I'll be delving into the birth of an Elven Hunter, covering feelings and experiences from the first evening of testing. Continuing what I begun in the previous post.
I thought I'd cover the elvish part of my initial testing in a separate post, instead of making it a part of a bigger whole, in order to keep the length of the posts more reasonable. Certainly wouldn't hurt to learn making more to the point posts from time to time.
So, after the couple of hours of dwarfdom, exploring Thorin's Hall a bit (one of the main cities), which in comparison isn't quite as big as Ironforge in WoW - this is a good thing in my view, and as far as conveying the feeling of "home" it's lightyears ahead in general atmosphere. One thing I have to say is that I was rather surprised at the lack of players in there. I was there late at night, the optimum nerdtime, an yet I only saw a handful of characters. Maybe the location is such that it isn't highly populated or it might be that the realm I joined isn't highly populated.
Anyway, time for some elfin action.
Everyone loves elves right? I mean, how could you not? They're like the prehistoric (if you go by the lore created by Tolkien) versions of the modern idealized man (and woman). Beautiful, lean, tall and very much in touch with their surroundings (and feelings?). Effortlessly and flowingly moving, in harmony with all, which is the overall theme of their society, reaching everything in their culture, art, language and architecture. Needless to say the pointy ears only add to their flowing, almost river-running-free-esque appeal.
For some reason the bulky, clunky elf males (and females to some extent as well) that Blizzard has decided to portray in World of Warcraft don't quite fit into that category in my view. I generally don't like gender bending all that much, but in WoW I just couldn't have bared to look at the really akward and unnatural runstyle of the male elves as my own characters.
Picture if you will, an Arnold Schwarzenegger size fella merged with the body of a 20-year-old European Ladies Figureskating Champion and you have a pretty accurate idea of the grace of which these "creatures" move. Hardly something you'd easily relate to the previous picture of elves or that of Tolkien origin.
LotRO obviously being based on the idea of "the grace of elves", I was looking forward to actually having to play a male character that is clearly male and yet beautiful in an elven kind of a way. I have to say that is very much what I got as well.
After some noodling around with the class selection, I thought the Hunter sounded interesting, as it loyal to the idea of a bow wielding damage dealer instead of the pet juggling counterpart in WoW.
As I mentioned in the previous post, I played the dwarf first and only after deciding to stop for the evening I thought I'd give the elf a spin just to see how it works out. Some of you may know how I relate to spoilers, but I just have to say: boy was I ever surprised at how brilliantly the elven starting story and quests link with that of the dwarves. I don't know yet how the Hobbits and Humans start, but I will definitely have to find out at some point, so cleverly are the stories and reasons why things are woven together between the elves and dwarves. Not only do you instantly get the feel that you really are in the same world, you also get to see and understand more about the details of why things were so with the other character. The phrase "the moment you think you're out, they pull you back in" comes to mind.
And what of the Hunter then? Wow! - not referring to the game in this case.
I thought I was being critical, but right from the start I was totally mezmerized at how the class works even at the very basic level - obviously I can't say anything about the higher levels yet. The sounds are awesome and you really feel like you're controlling a powerful character, for me the closest comparison would be to call the experience magical. Shooting arrows from far away, with awesome sounds I might add, and having very unique feeling hand-to-hand combat moves to finish off anything that gets too close. I know this doesn't sound at all like coming from someone who is heavily against any sort of hype and is cautious of spoiling anything for anyone.
It might even be that this is how hunters feel in WoW as well, but I wouldn't know. Of course hunters inLotRO have traps as well, but I've yet to have a proper chance at seeing how those work into the class mechanics.
I'm starting to see why people with experience in MMO's are saying LotRO is a game based on atmosphere, story and adventuring. Sure others are as well, but I find the way a lot more appealing than that of WoW, so far. Certainly I have to admit that the game is still very new to me and thus I can't really draw any major conclusions, but I can say for sure that the initial experience in WoW was very different.
One thing to take into consideration is that WoW was my first MMO and as such I wasn't at all familiar with the intricacies and inner workings of such games at the time and due to that my opinion in this case is also affected by being more familiar with the basics. Despite that, I'm looking forward to experiencing more of the world and seeing how my adventures will coincide with those of the actual fellowship.
