Lord of the Rings Online Options

[Scan_Man]

Anyone going to give this a try? It looks like WoW, which is a good thing I think, but follows the strict lore of LOTR. The game at launch will start out during the events of Fellowship. I have the game installed on my computer with all the updates, which took like 8 hours total for some reason, all ready to go.

I think the game is worth checking out for several reasons. For one, open beta starts this Friday. All you need to do is reserve your copy to get your spot. Also, open beta last until the official launch of the game with is April 24th. You even get to retain your character. Another benefit for reserving the game is if you like the game you have the option for life time online play for $199. If life does not fit for you, pre-order customers' other option is pay monthy discounted at $10 a month instead of $15.

I say $9.99 is worth giving the game a try for a month with the extra benefit options if you plan to purchase the game. Though if you are not planning on getting the game at all, free open beta is April 6th for everyone free to download.

The only problem is fitting the game between WoW, playing 3 characters, and playing PSU.

This post has been edited by Scan_Man: Mar 27 2007, 11:48 AM

[Crushinator]

Do you get to play as the badguys? Or is everyone some happy little hobbit or elf?

[Scan_Man]

Yeah that's what blows. Because of the strict lore you must play as the free people of Middle Earth. The bad guys are not suppose to win here. There is no spellcaster class either because of lore there is only 5 wizards roaming around. PVE combat is the emphasis on this one. And the game promises end game content for solo players with equal rewards to group play. We will see though. Seems the game has a lot already even though The Two Towers and Return of the King content is not present in the game.

The pvp combat allows you to plays as Orc and other baddies.

But yeah this generation of MMORPG playing as opposing factions has become standard. We will see. From what I have reading it is not much of a complaint.

[Knightsword]

The Recommended Spec's needed for the game from System Requirements Lab

CPU Recommended: Pentium 4/Athlon XP or better
CPU Speed Recommended: 3.2
System RAM Recommended: 2 GB
Operating System Recommended: Windows XP or Vista
Video Card Recommended: 256 MB video card, NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT or better'
-Video Card Features - Minimum attributes of your Video Card
--Video RAM: Required - 256 MB
--Video Card 3D Acceleration: Required
--Video HW Transform & Lighting: Required
--Vertex Shader Ver.: Required - 3.0
--Pixel Shader Ver.: Required - 3.0
DirectX Version Recommended: 9.0c
Sound Card Recommended
Free Disk Space Recommended: 10 GB
DVD Recommended

[Zorya]

there is only 5 wizards roaming around

>_<


Though I wouldn't say no to making an archer. Do you have to choose a server for your character as you do in WoW?

[Scan_Man]

Yeah you choose which server you want. There are 7. If you reserve your copy to enter open beta you can keep 5 per server. Apperently there is a level cap of 15 for open beta, but no cap on crafting. Level cap for for retail version is level 50.

[AC9breaker]

I always thought Lord of the Rings was pretty weak. I never read the books and don't plan on it anytime in the future. I don't know, I guess I prefer modern or future settings as oppose to dark ages and medieval times.

[hamstar]

If I can be Glorfindel then you have a deal.

No dice otherwise. Maybe if I can be Fingolfin I would consider it.

[Scan_Man]

The game is a little too much like WoW, but not as fast paced (mobs are more spread out, so there is a little more hunting to do). I mean its real easy to pick up and play since you don't have to learn where anything is on the interface or figure out controls. The graphics are insane. I feel sorry for people with not so great hardware. Though I think they should of worked more on art direction instead of graphical effects. While the graphics are top notch the models look bland. Basically the game looks like any other generic fantasy MMORPG or game. I was playing the game and I just could not get into it. With WoW it sucked me in immediately with its sound track and its music cues when entering new areas, like Stormwind.

My fondest memory was going to Ironfordge for the first time. I remember taking the train things from Stormwind wondering where it goes. It lead me to Ironforge the other alliance city. I remember walking outside and looking the gates from the ground and thinking "Wow!!!" Not only that but WoW puts infront of your face always what is later to come, so you have a reason to press on. An example would be the the flight points. You look around while flying, and see zones you have not reached yet, and they all have their own art direction, and you are like "cool I want to see this area, what level do I get to see it?" The game is like this all the way up to end game (level 60 it was the Dark Portal, and Karazhan, level 70 it is more portals that lead to other places in Outland, and you still have Northrend and the Emerald Dream).

Lord of the Rings has potential, and I hear the game really opens up after 15(so happens to be open beta cap). But really I see no reason right now to press on because I have no idea where this game is going and what is promised. I have looked for information regarding what exactly is to come after the Fellowship content is done, or an ETA when Two Towers content will be ready, but I have seen nothing on the sort.

I think the game would of worked better if the whole epic was in the game right away, but what stopped you from walking into Mordor on day one is level and gear. I mean I always thought Middle-Earth was a place where you come and go as you please type of world. I think choose your own adventure would of been more suitable type of style for this game. As of now everyone is running around doing the same thing which makes no sense because the game is more rp oriented. I should be able to choose if I want to hunt wolves all day, or be task with running supplies to Gondor and survive the dangerous roads while getting into sub-adventures on the way (and be nearing 50 by the time I make it there). The latter is partly what makes LOTR appealing. But no I am hear doing the same shit I can do on WoW, but WoW has more interesting classes and abilities, and the art is better to look at.

Bumping into a Wraith is cool I admit. That has the "oh shit" scary factor that I have not experienced since the days of Resident Evil 1 and 2, and to an extent 3 with the Nemesis randomely coming after you. I hope this was not an intro thing, and something that can happen any time at random. Again really cool.

I dislike the world is totally not open-ended. There are loading screens every now and again. Mostly going indoors.

Questing works exactly like WoW. No complaints there.

Classes are boring. All of them are melee but they found ways so you have a class for each role(tank, healer, dps, nuker). I do not like that right now. That may change if I see some awesome unique gear for each class, and see how partying works. Everyone looks the same right now.

That's all I have for now. I'm at level 5, and got a little discouraged with the fact the open beta cap is 15. I'm going to spread it out, and try all the classes.

[Scan_Man]

Okay. The game really opens up after the Introduction area (I had no idea it was an introduction area either). There is a ton of quests you can follow with different area to adventure in. So it is a little bit more open ended than WoW in that aspect. I picked up a whole bunch of quests and have no idea where to start, and I did not even hit up Bree, which is a huge town.

A cool aspect I like is the game lets you improve your character's skills in a variety of ways. For instance, if you like grinding, you can gain skills from killing a particular mob over and over. If you like questing, you can gain skills from completeling all the quests in an area. Not only do you get skills but titles as well. There is a whole lot stuff like that to unlock if you like. Scripted events and instances is where this games shines though. I cant wait to see the later stuff, since even the brief ones were fun.


So yeah I think Im going to buy this game come release.

[Riel]

I pre -ordered so i will definetly be there...i can keep my character after thee release as well,although we can only level them to 15... I play on Gladden server,made a Hobbit Burglar named Rickard and a Human Minstrel named Rieldan ;P ... game be pretty good i think so far.