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My review of the game
admriker4
Member Posts: 1,070
I previously played LOTR in beta and ripped it for being a WoW clone.
I tried the game out 3 weeks ago. The game has definitely gotten better. Combat animations were improved. Graphics were tweaked.
However the game overall is still missing something. I cant put my finger on it but the game is hollow and uninspiring. Anyway...
graphics - the strength of this game. In my opinion LOTR has the absolute best graphics of any mmo period. The attention to detail is simply amazing. The tree branches sway as though wind was blowing by. I nearly crapped my pants the 1st time I saw a flock of birds fly overheard. The water looks spectacular. I would purposely enter any body of water just so I could look at it.
quests - some were the typical go kill 10 wolves or boars kind. But some had very interesting storylines. And there are so many quests its practically overwhelming. Doing the quests is really the only way to level as mobs dont give out much xp. The quests also end up giving more than just loot, you'd get traits to boost abilities. If you love questing then I guess LOTR is for you.
Personally, I prefer sandbox mmo's with some quests in them but not as the only means of playing the game. After 2 straight weeks of questing, i spent the last week trying to find other things to do.
crafting - reminds me of Horizons. Kinda neat but gets old really fast. Nowhere near the complexity of say SWG but nothing else is really. I did some farming and messed around with scholar. My chief complaint with the crafting like with most MMO's is anyone can do it. You do crafting as a SECONDARY profession and dont sacrifice combat for it. Therefore, everyone is a crafter, therefore there is no reliance really. Yes if your a Historian, you'll need to buy mats to work on weaponsmith but its not as reliant as others. And with the option to make 5 toons per server (5 classes), you get to play everything and choose all crafter professions. So self-reliance, the key to making crafting and a real economy are non-existent. Dont get me wrong, the crafting isnt terrible but honestly its not what it could be.
Housing - doesnt exist as of now but rumors say its being looked at. Even if it is added, and im not counting on that as Ive played nearly all MMO's to date and they all promise things that rarely happen, it wont be in-game housing. The world is quite small so Im guessing the housing will be instanced. In many of the towns the buildings are just paintings and arent accessible. I wouldnt be suprised if theyre used for housing eventually.
Bugs - the game is very clean. I ran across only one bug and it was just a combat animation glitch. The lag has improved since beta and only gets skippy around the Auction House in Bree when there are tons of people around. For a game just out from launch, im impressed with the lack of issues.
Overall, LOTR is a decent game but it doesnt feel like an MMO to me. Yes there are people around but it played more like an RPG with IM attached. I cant quite put my finger on why it holds no interest for me. It might be many of the little things I expect from my MMO's that are missing.
I dont regret the $50 and the $15 monthly fee as I got 3 weeks entertainment. Thats more than I got out of Vanguard and the other MMO's Ive tried recently. Still, in the end it wasnt my cup of tea. So I search on for another home to finally replace my beloved SWG - pre-cu
Comments
What strikes me the most about what you wrote, and how you feel about the game is that it is somewhat parallel to me except..I do enjoy playing and am going to continue, at least for a while.
I cant put my finger on exactly what I *DO* like about it. What you think is hollow and cant really explain.... to me there is a good quality that makes me keep playing but unlike most other games I have played...I cant pinpoint what it is.
For this reason, I dont really go out and recommend this to everyone I know...nor do I recommend that people pass it over...its just sort of "there". But, for reasons that I cant specify, I am really enjoying it.
I think you hit the nail on the head with the sanbox comment though, this is a farcry from Vanguard, or rather..what VG was SUPPOSED to be.
Wow, a good, fair review!
I felt the same way you do about this one. I didn't hate it, but there was just nothing there holding me to it. I recommend it to most people who ask because I know a lot of people are really enjoying it, but I just couldn't find that enjoyment myself.
Players Housing is slated for Book 11. It's not a vaporware promised feature, it's got a time table.
Edit - Good review though, I find the game great but... I like to do lots of things other people i know hate, that's the way of life.
I love the game, for 25 years I have been reading the books and when i played the game in Beta I hated it.. HATED IT.. thought it was really the worst MMO since Horizons Beta (another game that started out bad, but improved greatly). But I got it because friends were playing it, and I wanted a casual MMO that wasnt WoW (a game I hate).
Love the game now, amazing, it makes me feel part of the world of Middle Earth. Many times I have come across something from the books and was amazed.. such as Weather Top.. I just stood there and went and climbed it.
There are some issues I have with it.. UI, some of the quests are way to hard, some are way to easy... there are not enough quests.. but its fun to go into a new area and do a bunch..
I think this will be a game I will stick with for years.. I dont mind doing the same quests over and over, I just like the different classes.. I love crafting (which is well done) and the world is ever expanding
Playing EQ2
Quit - LotRO, EQ, EQOA, EvE, FFXI, DAoC, TitD, AO, AC1, AC2, AA, CoH, CoV, D&L, DS, DDO, EA, GW, HZ, IW, L1, L2, M59, UO, MoM, MoUL, N2, RS, RO, RoE, RYL, SB, SO, SWG, MxO, UO, VSoH, WoW
We're all Geniuses. Most of us just don't know it.
