Finally, I can take the tape off my mouth! :)

JonMichael

Finally, I can talk about LOTRO!

 

First of all, I have to applaud Turbine and their efforts to break the current MMORPG trend of releasing games that are FAR from finished. LOTRO is by far the most prepared game in beta I have ever experienced.   As I read in another post, most other companies would have released this game months ago.. but not Turbine. They want to make sure this game is as complete and as ready as possible for everyone on launch.

 

To describe myself, I would say I’m a hardcore casual player. I usually play a few hours a night, almost every night and can go for some long periods of play on the weekends. In the past, I’ve played, TSO, Second Life, EQ, EQ2, SWG, AO, Horizons and DAOC. 

 

I beta’d DDO and had pretty much given up hope for LOTRO, thinking that I wouldn’t like it at all, because I didn’t like DDO. Also, I’m a fan of the LOTRO movies, but have never read the books, so the aspect of Middle Earth was not a draw for me. 

 

I was invited to the Stress Test a few weeks ago and thought I would give it a try since I was currently not playing any MMO’s, so I downloaded the client and logged in. 

 

My first impressions: The minute I logged in the game and started doing the intial quests, I knew I had found the game I was looking for.  I immediately felt immersed in the game with the graphics, quests and music. While I have enjoyed questing in the past, I usually become very tired of questing because it was always “kill so many of X” and that got old very quick.

 

The developers who wrote the quests in LOTRO need raises and awards! The quests are amazing. They’re immersive, full of lore and may involve finding special herbs, delivering messages, getting special items for NPC’s and many of them continue to other quests and NPC’s. Some of the quests (I recall one in the starting area) have these “cut away” scenes that are almost like movies. You’re zoned into an area (not a dungeon, but an instance) where you and your party members are the only ones in the area to adventure thru… and when you finish or leave the instance, the world is different from what it was before you entered. 

 

The world looks and sounds like Middle Earth to me. The graphics are GREAT as is the music. Speaking of music, Minstrels in LOTRO have something very unique that no other MMO has done to date. They are able to actually PLAY their instruments! The first tavern I visited was full of people smoking their pipes and plucking out notes on their lutes, horns or whatever. I met a gal who had macro’ed an entire song and sat there and played it for us.. it was amazing.   The roleplay possibilities in this game are endless. Character emotes and animations are hysterical. There’s even a /pick emote to pick a wedgie!

 

So far, I’ve played a Captain to level 12, a Guardian to level 11, a Loremaster (LOTRO’s semi-mage) to level 9 and just started a hobbit hunter. All of the classes are quite unique in their own ways. The combat is pretty standard, but the animations are great! The mobs feel alive in this game as some of them will try to run away when they’re on their last legs.   These mobs just don’t stand there and fight. They call for help or run for help, into other camps of NPC’s… so there’s some danger there. 

 

If the beta community is anything like the community that will be in game at launch, you’re in for a real treat. They’re helpful, friendly and one of the best communities I’ve ever experienced. I can be out adventuring alone, aggro more mobs than I can handle, and someone will come along and heal me or assist me in killing the mobs so I don’t die. 

 

As far as solo/group play, LOTRO has the PERFECT combination. If you want to solo, you can, if you want to group, you can. From what I hear, some of the epic battles later on will require groups, but the majority of the game can be solo’d if you want. You may have to wait for the quests to be a few levels below you, but they are soloable. Grouping is great fun… there’s a purpose for each class and each class has something unique to offer to the group. The minstrel’s just don’t heal, the tanks just don’t tank.. there are options for everyone. 

 

All in all, this game is the game for me… it’s rich in lore, great gameplay, quests, graphics and community. I can only imagine that big fans of LOTRO will really enjoy it… as will any hard core casual players like myself. Hat’s off to Turbine for developing an interesting and polished game that still has two months until release! I’ll be there on launch day!

beezee

^^^^



Couldn't have said it any better my friend! 



The Community is Great! 



The Graphics are amazing in a rich vibrant way, but not at all cartoonish.



The quests are unique for the most part.  Sure there are the garden variety kill x creatures, but what MMO doesn't have those.  They are few and far between though.



