Lord of the Rings Online

[Deleted]

Hello. I've played MMORPGs for quite a long time. Before playing WoW I tried at least 30 different games. I started WoW in 2006 and stopped playing late 2013. I've played WAR and some of Aion too. A game that I knew existed but didn't ever think to try, because at the time I wasn't much of a fan of Tolkien's mythology, is Lord of the Rings Online. Without going in to too much detail I'll say that I don't really play games anymore, only the occasional Minecraft creative and Banished session. I don't particularly care about whether or not Lord of the Rings Online has good gameplay mechanics, but for a now avid fan of Tolkien's Legendarium, do you think Lord of the Rings has a lot to offer? LotRO just escaped me for some reason, but I've finally started looking into it properly. I'm quite excited about visiting all the different zones. What concerns me though is how long the game has been out. My worry is that I might be a bit too late to start LotRO. Won't it be too difficult to get involved in the game? Is there a good up to date video series I can watch as a guide? Having played WoW for a very long time, I feel like there's almost TOO much to learn about LotrO since obviously the lore is very in depth and I imagine the game world is quite fleshed out by now.

Any help?

[Morpheuss880]

Saruman, you were deep in the enemies council, tell us what you know.

Saruman, your staff is broken

[Deleted]

Saruman, you were deep in the enemies council, tell us what you know.

Saruman, your staff is broken

Thanks for the in-depth and helpful response, Mithrandir.

[Deleted]

Deffo worth a try as its f2p and a great game with some of the most amazing ambient music in any game.
Had a major update end of last year iirc changing how classes play and introduced talent trees - but check out the official class forums as they should cover everything.
There's a ton of low lvl free content you can just drop into without spending cash on so try that and see how you like it

some nice addons I use(d) include sweetFX - 3rd party but makes some incredible changes to lightning and colour as many complaints about the stock graphics are that it can be a bit dull.

For UI changes and mods check out http://www.lotrointerface.com/

For zone map info check out http://dynmap.ruslotro.com/

For gaining in game TP (turbine points) to buy additional content rather than using RL cash see http://www.squidoo.com/lotro-grind-400-tp

And ofc the most important thing - playing real music in game!

[7seti]

If all you want to do is run around and quest in Middle Earth, it's not bad.

[catcommando]

I don't particularly care about whether or not Lord of the Rings Online has good gameplay mechanics, but for a now avid fan of Tolkien's Legendarium, do you think Lord of the Rings has a lot to offer? LotRO just escaped me for some reason, but I've finally started looking into it properly. I'm quite excited about visiting all the different zones. What concerns me though is how long the game has been out. My worry is that I might be a bit too late to start LotRO. Won't it be too difficult to get involved in the game? Is there a good up to date video series I can watch as a guide? Having played WoW for a very long time, I feel like there's almost TOO much to learn about LotrO since obviously the lore is very in depth and I imagine the game world is quite fleshed out by now.

Any help?

Yes, the game world is pretty fleshed out, but it's not anything you can't follow provided you don't mind reading quest text and sitting through the odd scripted event in session play. Main storyline is told through book volumes that you'll do as you level. Zone quests will tell you story of the peoples there etc. The game's strengths are world building and fleshing out the IP while trying to stay true to books. You'll follow the Fellowship at times and other times you'll follow the mmo's storylines. They've revamped the early game content to make leveling...easier, but the best way to see if you want to bother with it at all is to just download the client take a look for yourself. The game is free to start and you don't really have to buy anything until about L30 or so once you get past the Lonelands. If you just want to wander around Tolkien's world, it's wonderful. You want high end endgame etc, play something else. Hope this helps.

[Deleted]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Great info.

[Deleted]

I might be able to answer a few of your quesitons. I started playing LotRO around 3 months before it went F2P (around 2010 if I remember correctly). For what it's worth, I've been playing it pretty regularly ever since.

I don't particularly care about whether or not Lord of the Rings Online has good gameplay mechanics, but for a now avid fan of Tolkien's Legendarium, do you think Lord of the Rings has a lot to offer?

It's definitely a plus if you're more concered about story and lore than combat mechanics. The game has excellent regular quests if you're into reading them, and fleshed out epic quests. Epic quests are sort of like a main story arc that runs through the entire game and spans all expansions.
I'm usually more focused on game mechanics than story, but LotRO manages to keep my attention even though the actual combat is pretty slow and sluggish. I'm not a major Tolkien fan, but it seems like they did the books justice.

I'm quite excited about visiting all the different zones.

That's definitely a huge draw for many players. The graphics quality in the game is decent (if you crank it up, all the way) and it makes for some awesome scenery. The actual characters/NPCs do look a bit dated, though.

What concerns me though is how long the game has been out. My worry is that I might be a bit too late to start LotRO. Won't it be too difficult to get involved in the game?

Depends on what you enjoy doing in an MMO.
It's true that the game has been out for quite some time, and around 4-5 expansions have been released so far (I say 4-5 because I don't really consider Helm's Deep a "true" expansion).
If you enjoy questing and leveling up at your own pace then you're already set.
If you prefer doing group content (dungeons, skirmish, raids) you'll need to level up quite a bit before you have enough people around you to group with (if you prefer solo-play as opposed to joining a guild/kin).
There's also PvP, or technically PvMP (player-versus-monster-player) but I have never tried it.
The in-game store had an option to buy a level 50 toon, for around $50, but it was a limited time deal and I haven't seen it since late 2013.
The best way to get involved is to roll a character on a well-populated server, and get invited to a kin (guild). There are quite a few decent kins around, and most people are friendly and will assist you. If you're in a kin, you shouldn't have trouble finding people to do low-level dungeons with. Most players have a host of alts.

