Transcript sheets

Lord of the Rings: Online Review
By James Sheets
Game Information
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Title:Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar
Creator:
Turbine
Genre:
Mass Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game
Price:
$29.99 (game + 1 month access)
$14.99 per month OR
$9.99 per 3 months OR
$199.00 lifetime access
Minimum System Specs
OS:
Processor:
RAM:
Video:
Disk Space:
DirectX:
DVD:
Internet:
Windows® XP
Intel Pentium® 4 1.8 GHz or equivalent
512 MB
64 MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 3 OR
ATI® Radeon® 8500
7 GB available
DirectX® 9.0c
2x DVD-ROM
56kbps Modem
Recommended System Specs
OS:
Windows® XP / Vista
Processor:
Intel Pentium® 4 2.8 GHz or equivalent
RAM:
1 GB
Video: 128 MB NVIDIA® GeForce® FX 6800 OR
ATI® Radeon® X850
Disk Space: 10 GB available
DirectX:
DirectX® 9.0c
DVD Drive: 2x DVD-ROM
Internet:
Broadband DSL/Cable
Overview
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Based on the books, not the movie (licensing)
Set during the time of the three books
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Frodo has The One Ring, and is being pursued
You’re a spectator who learns about The One Ring
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The starting story different for each race
You have to fight the forces of Sauron and Saruman to help
Frodo
Installation
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Normal Client
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Buddy Pass
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DVD installer – high res textures
Ten day free access
Downloadable installer – low res textures
Run installer (high res takes an hour, low res 40 min)
Launcher prompts for game account
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If you don’t have an account, it prompts you to create one
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Launches Turbine website
Prompts for game key or buddy pass
Create account information
Submit credit card info (buddy pass skips this)
Game checks for patches and applies any available
Game launches
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EULA agreement
Character selection
Start playing
User Interface
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Standard MMORPG fair
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Player + Group Health Bars, Buff / Debuff List,
Quest Tracker, Hotkeys, Mini-map, World Map, Chat
Fairly easy to use
Familiar control scheme (WSAD)
Does it’s job well enough
Compared to World of Warcraft
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Basically no UI customization
Can’t scale GUI elements – everything is very large
No hotkeys to show/hide quest tracker
Can’t change the chat font size
Game Play
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4 Different races (Man, Elf, Dwarf, Hobbit)
6 different classes; some race restrictions
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Guardian (tank)
Burglar (DPS / group attack opener / crowd control)
Hunter (Ranged DPS / crowd control)
Champion (tank / healer / pet / buffs)
Minstrel (healer / buffs)
Lore Master (crowd control / healer / buffs / pet)
Level from 1 – 50
Multiple crafting professions
Play across multiple, level-based zones
Multiple quests for every level; progress the storyline
Instanced dungeons for major story events
High level raids (25 player groups)
“Scoring” / Objectives
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No end to MMORPG’s
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3D chat room
Item acquisition
Group participation
Take part in the LOTR story
Attain Deeds
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Gained by
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Exploring / finding different areas
Killing X number of mobs
Completing quest
New titles
New abilities
PVP Combat Zone
Artwork
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Very good for an MMORPG
Scales suitably for older machines
Lots of customization
Varying landscapes and environments
Detailed textures
Environmental effects (rain, day/night cycles)
Little diversity in armor / item looks
Sounds and Music
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Music is standard fair
Sounds are ok, but get repetitive fast
Ability to play your own music
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You can train an instrument at level 5
Different instruments have different sounds
3 different octaves / pitches
Full range of musical notes
Other players can hear your music
Online music sheets for some popular songs
Special Features
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LOTR storyline
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The Music System
Instanced Dungeons
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Occur roughly every 3 months
Add new quests, content, and further the story
PVP
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A copy of a dungeon is created for your group
Scripted events often take place to progress the story
Game Patches
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As you progress in level, the storyline opens up
Players can play and level up bad-guys
PVP and enemy players can only occur in one zone
Raids
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Currently only one raid
Manual
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Very full-featured manual
Explains most of the game’s features
Online website also has a lot of information
Introduction zone to help new players
“Newbie” tips appear once to familiarize you with new
objects the first time you encounter them
In-game help menu
Bugs
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None I know of
Audience
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Lord of the Rings fans
MMORPG players
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New
Experienced
All age levels
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Language filter
Helpful people
Ages 10+ (no real blood, but fighting)
Still an online game; younger kids should be monitored
The Good
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Storyline
Art and environment
Quests and Quest log size
Deeds
Traveling
Built-in voice chat
Group Abilities
The Bad
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Mounts
High-level mobs
High-level dungeon instances
Soloability
Crafting
The Ugly
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Dominated by WoW in many respects
Raids
We know how the story goes
Design Mistakes
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Raids
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Not much reason to raid
Only 1 raid
Doesn’t fit the casual-friendly feel of the game
PVP
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Not much incentive to PVP
Monster players are much weaker
Monster players are in lower numbers
Summary
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Strengths?
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Weaknesses?
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Lack of high level content
Little diversity in items
Boring crafting
Worth Purchasing?
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Good storyline
Music system
Fairly polished and stable
If you like LOTR or are a casual MMORPG fan, yes
Improvement?
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More things to keep high-level players interested