Pinky Brain reminds me of the Flood from Halo; I’m sure Turbine will have a good LOTRO-lore reason for Pinky Brains that will hopefully fit within the scope and vision of LOTR-lore.

But, as to your comment on the “risky design decision”, this is where the picture of the “Pinky Brain” (haha…pun intended) really kills me.
It detracts from this cohesive realistic world they built.
I think the Graphic Designers are just stuck and do not know how to recreate the awesome pics from LOTR’s past.
I have a ton of art books from the various artists who have illustrated for LOTR novels..and there are so many designs that the game just does not coincide with.

If this was Turbines inspiration, then “Pinky” brain is far from that vision. They have really lost track, and are finally doing their own thing, and it is not cool!

Ah well, no need to run on about that picture. It is things like that pic though that really irks me about what Turbine did to such a beloved license.

But from an artistic and creative perspective, I also totally respect that risky design decision of building the game world chronologically, even though it cost them players who wanted the excitement and variety of Azeroth, Norrath, etc. Hopefully as the game’s chronology gets beyond the Misty Mountains, we’ll be seeing more of what we expect from other MMOs.

As a counter-point, LOTRO is not the only offender. I can remember sighing in annoyance at yet another zone in Azeroth populated with Murlocs, spiders, bears, etc. If I was bored enough, I’d compile a zone-by-zone comparison of each game’s fauna to see how they truly compare. I suspect they’re not as far apart as some think.

That was one of the things I hated most, if not the most, about LoTRO. I can totally dig sticking to the lore, but man did that make the game boring at points. Not enough “flair”. Glad they’re livening it up, even if does mean bastardizing the T-man’s work a bit.

But, I have a character at level 40. It could be a chance to finally max out.

/debating