I really enjoy LotRO for relaxation--however, the PvP is NOT accessible without a sub : / I miss my warg <3
The pros:
* The graphics are of a different style than WoW's, aiming for realism, and so despite being a bit outdated are really beautiful in places. There's a lot of wilderness, and it's often VERY scenic.
* There is a music system--every class can play different instruments, and you can download and play songs in-game with your instrument (without having to play it yourself). People standing close to you can hear the music.
* There's a pet class

You can't tame wild beasts, but you learn to summon various kinds as you level, and you can change the skin of them.
* You can dye your armor, and set a Cosmetic set which overwrites your appearance. This is, in a word, awesome.
The cons:
* Most of the content, quest-wise, is locked for those without subscriptions. I came back when it was F2P and all of my questgivers were inaccessible. To top it off, a sub doesn't get you the expansion content--like WoW, to be fair, but it's still rather a chunk to start off paying.
* The LotRO store, while accessible in-game which is nice, also spams the heck out of you, breaking the immersion. There's an "UNLOCK THIS CONTENT" button on just about everything you try to access.
* The UI is a pretty bad failure. It's similar to WoW's in concept, but much more stilted and stiff, and a lot less intuitive navigation-wise.
* The plot, I find, is a bit boring. They try to tie it all in to the LotR story, and fail rather badly IMO--there's a few rather obvious, stiff references to LotR characters being out & about, but I don't think it really flows. LotR is a decent *fantasy* game, but I don't think it feels like LotR. The questing is grind-y and mostly uninteresting.
* There is little to no PvP. There is *one* zone for PvP, and I like the MonsterPlay concept--that is, you can make a pre-made "evil" character to play and upgrade. However, that character can't leave the PvP zone, which is really, really limiting--PvP can *only* occur here, I believe.
Sooo, with all these restrictions, why do I play the game? Well, I don't--not really. That is, I don't level, or play regularly, like I do WoW. But, I enjoy simply sitting in the woods, alone, playing my lute to my raven or black bear or to the trees at large, just relaxing.
Alternatively--I found out I had a bunch of Turbine points from when I used to play properly. So, I blew it all immediately--not on quest content, but rather on getting black dye, robes and other clothing for my Lore-Master, then buying him a very dark brown horse and riding up and down the roads at night scaring lowbies
Some screenshots:
http://forums.wow-petopia.com/download/ ... ew&id=9224
http://forums.wow-petopia.com/download/ ... ew&id=9221
http://forums.wow-petopia.com/download/ ... ew&id=9222
http://forums.wow-petopia.com/download/ ... ew&id=9223