MMORPGs – A Year in Review!

LotRO, AoC, and WAR

It’s another year on (plus a month or 2), and it’s time to update the Top 6 Most Anticipated MMORPGs list. But before we do that, we thought we’d do a review of last years Most Anticipated MMORPGs list, and other MMO releases that have appeared in the last 12 months. What worked, what didn’t, whats still to come…

MMO Expansions

Were you prepared?

There have been some great updates to MMOs over the past year. The biggest of course being Warcraft‘s Wraith of the Lich King. I’ll be honest, i didn’t want to like this. I really didn’t want to get dragged back to Azeroth. But, in a moment of weakness whilst near a GAME store, i found myself at the till, expansion in one hand and money in the other. And damn it, Blizzard had done it again. Lich King really had everything you could want in an expansion. More levels. More varied gameplay. Vehicles. New mounts. Even motorbikes! Same great WoW feel and humour. *sigh* damn you Blizzard, i’m playing WoW again…

LotRO also had a great expansion in Mines of Moria. They’re also kept up their awesome release schedule of free updates, expanding Middle Earth towards Moria. As we’ve mentioned before, both D and I have lifetime accounts on LotRO so it’s a game we pop back to on and off. We’ve not had a chance to play properly through all the new content yet, but we are planning a trip back to the Shire later in the year. Yes, the gameplay is a bit of a WoW clone, but it’s still by far one of the nicest looking MMO on the market at the moment.

EVE Online also had a massive expansion in Apocrypha adding new quests, tech, and wormholes. I can’t comment too much on how much this has changed EVE, since i’d only had a brief tinker with it a few years ago. However, I have been playing a bit of EVE recently, and the update does seem to softened the previously rather vertical learning ‘curve’ for new players.

Some Most Anticipated MMORPGs 2008 List Updates:

Last Years No. 5 – The Firefly MMO

Has got ‘put on a back burner’ by developers Multiverse… As much as i want it to happen, i’m not convinced it will... Multiverse are also allegedly developing a Buffy MMO, which would also be awesome, but i’ve kinda lost faith in Multiverse producing anything but vaporware, so i’m not pinning my hopes on that appearing anytime soon (if at all). If your reading this Multiverse, we want proof your actually working on something!

Last Years No. 3 – Age of Conan

AoC - A game of 2 halves

D in particular is a huge Conan fan, so there was no question that we were going to try out AoC. It pitched itself as a ‘next-gen’ MMOs. One that tries to do something different than being a ‘WoW clone’… And in some areas it suceeded. Those areas mainly the first 20 levels… They then seem to forgot about the rest of the game, which was a real shame, as those first 20 levels had some great ideas. Wonderful intertwining story, decent voice acting, and an entertaining, different combat system. Unfortunately after the first 20 levels, the NPCs lost their voices, the story became less engaging, and you found yourself in a half finished game… So much potential wasted. You can read our full review here.

Last Years No. 2 – Warhammer Online

As an old tabletop Warhammer player, i was really looking forward to WAR’s release. We jumped in pretty much on the day of release, and were really impressed.

This is WAR... on a flyng disc...

From the first starting area, you really get the feeling of being in a war zone. It’s also got a superb PvP system, teasing you into player combat slowly, before ending in full on group player bashing. The biggest dissapointment for me was the very half hearted crafting system. On paper it looked great. It sounded like you needed to collect unique elements to make a myriad of different trinkets and items. The reality was somewhat lacklustre, confusing mess. I know in a game that’s based around combat (this is WAR after all), crafting might that important, but i’d have rather they’d have left it out totally and added it in later, rather than running with the system they had. WAR is something I can see us going back to at some point in the future, once it’s had a few more updates.

The Others…

Obviously, there are other MMOs out there which we haven’t had chance to play (yet), or haven’t covered. Pirates of the Burning Sea i did play (10 word review – ‘Sid Meier’s Pirates’ online… but much worse… much much worse).

Pirates of the Burning Sea

We also spent the early part of 08 in the now departed Tabula Rasa. TR was initally pretty fun to play, but turned into a massive grind in later levels. However, the innovative combat system was a refreshing change to the normal MMO style button mashing. Darkfall Online looks really interesting as it’s the first real sandbox MMO since Star Wars Galaxies (pre SOEs messing about with it…), but we’ve just not had time to look at it yet, so we’d be interested in hearing people opinions.

