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My review of LOTRO after Preorder open beta
Daffid011
Member UncommonPosts: 7,945
Just to give a little info on myself for reference points. My system is a Core 2 duo T5200, 2gigs of ram and Nvidia Geforce go 7600 with 256mb of dedicated ram. I've been playing MMOs for ten+ years both hardcore and casual. I was only able to play the game up to level 15, so there is a large part of the game I did not get to see.
**Graphics:
WOW is all I can say. The world is breath taking. With a very large view range you will see mountains and towns far off in the distance which really helps with immersion. The landscape is very very realistic looking with nice structures also. Trees don't look like multi layered textures placed together to save polygon counts. They look like real trees with individual branches and leaves, etc. You will often see flocks of birds fly out of a tree as you approach, small animals run afoot, etc. Overall this is perhaps the best looking world I have ever played in. Keep in mind that LOTRO is shooting for realism and not anime overexagerated everything.
Player models look to be very well done. They are the strongest point of the game and could use some work, but they do the job just nicely. Animations are pretty well done, but there does not seem to be enough or I suspect they are tied to using special abilities which you have few of in the early levels. It would not be hard to expect more at higher levels, but it may not happen. I think the best way I can compare them it to compare them to games like battlefield 2 without the sharp edges? They are not the highpoint of the game however.
Also NPCs are finally done right. Find a ranger in the woods and he is actually laying down on his side lounging at the campefire. People are chopping wood, cooking dinner or eating it and just in general doing things you would expect people to being doing. Most NPCs don't just stand around like statues waiting to dispense quests for players. It adds an unexpected amount of realism to the game that makes you feel that the world is actually alive.
**Sound
While not my strong suit I did take special notice to the ambient sounds and how nicely they were done. Again adding more to the feeling that your gameworld is alive. Music I admit I didn't pay attention to with the exception of players with instruments. What a cool concept to have instruments that you can play by individual notes. Outside an offhanded way to be annoying I'm sure there will be groups who put on nice concerts adding a great touch to player interactions. I hope to see more things like this in more games.
**Performance
I played the game with all the settings on max or as high as they could go at 1440x900 resolution. My friend played it as close to minimum due to only having 512mb of ram (his other specs were similar to mine). The game looks terrible at low settings, so get some ram! That aside, the gameplay was pretty smooth. Things would get a little choppy in towns with a good number of players running around. Zone times were fast enough to not be a problem (for the record I only saw zones in instances and housing, everything else looked to be seemless). I never crashed to desktop or had noticable bugs of any sort. The game looks to be really solid and polished for a beta. At this rate I suspect a very clean launch unless the servers get flooded with players which I think they will. (expect the gameworld to feel a little cramped for the first month+)
**Gameplay
The game looks to be primarily quest based and the quests are done right. They use the same method of kill X, talk to someone, find something or deliver something. They are still done very nice. The stories in the quest are for the most part extremly well written. They weave a story and try to explain much of what is happening in the world bringing even more life to everything around you. The quests give enough meaning to the environment around that you will pay attention to exploring and what is happening in the world. Really the quests are done very nicely with additonal cutscenes here and there to give game lore and tell a serious tale of the world.
There are also storyline arch quests called Chapters. They are pretty short and easy with small groups. They look to tell a story of your characters involvement in the ring wars as you do sub story quests along with some of the greater known faces in the story. All that said, the chapters seem to be very short in terms of gameplay time. By short I mean anywhere from 2-15 minutes each.
PvP looks to have much more potential in that you can play either your character or a monster from the dark side. Great concept, but it looks a little small. I am very interested to hear how this works out after launch. PvP doesn't start until around level 40+ so I could only tour around as a whitehand orc in the PvP zone which looks to be a capture the control point type of game. Don't expect any freeform pvp in the low level zones, but there are quests in the pvp zone.
The classes break the normal D&D sterotype and IMHO not soon enough. Archers and duelwielding warriors are the high dps classes. There is also a standard tank class and everyone else is a combination of support, healing, buffs, debuffs and meaningful dps. While small on number of classes at 7, they all look to mesh well in concept. Just don't expect a lot of abilities until you get around 30+. It does look like every class has something(s) they can add to a group above DPS with the exception of the two serious DPS classes. They just kill things really well so don't look for a lot of gameplay variety from them.
