So I downloaded the 10 day free trial of the Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria. I was really excited to try the game out after hearing so many good things from Michael and other folks. I downloaded the client prior to the Book 7 patch, and made a Hobbit and got it to level 5. My intention was that an elf would be my 'main' character because I liked the idea of roleplaying an elf over any other race. Turbine allowed us to download the patch early and apply it early, which I did, which subsequently borked my client. Ground textures wouldn't load and I was getting database stack errors all over the place. The LotRO patcher itself is pretty crappy, with no scan or repair functionality that I (or Google) could find. Ended up uninstalling and reinstalling.
After it worked, I created my new elf and went through the new starting area. I got to level 9 in one evening and after that logged out and was busy for the next week. Now, my elf is level 9 on an expired trial, and I didn't really get to experience enough of the game to decide if I want to buy the expansion and subscribe.
Oh MMO's, when will you all have level capped trials instead of time-based? I now don't want to subscribe because I feel like my 4 hour trial of the game wasn't enough to determine if it's worth paying for. I would have liked to try out a Race of Man or a Dwarf just to see another class and race and starting area. I don't feel like I can adequately judge the game.
From my short 4 hour play experience I determined that:
- Combat is as uninspired as before, but not terrible.
- My class (Runekeeper) seemed interesting, but I think I've played the class before in both Warhammer Online and Vanguard.
- The UI is god awful terrible. Horrendous to look at.
- The world is as beautiful and fascinating to look at as it was before. I forgot how amazing realistic worlds can look.
- The story is engaging and exciting. Tons of walls of text.
- I like the little touches like being able to /sit anywhere, the music system, and the horse transportation.
Overall, the game intrigues me. I'm just not sure that I want to pay the monthly fee for it after my short trial riddled with complications. I've been playing Wizard 101 a lot lately, and that game makes me want to subscribe. LotRO didn't let me try enough before I buy. Now, if I want to try LotRO again, I'll have to either set up a new trial account (my third LotRO account overall) or buy the expansion for $29.99. I'm still paying for WoW and I'm still really attached to my druid Pawtopsy. I want to log in again and play, I'm just not sure what to DO when I log in.
My plan for the next week or so is to keep playing Wizard 101, log in to Runes of Magic now that it has launched officially, and download and play the Spellborn open beta and give that a try.
Tami Baribeau is the Associate Producer for Metaplace, Inc, currently working on Island Life. She is also the Lead Editor of feminist gaming blog The Border House, and the National Facebook Games Examiner for Examiner.com. She can be reached on Twitter or by email.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
ATiTD has a 24 hour trial period,
and CoX has a 14-day level-capped one (in addition to not being able to shout/tell).
And you can always try SMT:Imagine or Atlantica Online on the F2P front.
Try the warden for some more combat goodness, that one has a slightly more sophisticated system.
… and give a shout if you see a Rylee Starbringer
Come play with me and Cyn on Silkyon in Atlantica Online!
I agree about the trials… given that my play time is usually on weekends, a 10 day trial means I get to play 4 days at the most, and more likely just 2, a 14 day trial means I might get between 3 and 5 days. How about instead of a 10 day trial they give you, say, a 20 hours played trial, where you get to play for 20 hours, which you can do in a single day, or play 1 hour on 20 different days over the span of a few months? I think I’d like that much better.
I played the EQ2 Trial of the Isle and was able to try most every class up to a certain level (don’t recall). It was a great idea. Sadly, I found out I didn’t like any of the classes, but I still think it is a great way to introduce people to a new ( or old) MMO.
I agree Ethic!
I loved Trial of the Isle.
Oh, the Trial Isle was awesome. But I do certainly agree – I feel like I should be playing LotRO right now, as I am also doing the trial.
I agree the UI is pretty bad, I don’t find combat so terrible either. I’m playing a Warden right now and it seems pretty engaging – far more than I’m use to in MMOs anyway. Is it the best combat system I’ve played? No, but it is far, far, far from the worst. Oh god, is it far from the worst…
My main problem is I’m unsure if I’m willing to spend $40 for it and a monthly fee at the moment. *Sigh*
I agree about the trials… given that my play time is usually on weekends, a 10 day trial means I get to play 4 days at the most, and more likely just 2, a 14 day trial means I might get between 3 and 5 days. How about instead of a 10 day trial they give you, say, a 20 hours played trial, where you get to play for 20 hours, which you can do in a single day, or play 1 hour on 20 different days over the span of a few months? I think I'd like that much better.
I love lotro, I personally think it has one of the best storys in any mmo