Lord of the Rings Online: CES Preview

Stradden · January 2007

Carolyn Koh was in Las Vegas for CES and brings us this report on Turbine's next MMORPG, Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar.

Poised to ship in the 2nd quarter of the year, Adam Mersky, Director of Communications was justifiably excited. "We had over 300,000 beta sign-ups," he said, "and we've garnered interest from fans of Tolkien, fans who've never played an MMO before."

The lands of Eriador will be available for players to play in at launch and since they had been previously asked about the size of the actual land mass, they looked and measured. Eriador boasts 30,000 square miles of area for players to explore. To assist in that, mounts will be available to travel from point to point. Players can also pick up the skill to ride a mount and hence buy and own one at level 35 if they wish.

Read the whole article here.

LifePositive · January 2007

300,000 beta signups? Interest from MMO veterans, newcomers, and Tolkien fans alike? Heh, so much for the doomsayers...

Plus, is it just me or does this game actually bring together more original concepts then most MMOs these days? They seem to have some really nifty and really solid systems coming together here. This game is starting to look like a pretty damn decent contender to the 07 games. Especially if it launches as a polished, complete product.

Very interesting.

Reklaw · January 2007

Originally posted by Manveru

300,000 beta signups? Interest from MMO veterans, newcomers, and Tolkien fans alike? Heh, so much for the doomsayers...

Plus, is it just me or does this game actually bring together more original concepts then most MMOs these days? They seem to have some really nifty and really solid systems coming together here. This game is starting to look like a pretty damn decent contender to the 07 games. Especially if it launches as a polished, complete product.

Very interesting.

i can only say being in beta, the community is very mature and patient, wish i could say more , but he' you know NDA

beezee · January 2007

Originally posted by Reklaw

Originally posted by Manveru

300,000 beta signups? Interest from MMO veterans, newcomers, and Tolkien fans alike? Heh, so much for the doomsayers...

Plus, is it just me or does this game actually bring together more original concepts then most MMOs these days? They seem to have some really nifty and really solid systems coming together here. This game is starting to look like a pretty damn decent contender to the 07 games. Especially if it launches as a polished, complete product.

Very interesting.

i can only say being in beta, the community is very mature and patient, wish i could say more , but he' you know NDA

I'm in beta as well and I completely agree with you Reklaw! It's like a breath of fresh air.

Oh, and I hope we both get the re-invite

mindmeld · January 2007

looking good so far

nevenias · January 2007

Because we where all booted, are we still under NDA? i mean technical we aren't apart of beta right now right? until we get the invite again and sign off on another NDA.

But all that being said, Very polished game, min specs are really really low, XP & Vista in the future, great story, varied game-play, this game has to be one of the big hits of the year.

LifePositive · January 2007

Originally posted by Reklaw

i can only say being in beta, the community is very mature and patient, wish i could say more , but he' you know NDA

Originally posted by beezee

I'm in beta as well and I completely agree with you Reklaw! It's like a breath of fresh air.

Oh, and I hope we both get the re-invite

Originally posted by nevenias

Because we where all booted, are we still under NDA? i mean technical we aren't apart of beta right now right? until we get the invite again and sign off on another NDA.

But all that being said, Very polished game, min specs are really really low, XP & Vista in the future, great story, varied game-play, this game has to be one of the big hits of the year.

I'm very glad to hear this. Maybe, just maybe, I've found the game to hold me over till the next crop.

Now I really want an invite. Heh, maybe if another round of beta is starting, I'll snag one.

Jackdog · January 2007

If the MvP lives up to expectations, and provided they have a smooth release that is capable of running on mid end machines with decent graphics this just might end being a big hit for Turbine. I know it has my interest piqued. This one is one my most likely games list along with Warhammer, Spoor, Bioshock and Half Life Episode 2. Yes I am a FPS freak also LOL.

Keogh · January 2007

If you were in BETA you are still under the NDA because Turbine is the one that has control of lifting the NDA restrictions. If you want to get invited back to BETA, I highly recommend you stop bragging about being in BETA and stop talking about .

Ryowulf · January 2007

So wait. They weren't going to have mounts because they wanted to make them special, but then went ahead and added the standard ones. They said or implied that mpvp would be where you went into a zone and there would be normal mobs and maybe pmobs too. I was under the impression you would open quests and that mpvp would happen sooner than 40. Now not only is it 40, but its arena?

It seems like to me they keep scailing back more and more.

Thorongil · January 2007

Originally posted by Settingsun

So wait. They weren't going to have mounts because they wanted to make them special, but then went ahead and added the standard ones. They said or implied that mpvp would be where you went into a zone and there would be normal mobs and maybe pmobs too. I was under the impression you would open quests and that mpvp would happen sooner than 40. Now not only is it 40, but its arena?

It seems like to me they keep scailing back more and more.

I would suggest not placing too much faith in details done by any external reviewer quite yet. It's rather easy to choose the wrong word to describe things although one might call an arena a zone or vice-versa. Or perhaps the trait discussion is overly simplistic. Or perhaps the reviewer doesn't understand how rare mounts might actually be or maybe mounts are not even finished yet. It's rather difficult to get the same perspective on the game as someone in beta, so maybe it would be best to wait for when those in beta can talk to the world before drawing conclusions? A quick tour is hardly the same as playing the game for several levels.

nevenias · January 2007

Standered mounts? is there really such a thing in the world of LOTR

I mean really, could you come up with a mouth that wasnt standered yet kept in the lore of LOTR?

