Lord of the Rings Online
 

I've been beta testing this for about a month and a half. Now that the NDA is lifted, I can talk about it.

For those who are into LOTR, this is a great game -- a nice mixture of WOW-like gameplay with a pretty decent crafting section that surpasses that of WOW.

If anyone has any questions about the game, I'll be happy to answer them.

i am going to <3 this i have a feeling

It's one of the first MMORPG's that offers a one-time fee for a permanent subscription, so you can pay per month (for preorder customers, it's $9.99 a month) or a one-time fee of $199 and no further monthly fees.

preorder customers? how do i get in on that? i'd love to try it out for a month or two before deciding to plunk down $200 on it

I just got into the beta, downloading now....

http://www.lotro.com/preorder

They call it the "Founder" program.

I'm on the Brandywine server, Level 10 Champion. Brandywine is the less cluttered server right now.

They actually sent me two keys ... one when I got lucky and get in the Closed Beta 1, and another when I "won" a spot after participating in the Stress Test.

Can people still get into the closed beta? I was going to preorder now with the $9.99 and saw that the part about being able to play in the beta was only the open beta which is a week before the release in 6 weeks. If that is actual for now the closed beta I would preorder right now?

Could you explain the crafting system? How is it different from WoW?

For people who got bored with WOW, what does this game offer that's better about it? Besides the setting of course :D

I played the beta and though I appreciated what they are trying to do, this just didn't grab me, there just wasn't enough that screamed "Lord of the Rings" instead of "generic WoW clone." I might give it a shot later on, once it comes out and they've added some more content.

I am on the other server, with a lvl 10 champion and guardian. Like the champ more, and enjoying the game. Not sure if this will pull me away from EQ2 but it's tempting.

I like the fact that it seems solo-friendly so far, not sure what it's like at higher levels. I enjoy monster play but there are never enough people on the monster side to make it interesing.

Here's the professions, right from the crafting FAQ:

• Cook: A long march can be made all the easier with the promise of a good meal at the end. While it may seem a mundane talent, a good cook is every adventurer's best friend.
• Jeweller: Simple adornments and objects of beauty are the heart of the jeweller's trade. However, exceptional adornments can go far to increasing the stature and confidence of an adventurer, and a skilled jeweller can produce true works of art.
• Metalsmith: Metal armors and sturdy shields are the metalsmith's domain. Though their initial products may be of simple make, eventually their skills will allow them to work finer materials and greater designs.
• Scholar: Perhaps the most mysterious of the professions, the Scholar collects fragments of lost lore, and attempts to interpret their secrets. In doing so, he can produce scrolls that other craftsmen can read to improve their chances of producing a superior product. Other practical applications include lore by which specific enemies (orcs, trolls, the dead) might be best combated, or cures for various maladies.
• Tailor: A skilled tailor can make simple clothing from common cloth, but with time and practice can create garments of great beauty that provide significant protection to their wearer. The Tailor can also work with tanned hides to produce leather armor – light, tough and suitable for travel.
• Weaponsmith: As expected, the Weaponsmith is the primary source of melee weapons. Swords, daggers, and axes of all varieties are the Weaponsmith's purview, ranging from bronze training gear to weapons of ancient design and great renown.
• Woodworker: As any archer will tell you, it takes more than a stick and a string to make a worthy weapon. The woodworker is an expert bowyer, but expands his trade to include staves, spears, and other hafted weapons. A master Woodworker can produce weapons that even an Elven hero would be proud to wield on the battlefield.
• Prospector: One who gathers ore and stone.
• Forester: One who gathers resources from the forest, such as collecting wood.
• Farmer: Collecting items from farms

The big difference is that you can't choose each profession, rather you pick Vocations, which are 3 professions set up to better encourage interactions between vocations:

• Armsman: Prospecting, Weaponsmith, Woodworker
• Armorer: Prospecting, Metalsmithing, Tailor
• Explorer: Forester, Prospector, Tailor
• Historian: Farmer, Scholar, Weaponsmith
• Tinker: Prospector, Jeweller, Cook
• Woodsman: Farmer, Forestor, Woodworker
• Yeoman: Farmer, Cook, Tailor

The point is that at least one of your professions can be used by at least one of the other vocations (Woodsman helps Tinkers, Tinkers help Historians, Historians helps Armsmen, ect). The crafting system also incorporates the idea of Mastery, the idea of adding a certain rare item when making your item leads to a better item.

I hope that gives a least an idea.

