This is a bit difficult because, for me, the best "lore" for an mmo would have to be Tolkien's Middle Earth. Now, the way the game handled the lore is far from great, far from even passable for a true fan of Tolkien's work. Facing off against a Balrog, psuedo-ring wraits, being able to get from the shire to bree in a few minutes etc etc etc.
According to Tolkien he was bothered by the lack of English mythology. There is stuff from the celts, stuff from the vikings and from mainland europe but very little for the british themselves. So, Tolkien set out to create a modern mythology. He created an entire history of the land and the different peoples populating it. I do not believe any game developer or writer has gone to the depth that Tolkien has.
On the contrary. I find it quite interesting. Agreed that my opinion is unpopular, but no insult or derail was intended.
In my opinion, when polling for favorites, "None of the Above" should be an option. I don't have a favorite and explained why. My apology if doing so was inappropriate, but it was posted in "General Discussion" as an open question.
Let me use DDO as an example. I've got a couple hours in on it and made it to level 6. Saghaugin are attacking newbie island. Kobold are in the sewers. Some drunk guy has a secret. Is that enough to make it my favorite?
Or World of Warcraft as another example. I have multiple 80s. Lore = Horde vs. Alliance... sort of. Not really at war with each other, and they share a bunch of common enemies, but you can kill each other if flagged, and killing the other sides quest givers is more griefing than gameplay. Then in Burning Crusade, Horde and Alliance are still enemies, but now they live in the same central town (Shatt) because of crystal shaped wind-chime people and evil Blood Elfs who begged to follow A'dal turned the city into a sanctuary. Once in Lich King... it didn't matter anymore. Kill stuff, get xp, turn in quests, get xp, work on my crafting, skip anything that requires phasing.
Should that be enough to make it my favorite? I've played it for like 4 years now.
Maybe I should have stated my opinion as: "Of the MMOs I've played, most of the lore couldn't keep my interest enough to bother with it. I tried at first, but after a while the lore was no longer important, and I was simply in a rat-race with the other rats".
Perhaps one better would be: The storylines that engaged me the most were not in MMORPGs. I liked the story in Half-Life. I very much liked the "Black Hand" storyline in Oblivion. Other than that, Tauren Druid lore was kind of interesting and it was cool to quest in order to gain abilities. Same with the Pally quest to get the epic mount.
Is that better?
Ken Fisher - Semi retired old fart Network Administrator, now working in Network Security. I don't Forum PVP. If you feel I've attacked you, it was probably by accident. When I don't understand, I ask. Such is not intended as criticism.
Age of Conan. I knew almost nothing about the lore going into the game. I just wanted to smash things. After reading or hearing a good bit of the mission text in game, I actually picked up a couple of Robert E. Howard's books.
I only demoed the LoTRO and I thought they did that very well. I read the books, but really don't care for the style. I constantly thought how I would have dominated middle earth.
-A horde of goblins surround you-
You
1. run
2. attack the leader
3. throw a gold purse in the middle of them
/3
-The goblins kill each other over the coins-
/loot
And all the humans, while they were busy telling me their lineage back 5 generations, or who made their sword, I'd have gutted them.
"Never met a pack of humans that were any different. Look at the idiots that get elected every couple of years. You really consider those guys more mature than us? The only difference between us and them is, when they gank some noobs and take their stuff, the noobs actually die." - Madimorga
Easily Asheron's Call. In large part because that original development team update the game each month with new content and updated lore. They launched the game in 1999 and have only missed 3-4 months I believe as far as updating the game.
Hear hear. AC has the best lore of any game that is not established by an existing IP. Second to that I am going to say Fallen Earth.
Original lore Asherons Call and Anarchy Online are easiest on top both of those companies came up with a pretty much entire new storyline and didn't follow the typical tolkein/DD lore like Eq1 relied heavly on for most of it's stuff.
