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LotRO Review - Edit
8.5
Great
| Graphics | 8 | |
| Role-Playing | 8 | |
| Fun | 9 | |
| Performance | 9 | |
| Sound | 8 | |
| Value | 9 | |
| Community | 8 | |
| Service | 9 |
Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar Review
Staff Writer Donna Desborough gives us her review of Turbine's Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar.
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Lord of the Rings Online has set the MMO world on its ear. For the long wait leading up to its release many speculated and others tested, but everyone seemed very excited. The creation of a game based around a modern classic like Lord of the Rings was certainly going to be an endeavor. The question is this though; did Turbine live up to the challenge?
Everyone knows at least the very basics of the Lord of the Rings lore. The Tolkien Estate has given Turbine the ability and rights to make the game and to add their own pieces to that timeless story.
Shadows of Angmar sees us, the regular folk, fighting for our homes against the armies of the Witch King. We are not the heroes. We are the free people of the lands of Eriador. The story is about our characters defending their homes and lands in any way they can. They are the unsung heroes that you don't get to hear about in the books.
;)
The story can be experienced at your own pace. Through the quest system you can take missions that are split into books and chapters. These will propel you through the story that Turbine has written for us that links into the lore and stories from the books. There are some people who don't like the changes that Turbine have made, there always will be with such a popular IP, but I think that the overall story that we are getting from this online adaptation of Lord of the Rings is a good one. Without knowing the books and supporting literature by heart, you can still easily follow the stories told in the main quest series with ease and enjoyment.
Questing
The quest system as a whole is rather good. Even though it carries the same stigma as other MMOs, you'll find the stories associated with them a little more engaging. The stories that make up the regular quests aren't award winning, but they do make things a little more interesting than just being commanded to go do something without any explanation.
The quests come in a couple of different flavors. The first type is the most obvious; the solo mission. There are no surprises in the mission types for solo quests. As you progress through the levels, the missions advance in difficulty to match you, at least for the most part. Sometimes though, the solo missions can feel a bit too hard to go it alone. Depending on your class, you may find soloing harder or easier. A class like the Minstrel, for example, might have a harder time soloing than say, a Champion.
The other types of quests are known as Fellowship Quests. These quests are missions that are best completed with a group, or as they are appropriately named in LotRO, fellowships. This is, of course, only a recommendation and you can try the quests alone if you prefer, but a little backup is usually a good idea. Again, depending on your class, these can be harder or easier to complete. Fellowship Quests vary from simple group-based collection missions, to the sometimes much more difficult elite and boss killing quests. Some of the fellowship missions are big instances, but many are straight forward and just need a good group effort to complete. The fellowship quests that aren't instanced can sometimes take a bit of patience if there are other groups currently trying to do the same quest. This problem arises depending on just how busy the server you're playing on is (at the time of publication, there are currently 11 servers to choose from with the US client). Overall the fellowship quests are enjoyable and each class has a role to fill; encouraging the social aspect of the game as well as good team work.
;)
Race and Class
Whether doing solo quests or fellowship quests, you will see many aspects of the different classes and the combat system. Each class has its place and abilities that are needed in combat. What class you can play is dependant on your race. There are four races currently available for play: Man, Elf, Dwarf, Elf and Hobbit. Certain classes are only available to specific races. The classes include: Champion, Lore Master, Captain, Guardian, Hunter, Burglar and Minstrel.
With each race you also have certain traits that are automatically a part of your arsenal that make each class more or less suitable. As you play you are able to learn further traits (used to give players extra bonuses) through the deeds system; a vital part of LotRO.
Deeds
The deeds system is a set of mini quests that you discover throughout your gameplay. Unlike regular quests, which are assigned to you by NPCs, these deed quests are assigned to you based on your actions in the game.
For example: When you complete your eleventh quest in the area of Ered Luin, you are notified that you are starting a deed called "Defender of Ered Luin". After completing 20 of these quests, you have earned the deed, the reward for which is a trait: Compassion +1, which improves your: Ranged Vulnerability, Power Regeneration and Magic Vulnerability.
When you discover one of these new deeds a message shows on your screen and it is added into your deed book. The reward for completing a deed is either a trait, as mentioned earlier, or a title.
Traits can be equipped by talking to a Bard. The Bard does charge for equipping these traits and you only have a specific number of slots available to equip traits depending on your level. These traits are a way to personalise your character within your class and race. While the customization isn't major, it is more than you get in other games. These traits allow you to modify yourself or even get extra actions you can perform. Combat uses traits extensively along with skills that you can learn as you level.
;)
Combat
The combat system within LotRO isn't unique, but it is easy to understand. You have skills that you activate during combat. Some have special requirements in order to be activated, such as a certain combat state or only after a kill has been made. You also have skills for non-combat such as healing and buffing. All in all, pretty standard MMO combat.
The one thing that I find truly interesting about the combat system is position importance. By this I mean that where you are standing in relation to the monster is important. The most obvious example is the Burglar doing sneak damage to a target. In order to do this, he needs to sneak up behind the target and not be spotted. LotRO isn't the first game to do this, but it does make the game's combat more engaging.
Fighting in a fellowship takes on new dimensions when you not only have to think about your own role, but that of your fellows and their positions. Just to make it a little more exciting, Turbine has also included Fellowship Maneuvers. These are special combination attacks that can be executed by the fellowship. They can do massive damage or even heal the team. There are a couple of frustrations to these though. On your own, you have to figure out what those combinations are. While this can be fun, briefly, it can also be (And I found it often) irritating and time consuming.
Overall, combat isn't hard to learn and once you've figured it out, you're set for whatever else you may play within the game in the future. Some may find it repetitive, but there are plenty of other activities in the game to occupy you if you get tired of fighting.
US and EU Split
;)
When Turbine decided to split the servers between the EU and the US, they also made a conscious decision to split the communities. This has its good and bad sides. The good is obvious things such as time zone, play style and language. The bad are again the play style and time zone. Turbine also decided on two separate clients for the different servers. This of course causes complications if you happen to be in the area of one server, but for whatever reason would want to play on the other servers. Generally this split of the servers seems to work fine and it is understandable why they've done it, but it would have maybe been better to create a single client that allows you to select which servers you wish to play on.
Over the last month I have been playing with both communities. In general both have made me feel welcome and I've enjoyed playing with both sets of players. One thing that the EU servers have over the US ones is the specific official roleplay servers. This, to me, is an advantage to those who wish to immerse themselves further into the game and play in yet another style. On the US serves there are no official roleplay server and I wish they would create at least one for those who want it.
Roleplay servers aside, I like both communities very much. Generally they are both very friendly and helpful. There are problem players on the US and EU servers, but that is to be expected. A large majority of the community seems to be very mature on both sets of servers and that is a definite breath of fresh air.
