LOTR Online

[SHAFT]

Anyone check this out or have a solid opinion. Seems like it could be cool.

[Drew2]

I played it a year or two ago, it was alright.

Not very memorable considering I don't recall anything spectacular about it.

[Silvanostar]

i beta tested it for about a month. game play was very WoW like. the dungeons are instanced i believe. its more pve oriented. i think there's pvp but i never tried it. the game is very casually oriented, with not much end game. the expansion to it, the mines of moria, was supposedly very well done, but i don't have any info on it.

[SHAFT]

When I get my new desktop I'm gonna play WoW for a bit, see how long it can keep my attention. I'd like to give FFXI and solid try too.

[RForrester]

LOTRO had a rough start, but now at nearly 2 years out, there's been vast improvements.

If you want hard-core Tolkien-lore RP, it's got it. If you are looking for light to non-RP, it got that too. And the non-RPers don't bother the RPers at all, unlike GSIV. There is PvP called Monster Play. You can be a 'good' guy or roll up an actual creature to play. We call it Freeps and Creeps ( Free People vs Creatures)

The player base is 'mature' and that doesn't just apply to age. These people are great to play with.

The graphics are great, not 'cartoonie' like WOW. I will say that because of the graphics, it's very hard on machines. Meaning, if you have an older computer - 3+ years or one that has not been upgraded, you'll probably not be able to play to your liking.

There are free trials, I believe they still offer that. The best thing I can say is go check it out: lotro.com

I played GS starting on GeNee (man, can't even recall how it's spelled - it's THAT long ago) then move to AOL before it was free to play. Stopped playing and closed my account about 4 years ago and started playing what I call 'real' games for far less money per month than what Simu charges for an out-of-date text game.

By far LOTRO is one of the best, if not the best, MMOs that I've played. There are quite a few ex GSIV/DR people playing, you'll see them posting on the boards. Give it a try.

[Deathravin]

I tried it in open beta to about 6 months later.
I got really annoyed. Was really boring. At least Gemstone as a solo game I can script it. I just don't like solo MMOs that I can't script.
It's either a solo MMO w/ scripting or a group centered (FFXI) w/o scripting.

[Deadelf]

Played LotRO when it first came out and lasted about six months. Left and took another look at it around 8 months later. Though the graphics are awesome and the feel of the game is wonderful, the game some how lacks something.

Basically I just didnt feel as engaged while playing and the pvp lacks big time. Monsterplay does nothing for me at all. I also found the servers sort of ghost town like and role-play? Like WoW its a joke, I dont even think about role-play in regards to online gaming anymore.

[Deathravin]

Basically I just didnt feel as engaged while playing and the pvp lacks big time. Monsterplay does nothing for me at all. I also found the servers sort of ghost town like and role-play? Like WoW its a joke, I dont even think about role-play in regards to online gaming anymore.

They had a real opportunity to have to very opposed factions and didn't jump on it. I felt that was pretty disappointing.

They could have made Mordor just like the 'good' places, and have those two polar opposites. But I guess they just wanted to keep the bad areas mysterious and untouchably evil like they are in the book.