You tried to play Lord of the Rings Online and you just couldn't get into it.
But, you kept hearing it gets better if you give it time.
So you tried it again.
And, just as before, you couldn't get into it.
As the years passed, people continued to rave about it.
So you tried again.
And again...
And again.

And finally... you fell in love with that ONE class that you never thought to try... it's almost as if the class found you... and you made it to level 50 without uninstalling. And you realized that this is where the game truly began, with legendary gear unlocking along with the massive underground zone of Moria (known to the Dwarves as Khazad-dûm), and that everything prior was just a clunky introduction.

And you woke up the next day with a giddy feeling -- like that feeling you got as a kid upon waking to a winter wonderland, knowing that school would be cancelled without even needing to ask -- the feeling of knowing you've got the day off and... you get to spend it playing Lord of the Rings Online.

VIP member (and wow classic player) here and have been loving getting back into the game again recently. i last played about 15yrs ago but i'm not sure if its the new 64bit severs or me that has changed. the game feels different somehow (i tried it about a year ago and dumped it again after about 2hrs game-play. Ive been p[laying solo and ive enjoyed the content on offer so far. I have been playing on a Legendary server, so VIP membership is needed. the game seems populated (at low level) and the community seem extremely pleasent, unlike other MMO's.
All in all a good 8/10 experience. it would be made better with improved graphics (if the classic charm isn't your thing). Also, spell animations could do with a bit more detail as they feel very lacklustre for spell casters (minstrel especially).

will I be playing this long term? I will depend on how much investment is put into this 17yr old game. I do hope so though, as i don't have much hope for Amazon games producing the next LOTRO game after the mess they double down on in New World. Standing Stone Games LLC certainly put their passion into LotRO, which cant be said about many other gaming companies these days.

I guess we will wait and see. :)

Best MMO I've ever played. I have a few thousand hours before steam integration. If you're tired of WoW, come play LotrO and enjoy actual Lore and amazing landscapes. I can't praise this game enough. It's been through a couple owners but hasn't lost its step. I'll ALWAYS keep coming back to LotrO.

I have downloaded and installed the game and when I try to play I get a pop-up no subscription found, and yet it is suppose to be FREE TO PLAY. And I still can't find a place to create this subscription this. I do have an account... So what's up?

LOTRO is still good

The most unpleasent game.Takes 3 weeks to download then 4 month to download in game caches.looks aterrible even on dx 11 . Just no!

Outdated!

Great Game

Pros:
* Best representation of Middle-earth in a video game
* Good story

Cons:
* UI. The UI is incredibly outdated and while you can easily alter the scale of and/or mod it, that does nothing to alleviate the tiny text and inventory windows. You can increase the size of the font in NPC dialogue windows, but that setting does NOT persist. I had to keep increasing text size every time I initiated dialogue with an NPC. Why this is not included in the UI settings is a mystery to me. I had to change the resolution in game to 1080p (down from 1440p) JUST to be able to consistently read the text. Also it's unbelievable that modders have managed to make vastly better UI designs FOR FREE than the developers have with a paid expansion and optional paid subscription model.
* Lag. It's a chronic issue. I don't have this problem in any other MMOs I've played. Massive slowdown in "densely" populated areas. "Dense" in this game seems to be like 20 players which if they're in the same area (e.g., Bree) the game struggles. Which leads me to another con...
* Population. Most of the time I played it felt like I was alone in the world. Very much unlike ESO, FF XIV, WoW, GW2, where I can't go very long without seeing another player. That may be a pro for some people but it just makes it feel all the more empty to me.
* Combat. There's quite a big discrepancy in when an attack animation occurs and when the damage is realized. There were some skills that I would press the button for then the enemy would die, but the animation would only be starting and no visible hit had occurred yet. If I had to briefly describe combat, I would call it the opposite of "snappy". Also my god, the battle cries are so annoying.

There are a lot of MMOs out there and as much as I love Tolkien's work that's really the only thing LotRO has going for it in my opinion. I genuinely want to enjoy my time in Middle-earth but the issues are just too intrusive.

Can't even play the game. Their website registration is busted. SIgned up for 3 different accounts with 3 different emails. ALLL OF THEM get "incorrect username or password"... there should not be this much friction in the way to play a video game.