There is a large difference between competing for the same customers. (Which ever MMO wants to do) And being a clone of the game. That is where people start saying that LOTRO is different then WoW, Because it isn't a clone of WoW. It ISN'T WoW in a Lord of the rings skin.
Yes WoW and Lord of the Rings online have a lot of similarities. The Quest structure is similar, but also different in ways. The UI is similar yet also different in some ways. The combat is similar, yet different. The graphics are similar in that they can both run on lower end PCs, but LOTRO has a much more realistic Graphical style then WoW does. They are both similar in their good use of Art design, but they use this differently.
Ways that they are completely different:
1. Lore (obvious one)
2. Classes
3. Roleplaying tools
4. Crafting system
5. Endgame design
6. Gear Dependancy
7. Core Audience. This is a big one in my opinion. Yes they will be going after some of Blizzards 3 million or so NA/EU customers. But the ones they want are the casual customers (who imo make up the bulk of the NA/EU player base). Lord of the rings online is not going after the "Hardcore" Raider or the "Hardcore" PVPer. This isn't the game for hardcore players. It isn't the game for people who need the most "leet" equipment to show off. It just isn't that type of game.
So while they are not different enough to say they aren't similar. They are definitely different enough to say they aren't alike.
Currently playing: LOTRO & WoW (not much WoW though because Mines of Moria rocks!!!!)
Looking Foward too: Bioware games (Dragon Age & Star Wars The Old Republic)
7. Core Audience. This is a big one in my opinion. Yes they will be going after some of Blizzards 3 million or so NA/EU customers. But the ones they want are the casual customers (who imo make up the bulk of the NA/EU player base). Lord of the rings online is not going after the "Hardcore" Raider or the "Hardcore" PVPer. This isn't the game for hardcore players. It isn't the game for people who need the most "leet" equipment to show off. It just isn't that type of game.
I was actually wanting to post about this exactly, but didn't find the strengh yet:)
Wow-lovers and other LOTRO haters can only seem to think of in terms of the already existing 3-4 million EU/US WOW players when talking about the potential customers for LOTRO.
It's pretty silly, as the number of online gamers in EU/US is already much higher, and it is increasing steadily or even exponentially.
There's more fish in the sea, you know, not only the wowfish.
Also - WOW has an unknown and meaningless universe for other than those people who have played with WOW and any earlier Warcraft games.
Lord of the Rings has an universe that BILLIONS know about. Think about that -
DB
Denial makes one look a lot dumber than he/she actually is.
This is not a Lotro bash thread. If your looking for an excuse to bash the game, please create a new thread.
Imo, Lotro is a good game. its solid, its fun to play, and its polished. It certainly does deserve the praise it gets.
Except one.
Lord of the Rings Online is VERY similar to World of Warcraft, and it really annoys me when I see a hardcore Lotro fan tell people that Lord of the rings online is very different from WoW.
Its an old press release, I know, but let me show you one important part.
"The target is WoW, says general manager of publisher's online gaming division. Vice president and general manager of Codemasters Online Gaming (COG), David Solari, has revealed a target of over a million players for the division's upcoming Lord of the Ring Online (LOTRO) title and admitted intentions to compete directly with Blizzard's genre-leading World of Warcraft."
As you can see, the european publishers are clearly telling us that WoW is the target, and that Lotro is going to compete directly with WoW, obviously for the same audience. You can't have a diffrent game when your going to the same target.
Give Lotro praises, it deserves it. But please, don't say Lotro is very diferent from WoW. They are very similar, and some extra emotes and social aspects are not enough to declare Lotro as different and unique. it simply isn't imo.
Its all about focus. There are differences than WoW in lotro. But this is an MMO and they are all very very similar. Fantasy style, MMO well if you make one today i would hope it is like WoW in alot of ways, Blizzard did alot right with WoW.
