Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
LoTRO Is Really Quite Good
Shoal
Member Posts: 1,156
Just taking a few minutes away from playing during the Stress Test to post my initial feelings about LoTRO after about 5 hours of play. It is really very good. I will list some of the positive impressions I have gained over this first session.
* No Crashes. No Lockups. No hitches of any kind. And this is during a Stress Test. I purposly chose one of the full servers to start on and had a 5 min queue to wait in before getting in to start the Stress Test with a new character. There were some Lag Spikes now and then. To be expected during Stress Test. But, the system actually ramps down the player graphics view distance and pops a small icon on the screen to let the player know that is being done. I am very impressed by the stability of this game.
* Graphics are just fine. Animations are very good too. I have noticed some animations anomilies, but not very many. And nothing like the junk graphics and non-animations in a recent 'big-name' release. This world is actually pretty. Somewhat more detailed than WoW and more founded in the 'real' fantasy world of Men-Dwarves-Elves-Hobbits.
* The initial newbie quest chains and tasks are the best I have ever played. While at their base, they are still the standard fare of Slay X, Recover This, Explore That, they are wrapped in some very compelling story lines. There is a single main Epic quest that is composed of many, many subquests. After five hours, I am still on it. Who knows how long it will go on for. I am interested to find out what happens. I won't tell you about the quests, and what happens, so surprises and things of interest wont be spoiled for you.
* There are very, very minor bugs and such in the game. I have submitted 4 or 5 that I found in my five hours of play. And all are really minor. This game is in a fine state right now.
* Lord of the Rings world lore is everywhere in the game. It is steeped in the lore. After the past big IP MMORPG fiascos we have seen, it is really refreshing to be in this world. I know everyone wants to be Gandalf or Aragorn and such. But, they are the Epic Characters of the story arch. I don't mind being Hama in this world.
* World Size. You have probably seen some posts Trolling the world size as being 'small'. Do NOT believe them for even a second. The initial game world is going to be plenty big, and will grow as the content is released. I am not saying that there is not enough content; I am saying that the game has a tremendous size world space now, and has the capability to grow 5 to 8 times larger over the span of expansions. Without leaving the core world of Middle Earth.
This is going to be a MMORPG for Role Players and lovers of the LoTR world lore. In my short time there, I have seen, and heard, the usual child level toon names and chatter. But, it very soon falls off as they end up talking only to themselves. Even without being RP Servers, I see most characters having good RP names, and acting appropriate. Quite refreshing. I expect RP Servers to be the mainstay of LoTRO and the 'regular' type servers to be a true minority. LoTRO is a world for folks who *want* to Role Play.
Don't let the Trolls convince you to not give this one a try, if you are at all interested in the Lord of the Rings lore. Just keep em talking till the sun comes up, and turns them all to stone!
This one is a winner. 
Comments
I think you took a wrong turn and landed here. This is the LotRO Discussion forum. What you want is the Vanguard Discussion forum.Lol.. poor dude got pwnt
To the OP.. thx for the write up. While I am finding some minor bugs as well, I am surprised by the polish of the game. Definitely has promise.
It's just you.
I started a Hunter character. Usual new skills at even Levels. But, for once, I had to sit down and read the skill descriptions and think how I would use them in a fignt. How I would chain them together to get maximum benifit. How I could use all of them to succeed in fights of 3 or 4 same level opponents. And I have not even begun in the whole Group skill firing thing.
Now, I do play 1st person, so I don't see my own combat animations. But, I have seen others and I have not noticed that they are particularly bad. They seem to me to be varied and appropriate for what is going on.
LoTRO is not a 1st person shooter. It is a standard MMORPG that supports hundreds of players in the same area of the world. A player count that would bring a 1st person shooter, like BF series, to its knees. I don't expect the same variety of animations that are supported in a game that only has 64 players in it at any given time.