It is a good game, just like wow, but basic nether the less.
it sucks, is a better word. since beta and still yet, there is very little communication from developers, the q&a thread never gets any answers (the latest one become e.g. obsolete with the evendim patch). the gm's don't do the same things as the turbine gm's, calling it a policy (a popular topic at the moment: one of the faulty spawns in the expansion; turbine happiliy resets everything, codemasters (or, well, alchemic dreams, whatever) talk about their policy, bla bla, trying to avoid exploits, etc; maybe they are right, but if it is different in the us version...). turbine has a test-server, codemasters doesn't. on the eu-side many have felt and feel like second rate customers. one can not even post on us-boards, since those are connected to your turbine-account! speak of community split!
if turbine should offer another lifetime-subscription opportunity as codemasters did, i am off to turbine and will screw my codie lifetime sub
Most of the comments saying they are the same game in a different wrapper honestly seem to come from people that are either very new to the entire genre (IE, only know WoW and what they hear about other games) or are just looking for something to say that is negative about the game. Its a good card to play if you want to bash the game and try to deter players, but I dont think its very accurate.
The feel of the game is similiar yes. But outside of that and the basics that most MMO's share, the actual game itself is night and day.
WoW is, and always has been heavily itemized. Many people (of course not all, there will be generalizations in my comments, I am just going on experience and what most people seem to do) do quests and instances simply for the gear reward. Or the XP in earlier levels, but mostly the instances are there for the loot.
There also is not much fluidity to WoW, this goes back to the loot driven nature of it, no one seems to really care that as you level up, there is no huge backstory leading you on, you go to areas, do some quests/instances and move on. Yes, there is a global story behind WoW, but do most players pay attention to it? How does running instance after instance over and over again even fit into a good backstory? It doesnt...
WoW has become a race to lvl 60/70. So that the "real" game can begin. LoTRo is nothing like this. Some players are doing that, but the game was designed more around the journey to the end, rather than getting to that end. Will you see leveling services in LoTRo? Unless there are some drastic changes, I highly doubt it. They would be doing the entire game for you.
Instances are very short compared to WoW's. They can still be rather challenging, but they do not take hours to do. They could get longer though, I am only mid level, but at the mid point in the leveling journey, compared to WoW, the instances are very short.
Upon launching the game for the first time, running a quest or two, yes, it can feel like a similiar game. But, once you spend some time there, start learning the Deed/Trait system, getting into the Storyline quests, joining fellowships, I see the similiarities for the most part dropping off.
All of this only goes so far though. If you are sick of the entire style that WoW has you will find it more of the same, but this goes back to my comments about people that have only played WoW before, most people realize that game didnt do a whole lot that was new either, they just happened to put together a nearly perfect package for the market.
LoTRo is not revolutionary, nor is it even very evolutionary. There is not a whole lot being added to the genre as far as mechanics. I do very much enjoy the Deed system, but this, even if semi unique, is not groundbreaking. The combat system will feel familiar, so if you are sick of the calculated combat, simulating traditional P&P gameplay, this will feel stale to you. But again, WoW certaintly did not come up with thsi concept, many many games have adopted it.
Groundbreaking or "new"? No.
A WoW-Clone?? No, not even close. Mechanics may be similiar, but the game itself, the feel of it, the concepts that allow the player to have fun differ greatly.
This I feel is the perfect game to tide over players until the next batch comes out. It may have lasting power to pull players through AoC and WAR, I have no idea...but its certaintly fresh enough to play until then and has a refreshing storyline quest system that gives players a feeling that they fit into the whole story.
The storyline is very interesting; the quests are the meat of the game. So, my only gripe is that if you aren't on the same page, meaning doing the same quests, as some groups of people, you are left waiting around until you can find a group. I spent all of Saturday evening, really wanting to play, and I couldn't find a group on one of my pages. I didn't feel like grinding; that's a really slow process in LOTRO, and I don't like crafting. I didn't have any solo quests to do.
One group I had done some fellowing with, wouldn't invite me, not because I'm not a good player of my class, Minstrel, but because they already had a Minstrel. They were grinding for Legendary books and pages and the other Minstrel didn't want competition for that. Those books and pages are very rare drops.
I play online games for the community, and this is the first game I've played where community means so little.
First of all, Flodd950, thank you for the post and please don't take any of this for a flame because I don't mean it to be. Again, everything you mention is in WoW, it just seems to have a different feel to you not to be a really different feature. To me, it seems like they both basically have all the same features but the features are somewhat different. To me, this makes it seem like a clone. It just doesn't seem to be doing anything new or really different, except the PVP which I am not going to go in to.
Let me give you an example of football. There have been different leagues, some inside only (arena), ome have deeper inzones (Canadian) and some had slightly different scoring systems (XFL and USFL at the time) yet they are all football. So yes, I look at the games and say they seem essentially the same. You can argue that all MMOs are the same then but this sin't true. DDO is different, was more different but is still different and still fantasy. So, my fear in purchasing LotRO is that it will seems just like WoW to me feature wise. Truthfully, the story behind the game doesn't matter as much as my walking away from a playing session having had fun and if it is like WoW, to me, I wonder if I won't be bored with it after the first weekend.
Your post was helpful though, in convincing me that I will probably just find it more of the same. So, thanks for saving me $50. I guess its back to DDO and Auto Assault (until it dies.)
For all posters saying LotRO is a WoW clone: Have you played any other online RPG games besides WoW? If you had, it seems to me you would be saying LotRO is a RPG clone of many other games, because that's what WoW was. To a point, all fantasy RPGs pretty much follow the Everquest pattern. But each one has had it's own graphics, it's own story, and it's own view on how classes should be balanced. Each adds it's own fluff, it's own way of crafting, etc. In other words, it's own variations based on the developer's visions.
Managed to play the game for about 2 weeks and then tootal boredom kicked in and the realisation that the game offers nothing new and just a very linear grind. Too Linear.
This doesn't compete with a lot of the stalwarts out there UO/AC/EQ/EQ2 are far far better than this game... The rating system on this site is flawed and sadly I am loosing any respect for the rating systems used here.
Nice background but then i just went out and bought the book...
I've played DAoC, WoW, DDO, SWG, CoH, CoV, EVE, AA and WWII online. Seems like I am missing a couple. *shrug* Oh, about 15-20 MUDs. I'm one of those older gamers.
Others may care how a game looks, I care how a game plays. I generally ignore the graphics protion of any review, same with the sound. Story is fine, but if I want a good story, I will go read a book, I have several hundred waiting to be read. A good story or no story is not a real difference in how the game PLAYS. I disagree with you on each game is essentially the same. DDO's combat seem different whether it is or not. Dark Ages 3 groups add an interesting element to pvp. Wow...well, WoW took what ever anyone did before them that was good and grouped it all together.
