I've player wow and EQ2 breifly and found they both played very differently. it was the combat system that really seperated them. Both revolve around moves, but EQ2 combat is very static, where as WOW is far more dynamic from my experience. also, EQ2 goes for the sort of realistic fantasy look and wow has the cartoony fantasy look.

I would assume that those who gave up after a few hours gave up a little too early. Like most, I walked into the Beta thinking its unoriginal and like WoW, which is not a plus for me as I find WoW incredibly dull.

Now, after playing some days, characters and levels, I must admit that I am very much positively surprised. For a start, it is decidedly good-looking. With decent graphic settings the game is a blast and still rather smooth (I blame the edging and lagging on my connection to the US). You can enjoy a view that goes on for ages and the whole scenery, from sunsets to full moon on a star-filled sky, to snow and mountains is just looking good. So do the characters, as long as you ignore the occasionally gimpy outfits.

The quests do take some time and occasionally a good amount of running as well, that much is true. But I find them still to be much more enjoyable and usually acceptable to do. They don't let you hunt for stuff which will occur once in three gazillion monsters, they will not let you hunt things that you'll be damned if you can find it and the rate of gather 15 of X quests is significantly lower. In fact, you can almost completely forget about those. What is a blast are the story quests that let you advance in a story, or several. They frequently send you to instances in which the plot continues and that are only for you and your group, which is a heap of fun.

Crafting system is very good too, especially since you can actually USE the stuff you make, rather than producing only crap that is worse than what you got for gathering 20 boar hoofs.

As for monster play, I cannot say much about that yet. I tried it twice, once as a wolf-thing and once as a spider that made me really hate myself, and it was good, lighthearted fun. At level 40 you can oppose the monsters in batle with your normal characters, but since nobody is that far through the game yet it remains to be seen how that works out.

A lot of other stuff struck me as interesting too, like the traits that allow you to specialise your character, the deed system that rewards you with skills and abilities and titles, the destiny point system where you can turn rewards from monster play into useful temporary things like raised XP and stuff.

Quite a lot of text, but I felt that someone should hold against those condemning it as "old stuff" before even having found most of the features. The answer isn't that easy. For those who want PvP then WoW might be the better pick. For those more into stories and PvM and exploring pretty places LotRO might be a good choice. Its not a revolution, but its really quite enjoyable when you give it a chance.

Don't get me wrong... I think it is a good game with plenty to see and do but I just couldn't get excited about it.

Think I got one character to around level 20 and then just couldn't be bothered to log in anymore.
I did try creating a few different characters but the game just never really grabbed me.

In the end I felt like I should subscribe to the game, but forced myself not too as I know I would play it for a few weeks then get bored and never touch it again.

Really I think the only way to judge it is to try it yourself.

You lot are crap, all i wanted was a "yeah its good go out and buy it now" or a "no its crap avoid at all costs"

All these replies and I am still no closer to deciding if i should get it

it sucks there, you a happy bunny now ?

i saw it for a few quid in a game station and you get a free month so just get it and try it and see for yourself

the general jist seems to be that it's really nothing new, but if you like LOTRs then you might enjoy it and other than that it's only pros are it's nice graphics and smooth running.

It's a bit too hobbity for my liking. Don't buy it

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"Anyways, its cheap enough to just buy the package and try the free month."

and we need to have a cull of this thread to cut out anyone who still has an active UO account, as thier opinion is clearly dodgy anyway

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Well its that or Lost Planet and payday is monday so think it will be lost planet

Its great buy it....

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Sig Expertly designed by Falcon *thumbs up*

Ok - It's crap so avoid it at all costs unless you like it in which case it's good so go out and buy it now!

Well payday has arrived and amazon have put the price of lost planet up (was only £20) so gone for it

plus i need an additional source of screenshots

LOTRO is great, buy it!

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expect a short review wednesday, and if it turns out to be crap heaven help anyone who said buy it

If you're looking for a UO-beater, this isn't it. It's heavily quest based which is fun, but on the flipside if you're a RPer it's hard to feel attached to a char that has the same history as every other char. Think of it as Oblivian but with other players around.

The graphics are good, it has some nice touches like if you /smoke the char pulls out a pipe and starts smoking. If you /smoke1 he/she chokes on it. Given the anti-smoking laws etc it was a brave move by Turbine.

The RP server. There is a dedicated RP server (in the European bunch anyway - server segregation is a pain, its due to Codemasters publishing in Europe and Turbine publishing in the US). The ooc stuff is restricted to the ooc channel which can be turned off which is nice. Names that breach the 'setting' can be reported and are changed which is cool.

Combat is okay, I wish they'd made it like Dungeons and Dragons Online though, the combat system was the best thing about that game. Full control rather than autoattack and spamming specials.

The only way to play an orc is through Monster Play which is a pity but at least they put monster play in. It's fun playing a warg, just a shame I can't have a rider. :/

It's similar to WoW, but without the cartoony graphics. It's nice being able to visit the shire, and Bree's Prancing Pony.

As an interesting diversion, it's good. As a RP 'world' it's very lacking.