PC Video Game Review 7/10: Lord of the Rings Online - Shadows of Angmar

Lord of the Rings: Shadows of Angmar has been out for a few months but I haven't had the opportunity to pickup this game until now. I loved MMORPG's and have a couple of high level characters in World of Warcraft. However, I've been bored of Warcraft lately and so I decided to try something new.

If I were to sum up the game, I'd say it's very good, but there are a few major points which when combined, make a very good game, unfortunately a very flawed game.

My main gripes include the lack of instances and the game's economy. The economy is in short, broken. The repair bills, unprofitable trade skills, and expensive travel system/training profession combine to suck a lot of the fun out of the game. As for the instances? You'll find yourself soloing or two manning a lot of the early missions. And there aren't enough random quests to send people back into instances over and over, making partying a pain. Most of the time, people only go into instances to work on their epic quest and a couple of side quests.

I started my character as a "Guardian", which is inherently a tank. As all tanks from other mmorpgs know, it is standard for tank to have a higher repair bill because he or she wears the heaviest armor. However, LOTRO goes above and beyond other mmorpgs by literally making an instance run suck 10-30% of a tank's savings. This is because your armor detereoriates quite quickly as you will be the one taking the brunt of the damage. And if you die, forget about it.

The travel system in the game is also broke. Instead of costing a fraction of your gold, travel systems usually cost early level players 5% of there cash for a trip from one town to the next. The travel level keeps getting more expensive as players get higher level to scale with the higher incomes. And if you do manage to save anything, expect to spend all your money at the trainers.The only respite for players are in the gathering half of the crafting professions. Miners, lumbersmiths, and people who gather raw materials can make some money from the auction house. However, this is ultimately unfulfilling as most players would rather concentrate on their crafting profession. The downside is that the crafting professions take a very long time to upgrade and create armor/weapons/jewelary that is almost unusable by the crafter of the same level. In short, crafting in the game is a huge disappointment and utterly worthless.

On the bright side, the game recreates and improves upon many of the addictive features that make mmorpgs so popular. For one, you'll always have endless quests. Add to that a reputation system where you can increase your character's abilities by doing repeated quests in a region or a faction, and you'll find the typical grind is actually a lot more fun.

The story line in the game is also reflective of the time and effort the designers spent on the game. While games like Warcraft have random heroes pop up in certain places, or have long quest chains that rare tie into the story, LOTRO makes you a more integral part of the LOTRO story arc. You'll find yourself speaking to Stryder and Gandolf on a regular basis and even getting quests from them. The "Epic" quest line is also a great way for players to work together. Unfortunately, the servers are somewhat underpopulated so it'll take a while to find somebody on the same chapter as you.

Overall, I give the game a 7/10. I'm also dinging it for having slow load times, a poor fog of war map, and an ineffective party group system when compared to other mmorpg's of today.