So far it has been a very interesting experience and now, after almost reaching level 7, my elf has started it's "second chapter" in an area called Celondim, a foresty area west of The Shire close to the Gray Havens, I can't wait to have the chance to sit down and see where the road takes me next if I'm not mindful of my feet. Unfortunately tonight my feet take me to the barren wastelands of Post Apocalyptic Earth.
Until next time, may the light of Elendil shine upon you.
9.2.09
LotRO Diary: Part 1 - First impressions
It's about time I explore the world of MMO's from another angle. This time I'm delving into the World of the Rings, or Lord of the Rings Online in other words.
Having being subjected to several praising reviews and opinions of Lord of the Rings Online as a game for people who enjoy the experience of adventuring and the feeling of immersion, I figured I might as well see what it's like. Finding out there is a 14-day trial available for everyone, the choice was even easier to make.
As usual, the trial version features are limited, though not that much at all to my surprise; the ability to trade with others by means of direct trading, using the auction houses or mailing are all disabled. Having no level gap in the trial allows you to play as much or as little as you like with any character you like, which is a nice, small but significant difference from some other MMO's.
I'll be writing about my experiences every now and then (hence the "Diary"), but I don't expect it will be a daily thing. I'm unfortunately unable to not make comparisons to WoW when explaining things, as it is the only MMO I can really say I have experience from, so bear with me.
A word of warning I feel I must give before I go any further though, aimed at anyone considering trying out the trial as well. There's a literal TON (or 15) of client software to download to be able to actually get in game. Add to that, that the way the patches and other files are named aren't exactly the clearest, I strongly suggest that you start downloading the client and patches well before you activate the trial. There's nothing more annoying than knowing you have 14 days and you end up spending the first five downloading.
Using this guide is a decent starting point, the launcher can also do the patching, but downloading and installing at the same time will take quite a while so personally I chose to download as much as I could find as files so I can later use them if need be without needing to download them again.
Most of the client and patch files can be downloaded from a web based downloading client, or if you are familiar and willing to, you can download them via torrents. The client itself is freely distributable, and downloading it as a torrent does not constitute piracy. I do NOT encourage piracy in any form.
A good way of knowing that you are indeed up to date is that you are prompted to enter "Username" and "Password" in the launcher. That is the opportune time to go and activate your LotRO trial account as well.
First impressions
Finally I get to start the game up. Everything looks nice, and music in the background while I play around with character creation - different classes and details -, trying to make some sense of it all is nice and calm but still adventurous.
The choices in character creation for a first timer are confusing at first, which I reckon is a common trend in any game of this magnitude - certainly was that way for me in WoW as well. To help in this, there are some really good explanation videos along with text descriptions with each race and class that ease the way in making a choice in your first character to enter Middle-Earth. The plethora of options for character customization immediately raises the bar in my mind for any other such games, though I must admit I might be a bit of a oddball when it comes to the passion of which I utilize in character creation.
My previous main character in WoW having been a Dwarf Shadow Priest, I decided to go with a Dwarf again, choosing class as Defender. Basicly the class is a tank, which I figured a good starting point-of-view for this new crusade and having some universally transalting experience in the role - here's me hoping at least. I also made an Elf Hunter (no, I didn't name it Legolash), but I'll get to that another time.
Game loads, and the adventure begins. Oh, familiar faces...but why is the world so silent?
Damn, me sounds are lost! After a bit of poking and tweaking I finally figure out the game is has, for some reason, defaulted itself to the wrong sound output method. Changing it fixed the issue, nevermind it actually made the computer crash in the process...
So where was I....ah yes. I enter the world, familiar faces, discussion over a certain dragon is being displayed in the chat screen and as texts hovering over the heads of the characters. Everything looks really beautiful and with the sounds, the voice acting and rest of the sound world make a good impression. After a very short explanation of what is happening and learning a bit about the user interface, I'm sent of to check out some other dwarf in an instance of some sort. Of course I immediately thought "what, instance, at level one?" since I was still hooked on what WoW is. Note to self, this clearly isn't WoW. Impressive!
