04.24
If you are a PC gamer and also like the Tolkein universe, you should really go by and pick up a copy of The Lord of the Rings: Shadows of Angmar when it’s released to the public tommorrow (April 24th). I’ve been beta-testing it since December of last year and I can say without a doubt that it is an awesome game experience. It’s based on The Lord of the Rings book rights instead of the movie rights, so you aren’t just going to see a clone of the movie. Personally, I think that makes it a much fresher experience than it would have otherwise been. Now that the non-disclosure agreement has been lifted, I can get into a little more detail.
The playable races are Elf, Man and Hobbit and based on which you choose, you will be able to play as either a Champion, Guardian, Minstrel, Captain, Burglar, Hunter or Lore-Master. There is also monster-play available once you reach level 10. The lore-master and minstrel classes are the closest thing to magic users you will find in the game. This may seem odd for an RPG, but the books never had much magic in them, so it’s appropriate to use it only sparingly in the game as well. The initial level cap will be 50. This is certain to be raised with future expansion packs though. The first expansion has already been announced, so it appears that all the pre-release hype has been encouraging enough to the developers to push on with more content.
As far as gameplay goes, it has all the things you would expect from a modern MMORPG. Questing, grinding, chat, auction system, emotes, crafting, etc. It also has a vast deed system that will reward you with new skills and traits based on various deeds you complete during routine play. For example, you will be rewarded with the title of “Orc-Hewer”, a skill and XP for killing a certain number of orcs in the Lone-Lands part of the map. That helps to keep grinding from being so tedious. I’ll posts some pictures later. For now, just go pick up a copy. I promise you’ll like it.