Your argument is also lacking that all games are the same if they are RPGs, I've been playing RPGs since I was 12, 25 years ago and things have changed dramatically. LotRO just chose to use a well known skeleton to build their game rather then trying something new. There isn't anything wrong with that and fans of the books can flock to the game. I'm not a fan though, so I am looking for other reasons to play.
But again, what you seem to be telling me Brynn is that they are essiantially the same game and I accept that. I see varying differences between WoW, DDO and DAoC, without adding in any of the games of other genres I have played. I look at LotRO and it screams WoW. All anyone has done is reinforce that feeling.
My personal rating for the game is just a little higher than the one of the author, but incredibly close.
I have played 15 or 20 MMO's in the last 10 years, and who knows how many RPG's before than on consoles all the way from Atari.
I have played DAoC for the last 5+ years too, and I am very excited about LotRO. I can't wait until there are large numbers of players from both sides in Monster Play. It should be a lot of fun.
The only three MMO's that kept me as a subscriber for more than the free month were EQII, DAoC, and UO. WoW never lasted 3 weeks on my hard drive so the WoW comparisons really confuse me. If anything the game bears more of a resemblance in design to EQII.
I liked the review. It was well written and seemed un-biased. I went into the game not expecting much, but I am still enjoying it and I am happy with the effort from Turbine. Of course, there are many things I would like to see added, especially content for roleplayers, but the fundaments are there, and I think the review covers that.
Shouldn't be getting more than a 5 imho.
i'd have more fun attempting to make sweet love to my xbox 360.
than play this for more than a month. when the deed system feels like a full-time job..
wo0o only 400 orcs to kill before my trait is improved... yay....
i think not.
6 hours, you'll enjoy the shire, the beautiful world... ruined as always by codemasters, but their past MMOs should have spoken for themselves.... F2play anyone? :-p
I have to say Turbine does seem to be treating EU customers like redheaded stepchildren when it comes to feedback and communication. There's no good excuse for cutting off EU players from the US forums like that have. If they don't want EU customers to have access to US boards then at the very least create one forum that allows both to provide feedback and suggestions for the game.
Another area Turbine failed in is leaving out an RP server, especially with their pisspoor naming policies. Sure in theory all servers are RP servers but anyone that's played an MMO knows that theory never sees the light of day in practice. IMO, that alone was an insult to every RPer's intelligence and caused many to abandon their Founders account and move to the EU RP server. Your players should never be put in a position like that AFTER they pre-order your product.
All in all, LOTRO is a decent game that could be tons better. In today's genre there's no excuse for producing such limited and unimaginative character customization and animations (in particular combat) in an MMO like LOTRO has. If you can't afford to put in the necessary funding an MMO requires to do it justice then perhaps pass on that project and take on something you can afford or have the technical knowhow to do.
After DDO and LOTRO, Turbine is just really near the top of my list for dev teams I'm not interested in following, but Codemasters has really come up a couple notches in my eyes with LOTRO just because of the way they're trying to handle the position Turbine is putting them in. Maybe they'll take the plunge and develope their own MMO one day. I really wish they'd stuck with developing Dragon Empires. :(
For you players that don't know, the UI can be changed. There is a site devoted to it, with many changes to choose from, or a tutorial that tells you how to make your own and where to put it in the game data.
For anyone who thinks community is important, LOTRO is not conducive for that. There may be some players who will disagree with me, the crafters perhaps. But, I don't craft. The group you play with today, probably won't play with you tomorrow. As I said in an earlier post, it's the quest system they use. They are hooked to each other and most you can't share with groupmates. After about level 30, there aren't as many solo quests, probably more for the classes that can solo easier. Since the game becomes so group dependent, you will either have to be lucky enough to have a regular group to play with, or resort to pugs. Pugs aren't easy to find because you have to constantly spam ooc looking for others doing the same quests you are. It's annoying to even have that channel open.
As another poster said, LOTRO will have to do until something else is released that looks interesting to me. That seems far off now.
When did Turbine start allowing anything But Skinning the UI ? I don't class skining as xhanging the UI just changes the visuals of the Ui .. If they have changed there minds I have seen it writen anywhere so link this site please..
Perhaps I should ask what it is about the UI you dislike? Every box can be moved around, and Turbine said they were allowing resizing, but I haven't figured out how to do that, yet. As for the site I mentioned, I don't know if there is anything there besides skinning.
http://www.lotrointerface.com/index.php
I don't know how CS is on US servers, but for the Euro servers I would give Customer service by Turbine a 2.0.. and that is being generous.
And overall I think 8.5 is too high, 7.5 maybe.
Game is far too linear, and you rapidly get this boxed in feeling to where are almost forced to do the same exact quests that 300000000 others have done in the same order for the same items.
Gets pretty boring at 35+
I really do believe that Turbine has outdone everyone else in one regard though. No other mmorpg has released as stable as LotRO, if every other game in development today releases with the stability and apparent polish that LotRO had at launch then only good things can happen for this hobby.
Does anyone even know what clone means?
First off LOTRO is absolutely not a WoW clone. Just because it is fantasy themed doesn't make it a WoW clone anymore than WoW is an EQ1 clone.
I was in the beta and I felt the game was OK, not great not bad, just OK. I will admit I was a bit soured by the fact that they couldn't get an annoying bug fixed before release: all servers would appear closed to some people even if they were actually up. When I was playing, I just didn't feel like I was in Tolkien's world. Fans of the books would probably recognize more lore than I would, so they will probably enjoy it more than I.
By the way, an 8.5 is very generous rating IMO.
Bring back the old review which doesnt kiss ass so much.
Not to bring up an argument here, but I just have to note a couple of things:
LotR has a dressing room. CTRL+click an item (which I believe can be rebound if you wish), and it brings it up.
LFG tool: They (LotR) have a TERRIFIC LFG tool. You can click on your quests to set yourself LFG for that exact quest, or set up a note for next to your name in the LFG window, etc. It has an absolutely awesome LFG tool... it's just hardly anyone uses the dang thing. No, they'd prefer to spam /lff and /ooc channels, and whine and complain that they can't find a group. <sigh>
Trade Skills: I hope you're not saying that WoW's trade skill system is a 'Porsche' here, because I thought (note, this is my personal opinion as a person who loves trade skills) that WoW's system was boringly horrible. I maxed it a few times, but was never impressed by it at all. I'm not going to rave about LotR's... I do like the crit system a lot, but the rest of it... meh. It's just a generic trade skill system, sure. Same as WoW's (again, in my opinion). Though farming is pretty 'new' trade-skill wise. I do hold out a little bit of hope for some more work in the trade skill field on Turbine's end.
