come on... if you gave crafting in WoW an 8... it should not be higher than 4. crafting in WoW is a joke. a sad joke. i hope Lord of the Rings does much better. so, it seems the whole game is quests quests quests and leveling. how fun what about economy? is there competition for materials or mines? does it feel like a live world (see old SWG or UO) or more like a theme park (see almost any other MMORPG out there)? are quests instanced? can burglars steal from another player? i care zero about graphics, sound and lag. what i want is a solid playability, not a multiplayer diablo, again.
I must admit its more of a theme park but Turbine has done a good job at it, It a really enjoyable game, one you can pickup when ever you feel for some layback fun, for the moment only Vanguard has what you ask for( unfortunaly not solid/stable enough for many atm), but that’s a totally different type of game. Like the Poster said he did not get that much into crafting and I have to disagree on what he said, crafting does feels easy to get into much like WOW but it goes abit deeper (not SWG depth) but its fun to do, like planting your own weeds/union/tobaccos ect, and you'll see it grow onfarmfields which is a pretty nice feature and brings something new to craft/harvesting, also you have different crafting tools/table's.
LotrO will probably start of with a big player base, the IP alone will do that. Yup I wished the game was not what it turned out to be, but I guess to make something pleasing to a large number of people you need to dump down on things to make it accessible to the market, and afcourse with a IP like this and the money involved to be able to create what Turbine has done isn't always welcome thing to some players. Can only say if you get the chance, beta, invite key or what ever take the chance and make your own opinion see what’s it like.
I will get into LotrO (again) after release and like I said just for kicks, VSoH is actually giving me what I really want from a MMORPG, LotrO will give me what I expect from a MMO, both fun but both for different reasons
My friends and I did encounter one serious issue. During the peak times in the level 1-6 area on Brandywine (town named Archten?) we logged in and found that we were apparently in different instances of the town. We could form a fellowship with each other, and could see eachother's locations on the map, but we could not see eachother's characters. Through chat we confirmed that we were looking at different sets of other players around us, as well as different spawns of mobs outside of town. We were only able to adventure together after we all entered the end of level 6 instance. We never found any other way to get our characters into the same copy of the game environment.
Yep, the whole game is one big instance...
One thing I have to say though... LotRO is so much like WoW, who is to say people will leave WoW and join LotRO? its just too similar.
I also wanted to say how I love that every quest item is glowing...
My friends and I did encounter one serious issue. During the peak times in the level 1-6 area on Brandywine (town named Archten?) we logged in and found that we were apparently in different instances of the town. We could form a fellowship with each other, and could see eachother's locations on the map, but we could not see eachother's characters. Through chat we confirmed that we were looking at different sets of other players around us, as well as different spawns of mobs outside of town. We were only able to adventure together after we all entered the end of level 6 instance. We never found any other way to get our characters into the same copy of the game environment.
That is one of the known issues and hopefully will be fixed before release. It is an issue that only affects the starter zone and the first five or six levels. You can choose to skip that instance and go straight to the open world as a level 2 after the first character. I prefer to run through it though and can make lvl 5 in an hour and have some good starter gear before entering the main game.
Originally posted by mehhem
Yep, the whole game is one big instance...
One thing I have to say though... LotRO is so much like WoW, who is to say people will leave WoW and join LotRO? its just too similar.
I also wanted to say how I love that every quest item is glowing...
It is? and they do? Darn I have been testing for four or five months now and never noticed that? Also I never cared for the Warcraft world even in the old strategy games and never played WoW past the free thirty before going back to EQII. I don't see where the game is all that much like WOW myself, other than you have a choice on whether to solo or group. And that it runs and loks good even on older machines.
Some one is sure buying the heck out of the game. It is # 3 at Amazon.com and # 1 at EB Games. Not bad considering it does not hit the shelves till the end of April and these are just pre orders.
Good review - I have spent much more time in game, and honestly it only gets better. The starter areas are simple, and do what they are intended for - a tutorial. The economy is good in beta, and the crafting competition is doing well. Quests are fun, I find myself spending 4 hours longer ingame than usual as this game is so addictive. It is great to have a game that gets better the longer you play, I think Turbine has done an amazing job here. I think that many people will be very happy with this game upon release! Thanks for the excellent review.
I know why the reviewer opted to compare LotRO to WoW...and it's because the two games are identical. I beta'd this as well, and damn near everything (UI, combat, music, etc.) screamed WoW. The only thing that WASN'T WoW is the graphics...which are DDO. It's the exact same engine. Nothing new here. So basically what we're looking at is yet another derivative attempt to cash in on WoW's 8 million + subscribers. Nothing new here, move along. My advice? Give up on the LotRO skin and just play the original game (that's WoW, for those who haven't been paying attention). If hardcore LotR action is what you're looking for, find yourself one of the NWN (maybe NWN2?) or TES mods and play with those; I've seen some exceptional Sauron & Witchking mods for Oblivion. Simply put, it just isn't here. The article itself was well-written, btw. My personal opinion is that the author is woefully inexperienced in his MMO background (emphasis on PERSONAL and OPINION), but he is educated, which goes a long way.
So wait: if the only thing that isn't WoW are the graphics, then I take it that LOTRO is all about saving Azeroth from the Burning Legion? Ohhhhh wait....that dang storyline business might be a little different, too. Hmmmm.
Why would someone who wants to play an online game based on Tolkein's works have to hunt down some odd mods for Oblivion? Also, why would the fact that this game is derivative of WoW be a disparaging factor? If WoW got it "right" then I would think many people might prefer to play a game which follows well-established UI and gameplay to create a fun experience, rather than go off on some risky venture with a game that barfs up something less than stellar. By your logic, I should never have tried playing any other shooter after Half Life 2, since other games were essentially expanding upon and working from the improvements introduced in to the FPS genre by that benchmark. Nonsense.