Is this game basically Wow set in middle-earth, or is it something that a huge Tolkien fan would enjoy? I guess when playing it do you feel like its a LotR game, or does it feel like it could really be anywhere and they just chose this setting?

I didn't preorder and I got in the beta

If they do this right, this would be the game that would make me take the plunge into online gaming of this sort. I used to play MUME, and I loved that, the history and the landscape and the history, etc., there is a ton of stuff in Middle Earth that can be tapped.

Do you want to be a Rider of Rohan and have great mastery of fighting on horseback, but have disadvantages on the ground, do you want to be a Dunedain, or a Black Numenorean?

Heck, look at what MERPS was like, just translate it to a computer, I'd be in heaven.

But, I think the beta is now closed to new applications?

DaddyTorgo, sent you a PM.

responded already

the download for this is really slow and unstable:( And the torrents that they have up doesn't seem to work for me either. Did anyone else have issues trying to load the beta onto there pc?

I didn't have any trouble with downloading the client at all. I was getting pretty good speed, actually.

So is there still a way to get in the beta? I get that impression, but I'm not sure.

Maybe it is becuz the weekend.

So what are the character classes and races you can play?

I had trouble downloading it, but eventually got it.

Any chance of an FOFC guild?

Yes? No?

I think you can just sign up.. The stress test is next weekend so, I think that is open to the general public but, other than that, appears you have to be selected.

So wait...you have to have a DVD drive to play this game? Damn...

They cost like 30 bucks at a computer wholesaler. Not that expensive at all.

Crafting is cool. I am making a ton of money as a farmer! When you harvest a crop you can recover seeds from the crop so you dont have to buy them.

Plant crop, harvest items and seeds, repeat for easy money.

Races:
Man
Hobbit
Dwarf
Elf

Classes:
Guardian
Champion
Captain
Hunter
Burglar
Minstrel
Lore-Master

I play on the Meneldor server
Tagg Lvl 9 Champion

I'm on the same server. Usually playing as Issa (Captain) or Desverger (Champion).

OK, so what would make one play this vs. WoW?

Very single player soloing friendly from all accounts.

thanks Grey for the info on races/classes. Seems a bit light on choices/variety there.

The Accomplishment system is what makes the game fun.

That, and titles. To the LOTRO players out there -- you know you can get titles from emotes, right? Have 100 people wave at you, and "The Friendly" becomes available as a title. There's a TON of other emote titles as well.

Is anyone still looking to get into the closed beta?

I just tried to sign up...LOL

You never know, I may do that lifetime package.

I put in a beta application on 2-18 when it was mentioned here and got my beta link email today, so looks like it's still open.

Same here.

Initial thoughts, appears very quest driven. (Gather, Kill X number, report to X person). I'm up to level 5 (max 50) and I have not had to grind at all so, if that continues, it will be a breath of fresh air.

Beta seems very stable, I haven't encountered anything major just some graphics issues (floaters, some bodies 'vibrate' when dead..)

Few other small things I'd like to see changed so far (solutions might exist, just haven't found them) but, I'd like the camera to snap back to center when looking around with the mouse and when fighting multiple guys, seems like when you kill one the loot screen comes up right away.

How are the graphics? Do you feel like you are in Middle Earth or just some generic fantasy world?

Overall, I like the graphics. It doesn't have that cartoonish edge that WoW has.

Do I feel like I could be on the set of one of the Lord of the Rings movies? Yes. But, then again, there were parts of those movies that could have been just a generic medieval world but, I think you would have to consider the sum of all the parts to feel like you are in Middle Earth.

Hope that makes some sense...

Actually did my first 'grind' last night in the game but, the only reason I did that was so I could get the 'Spider Foe' title (kill 30 spiders) and then that opened up the Advance Spider Slayer accomplishment (kill 60 spiders). So, at least there was a point to grinding.

I haven't messed with crafting yet mainly because I haven't found a trainer but, I'm not actively looking for one yet...

For men, the crafting house is in Combe.

There's several quests you'll pick up in Combe that will introduce you to crafting. As a matter of fact, you have to drop and pick up several professions to complete all the quests (designed to let you try them all out and see which one you like).

I wonder if that is something specific to the Beta.. to force everyone to try everything out?

That would make sense.

Here is an idea of what the hobbit areas look like. This is me running around Buckland.

Thanks for the screenshot. Doesn't look like anything real special, but not horrible either.

I got in the beta and created a character but really haven't had a chance to mess around with him too much yet.

I'm Jeebo on Brandywine...

