ZAM's Lord of the Rings ContestFollow

LotRO player since publish. Graphically it's the most amazing I've seen, possibly excepting Lineage II. The only real gripe I have is the linearity introduced, and in fact made necessary, by the fact that the game is following a 'real' story. When I first started playing, I have to admit, meeting Aragorn, or Strider, and 'conversing with him' was off the charts cool.
Combat has gone through a change or two and is pretty decent. Turbine has resisted (so far anyway) getting into the store-front mentality (selling in game items for real world cash). There are hundreds of titles you can earn, traits, virtues, emotes that you can earn beyond the initial set. There are places and people from the books, and places barely mentioned yet truly expanded upon.
Crafting is easy to do, and I must say, this is the first game I've found that I actually like to do it, and what I make is useful and needed.
Plus they've introduced legendary weapons which are levellable and modifyable. All in all, Turbine has done top-notch job.

Been playing lotro since beta and its had its fair share of ups and downs.

Heres some positives:

1. Lotro by far has the best graphics i have ever seen in any major MMO ive ever played. The scenary is amazing no matter where you go from the lush green hills on the shire to the dark depths of moria. Definite plus there.

2. Lotro has a great deal of used content. Most MMOs have alot of unused content such as WoW but lotro has many regions that you can level in and do instances in at all levels!

3. The animations and sounds for the skills are awesome. Nothing like riding up on a raid of monster players and shouting at them :D

4. PvP has only recently started to become balanced again but its a ton of fun having a 24 man raid against a 24 monster player raid in the open field of the ettenmoors.

5. There are many raids and instances that the developer team put in that takes alot of strategical minds to figure out. Such as the watcher in the water fight in the water works of Moria. Usually takes atleast a month or so to figure out these instances.

6. Crafting is a huge plus in this game! Many things to craft and many opportunities at great gear and a great fortune on the Auction houses.

7. Very friendly community and id recommend this game to anyone!


Negatives:

1. Gets frusterating at low levels to find groups for major quests but they are all bypassable by just doing solo quests instead though most of the low level group quests are a ton of fun.

2. Lotro doesnt have alot of maintence and downtime but when they do it usually takes 5-6 hours and sometimes longer.

Been playen lotro for 4 months now and is by far my most fav mmo ever. Ive been through so many mmo's (Age of Conan, WOW, GW etc.) but out of all of them lotro graphics gameplay and outstanding enviroments make it the best mmo out there for me.Not to mention the monster play in lotro which is awsome as hell. Where else can you play as a warg and attack the free people?

Also I wanted to say I love the instances in this game, its very unique and the freedom is amazing. Like in WoW they control you more making you not able for instance to jump off a bridge. As soon as I entered the world as a night elf I tryed to jump and to my expierence I fell and my legs were broken for some time. It has huge detail and freedom is amazing. Best I have seen in a mmorpg in a long time.

Do you play?

Yes everyday almost for 2 years plus (since beta).

Have you tried the game?

Yes as stated above

What do you like about it?

- I am a kinship leader, this has enhanced my and my kinships experience in the game.

- There is a lot of content, never could get bored. Sometimes do get frustrated, but that is called the "Challenge" of the game.

- I love this game and the lore, and the great job of the Devs in creating Lore to fill the gaps and accurately depicting existing Lore.

- LOTR is the ultimate fantasy story so I dont think there will ever be another game for me.

- I never get bored, if I do, I have one of seven Alternate characters to play. I enjoy the range of skills for each of the nine Classes.

- Devs are responsive and listen to players in the forums and explain why they are making changes to existing systems or quests.

- I enjoy the people I play with immensely.

What don't you like about it?

- sometimes I think the other players who whine when new content comes out and they rush to finish it as fast as possible then complain they are bored. This is not Turbine's fault. I am in this game for the long haul, it's a long adventure to Mordor and back.

I love Lotro mainly because it is NOT like other mmo's. It is unique in that you can casually play or you can go deep into the game and story. For the hard core Lotr fans it is well suited inthat it has remained true to the story and world and the developers certainly know their Tolkien. The kinship and raid set up are fantastic and with ALOT of free updates there is always reasons to keep playing. They come out with expansions that arent just levels or new realms, they change the game play in ways that make you want to make a new character and do it all over again.

Love the game.

I started playing Lotro quite awhile ago, but I'm not one of the founding few, and I was such a fan of Tolkien after reading The Hobbit, the Silmarillion, and the LOTR trilogy. Amazing stuff, and so I had to check out this game, and it has by far exceeded my expectations.

The amount of detail that went into development was great, and it was apparent that the developers have done their homework behind this great game. And I know that there's probably still much more content in the making.

There's too many good qualities to list about the game, but needless to say it's well worth the money, with the amount of content you get.

Great job Turbine

I started the game again after being gone for about 2 years. I love the setting, the community, and the unique classes (from my perspective at least).

