I think my favorite part of this game is a quest for the Guardian (tank) class. You get sent to talk to Samwise in Rivendell because someone heard he is a great guardian. He's confused when you talk to him saying they must have misheard him when he said he was a GARDENER. He then gives you gardening tips. But the tips are actually sound advice for being a tank in the game. "Some plants can handle sunlight. Some need protection from it. "It's all about how well you watch the health of your plants and how effectively you respond to their changing conditions: by watering them, changing the amount of sunlight they receive, or re-spacing their neighbours. A guardian might learn a thing or two from a gardener, if you ask me!'" it's a cute little wink and a nod.
I also love the fact that by using morale as a "life bar", they justify in universe how Captains and Minstrels can heal other party members or how the mere presence of a black rider can lower your maximum life while they are around.
Absolutely agreed, its something I really love as a replacement for HP. Especially in demoralising opponents, taking them closer to dropping out of the fight.
This was definitely one of my favorite details in the game's mechanics. It provided a good explanation for a lot of things that other MMOs are just like, "you took damage because this enemy screamed really loud" or something. The hope/dread system was very unique too, especially since they used it as a content locking system where you needed a minimum hope to do some endgame content or your character would just spend the entire time cowering in fear and your morale bar would be completely red.
The effects of the dread (HP reduction) Black Riders and other evil creatures cause is great, too. Screen getting darker and darker until eventually the minimap is replaced with the Eye of Sauron.
Yeah dude this game has a phenomenal amount of details and interesting mechanics that other games don't. They also dont have to deal with the bullshit paradox of people dying over n over and justifying it somehow. You just retreat when youre out of morale instead of dying. This game doesnt get nearly enough attention and tbh... It doesn't feel like JSH did the game justice, theres SO much more to it and he should have played it more than the typical 8 hours to be more fair.
I spent hundreds of hours playing this in highschool with my grandpa, he'd pick me up from school and we'd play for hours questing in a Duo, excellent fun. I'm sure he's playing it right now
you did yourself dirty not starting as a hobbit in the shire, it has some of the most immersive, smile-inducing storytelling and atmosphere I've ever seen in an MMO. They honestly NAILED the shire.
Haha I hate the shire it's the worst part of the game for me. There's only so many quests I can take of running 10 minutes to go press one button no matter how immersive or fun the writing, especially when it's running between the same two places on a route you've already seen
But, because of how slow paced it is, it's great for first timers since you can learn without being rushed. It even has 2 deeds for teaching you how to handle stealth missions. Note I said "first timers" though.
Every so often I create a new Hobbit character just so I can play the Shire again. I just wish it was as fun as it was 10 years ago when it was packed with new players and had tons of fellowship quests to play.
Its the story telling that makes the shire fun like he said. Also, if you played MMORPGs long enough the function of the quests itself always get boring. A lot of the enjoyment of this game imo is if you are actually a big fan of the actual LOTR literature and take the time to read everything and watch what the NPCs say. The shire is spot on.
I know this game is old, but it is, to date, the best representation of Middle Earth ever done. The world building is fantastic. The way the story interweaves with the events in the books (especially with the epic quests, a.k.a. the main story quests) is very well done. The first time you ride into Rivendell, or you stand on Weathertop, or you bump into the trolls that were turned into stone in The Hobbit, feel truly special. There is a lot of attention to details from the books. Just to be able to explorer Middle Earth, this is already a game worth playing. Don't rush to the end-game, take your time and smell the flowers.
Ardacraft in Minecraft is the best representation in my opinion. It doesn't have any quests, but the world is built in a 1:1 scale and is built by the words of the books and by drawings that Tolkien himself made. It's a great mod for Minecraft on PC if you have it.
The same thing happens in other directions too. After playing the game and experiencing so much of the world, it really made me enjoy and appreciate the films more than I already do--and I already thought those films are a masterpiece of the genre. When they talk about locations, artifacts, songs & legends, I know exactly what those things are, I had actually been there and done that.
That's how I feel. I suppose one can compare this game and understanding of Middle Earth with the experience of being a rocket scientist and playing Kerbal Space Program, in a light-hearted way. Your understanding of the subject simply grows so much from the game, that it beggars belief!
First of all, the eagles were huge. They had a wingspan of 30 fathoms (180 feet). To put that in context, a 737 has a wingspan of 117 feet. Eagles can’t fly as high as a pressurized jet. They’d probably have a maximum ceiling of around 10,000 feet. That would make them much more visible than a jet because they’d be flying lower. Eagles are not long-range fliers. They do not store energy. They have to conserve it. They do this by soaring. They climb using updrafts. That means a lot of time flying in circles before gliding to the next updraft. For this same reason, carrying passengers would be a strain on the eagles. Gandalf alludes to this while riding Gwaihir after his rebirth. He asked how far Gwaihir could carry him and Gwaihir said that he was so light, he could carry him as far as he wanted. That implies a limit with a heavier passenger. This will give you an idea of how far they’d have to go. It would take multiple days for them to reach Mordor. Sauron had spies and spent most of his time watching the outside world through his Palantir, the Ithil Stone. The eagles would likely be spotted well before they reached Mordor. Sauron might not know why they were coming but the eagles had always been his enemy so he’d assume it was some sort of attack. He’d have plenty of time to summon the Nazgul on their flying steeds. It doesn’t matter if these things are a match for the eagles. The Nazgul carry poison darts. One dart in the proper eagle and it’s all over. The eagle and the Ring Bearer are down on Mordor with all of Sauron’s forces aware of them. If the eagles do make it past the Nazgul then they’d be chased all the way to Mount Doom and probably all the way in. And that’s why they didn’t take the eagles.
Same. Re-reading the books at the same time as going through the epic quest moments and interacting with the fellowship really kept my enthusiasm for levelling high. Starting to flag a bit now, so it's probably time to re-watch the movies...
My favorite part of LotRO was the ability to play musical instruments and run scripted music. Plenty of people who'd form multi-member "bands" with coordinated music files. It was pretty awesome.
This was literally all I did when I played many years ago. I was in a band with some other middle and high schoolers, and we would just sit around in one of the big towns and play music most days after school. I still remember my flute-playing hobbit burglar like it was yesterday.
@@Carpatouille I just wish FF14 didn't try to scare people away from playing music. Lotro doesn't care what you play and as far as I know, nobody has ever got in trouble for playing known songs in a game. It just seems weird to me. I wish more popular games had music systems. GW2's isn't very good and just needs a rework. Mabinogi and Archeage music systems were pretty much made by the same people, but the games themselves didn't do so well in the west anyway.
Small note for anyone watching recently: the early game, levels 1-32, have been overhauled along with many other aspects. They also fixed the Riding problem, kind of; they added a side quest that you will find during the main quest that introduces the shop, giving you enough LOTRO points to purchase the riding skill (which is only 20 P now,) and that is an account wide effect. I heard about the update which led me to try it out and boy are they working to try and keep the game alive, it isn't perfect but it is enjoyable; even as a free player.
Honestly, if you're watching Josh Strife Hayes criticize your favorite MMO, I think this is the exact mindset you should be in. Don't think you can't like something because someone else hates it!
@@quixotix9540 If you love something, you must be willing to criticize and accept criticism so it may grow. Ive seen too many boot licking Gamers, with a capital G, who gets WAY too defensive
Agreed. The running animations and graphics are meh (except for a few really beautiful scenes) but I do think the gameplay is decent. And they did a really good job trying to recreate middle earth both in scale and lore.
This game had one of the most immersive worldscapes ever, thanks in large part to its source material but also in its game design. The feeling you get when you walk into The Shire, or Imladris, or Moria, or Lothlorien, or Forochel, or Evendim... it was magical.
Agreed, and a big component to this for me is enemy placement. Too many MMOs have just groups of enemies littered everywhere, just waiting around for people to aggro, to the point that they outnumber NPCs hundreds, even thousands to one. It obliterates my feelings of immersion. LotRO has vast mostly empty landscapes, and weird as it may be, it makes the game so much more enjoyable.
I grew up playing this game, was around 12 when I started and absolutely loved it. I still remember when I went to Forochel and saw the northern lights in the sky and was amazed at how beautiful it was. Immersion is fantastic in this game.
I'm sorry but it has to be said: The graphics in this MMO give me warm fuzzy feelings. Could all be nostalgia but i genuinely don't mind simple graphics like this.
As a graphics programmer, there's absolutely NOTHING simple about the graphics here. Gamers might find this shit simple but achieving this kind of image requires a lot of technical knowledge and 1000s of hours of tedious programming
Something that really caught my eye from this video is how Josh is simply travelling around the world without being attacked by 30 thousand mobs who will dismount you and follow you to ends of the Earth
@@whatwhatever5727 nah, it’s GW2. Since you’ll never be able to outlevel something to not aggro it even in base game zones you might get slapped off your mount lmao
The map in this game is the best in any MMO ever. You can walk from the Shire to Moria without hitting a single loading screen. My cousin and I used to try to make the journey as level 1 chickens after being transformed in an early shire quest. Love this game
oh wow and they said thats a main reason why they couldnt keep FFXIV 1.0 I could care less if they broke the world up into hard zones but just kept the original graphics because 2.0 just turned that game into WoW graphics for me whereas 1.0 graphics were freaking immaculate in every way, especially characters but the world just as much
@@zukakog nah thers a loading at the gap of rohan, moria, and between misty mountains and vales of anduin so basically the loading is the middle of middle earth lol
20:31 During the tutorial missions, if you talk to the other ranger in the hunting lodge (sitting in the first room, next to the bedroll), you start a dream sequence quest in which Galadriel tells you that you're special. That she sees your fate being tied to Middle Earth, and you get a brief look at some of the other dangers going on at approximately the same time. Like Gandalf fighting the Balrog. Or Wormtongue poisoning King Theoden's mind. Basically, you're special, in that you have important tasks ahead of you. But not quite Ringbearer or Fellowship special. Just, needed.
@Anonymous Cheese One of the reasons why I often prefer first generation MMORPGs, like EverQuest, is that you're literally just a nobody in the world, and it's entirely up to you to decide what you do, how far you push it, what zones to go to, and so on. Like sure, there are quests. But you can ignore them if you'd like, and still hit max level. (This may have changed somewhat in the more recent expansions. I'm just speaking traditionally.) So yeah, I get it. I'd personally prefer some modern game design and quality of life changes, but that traditional MMORPG "go out and do what you want" leveling experience.
@Anonymous Cheese You're really not "the chosen one" in LoTRO, but you are important to the story which is I guess what you mean. You're slightly less important than the fellowship, way more important than random Gondorian soldier #37.
@Anonymous Cheese TVTropes has a thing called "tropes are not bad." Essentially, that even tired, cliched tropes can be done well, even the dreaded Mary Sue. Case in point, FFXIV handles "the chosen one" better than most. At first, you're just an Adventurer. But its revealed you're one of a select (ie rare, but not the only one) few who have a "blessing" that protects you from a very specific form of mind-control, essential in fighting the major enemies of the main story, whose very presence can brainwash a normal person. That's it. Several expansions later, it gets a bit subverted, when you're revealed to be the reincarnation of someone from a long long time ago, but that person wasn't a chosen one or a messiah, either: they were the Archetypal Adventurer: going to new places, meeting new people, and helping out where needed. It's meant to give you a connection to events long past, rather than make you a divinely chosen savior, or superhero.
There's a reason you're not the chosen one: _that_ guy is going across the whole land with the One Ring. You're just there to help defeat all the bad stuff that keeps popping up after he leaves with his buddies. No for real, if you like either the books or movies then please play this. Even if it's an MMO they REALLY did their research when mentioning things like the history of Middle-earth in a given quest, and the tone is spot-on.
I think this is the first video of your "worst mmo" series that actually motivated me to play a new game. On my next day off, I will try this out. Thank you for this!
I feel so nerdy admitting this, but during the book fairs I always grabbed the fantasy stuff and comics and just read them all weekend long. This game came out right after I played Baldurs Gate and Planescape Torment (My PC couldn't run many games at the time so I opted to play old school stuff), and a few other MMO’S. I remember playing it and feeling so immersed and really honestly felt so giddy doing a slow-ish mmo game as opposed to the more faster paced, anime garbage floating around. I felt like I was living out one of those epic books I read, and being in a new world. I know it's not that great compared to today, and I'm sure as a kid my feelings were amplified, but man, I never felt more calm than when I was playing this game, reading through everything, and killing some baddies, lagging cuz my computer couldn't keep up, and admiring the ambience of the world and how beautiful it was, even at 10 FPS LOL.
I had the same blissful feeling when I started playing like 3-4 years ago, to this day Lotro is my little comfort, no other game makes me this relaxed, especially since there is a lot content in the game for a strictly casual player.
@@FeiFongWang He seems to be a huge fan of Lotr and western fantasy in general so his ass probably implodes any time he sees even a pixel that reminds him of anime.
Hey Josh! I was on the writing team for this adventure, I appreciate you taking notice of the work we put in. If anyone has any questions about the development process, I'll answer what I can.
No questions, just a thank you. I started playing during beta (and yes, the lifetime account that came with it for little buck was well spent money). I always loved how everything was so cleverly designed to tell interesting stories beside the main book's story while always staying faithful to the original lore. Everything felt as it really could happen in Middle Earth besides the main story unfolding, still being related to the bigger picture. In addition to that, I always loved that everything somehow hinted at the main story while still seeming to be totally unrelated and original.
I have a question: how did you guys handle adding new stuff to the world of Middle Earth, but avoiding major conflicts with established canon? What was the process and guidelines like, what were the challenges and were there any employees specifically assigned to preventing inconsistencies?
I was an early player of this and always appreciated the writing. Felt true to the original story in many ways. In all that, thanks goes to you and your colleagues for many hours of fun (in good times in my life and bad- including a long stint in and out of the hospital).
Your pet does fight with you, but you have him in passive mode. That pet bar under your text box is how you control him and change his stance to guard or aggro, both of which will let him auto attack. He also have skills that you can use and each pet offers a passive bonus. Also, many of the issues presented here - especially the issue with riding - have been corrected. You now get a quest in Archet that just gives you riding and a (fairly slow) mount. You also never need to keep the cosmetics in your inventory. Once they're equipped, you can stuff them in your vault keep the visual. As for PvMP, some servers really don't bother with it, others are heavily invested in it. As soon as you finish the tutorial area, if you are interested in PvMP, ask in World chat if it's popular on that server. Not ideal, but I don't know of a better way to figure it out.
You might've been away when this happened, but aggressive was deactivated for pets. Probably to stop multibox botting pet classes being left unattended to farm.
My entire family plays this game, so I am fairly blinded by it's flaws other than monetisation and generally unpolished early stuff, and with that context I expect this video will be useful and quite eye-opening.
First of all, the eagles were huge. They had a wingspan of 30 fathoms (180 feet). To put that in context, a 737 has a wingspan of 117 feet. Eagles can’t fly as high as a pressurized jet. They’d probably have a maximum ceiling of around 10,000 feet. That would make them much more visible than a jet because they’d be flying lower. Eagles are not long-range fliers. They do not store energy. They have to conserve it. They do this by soaring. They climb using updrafts. That means a lot of time flying in circles before gliding to the next updraft. For this same reason, carrying passengers would be a strain on the eagles. Gandalf alludes to this while riding Gwaihir after his rebirth. He asked how far Gwaihir could carry him and Gwaihir said that he was so light, he could carry him as far as he wanted. That implies a limit with a heavier passenger. This will give you an idea of how far they’d have to go. It would take multiple days for them to reach Mordor. Sauron had spies and spent most of his time watching the outside world through his Palantir, the Ithil Stone. The eagles would likely be spotted well before they reached Mordor. Sauron might not know why they were coming but the eagles had always been his enemy so he’d assume it was some sort of attack. He’d have plenty of time to summon the Nazgul on their flying steeds. It doesn’t matter if these things are a match for the eagles. The Nazgul carry poison darts. One dart in the proper eagle and it’s all over. The eagle and the Ring Bearer are down on Mordor with all of Sauron’s forces aware of them. If the eagles do make it past the Nazgul then they’d be chased all the way to Mount Doom and probably all the way in. And that’s why they didn’t take the eagles.
25:45 - The Herald does fight for you, but you need to either use the "pet attack" skill (available in that mini skillbar under the chat box, but you can move it to your main bar) or set the pet mode to aggressive or guard (on the same skilbar). I do agree, however, that this should be explained or set by default. Or both, to be honest. The herald is useful - he has some of "save my bacon" options, like taunting an enemy, stunning an enemy or sacrificing some of his morale to heal yours. And later on you can equip items that change the herald's appearance and skillset (people typically go for an archer that pelts enemies from a distance, while you tank... which isn't surprising, since the Captain class is essentialy *THE* tank, despite being listed as a support class).
I've never really liked the archer herald all that much. I prefer the melee one, even though I'm not a fan of him carrying the banner around. The archer's damage just feels really inconsistent and meh. My captain is only 60th though, so maybe the archer gets better at higher levels.
The main use of a captain's heralds is the buffs you get if you're near them, anyway. The extra fighting can help, sure, especially when solo, but they will never be a powerhouse.
my problem with LOTRO is is that it became completely bloated with mechanics over time. the legendary grind was a pain . i still love the game for just "being in it", nothing quite like riding your horse from the shire to rivendell and running into all the little bits and pieces of lore
I've lost over 4k hours in this game, and although I don't play it all that often any more, revisiting this game recently has been a blast. I go back to rohan all the time because it has some of the best music in all gaming. It makes me so happy to hear the praise people are giving it
The game is super bloated and so are the tutorials and menus but once you actually get going it’s not bad. The UI is terrible and needs a high resolution update. For real
@@nathanhoward4679 my burglar was created on day 1 of lotro but i just cant get into it anymore. as i said, i like just hanging around but not really motivated to lvl up to max, the combat seems really dated at times
You really nailed one of the things I liked about this game ten years ago. You're not The Chosen One who who is destined to destroy the One Ring and become King of Gondor, you're some schlub who's kind of helping the people who are destined to do that, so if you decide "nah, sorry lady, I'm not gonna help you kill some spiders" it's not like Aragorn suddenly got arachnophobia or something. You get to be the Hero of Another Story, but you also get to be true to yourself in the process, which is a pretty tricky balancing act to pull off when the overall plot of the story is as well known as this one is. Also, you don't seem to have seen it, but periodically the game DOES have you play as one of the characters from the book (often but not always one only mentioned in passing) for a limited time, usually about five or ten minutes, where your goal is to do as well as those characters did in the story. For example, there's a Chamber of Mazarbul instance where the victory condition is not to "win" and kill/drive off the orcs (because that's not canonically what happened), but to avoid being overrun completely long enough for a story beat to happen. There's one that takes place beside Anduin with you playing Boromir, that offers a brilliantly hilarious insight into Boromir's personality in the form of the overhead names shown for the rest of the Fellowship (the only ones who get their actual names are Frodo and Aragorn; Sam, for example, is "Frodo's Servant").
I like it when MMOs do that. You can't have every single of thousands of players be the chosen one. That just doesn't work. Some go around it by having some typical prophecy that the chosen one will fulfill, but since nobody knows who the one is, everyone goes out and gives it a try. (Even Morrowind does that. You aren't the Nerevarine, but you can become the Nerevarine by doing things the reborn hero is supposed to do) Some don't have that at all and just have the player be someone who decides to do stuff. (So every player is just some random dude who happens to rub shoulders with the big guys) Some have that "chosen juice" be widespread. You aren't the super special guy, you are just regular special. And there are many more like that. (Like the light in Destiny)
I'm good with the average dude not a chosen one thing, however what I hate is when a game starts facing you off at epic world stuff, but then tries to force the narrative that you're still no one important. Either by just ignoring what you've done, or making you do all the heavy lifting to weaken the enemy like a pokemon so the main hero npc's can rush in and have a sailor moon cutscene and defeat the bad guy.
Hearing you praise the music in this game made me unbelievably happy, it truly is an incredible work of art, both in quantity and quality! Great review, I thoroughly enjoyed it!
@@arthas8121 No. And I've been playing for eight years. If you're not much into LOTR, I can only recommend it as a "vacation MMO", where you can take a break from the hardcore raiding or PvP and relax.
I played this game as a hobbit cook. I was low level, maybe less than 5, I can't remember, but I had nearly end game quality recipes I could make thanks to a vary difficult assisted run up to weathertop to get a recipe. I made food for other people to use for adventure and enjoyed my brief time in middle earth immensely. I've also played a level 60 fisher in world of warcraft, back when 60 was the cap, because on a 56k modem I couldn't do raids. I don't honestly understand why I play games sometimes.
Because they're fun and entertaining. If you enjoy fishing then go enjoy fishing in an MMO. You don't have to engage in the endgame content to enjoy MMOs.
's valid to enjoy providing services for other players, and mmos are probably the best place to do it not quite the same, but i used to play minecraft on xbox with friends. never had any good build ideas, but i was always able to get housing, crafting, mines, farms, and supplies up and running for everyone else super quick, and that was where i found my fun. sounds like you did that but to a lot more people's benefit
This was exactly the review this game deserved. A bit repetitive and tedious, a lot of quests where you just go to a place and push a button or kill an orc… But just such a nice world to exist in. I have so many amazing memories from this game. There’s a quest line where you rebuild a village and can see it start to get repaired as you complete quests. There’s a quest line in the shire where you control a chicken and navigate past dangerous mobs to go all the way to Rivendell. There’s festivals and silly little wholesome things and… Everything about this games core experience is just pleasant. It’s easily the most relaxing MMO I’ve ever played. I love this game to bits, even though all the reasons I love it are why it will never top the charts as an MMO. This is one of those games that has found a niche and perfected it.
I would say it is a LOT repetitive, boring and tedious. It is a nightmare on high end systems as they don't even have scalable UI. [At least the last time i played a few years ago. ]The lag for some of the story quests in gondor were so bad i was getting 2 frames with a GTX 1080, i7-6850k 32gigs of ram. This was top on the line when i purchased them and the game was old then. The lag in the game can make things unplayable. Look I am not trying to say that there is no reason to like the game but there is a reason why this game bleeds players. Oh and I have a lifetime membership so i can play for free with most expansions paid for as I get 500 coins per month. So I have every reason to play but so much of the game is a lesson in frustration. I would rather play a single player game in co-op multiplayer than lotro. If people can enjoy the game and make the experience pleasant then they should play it. I just found the game too much of a grind and the grinds get worse as you level. Is there anything worse than the legendary weapon grind? And the quality of life issues like lag, tiny UI on ultra high resolutions.
It's the only MMO I don't turn off the music. The music is amazing in this game. Sometimes I just zoom into first person and run through fields in the shire with the music up. It's so relaxing.
The quest to learn riding is how they teach you to use the shop, it literally covers the cost of buying the riding skill from the store. The quest is called A Little Extra Never Hurt and each starting zone has it as far as I'm aware.