I am guessing you aren't Tolkien fan? If not this game isn't for you, but if you like tolkien or the movies than you will love this game.

One thing I should mention about that screenshot is that the game does not have the hi-res textures in place from what I've read on the forums.

There are other areas that give the game more of a Middle Earth feel, like the elf city, but I don't really play in that area.

One thing that I don't like at all are the character models and options given when you create a new character. It feels limited!

I'll try to capture some close up of the characters and post them so you can see what I am talking about.

Have a question for the beta testers - I've been participating in the stress event this weekend, and one thing I've noticed is the lack of buildings that you can actually enter. I've noticed that towns are beautiful, but they have a sterile feel since a great majority of the structures are just there for eye candy. Am I missing something? Am I exploring the wrong areas? My elf minstrel is up to level 7, and I've been attempting to explore as much as possible.

Thanks for the info!

No I am a Tolkien fan, just skeptical they can repeat the experience of the books and/or movie in a MMORPG.

I would say they have doen a credible job of it.

ditto

I jumped into beta for this recently and although the game has some promising areas and does a very good job sticking with the Tolkien lore, I'm disappointed.

I think Tolkien fans could have a blast running through the areas, exploring, doing quests, and running into familiar NPCs. However, its just not for me.

I give Turbine credit for sticking to the lore of the books, but its probably going to end up hurting the game for MMO fans. There's simply no way they can balance classes and make them imaginitive while sticking strictly to the lore.

The controls feel somewhat unresponsive to me. The graphics are beautiful, but character movements don't feel natural at all. I'd say 3 of the classes are rather boring at this stage (Captain, Burglar, Loremaster).

There are some things I liked. The questing system is actually better than WoW's. There's a built in quest tracker and instanced quests really help with the immersion and sense that you are actually making a difference. The interface is really polished (although it has a couple problems), even for late beta. As I stated above, outside of character movements the graphics are very nice. Lastly, if you're a fan of tanking classes, the Guardian is very polished and incredibly well done.

If you are a tolkien fan or you were dead set on try it out, I'd recommend trying it out yourself to see what you think. There are a lot of people that love the game right now. I'm just not one of them.

Been playing again as a pre-order customer and still happy with the game. Am on the Meneldor server playing as a tank named Crush.

I think the controls feel better now that they are gearing up for launch and was happy to see them adjust the economy. I'm not making as much money as I was a month ago, which is a good thing.

Loremaster = Boremaster. Hunters, Guardians and Champs are fun.

Why is Loremaster boring?

Hunters are usually the type I like to play. Are they similar to hunters in WoW, and how do they differ?

The loremaster just doesn't seem to have an effective role in the game. They are considered a Pet/Debuff class but their pets are really fragile, making them a really bad solo class. They don't offer much DPS, instead its debuffs and crowd control. I think Loremaster is going to be hurt most by the lore. Spellcasters were rare in Tolkien's world and Turbine doesn't want to make a DPS caster class. I just don't see many players interested in playing a class thats primary role in groups is crowd control and debuffing.

Hunters aren't really similar to WoW hunters at all. They have no pet and they have to stand still to fire arrows (no kiting across 3 zones). They can fire them in melee range, though. The traps system needs some work, they're just too hard to use effectively right now. They do get the ability to fire things like flame arrows, ect. Hunters aren't as popular as I expected, but since they are one of 2 DPS classes and the only ranged one, that will probably change by launch.

Similar in that you can set traps, kills things from a distance. Skills like barbed shot (dmg over time) and quick-shot/multi-shot are put to good use. I can usually drop something before it gets close to me. If it gets close they are easy to kill with melee skills but make no mistake, this is a class designed for bow and long range kills. Very good DPS class when it's a 1vs 1 fight. Not so good when you try to take on more than one opponent.

Hunters also gain focus if they continue to take shots from one spot, which allows them to take special skill shots.

No pets for hunters.

Different from WoW? No pet, not good at crowd fights like WoW hunters, weaker melee skills.

Boremaster is buffer/de-buffer type and crowd control. I have never enjoyed that type of character. They get a Raven as starter pet, then a bear, and finally a large eagle.

Has anyone else been able to get in the open beta the last couple of days? I'm getting "The Network is Down" message.

I've been playing the open beta the past couple days (got it from the May issue of PC Gamer (with Guild Wars 2 on the cover). Had a smallish update then a hellish long patch on my poor dialup connection, but got in at last.

