Place 9: The Lord of the Rings Online
Developer: Standing Stone Games | Platform: PC | Release Date: April 14, 2007 | Model: Free2Play
Benedikt, actually a technology expert at MeinMMO, discovered his enthusiasm for the MMORPG genre in Middle-earth: The Lord of the Rings Online was my first “real” online role-playing game and definitely the one I have played the most.
The game offers incredibly rich content and one of the most extensive game worlds based on Tolkien’s epic. The world-building is fantastic, recognizable places like the Shire or the Mines of Moria are instantly recognizable, and many locations still impress despite the graphics.
Moreover, I find that LotRO offers a really fair Free2Play system. Because theoretically, you could earn all the content for free, even though it takes a long time.
However, my real highlight of The Lord of the Rings Online is the community. I have rarely met so many, and above all nice players in an MMORPG, who were never too ashamed to help or pull me through a dungeon.
And that’s also the part that keeps bringing me back to Middle-earth: The small, fine community I met there. Something that, for example, Guild Wars 2 never achieved.
Particularly for newcomers, The Lord of the Rings may seem terribly dated: the combat system is slow and sluggish, the graphics remind one more of the PS3 generation, and there is also no official license for the music or the speakers. You can clearly see the game’s 17 years (released in 2007).
Another disadvantage should not be underestimated: the regular prices for expansions, especially for old expansions and content packs, are costly. Theoretically, you can earn everything for free, but that takes months.