I think it's lvl 20 when you get your first free mount then you can either farm reputation to get the special mounts from specific areas, or you can do the many festival events to get free mounts. Super fun game, and by far the best MMO around. It's secretly better than WOW lol
Previously they expected you to have done deeds to unlock the riding skill. Before the free update, getting VIP for one month only was the way to play this game, and I argue it still is just because of how much it unlocks for your character permanently, but you get a lot of content for free so you get the choice to make it, and once you've done that the bonuses are mostly permanent outside of a few minor things.
This video actually made me start playing this game. Finally I get to live my dream of being a hobbit! I've played for like 15 hours and I'm still just chilling doing incredibly low-stakes side quests in the Shire, an extremely chill and relaxing MMO, with absolutely fantastic ambience and tone.
Love this game; I developed my own system of grinding the starter zones for Turbine Points and purchased all the expansions they had at the time. Looks like if I dip my toes in now (probably with a new account as I've forgotten my logins) I'll start with a leg up.
The textures for a game this old are CRAZY. It literally looks like some dev 20 years ago hand painted each texture. Wow is around the same age and it’s starter zones look like trash compared to lotro.
i noticed your herald was set on passive the whole time.... when captain's herald is set up defensive with the right traits, it can actually tank a bit for you
I wasn't familiar with the "worst MMO" series so I expected this to be a super negative review of my absolute comfort MMO for the past 6 years XD I'm glad I watched it anyway and it turned out into such a favourable review. I've had the privilege of being introduced to it through a friend who explained everything to me as we played our new two characters through the levels. I haven't played so many MMOs yet so I have no comparison, but the very reason why you found your experience in it pleasurable is the reason why I keep coming back to it - nothing beats roaming middle earth and doing fun quests to de-stress from uni. I love being a random person somewhere in this lively world who sometimes hears of the fellowship's quest and comes across traces of their journey, but otherwise just gets to help them or other people in this world all affected by the war in their own way. I also love the cosmetic outfits and how you are able to customize your character. My OG is a well-developed character outside of the game anyway, and I love that the game lets me play him exactly like he is. I can even dress him up in unassuming clothes and have him fight with his sword in his left hand. Roleplaying, or just playing in-character, is also immensely fun with all the emotes, a "say" channel that makes dialogue pop up over your head, and all the things you can do that are just fun extras (getting drunk and dancing on the tables of the Prancing Pony? setting up a campfire to take a short break and warm up after having fallen into the ice cold water of Forochel? Standing on a guard tower overlooking the plains of Rohan, smoking some self-grown pipeweed?check!) I love that LOTRO doesn't have the visual sparkle and pizzazz that other MMOs have. It's so chill, and plain, and immersive. 100% to all the criticism you've brought up, I feel like we all are like "yeah, I know" but still love the game anyway. If I want great graphics I pop into RDR2 xD Since I'm just a casual, occasional player, I have no problem with the repetitiveness or grindiness of the quests. I would've been interested in your opinion of the festivals, though :D EDIT: A year later I've somehow stumbled across this again and I feel the need to add something. I recently played through the end of Vol. 2 of the epic quest (Moria and the Malledhrim attack on Dol Guldur) and it made me fall in love with the game all over again. I truly wonder why and how I never paid much attention to the stories and questlines (even though I knew they were cool, at least since Wildermark) Anyway I'm shocked at how good the writing is! The beginning of Vol. 3 with the Grey Company in Enedwaith had me SHOOK and I recently played through the Before The Shadow expansion which is even better. How they manage to weave the history of Cardolan into such a captivating, well written story with great new characters is amazing. I learned so much about the lore haha! And it's all so accurate to Tolkien's writing! LOTRO is really the best extension to the legendarium and a must for any LotR fan :D And over the years it somehow only seems to get better?!
I think this was the first MMORPG my brother introduced me to as a teenager. I would eventually go on to play Star Wars, Star Trek, and Rift, but when I picked this back up about a year or so ago, I remembered all the reasons why I loved it so much. It's like it managed to blend all the good aspects of those other MMOs, dropped all the bad ones, and set it in pretty much the best possible setting: Arda. Now, I will say that I still haven't gotten very far, puttering about in Bree and the connected regions, but it's definitely the best MMO I (in my limited experience) have ever played.
no idea if you all reached that part yet, but ill tell you that they managed to put an amazing plot twist in Minas Tirith in Gondor...since we all know what happens there i think its a major writing flex to have a plot twist WORK on lore buffs....for me best gaming moment in my life and im gaming since 88
My favorite thing about this game is simply the opportunity to be in the world of Middle Earth. I'm sure many people enjoy the game who don't know much about Tolkien's writings. I'm a hardcore Tolkien fan from just reading all his books. To me, this is one of the greatest works of fan-fiction ever! And big credit to the developers, from what I've seen the game storyline doesn't stray from the books, like so many movies do. It just adds to it! Sure, it doesn't have as good quality graphics as some other games, but if all you want is to be a hobbit or an elf and explore Middle Earth, it's perfect!
I remember playing this game a long time ago. I met a friend and we had an RP session of traveling the world which was probably one of the best experiences I've ever had in any MMO. Then he invited another person into the party and cybered with them in party chat. Good times.
First of all, the eagles were huge. They had a wingspan of 30 fathoms (180 feet). To put that in context, a 737 has a wingspan of 117 feet. Eagles can’t fly as high as a pressurized jet. They’d probably have a maximum ceiling of around 10,000 feet. That would make them much more visible than a jet because they’d be flying lower. Eagles are not long-range fliers. They do not store energy. They have to conserve it. They do this by soaring. They climb using updrafts. That means a lot of time flying in circles before gliding to the next updraft. For this same reason, carrying passengers would be a strain on the eagles. Gandalf alludes to this while riding Gwaihir after his rebirth. He asked how far Gwaihir could carry him and Gwaihir said that he was so light, he could carry him as far as he wanted. That implies a limit with a heavier passenger. This will give you an idea of how far they’d have to go. It would take multiple days for them to reach Mordor. Sauron had spies and spent most of his time watching the outside world through his Palantir, the Ithil Stone. The eagles would likely be spotted well before they reached Mordor. Sauron might not know why they were coming but the eagles had always been his enemy so he’d assume it was some sort of attack. He’d have plenty of time to summon the Nazgul on their flying steeds. It doesn’t matter if these things are a match for the eagles. The Nazgul carry poison darts. One dart in the proper eagle and it’s all over. The eagle and the Ring Bearer are down on Mordor with all of Sauron’s forces aware of them. If the eagles do make it past the Nazgul then they’d be chased all the way to Mount Doom and probably all the way in. And that’s why they didn’t take the eagles.
Man, I was really expecting JSH to rip this game apart, but was pleasantly surprised by the actual outcome. It reminded me exactly why I decided to give this game a second shot last year and play it again for the first time since its initial release. As a visual learner, I've always wanted to get into Tolkien's work but found the books too wordy and the movies too lengthy. Lord of the Rings Online hit that perfect mix of storytelling and visual design for me, and really helped me get a better scope of where everything is in Middle-Earth. And besides, what other medium set in the Tolkienverse lets you punch an Oliphaunt in the face? And WIN?
Standing Stone games actually have a very nice game they're attaching horrible horrible RMT to. It would be nice if LotRO got some updates though, of the classic "WoW-Clones" it's one of the very nicest.
@@Cyromantik To be fair to SSG, Turbine's the company that had created the shops in the first place and decided on the "sell adventure packs piecemeal instead of just expansions" which gets a bit more irritating in DDO where it's not as easy to earn the store currency ingame.
First of all, the eagles were huge. They had a wingspan of 30 fathoms (180 feet). To put that in context, a 737 has a wingspan of 117 feet. Eagles can’t fly as high as a pressurized jet. They’d probably have a maximum ceiling of around 10,000 feet. That would make them much more visible than a jet because they’d be flying lower. Eagles are not long-range fliers. They do not store energy. They have to conserve it. They do this by soaring. They climb using updrafts. That means a lot of time flying in circles before gliding to the next updraft. For this same reason, carrying passengers would be a strain on the eagles. Gandalf alludes to this while riding Gwaihir after his rebirth. He asked how far Gwaihir could carry him and Gwaihir said that he was so light, he could carry him as far as he wanted. That implies a limit with a heavier passenger. This will give you an idea of how far they’d have to go. It would take multiple days for them to reach Mordor. Sauron had spies and spent most of his time watching the outside world through his Palantir, the Ithil Stone. The eagles would likely be spotted well before they reached Mordor. Sauron might not know why they were coming but the eagles had always been his enemy so he’d assume it was some sort of attack. He’d have plenty of time to summon the Nazgul on their flying steeds. It doesn’t matter if these things are a match for the eagles. The Nazgul carry poison darts. One dart in the proper eagle and it’s all over. The eagle and the Ring Bearer are down on Mordor with all of Sauron’s forces aware of them. If the eagles do make it past the Nazgul then they’d be chased all the way to Mount Doom and probably all the way in. And that’s why they didn’t take the eagles.
Token books are 100 times better and easier to read than the really crappy jrr fatmans books game of bones. I absolutely despise jrr Martin books. Those are extremely wordy and most of the words you read are made up nonesense. Also the show sucks. Only good if you like looking at boobs.
"the books too wordy and the films too lengthy" ... Yeah if you don't like reading and somehow get bored during Jackson's LotR trilogy, there's nothing anyone can do for you. At that point you should probably just stick to cartoon comic books and Transformers movies.
I've had a lifetime subscription to this game since the Mines of Moria expansion, and I've always had a real soft spot for it. I've always adored the writing and exploration aspects of the game, and I've always found that despite the clunkiness of the combat it's always felt good to me.
First of all, the eagles were huge. They had a wingspan of 30 fathoms (180 feet). To put that in context, a 737 has a wingspan of 117 feet. Eagles can’t fly as high as a pressurized jet. They’d probably have a maximum ceiling of around 10,000 feet. That would make them much more visible than a jet because they’d be flying lower. Eagles are not long-range fliers. They do not store energy. They have to conserve it. They do this by soaring. They climb using updrafts. That means a lot of time flying in circles before gliding to the next updraft. For this same reason, carrying passengers would be a strain on the eagles. Gandalf alludes to this while riding Gwaihir after his rebirth. He asked how far Gwaihir could carry him and Gwaihir said that he was so light, he could carry him as far as he wanted. That implies a limit with a heavier passenger. This will give you an idea of how far they’d have to go. It would take multiple days for them to reach Mordor. Sauron had spies and spent most of his time watching the outside world through his Palantir, the Ithil Stone. The eagles would likely be spotted well before they reached Mordor. Sauron might not know why they were coming but the eagles had always been his enemy so he’d assume it was some sort of attack. He’d have plenty of time to summon the Nazgul on their flying steeds. It doesn’t matter if these things are a match for the eagles. The Nazgul carry poison darts. One dart in the proper eagle and it’s all over. The eagle and the Ring Bearer are down on Mordor with all of Sauron’s forces aware of them. If the eagles do make it past the Nazgul then they’d be chased all the way to Mount Doom and probably all the way in. And that’s why they didn’t take the eagles.
@@jogumby Unfortunately, I don't believe so. I believe they discontinued the Lifetime Subscription back when Mordor came out. They do still honour the ones that were purchased before, though.
@@Jenn-lq9yu Correct. I got mine at the end of beta and around Moria and the switch to free to play they ended lifetime subs. They've still honored mine for 15 years though...
God this takes me back. LOTRO was the first MMO I ever played and it got me hooked on the genre. Not many since have come anywhere close to the scenery and storytelling in this game, especially when you get to Isengard and the surrounding areas. Good to see some of the classic intro quests are still there in all their glory too! Human Guardian ftw
Nearly finished with the first half of Vol 3 and not only is the Epic story the best it's been so far (I teared up at some points) but the actual story of the regional quests are also extremely compelling and interesting too. No other area in the game has captured my intrigue like Enedwaith and Dunland have, except maybe Evendim. It's truly magical.
This is actually a really great game locked behind old technology, clunky combat and what used to be an annoying cash shop. Thankfully, they are addressing a lot of that stuff so I personally think that if you are a fan of Lord of The Rings it worth diving into as just a chill game with so much LOTR lore. The water effects are the best I have ever seen and if you like adventuring it is a really good time.
First of all, the eagles were huge. They had a wingspan of 30 fathoms (180 feet). To put that in context, a 737 has a wingspan of 117 feet. Eagles can’t fly as high as a pressurized jet. They’d probably have a maximum ceiling of around 10,000 feet. That would make them much more visible than a jet because they’d be flying lower. Eagles are not long-range fliers. They do not store energy. They have to conserve it. They do this by soaring. They climb using updrafts. That means a lot of time flying in circles before gliding to the next updraft. For this same reason, carrying passengers would be a strain on the eagles. Gandalf alludes to this while riding Gwaihir after his rebirth. He asked how far Gwaihir could carry him and Gwaihir said that he was so light, he could carry him as far as he wanted. That implies a limit with a heavier passenger. This will give you an idea of how far they’d have to go. It would take multiple days for them to reach Mordor. Sauron had spies and spent most of his time watching the outside world through his Palantir, the Ithil Stone. The eagles would likely be spotted well before they reached Mordor. Sauron might not know why they were coming but the eagles had always been his enemy so he’d assume it was some sort of attack. He’d have plenty of time to summon the Nazgul on their flying steeds. It doesn’t matter if these things are a match for the eagles. The Nazgul carry poison darts. One dart in the proper eagle and it’s all over. The eagle and the Ring Bearer are down on Mordor with all of Sauron’s forces aware of them. If the eagles do make it past the Nazgul then they’d be chased all the way to Mount Doom and probably all the way in. And that’s why they didn’t take the eagles.
I think you just described all MMO's that don't go for that hyper realistic look like BDO lol. Secret world, bless (all versions? idk) guild wars 1 &2 (yes they're still great games but dated), riders of icarus (fuck that felt like a WoW killer before nexon picked it up, i miss that game), life is feudal (bit of an oddball in this list), runes of magic etc etc
@@mrsrefrigerator You're doing this wrong. You are trying to answer logically when people asking logic questions. The real answer is that they are fully missing the point. Lord of the Rings isn't that kind of story. It's a mythical, even mythological kind of story. It's a bedtime story, a legend passed from generation to generation. Of course it will have holes. It's not meant to fully make sense. And I find it a little sad when people stick to the superficial reading and don't try to elevate to the larger feeling and atmosphere. Granted, at this point most people mentioning eagles are, just like JoshStrifeHayes, trolling for reactions. Now let's stop derailing conversations with this please.
I'm a huge Tolkien fan and what i most love about this game is the scenary. The citys feel so alive, the forests are so immersive, is so good to just walk around the map and see things. The quests have a great story and that's something is very hard to find in other MMOs. LOTRO is a classic. Great review Josh!
@Alessandro. I played this game back in 2007 and loved it. I came back to it a few years ago and found it really easy. Got bored by about level 8 and stopped playing. Has it been made more casual friendly? Cheers mate.
@@incognitotamizhan9679 I'd say it's VERY worth playing if you're interested in story. It was pretty good to begin with, and they've gotten better with time. However, if you're not as interested in the story, the underlying mechanics are decent, but there are probably better options out there. I think Josh' review was accurate that there's a reason that those who love it continue to love it, but there's also a reason that it hasn't blown away all the other MMOs.
@@wileywilson It has somewhat, but the VIP "Legendary" slow-progression servers have optional difficulty settings that vastly increase effectve world mob damage and hp
Wow, this was the most positive review I've seen in this series. LOTRO deserves it. Its a well made game with lots of quality of life stuff built into it over the years (like open tapping or auto loot) and very strong world building, atmosphere and music. Sadly, it suffers greatly on the technical side. I fear the engine is a true bottle neck for the game. The lags have only gotten worse over the years (probably due to its growing size). And with time it will probably only get worse. LOTRO will always have a place in my heart.
The servers have degraded greatly over the years. European lotro was extremely reliable and lag free back in the codemasters days, but after they moved the servers to US things got worse.
Believe me when I say this the game did NOT lag like this back in 2010 when I last played(and there were far more players back in 2007-2008 before it went f2p. The lag is something slightly newer. I can only imagine they cut the server capacity way back due to lower population and cost cutting measures. Even before the this large surge of players the game lagged, it seems to have been like this for years if you can trust the world chat. But like I said previously when I stopped playing which was back in 2010 the game did not lag. As far as I understand Turbine/Codemasters no longer operate this game so it's probably a smaller company doing the heavy lifting now.
It looks ok but I despise having emersion broken for story. Even older games can weave the storyline into the gameplay better than this. Also, meeting both Aragorn and a Black Rider in the first 2 minutes doesn't bode well for the pacing. I'm a LotR fanatic (books) but I've always thought it had limited application as a mmo, precisely because it's restrained story with little overt magic limits the character and class options. Better off just creating a game from scratch rather than basing it on existing works imo.
These old MMOs are really special. I started as elf-archer in Ered Luin and I was levelling, I quickly got to level 10, then grinded to level 15 and I just ran out of things to do. My quest was to get to Bree, which I thought is no problem (I assumed I will fast-travel there because it is really far away). But it turns out that I can’t fast travel there, there is a level cap. So I thought I will go to next location and level up there, but right after I move there I meet a road made of mobs that are 20-23 lvl (I am lvl 15). I hardly killed them 1 on 1. I started grinding my way for 3 hours and got to lvl 16. That was really dangerous. That forest nearly killed my 10 times, but in the end I got to local town and relaxed. I thought that I am clearly doing something wrong. Then I started googling and found out that I just have to walk to Bree, so all this terrifying adventure was actually pretty much the way it is intended. At first it pissed me off, but then I thought that it is actually really cool. It is actual challenge and I am ready for it.
You can fast travel to bree at any time from Ered Luin from the main hub in that area, Thorins Gate Assuming you walked into Yondershire, that area was added recently, before walking out of Ered Luin you'd end up in Shire proper and wouldn't have this issue
I love this game so much, having played casually for hundreds of hours for around a decade, on and off. I think this video sums it up nicely in the end, about how it is a calming, chill experience. I don't play it for raiding or anything (though obviously some do), but it's a great place to hang out in the vast world of Middle-Earth. It has a super nice community and plenty of fun events, such as concerts using the music system. In response to the "Fly the eagles to Mordor" comment, I suppose the in-game equivalent is that level boost. Just like suddenly transforming to a high level character might bewilder the player, maybe flying directly Mordor would have been too much for the fellowship after all.
You worded it perfectly! I’ve been playing on and off for 9 years, even just to chill out with some friends. But yeah, the level boost is overwhelming haha…
I'd like to mention a technical aspect of this game that wasn't really shown until the end of the video. Although the engine is very old, the imposter/billboard system is quite impressive. There are crazy amounts of details like trees, bushes, rocks, terrain elements, building structures, that are jam packed on screen all the way into the distance (sometimes almost 1km + away) and they silhouette and parallax very beautifully. It's surprising how modern MMOs fall short on this due to technical limitations with higher fidelity, we often see distance fog much closer than in this game. This technical aspect is a core reason the game feels so immersive as you explore around.
it wasnt always like this tho i remember clearly when the game just went F2P standing at Harndirion in Enedwaith and looking at the fields below and you could clearly see the graphics cut in huge squares with some of them being pitch black if too far ^^
@@kokocaptainqc Isengard days were when the dev team realized they had to update their engine a bit i think hahahah. I remember our guild going to the raid and half of us crashing on loading.
The game's pretty outdated, but it's probably the best video game recreation of Middle Earth that we'll ever see. It's fun to just explore the story. They've put so much care and effort into the world itself. Just wandering around as a little hobbit following in the footsteps of the fellowship is fun.
@@matteomiracolo1467 yes, I agree! Battle for Middle Earth 2 was one of my favourite game back in the day. Still have a physical copy of the game lying around
It doesn't really matter if its dated, because it's a "Classic" MMORPG, similar to WoW classic, it's supposed to feel and look oldschool and quite honestly besides the character models the graphics hold up exceptionally well for being from 2008.
I'm a new player and apparently there is a quest to get the riding skill for free in the hunter's lodge in Archet. I think it's called "A Little Extra Never Hurts You". I felt relieved since when I first downloaded the game and saw the cash shop, I thought I wouldn't get any mounts. Now I got myself the prized liver steed and is currently lvl 33. Overall, one of the best mmos I've played as a free to play player.
Really interesting look at the game from the eyes of a veteran MMO player. I've played this game since launch and am a current endgame raider and I really appreciate the focus you put into the story in general atmospheric elements of the review. Generally this game is carried by animators, writers, and visual effects artists, as well as the genius musicians Chance Thomas and Bill Champagne. The game gets more complex as you level up, so while it would be cool to see a look at endgame and raiding, the majority of the experience is as you described. Slow paces, well written quest lines for 140 levels. Also a few fetch quests along the way. Corey Olsen, who is a guy who has a PHD in Tolkien studies and is super knowledgeable about Tolkien lore, uses LotRO to tell stories about the game and as a backdrop since it is so faithful to the main story of the books and tries to visualize and immerse the player in the world of the lord of the rings. If you get some time, you should try out Dungeons and Dragons Online, which is also made by Standing Stone Games who develop the lord of the rings online. If you need any guidance, I'm the top content creator for that game on twitch and RUclips and I would love to show you around.
I get the feeling Josh would rip DDO a bit for a lot of the paywalling. When he talks about the amount of quit moments in games, mine was seeing just how many basic mechanics were locked behind premium currency or real money on that game.
@@Vaerlayn Yea, I mean I think that would be deserved too. I still love the game, but the free to play aspect of it is more of a free to try unless you get one of the codes they give out once a year that unlocks a ton of quests forever. I think them giving out those codes and making a bunch of races/classes free are positive steps but its still pretty daunting to a new player around level 10 or so (10 hours in) due to how much stuff they can't access without subbing
First of all, the eagles were huge. They had a wingspan of 30 fathoms (180 feet). To put that in context, a 737 has a wingspan of 117 feet. Eagles can’t fly as high as a pressurized jet. They’d probably have a maximum ceiling of around 10,000 feet. That would make them much more visible than a jet because they’d be flying lower. Eagles are not long-range fliers. They do not store energy. They have to conserve it. They do this by soaring. They climb using updrafts. That means a lot of time flying in circles before gliding to the next updraft. For this same reason, carrying passengers would be a strain on the eagles. Gandalf alludes to this while riding Gwaihir after his rebirth. He asked how far Gwaihir could carry him and Gwaihir said that he was so light, he could carry him as far as he wanted. That implies a limit with a heavier passenger. This will give you an idea of how far they’d have to go. It would take multiple days for them to reach Mordor. Sauron had spies and spent most of his time watching the outside world through his Palantir, the Ithil Stone. The eagles would likely be spotted well before they reached Mordor. Sauron might not know why they were coming but the eagles had always been his enemy so he’d assume it was some sort of attack. He’d have plenty of time to summon the Nazgul on their flying steeds. It doesn’t matter if these things are a match for the eagles. The Nazgul carry poison darts. One dart in the proper eagle and it’s all over. The eagle and the Ring Bearer are down on Mordor with all of Sauron’s forces aware of them. If the eagles do make it past the Nazgul then they’d be chased all the way to Mount Doom and probably all the way in. And that’s why they didn’t take the eagles.
hey! super, genuinely glad you had fun playing. worked for ssg for a few months as a game master for lotro & ddo and the team is small enough to fit in modest sized room, so this really is a labor of love at this point. also, if it makes you feel better (or worse,) while working as a gm, the lotro wiki was genuinely my number one source for figuring out systems.