Speaking of combat I must admit that there is something lacking. While looking good in animations it just was not challenging. The fact that you can get a special title to display if you reach 20 levels without dieing shows how easy the game can be. There are alot of people with no-death titles... I will come right out and say group play is a mess. Nothing every presented any danger, tactics consisted of rushing targets and there was no real need for healing, buffs, debuffs or crowd control. I don't recall reading anyone from closed beta saying that there was tactics of any sorts so I don't expect much more while leveling up until maybe raids or something. Yes it is still low levels, but I would have expected the tutorial portion of the game to be long over with and some challenges issued.
Crafting looks to be the typical gather resources/recipes, click combine enough to gain skill and get new recipes/resources, repeat. Nothing special except that your crafting/resource gathering vocations are preselected. By that I mean you can pick a career so to speak and it will give you three predetermined professions. This is done to promote interdependancies among all the crafters. I don't think it will make a robust trade system like turbine thinks, but maybe it works. Just don't expect any spectacular gameplay from crafting. I am also told that it doesn't serve much purpose until level 40+. I didn't spend much time crafting nor do I have any crafted items as the quest rewards were always better for me.
There is also a slight twist on gaining skills. There is still the standard skill rewards for gaining a level or two, but you can also get small upgrades by completing quests or using abilities a certain number of times. It is a nice twist to avoid the 'faction grind' in most games. There are special racial and class traits. Some commonplace and all the way to legendary. It looks to be a really nice way to advance a character. I don't really know how to put it to words.
**Concerns
While I really want to love the game I have my concerns. The quests are great and engrossing, that seems to be where the game stops. While I consider DDO to be the extreme single dimension of just running dungeons all day, LOTRO looks like it might just be the opposite end of the spectrum with questing. Outside of quests there doesn't seem to be much to do. Crafting isn't engaging enough to be a real diversion. There doesn't seem to be any standalone content that isn't related to questing. No real areas of interest to explore ( I guestimate the world to be a little smaller than say warcraft). With not much but questing and the linear style of progressing through them I forsee some troubles. It will be hard to play with friends as you will typically be at different stages of certain quest lines. That pretty much leaves people just being "strangers in the night" as they form a pickup fellowship to complete a quest and typically disband when it is done a few moments later. The social aspect of playing is really lacking. To me the game seemed like a very very well written single player game with some group play sprinkled around.
Now PvP may be entertaining enough to give players something to do. I also have seen a 4 group raid window in the user interface that at least suggests there will be raiding of some sorts. There may be dungeons so to speak, but I can't say for certain.
Also the game looks to really lack any form of replay value. Your second character will do the exact same things in mostly the exact same order as your first. How much some will enjoy or be enraged will depend on the person.
Conclusion
For now I am going to wait a few months and see what the general word is like. While I enjoyed the game and the questing, I personally want more from a game than quest lines. The game looks like it will be very succesful and what it does it does very well. This is one game I will follow closely as it looks like it could be the next great thing or one that just missed by a little bit.
I give the game 88/100
**Graphics:
WOW is all I can say. The world is breath taking. With a very large view range you will see mountains and towns far off in the distance which really helps with immersion. The landscape is very very realistic looking with nice structures also. Trees don't look like multi layered textures placed together to save polygon counts. They look like real trees with individual branches and leaves, etc. You will often see flocks of birds fly out of a tree as you approach, small animals run afoot, etc. Overall this is perhaps the best looking world I have ever played in. Keep in mind that LOTRO is shooting for realism and not anime overexagerated everything.
Player models look to be very well done. They are the strongest point of the game and could use some work, but they do the job just nicely. Animations are pretty well done, but there does not seem to be enough or I suspect they are tied to using special abilities which you have few of in the early levels. It would not be hard to expect more at higher levels, but it may not happen. I think the best way I can compare them it to compare them to games like battlefield 2 without the sharp edges? They are not the highpoint of the game however.
Also NPCs are finally done right. Find a ranger in the woods and he is actually laying down on his side lounging at the campefire. People are chopping wood, cooking dinner or eating it and just in general doing things you would expect people to being doing. Most NPCs don't just stand around like statues waiting to dispense quests for players. It adds an unexpected amount of realism to the game that makes you feel that the world is actually alive.
**Sound
While not my strong suit I did take special notice to the ambient sounds and how nicely they were done. Again adding more to the feeling that your gameworld is alive. Music I admit I didn't pay attention to with the exception of players with instruments. What a cool concept to have instruments that you can play by individual notes. Outside an offhanded way to be annoying I'm sure there will be groups who put on nice concerts adding a great touch to player interactions. I hope to see more things like this in more games.
