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Lord of the Rings Online Impressions

Posted by Zonk on Tue Feb 13, 2007 10:27 AM
from the get-your-ring-on dept.
Role Playing (Games) Lord of the Rings Media Movies
The Non-Disclosure Agreement for the Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) beta test has been lifted, and with the game set for release soon it may be useful to you to peruse some hands-on previews of the title. Hexus.net offers A Day in the Life of a Hobbit, and Tobold's MMORPG blog has similar hobbit-related impressions. Tobold also has a comparison between LORTRO and World of Warcraft for those who might be thinking about making the jump. More hands-on info is available from Warcry, Kill Ten Rats, and Gamers With Jobs. Van Hemlock offers up a high level overview of the title, mentioning recent releases and pointing out the realities of Massive gaming: "How the Great Fantasy Epic Saga will stand the ravages thousands of petty powerlevelling smacktalkers all loitering about Rivendell bank, level one hobbit girls - dancing as naked as the game will allow, shouting ridiculous three-letter-acronyms and generally not getting into the spirit of the thing, remains to be seen. I expect Our People can crush even The Lord of the Rings beneath our metagaming heel without feeling too guilty."
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[+] The Call On Lord of the Rings Online 64 comments
The Beta has been going on for some time now, and for all intents and purposes Lord of the Rings Online has launched. Pre-order players will be able to move their characters to the live game when the title officially lights up on April 24th, and commentators on Massively Multiplayer games have weighed in. Their opinion, generally, is unanimous: buy it. Tobold contributes a full-on review, as does CVG. AFK Gamer doesn't go in for such long-form opinions, but he still has a lot to say. Specifically, Foton comments on the good, the okay, and the bad, as well as a few words on the game's (somewhat out of the ordinary) classes. "[The game is] deep and broad. An MMOG, any MMOG, with its premium box price and its premium subscription prices, needs to offer more activities than: you can kill stuff, and, umm, you can kill other players, and umm, you could check the auctions/trade channel. There's many ways to screw around in this MMOG: Deeds, accomplishments, exploration (easy to outrun higher level mobs), titles, player-made music, engaging quest text, a solid start to the crafting system, MONSTER PLAY!!! There's probably more, but that's all I've tried so far."
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  • I totally know what to name my character (Score:5, Funny)

    by jfodale (1032534) on Tuesday February 13 2007, @10:41AM (#17997624) Homepage
    Enter your character's name: Legolas
    Sorry, that name is taken.

    Enter your character's name: Leggolas
    Sorry, that name is taken.

    Enter your character's name: Legolass
    Sorry, that name is taken.

    Enter your character's name: Llegolus
    Sorry, that name is taken.

    Enter your character's name: Legggollass
    Sorry, that name is taken.

    Enter your character's name: Legoooooolas
    Sorry, that name is taken.

  • I beta tested, so I have a few things to say (Score:5, Informative)

    by CrazyJim1 (809850) on Tuesday February 13 2007, @10:53AM (#17997808) Journal
    Good:
    The quest vs grind ratio is vastly in favor of questing opposed to WOW where grinding was generally better.
    It has excellent graphics.
    It's run by Turbine, so that means frequent updates to keep the content fresh.
    Player vs Monster is fun. I played as a Warg and got over 100 kills and only finally died when lag froze me in place for 30 s

    Bad:
    Money is more worthless in this game than any other MMORPG. Somehow no newer MMORPGS seem to care to make an economy.
    If you get the best lewt in the game, your character will only be about 5-10% better than a storebought character even though you have lots of flashy stats.
    Attributes mean about nothing. I won't even post an example of this. Lets just say your stat sheet is a total joke.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by jfodale (1032534)
      Out of curiosity, how is PvP? (is there PvP at all for that matter?)

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by CrazyJim1 (809850)
        You can duel another person by clicking duel. It works something like WOW's duel option.

        You may have misunderstood monster play though. Some people play as monsters. Some people play as characters. Then they try and take over castles, quest, or fight each other.

        • Playing as a monster sounds awesome, but even then do they have to agree to a duel? It sort of defeats the purpose of playing a monster.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Fozzyuw (950608)

      The quest vs grind ratio is vastly in favor of questing opposed to WOW where grinding was generally better.

      Interesting. I rarely 'grind' in WoW, I'm pretty much doing a quest 99% of the time when I'm killing monsters, more so now the X-pac is out. I would be interested to know how you're defining the term 'grind' in this case in the context of quests.

      My definition of 'grind' vs 'questing' would be... quest: "Kill 30 specific mobs and return to quest giver to get a large XP bonus and some loot until you

      • My definition of 'grind' vs 'questing' would be... quest: "Kill 30 specific mobs and return to quest giver to get a large XP bonus and some loot until you level up and move on". Grind: "Sit in the same area and kill anything you come across and hope for loot drops until you level up and move on".

