LOTRO: A good MMO?

[Lockecole]

Well I was checking out Gametrailers.com and I found a movie that had a player from Lord of the Rings Online playing a lute. Game looked very well done, character movement was more fluid than Id ever seen in an mmo, and characters were very realistic looking.

My question is, is this the same "Middle-earth MMO" project that had been going on for awhile, and was just changed name-wise to appeal to a larger more mainstream audience? Couldnt find much on the Middle-earth MMO, so Im assuming thats what happened.

As far as I can tell from the one week Preview/Review at Gamespot.com it looks to be pretty promising. Normally MMO reviews are riddled with obvious complaints about the interface, bugs, interactiveness, community, monotony, etc. Actually most of those things were addressed to the point where they weren't an issue to the reviewer. Only time can tell obviously, and there's so much that goes into an MMO after its release that it can go sour a couple months in, but so far I have no reason to doubt its possibility of being a worthwhile contender to WoW for the name alone.
Though from what I hear, its just a European release, so apparently its not as well accepted as I thought.

[Xiona]

i did the beta thingy for it, they only let you get to 15 with it. it seemed ok but not spectacular. im sure theyll tweak it more but as far as i saw it wasnt all that great.

[Eckskalibur]

I played the beta.. It was as far as I could tell an exact rip off of WoW. Everything just seemed the same. Given I have only played WoW a few times.. so I'm not sure if it's precisely the same game with LoTR influences.. but that's how it seemed to me.

Others takes on this?

[Kuai]

ppl were saying PSU was more fun than this. i cant even fathom that

[Lbelle]

my best friend has been playing this shit nonstop and looooooooves it...says it the same thing as wow, but it's fun nonetheless.

[Ikith]

Reskin of WoW inc!

[Kaylia]

ppl were saying PSU was more fun than this. i cant even fathom that

Unlikely.
Mission/instance are well done, the world is big and good looking. Environment can be generic at time (lack of style) compared to WoW or FFXI, but its still awesome compared to many other mmorpgs

Gameplay..it's hard to say if it could last or not, but it wasn't too bad. I'm just fed up with mmorpg in general, and don't feel like grinding xp ever again. From what I've seen, I was basically spamming my skill, and most fight were easy, but it might change later. There was a few glitch/bug here and there,but nothing major, just minor annoyances that will be fixed in 1 month or so.


In overall, I think it could be a solid mmorpg if you want a beautiful new world to explore with new story and all. I've no idea how good it would be on a long run at higher level, but any mmorpg fan in general should be able to play this a few month.

Reskin of WoW inc!

It's not reinventing the concept of mmorpg, and it's closer to WoW than FFXI , but calling it a reskin of WoW is kinda harsh imo. You can solo easily, and the game is quest oriented (gathering/fetching for xp/money), but again, that's how most mmorpg work.

[Ikith]

ppl were saying PSU was more fun than this. i cant even fathom that

Unlikely.
Mission/instance are well done, the world is big and good looking. Environment can be generic at time (lack of style) compared to WoW or FFXI, but its still awesome compared to many other mmorpgs

Gameplay..it's hard to say if it could last or not, but it wasn't too bad. I'm just fed up with mmorpg in general, and don't feel like grinding xp ever again. From what I've seen, I was basically spamming my skill, and most fight were easy, but it might change later. There was a few glitch/bug here and there,but nothing major, just minor annoyances that will be fixed in 1 month or so.


In overall, I think it could be a solid mmorpg if you want a beautiful new world to explore with new story and all. I've no idea how good it would be on a long run at higher level, but any mmorpg fan in general should be able to play this a few month.

Reskin of WoW inc!

It's not reinventing the concept of mmorpg, and it's closer to WoW than FFXI , but calling it a reskin of WoW is kinda harsh imo. You can solo easily, and the game is quest oriented (gathering/fetching for xp/money), but again, that's how most mmorpg work.

I do agree but IIRC the whole minimap as well as the hotbars were almost 90.99% the same with 5-6 variations! I played beta for 10 mins got to level 4 and vowed I would not play again! As well as some of the other interface... The starting quest was confusing (or i was half asleep) and it just didn't apeal to me because of the fact that it seemed like a reskin of wow!