**Performance
I played the game with all the settings on max or as high as they could go at 1440x900 resolution. My friend played it as close to minimum due to only having 512mb of ram (his other specs were similar to mine). The game looks terrible at low settings, so get some ram! That aside, the gameplay was pretty smooth. Things would get a little choppy in towns with a good number of players running around. Zone times were fast enough to not be a problem (for the record I only saw zones in instances and housing, everything else looked to be seemless). I never crashed to desktop or had noticable bugs of any sort. The game looks to be really solid and polished for a beta. At this rate I suspect a very clean launch unless the servers get flooded with players which I think they will. (expect the gameworld to feel a little cramped for the first month+)
**Gameplay
The game looks to be primarily quest based and the quests are done right. They use the same method of kill X, talk to someone, find something or deliver something. They are still done very nice. The stories in the quest are for the most part extremly well written. They weave a story and try to explain much of what is happening in the world bringing even more life to everything around you. The quests give enough meaning to the environment around that you will pay attention to exploring and what is happening in the world. Really the quests are done very nicely with additonal cutscenes here and there to give game lore and tell a serious tale of the world.
There are also storyline arch quests called Chapters. They are pretty short and easy with small groups. They look to tell a story of your characters involvement in the ring wars as you do sub story quests along with some of the greater known faces in the story. All that said, the chapters seem to be very short in terms of gameplay time. By short I mean anywhere from 2-15 minutes each.
PvP looks to have much more potential in that you can play either your character or a monster from the dark side. Great concept, but it looks a little small. I am very interested to hear how this works out after launch. PvP doesn't start until around level 40+ so I could only tour around as a whitehand orc in the PvP zone which looks to be a capture the control point type of game. Don't expect any freeform pvp in the low level zones, but there are quests in the pvp zone.
The classes break the normal D&D sterotype and IMHO not soon enough. Archers and duelwielding warriors are the high dps classes. There is also a standard tank class and everyone else is a combination of support, healing, buffs, debuffs and meaningful dps. While small on number of classes at 7, they all look to mesh well in concept. Just don't expect a lot of abilities until you get around 30+. It does look like every class has something(s) they can add to a group above DPS with the exception of the two serious DPS classes. They just kill things really well so don't look for a lot of gameplay variety from them.
Speaking of combat I must admit that there is something lacking. While looking good in animations it just was not challenging. The fact that you can get a special title to display if you reach 20 levels without dieing shows how easy the game can be. There are alot of people with no-death titles... I will come right out and say group play is a mess. Nothing every presented any danger, tactics consisted of rushing targets and there was no real need for healing, buffs, debuffs or crowd control. I don't recall reading anyone from closed beta saying that there was tactics of any sorts so I don't expect much more while leveling up until maybe raids or something. Yes it is still low levels, but I would have expected the tutorial portion of the game to be long over with and some challenges issued.
Crafting looks to be the typical gather resources/recipes, click combine enough to gain skill and get new recipes/resources, repeat. Nothing special except that your crafting/resource gathering vocations are preselected. By that I mean you can pick a career so to speak and it will give you three predetermined professions. This is done to promote interdependancies among all the crafters. I don't think it will make a robust trade system like turbine thinks, but maybe it works. Just don't expect any spectacular gameplay from crafting. I am also told that it doesn't serve much purpose until level 40+. I didn't spend much time crafting nor do I have any crafted items as the quest rewards were always better for me.
There is also a slight twist on gaining skills. There is still the standard skill rewards for gaining a level or two, but you can also get small upgrades by completing quests or using abilities a certain number of times. It is a nice twist to avoid the 'faction grind' in most games. There are special racial and class traits. Some commonplace and all the way to legendary. It looks to be a really nice way to advance a character. I don't really know how to put it to words.
**Concerns
While I really want to love the game I have my concerns. The quests are great and engrossing, that seems to be where the game stops. While I consider DDO to be the extreme single dimension of just running dungeons all day, LOTRO looks like it might just be the opposite end of the spectrum with questing. Outside of quests there doesn't seem to be much to do. Crafting isn't engaging enough to be a real diversion. There doesn't seem to be any standalone content that isn't related to questing. No real areas of interest to explore ( I guestimate the world to be a little smaller than say warcraft). With not much but questing and the linear style of progressing through them I forsee some troubles. It will be hard to play with friends as you will typically be at different stages of certain quest lines. That pretty much leaves people just being "strangers in the night" as they form a pickup fellowship to complete a quest and typically disband when it is done a few moments later. The social aspect of playing is really lacking. To me the game seemed like a very very well written single player game with some group play sprinkled around.
