LotR Online

[Fellfrosch]

Decipher is beta testing their LotR Online CCG, and I have to say that I absolutely love it--still not as user-friendly as it needs to be, but very fun. I don't know if you can still get into the beta, but if you can I highly recommend it.

[Fellfrosch]

I found a big bug in the deckbuilder, reported it, and just got an email that it's been fixed and will be part of the next patch. I feel so fulfilled as a beta tester.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

do you get a free copy of the full release for it?

[Fellfrosch]

The Open beta is now in Wide Open beta, which means that any old random nobody can download it and play. If you've never played the card game this is the perfect way to learn--it's free, it's fairly user-friendly, and it's very fun. Plus, the RotK cards are out now so you can soothe your yearning for the movies, at least partially.

If anyone's interested, go to lotronline.decipher.com. You get $40 of free cards when you sign up, and $10 every day thereafter until the game is officially launched. That's all you get (no free version of the full software) but it's enough for me.

[JP Dogberry]

Sounds like fun. I went, took the time to register, then realised it's a 100 meg download. Ack. I'm *not* pulling down 100 megs on my winmodem.

[Fellfrosch]

I'm sorry, I hadn't realized it was so big. It's worth it if you've got the time though.

Incidentally, I caught another bug that has since been patched. They should be paying me...in something other than free pretend cards.

[Gemm: Rock & Roll Star; Born to Rock]

But what could be better Fell? At least they aren't real fake cards. That'd be a bummer.

[JP Dogberry]

No, the real problem would be getting fake fake cards.  In any case, I changed my mind and started the download. 11 hours to go...let's hope the beta isn't over by the time I'm done.

[Fellfrosch]

I actually played a match against one of the developers today--a very nice guy with a very good deck. I had him on the ropes, but he got me right at the end and corrupted Frodo. Gollum, gollum, how could you betray me?

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

Isn't that what he's SUPPOSED to do?

[JP Dogberry]

Arrgh! (Expletive delted) the (expletive delted)ing (Expletive Deleted) er! After downloading 105 megs of that, the first thing it does is download a 1.5 MB file on top of that. I can handle this. Then, it starts on a 20 mb patch!

I am rather irritated by this.

[Fellfrosch]

I apologize, and I feel your pain. The most recent patch also has some slight problems with the randomizer, I think, but don't get discouraged.

[JP Dogberry]

No need to apolagise. I knew what I was getting into.

Of course, the gameplay is so incredibly slow on my system, that I didn't manage to get through the tutorial game yet. I'll try agian later if I have time.

[Fellfrosch]

What kind of system do you have? That could be worth mentioning in a review if the performance is bad.

[JP Dogberry]

Oh, that's half the problem. I have a three year old system. (I'm updating soon though) Pentium 3 800, 128 RAM, 16MB PCI Voodoo 3 Video card -  I (barely) meet the minimum requirements though.