Worth giving a shoot?

Unknown

I really want to give Lotro a try, at the moment there is only one thing stopping me, and thats the pvp system, i really don't like the PvpM(spelled right?)thing, also i've heard there is only possible to duel others?

PvP for me is not the most important thing in a mmo, but i like to be able to pvp from time to time, so i wonder if there is any news of the pvp getting "updated" in the future?

Over to something else, some general questions.
-What do you think of the game?
-Is it like every other mmo out there just in a new story?
-Whats the lvl cap?
-How is the PVE compared to other games?
-Is the character customizing any good? or is it as restrictive as in wow?
-How is the combat?

May pop up some more questions as time pass by.
Hope someone can answer this questions for me, thanks in advance

Vallenar

I'll try and help you out the best I can.

I have been playing since last fall so I have come to love this game.

I must admit I am not a PvP fan, I'm glad you find it enjoyable, but for some reason it doesn't trip my trigger.

That being said PvMP is a ton of fun.  I love being a Warg and jumping on players from stealth.  It's great.

The quests are a blast.  Nothing like getting a quest to go collect Hobbit legs because a certain Orc Chief thinks they are more tender and sweet than man flesh.  

The problem with PvMP, at the moment, is that you need to fight level 50 players.

Well since the game just released, level 50 characters don't exisit yet but they will soon.

If you are really into PvP and want an MMO to tickle your fancy until say Age of Conan or Warhammer Online is released

then give this game a try.  You might really like it, that's my advice. 

As for your other questions I really like the game.

Combat is decent, I play the lore-master class and I really like the different skills Turbine has given us .

Combat is not revolutionary in this game.  Very similar to other MMO's.

The game as a whole is similar to other MMO's out there but yet it isn't.  It is very hard to explain.  It plays very similar to other MMO's out there it just doesn't feel like other MMO's out there.

I think the world, the way quests are written, and the Epic quest line which are broken down into Books and Chapters really set this game apart.  The world design is AMAZING and the community is great too.

Level cap is 50.

PvE is very similar to other games but again, the feel of the game here is different.  There is a clear line drawn between good and evil and the enemie's movement in your adventuring land is very visible.

Character creation is somethig to be desired.  I wish Turbine would have spent a little more time here.

Well that's about it.  I hope that helps make up your mind.  My advice to you would be to at least give it a try.

I think will like it once you get involved with the game and community.  Good Luck!

fiontar

Originally posted by Nitrius


I really want to give Lotro a try, at the moment there is only one thing stopping me, and thats the pvp system, i really don't like the PvpM(spelled right?)thing, also i've heard there is only possible to duel others?


I think you are writing off PvMP a little too quickly, just because it's a new concept that you haven't experienced before. I can't say yet how good it is, but it has huge potential to be great fun. Here is a link:



http://lotro.turbine.com/article/313
PvP for me is not the most important thing in a mmo, but i like to be able to pvp from time to time, so i wonder if there is any news of the pvp getting "updated" in the future?


It is extremely unlikely that there will be any kind of open world PvP in the forseeable future. However, the PvMP system will continue to expand with the game. New Monsters, new rewards, new PvMP regions, etc...
Over to something else, some general questions.

-What do you think of the game?
Excellent. Best release since WoW, great now with tons of potential as it continues to expand with free and paid expansion.


-Is it like every other mmo out there just in a new story?
It's an MMORPG at heart. The transition to this game for anyone who has played other MMOs should be fairly easy. They have not re-invented the format, but they have tweaked the format in many positive ways, learning from the lessons of previous titles successes and failures, more so than any other MMO I've played.
The world, quests and story are top notch. If someone hates MMOs or is completely burned out on them in general, it probably isn't going to change that. (However, as someone who WAS burned out on WoW, but couldn't find any other title that offered a viable alternative, this game has been fresh enough to wash away my burn out and give me an MMO I can really enjoy)!
-Whats the lvl cap?
Level 50 is the current cap. The regular free addons will address content in various level ranges, rather than only focusing on expanding the highest level content. So, I would guess that the level cap will be raised in a future paid expansion. (The hinted at expansion rate should see a paid expansion in one year, which is better than the 2+ years it took WoW. Also, in addition to high end content, the free addons will also be adding mid level content additions, which will improve replay value for power gamers who reach the level cap well ahead of the curve).


