I haves to echo everything Shivetya said. I'm in the beta and have been for several months playing both a dwarf and an elf. After playing for the first month after I got in, I stopped for about month and would check in from time to time after major updates. The game was repetitive, lifeless, and dull. The scenery is lovely and was quite interesting to see some of the popular places rendered out and explorable. That's about the only compelling part of the game. Combat felt detached, as though there was no visible correlation between activating a skill and actually seeing it executed (mostly on my dwarf guardian, it was a bit better on my elf hunter). Armor seemed completely arbitrary, no matter how much I upgraded it never seemed like I became more resilient in battle. The crafting system was a joke. On my dwarf, my progress was completely halted because of a dependency on a particular product made and available only through another crafting tree. Despite all the minor complaints and compliments I could give the game, it really just came down to being uninspired, derivative, and lackluster. Remove the LoTR skin and there's just not much there to grip someone once the initial novelty wears off.
Videogames are about role-playing, playing a role. Good and evil are just that, roles to be played. In games we play the roles that will reward us with the most enjoyable experience. Real life often imposes a necessary morality to function within society, allowing little opportunity to experience life at the extremes. Games allow, if only for a moment, if only vicariously, the player the chance to experience a life at the extremes.
J
Slashdot Mirror
I haves to echo everything Shivetya said. I'm in the beta and have been for several months playing both a dwarf and an elf. After playing for the first month after I got in, I stopped for about month and would check in from time to time after major updates. The game was repetitive, lifeless, and dull. The scenery is lovely and was quite interesting to see some of the popular places rendered out and explorable. That's about the only compelling part of the game. Combat felt detached, as though there was no visible correlation between activating a skill and actually seeing it executed (mostly on my dwarf guardian, it was a bit better on my elf hunter). Armor seemed completely arbitrary, no matter how much I upgraded it never seemed like I became more resilient in battle. The crafting system was a joke. On my dwarf, my progress was completely halted because of a dependency on a particular product made and available only through another crafting tree. Despite all the minor complaints and compliments I could give the game, it really just came down to being uninspired, derivative, and lackluster. Remove the LoTR skin and there's just not much there to grip someone once the initial novelty wears off.
Videogames are about role-playing, playing a role. Good and evil are just that, roles to be played. In games we play the roles that will reward us with the most enjoyable experience. Real life often imposes a necessary morality to function within society, allowing little opportunity to experience life at the extremes. Games allow, if only for a moment, if only vicariously, the player the chance to experience a life at the extremes. J