Lord of the Rings Online

[PeteJ]

I've done it again, bought a game that wastes hours for no real purpose.

For anyone who has played World of Warcraft they can expect much the same, but with slightly more depth but set (in my opinion) in a more interesting game world. It's geekyness of the highest order, no doubt, but oh so compelling. I'm not even a big fan of lotr's, but its quite neat seeing all the places you read about when you were younger.

Oh, it also looks like this. Very purdy.

Just like every MMO it's a huge repetitive experience, with endless quests of killing x number of the same enemies, finding items, talking to NPC's etc etc, but this one actually has something of a story. Set during the time of the first book (based on the book rather than film) you do meet up with the famous characters and 'aid' their quest. It fits in quite well with the LOTRs lore. Loads of instances (events that take place only for you and your party, or Fellowship) and it even contains cutscenes, which is pretty unique for the genre.

Still not sure i'll continue after the free 30 days, but its a massively addictive game.

For anyone who have not played an MMO before then this is a good place the start, and likewise its a good place to continue on from WoW if you are bored, though the mechanics are almost identical. It doesn't have the depth of FFXI, either, but it is easier to get into.

[Ian(not Ian)]

Tom Bombadil and the Old Forest FTW.

I've been playing this through beta, 10 day founder thingy, and now the full release. Servers have been flaky this last week with ALL of them down for hours on end. Iirc WoW servers suffered pretty much at launch also.
It certainly looks very pretty and your character can have a smoke of his/her pipe, which is nice.

Unlike my WoW playing days I'm taking this one easy, no mad rush to the endgame, I'm just admiring the scenery and the nice touches, like the minstel's ability to play their own tunes using the keyboard.

No mistake though this a WoW clone in almost all respects right down to healers, tanks, and crowd control classes.

Like PeteJ I cant see me playing past the 30 day sub you get with the retail box, lay off a while and wait for the promised additional lands to surface later in the year before ressing the subby.

[Simmy]

My god I'm not at all into MMO's but I find this very appealing if it is being implimented well From the screen shot it looks absolutely georgous. May have to give this a try just to visit the Prancing Pony !

When you say 30 days free I presume you mean subscription not a free 30 day demo ?

[Ian(not Ian)]

^^ To get the 30 days playtime you must buy a full-box. The activation code is inside.

[Simmy]

Ah that's what I guessed ! Just don't think I can bring myself to by an MMO unfortunately

[PeteJ]

Unlike my WoW playing days I'm taking this one easy, no mad rush to the endgame, I'm just admiring the scenery and the nice touches, like the minstel's ability to play their own tunes using the keyboard.

No mistake though this a WoW clone in almost all respects right down to healers, tanks, and crowd control classes.

Any class can play music, I have a loot and horn which I've already learnt to play the LOTR's movie theme and Mario It's actually quite a deep music system - the 1-8 keys are transformed into notes, while Ctrl and Shift take the pitch up and down an octave respectively.
I mean, watch this to see how good it can get - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIg8f_c7x2s
It's insane. Leanring Sweat Child of Mine too, though I'm struggling with the timing (it's quite awkward playing with keys to say the least!). It's such a simple idea expertly implimented, when you crack out a decent tune you actually get other humans standing around you cheering and doing various emotes. There are planned concerts too, which is just bonkers, the next patch even has drums

[Malavon]

I played the 10 day early access period too but cancelled my pre order in the end.

My main gripe with the game are the VERY limited classes. Theres only 7 in total, and 3 of those are very similar to each other - captain, champion and guardian. The latter two are essentially the warrior class split into two (warriors can dps and tank, dedpending on their spec - champions dps, guardians tank) and the former, captain, seems to be a melee support class similar to the paladin, only with pets.

The next two classes, the hunter and burglar, are both identical to their wow counterparts - hunters are ranged combat, have pets and use traps. Burglars have stealth, pick pockets, distract (called diversion), backstab (suprise strike), ambush (cunning attack) etc, only afaik champions use the combo system instead.

The minstrel seems to be a copy of the priest - heals, aoe fear (clarion of the valar), fade (soothing song), etc

The only vaguely interesting class is the Lore-Master, except the class is a mess - it can heal, use pets, do dps via spells, buff etc.

So yeah, the same old, boring classes and the same old, boring gameplay. Only IMO WoW does it better.

[PeteJ]

You're right it is very similar to WoW in its classes (and in most things), but they aren't identical by all means. There is more room to switch roles in lotr's, at least in the early stages that I am at the moment (lvl12).

One thing I like very much is the Deed and Trates - basically Xbox Live Achievements but with actual character bonuses associated. Also you get titles, so you can be known as <name> Spider Bane if you kill enough spiders for example.

[Nijo]

So it's not really based on Angmar then... more Fellowship?

The title suggests that it's set pre-LOTR books in Silmarillion times.

[Malavon]

From what I gather, the idea is that at the same time as the fellowship quest the witch king in angmar is amassing an army or something, and eventually the story will change focus onto him.

The last story quest I did was at level 15 (had a recommend level of 15 too) and that took place just after Frodo left with Aragorn, so I guess it may take a while before the story shifts focus.

Edit:

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=75657&page=2

eurogamer review up now (not sure when it was posted), i'll have a read through it tommorow - 9/10 is obviously a good score so maybe I should give it more of a chance.

[SteJay]

I'm Saranor on Snowbourn if anyone wants to give me a shout.

[Jusatsushi]

Been playing this a lot over the weekend and my opinion of it keeps veering from 'wow this is amazing' to 'god this is frustrating'.

I love the instanced story scenes, these are really well done and it helps to make you feel more involved in a game rather than a level race. I barely even notice the level-ups in this and some of them I did in a really nice group at about level 12 or so had my jaw hitting the floor and all of us commenting on how epic it all felt. It looks absolutely stunning too. They've nailed the Middle Earth feel.

A lot of the incidental quests are really frustrating though. The areas are either too crowded (which is completely understandable for a new MMO at the weekend) or just a nightmare to find with the 'anywhere north and a little to the west' type descriptions. A lot of them are a good way from the quest giver too, so there's a lot of wandering about. Also, is it me or is everything really expensive? The few times I've died, subsequent repairing has almost wiped me out and the horse rides cost a fortune too.

Still, I'm pretty impressed, and it certainly draws you in in the way only a good MMO can. That good old glazed almost hypnotised by the PC screen state!

Gargamil the Dwarf Guardian on Evernight by the way.

And have a screen!

[Adam]

Enjoying this game alot, here's 2 pics that I took

Troll

Sword - love the cool effect on the sword I have, just like Sting, it glows only when Orcs are in the nearby area

Oniken and Shenhua on Snowbourn.

[cavalcade]

Can I ask, is this like Turbine's Stormreach with constant loading and instanced communal areas - or is it like WOW, one loading screen/world and then very little disruption, unless you enter an instance?

[PeteJ]

Think WoW in a Lord of the Rings setting

There is very little loading unless you enter a building or house, or indeed instance. There seems to be more instances than in WoW (particularly at low levels, not sure about end-game content) but they are surprisingly short and well designed.