-How is the PVE compared to other games?
Although smaller than WoW at launch, the game world is beautiful at all levels, from the over all terrain down to the more detailed level. There are a lot more quests than WoW, but  less than in EQ2. All the quests are well written and they at least try to offer some variation of the same old, same old quests from other games. They could have matched EQ2 by adding more filler quests, but instead chose to find the best balance between quantity and quality.



There are also Deeds that can be completed to earn Titles and Virtues (which are used to customize your character beyond the class template). Some Deeds are awarded for completing a certain percentage of quests in a region. Some are awarded for killing large numbers of particular types of foes in a region. Some for progressing in crafting. Some for finding all the Points of Interest for a region or sub region. Some for using certain skills. Some for completing particular Quest Lines. Some based on social interaction via emotes. Some for success in PvMP. Etc...



The Deed system is something new to the genre and rewards many different playstyles.
-Is the character customizing any good? or is it as restrictive as in wow?
This is a weak spot for this game vs. other current or soon to be released games in the genre. It's better than WoW with some additional tweaks for the facial appearance (eye color, etc...) and a slider for body type, but no where near as advanced as EQ2 or Vanguard.


-How is the combat?

I really like it. Like other games, your skill set becomes more advanced as you level, so at the lowest levels it may seem just like every other MMO and to some a bit boring, but as more skills become available the tactics do evolve.
Combat has a small queue for skills, which takes a little getting used to for some players. As you learn the game and your character, you can get the most efficient use of your skills by perfecting timing of skill use. This not only will give you better tactical control than just queueing up a couple skills at a time, but the combat will feel more responsive.

May pop up some more questions as time pass by.

Hope someone can answer this questions for me, thanks in advance


No Problem!

fiontar

Vallenar is partially right on PvMP. Players can take their regular characters into the PvMP region and be viable starting around level 40. So, the wait for that part of the game to fill in won't be nearly as long as it would if we had to wait until level 50.



Players can play monsters once they reach level 10. The monsters are all level 50, but they start out weak and get stronger as you earn points to upgrade them. A beginner monster will be closer in power to the level 40 players.



So, in all practicality, there will indeed be a wait before this part of the game kicks into gear, but it's not reserved for "end game" characters.

Unknown

Thanks for the replies so far.

Yea you have right i should not judge the PvPM without testing it, so i'll take that statement back.
Do you think we will see some new future to the PvP in this game later? or will it stay like it is?

Also has anyone tried to run this game on vista? if so, how dose it run?

weller001

I posted a question to one of the Dev;s asking if they wouldl ever consider opening a Free for all server where monster characters could roam accross the entire world (at their own risk, of course).

They said they had no plans to do this, which I think is a shame.

I can just imagaine playing my elf, and hearing that a group of orcs has entered the breelands, then creating a fellowship to group up and push them back. or tracking, and hunting lone monster players cross-country.

It would really make you nervous heading into certain areas, knowing that there have been lvl 20+ monster player Wargs/uruk-hai roaming about.

I know they do plan to extend the monster play-zone, so it may happen, just on smaller scale.

But it would be great if it ended up being 50% of the entire world (that would include zones opened in future expansions (moria , etc).

 

 

 

 

LordSlater

As an avid an almost rabid fan of LOTRO i think you will find my TOTALLY unbiassed opinion a good one for you to take in.

 

This game is the best it has HAXorrrrr graphix its the best around buy it you will love it.

 

Otherwise ask somwhere other than a den of Fanbois for an honest opinion based on a littel over a days palying this game.

Unknown

Originally posted by Nitrius


Thanks for the replies so far.
Yea you have right i should not judge the PvPM without testing it, so i'll take that statement back.

Do you think we will see some new future to the PvP in this game later? or will it stay like it is?
Also has anyone tried to run this game on vista? if so, how dose it run?

