Yeah, Helm's Deep would be awesome. But man, if they added Minas Tirith, and put as much effort into it as they did with Torin's Halls, I would crap myself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hell yea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My god, if they could pull off a world event like the battle of Minis Tirith

 

 

 

:shock:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm definatly excited for this one

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As in thousands of players battling in ONE big map? Defending against hundreds of thousands of monsters. Cause that's the minimum I'd ask if they would make it, else it's just better if they didn't do it at all. So I'd say no, mostly due to the limits in computer power and bandwidth for the people playing -> It would be like Ironforge before Linked Auction Houses. LAG.

How much is the rumored cost for this?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wish the gameplay was a tad bit faster

How much is the rumored cost for this?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wish the gameplay was a tad bit faster

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I believe it is $9,99 USD. However, that is if you pre-order it. I don't think the "real" fee has been confirmed yet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh and I've updated my OP.

 

 

 

- [uPDATE] When making a Dwarven character, there is no female option. Why, is explained here:

 

 

 

[quote="ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¦Ã¢â¬ÅThe History of Middle-EarthÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¦Ã¢â¬Å; volume 11: ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¦Ã¢â¬ÅThe War of the JewelsÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¦Ã¢â¬Å; part II: ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¦Ã¢â¬ÅThe Later Quenta SilmarillionÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬ÃâÃ

I've mentioned some things about the game on other threads, you can get a beta of the game when you preorder it, but you can't start playing it til the end of this month.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I recommend anyone whos even partly interested in the game preorder it now, because it halves the monthly fee, you get access to a couple items only available through the beta, and when the beta is over you can move your character with all his items, stats, and abilitys to the main game so you don't have to start over again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The deal is really too good to pass up, and if you don't like the game you can just not come in to get it when it comes out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Btw, this deal looks to be American only, it seems that theres a different offer for people in the UK but I may be wrong.

The BETA for this bored me after about a week. Really disappointing considering how long I've been waiting to play it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I absolutely loved the instruments, however. Spent hours stood in Hobbiton playing my horn with a group of friends. Only problem is that you can't hold notes. :(

The European "benefits" for pre-ordering are:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ten days Early access into the game before its commercial launch on April 24th

 

 

 

An in-game item

 

 

 

Six Lord of the Rings Online stickers

 

 

 

A Window sticker

 

 

 

The option to become a Founder Member of The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar (see more details below)

 

 

 

A DVD containing the Pre-order game client

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lord of the Rings OnlineÃÆââââ¬Ã¾Ãââ Founder Member program offers players two different membership options:

 

 

 

ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã99.99 for a Lifetime Membership!*

 

 

 

A six month package for ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã35.94...thatÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s just ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã5.99 per month!*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So yeah, it doesn't appear to include moving your beta characters over, which is a shame. But I'm seriously considering getting it anyway (STICKERS!!!).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, the monthly fee seems to have been confirmed. At Gameplay they have started to sell the gamecards already. So by the looks of things, it will cost ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã9,99 a month.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Only problem is that you can't hold notes. :(

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They are planning to fix this in the future.

So yeah, it doesn't appear to include moving your beta characters over, which is a shame. But I'm seriously considering getting it anyway (STICKERS!!!).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A mate of mine wants to get it just for the stickers. :D

A mate of mine wants to get it just for the stickers. :D

 

 

 

He sounds like a smart kid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On a different note, here's a site explaining in detail how this PvMP thing works. I've given and cited some pretty "oh, um... I think it's a bit like this" explanations and sources on it so far in this thread, but this is a reliable source and it seems to explain pretty much everything there is to know about it.

I got my beta key. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For those interested in the beta, follow this guide. New beta keys are being added daily it seems, because I couldn't get one yesterday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First impressions? Well, I can only speak about the earliest stages in the game, since my Man guardian is only level 5. I just finished the "introductory chapter" everybody needs to do. However, I can safely say that the screenshots and movies don't do it any justice at all. It looks great. Especially the water. And the way your character looks and moves could be compared to the KoTOR series. Simply excellent. I'm really looking forward to check out the bigger cities like Bree and Rivendell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was afraid the combat system would be very slow, but really, it takes as much time to kill mobs on my level, as it did with my first WoW character when he was the same level - only difference is you don't have to deal quite as many blows (using WoW as an example here because its combat system is generally considered to be fast paced). Speaking of combat, the visual and sound effects are great (I absolutely love the shield blow animation and sound effect). I'm also positively surprised by the quests, they've been very enjoyable so far.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only negative things I have to say would be, that the user interface is way too small. I had a hard time distinguishing the different combat buttons. And the user interface overall is pretty ugly; black buttons with a dark-blue glow, very thin text and it's overall not very userfriendly. Feels like you're playing some sci-fi game from the '90's. Also, the game is a bit buggy (for example, when you jump... on the way down your character kinda lags). And lastly, the character creation, while it has some very original features, it also lacks in the "face" department. There are really only a few faces that look alright, so I found it hard to make a "personalized" and original character while at the same time feel like, hey this is a character I could see myself playing.

 

 

 

I also miss a keymap function for unsheathing your weapons. :P

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, I'm sure Codemaster/Turbine will adress most of these issues, especially the user interface and the bugs, so I'm not worried.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So yeah, you can now ask more questions about the gameplay etc., if you want, and not just the "overall features". :P

why have they seperated the 7 files needed to instal the beta?

ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã9.99 for you? That's almost twice the cost for North America :shock:

ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã9.99 for you? That's almost twice the cost for North America :shock:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How much do your gamecards cost?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You have to take into account that when buying gamecards, they add like ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã5~ to the initial fee. Sigh, I wish we'd just get a confirmation from Codemasters/Turbine on the real fee.

How does combat actually work compared to WoW? And skills, maybe I could read about it somewhere if you don't feel like explaining?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am downloading it now :P

How does combat actually work compared to WoW? And skills, maybe I could read about it somewhere if you don't feel like explaining?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am downloading it now :P

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christ, I hate missing and pressing Ctrl-W when trying to hit Shift-W. I accidentally closed down a lengthy reply to this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll cut it short(er):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by skills. If you mean professions, or what in LoTRO is called vocations, I explained it in my OP. But you knew that already. So I suppose you mean skills such as (WoW) defense, parry, sword, dagger etc. I'm not entirely sure on this, and I can't find any articles on it either. But, what I could gather from my 2hr of playing the game, there are no skills like the ones mentioned above, per se. They don't work as they do in WoW anyway. The skills seem to be your "combat actions"; either "active" ones (which you press a keymapped button to perform) or "passive" ones (which are always active, in the background). You buy all these skills from your respective class trainer (even the sword, bow, crossbow skills).

 

 

 

And by performing the skills (for example Shield Blow) X amount of times, you advance in that skill. You actually see how many times you have to perform each action in order to advance in it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I might add, that that is how the "rank" system works as well. For example, I had to kill 30 spiders to get the title "Spider-foe". So now I am "Azvareth, Spider-foe". :D

 

 

 

You can basically get a "rank" for every little thing you do in the game. Even discovering new places.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, I'm not sure how it works with the passive skills. You might not need to level those "skills".

 

 

 

Anyway, that's as good of an explanation I can give on skills right now, me being a mere level 6 and all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As for the combat system. It is similar to WoW, in the sense that there are action bars that are keymapped. One difference is, that all this "button mashing" we're used to in WoW is non-existant in LoTRO. You only have to press a keymapped button once, and it will be put in "queue". However you can't put more than one action in queue, at a time.

 

 

 

There are cooldowns, although the skills I have at the moment only have cooldowns of 6 seconds at the most. Other than that, yeah, you wouldn't notice much difference from WoW. Oh except one thing, for Guardians at least, we use Morale (mana/energy/rage) to "power" our different combat actions - and seriously, it has never run out for me. But without it, a fight would take twice as long. So yeah, things like that are a bit different. You don't appear to have to plan all your moves to prevent your mana/energy (maybe not rage) from running out and/or to deal as much damage-output as you possibly can with the amount you have, like you do in WoW. The more efficient combat actions might require more Morale though, or perhaps, the required Morale to perform each action is increased as you advance in them. *shrug*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope that helped a bit. If it didn't, please specify a bit more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh yeah, when choosing servers, pick Northmoor. :)

Northmoor it is, hopefully Korla wont be taken in this game...grrr.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hopefully the combat system will change if you can't run out of mana/energy/rage. What a waste otherwise..

Is it open to NA and europe, so we can play on the same server? And how many beta things are they giving away?

lvl 3 female elven guardian called Korla, add me if there's some kind of friends system ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Found a better Dust in the Wind player lol

Just got a beta key, but its like 30 minutes before school right now. Ill try downloading it after school if my computer isnt blowing up, or if im not dying of physics.

Is it open to NA and europe, so we can play on the same server? And how many beta things are they giving away?

 

 

 

The US and EU people don't/can't play on the same servers, no. Secondly, it seems like it is more or less an "unofficial" open beta right now. Anybody who wants to can get a beta key.

Damn that sucks, would of been awesome to play together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stupid math/physics homework :(

 

Is it open to NA and europe, so we can play on the same server? And how many beta things are they giving away?

 

 

 

The US and EU people don't/can't play on the same servers, no. Secondly, it seems like it is more or less an "unofficial" open beta right now. Anybody who wants to can get a beta key.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I might have to try it even if just for the complete hell of it. not really intersted in the game but I'd love to form my own opinion about it. :)

 

 

 

I might have to try it even if just for the complete hell of it. not really intersted in the game but I'd love to form my own opinion about it. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Go for it. Be sure to follow the guide I linked to that explained step-by-step how to activate your account with the beta key etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And for the EU people choosing the Northmoor server, just letting you know that it is the server with the most issues at the moment; lag and thelike. However, they're working on it. So unless you have a mortal fear of lag (which I didn't experience as a nuisance yesterday), go with this server, it would be fun(ner) if we all played on the same one.

Official open beta http://www.lotro.com/openbeta