Mordor is an amazing mud, with many diverse classes and skills. We have many coders and builders who volunteer their time to keep Mordor dynamic and ever changing. The multi-faceted game play with the leveling, Questing, and if one chooses PvP, which makes it very interesting.

There is an active playerbase, with the Imm Staff running quests for special points other than quest points which can be used to customize the character further. Its a great mud to start with, with a very helpful playerbase. A special alliance is dedicated to helping new players. The Guardians of Mordor. If you see me, Zerth, on there, do not hesitate to ask for help!

Give Mordor a try!

My history with Mordor might not be as long as some of the seasoned players, but my passion for Mordor might be just as strong as them. I started playing Mordor around 2002, although i have left the game for a short spell of a year or so, its no denying that its allure is irresistible.

Once you start playing Mordor, its like being enchanted with a spell. No matter what, i always end up back there because its everchanging and dynamic system makes it a new experience every time i log on. What makes it even better are the players who are on it. Some of them have been on it ever since Mordor started and everyone of them are friendly and helpful. It's undeniable that whats makes Mordor such an interesting place to be are the people and gameplay.

Gameplay wise, there are 5 classes which are warrior, cleric, mage, thief and ranger- each with their own weaknesses and strengths. How powerful you end up in the game depends heavily on your stats and class arrangement making the game even more challenging and fun. Therefore its advisable that any new players should explore Mordor first before fully starting on with a serious character.

To make it even better, on Mordor there are remorts, a specialization for players to follow once they reach level 70. Remorts consist of knights, priest, wizards, strider and assassins. Just like the 5 classes, they are there to provide extra skills and encouragement for reaching such high levels. It is because of these classes and remorts, it makes Mordor a game worthy of replaying over and over again as each time the experience would be different.

At first, it might be a bit hard to level up or hunt, but once you get used to the system and make friends on Mordor, it'll become an unforgettable experience. With an abundant of equipment for every level and classes, it makes it much more interesting to hunt and look for them. Questing is a huge part of the game, as each quest that you complete you receive quest points and from there you can use these quest points to buy quest items. To put it simply, it's close to impossible to be bored on Mordor, as there are always events or something going on.

There are also alliances/clans for players who have reached certain requirements to join, and once you join these alliances you are offered special weapons only available to the members. Being an alliance creates such a sense of belonging as everyone within the alliance will be there to help you whenever you need help to get items, to farm or just talk.

The immortals/coders/builders of Mordor has done an amazing job in ensuring that everyone has a great time and that the place will never ever get boring. With new areas appearing constantly and contest being held to involve everyone, its no wonder Mordor has such an alluring charm.

Therefore i urge whoever wants to have a new and enchanting experience with a MUD, give Mordor a chance and maybe like me you'll fall in love with it.

Bored? Need a game that is full of excitement, yet full of personal character customization? Mordor is exactly what you need!

We have a devoted immortal staff dedicated to constantly improving the game, as well as adding new areas. Concerned about going through that whole newb phase? Don't be! Upon entering Mordor you will be given all the things you need to excel in the game. We have even dedicated an entire alliance/clan to supporting new players.

The game is neverending and also full of fun quests run by the immortal staff. Bonuses to EXP and questing are given at random, filling the game with excitement and wonder.

Well, what are you waiting for? Log in and say hello to me, my name is Grem in game! See you there!

Mordor, since i started, has a great playerbase which is very personal. I've made a lot of lasting friendships.

The all volunteer active coders and builders who work hard to bring many new areas, and new skills. First time players could be a little confused, but there is also a Guardians of Mordor alliance which helps newbies and points them in the right direction.

Its a great mud, and definitely something that grows on you.

First, I would like to thank you for your review. At the time of this response I am writing, it seems that player reviews have been turned off. I have gotten this changed, for I feel that is essential in order to further develop Mordor. With that said, I will start by saying that I have been around Mordor since before it actually became Mordor (1997). I have gone through every stage, from newbie to alliance leader, to Immortal. I am one of the current coders/programmers for the MUD. Now, in response to your comment(s), here are my (personal) opinions:

I am very happy to hear that you felt that Mordor was true to Tolkien lore. It is something we strive for, and now we have even implemented the long overdue area of Barad-Dur (Phase 1 of 2) so you may want to come back and level up to check it out. :)

In response to the multi-classing and skills, I completely agree that it is extremely hard to practice up skills through use. That is actually one of the minor projects that I will be working on, although it is not at the top of my current priorities. The skills currently are practiced at the guild master to a proficiency that is much higher than I believe it should be, and thus the practicing of the last few percentiles has been made almost ridiculous. I plan on changing this so that about half of the training must come through use, and so that use will make you more proficient in the skill (or spell) much quicker.

