First round match in MMORPG Showdown 3. 

The Match-Up

If Age of Conan and Lord of the Rings Online have anything in common is that both are based on great fantasy franchises. After that, similarities between these two MMORPGs start to get much tougher to find. While Lord of the Rings Online had a very smooth launch, Age of the Conan has been severely criticized for bugs and lack of content. In terms of content that is there, Age of Conan offers a far darker and more brutal world than that of Lord of the Rings Online. In fact, AOC's dark setting gave it a chance to be a special MMORPG that stood out from the rest of the pack. However, poor execution has hampered the game's potential greatness thus far. On the other hand, Lord of the Rings Online has steadily improved with free updates and will get even better when Mines of Moria is launched. Age of Conan's poor execution includes a lackluster game world after the starter area and is the main reason why Lord of the Rings Online was able to outlast Age of Conan for the victory.

Surprisingly, this match was very close in both voting and in the forum discussion. The question now is whether Lord of the Rings Online can make it back to the finals or not. It should be able to do well against other pay-to-play MMORPGs. but may have a tough time against free MMORPGs. The only loss for Lord of the Rings Online thus far is when it met Guild Wars in the finals of MMORPG Showdown 2.

Tale of the Tape

Age of Conan

• Innovative combat system.
• Based on a popular fantasy franchise.
• Matured-rated.
• Integrates single player with multiplayer aspects.
• Has been criticized for lack of content after the starter area.
• GameOgre's Most Anticipated MMORPG for the past two years.

Versus 

Lord of the Rings Online

• Based on a great fantasy franchise.
• Runner-up in last years MMORPG Showdown.
• First major expansion pack known as Mines of Moria will greatly expand the game.
• One of the few highly anticipated MMORPGs to deliver over the past couple of years.
• One of the better reviewed MMORPGs on GameOgre.

Select Comments For Age of Conan (Edited for Presentation)

Rating: 7
Author: Pitro
Comment: Great game if you only want graphics and bloody combat. AoC feels incomplete to me. The first 20 levels, although linear, are great. After that, Conan takes a huge nosedive for me. Nothing is done as good as the first 20 levels and the siege PvP is almost laughably bad. Good for about a month, but I wouldn't pay a cent after that.

Rating: 8
Author: buzzsaw
Comment: Not as good as WAR, but is more fun than LOTRO! The fighting is excellent and the PvP is not as bad as everybody says. After level 20, the rest is not as good but has improved.

Rating: 4
Author: mmowiz
Comment: This could have been a top 3 MMORPG easily, but instead feels more like a beta MMORPG than a real MMORPG.

Select Comments for Lord of the Rings Online (Edited for Presentation)

Rating: 10
Author: Pitro
Comment: The best MMORPG today! It will only get better when Mines of Moria will be released this month. I think LOTRO is already better than WoW but I think that Mines of Moria will make that more clear. As for this game and Age of Conan, no contest. I was generous with my score of AoC, but give me a break! Funcom really messed up with AoC. LOTRO has a thriving community while AoC may have a tough time surviving. The siege warfare is cool, but it needs to actually work to be fun.

Rating: 8
Author: webber
Comment: Lord of the Rings Online is is a very good MMORPG. It may not look as good as Age of Conan, but its a year or 2 older. The community is better in LotRO too.

Rating: 7
Author: eXoZmM
Comment: Great graphics, loads of people play, and they really turned great books into a good game.

The Voting

Age of Conan received a total score of 7.38

Lord of the Rings Online received a total score of 8

The Result

Lord of the Rings Online Wins!