Found this beauty in Trollshaws, just east of Rivendell. As Strider casually mentioned while resting here with Frodo, there is even the bird nest (on the ear of the right troll).
Bilbo’s first duty on this journey was to investigate a light in the distance that turned out to be a fire with three Forest trolls around it. Bilbo attempted to snatch something from the trolls to bring back to the Dwarves, to show that he was a first class burglar, for everyone knows that trolls have large treasure troves. However, he was caught and the Dwarves who attempted to help him were captured as well. They were then rescued by Gandalf, who tricked the trolls and turned them all to stone. Gandalf was the one who had found the trolls’ cave where they were being held. Before they left, Bilbo took an elvish dagger from the trolls’ collection, which he would later name Sting.
I’m constantly amazed by the detail and effort put into crafting the virtual Middle Earth. Very happy to have picked up this underrated gem while the world is still preoccupied with WoW (which is of course still the most overhyped *best* MMO out there but yeah move on) and the other so-so MMOs, especially free ones. Glad Turbine took the huge risk (creating a game from existing text isn’t as easy as people think) and interpreted Tolkien’s works so perfectly while staying true to the story.
The people are considerably more mature in thinking and are willing to help others (but I’m playing in an Aussie server instead of an US server, if that hints at anything). Grinding is completely unnecessary and for the first time, I’m actually compelled to read quest logs instead of just clicking through, because every single quest just seamlessly adds to the story, if not creates a more in-depth richness to characters, classes or relationships.
The art and music remain unsurpassed, aside from the default UI but UI can be heavily customized. Animations may not be as smooth but the detail is crazy. Never thought I’d be finding myself sympathising with a mob while bashing it up, all because it wailed for help halfway (very unexpected). Everyday I find myself exploring, unearthing various monuments (such as the three trolls) and linking it back to the lore. Few games have given me such opportunities to stop at my tracks, admire and reflect on what seems to be just a digital render.
The only thing that falls short in this game is its PvP mode. Hero players can’t really fight each other in PvP zones unless it’s player vs player mob (yes you can play as a warg, spider etc), though you can casually “spar” others. But this falls in line with the story (because it’s not right to see men kill hobbits and I’m sure elves can’t be bothered with dwarves) and I’m not a huge fan of PvP or the need to display e-peen anyway so it doesn’t affect me much.
That being said, LOTRO is a little more casual than WoW in the sense that it’s not as fast paced, which is good because I have the time to fully digest landscapes, story and vastness of space without being too preoccupied with battles and PvPs. It is also more realistic (or boring, depends on you) in that sense. For those who’re more into online dick-size comparisons over story depth and paidic enjoyment, this game is definitely not for you and you can carry on playing WoW or even Quake (haha okay I’m damn biased here but just really sick of persistent fanboys.).
Most importantly, zomg Turbine is ab-so-lute-ly diligent in delivering patches, new content, fixing bugs for us even though LOTRO generally doesn’t have as much players as other MMOs. The community spirit is strong and Turbine is determined to strike a good chord with us. How many creators of MMOs or even other games can safely say that they’ve been paying this much attention to what the community needs without giving half-assed excuses?
So if you’ve finally decided to move on from WoW or rekindle your love for LOTR, then give LOTRO a try ;)