[Rammses]

Eh, that WoW UI was used in about 20 games before it... I don't know who came up with it(Diablo?), but it's in basically every MMOPRG but FFXI. And I hate it.

[Insanecyclone]

Eh, that WoW UI was used in about 20 games before it... I don't know who came up with it(Diablo?), but it's in basically every MMOPRG but FFXI. And I hate it.

FFXI's UI is unique in any MMO(fantasy ones, not space like SWG or Eve) but I believe they choose the 'wow' theme since it's simple and easy to use but if they are indeed copying wow then they should go ahead and let them customize it. EQ1 and 2 uses the same right? As for the game itself...it reminds me of vanguard more lol

[TsingTao]

I'm having a great time in LotRO, but there's caveats.

1) I'm a 'casual gamer' from a play time perspective now.
2) I didn't play WoW.

The game is lots of fun, can be enjoyed in small doses, and is much better looking (imo) than FFXI. I'm not able to make a zillion "It's just like WoW!" complaints either so it's not all old hat for me.

You can get some exp farming mobs for loot or traits, but the bulk of your exp comes from quests. There's a good variety of quest themes, and some fun stories in there, so it's not boring so far. You can tweak your character a bit with various race/job traits. There's only 7 job classes but they're very well balanced and are all rather interesting to play. You can even roll up monster characters for a little bit of PvP.

There's very little ready for end game content but that's OK. WoW didn't have much at release either. The devs promise it won't be solely large group instance grinding for good gear too. First expansion is slated for the end of June (free download). There's a lot of space in Middle Earth they haven't opened yet as well...

Summary: It's fun for what I want out of it, and if Turbine doesn't drop the ball has good potential long term. Fun game, tons of fun if you're a Tolkien fan. If you're a power gamer it will get old fast, but what game won't unless it fucks you for drops for years on end?

[MisterBob]

ppl were saying PSU was more fun than this. i cant even fathom that

Unlikely.
Mission/instance are well done, the world is big and good looking. Environment can be generic at time (lack of style) compared to WoW or FFXI, but its still awesome compared to many other mmorpgs

Gameplay..it's hard to say if it could last or not, but it wasn't too bad. I'm just fed up with mmorpg in general, and don't feel like grinding xp ever again. From what I've seen, I was basically spamming my skill, and most fight were easy, but it might change later. There was a few glitch/bug here and there,but nothing major, just minor annoyances that will be fixed in 1 month or so.


In overall, I think it could be a solid mmorpg if you want a beautiful new world to explore with new story and all. I've no idea how good it would be on a long run at higher level, but any mmorpg fan in general should be able to play this a few month.

Reskin of WoW inc!

It's not reinventing the concept of mmorpg, and it's closer to WoW than FFXI , but calling it a reskin of WoW is kinda harsh imo. You can solo easily, and the game is quest oriented (gathering/fetching for xp/money), but again, that's how most mmorpg work.

I do agree but IIRC the whole minimap as well as the hotbars were almost 90.99% the same with 5-6 variations! I played beta for 10 mins got to level 4 and vowed I would not play again! As well as some of the other interface... The starting quest was confusing (or i was half asleep) and it just didn't apeal to me because of the fact that it seemed like a reskin of wow!

Those hotbars are actually the Asheron's Call 2 hotbars, which came out long before WoW. LoTR is using a modified version of the AC2 engine. AC2 was a shitty game, but if you've played it, you'd realize that LoTR online is actually more of a rehash of AC2 than it is a clone of WoW.

[Fhqwghads]

It's fun, but there's room for improvement in several areas.