Is there a good up to date video series I can watch as a guide?

I've always had trouble finding a steady source of video guides.

Having played WoW for a very long time, I feel like there's almost TOO much to learn about LotrO since obviously the lore is very in depth and I imagine the game world is quite fleshed out by now.

It's really not that different from WoW. There are a few unique systems (legendary items, war-steeds, housing, music system - there's even an annual music festival run by players), but overall it's fairly similar to most modern MMOs, when it comes to features.

[Sainur]

I've played it for about 300 hours according to Steam, but I haven't used Steam all the time so probably around 500 hours.

It's a good game, played through most of it, very immersive, very large world, so much stuff to do... but I haven't touched the game in a few months so my knowledge is rusty.

I do know that dwarves are the master race, regardless of what game you're playing. You'll understand why they are the master race once you enter Moria

[Deleted]

Thanks again. Great information. Yes, I reckon I'll get the hang of the MMO part, it's just this expansive lore that I'll be really trying to get my head around. It'll be nice to see nods to some of the more obscure parts of Tolkien's works in the game. It's the storyline aspect that I'll mostly look at, that and the world itself. I post quite a lot on MMO Champ about the zones of WoW and something I'm also wondering is, how big is Middle Earth in game compared to Azeroth/Outland? I'd imagine that LotRO has a bigger world due to technical improvements (it looks like a more powerful engine to me), but then again WoW's been out for longer.

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I don't really have a reference point for how big the zones are. The average zone in EK and Kalimdor is fairly small. What's it like in LotRo.

[Sainur]

Middle-Earth makes Azeroth and Outland look small if you ask me.

You're in for a lot exploring old man. But over the years WoW got bigger as well, but I think LotRO may be bigger than Azeroth.

[Deleted]

Middle-Earth makes Azeroth and Outland look small if you ask me.

You're in for a lot exploring old man. But over the years WoW got bigger as well, but I think LotRO may be bigger than Azeroth.

That's strange... I've always considered Azeroth and Outland to be the largest MMO world. I'm not sure why. I've played a few MMOs but only WoW extensively. Is LotrO bigger just due to the newer engine? I have trouble imagining it's bigger than WoW because of how long WoW's been out.

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Good either way though!

[Sainur]

Hasn't got anything to do with the engine. It's just a large world. You can travel on foot, or buy your own horse, you can also buy an auto-ride and auto-travel to an area (just like WoW flight paths, but then with horsies). Don't know if there is factual evidence that LotRO is, infact, bigger than WoW of 2014.

I did find this though to give you an impression: (warning large pics incoming)



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look at WoW, then scroll to the right side of the picture and observe.

[Deleted]

I've read about that picture and people don't agree with it. Hmm.

Another question if you will. I was under the impression that Lord of the Rings Online had the regions of Gondor and Mordor already in the game. It's been out since 2007, hasn't it? I'm just wondering those key regions haven't been added yet. I'm aware that Gondor is planned to be released in Summer.

[catcommando]

That's strange... I've always considered Azeroth and Outland to be the largest MMO world. I'm not sure why. I've played a few MMOs but only WoW extensively. Is LotrO bigger just due to the newer engine? I have trouble imagining it's bigger than WoW because of how long WoW's been out.

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Good either way though!

Could see why he'd make those claims. Moria is huge...given all the zones in there I wouldn't be surprised if it could easily rival Outland in land mass...and to navigate the rolling plains of Rohan you'd want a warhorse or it will take you forever to get across maps on a standard mount. The rest of Eriador and Rhovanion put together is probably greater than Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms combined. The world builders aren't slouches in this game.

[Deleted]

Could see why he'd make those claims. Moria is huge...given all the zones in there I wouldn't be surprised if it could easily rival Outland in land mass...and to navigate the rolling plains of Rohan you'd want a warhorse or it will take you forever to get across maps on a standard mount. The rest of Eriador and Rhovanion put together is probably greater than Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms combined. The world builders aren't slouches in this game.

I can see why it'd be bigger, but I can't imagine it being bigger than WoW! Just one of those things. LotRO hasn't been out as long and it's got only two major regions, so that's my judgment is reserved on the issue. I feel like WoW is bigger, but I haven't played LotRO yet. I'll just have to see.

[Sainur]

Another question if you will. I was under the impression that Lord of the Rings Online had the regions of Gondor and Mordor already in the game. It's been out since 2007, hasn't it? I'm just wondering those key regions haven't been added yet. I'm aware that Gondor is planned to be released in Summer.

Not sure, like I said my knowledge is rusty. Haven't played in months, but sooner or later they will add Gondor and other areas. Just a matter of time. They've been on the map forever, they were just not yet accessible/created.

[Deleted]

You'd think such important regions would be added already, no?

[catcommando]

You'd think such important regions would be added already, no?

Eh...I could see why it's not accessible to us as players at this time. The game follows the storyline/timeline of the books...granted it's been 7 years *cough*. But to my knowledge they've not put in a zone without a book (main storyline) in place. We're following in the footsteps of the Fellowship. We're not seeing Gondor before hand because the Fellowship (sundered parts and all) haven't gotten to it yet at this point in the game. Can see why you're asking and on some levels it would make sense since we can opt to make human characters that are from that part of the world during character creation. But for the purposes of where the game is in terms of Tolkien's story, asking why LotRO hasn't put in these regions until now would be akin to asking why we couldn't visit Northrend before WotLK. :P.

Maybe Mr. Khazad Dum would have a better answer.

[Vivek]

Saruman, you were deep in the enemies council, tell us what you know.

Saruman, your staff is broken

I will admit I laughed.