Did the professor know what he did in his free time from teaching in his Oxford office in the 30-40s of the last century? It can definitely be said that yes, of course, he knew – he composed fairy tales first for his three sons and daughter, and then more for himself. And the same, absolutely without risking to make a mistake, we can say that no, had no idea what his passion for ancient European myths, magical stories and non -existent languages would ultimately turn out.
The cult of the Lord of the Rings arose during the life of the writer and pretty much annoyed the zealous Catholic John Tolkien, Holy following the whole conscious life of the Christian commandments, one of which, as you know, reads: “Do not create an idol for yourself”. But the world, traditionally spitting on any commandments, continued to create, create and finally created not just an idol, but almost a new religion, turning its author into a prophet. In any case, such an impression may well be created if you look at our life with a naive look.
The famous “Children-Tsvetes” of the 60s-hippies laid the beginning. The authority of Tolkien’s trilogy in their storled and obdated ranks was absolute and indisputable, and given that most of the creative intelligentsia of the 70s once hipped, then a crazy take-off of popularity in these and subsequent years of Fantasy and Elf-Orkov-Gnomes first in literature in the literature, and then other arts (in games in the first place) can also be wished to the creator of Middle -earth.
At the beginning of the new century, madness continued, then the famous movie trilogy of the New Zealand director came out Peter Jackson, Torn by no means two towers not only to the fans of Tolkien, but also (with his financial results) a much more serious audience. Then World of Warcraft showed the whole world that cinema – g … but, most importantly – MMO. After which the appearance of mmorpg Lord of the Rings Online It has become a question not very long.
The game was released in April 2007, and now it can already be absolutely said that it turned out to be financially successful. However, despite the completely crazy popularity of the original source (you will not seriously say that “Varcraft” is more popular than the “Lord of the Rings”?), scored almost forty times less subscribers than wow. What was the snag and a catch in general whether to deal with our site in Middle -earth’s site sent me. And I, of course, figured out what I am reporting now.
An ordinary hanger
The main question of any game on the Lord of the Rings – how it is connected with the events of books and whether Gandalf and Frodo and comrades have in it – caused frank curiosity, but the first impressions of the game were even more frankly interested in. My experience in Mmorpg is not absolute, but from half a dozen (only from decent) names will be found in it, so the desire to compare the novelty of the sensations with the already passed “ancient” is a common thing for any reason of reasonable. Whose horns and hooves stick out of gameplay, what is the atmosphere, what is with landscapes and a combat system, what kind of people play and how to begin beginners? Yes, even the range of classes and the generation of the character – everything is important and matters.
The “wardrobe” of the new “theater” does not disappoint, although it looks typical. Classic elves-gnomes-hobbites as game races, people, however, did not forget. Political correctness is mainly present, with the exception of Africanese and female gnomes, which are absent. Everything, it seems,, in accordance with the traditions of the world, but the courage of the developers is still impressive – in our time it is easier to give a damn about traditions than on wrestlers for equality.
Eight possible classes fully cover the standard group roles: tanks (defender, guard), neighbor specialists (warrior, cracker) and distant (hunter) fights, healers (minstrel, guardian of runes) and hybrids (knight capable of fighting in the near battle, soand distribute bonuses, as well as treat a little). People can choose any career, the rest of the races have restrictions (and in fact – which of the hobbit is a knight, and a cracker from the gnome).
The appearance editor with a set of options does not affect, but copes with the task. With proper patience and artistic talent, you can give birth to a very extraordinary personality. At least at first glance. In general, the generation of the character … average, probably. It does not cause emotions either positive or negative, but for me it is rather a plus than a minus. Nothing personal, superfluous or too important. You can not soar the brains either to yourself, the computer, and to do as quickly as possible for what, in fact, I play with adventures ..
Game with the plot
.. Lord of the Rings Online start from the very first seconds. In the game, oddly enough for MMO, there is a plot. Yes, a very relative plot, and yet much less relative than in World of Warcraft or Warhammer Online. He was introduced in the form of an epic quest and stretches through all books and chapters of Lotro. You captivate the whirlpool of his events immediately and without preliminary instructions of wise mentors. As soon as you find yourself in the game, you find your hero captive at the robbers (this is if you play for a person; the elves, gnomes and hobbits of entry are different, but the whirlpool is no worse) who grabbed him for the company with a couple of hobbits.
A friendly scout appears immediately with a rescue mission, then this scout stumbles on a black type on a black horse, and after a short fight, you are already saving the rescuer with a small fire. The following is a piquant detail: black horsemen grow around the district and something (or someone) are looking for. In parallel in script scenes, an entertaining story is told about the crowd of hobbits, people, gnomes, elves and magicians (only nine pieces), saving the world from some kind of Mordor muck. You have already heard this somewhere, saw or read at least, probably hundreds of times, but still heed with interest and legitimate curiosity-and suddenly everything ends differently?