As for classes and sub-classes, it is very unique, as you said. Everyone has a main class, and than a second class which is slightly less powerful but still extremely important, and so on and so forth to through the fifth basic class. The downside that many people may see in this is that everyone seems to be part of everything... which is where remorts come into play. Upon reaching level 70 overall, and level 101 overall, you are allowed to gain a new remort class. Remort classes on Mordor are just an extension on top of the 5 basic classes. You can think of them as Knight being levels 101-200, above Warrior, and Assassin above Thief, etc. The remorts hold much more powerful spells and skills, and are fairly well balanced against one another but each in their own unique ways. This is where players 'master' a class, for anyone can learn the basic mage spells, but only a wizard can learn the truly impressive ones. Also, the remorts expand the power that the 5 basic classes have, again, each in their own fashion. On a quick side note, I would also like to mention that although you can cast cleric spells as a 4th class cleric, it is harder to cast them and they would not be nearly as powerful as a primary cleric. The sanctuary bonus, for example, would only be partially as effective (although still worth the time of casting) and the heals get exponentially lower based on class order. Then again, a warrior-ranger combo probably wouldn't need the healing as much as a cleric-mage combo. These are just a couple of examples that explain how all the spells and skills are balanced based on order.

As for the questing system, it is much different than other muds with not only the classic 'kill monster X' and 'find item Y' type quests, but also other unique forms of quests that are only home to Mordor. I have also upgraded the quest system to a tiered system. This was done originally because players at level 10 would quest for the quest items that everyone shared, and would suddenly be able to take on level 50 mobs because they were equipped with the best items in the MUD. The new tiered system makes lower tiers much cheaper than the higher tiers, and you can upgrade lower tier items to the higher tiers at the appropriate levels by only paying the difference in the costs (which is nice since you don't get penalized for buying the lower tier equipment that way). As for the reason that questing is not allowed before an overall level of 25: the creatures/mobiles are scaled to different level brackets. At the lower level brackets, the game is meant to be easy, so that you can learn how everything works in a convenient manner. For this reason, the lower bracket is easier than other leveled mobiles even after taking the difficulty:level ratio into effect. In order to stop experienced Mordorites from creating a new character and questing in the lower bracket of mobiles and essentially cheating the quest system, we decided that it was best not to allow questing at that level. Also, for a new player, there is already more than enough unique aspects to become accustomed to without having to learn the ins and outs of the quest system... and then throw into the equation that some of the new players may have never played on a MUD before. For experienced Mudders, it should be fairly easy to grasp the differences Mordor offers compared to other MUDs, and in turn you can level up much faster and then receive more possibilities in how you wish to advance your character (levels, skills/spells, equipment, alliances, questing, immortal quests, remort classes, etc.). As for the purchasing of stat-points for 22,000 quest points: This is meant to be something that is purchased after you have already gathered all the quest equipment that you desire. This is meant to be one of the end-game character advancement options, but it is available to lower players in the event that they wish to remain at a mid-level range and still raise their stats. Each stat point that you buy is equivalent to half of the total stats a maximum level (150) item can give you, and it directly affects your character's stat instead of taking up an equipment slot, so the players that have bought the stats are more than content with them.

Dying before level 50 is an extremely easy thing to overcome. At all stages in the game, your items stay with your corpse, but below level 50, your corpse follows you to your grave. At level 50 you are allowed to join alliances, and are therefore able to request help from the alliance mates if you are unable to get your corpse for any reason (although it isn't a very common scenario that help is needed). There are also almost always players that are willing to help others get their corpses back, especially from locations where you may not be able to get to the corpse easily (if for example a level 60 walked into a level 125+ area and attacked something they shouldn't have). It is also not uncommon to see good players helping evil players, or vice-versa, in these situations. A vast majority of Mordorites are able to separate in-character actions and out-of-character actions in order to help everyone enjoy their time as a person (not just a player). Also as an added bonus, one of our other coders recently added a nice change so that your quest items stay on your character even if you die, so that in the rare event that you do not get your corpse back, you do not lose anything that you can't find on a mobile that is your level or lower. The quest items that you spent weeks/months questing for are not lost from your character.

As for the charming and summoning, players can only charm or summon one creature. A cleric gets a bonus +1 creature limit, and priests get another +1 bonus. Also, the summons are not introduced until you reach remort levels. The summons set up is also another project I am working on, where they will change so that they are no longer meat-tanks with more hit-points than players, but are instead specialists that have lesser or equal life as a player. An example would be where a summoned fire elemental could cast different fire-based spells, or perhaps even have their own unique skills not offered to players, once the wizard is powerful enough. This way it would act as just another player in the group, and not as something that everyone hides behind. I agree, however, that the current process of summoning and charming is much to easy to hide behind at higher levels... yet there is only so many things I can implement at one time. I'm glad you mentioned this however, as I am now more inclined to make it a much higher priority on my list. :)

As for grouping, you don't lose experience in groups until its quantity reaches 6 or higher. The experience punishment also becomes higher and higher as the group gets larger. This way you won't see a group of 10 players just slaughtering everything in an area in order to speed through levels. At the same time, allowing up to 5 players without any decreased experience results in much more cooperation between players, as well as forming friendships and alliances, as you mentioned.

I first came across Mordor through Mud Connector in the hope that it would give a genuine JRR Tolkien Lord of the Rings style universe. It did not disappoint. On top of that, it has multiclasses, in what at first glance appeared to be an improvement on other muds. You have to pick all of the 5 classes, simply placing them in your order of preference. Then you gain levels more quickly in your first class than your second class, and so forth down the line.