I will add one difference here however, something that i feel is overlooked by many. The epic questline. A questline and story that takes you from lvl 1-50 in an MMO is not something i have experienced before ( wow / eq2 / vanguard ) and it is truly fun. In fact, what happens when i play, i forget about leveling and the "hook" is the next chapter of the story. very refreshing from the "hook" being the next level or item. Of course the item based draw is in LOTRO, but there is something else to offer, shoulld that interest you.
You are correct in the target audience, it is more for the casual player, WoW style, rather than eq2 / vanguard.
LOTRO has PvP. You can go into an instanced zone and fight against other players. Just like WoW's battlegrounds, altough AV has victory conditions and ends.
Please show me a new MMO where the target isn't really WoW. I know some may have a slightly different take on gameplay, but they are all out for mass appeal. I am not sure what is wrong with that. I would like a skill based system with no classess, but we will never see one in the next few years. (Unless Darkfall is ever released).
One thing I hope someone noted is that Turbine has had alot of lore and information to produce this game with. It's some of the most complete lore for any story that they could have hoped for really...
Compared to WoW which has to do regular "updates" on their lore in order to justify or fix the random stuff they add.
"The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin
The reason i do not see LOTRO being a clone of WOW or WOW being a clone of any other game is cause to me clone meens to be exactly in every detail the same as the original product. Sure they share alot of same game mechanics. I have blue eyes and brown hair, am a white american. I am talented at woodworking. So are alot of other people in america. Does that meen cause we have similarities that we are all clones of each other? No.
Just because games all have the same core basic set up doesn't meen they are clones. The only way LOTRO can be a clone of WOW in my book is if they took the game of WOW and changed it's name to LOTRO. Not changing nothing at all. The exact game. No differances.
No game is a clone of another. They all have similarities, They all function the same way, you quest, get experience, lvl up, kill mobs, get loot. These are staples of the MMO world. LOTRO and WOW are prime examples of this.
To the OP. Just cause codemasters says this is the target audience we are going after. Does not meen that is turbines take on it. Codemasters does not speak for Turbine. No were have any turbine official said that WOW is our target and we are setting out to take them down. Turbine made this game. Codemasters is just publishing it. Codemasters can say anything they want but to me they carry no weight with this title. Only turbine can say this is what therir target is.
Fighting in areans is no pvp. Thats rvr. it involves teams. PVP is when you can kill anyone. Player vs. player, not players all on one side vs players all on another sides.
once again lotro has no pvp. Wow has pvp in all zones hence a pvp server. Lotro has no pvp server let alone pvp. End of story. Fighting in areans is no pvp. Thats rvr. it involves teams. PVP is when you can kill anyone. Player vs. player, not players all on one side vs players all on another sides. Jesus!!!
Lol actually Player Vs Player just means that. Players competing against another player. Does not mean you have to be killing them. And it sure doesn't mean the ability to kill anyone.
Currently playing: LOTRO & WoW (not much WoW though because Mines of Moria rocks!!!!)
Looking Foward too: Bioware games (Dragon Age & Star Wars The Old Republic)
once again lotro has no pvp. Wow has pvp in all zones hence a pvp server. Lotro has no pvp server let alone pvp. End of story. Fighting in areans is no pvp. Thats rvr. it involves teams. PVP is when you can kill anyone. Player vs. player, not players all on one side vs players all on another sides. Jesus!!!
The definition of PvP is player vs player. RvR is PvP in the fact it is players fighting players. What you are describing is Free for all PvP. That is a differant type of PvP. But not the only and true form of it. As long as you have players fighting players you have PvP. There is no way around that. Though you don't see it that way and it is your right. Others do and it is their right.
once again lotro has no pvp. Wow has pvp in all zones hence a pvp server. Lotro has no pvp server let alone pvp. End of story. Fighting in areans is no pvp. Thats rvr. it involves teams. PVP is when you can kill anyone. Player vs. player, not players all on one side vs players all on another sides. Jesus!!!
I would like to correct this claim...
