Lord of the Rings Online -- Refuge from WoW

I've never gotten into a Blizzard beta (and boo to the Warhammer people, because I never got in there, either), and I'm pretty sure I won't be testing any stages of World of Warcraft's WotLK, either. However, I was a beta tester for Lord of the Rings Online, and I have no real idea why I never signed up. It's a really fun game, lots of eye candy, and continues to have a great community. Plus, it's cheap.

Anyway, they sent me an email as a former tester to try to lure me back, and I tried it again. It was just as much fun as I remembered. One of the things I really like about it are these scenes that you solo play through alongside the major characters, kind of like the Caverns of Time in World of Warcraft, but you do it every so often as your character grows in level. I don't really know much about Lord of the Rings lore (beyond reading the books as a kid), but I really liked the Warcraft games, and if I had been able to fight with Thrall when I was a lowbie, I would have been messing myself.

So, I signed up (only days before Medicine Man got sick. Oh well. I never claimed to see the future.) and I'm looking forward to the PvP--you get to play a LotRO monster, like an orc, spider, or wolf, and attack players! W00t! So, I guess I'll be spending more time in LotRO and less in Azeroth until WoTLK comes out. Yeah, it's not perfect, but it's nice to read forums with respectful players congratulating each other on their accomplishments instead of calling eachother "welfare epiced-out scrubs."