He liked it! He really liked it! All of Josh's criticisms are valid and have been knows for years, hopefully now that some real attention has been brought to them, changes will be made. Like he said though, there are reasons a lot of us have never completely stopped playing after 15 years. Was really hoping you played just a little longer so you could see some of the dwarven interiors, you thought the country side was cool? This game has some of the grandest interiors I've ever seen IMO. Also just checking, were you just playing in 1080p or 4K? Because I can't get 4K to work :P
Well, MOST are. His criticism of the riding skill isn't, though. A quick google search will tell you you can learn riding for free at 20th level. You don't HAVE to buy it from the cash shop. Only if you want to learn it earlier than 20th. Also, I'm PRETTY sure you can ride that free starter mount without learning the skill. It's basically a "very tame" horse that doesn't require any finesse to ride.
I love how based on who you pick as your character i.e human, elf, dwarf etc. you begin in a different place, so this is just how humans start. I've been playing LOTRO on and off since it came out and while it is not perfect, and still is not with all the new updates, I still love it and enjoy it, especially since it is so fun to play by yourself but also with friends, be it quests or just farming. Also one of the few games where I never regret spending money on at times, and the scale of how much you can explore and how many quests there are is amazing. I do think that those that have reached the cap now are pretty bored and it's the most fun until level 60, but regardless one of my faves for sure. Hopefully, they will keep improving the game.
@@backlogbuddies They have the same starting region, whilst Hobbits, Men, and Beornings get dumped in the same region after the tutorial area, but the tutorial themselves each have different beginnings before having Hobbits/Men merge into one storyline whilst Dwarf/Elf merges with each other for their second half but their are differences based on which race you picked.
Replying to myself in case anyone stumbles upon this comment, I was wrong on Hobbits being dumped in with Men and Beornings, they get shunted back to the Shire after their tutorial is done. But in all honesty I prefer that as it gives hobbits more connection to the Shire rather than Bree, but questlines should still collapse together at a certain point. Also need to point out that High Elves have different tutorial but gets shunted in with Elf starts, same with Axe-dwarves (Drasa's Folk) and Dwarven starting areas. I would assume River Hobbits (newest race/subrace at time of comment) gets shunted into the Shire at some point as well.
The eagles are only able to enter Mordor AFTER the ring is destroyed. From the top of Barad-dûr, Sauron would have seen the eagles coming from miles away. When they were within his reach m, he would have brought them down with arrows or magic. The Nazgul were able to fly on their fell beasts and also would have been able to intercept the eagles. If the eagles were to get to Mordor and evade those arial attacks, Frodo would still have have to get the ring into Mount Doom. The top of the volcano is not a wide open lava target. To get to the heart of the Cracks of Doom, the eagles would have to land and then let Frodo (and Sam or Aragorn?) walk the rest of the way up to the entrance of Mount Doom and the. down the passageway that leads to the heart of the volcano. By the time the eagles landed, the foot of Mount Doom would be swarming with Orcs and Trolls. Even with Gandolf, Aragron, and Glorfindel there is no way the hobbits could fight their way through that. The essential part of the anti-Sauron plan was to enter Mordor undetected. The whole reason for the final assault on the Black Gates from the Gondor side was to draw away Sauron’s attention. Aragon looks into the Palantir and drives Sauron crazy with anger, fear, and anxiety. Here is Sauron’s most hated enemy right on his doorstep. When the “new king” brings an army to attack Mordor headed on, Sauron sends all of his forces to meet them. The forces of Mordor are emptied which is why Frodo and Sam are able to get in without a massive orc force in their way. The orcs that they do encounter are a fraction of the “challenge rating” they would have faced if Mordor was full. No matter how funny the youtube video is by “How It Should Have Ended,” the eagles flying Frodo to Mordor and dropping the ring into the volcano from the sky was not going to work.
Plus, the eagles are extremely proud creatures, and as such as very easily manipulated by the ring itself. Having them even be near the ring is a bad idea.
I know it's all memes when people say this but your points are what comes to my mind every time someone's says the eagle line. I just wish they had a constructive argument for it but you can tell that the people who say this have never actually read the books, otherwise they would understand.
33:00 I remember playing Lord of the Rings Online when it was decently populated, though not religiously. Just something I checked out, Monster PVP, the way I'd explain it and the fun I had with it was a late night experience where players could hop in as a monster and not be messed up by vast level differences between eachother, your goal would be to unite as a group to try to raid and take over the human settlements for rewards. I'm not the Raid type of person in MMOs but the thrill and memories I had of just 'randomly discovering the monster PVP side of the game' and then aimlessly wandering and trying to figure out what I'm doing (I think I was a Wolf monster?) and I single-handedly remember recruiting everyone who was aimlessly roaming around and was able to unite everyone together for the single cause of taking down as many of the castles as we could, it was probably 3-4AM I was dead-tired but also absolutely determined to at least capture one enemy castle, I believe the Center-left castle was the target on the map. After many trials and errors, we were able to succeed and it was a fun, but very random experience. After that we were running low on other players also dipping out, but the fact remained that we had succeed and it felt great to have randomly decided to band together, unite the players who were on the same server under one banner/group and achieve something. And its a happy gaming memory I still remember to this day, even though it happened, idunno, 15 years ago? After that I basically stopped playing the game altogether and moved back to Counter-strike 1.6 probably. lmao
This game truly shined back at launch in 2007. I also remember how beautiful the world looked on a high-end graphics card with max settings at the time. To this day the comfiest MMO I've ever played.
I just installed and started playing (on account of this video) and I had the weirdest problem. My modern graphics card was making noise while playing this on 4K. So I started turning down the Visual quality, and it kept making noise. Fans running noticeably fast. Then I discovered I was getting 350 FPS, and found the fps limited and set it to 60. :D The game looks nice in 4K (for a 2007 title), but I did have to magnify some UI items.
what you need to remember about LOTRO's cash shop is that the currency used in that shop is farmable, you can very easily (although it may take some time) farm enough points to purchase whatever you want. also when it comes to the stat boosts you can actually buy those in the player markets with in game currency.
I was so hype for this game when it launched I even paid $200 for the lifetime subscription. While I played for a solid 2 years before stepping away, it’s one of those games I always come back to and have a great time when new content comes around and the community is top notch
I'm glad to see you reviewing and enjoying a game I've spent countless hours on over the last decade. A couple professors I had in college actually worked on the music and writing of the game. My professor who did a lot of the music for the game actively chose to never check out the Lord of the Rings movies so that he wouldn't be influenced by their scores when trying to bring the world to life. The professor who worked on the writing for the game is a Lord of the Rings FANATIC and tried his best to make the world as immersive and representative of Tolkien's work as possible. I asked them about a few things in the game including what the deal with Monster Play was and it turns out that entire feature was added on at the last minute and has never been a priority for the development team, which is unfortunate because when it was active back in the day, I thoroughly enjoyed the constant PvP tug of war over the various strongholds and roving around as a massive pack of stealthed Wargs so it's a shame to see the state it's in now. P.S. With regards to your Herald companion and other pets in general, you can adjust their behavior with those buttons below your chat log. Yours was set to "Passive" which was why he didn't participate in combat.
Damn you Josh. You made me remember playing this game. So of course I had to download it and start again. Probably my favorite MMORPG for crafting. I remember spending hours literally farming to make dyes for clothes. Easy money on the player auction house.
I wanted to mention that whoever was writing this must have been massive Tolkien expert as they did they utmost not to contradict his works (at least in the bits I played). I really appreciated that at the time
The later stuff is less Tolkieny, but the original devs LOVED JRR to death & it shows. That's okay, because you probably will quit or reroll around L80. Mounted combat is a HUUUUUUUGE drag. I never made it past. Well worth playing till then though.
@@theminister1154 I *hate* mounted combat. Luckily, most of my characters are ranged and, except for something like 2 instances, I could stay off my horse. It really does suck. That said... if you're not a guardian, beorning, champ, rogue, etc., it's probably playable well enough off the horse. Probably the worst aspect of the game. (For the record: I love LOTRO. I've been playing since the beginning and may or may not have way too many toons just shy of the cap. I love this game, but mounted combat was not their best development decision. I'm guessing they know it, too, which is why it didn't last past Rohan.)
@@GraceDuncanAuthor Burglar :( Been playing from the jump too, but quit around... 11? 12? & got back in around '16... and lasted till... well "92." Just discovered I missed the free xpacs & 120 boost by a few days this am. Whoops. I'm sure they'll do it again in a year or so, play on then.
@@theminister1154 Burglars are *hard* to play. They do amazing damage! But... they do amazing damage. And are squishy. So it can be a real challenge to do that damage without turning into a Hobbit/human/whatever pancake in the process. As for the expansion packs... everything is free up to ~95, I think, now. Not Mordor or Minas Morgul but a lot more, so that's something but I have zero doubt the rest will be offered up again (including the Valar boosts).
@@GraceDuncanAuthor Interesting. I thought Burg was pretty easy to play, especially compared to a lot of other classes in Moria where you gotta kill _evvvvvry durn mob._ Burg's have a lot of tools! I can't imagine having to solo a champ or captain through there. Well, I can... it's not a good imagining though. Trick to burg in particular is to put your reactives on a multi-button mouse. I have played a LOT of MMO though, including lots of crowd control classes & rogues as far back as Enchanter in EQ1 (which plays a bit more like Loremaster but is basically a class with lots of Riddles.) *Burg on horseback though?* I just couldn't take it, and I didn't feel like rerolling a better class for those levels. BTW, they were giving Mordor + the next one away up till the 12th. Can't believe I missed it 8(
Good that he waited for the recent F2P update to do the video. I decided to go back to the game because they made all content up until level 90? free for everyone, and then an event going on where if you logged in you got the most recent expansions for free too. Very generous. The animations are a bit jarring, but the zones themselves still look quite good graphically. The lack of a real EU server can make it quite laggy, but the look and feel of the world is pretty top notch. It's one of the most faithful Middle Earth games out there. The music is a real standout, and the main story quests are quite immersive. Obviously it's still littered with old school MMO issues like fetch quests, and modern MMO issues like the cash shop (yuck). The game only running off one processor core is a real problem too, which they are working on fixing. I really hope they deliver on those graphical updates they have planned because the game needs that refresh to bring in more players. Btw, to address the Eagles joke. They simply would have said no if they were asked to deliver the ring to Mt. Doom. The eagles are extremely intelligent, some of them even capable of speech. They aren't that different from Gandalf in terms of what they really are. They too have a mission from the Valar which they won't jeopardize on such a foolhardy task, much like Gandalf and the other Wizards had their mission.
Not all Content up to Level 95. What they did was all the Content from the Launch of LOTRO in 2007 (really since they gave All Accounts the Lone Lands back in Nov 2010) to when Helm's Deep Expansion came out (Nov 2013) was added to All Accounts. Newer Content even for Low Level Regions such as Yondershire (Level 20 to 23 Region) which was added with the big Free to Play Model & Monetization Changes in Update 33 are not for All Accounts but available for the In-Game Currency since Update 33. VIP Subscriptions get ALL Quest Packs while Subscribed.
21:30 There are of course plugins that are easy to install to fix the mini-map and the world map ("m"). I use a world map plugin that makes it basically half of your screen size. It makes the resolution more tolerable, while also opening up much of your screen to see your environment.
First of all, the eagles were huge. They had a wingspan of 30 fathoms (180 feet). To put that in context, a 737 has a wingspan of 117 feet. Eagles can’t fly as high as a pressurized jet. They’d probably have a maximum ceiling of around 10,000 feet. That would make them much more visible than a jet because they’d be flying lower. Eagles are not long-range fliers. They do not store energy. They have to conserve it. They do this by soaring. They climb using updrafts. That means a lot of time flying in circles before gliding to the next updraft. For this same reason, carrying passengers would be a strain on the eagles. Gandalf alludes to this while riding Gwaihir after his rebirth. He asked how far Gwaihir could carry him and Gwaihir said that he was so light, he could carry him as far as he wanted. That implies a limit with a heavier passenger. This will give you an idea of how far they’d have to go. It would take multiple days for them to reach Mordor. Sauron had spies and spent most of his time watching the outside world through his Palantir, the Ithil Stone. The eagles would likely be spotted well before they reached Mordor. Sauron might not know why they were coming but the eagles had always been his enemy so he’d assume it was some sort of attack. He’d have plenty of time to summon the Nazgul on their flying steeds. It doesn’t matter if these things are a match for the eagles. The Nazgul carry poison darts. One dart in the proper eagle and it’s all over. The eagle and the Ring Bearer are down on Mordor with all of Sauron’s forces aware of them. If the eagles do make it past the Nazgul then they’d be chased all the way to Mount Doom and probably all the way in. And that’s why they didn’t take the eagles.
Played as Kenewen/Prywen on the now shut-down Riddermark server for 7 years. I cried like a baby counting down the last seconds of life there, gathered around Tuckborough with my kinship. My online name will forver be Kin, a nod to the feeling of family that game gave so many of us. Honestly fo me there will never be a better game. I want to return so much, but the pain of loss is just too great. Some of my favorite memories are; Jumping my goat up to the top of the Bree trading house and playing the opening theme from Secret of Mana on my instruments. Typing /commands to my friends in chat to unlock secret emotes. Being a Rune Keeper that could main heal the Draigoch 12 man raid. Taking players off the map in south Dunland (around where the horned frogs spawn) to the the ancient ruins not visible under normal play. Finding the secret graveyard outside the map behind the spider infested woods near Bree. Moria, top to bottom, every inch of it and the story. Fighting the Watcher in the Water. Showing complete strangers how to get the Ridge Racer deed. Endless hours filling out the deed log for virtues and Turbine Points to unlock paid content. I hope I can retire to an old floks home one day and play this game untill I forget how to breathe
This was my first mmo. You can play it completely free, including endgame, by buying everything you need in the cashshop with currency you earn in-game. It's not even that much grind if you play several characters, as the startingzones and every zone you buy will give you alot of currency. I never spent anything on it and was still on par with everyone else at endgame. The mounted combat that you get later is pretty decent in my opinion. Raids/dungeones used to be good, too, and you can solo the old ones for titles, cosmetics and lots of currency. And the gameworld is huuuge and very solofriendly. Pvp was never that good though, the housing-system is kinda limited, and the combat is a little clunky compared to newer games. And oh god do not use a levelboost on your first character.
First of all, the eagles were huge. They had a wingspan of 30 fathoms (180 feet). To put that in context, a 737 has a wingspan of 117 feet. Eagles can’t fly as high as a pressurized jet. They’d probably have a maximum ceiling of around 10,000 feet. That would make them much more visible than a jet because they’d be flying lower. Eagles are not long-range fliers. They do not store energy. They have to conserve it. They do this by soaring. They climb using updrafts. That means a lot of time flying in circles before gliding to the next updraft. For this same reason, carrying passengers would be a strain on the eagles. Gandalf alludes to this while riding Gwaihir after his rebirth. He asked how far Gwaihir could carry him and Gwaihir said that he was so light, he could carry him as far as he wanted. That implies a limit with a heavier passenger. This will give you an idea of how far they’d have to go. It would take multiple days for them to reach Mordor. Sauron had spies and spent most of his time watching the outside world through his Palantir, the Ithil Stone. The eagles would likely be spotted well before they reached Mordor. Sauron might not know why they were coming but the eagles had always been his enemy so he’d assume it was some sort of attack. He’d have plenty of time to summon the Nazgul on their flying steeds. It doesn’t matter if these things are a match for the eagles. The Nazgul carry poison darts. One dart in the proper eagle and it’s all over. The eagle and the Ring Bearer are down on Mordor with all of Sauron’s forces aware of them. If the eagles do make it past the Nazgul then they’d be chased all the way to Mount Doom and probably all the way in. And that’s why they didn’t take the eagles.
Still the most charming MMO I've ever played. I love it. I even ventured into the woods and dealt with horrid trees and giant spiders to find Tom Bombadil's house.
Started playing again recently after 15 years without expecting much more than a couple of feels but how wrong I was. There is something unique in LotRO that no other MMORPG I've played through years has. Maybe it's a combination of music, atmosphere, lore and some lovely bits of old-school mechanics that does its magic, but I really never enjoyed a MMORPG more. Graphics may look dated and combat clunky at first sight, but after a few days it changes and you realize that everything is in place. Running through the lively streets of Bree, chilling in the Shire meadows and then visiting the Green Dragon tavern, fighting your way through the Great Barrows or entering Moria for the first time - all of this gives you an emotional experience, which is never the same. If you want to try it, I suggest you start on the Treebeard server, which is one of legendary servers (analogue of WOW Classic) with slowed-paced experience. It is worth every penny, and the community there is outstanding (as it is in LotRO in general).
I started the game as a Minstrel Hobbit, and have now just reached the Old Forest. What an adventure. From delivering eggs around the Shire, to helping, and becoming, a Bounder. Helping a Hobbit go on his first big adventure, to trying to solve a haunting in a library that was actually a squirrel. It's so much fun.
LOTRO has one of the best environment designs i've ever seen in an MMO. Every landscape feels like a paiting, it makes you feel so immersed in the world. There's a reason why to this day this game has a very loyal playerbase that does everything to keep it alive. You guys should check it out, specially if you like lord of the rings
I will check it out actually I always heard about the game but I was a bit unsure because of all the paid content, now I guess I can't back down anymore!
@@Talking_Ed That’s great! Remember that this MMO is not about rushing to the endgame, it’s about enjoying the journey. Go at your own pace and read the quests, there are hundreds of hours of free content to experience. Have fun :D
i'd like to point out one of the best features any mmo has added to a game that was understandably not mentioned in the video. On the legendary servers shadowfax and treebeard you can change the difficulty of the open world quests using the Landscape Difficultly system. This makes questing so much more fun in groups even giving you the ability to up difficulty to that of content designed for groups like dungeons. All the system does is decrease outgoing player damage and increase incoming damage allowing you to party up with anyone no matter difficulty selected. Honestly I wish it was in the base game and should defiantly be added to other mmo's
@@Quick-Silver206 legendary servers are like wow classic they release expansions and content over a long stretch of time to give players a way to experience old content. It is however not as in depth as classic the classes and game play like they do on the current release content, zones and levels are just restricted. They are also only available with a sub.
I loved this game, still do. I love that they took the story approach of just occasionally bumping into what is happening with the fellowship and instead we are doing stuff in angmar, finding out what is going on near isengard, roaming around moria, finding out about the darkness lurking in Mirkwood, strolling through the misty mountain goblin caves, going through elven ruins in eregion (damn I loved looking at the night sky in eregion). This game had so many memorable moments. I especially remember being scared shitless with some stuff in Angmar, my first time arriving in rivendel after being chased by bears after my under leveled ass adn running into a freakking troll, and then actually getting lost in Moria because that place used to be dark as hell, the sense of wonder and relief upon finally exiting the darkness of Moria and walking into Lothlorien with its untrusting elves. And later there was the thrill of riding across the plains of Rohan. I played the game actively until Helm's deep expansion, haven't seen the content after that. SHould maybe get back to this someday soon.
Agreed. It does an amazing job to make the player feel involved without making them out to be the big savior of the entire world, yet still making your actions feel significant. It's a really nice balance and the story is arguable the strongest feature of the game.
First of all, the eagles were huge. They had a wingspan of 30 fathoms (180 feet). To put that in context, a 737 has a wingspan of 117 feet. Eagles can’t fly as high as a pressurized jet. They’d probably have a maximum ceiling of around 10,000 feet. That would make them much more visible than a jet because they’d be flying lower. Eagles are not long-range fliers. They do not store energy. They have to conserve it. They do this by soaring. They climb using updrafts. That means a lot of time flying in circles before gliding to the next updraft. For this same reason, carrying passengers would be a strain on the eagles. Gandalf alludes to this while riding Gwaihir after his rebirth. He asked how far Gwaihir could carry him and Gwaihir said that he was so light, he could carry him as far as he wanted. That implies a limit with a heavier passenger. This will give you an idea of how far they’d have to go. It would take multiple days for them to reach Mordor. Sauron had spies and spent most of his time watching the outside world through his Palantir, the Ithil Stone. The eagles would likely be spotted well before they reached Mordor. Sauron might not know why they were coming but the eagles had always been his enemy so he’d assume it was some sort of attack. He’d have plenty of time to summon the Nazgul on their flying steeds. It doesn’t matter if these things are a match for the eagles. The Nazgul carry poison darts. One dart in the proper eagle and it’s all over. The eagle and the Ring Bearer are down on Mordor with all of Sauron’s forces aware of them. If the eagles do make it past the Nazgul then they’d be chased all the way to Mount Doom and probably all the way in. And that’s why they didn’t take the eagles.
I loved to play this MMO on launch. Speaking about details: the portrait of your target is animated. Even on things like small frogs in a swamp that play no part in the game-play! I could watch these mini sceneries for several minutes, seeing what neat animations they put in there.
my only issue was the massive paywall back when i tried to get into the game and half the races and classes were locked behind dlcs. Maybe i will give it another try now.
@@kaladrios I dont know was pretty long ago and can only remember that half of the options were locked out could be a bit less aswell like i sayed it wasnt anytime recent.
I quit WoW: the burning crusade, to play this game on release. Never once did I regret it. The chance to walk around and play in middle-earth was a big plus. Ended up playing for 4 years. ELDAR-EN server !! Sadly saw it change slowly over time to Free-to-play, with the cash shop.
I dunno if you should see it as "sadly" to be honest. The game has one of the best free to play systems in existence and is actually why it's still around today. The servers would have likely been closed years ago if they didn't make the transition.
First of all, the eagles were huge. They had a wingspan of 30 fathoms (180 feet). To put that in context, a 737 has a wingspan of 117 feet. Eagles can’t fly as high as a pressurized jet. They’d probably have a maximum ceiling of around 10,000 feet. That would make them much more visible than a jet because they’d be flying lower. Eagles are not long-range fliers. They do not store energy. They have to conserve it. They do this by soaring. They climb using updrafts. That means a lot of time flying in circles before gliding to the next updraft. For this same reason, carrying passengers would be a strain on the eagles. Gandalf alludes to this while riding Gwaihir after his rebirth. He asked how far Gwaihir could carry him and Gwaihir said that he was so light, he could carry him as far as he wanted. That implies a limit with a heavier passenger. This will give you an idea of how far they’d have to go. It would take multiple days for them to reach Mordor. Sauron had spies and spent most of his time watching the outside world through his Palantir, the Ithil Stone. The eagles would likely be spotted well before they reached Mordor. Sauron might not know why they were coming but the eagles had always been his enemy so he’d assume it was some sort of attack. He’d have plenty of time to summon the Nazgul on their flying steeds. It doesn’t matter if these things are a match for the eagles. The Nazgul carry poison darts. One dart in the proper eagle and it’s all over. The eagle and the Ring Bearer are down on Mordor with all of Sauron’s forces aware of them. If the eagles do make it past the Nazgul then they’d be chased all the way to Mount Doom and probably all the way in. And that’s why they didn’t take the eagles.