Shared Bank, Guild Bank, more than 5 Character slots per server: Oh yes, I wish they had these, definitely! They will be adding more Bank Slots, I just have no idea if Shared or Guild will be a part of it, or how much more space it will be.
More UI Enhancements: I do believe Frosty (Turbine UI Dev) has stated that they're coming. He posts on the lotrointerface forums regularly. And I sure hope they do come. I really don't need WoW's full mod-anything (because I get sick and tired of having to fix my mods after tiny little patches, hah), but some more tweaking would definitely be nice.
-signed,
a WoW Player & a LotR Lifer
...simply, a total MMO Addict.
You can check quest rewards (I do it all the time!) just CTRL+click the icon of the reward in the quest window. Zooming... oh yes, that would be wonderful, I absolutely agree!
Yeah that's why I said...sadly no-one ever uses it! It's great, so why do people never use it? But... it seems like people prefer to use chat channels rather than LFG tools. In just about every game I've played, the LFG tools sit (mostly) unused, while people clamor for LFG channels. I guess people (in general) just prefer the channels?
I guess it's just my personal preference, but I don't find WoW's tradeskill system to be any better (or any worse, really). Just a bit different. As to why nothing was BoE (not just jewelry)? I dunno. I am glad they fixed that, but I don't know why they didn't see that it needed to be that way after all the testing well before release.
I don't recall if there was a quote on the forums... I found the info from some other source(s}, I think: interviews of Turbine's CEO, and one (or two?) of Turbine's regular IRC dev chats. Looking for linkage now...
Ah hah! Here's one quote, from here:
<warorc> Hi. Will you extend the bankroom? The bank is a little bit small
<LOTRO_Tens> Yes. We agree!
<LOTRO_Tens> We currently hope to have upgradeable bank storage ready to go for the Book 10 update.
<LOTRO_Tens> So you can look forward to it then!
Turbine seems to do frequent (monthly?) Stratics HoC dev chats, so they're also good places to look for info. Here's the latest one. I think they're due for another one soon?
Hope a little bit of that was good info for you :)
Community? What community? I like the story. I don't like that if you aren't at the same quest as your friends, it has to be repeated to bring someone up to speed. Or, some play more hours than others, and you no longer can play with them, or vice versa. That puts a pox on community.
I am a MMORPG vet and i am done playing lotro.
Credits go to the developpers for creating a smooth operating game, with beautiful graphics, hardly any game-killing bugs, and at times a true feeling of lore.
However, its just too bland for me. Or to put it otherwise, i was bored very soon. My two biggest gripes are :
1. that the game is very group based, and with my time-bursty schedule that most of times means i am spending more time looking for a decent group than actually playing,
2. Its really more of the same, do quest get xp level up. I really miss the UO days where i could fiddle with my own house, or be at Brit bank spending time trading or just for laughs, or pvp in the shadow world.
Personally i would give the game a 9 for performance and technical details, and a 6 for fun.
I've played Lotro since day one, canceled my subscription last friday. Made it to 50L with my hunter. Did all possible quests, farmed all teh legendary hunters traits, only skipped some insane deeds like elite trolls in Trollshaws, its too boring to kill elites for many days for 1 stupid deed ;) Also been to all the instances up to Book 9.
Lotro isnt a bad game, but aint revolutionary either. Why do I canceled my sub? I was missing something, something more deeper... simply got bored very vast. My previous game was WoW, I was in a hardcore raiding guild, think I've been in like 500 5h raids in total - it was fun in the beginning but then become an issue, now Lotro... looks like its heading the same way as we have in WoW. The last content patch introduced raiding, and some new instances, also some sets for all classes etc. If I want to raid again I'd prefer to play WoW, it has mastered it.
Basicaly Lotro playing is like:
- *first login* oh such a nice graphics, i love it! I wish WoW could have it!
- doh, why this combat is so slow?
- wee so many quests to do, and many "epics" (purple items) easily accessible thru them.
- cool! so now I can play on a lute, but ...I cant, people asking me to stop it. Wonder why.
- (at 35L) finaly got my horse mount, *next day* ffs! why I'm always getting dismounted whenever something hits me? it drives me crazy!
- (at 50L) *Yaaaaawn*
Lotro is nice, but bores fast... I want pre-cu swg back :(
IMO the only "problem" with the LFG tool is that for the most part, you don't NEED to use it. The game is very soloable [at least until the 30's]. As an aside: I'm not surprised that Hunters can't find groups in that the few that I've dealt with think they are Drizzt [or Legolas] and just won't play as "support" characters; they think they are either tanks or one-shot killers!
To the DDO lover: The LFG tool there is only better because it MUST be used - DDO isn't very soloable [at level or at speed - I've enjoyed playing DDO solo, but my highest 2 characters are 5 and 3 during 3 months playtime]
Tradeskills: I agree that they are not great, but other than Ryzom, I haven't seen one better. [Refuse to play cartoony WoW and saved by forums from playing Vanguard]
I call BS on "did all possible quests", unless you mean "all quests green or higher"[meaning that they still give xp].
You're claiming to have done the entire expansion in the week [10 days?] that it has been out?
If you are level 50 already, you are a powerleveller and LOTRO is not the game for you. It's not for the PvP-centric player, either.
As to "why is this combat so slow?", I believe it is to give it a more tactical feel - I admit that it turns into a "clickfest" too often for me also, but I guess that few would play a turn-based combat MMO...
You can't very well fault Tolkien for having dwarves and elves. LOTR is the model upon which all generic fantasy is based.
The attention to detail of the story of the Lord of the Rings is what makes this game special. I protected Fatty Bolger from a bunch of birds at Crickhollow. That is what makes this game so immersive. I saw a patch note that they changed the floors of Bag End to tile, because it was a tile floor in the books.
Compare it to Vanguard.
Vanguard - no polish, stability issues, stupid broken quests, no bug fixes ever.
LOTRO - detail, fun game play, the fastest patcher I have ever seen, smart quests with a good story, a new way of thinking about fantasy gaming, for example; moral, dread, hope, defeat, victory.
LOTRO is the "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" of the gaming industry. An absolutely brilliant way to tell a story.
To those who don't know who Fatty Bolger is, read the books. If you can make it through the first 20 chapters or so, <snore> you will fall in love.
WOW is not the be all, end all of gaming that everyone makes it out to be. Blizzard has made a fortune off take others ideas and dumbing them down so they are EASY to play and give instant gratification and then passing them off as revolutionary.
WC was an idea stolen from Westwood and it's creation of the RTS genre. Starcraft was far from original, it was basically Warcraft wrapped in scifi. However becuase it was easy to play and gave instant simple game play compared to it's direct competition TA, it was heralded a master piece.
