The Lord of the Rings Online: Riders of Rohan

If you've been looking for a reason to return to Turbine's version of Middle-earth, Riders of Rohan gives you not one, but several. I found myself constantly surprised and impressed with each new area I explored during my journey; may your own be filled with that special sort of wonderment that only Middle-earth can provide.

With twice the size of its first expansion, double the level cap increase of the second expansion, and orders of magnitude more endgame content and innovation than the third (at launch), Riders of Rohan delivers on all fronts.

Don't let my minor complaints deter you though. If you haven't played Lord of the Rings Online for a while then Rohan is the perfect excuse to pick it up again. If you have never played LotRO then I would encourage you to give it a try, all of the stuff leading up to Rohan is still compelling and you will know that you have a good expansion waiting for you at the end.

Riders of Rohan is the best add-on for Lord of the Rings Online thus far. It has one of the best mounted combats I've ever seen in MMOs and with the great, atmospheric Tolkien universe it is a great game for every fan of the books or the films.

Quotation forthcoming.

Massive, beautiful, and graced with some of the best mounted combat ever seen in an MMORPG, Turbine's labor of love recalls the sense of exploration and adventure that's always set LOTRO apart.

My original review on LOTRO ended up as a 7 for those playing up to level 50 (top is 85). This was mainly because for every good region (Evendim, Eregion), there was a tedious one (Forochel, Trollshaws). Moria I was not a great fan of (ditto a 7, I just prefer rivers, mountains etc.), but overall enjoyed. And Isengard expansion is well laid out and interesting to play (an 8 for that region for its nice environment and story-lead quests). But RoR is worth all the time and effort in getting there (from 70+ level). The Pros: * Superb music, some of it is top quality indeed. * Huge land area, lovely to be in. * Horse combat (particularly group horse combat, great great fun). * Again, well laid out story-quests that move you nicely through the area. * The concept of warbands (roving bosses) provides short but fun combat in groups at any time. * End game content is interesting for me (I'm level 84, so just started playing endgame in Hytbold, rebuilding a town - I like the idea of 5 quests a day thing, nice to pick up for a short time, but others are less fond of this, as it can get a bit repetitive). In my previous review, another problem was getting fellowships together for specific quests. That's pretty much all gone now, with quest choices of solo and fellowship where required. You can get to the end pretty much as a solo player, without ever needing help (though if you do need help, the community is helpful and friendly). Solo play does seem to go against the concept of an MMO, but hey, you can play the whole thing solo or in groups, and I like it that way. Are there cons? For me probably just one gameplay one. In horse combat, one-on-one combat you will always come out best, even against higher levels, it's not difficult to do so. But that quibble is minor compared to all the other plusses. Is it worth playing LOTRO up to lvl 70 to start RoR? Yes, yes it is. I cannot wait for the next expansion if it continues on in the same quality.

A strong ex pack IMO, the mounted combat its fairly cool once you get used to it and certainly adds something to the game. I still however have some occurring problems for example, i was level 83 when i finished all the quests i had been given in each part of the new zone not 85 which it should of been so quests not matching ur level is here again sadly... the placement of NPC is reminded me Mirkwood so yeah that was pretty bad overall though those problems aside a enjoyed it and look forward to playing through wildermore and helms deep.

Whilst the additions to the game are welcome and worthwhile, the game is still littered with fundamental gripes that outweigh even those of notable MMO failures of recent years. The combat remains one of the slowest, clunkiest and least engaging of any game I've played to date and the rudimentary quests offered by the game are ultimately out of line with innovation. Don't get me wrong, this is a welcome and worthwhile installment to the experience, and the additions (huge new zones, mounted combat, the core 'story' quests and the latest patch) but to be honest the game seems like it'll retain the problems its had from day one until its final expansion. 7/10 if you're a LotRO fan; 5/10 if you're fond of a more fluid and intuitive combat system and quite possibly a ten if you're a roleplayer. LotRO remains one of the best roleplaying-friendly MMOs to date and for all its faults the world that Turbine provide you is second to none in scale and beauty.

The only thing that it has going for it is the LORE. The mounted combat is extremely glitch. There weren't even any dungeons that came with the expansion (and when they came out they closed down due to glitchs) and there were no PVMP improvements. On top of that there are massive class imbalances and the solo target dps classes are not even wanted.

Horrible class balance, bad PvP gameplay, Landscape/Questing super boring and easy. Every time they release an expansion it is riddled with bugs. Only good thing that I can think of is the lore and cinematics, most new games comes standard with good graphics, can't vouch LOTRO for that.