The Lord of the Rings Online Preview

Games Radar has conjured up a two-page preview of The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, based on what we know about Turbine's ambitious MMORPG up to this point.
'Persistent instancing' means that key, showstopping group encounters won't be repeatable by any individual, granting players the sense of personal influence and narrative coherence they're used to from offline adventuring.

Then there are Traits, a system of achievement medals that grant more than bragging rights, feeding back into your character with skill and crafting modifiers. It's a smart application of familiar mainstream design to the particular demands of MMOs (in this case, the need to individualise).