I call BS on that. SC was good kids game lacking in serious tactical depth of play when compared to TA. Add to that the fact that TA was a ton better looking and had an amazing depth of community support and you begin to see the two different players attracted. TA, players that wanted to think about the game while they played it. SC, players that wanted to play without thinking much.
WOW is a good game, no one willd eny that. But to say it is the be all of MMOs is nuts. it is just the most dumbed down and hence has the largest draw. As for WOW clones, lets be real WOW is a clone so who cares?
Fun 9, oh god
You are right...And i don't. I fault Donna for rewarding this game with a top grade. In my opinion a game have to bring some new features to the party to score so high.
Nice review. I think Turbine did a great job considering how they were restricted somewhat by the lore.
First off I don't play Lotro, I beta tested it and the game just did not interest me enough to suscribe. But I think the 8.5 is completely fair. Extremely well done game. I have the utmost respect for Turbine. They listen to their suscriber base.
Oh and Wow is a very obvious EQ clone so you with the silly clone arguments can go back and crawl in your holes.
Still you whinged about elves, dwarves etc. Whinging at Lord of the Rings for that is like saying Batman copied The Midnighter. It's back asswards.
The game does have new features and an attention to story detail that most of the other games in this genre lack. If they can round it out with live events that actually go off and a few of the missing features, such as housing, that are slated for the next expansion then the game will be peerless.
The monsterplay is the biggest innovation and a great way to get around the PvP/PK asshat problem. Its not just a clone.
Edit
That's not to say that Underlight was the first, but that it did have this feature.
It is about time! LOTRO is not a WoW clone. I agree, if anything it is much more of an EQ2 clone. WoW is hardly the only game out there to copy.
Ok Butch you insist on missing my point. Just think that 10 years after EQ1 a game achiving topgrades need to be more than just the sum of other games (even if Tolkien was first).
After all my years of MMORPG's LotRO is still at the moment one of the best MMO games I've played. Being a Tolkien geek might be part of it but even after the beta and playing from the early settler period I'm not even nearly fed up with anything.
Turbine has done admirable job in merging the book storyline with the game, and having a real lore behind it, not the "Gee, we have Orcs and elves and stuff, this must be fantasy" bull. Of course Turbine draws from the past - AC was there about same time as was EQ and it would be silly creating everything from scratch every game you do.
The way virtues are made would have been good in UO back in the day the Origin staff realized that Mr. Koster abandoning the all existing Ultima lore was just one of the disasters the guy did for UO... The races and classes might seem lacking, but the trait system allows quite a lot of customization and difference inside one class - All in all in the games with myriad classes and races, those are just copies of each other with very little difference between them.
Monster play may not be completely original idea in MMO's, but it is a new and fresh idea in the mainstream games. Turbine is one of the few companies who have realized that PvP isn't the philosophers stone of the genre and that PvP finally only caters maybe 5% or so of the population. Monstering actually might draw even some players not interested in PvP into it, something random ganking always has failed to do. (Now waiting the legendary one time poster claiming to have been crafter/digger in UO who enjoyed it :P )
Events and expansions seem to be forthcoming at good rate, which promises a lot for the future of the game. Funnily enough one company with virtually unlimited funds took like 3 years to create trivial expansion to their MMO...
No-one could like every game, but LotRO has earned the points it got, good job with the review!
Do not hold my hand plz. Thanks!
And so it is. Not that consolidation of previous games seems to have done WoW any harm but I feel LOTRO goes a step beyond that 'competent rehash approach'.
As to the scoring, that's a problem in aaaaaaaaalll computer game reviews, score bloat. People don't use the full range.
The 8.5 score should be treated as a reference and not as a fully accurate evaluation of the game because only yourself can do an evaluation that is in total agreement with your own taste and experience.
Also I feel that people shouldn't call WoW clones without thinking for a minute. Many gamers only had a full MMORPG experience starting with wow but this game also borrowed most of its concepts from other sources. WoW is a clone, a sucessfull one.
Now we all know that WoW today is not revolutionary but some games are in certain areas like LotRO is in graphics (at least compared to wow).
I feel comfortable with a 8.5 score because the game is appealing based on its various aspects and the effort that was made to make players a part of the story from the beginning was a really good call.
However personally I'm not gonna spend money on a game just to entertain myself until AoC comes out.
Abal
All game reviews are always too highly rated.
Movie reviewers can give accurate reviews sadly game reviewers can not.
You have a ten grade scale.
A 1 is complete crap and unplayable due to bugs and poor programming.
A 2 is complete crap.
A 3 is a very poor game.
A 4 is a poor game.
A 5 is a mediocre game. (mediocre means average)
A 6 is a good game.
A 7 is a very good game.
A 8 is a excellent game.
A 9 is the game of the year. (will only be awarded to one game for each genre in the same year)
A 10 is a masterpiece (will only be awarded to a game with a 9 rating after a competition with the other games with a 9 rating that were released over the years.
In my opinion and according to my scale LotRO probably deserves a 5 or a 6.
I don't agree with your scale. you jump from mediocre to good?
What about giving some space to average games that do not entirely fall in the mediocre and good categories?
Abal
My reasons being - There is plenty to do as a adventurer, lots of areas and a variety of scenery styles. You can craft. You can PvP using the MvP feature( PK'ers griefers need not apply) The game looks and runs well on a variety of machines. The art textures are good and animations are well done. The bugs are few and far in between. Turbine is providing excellent customer service. The classes are fairly well balanced and getting better with each patch. The burglar is one of the most innovative classes I have ever seen in a MMORPG, someone did a stealth class the right way at long last. The player generated music system is the first of it's kind in a MMORPG. Turbine has already shown their commitment to adding content and keeping the game fresh.
Is the game a perfect 10? - no, is it a solid 8.5? -yes
Mediocre is average.
It would deserve a 8 rating of excellence if they hadn't reused the old Asherons Call 2 graphics engine from 2002, this is 2007 afterall and if the actually exploreable landmass were much larger.
As it is now it deserves a 5 or a 6 according to my scale which doesn't use decimals because I unlike most game reviewers doesn't put most games between 7 and 9 even though they are just mediocre or good games.
Mediocre means average not bad or awful like some seems to think.
LOTRo is a superior version of WOW. I played WOW to level 15 before dying of boredom - few online games are as tedious and unexciting as WOW. EQII just about edges it for tedium but it does look better than WOW. Got to level 33 in LOTRo at which point I came to the same conclusion that despite superior graphics (not difficult when comparing with WOW's aweful caroonish look) the game lost its unique appeal due to the sense of grinding. I enjoyed the experience of exploring Middle-Earth while one of my elves snagged the name (not really doable because of copy writing but i got round it }:)) of Sauron's lover from the 2nd age - she helped forge the one ring oooops! I think, like a lot of gamers, I was hoping to recapture that buzz from first exploring fantasy online games but despite some good work from Turbine I have seen this all before. Great gaming for a month but am going back to Guildwars for its pvp, Dungeons and Dragons for its better combat and Project Entropia for a break from fantasy mmorpging. If LOTRo wins game of the year I won't be too unhappy but it just shows that the mmorpg industry is evolving very slowly; no doubt in part due to the stratagies of marketing
I score it between 8 and 8.5 so similar to the reviewer Donna
I think on your scale this game would be a 9 because it probably will be game of the year. That being said I don't think any other games were even released this year.
