Lord of the Rings Shadows of Angmar

[fullmetal]

anyone else get the beta, i was invited into the beta and they sent me a serial key to play the beta this weekend

anyone else?

[KoHaN69]

Can you post some mini-review, screens and how it performs?

or is that against the NDA?

and btw: it's cool that you are helping a company out, beta-testing should be a tax right-off under chartity, because it's a $10+ /hour job ;)

[fullmetal]

Well, i am very sry to say, i have no screenies, i cant believe i totally forgot :(

Sorry.

But i have good and bad news about the game.
This beta was only a 2-day thing :(

Positives:
-Great gameply:slobber:
-many features to create character, (first race, then class, then appearance and more like origination.)
-I am not a great WoW fan, but the gameplay is exactly like it, but since its LOTR, i liked it:D
-Graphics are omg intensive as hell:banana: :banana: :slobber: :slobber:
-the beginning part is like a small campaign, but then u go into the world with other players.

Negatives:
-Graphic Intensive and stress the crap out of your GPU(seriouly)
i have a 7900GTX, all my graphics on full 1280x1024, i got like 60-75fps:eek:
- you better have really good internet, i have dsl, i lagged minorly, but read on
-NPCs are hard to kill, if u lag, they will kill you. these NPCs are crazy mofos, the low lvl one hurt u so much. you have to kill 1 and then rest your HP, they have as much hp and can do as much damage to you.
-STRESS THE CRAP OUT OF YOUR GRAPHIC CARD, I WOULD LIKE TO SAY AGAIN.:slapass:
-my gpu on full load is like 48 with BF 2142, this one is freakin 53, like wtf

OVERALL: I will give it about 8.5 out of 10:banana: , which is very good in my book. if in the 7 range, its ok, 8 or up is very good and has my vote to buy.
it doesnt get a 9, because some people dont have great Graphics, and when set to low graphics, dont even buy the game. A main feature of this game is the graphics portion :slapass:

I hope this mini review helped kinda, sry for no screenies, if i read this comment sooner, i would have gotten them.

[Chewbenator]

I have it and am thoroughly enjoying it. I will be joining the founders club when the open beta launches so that I can carry my open beta character over into retail. Currently I am in the closed beta, but the NDA has lifted so I would like to share some information.

Graphics/Art
The graphics are a high point, and armor is very realistic which is a plus in my view. Video memory is highly taxed, after changing areas a few times my 256MB X1800XT starts to stutter (Strangely when I alt tab out and back in it stops). The landscapes are simply amazing and I will post some screenshots I have taken at the end of this review.

Skills
I like the games way of earning new skills. You get a skill every level from your trainer, but you get experience for every time you use one of the skills getting you higher ranks. I am level 16 right now and I've just had my first skill level up.

Lore Book
There is a lore book you get which fills up with faction-like stats. These include types of monsters you kill, places you have been, and quests you have done in the area. These operate somewhat how your skills do in that after you have killed a certain amount of creatures of one type it will give you a trait, title, or some other reward.

Titles
The title system helps you establish an Identity for yourself starting out with your home town, then adding on as you accomplish things such as "Feather Foe" if you kill alot of a certain type of bird. At level 16 I have about 7 different titles to choose from.

Traits
You get several traits that pertain to your virtues, race, and class as well as Legendary traits. These are sort of like talents in WoW, but you have a certain amount of slots and more options to choose from. Certain quests and accomplishments from your lore book will give you these traits which include things like Charity, Patience, Zeal. These add some stat bonuses and the like.

Quests
Like all MMOs there are collection and killing quests, but there are also more intuitive quests. I am currently on a quest which involves a dwarf who has lost a sword, being untrustful of the humans he asks you to ask around. You find out that one of the human blacksmiths stole it to appease a Bandit who is threatening his family. So, you collect the sword from a lackey who ran into some bad luck with boars and it is alas broken. The bandit again threatens the blacksmith so you have to give it to the dwarf to fix, but in return the poor blacksmith needs to do some chores. You collect items for him and return the finished product to the dwarf. After this you meet the bandit and duke it out.

There are also story-line quests which lead you to meet famous people such as Gimlli, Gandalf, Strider, and more.

Conclusion
I hope this gives you a rough idea how some systems are set up within the game. It looks fabulous, and you can really see the LOTR style going into the game. If you are in the beta you can reach me on the Brandywine server as Ered, Defender of the Halls, 16 Dwarf Guardian.

