The Lord of the Rings Online Review: Gameplay, Characters, Class, Fighting…

Lord of the Rings Online is technically a free-to-play MMORPG, but much of its content was initially restricted to additional paid purchases. The devs announced that a lot of old and additional content will now be free, as part of update 33 which went live in April 2022.

The Lord of the Rings Online (Overview)

The Lord of the Rings Online is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for Microsoft Windows and OS X set in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth, taking place during the time period of The Lord of the Rings.

Developed by Turbine, Inc., the game launched in North America, Australia, Japan, and Europe in April 2007 as The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar. Players could create characters of four races and seven classes and adventure throughout the region of Eriador.

In November 2008, Mines of Moria expansion was released, adding the region of Moria and two new playable classes. It was followed by the Siege of Mirkwood in December 2009.

The game saw continued development, alternating between paid expansions and free updates, which added new content in the regions of Isengard, Rohan, and Gondor. In late 2016 it was announced that the publishing of the game would transfer from Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment to Daybreak Game Company, with development being taken over by Standing Stone Games, made up of former Turbine staff.

Lord of the Rings Online development continued and in 2017 the Mordor expansion was released, bringing the main storyline to a close. The story then shifted to showing how various inhabitants of the Middle-earth deal with the downfall of Sauron, with Minas Morgul expansion released in 2019 and a Gundabad-themed expansion announced for 2021.

The Lord of the Rings Online (2022) – Gameplay

Key Features:

Explore the Massive World of Middle-earth: Immerse yourself in the award-winning recreation of the beloved fantasy world of J.R.R. Tolkien through renowned locations including the Shire, the Mines of Moria, and Lothlórien.
Create & Advance Your Hero: Advance to level 130 with thousands of character customization possibilities. 7 races, 11 classes, 10 professions, 7 vocations, plus over 1,000 titles, skills and traits
Solo & Co-op Skirmishes: Dive into instant adventure alongside friends or customizable AI soldiers in exciting, scalable battles!
Legendary Items: Design and customize your own legendary weapons of immense power like Bilbo’s Sting or Gandalf’s Glamdring!
Play as a Monster in Lord of the Rings Online: Fight as a servant of Sauron against other players in intense PvMP Combat!
Craft Your Own Gear: Farm crops in the fertile fields of the Shire or let your hammer ring in the Dwarven halls Ered Luin.
Free Online Play: No monthly fees required.

Creating Your Character in The Lord of the Rings Online

The Lord of the Rings Online has five (soon to be six) races and 10 classes from which to choose. There are limits with your combinations, as some classes are only available to certain races (such as the Captain to the Race of Man or the Beorning to the Beornings). Also, there is no option to select a female Dwarf (it’s a lore thing, but if you want to roleplay a bearded Dwarf female, no one will stop you). Each race has some racial talents and skills, but for the most part these are very minor and are not important to your final selection.

Wardens and Rune-keepers come with the purchase of the Mines of Moria expansion, while Beornings must be bought by any player separately.

Most of The Lord of the Rings Online classes employ some sort of hybridization of roles. There’s the Captain (tank, healer, and melee fighter with a pet), Lore-master (healer and debuffer with animal pets), Rune-keeper (healer and nuker), Minstrel (also a healer and long-range shouter with more of a musical approach), Beorning (tank, healer, and melee fighter with shapeshifting), Guardian (your heavy duty tank), Champion (melee fighter who can also tank), Warden (combo-using spear fighter that can tank), Hunter (long-range nuker), and Burglar (dual-wielding Rogue archetype). Pick whichever interests you and try them out through the starting zone to see if it clicks with you.

The Class System – How Classes Affect the The Lord of the Rings Online Experience

Like most MMORPGs, your class in Lord of the Rings Online is like the identity of your character, defining what your character does and how it plays in the game. Each class is unique with different playstyles and abilities. Within each class, there are three specializations (specs), which allow your character to excel at a particular aspect of the class, further defining their role. Specs have formal names (such as “Huntsman” for Hunters), but are often referred to their associated color in the trait tree – blue, red, and yellow.

Lord of the Rings Online offers a wide variety of class fantasies that coincide with the Lord of the Rings series the game is based on. Playstyles fit into those commonly found in RPG styles, including:

Melee fighter
Ranger
Spellcaster/wizard (magic user)

The classes, specs, and playstyles all culminate for your character’s role in gameplay. In Lord of the Rings Online there are four main roles:

Tank – Someone who protects allies by drawing threat from enemies with an ability to survive a lot of damage.
DPS (damage per second), also called DD (damage dealer) – Someone who focuses on dealing damage to enemies.
Heal – Someone who raises the morale (health) of allies, working to keep them alive.
Support – Someone who does not fit solely into the tank-DPS-heal trinity known to many RPGs that works to strengthen allies and weaken enemies while bringing utility to combat.

In casual, low difficulty, and leveling content in Lord of the Rings Online, all specs are viable to fill their role. However, not all specs are viable in typical endgame progression content (e.g., some tank specs are not good enough to fill the tank role, some DPS specs don’t do enough damage, etc.), but most classes have at least one viable spec/role they fill (e.g., yellow line Lore Master as support).

Fighting In The Lord of the Rings Online

When fighting enemies in Lord of the Rings Online you have to make sure that you target the right enemy. Backspace targets the closest one and Tab switches between targets. You also need to pull or attract only as many enemies as you can handle fighting at once. If you can only handle one enemy at a time, then don’t attack the enemy who has 5 of his friends nearby. Attack the enemy going for a walk in the distance instead.

Pay attention to your morale and the enemy’s, especially if yours is draining faster during the fight. If it looks like you’re going to lose then by all means RUN LIKE THE WIND before the enemy kills you. They will chase you for a bit, but they should lose interest as long as you don’t bump into any new enemies along the way.

Don’t forget to drag your items and skills in Lord of the Rings Online to the quickslot bar at the bottom so you can use them easier when you need them. There are also 3 other rows above that bar that appear when you hold down Ctrl, Alt or Shift and press the indicated button.

After the fight you can loot the body of the enemy for items, money and gear if their corpse is sparkling. Only the first player or fellowship to attack an enemy gets the experience for it and is allowed to loot the body. You can always help another player or fellowship to attack an enemy, but you won’t get anything for it. Enemies that have already been engaged by another player or fellowship have grey stats.

The Lord of the Rings Online Server

After you create your account and before you actually load up the game, you’ll be prompted to select a server. As the semi-recent merges have created healthy populations on all remaining shards, it’s up to you to choose one. Europe has one official RP server and North America has an RP-encouraged server, but other than that, the rulesets are all the same in Lord of the Rings Online.

Can you play LOTR online for free?

Now, for the fantasy game’s 15th anniversary, developer Standing Stone Games has revealed that everything from its first six years will go completely free-to-play. “All quests, areas, instances, and expansions released between the original launch of LOTRO back in 2007 and up to – and including.

Can you play Lord of the Rings Online?

The Lord of the Rings Online (previously titled The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar) and usually simply referred as LotRO is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) for Microsoft Windows and OS X set in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth, taking place during the time period of The Lord of the …

Is LOTRO still active?

LOTRO might not be thriving, but this does all speak to a game that’s still running steady. Steam Charts marks the game as running with a steady playerbase of between 1-2 thousand concurrent players, though many won’t be running the game through Steam.

How does LOTR Online make money?

How do I make money? You can earn money by completing quests, looting coins off humanoid enemies, selling items you loot from enemies and chests, or even by selling crafted items.