I would put SWG, LoTRo, WAR, Champions, DDO, STO, and AOC in a different category as they are adapting existing Lore/Stories, and for that I would say SWG felt the most like the original work to me with AOC being a close second.
For game company created lore I would probably put CoH/CoV, and Tabula Rasa as the winners for games that felt like a deep story world that was unfolding around me. I would also have a nod to Guild Wars, as it was an interesting intro, and the quests really felt like they were pulling you along an interesting story, but I didn't feel as much of a depth of history with that one.
EQ, EQ2, Wow, DAoC, Vangaurd, AO, EVE (and many others) are/were great games, but I never really felt like they are more than a collection of NPC's with an interesting background, no shared world history (at least nothing that I would pick up after reading the back cover if it was a book) particularly.
Original lore Asherons Call and Anarchy Online are easiest on top both of those companies came up with a pretty much entire new storyline and didn't follow the typical tolkein/DD lore like Eq1 relied heavly on for most of it's stuff.
Pre existing lore Lord of the Rings Online imo,.
Both of those are hard games for me to address with this topic, because I loved the background, and fluff stories that both those games had, but I rarely felt like the storylines were being exposed while I played the game.
Addmittedly I played AO during the beta, and for a few months after, and AC for less time; so I may have missed something that evolved later in the development cycle for those games.
I would put SWG, LoTRo, WAR, Champions, DDO, STO, and AOC in a different category as they are adapting existing Lore/Stories, and for that I would say SWG felt the most like the original work to me with AOC being a close second.
For game company created lore I would probably put CoH/CoV, and Tabula Rasa as the winners for games that felt like a deep story world that was unfolding around me. I would also have a nod to Guild Wars, as it was an interesting intro, and the quests really felt like they were pulling you along an interesting story, but I didn't feel as much of a depth of history with that one.
EQ, EQ2, Wow, DAoC, Vangaurd, AO, EVE (and many others) are/were great games, but I never really felt like they are more than a collection of NPC's with an interesting background, no shared world history (at least nothing that I would pick up after reading the back cover if it was a book) particularly.
You know, Tabula Rasa did have a great storyline, it didn't really hit me until you mentioned it, going back and thinking about it, the story aspect was really well done, and integrated into everything you did in that game very well too.
I also liked the story in CoH, as not only did you get to choose different "gangs" of enemies to take out, you also got some backstory into what they were doing, and what their overall plans were. With each new issue they just added more to it, so I can definitely agree with that one.
I liked guild wars story aspects, very cinematic, and for the most part enjoyable.
I also liked what lore they had for Vanguard. Some racial starting areas, and information you received just from walking around and reading things really increased the knowledge of your race and what you were doing. Since most races had a different story, I found each one interesting and enjoyable.
EQ1 back in the days, WoW today. AC1 deserve to be mentioned because it's one of the few games that get monthly or bi-monthly story updates. The game has had an ongoing story updates for 10 years now.
Sadly it was probably Spellborn. No other game really immersed you into the lore quite like that game. The simple fact that you were forced to actually read the quests helped a lot.
I would put SWG, LoTRo, WAR, Champions, DDO, STO, and AOC in a different category as they are adapting existing Lore/Stories, and for that I would say SWG felt the most like the original work to me with AOC being a close second.
For game company created lore I would probably put CoH/CoV, and Tabula Rasa as the winners for games that felt like a deep story world that was unfolding around me. I would also have a nod to Guild Wars, as it was an interesting intro, and the quests really felt like they were pulling you along an interesting story, but I didn't feel as much of a depth of history with that one.
EQ, EQ2, Wow, DAoC, Vangaurd, AO, EVE (and many others) are/were great games, but I never really felt like they are more than a collection of NPC's with an interesting background, no shared world history (at least nothing that I would pick up after reading the back cover if it was a book) particularly.
You know, Tabula Rasa did have a great storyline, it didn't really hit me until you mentioned it, going back and thinking about it, the story aspect was really well done, and integrated into everything you did in that game very well too.
