The development of The Lord of the Rings Online is one of the most tumultuous in video games to the point that it has long been classified in the vaporware category. A rather surprising fact when one thinks of the economic scope of such a license. The affair began in 1998 with Sierra but did not give any real results. While Electronic Arts preferred to acquire the film rights, Vivendi opted for the literary rights to Lord of the Rings and commissioned Turbine in 2003 to develop an online game in this universe: Middle Earth Online. Accumulating delay after delay, Turbine must assume the withdrawal of Vivendi's involvement and look for another publisher with solid backbone. Feeling the good vein, Codemasters welcomes them with open arms and the adventure ends (or has only just begun, it depends) finally on April 24th. The next few weeks prove him right. The Lord of the Rings: Shadows of Angmar is a real success, perhaps underestimated by its own developers if we pay attention to the unforeseen saturation of the first servers. Rest assured, WoW still has quite a margin but is outclassed on a very particular point: the maturity of the players. We have accumulated dozens of hours on the counter on Middle-earth and not once have we come across little kevins or "LegolasWeshdu33" style surnames. This is all the more surprising when you think of the "Lord of the Rings" euphoria generated by the films or the relative accessibility of the title and therefore which is not a "brake". Indeed, it takes about 13 euros per month and you can also subscribe to a lifetime subscription!If you include the packaging with it, the investment will be profitable after 14 months, which remains reasonable for the big players.
An MMO to tell you I love you
Let it be said, however, it is only possible at the moment to play as a hero of an Alliance race and of course not the main characters: Aragorn, etc. However, we will come across them during our wanderings and mainly during the accomplishment of the epic quest. Turbine left a comfortable margin for the rest of the operations. Indeed, only the region of Eriador has been modelled. The territory is large enough for the moment but it will probably be necessary to wait a while before being able to survey the lands of Rohan, Gondor or even Mordor. As a result, the story so far only covers the first chapters of the books, namely Frodo's escape from the Shire and the adventures of the Dashing Pony. A plot rich enough to form an excellent complement to both books and films. We learn in particular some relatively crisp details for the fans: the search for Frodo by the Nazgûls, how did Aragorn know that he would be at Pony Fringant or even the role of these mysterious prowlers. So of course, we are relegated to much more thankless tasks than that of the bearer of the ring: "kill X monsters", "collect 10 fleur-de-lis", "bring back a quilted glove to a woodcutter", "recover objects stolen", etc. but also generally participate in the defense and reconstruction of destroyed cities or help the brotherhood of rangers. Generally carried out with panache, certain quests bring a very nice touch of humor: play the couriers of the heart, bring a bucket of water to such a place without dropping it or even discreetly follow a dog. Farmage or more commonly players who are determined to hit monsters all day will not find their account because the experience system does not work in their favor. Killing a monster, even an Elite class or higher level, doesn't pay much. It was essential that the game convey the values of the Lord of the Rings: among others friendship, team spirit and sharing. As such, the quest system is logically at the center of the game. Really numerous, it is possible to accomplish a lot solo but forming a group (up to 6 people) is the most effective way to achieve this.
It is well known that unity is strength and groups can perform devastating "manoeuvres". Similar to an overpowered combo, each player must then choose a color from 4 available. The combinations are numerous and the effects can be increased tenfold if the members of the community choose the same color. As for the rest, his character progression is shamefully classic compared to other MMORPGs and The Lord of the Rings Online struggles to stand out. Same remark at the craft level where it is by forging that one becomes a blacksmith, that is to say that it is necessary for example to spin a large number of leather armor to increase to the next level and have access to a wider choice of creation. Concretely, 7 vocations are accessible and one can alternate from one to another without problem if it is not that of giving up one's know-how (to leave with 0 experience point). Each vocation is a combination of three of the following professions: Cook, Farmer, Forester, Scholar, Jeweler, Ironworker, Prospector, Tailor, Weaponsmith, and Carpenter. Regarding combat, when your avatar's morale gauge drops to 0, you are immediately teleported to a safe place. No loss of experience and even less equipment. Succumbing to one's injuries may therefore not seem very penalizing: one is struck for ten minutes with fright affecting one's abilities and the equipment is damaged. This is where we touch a sensitive chord: repairs are often expensive. If you accumulate the expenses to that of traveling on horseback, the bill can quickly increase until you can have your own canasson at a high level. And the circle is therefore complete: it will therefore be necessary to hit the monster to be able to recover some deniers on the market in exchange for their drop. Incidentally, the auction room acts as an auction. Exit the NPCs to rely on the highest bidder of human players. Finally, it is quite possible to buy back an object that we would have inadvertently sold by mistake or whose usefulness we did not see before.
Onion is strength
We forgot to start at the beginning: the creation of his character. Without reaching heights, you can carefully refine the features of your avatar and work on your background: define a whole biography, choose your generation, etc. On the other hand, the number of classes available may frighten some: only 7. Although well balanced, however, they roughly correspond to the archetype of the heroes of this type of universe: the thief, the minstrel, the champion, the guardian, the captain, the hunter and the loremaster. To stick more to the universe of Tolkien, the magic wants to be rather discreet and there is not strictly speaking a class of mage. No need to hope to appear a little later, these powers are only accessible to a few chosen ones like Gandalf and the White Council for example. Finally, the first hours on Middle-earth is a different experience depending on the class chosen. Concretely, it is a prologue in the form of an instance where you are accompanied in your progress until you have mastered all the basics of the game. account of our misperception about the personalization of his avatar, which is a priori limited. Turbine has a few surprises in store for us, notably through destiny points, traits and even titles. The latter are granted following a particularly glorious action (prowess) and can be highlighted in the eyes of the world by attaching it to his surname. Thus, not dying during the first 5 levels allows you to acquire the title of "The Prudent". It can also be a source of justification for farming. Massacre a large number of spiders can for example earn you a new title. Simple. Each region allows you to perform other types of feats at any time during the game: find secret corners of the old forest, locate ancient monuments on which the history of the Dunedain is inscribed, render service to the inhabitants of the region by completing a number of quests, etc. These allow you to unlock "traits", which can then be assimilated by your character with a bard. Classified into several categories (virtues, race and class), the traits correspond in some way to the character of your avatar: empathy, etc. Finally, destiny points allow you to temporarily improve your character's characteristics: morale, power or even movement speed. You can glean some at each level crossing or in the "Monster Play".
Today, it becomes quite inconceivable to imagine an MMORPG without a PvP functionality (Player Versus Player). The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar presents an interesting alternative called "Monster Play". In addition to training matches to measure yourself against others without any risk, it is possible to access from level 10 to a divinatory pool of darkness in a large city. From then on, you can incarnate your choice of 5 creatures of darkness directly at level 50. You can start the race for destiny points by knocking down enemies in the area or by completing the many quests to be carried out in the region. More reserved for sadistic spirits, we can also have fun harassing players who are brave or crazy enough to venture into the Etten moors. If we could roam cheerfully in this area a few days ago, it will not have taken long for some to reach the maximum level and reverse the situation. On several occasions, we have also been well corrected. It remains to be seen how the situation will evolve in the future when more players have reached the ultimate milestone.