Me personally I would give it a score of 7.9 because it is a very good game but I don't think its excellent it is very close though. Maybe after they add in some more things like extra areas and more places for monster pvp and housing and those things. Once that happens then I will probably give it a 9.
Sorry, but even if this game DOES get Game of the Year, it is not deserved.
Using that scale I would rate it a 6 or 6.5 at best. There is almost nothing really new or interesting that makes LOTRO stand out with the sole exception of being LOTR based. The quests are boring and repetitious, the mobs are boring (23 different names for the same pig.. gimme a break), etc.
I see nothing but the LOTR name that sets this game apart from any mmo published in the past 10 years.
Games should be reviewed and compared as you compare and review different bottles of wine not as it is today with the over the top hyping and the over the top high scoring of "hot" games but I guess that's just how it works.
Over hype and over rate the latest games because tomorrow they are all forgotten, they are all like dairy products or different flavoured shewing gums, they will soon lose their appeal.
Pretty much sums it up. Good game, great that it is a review this time and I whole heartedly agree with the review. Now the WoW, hell WoW stole tons of ideas from other games so shrug. Atleast LotR:O is incredibly polished with its graphics and sound allowing others to truly get into it.
Guess we'll see how it holds up to the next gen games coming next year that everyone is clamering about.
Why?
Because People want it to? The problem here is that every game that has come out has been so overhyped that game makers can't satisfy players anymore and players expect too much.
People said Dark and Light was going to be the next great thing. Didn't pan out. People said that Vanguard was going to be the next great thing and there were so many issues that even if you liked the game you had to admit that more had to be done.
LOTRO was hyped and really, the best that can be said is that it is a very well crafted game (I'm personally enjoying it but let's face it, it could have gone in many other directions) and now Conana and War are being hyped as the next great thing.
I wonder if War and Conan were pushed back because the game makers realized that they were going to get crucified.
We really don't know what is going to be great it seems until it actually comes out. Heck, look at Darkfall. This game seems to cater to the hardcore pvpers but I really wonder if, when it comes out, the players won't be dissapointed.
Players need to be more realistic, stop expecting the 2nd coming and take these games as they are: games.
Quite frankly, if one were to listen to the comments on this site, the only great game to ever come out was early UO or early SWG. Every other game pales in comparison. And quite frankly I wonder if they really are being accurate in their recollections.
All games look good pre release. Last year at this time I bet a lot of Vanguard fans would have bet you a tidy sum that Vanguard would be game of the year in 2007.
I don't agree with the review.
The game is ok but nothing great. It still has that WOW cartoony look to it in my opinion.
But if your a LOTR fan, you will like it. And there is nothing wrong with the game.
But not my cup of tea, but I would recommend it however.
I would have given it a 8.0.
Games I would recommend
LOTR
EQ2
WOW
Vanguard
DAOC
City of Heroes/Villians
I can speak for SWG because I've played it since release and kept playing it through all the changes it's gone through. I can honestly say that, at launch, SWG was six months away from being finished. The only other game I ever played that was in a worse state was Red Baron 2. So the pre-CU fanboys are looking back with rose-coloured glasses. SWG was horrible pre-CU, it was horrible pre-NGE, it got worse when NGE hit and it took 6 months after NGE for the game to start getting better. But it has got better fast and now SWG is actually very playable. The devs are making good decisions for a change, but part of me has the feeling that it's too little too late. Without a server merge soon that game's days are numbered.
Anyway, I'm rambling. The point is, anyone who says pre-CU SWG was better than LotRO is either lying or they were on some sort of drug back in 2003 when SWG shipped.
This is just an average game, yes the Graphics are good and they have made some of the area's you read in the books come to life, but the model details are poor and I do find it a little easy. My first Toon I got to level 11 without dying and got the title "The Undeafeted". At this point I thought, I need more of a challenge. I would only rate this as a 7.
The game is designed so that defeat is rare. You're supposed to try to avoid it and it's supposed to be easy to avoid it. What you're criticising is not a flaw - it's a feature. As for the model details I think you need to tweak your graphics options because they look fine to me.
A feature can be a games greatest flaw my young padawon err wizard apprientice.
Erm... like I said, it's NOT a flaw.
And like I said , it can be both. Game being too easy is a flaw a flaw a flaw a flaw a flaw because without a challenge people get bored.
I don't disagree that it can be both. All I'm saying is that in my view the game is both challenging and fun, and if you're bored you're looking at the game with the wrong focus.
But heck, if you dislike it, play another game. Plenty more fish in the sea.
I couldnt agree less with the grade....
LOTRO is well polished, bugless and very well done simply because its too damn simple! Simpler than WoW (and I thought WoW was the bottom, not mentioning, of course, the oriental games named ´grind feast´).
ITs pretty, but empty. Nothing new, and in this industry nothing new (in a sea of same) its the biggest sin. They just cut everything what could give some trouble in the future, it made the game as it could fit in a box. If the simplicity is enought to give a 8.5 grade, then we will find a 10 game easily, we just need to launch Chess Online, its very fun (I love chess) and, believe me, it would have less bugs than LOTR, the client would be at maximum 100 MB, would be no lag, would be a better customization than LOTR... And would be an easy 10, for sure... Of course you would be bored after sometime, but it seens that this doesnt count to grade in here.
LOTRO is empty, turbine cant risk, because they are not good game developers, they cant give too much slack for the players and have arisk a headache later (As it happened with SWG). They invest on pretty graphics and things like ´you can have the same surname than you pal and start a family), but God forbid to put a real PvP or even make the ´family´ bring some bonus or real impact in the game. No, lets make the game SIMPLER (in opposite of what Tolkien proclaims, with all the complexity of his world).
Turbine is a coward compay, and has spoilet the number one IP with its cowardice.
It deserves a 6 for the graphics and polished gameplay, no more than that. And I am being very generous.
Lets not forget that this game is a modern game, and therefore it would be expected something new, or at least a deep vision of something already there, not a step back on gameplay, as it is LOTRO. Better thinking, I let a grade 4.5 for LOTR for this step back (just thinking on UO or SWG and all the possibilities and things let on the hands of the players of those games and the possibility of shaping the game and we easily see that LOTRO is not a MMO but a single game played by a lot of online players).
