Lord Of The Rings RP Site...Question

[Slynky]

I know many of you dabble in RP games, so I thought I see what some of you thought about this new site opening:

http://www.lotro.com/

Expensive? Worth it? Thoughts?

[JeffGeorge]

It looks good, though I hate the idea of getting caught up in an MMORPG. However, if anything could do that to me, it would probably be Middle-earth since I've been able to stay away from the Star Wars game.

[Slynky]

I thought that since there were a few peeps here who dabbled in RP, there might be more comments. Hehe...guess not.

[PvK]

It's in "beta" still.

I didn't notice the pricing scheme - did you?

"Worth it" is of course entirely subjective. The time and mental energy spent on MMORPG's is usually the greatest price.

The graphics look typically ridiculously expensive to produce. (BTW, it's ironic that "role-playing" games seem to focus so much on crutches for the imagination, which actually impede people who have a good imagination by making everything so explicit.)

[PvK]

Looks like the combat system is the typical CRPG crud that keeps me from being interested in most CRPG's:

"The other thing that caught me by surprise (a pleasant one), was the fact that Champions can dual wield. This makes them an awesome offensive machine, allowing them to plow through their enemies before they lose too much "morale" (hit points)."

I hate hitpoint-whittling games.

[Slynky]

PvK said:
It's in "beta" still.

I didn't notice the pricing scheme - did you?

"Worth it" is of course entirely subjective. The time and mental energy spent on MMORPG's is usually the greatest price.

The graphics look typically ridiculously expensive to produce. (BTW, it's ironic that "role-playing" games seem to focus so much on crutches for the imagination, which actually impede people who have a good imagination by making everything so explicit.)

I believe 10 USD per month or 200 lifetime. And, one has to buy the game.

Imagination? I'd like to think one is important and that I have one. Seems like in my days of D&D I was always pleaded with to be the DM. I used my imagination when I read LotR in HS and then enjoyed tremendously Peter Jackson's efforts (that were explicit). I liked seeing how I imagined things are different from the way others do.

[Slynky]

PvK said:
Looks like the combat system is the typical CRPG crud that keeps me from being interested in most CRPG's:

"The other thing that caught me by surprise (a pleasant one), was the fact that Champions can dual wield. This makes them an awesome offensive machine, allowing them to plow through their enemies before they lose too much "morale" (hit points)."

I hate hitpoint-whittling games.

I have no experience with MMOGs. ONe of the reasons I posted the question...thinking maybe others who HAVE had some experience would give their take on it. And I thank you for that

The combat, well, at least PvP is still undergoing discussion and potential changes.

I beleive 125,000 will be accepted for the live beta.

[Possum]

Hey, Slynky

I'll chime in here, sure.

My first MMORPG was Anarchy Online, a science-fiction MMORPG set 30,000 years in the future.

Humanity has fractured into 4 separate species, and Homo Sapiens is no more, although Homo Solitus is basically just Homo Sapiens with a few bio-engineered changes to allow the use of nanobot technology. I'll resist the temptation to talk about the game in exhaustive detail.

A friend was beta'ing the game, and talked to me about it incessantly. I was heavily into FPS games at the time, specifically a Team Fortress mod for the Quake 3 engine.

Anyhow, by the time the game launched, I was ready to try it. I created my account on June 30, 2001 - the day of retail launch. I am still playing today, although I took a sabbatical from February to October of 2006. Call it 60 months of continous play.

I have over 5,700 hours logged on my main character (or "toon"), Francesca "Hildegaard" Harrist. Hilde is a female Solitus Doctor.

OK, about the phenomenon of the MMORPG.

Approach it cautiously. When you sit down to play in the evening, set a time limit for yourself, an absolute dropdead I-will-be-in-bed-by-midnight type limit. If you fail to do this, you will find yourself playing until dawn, neglecting RL, and generally allowing the game to dominate your life to an unhealthy degree.

The problem is than a good MMORPG (not all of them are good, not even close) is immersive to a degree that defies description. Furthermore, a well-designed MMORPG rewards those who invest more time in the game.

There are a lot of crippled people in the MMORPG world. Crippled physically or emotionally. People like that need an escape desperately, and the immersive online world permits that escape. Even if your RL body is confined to a wheelchair, online you can be the hero of your dreams, slay foul monsters, rescue fair damsels in distress, etc.

When I first started to play AO, I was one of those cripples. Basically, I came home from the dentist's office one day to find that someone near and dear to my heart had put a gun in her mouth and sent herself on to a better world. I needed a place to hide. (No condolences please, this was years ago, and I've dealt with it).

Now, this does not mean that a normal, emotionally healthy person cannot play MMORPG's, play them well, and have fun at it. It just means that the online world contains a percentage of people who spend most of their waking hours there. The only way to compete with these people is to become one of them, and if you have any sort of a life, you don't want to do that.

The trick is to take the game on your own terms, do what is fun for you, and log out whenever it starts to piss you off badly

Don't compare yourself with the hardcores, or measure your success by their achievements.

The other SF MMORPG I can reccommend is EVE, which I played for the ~6 months I was on sabbatical from AO.

As far as the "traditional" or "medieval" MMORPG's, I can't say. I don't do elves and dwarves, man

[Slynky]

Long reply, Possum!

I understand what you say about "shut-ins". A woman I work with has a son who never leaves home except to go to the doctor. When he was young (teen), he and another guy found some discarded barrel of "something" (chemicals) in the woods and somehow, when they were messing around with it, the thing kind of exploded (or something). Anyway, what was inside got all over his face and really messed him up badly. Lucky to live, he had something like 20 operations but was never "normal" again and doesn't go out at all. That was about 30 years ago. The online environment is almost a godsend to what would have been a horrible way to live had he lived in, say, the 50's.

So, though it's living some sort of fantasy life online in games, chat rooms, whatever... the web is a great outlet for people like that. And people who can't walk, etc.

So, yeah, I realize some people have LOTS more time than I do (smile) and their characters will be more developed than mine. But, I'm out to have fun and not be the "kick-***" of characters.

PvP is supposed to be, as I read it, consensual in LotRO, so it's not like, I suppose, I could croak by some major player kicking my ***.

I went ahead and joined hoping it's going to be among the best RP places to be. IF not, at least I won't be joining a game that's been in session for years--I'll be starting on an even keel, so to speak.

Thanks for you lengthy and informative response!