Incline The Lord of the Rings Online - Legacy of Morgoth expansion announced; Before the Shadow expansion is free for everyone

[Rahdulan]

What server would the euros recommend?

Keep in mind there are no real EU servers since they're all hosted in the US, but check this out for European logins.
http://lux-hdro.de/hdro-live-europe.php

 

[Mary Sue Leigh]

I won't pretend to understand what this graph tells me (sorry, color blind) but I think the event servers mentioned will suit me fine.
I'm also hoping that this game, since it's not a derivative of a derivative (the movie) won't look like new Zealand.
I honestly didn't think that was a good fit but now it's how everyone imagines Middle Earth. I never did because I read some of the books (just trilogy and hobbit, gave up on the Silmarilion) before the movie existed and always joked about people would say, "There's books about the movie now!" since they weren't that well known here before.

 

[Great Deceiver]

I won't pretend to understand what this graph tells me (sorry, color blind) but I think the event servers mentioned will suit me fine.
I'm also hoping that this game, since it's not a derivative of a derivative (the movie) won't look like new Zealand.
I honestly didn't think that was a good fit but now it's how everyone imagines Middle Earth. I never did because I read some of the books (just trilogy and hobbit, gave up on the Silmarilion) before the movie existed and always joked about people would say, "There's books about the movie now!" since they weren't that well known here before.

I'd say the in-game interpretation of most (early) locations is very good, especially stuff like the Shire, Old Forest, Weathertop and Rivendell. I can't speak for the later stuff because I haven't been out of Eriador yet.

A particularly nice touch is the vegetation - I'm sure you remember Tolkien being very particular about his descriptions of different shrubs, weeds and so on. There's a very nice variety in the game, too - I've always thought the movies looked too sterile (Ithilien being one of the most egregious examples). But in LoTRO the ground is absolutely covered in it, especially heather. It feels really nice and demonstrates that the people who made the game truly care about the source material.

Geography mostly follows the book's descriptions, too. I've noticed a few details being a little off, like the road up to the Bucklebury Ferry not having a dike on the river's side like in the books, but that's really nitpicky. The Hedge tunnel into the Old Forest is there, Old Man Willow is there, you can find Goldberry by her spring, there are lilies there, etc.

 

[Mary Sue Leigh]

Funnily enough my first LotR game was on the SNES and loosely based on some DOS game. It was terrible, the music and visuals in the barrow downs can cause serious depression, but both old man willow and Bombadil appear in it so I always thought their omissions in the film were kind of a big deal.
Also I think it had like 8 player mode if you could cobble together enough gamepads.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

some DOS game

Interplay's Lord of the Rings is not "some DOS game"

 

[Bigg Boss]

This game does not offend me when I play it. It is kinda ugly but I like ugly.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

the environments can be good looking, characters are definitely a product of their time though
iirc if you get poor performance, turn down/off reflections first because it's a performance hog

 

[Bigg Boss]

The foliage is nice for sure.

 

[Mary Sue Leigh]

A nice and welcome throwback to a time before butt fugly sidecuts though.

Guess minstrel isn't a good solo class, what about warden? Seems kinda tanky with range attacks like GW's paragon?
Unfortunately no captain class for the halflings, it seems like an interesting one.

 

[ADL]

Warden is my favorite class overall and has been my main since Moria (2009). They're the most interesting to play but they also have the highest skill ceiling The gambit system is at the mercy of server lag so that might be annoying but they claim to be working on that with some improvements on the immediate horizon. A good warden is incredible in solo content and highly desired in groups. Tanky, self-heals and awesome DPS output. Paragon in Guild Wars 1 is a decent comparison.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I liked warden as a concept but the clunky combat system made me hate the class.

 

[Great Deceiver]

Warden is my favorite class overall and has been my main since Moria (2009). They're the most interesting to play but they also have the highest skill ceiling The gambit system is at the mercy of server lag so that might be annoying but they claim to be working on that with some improvements on the immediate horizon. A good warden is incredible in solo content and highly desired in groups. Tanky, self-heals and awesome DPS output. Paragon in Guild Wars 1 is a decent comparison.

My main was a Warden in 2008 or so, I got it to level 50ish but couldn't recover the character, it was in a discontined server and my transfer attempt when I came back recently apparently placed him in a permanent limbo. Shame, I remember liking him a lot, with the skill combos etc.

 

[Mary Sue Leigh]

Very good first impressions. Seems real high quality and reminds me of MMOs of old (well, even older) such as dark age of Camelot in the best ways. Especially the world looking interesting and appealing and going along to explore is good fun unlike for example WoW theme park like environment.
I hope to be able to get a cute pony to ride around and I'll want for nothing.

 

[Great Deceiver]

The game's biggest flaw is the MMO gameplay - very hard for me to stomach in //currentyear//.

