The last LOTR Online thread was posted in like 2 years ago, so I'm making a new one.

I've heard a lot of good things about this game, and as a former WoW junkie, I'd like to see how it pans out. Also trying to see who else has this game, so I can ask them questions (instead of harassing Greta and Sascha).

So, what are your thoughts?




Also, anyone with a trial key would be my best friend <3

I only had a chance to play it during the stress test they did but I enjoyed it. While I was playing the stress test you couldnt be one of the evil races which i thought sucked I hope they add that in later version. Your chracters can have titles for example spider slayer for killing enough spiders doesnt really do anything other then bragging rights buts its something new. Id wait a while before getting it though i dont think its worth paying monthly so far maybe after a few updates. What I liked the most is that it did have a story not just running around killing things to get a high level like a alot mmorpgs ive played. I doubt ive said anything you didnt already know but im also intrested in what it will be like.

Okay, I got a buddy key from the lovely Sascha (<3), so I installed the game and made my first character -- a Human Champion.

The graphics are pretty, even on my outdated machine, and of course, they don't have the cartoony feel that people complained about with WoW. They seem Oblivion-esque, with natural looking flora all over the countryside. I'm not a big graphics-y person, but they were nice to look at, and I know a lot of people will appreciate that style more.

If LOTRO was looking to impress (which I suspect it had to to sway former MMO players, or even current ones), it does very early on. The first quest is epic and not "Hey troll, go kill some orcs". From what I've seen of the Epic Questline so far, its wonderful, and I've only heard it gets better. It seems pretty unique, but then again, I've only played a handful of MMO's.

There are the typical quests of "Go kill x of these" or "Go gather x of those", but there's a nice mixup, and its built into the story. IE A prisoner we need information from won't talk until he gets some bakery good, so we need you to gather berries for it.

The class system also looks pretty unique and I'm looking forward to seeing how they work in a party system and even in a raid system eventually. Since magic was pretty rare in Middle Earth, there aren't any mage or priest classes, perse. From what I understand, the Minstrel and Loremaster class serve this purpose, but I'll have to play them before I get a good idea of how a party functions with the various classes. Champion is fun for now, but not sure I'll stick with it. I feel invincible slashing all those spiders up ;D

There are titles, as billy mentioned, which really aren't much, except they add to the RP feel of the game. Throughout my time in the starting zones, I never saw anyone with a "chucknorrisrulz" type name. Most people even stuck by the naming guidelines that were found in the character creation screen. This makes me very happy, as I couldn't stand to be on anything but RP servers on WoW, and even then, you got idiot "lol im leet u guys r fags" people running around. I never saw any of that in LOTRO and there were a good number of people online.

Traits system seems neat, and like it gives you a wide range of customization for your characters, which I like. And the character creation screen is great, for those of you who are like Mandi and myself and appreciate stuff like that ;D

Overall, I'm enjoying it. I'm going to play out my 10 day trial to make sure I actually really like it and don't get bored with it, as I want to make sure I'm not clutching at straws for a new game to play.

If you can get a 10 day trial, I highly recommend trying it out if you're looking for something a little different in the MMO world. The game is free to download for the trial, so keep that in mind.