I had been entertaining the idea of Lord of the Rings Online for some time, but their lack of a free trial or a Mac client kept it only a consideration. Indeed, over the weeks after its launch I would surf over to the sight and give it a look-see, but no trial downloads were to be had. Low and behold a few weeks ago I saw the banner at Penny Arcade for a seven day free trial and with barely restrained enthusiasm I shot over there and got in on that shit. Downloading, installation and account setup ran smoothly, except for the part about it not working under Parallels (Software that allows you to run Windows apps from Mac OS X), but after I launched Boot Camp (allows you to boot into Windows on your Mac) and did the installation there it worked like a charm.
I was not initially impressed. The graphics are far more dingy and “real world” than World of Warcraft and the animations seemed, and still do, stiff and awkward. Critters, monsters, NPCs and PCs all seem a bit weird as they canter around, but at this point I’m used to it and it really isn’t an issue. Still I think Blizzard did a much better job of creating a vibrant and colorful world with a stylish and slick interface. The LotR UI is blocky and feels klunky, it lacks that sleek elegance that the WoW UI has, but really that’s nothing that effects game play. I’m used to it by now.
After running around the landscape for a little while I felt that everything was too stuffy. I’ve never been a big fan of games trying to replicate real world environments, because it always leaves something to be desired. The way that WoW represented itself was and is slightly outlandish, over the top and more than a little tongue-in-cheek. I was really feeling that after a few hours of game play that this was a game that wouldn’t hold me. Now that I’ve played for awhile I find myself cresting over a hill and catching sight of a valley with a road snaking off into the distance, maybe some ruins over on a ridge, the trees blowing in the wind and I find myself pretty darn impressed. I didn’t think so at first, but I think LotRO has beaten WoW on the environment.
It’s obvious that Turbine studied WoW’s design and took many pages from Blizzard’s book, I don’t fault or blame them for that. WoW is by far the most successful MMORPG ever and there are a lot of reasons for that. I always thought that Blizzard had done a great job of structuring the early game as to introduce players into the game and help the grapple with the staggering array of information that MMORPGs tend to throw at you. New facets and details of the game are doled out to you a little at a time, so that by level 10 or 15 you pretty much knew how to play the game. I think Turbine upped the bar in this area, the introduction quest line is interesting and you feel like your character is really doing something important, involved in the world around you. You’re a part of the story. I think that style keeps going as you progress beyond the newbie quests and start to gain levels. I’m not sure if it’s because the material is new or not, but the questing seems more involved, more story driven than WoW. We’ll see how long that lasts.
Getting your character up to level 10 and 15 isn’t extraordinarily harder or easier than it is in WoW, but for some reason it does feel like the effort involved is turned up a tick. You get titles the longer you go without being defeated, there is no character death in LotRO, and I’ve made it to level 10 so far to earn the title “the Undefeated”. Kind of cool, but I haven’t been able to replicate the feat. The title system is interesting as you get titles for accomplishing certain tasks or killing a certain number of a particular monster or critter. You also get traits that give you a little boosts and that adds to the flavor, it’s a counterpart to WoW’s talent point system.
I think the biggest factor that got me sucked into the game is the fact that they’ve done a good job of representing Middle Earth. I was skeptical at first, and in some ways I’m still a little disdainful, but when I’m capering about and stumble across a familiar locale or enter a town whose name I know I can’t help but feel that I know this place, and that’s an intangible quality that’s hard to quantify. I’ve been to all of these places in my imagination and now I’ve been able to have a beer at the Prancing Pony, fight monsters in the Old Forest, and personally confront Bombadil about being a total flamer .