I also liked the story in CoH, as not only did you get to choose different "gangs" of enemies to take out, you also got some backstory into what they were doing, and what their overall plans were. With each new issue they just added more to it, so I can definitely agree with that one.
I liked guild wars story aspects, very cinematic, and for the most part enjoyable.
I also liked what lore they had for Vanguard. Some racial starting areas, and information you received just from walking around and reading things really increased the knowledge of your race and what you were doing. Since most races had a different story, I found each one interesting and enjoyable.
Well, yes, if we're talking about MMO created lore, Tabula Rasa was probably my favorite.
"Never met a pack of humans that were any different. Look at the idiots that get elected every couple of years. You really consider those guys more mature than us? The only difference between us and them is, when they gank some noobs and take their stuff, the noobs actually die." - Madimorga
I'm sorry. IMHO, Tolkien would sue Turbine for what they did to his world. Magic and magical items for everyone in middle earth? Meh, did the devs even read Tokien's work? It's more like Harry Potter Goes To Middle Earth Online. You must have LOTRO confused with WoW. Now THAT is game has lore. Don't get me wrong, I love LOTRO and think it's a fantastic game, just not a game devoted to the lore from which it came.
Fear not fanbois, we are not trolls, let's take off your tin foil hat and learn what VAPORWARE is:
"Vaporware is a term used to describe a software or hardware product that is announced by a developer well in advance of release, but which then fails to emerge after having well exceeded the period of development time that was initially claimed or would normally be expected for the development cycle of a similar product."
Hard question to answer, if we consider lore as learning, particularly that sort which is not derived from
a regular course of instruction but comes of the reading of occult books, or by nature. I would have to say GW due to the fact that I learned of it's history through nature of playing the game. Perhaps it was the introduction of cut-scenes that made it most interesting and the way it provided the information. Occult books is certainly a differnt topic considering MMORPG's that are out today, I did read a book on Conan. However, I think LotR would be the more appropriate answer in popularity of books. OH NOOO, does that mean gamers of all types are...occult?
I'm sorry. IMHO, Tolkien would sue Turbine for what they did to his world. Magic and magical items for everyone in middle earth? Meh, did the devs even read Tokien's work? It's more like Harry Potter Goes To Middle Earth Online. You must have LOTRO confused with WoW. Now THAT is game has lore. Don't get me wrong, I love LOTRO and think it's a fantastic game, just not a game devoted to the lore from which it came.
Funny you should say MIddle Earth Online. That was LotRO's original name, back when it was going to be a sandbox game, had a slew of talented developers, and had a hardcore mature community behind it. Turbine basically ruined all that with the name and direction change. I was in the alpha, it was a million times better.
As for what I think is the best lore ever? Dark Age of Camelot.
The worlds were MASSIVE and steeped in lots of lore and research, down to giving the ants in Cornwall a Welsh name. Arthurian legend, Irish folklore, Midgard and Valhalla!
Dozens of unique classes, which you could spec each class a dozen different ways, and all of it had stories behind it.
And RvR is one of the biggest innovations in the industry, and has yet to be met by any other game save maybe Darkfall. Rams, balistas, trebuchets, boiling oil, siege towers, catapults, it was an amazing time.
And all of it had LORE backing it up. Lore that reflected in the game world. Something most MMOs don't do. The RvR worked because the lore made you HATE the other side, but also made it clear no one was really the bad guy.
I would say for game generated lore, EQ1 was the best. They really do have a deep, rich lore in the game with a long history of the world(s) and how it began, was sundered etc. etc. There is tons and tons of information to be found about the Gods and Dieties, who they are, what they represent and who their avatars on the normal planes are. There is also some pretty in depth lore to be found about the epic weapons and armors, as well as one of the BEST in game scripted events in Kerafyrm, The Sleeper.
