Stave

Fantastic. Eregion was a great place to quest as you searched for signs of the Fellowship and earned your first legendary weapon. The epic line of quests and the conflict with the Watcher in the Water was exciting. Delving into Moria was a great experience. At times it had some lag and some bugs, but I greatly enjoyed this expansion and this experience. Finding the Balrog, signs of his struggle with Gandalf, getting to the bridge where Gandalf fell...great great stuff.

**** MMO set in Tolkien's world. Loved exploring the Shire, the Old Forest, Bree, Rivendell. Great music. Fantastic sights and sounds. The darkness of Angmar was great. The RIFT raid was epic. At the start, the 'housing neighborhoods' were wonderful (sadly, Turbine did nothing to update this aspect of the game in later years). Exceptional work and something I'd highly recommend for any gamer who liked reading or watching The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings.

I really enjoyed this expansion at the start. The mounted combat was an exciting new feature. The epic line of quests was great. The sight of the Argonath and the fields of Rohan was fantastic. The music was well done. The tension in the story of the quests as you supported the people of Rohan against the invasion from Isengard was fantastic. Many great things. After a time though, it became disappointing. Housing was still basically unchanged since launch. Monster Play continued to be on the back burner and left the PVPers to feel like Turbine's redheaded stepchildren. The loot tables were messed up so that massive amounts of 2nd and 1st age symbols were dumped into the game prematurely. The raids and instance cluster in general were VERY buggy so that some could not be completed. Mounted combat had one 'raid' mob that you could solo and there was never a reason to spend much time trying to master the skills as a result. The mounted combat lag had you warping around the fields of Rohan and was not addressed until just **** it still lags. The communication with the community and the handling of issues by CS continued to deteriorate. The game itself simply did not support large raids in either PVE or PVP and was unplayable at times. The frequency of login issues for many people got to be a real problem as well. What started out as something with great promise really declined fast for me. I now would not recommend it.

Great game. I have actually just returned to it after 6 years away. Picked up my level 80 paladin and moving toward the level cap again. My family is playing as well. The quests are a little dated and simple: kill 10 of these and return, etc. But the epic and heritage quests are great. The Housing is the absolute best with a million options and is a complete side hobby unto itself. Very much enjoying myself again in this huge Everquest universe.

Fantastic visual look and music. A great atmosphere and feel as you are introduced to the game. Quests well done. The overall setup with the pvp and public events add a level of dynamics that are missing from some other MMOs today. I've been in the midst of trying many different games the past 6 months and this one was one of the best.

I started playing the game because I had been a huge fan of the original Neverwinter Nights. I was disappointed to find the game lacking that 'atmosphere'. The gameplay itself was fine. A different style of combat than the standard MMO vanilla button pressing. Graphics were fine, scenery was good. The 'feel' was definitely harmed by the overwhelming presence of the game trying to get you to spend money. As it is F2P I'd recommend anyone giving it a try. A well done game, just fell short for me in a few areas.

I've not played to the endgame where the real issues arose, from what I've heard. But I thought the various class choices were fantastic in how they varied and filled roles. I enjoyed the story and the tension that was there with the Empire vs Republic struggle. The cutscenes brought the questing to a personal level that I enjoyed, though I believe they could have reduced the number of them. The personal ship and personal relationship with your crew is great (much like Dragon Age, Mass Effect, etc). Looking forward to the Starfighter expansion.

I give it a 1 for the artwork. Turbine has always done a solid job, at times great, of fleshing out the sights and sounds of Middle Earth. Without that, I'd give it a zero. Bugs are everywhere making multiple parts of the game that were released unplayable. The class changes forced upon their longtime playerbase without concrete input were a misstep. The epic story, once promised to always be free, is now requiring payment again. The dearth of goals to strive for makes it likely you'll be looking for another game by Christmas unless you are a confirmed 'altaholic'. Compared to other games, even the much older Everquest 2, the list of 'additions' with this 'expansion' is terribly short. If you want to see the sights of Middle Earth, the game has much to offer. Otherwise, there are many many other games out there with much more to offer. After having played this game since beta before launch over 6 years ago, the money I had thought to spend on Helm's Deep I have now put into another game.