        I'd generally agree with this definition, and it has pretty much been proven that for most classes in WoW, questing is faster than grinding. Also, usually Bliz does a decent job of mixing up the kill X mobs quests with other quest types, with some notable exceptions (STV and Nagrand for example).

        The only time I've really grinded in WoW is for reputation. In the xpac I'd say things have improved to a certain extent. For some reputation (e.g. Honor Hold, Cenarion Refuge) you don't have to do very much if

        • I think one of the problems, in the case of WoW, is that leveling is so absurdly easy going either route (quest vs. grind) that it doesn't really matter if one is faster than the other, they're both quick...which takes some of the pull away from questing. In a game where scoring the next level is actually a challenge and actually takes good chunk of time to achieve, even if it takes more time to level via questing, the game stays more interesting by questing instead of grinding. You'll also make use of th

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Incidence (923443)
        The problem with questing in the core WOW game is not the XP gains but with the rewards. The rewards a person or guild is going to get from grinding, either for rare drops or instance bosses are far better then any rewards from quests.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by drsquare (530038)

      Bad:
      Money is more worthless in this game than any other MMORPG. Somehow no newer MMORPGS seem to care to make an economy.
      If you get the best lewt in the game, your character will only be about 5-10% better than a storebought character even though you have lots of flashy stats.
      That's not a bad thing, it's a good thing. This 'grind all day and night for the best equipment' is a RPG meme that had to die.
    • Considering the 'gold seller' market, I'm not surprised in the slightest that they decided to kill the money and not have an economy. The economies in MMO's always gets horrendously abused by gil farmers and most companies (Well actually, ALL companies except for FF) ignore it.

      I also have to agree that as someone who only plays a few hours a day, a few nights a week (Sorry, I have a job AND a life), that I don't want to see all these uber players (basically 13 yo's without a life) running around pretty much

    • Somehow no newer MMORPGS seem to care to make an economy.


      You never played FFXI, did you. That's the closest thing I have found to a real thriving player-run economy, and it was leaps and bounds above any of the paper-money economies other games put in. Unfortunately, that was also one of it's biggest flaws--it made the game far too much like actual work. 'Still amazing to see in practice, though.
      • While I have no experience with FFXI, I'm playing EvE Online, which has an anacrchocorporatist economic system, with corporations being the traditional guilds. The games even allows a corporation to issue stocks which can be traded, and a corp can distribute dividends on the stocks. It even has historic price tracking for goods...
        • If you're anything like my friend who WOWs probably 16 hours a week, he knows he's not getting anywhere, infact there is nowhere to get no matter how much time you have. So you've made it to level 60 and the phatest l00t imaginable? Good, now start a new character and do it all over again. There's and up, but there's no top, what's the point?

          He considers this a plus because like unlike games with a recognizable end he can leave at any time without feeling like he left things unfinished. He's no closer to

  • Just wait till someone (Score:3, Funny)

    by antifoidulus (807088) on Tuesday February 13 2007, @10:57AM (#17997892) Homepage Journal
    figures out how to dupe the "one that will rule them all"

  • Different from WoW? (Score:3, Informative)

    by MeanderingMind (884641) on Tuesday February 13 2007, @11:05AM (#17998000) Homepage Journal
    I read a number of the articles, but despite claims that this isn't a WoW clone set in Middle Earth as opposed to Azeroth I couldn't find much substance to prove it.

    The blogger's argument simply seemed to consist of noting how everything in LotRO was new, while players of WoW would already be tiring of the Burning Crusade and seeking something new. Exactly what makes LotR different from WoW outside of the setting, the slightly different races and the classes?

    The screenshots certainly didn't help. The user interface looked as though it was lifted straight out of WoW in almost every regard. I looked at some EQ screenshots just to be sure WoW hadn't done the same thing. Aside from possibly preferring Middle Earth to Azeroth, I'm having difficulty finding a good reason for someone to pick LotRO over WoW.

    Is there something I'm missing?
      • While I agree that World of Warcraft takes a lot of cues from Lord of the Rings in terms of lore, style, races, etc the actual gameplay in World of Warcraft is what makes it what it is. I'm pretty sure that Tolkien didn't lay out a UI in the preface of his books when he wrote them:

        World of Warcraft UI [hld.ca] Lord of the Rings Online UI [hexus.net]

        It's not just the UI. The quest-heavy gameplay (as opposed to the Everquest/FFXI grind), the way the classes are balanced, etc. All that stuff is lifted from WoW, and certainly

        • But don't try to tell me that the LoTRO is the "original". That only applies to the setting.
          You're right... cloning of the world/genre is the only aspect I meant to address in my comment. WOW certainly got the formula right for how you interact with the world.
           
