Poor, poor Tolkien! There is no greater curse for the book than turn into a popular brand name and expensive licenses. For Hollywood cliches is difficult to discern the same "English epic", which created a professor of philology. Aragorn and Elrond by sales beat Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. Movies, toys, cartoons, comics, computer, board, card and video games ... And then there's and MMORPG. It is terrible to imagine that had to do with Middle-earth, there to feel comfortable "WoWarizirovannye" teenagers. Imagine a crowd of players, who with cries of "lol, nyub!" Burst into Hobbitaniyu, "keel" Frodo "spire" Orcs ...
"Turbinovtsy" undertook a very difficult task almost impossible: to add a prefix to the Online The Lord of the Rings. But they succeeded. Managed to maintain a balance between the epic match and playability, the same style and variety of the gaming world, to create the world, equally interesting to fans-tolkinistam and fans of online games.
 | |  | Hello, and you can autograph? | | Well pozhaaaluysta! |
On digital Middle-earth just pleasant and interesting walk. Improved engine Dungeon & Dragons Online is still capable of producing high-quality, detailed image. Peace and quiet Hobbitaniya (Shire), crowded and noisy city Prigore (Bree), which is located at the crossroads of all roads, dangerous everlasting forest (Old Forest), where it is very easy to get lost and stumble upon Old Elm (Old Man Willow), ridden corpses cemeteries (Barrowdowns), Zavert (Weathertop), where there are traces of the lightning of Gandalf. By the way, guests will find a lot of celebrities: Aragorn, Gandalf, Tom Bombadil, Elrond and many others. At kinolitsenziyu in Turbines "money is not enough, but it only benefited. Elrond does not look like Agent Smith!
 | Music |
The game has a great selection of different instruments: the lute, clarinet, horn, flute and harp. Each class is available one or more, but only a minstrel can use them all.
Dial '/ music', to start playing the selected musical instrument. The keys correspond to the 1.8 notes one octave, and the combination of these keys with shift and control allow a half step raise or lower these notes (take a sharp or flat).
Plenty of room for experimentation called hardball. Already created the first musical masterpieces, and soon, when developers cope with desynchronization, can be listened to entire orchestras, performing in the center of Bree "Flight of the Valkyries."http://www.lotro-wiki.com/index.php/Music
 | |  | Local rock band "The King and Elf." | | Oh, sorry, but where's the toilet? |
No less carefully checked with the original all the enemies and quest system. True, this is somewhat limited: only have to fight with the dead (where not), orcs, goblins, bandits, and the predatory species of flora and fauna. Not many, but not so small. There are even neekerbreekers (so nicknamed Sam mosquitoes that lived in swamps near Bree). Duel with a couple of these creatures may well end in a hero's death.
Quest system carefully written into the overall style. Even plain-old "bring such a subject" and "kill ten of these monsters are equipped with entertaining prehistory. Anyone wishing to give us the job are marked on the mini-map icon of the ring, and they themselves over the head flashing image of the root evil of the world. Apparently, the developers decided that it's a poor Kvestodatel who does not dream to send Frodo to Mordor. "Destroyed the omnipotence of the Rings - 1 / 1» - «Quest Complete».
In LotRO is an atypical MMO feature - crafted plot, which is divided into books and chapters. In fact - a huge quest line will carry the entire game. The story of our hero as it develops parallel stories Fellowship of the Ring, we go a little ahead, sometimes a little behind Frodo with the company. We arrive in the Prancing Pony, where we meet Aragorn. He asks to follow the Nazgul, are seen at the border Hobbitanii. He can not leave, because waiting for an important meeting. We know which one.
In Hobbitanii we find funky Fredegar 's Bolger and shattered house. Here, visited Nazgûl, they do not find what you are looking for, but their crows attack on the poor hobbit. We must help them ... Back in the "Pony" we find out that Aragorn had left and asked us to meet Gandalf, who after a long story sends us to his brother Radagastu ... The history of our hero's very interesting, its role in the History of the Ring, though not central, but important. And Frodo in Rivendell, we meet again. And we will fight with the Nazgul. And even, apparently, kill the king of Angmar, thanks to which Frodo a chance to fulfill their mission. But this is still far away.
