The second I realized I had to "rein in" my warsteed to keep it from moving in Lord of the Rings Online's new Riders of Rohan expansion, I knew I was in for a surprise. The prospect was exciting. After all the great ideas that have been tossed around this year in games like Star Wars: The Old Republic, TERA, The Secret World, and Guild Wars 2, Turbine's five-year-old free-to-play MMORPG seemed like the last place to look for innovations that really grabbed me. But here it was, and I already found myself enthralled by the very movement in LOTRO's new mounted combat system, which makes up the lion's share of Riders of Rohan's content. Imagine then, my delight when I actually started fighting.

Warsteeds look cool up close, but I spend most battles with the camera maxed out.

Timing couldn't have been better. After the waves of dynamic events, cinematic-heavy stories, and allegedly classless gameplay that have crept their way into the genre, Turbine's magnum opus looked poised to be trampled by its new-wave competition. Not that I wanted that, mind you; I've sung the praises of Lord of the Rings Online on numerous occasions -- to this day, I believe no other MMORPG recreates the sense of a living virtual world so successfully. But I've always had to acknowledge that LOTRO's core combat feels as though it sprung off the drafting board sometime around the fall of Numenor. It's clunky and overcomplicated, its battles lack the satisfying thwacks of Guild Wars 2 or even World of Warcraft, and mastering the jumble of skills clumped on your screen takes only a little less effort than memorizing Tolkien's Tengwar alphabet.

Changing Horses in Midstream

Turbine's essentially redefining the combat experience we've known until now.
That's why Riders of Rohan's mounted combat seems so promising. Stepping atop my new war steed, I feel as though I'm slipping into a new character in a different game. Gone are the mountains of abilities that plague combat on foot; instead, you have a row of six or so customized abilities that translate the experience of playing the nine classes to horseback. What's more, the horses themselves play like new avatars, complete with a massive sampling of traits (or talents, for the non-LOTRO faithful) spread out among three trees to complement the even larger division of light, medium, and heavy horses, and slots for cosmetic upgrades and a slot for legendary items to distinguish the concept further. In other words, this isn't some pointless mini game; on the contrary, Turbine's essentially redefining the combat experience we've known until now.

There are plenty of ways to horse around with the new traits.

Turning at full gallop requires wide arcs that take up what feel like the acreage of half a zone in other MMORPGs.
Enough technical mumbo jumbo. What's important is that it feels like mounted combat, or at least more so than any other popular MMORPG has achieved to date. I should know. Long before I decided to chain myself to a desk and play video games and type words all day, I was a bona fide Texas ranch cowboy, complete with rusty spurs and the scars from a dozen brushes with death. True, I spent my teenage years roping calves and horses instead of lobbing spears at orcs, but it only took a few moments with Turbine's brazen attempt to redefine itself to get a little giddy with the memories of my free-roaming youth. I felt it in the way Riders of Rohan's horses accelerate between five speeds (complete with a need to slow them down to stop them), and I felt it in the way that turning at full gallop requires wide arcs that take up what feel like the acreage of half a zone in other MMORPGs. The experience felt particularly rewarding while playing my Hunter, as his practice of pelting the roaming mounted orc "warbands" with arrows felt more natural and satisfying than the melee swipes of the Guardian the developers prepared for me.

A Horse of a Different Color

Indeed, mounted combat takes some getting used to. It's accessible enough that I was killing mounted enemies on the plains of Norcroft faster than the developers who accompanied me within a couple of minutes of mounting for the first time, but the mounts themselves differ so completely from your standard MMO fare that you might be better off switching to your old-style mounts in towns until you can get used to speed mechanics. Warsteeds retain their realistic turning animations wherever you go, so even turning around on a narrow street will take a little more room that the immediate switchbacks most of us know from other MMORPGs. Again, keep in mind that this isn't some mere gimmick; fully half of Riders of Rohan's quests supposedly revolve around mounted combat, so you'll have to master it if you want to get the most out of the expansion.

Too many trees? Time to get off my high horse.

It's a ballsy move, particularly since LOTRO's competitors usually keep mounted combat tucked in the fringes.
It's a ballsy move, particularly since its competitors usually keep mounted combat tucked in the fringes, if they include it at all. Most mounts in popular MMORPGs don't feel like mounts; at their best, they're flashy speed boosts that help us get from one kill or mineral node to another a few seconds faster, or they're ego boosts that provide a permanent way of flaunting achievements in an environment where loot's swapped out as often as female companions on Dr. Who. That's not to say that other MMORPGs such as Darkfall and Age of Conan didn't makes some bold strides with the concept, but they were usually clumsy attempts that focused too heavily on close quarters combat. World of Warcraft even toyed with it with Wrath of the Lich King's Argent Tournament dailies, but it was an overly simplified affair that demonstrated the shortcomings of tacking mounted combat on the game's existing mounts.

