The Lord of the Rings Online/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Complete Monster: The vast majority of villains fall into this, exceptions being the Blackwolds, the Mayor of Frostbluff, and Amarthiel.
  • Crowning Music of Awesome:
    • The music at Tom Bombadil's house, which was also awesome because it's right in the middle of a really difficult and scary (at level 20 or so, anyway) forest.
    • Most of the songs that play in the Trollshaws are awesome (some play in Ered Luin as well). There's a clip of one of them in the first part of this trailer. And let's not forget Rivendell itself!
    • Most of the soundtrack in the Shire is really good, but this troper nominates the music (named Hills of the Shire) that plays when trying to cross the Brandywine Bridge, leaving the Shire for Bree-land. This troper has a hard time bringing himself to cross the bridge (hence "trying") because the soundtrack is just so good, and fits the Shire so perfectly.
      • It has a Dark Reprise called Warpipes, which sounds equally awesome and is heard when the Nazgul comes to the shire, as well as in the skirmish 'Trouble at Tuckborough,' during which goblins raid the shire.
    • Mirkwood. Strangely, this music was in the official soundtrack before Mirkwood was added to the game. It is heard during the Ford of Bruinen skirmish, and made this troper participate in it again and again just for the music. This is the PERFECT music for a moment of Big Damn Heroes.
    • And we can't forget the Dwarves, now can we? Thorin's Gate and Thorin's Hall, the Song of the Dwarves, and of course, Baruk Khazad.
  • Demonic Spiders: Mostly averted, but a few mobs can be this to some players.
  • Ending Fatigue: Volume I of the Epic story has a short Epilogue, tying up some loose ends left after the climax of the story. Volume II that followed it, however, has as many as twelve different Epilogues, enough to form another Book or even Two.
  • Genius Bonus: The server names certainly apply, but in addition to that there are also plenty of references in-game that only those familiar with Tolkien's work will recognize.
    • A questline in Lone Lands deals with spirits of Arthedain, cursed for breaking their oaths by the one called Iarwain Ben-Adar. Nowhere in the game is it explained that this is another name for none other than Tom Bombadil, the fact presented in the original Book.
  • Goddamn Bats: At least they're mostly low-health mobs so they die fast, right?...right?
  • Memetic Mutation: Isengard bids five.[1]
  • Moment of Awesome: The session play "We Cannot Get Out", depicting the last stand of the dwarves of Balin's Company inside the Chamber of Mazarbul.
  • Most Annoying Sound: The horn sounds in Skirmishes, intended to either draw your attention to objective updates or alert you that there's another wave of enemies incoming. You hear it a lot, and there is no way to turn off that sound short of muting your speakers entirely.
    • Also, the sound that plays when your character gets stunned/knocked down. Especially if you're a Melee class, as almost all humanoid enemies will tend to do it to you.
  • Most Wonderful Sound: The Block Response, Parry Response, and Crit Response chimes (assuming you have them enabled). And to Lore-Masters, the Flank Response chime.
    • The Champion skill Raging Blade comes with the sound "Shing shing". It's a skill that generates much aggro and can lead to the Champion getting killed, if the tank doesn't have aggro under control, but there's plenty of players who keep on doing it just for that sound.
  • Narm Charm: In one of the Moria-dungeons, you will encounter and fight an orc cook, who gives us some memorable lines like "Would you like that pan-seared?", "Have you tried... the special?" and "I'll make minced-meat out of you!". Narm-y as it may be, this makes him one of the most memorable boss-fights in the game.
  • Player Punch: After helping the Dunlending village of Lhan Tarren, you are sent to find a White Hand-emissary who is suspected to cause some trouble for the village in the close future. As it turns out, the village is attacked by the White Hand while you are out looking for him, and you return to find it burned to the ground, with the elder and many others that you helped now dead. What makes it even more effective is the fact that it is the first time many players get a chance to experience a subversion (well, visible/invisible NPC:s aside) of Perpetually Static; After already experiencing so much that logically should have affected the game world, yet it never does, having it actually happen packs quite a punch.
  • Scrappy Mechanic: Many players complain about monster-inflicted debuffs and some status effects, mainly because they usually last far longer than the combat itself, leaving the player saddled with a (sometimes very powerful) debuff through several combats, over the course of which he'll probably obtain yet more of them . . .
    • The Legendary Item system. The way it was initially described led many players to believe that they would be able to take one such item, and keep it for the duration of the game. In reality, while Legendary Items do increase in power and allows you to customize them to your liking, equipping one below your level is going to make you less effective than equipping one of the same level. Granted, replacing equipment as you level is the norm for the game, and is to be expected, but the way Legendary Items were marketed, players expected them to be an exception to the rule. That, along with the amount of work some players put in to theirs (customizing Legendary Items takes much more effort than getting a regular piece of equipment as loot does), has led to players expressing a dislike for the way Legendary Items work.
  • Special Effects Failure: Legendary weapons looks like they are almost entirely covered in saran-wrap (it is very similar to how magic items look in Morrowind, in fact). Not only does it look very bad, and covers up some otherwise good weapon designs, it is also in stark contrast to non-legendary weapons, where the glow (if there is one) is handled much more subtly, without calling much attention to itself.
  • Tear Jerker: When summoning the ranger Candaith to ride to Rohan to the aid of his chief Aragorn as a part of the Grey Company, he gives a small speech about how they do not know what they will face on the road, and that he will miss the lands that he calls home, but also that he knows the risks and that he will not break the oath he swore to Aragorn. Later in the same storyline, this exact scene is replicated in a cutscene. The reason for the cutscene? Candaith had just died in battle.
  • The Scrappy: Sara Oakheart. In addition to being awfully annoying during the multiple times you have to rescue her, she gets even worse!
    • The hobbit Lalia, who got lost in the Barrow-Downs and needs to be rescued. Some players (who have experienced this quest before and have become fed up with it) have admitted to activating the quest, only to walk off and leave Lalia to herself, leading to her dying at the hands of the Barrow-Wights.
  • What an Idiot!: After his business ventures in the Lone-lands unexpectedly go south, a trader by the name of Pengail comes up with the less-than-brilliant idea of recouping his losses by selling his goods to the goblins. This goes about as well as expected, leading to a rather annoying Escort Mission (assuming you feel like rescuing him from his own stupidity, anyways).
  1. At one point in Dunland, the player attends an auction for Dunlending merchants, where Saruman happens to make an appearance. He makes a bid on some of the supplies being sold, and even though one of the Dunlendings keeps bidding higher and higher to outdo him, Saruman just keeps bidding five. Due to the auctioneer not wishing to anger Saruman, he calls out Saruman's bid as the winning one, making it evident just how strong a grip Saruman has on Dunland. The line, "Isengard bids five" ended up a popular quote, often used in chat-channels.