All events take place in the main quest storyline the special instances where we are alone with a portion of the plot. It was then tested on the Dungeon & Dragons Online mechanic starts working to its fullest. We find ourselves in the middle of the pageant: Aragorn drives off with a torch, Nazgul, the ruler of the dwarves resurrect from the dead after the macabre ritual, the bandits attack the village of Archet and burned it to ashes. With impressive agility Turbine shuffles closed doors, and we are in his version, however, open world. A voiceover cheerfully commented on the event, creating a feeling that Middle-earth revolves around us, and all the elves and men with strange names - just extras in our own, personal, history.
| Journalistic investigation |
Shortly before the release occurred, "the story, chilling." In Europe LotRO is selling Codemasters, the U.S. and neighboring countries - Midway itself Turbine.Both sides are clearly divided the world into zones of influence, have signed contracts, posted a grim announcement that the American customer is unavailable Europe and vice versa. That they are not only the client will be checked, but IP tracking to put all played in their regions.
And then it became clear that Russia was forgotten. She did not appear in any of the lists, as well as Ukraine and the Baltic countries. That is, we can not play either one or the other version? Nor those of any other server, we will not start? The developers kept the proud silence, whipping up the situation ... Meanwhile the clue is simple. Russia, CIS and Baltic states - a standard range of distribution for Russian publishers. In Turbine decided to earn more and, given the experience Sony, tried to sell the rights to this region alone, and not in the package Codemasters. Official information as to why a mysterious Russian partner Turbine refused to purchase, we have not. Apparently not agree on the price.
In the end, all was resolved peacefully. Codemasters and Turbine have removed all regional restrictions. Play where you want. Only boxes with LotRO will be delivered to Russia does not have to be from overseas to write.
 | |  | And where is Agent Smith? Oh, on vacation? | | Surprise! That will now scream! |
WoW-effect Not one review of modern massively multiplayer game can do without those magic words: World of Warcraft. Influenced by this monster even play other genres mutate, to say nothing about our neighbors on the shelves. Auction, Mail, instances, groups of 6 people, LFG-LFM - World of Warcraft fans will be quite familiar. Someone said - rip, I say - a tradition. LotRO very successfully adopted and applied many of the achievements of popular predecessor, and it clearly went in her favor.
Invigorating power of art The universe of Middle-earth is severely restricted set of available classes, skills, and of course races. The standard scheme healer-magician-warrior is poorly applied. Tolkien's wizards have exactly five priests, who could resurrect everybody, not at all. So the magicians were replaced by the Sages (lore-master), gave them limited opportunities for the creation of combat spells, and the call to help animals. A puzzle with treatment decided with great finesse. Music.
When a character takes damage in battle, he loses hit points are not abstract. Reduced his faith in your abilities and hope to win, and the traditional greenish polosochka denotes not supply health and morale. When the scale goes to zero, the hero does not die, he was defeated and forced to retreat. Restore the will to win will help Minstrel. At his disposal - a set of different tunes, and with their help, he reassures allies, raises morale (he lives) and even "lift the heavy burden of defeat", simply put - to resurrect. Here it is, the power of this art.
| And we priperlis |
Russian are located on two English-speaking servers. At Snowbourne there guild Wild Hearts (www.wild-hearts.com). On Laurelin, role-based server, create two guilds - Arfings and Carne Hosse (www.ra-lotro.ru). Last there is a long time, more than a year, got a clear charter and a structure borrowed from gondorskoy army.At the moment, Carne Hosse - one of the most organized and large Russian-speaking virtual communities with strong "role-playing elements."
 | |  | Another hobbitskoe ear to the collection. | | We have a 5% chance to make an epic necklace. |
Tipster A very important part of the combat system are the conjunction - kind of hero opportunities of Everquest II. Use them can only occasionally Guardian (guardian), but mostly - Burglar (burglar), whose main task in this is, and only in the group and in a battle with an elite monster. System is simpler and clearer than in the same EQ II. At some point in the middle of the screen there are four large buttons - blue, yellow, green and red, and the game helpfully freezes - is your party and your enemy and freeze for several seconds. Selecting the button gives a certain one-time bonus character: red - increases damage, yellow - increases protection of the green - restore morale (health), blue - the energy (mana). Each of the parties chooses one button, and over the lights of an icon, and then that gets interesting - a combination. There are lots of them, and each has its own effect, but many - and even spectacular animation.
