NDA lifted awhile ago, VERY similar to WoW, but with more realistic graphics.
Ain't half bad honestly, but some of the fighting feels abit clunky compared to WoW. Something with range in melee, and the animations are a bit stilted.
I'm on Melindor playing with a few guys from Sturm, although I actually haven't ran into any of them yet.
Frankly I'm just gonna hit up the player verus monster deal in beta(and perhaps beyond..)
The gist is, at lvl 10 you can be a lvl 50 monster(Urakai etc) and start with bare bones stuff, run some quests, and battle other real hero players around your same lvl, almost like taking the life of an NPC. Sounds pretty neat and it's free. :}
Speaking of Free, you guys heard about Silk Road? It looks kinda fun lol.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road_Online - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road_Online
--------------------------- What is PvMP?
PvMP is Player versus Monster Player. It takes place in the isolated area of Ettenmoor where player characters can fight against other players who are playing monsters.
- The Ettenmoors is a non-instanced region, roughly the size of the Shire. - Players on each side start in a safe zone. - The main gameplay elements are PvMP fighting, Quests, and Keep/Tower assaults. - Monsters start as roughly a ’Normal’ statistic level 50 Monster that is more advanced than a level 50 mob, but may not quite be a match for normal level 50 players until they advance their monster via the acquisition of Destiny Points and Infamy Points. - These points either grant or gate the following: additional skills, improved current skills, bonuses to Morale, regen rates, armor, etc. Players can also gain additional appearances to change the look of their avatar over time. - There are five monster play classes to choose from.
How do I play my main character in Ettenmoor?
- Level a character to Level 40+ (ideally upper 40’s) - Travel to Rivendell - Goto the Horse Stables in the Western section, west of the Trainer area - If you’ve unlocked this horse route already, it’s the normal Rivendell Stable location, aka Elrond’s Stables - Locate Stable-master Remros - Right click Remros, select Ettenmoors and click the Go! button
How do I play as a monster in Ettenmoor?
- Level a character to Level 10+ - Go to Bree and locate Beggar’s Alley - This area is in the Western part of town to the west of the Burglar Trainer. - Locate the Angmarim labeled “Monster Controller” - Right click him and select “Play as a Monster” - Select one of the five available classes and click the Play button
I received an invitation to create a level 50 character for PvMP. How do I do it?*
Steps to get a instant level 50 PVP-ONLY Free Peoples character:
1. Receive an email from Turbine saying the enabled your account for this. 2. Create a normal character. 3. Play the character in the newbie (level 1) instance. 4. Play the character in the regular newbie zone until you do the Intro instance finale (either the burning of Archet or rescuing one of Elrond's kids, depending on your race) 5. After you finish the Finale (but before leaving it) you can talk to the main NPC and he will have the level up option for you. Choose the level 50.)
* As of January 17th, 2007. Instant Level 50 leveling is: ON
What monster classes are currently available for play?
Warg - Stealth Force, Burst DPS, Off-tank, Vocal Interruption
Orc Reaver - Sustained DPS, De-buff, Melee Skill Interruption, Soft-tank
Uruk Warleader - Tank, Group Buff (Combat and Out-of-Combat), Light Healer, Moderate DPS
Uruk Blackarrow - Ranged DPS, Ranged AoE, Light CC, Light Melee AoE DPS http://beta.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=18288 - http://beta.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=18288
Spider - Crowd Control, DoT, Light DPS, Ambush tactics
When you create a monster you can play only one of that specific type and there is currently no way to delete it. So if you create a reaver with the name StupidOrc - that name and character is always going to be your reaver. You can have one monster of each type though.
What are destiny and infamy points?
These points are earned by players to benefit their monster and player characters.
Destiny Points are earned by completing quests and then used at the trainer to up your abilities/get new abilities. The Passive abilities increase armor, moral, resistance, etc., and there are also new active abilities to put on your quick bar. You can also use your points when you enter MP to get "Perks" which buff you for that session.
The destiny points that carry back to your character are only for the monster you just logged out of - in otherwords they don't stack. So 48 points on your spider and 129 on your warg will only show as the 48 on your PC if I you just logged out of your spider.
What about player character rewards?
Player rewards are not in the Ettenmoors at the moment but are expected in a future build.
Will my equipment take damage when I die in PvMP? Will I have to pay for repairs?
Player Character equipment will not take damage upon defeat from Monster players, however normal wear and tear will need to be repaired, as will damage caused by defeat at the hand of NPCs.
My system performance in PvMP isn't that good. Are there any steps I can take to improve it?
1) Turn the graphics down. This can help framerate a lot. Some people suggest the setting of Low for places like Bree, and Very Low for PvMP.
2) Increase the priority of the lotroclient.exe to "above normal".
Do this by opening the Task Manager, (This has to be done while the process is running. In WinXP just hit ctrl+alt+del , while the game is running in windowed mode, to bring up the Task Manager. You can also see there how much of your memory and processor time the game is eating up (thats just scarey)) under the Processes tab right click the lotroclient.exe and set the priority. You can try "High", but some people have experienced problems with mouse or keyboard control when the client is set to high.
3) Check what you have running in the background. If your antivirus is downloading/installing an update while you are trying to fight, you'll have issues.
4) Try to pick your battles on the edge of the main melee. Charging into the thick of things can be like charging into a wave of molassas.
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