If there’s any other MMOs out there you’d like to see us covering, let us know!
Geektown’s Most Anticipated MMORPGs 2009 List Coming Soon!

Win a limited deluxe edition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Children of Húrin!

The Children of Húrin Deluxe Limited Edition

The nice people at tolkien.co.uk, the official J.R.R. Tolkien Bookstore have just relaunched their site, and to celebrate they’ve given us a truly awesome competition prize to giveaway.

We have a limited deluxe edition of The Children of Húrin to giveaway (worth £350.00)!

Here’s what you get in the limited
Deluxe Edition of The Children of Húrin:

• It contains nine colour plates.
• It’s hand-bound in full goat-skin with marbled endpapers and raised spine ribs, and the pages are edged in gold!
• It’s housed in a matching leather tray case lined in real suede and protected in its own shipping carton.
• It’s limited to 500 copies worldwide.
• And if that weren’t enough, it’s signed by Christopher Tolkien and Alan Lee!

To Win, Just Answer This Question…

What were the names of the bat and the wolf whose forms Beren and Lúthien took as disguises?

This competition is now closed.

The Rules

The competition closes on 19th December 2008 and is open to UK residents aged 18 or over. Winner will be drawn at random in December soon after the closing date. Winners will be notified by email. Employees of the promoter, its agents or anyone professionally connected with the promotion, and their families, are excluded from entering this competition. The editor’s decision is final and no discussion will be entered into. Only one entry per person. No multiple, bulk or third party entries accepted.

The Icey Wastes of Forochel Come To LotRO in Book 13!

Forchel

Forchel is just at the top of Eriador (click map to enlarge) and is an icey wasteland containing the Icebay of Forochel. Despite the freezing climate, the area surrounding the bay is occupied by the Lossoth, descendants of the Forodwaith. The Lossoth aren’t over enamoured with having adventurers trampling around their icey home, but do become more hospitable once you’ve helped them out a bit and gained a favourable reputation with them.

• Forochel is a level 44 to 50 area.
• Forochel’s land area is about the same size of North Downs (i.e. there’s the water area on top of that!)
• Daily reputation quests with rewards including unique armor/weapons, a new mount, housing decorations, and class specific items!
• Mostly solo/small fellowship quests and mobs in Forochel
• Fishing!
• Cosmetic improvements to weather and environment (such as seeing your breath when it’s cold!)
• The Icebay of Forochel is damn cold!

Fishing

Here’s a quick rundown of the new fishing skill that’s introduced in book 13:

• You’re going to be able to get fishing poles of different capabilities.
• Attachable bait and lures.
• Different types of fish depending on the region.
• You can fish pretty much anywhere there is water (not everywhere, but a lot of places).
• No level restrictions on fishing areas.

More info on LotRO Book 13 here

UPDATED: There’s also a new Book 13 page on the Offical LotRO here!

Lord of the Rings Online Unlocks The Mines of Moria!

There was a big Lord of the Rings Online Event in Birmingham this weekend (which i didn’t make it to unfortunately), however, they did announce the first retail expansion for Lord of the Rings Online. The Mines of Moria! Players will enter the the city of Khazad-dûm (to use it’s Dwarven name) just after the Fellowship has made it through… well… some of them did… It’ll be one continuous area designed for high level adventurers, and is the first time players have had the chance to leave the kingdom of Eriador, and explore more of Middle Earth.

The Mines of Moria expansion starts Volume II of The Lord of the Rings Online epic quest lines, with 6 new books to play through introducing more familiar faces from the Lord of the Rings mythology.

The’s also an increase in the level cap from 50 to 60, and the introduction of 2 new classes. The Rune-keeper and the Warden (although no details on those as yet).

Crafters are getting some new toys as well, with the ability to forge legendary items. This lets players build weapons and class-related equipment that levels-up along with the player, and can be named, evole, be customised and modified, and have the potential to become as legendary as Sting or Glamdring.

The expansion also includes new group instances for 3, 5, 12 or 24 players, monster play enhancements, leaderboards, more dynamic lighting effects, improved AI, and a opportunity to join the Fellowship in Lorien.

Lord of the Rings Online Volume II – The Mines of Moria is due for release in Autumn 08.

Click here for the Press Release

Click here for the The Mines of Moria website