Each successful combination is written into a special bookmark menu where you can then see what buttons to push and what results it gave. The easiest option - a combination of two colors, two "blue" - restore energy to the whole group, two "green" - the morale and so on. The most powerful combination can work only in the group of six people, and require close coordination among all participants. However, if you are able to undertake such a maneuver - the consequences will be very noticeable.
For example, Hew the Stone - a combination of five red and one blue - causing significant damage to all enemies within a certain radius, restores energy to all members of the group and calls the Noble Spirit (Noble Spirit), who fights with you for one minute. Usually this is enough to change the course of even the most difficult battle.
| Crafting |
Crafting in LotRO is somewhat unusual. Firstly, the player is available immediately three of the nine professions, but it gets them in the set, which offered him the developers, combining the profession in its sole discretion will not work. Secondly, in the process of creating the object can occur "critical success", and the subject obtained an order of magnitude better than usual. To increase the chance of such success, using special items, using them a chance to "crit" You can bring up to 55%.
- Cook (cook) - Prepares a variety of dishes, which accelerate the recovery of energy and fighting spirit, and also temporarily increase the options.
- Farmer (Farmer) - grows in a variety of useful household products. Including tobacco, the process of smoking seems very ... spectacular.
- Forester (Forester) - collects and processes the wood hides for the tailor and carpenter.
- Prospector (getter) - produces a variety of metals. Including precious.
- Jeweler (Jeweler) - of precious metals makes rings and necklaces, as well as special one-time items, improving the parameters.
- Weaponsmith (armorer) - swords, daggers, axes and other edged weapons.Also makes tools for all other professions.
- Woodworker (carpenter) - made of wood obtained good bows, spears and staffs. Well, well - bonfires to cook.
- Tailor (Tailor) - sewing light and medium armors from animal hides.
- Armorer (smith) - engaged in the production of heavy armor and shields.
- Scholar (scientist) - maker of disposable scrolls and healing potions. Also able to produce dyes, they can be used to change the color of their subjects.
 | |  | Welcome to the dark side. | | Very polite villain: "Welcome. Now I will kill you. " |
The king just king The game has built a system of so-called traits - traits that allow you to create a unique fighting style and specialize your character. They are divided into several groups: class, race and even legendary. Unlike other games, with an increase in the level of hero we can use only the free slots for them, but mine treyty have in many ways, fulfilling the so-called accomplishments (achievement): to kill so many monsters a certain type, do some quests in a given region, using one of the skills of a certain number of times. Change the set of characteristics (traits) at any time from a special NPC, so you can always prepare for a particular task. Decided to fight alone - in the course are necessary features, are going to storm the complex group instance - others.
For his "achievements" you usually get more than just treyt, but also a special title, which if desired can add to the name. Titles from the average character can be up to fifty for every taste and color. From "Killer Wolf" and "Storm the Dead" to "Chief brewer" and "Stolyar with experience." Generously give out titles to choose from there what. In what seems to appear prestigious moniker, and soon we will see a character who won most of the main villain. If the World of Warcraft had over a long story, that you killed Keltuzeda or Nefarian in LotRO just click and post the appropriate title for all to see.