The immersion of the game is incredible!  The attention to detail blows your mind away.  Sometimes it's the small things that make you go wow!



Finally Turbine should be very proud of themselves, because this game could go Gold right now.  It's that bug free.

DeaconX

I know some think this is kind of silly, but I absolutely love detail and immersion in an MMO - from interacting with the world to seeing all the wildlife.  I can recount flogs of brids, blue jays, frogs hopping around, rabbits, foxes, deer and of course, those crazy badgers!  So much wildlife I don't think any MMO has done it to this extent before and I love it.

I really believe that if you love role playing, this will be the game for you.  I just discovered yesterday there's a 'Family Tree' feature - not sure how it works yet but I know a friend adopted another friend hehe.

All the things lacking for now, will come in time with expansions.  Turbine is doing the right thing, creating an enjoyable world that's easy to exist in first... and the community is absolutely amazing.  EVERYONE helps everyone - its incredible.  I've been in several beta's but this has been the most enjoyable.  The game is well on it's way on a lot of right paths.

amunn1

Ya ok the game is fun at first, but its limited skill tree ( you get 1 maybe 2 skills every 2 levels with some offensive/defensive skills like parry dodge critical hit chances on odd levels). My lore master has been using the same ember strike for 30 levels now, sure it does a small amount of additional damage each lvl, but its the same spell for 30 levels. Crafting isnt much fun with the way they have it set where you pick a pre made group of 3 that often dont fit together. There is no fishing, no alchemy,  farming is just that farming money that is extremely easy.

There is no pure magic casting class so you get 6 classes all doing different styles of melee.  You fight boars and bears at almost every level. There are more bears boars and wolves that I ever want to see again. They toss in some orcs and humans to break the monotony of animals.

Its an ok game, but its not the next greatest thing, its far better than vanguard at this point tho as far as playability and polish goes.

Sevenwind

Meant to post this here....

I think this game is fantastic. I found myself playing LOTR beta more than Vanguard which I paid for as well. LOTR ran 100x better, looked better, played better and the quests were a lot better than Vanguard.

I don't consider it a WoW clone at all, to me it felt more like AC2 in a lot of ways and I loved AC2 towards the end. The GUI most of all reminded me of AC2.

I pre-ordered and plan to get the lifetime sub. I agree with some others this is the best beta I've been in with a game that already feels released. Only bug I have had so far is it does not like Windows Vista to much, but once I'm in the game runs smooth.

Cheers Turbine!

Gules_Aspen

Originally posted by amunn1


Ya ok the game is fun at first, but its limited skill tree ( you get 1 maybe 2 skills every 2 levels with some offensive/defensive skills like parry dodge critical hit chances on odd levels). My lore master has been using the same ember strike for 30 levels now, sure it does a small amount of additional damage each lvl, but its the same spell for 30 levels. Crafting isnt much fun with the way they have it set where you pick a pre made group of 3 that often dont fit together. There is no fishing, no alchemy,  farming is just that farming money that is extremely easy.
There is no pure magic casting class so you get 6 classes all doing different styles of melee.  You fight boars and bears at almost every level. There are more bears boars and wolves that I ever want to see again. They toss in some orcs and humans to break the monotony of animals.
Its an ok game, but its not the next greatest thing, its far better than vanguard at this point tho as far as playability and polish goes.

Honestly..it sounds to me like you aren't a fan of the world represented and the lore it represents. The things you mention are true to the world Tolkien created, and is just as it should be. This isn't a clone of WoW/EQ2/EQ, which is what it sounds like you want and expect here.



I think the target audience for LOTRO is honestly the casual gamer and fan of the Tolkien books (not the movies so much), and it's also very RP friendly. So, it's perfect for me, and a lot of others, but not for you and many on that side. This is why they have dozens of games out there

sushimees

Sorry, but music? There is no music and if there is, it's only for a brief moment. Sorry, but I would score this game' sound part 3/10.

amunn1

Originally posted by Gules_Aspen

Honestly..it sounds to me like you aren't a fan of the world represented and the lore it represents. The things you mention are true to the world Tolkien created, and is just as it should be. This isn't a clone of WoW/EQ2/EQ, which is what it sounds like you want and expect here.



