Hello,

My name is Dan West and welcome to my Lotro Mastery site.

Perhaps you’ve heard of me?

I created one of the most popular World Of Warcraft guides available online called “World Of Warcraft Mastery” which you can check out at www.WorldOfWarcraftMastery.com

Now I want to help LOTRO gamers the way I helped WoW Gamers to level fast and make lots of Gold in Lord of the Rings online and I’m going to start off buy giving away my first LOTRO Guide.

That’s right, you get my first LOTRO Guide for FREE which you can get by clicking here.

I’ll also be posting other Lord of the Rings Online information including video, articles and all things Lotro related from time to time on this site.

Happy Gaming,

Dan West

Click Here to immediately download this Guide for FREE!

First of all, don’t say that “WOW” word in LOTRO. People may try to rip your head off. But, as an experienced MMORPG (Massively Multi-Player Online Role Playing Game) gamer, you may want to know how the games stack up against each other.

All such comparisons are going to be subjective, everyone has an opinion, and since it’s an opinion, it can’t be wrong. So, with those ground rules laid out, let’s fearlessly sally forth and make a few comparisons.

The game mechanics are roughly similar. Really, how far can a MMORPG stray from the tank – heal – DPS model? (The first company that figures that one out will either get rich or create a spectacular failure.) So, as a WOW (or EverQuest) veteran, once you know what the heck the difference is between a Guardian and a Champion, you’ll find familiar game play in LOTRO.

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The graphics in the games are different. WOW lives and dies by its’ cartoony style. The cartoony stuff runs great on all kinds of computers, and doesn’t have that eerie ‘fake but real’ look to it of other games. LOTRO features more realistic graphics. The more realistic graphics are nice, but the ‘not-quite-real’ appearance of the LOTRO world sometimes causes a mental disconnect.

Some people report that they can level faster in LOTRO. If you like fast progression, you’ll prefer LOTRO. The trouble with that is once you hit 50 in LOTRO, you’ll be asking yourself “now what?”.

The lore is a big LOTRO advantage. Most people know and love the LOTRO story. It’s one of the classics of western civilization (despite those brain-dead academics that say differently!). The WOW lore is deep and involving, but just not classic, not nearly as good.

WOW is the 800 pound gorilla in the MMORPG world. Period. All other games are pretenders and upstarts. This shows in WOW’s polish and attention to detail. WOW sets the standard. It remains to be seen if LOTRO will even come close to knocking WOW of its throne.

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Of course, the flip side of the above is that people claim WOW is like Microsoft; it didn’t create anything, it just ripped it off and improved it. Both of these points of view are credible.

Some players have said that WOW and LOTRO are so similar that they can go back and forth with ease. Referring to the interface and the general nature of the game, these players are comfortable in both games.

Some players feel LOTRO has more charm, more ‘fun’ factor. WOW is too corporate, too vanilla.

Well, there you have it. You may have to play both games to decide which you prefer, and your reasons will be as valid as any ones.