Played for half hour

anarchyart

All I can say from playing my short time last night is WOW.  The graphics are very pleasing to look at, and the engine draws everything so quickly. I cranked up the settings to highest quality, turned up AA to 6X and the game looks even better than Guild Wars. It's a different style than WoW, but the game definitely looks better than WoW even though they are apples and oranges stylistically.

The gameplay is your usuall MMORPG type of combat with special moves and targetting with tab. I only played for a short time but if anyone was thinking about trying or buying I can say this game looks very very good and well polished. Turbine has really done a great job with LotRO and deserves congratulations.

Gameloading

I think my computer is broke then. I hear people say they get great FPS while turning it all up, I can't even play on minimum setting without getting 3 or 5 fps. It should be able to run Lotro easily (Pentium 4, Nvidia 6600, 1gb ram). computer also makes a lot of noise, like an electric saw o.o

Minsc

Originally posted by Gameloading

I think my computer is broke then. I hear people say they get great FPS while turning it all up, I can't even play on minimum setting without getting 3 or 5 fps. It should be able to run Lotro easily (Pentium 4, Nvidia 6600, 1gb ram). computer also makes a lot of noise, like an electric saw o.o

Hmmmm....vidcard fan maybe? Or perhaps a loose wire is getting in the way of a fan blade and causing heat issues.

anarchyart

Originally posted by Gameloading

I think my computer is broke then. I hear people say they get great FPS while turning it all up, I can't even play on minimum setting without getting 3 or 5 fps. It should be able to run Lotro easily (Pentium 4, Nvidia 6600, 1gb ram). computer also makes a lot of noise, like an electric saw o.o

Crazy, I cranked everything up and just judgine by the speed with which I move I probably get at least 50fps. You may have one of many problems: startup programs running in the background, spyware on your computer (flush those cookies!), perhaps a driver update is needed. Anyways goodluck, you certainly have the system to play it on full.

angrybee

Originally posted by Gameloading

I think my computer is broke then. I hear people say they get great FPS while turning it all up, I can't even play on minimum setting without getting 3 or 5 fps. It should be able to run Lotro easily (Pentium 4, Nvidia 6600, 1gb ram). computer also makes a lot of noise, like an electric saw o.o

I ran a 6600 when I first started in closed beta and it didn't cut it.  That and the 1 GB RAM are hurting you.  This game needs 2 GB RAM to run well and I dumped my 6600 for a 7800 GSOC and can now run 1280x1024 on almost everything maxed except shadows.  This game really needs texture detail, anistropic filtering, and frills set on the highest to get the most out of it.

Ralsar

Upgrading to 2GB of RAM really made a difference for me.  I was still playing at Ultra High with only 1GB but the frame rate suffered a lot.  Once I went with 2GB everything was smooth as silk.

jposavatz

I played at the "High" setting (2 down from the top) and had no problems, but I agree with the above posters - the 2GB of RAM helps - when I alt-tabbed to check my resource usage I was anywhere from 1.5 - 1.7 GB RAM usage.

My vid card is the ATI Radeon X850 XT PE.

One last thing - I definitely agree that the graphics were beautiful, but I also felt that the game was too quest heavy (after only 2 days of testing to be fair).  The more you play, the more you feel like the game is 95% about quests and only 5% about XP hunting (for some that's good, for some that's bad).

I haven't decided yet if I want to buy it, or just wait to see how AoC turns out.

But it was definitely VERY polished.  I had no "bugs" that I noticed during stress test weekend at all.

Eol-

I am playing the game on high resolution with a 2.4 ghz processor, 1 gig ram and a 6800 video card (128MB). I turn down the graphics when I go into Bree, but other than that I run the game fine. Great in fact. So great, that I am postponing buying a new computer until late this year, if then.

I count myself very lucky indeed to be playing a next generation mmorpg on a 4 year old computer with a 2 year old videocard

jor8888

If u hear noise that means ur video card is doing extra work so the fan is running higher speed than usual.  I ran the game fine with medium setting on my 2nd computer with 1gig ram and Ti4200 tho.   So maybe u needt o get the newest video driver.