I think the target audience for LOTRO is honestly the casual gamer and fan of the Tolkien books (not the movies so much), and it's also very RP friendly. So, it's perfect for me, and a lot of others, but not for you and many on that side. This is why they have dozens of games out there

Im not a hardcore player so please dont stereotype me if you dont know me. I like LotRO, they could just do so much more with it.

Myrdek

A review with no negative points and only praises is like not having a review at all

Cherise

Originally posted by DeaconX


I know some think this is kind of silly, but I absolutely love detail and immersion in an MMO - from interacting with the world to seeing all the wildlife.  I can recount flogs of brids, blue jays, frogs hopping around, rabbits, foxes, deer and of course, those crazy badgers!  So much wildlife I don't think any MMO has done it to this extent before and I love it.
I really believe that if you love role playing, this will be the game for you.  I just discovered yesterday there's a 'Family Tree' feature - not sure how it works yet but I know a friend adopted another friend hehe.
All the things lacking for now, will come in time with expansions.  Turbine is doing the right thing, creating an enjoyable world that's easy to exist in first... and the community is absolutely amazing.  EVERYONE helps everyone - its incredible.  I've been in several beta's but this has been the most enjoyable.  The game is well on it's way on a lot of right paths.

Absolutely agree with you on the wildlife.  May seem like something so minor to others but it makes the world feel alive.  Town folks moving about and conversing with each other, farmers harvesting in the fields, drunks passed out in the tavern hehe.  This attention to detail is part of what makes it very enjoyable to me.

JonMichael

Originally posted by Myrdek

A review with no negative points and only praises is like not having a review at all

Who said my post was a review?

 

Az2002ro

Originally posted by amunn1


Ya ok the game is fun at first, but its limited skill tree ( you get 1 maybe 2 skills every 2 levels with some offensive/defensive skills like parry dodge critical hit chances on odd levels). My lore master has been using the same ember strike for 30 levels now, sure it does a small amount of additional damage each lvl, but its the same spell for 30 levels. Crafting isnt much fun with the way they have it set where you pick a pre made group of 3 that often dont fit together. There is no fishing, no alchemy,  farming is just that farming money that is extremely easy.
There is no pure magic casting class so you get 6 classes all doing different styles of melee.  You fight boars and bears at almost every level. There are more bears boars and wolves that I ever want to see again. They toss in some orcs and humans to break the monotony of animals.
Its an ok game, but its not the next greatest thing, its far better than vanguard at this point tho as far as playability and polish goes.

So lets break down what you've said...

"but its limited skill tree ( you get 1 maybe 2 skills every 2 levels with some offensive/defensive skills like parry dodge critical hit chances on odd levels). My lore master has been using the same ember strike for 30 levels now, sure it does a small amount of additional damage each lvl, but its the same spell for 30 levels."

ok, so getting that Fireball VII spell at level 30 would be better than the spell itself increasing every level?  Most games give you rehashed spells/skills every few levels just to make it look as if they are rewarding you more.  Take away those redundant spells/skills from all the other games and your left with very little. 

Add to that this... in LOTRO, you get traits.  traits can be small adjustments to your stats, or can be new skills altogether.  For instance, I just killed a boatload of Goblins and received a new skill/trait that allows me now to stealth.  this alone adds a whole dimension that most games dont have. Those accomplishments are a achievers dream, and on top of that, they reward you for them.

Crafting isnt much fun with the way they have it set where you pick a pre made group of 3 that often dont fit together. There is no fishing, no alchemy,  farming is just that farming money that is extremely easy.

I'll give you that there is no fishing.  Alchemy though is just a choice of the devs.  Most games dont have farming.  Or Jewelers.  Or Scholars.  Its just the choice the devs made.  The crafting system itself though is good.  It allows for extra ingredients to be added so that you can create something new.  It allows for multiple levels of advancement. 

There is no pure magic casting class so you get 6 classes all doing different styles of melee.

Not quite accurate.  yes, there are not many magic classes, and rightfully so, seeing that they are trying to follow the tolkien form.  But you yourself are a lore-master, and that class is somewhat a magic class.  In fact, it mimics other MMO's magic/pet classes fairly well.

