Lord of the Rings Online rewards earlier adopters

Is this game even supposed to be good? The screenshots don't look so hot ...

One Publisher to Rule Them All

Er, um, I really can't comment much because of the NDA, but $199 for unlimited play forever for LOTRO is not a bad deal.

#2: It's not a bad deal IF THE GAME IS GOOD. If it sucks, well, you're S.O.L., my friend.

Vanguard will PWN it. But on a positive note, the lifetime pass is a great idea, but who knows if it will be out for more than 6 months and you're stuck holding. Midway has always treated me right, but this is a first try for them on an MMO.

Great job with the image.

Great another MMO to suck the lives out of more people. Seriously I think this is getting out of hand. All my real life friends don't play MMOs, but do play video games (all systems). The few people I do know that play MMOs, I might see once a year. Don't be sucked in to the $199 lifetime entry, it's going to be lifetime imprisonment.

I feel really bad for people that are sucked into these games. They are trying to escape reality, just like addicts of other things do.

Best story image ever...

For the record, I actually have played LOTR Online. Despite the strict character customization (Why can't my dwarf have pink hair!?) it was pretty fun. Just not "I want to give you $200 bucks for this right now" fun.

In before the "MMO's are for losers" comments. o wait.

MMOs don't suck, they are good, but they are too good in hooking people to it like a drug. I played a few MMOs and I see the allure, I just chose to stop. I couldn't deal with everything else I was losing (friends, time, money, hygiene).

Memes? In my Joystiq? Oh shi-

Umm.. no, you can't start playing today. The Open Beta starts at the end of March, just a couple weeks before the game ships. In any case, I've pre-ordered for now, but will cancel if it sucks.

I forgot where I signed up (through Fileplanet?) but I got accepted to beta test the LOTRO "stress test" this weekend. Coolness.

+1000 Great image :D

The lack of good press, and these desperate-seeming prerelease measures, make it seem like they're releasing a terrible game.

OTOH, sounds like people here are having fun with it.

Basically, they really need to get their PR back on track before they lose tens of thousands of subscriptions.

If you're addicted to an MMO, you're just weak. There I said it.

I play WoW, and I play 3-5 nights a week. I've quit a few times, but I keep coming back (mainly because it's turned into AIM with a diversion attached to it.) If that's addiction, fine. Maybe I'm weak. However, I'm not some victim of an evil company or game. I'm choosing to waste my time in a manner that doesn't drive me to shoot myself in the head. No one who plays an MMO can honestly say the phrase "I wouldn't want to waste my valuable time" with a straight face." Including me.

That being said, LOTR could be worth checking out.

I couldn't care less about this game. But that image is a thing of beauty. Well done.

I got into Beta right after Thanksgiving '06 and played it for about month. It was ok, but I haven't touched it since a week before Christmas. Nothing took its place, I just didn't enjoy it after awhile.

i'm in yur newsblog,
4channin' yur posts

to #1
I can assure (NDA present) that the game IS hot..

Too bad the game is so bland. I played it starting with Alpha 2, and it was so derivative of WoW that I eventually gave up.

I've been in plenty of MMO betas. From Ultima Online (Rainz rules), to WoW Private, DnD Online, to this beta. I must say I was terribly disappointed with this game. There not only was no innovation, but there were things that I thought would be common after WoW that weren't found anywhere. The UI was terrible. I would constantly have to move just a "bit" closer to a creature because it moved as I got close to attack. My character was too stupid to move the extra meter himself. It was UGLY (The world maps look like they were created by a grade school DnD club). I can't imagine with the extent of amazing artists that have brought life to Tolkien's works over the years that they can't even compete with products from several years ago. At least there were no shortage of boring get this, kill that quests *rolls eyes*

I expected someone who was handed an entire library of history, background, concept art, and characters to at LEAST make a good UI and come up with some quests that don't treat your "hero" life a serf. Even if none of that was done, WHY must the be the ugliest and poorest animated MMO I have played in the last few years? Seriously, the icons, maps, and characters look like a weekend project (I apologize to any weekend programmers such as myself that I may have just offended with that comment).

It is a good thing that I had other things to do this weekend, because this game got uninstalled the same day I installed it. A waste of my life and a waste of the ultimate fantasy franchise. I thought that Turbine did a poor job with the material from DnD Online, but good lord there guys REALLY can't even make a good game if 90% of the creative work was completed before they get your hands on it. They seriously managed to make the game feel even more stale than their previous efforts. Maybe now that you have the TWO largest names in fantasy gaming you can break 1% market share.