My impression is that I see a lot of WoW influences amongst other games. Not that that's bad just that there's not much new stuff here. (traits is the only thing I can think of off the top of my head). Graphics are good not great, but some wow moments when first seeing an elvish town.

Storyline does grab you from the beginning at least with the human and elven starting story, but they really missed the boat with the hobbits. Tying it into the human story and then giving the humans by far the more interesting starting story. Plus you don't get to see a hobbit village from the start but instead get sent to a human town. The dwarvish and elvish starting stories are also tied together it looks like (haven't played a dwarf yet but they are running around in the same starting zone as the elves)

The beginning zones are smallish without much to do besides quests. Some quests are good storyline quests, others are the usual "collect five/kill five of these umimportant items" type, but that's to be expected I suppose. And there aren't multiple newbie zones to go to-just one zone from lvl 1-5 before you get sent to a new zone (and I believe can't come back to the first one). The human/hobbit quest that sends you past the first zone was pretty cool though and the elven one wasn't bad either. But I'm going to get pretty bored pretty quickly on having such limited options in the beginning/doing the same quests over and over again with each new character.

UI is easy to get used to if you've played this games before for the most part. If confused how to do something (like getting out of a fellowship or setting the chat window to be less opaque), try right clicking on the whatever you want to change. And the game seems very stable right now-I don't think I have crashed once yet, though there is the usual lag it hasn't been too bad so far.

Don't see much new or different about classes so far, but its nice that the Lore-master starts off with a pet very early on (though why a raven I'm not quite sure) Pets can get new powers later on which is cool.

It's only a two day impression so far, but other than the theme I don't see a lot to draw a MMO veteran like me into the game. They do pull off the theme a little better than expected but missed a golden opportunity by not letting hobbits start in a hobbit zone. I mean that's where the stories started and had the most important characters-most people are going to want to play a hobbit I think, so why they didn't let us start in a hobbit zone has me scratching my head. So far I don't have any great desire to play in the game when it goes live.

I played the closed beta a few months back and I had the same opinion, there's a general feeling of "WoW rehash" to the whole game. I really wanted to like it, but felt overall that it was too generic, and the things that were original (some of the classes) weren't that fun.

What's the deal with no hobbit zone? Where do they start? I ask because there was a starting hobbit zone when I was playing, and it was pretty nice.

Peregrine,

The story begins with the hobbit in the Shire (I think), and without revealing what happened, they end up in a human town for a pretty lame reason. So you get a few brief moments of them running down a street in the Shire and then being a led (in a nice tie-in to the human starting story) to the human starting town. I think you get to Bree fairly quickly (have a human around lvl 7 who I think can get to Bree) so that's the closest to a hobbit village I've encountered so far.

Oh, that sucks. You used to have the starting road part then ended up in the Shire.

So I guess that you all have been able to get into the game the last couple of days? I keep getting the same message when I try to download "The Network is Down"...oh well

As a Hobbit, once you finish the introduction (lvl 6), you are transported back to The Shire and can do all of your questing there. Only the introduction instance is set in Archet.

My fiance and I are realling enjoying the beta, enough so that we preordered. Don't know how long we will last, but we will be playing it for a couple months. I couldn't get into WOW, maybe because I tried it too soon after COH. Anyway, if anyone wants to give me a shout, I'm on Vigila (SP?) server.
Name is Wryain.

Ah thanks for that-guess I'll have to go finish the introduction then. :) Just assumed since you got sent to Archet, you continued from there.

I am finally going to pick up the pre-order the only thing that has me worried is I am hearing that there are a ton of gold sellers out there harvesting the gold and than selling it Is this something that Turbine is going to try to stop or not? And is it as rampant as people say it is? I am guessing once the game goes to real world live and people have to pay to play alot of this will be gone but still...........

On a related note the developer has announced the first add-on content for free coming in June.

http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=46041

So who is playing ?

Been tempted, pre ordered but will only get my copy in 2-3 weeks (they haven't got any left plus i ordered in France for a delivery in Spain) but I can still test the game for 12 days.

Anyway, i played a little this week-end and the game looks ok.
Still waiting to receive the manual to understand a few stuff but else it's pretty intuitive.

Dunno about gold sellers, I am sure they are out there but I have not seen it ruin the game yet. The economy is young so everything is over priced in the auction house.

I am having a blast with this and have played through as a Champion to level 18, most of that solo. I am on Meneldor playing as "Crush".

Splitting time between Champion, Captain and Guardian characters right now and am enjoying the Champ because damage output is decent and I am able to handle multiple enemies. I played a Captain most of the beta and had a great time but my "pet" would get stuck or just flat out stop following me and it was annoying.

