Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar

Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar is a video game that consists of 3 releases

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An MMORPG, Shadows of Angmar places a player in J.R.R. Tolkien's world of fantasy during the time of the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, where he/she can complete endless quests and explore the region of Eriador.

Overview

Shadows of Angmar was developed by Turbine and released in April 2007. It is a subscription-based online game where players interact with the games environment and AI characters as well other human players online. Although Shadows of Angmar is bringing a new storyline to the player, the world and the characters are based upon the lore of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit written by J.R.R. Tolkien. Turbine has said that they are trying to be as faithful to the books as possible. The players start simultaneously as Frodo and his company starts his journey from The Shire, and as the player progress through their own storyline, they'll be reminded of the Fellowship's whereabouts and sometimes they'll even meet each other.

Races

In the game there are currently four playable races.

Men
Elves
Dwarves
Hobbits

Classes

There are seven different playable classes, each has its own special skills and abilities.

Burglar
Captain
Champion
Guardian
Hunter
Lore-Master
Minstrel

Regions

There are currently 11 areas available for the player to visit, two of these were released for free after launch. All of the regions are located within the area of Eriador. Turbine has said that more of Middle-Earth will be available through both free updates and expansion packs. Upcoming expansion packs will follow the Fellowships journey and bring Rhovanion, Rohan, Gondor and Mordor for the player to visit and help out against the evil that lay there.

Gameplay

The gameplay is what you expect from a modern MMO. That involves earning experience by killing monsters and completing quests. The experience is then used to gain levels. When gaining levels you improve your characters skills and abilities with the help of a class trainer that only takes a few coins for the service.

Instances

One thing that separates this game from others in the MMORPG genre is its way to handle instances. The main difference is that the instances are very storydriven, an example of that is the beginning of the game. After just creating your character you'll experience your first set of instances that starts your own epic questline of which you'll continue through in the form of different books. Instances comes to the player through the story, due to the reason that other players could already have been there in the storyline. That is why you get yourself an own private instance to immerse yourself within when you progress through your own epic storyline and some other important quests.

Monster play

This is Lord of the Rings Online's answer to PvP. Here you can take control over an evil monster and fight against the Free People of Middle-Earth.

Music

In Middle-Earth music plays an important factor. These factors can include everything from the minstrels lovely tunes that boosts morale to the local band that plays music for the guests at The Prancing Pony in Bree. In the game you can play a lot of different instruments for the hearing pleasure of your friends.

Housing

You're able to buy yourself an own home in Middle-Earth, where you can stash your treasures and arrange parties with your neighbours.

Hobbies

Book 13 came with the introduction of the hobby system. Now you can find yourself a quiet lake in the Shire and start fishing. It's rumoured that more hobbies will be introduced in the upcoming expansion, Mines of Moria.

Books

When Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) was launched in April 2007, it featured eight "books". Each book contained a series of quests, usually centered around supporting acillary characters to the Fellowship. The quests varied in length, difficulty and objective, with a mixture of single-player, small group and large group instances. The books usually completed a self-contained story-line that added to the game's narrative, and ended with an instanced quest and full motion video vignette. Subsequent updates to the game have added additional books, for a total of 14 books in the Shadows of Angmar storyline. Turbine has announced that with The Mines of Moria expansion pack a new series of books will begin.

The initial 8 books that were released along with the game are:

Book I: Stirrings in the Darkness - Players assist Aragorn in and around Bree, including the Old Forest.
Book II:The Red Maid - Players assist Radaghast the Brown in and around the Lone Lands.
Book III: The Council of the North - Players help in the defense of Trestlebridge in the North Downs.
Book IV:Chasing Shadows - Players search the Trollshaws for a missing Nazgul, with help from Legolas.
Book V: The Last Refuge - Players assist Gimli and his father Gloin in stopping the Nazgul from resurrecting Thorog, a long-dead dragon in the MIsty Mountains.
Book VI: Fires in the North - Players work to connect the Eastern and Western halves of Angmar.
Book VII:The Hidden Hope - Players assist Lorniel is finding her captured father at the gates of Carn Dum.
Book VIII: The Scourge of the North - Continues the storyline from Book VII in Angmar.

The book released through DLC are:

Book IX: Shores of Evendim - Added new region of Evendim to the game and "Helegrod", a 24-player raid.
Book X: The City of Kings: Added Annuminas (instanced dungeon)
Book XI: Defenders of Eriador - Added player housing and "The Rift", a 12-player raid.
Book XII: The Ashen Wastes
Book XIII: Doom of the Last King - Added new region of Forochel to the game.
Book XIV: The Ring-forges of Eregion - Added new region of Eregionto the game.

System Requirements

Minimum Requirements:

Processor:     Intel Pentium® 4 1.8 GHz or equivalent
Video:     64 MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 3 or ATI® Radeon® 8500
DirectX:     DirectX® 9.0c
OS:     Windows® XP
RAM:     512 MB
Disk Space:     7 GB available
Internet:     56kbps Modem
Optical Drive:     2x DVD-ROM

Recommended System Requirements:

Processor:     Intel Pentium® 4 2.8 GHz or equivalent
Video:     128 MB NVIDIA® GeForce® FX 6800 or ATI® Radeon® X850
DirectX:     DirectX® 9.0c
OS:     Windows® XP / Vista
RAM:     1 GB
Disk Space:     10 GB available
Internet:     Broadband DSL/Cable
Optical Drive:     2x DVD-ROM

General Information Edit

Game Name	Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar
Platform(s)	PC
Publisher(s)	Midway Games Codemasters
Developer(s)	Turbine, Inc.
Genres	Add a new genre MMORPG Role-Playing (RPG)
Themes	Add a new theme Fantasy
Original US Release	April 27, 2007 need a fuzzy date?
Original US Release	know the real date?
Aliases	LotRo: SoA Lotro