These achievements can also be unlocked by visiting certain places, killing certain monsters or just doing the right thing. The rewards vary from a paltry title at the end of your name to traits, which add depth to character customization beyond simple gearing-up. What's more, with a lot of these coming from character achievements, there's a lot of potential for diversity.

Plus, with class boundaries being somewhat diverse, there's the ability to ready yourself for a lot of situations. Groups and guilds will be pleased to know that fellowships and kinships look easy to set up too, the latter being a case of inviting whatever members you want, with no limits to how many or few people you can have in each guild. Angmar's fellowship system is a similar take to EverQuest II's heroic opportunities, using a combo system that allows you to damage your enemies or heal your group with the right series of moves. While not rocket science, it allows for a bit of variety to the otherwise stoic MMORPG cliché of bashing your number keys and staring wide-eyed at your health-bar.

Since the beginning of development, Turbine has had an uphill battle to extinguish the fires of past development hell and push LOTRO to be a competitor in the MMO industry - especially with its intention of being the "one game to rule them all." They've taken bits and pieces of other games, from the tactile feeling of combat in WOW and the deep quest system in EverQuest II, and then built upon them to make a significant whole immersed in the Tolkien mythology. As far as things are shaping up so far, it's thoroughly enjoyable, immersive and fun stuff.

It remains to be seen whether or not LOTRO: Shadows Of Angmar can truly challenge WOW. It's got a great deal going for it and feels like a wild fantasy-adventure rather than the salacious grind of every other MMO out there, but it's not doing a great deal more than pushing an extremely strong game-world. It's going to be a case of seeing whether content beats innovation, and whether Turbine has created a strong enough supporting cast of quests and characters backed by an addictive enough game to steal people away from Blizzard. Only time will tell - and when it does, we'll let you know.