Screenies
*56K Warning*

[thinkingbear]

I wasn't familiar with this game until I received an invite from GameSpot to join the upcoming North American Stress Test (http://www.lotro.com/stresstest) I am a huge Lord of the Rings fan, the books especially, and this sounds really cool. I am on 3.3 GB of my 3.5 GB torrent download, I'll have the Beta fired up in another hour, servers open on Friday and run through Sunday. They are even giving away free 8800 GTX's. Europe has already had their stress test, so I'll see you NA and New Zealand LOTRO-ers on-line Friday :)

[thinkingbear]

So I played the heel out of this game over the past 2.5 days as part of the stress test....and I am very impressed. No game crashes, and I got booted from the server just once and graphically it looks awesome, as good as Oblivion but without all the long wavy grass. The quality of LOTRO in beta surpasses the final release quality of some games we have seen this past year (BF2142, NVN2) and it was just a lot of fun to play. Hours seemed like minutes, I forgot to eat, refused to sleep, all that. Not a huge leap in evolution from Wow but for me personally it was a lot more fun. Being a warlock in Wow to me was not worth playing past the free two week trial, but being an Elven Loremaster in LOTRO is, in a way, something I have wanted to do for a long time :) So I pre-ordered from Frys.com only $40, so I can get in on the Open Beta and I am considering paying the $199 lifetime sub, something I told myself sounded like an extremely stupid idea when I first heard it :)

Anyway, here's some screenies (http://kupras.net/img/LOTRO/) I took, felt like a freaking tourist in Middle-earth taking snap shots all over the place ;)

[Jamesrt2004]

I Soooooo Want This Game!

This has got to be one of the Great games that will come in 2007 :D Lets hope it does well

[uOpt]

So this begins as single-player and is then a multiplayer game?

[thinkingbear]

So this begins as single-player and is then a multiplayer game?

There all always other players on the server. When or even whether to team up into a 'fellowship' is completely up to you. ~80% of quests I got in the first 13 levels I was able to complete solo but seemed like there were always a few spots where I pretty much had to team up or wait until my level doubled. Also, being in a fellowship allows the use of daisey-chained combo attacks that look cool and work even better.

[Sparky]

Negatives:
-Graphic Intensive and stress the crap out of your GPU(seriouly)
i have a 7900GTX, all my graphics on full 1280x1024, i got like 60-75fps:eek:
How is 60-75 fps stressing your graphics card? Your eye can't really detect the difference between roughly 60 fps and higher.

[Halvie]

I got a beta key, but don't think I am going to give it a shot now that I heard there isn't any decent pvp.

[fullmetal]

Hey Halvie what MMOs do u play that have decent PVP, im a PVPaholic

also SparkyJJO, What i meant by the stress was not the FPS, it was the heat that it produced compared to BF2142, If u only read a little bit more, you would have read that part :)

[Lev]

my overview of it.

http://www.silkyvenom.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12762

[thinkingbear]

my overview of it.

http://www.silkyvenom.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12762
Yes, if you want PvP this isn't your thing. You want Age of Conan. Personally I think PvP sucks. Hard.

"lotro is not visually impressive".....I have to wonder if you actually played the game, especially when LOTRO is compared to the children's cartoon that is WoW. To underscore my point here are some in-game screen shots from the low-res beta client (http://kupras.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7&page=1&sort=pa), just wait until high-res final release.

And I had to laugh when you said "the 'acheivement' [sic] system is really a waste of time"......I have news for you if you think PvP in WoW is not wasting time :) That goes for the playing of any PC game for that matter, and isn't that the whole point anyway, to waste a little time?

Anyway, I got into the closed beta last Thursday have been playing my ass off. Loving it and going to Lifetime sub. Icing on the cake I think is the community of people that is spouting up around the game. I fell in with a good Kinship and they're are making it a lot of fun. For the most part everyone has read the LotR books which means, well, that they actually read books....just a different demographic than my UT clan that's all. With all expansions possible given the size of Middle-earth I am going to be playing this a long long time.

[Lev]

Yes, if you want PvP this isn't your thing. You want Age of Conan. Personally I think PvP sucks. Hard.

"lotro is not visually impressive".....I have to wonder if you actually played the game, especially when LOTRO is compared to the children's cartoon that is WoW. To underscore my point here are some in-game screen shots from the low-res beta client (http://kupras.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7&page=1&sort=pa), just wait until high-res final release.

And I had to laugh when you said "the 'acheivement' [sic] system is really a waste of time"......I have news for you if you think PvP in WoW is not wasting time :) That goes for the playing of any PC game for that matter, and isn't that the whole point anyway, to waste a little time?

