Hey guys, I pretty much finished the Ered Luin map, or I think at least 80-90% of it (Guild Wars 2 has me conditioned to do 100% map completions.
Some thoughts at this early stage:
1) Graphically it definitely seems a bit dated, especially when comparing it to more recent mmo's like Guild Wars 2, The Secret World, and Star Trek Online. This is probably the biggest single strike against it. Having said that, the visuals still have a certain appeal. For one example the night sky is absolutely breathtaking! In GW2 I never seemed to notice the change from day to night, but you definitely notice it in LOTRO. For another example, the lush rolling hills, farms, and hobbit houses of the Shire are sure to delight any Tolkien fan. Can't wait to stroll around Rivendell, or brave the bridge at Khazad Dum.
2) The game is a Tolkien fan's role playing dream come true. LOTRO probably has the best lore I've ever seen in an mmo, and although it requires at least a modest amount of reading like most mmo's these days, the writers kept things very close to JRR, nor thankfully do they seem to get long-winded with it. There are also a lot of nice little touches, like the totally charming animation when you fire up some pipe weed. I felt just like that fool of a Took!
In fact I would say that the respect the Turbine writers seem to have for the Tolkien lore is maybe the single best thing about the game.
3) The combat is OK. Not the best I've seen, but kind of your typical mmo fair. This is one place where Guild Wars and Star Wars: TOR has it beat, but I'm not complaining too much. It's what I would call 'good enough' combat. Also, to be fair, I'm only at level 16 and it will be interesting to see how the combat progresses as I level up.
4) There are a lot of subtle and not so subtle nudges by Turbine to get you to spend money in the cash shop, though I've seen worse. At least they don't flash those annoying and immersion killing "So and so just got an Elachi supreme dreadnaught ship from a lockbox" messages. Nor have I encountered any 'must have' buys yet.
5) I've seen a moderate number of other players around, though the map chat seems oddly quiet most of the time. I'm not complaining though, because for one thing I did get help a couple times when posting messages in map chat. Also, thank God there are none of those 'Maw up", 'Ravenous bugblatter beast of Trall up' messages from people in zone chat trying to break the game (getting good gear with little effort). I definitely don't miss that stuff. In fact in GW2, Secret World, and STO I got in the habit of turning off map chat when it got to silly or annoying. Anyway, the LOTRO community on the whole does seem better and more mature than all the kids and hardcores playing other mmo's.
6) Inventory management is a bit of a pain, but not a major issue. It seems though that I do have to do inventory cleanup stops far more frequently than I did in other mmo's. Also, it can be a bit tricky at times figuring out what you need to hold on to and what you can safely sell. I expect though that this is a typical LOTRO noob thing.
7) From what I've seen thus far, the Turbine writers have exactly the right idea with the main story quests. That is, although you are not part of the famous Fellowship, your own story progresses as you do direct and indirect things to help the fellowship. This was brilliant, and probably the best way to handle LOTRO within the 'hero assembly line/theme park' mmo framework.
8) Most of the minor quests seem to be your standard mmo fair: fetch X number of items, kill X number of baddies, etc. On the plus side though, I get less of the feel of having to go out and kill everything that moves like I do in GW2. The Shire, especially, seems chock full of non-violent quests, like the 'care bear' chicken quests.
9) I mostly like crafting, though it seems a bit strange the way they've set up the crafting disciplines in triads. For example, weaponsmithing is part of the historian/scholar triad, but to do weaponsmithing you need ore and mining is not part of the historian triad, so I'm assuming you have to buy it off the auction house. Speaking of the auction house, the immediate response nature of the exchanges in GW2 and STO I think spoiled me a little, though I would agree that LOTRO's auction house is probably a more realistic way of doing trading between players.
10) I love the way they handle horses for fast travel. This is far more realistic and immersive than the stupid Asuran Gates in GW2 that make that big world feel small. Anyways, Tolkien himself was a big horse fan, so to not have mounts in LOTRO would have been criminal.
