Lotro: MoM

[antiacid]

Anyone played mines of moria? I'm looking at filling my free time with something like a mmo but that still let's me live more than being in a top 1% raiding guild in wow (been there, done that).

I'm basically looking for feedback on the game and also on a buddy key or two(you get 30-60 days free, me and my gf get 30 days free, we all win!). So if you feel like helping me out to try a new game, drop me a PM and I'll give you my email and my thanks

 

[dtq]

Ive been playing lotro on and off since pre release, it has a lot of strong points to it, Its graphically beautiful, with enough whistles and bells to tax high end rigs, but also looks good even on modest hardware, I have got over 100fps out of a 7600gt whilst still having a reasonable looking game!

One unique aspect of lotro is the life time membership option, one off fee and you can play for free for the lifetime of the game! Allowing you to sit back and enjoy the ride, take weeks or months off and come back when you feel like it.

I do like the fact that I can drop in and out of lotro as I please, no time pressures no "need" to do everything immedeatly, far more than most mmorpgs lotro is a game you can play through and enjoy the exploration and the storyline etc. The game isnt very PvP centric - although there is a dedicated PvP zone, If you are interested in the experience of the game then lotro has a lot to offer, sure you can race to level 60 but you will be missing out on a lot by doing so. If you like high end tweaking there is raiding and deeds grinding etc at the high end but lotro offers huge ammounts of good quality content at the lower levels, even for the solo player. I do think though that people who have enjoyed tolkiens works will find more in the game than non fans, the ammount theyve drawn from the books is fantastic.

Lotro is also quite unique for the number of free expansions they do, adding new land masses and quest hubs every few months, giving a constant dose of new content rather than just a yearly expansion (which they also now have)

As well as the endless slaughtering of orks theres a relaxing side to the game as well, farming, as in planting seeds and growing crops - not regular mmo farming fishing, smithing etc. The game also has player housing, which is a nice touch, its not a patch on the old star wars galaxies housing system but still its nice to have somewhere to hang your hat.

Crafting isnt particularly in depth (I was introduced to mmorpgs by star wars galaxies so Ive been spoilt on the crafting side) At least you do get your name attached to items you make and to give custom names to high end items you make.

I do enjoy the game but I do take extended breaks and then return to the game. I dont feel that I "have" to log in and play, I dont feel the need for massively late nights to progress, I play side by side with my wife and as a tank \ healer combo we have no problems finding groups for quests and can do a lot of content by ourselves.

I play on a UK RP server, and Ive only met one begger in my entire time playing, never had a single duel request, and not seen any leet speak, I couldnt say what non RP servers are like, but I do tend to find the Lotro RP servers a more pleasant place to be than the wow servers.

Of course if ownage and shiney trinkets are what your life is all about then I dont know how the game would work out for you, thats not to say they havent catered for that crowd, I just havent ran into many of them on the RP servers and Ive never played games in that way so I wouldnt know.

I would say lotro has a lot to offer to anyone who enjoyed oblivion or tolkiens works. Thats not to say it plays like oblivion, but it has the immersion factor and more sandboxy play style (and better than oblivion graphics)

 

[pr2thej]

Liking the sound of this. hows the PvP?

 

[dtq]

Liking the sound of this. hows the PvP?

OK first thing to understand about Lotro is that you cant play "bad" characters in regular play mode, there is no alliance and horde choice to make for your "normal" characters. You get to choose dwarf, elf, human or hobbit one of the "free peoples of middle earth" the devs decided that elves ganking hobbits in the shire would be a stretch too far from tolkiens works .

However Lotro has a large open PVP system in a place called the ettenmoors, you can either take a horse there with your regular character, or you can create a "monsterplay" toon, monsterplay toons or insta level 60, but you can upgrade their abilities and equipment over time, by - competeing in pvp. Monsterplay toons are unable to leave the ettenmoors, although the area is very large. In the ettenmoors PVP is very much good vs bad. There are non PvP quests to complete in the ettenmoors which give rewards towards earning various bonus's for your toons, these are there to fill up time when the ettenmoors arent busy, whilst running the missions you are still open to PVP at all times, so you could be jumped anywhere anytime.

I believe the ettenmoors have control zones, basically you are battling it out to "control" areas of the ettenmoors, (ive never taken part in the more orderly side of PvP) for various advantages. Even in the early days on the RP server I play on most there could be some massive pitched battles between players on both sides. If you prefer not to get involved in the big battles you can try rangering around the ettenmoors by yourself looking for more solo action (which is what I did) although as it is a pvp zone you can still run into a gank squad (I also did this, more than once ) I suspect there are players who do very little except PvP on monsterplay toons, for players who just want the rush of fighting other people and arent interested in quests and storylines they can dive straight in and stay there as long as they like. Not being one of those players I dont know how satisfying the game is for pure PvPing "monsterplayers".