Anyway, I got into the closed beta last Thursday have been playing my ass off. Loving it and going to Lifetime sub. Icing on the cake I think is the community of people that is spouting up around the game. I fell in with a good Kinship and they're are making it a lot of fun. For the most part everyone has read the LotR books which means, well, that they actually read books....just a different demographic than my UT clan that's all. With all expansions possible given the size of Middle-earth I am going to be playing this a long long time.

its not visually impressive, they use different textures on the same models over and over again and its very boring.. have you played any new game since WoW? it looks much better. check out vanguard for example, the game is plagued with a buggy client but it looks MUCH better, and by the way - PVP or PVE that takes some kind of strategy is fun, have you seen the acheivement system? ROFL- there is a bar for killing one type of unit or using the same skill until the bar fills, you realize that is directly a waste of time (it doesnt even have a coverup, lol) what i mean by that is-- WoW pvp has a purpose(unless you are farming honor) you actually have fun in killing the enemy, instance raiding has a purpose (just chill with your guild), rep farming is one of the things that doesnt have a purpose


edit: oh and change thinking to care in your name :P

[thinkingbear]

its not visually impressive, they use different textures on the same models over and over again and its very boring..
This game is still in beta, and you are comparing it to two games that are finished, errr, well one anyway :) But just last night there was a huge update to LOTRO and the game looks much better than it did when I made my post and can be expected to improve until it launches. I mean awesome! (with a 8800 GTX 8xAA 16xAF at least) Just login and check it out yourself and then come back here and say it is not visually impressive.:fact: :)

And I must say, Waa Waa, Care Bear's are ruining MMO's, lol. Why are you macho he-man stud PvPers always with the name calling? :nono: I think there is plenty of MMO goodness to go around. And seriously, check out Age of Conan, looks like PvP paradise.

[Lev]

This game is still in beta, and you are comparing it to two games that are finished, errr, well one anyway :) But just last night there was a huge update to LOTRO and the game looks much better than it did when I made my post and can be expected to improve until it launches. I mean awesome! (with a 8800 GTX 8xAA 16xAF at least) Just login and check it out yourself and then come back here and say it is not visually impressive.:fact: :)

And I must say, Waa Waa, Care Bear's are ruining MMO's, lol. Why are you macho he-man stud PvPers always with the name calling? :nono: I think there is plenty of MMO goodness to go around. And seriously, check out Age of Conan, looks like PvP paradise.

what mmo from the past 2 years has good pvp? please tell me, please do..

there are asstons of pve mmos out there

and no, i dont want to hear about stickfigure mmos designed for pvp made by 2 dudes

[nosbusch2005]

Guild Wars has great PvP

[thinkingbear]

what mmo from the past 2 years has good pvp? please tell me, please do..

there are asstons of pve mmos out there

I told you I hate PvP and you are asking me for a good PvP game? If there is a lack of PvP games that tells you all you need to know about how truly popular PVP is, or in this case is not. The PvP segment is growing, but outside of Asia PVP is currently just not as popular as other styles :fact: Sounds to me like you are just bent because you need a new favorite game and this is not it.

And again, tell me how LOTRO is not visually impressive (http://kupras.net/gallery/albums/uploads/LOTRO/ScreenShot00021.jpg)

More screens here (http://kupras.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7)

[Lev]

I told you I hate PvP and you are asking me for a good PvP game? If there is a lack of PvP games that tells you all you need to know about how truly popular PVP is, or in this case is not. The PvP segment is growing, but outside of Asia PVP is currently just not as popular as other styles :fact: Sounds to me like you are just bent because you need a new favorite game and this is not it.

And again, tell me how LOTRO is not visually impressive (http://kupras.net/gallery/albums/uploads/LOTRO/ScreenShot00021.jpg)

More screens here (http://kupras.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7)

1) this isnt a high school popularity contest.
2) lotro just is not visually impressive, everything looks like plastic, the water is the same as in bf2, you cant even go under it. also- i really dont like the animations for some reason, the game is well polished, especially for a beta, but thats all ill give it.

guild wars is old. and from what ive heard its not really a pvp mmorpg because you can start at like maxed out level with a prebuilt character or something.. and i dont think there is item drop on loot.

edit take a look at that screen shot. the trees branches are all identical models bent at different angles with similar textures, how do you like that: all the leaves of a branch point in the same direction(are effing parallel to each other).. just look at the screen shot and youll know what i mean

edit2: this is a cartoony mmo

[Lev]

I told you I hate PvP and you are asking me for a good PvP game? If there is a lack of PvP games that tells you all you need to know about how truly popular PVP is, or in this case is not. The PvP segment is growing, but outside of Asia PVP is currently just not as popular as other styles :fact: Sounds to me like you are just bent because you need a new favorite game and this is not it.

And again, tell me how LOTRO is not visually impressive (http://kupras.net/gallery/albums/uploads/LOTRO/ScreenShot00021.jpg)

More screens here (http://kupras.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7)


im still waiting for you to comment on champions combat system.

[fullmetal]

ok, chill out guys damn!!

i play Lineage 2 and i love the game, great all around MMO, GREAT PvP, and great quests, but thats my opinion.

stop critizing others for their opinion

just settle down and place down your views, if you dont like what others have to say, then simply put, STOP READING IT!