I know nothing of LOTRO by the way, and was not in the Beta. I just was thoroughly unimpressed by your arguments.
As soon as I hear crafters get angry and start trashing a game for it's lack of crafting content (and holding up WoW as the standard by which NOT to do crafting) then I know it's gonna be a good game. I figured out a long time ago that crafting is the secret benchmark by which one can separate the "obtuse complextity is good" crowd from the "I have four hours a week to play and want to relax" crowd.
That said, I hope the crafting system is not so level-dependant as it is in WoW. I always felt in WoW that the problem with crafting was that you had to pretty much give up leveling exp if you wanted to advance your skills at a level out of sync with your crafting skills.
In any case, for my purposes if a game does't have fun quests and leveling, then there's not much more to look forward to. Crafting is a distant, distant seventh on my requirements list (after graphics, sounds, lag, and interface).
EDIT: I should mention one thing, though. A truly good game should be able to appease both the crafters and the questing levelers, without forcing one to adapt the style of the other. I.E. I can make my moolah while questing so I can spend it on all that strange stuff you are growing/building.
Comments
I must admit its more of a theme park but Turbine has done a good job at it, It a really enjoyable game, one you can pickup when ever you feel for some layback fun, for the moment only Vanguard has what you ask for( unfortunaly not solid/stable enough for many atm), but that’s a totally different type of game. Like the Poster said he did not get that much into crafting and I have to disagree on what he said, crafting does feels easy to get into much like WOW but it goes abit deeper (not SWG depth) but its fun to do, like planting your own weeds/union/tobaccos ect, and you'll see it grow onfarmfields which is a pretty nice feature and brings something new to craft/harvesting, also you have different crafting tools/table's.
LotrO will probably start of with a big player base, the IP alone will do that. Yup I wished the game was not what it turned out to be, but I guess to make something pleasing to a large number of people you need to dump down on things to make it accessible to the market, and afcourse with a IP like this and the money involved to be able to create what Turbine has done isn't always welcome thing to some players. Can only say if you get the chance, beta, invite key or what ever take the chance and make your own opinion see what’s it like.
I will get into LotrO (again) after release and like I said just for kicks, VSoH is actually giving me what I really want from a MMORPG, LotrO will give me what I expect from a MMO, both fun but both for different reasons
One thing I have to say though... LotRO is so much like WoW, who is to say people will leave WoW and join LotRO? its just too similar.
I also wanted to say how I love that every quest item is glowing...
That is one of the known issues and hopefully will be fixed before release. It is an issue that only affects the starter zone and the first five or six levels. You can choose to skip that instance and go straight to the open world as a level 2 after the first character. I prefer to run through it though and can make lvl 5 in an hour and have some good starter gear before entering the main game.
It is? and they do? Darn I have been testing for four or five months now and never noticed that? Also I never cared for the Warcraft world even in the old strategy games and never played WoW past the free thirty before going back to EQII. I don't see where the game is all that much like WOW myself, other than you have a choice on whether to solo or group. And that it runs and loks good even on older machines.
Some one is sure buying the heck out of the game. It is # 3 at Amazon.com and # 1 at EB Games. Not bad considering it does not hit the shelves till the end of April and these are just pre orders.
I miss DAoC
Good review - I have spent much more time in game, and honestly it only gets better. The starter areas are simple, and do what they are intended for - a tutorial. The economy is good in beta, and the crafting competition is doing well. Quests are fun, I find myself spending 4 hours longer ingame than usual as this game is so addictive. It is great to have a game that gets better the longer you play, I think Turbine has done an amazing job here. I think that many people will be very happy with this game upon release! Thanks for the excellent review.
So wait: if the only thing that isn't WoW are the graphics, then I take it that LOTRO is all about saving Azeroth from the Burning Legion? Ohhhhh wait....that dang storyline business might be a little different, too. Hmmmm.
Why would someone who wants to play an online game based on Tolkein's works have to hunt down some odd mods for Oblivion? Also, why would the fact that this game is derivative of WoW be a disparaging factor? If WoW got it "right" then I would think many people might prefer to play a game which follows well-established UI and gameplay to create a fun experience, rather than go off on some risky venture with a game that barfs up something less than stellar. By your logic, I should never have tried playing any other shooter after Half Life 2, since other games were essentially expanding upon and working from the improvements introduced in to the FPS genre by that benchmark. Nonsense.
I know nothing of LOTRO by the way, and was not in the Beta. I just was thoroughly unimpressed by your arguments.
Current MMOs: Rift, GW2, Defiance
Blog: http://realmsofchirak.blogspot.com (old school tabletop gaming and more)
As soon as I hear crafters get angry and start trashing a game for it's lack of crafting content (and holding up WoW as the standard by which NOT to do crafting) then I know it's gonna be a good game. I figured out a long time ago that crafting is the secret benchmark by which one can separate the "obtuse complextity is good" crowd from the "I have four hours a week to play and want to relax" crowd.
That said, I hope the crafting system is not so level-dependant as it is in WoW. I always felt in WoW that the problem with crafting was that you had to pretty much give up leveling exp if you wanted to advance your skills at a level out of sync with your crafting skills.
In any case, for my purposes if a game does't have fun quests and leveling, then there's not much more to look forward to. Crafting is a distant, distant seventh on my requirements list (after graphics, sounds, lag, and interface).
EDIT: I should mention one thing, though. A truly good game should be able to appease both the crafters and the questing levelers, without forcing one to adapt the style of the other. I.E. I can make my moolah while questing so I can spend it on all that strange stuff you are growing/building.
Current MMOs: Rift, GW2, Defiance
Blog: http://realmsofchirak.blogspot.com (old school tabletop gaming and more)