They said they are keeping out direct PvP beyond the /spar because classes are balanced for PvE and with the way lore is written it doesn't really allow for the current classes to be fighting. If they tried to balance the classes for both PvE and PvP they might constantly be changing the classes over and over causing people to whine complain and quit because their class is completely different from when they started like some other games who do it far to much cuz they are terrible at balancing classes.



It runs great on vista. My buddy ran it on vista for the open beta. I didn't notice any better graphics or less of something, but it runs fine.

Vallenar

Originally posted by weller001


I posted a question to one of the Dev;s asking if they wouldl ever consider opening a Free for all server where monster characters could roam accross the entire world (at their own risk, of course).
They said they had no plans to do this, which I think is a shame.
I can just imagaine playing my elf, and hearing that a group of orcs has entered the breelands, then creating a fellowship to group up and push them back. or tracking, and hunting lone monster players cross-country.

While I'm sure true PvP fans would love this it would go against lore.

Having Orcs run on Bree or even through the Shire wouldn't fit into the tale of the ring in the least.

Plus, as someone else posted, as soon as they did this people would start complaining about class balancing.

Turbine has already stated they will never do any class balancing based on PvP since this is a PvE centered game.

But don't get discouraged Monster Play isn't done by a long shot.  They have stated new monster play areas will be opened up in the future and they have plans to  expand on the system. 

The Ettenmores won't be the only place we will be able to have fun.

 

Unknown

The game is not out in the stores where i live before tomorrow, but i think i'am gonna see if i can grab myself a copy, think lotro is a good game, only thing is the PvP system, but i can manage to live without it, or maybe i find the PvPM to be fun.

Anyway once again thanks for all the answers, and just keep em coming if you have something to say.

Cerion

Originally posted by Nitrius


I really want to give Lotro a try, at the moment there is only one thing stopping me, and thats the pvp system, i really don't like the PvpM(spelled right?)thing, also i've heard there is only possible to duel others?
PvP for me is not the most important thing in a mmo, but i like to be able to pvp from time to time, so i wonder if there is any news of the pvp getting "updated" in the future?
Over to something else, some general questions.

-What do you think of the game? I'm having fun.  To me, that says a lot since I was skeptical about Turbine's ability to implement a game faithful to the lore of Middle Earth.  While there exist deviations, it's not enough to ruin the game for me.

-Is it like every other mmo out there just in a new story? You mean is it different like Roma Victor? Different like WWII Online? Different like Shadowbane? Different like Second Life?  If you want innovation, those are the games to try.  If you want a solid game built on proven design elements (you know, much like you'd buy a car built on proven design elements) then LOTRO has it.

-Whats the lvl cap? 50

-How is the PVE compared to other games? Well, the quests are well-written stories that engage me and immerse me in the world. But you don't have to strictly follow quests.  Don't believe it when you hear the game railroads you on a path.  It is true that this element exists, but if one is of an independant mind you can skip quests and do other things more familiar to MMOs like grind mobs for loot or xp. 

-Is the character customizing any good? or is it as restrictive as in wow? I've heard it is a little better than WoW. I couldn't stand WoW, so I don't know how to compare really.  That's why I find it odd when people compare LOTRO to WoW. Couldn't stand WoW, but I'm enjoying LOTRO.

-How is the combat? Well it's not the FPS emulator that DDO or SWG-NGE tries to be. It seems about the same as other MMOs except for a few improvements.  LOTRO characters have facing, so MOBs try to flank you, and in PVMP, players are always jocking for a flank position which gets interesting.   One thing to keep in mind as people try to convince you that LOTRO is too easy is that LOTRO difficulty is really self-selecting.  If you want a greater challenge, take on yellow, orange, or red MOBS and quests.  The Loot is better, and the increased challenge can be more fun.


May pop up some more questions as time pass by.

Hope someone can answer this questions for me, thanks in advance

 

Hope that helps. 

wykkid79

Originally posted by LordSlater


As an avid an almost rabid fan of LOTRO i think you will find my TOTALLY unbiassed opinion a good one for you to take in.
 
This game is the best it has HAXorrrrr graphix its the best around buy it you will love it.
 