Stuff I like:

• -Environment. The terrain, objects, and just about everything look fantastic.
  -Quests. Most of them advance the storyline or explain aspects of side stories. They also give good rewards (the majority of the best loot comes from them) and also give lots of XP.
  -Crafting. It's pretty simple, there's no repetitive assembling of recipes and bullshit forced waits like in FFXI. You have the mats, you equip the proper tools, find the proper facility (oven for cooking, forge for melting ingots, etc.) and click however many you want to create.
  -Combat. Sort of like FFXI's skill chains, there are "conjunctions." Only a few classes can open up a conjunction though, and my understanding is they're a 5 minute cool-down. They're more than just damage though. Some do AOE healing, AOE buffing, AOE mob debuffing, etc. There's still the ones that do damage of course.
  -Music. It's very well done.
  -Never bored because there's always something to do, and you're not forced into seeking for hours. It's a game that you can play for half an hour or less if you want.
  -Very little zoning. The actual outside world is seamless. The only time you zone is going to an indoor place or an instance.

There's more, but I think I've nailed most of the things I like. Now for the things I dislike.

• -The actual character models. They're pretty bland.
  -The armor sets are also very, very weak. They all look like clown outfits for the most part. I mean, if your char has heavy armor, it should look like heavy armor, not like every other piece of gear.
  -Combat. I like most of the combat, but then there's aspects that are lacking. It's mostly just mashing skills when the timers are up. There's no real reactive combat like in FFXI. Example: stunning bomb toss. Mobs do their own skill moves, which is all fine and dandy, but as far as I can tell there's no way to actually prevent them.
  -No macros. I'm almost sure there aren't any. Without them there's no reason to keep different armor sets around. If I had a macro I'd have my normal set of armor for combat, and another set to speed up my skill availability outside of combat.
  -No such thing as "bursting" on conjunctions (skill chains.) Would be nice if the casters had something to contribute to a conjunction.
  -No custom map markers. Wtf... if I want to mark a certain location on the map: DENIED. Drives me crazy, especially since discovering a place doesn't mean it will show on the map. Some places show up when you find them, others don't.
  -Forced into combat whenever aggroed. If I'm low on health and get aggro, my character automatically enters combat. There's no way around it. When in combat mode, health and skill bars both regen a bazillion times slower. I only want to engage a mob when I want to, not just because he aggros something. It also looks silly when you're running through an area and don't want to fight anything. It looks like you're in trouble since your weapons are drawn and you're running away from aggro mobs, when in reality you just don't feel like fighting them.

I think that's most of them. Again, there's probably more I dislike but can't recall atm. Overall I like the game a lot though. I find myself enjoying it more than FFXI. That could be because it's new or I'm just tired of FFXI. Either way I bought it and plan on playing it a while. Can't judge too much at this point since it's brand new and I'm only level 18, although I am a Master Expert Prospector, which is kind of a high level craft. I've had a lot of fun running around mining in super high level areas.

[Po]

Great post man, very informative.

So the final game is out then? Or is this still just Beta?

Also, in regards to the game, what is the "Tolkienesque" stuff like? As in key areas from the books/movies, or like the trolls which Bilbo stoned, I heard they were in the game? Which would be pretty neat.

Something else which seemed weird is that your questing is going on while the Fellowship is on the way to destroying the ring. Is that true? It seems awkward, do you run into them, or affect this in any way?

Also, what is the best race to start as? I read that hobbits are pretty fun in that they give you the biggest taste of Tolkien in the starting areas.

[Fhqwghads]

So the final game is out then? Or is this still just Beta?

Also, in regards to the game, what is the "Tolkienesque" stuff like? As in key areas from the books/movies, or like the trolls which Bilbo stoned, I heard they were in the game? Which would be pretty neat.

Something else which seemed weird is that your questing is going on while the Fellowship is on the way to destroying the ring. Is that true? It seems awkward, do you run into them, or affect this in any way?

Also, what is the best race to start as? I read that hobbits are pretty fun in that they give you the biggest taste of Tolkien in the starting areas.

Ya the game went live last week. The game itself as far as Tolkien goes is just about spot on. The main story line is like seeing the war of the ring from a new perspective. It's very, very well done. It's like reading a new book, but with you being a part of it. Key areas are exceptionally well done. Finding Hobbiton, or Bree, or Rivendell is something you have to experience to appreciate.