These games are already putting the current computer hardware into overdrive, just to support the graphics and animation that we have now. If MMORPGs had the level of character, world, and animation detail you seem to want, they would be running like Myst runs. Pure slide show.
So, I think LoTRO has hit a very good balance between computer horsepower needed, and graphic / animation detail provided.
My MMORPG creds : EQ1, DAoC, AO, Coh/CoV, EQ2, AC2, E&B, EVE. Beta DDO. WoW.
So, I have seen a lot, and have been playing since 2000. LoTRO has the what it takes.
Damn Skippy!
The most important part of reading is reading between the lines.
Dont you Know its hard out there for a pimp.......I mean elf.....
Critical thinking is a desire to seek, patience to doubt, fondness to meditate, slowness to assert, readiness to consider, carefulness to dispose and set in order; and hatred for every kind of imposture.
I like the Game.
I also have been from one end to the other where i am allowed to go.
with a level 25 Char that likes to run from Purple critters while trying to mine Dwarf-Iron.
anyway i am having fun and that is all that counts, 99% Solo. as far as Groups go well its the Same as WoW ....
the motto is .. where is it, party me,thanks by. NEXT... another friendless game.
but for me that really does not matter i solo anyway.
If yout going by beta 1 test , then you will be glad to know that a lt has opened up , and thier is a huge different in mmovement freedom. The world size is larger then Lineage 2 at realease. Expansions will make it larger as time prgresses. As well as I am level 20 and Have been in the bree zone for 2 weeks , and I've yet to start the buckland quests inside the old forest....Game world is fine
who me ?
Currently: Playing EVE Online
Previous: FFXI, Dragonrealms, sad little stint in WOWland.
Awaiting: Fallen Earth, Hero''s Journey, Tabula Rasa, Age of Conan.
Dude i know exactly how you felt in Beta 1 and that is why I hesitated to start in the next beta phase, all I can say is ,YAY !!!!
Did weather top instance today , AWSOME ! Then I did it again , Awsome lol
who me ?
If yout going by beta 1 test , then you will be glad to know that a lt has opened up , and thier is a huge different in mmovement freedom. The world size is larger then Lineage 2 at realease. Expansions will make it larger as time prgresses. As well as I am level 20 and Have been in the bree zone for 2 weeks , and I've yet to start the buckland quests inside the old forest....Game world is fine
I read that L2 had a pretty small world at launch. Now I played L2 for a about a year and just quit recently and I'm here to tell the world is huge and filled with all sorts of dungeons/towers/raid bosses for all levels and on and on. NCSoft has done an excellent job at growing and developing L2. I hope we see Turbine follow a path like that with LotR.
If yout going by beta 1 test , then you will be glad to know that a lt has opened up , and thier is a huge different in mmovement freedom. The world size is larger then Lineage 2 at realease. Expansions will make it larger as time prgresses. As well as I am level 20 and Have been in the bree zone for 2 weeks , and I've yet to start the buckland quests inside the old forest....Game world is fine
I read that L2 had a pretty small world at launch. Now I played L2 for a about a year and just quit recently and I'm here to tell the world is huge and filled with all sorts of dungeons/towers/raid bosses for all levels and on and on. NCSoft has done an excellent job at growing and developing L2. I hope we see Turbine follow a path like that with LotR.
Towards my end of lineage 2 all I did was raid bosses lol ,We would get like 5 in a row, though some where camped by farmers
who me ?
From what I understand, and have read while researching Lord of the Rings Online, I have learnt that the world at release will only be a small part of Middle Earth. Not sure how big that is in actual size, but for example I over-heard that Rohan will be included in an expansion.
Even if the world isn't currently very big, it will get there. Now if its small, I hope that Turbine will provide enough updates and content to keep us interested post release. Remember we don't want a world like Dark and Light size. We all know the problem with those worlds....too much land to cover....so little content spread thinly. Its content that matters not the size, and the game world will eventually expand into new territories as officially stated. Don't see a point in complaining about size, since its content which matters more.