURTS TOO MUCH

Originally posted by needalife214

Originally posted by Garvon3

Originally posted by wormywyrm

Lets talk about Middle Earth Online and how that never happened because of the industry shift away from sandboxes.

You beat me to it. MEO was such a great game when I played the alpha, and the devs working on it were huge fans/nerds. But then a mere year later, and Turbine NGE'd the game, shuffled those devs off to other projects, and made a WoW clone, killing off the most mature and fun community I've ever seen in an MMO.

I'll never forget what you did to MEO Turbine. You'll never see my money.

...please dont bring this up...IT HURTS TOO MUCH

Turbine Nation 2004 shirt is still hanging in my closet, still have pitures with Keeper and other devs, still have MEO music saved, still keep in touch with some core MEO community members. It still hurts :/

still amazes me today how people rave about lotro's clunky boring and slow combat.  Nice graphics yes, but that's about it.

Here's the 2005 E3 Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/user/chrisjmcbride#p/u/2/KQbTnNjnDds

Also, I was at Gencon in 2003 and remember the MEO walk through.  Its amazing how long it took to come to a live game. 

Originally posted by gavving

Here's the 2005 E3 Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/user/chrisjmcbride#p/u/2/KQbTnNjnDds

Also, I was at Gencon in 2003 and remember the MEO walk through.  Its amazing how long it took to come to a live game. 

Yeah, amazing how long it takes to entirely redesign and change the concept of a whole game you've been advertising for 4 years to all your fans...

Originally posted by adam_nox

still amazes me today how people rave about lotro's clunky boring and slow combat.  Nice graphics yes, but that's about it.

 

 Never really played it much hmm? or even many games of the sort to properly compare i take it...

Lotro still owns wow concerning combat and most graphics..wow is more addictive..but thats it

Originally posted by adam_nox

still amazes me today how people rave about lotro's clunky boring and slow combat.  Nice graphics yes, but that's about it.

 

There have been improvements to the combat, it doesnt't feel clunky or slow at ALL.  I played it in beta and those were my initial thoughts, I had no thought what-so-ever of my actually playing (and subscribing) but I've recently started back and the combat is much more fluid and flows nicely.

I wouldn't necessarily rave about it, but it's vastly improved from when I tried it previously.  The game is enjoyable for some odd reason and I would and have recommended to people to check it out since it's free.  There's something oddly fun about it and the community is stellar.

why yall bashing on turbine for meo downfall.  meo was originally done by sierra, they went bankrupt, the guys that own tolkiens work sold it to turbine.  turbine really had nothing to do with all of that iirc. 

I still wish meo wouldve came out though, it wouldve been a great game and much different from what  we have today, although i think lotro is a great game i think living in middle earth wouldve been better than playing in middle earth.

This is a necro article please lock it. 

Originally posted by FreedomBlade

This is a necro article please lock it. 

 

How is an article published yesterday (3/27/11) a necro article?