 

 

angrybee

Originally posted by jposavatz



One last thing - I definitely agree that the graphics were beautiful, but I also felt that the game was too quest heavy (after only 2 days of testing to be fair).  The more you play, the more you feel like the game is 95% about quests and only 5% about XP hunting (for some that's good, for some that's bad).

   The ONLY efficient way to gain XP is to quest.  The difference between farming mobs and doing quests is so vast that killing any more mobs than absolutely necessary to fulfill a quest objective is a waste of time.  The only exception to this Virtue grinding.  The "Trait" system requires a multi-tiered grinding effort.  Killing certain mobs adds an Accomplishment to your Lore book that requires you to kill a certain number of, say, Orcs.  The first tier of lets say killing 30 Orcs grants you an Orc-Slayer title that you can append to your character name.  The second tier, killing 60 or so Orcs, gives you a Virtue like Courage or Determination which attaches to your character similar to the talent tree in WoW which gives you some custom control over your character by adding buffs to certain stats.  This Trait system is the only grind in the game outside of crafting.  If you're finding yourself having to grind for XP then you are doing something wrong.



I happen to think this perhaps the greatest strength to the game.  I completely loathe XP  grinding and the large number of quests in this game, so many in fact that a few go gray before I can get to them, makes levelling in this game almost transparent.  I find that I'm so busy doing quests and levelling that I sometimes forget to go back to the trainer and acquire my new skills.  I was level 12 before I realized I hadn't been to a trainer since level 8!



BTW, the pre-order box from Best Buy comes with a DVD that contains the fabled hi-res client with all the hi-res textures and it makes an astounding difference in the look of the game.  Simply insert the DVD, "repair" the installation, go online and patch the game, and you are good to go in hi-res.  It takes this game from gorgeous to mind-numbingly beautiful in a little over an hour.

Mars505

Originally posted by Gameloading

I think my computer is broke then. I hear people say they get great FPS while turning it all up, I can't even play on minimum setting without getting 3 or 5 fps. It should be able to run Lotro easily (Pentium 4, Nvidia 6600, 1gb ram). computer also makes a lot of noise, like an electric saw o.o

Macafee = bad

Grab AVG or Avast

Grab Ad-aware SE

And browse with Mozilla



Would be surprised what people find after switching to ad-aware from bit defender, also your fan like everyoone is saying is loose or a wire is hitting. I have a BFG 5200 in my junk box and you should here that thing kick up sometime, sounds likea jet fighter lol .

Cerion

Originally posted by jposavatz


 
One last thing - I definitely agree that the graphics were beautiful, but I also felt that the game was too quest heavy (after only 2 days of testing to be fair).  The more you play, the more you feel like the game is 95% about quests and only 5% about XP hunting (for some that's good, for some that's bad).
 

The thing that fools a lot of people (including me until recently) is the dependancy on Quests.  The reality is you do not have to do the quests.  if you want the game to hold your hand, it will.  However, you can let go of that hand and do a lot of things that you'd find in something like EQ1--grind MOBS for xp and loot. 

I came to this realization whilst killing mobs for my trait requirements.  I was a 34lvl hunter killing some 15lvl undead (off peak hours so as not to disrupt other players of that level) and I was surprised at the good drops I was getting that would have been nice for a character at 15lvl.

So I started a second character and tried out this hypothesis.  Sure enough, at level 10 after 'grinding' in one dwarven bandit hideout I've been getting some nice drops that are better than many of the quest items. Xp is a little slower, but that didn't bother me.  It was a nice change.

 

@anarchyart :  I'm just waiting for the day you slip up and deride or ridicule a game. I thought LOTRO would be the one. Guess not   Nice review.

SpiritofGame

Originally posted by Cerion

Originally posted by jposavatz


 
One last thing - I definitely agree that the graphics were beautiful, but I also felt that the game was too quest heavy (after only 2 days of testing to be fair).  The more you play, the more you feel like the game is 95% about quests and only 5% about XP hunting (for some that's good, for some that's bad).
 