You fight boars and bears at almost every level. There are more bears boars and wolves that I ever want to see again. They toss in some orcs and humans to break the monotony of animals.

Again, your a bit off.  YES, there are boars and bears at every level.  but I have come across MANY other types of mobs throughout.  They are staying true to form with tolkien.  They have realistic mobs, and Tolkien mobs. 

Its an ok game, but its not the next greatest thing, its far better than vanguard at this point tho as far as playability and polish goes.

We agree.  This game is FAR more ready to release than Vanguard.  This game has FAR more polish and extras in its current beta state than Vanguard.

Now, your probably thinking Im a LOTRO fanboi and hate all others.  Thats not quite accurate.  I love ANY good MMO.  If it fits my tastes, I dont care who makes it.  Examples.  I loved EQ, DAOC, and WoW.  I have played Many others for at least a few months.  All Im looking for is a GOOD, POLISHED, game that has plenty of content for a solo casual/hardcore player.  Vanguard kept me interested for a week.  So far, LOTRO has got me hooked and I cant wait to create a few different classes and start playing live.  As of right now, this is the game for me in the forseeable future. 

 

 

 

fauxhall

Originally posted by sushimees

Sorry, but music? There is no music and if there is, it's only for a brief moment. Sorry, but I would score this game' sound part 3/10.

What are you talking about, its music is sick, it blows away any other mmo.

amunn1

It's just my opinion, same as yours. Yes there are lots of small details that are nice, like running into a city and a guard acknowledges you, but after 5 or 6 times, I'm not paying much attention to him. Same with the frogs and  birds or what ever, the first few times it wow ooooh ahhhh but after that it's ho-hum. It's like eating your favorite food everyday for 2 weeks. First day is great I love it, by the 14 day your ok enough of this, please something else.

As far as traits go, one game calls them traits, another calls them aa points, another calls them character advancement abilities. Its the same thing underneath. You can paint a stop sign blue, but it's still a stop sign ya know ?

 

 

JonMichael

Originally posted by Az2002ro

Originally posted by amunn1


Ya ok the game is fun at first, but its limited skill tree ( you get 1 maybe 2 skills every 2 levels with some offensive/defensive skills like parry dodge critical hit chances on odd levels). My lore master has been using the same ember strike for 30 levels now, sure it does a small amount of additional damage each lvl, but its the same spell for 30 levels. Crafting isnt much fun with the way they have it set where you pick a pre made group of 3 that often dont fit together. There is no fishing, no alchemy,  farming is just that farming money that is extremely easy.
There is no pure magic casting class so you get 6 classes all doing different styles of melee.  You fight boars and bears at almost every level. There are more bears boars and wolves that I ever want to see again. They toss in some orcs and humans to break the monotony of animals.
Its an ok game, but its not the next greatest thing, its far better than vanguard at this point tho as far as playability and polish goes.

So lets break down what you've said...

"but its limited skill tree ( you get 1 maybe 2 skills every 2 levels with some offensive/defensive skills like parry dodge critical hit chances on odd levels). My lore master has been using the same ember strike for 30 levels now, sure it does a small amount of additional damage each lvl, but its the same spell for 30 levels."

ok, so getting that Fireball VII spell at level 30 would be better than the spell itself increasing every level?  Most games give you rehashed spells/skills every few levels just to make it look as if they are rewarding you more.  Take away those redundant spells/skills from all the other games and your left with very little. 

Add to that this... in LOTRO, you get traits.  traits can be small adjustments to your stats, or can be new skills altogether.  For instance, I just killed a boatload of Goblins and received a new skill/trait that allows me now to stealth.  this alone adds a whole dimension that most games dont have. Those accomplishments are a achievers dream, and on top of that, they reward you for them.

Crafting isnt much fun with the way they have it set where you pick a pre made group of 3 that often dont fit together. There is no fishing, no alchemy,  farming is just that farming money that is extremely easy.

I'll give you that there is no fishing.  Alchemy though is just a choice of the devs.  Most games dont have farming.  Or Jewelers.  Or Scholars.  Its just the choice the devs made.  The crafting system itself though is good.  It allows for extra ingredients to be added so that you can create something new.  It allows for multiple levels of advancement. 

