The Lord of the Rings Online Previews

GameSpot and IGN PC have both published updated previews of Turbine’s The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, based on their experience with the MMORPG at this year’s CES. A snip from GameSpot’s article:

Turbine showed off mounts for the first time and explained how travel will be accomplished throughout the game. The Lord of the Rings Online will launch with a world that’s 30,000 square miles in size, which is humongous. After the first time you travel to a new location, you’ll be able to fast-travel to that point, which means you’ll automatically ride a mount to that location. If you have more money, you can purchase your own mount and ride anywhere you wish. The mounts thus far include horses and ponies for the tiny hobbits.

And a snip from IGN PC’s article:

In keeping with the authentic feel, player vs. player fights were axed to a certain degree. You can’t have elves fighting humans while a war against Sauron is raging. To keep things fun though, at level 10 each person can choose a monster which they can control. This monster character isn’t persistent and won’t level with use, but it does add a way of including PVP combat without ruining the feel of the world.