Cant have drake mounts, or wargs, or .........ect you get my picture? Horses and Ponies, the only other thing that can be done is 'adding' things to the mounts, IE war armour, saddle bags, ect.

i hear through the grape vine that you can even pick a color of mount as well.

Netherbeast · January 2007

I only hope that when you experience dread, that the screen doesn't impair all your visuals or have an annoying sound.

Lvcifer · January 2007

thank god for Monster Play..

its one of the exciting features that LOTRO offer..

beezee · January 2007

Originally posted by Keogh

If you were in BETA you are still under the NDA because Turbine is the one that has control of lifting the NDA restrictions. If you want to get invited back to BETA, I highly recommend you stop bragging about being in BETA and stop talking about .

No worries mate.

Just by saying one's in beta and not disclosing any details does not break the NDA.

But thanks for your concern.

Jackdog · January 2007

I have never owned or even followed a Turbine game, this may be the first though. Closest I came was a free trial of DDO which lasted about one hour on my hard drive. Still I refuse to judge by the developer. I loved EQII and still do like it for that matter, but the rest of the SOE's games could shut down their servers tomorrow for all I care.

Ryowulf · January 2007

No I didn't mean tigers and dragons. I meant standard as in 'just like every other mmo'. From the way the devs had talked, mounts weren't going to be in game at the start. They were going to be added later, because the devs wanted to make them special and not like everyone else.

Jackdog · January 2007

Originally posted by Settingsun

No I didn't mean tigers and dragons. I meant standard as in 'just like every other mmo'. From the way the devs had talked, mounts weren't going to be in game at the start. They were going to be added later, because the devs wanted to make them special and not like everyone else.

so maybe their beta is going smooth enough that they could add them in and still make them special.

ZonMezz · January 2007

I've looked at the screenshots for this game and the thing that intrigues me is that you if you look you can see all the way to the horizon. I know this might be arbitrary to some, but being able to just take any direction and go is huge for me. Wow regardless of the seamless world was still zoned. It looks like LOTR doesn't follow this path, which I'm pretty happy about.

If the game is stable at launch I will probably try this game. Tho I wish there was a bit more diversity with regards to character classes (I want a mage, not a librarian. Dammit).

wilcoxon · January 2007

Originally posted by ZonMezz

If the game is stable at launch I will probably try this game. Tho I wish there was a bit more diversity with regards to character classes (I want a mage, not a librarian. Dammit).

I don't think Turbine would ever put a playable mage/wizard class in the game. Too many people (at least me) who love the Tolkien world would quit (there are only 6 (iirc) wizards total in the current age (ever?)).

Thorongil · January 2007

Originally posted by ZonMezz

I've looked at the screenshots for this game and the thing that intrigues me is that you if you look you can see all the way to the horizon. I know this might be arbitrary to some, but being able to just take any direction and go is huge for me. Wow regardless of the seamless world was still zoned. It looks like LOTR doesn't follow this path, which I'm pretty happy about.

If the game is stable at launch I will probably try this game. Tho I wish there was a bit more diversity with regards to character classes (I want a mage, not a librarian. Dammit).

Any game is going to be bounded somewhere. You can see to the horizon in Vanguard but there are still boundaries and Vanguard (regardless of whether you like it or not) is still the largest physical game world being delivered in 2007 and larger than just about anything I can think of before this aside from space games like Eve which are a completely different problem anyway.

If you think you can just start running from the Shire eastward through Mordor and onwards even beyond then you're setting yourself up for disappointment. This is directly from the FAQ:

Where in Middle-earth will the game take place?

The initial launch of the game will cover the region of Eriador, including the Shire, Rivendell, Breeland, and other landmarks from The Lord of the Rings.

They've already stated that the game world is bounded regardless of how it appears in the screenshots. They have also stated in talks and interviews that future expansions will expand the game world too. So I would neither place too much hope in an endless seamless world, nor worry too much about the starting game size since it will obviously expand.

As for mages, no such thing existed in LOTR. There were the Istari, of which there were merely a handful and who were not what they appeared to be anyway. I can recall just 5 though there may have been a sixth... Saruman the White, Gandalf the Grey, Radagast the Brown, and two unnamed Istari who went into the east but were never heard from again. If this bothers you, best to simply play another game than demand they make a change which is probably contractually impossible to make. (The Tolkien estate is fiercely protective of Tolkien's works and for good reason.)

Netjester677 · January 2007

This seems like an intresting game. I will probly check it out on release

Sturmrabe · January 2007

The music idea is really intereting, I bet it makes its way into other games in the near future...

As for monster play, if were just an additional feature WITH pvp I'd like it more, as a substiture for PvP I find it piss-poor...

Though I'd like to see that kind of thing in other games, to be able to take control of almost any mob in the game, have access to its special attacks, but only be able to be in a certain zone (so you can't go off and kill noobs with it) would be a blast and a great distraction..

But that in the stead of PvP... um, no.

Though I definatly fall into the "Turbine sucks as bad as SOE" department, and I almost cried when I heard they were doing LOTR

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