        • WoW's class/character balancing stinks. So I sure hope they didn't copy that! Yes WoW's UI is nice, and the terrain/graphics aren't too bad. But the game balance has always been the pits, that's why they keep having to tinker with it, and why all the uber gamers play Shamans.

          Balance was the one big thing WoW didn't understand.
          • Personally I find the balance to be fine, when fighting an evenly geared opponent.

            There are fights that are harder, but when I fight an opponent whose equipment matches mine, I only lose when I make mistakes or my foe is simply better than I am. There's the occaisional super lucky crit streak win, but those are abberations.

            And honestly, the whole Shaman/Rogue supremecy thing died ages ago. Watching bluetracker, there isn't a single class that hasn't had numerous nerf threads in the past months.

            Now, if LotRO
          • They certainly have the 'right' to copy them. That doesn't mean I will shell up money for a WoW clone though. Like it or not, WoW came first with its gameplay. Why bother playing a clone? Just for a graphics upgrade?

            MMORPGs need to do more. We have seen nothing but upgraded version of Everquest since... well, Everquest.
      • Thanks for mentioning that. I hate that people think WoW invented what is the now practically the defacto style of MMO UI. In fact WoW's UI without plugins is much less flexible than a lot of MMO UIs out there (such as EQ2).
  • You hear that? That's the sound of John Tolkien rolling over in his grave.
  • Honestly, unless you just want to see the world of Middle Earth in graphics form I would suggest skipping this MMORPG interpetation of it.

    Highs:
    Landscapes and landscape features are nicely done.

    Water reflectivity encompasses all drawn items

    Quest system. The idea is to flood you with them. Some are new variations of FED-EX others are same old stuff, but its an alternative

    No Mages... uh

    Traits. The idea was good..

    Lows:
    ALL, and I mean ALL, indoor areas are INSTANCED. This means if you want to enter a building you instance to do so. Even if this means just going in to complete a quest with no more than a click of a dialog.

    NPCs use a different animation engine from PCs, hence they are lifeless and dull. Eyes that don't blink, no facial movement, etc. Some do some animated scripts, but only with other NPCs.

    Quest system. The idea is to flood you with them. Yet its really the same old stuff repackaged.

    Traits, think Talents from WOW but more random. This is where the grind is. Some examples, trying to gain one trait required me to kill literally hundereds of slugs, yes slugs. It seemed all traits were gained this way.

    Magic. They simply renamed it. Don't for a minute believe there are not mages and priests in this game. Loremasters are mages pure and simple. They throw fireballs.

    Animation system, combat system is boring. Animations don't even take into account parries and dodges so even though the game said you parried its not drawn. Combats can also take place with a sizable distance between combatants making it look silly.

    User Interface. Still Turbine's worst suit. They can't code a UI to save their lives. It looks like each part was done by a different team. Some look very "period" - meaning belonging to a fantasy game, while others look like a PDA from Half Life.

    Remember first and foremost that this is Turbine. They love to make promises, they just take forever to deliver them or they don't. They also are on record as being the first game company to permit Automated Combat Macros, they also released a major expansion to a game only to announce shutdown 3 months later, and they still haven't delivered half of what they promised for DDO.

    Oh, to top it off, those who pre-order get into beta. Nothing unusual there, except this time they can take their beta characters from that beta into release to get a jump on the rest of the people.

    Pass. Its LOTR in name only, more like AC2 with hobbits
    • As another beta tester who dropped the game quickly and went back to WOW I'd like to expand on your animation comment...

      For those expecting flashy combat and spell graphics, forget it. Remember first and foremost that this is Middle-Earth and magic is not big here to begin with. Starting out I couldn't even be sure that a low level loremaster was actually doing anything when his fire spell shot out at the target.

      I'm not saying graphics make the game, but the lack of nice animations definitely hurts it, es

    • Magic. They simply renamed it. Don't for a minute believe there are not mages and priests in this game. Loremasters are mages pure and simple. They throw fireballs.
      I'm glad I'm not the only person who sees it this way. If it has the same mechanics as a fireball, it's a fireball. I don't care if the animation shows the loremaster pulling stuff out of his pocket with which to kindle a fire.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by jazzmodeus (692068)
      I haves to echo everything Shivetya said. I'm in the beta and have been for several months playing both a dwarf and an elf. After playing for the first month after I got in, I stopped for about month and would check in from time to time after major updates. The game was repetitive, lifeless, and dull. The scenery is lovely and was quite interesting to see some of the popular places rendered out and explorable. That's about the only compelling part of the game. Combat felt detached, as though there was no vi
  • I understand folks like having backstory and a world to be set in, but doesn't that make the world extremely static? SWG had Jedi dancing with Darth Vader set in the middle of EMpire Strikes Back. Kind of made the world/universe and story a joke.