Not Just a One-Horse Town

Turbine, on the other hands, realized the need to introduce entirely new mounts with new animations, ultra fast speeds, and massive health bars, and just to push the concept further, they designed Rohan to be so large that it feels like much of the already-massive game world could fit in its borders. The decision complements the combat, which is based on building up "fury" with each pass of your steed, and thus it requires a lot more room than you'll find in the rest of the game. As a result, Rohan feels like a sprawling prairie kingdom of horse lords rather than the joggable landscape we've seen until now.

Exploring it is fun enough on your own, but there's a touch of Guild Wars 2 involved in that you get credit for kills regardless of who first tagged the enemy while you're in Rohan, and thus playing with others is the most fun I've had in LOTRO in years. Even better, you don't even have to disrupt the action by dismounting and looting, since RoR does it for you. The changes are so extensive that it's hardly surprising that you can't use the mounts' combat skills outside of Rohan (although they retain their speed and movement mechanics); after all, all that running around would eventually have every enemy trailing after you in a smaller zone that's designed for foot combat.

I bet I can make my horse drink that water.

It plays much more like the console hit Red Dead Redemption.
All this would have been for naught if RoR's mounted combat featured the learning curve of a game like Mount and Blade, which would likely chase away Turbine's dedicated but casual community. Instead, it plays much more like the console hit Red Dead Redemption, which Turbine's Live Producer Aaron Campbell acknowledged as an inspiration during a preview session, with RDR's sweeping vistas of John Marston's West being swapped out for the Riddermark.

This is key, as previous attempts at mounted combat in Darkfall and Age of Conan felt a little more like the clunky mess we recently saw in Skyrim, which seems much better suited for single player games than MMORPGs. RoR's fast and comparatively accessible combat, on the other hand, captures the same atmosphere that made Red Dead Redemption a multiplayer hit so many months after players wrapped up its campaign, particularly since they both encouraged dismounting when dense terrain or the need for more tactical gameplay demanded it. In this case, it's the realistic density of spots like Fangorn Forest, where roots and low-hanging branches call for the type of strategies aimed at battles on your own feet.

Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth

So yes, I'm in love for now, but I admit it's the kind of love that springs from a first date. Those happy hours, in other words, before you meet the parents and learn about your date's stash of Twilight porn fiction. My time with Riders of Rohan so far clocks in at a mere couple of hours, and all of it in beta. Again, it works well for the ranged playstyle of my Hunter, but I worry that melee-based classes will find it less satisfying overall. Killing enemies on horseback also takes some time even after you've mastered the technique, to the point that you'll sometimes find it faster just to get off your horse and smite your foes the traditional way if you're down to the last orc, and thus usual bunch who rush to the level cap may not feel as satisfied.

Forget the horses for a moment: Riders of Rohan's interiors are LOTRO's best.

It's a shame that new players have to level all the way to level 75 before trying it out.
Taking your time's more important than it's ever been before in LOTRO, particularly since Turbine's opted to focus on the experience of leveling and its storyline over traditional endgame content such as raids. It's a shame, then, that new players will have to wait so long to experience this exciting new addition to an aging MMO, since you'll have to level all the way to level 75 before trying it out. That's a massive commitment, even with all the leveling boosts you can nab from the cash shop. It's also disappointing that there's currently no option to use the new mounts in Monster Play (LOTRO's version of PvP), and I think Turbine's missing out on a massive opportunity to distinguish itself.

But this could work out. I've always welcomed excuses to visit Turbine's take on Middle Earth, particularly since it grows more beautiful with each installment (although the outdated character models themselves seem increasingly jarring in a world where gear and scenic textures modernize without them), and even now it puts up a tough fight with Guild Wars 2 for the honor of being my "chill out" MMO. Riders of Rohan's mounted combat makes this rich environment feel even more rewarding, and its promising implementation feels more enticing than many of the other goodies I've experienced over the last year. I'd approach it with a healthy dose of skepticism, of course, but for now, I can't wait to jump in and experience Rohan for myself for more than a couple of hours. It's a massive improvement over the disappointments of the Rise of Isengard expansion, and it's one of the few recent MMORPG features that genuinely feels like something new instead of a refinement of existing concepts. If you'd like to join me, today marks the official release.

Shhh! Keep it down, they'll hear you! Ah, dammit, there they go again: Wargaming.net has already started working on a World of Horses. Ah well. What game has the best mounted combat you've ever played?