There is no pure magic casting class so you get 6 classes all doing different styles of melee.

Not quite accurate.  yes, there are not many magic classes, and rightfully so, seeing that they are trying to follow the tolkien form.  But you yourself are a lore-master, and that class is somewhat a magic class.  In fact, it mimics other MMO's magic/pet classes fairly well.

You fight boars and bears at almost every level. There are more bears boars and wolves that I ever want to see again. They toss in some orcs and humans to break the monotony of animals.

Again, your a bit off.  YES, there are boars and bears at every level.  but I have come across MANY other types of mobs throughout.  They are staying true to form with tolkien.  They have realistic mobs, and Tolkien mobs. 

Its an ok game, but its not the next greatest thing, its far better than vanguard at this point tho as far as playability and polish goes.

We agree.  This game is FAR more ready to release than Vanguard.  This game has FAR more polish and extras in its current beta state than Vanguard.

Now, your probably thinking Im a LOTRO fanboi and hate all others.  Thats not quite accurate.  I love ANY good MMO.  If it fits my tastes, I dont care who makes it.  Examples.  I loved EQ, DAOC, and WoW.  I have played Many others for at least a few months.  All Im looking for is a GOOD, POLISHED, game that has plenty of content for a solo casual/hardcore player.  Vanguard kept me interested for a week.  So far, LOTRO has got me hooked and I cant wait to create a few different classes and start playing live.  As of right now, this is the game for me in the forseeable future. 

 

 

/agree totally

DeaconX

I have to agree the ‘musical’ content in the game is lacking as is, but that sort of thing is so minor especially in BETA it’s really not something to quip about. Vanguard has a very good score, so does the Guild Wars series. The limited music in LotRO is thus far fairly quiet and only snippets, but it’s not bad. I’m personally glad they got rid of that horrible zambonie [sp?] sound that kept playing off and on, THAT was annoying.

 

A better score will be added, rest asure.  Overall, the sounds need some work.  Stuff like when mining, you only hear the first hit and then silence as you keep mining.  The women in the game sound strangely provocative while in combat/dying too which is kind of funny.

Then again the roars of Dwarves are totally cool when they happen during combat.  All in all, sound will improve as will the rest of an already fun, working game.

RK-Mara

Here are my screenshots from the beta:



koti.mbnet.fi/psyman

Soulflyx

if u want HD screes, 40 beta Screenshots here!



http://www.arenammo.com.br/forum/index.php?action=gallery;cat=29



If u want upload ur own beta screen only need register

Babylon5Fan

I've been visiting this site daily for 2 years now but until today I did not bother creating an account.  Why did I bother today?  Because I thought everyone should know how great a game Lord of the Rings Online is.  I agree with everything the original post says.

I have been a beta tester since late November and getting an invite was a shock for me.  Frankly I had forgotten about LotRO and was playing CoH biding my time till Vanguard came out.  DDO was a huge disappointment for me and I fully expected the same here.  I almost didn't download the beta...thank god I did because I learned right from the start that this game was brilliant.  When Turbine announced that we were going into beta 2 in January, I was shocked.  I had been under the impression that we were in late stage beta, never have I seen a game more polished and ready to go (I've beta tested SWG, CoH, and EQ Adventures).  I was also lucky enough to win a buddy key and got my girlfriend into the beta with me.  This game is a blast to play with a partner.

To all you guys out there that play with your wives and girlfriends, they will love this game.

I don't want to say anything bad about Vanguard because in its own right (minus the fact that its still a mid-beta version of the game) but even though I bought the game, me and my girl friend have been spending all of our play time in LotR, its just that good.

DeaconX

Someone please educate me here - The current Beta, is that 'HIGH RES' or low res?  I'm kinda hoping it's the low res... not that it's bad, my pc is just capable of more and I love to play with everything to the max.

One of my screens:

http://images.mmorpg.com/images/screenshots/012007/9763.jpg

brostyn

My complaints about LOTRO:



Limited skills; everyone is the same; not enough diversity.



This game is simply too easy. No one will ever need a group.



I didn't feel like I was in Middle Earth. I felt like I was in another typical boring MMO world.





