Lotro

[Vlawde]

Curious if anyone who has been in beta has any thoughts on it. I'm considering prebuying and playing open beta to check it out, but would like to hear what others think about it first

[Aredhel]

Might try the SEARCH feature. I know there has been chatter about it!

[Ysharros]

I was in beta for a few months, till hubby got his Vanguard beta invite and I got sucked back into VG.

Please bear in mind these impressions are based on my playstyle and playing preferences and your mileage may be very different.

First off, LOTRO is a really, really pretty game. It's much less graphically demanding than VG but still looks great and can be pushed to very decent settings. It's a different art style from Vanguard - if I had to characterise it I'd say it's somewhere between the WoW-cartoony and the VG hyper-realistic. In any case, I found many of the landscapes and models stunning -- the char models were less so, but that seems to be a gripe of mine in almost any game. Also, since I haven't played it in 2 months, that may have changed.

Adventuring play is, or was, very quest-oriented with usually more quests to do than you can handle at a given level. Many are group-oriented but there's plenty of solo content too. They have an interesting take on many of the classes they created. Of note especially is that there is no standard spell-caster as we're used to seeing (unless things have changed significantly) -- the closest you can get is the lore-master, which is also a pet class.

Crafting in LOTRO is, to my style of play, too secondary to be a draw. It is almost identical to the WoW crafting style (pick recipe, enter number to make, sit back, wait), and unless a great deal has changed in the last few months of beta -- which is quite possible! -- it wasn't my cup of tea.

I haven't the time to get into a huge review. My take was that LOTRO wouldn't hold me the way Vanguard was likely to -- that said, it has plenty to offer people whose playstyle it more closely matches. I'm definitely advising people it's worth a look, even if it wasn't the game for me.

[Siul]

Originally Posted by Ysharros

I haven't the time to get into a huge review. My take was that LOTRO wouldn't hold me the way Vanguard was likely to -- that said, it has plenty to offer people whose playstyle it more closely matches. I'm definitely advising people it's worth a look, even if it wasn't the game for me.

Interesting, I was just reading about it and my impression was pretty much the same. I would say it is a nice game for the Tolkien fans, less complete probably then VG is (from just reading their info, i aplyed for testing but no answer yet), or will be. I would say that VG for me is a game to play for years and that LOTRO would be entertaining but will not hold me on too long (unless there would be several developments that would catch my eye (hopefully not literally).

The other benefit for me is i could probably run it in my current laptop (that is not the case with VG and so I only play after hours at work ) like i could play WoW.

SO in the end I'll give it a try and then report back...

[dirtymeat80]

going to pass on it myself. I'll probably piss off a few people, but I honestly didn't care for any of the movies, and the professions just don't interest me in the game.

I normally play these kinda games so I can see a bunch of spells casting and fireballs shooting here and lightning shooting there......and I read there's no wizards sure, true to the movie, but that doesn't mean I have to like it

The healing thing really bothered me too.........well, lack of healing. You don't actually die, you just lose enough morale to retreat. No healers, just people who play a song & dance to get morale back up.

[Nil]

Originally Posted by dirtymeat80

going to pass on it myself. I'll probably piss off a few people, but I honestly didn't care for any of the movies, and the professions just don't interest me in the game.

I normally play these kinda games so I can see a bunch of spells casting and fireballs shooting here and lightning shooting there......and I read there's no wizards sure, true to the movie, but that doesn't mean I have to like it

The healing thing really bothered me too.........well, lack of healing. You don't actually die, you just lose enough morale to retreat. No healers, just people who play a song & dance to get morale back up.

I think the only thing about your post that might irk people is that you compare it to the movies and not the books. I enjoyed the books and the movies, though, so no angst here.

[dirtymeat80]

Originally Posted by Nil

I think the only thing about your post that might irk people is that you compare it to the movies and not the books. I enjoyed the books and the movies, though, so no angst here.

I might have enjoyed the books, it woulda been less of me watching someone walk the earth

[Ysharros]

Originally Posted by dirtymeat80

I might have enjoyed the books, it woulda been less of me watching someone walk the earth

No time like the present, young man!!

The movies were okay, but nothing beats that first read when you're 12 and can't understand half of what's going on. I've been hooked for decades.

Even so, while the Middle Earth feeling is strong in some parts of LOTRO, it's not as strong in others. To be honest it was a hell of a difficult thing to pull off, and in many respects they've done a good job. We'll *never* be the Fellowship, so any emulator will always have flaws -- but they could have done a lot worse than they did.

Where it fails for me is more in what I expect of an MMO these days. However, what I find lacking others will find just perfect.

Note that if I remember rightly, closed beta has finished just recently or is about to, and a brief open beta will begin at the end of the month. Any applications for closed beta are unlikely to see the light of day. I'm not 100% sure of my dates, though if people are desperate I'm sure the information will be on the LOTRO site or forums somewhere. Remember they're launching in the middle of next month, so there's not that long to go for any kind of beta.

[sorkvir]

I'll probably pick it up. I'll play it as an interim until Gods and Heroes comes out.

I think there's good and bad about it (only from reading and no personal experience). But its just going to be a matter of taste.

Personally, since I'm looking for a game just to 'pass' the time in and not be serious about, this'll seem like it will fit the bill. And I'll be watching to see if Vanguard really picks up the ball and fixes a lot of the issues.

[Vlawde]

So if you preorder, do you get a disc so you can play open beta until the game goes live?