LOTRO NDA has been lifted.

[Sairon]

My impression was that it was a very solid diku. Hadn't it been for WoW it would definitely be regarded as one of the most polished ones. However, as it is now, it's a supbar WoW with a bunch of decent selling points. At least that was the impression I got. It might do pretty decent due to the IP.

[Zetleft]

This game does have an important difference from wow - the graphics are "realistic" rather than cartoony.  For some players, this could be a real point of differentiation.

I had no idea the world I live in was so Brown.

Real is brown.

Yeah Lotr is a good game but just doesn't grab me like WoW so I have no real reason to switch other then the IP.  Plus the combat just wasn't as interesting and varied as WoW. 

[Venkman]

Real sucks for escapism. But I don't think LoTRO is too real in a too-bad-it's-real EQ2 sorta way. The game just feels lifeless. It's not any one thing, but all of it together. Things happen just a bit too slow along too drawn-out a path. It's not different enough in ways that make it unique. What really is its purpose?

• As an alternative to people bored by WoW? Not really, because it plays so similarly (early EQ2 problem).
• As a way to get people more roped into the Tolkien lore? Not really, because they will only be disappointed and LoTRO does not advance the timeline beyond that which has already been defined (SWG problem).
• Monster play? Cool unique passtime but not a retainer unto itself. Adds favorably to the game in aggregate similar to how BGs fulfill the need for WoW endgamers (though fulfilling in a different way), but not something to draw in droves of new players.

LoTRO will have a nice core following, because it does look different, because it has some unique elements. Plus it'll attract a number of "I can't like WoW because everyone else does" type folks, though there really aren't enough of them to a) design for (because they want the same experience they just don't want others dominating it over them/don't want to be seen as followers); and, b) keep happy for long anyway.

I also find it interesting having just read this Game Sales Potential Test over at Gamasutra.

Is the Game Distinctive?- Somewhat
     Does it stand out viscerally?- Somewhat
     Does the gameplay stand out?- Somewhat
     Does it involve the player socially in a unique way?- No
Can the Game Reach a Large Market?- Maybe
     Is the idea behind the game easy to communicate?- Yes
     Is the game based on something the market already knows and loves?- Yes
     Is the target market large?- Yes

I like this test. And I like the articles the Feature references. Doing the above is about as simplistic as arbitrarily compartmentalizing all players in this genre into the four Bartle meta-archetypes, but it's a place to start.

[Lantyssa]

It's an okay game.  I appreciate the lack of bugs.  I thought the traits and achievements were interesting.  I liked being able to play a spider in Monster Play.  It felt like they tried very hard to stick with the lore (from the perspective of a non-fangirl).

Had I nothing else to play I might consider it.  For some I think it will be a good game.  As it is though, it did not grab my interest.

[HaemishM]

Mini-review: LOTRO is a boring game that's a mishmash of D&D Online with every other diku ever made. It failed my 30-minute MMOG rule.

[stray]

Agree with Rasix except the "makes me want to go back to WoW" part. ;)

But I get what he's saying with that..

[Gegge]

I really wonder why they even bother calling it "monster play"... All there is to it is that you get an instant level 50 character ready for pvp and you're stuck to 1 zone... Where's the "monster" part in that?  For anyone thinking of trying this game out for a "new refreshing pvp experience", don't. Wait for WHO or something instead, I know I will. My 2 cents.

[Nija]

I had no idea the world I live in was so Brown.

Expand on "brown". Do you mean quake1 brown?

[Rasix]

I had no idea the world I live in was so Brown.

Expand on "brown". Do you mean quake1 brown?

Kind of like Auto Assault fucked a Keebler elf.

[Yegolev]

I would not call it Brown with a Big B, but parts of it certainly were very brown.  I personally appreciated the fact that not everything looked like a Warhammer model, but of course that does mean that there's a certain lack of KAPOW there.  If you like elf cleavage, you should play WoW.  I didn't find the combat compelling, but it didn't really get in my way either.  I liked exploring, and the collection minigame (Accmplishments) was good.  Lack of bugs is a big draw.  LotRO ran better (for me) in Alpha than some games at retail.

Crafting was sucky and I just could not get into it; this is coming from someone who played lots of Horizons as a crafter and currently works as an ice miner in EVE.

[WayAbvPar]

Around level 20 I just got really bored with the game.  I started running out of quests and I just didn't feel like going out an finding new ones.

There's just nothing really new to say with this game.  If you've played WoW, you've pretty much played this game.  In fact, playing LOTRO just made me really want to play WoW again. 

This was exactly my experience. Part of it was that there weren't a lot of people to play with (it sucks ass as a solo game), but it put me in the mood for some good old fashioned loot whoring, so I reupped my long dormant WoW account.

[lamaros]

I found it to be a pretty insipid game. Wont be trying release.

[Arthur_Parker]

All taken with my 2 year old pc, early beta shots to later, I normally play on lowish graphics just for speed so most of the screenshots reflect that, the game is a bit jerky on ultrahigh.

Somebody tell me if the above pictures work correctly, this posting screenshots lark is witchcraft to me.