I'm joined up with an NPC as I enter the instance and almost immediately after entering the cave of an instance the game grips you as you're thrown into the middle of a "situation" where some key characters appear...a troll is solidified and other such. I'm sold, what a brilliant way of introducing the basic game mechanics, taking you into the world and giving you some light common reference that you're actually in the same world as the Fellowship is...where Sauron is gathering his strenght and the dark shadows are stretching over all of the land. That you're a part of a world where great adventures happen. Looks rather promising.
After the initial couple of levels I started to get familiar with the UI, how the map displays different things and such. I have to say even before entering one of the main Cities I was already impressed by the look and atmosphere of the game. The UI itself is a bit...cluttered compared to that of WoW and the icons aren't quite as clear as I've gotten used to, but in general the default settings are easy to the eye and reasonably easy to understand.
The class I chose, Guardian is a stout - I suppose this goes with dwarves without saying - warrior type of a class that utilizes a shield and a weapon for threat building and damage. Because of this, my lil dwarfy seems to be able to take a lot of punishment compared to the Elf Hunter. I played the dwarf to level 7 before deciding it was time to quit and during that time I didn't manage to die once.
Speaking of not dying. There's a really nifty award/achievement system in LotRO that way outdoes the comparison in WoW. This achievement system actually has concrete awards and it doesn't feel like it's bolted into the game afterwards at all - mainly because it isn't *duh*. You get special titles and abilities for a lot of things that are relevant to your character developement and what you do in the world. These abilities aren't just static or nonsense, but actual useful abilities such as: Using an ability a set amount of times makes you more effective in the use of that ability or others similar to it - if I use my Shield Blow enough, my blocking becomes better (Shield Expertise), or if I use my Shield-Swipe ability enough, an ability that is only usable after you block an attack, I gain a bonus called reactive shield that does damage to anyone who attacks me based on my Defense. All of these are of course set high enough so you will not gain them before reaching a reasonable character level.
As a closing thought for the first part, I have to say so far I'm really positively surprised, even with being subjected to the hype, about LotRO and find it very likely this will affect my plans of possibly exploring WotLK for what it's worth. The graphics are great and the sounds equally so. Playability seems decent though the icons are a bit small and too similar to eachother for my taste. The implementation of the story and the world is interesting in a different way due to knowing quite a bit about the world already - I love the book(s) and the movies like Elvira loves pets.
Next part I'll share some thoughts on the Hunter, which I also played up to level 7 the first evening. Quests and crafting are also going to be on the table in the future.
Until then, play nice.
Having being subjected to several praising reviews and opinions of Lord of the Rings Online as a game for people who enjoy the experience of adventuring and the feeling of immersion, I figured I might as well see what it's like. Finding out there is a 14-day trial available for everyone, the choice was even easier to make.
As usual, the trial version features are limited, though not that much at all to my surprise; the ability to trade with others by means of direct trading, using the auction houses or mailing are all disabled. Having no level gap in the trial allows you to play as much or as little as you like with any character you like, which is a nice, small but significant difference from some other MMO's.
I'll be writing about my experiences every now and then (hence the "Diary"), but I don't expect it will be a daily thing. I'm unfortunately unable to not make comparisons to WoW when explaining things, as it is the only MMO I can really say I have experience from, so bear with me.
A word of warning I feel I must give before I go any further though, aimed at anyone considering trying out the trial as well. There's a literal TON (or 15) of client software to download to be able to actually get in game. Add to that, that the way the patches and other files are named aren't exactly the clearest, I strongly suggest that you start downloading the client and patches well before you activate the trial. There's nothing more annoying than knowing you have 14 days and you end up spending the first five downloading.
Using this guide is a decent starting point, the launcher can also do the patching, but downloading and installing at the same time will take quite a while so personally I chose to download as much as I could find as files so I can later use them if need be without needing to download them again.
Most of the client and patch files can be downloaded from a web based downloading client, or if you are familiar and willing to, you can download them via torrents. The client itself is freely distributable, and downloading it as a torrent does not constitute piracy. I do NOT encourage piracy in any form.
A good way of knowing that you are indeed up to date is that you are prompted to enter "Username" and "Password" in the launcher. That is the opportune time to go and activate your LotRO trial account as well.