Pros:

Very polished. Great quest. Decent balance amongst classes.

brostyn

Originally posted by DeaconX


Someone please educate me here - The current Beta, is that 'HIGH RES' or low res?  I'm kinda hoping it's the low res... not that it's bad, my pc is just capable of more and I love to play with everything to the max.

One of my screens:
http://images.mmorpg.com/images/screenshots/012007/9763.jpg

Well, that is a doctored screenshot. Any screenshot that a company sends out for promotional reasons is doctored. The graphics is LotRO is the exact same as DDO.

DeaconX

My screenshot? My screens not doctored... its... MY screen.  I have several in the LotRO player submitted screens including one of a character sitting atop a building in bree overlooking the town a-la Batman fashion hehe... were you speaking of another screen? Cuz I donno how you'd think mine is doctored...

I played DDO and it did not look as good at LotRO in my opinion...

dougmysticey

All I can say is I have played most MMOs out there that are of any worth it and many that are not worth mentioning at all. LOTR is the most polished game I have seen pre-launch to date in the MMO market. It looks great, it is extremely stable, and is overall, fun. As another poster said, more stable then WOW at launch by far and that is true. I remember the WOW beta and thought it was solid for beta but LOTR was like a finished product at the end of Beta 1 (well, finished by MMO launch standards).

A poster said it was too easy and you would never need to group. I found that to be true up through about 12th - 25th level or so but after that I found plenty of reasons to group and some quests where it was almost impossible to do without grouping. Some instances were to hard alone to keep the NPC alive, for instance,  and the Great Barrow quests got pretty darn hard.

Also,while it seems at low level that most characters of the same class will essentially be the same in regards to skills and abilities the diversity comes later as you gain fame, titles, and abilities from accomplishments not related directly to your class.

All I can really say is try it for yourself. I will be playing after beta because I have enjoyed it during beta a great deal. I also play Vanguard for my "more challenging" MMO right now. I dropped EQ2 and WOW because I got tired of them but am looking forward to Conan and Gods and Heroes.

As I said, I have played and beta tested lots of these games and LOTR is a keeper. I think it will appeal to the mass audience but some hardcore MMO players may find it too easy and not really anything innovative. For the rest of the people in the middle it is a solid, quest based game that has the feel of LOTR and an immersive story line. Characters start off with little diversity but it gets better after 10th level or so.  I think this is a great way to go for NOOBs as it gets them into the game without throwing to much at them at once.

Gules_Aspen

Originally posted by brostyn

Originally posted by DeaconX


Someone please educate me here - The current Beta, is that 'HIGH RES' or low res?  I'm kinda hoping it's the low res... not that it's bad, my pc is just capable of more and I love to play with everything to the max.

One of my screens:
http://images.mmorpg.com/images/screenshots/012007/9763.jpg

Well, that is a doctored screenshot. Any screenshot that a company sends out for promotional reasons is doctored. The graphics is LotRO is the exact same as DDO. The graphics are nothing remotely like DDO. I have both, and they're night and day to my eye. LOTRO is about 2 generations better- I'd say visually better than anything but Vanguard (but it runs MUCH better, which more than makes up for the slightly less photoreal look). The Elven cities are stunning, and there's a fantastic draw distance. DDO is 90% indoor locations, and has none of the detail found in LOTRO.

On 1280x1024 at ultra high settings, LOTRO is amazing.

DeaconX

Totally agree - it somewhat reminds me of Guild Wars sometimes, but it can be quite a sight especially if you press F12 and take away the UI while you run along the beautiful areas - but about Vanguard I think the graphics are highly overrated... but it's just my opinion.  I find the game unattractive because everything looks like plastic.  I'd rather have a game that looks closer to being slightly cartoonish than one that tries to look real and fails.  Nothing looks natural to me in Vanguard screens except the armors which look amazing and quite frankly rock LotRO's current selection... especially the uninspired and boring leathers but I'm sure these will get more stylish and better over time.

LotRO graphics also remind me of GW because both look great while running very well on most machines.  Best MMO graphics would probably have to be the DX10 Age of Conan footage - looks like oblivion online! ...Oh what a thought... Elder Scrolls Online...