For the past week I’ve been playing Lord of the Rings Online at the request of a friend (hooray for those free 10 day passes!). Initially I wasn’t going to bother with another MMORPG as I had literally just quit WoW (thats World of Warcraft for those of you living in boxes/oblivious to the PC gaming industry) due to the ever increasing guild and server drama issues, as well as the general “burnt-out” feeling I came to experience every time I logged on to play. Our guild was the furthest along on our server, the best geared and so on, but it was beginning to become a chore as the required hours for raiding per week kept getting longer and longer. Ugh. But I digress.

After all the hassle that was The Burning Crusade, playing LotRO was a breath of fresh air. I’ve already got a loremaster up to level 10… and I think I might have to get a copy of this game for myself. It’s extremely pretty, no one is pressuring me to level my character or group with them for quests and the like… I’ve just been taking my time soloing, or playing with my friend and exploring. You can even smoke pipeweed and make your own music in the game, though I have yet to figure out how to do those things. I haven’t found a fishing game either, which is a little disappointing as fishing is practically an RPG staple! Well, as far as minigames go, anyway. In my opinion. Even if theres no fishing, LotRO just might be what I need to get over my failed relationship with WoW. We shall see.