I seem to be in a general sort of WoW malaise. I log in because I feel like I should, putter around for a bit, then log back off. It's just not very fun right now. I can't figure out if that's because I'm not in the mood to play, or what...
So, in an effort to a) do something fun, and b) try to break myself out of this funk, I'm going to try other games. Starting with LotRO, since they're having a free weekend. I played LotRO for about 6 months and did like it quite a lot, just lost interest. It's a lovely game, and I'm hoping that playing something else for a bit will remind me why I play wow.
Plus, I have a new computer coming (drool 1 gb video card drool) and that means I will actually have HD space to have more than one game installed.
I'll report on what I'm playing and what I think about it, but I figured I should warn you guys that WoW stuff may be short on the ground for a bit.
And to start off, here's my original impressions of LotRO, written way back in July 2007.....
So, guess who got Lord of the Rings Online yesterday? Yup, me. Guess who hasn't played any other MMORGPS besides City of Heroes (at launch for less than a month)? Also me. So, you're getting first impressions, under the cut for those of you who don't care. I'm probably pretty close to a MMORPG virgin at this point, but I did my best to compare to City of Heroes. As I get more familiar, I'll let you guys know more. Also, expect screenshots. This game is incredible-looking. Seriously beautiful. And remember, I'm running a 256 mb video card, not exactly top of the line.
So I installed the game, and waited for it to patch. This took a while, since they released a patch yesterday and everyone was patching at once. Grr. Like 2 hours. I should also point out that my connection is a max 256 kb up, 756 kb down, so not so fast to begin with. I do like the fact that the game a) doesn't need the discs to play, and b) comes with a buddy key good for 10 days of play. Good marketing there. Oh, and Sid's already spoken for mine. Sorry. Anyway, after spending lots of time thinking of names (it's probably a good idea to have about 10 or so on hand and I would suggest the everchanging book of names for this), I was finally ready to go. YAY! Opening cinematic was cool. Then you pick a server (I picked Gladden since the Ars fellowship is there (Ars Techica is a site whose forums I belong to and had read before I bought the game) and make a character. Many names are taken and I ended up with my 5th choice name. Sigh.
Also, not every class is available for every race. I made an elven hunter. Probably not the easiest choice to start, but I hate running up to my enemies, and I liked playing a blaster (ranged fighter) in City of Heroes, so I figured why not? Hunters are better at ranged, but they can use melee weapons. As far as elf goes, I tend to play elves.
You get quite a few choices, though not as many as CoH(City of Heroes), and your hair, eyes, and such do somewhat depend on what region you chose (I think). Then I entered the tutorial region and got very confused. I figured out movement fairly quickly, though I'm not overly enamored of the hold down the right mouse button and move mouse or use a or d to look around system. The equipping what you take took me most of the tutorial to figure out. I was wondering why the enemies were so difficult, and why I kept dying. Then I decided to figure out what the bag things on the bottom of my screen were. Turns out, hey they're bags and there's stuff in them. And if I switch out my fairly useless knife and bow for the better knife and bow, wow, the goblins fall down now. And ooh, if I change out this pair of pants for that pair of pants, my pants change colour.
And hey, there's Elrond! And he looks like Elrond should look! Yay!
I finished the tutorial and started the actual game, which is damn impressive. So far I haven't gotten lost. The directions aren't too bad. The ring quests (which are the only ones I've done) tell you to go north or follow the road until it branches, then follow the west branch, things like that. Actually, the graphics are good enough that I think I can find my way around via landmarks, but I haven't wandered very far. So far, I've seen Dwalin, Elrond, Gildor, and Elrond's two sons. I like the looks of the first three, but not the looks of the twins. You can see pictures on the game website, if you're interested.
No lag yet on my system. I've seen some other players, but haven't interacted with anyone yet, mostly cause that would either mean I'd have to figure out how to use the chat system or find my mic (there's built-in voice chat). And since I haven't even figured out the targeting system yet (something to do with tab, but I'm not sure and I'm already at level 4), that can wait. If you're interested in finding me, I've got 3 characters on Gladden and one on Brandywine so far. Gladden has Mirelle the hobbit burglar (level 1), Colldoran the elven champion (level 1), and Nathyrra the elven hunter (my main so far and level 4 and yes the one I've been talking about).
So that's what I think, and yes it was fun and damn I'm tired and migrainy. I was already so, and playing till past 11 (I got sucked in) did not help.
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