So far tried

Elf Champion - Decent but that's just it
Human Captain - I like it.
Elf Lore-Master - Got stuck at 9 level wise and stopped, didn't like it much
Now trying Dwarf - Guardian, so far I like it.

Don't really like the elves while it's the character I loved when playing RPG (real ones with dices and stuff).
Will probably try Hobbit and then give the Elves another try with a hunter.

And for the server I mainly playing on the french one, but if someone creates an FOFC org, I'll be glad to join.

When I played in the beta, I tried Champion, Lore-Master, Burgular, and Hunter. The only one I can truly say I liked was the Hunter.

Bah, I'll stick with my MUME. I find as I get older, I really enjoy the text sims and text based games better than anything else out there, besides flight sims.

Really good review in the New York Times today:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/ar...gewanted=print

I'm back from the honeymoon and will be playing with my wife again...

And you're posting that in this thread, why?

lol, nice. Long flight from Paris to Detroit, should have added a couple more words relating to the game.

I'm thinking of giving this a shot, I'm still playing EQ2 but this would be fun as a second MMO to dabble with, and it seems like one that would have the least level grind. Plus they've really put in some interesting stuff lately and I want to see how it works.

Have started playing it coz I'm incredibly burnt out from WoW.

Only hit level 7 on a Guardian. So far, the game has been very easy though there doesn't seem to be much general chat at all.

It seems to be a very casual game, which is nice.

Decided to pick this up for my birthday to give it a try. My lady and I are struggling to find things to do together that also fit a baby into the picture right now. Everyone says this is a very casual game that would let us play for 30 minutes - 2 hours in a clip and then not play for days if we chose. Does anyone else still play this? Doubt we'd be on much but figured I could at least pick the same server as some of you :)

Both my wife and I play on Vilya. Some of my character names are: Dyole and Wryain

We're still playing. My wife is addicted. We are on Firefoot and Vilya, but very spotty.

Still playing on Meneldor.

Started this game a couple weeks ago. I have to say that I am loving it so far. It has completely taken me away from WoW and I don't see myself going back.

Am I missing some major problems with the game? It hasn't seemed to be getting near the amount of press that WoW does.

The old-time online players that I know all seem to have been convinced of the same thing. They all say the world is too small (or more appropriately they heard it was since none had actually played). I don't see the problem myself. Seems plenty big enough to me.

Minstrel? Did we group together yesterday for chapter 11? I'm Rhiow, the name seems familier(I'm awful with names, we could have grouped together for 8 hours and the best I could say is 'sounds familier').

My main is level 32 and still discovering places everyday.

Well we joined on Vilya server, currently level 5 after spending like 30 min today and about an hour yesterday. My character is Rangil if you happen to be online when I am. I think we'll likely be limited to playing only after kids in bed/chores done for a bit here or there though.

Do you have any early impressions?

I am only level 7, but enjoy it alot so far. We only play it about 45 min or 1 hour a sitting but its been pretty good for us. Most of it has been doing quests and we did one instance together. I've spent a little extra time on the game without her as a seperate character that I have used to explore the area and try out crafting some.

I guess just from reading forums, if you are a 20 hour a day game player, this probably isnt the game you want. If you're like me and are looking for something that you can play for a little bit every couple of days for an hour or so, then I've been happy.

LOL! I believe we did group together. I love the healer types. I'll add you to my friends list. I found a Kinship that is mostly filled with couples and adults, so if your interested let me know.

That's the way I play as life rarely gives me the opportunity to play multiple hours at a time. That being said, I'm not sure I want to play 4 hours at a time anymore. I have been considering giving this game a shot - change of pace from WoW.

I just started playing last week and am loving it. I have lvl 14 burglar on Landroval named Cordas. He finally made it out of the Shire last night and got his first taste of the big city -- Bree.

The quest designers have done a great job integrating even minor tasks with the greater Tolkein mythos. The graphics are also well-worth the price of admission. Farewell, WoW, I've found a new mistress.

I've been away from WoW for about 8 months now, but thinking of getting back in once my weekly travel is done. However, LOTRO is really intriguing me, especially with what I read here. We'll see....

For those of you that have played an instance, how much time would you estimate it takes to run an instance? For example, WoW was about 2-3 hours (which is too long for some of you) but cut it down to 1-1.5 hour in the expansion (better length of time). I would be interested to know.

They vary from 20 min to couple hours.