Lord of the Rings Online - Book 12 Impressions @ GameSpy

GameSpy offers some first impressions of the new avatar customisation system and Book 12: The Ashen Wastes.

One of the most frequently underrated aspects of the MMO by developers is avatar customization, and it's certainly not hard to understand why. Would you rather be the monster designer who creates a fantastic new raid boss or the person tasked with coming up with 53 new hairstyles? The former seems fun, but it's often the latter that has the greater impact on player enjoyment. Players will jump through massive hoops to gain some sort of visual distinctiveness and the developers at Turbine seems to understand this (if they didn't, their players have certainly screamed loudly enough about it). That's why despite the latest content addition to The Lord of the Rings Online adding some cool new PvP content, class tweaks and a major area revamp, much of it is simply devoted to making players look good.