Don't bother with the Man starting area. I'm sure more potential subscribers have been claimed by leveling in Bree-land than this game has ever had in actual subscriber numbers.

Awful list. Why pick the most popular console games to turn into MMOs just because they sell well? A Neverwinter Nights MMO?  Why thell do that when you can make an Forgotten Realms MMO? You know, the world it's based in?

Crimson  Skies. (The definitive alternative to space-sims)
Battletech. (MechWarrior)
World of Darkness. (Vampire:  The Masquerade)
Starcraft
Diablo
Fallout (Since it's obvious the one in development isn't coming)
The Elder Scrolls
Pokemon (And certainly not the entire Nintendo IP lineup crammed into one game like that anti-drug cartoon from the 90's)
Deus Ex
Homeworld
Tribes
Heros of Might &  Magic

I never played the game in the beginning. I played years after SBs release.

Originally posted by bmdevine

Also, remember to take any comments here with a grain of salt. You'll see people blaming Turbine for problems with Vista, which seems more than disingenuous, and people complaining about the storytelling saying the game doesn't seem like LoTR, but who really know very little about the story aside from what they've seen in the movies.

Blaming Turbine for problems with Vista?  No. Blaming them for never addressing them as other developers do?  Yes. Reading really does help. The most recent game that I can recall to be released with Vista 32 issues was Dawn of War 2 and they put all bug fixes on hold just to get issues with Vista 32 resolved in the first patch.

My complaint about storytelling was unrelated to my comment about the game not feeling like LOTR. Is reading that difficult? I've also read every LOTR  novel, so your  laughable attempt to have the OP ignore complaints in order to get him to see your game from a better perspective seems to have no backing.

Remember to take many comments on this board with a grain of salt as many of those emotionally involved with the game they spend so much time in amongst a highly competitive genre will be as slanted as possible in swaying you. (I  can do it too!)

I have to say that to this day, the templar in  SB  is probably my favorite class out of any MMO to date. I  usually prefer to play paladins in MMOs, but I decided to change things up a bit and read the lore behind templar. They were like an extremist version of the paladin that burns everything in righteous fire that doesn't convert.

I loved being able to play defensively with heavy armor and a shield while draining health/stamina and aoe nuking. It wasn't too bad tanking while fighting mobs either. Of course, using Wings of the Seraphim and having flight as well as looking absolutely bad ass was amazing. I was wondering if there are any other MMOs that have something close? 

I'll just tell you what I don't want to see:  Moria. Never again. I swear to god if I ever have to see that place again after the expansion is released I will cancel my subscription and that is no exaggeration.

Don't waste your time. I recently started playing myself and I think your problem was likely because this game has ridiculously boring quests. It doesn't help that this game doesn't feel like LOTR  at all. You're basically playing another generic fantasy MMO. I can't believe I bought into the hype expecting some amazing story telling. I don't know if this was a problem for you, but there's basically no one to be  found for group quests from 20-59. You'll be waiting days to find a group and half of your quest log will end up being group quests that you have to skip. I also had a problem with server stability, issues with Vista 32 that Turbine never bothered to correct and problems with Turbine customer service.

The other problem you'll run into is that Moria is the worst content I have ever leveled through in over 10 years of playing MMOs. They made no improvements on the quests with adding variety. Every quest that isn't an epic quest is basically the exact same thing you've read before for another quest in another zone. (Not the games fault, it's due to the setting being entirely in one place and mostly being made up of one enemy while the quests are given by the same group of people) The level design is the most horrific to navigate through or even look upon. There's two types of environments. You either go into large caverns that are blue/orange, or you're in dwarf crafted hallways that look about the same for the entire expansion. (I'll concede that the first zone you quest in and The Waterworks are amazing, though) Due to the verticality with different levels of the zones and large amounts of hallways with intersections, it is a real pain to navigate. Add to that there's a mob every 5 feet for you to fight and you'll be lucky to fight less than two enemies at a time. You can't really run through them either as the developers wasted no time filling this place to its maximum capacity with mobs.

Right now I'm 5 bars of rested XP from 60 and I have zero interest in actually logging back in even with my guild begging me because they need a captain. Words can not describe how much I hated this expansion. I  was enjoying the game before I stepped into Moria even though the story wasn't as good as it was hyped up to be. I  thought this was going to be a game I could stick with for a long time. Moria completely killed it for me. Even if I play, I'll never level another character again because of Moria and leveling alts is a major factor for me in an MMO. I also did the turtle raid and found it to be far too boring for an end game raid.

Edit:  Sorry for venting my frustrations in a long post, but if any LOTRO  players can convince me to stay by telling me what the 60 content is like, then I'm all ears.