"WoW has alot of 'contested' areas where high level players like to camp and kill low level players, even though tye get absolutely no return for it. People also get to run to the other factions territory and kill all their npcs so they can't do anything"
Aside from my generalization of WoW "PvP" (as true as it is) I wouldn't consider WoW to be anything more that RvR with two factions anyways. The frequency that you find one person that's actually in your level range to fight fairly...and alone...is so minimal. Not to mention that eve if you start the battle 1v1 it usually ends 3v1. The PvP you see in WoW is not in LoTRO because the PvP in WoW is severly out of whack and only lends itself to more fustration than joy.
Also, WoW doesn't have PvP servers, they have modified RvR servers.
Actual PvP you will find in DAoC or AC, where everyone literally can kill EVERYONE else.
"The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin
once again lotro has no pvp. Wow has pvp in all zones hence a pvp server. Lotro has no pvp server let alone pvp. End of story. Fighting in areans is no pvp. Thats rvr. it involves teams. PVP is when you can kill anyone. Player vs. player, not players all on one side vs players all on another sides. Jesus!!!
You sir have no idea about the meaning of RvR and PvP..
once again lotro has no pvp. Wow has pvp in all zones hence a pvp server. Lotro has no pvp server let alone pvp. End of story. Fighting in areans is no pvp. Thats rvr. it involves teams. PVP is when you can kill anyone. Player vs. player, not players all on one side vs players all on another sides. Jesus!!!
Try taking a logic class. RvR, Arena PvP, PvPM would all be subsets of PvP, just as Faction vs. Faction world PvP or Free For All PvP would be subsets of PvP.
The game has a form of PvP, an original form of PvP mind you, but it's still a form of PvP. The level cap in open beta and the dynamics of the system (at level 10 you can use a scrying pool and control a weak level 50 monster that can be made stronger over time, but player characters have to be level 40 and travel to the Ettemoors) prevents us from really trying it out at this point. So, we can't make judgements either way, good or bad, as to how fun/intense it will be.
It has an creatively original form of PvP, how good it will be remains to be seen.
Well I guess I can pass this game up for exactly the same reason I passed up WoW - just more of the same thing we've seen a thousand times. I'd say even a step back from DAoC.
I have been a fan of LOTR for long before the movies were ever released, but if the game is essentially the same mechanics wise as what has come before, then I see no reason to start the same grind all over again, been there done that.
If you are looking for a game that doesn't have similar game mechanics as all the other games before it I would venture to say you have a very long wait. Lord of the rings is not the same old grind out lvls as WOW is or even DAoC. You do not spend hours upon hours in this game killing mobs to lvl. The most efficient way to lvl in LOTRO is thru quests.
Now to finish all of the deeds and get all of the traits you will have to kill mobs. But you can do that at your liesure. Besides killing 30 goblins to get a title is nothing. Then killing 60 more goblins to advance a virtue trait is nothing too. This game is mechanic wise in it has lvls, mobs to kill, quests to do is the same. But the storyline sets it apart. The fact that you can play for one to two hours a night and accomplish something, or not play for a few days and not be left way behind makes this game differant.
Don't by pass it cause you hear from others it is just like wow and nothing new. Try it yourself. Make up your mind from playing it. There is still a few days of open beta left. You have nothing to loose by trying it out.
This is not a Lotro bash thread. If your looking for an excuse to bash the game, please create a new thread.
Imo, Lotro is a good game. its solid, its fun to play, and its polished. It certainly does deserve the praise it gets.
Except one.
Lord of the Rings Online is VERY similar to World of Warcraft, and it really annoys me when I see a hardcore Lotro fan tell people that Lord of the rings online is very different from WoW.
Its an old press release, I know, but let me show you one important part.
"The target is WoW, says general manager of publisher's online gaming division. Vice president and general manager of Codemasters Online Gaming (COG), David Solari, has revealed a target of over a million players for the division's upcoming Lord of the Ring Online (LOTRO) title and admitted intentions to compete directly with Blizzard's genre-leading World of Warcraft."
