I Now Pronounce You Man and MMO

You may now kiss Gollum. Or Void Reaver. Or a gnome. Whatever you happen to be into.

Unlike FORMER Governor Eliot Spitzer, I’m a one-woman man. I can guarantee that if I had $80k worth of discretionary income, I wouldn’t be spending it on high-price hos. I think I’d pick up a tricked-out Mercedes instead. And maybe a gaming rig powerful enough to generate its very own electric bill. I saw a picture of the specific call-girl that brought Spitzer down and I didn’t see $4k value in two hours with her. Now, Kate Beckinsale maybe . . .

But I’m finding out that I’m not a one-MMO man. I started playing Lord of the Rings Online again after a three month hiatus and have been having a blast. That game has the same polish as WoW. And it tweaks things just enough to make it a different experience. Not to mention, the lore and game world. I mean, it’s Tolkien for crying out loud. Everything else is derivative sludge that poses as the original. Yes, even WoW.

One thing that LoTRO does better than WoW is talents. In WoW, starting at level 10 and each level after that, you earn a talent point. You open up your character screen and spend it. Boom, done. It doesn’t go down like that in LoTRO. Instead, you have to earn “Deeds” to garner character traits. I haven’t counted, but I think there are more than fifteen different character traits alone. Sure, these deeds are massive grind fests. But some are site exploration based as well, so there ends up being a nice mix. A character also has racial and class traits to earn as well. Racial traits are typically “kill 50 goblins,” but the class traits are earned by using your different abilities. If you neglect a specific class skill, you’ll never get to use its superior trait variation. It’s an extra layer of complexity to WoW’s talent system that I think is an improvement, mainly because you have to hit the pavement and earn them.

The traits have a huge impact on your character. For instance, my minstrel comes to the table with light armor. I can’t wear anything heavier than that. But, I completed a unique minstrel quest that gave me the medium armor trait (along with a suweeeet-ass one-handed mace). If I want, I can use one of my rare class slots for that medium armor trait. But since I also have a class trait that doubles the damage of my Herald Strike, I have to make a careful choice: dps, healing, or armor. Champions are in the same boat at later levels. They can wield normal shields, but not heavy. Later, they can earn a class trait that grants them the ability to also heft a heavy shield. But the trade-off comes in replacing a trait that grants increased AOE damage or a decrease in power consumption for certain class skills.

I also totally dig LoTRO titles. I think there might be close to a hundred all total. Maybe more. Right now, my minstrel runs around with the title “Honorary Shirrif” for doing a butt-load of quests in the Shire. Before I became an Honorary Shirriff, I was also a “Pie-Runner” and “Shire Brew-Master.” And “Post-Runner” too. None of this has any effect on actual gameplay, but its one of those small, fun details that adds depth and context to the game.

Now, until I actually raid in LoTRO, WoW is my raiding game of choice. Right now, I’m enjoying the raiding of WoW, the gameplay of LoTRO. For a long time, I told myself I can only focus on one MMO at a time. And for a time, I think that was true. But lately, I just can’t bring myself to level another WoW toon. I’ve seen all that stuff ad nauseam. There’s a bunch of 5-woman heroic stuff I need to run with Emanee for badges, but it’s hard to get motivated to get it done. Most heroic instances take a minimum of an hour and that’s if you’re hitting a good stride and not wiping. They take longer if you’re nubbing it up. That’s a huge time investment. And for what return? Five badges? And that’s if it’s the daily heroic. You might only get three or four if it’s not.

But when you’re leveling a toon, like I am in LoTRO, you can get a crap-load done in an hour’s time. I had to kill 100 Dourhand Dwarves for a new racial trait the other night. I thought it was going to take me hours to get it done. Forty-five short (and fun) minutes later, I had that deed knocked out.

And I have to be honest; the eye-candy of LoTRO helps bring me back for more. The game is absolutely beautiful in DX10 on just the “high” graphic setting. The Shire, the Old Forest, Weathertop, all these unique places are worth the price of admission alone. For instance, when you step into the Old Forest, the ambient lighting darkens and the trees press in. And until you get your bearings inside, it isn’t a question of if you get lost, but when. The people behind the development of LoTRO are at the top of their game right now. And there’s tons more of Middle-earth to develop, the Mines of Moria and Mordor to name just two famous places.

So for the moment, I’m officially married to WoW. But I’m cheating on her. Thank god LoTRO is as cheap as a penny-ho; no plunking down $4k here for two hours of fun. As long as no one tells WoW about my infidelity, I should be fine.

Just remember, bros before hos.