While sleeping, Kerafyrm is guarded by four ancient dragons (warders) in "The Sleeper's Tomb". When all four dragons are defeated by players and are dead at the same time, The Sleeper awakes, triggering a rampage of death. Kerafyrm travels through and into multiple zones from The Sleeper's Tomb to Skyshrine, killing every player and NPC in his path. This event is unique in EverQuest, as it only occurs once on each server. Once The Sleeper awakes, neither he nor the original guardians will ever appear again on that server, unless the event is reset.
For book generated lore, I would say LotRO. Tolkien is god's gift to fantasy. Period.
I'm sorry. IMHO, Tolkien would sue Turbine for what they did to his world. Magic and magical items for everyone in middle earth? Meh, did the devs even read Tokien's work? It's more like Harry Potter Goes To Middle Earth Online. You must have LOTRO confused with WoW. Now THAT is game has lore. Don't get me wrong, I love LOTRO and think it's a fantastic game, just not a game devoted to the lore from which it came.
I would point out that Middle Earth was rather awash with magical items in a very MMOish way - loot was picked up along the way from troll lairs, goblin lairs, dragon lairs, wight lairs ... not to mention the various quest rewards handed out by elves along the way.
Sorry for the unoriginal answer, but there it is. They've stayed pretty faithful to it, and the embellishments they have made fit very well. Some of the monsters don't feel quite right, but everything else feels pretty good.
Sorry for the unoriginal answer, but there it is. They've stayed pretty faithful to it, and the embellishments they have made fit very well. Some of the monsters don't feel quite right, but everything else feels pretty good.
Yeah, because the Shire is just full of bandits and slime and dangerous beatles and boars, and anyone could be a wizard if they wanted. Not buying the lore thing here.
I'm sorry. IMHO, Tolkien would sue Turbine for what they did to his world. Magic and magical items for everyone in middle earth? Meh, did the devs even read Tokien's work? It's more like Harry Potter Goes To Middle Earth Online. You must have LOTRO confused with WoW. Now THAT is game has lore. Don't get me wrong, I love LOTRO and think it's a fantastic game, just not a game devoted to the lore from which it came.
I would point out that Middle Earth was rather awash with magical items in a very MMOish way - loot was picked up along the way from troll lairs, goblin lairs, dragon lairs, wight lairs ... not to mention the various quest rewards handed out by elves along the way.
The HEROES found magical items, or were given special items to help them on their way by the most powerful people in the world.
Theoden didn't have a magical sword. Almost nobody else did. That stuff was rare, it only happened because the main characters were exceptional people. There were only FIVE wizards, and magic was subtle, very subtle. Middle Earth Online was going to stick with that and use the morale system rather than a health based one, but like all their good ideas, they got chucked out when WoW became popular and the dark ages of MMO design hit.
Funny you should say MIddle Earth Online. That was LotRO's original name, back when it was going to be a sandbox game, had a slew of talented developers, and had a hardcore mature community behind it. Turbine basically ruined all that with the name and direction change. I was in the alpha, it was a million times better.
As for what I think is the best lore ever? Dark Age of Camelot.
The worlds were MASSIVE and steeped in lots of lore and research, down to giving the ants in Cornwall a Welsh name. Arthurian legend, Irish folklore, Midgard and Valhalla!
Dozens of unique classes, which you could spec each class a dozen different ways, and all of it had stories behind it.
And RvR is one of the biggest innovations in the industry, and has yet to be met by any other game save maybe Darkfall. Rams, balistas, trebuchets, boiling oil, siege towers, catapults, it was an amazing time.
And all of it had LORE backing it up. Lore that reflected in the game world. Something most MMOs don't do. The RvR worked because the lore made you HATE the other side, but also made it clear no one was really the bad guy.
Ah... good to see you back again, comparing LotRO to a game that never existed.
I started coded a LotRO MMO, too. Massive world with no load screens, areas are all perfect in every detail. It was built to the perfect size to where it would take you, real time, the same amount of time to get from Hobbiton to Mount Doom as it took the Hobbits. All the Vendors were played by the staff, as well as all the Monsters you'd encounter.
