Thanks alot for the announcement! I was able to get a beta, and try the game out.
The game doesn't compare to WOW though.
The user interface components don't scale, so they are tiny, the text uses a difficult to read font. The opening quests are rather inane. You can only play the "good" guys, making both the story elements and pvp less interesting. Where are the female dwarves? The elf skin colors do not conform to the books (in the book, elves ranged from extremely white to somewhat dark). So far, the game AI has been much much worse that WOW. Since AI has always been my major complaint with WOW, I'm not impressed. The game objects/elements are not nearly as pretty as WOW, yet the graphics/processor lag overall requires a more powerful computer.. which means, to me, a lazy inefficient design that has not been profiled.. and/or dependence upon using newer more expensive computer/video systems.. I need to try it on my other computer systems and edit a comment.
If you plan to play the game for 2 years or more, it is slightly cheaper if you get the pre-order now with the $200 one time payment for a life subscription, otherwise its $10 a month, which is still cheaper than WOW.
But, a WOW replacement it is not, in my opinion.. not until I am completely disgusted with WOW, say in 6 months to a year, at which time, I suspect I can find something better than LOTRO.
LOTRO Open Beta Keys Going Fast
Those of you who are interested in playing the free open beta of The Lord of the Rings Online that starts on Friday had better get signed up soon. Turbine has offered up a million accounts for the open beta, and as of now 2/3 of those are already taken. It is likely that by this weekend the rest will be gone as well. I'm posting this because we don't want any of our community who are interested in it to be left out. If you want to try out the game, go here and sign up asap. I'll add a personal plug that this is a game well worth trying. Also, don't forget to check out our growing lotro site for your game information.
Tags: News
