Lotr Online

[Number45]

I noticed the 7 day trial for this the other night and downloaded to check it out. It's probably my laptop, but for some reason this game looks incredibly awful. It's nothing special at all (Core Duo, 2GB RAM, x1400 Radeon) but it manages to play WoW at medium levels and staying pretty smooth at 1280*720 (Windowed) but when I played this it frankly looked like the game was 10 years old.

I'd read comments that the engine scaled really well, but even with the settings at low I would expect it to look better than it did.

It also feels clunky in comparison to WoW. Again I'm not sure if this is PC limitations or just that it's different to something I've played a fair amount of?

[oblivion_6]

Hmm thats really strange i alternate between windowed at the rez your using and fullscreen and its always looked absolutely superb for me, ive got everything up at the max on it and it runs totally fine.

[Ian(not Ian)]

The game engine does indeed look very nice indeed when up there at max or ultra. DX10 upgrade is just around the corner with the next update which will enhance the graphics even more for those who have nice Nvidia DX10 cards.

it's the gameplay which needs addressing imo, initially it did offer something different, but over time that has devolved into a WoW clone. Turbine's assertations that the WoW scheme of things would NOT be a factor in LotR have proved false.

F'r instance, Turbine told us that we would be able to attempt instances without a healer, or a Crowd Controller due to it's in-built 'Feat' system, essentially a couple or three DPS types could steam in, and very-so-often a feat would be available ---- Players could then use that feat to heal themselves, thump the mob hard, or de-buff a mob or two. Sadly over time these 'Feats' have been firstly nerfed in power, then the frequency reduced....Thus, healers. loremasters and tanks are a must, just like WoW.

Over-powered bosses in story instances, I'm looking at you Legolas, which demand concerted debuffs and attacks at given times like WoW didn't help either. Lose a single team-member and you're stuffed.

To be fair I had a lotta fun getting to level 40 or so, but 40-50 was a grind, and 50 raiding proved hardly worth the effort involved, despite in-built voice-chat.

I'm hoping Turbine sort it out, but reading their latest dev posts doesn't inspire much hope...They seem to concentrating on more solo content...and even more raids, when really their initial take on groups devoid of purely defined classes was imo the way to go.

Not too sure if the Balrog instance has yet been added, but if it has I'll bet it's a 24 man raid which will take around 4 hours to complete, and even then with a heroic effort from all involved.

[Number45]

Updated my drivers tonight and set the resolution to 1024 with the settings to high and it just doesn't run well enough for me to consider it to be honest. And it still looks dull. I've checked screens and videos from IGN and the like and I'm not getting anything close... I wonder if they've disabled textures in the free trial?

I think I'll just concede defeat and realise that the only game I'll be able to play on this is WoW. And I ain't starting that. Again.

[WazMeister]

Still at it

I'm still at it, playing casual though only level 19.

Play with my best friend we sit in vent talking and learning stff and love it.

Really think people expect too much at times.

And tbh i think all MMORPG if u go group hunting/raiding u need healers, tankers etc.
Its not WOW that made that up, its been going for years.

Its the basics, what will healers do if no one needed them?

I just made a healer and I be honest its hard to find groups in this game, ussally most games healer is most wanted for grups... so healer is not always needed.


I think people need to take time in playing rather than rush to end.

I loving it, and some patches recent, Housing?!?!? awesome some games make u pay an expansion for that stuff!
They added new instances/raids and solo stuff and currently re-working angmar to make it more fun with feedback from players.

Tbh Turbine are going up the right road.

Join Evernight, play with me and my friend

[Dazzyman]

I have a lifetime sub to this, I thought it was ok but not as good as WOW later on so benched it.