Lord of the Rings Online

[Raydeus]

I want to start by saying I don't like Gamespy much since they sold out to IGN (Alla like), but even so from time to time they still manage to get some interesting articles.

In this case is what seems to be a Dev-sponsored series of articles about The Lord of the Rings Online.

When it was Middle-earth online the game didn't have anything that would interest me about it, but now a year after they changed dev team it seems like the game is way different than it was.

After reading those articles about it I'm beginning to think the game might be worth it if they manage to make a good job with it (kinda the same as with Star Trek Online). But I'm interested in hearing opinions about it.

I'm not a LoTR fan even though the movies were good (and nope I haven't read the books), and even though it isn't FF at least LoTR is better than D&D, Warcraft and many other of those worlds put together so that's a good start (yep FF biased all the way ).

If someone was/is in Beta right now it would be nice reading about their opinion of the game in terms of story telling and entertainment value.

[neighbortaru]

Re: Lord of the Rings Online

I've applied for the beta, haven't been accepted yet though

it's being developed by Turbine, which is the same shop that developed D&D Online... make of that what you will.

[Raydeus]

Re: Lord of the Rings Online

it's being developed by Turbine, which is the same shop that developed D&D Online... make of that what you will.

Yup, I noticed that, but at least the world setting is way stronger than D&D's.

Although I haven't actually played D&D (only read a bunch of stuff about it and it didn't cought my attention really), but that would be a good indication of Turbine's skill for creating this kind of games.

[Desideratum]

Re: Lord of the Rings Online

I played the 10 day free trial of DDO (you can download it from their site) and wasn't impressed. If that's what Turbine has to offer, well...

Still, I'd be willing to give a Lord of the Rings MMO a shot, I guess.^^

[Raydeus]

Re: Lord of the Rings Online

I think I'm gonna download D&D just to see how good Turbine is at making games, if it's as dissapointing as it seems I may not think about Lord of the Rings ever again.

[neighbortaru]

Re: Lord of the Rings Online

woot! just got accepted into the Beta!

but seeing as how i'm under NDA, I can't say anything about my experiences in it until much later (if at all)

[Bricklayer]

Re: Lord of the Rings Online

woot! just got accepted into the Beta!

but seeing as how i'm under NDA, I can't say anything about my experiences in it until much later (if at all)

you rock. i applied as well, but i think i have close to zero qualifications! :D

[Cavick]

Re: Lord of the Rings Online

I'm also in the beta, I was in beta for DDO also, which I didn't like at all.

[Raydeus]

Re: Lord of the Rings Online

woot! just got accepted into the Beta!

but seeing as how i'm under NDA, I can't say anything about my experiences in it until much later (if at all)

I'm also in the beta, I was in beta for DDO also, which I didn't like at all.

(Congratulations!) I didn't apply to beta because I barely have time to play XI as it is, but it would be nice having a review of the game when the NDA ends.



My only beta has been Matrix Online and I gotta say Beta was way better than the retail by 3 to 1 (they changed a lot of the good stuff Beta had, which really sent an already weak game to it's death ).

[Cavick]

Re: Lord of the Rings Online

(Congratulations!) I didn't apply to beta because I barely have time to play XI as it is, but it would be nice having a review of the game when the NDA ends.



My only beta has been Matrix Online and I gotta say Beta was way better than the retail by 3 to 1 (they changed a lot of the good stuff Beta had, which really sent an already weak game to it's death ).

Yeah, once the NDA is lifted, I'll definitely post my impressions of the game. I got a trial to the Matrix Online when they revamped everything, it was mediocre at best.

[Legal Fish]

Re: Lord of the Rings Online

Going to suck ;o.

[Anson]

Re: Lord of the Rings Online

So the game is gonna be set in the Third Age, during the War of the Ring... again. C'mon, why don't they set it in the First Age, when there were dragons and Balrogs around every corner, and battles so unbelieveably massive that they make the War of the Ring look like a domestic disturbance. EA has already covered every aspect of The Lord of the Rings as it is, would it kill the publishers to cover the events that took place in the 10,000+ years before it? I mean just look how much source material they have to work with here: The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, The History of Middle Earth series (12 books in all), and the yet-to-be released The Children of Húrin. They could make a variety games with different settings in Middle Earth if they wanted to, but instead we gotta play through the all-to-familiar events of The Lord of the Rings. Seriously, publishers, if you're going to milk a franchise, at least try using a different teat every once in awhile...

[Skoal]

Re: Lord of the Rings Online

I just received my email for beta today. The server stress test is what is going on this week. I may sign up for it but it looks to be a huge download.

[neighbortaru]

Re: Lord of the Rings Online

yeah it is, be prepared

[Icemage]

Re: Lord of the Rings Online

Lord of the Rings as an MMO franchise suffers from much the same problem that Star Wars did. Everyone wants to be Arathorn/Legolas/Gimli/Gandalf (this is compounded and reinforced by the EA titles based on the movies), and trying to do wish fulfillment for such players is an exercise in futility.

Considering the horrid design of DDO, I am not expecting LotRO to have much better results - in fact less so because it is a much more constrained universe, being in a setting that is so heavily documented in books and film alike. Such constraints almost always cause serious problems in game design and balancing, and an unbalanced MMO is one that fails (see Star Wars Galaxies for an example of what happens when you have disastrous game balance).


Icemage