Played on ELDAR too, back in the day. My guild pretty much imploded when SWTOR came out (I'm not blameless, I was a massive BioWare fanboy at the time), but a lot of us were showing a bit of fatigue with certain elements of the endgame. Raid nights were starting later - well, the raiding portion was, anyway - because we were dicking about playing hide and seek in starting areas.
@@SATAN-x7i This game is the one everyone compared to when saying other MMOs wanted to dip toes into the f2p with a store options, it and DDO's 'play to earn' was huge at the time.
Just started this game thanks to this vid and I’m really enjoying it! It’s dated, but very fun and the players have been so helpful and patient with me. Really nice community so far. 😊
we average 40ish yo on lotro so everyone is nice and we all despise like little trolls so whenever one begins his shenanigans everyone ignores him and withing 2-3 days he's just rambling alone to himself. The community acts witha mentality of ''its not just an mmo about middle-earth it IS middle earth''
So this actually got me really into LOTRO. Been having a blast running around and questing. It is just such a comfy game and the quests seem to be very well written.
@@incognitotamizhan9679 I'm only level 17 so far so no. I don't think PVP it is very popular though but players who have played longer than me can provide answer that.
@@MrMattThor There are still a few ranks to be seen around, but the last time I was in either Ettenmorrs or Osgiliath, it was all but deserted. I ran around Osgiliath as an orc and didn't once get hit.
@@incognitotamizhan9679 There is no PvP in Lotro... only monster vs player and nobody gives a shit about... you play Lotro ONLY for the story and the environment because they have recreated middle earth 100% accurately and it's fucking fantastic... I'm a huge LotR nerd myself but I think that make me an even harsher judge of the game and I can tell you that from the point of lore and immersion it's BRILLIANT... absolutely BRILLIANT!!!
It’s such a shame this MMO doesn’t have more traction. It’s such a peaceful and relaxing game with equally challenging content and extra difficulty levels, the people on it are lovely too.
@@somerandom7215 2007 so? SWG from 2003 still looks pretty good in 2022 actually prob looks better then LOTR back then SWG used lag to death on pc's as they were not capable of barely running game I still play to this day
@@HealerMommy1 Your reply has nothing to do with mine lol, i was replying about the game having more traction, nothing about how it looks, lastly if you think a 19 year old game "still looks pretty good" lol just lol.
@@somerandom7215 The cash shop isn't that bad anymore, you can play the game just fine free to play or just with the monthly sub. Your comment is dumb. The game does look pretty good, the environment, shading and lighting holds up decently well for an MMO from that year. You wouldn't know since you havent played it recently, and theyre upgrading the graphics again soon.
Wow, practically a glowing review. I gotta say it does make me tempted to play. Maybe I'm old, but I actually like games with graphics like this. It feels not only nostalgic, but it's become an aesthetic in its own right, I think. Sorta like how pixel-art was due to technical limitations in the past, but is now an aesthetic.
i hope you did try it out! especially now where game content up to level 95 is free for everyone - i mean ive been playing this game for 10 years and my highest character is still only level 65 lol, so you get a LOT of content for not a penny (especially bc as explained in this review, certain actually annoying bits and bobs like the riding trait are pretty easily earned through the deeds in the game)
ya he must be joking because I thought the hobbit explains why they were all busy, except for the one who came to save Gandalf from Saruman in the first LoTR film..
@@samuelhicks8277 AND the Valar (gods) are the ones sending the eagles to help if really needed but if they dont, the eagles must observe for the Valar and nothing more
Or maybe it should be opposite :) you're level 1 character that goes into deathzone and get killed immediately by overpowered enemies hehe :). Jokes aside, why didn't they fly eagles to Mordor? THEY WOULD GET SHOT AT? :) Then add the Sauron's superpowers, controlling weather, shooting lightning, winds etc :) getting spotted by magic far view scrying power of the Eye of Sauron, getting shot by fire of Mount Doom I guess hehe :).
Lord of the Rings Online will be forever one of my favourites MMOs ever. It was my first MMORPG, many years ago - I still have the original CD! I spent many hours playing it for many years during my high school years. I still remember how hard it was to level up, the infamous Moria or the disadvantages you received when you died. I spent hours making screenshots of Rivendell or Rohan on a very old PC that could barely run it in the minimum graphic quality. Even to this day I still come back to it from time to time and I'm extremely glad that it still has a loyal community. It was the choice of that time for those of us who did not play World of Warcraft and I will always remember it with the smile of someone who spent some of his best moments there, with his kinship of friends, talking on TeamSpeak, passing dungeons and even roleplaying (Laurelin for the win!)
Man I remember seeing the Shadows of Angmar + Mines of Moria combo pack box on the shelf at Walmart and convincing my mother to buy it for me. I then later on had to convince her to buy me a sub because I didn't know shit about MMOs or that they usually required a monthly fee to play. I still have that old case around somewhere, so many good memories.
First of all, the eagles were huge. They had a wingspan of 30 fathoms (180 feet). To put that in context, a 737 has a wingspan of 117 feet. Eagles can’t fly as high as a pressurized jet. They’d probably have a maximum ceiling of around 10,000 feet. That would make them much more visible than a jet because they’d be flying lower. Eagles are not long-range fliers. They do not store energy. They have to conserve it. They do this by soaring. They climb using updrafts. That means a lot of time flying in circles before gliding to the next updraft. For this same reason, carrying passengers would be a strain on the eagles. Gandalf alludes to this while riding Gwaihir after his rebirth. He asked how far Gwaihir could carry him and Gwaihir said that he was so light, he could carry him as far as he wanted. That implies a limit with a heavier passenger. This will give you an idea of how far they’d have to go. It would take multiple days for them to reach Mordor. Sauron had spies and spent most of his time watching the outside world through his Palantir, the Ithil Stone. The eagles would likely be spotted well before they reached Mordor. Sauron might not know why they were coming but the eagles had always been his enemy so he’d assume it was some sort of attack. He’d have plenty of time to summon the Nazgul on their flying steeds. It doesn’t matter if these things are a match for the eagles. The Nazgul carry poison darts. One dart in the proper eagle and it’s all over. The eagle and the Ring Bearer are down on Mordor with all of Sauron’s forces aware of them. If the eagles do make it past the Nazgul then they’d be chased all the way to Mount Doom and probably all the way in. And that’s why they didn’t take the eagles.
Still one of the best MMORPGs for me. Great atmosphere, strong storytelling and not boring even after the 10th character. The world is full of life. Full of NPCs going about their daily routine. I agree with you. New players should NOT use the level boost. I've been playing since the beta and have never used the boost. A top feature for me is that you earn the ingame currency through quests. I never liked the PVP mode and don't use it. In my opinion, LOTRO is not a game for PvP
This has been my main MMO since I think 2014/5. I remember being a broke teen wanting to get the Moria expansion from the in-game shop, so I ended up making a bunch of new characters to repeatedly do every deed in Ered Luin until I had enough TP to get it. Good times
I did the same thing with the expansion Rise of Isengard...it felt awesome having earned 2,995 LOTRO points to purchase it just from playing the game, which is a blast anyway.
I did that too to unlock some zones. I remember going to micro center and getting a physical copy of mines of moria and getting a free month of membership with it too
I remember farming in the barrow downs, and then playing a char through the intro, feeding it with reputation items for Bree and the Shire, deleting, next char etc.... because Helms Deep was reduced by 50% in the store and I had to earn more than a thousand lotro points within a week. Think I might be one of those to blame for the decision to raise the min level for those reputation items oops
LOTRO is criminally underrated. It was one of the best MMOs ever but unfortunately it’s not as fun to play without a busy server and other players. It was super fun when it first started (I was a beta tester). The environment of Middle Earth is amazing and huge. Not sure how it is now.
Leave 8 so far on day 3 of playing in 2023. It’s fairly empty. I grouped with one player so far and he would not chat back. Maybe it gets better as you level
I just started to play this gem again like 2-3 days ago. I played a lot of MMOs but somehow I always find my way back to this game. I think the overall design of the world is just excellent and the best I have come across so far. Besides that the classes are all very unique and there is so much content around.
The best experience in this game is the community - spent multiple evenings just hanging out in front of the Inn in Bree, roleplaying in a crowd of players listening to a dwarven live-band on stage playing music...
That somehow reminds me of a scene when I was dropping by at Quark's bar in Star Trek Online to get rid of some event tokens and ended up somehow roped into a roleplaying conversation due to my character's uniform and background story seemingly looking like I was a roleplayer as well. A rare moment where a loner like me got a glimpse upon the multiplayer aspect.^^
Another really cool part of the game you can experience is the music system. You can buy instruments from vendors, and these can be used as weapons by bards. However, if you type /music, and you will enter music mode. You can press the number keys for notes, and press shift for higher octave and ctrl for lower octave. You can also download premade files from other players, get a group into music mode, and have the characters play premade music in a band. This aspect gives instruments another use other than a single use tool for a one-off class, and is a lot of fun to play around with and socialize with.
LotRO captures the feeling of the world of Middle-Earth exceptionally well; it's not 100% perfect lore-wise(the high elf intro mission starts off with some really questionable things, like any number of spiders being able to drive off a Nazgul, or Sauron having any kind of Black Powder at all), but the environments and overall feeling is sound, and doesn't feel out of place for Tolkien's work. They captured the spirit really well. The gameplay has always been a struggle for me; it's a big world, but there's a lot of space where not a lot happens. I often find myself struggling to have fun, which is never something you want. Combat is extremely clunky. Getting back into it and playing a Brawler with my family has been fun, but trying to play by myself has already let me start to feel a bit empty. It's best when you have a big group doing challenging missions, but a group doing solo missions leads to effortless cakewalks. Great casual game if you want to just relax in the Shire or Bree, or get some good character interactions, but the game has always been a struggle. I look forward to seeing what you think! *Yes, for a stealth mission against winged Nazgul, who are some of the most powerful sorcerers in Middle-Earth's History, along with Sauron himself, who **is** probably the most powerful sorcerer in Middle-Earth's History, you definitely want gigantic birds. Well done. Have a cookie. Anyone want to see what it would be like if a Great Eagle succumbed to the Ring, 'cause I certainly don't.*
This video reminded me this game existed, and I got to playing again. And it’s been so much fun, I forgot just how expansive and filled this world is with things to do. Sometimes it can almost be overwhelming. I do want to share my favorite story though that I experienced. There is an elf who’s planning to leave for the Grey Havens, as all elves eventually do. And he’s saying goodbye to the people he knows. A family of humans. However they have such trouble communicating with one another, that it goes poorly, and the elf seeks to rebuild the friendship before he leaves. I won’t spoil the rest of the story, but it’s just such a great quest line. And the game is filled with these moments.
First of all, the eagles were huge. They had a wingspan of 30 fathoms (180 feet). To put that in context, a 737 has a wingspan of 117 feet. Eagles can’t fly as high as a pressurized jet. They’d probably have a maximum ceiling of around 10,000 feet. That would make them much more visible than a jet because they’d be flying lower. Eagles are not long-range fliers. They do not store energy. They have to conserve it. They do this by soaring. They climb using updrafts. That means a lot of time flying in circles before gliding to the next updraft. For this same reason, carrying passengers would be a strain on the eagles. Gandalf alludes to this while riding Gwaihir after his rebirth. He asked how far Gwaihir could carry him and Gwaihir said that he was so light, he could carry him as far as he wanted. That implies a limit with a heavier passenger. This will give you an idea of how far they’d have to go. It would take multiple days for them to reach Mordor. Sauron had spies and spent most of his time watching the outside world through his Palantir, the Ithil Stone. The eagles would likely be spotted well before they reached Mordor. Sauron might not know why they were coming but the eagles had always been his enemy so he’d assume it was some sort of attack. He’d have plenty of time to summon the Nazgul on their flying steeds. It doesn’t matter if these things are a match for the eagles. The Nazgul carry poison darts. One dart in the proper eagle and it’s all over. The eagle and the Ring Bearer are down on Mordor with all of Sauron’s forces aware of them. If the eagles do make it past the Nazgul then they’d be chased all the way to Mount Doom and probably all the way in. And that’s why they didn’t take the eagles.
Glad you enjoyed this Josh. I remember many an hour from this game travelling around and playing music for people using the mod and in game items that let you do this and just generally having a blast RPing with people. It's a far different feel and experience from any other MMORPG I ever played.
This was the first modern MMO I got deeply invested in back in 2007 when it came out. I still think it's one of the best ever made. I love the unique classes and the way they bring across the lore and the world. Not perfect but I still go back and play it every so often as I have a well used lifetime sub. Glad he seems to have given it a fair mostly positive review.
I really liked the small-town feeling of this game. You aren’t the ultimate hero of Middle-Earth. You are just an simple man making your way through the Galaxy. Additionally, it feels like the closest thing to a DAO sequel.
Exactly the review this game deserves. I've been playing it off and on since just before Moria came out, and I routinely return to it when I want something relaxing. The world, in my opinion, is unmatched by any other MMO I've played. As someone who has read the source material for decades I remember the sense of awe I felt when I first saw Weathertop in the Lone-Lands. You can have a rewarding experience just playing the Epic quest-line, and the original quest line (ending in Angmar) is still one of my favorite story-arcs in a game.
@@cj5564 That's a good one too, but I hated that they kind of got dropped as I recall in the follow-up book and you never heard from them again. Gondor being pretty awesome made up for it a little :)
My family has played this game since release, my brother and I being tiny tots when it first came out, was a bonding thing we did with out mom, allot of good memories. My mom still plays it till this day, while my bro and i only revisit it every once in awhile. One of my favorite bits was the crafting, probably actually earned over half my levels that way. It's a great game to just take it easy, with the scenery and soundtrack. Wish the systems hadn't been so dumbed down though, makes later game a bit to easy...
Lovely review! Btw after your level boost you were teleported to the house of Beorn, the skinchanger from The Hobbit. Also i think the riding skill in the shop is kind of meant as a tutorial moment. You gotta buy it for 95 LOTRO points, which is an amount you can easily farm by doing deeds in the starter area. This way you learn why completing Deeds is important while the ability to ride a horse is gated until you have completed a large part of the starting zone. I definitely agree with your criticisms of the cash shop, but i don't think the riding skill is the worst offender.
Theres also the option to subscribe (become a VIP) and do the Lv20 quest. Although, subbing also grants you 500 Points, which you could use to buy the Riding skill earlier. It really isn't that predatory imo. Also, I think he missed it, but right now, their giving away the Riding skill (once to Free players, and twice for VIP).
I've played this game since beta back in 2007. I bought 2 lifetime accounts and play both. I have tried many other MMO's, none ever stuck except this one. I used to call myself a ''gamer'' but I've learned I'm just a Lotro'r. The world building is astounding! So many times my breath has been taken away at actually standing in some special spot. Rohan, Gondor, battles on horseback, music system, Ithilian, Minas Tirith, Shire, Isengard, Grey Company, the list is never ending, even after that walk into Mordor! I've went thru so many different phases of gameplay, from heavy raiding, solo play, musical play, roleplay, house decorating play, streaming play, to logging in just to go wander around some place
one of the most immersive games I've ever played. In my student years, I often used to sit under the willow at my in-game house at night and fishing (trying to catch a big fish to hang over my bed, kekw), or climb some ruins, or sit in a tavern in Bree and drink ale listening to the music and the crackling of the fireplace. Beautiful time. Other players on locations are rare, the experience is very single-player, but this contributes to even greater immersion. A very oldschool, chill and enjoyable game that gives a great opportunity to feel like a simple adventurer in a big fantasy world.
They must have made a lot of improvements lately, I remember hearing you comment a few times in other games in this series that they were better than lotr online because they at least launched and let you play. It's nice to see this though, that it's pretty relaxed and let's you take in the world around you. It's not in your face with constant explosions and big flashy graphics that try to cause you to have ADHD and then keep your attention like a desperate ex you broke up with for stalking you. Glad you had a good time and shared it with us :)
![[DRAGON BALL LEGENDS REVEALS ＆ STUFF] LEGENDS FESTIVAL 2024 Special Edition Part 1](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/mV5bGIswTtQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I think my favorite part of this game is a quest for the Guardian (tank) class. You get sent to talk to Samwise in Rivendell because someone heard he is a great guardian. He's confused when you talk to him saying they must have misheard him when he said he was a GARDENER. He then gives you gardening tips. But the tips are actually sound advice for being a tank in the game. "Some plants can handle sunlight. Some need protection from it. "It's all about how well you watch the health of your plants and how effectively you respond to their changing conditions: by watering them, changing the amount of sunlight they receive, or re-spacing their neighbours. A guardian might learn a thing or two from a gardener, if you ask me!'" it's a cute little wink and a nod.
Oh that's incredibly precious.
If Tolkien himself designed a game, I very well like to believe he'd include exactly that scenario in it.
I’d like to imagine Tolkien himself having a chuckle while playing through that scenario. It sounds absolutely charming.
Shelob might argue that Sam is more of a dps character
@@dadmode8319 More of a combo I'd say. He was grabbing aggro off Frodo who had been CCed.
I also love the fact that by using morale as a "life bar", they justify in universe how Captains and Minstrels can heal other party members or how the mere presence of a black rider can lower your maximum life while they are around.
Absolutely agreed, its something I really love as a replacement for HP. Especially in demoralising opponents, taking them closer to dropping out of the fight.
Or how you can come back to "life" over and over and over.
This was definitely one of my favorite details in the game's mechanics. It provided a good explanation for a lot of things that other MMOs are just like, "you took damage because this enemy screamed really loud" or something. The hope/dread system was very unique too, especially since they used it as a content locking system where you needed a minimum hope to do some endgame content or your character would just spend the entire time cowering in fear and your morale bar would be completely red.
The effects of the dread (HP reduction) Black Riders and other evil creatures cause is great, too. Screen getting darker and darker until eventually the minimap is replaced with the Eye of Sauron.
Yeah dude this game has a phenomenal amount of details and interesting mechanics that other games don't. They also dont have to deal with the bullshit paradox of people dying over n over and justifying it somehow. You just retreat when youre out of morale instead of dying.
This game doesnt get nearly enough attention and tbh... It doesn't feel like JSH did the game justice, theres SO much more to it and he should have played it more than the typical 8 hours to be more fair.
I spent hundreds of hours playing this in highschool with my grandpa, he'd pick me up from school and we'd play for hours questing in a Duo, excellent fun. I'm sure he's playing it right now
You should play with him
Yeah go play with your grandpa.
@@aelix56 😏
That's so wholesome.
dude, i might give a leg to get the chance...
you did yourself dirty not starting as a hobbit in the shire, it has some of the most immersive, smile-inducing storytelling and atmosphere I've ever seen in an MMO. They honestly NAILED the shire.
Haha I hate the shire it's the worst part of the game for me. There's only so many quests I can take of running 10 minutes to go press one button no matter how immersive or fun the writing, especially when it's running between the same two places on a route you've already seen
@@biscuit715 yeah, on replays or trying to do everything in that area it's a pain in the ass.
But, because of how slow paced it is, it's great for first timers since you can learn without being rushed. It even has 2 deeds for teaching you how to handle stealth missions. Note I said "first timers" though.
Every so often I create a new Hobbit character just so I can play the Shire again. I just wish it was as fun as it was 10 years ago when it was packed with new players and had tons of fellowship quests to play.
Its the story telling that makes the shire fun like he said. Also, if you played MMORPGs long enough the function of the quests itself always get boring. A lot of the enjoyment of this game imo is if you are actually a big fan of the actual LOTR literature and take the time to read everything and watch what the NPCs say. The shire is spot on.
I know this game is old, but it is, to date, the best representation of Middle Earth ever done. The world building is fantastic. The way the story interweaves with the events in the books (especially with the epic quests, a.k.a. the main story quests) is very well done. The first time you ride into Rivendell, or you stand on Weathertop, or you bump into the trolls that were turned into stone in The Hobbit, feel truly special. There is a lot of attention to details from the books. Just to be able to explorer Middle Earth, this is already a game worth playing. Don't rush to the end-game, take your time and smell the flowers.
Indeed! I highly recommend anyone passionate about the LOTR universe to check it out and immerse themselves into the places and lore.
And pick some flowers too! *Vietnam style flashbacks of Flower Picking in Ithilien*
@@harvain731 u a easterling or an orc?
@@derth9230 Haha, neither :P
Ardacraft in Minecraft is the best representation in my opinion. It doesn't have any quests, but the world is built in a 1:1 scale and is built by the words of the books and by drawings that Tolkien himself made. It's a great mod for Minecraft on PC if you have it.
I played this right after reading the lotr books and had much more appreciation for this game than I think I would have if I hadn't
The same thing happens in other directions too. After playing the game and experiencing so much of the world, it really made me enjoy and appreciate the films more than I already do--and I already thought those films are a masterpiece of the genre.
When they talk about locations, artifacts, songs & legends, I know exactly what those things are, I had actually been there and done that.
That's how I feel. I suppose one can compare this game and understanding of Middle Earth with the experience of being a rocket scientist and playing Kerbal Space Program, in a light-hearted way. Your understanding of the subject simply grows so much from the game, that it beggars belief!
Playing the game alongside reading the books was one of my favourite gaming experiences ever.
First of all, the eagles were huge. They had a wingspan of 30 fathoms (180 feet). To put that in context, a 737 has a wingspan of 117 feet.
Eagles can’t fly as high as a pressurized jet. They’d probably have a maximum ceiling of around 10,000 feet. That would make them much more visible than a jet because they’d be flying lower.
Eagles are not long-range fliers. They do not store energy. They have to conserve it. They do this by soaring. They climb using updrafts. That means a lot of time flying in circles before gliding to the next updraft.
For this same reason, carrying passengers would be a strain on the eagles. Gandalf alludes to this while riding Gwaihir after his rebirth. He asked how far Gwaihir could carry him and Gwaihir said that he was so light, he could carry him as far as he wanted. That implies a limit with a heavier passenger.
This will give you an idea of how far they’d have to go. It would take multiple days for them to reach Mordor.
Sauron had spies and spent most of his time watching the outside world through his Palantir, the Ithil Stone. The eagles would likely be spotted well before they reached Mordor. Sauron might not know why they were coming but the eagles had always been his enemy so he’d assume it was some sort of attack. He’d have plenty of time to summon the Nazgul on their flying steeds.
It doesn’t matter if these things are a match for the eagles. The Nazgul carry poison darts. One dart in the proper eagle and it’s all over. The eagle and the Ring Bearer are down on Mordor with all of Sauron’s forces aware of them.