First impressions
Finally I get to start the game up. Everything looks nice, and music in the background while I play around with character creation - different classes and details -, trying to make some sense of it all is nice and calm but still adventurous.
The choices in character creation for a first timer are confusing at first, which I reckon is a common trend in any game of this magnitude - certainly was that way for me in WoW as well. To help in this, there are some really good explanation videos along with text descriptions with each race and class that ease the way in making a choice in your first character to enter Middle-Earth. The plethora of options for character customization immediately raises the bar in my mind for any other such games, though I must admit I might be a bit of a oddball when it comes to the passion of which I utilize in character creation.
My previous main character in WoW having been a Dwarf Shadow Priest, I decided to go with a Dwarf again, choosing class as Defender. Basicly the class is a tank, which I figured a good starting point-of-view for this new crusade and having some universally transalting experience in the role - here's me hoping at least. I also made an Elf Hunter (no, I didn't name it Legolash), but I'll get to that another time.
Game loads, and the adventure begins. Oh, familiar faces...but why is the world so silent?
Damn, me sounds are lost! After a bit of poking and tweaking I finally figure out the game is has, for some reason, defaulted itself to the wrong sound output method. Changing it fixed the issue, nevermind it actually made the computer crash in the process...
So where was I....ah yes. I enter the world, familiar faces, discussion over a certain dragon is being displayed in the chat screen and as texts hovering over the heads of the characters. Everything looks really beautiful and with the sounds, the voice acting and rest of the sound world make a good impression. After a very short explanation of what is happening and learning a bit about the user interface, I'm sent of to check out some other dwarf in an instance of some sort. Of course I immediately thought "what, instance, at level one?" since I was still hooked on what WoW is. Note to self, this clearly isn't WoW. Impressive!
I'm joined up with an NPC as I enter the instance and almost immediately after entering the cave of an instance the game grips you as you're thrown into the middle of a "situation" where some key characters appear...a troll is solidified and other such. I'm sold, what a brilliant way of introducing the basic game mechanics, taking you into the world and giving you some light common reference that you're actually in the same world as the Fellowship is...where Sauron is gathering his strenght and the dark shadows are stretching over all of the land. That you're a part of a world where great adventures happen. Looks rather promising.
After the initial couple of levels I started to get familiar with the UI, how the map displays different things and such. I have to say even before entering one of the main Cities I was already impressed by the look and atmosphere of the game. The UI itself is a bit...cluttered compared to that of WoW and the icons aren't quite as clear as I've gotten used to, but in general the default settings are easy to the eye and reasonably easy to understand.
The class I chose, Guardian is a stout - I suppose this goes with dwarves without saying - warrior type of a class that utilizes a shield and a weapon for threat building and damage. Because of this, my lil dwarfy seems to be able to take a lot of punishment compared to the Elf Hunter. I played the dwarf to level 7 before deciding it was time to quit and during that time I didn't manage to die once.
Speaking of not dying. There's a really nifty award/achievement system in LotRO that way outdoes the comparison in WoW. This achievement system actually has concrete awards and it doesn't feel like it's bolted into the game afterwards at all - mainly because it isn't *duh*. You get special titles and abilities for a lot of things that are relevant to your character developement and what you do in the world. These abilities aren't just static or nonsense, but actual useful abilities such as: Using an ability a set amount of times makes you more effective in the use of that ability or others similar to it - if I use my Shield Blow enough, my blocking becomes better (Shield Expertise), or if I use my Shield-Swipe ability enough, an ability that is only usable after you block an attack, I gain a bonus called reactive shield that does damage to anyone who attacks me based on my Defense. All of these are of course set high enough so you will not gain them before reaching a reasonable character level.
As a closing thought for the first part, I have to say so far I'm really positively surprised, even with being subjected to the hype, about LotRO and find it very likely this will affect my plans of possibly exploring WotLK for what it's worth. The graphics are great and the sounds equally so. Playability seems decent though the icons are a bit small and too similar to eachother for my taste. The implementation of the story and the world is interesting in a different way due to knowing quite a bit about the world already - I love the book(s) and the movies like Elvira loves pets.
Next part I'll share some thoughts on the Hunter, which I also played up to level 7 the first evening. Quests and crafting are also going to be on the table in the future.
Until then, play nice.
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