Mordor has a relatively good newbie area, and gaining levels is really easy. You can gain in each individual class using 'autolevel' to automatically gain, or else you can choose which to gain in with the gain command. On top of individual levels, you also have an overall level. For example you may be level 100 cleric, level 40 mage, level 22 warrior, level 15 ranger and level 3 thief, but your overall level is level 30.

Unlike other muds, Mordor goes further with the second (and later) classes by giving a lower level of skill proficiency through training depending on the level. On top of that (something that wasn't made clear initially) the skills cannot be gained very easily through use, and there is a definite cap on how high they can ever be trained through use. Thus if you have warrior in a later class, you will never be able to hit well with enhanced damage. Thus, whilst in theory you can multiclass, in reality they are only lesser classes, not true multiclasses. Warriors are still warriors, but can, in a pinch, cast sanctuary on themselves and even heal themselves. Thus you are really single class, or perhaps dual class, but with a few extra things as well.

The questing system is such that you are not even allowed to quest until you are a very high level, about level 30 overall, and even then you get only 1 or 2 quest points for what are very difficult quests, with quest items costing several hundred - several thousand points each, thus making questing seem virtually pointless. At higher levels, however, questing becomes easier, and on top of that, as a reward for the easier questing, you get MORE points! Quests at level 100 can get 80 points per quest and be relatively simple while quests at level 30 can be nearly impossible for 1 point.

You also get a set number of training points per character, which expires after level 5. But don't despair because you can gain stat points through quest points - just a mere 22,000 quest points per stat point. Based on a high level character getting 80 quest points per quest, that's a mere 300 or so quests for you to complete - which means just 6 months of questing for ONE stat point! Talk about difficult! Most people train stats so that for all 5 stats they are about the same level, 17 or 18, and go up to higher levels with equipment.

Equipment increases stat points in part points, e.g. +0.2 wis. Equipment is really easy to get, as you are usually fighting mobs of 10-20 levels higher than you (max xp is about 20 levels above you), but you only need to kill mobs of your level to get good equipment. Thus if you ever die and lose all of your equipment, you can quickly get more stuff through killing mobs. This is a real plus.

After level 50, when you die, you have to go to where you died (did you remember where you died? Is it possible for you to go back?) but before then you can just get the stuff from the morgue near recall. After that, it can be really hard when you die.

Charming mobs is really powerful, as you can charm 2 mobs up to 8 levels above you to fight for you. With remort priest you can charm a 3rd mob too, and most remort classes also have your own pet charmie that you can summon at any time. Once you get to a level where you can hire charmies, you become almost invincible in battle, and it becomes really easy.

Grouping loses virtually no experience, thus if you ever want to group, everyone on the mud in your level range will join you. People almost never say no. Its a great way to meet people. Thus even if you are struggling, you can just join a group and suddenly be really good.

Most people on the mud are pretty good, although there are a few people who manipulate groups and don't pull their weight, whilst making demands. The excuse 'clerics have to heal AND charm AND spellup AND cast offensive spells AND fight' is pretty weak when they aren't doing anything. Most people are helpful however, and will help you out so that everyone in the group is doing something.

Money is at a premium, and is hard to come by, until later levels. Oh and Mordor has this really unusual rule where you can not only play 2 characters, but they can be logged on both at the same time! Of course, they can't interact 'in any way', but its easy as pie to get around that by using a second person to pass equipment and gold from one person to the other, such that your second character becomes super powerful from the very beginning.

As Mordor has been about for a while, most people who are there have been about for ages, and have many characters, and hence are ridiculously over powerful, in what is basically a cheatingly powerful way. Everyone does it, so if you don't do it then you are at a significant disadvantage.

The worst part of Mordor is when it comes to Player Killing and clans. Mordor only has about a dozen or so clans, and most of them are evil or else don't care either way. Evil clans will player kill anyone at any time for any reason, and use the most despicable tactics imaginable to do it. It is perfectly acceptable to sneak up on someone while they are fighting a tough mob, or halfway through a quest, or while they are grouped with others (the group members can't assist), and the mud is coded so that they are not allowed to fight back. Put simply, if you want to kill someone, you can, and they can't do anything about it really. You feel like being a turd to someone? Just go ahead and do it. If they try to fight back, they are not allowed to. It is illegal and is coded so that they get in trouble if they try to fight back.

Of course, most muds wouldn't allow this, but Mordor prides itself on not being like most muds. Whilst anywhere else it would be called cheating, on Mordor it is perfectly reasonable, and trying to stop it is apparently cheating.

So for all of the beautiful world, the wonderfully detailed code, the great game, the game is destroyed because in the end it encourages cheating.

Its kind of like playing some onlinegames, where everyone can hack the server and create duplicates of rare and unique items, and then if you don't cheat then you get player killed non-stop and it ruins it for everyone.

Mordor is just like that - it appeals to the lowest common denominator of players, the people who delight in being long term, knowing all of the cheats and bugs, and abusing them to their delight. It is in essence an old boy's club. They love it, and they delight in nothing more than abusing newbies.

Its little wonder that it has a declining playerbase when they behave like that.