    Wouldn't KOTOR style have been much better, giving the developers free rein over what happens, while being able to use the vast story materials.

    We already know what happens here, and we aren't going to change it. Too much like real life ;P

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Reese268 (998177)
      Originally, this game was to be set in the 4th age (after the books, the time period which they would have the MOST freedom to do what they wanted). This was when Sierra was developing the game, back when it was called Middle-earth online. I want to say this was like 1998/1999, somwhere around there, not totally sure, but it's been a long time. At any rate, the original game was going to be something quite different from anything that was available then, and even anything now. What it has turned out to
  • I saw a screenshot of a hobbit fighting a bear. ...that is wrong in so many different ways.

    It may be a great game, but I'm not sure how it will work as "Lord of the Rings" material.

  • Asheron's Call was an awesome game, very inovative in a lot of ways ... until they killed it by catering to only power-gamers. It died soon after.
    AC2 was a dog.
    Online AD&D. See: AC2.

    Hopefully ... they've learned something. But I doubt it.

    - Roach
    • I loved AC2 until they nerfed tacticians... Maybe they were overpowered, but they were fun as hell to play. Sure turret farms were bad but if you didn't use it properly and it was destroyed, you had wait another hour of in game time to use it again. Without your turret you were basically useless.
  • I played the beta a bit about a month ago. Here are some of the high and low points for me. I'll try omit things that have already been said elsewhere (quests vs grind, graphics quality, similarity between mages and loremasters, etc...).

    Good:

    • The shire looks very nice, and is laid out in a realistic manner, as a collection of small villages sprawled out over a wide area. Hobbits act like hobbits.
    • It appears that you can grow crops, though I didn't try it.

    Bad (maybe I'm picking nits, but these thing

  • WoWitus. The scourge of new mmos. It started out as EQitus, but has since evolved to the newest mmo.

    This disease usually manifests itself in an inability to enjoy new MMOs - simply because you believe that its just a wow clone. No matter how new and unique the feature is, you'll throw it off as a simple variation of a mechanic in WoW - even if its a mechanic thats been in MOST mmos pre-wow. In fact, you'll start seeing wow in features that arent even part of wow!

    The only cure to this soul-destroying disease

    • Re:Wait a minute... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Barny (103770) <bakadamage-slashdot@yahoo.com> on Tuesday February 13 2007, @10:46AM (#17997684) Journal
      Hehe, kinda got a point, but you have to have something to do while waiting to yell at peeps for breaking RP rules ^_^

      I normally refer to them as MMOG because apart from a few really great people in CoV I have seen remarkably little in the way of RP in games these days (and yes, I do make a point that if someone is RPing, I will attempt to RP back).

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Saxophonist (937341)

      If you don't care about the graphics, you can role-play in a Middle-earth sort of environment at MUME [pvv.org] (telnet link [pvv.org]). Level-related stuff happens there too, but at least it's free-as-in-beer to play.

    • A lot of the games that are touting "DX 10" will in fact come out on XP with a DX9 engine as well (even crytek have said this). MS themselves say that they don't expect any "DX10 ONLY" games till early to mid '08.
    • I am quite sure they do not have a DX10 client for release. Whether one is planned or not remains to be seen.

      As to the criticism of the diversity of the mobs, well they are somewhat constrained by the lore. They cannot invent a bunch of monster types to inhabit the lands. On the other hand, I have yet o play a game until this that has such sumorous and thought provoking quests. Yes, there's lots of kill x quests, but there is at least as many that are part of longish chains involving various NPC's and situa

      • As to the criticism of the diversity of the mobs, well they are somewhat constrained by the lore. They cannot invent a bunch of monster types to inhabit the lands.

        I'd say that there's actually a pretty good variety of strange creatures in middle-earth. Look at Iron Crown's MERP (Middle-Earth Role Playing) - a pen&paper rpg based on Tolkien's world, sorta popular in the early 1990's. There was a fairly decent variety of creatures - most of them were some variety of orc or troll, but there was plenty

      • Last time I looked DaoC, EQ1 and EQ2 worked with wine. Is it too large a step to take?

    • How much will this be a month? The standard $15? I don't know...

      $9.99 if you sign up early.
      From the first article. [kotaku.com]
    • I think the problem is this might ruin the LoTR name or story line.

      Oh, no worries there.

      For actual literate fans of the works of a great fantasy writer, neither this nor Peter Jackson nor even JRR's bastard(izing) offspring can spoil the original.
      • I've been reading the magazine Analog for a while and I can say with certainty that there are no TV shows or movies which are anything remotely like the good science fiction I can get in 20 page short stories.

        Does that mean that all science fiction movie directors are hacks? No. The problem is the medium.

        If you're not happy with the LOTR movies then there is absolutely no way that any movie could have ever been made of LOTR that would please you.

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