When Lord of the Rings Online went free to play a few years ago I created an account and started my adventures through Middle Earth. I didn't know much about the game when I created an account so I picked a Dwarf Guardian. The game impressed me with its size and it ran really well on my underpowered hardware. I told a few of my friends about it and we started playing it together. Lord of the Rings Online was my first proper MMO experience and as such it has a special place in my heart. I picked a crafting tree where I can harvest Lumber, Ore and make armor. Right away I loved collecting wood and ore and refining it into lumber and ingots. I find crafting my own armor to be really awesome as well.

Recently I noticed Lord of the Rings Online was available in Steam so I downloaded it to see how the game had progressed. It sat idle for a long time as my Steam catalog grows at a rate faster than I can reasonably consume it. A day or so ago I headed back into Middle Earth to get my bearings on how the game had advanced in a few years. I noticed they tucked in some new graphics and quests I hadn't seen before. That said, the game is largely the same, just a few years worth of refinements mixed in.

Recently they released a Mac Beta client and I can say it works very well. If you are looking for a fun and accessible MMO you should check out LoTRO. The free to play aspect isn't annoying and I find myself more interested in kicking them a few bucks now than when I originally played. If you are interested in starting a character and want to play together join the Riddermark server.