Now PvP may be entertaining enough to give players something to do. I also have seen a 4 group raid window in the user interface that at least suggests there will be raiding of some sorts. There may be dungeons so to speak, but I can't say for certain.
Also the game looks to really lack any form of replay value. Your second character will do the exact same things in mostly the exact same order as your first. How much some will enjoy or be enraged will depend on the person.
Conclusion
For now I am going to wait a few months and see what the general word is like. While I enjoyed the game and the questing, I personally want more from a game than quest lines. The game looks like it will be very succesful and what it does it does very well. This is one game I will follow closely as it looks like it could be the next great thing or one that just missed by a little bit.
I give the game 88/100
Comments
Quote:
"Also the game looks to really lack any form of replay value. Your second character will do the exact same things in mostly the exact same order as your first. How much some will enjoy or be enraged will depend on the person."
This is the problem with hand held experiences and why I would have liked more of a Middle Earth sandbox game. However I don't think this will be a problem, there are a massive amount of quests to do and no class plays like another which adds to replay value. Also I am quite sure that it will not be more then a year until we see the first real expansion pack and before that they seem to already be ready to launch free updates.
NPC's - thanks for pointing that out, I had sort of overlooked them and you are correct, they are more alive than in most games.
Sound/Musical Instruments - Our guild sponsored our first monthly "Jamfest" last night and we had 4 musicans who stepped up to the plate and played for a crowd of about 30 people. We hope next months will be even large, and maybe even a band or two (as opposed to indiviual muscians)
Performance - I too have great performance despite having an older gaming laptop. Only one crash to desktop in 7 weeks of play now, and there was a good explaination for that one.
Gameplay - As you mentioned, its questing squared... makes WOW look like straight grindfest.... but I love questing and the storylines behind them so its not a problem for me, others might not care for it.
PvP - Agree, can't really tell what to expect due to the level cap keeping player characters out of Ettenmoors..but within a month we'll see.
Classes & Abilities - As you mentioned, there are 7 classes, and I find them to be quite enough... I mean, I played VG, and while you had 4 different types of healers...did you really need 4 different types of healers. In my book, no, you don't. (but just my opinion of course). As to no variety from the two DPS classes (Hunters and Champs) I disagree...from a standpoint of a Guardian and Minstrel which I play duoing with them is considerable different.
Regarding combat ease - Yep, its pretty easy, but you'll find getting those level 15 and 20 no-death titles a bit tougher to obtain than you think. (esp if you solo a lot like I do...and take risks)
Group combat - at the lower levels it certainly is mostly a bum rush. But if you try to take down a level 24 elite boss like my guildmates and I did, we had a real challenge to raid him with just 8 people. We ended up getting a 2nd Captain to go with our minstrel to make a fellowship of 9 (coincidence? I think not) who finally prevailed of the boss and all of his minion adds that kept respawning. We definitlely used the full ranger of skills including Burgler fellowship skills and hunter traps etc. I did learn however, that being the 2nd or off tank in a group isn't a ton of fun, as Guardians get most of their power after being hit and blocking/parrying. As an off tank you don't get to use your specials all that much.
Traits - may look small now at level 15, but I have some friends who already are slotting +4 traits and it significantly improves their character. There's a Guardian in my guild who has over 200 more natural HP's than mine because he has his traits jacked way up over me.... add his purple armor and he has almost 400 more hps ( my 900 to his 1300) and its the reason why I'm the off tank.
Conclusion - I don't know about you, but any game that gets an 88/100 is one to play in my book....
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I didn't mean to imply that 7 classes is bad. They all seem pretty well done each with a distinct style and abilities. Even the DPS classes seem well done, but their skills are primarily focused on DPS. The other classes getting a wider variety of skills in tradeoff. There should be something available to fill anyones class preference as long as they don't expect D&D class templates. Though the loremaster might leave some people yearning for a traditional powercaster it still fits the lore and plays well enough.
Yeah I would play an 88/100 game also which is why I rated this pretty high and I was tempted to put it much higher to be honest. There are going to be a great number of people that will enjoy this game and it should be succesful. It just doesn't personally fit what is most important to me as a game, but that doesn't mean it isn't a great game.
