Impulse Purchase: The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria

By Steven Crews | March 4, 2009 | | Filed under: Editorials | Tags: LOTRO, Mines of Moria

Five minutes ago, I was eyeing a gold ring icon sitting on my desktop which I hadn’t clicked in over six months.

Suddenly, an irresistible urge came over me to not only click on it, but to then purchase The Mines of Moria, Turbine’s first expansion to The Lord of the Rings Online.

Its release in mid-November of last year was largely drowned out and overshadowed by the behemoth that was Wrath of the Lich King, and the relative freshness of Warhammer. I’d been out of the MMO loop for awhile (which I’ll write more about later), and somehow, loading up LOTRO seemed like just the thing to do at 10PM on a Tuesday night.

It was the very first game I covered for The MMO Gamer in April of 2007, giving it a mixed review in the process. At the time, I thought the early levels were fantastic, while the late game degenerated rapidly into a Tolkien-themed grindfest with very little fun or satisfaction to be had.

I went back for another look in March of last year, following a conversation I had with Jeffrey Steefel, its executive producer. Sitting on the couch at the Turbine booth at GDC, I laid out the issues and concerns I had with my first run, and was somewhat surprised to find him nodding along, agreeing with nearly every word I said, assuring me that they had addressed my issues and then some.

I was planning on writing a Part Three of my review with updated impressions if that proved to be the case. As Part Three never materialized, I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.

With a brand new expansion under its belt, I’m ready to take yet another look at LOTRO with fresh eyes, and hopefully do some writing to document by experiences in the process. I’ve been far too quiet around here lately.