As you can see, the european publishers are clearly telling us that WoW is the target, and that Lotro is going to compete directly with WoW, obviously for the same audience. You can't have a diffrent game when your going to the same target.
Give Lotro praises, it deserves it. But please, don't say Lotro is very diferent from WoW. They are very similar, and some extra emotes and social aspects are not enough to declare Lotro as different and unique. it simply isn't imo.
did you played ac2? same engine as lotro, most lotro features coming from ac2.. AC2 was the really beta test for LOTRO, and WOW copied many things from ac2, biggest one was the UI. well you can tell lotro toke somethings from wow, but why from wow and not from eq2, ac2, and so many other games out there.
Comments
There is a large difference between competing for the same customers. (Which ever MMO wants to do) And being a clone of the game. That is where people start saying that LOTRO is different then WoW, Because it isn't a clone of WoW. It ISN'T WoW in a Lord of the rings skin.
Yes WoW and Lord of the Rings online have a lot of similarities. The Quest structure is similar, but also different in ways. The UI is similar yet also different in some ways. The combat is similar, yet different. The graphics are similar in that they can both run on lower end PCs, but LOTRO has a much more realistic Graphical style then WoW does. They are both similar in their good use of Art design, but they use this differently.
Ways that they are completely different:
1. Lore (obvious one)
2. Classes
3. Roleplaying tools
4. Crafting system
5. Endgame design
6. Gear Dependancy
7. Core Audience. This is a big one in my opinion. Yes they will be going after some of Blizzards 3 million or so NA/EU customers. But the ones they want are the casual customers (who imo make up the bulk of the NA/EU player base). Lord of the rings online is not going after the "Hardcore" Raider or the "Hardcore" PVPer. This isn't the game for hardcore players. It isn't the game for people who need the most "leet" equipment to show off. It just isn't that type of game.
So while they are not different enough to say they aren't similar. They are definitely different enough to say they aren't alike.
Currently playing:
LOTRO & WoW (not much WoW though because Mines of Moria rocks!!!!)
Looking Foward too:
Bioware games (Dragon Age & Star Wars The Old Republic)
I was actually wanting to post about this exactly, but didn't find the strengh yet:)
Wow-lovers and other LOTRO haters can only seem to think of in terms of the already existing 3-4 million EU/US WOW players when talking about the potential customers for LOTRO.
It's pretty silly, as the number of online gamers in EU/US is already much higher, and it is increasing steadily or even exponentially.
There's more fish in the sea, you know, not only the wowfish.
Also - WOW has an unknown and meaningless universe for other than those people who have played with WOW and any earlier Warcraft games.
Lord of the Rings has an universe that BILLIONS know about. Think about that -
DB
Denial makes one look a lot dumber than he/she actually is.
Its all about focus. There are differences than WoW in lotro. But this is an MMO and they are all very very similar. Fantasy style, MMO well if you make one today i would hope it is like WoW in alot of ways, Blizzard did alot right with WoW.
I will add one difference here however, something that i feel is overlooked by many. The epic questline. A questline and story that takes you from lvl 1-50 in an MMO is not something i have experienced before ( wow / eq2 / vanguard ) and it is truly fun. In fact, what happens when i play, i forget about leveling and the "hook" is the next chapter of the story. very refreshing from the "hook" being the next level or item. Of course the item based draw is in LOTRO, but there is something else to offer, shoulld that interest you.
You are correct in the target audience, it is more for the casual player, WoW style, rather than eq2 / vanguard.
-Allegria
Please show me a new MMO where the target isn't really WoW. I know some may have a slightly different take on gameplay, but they are all out for mass appeal. I am not sure what is wrong with that. I would like a skill based system with no classess, but we will never see one in the next few years. (Unless Darkfall is ever released).
Compared to WoW which has to do regular "updates" on their lore in order to justify or fix the random stuff they add.