Level 27 at the moment and enjoying every minute of it.

I have been playing Lord of the Rings Online since the game launched. I bought the lifetime account and I've definitely gotten my moneys worth! I also bought the game for my father (he says it is the best Father's Day present I've ever given him... I bought him the Mines of Moria expansion for his birthday last year, too) and we play together. I really, truly love the game because I CAN play with him. The environment is fun and family-friendly, for the most part. I also play with a couple of my real-life friends, one of whom recently moved to the other side of the country. It's great to be able to still interact with her and hear her voice (LotRO comes equipped with in-game voice, which is an EXCELLENT feature that allows for coordination between players better than text ever could).

I love the graphics of the game. There are areas of the game that are just GORGEOUS. The Shire is one of my favorite zones because it's so bright and beautiful. Forochel is beautiful in a different way, with a bleak, vast whiteness and the aurora borealis in the sky at night. Angmar isn't beautiful, but it's intricate and intense and so big that it is a joy to explore. I love how the characters play and move. I do wish that there was more customization involved in creating your character, but there is enough to distinguish your character from the next players, at least. The outfit system is nice, too, because it lets me play with pretty bits of armor, while still allowing me to wear the good (if somewhat ugly, lol) armor equipped.

The classes in the game are great, too. They all seem so unique and have a contribution of their own to make to any group (or what is called a Fellowship, in keeping with the lore). I play a Minstrel, which is a healer class. What really makes it fun is that I heal people with the power of my singing and instrument-playing! That's just cool, in my opinion. There I go, charging into battle with my trusty harp, ready to defend Middle-Earth from the powers of darkness by singing of the true light that overcomes all despair! If I can't sing well enough or fast enough, my warrior companions are defeated in the face of the darkness that they fight.

I love The Lord of the Rings Online. It's a great game and I would highly recommend it to anyone who asks about it. My server, Windfola is a smaller one, but a nice one to play on. Come join the adventure! :)

I love LOTRO and play daily. I wish I had found this game before I spent two years on WOW. I love the quest lines and the "deeds". My whole family now has fun questing together and helping each other with the crafts.
The only thing I do not like about the game is the mail system. I am hoping changes will come soon with options to mail more than one object (at lower cost).
Thank you Turbine for such a great game.

I started playing online computer games back in the days of MUDs, and have tried many of the MMOs that have come out since. I played Ultima Online, Everquest, Dark Ages of Camelot, World of Warcraft, Everquest 2, City of Heroes, and others. These were all great games in their own right, however as I got older many things that appealed to me about these games started changing as the games got larger, more people got online, and my own personal life changed.

I hadn't played an MMO for over a year when I picked up Lord of the Rings Online, and immediately I was reunited with what I loved about those early games. The gameplay is well done, allowing for casual gamers as well as the more "hardcore". The world is beautifully rendered, the classes thought out, and the quests very detailed. This game took a while to be released from it's original concept (Middle Earth Online, circa 1998 I believe), but Turbine's wait proved to be a good thing. The fact it is still going strong 2 years after release is testament to that.

I have talked a few of my old WoW friends into playing it, and they feel it is much superior to WoW in all aspects. The fact they have so much additional material to pull from should keep this game going strong for another 5 years.

I have played LOTRO for almost two years, and I participated in the open beta testing. This was my first experience with a mmorpg. I love the game. I have enjoyed success with a couple of characters. I even have gotten my brother involved. That said, there are a few things I wish were different about the game. First, I am a player that cannot play at set times and days. I need to play when I have time, therefore the kinship and fellowship aspects of the game are more challenging. I find it very difficult to develop friendships with people within the game due to the relative infrequecy of my play. Ther are a number of quests which are either undone or that I needed to complete at a higher level in order to allow me to complete them solo. Additionally, a few things such as purchasing from vendors can only be done as a single item or a stack of items. There should be a selection for purchasing a specific number as with the crafting interface. I think it might also be beneficial to allow users to choose perhaps a secondary vocation. This goes to my point of the game being a bit out of reach in certain aspects for the infrequent gamer. I find it difficult to find players willing to help craft items for me that I need in my own crafting. Perhaps make a second vocation available after a player has reached the master craftsman level. As a whole, I love this game. I find that I have become very efficient in questing and leveling with the limited time I have to play. It is enjoyable for me as a fan of the books and the movies. I cannot wait for the next expansion! Thanks

I played Lord of the Rings Online when it first came out and I loved the game. But inability to find a reliable kinship (clan) and good fellowship (group/party) members turned me off. I just started again a month ago and I'm loving it so far! You just need to get on a populated server and find some good people to fellow with. The implementation of DX10 is subtle, but it looks great. Gameplay is solid with the new content and the community is awesome!

My only gripe with it is that the crafting isn't varried enough, so you see most of the same crafted stuff over and over again. And that the character animations leave something to be desired.