Lord of the Rings Online-My first impressions

Wraithmire

Well, the couple hours I played last night; I found this game to be amazing. Since I have Vista the game did run a little slow on my system...which is



Geforce 7900GT/GTO, Win Vista, Pentium IV 3.0 GHz, 2024 gig ram



I've played many mmorpgs, my first being Asheron's Call for 2-3 years and my latest being Vanguard (only for a couple weeks), before Vanguard I played World of Warcraft for about 2-3 years also.



One thing I find amazing is the graphics, like I said because of Vista even the recommended settings causes the game to lag, so hopefully the patch coming out today fixes that. The game is easy to get into, like World of Warcraft...I can have fun right from the start, which is a big bonus for me...I hate having to grind and be bored until I get to the "good" stuff. Which is why a lot of mmorpgs have been boring for me, I've gone through many and the only ones I played for more than a year were AC and WoW...I go through MMORPGs like a fat kid through cake. (no offense to anyone who is fat).



Quests so far seem like other quests in mmorpgs...but they are still fun, especially the instanced story quests...I love those. Animations in combat seem smooth and realistic (minus the sorta strange running animation)...well, just coming from Vanguard might make LOTRO animations to seem god like...I dunno, but I really like them. I haven't tried monster play, but from what I've read it sounds awesome, I dunno why people don't like it, well actually, my friend I told him about monster play and he said, "That isn't pvp...I can't gank lowbies..." . I hear monster play takes skill so that might be why people don't like it? I dunno, but it sounds awesome to me...and I still consider it to be pvp because its a PLAYER playing as the monster. Now this is judging from what I've read, since I haven't tried it...but I'm almost sure I'll love it.



It looks like Turbine finally succeeded, not many players complaining, its very fun...AC2 (not what I expected the game to be like at all, I expected it to be like the original AC...but it had its good points) and DDO was  boring to me (would rather just play guild wars)...the point? I'm glad Turbine succeeded in making a very fun MMORPG, I have it pre-ordered and definitely going to buy.



There is some problems/bugs...but since this is still beta I won't go on a long rant about those, just wanted to post my thoughts/first impressions. I'll write a more in-depth review after LOTRO is officially released.

2hawks

I agree - this is a great game.

And I haven't seen any bugs yet either so I am simply amazed at 'open beta'.  Still hoping to find one so I can bug report it

I am level 9 and also looking forward to trying monster play shortly.

xAlrythx

I also agree.

And 2hawks. PvMP is possibly the most underated PvP I have ever played. I myself was skeptical until I actually got to play in it myself. Do yourself a favour and get in their asap! Then come here and remind everyone just how much fun it was!

kjemper

Originally posted by Wraithmire

[...]Quests so far seem like other quests in mmorpgs...but they are still fun, especially the instanced story quests...I love those.  [...]

 

While agree with the majority of your assessment I think I will argue with your point above. 

You claim that the quests in LOTRO are like any other MMORPG.  This is so far from the truth!  The quests in LOTRO are simply the most immersive quests I have ever experienced to date.  Here are a few of my reasons.

First thing I examine when going through quests of any MORPG is how they build into a story.  While some will simply tell you to kill X and then kill their leader Y.  Others will build up into a huge story starting with perhaps some urgent messages and then build upon the reasons why you want to kill X.  Following that will be additional quest on why you want to kill their leader Y.  The latter is what LOTRO accomplishes.  They are not simply courier quests and kill quests, but rather deeply integrated and well established stories.

Another great thing is the variety of quests in this game.  Some MMORPGs on the market simply can't grasp implementing a variety in their questing systems.  Such variety should be well balanced between quests involving killing, courier, harvesting, and crafting at a minimum.  LOTRO does this extremely well and it keeps things entertaining.  Unlike if you were told to continuely go out and kill, kill, kill, or run from one place to another. 

