What's the general buzz like for this game? Anybody anticipating it? The graphics look pretty decent for a MMORPG but I've heard worrying things like no PvP.

There is some form of PvP where players take on the role of the monsters(orcs, goblins, etc) and then fight it out with the humans, dwarves, hobbits, and elves in a type of battleground. I don't know exactly all the details but the monsters aren't actually characters you create and level up, you're basically just thrown into the role of being the monster.

I don't know all the details and haven't even participated in beta but I will be trying it out this weekend. Turbine is doing a "stress" test this weekend(23-26th) and is inviting players to partake in the event for free. Figure I'll give it a shot and see what it's like, plus it will be nice to get a little break from WoW.

If you do, let us know what you think.

I was listening to the 1up Legendary WOW podcast and they were saying how healers can use musical instruments to heal. Reminds me of SWG when it first came out. In that game, you needed a musician or dancer to heal mind damage.

Not a huge MMORPG fan (though I did dabble in FFXI and WOW), but I am interested to see what people think about this "founders plan" where you can pay $200 for a lifetime subscription.

Any thoughts from those who played?

They dont have it for Macs, do they? I love WoW, but i love Tolkien as well and would try it out if i could.

I think a lot of casual fans of the films are going to be disappointed that they can't play a Gandalf-type wizard.

Open beta starts today in about two hours and runs for free for two weeks. I'm going to try it out. I probably won't be playing past the beta, even if I like the game.

http://www.lotro.com/worldtour

It may take you 2-6 hours to download the client since it's about 3.9GB.

A friend of mine got me hooked on WoW. He's now moved on to LotRO. He loves it and plans to pay for the lifetime subscription.

I just remembered... He quit playing WoW because of some bug that causes the game to lock up on his system. It's fairly common (lots of people posting on Blizzard's forums about it), but Blizzard is/was having problems duplicating it. He gave up after a while and moved on to other games.

I messed around with this for a little while today. It's basically a better looking version of WoW enveloped in the LOTR storyline. Very entertaining for those who enjoyed those movies.

I'm currently a level 10 Guardian on the Firefoot server exploring the Shire.

FYI, once you hit level 10, head into Bree and find the red glowing well in the northwest part of the city. You can try out Monster play at lvl 50. You can choose between a troll, goblin, spider, & wolf, I think. Fun stuff!

Also, here is the game manual for those with questions: Link

I also have played around with it. I have a level 9 Hunter on Vilya. First impressions are relatively good. I played EQ for nearly 5 years from launch, and have experience with WoW and CoH. I enjoy the story line, possibly because it is developed in a rich literary tradition which I can easily reference. My one major problem right now is the lack of a PvP content. The monster play does not make up for it. I think this game would be more successful if players were able to play as evil toons as well.

I played it a bit on Saturday. "A bit" equals 9:30 p.m. until 1:00 a.m. Yeah, I don't think I'll be subscribing to that game. I still remember Ultima Online.

I did have fun, though. I liked the quest aspect - kind of like trying to add single-player material to a multiplayer game.

If it ran on Macs i would try it out since i love the books

Damn lazy hobbits.

It's not enough I have to go rescue your breakfast from a giant cave troll that's 17 levels above me. No, I also have to run around to deliver your mail and barter deals between the Baggins and the Tooks for fireworks displays.

I have been trying the open beta.

It is interesting and nice looking but I am still not sure what the game is about. Don't get me wrong, I have read Tolkien's book several times and seen the movies a dozen times over.

I am just not sure what the point of the game is. You cannot be a lead character, you cannot fight other players. Is everyone just PvE questing along some huge developer driven instance? That is my impression.

Well, I got to 15 last night during one of the Chapter missions. There isn't much else to do right now besides rank up my Prospecting skills and kill mobs for cash. I'm sitting on about 400 in Silver, atm. I'm putting off all missions until the game actually goes live.

I've enjoyed the main storyline, but had to stop at Chapter 11. The mobs get insanely hard at that point. It seems to loosely follow the ring quest. Basically, you are backing up key members of the fellowship.

I'm looking forward to giving it a whirl now that it's been officially released.

I played Asheron's Call (also from Turbine) and WoW and loved both, but didn't stick with either one past a few/several months.

I expect this'll be the same for me again, as I'm really a lone wolf-type player, and MMOGs are really about cooperative group play in the long run. Solo play turns into a grind pretty easily.

Still, the reviews are pretty solid for this so far. As has been said, it's basically WoW gameplay in Middle-Earth; nothing too new or original, but solid and well-designed and nice-looking... and it's Middle-Earth. If I'm really going to spend hundreds of hours in a perpetual-state fantasyland, this is the one that most fires my imagination.

The player-culture is being described as a bit more mature than WoW, which can only be a plus.

Ok, as it turns out, I lied. I did subscribe to the game. I think it's fun so far. I've mainly played solo, but haven't had too much trouble finding a group for any quest that required it. I really like what I've seen so far. It's definitely a nice world to set a game in.

My favorite MMO so far, I much prefer it over WoW.

I enjoyed playing it in beta but there were a few things that bothered me. For one, I hate "camping" and there were quests that I did that I practically had to wait in line for to get the quest item. Some of those quests involved going into caves, which appeared to be instances but they weren't. I think instancing should have been used in those situations to prevent player "camping".

Secondly, no organized PvP and for me, this is a must. It would have been sweet if you could make Orc, Troll and Wraith characters and then had different areas you could go to for PvP battlegrounds. I think PvP adds to the longevity of an MMO, at least for me it does. I mean, what does LotR Online for end game content once you reach 50? Make a new character and do it all over again?

Lastly, for a big project such as this you would think the graphics would be pretty sweet. Well, the screenshots make it look like they are. I haven't seen the game in it's final release but in Beta the game didn't look any better than Dark Age of Camelot, which is a 6 year old MMO.

I ended up buying despited my issue with no pvp. The graphic complaints, I think, are unfounded. The beta did not include the high res textures. With the high res textures the game looks pretty nice.
http://img501.imageshack.us/img501/6...ot00005rk4.jpg
for example.
I have a 20 burg and a 15 ranger. Like the dmg + crowd control aspect of the burg a lil more than the game play of the ranger.

Does anyone have a spare buddy key they could give me? I am in the mood for an MMO and thought about giving this one another try. Last time I played it was a few months ago in beta.

flashburn - YMG