Sub: about £8-ish a month, similar to the other MMOs, I think there's a trial you can get as well.
Classes: As far as I can remember there's seven...
Champion - Damage dealer, uses Heavy armour and 1H or 2H blades/axes/clubs
Guardian - Tank, uses sword/axe/mace and shield
Captain - Heavy armour wearing buff machine. Has a pet that gives more buffs. Polearms/2H weapons. Not many ranged attacks.
Minstrel - Healing class. Uses a lute to play healing songs, also has a sword and light shield.
Burglar - Sneaky bastard class. Similar to Rogue in WoW.
Lore-master - Think Gandalf with a pet and you're pretty much there.
Hunter - Ranged DPS class, has bow or crossbow and two 1H melee weapons.
Areas to explore - It's the first part of the books, basically. The Shire, areas round Bree, Lone Lands, Rivendell, Misty Mountains, Angmar. All of these areas are PvE (as everyone plays the good guys) but there is a PvP area in the Ettenmoors where you can play as a Monster (warg, uruk etc) or as your own character. IIRC, Moria and Rohan are getting opened up in the next big expansion.
Recommended server: I know me and FJ have got characters on Gilrain, but personally I think Snowbourn might be a good choice as we can all make a fresh start
The story is basically that in the first part of the books, up to the characters leaving Rivendell. There is a lot of stuff in the game that wasn't in the movies, as it is based more on the books, so some things may not be instantly recognisable (the Old Forest and Barrow-downs, for example). There is a long chain of quests that you can dip into and out of called Books. Each book is a quest line of about 10-14 chapters each, and you get a nice reward at the end of it. Book one is about level 10-12, and I think by the time you hit Book 9 you're at level 50. Obviously there's other quests too, but it's a good way to get some nice rewards.
Level cap is 50, but I think this is due to be raised to 60 in the next expansion. Mount comes at level 35. Cash is worked on 1Gold = 1000 silver, 1 silver = 100 copper. You might not get 1 gold till level 20 then :D
Anything I've missed?
