Lord of the Rings Online Review By James Sheets Game Information Title Angmar Creator Genre Price Lord of the Rings Online Shadows of Turbine Mass Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game 29 99 game 1 month access 14 99 per month OR 9 99 per 3 months OR 199 00 lifetime access Minimum System Specs OS Windows XP Processor Intel Pentium 4 1 8 GHz or equivalent RAM 512 MB Video 64 MB NVIDIA GeForce 3 OR ATI Radeon 8500 Disk Space 7 GB available DirectX DirectX 9 0c DVD 2x DVD ROM Internet 56kbps Modem Recommended System Specs OS Processor RAM Video Windows XP Vista Intel Pentium 4 2 8 GHz or equivalent 1 GB 128 MB NVIDIA GeForce FX 6800 OR ATI Radeon X850 Disk Space 10 GB available DirectX DirectX 9 0c DVD Drive 2x DVD ROM Internet Broadband DSL Cable Overview Based on the books not the movie licensing Set during the time of the three books Frodo has The One Ring and is being pursued You re a spectator who learns about The One Ring The starting story different for each race You have to fight the forces of Sauron and Saruman to help Frodo Installation Normal Client Buddy Pass DVD installer high res textures Ten day free access Downloadable installer low res textures Run installer high res takes an hour low res 40 min Launcher prompts for game account If you don t have an account it prompts you to create one Launches Turbine website Prompts for game key or buddy pass Create account information Submit credit card info buddy pass skips this Game checks for patches and applies any available Game launches EULA agreement Character selection Start playing User Interface Standard MMORPG fair Player Group Health Bars Buff Debuff List Quest Tracker Hotkeys Mini map World Map Chat Fairly easy to use Familiar control scheme WSAD Does it s job well enough Compared to World of Warcraft Basically no UI customization Can t scale GUI elements everything is very large No hotkeys to show hide quest tracker Can t change the chat font size Game Play 4 Different races Man Elf Dwarf Hobbit 6 different classes some race restrictions Guardian tank Burglar DPS group attack opener crowd control Hunter Ranged DPS crowd control Champion tank healer pet buffs Minstrel healer buffs Lore Master crowd control healer buffs pet Level from 1 50 Multiple crafting professions Play across multiple level based zones Multiple quests for every level progress the storyline Instanced dungeons for major story events High level raids 25 player groups Scoring Objectives No end to MMORPG s 3D chat room Item acquisition Group participation Take part in the LOTR story Attain Deeds Gained by Exploring finding different areas Killing X number of mobs Completing quest New titles New abilities PVP Combat Zone Artwork Very good for an MMORPG Scales suitably for older machines Lots of customization Varying landscapes and environments Detailed textures Environmental effects rain day night cycles Little diversity in armor item looks Sounds and Music Music is standard fair Sounds are ok but get repetitive fast Ability to play your own music You can train an instrument at level 5 Different instruments have different sounds 3 different octaves pitches Full range of musical notes Other players can hear your music Online music sheets for some popular songs Special Features LOTR storyline The Music System Instanced Dungeons Occur roughly every 3 months Add new quests content and further the story PVP A copy of a dungeon is created for your group Scripted events often take place to progress the story Game Patches As you progress in level the storyline opens up Players can play and level up bad guys PVP and enemy players can only occur in one zone Raids Currently only one raid Manual Very full featured manual Explains most of the game s features Online website also has a lot of information Introduction zone to help new players Newbie tips appear once to familiarize you with new objects the first time you encounter them In game help menu Bugs None I know of Audience Lord of the Rings fans MMORPG players New Experienced All age levels Language filter Helpful people Ages 10 no real blood but fighting Still an online game younger kids should be monitored The Good Storyline Art and environment Quests and Quest log size Deeds Traveling Built in voice chat Group Abilities The Bad Mounts High level mobs High level dungeon instances Soloability Crafting The Ugly Dominated by WoW in many respects Raids We know how the story goes Design Mistakes Raids Not much reason to raid Only 1 raid Doesn t fit the casual friendly feel of the game PVP Not much incentive to PVP Monster players are much weaker Monster players are in lower numbers Summary Strengths Weaknesses Lack of high level content Little diversity in items Boring crafting Worth Purchasing Good storyline Music system Fairly polished and stable If you like LOTR or are a casual MMORPG fan yes Improvement More things to keep high level players interested
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