Also, you got to see Arwen naked. Her ears weren't the only things that were pointy...
But alas, I never quite finished it. But now you know that LotRO sucks compared to my game.
Comments
This is a bit difficult because, for me, the best "lore" for an mmo would have to be Tolkien's Middle Earth. Now, the way the game handled the lore is far from great, far from even passable for a true fan of Tolkien's work. Facing off against a Balrog, psuedo-ring wraits, being able to get from the shire to bree in a few minutes etc etc etc.
According to Tolkien he was bothered by the lack of English mythology. There is stuff from the celts, stuff from the vikings and from mainland europe but very little for the british themselves. So, Tolkien set out to create a modern mythology. He created an entire history of the land and the different peoples populating it. I do not believe any game developer or writer has gone to the depth that Tolkien has.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/7300033012
On the contrary. I find it quite interesting. Agreed that my opinion is unpopular, but no insult or derail was intended.
In my opinion, when polling for favorites, "None of the Above" should be an option. I don't have a favorite and explained why. My apology if doing so was inappropriate, but it was posted in "General Discussion" as an open question.
Let me use DDO as an example. I've got a couple hours in on it and made it to level 6. Saghaugin are attacking newbie island. Kobold are in the sewers. Some drunk guy has a secret. Is that enough to make it my favorite?
Or World of Warcraft as another example. I have multiple 80s. Lore = Horde vs. Alliance... sort of. Not really at war with each other, and they share a bunch of common enemies, but you can kill each other if flagged, and killing the other sides quest givers is more griefing than gameplay. Then in Burning Crusade, Horde and Alliance are still enemies, but now they live in the same central town (Shatt) because of crystal shaped wind-chime people and evil Blood Elfs who begged to follow A'dal turned the city into a sanctuary. Once in Lich King... it didn't matter anymore. Kill stuff, get xp, turn in quests, get xp, work on my crafting, skip anything that requires phasing.
Should that be enough to make it my favorite? I've played it for like 4 years now.
Maybe I should have stated my opinion as: "Of the MMOs I've played, most of the lore couldn't keep my interest enough to bother with it. I tried at first, but after a while the lore was no longer important, and I was simply in a rat-race with the other rats".
Perhaps one better would be: The storylines that engaged me the most were not in MMORPGs. I liked the story in Half-Life. I very much liked the "Black Hand" storyline in Oblivion. Other than that, Tauren Druid lore was kind of interesting and it was cool to quest in order to gain abilities. Same with the Pally quest to get the epic mount.
Is that better?
Age of Conan. I knew almost nothing about the lore going into the game. I just wanted to smash things. After reading or hearing a good bit of the mission text in game, I actually picked up a couple of Robert E. Howard's books.
I only demoed the LoTRO and I thought they did that very well. I read the books, but really don't care for the style. I constantly thought how I would have dominated middle earth.
-A horde of goblins surround you-
You
1. run
2. attack the leader
3. throw a gold purse in the middle of them
/3
-The goblins kill each other over the coins-
/loot
And all the humans, while they were busy telling me their lineage back 5 generations, or who made their sword, I'd have gutted them.
"Never met a pack of humans that were any different. Look at the idiots that get elected every couple of years. You really consider those guys more mature than us? The only difference between us and them is, when they gank some noobs and take their stuff, the noobs actually die." - Madimorga
Hear hear. AC has the best lore of any game that is not established by an existing IP. Second to that I am going to say Fallen Earth.
Original lore Asherons Call and Anarchy Online are easiest on top both of those companies came up with a pretty much entire new storyline and didn't follow the typical tolkein/DD lore like Eq1 relied heavly on for most of it's stuff.
Pre existing lore Lord of the Rings Online imo,.
MMO or not, no game has better lore than the original Guild Wars.
I would put SWG, LoTRo, WAR, Champions, DDO, STO, and AOC in a different category as they are adapting existing Lore/Stories, and for that I would say SWG felt the most like the original work to me with AOC being a close second.