If the eagles do make it past the Nazgul then they’d be chased all the way to Mount Doom and probably all the way in.
And that’s why they didn’t take the eagles.
Same. Re-reading the books at the same time as going through the epic quest moments and interacting with the fellowship really kept my enthusiasm for levelling high. Starting to flag a bit now, so it's probably time to re-watch the movies...
My favorite part of LotRO was the ability to play musical instruments and run scripted music. Plenty of people who'd form multi-member "bands" with coordinated music files. It was pretty awesome.
This was literally all I did when I played many years ago. I was in a band with some other middle and high schoolers, and we would just sit around in one of the big towns and play music most days after school. I still remember my flute-playing hobbit burglar like it was yesterday.
There are often still people playing in bands on the weekends in high traffic areas like Bree. Very fun
Sounds like FF14
@@Carpatouille I just wish FF14 didn't try to scare people away from playing music. Lotro doesn't care what you play and as far as I know, nobody has ever got in trouble for playing known songs in a game. It just seems weird to me. I wish more popular games had music systems. GW2's isn't very good and just needs a rework. Mabinogi and Archeage music systems were pretty much made by the same people, but the games themselves didn't do so well in the west anyway.
I heard someone playing Junkyard Dog last time I played. It was so cool
Small note for anyone watching recently: the early game, levels 1-32, have been overhauled along with many other aspects.
They also fixed the Riding problem, kind of; they added a side quest that you will find during the main quest that introduces the shop, giving you enough LOTRO points to purchase the riding skill (which is only 20 P now,) and that is an account wide effect.
I heard about the update which led me to try it out and boy are they working to try and keep the game alive, it isn't perfect but it is enjoyable; even as a free player.
Thankfully I love this game, and even if it turns out to be the worst MMO ever, I will still love it.
Honestly, if you're watching Josh Strife Hayes criticize your favorite MMO, I think this is the exact mindset you should be in. Don't think you can't like something because someone else hates it!
@@quixotix9540 If you love something, you must be willing to criticize and accept criticism so it may grow. Ive seen too many boot licking Gamers, with a capital G, who gets WAY too defensive
@@defrte exactly! It’s fine to like a flawed game.
I didn't play it too long but what I played of it was great.
Agreed. The running animations and graphics are meh (except for a few really beautiful scenes) but I do think the gameplay is decent. And they did a really good job trying to recreate middle earth both in scale and lore.
This game had one of the most immersive worldscapes ever, thanks in large part to its source material but also in its game design. The feeling you get when you walk into The Shire, or Imladris, or Moria, or Lothlorien, or Forochel, or Evendim... it was magical.
Agreed, and a big component to this for me is enemy placement. Too many MMOs have just groups of enemies littered everywhere, just waiting around for people to aggro, to the point that they outnumber NPCs hundreds, even thousands to one. It obliterates my feelings of immersion. LotRO has vast mostly empty landscapes, and weird as it may be, it makes the game so much more enjoyable.
Still is. Best MMO world ever even with these graphics
I grew up playing this game, was around 12 when I started and absolutely loved it. I still remember when I went to Forochel and saw the northern lights in the sky and was amazed at how beautiful it was. Immersion is fantastic in this game.
Try the Lord of the Rings MUD
The game is still active
I'm sorry but it has to be said: The graphics in this MMO give me warm fuzzy feelings.
Could all be nostalgia but i genuinely don't mind simple graphics like this.
It definitely still looks good to me, I just hate actually playing it.
Yep, I just started playing it and I think the graphics are very charming :) I love it
@@ryanroberts714 Try hardcore classic wow. Its actually a really fun way to play the game.
Same. If games play well graphics for me aren’t important.
As a graphics programmer, there's absolutely NOTHING simple about the graphics here. Gamers might find this shit simple but achieving this kind of image requires a lot of technical knowledge and 1000s of hours of tedious programming
Something that really caught my eye from this video is how Josh is simply travelling around the world without being attacked by 30 thousand mobs who will dismount you and follow you to ends of the Earth
Cough guild wars 2 cough (love it but Jesus Christ)
@@knightsolaire5351dam pocket raptors.
That's why i love questing over level..so i can ride around freely and attack enemies only when i want it.
@@knightsolaire5351 thats wow not gw2. Heck mobs got less aggro range to. Also gw1 got far worse aggro then all of them and yosh loved that game.
@@whatwhatever5727 nah, it’s GW2. Since you’ll never be able to outlevel something to not aggro it even in base game zones you might get slapped off your mount lmao
The map in this game is the best in any MMO ever. You can walk from the Shire to Moria without hitting a single loading screen. My cousin and I used to try to make the journey as level 1 chickens after being transformed in an early shire quest. Love this game
oh wow and they said thats a main reason why they couldnt keep FFXIV 1.0
I could care less if they broke the world up into hard zones but just kept the original graphics because 2.0 just turned that game into WoW graphics for me whereas 1.0 graphics were freaking immaculate in every way, especially characters but the world just as much
With the expansion this month, you can now walk from Erid Luin all the way to Minas Tirith and then the Black Gates!
@@zukakog nah thers a loading at the gap of rohan, moria, and between misty mountains and vales of anduin so basically the loading is the middle of middle earth lol
I used to walk on many journeys. Running all the time in MMO's ruins the experience, IMO. Used have my horse walk a lot, too.
@@samuelhicks8277 The only thing 1.0 had better than 2.0 was shaders. Everything else from texture to effects was surpassed when heavensward came out.
Mechanical drawbacks aside, this is easily one of the most charming MMORPG games ever created.
20:31 During the tutorial missions, if you talk to the other ranger in the hunting lodge (sitting in the first room, next to the bedroll), you start a dream sequence quest in which Galadriel tells you that you're special. That she sees your fate being tied to Middle Earth, and you get a brief look at some of the other dangers going on at approximately the same time. Like Gandalf fighting the Balrog. Or Wormtongue poisoning King Theoden's mind.
Basically, you're special, in that you have important tasks ahead of you. But not quite Ringbearer or Fellowship special. Just, needed.
Yeah I'm sad he missed that
@Anonymous Cheese One of the reasons why I often prefer first generation MMORPGs, like EverQuest, is that you're literally just a nobody in the world, and it's entirely up to you to decide what you do, how far you push it, what zones to go to, and so on. Like sure, there are quests. But you can ignore them if you'd like, and still hit max level. (This may have changed somewhat in the more recent expansions. I'm just speaking traditionally.)
So yeah, I get it. I'd personally prefer some modern game design and quality of life changes, but that traditional MMORPG "go out and do what you want" leveling experience.
@Anonymous Cheese You're really not "the chosen one" in LoTRO, but you are important to the story which is I guess what you mean.
You're slightly less important than the fellowship, way more important than random Gondorian soldier #37.
@@OfficialFedHater Great name by the way. Very keyed.
@Anonymous Cheese TVTropes has a thing called "tropes are not bad." Essentially, that even tired, cliched tropes can be done well, even the dreaded Mary Sue. Case in point, FFXIV handles "the chosen one" better than most. At first, you're just an Adventurer. But its revealed you're one of a select (ie rare, but not the only one) few who have a "blessing" that protects you from a very specific form of mind-control, essential in fighting the major enemies of the main story, whose very presence can brainwash a normal person. That's it.
Several expansions later, it gets a bit subverted, when you're revealed to be the reincarnation of someone from a long long time ago, but that person wasn't a chosen one or a messiah, either: they were the Archetypal Adventurer: going to new places, meeting new people, and helping out where needed. It's meant to give you a connection to events long past, rather than make you a divinely chosen savior, or superhero.
There's a reason you're not the chosen one: _that_ guy is going across the whole land with the One Ring. You're just there to help defeat all the bad stuff that keeps popping up after he leaves with his buddies.
No for real, if you like either the books or movies then please play this. Even if it's an MMO they REALLY did their research when mentioning things like the history of Middle-earth in a given quest, and the tone is spot-on.
Yeah, we literally play as a background character doing what we can to combat the little evils that sprang up in Mordor's shadow and it's excellent.
What about the orc part? It's pvp really dead, or he just had bad luck?
world building is bad and they did no research at all. I could make a better game in 24 hours.
@@GreedyDrunk92 done
@@MichaelEllchuk Have you finished it yet? You must have something AMAZING by now.
I think this is the first video of your "worst mmo" series that actually motivated me to play a new game. On my next day off, I will try this out. Thank you for this!
This is probably one of the only games in this series that turned out to be a positive review tbh, LOTRO really changed Josh's opinion.
@@strider8662 Oy! He gave a very positive review to the original Guild Wars series too, my favorite games of all time :)
@@strider8662 Warframe was also very positive, but its flaws very much still exist
I remember playing LOTRO a ton when I was a kid, my dad had an account he let me play on.
I played this for several years on PC. Had a lot of fun. If it ever comes to consoles I'd probably start playing again.
I feel so nerdy admitting this, but during the book fairs I always grabbed the fantasy stuff and comics and just read them all weekend long. This game came out right after I played Baldurs Gate and Planescape Torment (My PC couldn't run many games at the time so I opted to play old school stuff), and a few other MMO’S. I remember playing it and feeling so immersed and really honestly felt so giddy doing a slow-ish mmo game as opposed to the more faster paced, anime garbage floating around. I felt like I was living out one of those epic books I read, and being in a new world. I know it's not that great compared to today, and I'm sure as a kid my feelings were amplified, but man, I never felt more calm than when I was playing this game, reading through everything, and killing some baddies, lagging cuz my computer couldn't keep up, and admiring the ambience of the world and how beautiful it was, even at 10 FPS LOL.
Feeling nerdy posting something in the comment section of a MMO video game review on the internet. Irony sensors are over 9000.
I feel this! :D My laptop barely could handle Bree when I first started but I was so captivated by the story and atmosphere, I couln't be stopped.
Was calling it anime garbage really called for? I had fun with that stuff as a kid with my friends just fine
I had the same blissful feeling when I started playing like 3-4 years ago, to this day Lotro is my little comfort, no other game makes me this relaxed, especially since there is a lot content in the game for a strictly casual player.
@@FeiFongWang He seems to be a huge fan of Lotr and western fantasy in general so his ass probably implodes any time he sees even a pixel that reminds him of anime.
Hey Josh! I was on the writing team for this adventure, I appreciate you taking notice of the work we put in. If anyone has any questions about the development process, I'll answer what I can.
No questions, just a thank you. I started playing during beta (and yes, the lifetime account that came with it for little buck was well spent money). I always loved how everything was so cleverly designed to tell interesting stories beside the main book's story while always staying faithful to the original lore. Everything felt as it really could happen in Middle Earth besides the main story unfolding, still being related to the bigger picture. In addition to that, I always loved that everything somehow hinted at the main story while still seeming to be totally unrelated and original.
The writing in this game is awesome, I love the attention to details and the continuity . you guys did a great job
I want to say: I played the beginning of this game over and over again. I love it.
Just, why has it been dumbed down so much difficulty wise?
I have a question: how did you guys handle adding new stuff to the world of Middle Earth, but avoiding major conflicts with established canon? What was the process and guidelines like, what were the challenges and were there any employees specifically assigned to preventing inconsistencies?
I was an early player of this and always appreciated the writing. Felt true to the original story in many ways. In all that, thanks goes to you and your colleagues for many hours of fun (in good times in my life and bad- including a long stint in and out of the hospital).
Your pet does fight with you, but you have him in passive mode. That pet bar under your text box is how you control him and change his stance to guard or aggro, both of which will let him auto attack. He also have skills that you can use and each pet offers a passive bonus. Also, many of the issues presented here - especially the issue with riding - have been corrected. You now get a quest in Archet that just gives you riding and a (fairly slow) mount. You also never need to keep the cosmetics in your inventory. Once they're equipped, you can stuff them in your vault keep the visual. As for PvMP, some servers really don't bother with it, others are heavily invested in it. As soon as you finish the tutorial area, if you are interested in PvMP, ask in World chat if it's popular on that server. Not ideal, but I don't know of a better way to figure it out.
You might've been away when this happened, but aggressive was deactivated for pets. Probably to stop multibox botting pet classes being left unattended to farm.
@@themadmallard Since when? I stopped playing after gwath t4 and back then the pets could still be put on aggressive?
@@phank.s.4052 I think earlier this year 23
My entire family plays this game, so I am fairly blinded by it's flaws other than monetisation and generally unpolished early stuff, and with that context I expect this video will be useful and quite eye-opening.
Was it?
@@NDLV it was so eye-opening that he went blind afterwards hence no reply ;( poor guy
First of all, the eagles were huge. They had a wingspan of 30 fathoms (180 feet). To put that in context, a 737 has a wingspan of 117 feet.
Eagles can’t fly as high as a pressurized jet. They’d probably have a maximum ceiling of around 10,000 feet. That would make them much more visible than a jet because they’d be flying lower.
Eagles are not long-range fliers. They do not store energy. They have to conserve it. They do this by soaring. They climb using updrafts. That means a lot of time flying in circles before gliding to the next updraft.
For this same reason, carrying passengers would be a strain on the eagles. Gandalf alludes to this while riding Gwaihir after his rebirth. He asked how far Gwaihir could carry him and Gwaihir said that he was so light, he could carry him as far as he wanted. That implies a limit with a heavier passenger.
This will give you an idea of how far they’d have to go. It would take multiple days for them to reach Mordor.
Sauron had spies and spent most of his time watching the outside world through his Palantir, the Ithil Stone. The eagles would likely be spotted well before they reached Mordor. Sauron might not know why they were coming but the eagles had always been his enemy so he’d assume it was some sort of attack. He’d have plenty of time to summon the Nazgul on their flying steeds.
It doesn’t matter if these things are a match for the eagles. The Nazgul carry poison darts. One dart in the proper eagle and it’s all over. The eagle and the Ring Bearer are down on Mordor with all of Sauron’s forces aware of them.
If the eagles do make it past the Nazgul then they’d be chased all the way to Mount Doom and probably all the way in.
And that’s why they didn’t take the eagles.
@@NDLV Well now I know what happens if you use the cash shop and what the other races opening quests are so yeah.
@@charziz6693 Tell us about how you went blind for 12 hours.
25:45 - The Herald does fight for you, but you need to either use the "pet attack" skill (available in that mini skillbar under the chat box, but you can move it to your main bar) or set the pet mode to aggressive or guard (on the same skilbar). I do agree, however, that this should be explained or set by default. Or both, to be honest.
The herald is useful - he has some of "save my bacon" options, like taunting an enemy, stunning an enemy or sacrificing some of his morale to heal yours.
And later on you can equip items that change the herald's appearance and skillset (people typically go for an archer that pelts enemies from a distance, while you tank... which isn't surprising, since the Captain class is essentialy *THE* tank, despite being listed as a support class).
I've never really liked the archer herald all that much. I prefer the melee one, even though I'm not a fan of him carrying the banner around. The archer's damage just feels really inconsistent and meh. My captain is only 60th though, so maybe the archer gets better at higher levels.
The main use of a captain's heralds is the buffs you get if you're near them, anyway. The extra fighting can help, sure, especially when solo, but they will never be a powerhouse.
my problem with LOTRO is is that it became completely bloated with mechanics over time. the legendary grind was a pain .
i still love the game for just "being in it", nothing quite like riding your horse from the shire to rivendell and running into all the little bits and pieces of lore
I appreciated the complete rehaul of the legendary item system, the previous one was such a pain.
I've lost over 4k hours in this game, and although I don't play it all that often any more, revisiting this game recently has been a blast. I go back to rohan all the time because it has some of the best music in all gaming. It makes me so happy to hear the praise people are giving it
The game is super bloated and so are the tutorials and menus but once you actually get going it’s not bad.
The UI is terrible and needs a high resolution update. For real
@@d3fmetal Not really
@@nathanhoward4679 my burglar was created on day 1 of lotro but i just cant get into it anymore. as i said, i like just hanging around but not really motivated to lvl up to max, the combat seems really dated at times
You really nailed one of the things I liked about this game ten years ago. You're not The Chosen One who who is destined to destroy the One Ring and become King of Gondor, you're some schlub who's kind of helping the people who are destined to do that, so if you decide "nah, sorry lady, I'm not gonna help you kill some spiders" it's not like Aragorn suddenly got arachnophobia or something. You get to be the Hero of Another Story, but you also get to be true to yourself in the process, which is a pretty tricky balancing act to pull off when the overall plot of the story is as well known as this one is. Also, you don't seem to have seen it, but periodically the game DOES have you play as one of the characters from the book (often but not always one only mentioned in passing) for a limited time, usually about five or ten minutes, where your goal is to do as well as those characters did in the story. For example, there's a Chamber of Mazarbul instance where the victory condition is not to "win" and kill/drive off the orcs (because that's not canonically what happened), but to avoid being overrun completely long enough for a story beat to happen. There's one that takes place beside Anduin with you playing Boromir, that offers a brilliantly hilarious insight into Boromir's personality in the form of the overhead names shown for the rest of the Fellowship (the only ones who get their actual names are Frodo and Aragorn; Sam, for example, is "Frodo's Servant").
I like it when MMOs do that. You can't have every single of thousands of players be the chosen one. That just doesn't work.
Some go around it by having some typical prophecy that the chosen one will fulfill, but since nobody knows who the one is, everyone goes out and gives it a try. (Even Morrowind does that. You aren't the Nerevarine, but you can become the Nerevarine by doing things the reborn hero is supposed to do)
Some don't have that at all and just have the player be someone who decides to do stuff. (So every player is just some random dude who happens to rub shoulders with the big guys)
Some have that "chosen juice" be widespread. You aren't the super special guy, you are just regular special. And there are many more like that. (Like the light in Destiny)
I'm good with the average dude not a chosen one thing, however what I hate is when a game starts facing you off at epic world stuff, but then tries to force the narrative that you're still no one important. Either by just ignoring what you've done, or making you do all the heavy lifting to weaken the enemy like a pokemon so the main hero npc's can rush in and have a sailor moon cutscene and defeat the bad guy.
Hearing you praise the music in this game made me unbelievably happy, it truly is an incredible work of art, both in quantity and quality! Great review, I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Don't forget the player made music.. sometimes there are live concerts at the prancing pony or in some of the housing settlements
Would you recommend one playing this game if they are not really into the LOTR franchise?
@@arthas8121 No. And I've been playing for eight years. If you're not much into LOTR, I can only recommend it as a "vacation MMO", where you can take a break from the hardcore raiding or PvP and relax.
I read your comment as he said it... and 100% accurate
Lmfao kids are happy good music lolzz big L
I played this game as a hobbit cook. I was low level, maybe less than 5, I can't remember, but I had nearly end game quality recipes I could make thanks to a vary difficult assisted run up to weathertop to get a recipe. I made food for other people to use for adventure and enjoyed my brief time in middle earth immensely. I've also played a level 60 fisher in world of warcraft, back when 60 was the cap, because on a 56k modem I couldn't do raids. I don't honestly understand why I play games sometimes.
Because they're fun and entertaining. If you enjoy fishing then go enjoy fishing in an MMO. You don't have to engage in the endgame content to enjoy MMOs.
's valid to enjoy providing services for other players, and mmos are probably the best place to do it
not quite the same, but i used to play minecraft on xbox with friends. never had any good build ideas, but i was always able to get housing, crafting, mines, farms, and supplies up and running for everyone else super quick, and that was where i found my fun. sounds like you did that but to a lot more people's benefit
@@manarager3413 he got to level 60 and maxed out fishing, that’s pretty much end game content
Sam we need to cook
these are great reasons to play games. unlike you, most players just grinding like crazy not having fun at all
This was exactly the review this game deserved. A bit repetitive and tedious, a lot of quests where you just go to a place and push a button or kill an orc… But just such a nice world to exist in. I have so many amazing memories from this game. There’s a quest line where you rebuild a village and can see it start to get repaired as you complete quests. There’s a quest line in the shire where you control a chicken and navigate past dangerous mobs to go all the way to Rivendell. There’s festivals and silly little wholesome things and… Everything about this games core experience is just pleasant. It’s easily the most relaxing MMO I’ve ever played. I love this game to bits, even though all the reasons I love it are why it will never top the charts as an MMO. This is one of those games that has found a niche and perfected it.
in World Of Warcraft there is also a quest where you have to escort a chicken to safety :D
I would say it is a LOT repetitive, boring and tedious. It is a nightmare on high end systems as they don't even have scalable UI. [At least the last time i played a few years ago. ]The lag for some of the story quests in gondor were so bad i was getting 2 frames with a GTX 1080, i7-6850k 32gigs of ram. This was top on the line when i purchased them and the game was old then. The lag in the game can make things unplayable.
Look I am not trying to say that there is no reason to like the game but there is a reason why this game bleeds players. Oh and I have a lifetime membership so i can play for free with most expansions paid for as I get 500 coins per month. So I have every reason to play but so much of the game is a lesson in frustration. I would rather play a single player game in co-op multiplayer than lotro.
If people can enjoy the game and make the experience pleasant then they should play it. I just found the game too much of a grind and the grinds get worse as you level. Is there anything worse than the legendary weapon grind? And the quality of life issues like lag, tiny UI on ultra high resolutions.
@@blazekush174 best quest ever that's what i call game design
It's the only MMO I don't turn off the music. The music is amazing in this game. Sometimes I just zoom into first person and run through fields in the shire with the music up. It's so relaxing.
@@AIRGEDOK give me or sell me your account then if you cant play it.
The quest to learn riding is how they teach you to use the shop, it literally covers the cost of buying the riding skill from the store. The quest is called A Little Extra Never Hurt and each starting zone has it as far as I'm aware.
That wasn't the case when Josh made this video, though they implemented this a short while after. I guess that the Devs took notice!
I haven't seen it.
I think it's lvl 20 when you get your first free mount then you can either farm reputation to get the special mounts from specific areas, or you can do the many festival events to get free mounts. Super fun game, and by far the best MMO around. It's secretly better than WOW lol
Previously they expected you to have done deeds to unlock the riding skill. Before the free update, getting VIP for one month only was the way to play this game, and I argue it still is just because of how much it unlocks for your character permanently, but you get a lot of content for free so you get the choice to make it, and once you've done that the bonuses are mostly permanent outside of a few minor things.
This video actually made me start playing this game. Finally I get to live my dream of being a hobbit! I've played for like 15 hours and I'm still just chilling doing incredibly low-stakes side quests in the Shire, an extremely chill and relaxing MMO, with absolutely fantastic ambience and tone.
exactly man, this game is all about just taking your time, especially since you really dont need to pay the monthly sub at all.
Love this game; I developed my own system of grinding the starter zones for Turbine Points and purchased all the expansions they had at the time. Looks like if I dip my toes in now (probably with a new account as I've forgotten my logins) I'll start with a leg up.
Heck yeah! you live the dream!
how are you still enjoying it?
The textures for a game this old are CRAZY. It literally looks like some dev 20 years ago hand painted each texture. Wow is around the same age and it’s starter zones look like trash compared to lotro.
i noticed your herald was set on passive the whole time.... when captain's herald is set up defensive with the right traits, it can actually tank a bit for you
Glad to see someone else saw that as well.
