The Digital Continuum: Moria or Wrath? Pt. 2

by Kyle Horner Nov 29th 2008 at 9:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Opinion, The Digital Continuum

For all my enjoyment since getting Moria, something begin to bother me while I created a trail of dead bandits, bears, spiders, bats, wolves and tree roots. My time with Warhammer Online has taught me this: The easier I can find quests and complete them, the better my overall experience. After some discussion with Shawn Schuster -- our resident LotRO player -- there were a few new bookmarks nestled in Firefox. These websites have definitely greased the gears of our progression into the game, although they're sometimes a bit imprecise. If Turbine were to give on-map directions for quests and show nearby quest-givers, the whole experience would be better for it. I'm not asking for a big arrow to point me directly to the next step at all times, just a generalized circle of some type on my map showing me the general area I need to be within.

What I really need is to find a guild that fits me well, but that's the sort of thing that typically takes time -- if it ever happens at all. The community in LotRO is easily one of the top three for any MMO out there. I've met plenty of nice folk running around Turbine's digital embodiment of Middle-earth. So finding a good Kinship shouldn't prove too challenging in the long-run. And to be fair, I've only been playing for about a week and a half. Usually most of the better guilds prefer someone to be a bit higher in level as well. My resume just isn't up to snuff yet, sadly. Although I'm still waiting for an MMO to do something about in-game guild recruitment tools. Something more than a chat room and at best a bulletin board. I'd even take a glorified bulletin board at this point, which is likely what the LotRO Facebook-ish website will become -- but in a good way.

And that's what really keeps people around in any MMO: communities, guilds. When this game launched, I really wanted to want to stick with it for a bevy of reasons. Unfortunately, there were a few key aspects missing at that time. The biggest was that no single class resonated with me on a personal level. The Warden and Rune-keeper have soundly fixed that. Secondly, I felt like combat needed some more work. It wasn't terrible or even mediocre, but the snappiness that World of Warcraft combat possessed had most definitely spoiled me. It's much better now, the combat, and I'm not really comparing it directly to Blizzard's game anymore -- which is certainly something that was getting in the way of my enjoyment before. Now my goal is to take my Warden all the way to level 60, so that I'm ready for the next expansion. Not that I want to muscle my way through Moria, or even Angmar content. I'd say that the first LotRO expansion is a resounding success.

The funny part is that early Friday morning, Amazon's offer of 26 dollars for Wrath of the Lich King proved too tempting for me to ignore. I'm not really sure if I'll install it until I've at least gotten halfway to level 60 with my Warden, but I can't deny that Northrend and Death Knights are something I certainly want to experience at some point. I'm not worried though, because two months of LotRO have been paid for in full. Why waste a good thing?

So in the end, it turns out the answer to my question is, "Moria, then a little later Wrath." which isn't really unexpected for someone like myself anyhow.

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Tags: activision-blizzard, amazon, blizzard, death-knights, ea, electronic-arts, lord-of-the-rings, lord-of-the-rings-online, lotro, middle-earth, mines-of-moria, moria, mythic, northrend, rune-keeper, the-digital-continuum, turbine, war, warden, warhammer-online

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

lorant said on 11:02AM 11-29-2008

none

Neurotic said on 2:53AM 11-30-2008

Good choice. Like Swiss chocolate and a packet of Gummy Bears, Moria is the luxury confection, something to be savoured, and Wrath the sugar-filled mind-blower that can be guzzled at a later date.

Skypp said on 11:52AM 11-29-2008

It really is a great expansion. I have not been happy with an expansion since Velious in the original Everquest. This expansion seems to have had everything an expansion should. It was not just a tacked on set of new levels with a couple of dungeons where monsters have more morale, no it was way more thought out than that.

2 full new classes! Not some class that starts at level 50 so that they don't have to add new content to 1-49, but FULL classes. Each one a new mechanic, and while maybe inspired by something that has come before, they do it in such a new way. Both classes have totally new animations as well, they don't look like the other classes, you can tell right off the bat if you see them.

They've redone the stat system to be more precise(people will see this eventually), they've added some cool features to the crafting system where if you put in the effort you can guarantee you critical on a recipe. The artwork is a cut above anything pre-moria(artwork was my complaint from day 1).

Fighting has been stepped up as well. The new Corruption system and Inductions on mobs have changed the way you fight. There's no more standing around in one spot, you will MOVE a ton when you fight now, you will have to pay attention to what's going on, no more coat-tail huggers once you get in moria.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Now... this article is setting up for a flame war between WOTLK and Moria, but that's inevitable, as they are in direct competition with each other. But I think most players have already made their choice, and its less about the expansions and more about just what they play the most.

From what I've heard WOTLK has gotten a bit more like LOTRO/FFXI in the story telling, giving cinemas and cutscenes. While LOTRO has gotten a little more like WOW in the complex enemy encounters. What really pulls my tail though is when people act like no MMO has done story before heh. Its like they havn't even looked at a new MMO since 2004, and they don't realize just about every new MMO out there has cutscenes, long story lines, and session plays. They proclaim their game as a new trailblazer when they're really just now catching up when it comes to story.

Tab said on 2:12PM 11-29-2008

When I was faced with the same decision, I chose Moria as well, and have been enjoying the last week and a half of play tremendously.

I really enjoy the way the story is developed via the fellowship quests. The world is detailed and beautiful, the community is excellent, and it's just a real pleasure to play such a well polished game.

Of course I'm sure WotLK is high quality and very entertaining as well. I guess for me it's just been that after 4 years of WAR, it was time for a change of venue -- some new art direction and a different world.

Caldruid said on 2:50PM 11-29-2008

LotRO is the most underrated MMO on the market. I'm happy to see many new player in the game. Turbine has done a great job with Moria, and I think LotRO will benefit greatly in terms of subs and lifetime subs.