Lord of the Rings Online
Type: MMORPG
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About the Game
The game's milieu is based on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. However, Turbine does not have rights to any other works in Tolkien's legendarium, such as The Silmarillion or The Children of Húrin. Much of the gameplay is typical of the MMO format: The player controls a character avatar which can be moved around the game world and interacts with other players, non-player (computer-controlled) characters (or "NPCs") and other entities in the virtual world. Camera angles can be switched between first-person and third-person options. Characters are improved by gaining levels. A character's level increases after it earns a set amount of experience points through the player versus environment (or "PvE") combat and storyline adventures. Characters' abilities are improved by increasing in level, but character skills must be purchased from specified NPCs after gaining a new level.
The main storyline (also known as the "Epic Quest Line") is presented as a series of "Books", which consist of series of quests called "Chapters". There were initially eight Books when the game was released, with new books added with each free content update.
Tolkien's Middle-earth as represented in The Lord of the Rings Online implements magic in a different manner than other MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft. There are only five "wizards" in the fictional world, none of which are player-controlled. Instead, there are active skills which require "power" (the equivalent of magic points). Some skills behave like magic (like healing or throwing a burning ember at an enemy), but are based on "lore". In addition, objects and artifacts are used to create effects similar to magic.
As opposed to other role-playing video games, the equivalent of health or hit points in LOTRO is morale and can be raised via food, rest, music and battle cries. The game also places a fair emphasis on cooking and farming in its crafting system, in consistency with the characterization of Hobbits in Tolkien's writings.
An important feature of The Lord of the Rings Online is the difficulty level of NPCs that are encountered by the player. In addition to NPC level, the other factor that determines how difficult they are to combat is a seven tiered system of difficulty indicators, that adjusts things such as the NPCs health and damage output. Depending on its difficulty, an NPC may be no threat to a player individually, or it may be impossible for a lone character to defeat without the aid of a full raid. The lower difficulty levels are the most commonly encountered in the games landscape, while the mid-range levels are generally either landscape boss NPCs that require a fellowship to defeat or are enemies encountered in a fellowship instance. The higher difficulty ratings are almost never encountered in the games regional landscape, and are generally found as either boss NPCs in group instances or challenging enemies in raid encounters (although these enemies are present on the landscape in the Ettenmoors PvP zone). In PvP and in some PvE zones and instances, there are NPCs that belong to the forces of the Free People's that fall somewhere on this same scale and are analogous to their evil counterparts in difficulty, but have different names and indicators. The seven difficulty indicators from weakest to strongest in ascending order are:
The main storyline (also known as the "Epic Quest Line") is presented as a series of "Books", which consist of series of quests called "Chapters". There were initially eight Books when the game was released, with new books added with each free content update.
Tolkien's Middle-earth as represented in The Lord of the Rings Online implements magic in a different manner than other MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft. There are only five "wizards" in the fictional world, none of which are player-controlled. Instead, there are active skills which require "power" (the equivalent of magic points). Some skills behave like magic (like healing or throwing a burning ember at an enemy), but are based on "lore". In addition, objects and artifacts are used to create effects similar to magic.
As opposed to other role-playing video games, the equivalent of health or hit points in LOTRO is morale and can be raised via food, rest, music and battle cries. The game also places a fair emphasis on cooking and farming in its crafting system, in consistency with the characterization of Hobbits in Tolkien's writings.
An important feature of The Lord of the Rings Online is the difficulty level of NPCs that are encountered by the player. In addition to NPC level, the other factor that determines how difficult they are to combat is a seven tiered system of difficulty indicators, that adjusts things such as the NPCs health and damage output. Depending on its difficulty, an NPC may be no threat to a player individually, or it may be impossible for a lone character to defeat without the aid of a full raid. The lower difficulty levels are the most commonly encountered in the games landscape, while the mid-range levels are generally either landscape boss NPCs that require a fellowship to defeat or are enemies encountered in a fellowship instance. The higher difficulty ratings are almost never encountered in the games regional landscape, and are generally found as either boss NPCs in group instances or challenging enemies in raid encounters (although these enemies are present on the landscape in the Ettenmoors PvP zone). In PvP and in some PvE zones and instances, there are NPCs that belong to the forces of the Free People's that fall somewhere on this same scale and are analogous to their evil counterparts in difficulty, but have different names and indicators. The seven difficulty indicators from weakest to strongest in ascending order are:
- Swarm: The easiest difficulty NPC. These are usually found in large groups to balance out their individual weakness.
- Normal: The most common difficulty NPC that is encountered on the landscape of the game. Normal difficulty NPCs generally spawn on their own or in small groups.
- Signature: A more difficult enemy than Normal NPCs, Signature's are usually enemy leaders or champions that are the goal of solo quests, or are encountered in large numbers in group instances.
- Elite (Defender): A relatively strong NPC. These are sometimes seen on the games landscape, but are most commonly found as enemies in fellowship instances.
- Master Elite (Master Defender): A strong NPC, which is rarely seen in the games regular landscape. These are commonly seen in group instances as the leader of a group of enemies, or the goal of a small fellowship quest.
- Nemesis (Avenger): A very strong NPC, mostly seen in fellowship and raid instances with few exceptions.
- Arch-Nemesis (Hero): The strongest difficulty NPC in the game. There is no set upper limit on how powerful these NPCs can be, but they are always the target of a large group of player characters. The only place these are encountered on the games ordinary landscape is during PvP.