Took me a while before I noticed the pet bar and worked out the herald can attack, up to about lvl12 I thought it was only there for the buff.
literally, your herald can dish out good damage.
Proof the guy doesent know sweet fuckal about actually playing mmorpgs lel
@@vantilsley8633 idk maybe it didnt explain it well?
I wasn't familiar with the "worst MMO" series so I expected this to be a super negative review of my absolute comfort MMO for the past 6 years XD I'm glad I watched it anyway and it turned out into such a favourable review.
I've had the privilege of being introduced to it through a friend who explained everything to me as we played our new two characters through the levels. I haven't played so many MMOs yet so I have no comparison, but the very reason why you found your experience in it pleasurable is the reason why I keep coming back to it - nothing beats roaming middle earth and doing fun quests to de-stress from uni. I love being a random person somewhere in this lively world who sometimes hears of the fellowship's quest and comes across traces of their journey, but otherwise just gets to help them or other people in this world all affected by the war in their own way.
I also love the cosmetic outfits and how you are able to customize your character. My OG is a well-developed character outside of the game anyway, and I love that the game lets me play him exactly like he is. I can even dress him up in unassuming clothes and have him fight with his sword in his left hand.
Roleplaying, or just playing in-character, is also immensely fun with all the emotes, a "say" channel that makes dialogue pop up over your head, and all the things you can do that are just fun extras (getting drunk and dancing on the tables of the Prancing Pony? setting up a campfire to take a short break and warm up after having fallen into the ice cold water of Forochel? Standing on a guard tower overlooking the plains of Rohan, smoking some self-grown pipeweed?check!) I love that LOTRO doesn't have the visual sparkle and pizzazz that other MMOs have. It's so chill, and plain, and immersive.
100% to all the criticism you've brought up, I feel like we all are like "yeah, I know" but still love the game anyway. If I want great graphics I pop into RDR2 xD Since I'm just a casual, occasional player, I have no problem with the repetitiveness or grindiness of the quests.
I would've been interested in your opinion of the festivals, though :D
EDIT: A year later I've somehow stumbled across this again and I feel the need to add something. I recently played through the end of Vol. 2 of the epic quest (Moria and the Malledhrim attack on Dol Guldur) and it made me fall in love with the game all over again. I truly wonder why and how I never paid much attention to the stories and questlines (even though I knew they were cool, at least since Wildermark)
Anyway I'm shocked at how good the writing is! The beginning of Vol. 3 with the Grey Company in Enedwaith had me SHOOK and I recently played through the Before The Shadow expansion which is even better. How they manage to weave the history of Cardolan into such a captivating, well written story with great new characters is amazing. I learned so much about the lore haha! And it's all so accurate to Tolkien's writing! LOTRO is really the best extension to the legendarium and a must for any LotR fan :D And over the years it somehow only seems to get better?!
Lol I know right, I was about to be super bloody mad if he said that the game is bad
Honestly at this point the name of the series is slightly misleading
I think this was the first MMORPG my brother introduced me to as a teenager. I would eventually go on to play Star Wars, Star Trek, and Rift, but when I picked this back up about a year or so ago, I remembered all the reasons why I loved it so much. It's like it managed to blend all the good aspects of those other MMOs, dropped all the bad ones, and set it in pretty much the best possible setting: Arda.
Now, I will say that I still haven't gotten very far, puttering about in Bree and the connected regions, but it's definitely the best MMO I (in my limited experience) have ever played.
no idea if you all reached that part yet, but ill tell you that they managed to put an amazing plot twist in Minas Tirith in Gondor...since we all know what happens there i think its a major writing flex to have a plot twist WORK on lore buffs....for me best gaming moment in my life and im gaming since 88
My favorite thing about this game is simply the opportunity to be in the world of Middle Earth. I'm sure many people enjoy the game who don't know much about Tolkien's writings. I'm a hardcore Tolkien fan from just reading all his books. To me, this is one of the greatest works of fan-fiction ever! And big credit to the developers, from what I've seen the game storyline doesn't stray from the books, like so many movies do. It just adds to it! Sure, it doesn't have as good quality graphics as some other games, but if all you want is to be a hobbit or an elf and explore Middle Earth, it's perfect!
I remember playing this game a long time ago. I met a friend and we had an RP session of traveling the world which was probably one of the best experiences I've ever had in any MMO. Then he invited another person into the party and cybered with them in party chat. Good times.
LMAOOOO
Had us in the first half ngl. That went from 0-100 REAL fast
dont tell me he did what i think he did...
@@d9thea he did exactly what u think he did
First of all, the eagles were huge. They had a wingspan of 30 fathoms (180 feet). To put that in context, a 737 has a wingspan of 117 feet.
Eagles can’t fly as high as a pressurized jet. They’d probably have a maximum ceiling of around 10,000 feet. That would make them much more visible than a jet because they’d be flying lower.
Eagles are not long-range fliers. They do not store energy. They have to conserve it. They do this by soaring. They climb using updrafts. That means a lot of time flying in circles before gliding to the next updraft.
For this same reason, carrying passengers would be a strain on the eagles. Gandalf alludes to this while riding Gwaihir after his rebirth. He asked how far Gwaihir could carry him and Gwaihir said that he was so light, he could carry him as far as he wanted. That implies a limit with a heavier passenger.
This will give you an idea of how far they’d have to go. It would take multiple days for them to reach Mordor.
Sauron had spies and spent most of his time watching the outside world through his Palantir, the Ithil Stone. The eagles would likely be spotted well before they reached Mordor. Sauron might not know why they were coming but the eagles had always been his enemy so he’d assume it was some sort of attack. He’d have plenty of time to summon the Nazgul on their flying steeds.
It doesn’t matter if these things are a match for the eagles. The Nazgul carry poison darts. One dart in the proper eagle and it’s all over. The eagle and the Ring Bearer are down on Mordor with all of Sauron’s forces aware of them.
If the eagles do make it past the Nazgul then they’d be chased all the way to Mount Doom and probably all the way in.
And that’s why they didn’t take the eagles.
Man, I was really expecting JSH to rip this game apart, but was pleasantly surprised by the actual outcome. It reminded me exactly why I decided to give this game a second shot last year and play it again for the first time since its initial release. As a visual learner, I've always wanted to get into Tolkien's work but found the books too wordy and the movies too lengthy. Lord of the Rings Online hit that perfect mix of storytelling and visual design for me, and really helped me get a better scope of where everything is in Middle-Earth.
And besides, what other medium set in the Tolkienverse lets you punch an Oliphaunt in the face? And WIN?
Standing Stone games actually have a very nice game they're attaching horrible horrible RMT to. It would be nice if LotRO got some updates though, of the classic "WoW-Clones" it's one of the very nicest.
@@Cyromantik To be fair to SSG, Turbine's the company that had created the shops in the first place and decided on the "sell adventure packs piecemeal instead of just expansions" which gets a bit more irritating in DDO where it's not as easy to earn the store currency ingame.
First of all, the eagles were huge. They had a wingspan of 30 fathoms (180 feet). To put that in context, a 737 has a wingspan of 117 feet.
Eagles can’t fly as high as a pressurized jet. They’d probably have a maximum ceiling of around 10,000 feet. That would make them much more visible than a jet because they’d be flying lower.
Eagles are not long-range fliers. They do not store energy. They have to conserve it. They do this by soaring. They climb using updrafts. That means a lot of time flying in circles before gliding to the next updraft.
For this same reason, carrying passengers would be a strain on the eagles. Gandalf alludes to this while riding Gwaihir after his rebirth. He asked how far Gwaihir could carry him and Gwaihir said that he was so light, he could carry him as far as he wanted. That implies a limit with a heavier passenger.
This will give you an idea of how far they’d have to go. It would take multiple days for them to reach Mordor.
Sauron had spies and spent most of his time watching the outside world through his Palantir, the Ithil Stone. The eagles would likely be spotted well before they reached Mordor. Sauron might not know why they were coming but the eagles had always been his enemy so he’d assume it was some sort of attack. He’d have plenty of time to summon the Nazgul on their flying steeds.
It doesn’t matter if these things are a match for the eagles. The Nazgul carry poison darts. One dart in the proper eagle and it’s all over. The eagle and the Ring Bearer are down on Mordor with all of Sauron’s forces aware of them.
If the eagles do make it past the Nazgul then they’d be chased all the way to Mount Doom and probably all the way in.
And that’s why they didn’t take the eagles.
Token books are 100 times better and easier to read than the really crappy jrr fatmans books game of bones. I absolutely despise jrr Martin books. Those are extremely wordy and most of the words you read are made up nonesense. Also the show sucks. Only good if you like looking at boobs.
"the books too wordy and the films too lengthy" ... Yeah if you don't like reading and somehow get bored during Jackson's LotR trilogy, there's nothing anyone can do for you. At that point you should probably just stick to cartoon comic books and Transformers movies.
I've had a lifetime subscription to this game since the Mines of Moria expansion, and I've always had a real soft spot for it. I've always adored the writing and exploration aspects of the game, and I've always found that despite the clunkiness of the combat it's always felt good to me.
And the graphics in Moria are amazing!
First of all, the eagles were huge. They had a wingspan of 30 fathoms (180 feet). To put that in context, a 737 has a wingspan of 117 feet.
Eagles can’t fly as high as a pressurized jet. They’d probably have a maximum ceiling of around 10,000 feet. That would make them much more visible than a jet because they’d be flying lower.
Eagles are not long-range fliers. They do not store energy. They have to conserve it. They do this by soaring. They climb using updrafts. That means a lot of time flying in circles before gliding to the next updraft.
For this same reason, carrying passengers would be a strain on the eagles. Gandalf alludes to this while riding Gwaihir after his rebirth. He asked how far Gwaihir could carry him and Gwaihir said that he was so light, he could carry him as far as he wanted. That implies a limit with a heavier passenger.
This will give you an idea of how far they’d have to go. It would take multiple days for them to reach Mordor.
Sauron had spies and spent most of his time watching the outside world through his Palantir, the Ithil Stone. The eagles would likely be spotted well before they reached Mordor. Sauron might not know why they were coming but the eagles had always been his enemy so he’d assume it was some sort of attack. He’d have plenty of time to summon the Nazgul on their flying steeds.
It doesn’t matter if these things are a match for the eagles. The Nazgul carry poison darts. One dart in the proper eagle and it’s all over. The eagle and the Ring Bearer are down on Mordor with all of Sauron’s forces aware of them.
If the eagles do make it past the Nazgul then they’d be chased all the way to Mount Doom and probably all the way in.
And that’s why they didn’t take the eagles.
can u still get lifetime
@@jogumby Unfortunately, I don't believe so. I believe they discontinued the Lifetime Subscription back when Mordor came out. They do still honour the ones that were purchased before, though.
@@Jenn-lq9yu Correct. I got mine at the end of beta and around Moria and the switch to free to play they ended lifetime subs. They've still honored mine for 15 years though...
God this takes me back. LOTRO was the first MMO I ever played and it got me hooked on the genre. Not many since have come anywhere close to the scenery and storytelling in this game, especially when you get to Isengard and the surrounding areas. Good to see some of the classic intro quests are still there in all their glory too! Human Guardian ftw
Nearly finished with the first half of Vol 3 and not only is the Epic story the best it's been so far (I teared up at some points) but the actual story of the regional quests are also extremely compelling and interesting too. No other area in the game has captured my intrigue like Enedwaith and Dunland have, except maybe Evendim. It's truly magical.
@@michaeldameron1543 Agreed!! Have you played through Cardolan yet? They absolutely nailed the story there!
This is actually a really great game locked behind old technology, clunky combat and what used to be an annoying cash shop. Thankfully, they are addressing a lot of that stuff so I personally think that if you are a fan of Lord of The Rings it worth diving into as just a chill game with so much LOTR lore. The water effects are the best I have ever seen and if you like adventuring it is a really good time.
First of all, the eagles were huge. They had a wingspan of 30 fathoms (180 feet). To put that in context, a 737 has a wingspan of 117 feet.
Eagles can’t fly as high as a pressurized jet. They’d probably have a maximum ceiling of around 10,000 feet. That would make them much more visible than a jet because they’d be flying lower.
Eagles are not long-range fliers. They do not store energy. They have to conserve it. They do this by soaring. They climb using updrafts. That means a lot of time flying in circles before gliding to the next updraft.
For this same reason, carrying passengers would be a strain on the eagles. Gandalf alludes to this while riding Gwaihir after his rebirth. He asked how far Gwaihir could carry him and Gwaihir said that he was so light, he could carry him as far as he wanted. That implies a limit with a heavier passenger.
This will give you an idea of how far they’d have to go. It would take multiple days for them to reach Mordor.
Sauron had spies and spent most of his time watching the outside world through his Palantir, the Ithil Stone. The eagles would likely be spotted well before they reached Mordor. Sauron might not know why they were coming but the eagles had always been his enemy so he’d assume it was some sort of attack. He’d have plenty of time to summon the Nazgul on their flying steeds.
It doesn’t matter if these things are a match for the eagles. The Nazgul carry poison darts. One dart in the proper eagle and it’s all over. The eagle and the Ring Bearer are down on Mordor with all of Sauron’s forces aware of them.
If the eagles do make it past the Nazgul then they’d be chased all the way to Mount Doom and probably all the way in.
And that’s why they didn’t take the eagles.
The quests get really really repetitive tho which is annoying. Also the raid designs have become repetitive too.
@@mrsrefrigerator why are you putting this under _every_ comment
I think you just described all MMO's that don't go for that hyper realistic look like BDO lol.
Secret world, bless (all versions? idk) guild wars 1 &2 (yes they're still great games but dated), riders of icarus (fuck that felt like a WoW killer before nexon picked it up, i miss that game), life is feudal (bit of an oddball in this list), runes of magic etc etc
@@mrsrefrigerator You're doing this wrong. You are trying to answer logically when people asking logic questions. The real answer is that they are fully missing the point. Lord of the Rings isn't that kind of story. It's a mythical, even mythological kind of story. It's a bedtime story, a legend passed from generation to generation. Of course it will have holes. It's not meant to fully make sense. And I find it a little sad when people stick to the superficial reading and don't try to elevate to the larger feeling and atmosphere.
Granted, at this point most people mentioning eagles are, just like JoshStrifeHayes, trolling for reactions.
Now let's stop derailing conversations with this please.
I'm a huge Tolkien fan and what i most love about this game is the scenary. The citys feel so alive, the forests are so immersive, is so good to just walk around the map and see things. The quests have a great story and that's something is very hard to find in other MMOs. LOTRO is a classic. Great review Josh!
Is it worth playing now? How is the end game
@Alessandro. I played this game back in 2007 and loved it. I came back to it a few years ago and found it really easy. Got bored by about level 8 and stopped playing. Has it been made more casual friendly? Cheers mate.
@@incognitotamizhan9679 I'd say it's VERY worth playing if you're interested in story. It was pretty good to begin with, and they've gotten better with time. However, if you're not as interested in the story, the underlying mechanics are decent, but there are probably better options out there. I think Josh' review was accurate that there's a reason that those who love it continue to love it, but there's also a reason that it hasn't blown away all the other MMOs.
I really enjoy that you can follow the LOTR story through the game. They tried really hard to make it feel like the books described the scenes.
@@wileywilson It has somewhat, but the VIP "Legendary" slow-progression servers have optional difficulty settings that vastly increase effectve world mob damage and hp
Wow, this was the most positive review I've seen in this series. LOTRO deserves it. Its a well made game with lots of quality of life stuff built into it over the years (like open tapping or auto loot) and very strong world building, atmosphere and music. Sadly, it suffers greatly on the technical side. I fear the engine is a true bottle neck for the game. The lags have only gotten worse over the years (probably due to its growing size). And with time it will probably only get worse.
LOTRO will always have a place in my heart.
Its main bottleneck is how EXPENSIVE it is to purchase and complicated it is
The servers have degraded greatly over the years. European lotro was extremely reliable and lag free back in the codemasters days, but after they moved the servers to US things got worse.
Believe me when I say this the game did NOT lag like this back in 2010 when I last played(and there were far more players back in 2007-2008 before it went f2p. The lag is something slightly newer. I can only imagine they cut the server capacity way back due to lower population and cost cutting measures. Even before the this large surge of players the game lagged, it seems to have been like this for years if you can trust the world chat. But like I said previously when I stopped playing which was back in 2010 the game did not lag.
As far as I understand Turbine/Codemasters no longer operate this game so it's probably a smaller company doing the heavy lifting now.
@@huldu I belive you as I experienced it first hand during Codemasters operation around 2011.
It looks ok but I despise having emersion broken for story. Even older games can weave the storyline into the gameplay better than this. Also, meeting both Aragorn and a Black Rider in the first 2 minutes doesn't bode well for the pacing.
I'm a LotR fanatic (books) but I've always thought it had limited application as a mmo, precisely because it's restrained story with little overt magic limits the character and class options. Better off just creating a game from scratch rather than basing it on existing works imo.
These old MMOs are really special. I started as elf-archer in Ered Luin and I was levelling, I quickly got to level 10, then grinded to level 15 and I just ran out of things to do. My quest was to get to Bree, which I thought is no problem (I assumed I will fast-travel there because it is really far away). But it turns out that I can’t fast travel there, there is a level cap. So I thought I will go to next location and level up there, but right after I move there I meet a road made of mobs that are 20-23 lvl (I am lvl 15). I hardly killed them 1 on 1. I started grinding my way for 3 hours and got to lvl 16. That was really dangerous. That forest nearly killed my 10 times, but in the end I got to local town and relaxed. I thought that I am clearly doing something wrong. Then I started googling and found out that I just have to walk to Bree, so all this terrifying adventure was actually pretty much the way it is intended. At first it pissed me off, but then I thought that it is actually really cool. It is actual challenge and I am ready for it.
You can fast travel to bree at any time from Ered Luin from the main hub in that area, Thorins Gate
Assuming you walked into Yondershire, that area was added recently, before walking out of Ered Luin you'd end up in Shire proper and wouldn't have this issue
@@dylan__dog shhh, don't ruin this guy's adventure!
Skill issue
I can assure you running out of things to do isn't an issue in this game 😂
I love this game so much, having played casually for hundreds of hours for around a decade, on and off. I think this video sums it up nicely in the end, about how it is a calming, chill experience. I don't play it for raiding or anything (though obviously some do), but it's a great place to hang out in the vast world of Middle-Earth. It has a super nice community and plenty of fun events, such as concerts using the music system. In response to the "Fly the eagles to Mordor" comment, I suppose the in-game equivalent is that level boost. Just like suddenly transforming to a high level character might bewilder the player, maybe flying directly Mordor would have been too much for the fellowship after all.
You worded it perfectly! I’ve been playing on and off for 9 years, even just to chill out with some friends. But yeah, the level boost is overwhelming haha…
I'd like to mention a technical aspect of this game that wasn't really shown until the end of the video. Although the engine is very old, the imposter/billboard system is quite impressive. There are crazy amounts of details like trees, bushes, rocks, terrain elements, building structures, that are jam packed on screen all the way into the distance (sometimes almost 1km + away) and they silhouette and parallax very beautifully. It's surprising how modern MMOs fall short on this due to technical limitations with higher fidelity, we often see distance fog much closer than in this game. This technical aspect is a core reason the game feels so immersive as you explore around.
it wasnt always like this tho i remember clearly when the game just went F2P standing at Harndirion in Enedwaith and looking at the fields below and you could clearly see the graphics cut in huge squares with some of them being pitch black if too far ^^
@@kokocaptainqc Isengard days were when the dev team realized they had to update their engine a bit i think hahahah. I remember our guild going to the raid and half of us crashing on loading.
The game's pretty outdated, but it's probably the best video game recreation of Middle Earth that we'll ever see. It's fun to just explore the story. They've put so much care and effort into the world itself. Just wandering around as a little hobbit following in the footsteps of the fellowship is fun.
@@kos15280 Same. It's the only MMO that really got me invested in the story, rather than going through the motions to get to the end-level content.
@@botsnkats No, they really aren't. They wear the skinsuit of LOTR but the story betrays the truth. They're worse than a poorly written fan-fiction.
My fav games are still Battle for Middle earth 1 and 2. They still got a pretty active modding community as well.
@@matteomiracolo1467 yes, I agree! Battle for Middle Earth 2 was one of my favourite game back in the day. Still have a physical copy of the game lying around
It doesn't really matter if its dated, because it's a "Classic" MMORPG, similar to WoW classic, it's supposed to feel and look oldschool and quite honestly besides the character models the graphics hold up exceptionally well for being from 2008.
I'm a new player and apparently there is a quest to get the riding skill for free in the hunter's lodge in Archet. I think it's called "A Little Extra Never Hurts You". I felt relieved since when I first downloaded the game and saw the cash shop, I thought I wouldn't get any mounts. Now I got myself the prized liver steed and is currently lvl 33. Overall, one of the best mmos I've played as a free to play player.
I think every starting area has that quest, not just Archet. I know the one you start out with the elves and dwarves you can get it also
You can have the riding mount skill for free at level 20 ?
Agreed and the people are awesome. Can’t wait to play this again
Keep playing
@@gs.558 that was only for VIP
Really interesting look at the game from the eyes of a veteran MMO player. I've played this game since launch and am a current endgame raider and I really appreciate the focus you put into the story in general atmospheric elements of the review. Generally this game is carried by animators, writers, and visual effects artists, as well as the genius musicians Chance Thomas and Bill Champagne. The game gets more complex as you level up, so while it would be cool to see a look at endgame and raiding, the majority of the experience is as you described. Slow paces, well written quest lines for 140 levels. Also a few fetch quests along the way. Corey Olsen, who is a guy who has a PHD in Tolkien studies and is super knowledgeable about Tolkien lore, uses LotRO to tell stories about the game and as a backdrop since it is so faithful to the main story of the books and tries to visualize and immerse the player in the world of the lord of the rings.
If you get some time, you should try out Dungeons and Dragons Online, which is also made by Standing Stone Games who develop the lord of the rings online. If you need any guidance, I'm the top content creator for that game on twitch and RUclips and I would love to show you around.
I also play ddo and think Josh will hate the game engine they use but love the character creation
@@matthewwest2482 damn, I didn't realize ddo was still around, I haven't played it in like 10 years
I get the feeling Josh would rip DDO a bit for a lot of the paywalling. When he talks about the amount of quit moments in games, mine was seeing just how many basic mechanics were locked behind premium currency or real money on that game.
@@Vaerlayn Yea, I mean I think that would be deserved too. I still love the game, but the free to play aspect of it is more of a free to try unless you get one of the codes they give out once a year that unlocks a ton of quests forever. I think them giving out those codes and making a bunch of races/classes free are positive steps but its still pretty daunting to a new player around level 10 or so (10 hours in) due to how much stuff they can't access without subbing
First of all, the eagles were huge. They had a wingspan of 30 fathoms (180 feet). To put that in context, a 737 has a wingspan of 117 feet.
Eagles can’t fly as high as a pressurized jet. They’d probably have a maximum ceiling of around 10,000 feet. That would make them much more visible than a jet because they’d be flying lower.
Eagles are not long-range fliers. They do not store energy. They have to conserve it. They do this by soaring. They climb using updrafts. That means a lot of time flying in circles before gliding to the next updraft.
For this same reason, carrying passengers would be a strain on the eagles. Gandalf alludes to this while riding Gwaihir after his rebirth. He asked how far Gwaihir could carry him and Gwaihir said that he was so light, he could carry him as far as he wanted. That implies a limit with a heavier passenger.
This will give you an idea of how far they’d have to go. It would take multiple days for them to reach Mordor.
Sauron had spies and spent most of his time watching the outside world through his Palantir, the Ithil Stone. The eagles would likely be spotted well before they reached Mordor. Sauron might not know why they were coming but the eagles had always been his enemy so he’d assume it was some sort of attack. He’d have plenty of time to summon the Nazgul on their flying steeds.
It doesn’t matter if these things are a match for the eagles. The Nazgul carry poison darts. One dart in the proper eagle and it’s all over. The eagle and the Ring Bearer are down on Mordor with all of Sauron’s forces aware of them.
If the eagles do make it past the Nazgul then they’d be chased all the way to Mount Doom and probably all the way in.
And that’s why they didn’t take the eagles.
hey! super, genuinely glad you had fun playing. worked for ssg for a few months as a game master for lotro & ddo and the team is small enough to fit in modest sized room, so this really is a labor of love at this point.
also, if it makes you feel better (or worse,) while working as a gm, the lotro wiki was genuinely my number one source for figuring out systems.
He liked it! He really liked it! All of Josh's criticisms are valid and have been knows for years, hopefully now that some real attention has been brought to them, changes will be made. Like he said though, there are reasons a lot of us have never completely stopped playing after 15 years.
Was really hoping you played just a little longer so you could see some of the dwarven interiors, you thought the country side was cool? This game has some of the grandest interiors I've ever seen IMO. Also just checking, were you just playing in 1080p or 4K? Because I can't get 4K to work :P
Well, MOST are. His criticism of the riding skill isn't, though. A quick google search will tell you you can learn riding for free at 20th level. You don't HAVE to buy it from the cash shop. Only if you want to learn it earlier than 20th.
Also, I'm PRETTY sure you can ride that free starter mount without learning the skill. It's basically a "very tame" horse that doesn't require any finesse to ride.
@@wumpusrat The riding quest at level 20 is VIP only.
They aren’t going to make any changes lol
@@cmoney163 Not make any changes? In what regard?
Have you not seen what was done with Update 33 & removing LOTRO's awful Paywall and other changes?
@@thimbur3543
Ah, okay. I could have sworn I did it as a free player way back when, but I must have been mistaken.
I love how based on who you pick as your character i.e human, elf, dwarf etc. you begin in a different place, so this is just how humans start. I've been playing LOTRO on and off since it came out and while it is not perfect, and still is not with all the new updates, I still love it and enjoy it, especially since it is so fun to play by yourself but also with friends, be it quests or just farming. Also one of the few games where I never regret spending money on at times, and the scale of how much you can explore and how many quests there are is amazing. I do think that those that have reached the cap now are pretty bored and it's the most fun until level 60, but regardless one of my faves for sure. Hopefully, they will keep improving the game.
my endgame character has 8500 completed quests and i dont do dailies while leveling ^^
Dwarves and elves have the same starting spot
@@backlogbuddies They have the same starting region, whilst Hobbits, Men, and Beornings get dumped in the same region after the tutorial area, but the tutorial themselves each have different beginnings before having Hobbits/Men merge into one storyline whilst Dwarf/Elf merges with each other for their second half but their are differences based on which race you picked.
Replying to myself in case anyone stumbles upon this comment, I was wrong on Hobbits being dumped in with Men and Beornings, they get shunted back to the Shire after their tutorial is done. But in all honesty I prefer that as it gives hobbits more connection to the Shire rather than Bree, but questlines should still collapse together at a certain point. Also need to point out that High Elves have different tutorial but gets shunted in with Elf starts, same with Axe-dwarves (Drasa's Folk) and Dwarven starting areas. I would assume River Hobbits (newest race/subrace at time of comment) gets shunted into the Shire at some point as well.
The eagles are only able to enter Mordor AFTER the ring is destroyed. From the top of Barad-dûr, Sauron would have seen the eagles coming from miles away. When they were within his reach m, he would have brought them down with arrows or magic. The Nazgul were able to fly on their fell beasts and also would have been able to intercept the eagles.
If the eagles were to get to Mordor and evade those arial attacks, Frodo would still have have to get the ring into Mount Doom. The top of the volcano is not a wide open lava target. To get to the heart of the Cracks of Doom, the eagles would have to land and then let Frodo (and Sam or Aragorn?) walk the rest of the way up to the entrance of Mount Doom and the. down the passageway that leads to the heart of the volcano. By the time the eagles landed, the foot of Mount Doom would be swarming with Orcs and Trolls. Even with Gandolf, Aragron, and Glorfindel there is no way the hobbits could fight their way through that.
The essential part of the anti-Sauron plan was to enter Mordor undetected. The whole reason for the final assault on the Black Gates from the Gondor side was to draw away Sauron’s attention. Aragon looks into the Palantir and drives Sauron crazy with anger, fear, and anxiety. Here is Sauron’s most hated enemy right on his doorstep. When the “new king” brings an army to attack Mordor headed on, Sauron sends all of his forces to meet them. The forces of Mordor are emptied which is why Frodo and Sam are able to get in without a massive orc force in their way. The orcs that they do encounter are a fraction of the “challenge rating” they would have faced if Mordor was full.
No matter how funny the youtube video is by “How It Should Have Ended,” the eagles flying Frodo to Mordor and dropping the ring into the volcano from the sky was not going to work.
but bruh
why didnt they just fly the eagles into mordor?
Plus, the eagles are extremely proud creatures, and as such as very easily manipulated by the ring itself.
Having them even be near the ring is a bad idea.
I know it's all memes when people say this but your points are what comes to my mind every time someone's says the eagle line. I just wish they had a constructive argument for it but you can tell that the people who say this have never actually read the books, otherwise they would understand.
Thank you! It always infuriates me when people start with the eagle crap, even as a joke, just because we’ve heard it all too much 😂
Uh, fly low??
33:00 I remember playing Lord of the Rings Online when it was decently populated, though not religiously. Just something I checked out, Monster PVP, the way I'd explain it and the fun I had with it was a late night experience where players could hop in as a monster and not be messed up by vast level differences between eachother, your goal would be to unite as a group to try to raid and take over the human settlements for rewards. I'm not the Raid type of person in MMOs but the thrill and memories I had of just 'randomly discovering the monster PVP side of the game' and then aimlessly wandering and trying to figure out what I'm doing (I think I was a Wolf monster?) and I single-handedly remember recruiting everyone who was aimlessly roaming around and was able to unite everyone together for the single cause of taking down as many of the castles as we could, it was probably 3-4AM I was dead-tired but also absolutely determined to at least capture one enemy castle, I believe the Center-left castle was the target on the map. After many trials and errors, we were able to succeed and it was a fun, but very random experience. After that we were running low on other players also dipping out, but the fact remained that we had succeed and it felt great to have randomly decided to band together, unite the players who were on the same server under one banner/group and achieve something. And its a happy gaming memory I still remember to this day, even though it happened, idunno, 15 years ago? After that I basically stopped playing the game altogether and moved back to Counter-strike 1.6 probably. lmao
This game needs to survive and needs support. The developers Standing Stone needs help
This game truly shined back at launch in 2007. I also remember how beautiful the world looked on a high-end graphics card with max settings at the time. To this day the comfiest MMO I've ever played.
The water graphics were unseen, and to this date are still impressive.
Highest Pop right now since like 2012 or something....
I just installed and started playing (on account of this video) and I had the weirdest problem. My modern graphics card was making noise while playing this on 4K. So I started turning down the Visual quality, and it kept making noise. Fans running noticeably fast. Then I discovered I was getting 350 FPS, and found the fps limited and set it to 60. :D The game looks nice in 4K (for a 2007 title), but I did have to magnify some UI items.
i played it few years after release and I couldnt stand the graphics, everything looked so horrible and it never stood the test of time
@@NormalJinx Back then, didn't ever one just have a chill park spot some where in EverSwim? /s
what you need to remember about LOTRO's cash shop is that the currency used in that shop is farmable, you can very easily (although it may take some time) farm enough points to purchase whatever you want. also when it comes to the stat boosts you can actually buy those in the player markets with in game currency.
Or they could.. just get rid of it... I might even return if they did. Nothing ruins an MMO experience more than a fucking cashshop window.
I was so hype for this game when it launched I even paid $200 for the lifetime subscription. While I played for a solid 2 years before stepping away, it’s one of those games I always come back to and have a great time when new content comes around and the community is top notch
I wish I'd bought a lifer acct
I did the same but it cost me only 90 euros. I'm still coming back from time to time to enjoy my privileges :D
@@Thurold my buddy did and he gave me his old acct. So that was nice
I'm glad to see you reviewing and enjoying a game I've spent countless hours on over the last decade. A couple professors I had in college actually worked on the music and writing of the game. My professor who did a lot of the music for the game actively chose to never check out the Lord of the Rings movies so that he wouldn't be influenced by their scores when trying to bring the world to life. The professor who worked on the writing for the game is a Lord of the Rings FANATIC and tried his best to make the world as immersive and representative of Tolkien's work as possible. I asked them about a few things in the game including what the deal with Monster Play was and it turns out that entire feature was added on at the last minute and has never been a priority for the development team, which is unfortunate because when it was active back in the day, I thoroughly enjoyed the constant PvP tug of war over the various strongholds and roving around as a massive pack of stealthed Wargs so it's a shame to see the state it's in now.
P.S. With regards to your Herald companion and other pets in general, you can adjust their behavior with those buttons below your chat log. Yours was set to "Passive" which was why he didn't participate in combat.
Damn you Josh. You made me remember playing this game. So of course I had to download it and start again. Probably my favorite MMORPG for crafting. I remember spending hours literally farming to make dyes for clothes. Easy money on the player auction house.
Start as a hobbit, and run around the Shire at night with all the lampposts on and turn up the ambient sounds. It's pretty amazing.
I wanted to mention that whoever was writing this must have been massive Tolkien expert as they did they utmost not to contradict his works (at least in the bits I played). I really appreciated that at the time
The later stuff is less Tolkieny, but the original devs LOVED JRR to death & it shows. That's okay, because you probably will quit or reroll around L80. Mounted combat is a HUUUUUUUGE drag. I never made it past. Well worth playing till then though.
@@theminister1154 I *hate* mounted combat. Luckily, most of my characters are ranged and, except for something like 2 instances, I could stay off my horse. It really does suck.
That said... if you're not a guardian, beorning, champ, rogue, etc., it's probably playable well enough off the horse.
Probably the worst aspect of the game.
(For the record: I love LOTRO. I've been playing since the beginning and may or may not have way too many toons just shy of the cap. I love this game, but mounted combat was not their best development decision. I'm guessing they know it, too, which is why it didn't last past Rohan.)
@@GraceDuncanAuthor Burglar :(
Been playing from the jump too, but quit around... 11? 12? & got back in around '16... and lasted till... well "92."
Just discovered I missed the free xpacs & 120 boost by a few days this am. Whoops. I'm sure they'll do it again in a year or so, play on then.
@@theminister1154 Burglars are *hard* to play. They do amazing damage! But... they do amazing damage. And are squishy. So it can be a real challenge to do that damage without turning into a Hobbit/human/whatever pancake in the process.
As for the expansion packs... everything is free up to ~95, I think, now. Not Mordor or Minas Morgul but a lot more, so that's something but I have zero doubt the rest will be offered up again (including the Valar boosts).
@@GraceDuncanAuthor Interesting. I thought Burg was pretty easy to play, especially compared to a lot of other classes in Moria where you gotta kill _evvvvvry durn mob._ Burg's have a lot of tools! I can't imagine having to solo a champ or captain through there. Well, I can... it's not a good imagining though. Trick to burg in particular is to put your reactives on a multi-button mouse.
I have played a LOT of MMO though, including lots of crowd control classes & rogues as far back as Enchanter in EQ1 (which plays a bit more like Loremaster but is basically a class with lots of Riddles.) *Burg on horseback though?* I just couldn't take it, and I didn't feel like rerolling a better class for those levels.
BTW, they were giving Mordor + the next one away up till the 12th. Can't believe I missed it 8(
Good that he waited for the recent F2P update to do the video. I decided to go back to the game because they made all content up until level 90? free for everyone, and then an event going on where if you logged in you got the most recent expansions for free too. Very generous.
The animations are a bit jarring, but the zones themselves still look quite good graphically. The lack of a real EU server can make it quite laggy, but the look and feel of the world is pretty top notch. It's one of the most faithful Middle Earth games out there. The music is a real standout, and the main story quests are quite immersive. Obviously it's still littered with old school MMO issues like fetch quests, and modern MMO issues like the cash shop (yuck). The game only running off one processor core is a real problem too, which they are working on fixing. I really hope they deliver on those graphical updates they have planned because the game needs that refresh to bring in more players.
Btw, to address the Eagles joke. They simply would have said no if they were asked to deliver the ring to Mt. Doom. The eagles are extremely intelligent, some of them even capable of speech. They aren't that different from Gandalf in terms of what they really are. They too have a mission from the Valar which they won't jeopardize on such a foolhardy task, much like Gandalf and the other Wizards had their mission.
Not all Content up to Level 95.
What they did was all the Content from the Launch of LOTRO in 2007 (really since they gave All Accounts the Lone Lands back in Nov 2010) to when Helm's Deep Expansion came out (Nov 2013) was added to All Accounts.
Newer Content even for Low Level Regions such as Yondershire (Level 20 to 23 Region) which was added with the big Free to Play Model & Monetization Changes in Update 33 are not for All Accounts but available for the In-Game Currency since Update 33. VIP Subscriptions get ALL Quest Packs while Subscribed.
21:30 There are of course plugins that are easy to install to fix the mini-map and the world map ("m"). I use a world map plugin that makes it basically half of your screen size. It makes the resolution more tolerable, while also opening up much of your screen to see your environment.
Is there a plugin or way to improve the textures and such of the game itself? Or at least the UI?
First of all, the eagles were huge. They had a wingspan of 30 fathoms (180 feet). To put that in context, a 737 has a wingspan of 117 feet.
Eagles can’t fly as high as a pressurized jet. They’d probably have a maximum ceiling of around 10,000 feet. That would make them much more visible than a jet because they’d be flying lower.
Eagles are not long-range fliers. They do not store energy. They have to conserve it. They do this by soaring. They climb using updrafts. That means a lot of time flying in circles before gliding to the next updraft.
For this same reason, carrying passengers would be a strain on the eagles. Gandalf alludes to this while riding Gwaihir after his rebirth. He asked how far Gwaihir could carry him and Gwaihir said that he was so light, he could carry him as far as he wanted. That implies a limit with a heavier passenger.
This will give you an idea of how far they’d have to go. It would take multiple days for them to reach Mordor.
Sauron had spies and spent most of his time watching the outside world through his Palantir, the Ithil Stone. The eagles would likely be spotted well before they reached Mordor. Sauron might not know why they were coming but the eagles had always been his enemy so he’d assume it was some sort of attack. He’d have plenty of time to summon the Nazgul on their flying steeds.
It doesn’t matter if these things are a match for the eagles. The Nazgul carry poison darts. One dart in the proper eagle and it’s all over. The eagle and the Ring Bearer are down on Mordor with all of Sauron’s forces aware of them.
If the eagles do make it past the Nazgul then they’d be chased all the way to Mount Doom and probably all the way in.
And that’s why they didn’t take the eagles.
@@mrsrefrigerator no
where do you get plugins?
I have never used a plugin, because I can't find a site that actually has them ^^
Played as Kenewen/Prywen on the now shut-down Riddermark server for 7 years. I cried like a baby counting down the last seconds of life there, gathered around Tuckborough with my kinship.
My online name will forver be Kin, a nod to the feeling of family that game gave so many of us. Honestly fo me there will never be a better game. I want to return so much, but the pain of loss is just too great.
Some of my favorite memories are; Jumping my goat up to the top of the Bree trading house and playing the opening theme from Secret of Mana on my instruments.
Typing /commands to my friends in chat to unlock secret emotes.
Being a Rune Keeper that could main heal the Draigoch 12 man raid.
Taking players off the map in south Dunland (around where the horned frogs spawn) to the the ancient ruins not visible under normal play.
Finding the secret graveyard outside the map behind the spider infested woods near Bree.
Moria, top to bottom, every inch of it and the story.
Fighting the Watcher in the Water.
Showing complete strangers how to get the Ridge Racer deed.
Endless hours filling out the deed log for virtues and Turbine Points to unlock paid content.
I hope I can retire to an old floks home one day and play this game untill I forget how to breathe
This was my first mmo. You can play it completely free, including endgame, by buying everything you need in the cashshop with currency you earn in-game. It's not even that much grind if you play several characters, as the startingzones and every zone you buy will give you alot of currency. I never spent anything on it and was still on par with everyone else at endgame. The mounted combat that you get later is pretty decent in my opinion. Raids/dungeones used to be good, too, and you can solo the old ones for titles, cosmetics and lots of currency. And the gameworld is huuuge and very solofriendly.
Pvp was never that good though, the housing-system is kinda limited, and the combat is a little clunky compared to newer games. And oh god do not use a levelboost on your first character.
You make like 2$ a hour grinding in this game...
The grind isn't worth it to focus on but it is a nice touch.
First of all, the eagles were huge. They had a wingspan of 30 fathoms (180 feet). To put that in context, a 737 has a wingspan of 117 feet.
Eagles can’t fly as high as a pressurized jet. They’d probably have a maximum ceiling of around 10,000 feet. That would make them much more visible than a jet because they’d be flying lower.
Eagles are not long-range fliers. They do not store energy. They have to conserve it. They do this by soaring. They climb using updrafts. That means a lot of time flying in circles before gliding to the next updraft.
For this same reason, carrying passengers would be a strain on the eagles. Gandalf alludes to this while riding Gwaihir after his rebirth. He asked how far Gwaihir could carry him and Gwaihir said that he was so light, he could carry him as far as he wanted. That implies a limit with a heavier passenger.
This will give you an idea of how far they’d have to go. It would take multiple days for them to reach Mordor.
Sauron had spies and spent most of his time watching the outside world through his Palantir, the Ithil Stone. The eagles would likely be spotted well before they reached Mordor. Sauron might not know why they were coming but the eagles had always been his enemy so he’d assume it was some sort of attack. He’d have plenty of time to summon the Nazgul on their flying steeds.
It doesn’t matter if these things are a match for the eagles. The Nazgul carry poison darts. One dart in the proper eagle and it’s all over. The eagle and the Ring Bearer are down on Mordor with all of Sauron’s forces aware of them.
If the eagles do make it past the Nazgul then they’d be chased all the way to Mount Doom and probably all the way in.
And that’s why they didn’t take the eagles.
Still the most charming MMO I've ever played. I love it. I even ventured into the woods and dealt with horrid trees and giant spiders to find Tom Bombadil's house.
@serry ciok no.
Started playing again recently after 15 years without expecting much more than a couple of feels but how wrong I was. There is something unique in LotRO that no other MMORPG I've played through years has. Maybe it's a combination of music, atmosphere, lore and some lovely bits of old-school mechanics that does its magic, but I really never enjoyed a MMORPG more. Graphics may look dated and combat clunky at first sight, but after a few days it changes and you realize that everything is in place. Running through the lively streets of Bree, chilling in the Shire meadows and then visiting the Green Dragon tavern, fighting your way through the Great Barrows or entering Moria for the first time - all of this gives you an emotional experience, which is never the same.
If you want to try it, I suggest you start on the Treebeard server, which is one of legendary servers (analogue of WOW Classic) with slowed-paced experience. It is worth every penny, and the community there is outstanding (as it is in LotRO in general).
I started the game as a Minstrel Hobbit, and have now just reached the Old Forest. What an adventure. From delivering eggs around the Shire, to helping, and becoming, a Bounder. Helping a Hobbit go on his first big adventure, to trying to solve a haunting in a library that was actually a squirrel. It's so much fun.
LOTRO has one of the best environment designs i've ever seen in an MMO. Every landscape feels like a paiting, it makes you feel so immersed in the world. There's a reason why to this day this game has a very loyal playerbase that does everything to keep it alive. You guys should check it out, specially if you like lord of the rings
I will check it out actually I always heard about the game but I was a bit unsure because of all the paid content, now I guess I can't back down anymore!
@@Talking_Ed That’s great! Remember that this MMO is not about rushing to the endgame, it’s about enjoying the journey. Go at your own pace and read the quests, there are hundreds of hours of free content to experience. Have fun :D
@@brunoxd151 Oh yeah I'm not a big mmo player so I'll play it in a chill way, thanks for the tips!
i'd like to point out one of the best features any mmo has added to a game that was understandably not mentioned in the video. On the legendary servers shadowfax and treebeard you can change the difficulty of the open world quests using the Landscape Difficultly system. This makes questing so much more fun in groups even giving you the ability to up difficulty to that of content designed for groups like dungeons. All the system does is decrease outgoing player damage and increase incoming damage allowing you to party up with anyone no matter difficulty selected. Honestly I wish it was in the base game and should defiantly be added to other mmo's
Is this only available on Legendary servers? What's the difference between Legendary and Normal? I'd look it up but I'm in between classes atm
@@Quick-Silver206 legendary servers are like wow classic they release expansions and content over a long stretch of time to give players a way to experience old content. It is however not as in depth as classic the classes and game play like they do on the current release content, zones and levels are just restricted. They are also only available with a sub.
@@cubs4847 Ah. Interesting. I might have to try that out sometime. Thank you!
I loved this game, still do. I love that they took the story approach of just occasionally bumping into what is happening with the fellowship and instead we are doing stuff in angmar, finding out what is going on near isengard, roaming around moria, finding out about the darkness lurking in Mirkwood, strolling through the misty mountain goblin caves, going through elven ruins in eregion (damn I loved looking at the night sky in eregion). This game had so many memorable moments. I especially remember being scared shitless with some stuff in Angmar, my first time arriving in rivendel after being chased by bears after my under leveled ass adn running into a freakking troll, and then actually getting lost in Moria because that place used to be dark as hell, the sense of wonder and relief upon finally exiting the darkness of Moria and walking into Lothlorien with its untrusting elves. And later there was the thrill of riding across the plains of Rohan. I played the game actively until Helm's deep expansion, haven't seen the content after that. SHould maybe get back to this someday soon.
Agreed. It does an amazing job to make the player feel involved without making them out to be the big savior of the entire world, yet still making your actions feel significant. It's a really nice balance and the story is arguable the strongest feature of the game.
