I got a short amount of time to play LotRO and made it to level 7 on my new Human Minstrel. I decided that the humans look better, and I also switched servers to play with friends. I am coming in with extremely low expectations and I must say, I’m pretty impressed overall. Some things I’m really enjoying so far:
-Lore. I’ve honestly never read the Tolkien books although I do intend to at some point. The storyline is REALLY engaging though. I am finding myself wanting to continue on not because of the leveling, but because I want to see the next cutscene and hear the story. I’m really enjoying that aspect so far.
-Graphics. The world is downright stellar. I’m liking the looks of the armor too. Once I bumped up the AA and the draw distance…*gasp* Wow. I was standing in the field outside Archet just watching the grass blow in the breeze and almost had chills. In addition, when the sun went down it was absolutely beautiful watching the sunset. The areas really flow from one place to the next and the art style is very immersive. Definitely an A in this category.
-Instances. I’m liking the mini instances that the game throws you into as part of the story. I really *feel* part of the story line which is different than any other MMORPG that I’ve played to date. I also enjoy how after you complete a certain chapter, you go back to where you were but it looks different. It’s very neat to see the changing environments…they did an incredible job with that in my opinion.
-Deeds. I think these little extra optional things are a lot of fun. They can be done solo (so you can do them when you don’t have a group, or if you don’t have much time to play.) I think they’re a fun little “fluff” touch to the game.
Things that need improvement that I’ve noticed thus far:
-Interface. The UI definitely needs more customizability. I want to change the windows and the size of the buttons and organize things differently. I sense this will come in the future as it has been the topic of a lot of negative discussion about the game.
-Combat. So far I’m thinking the combat feels a little clunky. I do like how the Minstrel has different ‘tiers’ of ballads that ‘unlock’ each other for use, but I just feel awkward with the spell queuing and the button mashing. This may improve, like I said I am only level 7.
-Guild features. EQ2 spoiled me in this regard. This game just feels like it should tell you when a guildie dings, and have a better guild leveling system.
Things I’m still excited to try are the Monster PvP, more of the deeds, grouping/instancing, and crafting. I haven’t gotten much time in game yet, but what I’ve experienced has gotten me clamoring for more – which is a feeling I haven’t had in a long time. To those who say its just a “WoW clone” – I have yet to see that except in polish. Which is fine by me – I’m the biggest supporter of polish there is.
On a non-gaming related note – I’ve received word that a certain set of individuals from a message board have ‘targetted’ my site for a sort of internet war. They’re insistant upon sending me rude, derogatory comments daily. I just want to say – thanks guys for the hits to my site, and your comments go automatically into spam so I don’t even view them. =) Have a great day!