There is indeed replay value. I've leveled up five characters to level 15 and the paths to 15 were different for each one, with minimal overlap. It's very much like WoW, there is much more low level content than you need to level, so you can pick and chose how you want to level.
Post lvl. 15, I haven't played, but based on a couple posts on level 15-28 leveling strategies, you seem to have some ability to hop around, which should also give you a way to avoid exact repetition.
You also completely ignore the role that free content addons will play in replayability. There is already enough content to minimally get you to the level 50 cap. The first free content addon in June is a level 20ish+ zone, which seems to indicate (thankfully) that add on content will not just be aimed at the highest levels, but expand the mid levels as well. This will offer advancement paths for future characters that utilize content not even in the game yet. How can you get better replayability than that?
By far, the most efficient way to level is indeed questing. People wanting to grind to 50 may not find the game for them. As far as exploration though, there is a lot to explore and the game even directly rewards you for exploration with deeds and their connected virtue rewards that are based on finding points of interest in the game. If you add resource collecting to your template (explorer is a great crafting career for those who find the crafting itself boring), there are lots of resources out there "off the beaten path" in spots where no quest will bring you, only your sense of adventure and desire to explore.
The game also has a lot off tools to aid the social aspect. I've found the community pretty friendly, but I'm sure it will evolve considerably once the game has gone live and people start to look to form friendships and kinships in game.
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
Also, thanks for your comments about replayability and hoping around the post 15 zones. I didn't want to review anything I read on forums, because that is someone elses experiences. However what you say does sound a lot more promising than what I experienced. Good news all around
Pretty good thread, so i would like to throw in my 2 cents...
Graphics are beautiful. I have enjoyed on a number of occasions just sitting on a rock looking around the world. Will say Vanguard was a notch better, but it had other issues.
Gameplay is smooth. Only issue I have is the skill timers. I really dont like the delays. It is really apparent in the champion class compared to the hunter or lore master. Something I am getting use to, but I would like them to improve so it feels more fluid.
I love questing. I dont mind grinding here and there, but little stories and long stories are what I enjoy.
I would disagree about it just being a bum rush game. We actually used CC in chapter 11. Didnt complete it, but we used to our benefit in what we did try. Otherwise combat is on par with other main stream MMOs with regards to skill from level 1-24 (got to 24 on my hunter in closed BETA)
Crafting is maybe a slight upgrade from WoW level crafting. Nothing special. Still havent found anything to beat SWG in regards to crafting. Vanguard/EQ2 came somewhat close.
Gotta say the experience playing a dward, human and elf are considerably different. There is plenty of replay from the level 1-24 that I have seen.
Have no issues with performance. Will be in Middle Earth for the kick off tomorrow.
Triston Master Carbine/Master Swords (SWG Eclipse)
Triston 29 Warden (EQ2 Permafrost)
Weland 70 Hunter (WoW Hellscream)
Suidan 36 Cleric (Vanguard Flamehammer)
Suidan 50 Champion (LOTR Gladden)
_____________________________
Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO
Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
Find the Truth: http://www.factcheck.org/
Well first ...good review op little long but good read.
I personally thought the game was good...dare to say 85/100, and if it would have came out 2 years ago I would have bought it.
Now though I need something new, something more. I need to feel like its not the same thing i played 10 times before.
Own, Mine, Defend, Attack, 24/7
So my score - anything from mid B to low A with all points coming from the overall quality and polish (it is a very well made game, just that what they made in terms of combat is uninteresting).
--------------------------------
Achiever 60.00%, Socializer 53.00%, Killer 47.00%, Explorer 40.00%
Intel Core i7 Quad, Intel X58 SLi, 6G Corsair XMS DDR3, Intel X-25 SSD, 3 WD Velociraptor SATA SuperTrak SAS EX8650 Array, OCZ 1250W PS, GTX 295, xFi, 32" 1080p LCD
Please don't go on some crusade to enlighten me how difficult the content is and how everyone is having their hands held. While you may feel the combat is challenging, that does not mean it is offers a challenge to everyone else. I was perfectly capable of solo killing mobs above my level and multiples below my level, blue yellow orange, whatever. I could even solo kill heroic/group mobs a level or two below me and almost killed one my level. Every encounter was predictable from start to finish for the most part. It would just be a timed exchange of blows, hit some special attacks when the cooldown is over to increase damage a bit, repapply debuffs and repeat. There was no choices to be made, no tactics to overcome no differing situations. In fact, if I did happen to get in over my head (like a second fight before I was ready) it was pretty much guarenteed that I could just run a short distance and escape whatever harm I was in. Group combat pretty much consisted of the same, but with more people running around. In fact there really wasn't ever a need for a healer that I saw let alone crowd control. By level 15 I would have expected more, but those are my experiences. It wasn't that I avoided danger or selected to fight sub level monsters, it just wasn't a challenge. Great if you find the game difficult, more power to you. Like I said, some people are going to find a tremendous value in the game. I think overall it is a winner, it just might not for me which is why I am opting to wait.