First of all, the eagles were huge. They had a wingspan of 30 fathoms (180 feet). To put that in context, a 737 has a wingspan of 117 feet.
Eagles can’t fly as high as a pressurized jet. They’d probably have a maximum ceiling of around 10,000 feet. That would make them much more visible than a jet because they’d be flying lower.
Eagles are not long-range fliers. They do not store energy. They have to conserve it. They do this by soaring. They climb using updrafts. That means a lot of time flying in circles before gliding to the next updraft.
For this same reason, carrying passengers would be a strain on the eagles. Gandalf alludes to this while riding Gwaihir after his rebirth. He asked how far Gwaihir could carry him and Gwaihir said that he was so light, he could carry him as far as he wanted. That implies a limit with a heavier passenger.
This will give you an idea of how far they’d have to go. It would take multiple days for them to reach Mordor.
Sauron had spies and spent most of his time watching the outside world through his Palantir, the Ithil Stone. The eagles would likely be spotted well before they reached Mordor. Sauron might not know why they were coming but the eagles had always been his enemy so he’d assume it was some sort of attack. He’d have plenty of time to summon the Nazgul on their flying steeds.
It doesn’t matter if these things are a match for the eagles. The Nazgul carry poison darts. One dart in the proper eagle and it’s all over. The eagle and the Ring Bearer are down on Mordor with all of Sauron’s forces aware of them.
If the eagles do make it past the Nazgul then they’d be chased all the way to Mount Doom and probably all the way in.
And that’s why they didn’t take the eagles.
This game is not only a good mmo from the old times, it's also the best documentary on middle-earth !
I loved to play this MMO on launch.
Speaking about details: the portrait of your target is animated. Even on things like small frogs in a swamp that play no part in the game-play!
I could watch these mini sceneries for several minutes, seeing what neat animations they put in there.
This is such a good mmo and now you can play almost all of it for free. Definitely worth a try.
my only issue was the massive paywall back when i tried to get into the game and half the races and classes were locked behind dlcs. Maybe i will give it another try now.
@@Gorn21 Both LOTRO and DDO have been doing a lot of moving and shaking this last year. SSG's really trying here. It's exciting to see.
I tried installing/getting into the game several times and it always ended in tears and sweat, I wish I had played it in the early times :/
@@Gorn21 Half? When exactly did you try the game? There are 3 premium classes and 2 races (3 if you count the class-specific beornings)
@@kaladrios I dont know was pretty long ago and can only remember that half of the options were locked out could be a bit less aswell like i sayed it wasnt anytime recent.
I quit WoW: the burning crusade, to play this game on release. Never once did I regret it. The chance to walk around and play in middle-earth was a big plus. Ended up playing for 4 years. ELDAR-EN server !! Sadly saw it change slowly over time to Free-to-play, with the cash shop.
I dunno if you should see it as "sadly" to be honest. The game has one of the best free to play systems in existence and is actually why it's still around today. The servers would have likely been closed years ago if they didn't make the transition.
First of all, the eagles were huge. They had a wingspan of 30 fathoms (180 feet). To put that in context, a 737 has a wingspan of 117 feet.
Eagles can’t fly as high as a pressurized jet. They’d probably have a maximum ceiling of around 10,000 feet. That would make them much more visible than a jet because they’d be flying lower.
Eagles are not long-range fliers. They do not store energy. They have to conserve it. They do this by soaring. They climb using updrafts. That means a lot of time flying in circles before gliding to the next updraft.
For this same reason, carrying passengers would be a strain on the eagles. Gandalf alludes to this while riding Gwaihir after his rebirth. He asked how far Gwaihir could carry him and Gwaihir said that he was so light, he could carry him as far as he wanted. That implies a limit with a heavier passenger.
This will give you an idea of how far they’d have to go. It would take multiple days for them to reach Mordor.
Sauron had spies and spent most of his time watching the outside world through his Palantir, the Ithil Stone. The eagles would likely be spotted well before they reached Mordor. Sauron might not know why they were coming but the eagles had always been his enemy so he’d assume it was some sort of attack. He’d have plenty of time to summon the Nazgul on their flying steeds.
It doesn’t matter if these things are a match for the eagles. The Nazgul carry poison darts. One dart in the proper eagle and it’s all over. The eagle and the Ring Bearer are down on Mordor with all of Sauron’s forces aware of them.
If the eagles do make it past the Nazgul then they’d be chased all the way to Mount Doom and probably all the way in.
And that’s why they didn’t take the eagles.
Played on ELDAR too, back in the day. My guild pretty much imploded when SWTOR came out (I'm not blameless, I was a massive BioWare fanboy at the time), but a lot of us were showing a bit of fatigue with certain elements of the endgame. Raid nights were starting later - well, the raiding portion was, anyway - because we were dicking about playing hide and seek in starting areas.
@@SATAN-x7i This game is the one everyone compared to when saying other MMOs wanted to dip toes into the f2p with a store options, it and DDO's 'play to earn' was huge at the time.
Just started this game thanks to this vid and I’m really enjoying it! It’s dated, but very fun and the players have been so helpful and patient with me. Really nice community so far. 😊
we average 40ish yo on lotro so everyone is nice and we all despise like little trolls so whenever one begins his shenanigans everyone ignores him and withing 2-3 days he's just rambling alone to himself. The community acts witha mentality of ''its not just an mmo about middle-earth it IS middle earth''
So this actually got me really into LOTRO. Been having a blast running around and questing.
It is just such a comfy game and the quests seem to be very well written.
Did ypu witness any pvp? Is it alive? How many players do you see daily?
@@incognitotamizhan9679 I'm only level 17 so far so no. I don't think PVP it is very popular though but players who have played longer than me can provide answer that.
@@MrMattThor PVP in the Ettenmoors started tapering off after level cap 85.....It was HUGE up until then.
@@MrMattThor There are still a few ranks to be seen around, but the last time I was in either Ettenmorrs or Osgiliath, it was all but deserted. I ran around Osgiliath as an orc and didn't once get hit.
@@incognitotamizhan9679 There is no PvP in Lotro... only monster vs player and nobody gives a shit about... you play Lotro ONLY for the story and the environment because they have recreated middle earth 100% accurately and it's fucking fantastic... I'm a huge LotR nerd myself but I think that make me an even harsher judge of the game and I can tell you that from the point of lore and immersion it's BRILLIANT... absolutely BRILLIANT!!!
It’s such a shame this MMO doesn’t have more traction. It’s such a peaceful and relaxing game with equally challenging content and extra difficulty levels, the people on it are lovely too.
It had its glory days, cash shop and ftp killed the game, also it came out in 2007 lol.
@@somerandom7215 2007 so? SWG from 2003 still looks pretty good in 2022 actually prob looks better then LOTR back then SWG used lag to death on pc's as they were not capable of barely running game I still play to this day
@@HealerMommy1 Your reply has nothing to do with mine lol, i was replying about the game having more traction, nothing about how it looks, lastly if you think a 19 year old game "still looks pretty good" lol just lol.
@@somerandom7215 The cash shop isn't that bad anymore, you can play the game just fine free to play or just with the monthly sub. Your comment is dumb. The game does look pretty good, the environment, shading and lighting holds up decently well for an MMO from that year. You wouldn't know since you havent played it recently, and theyre upgrading the graphics again soon.
@@HealerMommy1 SWG looks like shit and is a dead game. Private servers are great nostalgic fun but that's it
Wow, practically a glowing review. I gotta say it does make me tempted to play. Maybe I'm old, but I actually like games with graphics like this. It feels not only nostalgic, but it's become an aesthetic in its own right, I think. Sorta like how pixel-art was due to technical limitations in the past, but is now an aesthetic.
I agree. It's all about aesthetics/style rather than graphics. This game has a really wholesome and friendly vibe.
Couldn't agree more. FFXIV is taking a lot of my time, but this game looks worth trying.
i hope you did try it out! especially now where game content up to level 95 is free for everyone - i mean ive been playing this game for 10 years and my highest character is still only level 65 lol, so you get a LOT of content for not a penny (especially bc as explained in this review, certain actually annoying bits and bobs like the riding trait are pretty easily earned through the deeds in the game)
Play it, bro, it's good.
If you fly the eagles to Mordor, then you would be instantly leveled to 120 and it would be a game-breaking experience. \[T]/
ya he must be joking because I thought the hobbit explains why they were all busy, except for the one who came to save Gandalf from Saruman in the first LoTR film..
@@samuelhicks8277 AND the Valar (gods) are the ones sending the eagles to help if really needed but if they dont, the eagles must observe for the Valar and nothing more
Or maybe it should be opposite :) you're level 1 character that goes into deathzone and get killed immediately by overpowered enemies hehe :). Jokes aside, why didn't they fly eagles to Mordor? THEY WOULD GET SHOT AT? :) Then add the Sauron's superpowers, controlling weather, shooting lightning, winds etc :) getting spotted by magic far view scrying power of the Eye of Sauron, getting shot by fire of Mount Doom I guess hehe :).
Actually you'd be about lvl 106ish - but yes.. :D
@@fantasywind3923 and don't forget about the Fellbeasts and Nasghul
Lord of the Rings Online will be forever one of my favourites MMOs ever. It was my first MMORPG, many years ago - I still have the original CD! I spent many hours playing it for many years during my high school years. I still remember how hard it was to level up, the infamous Moria or the disadvantages you received when you died. I spent hours making screenshots of Rivendell or Rohan on a very old PC that could barely run it in the minimum graphic quality. Even to this day I still come back to it from time to time and I'm extremely glad that it still has a loyal community. It was the choice of that time for those of us who did not play World of Warcraft and I will always remember it with the smile of someone who spent some of his best moments there, with his kinship of friends, talking on TeamSpeak, passing dungeons and even roleplaying (Laurelin for the win!)
Man I remember seeing the Shadows of Angmar + Mines of Moria combo pack box on the shelf at Walmart and convincing my mother to buy it for me. I then later on had to convince her to buy me a sub because I didn't know shit about MMOs or that they usually required a monthly fee to play. I still have that old case around somewhere, so many good memories.
First of all, the eagles were huge. They had a wingspan of 30 fathoms (180 feet). To put that in context, a 737 has a wingspan of 117 feet.
Eagles can’t fly as high as a pressurized jet. They’d probably have a maximum ceiling of around 10,000 feet. That would make them much more visible than a jet because they’d be flying lower.
Eagles are not long-range fliers. They do not store energy. They have to conserve it. They do this by soaring. They climb using updrafts. That means a lot of time flying in circles before gliding to the next updraft.
For this same reason, carrying passengers would be a strain on the eagles. Gandalf alludes to this while riding Gwaihir after his rebirth. He asked how far Gwaihir could carry him and Gwaihir said that he was so light, he could carry him as far as he wanted. That implies a limit with a heavier passenger.
This will give you an idea of how far they’d have to go. It would take multiple days for them to reach Mordor.
Sauron had spies and spent most of his time watching the outside world through his Palantir, the Ithil Stone. The eagles would likely be spotted well before they reached Mordor. Sauron might not know why they were coming but the eagles had always been his enemy so he’d assume it was some sort of attack. He’d have plenty of time to summon the Nazgul on their flying steeds.
It doesn’t matter if these things are a match for the eagles. The Nazgul carry poison darts. One dart in the proper eagle and it’s all over. The eagle and the Ring Bearer are down on Mordor with all of Sauron’s forces aware of them.
If the eagles do make it past the Nazgul then they’d be chased all the way to Mount Doom and probably all the way in.
And that’s why they didn’t take the eagles.
Still one of the best MMORPGs for me. Great atmosphere, strong storytelling and not boring even after the 10th character. The world is full of life. Full of NPCs going about their daily routine.
I agree with you. New players should NOT use the level boost. I've been playing since the beta and have never used the boost.
A top feature for me is that you earn the ingame currency through quests.
I never liked the PVP mode and don't use it. In my opinion, LOTRO is not a game for PvP
This has been my main MMO since I think 2014/5. I remember being a broke teen wanting to get the Moria expansion from the in-game shop, so I ended up making a bunch of new characters to repeatedly do every deed in Ered Luin until I had enough TP to get it. Good times
I did the same thing with the expansion Rise of Isengard...it felt awesome having earned 2,995 LOTRO points to purchase it just from playing the game, which is a blast anyway.
I did that too to unlock some zones. I remember going to micro center and getting a physical copy of mines of moria and getting a free month of membership with it too
I remember farming in the barrow downs, and then playing a char through the intro, feeding it with reputation items for Bree and the Shire, deleting, next char etc.... because Helms Deep was reduced by 50% in the store and I had to earn more than a thousand lotro points within a week. Think I might be one of those to blame for the decision to raise the min level for those reputation items oops
@@Erealenda God yes, that was also a good way to get points. Very sad they even added quest requirements to those
LOTRO is criminally underrated. It was one of the best MMOs ever but unfortunately it’s not as fun to play without a busy server and other players. It was super fun when it first started (I was a beta tester). The environment of Middle Earth is amazing and huge. Not sure how it is now.
even way more huge
Leave 8 so far on day 3 of playing in 2023. It’s fairly empty. I grouped with one player so far and he would not chat back. Maybe it gets better as you level
I just started to play this gem again like 2-3 days ago. I played a lot of MMOs but somehow I always find my way back to this game. I think the overall design of the world is just excellent and the best I have come across so far. Besides that the classes are all very unique and there is so much content around.
haha same!
same here dude. What server are you on?
@@sweetfry I play on Belegaer, it’s one of the German servers
how are the classes unique
I am a Minstrel, and while I haven't played with others yet, I already feel like my skill is going to be important.
I used to play this back when it came out. Honestly, one of my favorite memories is being a hobbit and farming different strains of pipeweed.
The best experience in this game is the community - spent multiple evenings just hanging out in front of the Inn in Bree, roleplaying in a crowd of players listening to a dwarven live-band on stage playing music...
That somehow reminds me of a scene when I was dropping by at Quark's bar in Star Trek Online to get rid of some event tokens and ended up somehow roped into a roleplaying conversation due to my character's uniform and background story seemingly looking like I was a roleplayer as well. A rare moment where a loner like me got a glimpse upon the multiplayer aspect.^^
I'll be honest, him running into a PC minstrel was what I was hoping for most from JSH doing this. It's so cool.
Another really cool part of the game you can experience is the music system. You can buy instruments from vendors, and these can be used as weapons by bards. However, if you type /music, and you will enter music mode. You can press the number keys for notes, and press shift for higher octave and ctrl for lower octave. You can also download premade files from other players, get a group into music mode, and have the characters play premade music in a band. This aspect gives instruments another use other than a single use tool for a one-off class, and is a lot of fun to play around with and socialize with.
LotRO captures the feeling of the world of Middle-Earth exceptionally well; it's not 100% perfect lore-wise(the high elf intro mission starts off with some really questionable things, like any number of spiders being able to drive off a Nazgul, or Sauron having any kind of Black Powder at all), but the environments and overall feeling is sound, and doesn't feel out of place for Tolkien's work. They captured the spirit really well.
The gameplay has always been a struggle for me; it's a big world, but there's a lot of space where not a lot happens. I often find myself struggling to have fun, which is never something you want. Combat is extremely clunky. Getting back into it and playing a Brawler with my family has been fun, but trying to play by myself has already let me start to feel a bit empty. It's best when you have a big group doing challenging missions, but a group doing solo missions leads to effortless cakewalks.
Great casual game if you want to just relax in the Shire or Bree, or get some good character interactions, but the game has always been a struggle. I look forward to seeing what you think!
*Yes, for a stealth mission against winged Nazgul, who are some of the most powerful sorcerers in Middle-Earth's History, along with Sauron himself, who **is** probably the most powerful sorcerer in Middle-Earth's History, you definitely want gigantic birds. Well done. Have a cookie. Anyone want to see what it would be like if a Great Eagle succumbed to the Ring, 'cause I certainly don't.*
Yeah... Its really a game that makes you wish you were playing with other people if you're playing by yourself.
tbf re: the spiders they were descendants of Ungoliant who previously only failed to body Morgoth because the Balrogs drove her off so eh
Josh.. out of all MMOs that you could choose, this is definitely one of them
This video reminded me this game existed, and I got to playing again. And it’s been so much fun, I forgot just how expansive and filled this world is with things to do. Sometimes it can almost be overwhelming.
I do want to share my favorite story though that I experienced. There is an elf who’s planning to leave for the Grey Havens, as all elves eventually do. And he’s saying goodbye to the people he knows. A family of humans. However they have such trouble communicating with one another, that it goes poorly, and the elf seeks to rebuild the friendship before he leaves. I won’t spoil the rest of the story, but it’s just such a great quest line. And the game is filled with these moments.
Urg. Level boosts are trash. You skip 99% of the ENJOYABLE part of the game. I hate even having the option, it lessens the game.
Loved this game, it's the only MMO that remotely gave me that feeling of being in a living world like SWG did.
First of all, the eagles were huge. They had a wingspan of 30 fathoms (180 feet). To put that in context, a 737 has a wingspan of 117 feet.
Eagles can’t fly as high as a pressurized jet. They’d probably have a maximum ceiling of around 10,000 feet. That would make them much more visible than a jet because they’d be flying lower.
Eagles are not long-range fliers. They do not store energy. They have to conserve it. They do this by soaring. They climb using updrafts. That means a lot of time flying in circles before gliding to the next updraft.
For this same reason, carrying passengers would be a strain on the eagles. Gandalf alludes to this while riding Gwaihir after his rebirth. He asked how far Gwaihir could carry him and Gwaihir said that he was so light, he could carry him as far as he wanted. That implies a limit with a heavier passenger.
This will give you an idea of how far they’d have to go. It would take multiple days for them to reach Mordor.
Sauron had spies and spent most of his time watching the outside world through his Palantir, the Ithil Stone. The eagles would likely be spotted well before they reached Mordor. Sauron might not know why they were coming but the eagles had always been his enemy so he’d assume it was some sort of attack. He’d have plenty of time to summon the Nazgul on their flying steeds.
It doesn’t matter if these things are a match for the eagles. The Nazgul carry poison darts. One dart in the proper eagle and it’s all over. The eagle and the Ring Bearer are down on Mordor with all of Sauron’s forces aware of them.
If the eagles do make it past the Nazgul then they’d be chased all the way to Mount Doom and probably all the way in.
And that’s why they didn’t take the eagles.
Glad you enjoyed this Josh. I remember many an hour from this game travelling around and playing music for people using the mod and in game items that let you do this and just generally having a blast RPing with people. It's a far different feel and experience from any other MMORPG I ever played.
This was the first modern MMO I got deeply invested in back in 2007 when it came out. I still think it's one of the best ever made. I love the unique classes and the way they bring across the lore and the world. Not perfect but I still go back and play it every so often as I have a well used lifetime sub. Glad he seems to have given it a fair mostly positive review.
I really liked the small-town feeling of this game. You aren’t the ultimate hero of Middle-Earth. You are just an simple man making your way through the Galaxy. Additionally, it feels like the closest thing to a DAO sequel.
Exactly the review this game deserves. I've been playing it off and on since just before Moria came out, and I routinely return to it when I want something relaxing. The world, in my opinion, is unmatched by any other MMO I've played. As someone who has read the source material for decades I remember the sense of awe I felt when I first saw Weathertop in the Lone-Lands. You can have a rewarding experience just playing the Epic quest-line, and the original quest line (ending in Angmar) is still one of my favorite story-arcs in a game.
The story in Vol. III with Nona, Corudan, and Horn is awesome, too. It's like having your own little fellowship.
@@cj5564 That's a good one too, but I hated that they kind of got dropped as I recall in the follow-up book and you never heard from them again. Gondor being pretty awesome made up for it a little :)
@@blfrench True, I was devastated when I realized they weren't coming back...
How about the first time you turn the corner and see Rivendell?
My family has played this game since release, my brother and I being tiny tots when it first came out, was a bonding thing we did with out mom, allot of good memories. My mom still plays it till this day, while my bro and i only revisit it every once in awhile. One of my favorite bits was the crafting, probably actually earned over half my levels that way. It's a great game to just take it easy, with the scenery and soundtrack. Wish the systems hadn't been so dumbed down though, makes later game a bit to easy...
Lovely review! Btw after your level boost you were teleported to the house of Beorn, the skinchanger from The Hobbit. Also i think the riding skill in the shop is kind of meant as a tutorial moment. You gotta buy it for 95 LOTRO points, which is an amount you can easily farm by doing deeds in the starter area. This way you learn why completing Deeds is important while the ability to ride a horse is gated until you have completed a large part of the starting zone. I definitely agree with your criticisms of the cash shop, but i don't think the riding skill is the worst offender.
honestly just questing normally to level 20 is usually enough to get the 95 points no farming needed
Theres also the option to subscribe (become a VIP) and do the Lv20 quest. Although, subbing also grants you 500 Points, which you could use to buy the Riding skill earlier.
It really isn't that predatory imo. Also, I think he missed it, but right now, their giving away the Riding skill (once to Free players, and twice for VIP).
I've played this game since beta back in 2007. I bought 2 lifetime accounts and play both. I have tried many other MMO's, none ever stuck except this one. I used to call myself a ''gamer'' but I've learned I'm just a Lotro'r. The world building is astounding! So many times my breath has been taken away at actually standing in some special spot. Rohan, Gondor, battles on horseback, music system, Ithilian, Minas Tirith, Shire, Isengard, Grey Company, the list is never ending, even after that walk into Mordor! I've went thru so many different phases of gameplay, from heavy raiding, solo play, musical play, roleplay, house decorating play, streaming play, to logging in just to go wander around some place
one of the most immersive games I've ever played. In my student years, I often used to sit under the willow at my in-game house at night and fishing (trying to catch a big fish to hang over my bed, kekw), or climb some ruins, or sit in a tavern in Bree and drink ale listening to the music and the crackling of the fireplace. Beautiful time. Other players on locations are rare, the experience is very single-player, but this contributes to even greater immersion.
A very oldschool, chill and enjoyable game that gives a great opportunity to feel like a simple adventurer in a big fantasy world.
They must have made a lot of improvements lately, I remember hearing you comment a few times in other games in this series that they were better than lotr online because they at least launched and let you play.
It's nice to see this though, that it's pretty relaxed and let's you take in the world around you. It's not in your face with constant explosions and big flashy graphics that try to cause you to have ADHD and then keep your attention like a desperate ex you broke up with for stalking you.
Glad you had a good time and shared it with us :)
You’ve inspired me to start playing, and I’m loving it so far. Thanks Josh!!
Play Warden. Wonderful class, one of the best in any MMO. Very challenging, but very powerful once you master it.
@@theminister1154 It never ceased to amaze me how there's always someone willing to tell others how to play a videgame without being asked.
@@theminister1154 Tbh I don’t really like the warden
@@faylure9985 Oh shush.. Wasn't that offensive.
@@Laternater eat a bag of roosters
“Once you get a cape and some shoulder armor, that’s how you know you’ve made it.” Man that’s how it felt playing WoW lol