For game company created lore I would probably put CoH/CoV, and Tabula Rasa as the winners for games that felt like a deep story world that was unfolding around me. I would also have a nod to Guild Wars, as it was an interesting intro, and the quests really felt like they were pulling you along an interesting story, but I didn't feel as much of a depth of history with that one.
EQ, EQ2, Wow, DAoC, Vangaurd, AO, EVE (and many others) are/were great games, but I never really felt like they are more than a collection of NPC's with an interesting background, no shared world history (at least nothing that I would pick up after reading the back cover if it was a book) particularly.
Both of those are hard games for me to address with this topic, because I loved the background, and fluff stories that both those games had, but I rarely felt like the storylines were being exposed while I played the game.
Addmittedly I played AO during the beta, and for a few months after, and AC for less time; so I may have missed something that evolved later in the development cycle for those games.
You know, Tabula Rasa did have a great storyline, it didn't really hit me until you mentioned it, going back and thinking about it, the story aspect was really well done, and integrated into everything you did in that game very well too.
I also liked the story in CoH, as not only did you get to choose different "gangs" of enemies to take out, you also got some backstory into what they were doing, and what their overall plans were. With each new issue they just added more to it, so I can definitely agree with that one.
I liked guild wars story aspects, very cinematic, and for the most part enjoyable.
I also liked what lore they had for Vanguard. Some racial starting areas, and information you received just from walking around and reading things really increased the knowledge of your race and what you were doing. Since most races had a different story, I found each one interesting and enjoyable.
EQ1 back in the days, WoW today. AC1 deserve to be mentioned because it's one of the few games that get monthly or bi-monthly story updates. The game has had an ongoing story updates for 10 years now.
EQ1-AC1-DAOC-FFXI-L2-EQ2-WoW-DDO-GW-LoTR-VG-WAR-GW2-ESO
Guild Wars for me, although its not really an mmo
Everquest -- at least pre-Luclin.
Sadly it was probably Spellborn. No other game really immersed you into the lore quite like that game. The simple fact that you were forced to actually read the quests helped a lot.
Lotro.
Alltern8 Blog | Star Wars Space Combat and The Old Republic | Cryptic Studios - A Pre Post-Mortem | Klingon Preview, STO's Monster Play
Well, yes, if we're talking about MMO created lore, Tabula Rasa was probably my favorite.
"Never met a pack of humans that were any different. Look at the idiots that get elected every couple of years. You really consider those guys more mature than us? The only difference between us and them is, when they gank some noobs and take their stuff, the noobs actually die." - Madimorga
Lots of MMOs with great lore.
Neocron - I enjoyed reading storyline, very well written. Postnuclear future is my kind of thing.
EVE Online has not much lore content ingame, but dozens of great stories on site and few books. Those make a great sci-fi universe.
Vanguard - world is huge and there are some amazing stories told by quests, diplo parleys and NPCs. People who made this game are genius.
Age of Conan. Very decent game for Lore addicts. The world is fantasy but unique.
WoW and LoTRO have anormous amount of Lore (especially WoW).
I'm sorry. IMHO, Tolkien would sue Turbine for what they did to his world. Magic and magical items for everyone in middle earth? Meh, did the devs even read Tokien's work? It's more like Harry Potter Goes To Middle Earth Online. You must have LOTRO confused with WoW. Now THAT is game has lore. Don't get me wrong, I love LOTRO and think it's a fantastic game, just not a game devoted to the lore from which it came.
Fear not fanbois, we are not trolls, let's take off your tin foil hat and learn what VAPORWARE is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporware
"Vaporware is a term used to describe a software or hardware product that is announced by a developer well in advance of release, but which then fails to emerge after having well exceeded the period of development time that was initially claimed or would normally be expected for the development cycle of a similar product."
