Above: Contemplating killing the Sackville-Baggins. Yodrick will teach you to take over Bags end!
If you don't know LOTRO stands for Lord of the Rings Online. This is a subscription Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) game that I and Vander (My friend Brandon) have gotten into. You can play as one of four races Human, Dwarf, Hobbit or Elf. There are several classes to choose that you will find fun to play. LOTRO is more focused on Player vs the environment rather than player vs player. Meaning that no one can come up to you in game and attack your character.
Rather it focuses on getting groups of players together (called fellowships in the game) to finish various quests. Yes there is your standard "Yodrick, please go out and kill ten boars and bring the skins to me" type quests. But it quickly gets better from there offering you a wide variety to do. One quest had me turn into a chicken and help a sick chicken find some worms to eat. Hey, it is more fun than it sounds. While you cannot travel with Bilbo and the fellowship you will meet those characters in game. For instance I did some quests for Strider while he decided what to do with the hobbits at the prancing poney. It does make you feel like you are apart of the storyline albiet behind the scenes. I have also ran into Gandalf and Tom Bambadil which was pretty cool.
Above: Looking out over a swamp. Yes you can travel down there
In place of Player vs Player they have an option called monster play that is available to you after your character reaches the 10th level. You will get a 60 level monster that will inhabit one part of the map where you can battle other players characters for control of castles and forts. I have just dabbled into that but what little time I have spent in MP has been fun. You can raise your characters level to 60 wth the new Mines of Moria expansion but I haven't gotten that far yet.
The subscription rate is pretty steep at 15.00 a month but you can get a cheaper price if you buy a several months at a time. ($300 buys you a life time subscription. Sometimes they are known to offer it at $200) I am going to eye the life time option because this game is a lot of fun compared to the other MMO's I have tried out. Most of which are not this good looking graphically. If you have a little extra time and money, consider taking a trip to middle earth.
Below: Overlooking the Shire from Bag's End.
After a bit of prompting, Amish Ambush finally talked me into joining him in Middle Earth. I had never been too keen on paying a monthly fee and was skeptical about this game. I'm glad to say I like this game more every time I play it. It really has been a good experience and I look forward to our play sessions.
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