Frodo the Sauron Slayer If the available titles suddenly seem not enough, you can use specially trained NPC - Notary - think of themselves last name. To hearth and home is not extinct, and your illustrious family name is preserved through the ages, you could even adopt another character. He will get your name and will be marked on the family tree. Total your kind can be up to 15 generations. Marry, however, for some reason can not. Strange system - the characters seem to have taken a vow of celibacy.
| Turbine broom does not bind |
The company was founded in 1994 by a group of enthusiasts and has since specialized in the chosen genre - multiplayer online games. Behind the company has already released an entire clip of projects. The Lord of the Rings Online is developed since 2003, along with Dungeon & Dragons Online, the same engine - Turbine Engine.
- Asheron's Call (1999) - publisher Microsoft. The project still exists, and at one time was very popular. Now in Asheron's Call are about 10000 users.
- Asheron's Call 2 (2002) - publisher Microsoft, the project closed in 2005 after a poor sales continue.
- Dungeon & Dragons Online (2006) - MMORPG based on the popular tabletop role-playing system. The game was warmly received by players and press, and even acquired a certain amount of loyal fans.
 | |  | Create a hobbit - not many options. Slider - increases the abdomen. | | There's nothing better than to smoke up the fireplace after a hard day. |
I am angry and fearful gray wolf PvP in LotRO not. And the truth is, you imagine hobbits gather a collection of elven ears? But the people demand, are used to. So a system PvMP - Player versus Monster Player. After level 10 you have the opportunity to use the so-called Dark Scrying Pool and become ... monster level 50. You get to the dark side, where in the role of the spider, wolf, orc or goblin trample and burn peaceful village people and the hobbits. Especially fun crowd of 25 people with whooping and bawdy songs tumble into the capital and cut defenseless NPC. Stand up for poor little ladies so far no one - to 40 level where you can enter the zone PvMP, most players are still very far away. Rob Hobbitaniyu or Brie, however, does not come out - habitat players monsters is very limited - not razverneshsya.
The monster is not the usual inventory and statistics, the experience they get, the levels are not gaining. For performing tasks and killing innocent and defenseless of our monsters get destiny points (points of destiny), you can use to improve options, skills, and fighting characteristics. Destiny points can also be used and the main "good" character for the purchase of temporary improvements (additional experience, increased health, strength, etc.).
Difficult to say how this system is viable and interesting. However, it was originally conceived as a nice addition to the primary process. And hardly anyone would deny himself the pleasure of taste hobbitskogo myastsa in the skin of a wolf.
Game experience may change during online play Write a review of the IMO - a thankless job. The secret of success of such a game - it's a good technical support, necessary and timely updates, sustainable economic system, and to see and appreciate all that we can only several months after release. Now the main task of the creators of LotRO - optimization. Unreasonable lags and crashes are very spoiled impression so far has not got rid of the scourge with memory leaks. The economic system is still far from ideal: the prices for repairs soar to the skies, the gold from monsters began to pour in large numbers. Many claims and to the interface.
Nevertheless, all that is needed for success in LotRO is. The developers are doing is the second project in this genre. They gathered with the world on a string, properly attaching a time-tested model of the MMO to the world of Middle-earth. The game takes no revolutionary gameplay and attention to detail and above all respectful to the original. As a minimum, a place in the pantheon of the best games on the license LotRO has already received.
| Classicism and racism |
To choose the player is offered six classes and four races (humans, elves, dwarves and hobbits).
- Guardian (Guardian) - the classic "tank". Tightly secured, can distract enemies for themselves and has a high survivability.
- Champion (Champion) - a warrior's melee. Unlike the Sentinel, is able to inflict much damage as one, and few enemies.
- Hunter (hunter) - specialization of this class - damage from a distance. Not bad fights and melee combat and is able to set traps.
- Burglar (hacker) - as opposed to thieves in other games, the problem Burglar - to weaken the enemy and run »conjunction. Hide the truth, too, can do that.
- Captain (Capt.) - a kind of paladin with petom-flagonostsem. At all-trades, improve the combat options teammates and know how to heal a little.
- Lore-master (sage) - a non-standard "magician." Done deals are not very big, but it can cause animals to help stun enemies and suck the mana.
- Minstrel (Minstrel) - a local doctor. With the help of various songs improves the parameters of party members and even kill enemies.
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