Hard question to answer, if we consider lore as learning, particularly that sort which is not derived from
a regular course of instruction but comes of the reading of occult books, or by nature. I would have to say GW due to the fact that I learned of it's history through nature of playing the game. Perhaps it was the introduction of cut-scenes that made it most interesting and the way it provided the information. Occult books is certainly a differnt topic considering MMORPG's that are out today, I did read a book on Conan. However, I think LotR would be the more appropriate answer in popularity of books. OH NOOO, does that mean gamers of all types are...occult?
Funny you should say MIddle Earth Online. That was LotRO's original name, back when it was going to be a sandbox game, had a slew of talented developers, and had a hardcore mature community behind it. Turbine basically ruined all that with the name and direction change. I was in the alpha, it was a million times better.
As for what I think is the best lore ever? Dark Age of Camelot.
The worlds were MASSIVE and steeped in lots of lore and research, down to giving the ants in Cornwall a Welsh name. Arthurian legend, Irish folklore, Midgard and Valhalla!
Dozens of unique classes, which you could spec each class a dozen different ways, and all of it had stories behind it.
And RvR is one of the biggest innovations in the industry, and has yet to be met by any other game save maybe Darkfall. Rams, balistas, trebuchets, boiling oil, siege towers, catapults, it was an amazing time.
And all of it had LORE backing it up. Lore that reflected in the game world. Something most MMOs don't do. The RvR worked because the lore made you HATE the other side, but also made it clear no one was really the bad guy.
I would say for game generated lore, EQ1 was the best. They really do have a deep, rich lore in the game with a long history of the world(s) and how it began, was sundered etc. etc. There is tons and tons of information to be found about the Gods and Dieties, who they are, what they represent and who their avatars on the normal planes are. There is also some pretty in depth lore to be found about the epic weapons and armors, as well as one of the BEST in game scripted events in Kerafyrm, The Sleeper.
While sleeping, Kerafyrm is guarded by four ancient dragons (warders) in "The Sleeper's Tomb". When all four dragons are defeated by players and are dead at the same time, The Sleeper awakes, triggering a rampage of death. Kerafyrm travels through and into multiple zones from The Sleeper's Tomb to Skyshrine, killing every player and NPC in his path. This event is unique in EverQuest, as it only occurs once on each server. Once The Sleeper awakes, neither he nor the original guardians will ever appear again on that server, unless the event is reset.
For book generated lore, I would say LotRO. Tolkien is god's gift to fantasy. Period.
I would point out that Middle Earth was rather awash with magical items in a very MMOish way - loot was picked up along the way from troll lairs, goblin lairs, dragon lairs, wight lairs ... not to mention the various quest rewards handed out by elves along the way.
LotrO...
Sorry for the unoriginal answer, but there it is. They've stayed pretty faithful to it, and the embellishments they have made fit very well. Some of the monsters don't feel quite right, but everything else feels pretty good.
Yeah, because the Shire is just full of bandits and slime and dangerous beatles and boars, and anyone could be a wizard if they wanted. Not buying the lore thing here.
The HEROES found magical items, or were given special items to help them on their way by the most powerful people in the world.
Theoden didn't have a magical sword. Almost nobody else did. That stuff was rare, it only happened because the main characters were exceptional people. There were only FIVE wizards, and magic was subtle, very subtle. Middle Earth Online was going to stick with that and use the morale system rather than a health based one, but like all their good ideas, they got chucked out when WoW became popular and the dark ages of MMO design hit.
Ah... good to see you back again, comparing LotRO to a game that never existed.
I started coded a LotRO MMO, too. Massive world with no load screens, areas are all perfect in every detail. It was built to the perfect size to where it would take you, real time, the same amount of time to get from Hobbiton to Mount Doom as it took the Hobbits. All the Vendors were played by the staff, as well as all the Monsters you'd encounter.
Also, you got to see Arwen naked. Her ears weren't the only things that were pointy...
But alas, I never quite finished it. But now you know that LotRO sucks compared to my game.