Otherwise, of course, it does not end, but the regular opportunities provided to the legendary history of their feasible contribution cause a certain mental thrill. To run away at Aragorn’s request to find out something somewhere, at the same time killing a dozen or two nahals who are rude to the face? Impressive. Report about the completed task to Gandalf? Inspires. Wave a white handkerchief of the aforementioned nine, going to partisan into the deep rear of the enemy? But you know, very! This is if your attitude in life to all this hobbitomania is initially ironic. And if you are a true follower of the cult. This is the game and takes. By this, but not only.
One hundred percent hobbitland
You can argue for an arbitrarily for a long time about the importance of visual images, texture and model arts, special efficient illuminations and other design of maps in the popularization of projects and subsequent maximization of sales, but in creating the correct atmosphere, it is all unambiguously involved. Especially the atmosphere of the game made in the cult world. IN Lord of the Rings Online Artists and designers Turbine At least four with a plus coped with the task.
You run through the village of hobbits, around-neatly holmiki houses, a little further-the classic rural pastoral, as you imagine it, living in the center of a multimillion-dollar megalopolis, in the distance-some moves, hills, fields, still villages … Everything is like on.a picture from the advertising prospectus of some particularly environmentally friendly agricultural products. Or from the book of a professor. This is how you imagined hobbitland – and this is how it appears in the game.
The lands of people, elven forests and the habits of gnomes also do not disappoint. Everything is according to the mind, everything is with an excellent prospect and a complete sense of hitting a fabulous reality. It is reality. But fabulous. Without unnatural bloodthirstiness Warhammer Online, cartoon, and now also vulgarized by casual disnewyland of the pathos of Warcraft, anime supermodels of Koreyagroprom and an advanced Everquest 2.
Familiar with books, names NPC, tasks, emouts (the general term for emotions, gestures, dances and other “body language”) also work perfectly on the image of a virtual Middle -earth and contribute to a festive mood (here you can even learn to play a musical instrument and drank whenkeyboard help, tapping notes and increasing and lowering tones!).
At the same time, the lack of division into fractions and, accordingly, PVP (which, in fact, is, but very specific, and about it later), perhaps more adds to the atmosphere Lotro, than vice versa. Peace, friendliness, tranquility, even some kind of chamber (although the world is not small at all). You are not in constant tension in anticipation of some subject, you do not shudder from the slightest shadow or suspicious sound, you do not read the powerless swearing of the “noobs” in the local chat, who have fallen under the genocide of the wandering enemy “haylevs”-there is nothing of this, so you are relaxed and relaxed and relaxedBlagly. And you quietly enjoy life (longing, to be honest, but this is for my very personal taste).
Repetition of the passed
If the atmosphere Lotro specific and even unique, then game mechanics are exactly the opposite. Saturating to the dump with the first impressions, an experienced MMO user begins to understand that everyday (everyday or even all -family?) the gameplay does not offer him anything that he would not have met before. These monsters every five steps are not know-how, quests about run-to-kill-renovation-all the more, levels (maximum-60th), levelapes, teachers selling new abilities, production professions, resources sticking out of the ground hereAnd there are either hunting, small hobbies like fishing, and even personal real estate-Vidanas-conveyed, and even in different variations. Nuances – yes, they are present, but even this is rather a routine than individuality – who in our time exactly transfers other people’s features?
Following the generally accepted gameplay standards is striking – the farther, the more distinct. You hit the monsters with standard techniques that are held instantly (although such a feeling depends on the animation: if your hero is supposed to swing well and only then cut it, then the results of the attack will appear “only later”), but are separated by kuldowns (from English. Cool download – calm down, cool). Monsters standardly attack those who hits more painfully or performs the action that are extremely harmful from their point of view (for example, healers).
Dungeons campaigns – spilled World of Warcraft. The external difference, of course, is present, but the logic of actions is the same. And there are also “heroic” dungeons where it is necessary not only to cut out everyone, but to do this in compliance with some extremely hemorrhoids (to kill the boss without killing any of the bugs confusing under the feet, but very painfully biting.or make total cleaning for a very limited period). Having got into the “inst for the first time, your humble did not feel any discomfort – everything was familiar and familiar, with the exception of specific differences in the design of this particular dungeon. It would hardly have been more convenient for me to find myself in the role of a complete oak, but when the children’s task “Find five differences” turns into a farm theorem – this is boring, gentlemen. If you, of course, are not flying off the coils of the Middle -earth.
