Yes, LOTRO (Lord of the Rings Online) has PVP but not exactly. They have what’s called PVMP which means player versus monster player. Their is also a sparring option which players can fight each other until one is defeated. They won’t actually die and can continue what they were doing after a couple of seconds. Most people ignore all spar requests by turning off sparring in the options.
The map of the monster play area. The red marks are the keeps which can be taken over.
I’m not a lover of PVP (Player vs Player) and rather play solo in most games. Some MMO games have some sort of PVP built in to the system. From the extreme where everyone is vulnerable for attack or where you can only fight when both parties agree. I don’t really like this type of gaming because I like team play and helping others. Also I’ve been playing games since I was a child trying to get away from ghosts from pacman. I’m used to finding patterns or weaknesses in a computer generated character. I can’t seem to do the same with a real person.
So I figured I wouldn’t like PVP in LOTRO but I have to say I actually like it right now. I might not like it when the regular players get in to the zone and start fighting. If I keep in a fellowship or raid I’ll probably enjoy this side of the game. I’ve been in full raids which consists of 24 monsters and had a lot of fun trying to take some hard places over. The Ost Ringdyr is the hardest and we had a great leader who knew exactly where we should be at all times.
Select the type of monster you want to play! You can play all 5 monsters anytime.
When you get your regular character to level 10 you can enter the Ettenmoors with a level 50 monster character. This is the only area where you can play as a monster. You can play as an orc, warg, spider or uruk. The orc reaver is the main tank class which has some powerful melee skills. The spider weaver can play as a tank also and can snare enemies with their webs. They also have a way to bury themselves under ground for safety or a trap. I think they look really cool and scary. The uruk blackarrow is the main archer and is a very good class to start with. The uruk warleader is the main healer and can revive other defeated players. No raid should be without one. The warg stalker is the stealth class and has a fast escape skill too. They can sneak around just like the burglars in regular play.
My spider beating up on a tasty eagle to get some feathers for a quest.
When you get to level 10 you need to search for a red fell scrying pool in Thorin’s gate near silver deep mine, Michel delving in shire or south west of Bree town near the black rock. Just right click on the pool and you will see a selection window with different characters. Each account can have up to 5 monster characters on each server. Any accomplishments you make on your monster character will be saved for the next time you want to be a monster.
Once you pick your character you will name it and be placed at the starting point. There are 5 keeps around this area which can be taken over by monsters or the regular players. When the servers start up there are 3 keeps in the hands of the good people and 2 keeps in the hands of the evil players. This can be changed but only by a big raid. I’ve had the pleasure of being in a raid with a great leader who knows exactly how to take each keep with no deaths. In fact my very first raid in any MMO has been in the monster play and I enjoyed it! Each keep has a captain which has to be killed for the keep to change over.
There are plenty of quests a monster can do in this area to gain destiny points. You can use these points to buy more permanent skills or use it for your regular player but just for a short time. I would recommend to use them only for your monsters until maxed out or in emergency situations for your regular character. You will find that you can only buy a certain amount of skills because you have to be at a higher rank to buy the rest. To get to the next ranks you need to kill player controlled free people characters. For each player you kill you get some infamy points. When you get enough points you get to the next rank and can buy more stuff. At this time of the writing you probably won’t see any players but later on more will be entering this area. There have been reports of brave player controlled characters at level 40 running scared in this area.
A big raid in the monster play area.
This is where the PVP starts and will continue. Once regular players get to level 40 they will be allowed to enter this area. This is totally an option for you and is not a requirement. If you are level 40 and above you can travel to rivendell and find the horse stables. choose the Ettenmoors travel and you will be entering the monster play area. As your regular character you will also find quests in this area. But always be aware their will be more player controlled monsters out there waiting to kill you. You can also start a raid to take back the keeps away from the monsters. I’m sure in a couple months this place will go back and forth and have some great battles!