We already have chess online. It's called Chessmaster 10.
Look, you just don't like LotRO, but that doesn't mean it's a bad game. It's the best MMOG I've ever played, and I've played quite a few.
That´s the point, why do you think LOTRO is the best MMOG? As 100% of people who share this point of view with you ,and I have been asking them, it is for unkown reason, no one could tell me anything deep enough to keep it as ´the best MMOG´, actually their reason to think LOTRO is the best around are the same othat would make Chess Online the number one MMO, its the simplicity and lack of content, the driven game with nothing of creativity left to the gamer. Its boring and uncreative. This game is plain and shallow, thats why some people like it, the same mental laziness who makes some people enjoy mexican soap opera also... No need to think out of the box, no real PvP, no worries about the arrows which you spend, no housing management problem or difficult/deep crafting... You know the deal right on, and the thing will not changer nor improve, it will be this and that, just more of the same...
By the way, I wasnt thinking on Chessmaster, but a chess game with thousands of people playing at same time, with empty options, like changing the appearence of the pieces, nothing that would impact the driven game or make the people make too much choices that would change the environmento giving future troubles to the devs.
Note that I am not telling that this is a terrible game like Dark & Light, for example, but that it is VERY simple, too simple to make it deserve more than a 6. I just disagree with the grade. And, yes, I am a huge fan of Tolkien and dreamed with a game with the complexity that this world demands. Sadly, Turbine took the IP...
every time I log on I see plenty of people at all levels enjoying the game, that is all that matters now isn't it ? Forum opinions don't mean crap compared to actual players.
But their reasons don't matter. They like it, you don't. They keep playing, you don't. I could give you a deep and detailed examination of why I think LotRO is successful and why it is better than other games I've played, but it's a waste of time because my reasons for liking LotRO and my thoughts on why it's the best MMOG out there aren't going to make you change your mind. The real question is: why do you choose to keep torturing yourself by talking about a game you don't like?
The fact is LotRO has had a very successful launch. It reached the number 1 slot in sales and reviews of the game are overwhelmingly positive. It may not be the best MMOG ever - there are lots of MMOGs that I haven't played, so I don't know if any of them are better. All I know is that I'm enjoying LotRO more than I've enjoyed any other MMOG.
Since when quantity is quality? Specially on a new MMO with sucha powerfull IP? Mc Donalds is the better food? WoW is the better game?
As I said NO LOTRO player can tell why this game is so good, or they speak that its ´all well polished and nice´ or say that the game has a ´big player base´.
If I was going to give a grade, I would have to pick everything possible on a MMORPG, to embrace all kinds of tastes and then see the grade, for example:
Graphics: 0-10 (Lotr: 8)
Gameplay: 0-10 (Lotro: 7)
Bugs: 0-10 (Lotro: 9) Almost bugfree
Lag: 0-10 (Lotro: 7)
Sound: 0-10 (Lotro: 6)
Customization (Char Creation): 0-10 (Lotro: 4)
Quality of Quests (by level): 0 - 10 (Lotro: 6)
Number of Quests: 0 - 10 (Lotro: 5)
Housing: 0 - 10 (Lotro: 0)
Crafting: 0 - 10 (Lotro: 5)
Size of the world: 0 - 10 (Lotro: 5)
PvP (including arena, Sieges, Realm vs Realm) : 0 - 10 (Lotro: 3)
RP: 0 - 10 (Lotro: 7)
Community: 0 - 10 (Lotro: 7)
Support: 0 - 10 (Lotro: 7)
Player City Management: 0 - 10 (Lotro: 0)
Combat System: 0 - 10 (Lotro: 5) - nothing new, in fact one more drawback, not even spend arrows on combat...
Customization (Number of Classes x Number of Races x Traits): 0 -10 (Lotro: 5)
Lord of Rings Online Final Grade: 5.4
Bottom line: A game with no housing, no player cities, bad crafting (the reviewer said that, I didnt teste), bad customization, CANT BE the best MMOG around. It can, however, satisfy a big number of people who is not specifically fond of complexity. Therefore, you can tell that this game is GREAT for those people, but cant be compared with any other MMOG. WoW, for instance lack housing and player cities as well, but there is other traits (like a good PvP) who can make it competitive in terms of quality (but IMO, not enough) with others games. LOTRO has nothing to offer. A 8.5 grade is a a bit suspicious.
Beery, I have nothing against LOTRO and can totally understand why so much people enjoy it, my problem is with the grade...
Why that ´torture´ me? Because the people can really think that this game deserve an 8.5 and the simplicity and lack of content can became the basis of a good game, and not the complexity. If we start to believe that LOTRO is a great game then this will became the default, the MMO industry will start to make the games simpler and driven, so they can reach the standard of LOTRO. I think WoW is already a cancer (as it was Diablo) to game industry... And to make the things worst, D&L has sink the idea of complex games...
I am pretty sure that LOTRO is like those fast foods, you came, you eat and you leave hastly, the secret of it is not in the loyalty of the people who buy it, but the new ones who arrive... LOTRO bores fastly MOST people, but because of IP new people will always arrive and even those who left will be back just to feel the Middle-Earth alive again, not because the game.
SWG has player housing with very detailed customization, player cities and great crafting, yet it is almost universally panned. LotRO is definitely a better game than SWG even though LotRO has no housing, no player cities and a worse crafting system. Part of the reason that's so is that SWG's housing and player cities are horribly implemented. But my point is that these aspects don't automatically prevent a game from being the best.
Anyway, player housing and player cities are coming in the next update. As for crafting, I think it's a subjective issue. LotRO's crafting system is definitely simpler than SWG's, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I'd much rather have a simple but fun system than an overly complicated one.
As for SWG, it was , by far, the best game, EXACTLY because the complexity. I can tell that player housing and player cities made the game totally special, for EVERY taste (who never had his city invaded, bases destroyed, RP on Cantina, etc..). I dont know where you got the idea that SWG was panned BEFORE NGE (who made the game simpler).
No comparison can be made between SWG (Pre-NGE) and Lotro, I have played both, and SWG pre-NGE was MUCH better than LOTRO and any other MMORPG I have played (and I have played more than 20). Alas, MMORPG, for me is the capacity of the game to change the environemnt, bringing the impact of a population on the universe, making it alive and constantly changing, otherwise its only a single player game played by a lot of people at same time. MMORPG, for me, has the world as a part of the game (therefore, can and NEED to be changed).
I've played SWG for four years. I started playing in August 2003 - one month after launch. A comparison can be made: both games are built on a 20th century fantasy franchise with a similarly large cult following. Both are MMOGs. If SWG can't be compared with LotRO nothing can be compared with anything.
