Bewitched, Bothered, Bewildered

After the huge disappointment in Vanguard and with World of Warcraft once again claiming all of my attention, I really hadn’t found an MMO I was really excited about. In fact when Lord of the Rings Online, an MMO I first heard about in Vanguard’s early days first came to launch day, I really wasn’t all that fussed. It just didn’t seem my thing.

Eventually I tried it and was really quite impressed. Instancing was finally done in a unique and involving way rather than shutting you out of the rest of the world, the graphics were ‘realistic’ and the lore was there. Over time the world grew for me as I discovered new places and got to grips with the map…what I originally thought were disconnected zones were in fact sub-areas of a very small region of Middle Earth, with the other regions scheduled for later expansions. Other regions aren’t needed for me currently, Eriador (Home of the Shire, Bree, Buckland, et al) is a vast place as it is and absolutely jam packed with life and more importantly soul.
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A few months ago I used my Station Pass (which was originally subscribed to for Vanguard and EverQuest 2) to jump onto the pre-boarding for Pirates of the Burning Sea. I have to admit that at the time I had an absolute blast with my British Naval Officer, Rayda Skaldensen (obviously taking a break from being a Dwarf for a while) who quickly rose to level twelve in time for release, just in time to procure himself a very admirable battle ship and one of the first you can acquire with front and rear mounted cannons for a full three-sixty-degree arc of death!