"The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin
The reason i do not see LOTRO being a clone of WOW or WOW being a clone of any other game is cause to me clone meens to be exactly in every detail the same as the original product. Sure they share alot of same game mechanics. I have blue eyes and brown hair, am a white american. I am talented at woodworking. So are alot of other people in america. Does that meen cause we have similarities that we are all clones of each other? No.
Just because games all have the same core basic set up doesn't meen they are clones. The only way LOTRO can be a clone of WOW in my book is if they took the game of WOW and changed it's name to LOTRO. Not changing nothing at all. The exact game. No differances.
No game is a clone of another. They all have similarities, They all function the same way, you quest, get experience, lvl up, kill mobs, get loot. These are staples of the MMO world. LOTRO and WOW are prime examples of this.
To the OP. Just cause codemasters says this is the target audience we are going after. Does not meen that is turbines take on it. Codemasters does not speak for Turbine. No were have any turbine official said that WOW is our target and we are setting out to take them down. Turbine made this game. Codemasters is just publishing it. Codemasters can say anything they want but to me they carry no weight with this title. Only turbine can say this is what therir target is.
once again lotro has no pvp.
Wow has pvp in all zones hence a pvp server.
Lotro has no pvp server let alone pvp.
End of story.
Fighting in areans is no pvp. Thats rvr. it involves teams. PVP is when you can kill anyone. Player vs. player, not players all on one side vs players all on another sides.
Jesus!!!
Currently playing:
LOTRO & WoW (not much WoW though because Mines of Moria rocks!!!!)
Looking Foward too:
Bioware games (Dragon Age & Star Wars The Old Republic)
"WoW has alot of 'contested' areas where high level players like to camp and kill low level players, even though tye get absolutely no return for it. People also get to run to the other factions territory and kill all their npcs so they can't do anything"
Aside from my generalization of WoW "PvP" (as true as it is) I wouldn't consider WoW to be anything more that RvR with two factions anyways. The frequency that you find one person that's actually in your level range to fight fairly...and alone...is so minimal. Not to mention that eve if you start the battle 1v1 it usually ends 3v1. The PvP you see in WoW is not in LoTRO because the PvP in WoW is severly out of whack and only lends itself to more fustration than joy.
Also, WoW doesn't have PvP servers, they have modified RvR servers.
Actual PvP you will find in DAoC or AC, where everyone literally can kill EVERYONE else.
"The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners." - Thomas B. Macaulay
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - Daniel J. Boorstin
The game has a form of PvP, an original form of PvP mind you, but it's still a form of PvP. The level cap in open beta and the dynamics of the system (at level 10 you can use a scrying pool and control a weak level 50 monster that can be made stronger over time, but player characters have to be level 40 and travel to the Ettemoors) prevents us from really trying it out at this point. So, we can't make judgements either way, good or bad, as to how fun/intense it will be.
It has an creatively original form of PvP, how good it will be remains to be seen.
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
I have been a fan of LOTR for long before the movies were ever released, but if the game is essentially the same mechanics wise as what has come before, then I see no reason to start the same grind all over again, been there done that.
If you are looking for a game that doesn't have similar game mechanics as all the other games before it I would venture to say you have a very long wait. Lord of the rings is not the same old grind out lvls as WOW is or even DAoC. You do not spend hours upon hours in this game killing mobs to lvl. The most efficient way to lvl in LOTRO is thru quests.
Now to finish all of the deeds and get all of the traits you will have to kill mobs. But you can do that at your liesure. Besides killing 30 goblins to get a title is nothing. Then killing 60 more goblins to advance a virtue trait is nothing too. This game is mechanic wise in it has lvls, mobs to kill, quests to do is the same. But the storyline sets it apart. The fact that you can play for one to two hours a night and accomplish something, or not play for a few days and not be left way behind makes this game differant.
Don't by pass it cause you hear from others it is just like wow and nothing new. Try it yourself. Make up your mind from playing it. There is still a few days of open beta left. You have nothing to loose by trying it out.