Last thing worthy of mention, and perhaps the most important, is the epic story quests.  Several MMORPGs on the market to date have promised epic story quests which will span the life of your character and have failed to provide this due to the difficulty of implementing such a feature.  Included would be WoW and Vangaurd to name a couple.  LOTRO accomplishes this astonishingly well.  The epic story quest wish you get started on from level 1 wraps around the Tolkien series.  (I'm not sure how well as I have not read the books myself)  They give a true sense of a progressing world through the progression of the story as you complete each quest.  This brings a new level of immersion for anyone who takes the 30 seconds to read the details on these quests.  To top it off, the NPCs giving these quests are clearly marked with a flaming quest symbol. (a flaming ring)

 

Don't take this as an attack on your statement!  I'm only expanding on it and arguing that it is a far more developed questing system than any other MMORPG on the market.  Quite often, it seems I am playing a single-player RPG the questing system is so well done.  Than I get invited to a fellowship and remember that it is an MMO and I am simply having a swell time. 

Ciredric

I was extremely impressed with the game during the stress test.  It far exceeded what I expected for  a Beta.  Such a different impression after playing the much anticipated Vanguard only to find an almost unplayable game.

The important thing, it is easy to play, yet has significant depth.  There will be alot of ex wow people looking for something new and I think LOTRO will be it.

You have to remember Turbine was extremely limited in DDO because they had to implement board game rules into a MMO.   It is D&D in a MMO, they even got to bend a few rules to make it fit better.   This game was always going to be a niche product. 

AC2 was there only failure, you really can't fault them from switching from an AC1 to an AC2 that was more EQ like, unfortunately they were much better at skill based characters.

The really nice thing about Turbine, they have constant updates that everyone can access, not like Wow where they spend an inordinate amount of time doing content that only a small portion of the game population ever gets to see, like Naxx.

Jetrpg

Originally posted by Ciredric


I was extremely impressed with the game during the stress test.  It far exceeded what I expected for  a Beta.  Such a different impression after playing the much anticipated Vanguard only to find an almost unplayable game.
The important thing, it is easy to play, yet has significant depth.  There will be alot of ex wow people looking for something new and I think LOTRO will be it.
You have to remember Turbine was extremely limited in DDO because they had to implement board game rules into a MMO.   It is D&D in a MMO, they even got to bend a few rules to make it fit better.   This game was always going to be a niche product. 
AC2 was there only failure, you really can't fault them from switching from an AC1 to an AC2 that was more EQ like, unfortunately they were much better at skill based characters.
The really nice thing about Turbine, they have constant updates that everyone can access, not like Wow where they spend an inordinate amount of time doing content that only a small portion of the game population ever gets to see, like Naxx.

From the frying pan into the fire?



Ex wow people disliek the system blizzard used, yes they may find LOTRO similar and a well crafterd game , however, why play a game with similar faults as a previous game?  (over which you stopped playing)

TedDanson

Originally posted by kjemper


Originally posted by Wraithmire

[...]Quests so far seem like other quests in mmorpgs...but they are still fun, especially the instanced story quests...I love those.  [...]

 

While agree with the majority of your assessment I think I will argue with your point above. 

You claim that the quests in LOTRO are like any other MMORPG.  This is so far from the truth!  The quests in LOTRO are simply the most immersive quests I have ever experienced to date.  Here are a few of my reasons.

First thing I examine when going through quests of any MORPG is how they build into a story.  While some will simply tell you to kill X and then kill their leader Y.  Others will build up into a huge story starting with perhaps some urgent messages and then build upon the reasons why you want to kill X.  Following that will be additional quest on why you want to kill their leader Y.  The latter is what LOTRO accomplishes.  They are not simply courier quests and kill quests, but rather deeply integrated and well established stories.

Another great thing is the variety of quests in this game.  Some MMORPGs on the market simply can't grasp implementing a variety in their questing systems.  Such variety should be well balanced between quests involving killing, courier, harvesting, and crafting at a minimum.  LOTRO does this extremely well and it keeps things entertaining.  Unlike if you were told to continuely go out and kill, kill, kill, or run from one place to another. 