My point about the quest mechanics is they don't lend themselves to people of differing levels and play times grouping together much. This isn't about how dedicated ones friends are to each other nor how selfish anyone is expecting their friends to backpeddle through content they have surpassed. It is just an observation of the mechanics and it raised a concern is all. There were enough occasions of people joining in fellowships to complete a quest for a moment or two and then disband as soon at it was completed for me to take serious note of it. Few if any words were exchanged, even hellos. *shrug*
It sounds like there is some good replayability from what others have accounted, but I did not have access to the 20+ level game as you seem to have. Thanks for sharing that.
Well I do agree it is a great game, but really disagree with some of your observations.
I played all the classes to level 15, and ran most of them in groups doing some of the more difficult quests.
Anyone running around with title at 15 that indicates no deaths is someone who avoided taking any chances in the game and just killed things that were there level and below.
Many of the group quests require healers, unless you are several levels over the intended level of the quest. You paint the game as hard to die which is really leaves a false impression. Next time if you are going to review something at least attempt to experience what it offers. What you did is like going into an ice cream palor, ordering a sundae and eating the cherry off the top and leaving saying boy that was good.
As to your grouping complaint, look at other games, like Wow since it is popular to compare it to others. How much grouping did you do in Wow prior to level 16? Not much. Remember people are not going to stay in the 1-15 level group for long, I was just learning the game and got 7 characters to 15 in a little over two weeks. Hard to review a game at those levels.
No, I did not buy Lotro. I play Eve for pvp and Wow because my friends do. I don't have time for another game, but I would rate Lotro over Wow at this point.
Kudos to Turbine for creating such a solid game.
I beta tested Lotro both in closed and open beta and ultimately canceled my pre-order. In my opinion it rates as above average for an mmo due to only two things, the graphics are good and the Tolkien lore. So if an average score is maybe 70(?) I'd give lotro 75
I played all the classes up to at least level 10, in open beta I had 5 toons up ot 15 (max level until launch). I really liked four of the classes, and all had some interesting qualities. Also there in an abundance of soloable quests, at least at low levels.
My problems with the game were the following:
I found combat often clunky at best and targeting while fighting a group was a nightmare if you don't like click targeting
While the graphic detail is great the colors are mostly bland which, while it fits the lore for that time period gets well...boring. I wasn't looking for neon just something bright other than that one shade of orange-red
The community...ah the Tolkien elitists. Not everyone is an elitist but enough are and are very vocal about how the game SHOULD be played that I found it off-putting. I'm no expert on lore, have read the books but didn't memorize them. I play games to have fun not have some snob in chat tell me not to use the word toon. Give me a break.
The crafting system is a mess and the dev over it has either left the company or switched areas. My impression was that it won't be fixed anytime soon if ever.
Nothing new here other than the lore, underneath it's the same grindfest as many others
Lovers of Tolkien will enjoy it more than I, and I really wanted to like the game being tired of my current games but, overall I found it average
Also, I was not complaining about people not grouping at low levels. Please try to read what I stated. For the record... I am CONCERNED with the mechanics, not complaining about them.
--------------------------------
Achiever 60.00%, Socializer 53.00%, Killer 47.00%, Explorer 40.00%
Intel Core i7 Quad, Intel X58 SLi, 6G Corsair XMS DDR3, Intel X-25 SSD, 3 WD Velociraptor SATA SuperTrak SAS EX8650 Array, OCZ 1250W PS, GTX 295, xFi, 32" 1080p LCD
Agreed, reminds me of religious arguments
but it probably isnt, its a demographic. There are a lot of things in life that deserve fervent devotion... truth,
justice, but mmorpgs?