As for your contention that the game was the best game because of its complexity, and that the game was not criticised before NGE hit, well my recollection is very different and Wikipedia agrees with me:
"Reviewers criticized the overwhelming complexity of the game, PVP/PVE combat imbalances of the professions, bugginess and lack of quest content. The reviews for the first expansion, Jump To Lightspeed, praised the new space combat but criticized the ground game for its lack of sufficient improvement. The reviews for the second expansion, Rage Of The Wookiees lauded the new quest content for current subscribers but lamented the CU and the continued bugginess of the game. "
This was all BEFORE NGE.
There will always be criticism, but what I means is that the biggest part of the people praised SWG. For example this critic about complexity... How can someone critic a game because its too complex? In my opinion, this is non-sense for complexity means more options , more things to do. Its the same to critic Lord of the rings, (the movie and the book) because it was too complicated to understand...
I like games who gaves you freedom, options to choose. SWG, Ultima Online and others was sand-box games, we, the players, would make our own way. LOTRO, today, you cant do that, too plain simple and controlled . A fast-food game.
Well, on the complexity issue, there's complexity and then there's complication. What you see as complex (a good thing) others may see as complicated (a bad thing). This may be the basis for your dislike of LotRO - what you see as simplistic others see as easy to learn. As long as a game is rewarding its complexity is beside the point. I have lots of fun playing checkers even though it's much less complex than chess. When my mind is clear and I want a battle of wits chess is my preference, but when I'm tense or preoccupied there's nothing like a game of checkers.
That´s my point, Beery... SWG IMO was the best, and I exposed the reasons why, but nevertheless, it got a 7 grade if I am not wrong, because its a game (it was) hard to master, very complex... Althought you could play it simple, that´s what made it the very best game of MMOG IMO.
LOTRO is very simple, some peole (who enjoy simplicity over complexity) would enjoy it very much, and others who think otherwise (like myself) wouldnt, because we crave for something more. Therefore, AT LEAST, LOTRO should have a grade inferior to SWG, for example, because a ´complexer gamer´ of MOG wouldnt enjoy LOTRO for the lack of complexity and boredom, althought someone who want the ´easy game´ (in termos of complexity) would enjoy also SWG, playing, for example, a Damage Dealer (a rifleman, for instance) and forgetting all about crafting, housing, etc... But I agree with you, SWG, for easy gamers, would be hard and without ´content´, for content in this game is created, mostly, by the own players who play a sand-box game with thousands of possibilities.
So, all resumes at the bad grade given to LOTRO, for a 8.5 grade its for a game who capture not only the complex gamers as the more simple an ingenuous player.
However, I am willing to give a chance to LOTRO (a chance to my taste, I mean) because of what you said about housing. The sense of changing the world around you is the most important, to me, on MMORPG.
Just some questions because stopped lotro 3 days ago: there"s always angmarim near Annuminas ? And
nothing has changed ?
There's always a ghost on Bree and an orc camp near Trestlebridge ?
Curious because killed all the orcs near trestle 1 week ago, with my 45 and because I saved the soul of this ghost.
No new camps, no new city, nothing has changed.
OK this is not a persistent world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistent_world
I think that the ´persistency´ of the world is the possibility of the game remains ´in there´, even if slightly modified, after you log off...
IMO, a good MMORPG have levels of ´persitency´ , and a good game should receive impact, even slightly, from their players, to fulfill the feeling of ´being part of this virtual world´.
Of course you cant wait that you complete certain quest and then all world changes, or the quest vanishes or the quest impact profoundly others around you... But you can (and should) wait that your mark still on the virtual world. No matter how tiny it should be, because if not, then its just a single game played by a lot of gamers. The ´persistance´ must be relative.
That´s why I think housing, player cities are important, it gives shape to the world, gives freedom and insert creativity. WoW doesnt have it, but try to compensate it with a rather ´lousy´ war between 2 factions, with somewhat good PvP. It doesnt really change the world, but ´smells´ like it changes (´The Horde always win the Warsong Gulch...´ or ´In Lightningroof server, the Alliance is stronger´), the conflict, inexistent on LOTRO, brings a little of taste of change on the game. Let me say that I dont like WoW, but certainly gives more taste of freedom and changes than LOTRO.
A year later we see this game really coming into it's own. Alot of the people's comments don't have much merit now as they have added a bunch of content since those days. You won't run out of quests or content trying to level today. With Mines of Moria coming out soon this game is going to be even more amazing.
I consider it to be the best game out there right now, and I have tried anything worth playing. (WoW EQ EQ2 SWG Vanguard AoC Lineage2 CoV) out of all of those games, WoW is the only one that I would consider as high of quality, and WoW is heading down the crapper with their incredibly stupid idea of making all previous group/raid content obsolete every expansion (MC raid anyone?)
I agree completely. I too enjoy WoW, but am a casual player of it to say the least. A few weeks ago, I finally got up to lvl 70, did some dailies (got revered with shattered sun offensive), then left. My guild mates where all curious why I was leaving....
"Don't you want to do Kara, BT, Heroics, ect.?"
"Not really, it's not worth it now"
"But you can get great gear man!"
"In November or so it's all gonna be junk"
"Huh, why?"
"Remember when TBC came out?"
"Yeah"
"Did you do MC before that?"
"Uhhh....yeah"
"Don't you wish you had only ran it once to see it instead of every week, and have all that time wasted"
"............"
It keeps getting Better and Better!!!
I thought the review for this game was very well done. Is this the perfect/best game for everyone -- of course not! There is no such thing.
Is it a game that aspires to do well by tolkien and by gamers who love Tolkien -- Absolutely!
If you enjoy MMOs and you are fond of LOTR -- enough said! You'll love it!
Only players that have only played wow compared lotr to wow and only players that havent played lotr at all compared it to wow .
i been playing mmo since everquest era and i can tell you this game does not feel like wow or play like it all .
you have to try it to see it .
wow clone is the a very lame way of comparing this very nicely done game bug free and my number one praise is the excellent community .
well done turbine.
we do need more positive feel on these forums.
all mmorpg follow the same pattern..even wow
so lets stop de "wow clone" shit...because wow is just another game with the same pattern...
what has lotro that dosnt have another mmo?...well...tolkien world and story...thats enought for me
mmos have been a natural progression from rpg games that go back to the early 90s . things like dungeon master and eye of the beholder led ishar , ishar led to things like baldurs gate , baldurs gate led to things like ultima online . ultima online led to first person games like everquest . everquest led to wow and we are now seeing the slow progression of good ideas that will lead to wows succesor as top dog . lord of the rings is proberbly the best pve mmo on the market at the moment .generally speaking its not as accessable as warcraft but would you want it to be ? i ve found it to be a very friendly game and am seriously thinking about a lifetime sub .