Lord of the Rings Online

Well, I came here wondering why this wasn't in the EVE forums, but then I noticed the OP was talking about best PVE games, so maybe so.    (if such a thing is actually possible)

I've played most of the main MMO's.  Whist I think that EQ2 is a great game, and very underestimated (as well as huge!), and that although WoW did destroy a lot of what was good in certain MMO's, I still love that game too.  I;ve enjoyed Final Fantasy XI, although it was a bit too much of a grind for my liking.  Even tried Lineage 2, until I realised that I had to be a robot to get anywhere.

Simply put.  I came to this genre not knowing much about MMO's.  I thought they would be like massive versions of Baldur's Gate, or the like, and I thought I would be in rpg heaven.  When playing EQ2 my first MMO, I kept wondering when the true stories would begin.  

But then I learnt the awful truth.

That this genre did not support truly dynamic storylines.  Or plot narratives.  Everything was just a 'quest' in the guise of some ridiculous story to get me to waste my time killing monster after monster, or fetching x amount of this, or escorrt this guy to this place.  That was the jist of it. 

I could not understand why people did not bother about this.  The simply wasted thousands of hours of their time (which in game terms is pretty ridiculous).  That is fine, if they got fun doing it.  But it was all just a smokescreen, a way to keep us playing so we would fork out our money.  Hell, even the tedious combat system was just button bashing, which also meant the game was slowed down.  All just one big con.

The dev's are not idiots.  They could hear our complaints, and they knew that what we wanted would result in a game that would last say a couple of hundred hours of gameplay, instead of the treadmill we've been on.  So with the success of WoW, we were doomed.  The greatest, most innovative games system of all time, reduced to a bunch of obese kids wasting their lives and health to grind out a meaningless level for an imaginary character. 

Something will change.   MMORPG's will evolve.   It may take the stagnation of WoW for it to happen, but it will.

Lotro is unusual.  Yes, at its core it has all of the same mechanics of those other games to keep us glued to our computers.  But this game has a story.  You feel a part of it.  In fact, everything that has been done so far helps us to become immersed in the narrative.  Not only is it a beautiful game, but the attention to detail is second to none, and that includes being faithful to the IP.

It has some of the most exciting group events I've experienced in any game, and it is open to even the most casual gamer.

But what makes this game truly great, is that it is constantly evolving.  Mines of Moria is about to hit the shelves in about a month, and I bet it makes Wrath of the Lich King look like a piece of garbage.

And what will be next for Turbine?  How can they top Moria?  Helm's Deep perhaps? 

We may be sometime away from the true Holy Grail of MMORPG's,, but take my word for it, unless you are already a fanboi of some game, (and I judge all games neutrally) then I strongly urge you to give this a go.

Give it a good month's play, and if you are into storylines, and quest orientated MMO's, you'll love this.

yeah i really loved LOTRO when i was playin it from launch.  it was the best pve game to date i felt. also im a huge fan of tolkien so that helped a lot. i had a lot of fun traveling to different towns playing my lute for random people hah

LotRO is a great game, that will continue to get better. The game is built on one of the solidest foundations for an mmo launch, and with that it continues to be sucessful. Did you guys see the new lotro.com website, it looks amazing, and things like new websites and expansion don't happen for games that don't have continued success . 2 years is almost upon us and the game is still doing well.

Woot !