The thing that fools a lot of people (including me until recently) is the dependancy on Quests.  The reality is you do not have to do the quests.  if you want the game to hold your hand, it will.  However, you can let go of that hand and do a lot of things that you'd find in something like EQ1--grind MOBS for xp and loot. 

I came to this realization whilst killing mobs for my trait requirements.  I was a 34lvl hunter killing some 15lvl undead (off peak hours so as not to disrupt other players of that level) and I was surprised at the good drops I was getting that would have been nice for a character at 15lvl.

So I started a second character and tried out this hypothesis.  Sure enough, at level 10 after 'grinding' in one dwarven bandit hideout I've been getting some nice drops that are better than many of the quest items. Xp is a little slower, but that didn't bother me.  It was a nice change.

 

@anarchyart :  I'm just waiting for the day you slip up and deride or ridicule a game. I thought LOTRO would be the one. Guess not   Nice review.

There is a misconception in LOTRO, even among testers, that "questing" is the ONLY viable way to level up.

This is false.

The "normal" solo quest grants XP that is equivalent to solo-killing 10-12 equal-con or higher mobs.   (Excludes fellowship quests.)  And sometimes killing the mobs is faster and more productive of lootdrops.

Example:

Quest XP granted -- 2000+ XP plus 20 silver.

Solo-kill equal-con mob -- 200+ XP plus lootdrop.  Ten mobs killed = 2000+ XP.  The equivalent of the quest XP.

Sometimes a lucky lootdrop will be BETTER than a quest reward.  Not always, but sometimes.

Quests are plentiful, but are most definitely NOT the only way to play the game. 

Cerion

Originally posted by SpiritofGame

Originally posted by Cerion

Originally posted by jposavatz


 
One last thing - I definitely agree that the graphics were beautiful, but I also felt that the game was too quest heavy (after only 2 days of testing to be fair).  The more you play, the more you feel like the game is 95% about quests and only 5% about XP hunting (for some that's good, for some that's bad).
 

The thing that fools a lot of people (including me until recently) is the dependancy on Quests.  The reality is you do not have to do the quests.  if you want the game to hold your hand, it will.  However, you can let go of that hand and do a lot of things that you'd find in something like EQ1--grind MOBS for xp and loot. 

I came to this realization whilst killing mobs for my trait requirements.  I was a 34lvl hunter killing some 15lvl undead (off peak hours so as not to disrupt other players of that level) and I was surprised at the good drops I was getting that would have been nice for a character at 15lvl.

So I started a second character and tried out this hypothesis.  Sure enough, at level 10 after 'grinding' in one dwarven bandit hideout I've been getting some nice drops that are better than many of the quest items. Xp is a little slower, but that didn't bother me.  It was a nice change.

 

@anarchyart :  I'm just waiting for the day you slip up and deride or ridicule a game. I thought LOTRO would be the one. Guess not   Nice review.

There is a misconception in LOTRO, even among testers, that "questing" is the ONLY viable way to level up.

This is false.

The "normal" solo quest grants XP that is equivalent to solo-killing 10-12 equal-con or higher mobs.   (Excludes fellowship quests.)  And sometimes killing the mobs is faster and more productive of lootdrops.

Example:

Quest XP granted -- 2000+ XP plus 20 silver.

Solo-kill equal-con mob -- 200+ XP plus lootdrop.  Ten mobs killed = 2000+ XP.  The equivalent of the quest XP.

Sometimes a lucky lootdrop will be BETTER than a quest reward.  Not always, but sometimes.

Quests are plentiful, but are most definitely NOT the only way to play the game. 

