I have been consistently surprised by the quality of this game in beta. Knowing it was made by the same guys as Dungeons and Dragons Online, I didn't expect much.... but it turns out that it is a pretty decent game. Response has been so universally positive that they even made the unusual move of lifting the NDA a few months before beta is scheduled to end.

I'm going to preorder and I wanted to tell you doods about the preorder deal they have. besides all the regular stuff, a few bonus items in game and a 10 day head-start playing, the preorders lock in a monthly fee of $9.99. (or $199 lifetime for anyone that crazy).

check out these previews on IGN...

http://pc.ign.com/articles/765/765809p1.html
and
http://pc.ign.com/articles/766/766238p1.html

Quote from the end of first review:
"Yet we have to admit that if first impressions are right, it's shaping up to be the first true WoW-beater we've played. Not because it radically changes the WoW formula, but because it uses the exact same formula. Only this time around the formula has been improved, and is now used in a setting that most of us can relate to."

hmmm

IMO, it plays too much like WOW. Granted, it is proclaimed that they improved the style, but I don't care for the WOW setup. I played the WC3 RTS and just had a difficult time with the GUI, which made it more frustrating. Also, I have a tendency to go into games made from movies/books with a specific view that I am expecting and get let down a lot.

Will keep my eyes on it, nonetheless.

I haven't ever played WoW... so I dunno. I thought it felt a lot like guild wars, but as an actual MMO with a persistent map. I like that there are enough quests to get you leveled up without having to grind random overland mobs... Even if sometimes the quest is just to collect 20 wolf pelts, I like the game to give me a goal.

The 9.99/ mo preorder special sounded nice, however I just hit 59 in WoW & haven't explored many of the dungeons yet.

If that was the offer from LOTRO next fall /winter I'd be all over it. There's jut too much home maintenance to be done during the spring & summer :(

quick update on this one...

If anyone is thinking it might be fun to even check it out, a 5 dollar preorder gets you a month of early access, meaning for the 5 bucks you can play between the 30th of this month and the 24th of next month without buying the game... plenty of time to see if you like it or not, and if you do, you lock in the cheaper monthly rate by pre-ordering.

I am still loving it after several months, I have to make myself not play so I can play the game well all have in the house... since we all want to play on the one LOTRO account. I'm excited about getting in on an MMO from launch, rather than being several years behind everyone else.

There are still two weeks left of free trial time on this game. You guys are all missing out. I haven't enjoyed a game this much since we were all playing guild wars. I know a lot of you guys are busy with other games, but if anyone is bored or between games, this one is really pretty god damn good. :)

Don't take my word for it.. download the world tour and check it out.
www.lotro.com