And yes, while you're questing the Fellowship is advancing with the ring. The game starts out in a race-specific instance. I don't want to say too much because it would probably be a spoiler. If you're really interested here it is in tiny font:

I can only speak for the race of Man, since that's the only char I have made so far. Men start out in Archet. You're imprisoned by some evil men who have also captured a couple of hobbits. A ranger frees you from your cell and charges you with rescuing the hobbits. After you've located the hobbits and try to meet up with the ranger, the ranger is waylaid by a ringwraith and stabbed with a tainted blade. One of the hobbits sets a few houses on fire to create a distraction and you all make your escape.

After that you quest for a while to level and get a feel for the game. You then enter another instance after the town is attacked by the evil men. The town is burnt to the ground, and the instance ends. You're then free to explore the whole world.


As far as running into the characters from the fellowship, yes you do. There's nothing awkward about it though. If you go to Rivendell they're all there. They have appropriate dialog. Apparently what happens is that each expansion that comes out allows your character to assist, in an offhand way, the advancement of the fellowship. I've completed the quests all the way to chapter 11 (the end of Book 1) and can say that each quest in the main storyline is riveting.

The game itself comes with 30 free days, and also a code to sign a friend up for 2 weeks of gaming. You just let your friend borrow the DVD to install the game.

[Axil]

We require pictures

[TsingTao]

The final game went live a week ago last Friday.

There's a TON of stuff from the books. They did a great job of recreating the world while still having a playable MMO (in my opinion). In the last few days I've done all sorts of fun things, from dancing with Tom Bombadil & dodging Old Man Willow to wandering around Weathertop at night. If you're a Tolkien geek you'll enjoy exploring the world merely for its own sake.

The whole of Middle Earth isn't even open yet, just the NW corner. The current 'world' consists of Eriador. Check the full map of
Middle Earth for scale. The game uses instances a lot too, so they can add depth to that overland map wherever they like.

There's some nice perks from that "useless" exploring too. Unlike FFXI you will complete little automatic quests merely for exploring. Not huge exp, but it will unlock or enhance some Virtues you'd otherwise never see. There's more to do than just fighting.

You do get to see the Fellowship in Rivendell, but you don't get to directly interact. Their quest is hit upon in the various Epic quest lines, but you're more of a supporting player as snips of Big Things get referred to during your work. At least that's what Ive seen so far, but I'm not 50 or anything.

There's no best race. They all have a few perks (Racial bonuses, racial Traits you can earn) but at the end all the people from closed Beta say that it's close enough not to be a huge deal.

There's more, but I think I've nailed most of the things I like. Now for the things I dislike.

• -Combat. I like most of the combat, but then there's aspects that are lacking. It's mostly just mashing skills when the timers are up. There's no real reactive combat like in FFXI. Example: stunning bomb toss. Mobs do their own skill moves, which is all fine and dandy, but as far as I can tell there's no way to actually prevent them.

Loremasters get a Stun in the form of Blinding Flash, Burglars get Addle. Both will interrupt nasty things as they happen. It's not what we're used to from a BLM or /DRK, but it's there.

I'm with you on a lot of your other gripes though. They're not deal breakers, and I expect some will be addressed (especially map markers). I hope for some macro support too, but so far it seems you're no where near as dependant on macro swaps for effectiveness so I'm not hugely saddened.

Edit: I type too slow and said too much. Ninja'd! Also, all my SS are at home or I'd post some.

Fhqwghads, what server are you on?

[Charla]

Macro swaps were never a big deal in ffxi until you actually get situational gear either. I think in EQ it was similar, and there was no way to swap gear without clicking on it there. (you could put clicky effects on a macro, but the item didn't need to be equipped for that. Anyone remember jboots?)

[xerodok]

For those of you whom don't want to read anything above:


Its WoW with hobbits.

end.

[solsovly]

For those of you whom don't want to read anything above:


Its WoW with hobbits.

end.

Thanks, now for more real impressions. The game sounds really fun, I like the idea of exploring the game world and being rewarded for it. How flexible is grouping and parties? And how's the community for the game so far? I'm hoping for an age range a bit older than WoW and FFXI. If it had something closer to an Ultima Online or Dark Age of Camelot style community, I'd be a big fan.