[Rasix]

Somebody tell me if the above pictures work correctly, this posting screenshots lark is witchcraft to me.

They work fine.

[Tmon]

Enjoyed it, blogged about it, will probably buy it. 

My main fear is really the lore nazis.  They are fun to watch when they flip out, but just imagine the hate tells.  In Elvish.

Damn, I might have to learn Klingon so I can go around exploding lore nazis.

[Falconeer]

Mini review: It's WoW with better lore, better graphics and a few outstanding quests. If they make itemization and some raids right, this is way better than WoW.



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[Morfiend]

For me, the "stylishness" of WoWs graphics still makes it much much more enjoyable for me. LOTRO graphics just dont do it for me.

[Nebu]

I much prefer the look of LOTRO, but the gameplay was unspiring.  It was somewhere between EQ2 and WoW, which I appreciated.  I like realistic, but not the plastic realism of EQ2.  I like styled, but not so styled as to be cartoonish as WoW. 

If the combat were interesting, I'd likely play this game at release... as it stands, I'm holding out for AoC or WAR.

[Lantyssa]

Mini review: It's WoW with better lore, better graphics and a few outstanding quests. If they make itemization and some raids right, this is way better than WoW.

Better graphics, significantly worse animation.  Unfortunately I'll take smooth and cartoony over fabulous and clunky any day.

[Margalis]

My new plan is to play the opposite of whatever Falconeer suggests. (Somebody had to say it!)

Graphically the game feels very similar to DDO to me, especially in the models/animation and armor. Town as well actually. You can certainly tell it is the same core tech.

The character models are very plain and they all have weird faces (lantern jaws). They all also look the same, a common failing. Yeah, some are short - that's pretty much the difference.

It also looks like if you read the races from top to bottom that was the order they created them in because the first few can be a whole bunch of classes then the last few have much less choice.

Classes seem very basic, not a one that is even slightly different from what you've already seen.

Overall it just feels like more of the same. I agree that in a world without WOW it might be pretty cool, now it seems like old hat and worse to boot.

[edlavallee]

In terms of graphics: great environmental graphics, barely acceptable character graphics. Personally, I agree with Morphiend. I would much rather have stylized than generic and uninspired.

[Der Helm]

... but just imagine the hate tells.  In Elvish.

I'd sub just for that.

[Hound]

it does not suck, and that in itself is an accomplishment anymore. I will buy it, but will stick to the ten dollar a month deal.

Edit- For those that expect Elvish lore Nazis prepare for disappointment, in 4+ months of beta play I have not ran across any. However if I do I shall PM you their names so you can harass them with leet speak tells.

edit 2 - I myself just found it a laid back game, I just went in and wandered around doing quests and the odd group. Did some good old DAOC style defend the keep PvP and found it amusing. It has some great moments such as the time I was stealthing around Barrow Downs and four wights  jumped out of their graves complete with horror movie sound effects and scared the shit out of me. Thorin's hall is fucking impressive as are some of the other areas. Lots of nice touches in the world which helped immersion. I like the exploration rewards so you can customize your toon a bit, that still needs tweaking. I like the fact that the character molds to your play style as you play by keeping track of how much you use an ability granting bonus in it, even getting thanked enough by other players gives some sort of badge.

[CmdrSlack]

Edit- For those that expect Elvish lore Nazis prepare for disappointment, in 4+ months of beta play I have not ran across any. However if I do I shall PM you their names so you can harass them with leet speak tells.

All I know is that I accidentally said "LFG" and got all kinds of yelled at.

[Hound]

Edit- For those that expect Elvish lore Nazis prepare for disappointment, in 4+ months of beta play I have not ran across any. However if I do I shall PM you their names so you can harass them with leet speak tells.

All I know is that I accidentally said "LFG" and got all kinds of yelled at.

Dunno what to say friend, I can post screenies of the general chat channel and every other line is either LFG, or LFM for <insert random quest name> Thats why when in a solo mood I make a chat tab, with no chats selected. Blessed silence.

[ajax34i]

It's kind of interesting, the way I look at it is WoW demonstrated that polish+style can attract a lot of players; now between Vanguard (buggy, but maybe has style) and LotRO (polished, bland) we can see how much of WoW's success was due to the polish, and how much due to the style.  Kinda like an experiment where you try to only change one variable, to determine what the formula is.

[Yegolev]

Edit- For those that expect Elvish lore Nazis prepare for disappointment, in 4+ months of beta play I have not ran across any. However if I do I shall PM you their names so you can harass them with leet speak tells.

All I know is that I accidentally said "LFG" and got all kinds of yelled at.

Yeah, well, it's 'LFG... thou' if you are into the lore.

Hound said what I would have if I had thought of it.  It's very laid-back.  WoW has that urgent tribal music or the general air of persecution, but LotRO is actually pretty relaxing.  It's convenient that the landscape is pretty, too.  Too bad about the avatars and loot, though, but it's a lot easier to patch that in than a graphical update.

[Johny Cee]

If nothing else, the world/lore is very well done.  It feels like you're wandering through Tolkien's world.  Might be worth a subscription just to play to 50 and check out all the different environments.