Lotro has several different play modes which you get to see at different times, you get some "historic" play sessions where you get to play characters from long ages past in middleearth history, theres even a quest line where you get to play as a chicken and have to run around middle earth completing chicken quests, the reward for which is a very nice "chicken" cloak - probably one of the rarest items in the game :lol: There are all kinds of "session play" quests around the game, adds a nice bit of diversity to the game, but monster play is without a doubt the most popular form of "session play". I believe theres also troll and ranger session play which is limited in some way or another, but basically you get to play "elite" characters in the PVP zone, although Ive never done so and dont know how its unlocked but I do know its limited in some way to make the use of them less common.

 

[antiacid]

still looking for an US buddy key to try out the game! I went to the store yesterday and there's not even a copy of lotro (or MoM) available. There was a wall of WoW and a couple of Warhammer though

 

[StuMan]

I found Lotro to be somewhat more relaxed than WoW in it's player base.

 

[cburke82]

I played both I would say LOTRO the players are much moor helpful. I have never asked a question in the area chat and gotten a standard " Cant belive you asked that you noob" In wow if you ask a question you get that alot from the 12 year olds. I also found that on high setting it is less stressfull on your system. I had a HD 6870 and got better FPS with LOTRO all the way up then I did with wow on ultra settings. However there are some things I dont like. When you pick a craft you pick a main and they pick 2 supporting crafts for you. So you cant pick 2-3 of what you want like in WOW. There are less people playing LOTRO so you get all the same issues if you play in off hours you might not have tons of people to help you out. Also there are no mods at all. So you have to use there quest tracer and what not. Coming from wow having a customized UI with add ons and what not it was hard to get used to there quest tracker nad mini map and all that. But for free it is a great game

 

[davewolfgang]

This is rather funny, I JUST reinstalled this from having not played since 2007-8. I'm on a much better system now and using the High Detail DX11 game install (rig in sig). And it does tax my video card. In WoW my card hits mid to high 40's (c), but I noticed after the 10GB update when I got to log in finally play last night, that even in almost empty areas my card was hitting 50c+ (still WELL within normal running temps though).

I will get some more play time in during the week, and report more.

 

[Alex The PC Gamer]

LOTRO: was a huge disappointment and if you haven't started, then stop, don't install before you read this. You would think that you'd be playing with other, fighting against orcs and perhaps even protect little hobbits carring the ring...but you would be wrong.

Instead you'll end up grinding to quests that make absolutely no sense at all. That said, it's free so I don't mean to hate on this game at all. But I will warn you that the game is not about fighting orcs towards one goal but rather fighting retarded insects and animals. Some key characters are in there (if you've read the books (The hobbit and LOTR), i have) but if you liked the movie and wanted to continue enjoying that momentum, you won't find it in this game.

 

[benski]

It's kind of hard to package the fellowship quest in a way that can provide long term replayability to a bunch of people playing together. Some of the epic quests fit in with the Tolkien story line, but most of it is just fluff to make you grind out levels. It has some fun elements but it's definately not a cinematic experience like most LOTR games have been. It's a good way to kill some time, but it's pretty lame when you follow a story line and go kill what is supposed to be a boss, but then he respawns in 30 seconds, or you go to kill him and you have to wait in line because a bunch of other people are doing the same quest at the same time. Still it's easy to find people to play with and the skirmishes and dungeon instances are fun to do in a group. It's not a particularly immersive story though.

 

[cburke82]

It's kind of hard to package the fellowship quest in a way that can provide long term replayability to a bunch of people playing together. Some of the epic quests fit in with the Tolkien story line, but most of it is just fluff to make you grind out levels. It has some fun elements but it's definately not a cinematic experience like most LOTR games have been. It's a good way to kill some time, but it's pretty lame when you follow a story line and go kill what is supposed to be a boss, but then he respawns in 30 seconds, or you go to kill him and you have to wait in line because a bunch of other people are doing the same quest at the same time. Still it's easy to find people to play with and the skirmishes and dungeon instances are fun to do in a group. It's not a particularly immersive story though.

Is there any mmorpg's that are that immersive? The whole mmo set up makes for not having a good story line. In WoW your get the same issue. You try to follow the story but the bosses you just killed are back after a min or two. You follow the story to hate the LK and want to kill him and then you end up killing him once a week lol. MMORPG's make for great replay value and if you enjoy the gameplay itself are great. I like raiding in wow the whole group dynamic is great. But I dont think there will ever be a MMORPG that story wise will match up to a non MMO rpg. I say this because a good story has to have a beginning a middle and an end. So if there is no end if you never get that moment where your at the climax of the story and you cant wait to see how it ends then its not that great of a story. And if you can play the same stuff over and over every week its not the same but can still be fun.

 

[Canlotrofan]

Overall the game is excellent for an MMORPG. It's much more relaxed than WoW and if you don't want to pay for a subscription you can earn just about everything through completing in-game content.

As already mentioned it's visually stunning, with rich, imersive landscapes and breathtaking visuals (including weather patterns and special environment lighting conditions).

The story line follows roughly with the LOTR storyline, but it's important to remember that you are NOT one of the characters in the fellowship, but rather a character who is somewhat following in the wake of the fellowship, trying to lend a hand and help out where possible. You can follow the "Epic Storyline" or ignore it completely.

Also nice was that you don't have to wait until a ridiculously high level to get a steed...