The Lord of the Rings: Mines of Moria - PC

As a player who has been around since my first invitation for beta AND as a first time MMO player I want to encourage readers to try the game if you have not done so, even if you have never played any other MMORPG. I am still playing. Having met lots of friendly, helpful people my conclusion can only be that this is a fine community with very few rude or immature players. A good community is worth as much as any game design. Not only is the community a fine one, but the developers utilize feedback from the players in order to add or change things in the game.Graphics are first rate, I say this as an artist who enjoys realism and muted colors. I might come across a piece of the world with amazing clouds set off by a beautiful setting sun, or tarry awhile to gaze up at the stars traveling slowly across the sky and note the constellations, it's just wonderful to notice all these details including weather! If you run through this game to level cap you will miss a lot of subtle content that the world offers.As a first time MMO player and a Tolkien "nerd" I find the game true to the story with a few exceptions. I first started a minstrel because of the idea that song is powerful - it created the world and can affect it. This is definitely a Tolkien concept expanded on by the developers. Most other classes are pretty good too. Magic is a subtle and/or explainable concept except for the stretch into the class of Rune Keeper and a few of the skills of Lore Master. I try to ignore these anachronisms as I play. Others enjoy these classes and I believe that's why they developed Rune Keeper, to keep the magic-lovers involved.The races, Man, Elf, Hobbit and Dwarf all have their strengths and weaknesses. Character creation is fun but could stand to have added functions and more unique features. Elf ears are pointed and a bit bigger than they should be in my opinion. Hobbits and Dwarves carry their belt-lines below the belly rather than at the waist which gives them a bandy look and not how I envisioned these races from the books.Much has already been said about combat. Some believe combat is slow due to inductions and this is true; but as the game refines inductions and the point where an action takes effect, combat has sped up. I expect this will improve as more work is done on the game and the level of the character.There has been little comment on other unique things in the game. One of my favorites is music. Characters can play music in the game on crafted instruments. Not only that but players can create songs in a process that enables your character to play it in game from a file. And, characters can play together in a band and in sync. This is a wonderful addition to the game that many players enjoy. It is my hope that the music system gets additional attention from the developers because it is unique to LOTRO.There is much to like and few things to dislike about this game. As I can easily ignore the things I dislike I gave this a five star rating.

Lord of the rings online has now gone free to play. What that means for you as a gamer is that it no longer cost 15$ a month, but you can play it for free choosing which aspects of the game you wish to purchase with TURBINE POINTS (The mode of game currency that can be bought with real life $$ or earned in game) With the purchase of this expansion from amazon you will get many things that would cost several times the amount in turbine points. As for example.You usually start with 3 inventory bags..this expansion gives you two more.You usually will not have the warden class to play...this expansion gives it to youSame with the runekeeper class.It opens up all your virtue slotsIt gives you 500 Turbine points for going VIP for the 1 month playing time (which comes free in the box)It gives you 2 extra character slots.It gives you the mines of moria expansion.....and you get to keep all this stuff even when you drop from vip back to ftp (free to play) As stated before the cost for all these that would be bought with turbine points is several times the cost of this box set sold by amazon, thats why these box sets are being sold like wild fire, so if you play LOTRO then you should buy this box set as soon as possible. They are not going to last long, and word is supplies are already dwindling. If you play LOTRO you owe it to yourself to get this box set, save yourself some heartache and some hard earned $$ and just buy it now. As far as the box itself i ordered 2 copies of it. One for me and 1 for my wife. One of the boxes was a little banged up and dented, but i didn't really care since if you have already downloaded the game client and are playing... the only thing you really need from the box is the "product key code" to open up all the stuff for you. All in all a purchase worth every penny many times over.

All buyers please be advised that, contrary to the stock picture in this add, the game is the European version of the game. The game codes are worthless to both US and European customers, as Codemasters is no longer administering the game accounts in Europe. So, if you want the box and other paper products, then buy away. However, if you want a key to actually get the Mines of Moria expansion, do not buy this.The game itself, by the way, is great fun. It's this particular box that gets the one star.

The "new" product I purchased was obviously a used copy because the box it came in was torn, faded and scratched. I did not open the package to look at the CD because it was a Christmas present, but was severely disspointed in the Seller's description as new. It's a Christmas present, I don't want to buy used stuff!

I originally purchased the game as it would provide a means for me to "get together" with a group of friends I've known for years and who are physically located all over the USA. We played Borderlands to the same end for about a year before getting bored with it. The five of us continue to meet one night a week online, usually use SKYPE instead of the in-game communications, and get caught up with each other for 3-4 hours while playing. Basically it's a video conference call with elves and dwarves instead of a clueless manager and his brown-nosers. The game is okay. So far, I've found nothing compelling or addictive in the game play, and as soon as our interests wane in favor of another game, I'll be able to put this MMORPG behind me with no regrets. LOTRO is now free-to-play, but don't be lulled by "free". Turbine is more than happy to charge you real money to enhance your game play. Shame on me: I've already spent about $50.00 to get things like a bigger backpack and a larger bank vault to store stuff, but that's my problem. It doesn't have to be yours.The Amazon merchant who sold me the game was great to work with. Answered my pre-sales questions promptly and politely and shipped the game very quickly (and reasonably).