As everyone else has said,  combat is bland.

Also,  Turbine didn't go far enough in adding fun details and non-standard game play.  Some of the quests that involved minigames were interesting,  at least to do once,  since they weren't "kill 15 boars" or Fedex deliveries.

Gather eggs while dodging the rooster,  or the race a water bucket to the spring and avoid the bears ones, for instance.  Not alot of repeat value,  but interesting to run through once.

Some of the set pieces were very nice.  Finding and talking to one of Elrond's sons as part of a quest had the nice touch of him being in a room full of slaughtered orcs, for instance.  If Turbine had managed to add alot more of this level of detail it could be an engaging PvE game.

I lost interest in beta due to a combination of character wipes and trying to work out buying a house and dealing with banks.

[Rithrin]

So the game's website only mentions the Good races as playable (Men, Elves, Dwarves, etc). What's the scoop here... Can I play an Easterling? A Corsair from Umbar? Or is there no Evil playing other than monster play?

If you're railroaded through the game like I'm hearing, are there not going to be dungeon runs and raids?

Most of the reviewing written here seems to assume that the reader has some idea of what the game is already like...

[CmdrSlack]

Edit- For those that expect Elvish lore Nazis prepare for disappointment, in 4+ months of beta play I have not ran across any. However if I do I shall PM you their names so you can harass them with leet speak tells.

All I know is that I accidentally said "LFG" and got all kinds of yelled at.

Yeah, well, it's 'LFG... thou' if you are into the lore.

Hound said what I would have if I had thought of it.  It's very laid-back.  WoW has that urgent tribal music or the general air of persecution, but LotRO is actually pretty relaxing.  It's convenient that the landscape is pretty, too.  Too bad about the avatars and loot, though, but it's a lot easier to patch that in than a graphical update.

I got several "FOAD" tells for not saying LFF (looking for fellowship).  I shit you not.  It was friggin' ridiculous.  Also, the people who freaked out over "duelling" so Turbine renamed it "sparring." 

[Falconeer]

My new plan is to play the opposite of whatever Falconeer suggests. (Somebody had to say it!)

Hey. I am not suggesting to play it. At all. Being supposedly better than WoW (Requirements: good itemization and good high end game, two aspects I don't know about yet) is definitely not enough to be worth playing.

[Azazel]

My thoughts have pretty much already been said by others in this thread.

Landscapes were pretty, though I'd have preferred more green than brown. Sightseeing was nonetheless nice. The highlights of my gameplay were running my level 13 hunter up to Weathertop to check out the view, and running the same character into the shire and checking out the hobbit holes.

Combat was bland and uninspired. Character models were boring as all hell.

Introductory instanced quest/zone (Archet) was actually very well done. I think if there's anything that other MMOGs should steal from LOTRO, this is it.

Overall gameplay felt like WoW, but less fun or engaging somehow.

Tradeskills were some kind of non-intuitive confusing arcane mess. Result was that I didn't bother doing anything besides skinning animals and picking up bits of wood and ore when the game would let me.

When it came down to it though, the "this is nice, but...." feel of the game and knowing player wipes were always incoming at some point made me feel like playing some WoW after a bit of beta-ing. In the end, I just stopped playing, especially when WoW's PVP weeks started, and the release of BC.

I feel faintly guilty for not continuing to log on and report bugs and all that stuff, but not bad enough to actually log on. They still sent me a Beta 2 invite though. 

Overall, if I wasn't playing and enjoying WoW, I'd probably buy it and have fun with it for a few months. But as I'm already playing a MMOG that I'm quite enjoying, it doesn't have enough of a draw-me-in-for-fun factor to get me to buy or play it. Even for free. 

[Falconeer]

Landscapes were pretty, though I'd have preferred more green than brown.

I don't understand you guys. Maybe I am colorblind in the brown spectrum. Do you mean more green than this?

[Endie]

Landscapes were pretty, though I'd have preferred more green than brown.

I don't understand you guys. Maybe I am colorblind in the brown spectrum. Do you mean more green than this?

Yeah, I don't get this "eugh, it's so brown" bandwagon that seems to have trundled through on its way to the Darkfall thread.  I've never seen a more verdant area in an MMO than LoTRO's Shire.

[Quinton]

I got a chance to give LOTRO a go rather late in the beta (a month or so ago).  It didn't manage to hold my attention for an hour -- just couldn't get past the WoW UI with tolkien world thing.  Partially I got the impression that I could get the same experience with a lot more polish if I just played WoW.  Partially I found the MMO transformation of one of my favorite books just kinda bleah.  Quests to go obtain 10 wolf pelts or whatever just did not do it for me.

I really don't understand why people think they're going to effectively compete with WoW by building an inferior knock-off of it.  I don't even enjoy WoW -- I'd like to play something else, something maybe a little new and different.  I think that if I want to play an MMO, I might as well go play WoW since it appears that all MMOs are WoW (at least for the time being). 

Seriously, who is the audience?  People tired of WoW that want the same thing with less polish?  Is there money in that?  Really?

-Q