Published on April 9, 2007
in MMORPG.
There I was thinking that LOTRO was just another mmorpg with a different landscape but everything else the same. Boy, was I wrong!
After playing Lotro a couple days, I realize they have done this game quite different to games like Anarchy Online (AO), World of Warcraft (WoW), Neocron and other games I have previously played.
I’ll try to explain where the big difference in gameplay lies: WHen you first enter the game you run around and do quests like delievering stuff, killing monsters and the usual. So far everything looks standard.
This changes drastically though the moment you are done with all the quests that are offered and you have reached level 5. Then you get to a final quest that leads you into an instance where you play as part of the storyline. This instance is a bit hard to finish, because you meet som higher level mobs there.
When you are done with this, you come out on the other end of the instance and don’t see the low level guys (or mobs) any more. You now play with others that has reached the same level only, and gone are all the low level mobs as well.
To me this was a big relief, because I really did not expect it to go like this 
The guys behind this game has really done a great job so far. And I am extremely happy I was wrong about a mmorpg for once
Gotta go and explore some more in LOTRO 
I promised to give a short first impression of the new mmorpg-game around called Lord of the Rings Online - Shadows of Angmar. So, here goes:
First of all, you need some pretty good hardware to play this game. It consumes pretty much all the recourses of my not so new computer. I have 512 MB of RAM, and a 256 MB graphics card. I would say this is an absolute minimum to play this game.
The first few minutes of game play was quite ok for the computer, but after 15 - 20 minutes it lagged badly. As far as I have experienced with other games, this is caused by the game engine to consume all available recourses of the PC, and the only way to get around this problem is to tweak the computer to use as little recourses as possible on other tasks.
Now - to the game itself. I did not capture any screen shots this time, but the graphics are pretty much the same as in most mmorpg-titles around. So, there is not so much to talk about regarding that part.
What I like so far is the fact that I can chose between first person and third person view. I generally prefer playing in first person and see through the eyes of the character.
This game is a very typical MMORPG game when it comes to the leveling treadmill unfortunately. You level up your char, then gets access to better gear, level up some more and so on. I guess it will take many ears before we will see a game that does anything different in this regard.
So, if you like leveling up (power leveling or not), you will like LOTRO.
I will post more on the game later on when I have tested more, and if I remember, I will try to get some screen shots and share them with you.
Happy leveling
Lord of The Rings Online will launch this month, so I figured it was a good idea to start a forum for the game where players can discuss the game. I have just gotten myself a beta-account, and wait eagerly for the launch of the beta april 6. The game will oficcially launch april 24.
It’s gonna be nice to test out a new mmorpg, since I have not played much of those since my hardcore playing days of Neocron and Anarchy Online.
I will report back here when I have tried the game a bit, and tell you if it’s woth the subscription.
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