Lord of the Rings Online

Performance

Performance is a tricky thing to gauge in an online MMO because so much of it is dependent on the Internet connection used. That said, a computer struggling with the graphics in the game as well is just going to be extra slow.

To test the performance we measured the frames per second while we wandered around the mountains and tried out three of the different graphical pre-sets; ultra high, medium and very low.

One thing we did notice was that the graphical pre-sets made no effort to alter the anti-aliasing used, so we took the liberty of using a disabled AA for the very low pre-set, 2x AA for medium pre-set and we whomphed it up to 6x AA for the ultra high pre-set – it's just the way we roll.

Although we measured the FPS, it shouldn't really be taken as being indicative of the game's performance on all systems. Not only do we run fairly powerful rigs, but we also use a heavy duty, high speed connection in our offices. We did quiz a few other players, as well as trying the system on a standard 2Mbit broadband connection though, and still found that lag was a minor issue at best.

Low Pre-set

The low performance pre-set doesn't actually look too bad then, despite the lack of detail in the distance.

One thing we will mention though is that at the Very Low pre-set the animations were very jerky and as a small fellowship of Dwarves ran across the screen it looked like something made out of Lego that was animated in stop motion. The good news is that the animation smoothness can easily be scaled up a few notches.

We monitored frame rates for a few minutes, though obviously the FPS is going to be heavily affected by the connection speed and the amount of lag on the server. That said, FPS was staggeringly high with lows of 50 FPS and highs of 120 FPS. The average framerate when one player was on screen was around 100 frames a second, though this fluctuated a little in combat or when other players were present.

Medium Pre-set

On medium detail the game help up equally well. Draw distances and lighting were improved and the texture detail got pushed up a notch. More trees are visible in the distance and animations were significantly smoother. The frame rates held up as well, with lows of 60 FPS and highs of 100 FPS in the same conditions as before. The average this time hovered around the 80 FPS mark, which is still well above satisfactory.

High Preset

On the high pre-set things improved further. Detail is excellent even in the distance and detail on close-up textures like the road is equally fantastic. With AA cranked up to maximum, the game still played like a dream and we had no problems with jerkiness or lag, except at a few momentary points.

The average frame rate on the high pre-set was around 40 FPS, with lows of 20 and highs of 55. At no point did the games FPS get into the teens and the engine proved that it could run as well as it looked and played.

Conclusion

Lord of the Rings Online is an excellent game built on a detailed and imaginative world of background lore. Drawing inspiration from the novels, the quests are involving and detailed enough to make up for navigation problems. The interface is familiar and well designed, with a few useful tweaks for MMO veterans and a gentle learning curve that feels natural for beginners.

What few problems we did have with the game were minor at best and the game drew us in so quickly that we forgot them by the time we finished playing anyway.

Whether the game is strong enough to defeat the mighty World of Warcraft remains to be seen, and we are somewhat doubtful that it will. LotRO has a dedicated fanbase and is instantly recognisable as a franchise, but whether it'll attract players away from WoW is another matter altogether. But if there ever was an MMO that could snatch the MMORPG crown from Blizzard and claim it for itself, then this is it my precious; this is it.