Since I have been talking about Lord of the Rings Online (LotRO) as of late, I guess it is time to put my money where my mouth is without opening my wallet. I have received an invite to the late stages of the LotRO beta.
I will reserve my comments until after I am done playing around a bit.
This should be interesting. You've been foaming at the mouth in your comments here and other places. LOL Can't wait to read what you thing from a first person experience.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, we are going to have to ask you to refer to it as "The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar." They went through all the trouble of giving the game a name as long as The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, and in a world of cut-and-paste we can give them all the "The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar" that they deserve. Also, it creates a serenely absurd feel when you just keep using the full name of the upcoming game The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar.
ReplyDeleteI haven't really been foaming at the mouth, but I have been livid about people's claims that this game is going to have close to a million subscribers.
ReplyDeleteAnd the day that the name was changed from Middle Earth Online is the day that I really lost interest in the project. They went from "we're serious about this" to "LotR = the right to print money!". Unfortunately the LotR craze has been pretty slim pickings the last couple of years.
Try to forget about the lore and just judge the game on its merits. The Tolkien lore is just a network of fantasy ideas based on over 50 year old books, not a religion.
ReplyDeleteWhether LotRO gets a million subscribers depends very much on their international distribution. If you count only US and Europe even WoW only has 4 millions, its the rest of the world that provides the other half of the 8 million WoW players. I'm pretty sure that LotRO will outsell all previous Turbine games, but of course that isn't saying much.
unbelievable -- you're the third person this morning to say they got in. Even my girlfriend, for whom *I* bought the game and applied her for beta the day of the the pre-order announcement has gotten in. And I've been waiting since Beta1, then Beta2 (late Aug). Unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteTide I am not sure, but don't you have to declare who you work for and that may be an issue? If I am mistaken I'm sorry.
ReplyDeleteTobold I have been trying to give games a fair shot. I will judge the game on game play, but don't for a second think I am forgetting lore when it comes to an IP like Lord of the Rings.
LotR and Middle Earth is one of the rare settings that I expect to become immersed in.
You are going to be let down from a literature standpoint, and impressed from an MMO standpoint.
ReplyDeleteI have read enough of your writing and comments to say that much, and that is exactly how I felt.
However, I also felt that they do enough good, innovated stuff, to be successful DESPITE their lore deficiencies.
BTV for sure, though that isn't saying much. (Better Than Vanguard).
I'll be curious to see your thoughts on it. Even though they let me back into closed after the stress test I haven't logged on to play it any more. I really think that for where this game is development-wise that the beta itself is very impressive though.
ReplyDeleteOne of us. One of us.
ReplyDeleteI've been playing for a couple of weeks now, and it's light years ahead of DDO in terms of overall experience. I think the getting to run freely outside of a town and its sewers is a plus.
I wrote a preview for WarCry last week. And I agree with Zubon, we must give it proper billing, The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar it shall be in areas other than my post titles.
This is going to interesting....
ReplyDeleteI got bets that he'll like the gameplay but will still loath them for going off of lore.
:)
Heartless, shoot me a VN PM or an email when you have the review up so that I can get news up on it. Interested in seeing your take on LOTRO.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, the game is fine - fun in many aspects. But they didn't need to bother to keep it to the lore 'cuz I can't even tell i'm in Middle Earth. Oh sure there are elves but they're in every fantasy MMO. And you meet some of the main characters right away in the starter tutorial quests. Beyond that I could be anywhere for all that I "feel" Middle Earth.
ReplyDeleteMy highest character is level 12 so maybe that's it. I mentioned this in chat and some people said you feel it more in later levels. Dunno. Just naming things after things and people from LOTR doesn't make it "LOTR", and for me, it isn't. Still it plays nicely.