Lord of the Rings: Online Review By James Sheets

Game Information  Title:Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar  Creator:Turbine  Genre:Mass Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game  Price:$29.99 (game + 1 month access) $14.99 per month OR $9.99 per 3 months OR $ lifetime access

Minimum System Specs OS: Windows® XP Processor:Intel Pentium® 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:Windows® XP / Vista Processor:Intel Pentium® GHz or equivalent RAM: 1 GB Video: 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  DVD installer – high res textures  Buddy Pass  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  As you progress in level, the storyline opens up  The Music System  Instanced Dungeons  A copy of a dungeon is created for your group  Scripted events often take place to progress the story  Game Patches  Occur roughly every 3 months  Add new quests, content, and further the story  PVP  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?  Good storyline  Music system  Fairly polished and stable  Weaknesses?  Lack of high level content  Little diversity in items  Boring crafting  Worth Purchasing?  If you like LOTR or are a casual MMORPG fan, yes  Improvement?  More things to keep high-level players interested