Has anyone given LOTR online a try?

[Epsilon]

I am just wondering if anyone ever tried it out. I am tired of the whole middle earth lore but I really like the environment from screenshots.

[Venderic]

If you read (and enjoyed) the books you will really like it, especially at first. It is pretty much a pure PvE game, however (at least when I played, if there was PvP I never noticed). That game is entirely about the story. It was told as if you were a supporting group following along, behind or ahead of the fellowship in the book/movies. They did a fantastic job of recreating some of the environments, like Weathertop and Tom Bombadel (sp?) areas.

The epic quest line was by far the best quest series of any MMO ever, IMO. It had cut scenes to tell the story, well voiced. Since many smaller areas were instanced, it let you feel like you had some impact (ie, if you help Aragorn out when he is in Bree, he leaves to move on with the story, so when you go back in there, he isn't there anymore. Very simple example but lots of them).

The downside to me, is after the first few epic lines, it becomes a full group kind of game. There were 3 of us playing together, and after chapter 3 or 4, we could no longer do them, even if we leveled until the quest was grey to us.

If you like PvE because of grouping and story and setting, fantastic game. If you like to solo (or only want to pvp) you will be missing the best parts of the game.

[Joe]

Originally Posted by Venderic

If you like PvE because of grouping and story and setting, fantastic game. If you like to solo (or only want to pvp) you will be missing the best parts of the game.

With the Mines of Moria expansion they introduced Wardens which are fantastic soloers.

[Venderic]

Originally Posted by Joe

With the Mines of Moria expansion they introduced Wardens which are fantastic soloers.

Oh you could solo and level pretty well. What I meant was it was hard to do the "good" stuff solo after about 20'th level. (hard for me to say though as I only duo'ed with my wife).

Unless you mean the wardens can solo the chapter epic quests which would be pretty bad ass :P

[Epsilon]

It's a really nice looking game as far as the environments. There was much effort put into the small details which I can appreciate and the story is forced on you a bit in the beginnings which wasn't too bad. I notice that it is the standard MMO again but a bit more relaxing scenary.

Without a (GF/Spouse/RL friend or family member) its a dull game. It is completely social and relies on you meeting and interacting with people in a positive manner to progress. (boring!)

So, I would have to say its so laid back I fall asleep at the keyboard mashing up my combos. This would be a great first time experience MMO for complete newbies.

Its not nearly as fun as dropping off GM tinker trapped crates on your unlocked boat or at the bank. No, not nearly as fun as skirting the edges of town grey and playing clueless or polymorph. And it couldn't possibly compare to goad miners to attack your annoying miner then suicide by timberwolf to give miners murder counts or finding black dye tubs locked down in public houses and re-dye or my favorite was telekinesis on a rune library renaming Britain Bank to Fire Temple. Lockpicking noobs crates in public houses and looting. Refreshing your house at the last few hours.
I still laugh at that jackass shit.

Oh, right. LOTR online. Its alright, I guess.

[SnallTrippin]

God bless you Epsilon. Even if I'm crying at my loss...again. To be fair I am half drunk.

[manapaused]

My wife and I just watched the Trilogy again and thought about picking up this game. I think we are going to play thru the console versions instead. An MMO without PvP is no MMO for me.

[Epsilon]

Well, I am only on level 8 right now and running through the Shire.

I say they did a damn good job with world building. They load you down with quests! Holy shit, man. But ya know these quests are a bit more fun than in other MMO'sgames. Some are short and easy and by doing them you really explore the areas to the fullest. This is the first game where I actually go around doing quests because it really is more productive than fighting. This game seems more about questing than PvE. The are trying to make it feel like an interactive story so in a way it's a great single player game at the same time but not so challenging (yet)


....update.....

Okay, I am now on level 10. I have been doing quests non-stop with this game. I haven't left the Shire and it's a huge area with many landscapes from swampy, hilly, farm fields, waterfalls, ponds, bridges; its just a really nicely done area. The day and night cycles are a bit long and you will do a lot of running around so it helps if you can max out the graphics and enjoy the scenes.

About some of the questing, you get series of quests that just string together. For instance you run errands of postal satchels about to the various postmasters while avoiding nosey hobbits. These can get a bit old but they aren't that bad. There are the standard quests where you must "kill 10 frogs" and find certain items however there was some interesting quests where you actually play a chicken and must run around looking for worms or finding other chickens to talk to.

The one atmosphere the game is lacking (so far) is danger but then again, I'm still in the Shire.

I started a Hobby and its a Fishing skill similar to how WoW was. You gain fishing skill and every 10 levels you open up slight chances for a few newer items such as rusty daggers. There is a cap on how much progression you can make within a day so I got stuck at skill 20 and I was enjoying myself up till that point. I had thoughts of looking for an island area or a rowboat and fishing under the stars. The graphics are beautiful and I have them maxed out on my 24 inch flat screen.

This game is better than I expected but its not a long term solution for you MMO needs. If gaming is your hobby I think this is a good investment. The population has no comparison to Wow but that can also be a good thing and the players seem more mature here and on a roleplaying server they aren't anal about roleplay etiquette but stick to their characters just enough. I usually want to puke on a roleplaying server where peeps *try* too hard with their characters and just come out as creepy losers who are just filling the gaps between LARP sessions by online gaming and you begin to wonder about how YOU are spending your free time just before you make yourself log out.

Sorry about the horrible grammar Im a lazy poster.

[DrFDisK]

You're making me want to play it. Especially since the new expansion came out and got such good reviews. Some ppl from my old SWG guild I think still play it.

What is the lvl cap?

[Epsilon]

Well, more about LOTR. I approached this game differently than I have other MMO's. I didn't expect much and decided I wasn't going to attempt to playit as competitively as the past MMO's.

I was going to take my time and not even think about my progress in terms of levels but rather in how many quests I completed. I don't want to leave the Shire until I do the 100+ quests. I want to uncover all the land areas and enjoy each new area I discovered.

Basically, I am playing it as a single player game (so far). I met another player while I was fishing on a pier and practiced my Hillbilly hobbit slang. I even actually looked for a nice area to fish which was at a bog.

Now I won't say that I read all the text in the quest logs but I try to take the time to organize them and complete the lowest rewarding quests in priority. In a way such as NightHawk's thread about accomplishments on Xbox, I have taken the same approach to LoTR online. This has made my gameplay much more enjoyable.

As for the max levels, I have seen a few level 60's which probably means 60 is max. While I don't think this game is better than WoW, it is geared a little more towards a mature audience who particularly likes Fantasy Literature(nerds) while WoW is more for pure social gamers who like PvE.

Again, I am only level 11 but I am overwhelmed with the amounts of low level content. The one thing is that I don't find as much player interaction. Perhaps that is farther along because with the exeption of a few quests, I have received nearly all soloable quests so far.

My final verdict on this game is pending. My word is that I have enjoyed playing this laidback MMO which has better quests than Guild Wars and Better looking scenery than WoW and with the same amout of excitement (PvE) as DAoC)