Otherwise ask somwhere other than a den of Fanbois for an honest opinion based on a littel over a days palying this game.

Try 6 months...

I know some of the posters on this thread go way back in beta and have seen the game evolve to what it is now.

Overall you're right though. Here is mostly extremes.  Either people are just trolling and spitting nonsense (some of the clames against the game are pretty absurd... ) or they love the game and they're here to win you over. 

To the OP.  Personally, I love the game and think anyone who likes WoW and gives this game a legitimate go, especially gamers who played MMOs pre-WoW, will love it.  It's drawn from other games too.  It's a great deal like WoW up front but lacking a lot of the more annoying parts. (Rep grind anyone?)  The PvP is awesome.  I hate when people say it's not PvP because it falsely represents what Monster Play is all about.  You are fighting other players.  The zone is roughly 3-4 times larger than AV and it is UNINSTANCED.  Which means some extremely large battles can unfold there. (And did in beta on a number of occasions...)  I know 3 people who did the early High Warlord grind on WoW all 3 love the Monster Play in LotRO and find it a superior PvP system.

You have to understand.  Combine something of the difficulty of a BWL encounter, PvP and a little bit of RTS. (ambushes in the Ettenmoors can absolutely wreck an attacking force. There's all kinds of hills and valleys and places to hide.)  There's no flag capping. There's no "having a lot of people at a flag and waiting for it to turn" BS....  There are raid bosses that have to be killed.  When a base changes from one to the other there is a VERY noticable change.  The sky will become sunny if the Freeps take it, will become dark and menacing when Creeps have control.  Every base has quests for either side, which you have to control to get and turn in.  The bosses are also different for each side, which means you get double the encounters if you play both sides.

All the while some very intense PvP is going on.  Sure you're playing people on "Monster" characters.  These characters are persistent and can be advanced.  Sure, it's in a zone the size of the Barrens roughly.  But it's all PvP, and with a fertilve environment could lead to some monstrous battles in a couple months when you have hundreds of players on each side fighting.

If for no other reason it's worth the 2 months invested in getting to and gearing up a 50 and getting a decent Monster going so you can experience it for yourself.  Can you honestly tell me when you spend $50 on a single player game that you get a 1/4 of the playtime out of that it's a huge issue to pay the $50 and $15 for 2 months of play in LotRO?  Worst case you play for 30-40 hours and quit...  That's still more than most single players give for the price of admission.

 

PS - I guess I'm one of the ones trying to win people over.

weg886

IF   you like single player games that can have lots of friends and a good story line rp game.

Then you will love lord of the rings.

markyturnip

My 2 cents on monster play vs other types of pvp

I was also a little put off by this, as I enjoy open world pvp, but I have come to appreciate

- open world pvp is never as fun as people hope. While we all have some cherished memories of massed battles between factions, they are actually the exception. Wow has experimented with some new ideas in TBC... bombing Halaa was a fun thing ,for example. But in reality most pvp consists of ganking, minor skirmishes, and the occasional task force to kill a ganker. These can be fun, don;' get me wrong... but it tends to be limited.

Laying waste to towns in the open world would be great fun, but nearly always causes problems (although I think there is room for more creativity here), so things like guards are put in, which can effectively ruin the experience. PvP should be pvp, not pve vs a million guard npcs. Imbalance is an issue as well.. therefore battlegrounds.

But once you go the battleground route, well, LOTRO is not that different. I am yet to see what a major monster vs player battle looks like, but it has a similar flavour..

The other fun thing is that while you focus on one play style for pve in this game, monster play allows you to try out alternative guilty pleasures. I chose to be a dwarven minstrel. I like it - it has a fresh feel. But it's also great fun to switch to a monster that can rain arrows upon the elven fiends, or as a previous poster said to sneak up on hobbits as a spider. I have high hopes for monster play...

Palazious

I've spent significant time in monsterplay throughout closed/open beta so I'll attempt to put my experiences/observations here.

- I think one thing thats throwing folks off is the simple fact that they call it 'monsterplay or PvMP'.  From playing other MMOs it sounds like 'yipee, i get to log on as a monster and fight the players'.  It just sounds bad IMO.  In reality, its more RvR... good vs bad and the implimentation is kinda genious as it takes care of lots of the problems that an all inclusive PvE/PvP environment has.

