Anyone picked up LOTR: Online?

Here is the most concise summary I have right now. The basis of most of the game is similar to WoW, but it offers better storytelling, better graphics, more creative quest design, and more options for advancing a character.

I haven't bought it, but I played the beta and I can tell you this: 1) Yes the graphics are excellent, but the game simply doesn't run well, I run Oblivion on Med-High settings like a charm; but LOTR was unbearable at high or even medium settings. 2) It may have better story, but better story doesn't matter when the interface is tiny, clunky, and hard to use; as well as the gameplay being horribly slow and far from smooth. It really disappointed me, I was so excited for this game, until I played it =/.Dudeus_Maximus

Hmm, I'll have to disagree with you. The game runs very well, I can max it out except for the very high textures, and its buttery for me. The interface is pretty much identical to WoW's,hardly "clunky", and if its tiny, lower your res :). The gameplay is standard MMO stuff, so while I agree that it's slow-paced, it's nothing that hurts the game that much.

I've bought the game, and I wasn't even keeping this game on my radar before the beta came out. I think it's doing some good things, and I love how story-driven it is. It isn't just mindless grind and quests, it's all kind of tied together, and the epic quests are hella fun. Also, the RP community is amazing, the music system is fun, the monster play sounds extremely interesting(I haven't had a chance to try it as I'm too busy with my hero), and the deeds are basically like 360 achievements. Which means they are addicting as hell to unlock. Great game.

I haven't bought it, but I played the beta and I can tell you this: 1) Yes the graphics are excellent, but the game simply doesn't run well, I run Oblivion on Med-High settings like a charm; but LOTR was unbearable at high or even medium settings. 2) It may have better story, but better story doesn't matter when the interface is tiny, clunky, and hard to use; as well as the gameplay being horribly slow and far from smooth. It really disappointed me, I was so excited for this game, until I played it =/.Dudeus_Maximus

Yike. Looks like you've got a problem with your system or something. I found that the beta of LOTR runs shockingly well - Guild Wars quality in fact. It's pretty, and isn't a total system hog. It's impressed me with that more than anything.

Of course, also realize that I've tried both Vanguard and Neverwinter Nights 2. Compared to those games,  BATTLECRUISER is polished.

To me this game is great, I have been enjoying it since beta. I picked up the LE of the game and I feel if you like MMO's, this is the new King. The game is less of a drag to play and the instances rock. I played Monster play for a little and thought it is frsh and cool. Monster play will only get better once people start getting their heros to the higher lvl's.

I run the game at med to high detail at 1600 x 1200 and have no low FPS issues, and my game rig is going on several years old.  If anybody here is running a system built for games built in the past year and are suffering any slowdown in this game, then something is wrong.  I can understand that some of the options in ultra high can bring even a SLI powerhouse to it's knees on a crowded server, but those options are really meant for letting the game look good a few years down the road when an average system can keep up with them.  There are many tricks one can do to play this game and make it look good on a lower end system.  For one, turn off the bloom effects.  I'd hate to do that since it really fits with this game and the Tolkien universe, but if thats what you got to do, then so be it.  The game still looks great and something like that will free up some major horsepower on a lower end videocard.

To the OP, I've been playing this game since the close beta and think it's great.  I noticed that somebody here brought up a rumor about not being able to play solo after level 20.  Not accurate at all.  This game was made mainly as a solo game and the "Fellowships" needed for some quests are few.  There are currently over 1500 quests in the game and I'd say that mabey upwards of 200 or so need a fellowship to finish.  Even at that, you can always do other quests, level up several levels above whats needed and run a group quest on your own.  It sounds like you missed out on the free open beta last month.  This is a game that is mainly meant for storyline and questing type players.  It's mainly about the PVE with PVP only in a vertain part of the game which is dubbed as "Monstering".  The main reason for this is because in the LoTR universe, the majority of human, elf, dwarf, and elf based middle earth didnt fight each other.  For the monsters part, they were pretty much controlled by force from Sauron so they didnt have much free will.  Without rewriting the story line you cant really let people go PVP in this world unless it's in a controlled area that can fit within the story.  This is why there is a area that you can create a monster and in the service of Sauron get to engave in PVP vs the normal characters.  It's well thought out and quite fun.  If you normaly like to play in PVE mode then the PVP makes a nice break and you earn some good destiny points to spend on either type of character you want to play.  I know somebody who is only going to play in monster mode as there is a ton of things to do just for that.  So really you have the bases covered.  What you really have to ask yourself is this.  Are you looking for a regualr MMO or an MMORPG.  This game is by far more of an RPG than most commercial MMO's out there right now.    

