LOTRO Launch Day at MMOG Nation

"Let’s get the comparisons out of the way first. Is it ‘as good’ as WoW? Maybe. Will it hit WoW numbers? Who knows? Is it as polished as WoW? Yes, but I also think it’s less ambitious. It’s certainly smaller. Will it make Tolkien fans happy? I think that’s a definite yes. Will it make LOTR movie fans happy? Not as much, but it’s hard to stand beneath the party tree and not imagine that dragon firework exploding in the sky above you. (Note to Turbine: If you let me attend Bilbo Baggins’ 111th birthday I could die a happy man. I don’t care if it has to be instanced, I’ll show up.) Is 15 level enough to have seen the whole game? Hell no, but it was enough to convince me that you’ll at least have a couple of fun months with this game."

Nice write-up on someone's initial thoughts about Lord of the Rings Online. I currently have 2 characters up to level 5 and I'm liking it so far.

Lord of the Rings Online Map

Nice map of Middle Earth for the new Lord of the Rings MMORPG using Google Maps.

Lord of the Rings Online: Early Impressions

"LOTR Online is hitting a good spot in my gut right now. It just is. There's something here. Am I just happy to be a Hobbit? Will it last? Will the game hold up past the initial geek love to maintain in the hundreds of hours, like WoW? Will Turbine provide enough cool content and ideas and gameplay variations to hook new players in and convince them to abandon--or at least take a vacation from--Azeroth? I have no answers. But the good news is that I have more questions having played than I did beforehand. And I want to keep playing. That might be the best sign of all."

Getting this tonight. I liked the beta well enough to be willing to take a break from World of Warcraft for a while.