When the ceiling of levels of World of Warcraft reaches, it does not end at all. Search for an adequate guild, races on the “heroes” behind the epic junk and, like a crown, are raids on the most fat bots. If you are behind at least a couple of years of life in Azerot, then I already see how you start yawning. I understand you perfectly, familiar joy. Thank you, don’t.
Yes, the ability to download your own weapons is a business thing. How to download? Elementary. It is enough to find/buy/get legendary weapons as a gift and … do not laugh, legendary weapons in the game – like bacteria in a dung pile. It, of course, is different, blue, red … In the sense, more expensive or cheaper, better or worse – select statistics according to your banking account. But the principle is one. If in the infancy the “legend” is not surprising, then this is normal. For she, like a hero, can also earn “expo” and receive levels. And she also has abilities that can be developed. And also – slots where runes, gems and other additives are soldered. As a result, over time, the natural weapon of the Judgment Day “+100 lulier on the snout can be obtained by each member of the enemy team without surrender” and with an unlimited guarantee. Real happiness for a fanatical collection, although if your at home has accumulated scrap metal, starting with onyxia and ending with the last gladiatorial season, then enthusiasm is unlikely to jump higher than a couple of hundredths of hundredths.
Production and trade in Lotro – Not at all Eve Online and not even Everquest. Rather, again, World of Warcraft. You can argue about the mechanics, assortment of products, a set of professions and auction convenience, but the essence will not change, just the view will not be in profile, but Anfas. Compose other entertainments … probably, you can. For, in the end, what difference does it make, in which World of Warcraft to play. Here, at least there are no helicopters, motorcycles with strollers and this feeling that you went to hang out into the magical world, and got into the amusement park. However, the PIPP for the most part is better the parks, especially if they are licked, cleaned and polished, and a set of services is an order of magnitude more diverse. Therefore, is it worth it to be surprised at the difference in the number of subscribers? The question is rhetorical ..
Feel like a monster!
However, you can forget about the routine and hunting for bots, give birth to a harsh monster and join the bad guys to show these “free peoples”, what is real evil. Lord of the Rings Online provides such an opportunity. As I said above, there is PVP in the game, it just … another.
Having reached the tenth level with a standard gnome-eulphic (do not miss the letter “n” in the word) a character, you will have the opportunity to create a monster character and go to the Etten heights to implement the plans of the Dark Lord. That is, to realize the cherished dream of childhood. Almost a joke.
The first surprise is not to download the monster “from scratch”, he immediately receives the 60th level. Joy, however, does not last long: this is far from the 60th that on the other side. If health is more or less corresponding to, then everything else (defense, attack) is laughter to the chickens through tears. In the game, for example, there are various types of damage for https://podcast.chloebloom.com/wp-content/pgs/comment-maximiser-vos-gains-avec-les-bonus-de-winner-casino.html weapons. An important point: if you take into account that the resistance to normal damage in the average character is four times higher than some kind of fiery or ancient child. The Montrodik just born is normal, and to pick it with the enemy hung with epics – how to try to cut the tank with a sapper spatula.
But you can also download the monster. Killing enemies and receiving “bad fame”, turning into ranks. And also performing quests for the glasses of fate, which you can buy various abilities. After the third, your monster gradually begins to justify its proud title, and if you show monstrous perseverance, make corns at the fifth point, but to endure at least up to the tenth (all of the ranks of fifteen), then all these “free people” will become (free peoples)walk exclusively in groups of five, holding each other by hand, as soon as they find out that someone had seen you nearby.
You can even annealing for not sorry fate points for the opportunity to play an hour for a troll. The troll is a real terminator, healthy (in the sense of health), like an elephant and destructive, like a high -explosive bomb. It does not need to download it – he already has everything, but the combat successes do not go to any tests. In a word, only Fan, and nothing more. But the fan is pretty.
Non-traditional-orginal PVP Lord of the Rings Online It would be more unconventional and original if the developers paid him a decent amount of attention. Would expand, for example, a zone of fighting, which huddles on a frank spot, or added variety of forms and tasks. But it seems that the “player against the player” mode in the game is an unloved child of foster parents, so it remains to be content with existing crumbs, which is expanding the base of the subscribers Lotro does not contribute to.
Not everyone – their own
General impression of Lord of the Rings Online, Rather, positive than negative. Turbine recreated Middle -earth with feeling and tact, carefully reacted to the spirit of the works of Tolkien, not forgetting about the letter. The game will probably appeal to fans of the professor’s work, as well as lovers of atmospheric worlds with excellent role -playing potential. But if you are interested in everything else in MMO, then your choice is World of Warcraft, or what else is the industry prepare for us ..
Pros: excellent atmosphere and design;careful attitude to the spirit of Tolkien’s works;Paradise for connoisseurs “Rolepley”.
Cons: secondary gameplay;Limited spaciousness for PVP lovers.