Right now, you can still find pre-order packages and for the next 28 days they are allowing people to register them.  The benifet of this is the one time special pricing they are offering prorders.  It's called a "Founders" price.  Since I dont think a free demo is currently out and if you missed the beta then you pretty much have to go on faith that the game is what you want it to be and still take advantage of the founders pricing.  The founders price comes in two flavors.  Either $9.95 per month and if you ever cancle for any reason, you never get it back.  The second is a lifetime account for $199.95 which is what it sounds like.  I've spent may a year playing some MMO's and consider the lifetime price a good bargin, so I went for that.  Like I said though, it's only about 28 days until the drop these prices.  You also have to find a preorder package to get them.  After that, it's the standard $14.95 price like everybody else.  

On a side note, they have already announced the first online expansion at the end of the month.  It will expand on Aragon's story, mainly.  Having played it for several months now, I'm willing to take a break for a bit (why not, I have the life time account ^_^) and really start working on it more when this expansion comes out.  I already have my main characters leveled up (as we got to keep our beta characters for preordering) and have some other games for the DS and 360 to play at the momment.  Besides, I still have to finish Stalker and C&C3.  Still, good luck on deciding if this game is for you.  Personaly, I have to say that of the man, man, many fantasy based MMO's out there right now, this is one of the best.  It's hard for a dev to make a player feel emersed into a well established story and still let the player do what they want.  This company managed to do that and did it very well.  Turbine and the Tolkien estate backed a winner on this one. 

Just remember LOTRO is primarily a player versus monster game.Unstoppable_1

What's that mean? As Kodai and I have said, this is mostly a PvE game, though I just played the monster play yesterday, and I have to say the PvP in this game is looking to be the deepest available out there. But to the point, this game is not a player versus monster game at all. Why would you come here and confuse the matter for people thinking about purchasing this game?

[QUOTE="Unstoppable_1"]Just remember LOTRO is primarily a player versus monster game.TheCrazed420

What's that mean? As Kodai and I have said, this is mostly a PvE game, though I just played the monster play yesterday, and I have to say the PvP in this game is looking to be the deepest available out there. But to the point, this game is not a player versus monster game at all. Why would you come here and confuse the matter for people thinking about purchasing this game?

so its normal pvp? like wow? 

[QUOTE="TheCrazed420"]

[QUOTE="Unstoppable_1"]Just remember LOTRO is primarily a player versus monster game.GdG

What's that mean? As Kodai and I have said, this is mostly a PvE game, though I just played the monster play yesterday, and I have to say the PvP in this game is looking to be the deepest available out there. But to the point, this game is not a player versus monster game at all. Why would you come here and confuse the matter for people thinking about purchasing this game?

so its normal pvp? like wow? 

Well, its a dedicated area for the PvP. You take a portal there if you want to play as a monster, or you can walk there as a hero character. Now this area is a free-for-all PvP zone, with no safe spots. The cool thing is theres towns and quests just like any other area in the game, but now you can get ganked at any time. It's not so much a CTF style game, more like a Battlefield style game where you need to gain control over the different castles and camps in the area.

It's hard to tell right now how it's gonna play out because the hero characters havent made it there yet, so its basically all monster characters running around at the moment. So time will tell if the actual PvP will be good. But the premise and setup are very promising.