Yep, very true.   All in all, the two playstyles are quite balanced I have to say.  That impresses me. Perfectly balanced? No. But nothing ever is.  

portallzaine

xp farming may definately be slower than the questing but I have found many loot drops from experimenting with mob grinding. some stuff that I found in beta 1 was just absolutely sweet. found a one handed sword that glowed blue. was delicious. made the snow around me and my toon glow blue haha Im sure other people have found things similar to this but the point is, the drop was waaaay better then the quest rewards for that area and for my lvl.

not yet balanced in xp giveout but I have a feeling it will be balanced a lil bit to allow grinders out there to reap the same benifits as those peeps who quest grind

Mars505

What makes grinding fun is that in each zone you can grind for a trait or title. The xp grind if done by just mobs , would be the equivilant to L2 at around lvl 40 ...

wyzwun

Originally posted by anarchyart


All I can say from playing my short time last night is WOW.  The graphics are very pleasing to look at, and the engine draws everything so quickly. I cranked up the settings to highest quality, turned up AA to 6X and the game looks even better than Guild Wars. It's a different style than WoW, but the game definitely looks better than WoW even though they are apples and oranges stylistically.
The gameplay is your usuall MMORPG type of combat with special moves and targetting with tab. I only played for a short time but if anyone was thinking about trying or buying I can say this game looks very very good and well polished. Turbine has really done a great job with LotRO and deserves congratulations.

AAlol... what happen to YOUR vanguard?... idk.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Torak

Originally posted by templarga

Originally posted by Gameloading

I think my computer is broke then. I hear people say they get great FPS while turning it all up, I can't even play on minimum setting without getting 3 or 5 fps. It should be able to run Lotro easily (Pentium 4, Nvidia 6600, 1gb ram). computer also makes a lot of noise, like an electric saw o.o

The noise that it makes "like an electric saw" would be your biggest concern. It sounds to me as if the fan on your vid card is going and your computer is prolly over-heating in the case.



I have a system very smililar to yours (a bit more RAM and a7600 GT) and I can run the BETA on extreme graphics and I get an awesome frame rate and no graphical lag or pauses. Which puzzles me because I cannot run Vanguard on the minimum settings and all recommened .ini tweaks and I cannot break 10-15fps. Its so odd.



Oh well.

I agree, sounds like a heat problem of some sort. Open up the case and clean it out with some canned air. It may be as simple as that. Then check the fans. But definately give it a good cleaning. There is definately something going wrong, you should be getting much better performance then that.

 

HakaiRah

You can throttle things down by going to the Options > Troubleshooting tab and setting your framrate to say 30fps and/or dropping down the engine speed a couple notches. This may help with your issue as the game will use up every last once your computer can give if allowed and it may be pushing it a little to far. I know this helps on my system.

Torak

Originally posted by wyzwun

Originally posted by anarchyart


All I can say from playing my short time last night is WOW.  The graphics are very pleasing to look at, and the engine draws everything so quickly. I cranked up the settings to highest quality, turned up AA to 6X and the game looks even better than Guild Wars. It's a different style than WoW, but the game definitely looks better than WoW even though they are apples and oranges stylistically.
The gameplay is your usuall MMORPG type of combat with special moves and targetting with tab. I only played for a short time but if anyone was thinking about trying or buying I can say this game looks very very good and well polished. Turbine has really done a great job with LotRO and deserves congratulations.

AAlol... what happen to YOUR vanguard?... idk.

Geez, get off the guys back. He can't comment on another game?

xAlrythx

Originally posted by Gameloading

I think my computer is broke then. I hear people say they get great FPS while turning it all up, I can't even play on minimum setting without getting 3 or 5 fps. It should be able to run Lotro easily (Pentium 4, Nvidia 6600, 1gb ram). computer also makes a lot of noise, like an electric saw o.o

My specs are

Pent 4 - 3.2 Ghz

GF 6600GT PCI-E 256mb

1.5gb ram

I run the game absolutely perfect on the very high settings (second highest next to ultra high) with player portraits turned off and AA on X2, the game runs almost perfect with AA on x4, I play at 1152 screen res...

I am just telling you this because my system seems very similiar to yours so you may have something wrong

rungard

what you guys probabally dont know is that youve really only seen the low res client.

the high res client makes vanguard and eq2 look like eq1