Easily the most underrated MMO out there. If you're sick of all the WoW and Warhammer stuff, pick this up.
Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) is Turbine's (Asheron's Call, DDO) newest addition to their MMO's. The game ahs been out for around 18 months now, so my review may be a little late but I wanted to get it in before the Mines of Moria expansion pack is released.
Anyways, let's start off with how I play it. I made my first character in January 2008, I got it up to level 36 but midway through my third month I had some real life issues which severly limited my playing time. Recently I've come back to the game and am now playing a level 30 Captain.
In LOTRO you play one of the many heroes fighting against the dark forces of Sauron during the Third Age of Middle-earth. You choose either a Human, Hobbit, Dwarf, or Elf and then one of the game's seven classes. The story isn't anything amazing although I did find myself getting caught up in the main quest lines at more than one point.
Class balance in the game is good. The classes are pretty general so you have your typical nuke, summoner, tank, healer etc. However there are some differences, for example the Guardian class. Many were worried on release that the class would be like any other tank class, rather bland and pretty much being the guy with big armour that takes all the damage. This is partially true, however players using this class have special skills activated after a parry or block, creating a bit of a new twist in the gameplay.
I'll be quick with the crafting system. It's nothing special, in fact the materials often cost more than the final recipe. However, this is the most fun crafting system I've played so far in any game period.
Graphics are overall great. Not many bugs and the system requirements aren't too high, the game looks good on almost any computer. I'm also a big fan of the series by JRR Tolkien. The game portrays the world he created well. I actually find myself taking time out of my levelling to just explore the world around me a little bit. Sound in the game is pretty MMO generic, but it ties in with some of the enviroments.
PvP (Player vs Player) is interesting. This is a mostly PvE (Player vs Enviroment) game so the PvP aspect isn't as important to LOTRO as it is to, say, Dark Age of Camelot. When you reach level 10 on your main chaarcter you are able to create a monster character. There are six different classes of this, ranging from the Orc Defiler to the Warg Stalker. The Monster characters (commonly called creeps) fight in a reigon called the Ettenmoors against PvE characters who have a level 40 or higher. PvP is not very well balanced and should be bigger for the people who like this aspect of the game. This is where LOTRO falls short the most.
Now for the things that make LOTRO unique. The deed system is the thing that most comes to mind. You are pretty much given completely optional missions (different from quests, because you get no money or item rewards,a s well as there being no quest givers) which you earn traits or titles from. These traits can be used to customize your character, giving you bonuses to your stats or the ability to increase the effectiveness of certain skills. This feature is very good, albeit a little hard to explain.
In conclusion, I give LOTRO an 8.5. It won't revolutionize MMORPG's the way World of Warcraft did, but the game is solid on nearly all level. I can see it lasting a long time and will probably be playing it 'till the end.
I give it an 8.5