Last thing worthy of mention, and perhaps the most important, is the epic story quests.  Several MMORPGs on the market to date have promised epic story quests which will span the life of your character and have failed to provide this due to the difficulty of implementing such a feature.  Included would be WoW and Vangaurd to name a couple.  LOTRO accomplishes this astonishingly well.  The epic story quest wish you get started on from level 1 wraps around the Tolkien series.  (I'm not sure how well as I have not read the books myself)  They give a true sense of a progressing world through the progression of the story as you complete each quest.  This brings a new level of immersion for anyone who takes the 30 seconds to read the details on these quests.  To top it off, the NPCs giving these quests are clearly marked with a flaming quest symbol. (a flaming ring)

 

Don't take this as an attack on your statement!  I'm only expanding on it and arguing that it is a far more developed questing system than any other MMORPG on the market.  Quite often, it seems I am playing a single-player RPG the questing system is so well done.  Than I get invited to a fellowship and remember that it is an MMO and I am simply having a swell time. 

I feel like I am playing a single player game sometimes too....but for a whole different reason. Mainly because thus far I haven't encountered any reason to group. I also seem to look just like everyone else of my leve/class.

Cabe2323

Originally posted by TedDanson

Originally posted by kjemper


Originally posted by Wraithmire

[...]Quests so far seem like other quests in mmorpgs...but they are still fun, especially the instanced story quests...I love those.  [...]

 

While agree with the majority of your assessment I think I will argue with your point above. 

You claim that the quests in LOTRO are like any other MMORPG.  This is so far from the truth!  The quests in LOTRO are simply the most immersive quests I have ever experienced to date.  Here are a few of my reasons.

First thing I examine when going through quests of any MORPG is how they build into a story.  While some will simply tell you to kill X and then kill their leader Y.  Others will build up into a huge story starting with perhaps some urgent messages and then build upon the reasons why you want to kill X.  Following that will be additional quest on why you want to kill their leader Y.  The latter is what LOTRO accomplishes.  They are not simply courier quests and kill quests, but rather deeply integrated and well established stories.

Another great thing is the variety of quests in this game.  Some MMORPGs on the market simply can't grasp implementing a variety in their questing systems.  Such variety should be well balanced between quests involving killing, courier, harvesting, and crafting at a minimum.  LOTRO does this extremely well and it keeps things entertaining.  Unlike if you were told to continuely go out and kill, kill, kill, or run from one place to another. 

Last thing worthy of mention, and perhaps the most important, is the epic story quests.  Several MMORPGs on the market to date have promised epic story quests which will span the life of your character and have failed to provide this due to the difficulty of implementing such a feature.  Included would be WoW and Vangaurd to name a couple.  LOTRO accomplishes this astonishingly well.  The epic story quest wish you get started on from level 1 wraps around the Tolkien series.  (I'm not sure how well as I have not read the books myself)  They give a true sense of a progressing world through the progression of the story as you complete each quest.  This brings a new level of immersion for anyone who takes the 30 seconds to read the details on these quests.  To top it off, the NPCs giving these quests are clearly marked with a flaming quest symbol. (a flaming ring)

 

Don't take this as an attack on your statement!  I'm only expanding on it and arguing that it is a far more developed questing system than any other MMORPG on the market.  Quite often, it seems I am playing a single-player RPG the questing system is so well done.  Than I get invited to a fellowship and remember that it is an MMO and I am simply having a swell time. 

I feel like I am playing a single player game sometimes too....but for a whole different reason. Mainly because thus far I haven't encountered any reason to group. I also seem to look just like everyone else of my leve/class.

Can't really fault the looking the same though   Most MMOs have that problem  Although LOTRO has dyes that can be made or bought from other players so that should help the unique look.  WoW was one of the worst when it came to this.  Every lvl 60 rogue who raided looked the same we all either had Nightshade or bloodfang armor.  (I quit playing for awhile when Naxx came out)  That was something I always hated about World Of Warcraft.  I had come from playing Dark Age of Camelot to WoW and it sucked going from all the different armor types different colors due to dyes etc to WoW where we all looked the same.

 

It would be nice if the game had more options, but they seem to be adding as they go. 

Ruthgar

Why do people think Real PvP is ganking lowbies?

Real PvP is fighting people that are as skilled or more skilled than you, with the risk of losing something.



I think PvMP is a good way to implement PvP without just jamming it in the game.

When enough people hit 50, we will see how Monster play shines.