That's all I can think of to say for now. Thus far I give the game a solid B+ rating. Maybe it's not blowing me away, but I am mostly enjoying it and it is holding my interest and drawing me away from GW2, definitely a good thing.
1) Graphically it definitely seems a bit dated, especially when comparing it to more recent mmo's like Guild Wars 2, The Secret World, and Star Trek Online. This is probably the biggest single strike against it. Having said that, the visuals still have a certain appeal. For one example the night sky is absolutely breathtaking! In GW2 I never seemed to notice the change from day to night, but you definitely notice it in LOTRO. For another example, the lush rolling hills, farms, and hobbit houses of the Shire are sure to delight any Tolkien fan. Can't wait to stroll around Rivendell, or brave the bridge at Khazad Dum.
2) The game is a Tolkien fan's role playing dream come true. LOTRO probably has the best lore I've ever seen in an mmo, and although it requires at least a modest amount of reading like most mmo's these days, the writers kept things very close to JRR, nor thankfully do they seem to get long-winded with it. There are also a lot of nice little touches, like the totally charming animation when you fire up some pipe weed. I felt just like that fool of a Took!
3) The combat is OK. Not the best I've seen, but kind of your typical mmo fair. This is one place where Guild Wars and Star Wars: TOR has it beat, but I'm not complaining too much. It's what I would call 'good enough' combat. Also, to be fair, I'm only at level 16 and it will be interesting to see how the combat progresses as I level up.
4) There are a lot of subtle and not so subtle nudges by Turbine to get you to spend money in the cash shop, though I've seen worse. At least they don't flash those annoying and immersion killing "So and so just got an Elachi supreme dreadnaught ship from a lockbox" messages. Nor have I encountered any 'must have' buys yet.
5) I've seen a moderate number of other players around, though the map chat seems oddly quiet most of the time. I'm not complaining though, because for one thing I did get help a couple times when posting messages in map chat. Also, thank God there are none of those 'Maw up", 'Ravenous bugblatter beast of Trall up' messages from people in zone chat trying to break the game (getting good gear with little effort). I definitely don't miss that stuff. In fact in GW2, Secret World, and STO I got in the habit of turning off map chat when it got to silly or annoying. Anyway, the LOTRO community on the whole does seem better and more mature than all the kids and hardcores playing other mmo's.
6) Inventory management is a bit of a pain, but not a major issue. It seems though that I do have to do inventory cleanup stops far more frequently than I did in other mmo's. Also, it can be a bit tricky at times figuring out what you need to hold on to and what you can safely sell. I expect though that this is a typical LOTRO noob thing.
7) From what I've seen thus far, the Turbine writers have exactly the right idea with the main story quests. That is, although you are not part of the famous Fellowship, your own story progresses as you do direct and indirect things to help the fellowship. This was brilliant, and probably the best way to handle LOTRO within the 'hero assembly line/theme park' mmo framework.
8) Most of the minor quests seem to be your standard mmo fair: fetch X number of items, kill X number of baddies, etc. On the plus side though, I get less of the feel of having to go out and kill everything that moves like I do in GW2. The Shire, especially, seems chock full of non-violent quests, like the 'care bear' chicken quests.
9) I mostly like crafting, though it seems a bit strange the way they've set up the crafting disciplines in triads. For example, weaponsmithing is part of the historian/scholar triad, but to do weaponsmithing you need ore and mining is not part of the historian triad, so I'm assuming you have to buy it off the auction house. Speaking of the auction house, the immediate response nature of the exchanges in GW2 and STO I think spoiled me a little, though I would agree that LOTRO's auction house is probably a more realistic way of doing trading between players.
10) I love the way they handle horses for fast travel. This is far more realistic and immersive than the stupid Asuran Gates in GW2 that make that big world feel small. Anyways, Tolkien himself was a big horse fan, so to not have mounts in LOTRO would have been criminal.
That's all I can think of to say for now. Thus far I give the game a solid B+ rating. Maybe it's not blowing me away, but I am mostly enjoying it and it is holding my interest and drawing me away from GW2, definitely a good thing.
Last edited: