LOTRO Free?

[bokodasu]

Since Lord of the Rings Online is apparently free now, I thought I'd give it a try. I don't really like MMOs, so I'm kind of expecting not to like this either, but I thought I'd cruise around and check out the scenery at least.

Anyone else play? What should I know?

[Isak]

Just started playing this myself, not having played since the Beta.

It's a pretty fun game overall, I'm not very far into it (Only level 14), but it has been enjoyable. The game itself feels... Easy. It seems like most of the content I've been through so far was designed for a solo player, or couple people in a group (Called Fellowships in LOTRO). Not necessarily a bad thing, mind you. I've heard the content ramps up in difficulty in the Late-game, as well as in the expansions. And it does a great job of making itself seem Epic. During the intro/tutorial instance for Humans, you actually encounter a Ring Wraith! All during a pre-scripted event, so no, You don't actually fight it. Who wants to have their new character die after five minutes of playing?

The classes are pretty interesting too. I've only gotten to play three (Captain, Champion, and Hunter; with the Captain being my favorite). There are two classes which you have to purchase to be able to play as... But everything else is available class/race wise as a F2P player.

Even the population seems pretty good. At least on the server I've been playing on. (Silverlode).

Definitely check it out :smalltongue:

[ScottishDragon]

I'm plying now that it's free, it's fun in all, but can get boring real fast if your not carefull. For me if I don't play exactly what I like I can't play it at all. I have a champion that i'm playing right now, but if i, say play a burglar I get bored to death with it around lvl 17 or so.

Anyway if anyone cares i'm playing on the elendirmir or something like that server. I'm a lvl 15'ish Elf Chanmpion named Ulurad.

[The J Pizzel]

I started playing it last night and found it remarkably boring. I was fighting several mobs at once and my HP barely went down. Two hits would kill almost all mobs. I was mainly just playing through that long intro stuff. I'm only level 7 right now.

It literally is WoW in a LotR setting or vice versa however you choose to look at it. So far I'm only ejoying it marginally better than WoW (which I didn't really enjoy all that much) simply because it's in the LotR setting, which in and of itself means I have to like it. But I'll keep playing for shiz and giggles. I was looking for something easy and cheap to pass the time, and this fits the bill perfectly. I made a captian cause I like melee support classes, but I might try something else later.

Regardless, I'm gonna keep playing for the helluvit becuase, c'mon, it's Lord of the Rings. :smallwink:

[Dallas-Dakota]

It´s free now? Awesome!

I remember the...hunter, I think, fondly!

Will definetly play! If I can find time on top of college and my LoL addiction.

[Eldan]

So, what servers are people on? Because I might try it soon, given that I have some free time.

[tarbrush]

I played it a couple of years ago. It's basically WoW, but with a little less content, slightly nicer graphics and the LOTR IP behind it.

On the up side, it integrates you into the LOTR universe very very well. You effectively run parallel to the Fellowship of the ring, doing support things and helping out Gandalf. Sounds a bit lame, is actually really cool. It's one of the best games I've played for taking an established setting and really running with it whilst still respecting it and being faithful to it.

It's also really pretty. I still have screenshots of walking round Rivendell and the Misty Mountains kicking around my harddrive. It's immersive, evocative and you can feel the effort and love that the designers put it.

If the free play is limited to certain levels or areas, it's still well worth it. Possibly the most fun I had was running round the shire doing quests for hobbits. The first instanced dungeon, the Barrow Downs, is really atmospheric, reasonably challenging and very rewarding.

The whole Main Quest is also excellent. The dungeons are well thought out, have really cool enemies and settings. Stopping a Nazgul ritual to animate a dragon corpse in an ice cave on top of a glacier is awesome.

Endgame wasn't much when I played, there was only one raiding dungeon worth a damn and it had a weeks lockout, and you absolutely needed a decent guild. I expect that there's more on offer now, but I don't know.

On the down side, it's WoW. The quest icons are little rings above peoples heads rather than exclamation points, but really mechanically there's little to distinguish it. Some of the midgame areas can be a bit boring as well, and are borderline unplayable the second time round. In particular I found the Angmar that forms levels 40-45 very dull the second time.

It's also really grindy. The only non gear related way of advancing your character is through traits. You earn traits basically by "Killing X or Y in region Z". And you frequently have to kill hundreds of these damn creatures that none of the quests have ever bough you near in areas that you'd never otherwise go to.

In conclusion, it's a really really cool game the first playthough. There are 3 different starting areas, so you can do low levels 3 times. But once you get to midgame, you gotta do the exact same quests again. It is basically a single player game with lots of other people around and occasion co-op. But a very cool single player game nonetheless.

[Toric]

I'd booted up a character on a friend's account back when it first came out, so now I'm continuing his short-lived adventures.

Name's Torrick, dwarven Champion on the Windfola server.

[Gamerlord]

Playing a human Champion, just finished the intro quest chain, I don't remmeber Nazgul ever wearing red uniforms in the books or movies :smallconfused: .

[king.com]

Playing a human Champion, just finished the intro quest chain, I don't remmeber Nazgul ever wearing red uniforms in the books or movies :smallconfused: .

They're not Naz'gul.

[Athaniar]

Played the demo once but didn't like it that much (despite being a dedicated fan of both Tolkien's universe and World of Warcraft). Might give it a try again now that it's free.

[Gamerlord]

They're not Naz'gul.

What are they then :smallconfused: ?

[Isak]

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Cargul

Whether they're something made up for LOTRO, or have been apart of LOTR for a while now, I have no idea.

[king.com]

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Cargul

Whether they're something made up for LOTRO, or have been apart of LOTR for a while now, I have no idea.

Well, MOST of the stuff in LotRO are actually stuff that was mentioned somewhere in the universe's fiction but not really focused on in any detail. So i figure they exist somewhere but they've never really been encountered before.

[AtwasAwamps]

I haven't hopped into the free version of this game, but I will be soon. I played it for a while in the pay version and honestly? I loved it. The game is WoW and that's not far off, but for some reason feels significantly more elegant to me. I enjoy the character designs more (except for the dwarf, who when in motion looks like he is not only bringing milkshake to the yard, but also the cow and most of Farmer Brown's dairy milking apparati) and I am in love with the crafting system. Unlike in WoW, where your average drop is going to be stronger than what you build, in general you can build yourself fairly potent gear even at the beginning levels of crafting. Couple that with the fact that there are special one-off recipes that let you build even better items for not much more than standard items (its finding the recipes that's important) and you can effectively outfit yourself very well early on.

It encourages alt-play for someone like me, though...I think I had four different characters going just so I could inter-trade items and supplies, resulting in a fairly ridiculous web of crafting. It was like using all parts of a buffalo gone horribly, horribly wrong.

[Dallas-Dakota]

http://lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Cargul

Whether they're something made up for LOTRO, or have been apart of LOTR for a while now, I have no idea.


Well, MOST of the stuff in LotRO are actually stuff that was mentioned somewhere in the universe's fiction but not really focused on in any detail. So i figure they exist somewhere but they've never really been encountered before.
No.

These ''Carguls'' have been made up for LOTRO, there is no such thing referenced to anything in any of the LotR books, the Hobbit, the Silmarillion(let alone that the ringwraiths weren't around for that then) or any other source material like The Letters. Save for maybe where he(Tolkien) thinks up the name Nazgul.

[bokodasu]

Well, I've been playing a bit and I have to say, I kind of like it. It's about what I thought - I really like the atmosphere and running around and looking at stuff, and I'm annoyed that I can't do what I want.

For example - horse! I need a horse, dagnabbit! But to get a horse, I have to run all over the freakin' continent collecting bits of fur and scraps of tin, which would be so much easier if I HAD A HORSE.

Actually, that's why I quit WoW after a couple of hours; I got to the bit where you spend 30 seconds looking at the back of some flying mount flapping up and down and I said, "you know, I can watch paint dry for free". It's why the first thing I install in any Elder Scrolls game is quicktravel mods. But in LotRO there's still usually stuff to do between "here" and "there" that isn't just running for hours on end, so it's not so bad even without a horse.

I really like that it's easy to solo, and that even if you can only play for 15-30 minutes at a time you still feel like you're actually getting things done. (This (http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/9/15/) is my life.) Other players seem generally friendly and helpful, with a moderately lower percentage of jerkwads than other games I've tried. And I totally agree with all the comments about the world; I wasn't sure I'd like it (I've read the books every year since I was 8, and I didn't like the movies at all) but it's really well done and not at all as cheesy as it sounds. I wish I were better at playing so I could spend more time enjoying the scenery and less trying to remember which button to hit, but I don't think most people will have that problem.

[Zarah]

Well, I've been playing a bit and I have to say, I kind of like it. It's about what I thought - I really like the atmosphere and running around and looking at stuff, and I'm annoyed that I can't do what I want.

For example - horse! I need a horse, dagnabbit! But to get a horse, I have to run all over the freakin' continent collecting bits of fur and scraps of tin, which would be so much easier if I HAD A HORSE.

Actually, that's why I quit WoW after a couple of hours; I got to the bit where you spend 30 seconds looking at the back of some flying mount flapping up and down and I said, "you know, I can watch paint dry for free". It's why the first thing I install in any Elder Scrolls game is quicktravel mods. But in LotRO there's still usually stuff to do between "here" and "there" that isn't just running for hours on end, so it's not so bad even without a horse.

You kids are so spoiled. Back in my day, we couldn't even get a horse until we were level 35! And even then we had to do a quest to deliver three horses to three different remote places on the map one at a time! And getting attacked too much or falling off a cliff dismounted you and you had to start all over again (because according to LotRO horses disappear into thin air when you dismount them)!

And it was uphill! Both ways!

[VanBuren]

You kids are so spoiled. Back in my day, we couldn't even get a horse until we were level 35! And even then we had to do a quest to deliver three horses to three different remote places on the map one at a time! And getting attacked too much or falling off a cliff dismounted you and you had to start all over again (because according to LotRO horses disappear into thin air when you dismount them)!

And it was uphill! Both ways!

And it was snowing! Well, actually it wasn't since dynamic weather was too complicated. But the ground was white, and you got to pretend it was snow.

[junglesteve]

Well, I've been playing a bit and I have to say, I kind of like it. It's about what I thought - I really like the atmosphere and running around and looking at stuff, and I'm annoyed that I can't do what I want.

For example - horse! I need a horse, dagnabbit! But to get a horse, I have to run all over the freakin' continent collecting bits of fur and scraps of tin, which would be so much easier if I HAD A HORSE.

Actually, that's why I quit WoW after a couple of hours; I got to the bit where you spend 30 seconds looking at the back of some flying mount flapping up and down and I said, "you know, I can watch paint dry for free". It's why the first thing I install in any Elder Scrolls game is quicktravel mods. But in LotRO there's still usually stuff to do between "here" and "there" that isn't just running for hours on end, so it's not so bad even without a horse.

I really like that it's easy to solo, and that even if you can only play for 15-30 minutes at a time you still feel like you're actually getting things done. (This (http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/9/15/) is my life.) Other players seem generally friendly and helpful, with a moderately lower percentage of jerkwads than other games I've tried. And I totally agree with all the comments about the world; I wasn't sure I'd like it (I've read the books every year since I was 8, and I didn't like the movies at all) but it's really well done and not at all as cheesy as it sounds. I wish I were better at playing so I could spend more time enjoying the scenery and less trying to remember which button to hit, but I don't think most people will have that problem.

I have a gift for you my friend, Ritlin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylphenidate)