Day 43, the Dwarves still dont know i'm a Hobbit in heavy armor. Only thing they complain about is my "weak beard".

I would have recommended this game a year or two ago. But they keep adding stupid ways to get people to pay and complicate the game. They keep adding several new things to character development and makes it so complicated i wouldn't even bother with learning it just so they can get you to spend more cash to unlock upgrades in them. They break promises about the main questline remaining F2P. Quality of quests are also dropping.

In short: AVOID, this game was good but now it's just becoming a pay to win fest.

Amazing Game, Friendly Community, and It also convinced me to be a LOTR fan
The World is Massive and full of Adventure
Although you can play alone, It's a crack ton of fun when you play with a fellowship
Plus, There are no trolls ruining your game
Best MMO I've ever played
20 pop tarts out of 16 oreos

I will start off with a few good points as to why i would recommend this game (Only slightly) to people who enjoy mmos with a already created universe. The game does a pretty good job at recreating the lotr universe of Middle-Earth or at least it did at one point. For you see it would seem the worlds are almost empty, If you are thinking of just playing cusually then get ready to grind like hell to get the turpine points to buy most of the items you need in-game. For example you need turpine points to buy the riding skill early game and alot of the other good cosmetic items, but dont get me wrong i like how you can actually get the coins with out having to pay real money it will just take a long time to get them. With the Semi pay-to-win out of the way there is the problem of the servers drying up, beacuse if you are wanting to get into this game now unless you are starting with someone get ready to walk the halls alone. There are a good amount of pros and cons to cover aslso

-Pros
-well crafted maps
-decent gaming community
-not entirely pay-to-win
-story with an interesting twist
-crafting is rather good

-Cons
-close to empty servers
-lots of grinding for "turbine points"
-some glitches (though what games don't)
-armour doesn't have the greatest apeal in the looks

The lists can go on for both but that is always up to the indivual person, because i have found you can't always go off of reviews you have to figure out if you like the game yourself. That being said i wrote this just to educate the people who might want to start playing this game and hopefully turbine might see this and lay off the pay-to-win a little but. So all in all it is rather fun, i guess i might have something to do with my love for Lotr.

As a fan of the LOTR series, this game is pretty damn good for those who are heavilyyyyyyy invested in the series. Those who read the books will not be disappointed. Those who watched the movies? You'll probably be confused but eventually you'll get along just fine with the story.

The story is amazing for this game. The storytelling, your character's involvement, it's all amazing.

At the same time, however, there are 100 levels to grind through, and if you're f2p, you're REALLY screwed. Yes, everyone can get to 100, but f2ps will have a hard time come around the level 20-25 area when sidequests become unavailable, as they require a pack. What does that mean? That means that for every region of the game past level 20-25 will only have the storyquestline, nothing more. And the story quest line, just like all other MMORPG's, only give you so much XP.

So where does that leave you? That leaves you to purchase either a region for it's quest (Worth or not worth depending on which quest pack you buy) or to buy a bunch of XP boosts (Somewhat worth, but that's a lot of dough...)

That being said, I'm an RPer. I like to RP. This game has a pretty damn good RP community. If you're an RPer and a fan of the LOTR series, you won't be disappointed as long as you join an RP server.

Most people say this game is "Pay-To-Win", but it really isn't. Competitive play in this game is rather limited, which Turbine has decided to implement PvMP to try and compensate for this loss, or "Player vs Monster Player", WHICH you can only get to at a really high level (75, I believe).

Time is a huge factor in this game. You really need to grind skirmishes (equivalent of raids or dungeons) in order to level up if you're f2p.

So overall, I wouldn't recommend the game to non-RPers. It just doesn't really seem worth it to me. However, if you ARE an RPer, then I would definitely recommend it.

A well-balanced mmorpg based on the works of Tolkien. You'll recognise many places and people from the novels (or movies).
Until recently I played, very happily, as F2P. There are several regions which have their quests unlocked and other quest packs and services can be unlocked using Turbine Points which can be easily gained ingame by completing deeds.
A lot of people pay for 1 months VIP subscription for the permanent unlocks it gives, but I love the game so much I decided to go VIP to put some money back into a game that satisfies all my mmo needs. Awesome cosmetic/wardrobe options, great crafting system, beautiful places to explore and I love achievements & titles!
I haven't covered the raiding/endgame or PVM (player vs monster) as I haven't been involved with those. But the PVM, where you can create a monster race player & fight other players in the Ettenmoors sounds like a lot of fun.

This game has had many ups and downs but that's what you get when you have a F2P game that used to be P2P. My personal favorite part of the game is there is absolutely NO requirement to spend real life money to get everything the game has to offer. Just grind the turbine points, if you dont know how, then the great and powerful google has all the answers. Definitely give it a try, you can't go wrong.

This game is pretty fun, but I found that in order to have a really good time you need to buy the new worlds.

It's full of action, adventure, and you can make a lot of new friends that can help you in hard parts of this game.

I found you can also earn points to buy the worlds by playing the game, which makes it a fun challenge.

I also love that you can kill the goblins, trolls, minions, etc.

Good game overall!

PROS
-Middle-Earth atmosphere, which is loyal to the original books, not the movies (we can see Radagast, Thranduil, Thorin etc. Even Tom Bombadil!)
-Crafting system
-Quests are rarely mediocre.
-Good at Raids, Dungeons and Events

CONS
-COMBAT SYSTEM!
-Ask for real money too much.

LotRO is a free-to-play (f2p) game that is set in the world of Middle-earth which was created by the Father of Modern Fantasy himself, J.R.R Tolkien. LotRO (Lord of the Rings Online) is as it's name suggests - it is based around the time of the Lord of the Rings and features a lot of the War of the Ring. First of all, let me talk about races and classes. There are four races which are Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits and the Race of Men which you get to decide on when your making your own character. Then there are the nine classes: Burglar, Captain, Champion, Hunter, Guardian, Lore-master, Minstrel, Rune-keeper and Warden (the last two you need to pay with turbine points or get via Mines of Moria expansion though). The game throws you into the tutorial (not litterally :P) and into it's main storyline.

Depending on what race you choose you are in the tutorial (Dwarves and Elves go to Thorin's Halls, Men and Hobbits go to Archet). And once you complete the tutorial, it is pretty much a free world for you. You can craft on LotRO (litterally some players - all they ever do is craft), you can quest and level or do the epic quests (there's other stuff too but they are the main stuff). Throughout LotRO, you become a hero-of-sorts. You are in the background of the main events and have your own story to tell and act out as you fight the evils of the Witch King, Saruman and Sauron. Overall, I really recommend the game to all Middle-earth fans or a fan of MMOs. Of course, the game does have some problems such as PvMP. Give the game a try but I do have to note that you do need a bit of patience as at the start it (may) seem a little boring but becomes more fun and interesting after about the first 20 levels (isn't that much and hard to get too). So, yeah I give the gaves a thumbs up and 4 out of 5 stars.

Sometimes the best thing in the world is a quiet walk from Michel Delving to Bywater. Absolutely worth it just for that.

While the game itself isnt that great, what keeps bringing me back to LOTRO is the community, never met a more freindly community then the community surrounding LOTRO

To anyone who is a fan of lotr books or movie it is great because you can roam the world and it is based off the book and is accurate but is also difficult to level past 32 if you have no quest pack

8/10
It has it flaws, it gets grindy at times, but the storytelling and the landscapes are superb

Most accurate hobbit simulator ever.

This game is the most amazing mmo ive ever played im a tolkien fan and a big lotr nerd so my oppinion may be biased but i love this game

I played Lotro for 4-6 years....I tried returning a few weeks ago only to find literally the very game i had loved so much to be backtracked and burned to stupidity and dumbed down horribly...the classes are no longer classes v.v . It has become dead because of the stupid ♥♥♥♥ they keep doing honestly there used to be so much potential for the game and the developers and stuff always took it for granted and every expansion after Mines of Moria or Siege of Mirkwood or any content was disappointment after disappointment and they never cared to listen to any of the real voices of the game they basicly molded it now to be a stupid thing.... Lord of the rings doesn't deserve to be like this, I wish it could be redone back to how it was originally retouched graphics wise and have a crap ton of new features like boats/ships, swimming underwater. More including of PvP and playable "Monsters" cus kinda think it'd be cool to be a goblin >.> but meh...no instead they kept adding recolored and the same thing over and over :/, I would advise not to unless you just want to take in the views of each area considering most of it you have to unlock to quest in with grinded Turbine points or having purchased it all.



I'll always remember Lotro, my favorite instance was Garth Agarwen back when it took a full group of 6 back when things were hard and you felt accomplished after succeeding the higher you leveled.

If Possible I would love for this game to go back to how it was originally and then new features added and just a mass overhaul that J.R.R. Tolkiens world is worthy of, instead of the garbage money grab its become :(

As a veteran of MMOs (and MUDs before that) I would have to recommend this game for several reason.

-F2P: Its actually free to play. The RMT (real money trade) store items are mostly cosmetic. There are some that effect gameplay convenience wise. However, the RMT currency (Turbine Points) can be also earned in game in many different ways. Basically, the game gives you RMT currency as a side result of playing.

-The Community. The community is not the typical MMO trollfest. MOST players you come across are more than willing to lend a hand, give advice or even (sometimes) free items etc. They are very friendly and generally tend to help the new players out.

-Social MMO. Despite this game having boatloads of grindy combat like any other MMO, there are many unique social aspects to this game. Making/playing your own musical instruments in a band, player/guild housing etc.

-Massive world. The gameworld in this is rather big. While certain areas are locked out until you purchase the expansion, there are equivalent zones for the free (budget) player.

-Customer Support is very ... human. And tends to be helpful with the player rather than absolute sticklers to policy.

-Mounted Combat/Legendary Weapons/Raids/Dungeons/Crafting/Typical MMO stuff etc., etc.,

CONS:

-I had performance issues on my budget laptop. The game can get very laggy with xpacs and infusion of players.

-WoW ruined any mmo without flying mounts ><

TL:DR give it a spin if you like mmos. While it doesn't break any new ground in the genre it is a solid game with unique social aspects.

This game is perfect for people who like to roleplay and are searching for a place to rp in Middle-Earth, most of the players are mature and respectful and i have enjoyed the time i have played it, very worth playing

I played LOTRO for about a year when it first came out and just returned to it 5 days ago. I was a bit concerned about it going F2P because most games that do that pretty much design it as Free to Win or design it in a manner that gives those that shell out the big bucks an unfair advantage. Fortunately LOTRO didn't go that route. You can play this game and never spend a penny because you earn points within the game to spend on unlocking material and servives. Sure it comes easier and quicker to those willing to pay for the points but if you don't mind grinding some then you can bypass spending real money. LOTRO to me also did a great job with the immersion factor. You feel like you are a part of Middle Earth. While the graphics don't hold up to the latest titles, LOTRO is still a great game and worth trying. I'm hooked.