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.
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.