I'm still playing though and will continue until WAR comes out.
Couple things to add though, while the game is beautiful it's small. very very small. It doesn't feel as expansive as other MMOs. It's not a bad thing overall but I wish that Turbine would have made the game feel a little larger.
The animations have smoothed out a lot since beta that's for sure. The females though still run and walk like they have a large cob in an uncomfortable place or have massive hemmoroids.
I agree there is something missing. I can't quite put my finger on it either. Perhaps some future update will add that special something.
Until then, I'll keep playing!
Yeah it is small. It was like half the size of WoW which I had also considered tiny. From the world map I could see the devs will eventually open up other places like Gondor, Rohan, etc. but in general the areas really could have used some more room. The area around Bree was terribly crowded. There were like 4 towns within 2 minutes walk from Bree.
Animations overall really got better from beta. Combat was just plain boring in beta but they definitely spiced it up. I thought the spider web cast on my arm to sorta prevent me from swinging was cool. The way toons walk still looked kinda weird like they were waddling but it was better than beta.
I have kept my account active and will check in from time to time. Im thinking whatever is missing for me might be added and hook me in. But for now it doesnt have that I gotta play appeal to it for me. When I played SWG from launch I never missed a chance to play. I didnt watch tv as much. I made sure when i went on vacation that the hotel had wireless internet access. And when I wasnt playing SWG, I was busy on their forums buying and selling stuff in the trade auctions. I miss having that kind of passion for a game.
Also another thing that the OP didn't mention is the classes, IMO there are not enough of them. Guardians, Hunters, Minstrels, Champions, Loremasters, Burglars and Captains. No matter who you ever meet in the game, they will be one of these. Plus the character customization is a joke, 3 different "faces" to choose from and one of them no one will EVER use, because hes got a huge flat nose that looks like it was crushed with a hammer (Human male faces).
I dont mean to bash LOTR but I'm just stating other things that I've heard people complain about that the OP didnt mention. I totally agree with him about SWG when it launched and pre-cu, no other game held my attention like that did at first.
-If you like doing a crapload of quests and love the Tolkien lore, then you will like this game.
-If you liked SWG because of all the character customization options, the sandbox playing style and not having to quest to level up, then stay away from LOTR Online.
I disagree about the size. Back when the VG/LotRO forum wars were hot, VG was using size as a major selling point, and VG supporters pushed the small size of LotRO as a comparative VG virtue. I played VG for 11 weeks in beta and release, and while large, I found the content (I played mainly on Qalia) generally sparse, with a lot of empty space. WoW has a higher content density, although often it is near the road, and thins out away from the road, with a fairly narrow feel to many areas. (Generalizations, not always applicable.) WoW's major cities are outstanding. LotRO has a high content density, especially in The Shire, and it is broadly spread. Surprisingly extensive ruins and orc/bandit/goblin encampments, plus instancing make a world that does not feel cramped, and that strongly rewards exploring far afield. (Stat rewards for discoveries too. ) I no longer play WoW, so cannot offer my own comparative measurements, but guesses by others who seemed not to have axes to grind indicated an area about 2/3 WoW's size, pre BC. Not bad for the first weeks, especially since a substantial area is being added in June.
So not only is the physical size "adequate" but equally importantly, the content density is high, both along the main highways and in the hinterlands as well, so the playing size is well within the standards for a AAA game.
I would like to add some since I last posted this.
I tried out a burgler class. I was told by many that Loremaster wasnt really working and was due for some fixes.
I also decided to take a different approach to the game. I slowed down, did more exploring, read the quests more closely. Tried a few different crafting professions (really enjoy cooking, the food is quite helpful).
Im lvl 14 now and still have like 23 quests in the Shire area. Most are light blue to me so not very hard at all. Previously I had already moved on to Bree but this time Im staying and in no rush to leave. Im taking my time and enjoying the quests. With WoW, it was all anout rushing to the next area and next level. LOTR I find more enjoyable if I dont follow that same pattern.
I havent run across any kinship offers yet. Hopefully that will come once im a higher level. No idea if burgler is something desired by kinships.
Community is very friendly and helpful. Someone helped me get my herb I needed from weathertop for expert cooking the other night.
Im getting the impression the game gets better the higher I get. The more I play, the more I see and appreciate. Im glad I gave the game a chance.
Burglars are very helpful in fellowships, because of their riddling (mezzing) and fellowship maneuver (conjunction) skills. A good burglar can be a big help.
As for kinship, when you meet some people you like, and group with them a few times and get along well, you might ask them about joining.
I think the game plays best when played as you are now. The content density is very high, especially in The Shire, and the game supports well a broader approach than just leveling.