1.  First is balance.  It's almost impossible to balance a class both for PvE and PvP.  From watching attempts dating back to beta of EQ on the Zek servers its something that just may not be possible.  In LOTRO's system, they can balance for PvE and PvP seperately.  Pure genious in addressing this age old problem.

2.  Second issue is lowbie ganking.  Although fun for some... its pretty frustrating for the new person logging on and trying to learn the controls to spend most of his time on the loading screen.  Some PvP'er refer to this has 'hardcore' and the lack of ganking to be 'carebear' but most true hardcore PvP'ers want a challenge.  Isolating the PvP aspect kinda takes care of the moaning and groaning aspects of PvP.  Pretty much people can decide if they want to partake or not... good for both sides.

I'll try to answer some questions I've seen brought up here and elsewhere for clarification.

Q.  What are the battles like when going full bore?

A.  They are pretty impressive.  During closed beta we had a lot of freeps to go against ( there will be just more when folks get over 40).  Taking a keep that the freeps have ahold of is pretty tough.  We would form two creep raids... one to focus on NPCs and one to focus on the freeps.  esentially, its a 48 vs 24 + Npcs battle.  Pure chaos is what I'd call it.  It takes great leadership and listening to be successfull. 

Q.  Hows the lag during the battles?

A.  Monsters are created using low poly counts.  A few complaints are made I suppose because a few want to get close up and see eye color, etc. on their monster.  In reality, it allows for lots less lag and larger battles.  At the end of beta finale' I have screenshots of over 300 players wacking a developer.  This shows the stablity and potential of how large the raids/battles can be.  With the standard turn graphics down and take the names off....we could see battles involving several hundred people.

Q.  My monster starts at 50... why no levels?

A.  Yes, you start at 50, but theres a mass of preparations and work you need to do to get out of gimp stage.  Instead of levels, you gain ranks... pretty much the same thing.   Currently, you can work your way to rank 15.. during closed beta I believe we could go to around 5 or 6.  You gain rank by killing freeps.  Completing quests and killing NPCs you gain destiny points.  These destiny points allow you to buy upgrades, traits, skills, abilities, and appearances.  The system even tracks your kill ratios and you gain infamy.  Currently, my monster ( reaver - ~champion class ) is capped out at rank 0 ( can't improve rank  until freeps start comming in at level 40 ).  It took about ~20k+ worth of destiny points to buy all available upgrades.  I have 10k+ banked for when I gain rank 1 and can upgrade further.  Some folks on my server have 70k+ banked.  You can also buy morale (hp) and power potions.

Q. Is it fun?

A.  Very addicting.  Myself and others had to pry ourselves outta MP to get back to leveling our main.  Lots of people are just going to do monsterplay.  Getting into a raid pretty much means logging on and /ooc invite me.

Q.  What does the future hold?

A.  They have a development team led by ORION thats working on expanding all aspects of monsterplay.  I think the sky's the limit and they have a good stable base to build upon.  New zones, monsters, abilities are being addressed in the forums, a good place to visit if you want to find out more. 

This is kinda a basic, shallow look into PvMP.  Hope it helps

 

Pal

LawLessOne

---

Originally posted by Nitrius
The game is not out in the stores where i live before tomorrow, but i think i'am gonna see if i can grab myself a copy, think lotro is a good game, only thing is the PvP system, but i can manage to live without it, or maybe i find the PvPM to be fun.
Anyway once again thanks for all the answers, and just keep em coming if you have something to say.

---

If you are looking for a game that you can beat-up your fellow players with little or no effort then you will be disappointed in PvMP. However, if you want the challenge of fighting someone on an equal footing, where your skill and that of your opponent decides the outcome them PvMP will be very fun and exciting.

Unknown

Once more, thanks for all the answers.

Today i was out in the store and got myself a copy of the game.
I just installed it and created an account, and barely logged on to make a character, haven't had time yet to try any more, but gonna start for full soon.