However, if you consider it a walking simulator, then it's going to give you some excellent moments. The main quest (the "epic" line) takes you to a lot of cool places and you meet a lot of canon characters that are represented in a pretty respectful manner. Unfortunately if you beeline straight for the main quests only you'll get stuck at times because you won't be able to get the next quest in the chain if you're like 5 levels below. So you'll have to do some wolf/boar/orc killing crap to get your level up. Difficulty-wise you can easily solo elite mobs 10-15 levels above yours, nothing is even remotely close to being challenging, at least for the first 50 levels or so. Haven't played further. So regular mob-killing gameplay will just put you to sleep unfortunately.

There are alternatives like Skirmishes (didn't like them), sometimes you can do group instances but they're not very good. I haven't tried the "epic battles" yet.

There are multiple annoyances for free to play users, like a tiny limit on the daily "tasks" you can grind for reputation, limited inventory space, etc. Overall though the game is pretty generous and doesn't nag you too much to buy stuff, especially if you you're not a completionist (I'm very far from one).

 

[Mary Sue Leigh]

I'm also very interested in "monster" PvP to play as a spider.
Will that be available/viable for F2P players?
Haven't reached the required level yet. I don't have enough time anymore for old skool MMO is the thing.

 

[Bigg Boss]

Is this fun to play with friends? I want friends. Almost to Bree as a Hobbit.

 

[Mary Sue Leigh]

Hobbit powah! Hobbit powah!

Combat still a little awkward but I believe I may eventually figure out how the gambit system works.
What I am not too sure of is when offered heavy armor it says it in red letters, suppose I can't use it. From the preview to warden I thought I would be able to..

Also the map seems all kinds of massive. I appreciate that.

 

[KörangarTheMighty]

Yeah, it's pretty huge. I still remember the epic journey down the Great East Road I took from Bree to Bywater to meet up with some friends who were coming in from the Blue Mountains when we all first started out. One of them took a wrong turn and got lost in the Old Forest. I don't believe he ever made it out again, though we did try to rescue him. Hell of a long trip by foot.

 

[Hellion]

LOTRO would be the most amazing game ever if it weren't for its antiquated MMO quest mechanics. Even as late into the game as the Minas Morgul expansion, literally the first quest you receive when entering the zone is "Kill 10 Wargs" ffs.

But despite the dated game engine, it still looks amazing. So many feels just standing there and taking in the scenery. Watching the sun set over Gladden Fields, standing in the sunshine outside Minas Tirith after the battle of Pelennor, following in the Fellowship's footsteps inside Moria, seeing the water reflections around Lake-town, it really is a Tolkien connoiseur's dream. That atmosphere still makes me return to the game and do quests at least once a year.

 

[Mary Sue Leigh]

Is there actually a day and night cycle? I assumed there wasn't because so far I have only seen daytime. Would be a shame if tehre wasn't, I really would like seeing these areas but during the day and at night.

 

[KörangarTheMighty]

Is there actually a day and night cycle? I assumed there wasn't because so far I have only seen daytime. Would be a shame if tehre wasn't, I really would like seeing these areas but during the day and at night.

Yes, the rotation is quite long though, if I recall it takes a couple hours to go from day to night.

 

[Mary Sue Leigh]

Taking it slow, it's quite relaxing so far, love taking in the scenery. Let's see how long I enjoy it.
F2P elements not too obtrusive so far. Not even sure what paying would even do. Give extra quests? Not worth it, that. I might eventually shoot a few bux if I think it's worth supporting, but only if they offer something I actually want.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Taking it slow, it's quite relaxing so far, love taking in the scenery. Let's see how long I enjoy it.
F2P elements not too obtrusive so far. Not even sure what paying would even do. Give extra quests? Not worth it, that. I might eventually shoot a few bux if I think it's worth supporting, but only if they offer something I actually want.

make sure you enter the free code before it expires this month

FREEQUESTS2022

 

[Great Deceiver]

Taking it slow, it's quite relaxing so far, love taking in the scenery. Let's see how long I enjoy it.
F2P elements not too obtrusive so far. Not even sure what paying would even do. Give extra quests? Not worth it, that. I might eventually shoot a few bux if I think it's worth supporting, but only if they offer something I actually want.

It's a pretty generous game, but a lot of convenient stuff (like the Riding skill) costs some small amount of money. You can still obtain Riding through regular playing (you get a few gold coins for completing Deeds naturally) without actively grinding for it.

I'd say extra inventory slots are also helpful (f2p players only get 45 slots, you can buy 75 extra slots, I think VIP subscribers - get 120 total).

The limit on 'tasks' (dailies for faction) is ridiculously low for f2p players (only 5 at first), but you get 5 extra slots per 100 completed tasks.

 

[ironmask]

I have finally gotten to LOTRO and have been playing it for a while. Got to level 22. The game is actually more fun then I was expecting it to be, even if the quest are often very repetitive. Do the quest in the later expansions get any better?