Product Description

The 2007 PC MMO Game of the Year returns with an all-new breakthrough title! The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria drops you into the dark majesty of the world beneath Middle-earth. Explore a truly vast underground environment like you’ve never seen before. Battle the terrors of the Nameless Deep with new legendary items that evolve and grow in power as you do. Experience the dread and wonder of Moria as one of the new Rune-keeper and Warden classes. Achieve greatness as you seek to claim the knowledge and power lost for generations! This Complete Edition includes the original title Shadows of Angmar, all content updates, plus the Mines of Moria expansion.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4135 in Video Games
• Brand: Turbine
• Model: 884299000046
• Released on: 2008-11-17
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows XP
• Format: DVD-ROM
• Dimensions: .15 pounds

Features

• Live the Legend: Join the only massively multiplayer online game based on the extensive and beloved fantasy universe of J.R.R. Tolkien and adventure through renowned places like the Shire and Bree, and now Moria, and the dark heart of the Misty Mountains.
• Reach level 60 with thousands of character customizations: 4 races, 9 classes, 10 professions, 7 vocations, + over 1,000 titles, skills and traits. Over 3,500 monsters & over 500 authentic landmarks in nearly 100 million square meters of Middle-earth!
• Explore 3 new regions & 12 expansive areas of Moria. New graphics technology brings this underground realm to life like never before, with stunning vistas crafted by the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm. Delve deeper into the darkness.
• Design and create legendary items as renown as Bilbo’s Sting! Your hero’s gear will evolve and grow in power along with you, leading to truly unique end-game items!
• Fight for the dark side with monster play, the revolutionary monster vs. player (PvMP) combat feature, now with 5 more ranks, Artifact Control, and a live online leader board to showcase your achievements.

Customer Reviews

An exceptional expansion
Turbine did a great job with this expansion.

They added two new classes: the warden and the rune keeper. I was happy with concept behind the classes.

The warden is a mix between the champion(melee AOE DPS), and the guardian(tank). Great solo class! They are officially a tank class, but again, they have decent DPS as well. They have a "gambit" system. What this is, is when you click skills in a certain succession, you will come up with a certain special skill to use. It's good to memorize the gambits and what skills get them to pop up. Some heal, others do extra damage, still others give better blocking, etc...

The rune keeper is a fairly advanced class. I thought it was a lot of fun, but there is a bit of a learning curve - especially if you are new to the game. That said, once they come into their own, they can be great ranged DPS(second to the hunter), and great healers(second to the minstrel). There is a range bar that goes both ways. The more it climbs one way, the more the skills get powerful. The reverse is true as well though. If you are blasting things with your DPS skills, your heals will be weaker(some will not even be available) - and vice versus.


They overhauled the graphics a bit. I noticed they looked sharper right away.

I like the new legendary items. Even if you are one who likes to race to the max level, you can still continue to advance because the items also level up as well. As they level they get more powerful.

Next is the new areas themselves. I have only been playing a few months, so I am not an authority in this area. That said, many of my kinsmen(guild mates) have been there. They say the graphics are really awesome, and give you a real sense of being in an underground ancient civilization. They also commented on how enormous and how epic the place felt.

As far as PvP - or PvMP in this case, They revamped and did some balances to the Moors. The moors, for those who don't know is the Ettinmoors. There is a instanced area where players fight against monster players and also do quests/objectives in a very large valley. The valley is a lot bigger than AV (Alterac Valley from WOW).

I want to point out one thing that was true before the expansion, and continues to be now: the crafting. The crafting in this game is very well thought out. It's not perfect(besides we all have different definitions of that anyway), but it is fun and relevant. I can buy items that were crafted that are pretty much in the same ball park as PvP and raid items. This makes for a decent player economy. It's not as complicated as EQ2, but more so that WOW, IMHO. A good happy medium if you will.

Anyway, as a long time 3+ year WOW player who recently moved on, I can really appreciate this game, and the great job they did on the expansion.
If you are a fan of the Lord of the Rings, or simply love MMO's with a good but not stifling story, then this is a good place to invest some time into.

*edit 2/27/09*

I still love this game. In fact the soon to come book 7(free content update) will open up all of Lothlorien! They wanted to release this content with the expansion, but decided to hold off as they only wanted to release it when it was refined and done well. I can really respect their attention to detail. As for Moria, I am loving it! It really is epic and well done. There are many different "environs" in it so you don't get bored with the same ole same ole. If you haven't yet gotten it, or were thinking of getting back into the game, now is a great time to do so!

The Little Unknown MMO That Could....
Just wanted to add a quick review of this online game. Awesome, beautiful, extremely well thought-out, very polished. I tried this game during late beta and couldn't get past the "noobie" area ~ thought it was boring... Well I was in between games a few months ago and saw LOTRO had a 14 day free trial and gave it a second look. Again was bored during the beginning noobie section but I forced myself to play through it... sooo glad I did! This game really starts to shine at around level 10 and only gets better as you level-up.

I would say the player base is perhaps a little older than the average MMO and is top notch! I have asked questions in the /advice channel several times and have always got a respectful and helpful answer. Try that in EQ2/AoC and chances are you will get flamed =(

Some servers are more populated than others... I started (unbeknownst to me) on a newer, sparsly populated server and ended-up switching to another server after about a month. Just go to the forums and do a search to find the more populated servers.

I have played MANY MMO's over the past decade (showing my age a bit there ~ lol) Even met my Husband in one. To compare your MMO likes/dislikes with mine: my favorite MMO was DAoC. WOW just never appealed to me and is one of the few MMO's I have not tried. LOTRO is perhaps the closest thing to DAoC EXCEPT it's "RvR" is considerably different.

Anyway, there is a lot more to this game than meets the eye at first, give it enough time (and research on their forums) and you will probably not regret it. They add free (and worth while) content regularly.

LOTRO is the best kept secret MMO out there!

Rekindling the sense of adventure in an MMO
The technology is finally advanced enough, and Turbine's game design, writing, and quality control are finally good enough to adequately celebrate the deepest fantasy story of all time in The Lord of the Rings Online, and more specifically in this new expansion, the Mines of Moria.

Your story in Middle Earth is in support of the Fellowship's: You choose your tasks, selected from a wide array of things that need to be done to enable the Fellowship's quest to take the One Ring to the Crack of Doom, where at last its insupportable Evil can be destroyed.

Characters, just as in all MMO fantasy worlds, have basic stats that define your characters' qualities and abilities, but then in addition each gains many various traits and virtues from the very act of adventuring. These further differentiate your character's abilities from those of other characters. In Mines of Moria this differentiation is furthered by the introduction of legendary weapons and class items, resulting in a constellation of possibilities open to the evolution of your alter-ego.

The graphics and lighting are superb, and the world design is magnificent. XP/DX9 as well as Vista 32 and 64/DX10 is solidly supported. The sound track in game, and also available in the Collector's edition, is a real treat for those who appreciate supportive, even impressionistic music.

The clientele you will be joining is by-and-large more mature-seeming than you normally find in these online worlds.

With the option of buying a lifetime subscription, and considering the hours of adventuring entertainment available, there is no more thrifty form of entertainment than Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria.