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Liars!
Cookster5
Member Posts: 50
I see so many people calling the world in LOTRO 'static, boring and lifeless' which is utter lies!
LOTRO has trees, grass, flowers which gently sway in the breeze. NPC's don't stand rooted to the spot like in most games, they walk around, push wheelbarrows about, dance, scrub floors etc.
Sorry, but as a former WoW player myself, you want to see a static game world? Go play WoW. Trees which don't move, NPC's which stand on one spot 24/7....*yawn*
Comments
Try and head down into the old forest and fight a tree.
Careful.They hurt.
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I would seriously like to know what MMO do people play in which the AI is dynamic, intelligent and leveling paths are boundless, endless and quests randomly generated but logical in nature with an over arching grand story behind them?
Where mobs are as smart if not smarter then you and not just extravagantly scripted scenes.
Please folks tell me, show me the light and lead me to the MMO promise land. A land in which I won't have to grind on mobs to level up ! Where quests are structured like RL adventures or movie/book adventures!!
Where character customization is as varied and unique as the faces seen in real life.
Bring to this MMO promise land !
Games I've played/tried out:WAR, LOTRO, Tabula Rasa, AoC, EQ1, EQ2, WoW, Vangaurd, FFXI, D&DO, Lineage 2, Saga Of Ryzom, EvE Online, DAoC, Guild Wars,Star Wars Galaxies, Hell Gate London, Auto Assault, Grando Espada ( AKA SoTNW ), Archlord, CoV/H, Star Trek Online, APB, Champions Online, FFXIV, Rift Online, GW2.
Game(s) I Am Currently Playing:
GW2 (+LoL and BF3)
LOTRO's graphics and art direction are very nice. The scripted scenes are very engaging, and now that they've added the CGI-movies in between the cutscenes, it's even better. The animations have gotten an amazing upgrade since I played the closed beta, characters look reasonably different from one another (gear-wise) after the starter area, even though everybody and their sister is wearing that feathered cap that I'm so fond of in the elf area. The quests no longer have exact directions to your goal (which I actually like, thank you Turbine) and many of them are something more than "Go kill 20 of these and come back." While some of the quests involve that still, many of them, particularly the main story-quest line, have more than that involved.
Still, though, I don't think LOTRO is my game. Yet I still find myself wondering why, as it's the closest thing to a step in the right direction in a very, very long time.
PS - Zorvan's post FTW
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"Give a man a fire, and he is warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he is warm for the rest of his life."
Oh yah, because the starting zone in which the starter town gets completely burnt down doesn't impact on the environment at all.....
I'm so broke. I can't even pay attention.
"You have the right not to be killed"
Yet another WoW bash eh? You say you played WoW, obviousely not alot if you never saw NPCs "moving around".....
They are all over the place so maybe you should check it out a bit more before making a statement that makes you look silly...
Wrong. I have played WoW since the beta. I only just quit last week, having taken a few breaks in the preceding years. To be honest the expansion pack killed it for me.
It just really bugs me when people bash LOTRO without even examining the faults in their own games....NPC's in WoW? The baker who wanders around Stormwind doesn't count y'know.
My e-peen is bigger than your e-peen.
Round and round we go. Have fun. I'll just go play a game I enjoy.
Wrong. I have played WoW since the beta. I only just quit last week, having taken a few breaks in the preceding years. To be honest the expansion pack killed it for me.
It just really bugs me when people bash LOTRO without even examining the faults in their own games....NPC's in WoW? The baker who wanders around Stormwind doesn't count y'know.
Just so I got this straight.
WoW is shitte, because it's only got a couple npc's in each city walking a prescripted, never changing path.
LotRO is alive and vibrant because it's got a couple npc's in each city walking a prescripted, never changing path.
@M1sf1t: So, because devs have thus far been too broke, or lazy, to pay attention to AI, or any of the other little details, we should just suck it down with a smile, and never wonder if we could have better? Or is it just that this game gets a free pass because it's Lord of the Rings?
Try and head down into the old forest and fight a tree.
Careful.They hurt.
Yes, LOTRO does have moving trees. Trees that will chase you down and kill you if you bother them.
The game has great writing, mobs that interact with each other, mobs that roam around, trees/grass/flowers that move with the breeze, realistic weather effects, realistic day/night cycles and an incredible music tool.
The music tool is so advanced that if you don't already have a solid foundation in music and a fair bit of real musical talent, don't try using it. The reason being, if you try to play music, and you don't have some real talent you'll simply... STINK.
"Don't corpse-camp that idea. Its never gonna rez"
Bladezz (The Guild)
Speaking of AI. This is something i have noticed about LOTRO that i have not seen in other games when it comes to AI. A humaniod mob that will try to run for it's life when it is loosing the battle. As i said i have not seen this in any other game. I may be wrong there may be a game i haven't tried that they do this. Also I was killing goblins the other day for a deed and thogh the goblins respawned at the same point. When i attacked them they did not always take the same route to me when they attacked me. Some would act like they were running away then try to circle around and attack me from the side. This actually happened with the same mob. One respawn he ran straight at me the next he tried to circle around me.
I am not saying that LOTRO is the greatest game ever. But i do know they are implementing the latest technology in AI available. They have announced that they have signed a contract with the leading AI software company.
No game will ever allow us to 100% have a direct influence on the game world. We are lucky if we get any influence. Imagine being a dev who is trying to create new content for a game that the players are always dictating the course the game is going in. I would not want that job. You would have to be able to predict the future. Cause the content you spend endless hours on could end up being useless and have nothing to do with the game you created cause the players took the game in another direction.
That all said. I love LOTRO. It gives me a chance to see middle earth in a 3d generated world. Is it exactly what i pictured when i read the books over the years? NO. Do i hold that against the game? NO. What matters to me is that i enjoy the game and am having fun. Been beta testing since beta 1 started. Over 6 months and haven't gotten bored or wanted to quit. I could careless if they took aspects from WOW or UO or any other game. I don't play those games. I play LOTRO.
Where, exactly, were you when you saw these mobs interacting? I'd like to go there and see it for myself, because thus far, all I've seen is mobs just standing around like cattle waiting to be butchered. Sure, some of them move about randomly, but nothing interactive. I never saw a wolf chase down a rabbit. No bears fishing in the nearby stream. A handful of NPC's in town that walk the same scripted path over, and over. But nothing organic, nothing to indicate that the NPC's have a life outside of waiting for me to come up and accept their quest, or buy/sell items.
As for other games featuring humanoid npcs that run away when low on health? EQ, EQ2, WoW, I think they might have in VG, but don't quote me on that, DAoC they did as well, I think? Been a while since I played. And I don't remember if they did in SWG, or not, either.
As for the goblin. If they have AI that tries different tactics, great. If it was just a pathing thing, well, meh, in that case. I don't remember them doing anything special in closed beta, but maybe they've added new scripts.
But there are a few games otu there where playign action has real impact, daoc, eve, shadowbane, anyone else feel free to add. These games depend on player action. however i can not see what LoTRO would be anymore static than wow. It seems pretty much equal in most regards, other that character model design.
"Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one ..." - Thomas Paine
I was in the goblin camp in the greenfields in the shire. It wasn't a pathing thing cause there was no obsticles between me and the goblin. They have improved the AI since closed beta. I didn't notice these thing in closed beta either. I would like to see a bear fishing, or a wolf chasing a rabbit. Though i have noticed the mobs move around alot more than they did in closed beta. Heck the spiders sometimes try to run away now also. I have seen this all over the game. Being a hunter it doesn't do much good i just shoot them. But if your a melee class you have to chase them. The do it randomly. I have also had a goblin run away throw a spear at me run up attack me then run back throw another spear and run up and attack me again.
Go to the dwarf city kelendul and you will see some dwarves standing around on gaurd duty, some walking around. Others will come running from out of your area of view to help when you attack the signature walking around.
I am not saying it is perfect but it is alot more than i have seen in other games. And i did not play either EQ's or WOW. I mentioned in my other post i may be wrong. Just that the games i did play the mobs didn't act the way they do in LOTRO.
I can't remember were i saw this but a dev had told a person that they are constantly working on the AI with the new AI system they just bought and the AI's will be acting differantly than expected as time goes by. I have noticed some of this. I think given time they will have the AI's doing things we only wished they could do.
So what MMO are you playing that is ub3r? Please do tell. If you condemn LOTRO for being like other MMO games then let's hear you condemn these other games like Vangaurd, EQ1, EQ2, WoW, etc.... Other wise you are just trolling IMHO.
LOTRO never ever said it was going to be the "Next Generation of MMO's" it never made the claim that is was going to be "Revolutionary". If you got your hopes up it was because you were either misinformed or just plain blinded by your own "visions" of MMO grandeur.
Now you are just stomping around like a kid didn't get any cake even though no one promised you any. If you want what you are describing then go front the several tens of millions of dollars it would take to develop such a title and stop playing all those other static or grind inspired MMO's.
Games I've played/tried out:WAR, LOTRO, Tabula Rasa, AoC, EQ1, EQ2, WoW, Vangaurd, FFXI, D&DO, Lineage 2, Saga Of Ryzom, EvE Online, DAoC, Guild Wars,Star Wars Galaxies, Hell Gate London, Auto Assault, Grando Espada ( AKA SoTNW ), Archlord, CoV/H, Star Trek Online, APB, Champions Online, FFXIV, Rift Online, GW2.
Game(s) I Am Currently Playing:
GW2 (+LoL and BF3)
You have got to be serious. DAOC mob AI was freaking worse then static. Nothing like seeing a field of mobs just standing around or wandering around mindlessly. Those other games require you to grind out mobs like some blind lemming with no real looming story in the background that even matters. The only actions that mattered were player driven....aka PvP goals and not AI PvE driven.
Games I've played/tried out:WAR, LOTRO, Tabula Rasa, AoC, EQ1, EQ2, WoW, Vangaurd, FFXI, D&DO, Lineage 2, Saga Of Ryzom, EvE Online, DAoC, Guild Wars,Star Wars Galaxies, Hell Gate London, Auto Assault, Grando Espada ( AKA SoTNW ), Archlord, CoV/H, Star Trek Online, APB, Champions Online, FFXIV, Rift Online, GW2.
Game(s) I Am Currently Playing:
GW2 (+LoL and BF3)
I have one... no wait, that's real life. And it sucks sometimes too. Especially when the mobs are smarter than you. Going back to LOTRO now.
So what MMO are you playing that is ub3r? Please do tell. If you condemn LOTRO for being like other MMO games then let's hear you condemn these other games like Vangaurd, EQ1, EQ2, WoW, etc.... Other wise you are just trolling IMHO.
LOTRO never ever said it was going to be the "Next Generation of MMO's" it never made the claim that is was going to be "Revolutionary". If you got your hopes up it was because you were either misinformed or just plain blinded by your own "visions" of MMO grandeur.
Well, since none of them fit the bill, I'm not playing any of them at the moment.
Yep, Vanguard failed to deliver all the stuff they promised that would have been cool. So have the rest.
Nice try with the "vision" dig, though. Makes sense, since I got my first warning on these forums for breaking the NDA, and saying that the game sucked, performance sucked, and it was going to release months early, and would flop like a fish. *gasp*
As for not saying it would be revolutionary, did you even read my post? You quoted it, but either didn't read it, or just didn't get it.
Lemme try again, slower this time. Why are gamers happy to just accept the same rehashed, revisited game over and over? Is it because it says Lord of the Rings on the box? If it were just generic fantasy game #1,231,414 would you still be singing its praises?
Dragons Age is a single player game I believe. I could be wrong because they haven't released any big information on their MMO they are just starting to develop. If they manage to do this and pull it off in a MMO enviroment and without it being a bug infest nightmare then gratz to them for being revolutionary and not falling flat on their face. I would certainly give a game like that a try.
Games I've played/tried out:WAR, LOTRO, Tabula Rasa, AoC, EQ1, EQ2, WoW, Vangaurd, FFXI, D&DO, Lineage 2, Saga Of Ryzom, EvE Online, DAoC, Guild Wars,Star Wars Galaxies, Hell Gate London, Auto Assault, Grando Espada ( AKA SoTNW ), Archlord, CoV/H, Star Trek Online, APB, Champions Online, FFXIV, Rift Online, GW2.
Game(s) I Am Currently Playing:
GW2 (+LoL and BF3)
A few AI examples that I've found to be unique to LOTRO.
1). MOBS try to flank you. Because LOTRO characters have 'facing', you can only hit MOBS in your front arc. So these MOBS sometimes try to flank you. If you have close combat area of effect specials, this can reduce your effectiveness if multiple MOBS flank to either side. This flanking can also thwart the hunter traps.
2). MOBS useing terrain to interfere with aiming. As a Hunter, I've had this happen a lot. The MOB will zig-zag behind a tree or rock, thus throwing off my aim, and I have to restart the aiming induction.
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Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO
Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
Find the Truth: http://www.factcheck.org/
Maybe because they like it and keep paying for it? Wow what a shocker! There might be some people out there that actually enjoy the EQ1 formula that most games including WoW try to recreate and refine.
If that upsets you then I don't know what to say but that maybe you should give other game genres a try instead and forget the whole MMO thing. As I said unless you have the few tens of millions of dollars it would take to create a title you are looking for then you won't be seeing "Revolutionary" MMO games coming out into this competitive market. MMO's are always going to be "evolutionary" in nature because of their ever increasing development and upkeep costs.
Games I've played/tried out:WAR, LOTRO, Tabula Rasa, AoC, EQ1, EQ2, WoW, Vangaurd, FFXI, D&DO, Lineage 2, Saga Of Ryzom, EvE Online, DAoC, Guild Wars,Star Wars Galaxies, Hell Gate London, Auto Assault, Grando Espada ( AKA SoTNW ), Archlord, CoV/H, Star Trek Online, APB, Champions Online, FFXIV, Rift Online, GW2.
Game(s) I Am Currently Playing:
GW2 (+LoL and BF3)