Lord of the Rings Online: Alpha Journals @ Official Site

Another series of journals written by players of the Lord of the Rings Online alpha test are available at the official site. Here's a sample:

My adventures began shortly after the Alpha 3 players were permitted to begin playing, Monday evening. At first, I was admittedly overwhelmed by a sense of awe just to be in the world. I didn't have much trouble figuring out the newbie instance and solving the quest objectives. I did have a little bit of trouble figuring out how to use the different chat channels, but after a few failed attempts, I was able to find out how to change my default channel. After that, the learning curve seemed to be fairly easy. Tiggs and other players were very quick to answer questions and give advice and instructions.

I am currently a level 10, Female Human Burglar. I have run across a few bugs, but not nearly as many as I expected. The quest log is terrific! I have only had problems solving 1 quest so far due to inadequate or unclear objectives, which others have also posted about on the forums and it's being worked on. I really love the Lore Book with its additional objectives to receive rewards from. I am quite eager to see more and am already feeling pretty addicted.

The servers have been remarkably stable. There was one reset last night, but other than that I have not had any crashes. There is lag whenever I am in a crowded area, but I've seen worse in games that are post-launch, and truly believe it can be alleviated with further optimization.

I have to give the Turbine two thumbs up on their efforts so far. The game is shaping up very well. The communication between players and employees is excellent and I think they are doing a wonderful job making the playing experience a positive and fun time for everyone.

Source: LoTRO