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To Buy or Not to Buy??That is the question? about to head to store..and what your take on the game!?
surjstrife
Member Posts: 154
Straight Forward-What is the games Value...
Would i be able to Solo and accomplish many things in game?
How intense is the grinding?
( Do they make it fun and interactive during the hours of mindless killing of mobs?)
Is it Fun?
I love Tolkein's books and even the movies, does it really take alot from it?
( Do the Devs do a good job bringing the pages to life?)
Is it Fun?
So i will be heading to the store in a few hours and will pick this up if the answers to my questions spark my will to buy it.
If not i beleive i will buy EQ2's newer expansion with full game and pick back up from where i left off when it was released.
Any comments would be great! Whats your take on the game!
Would i be able to Solo and accomplish many things in game?
How intense is the grinding?
( Do they make it fun and interactive during the hours of mindless killing of mobs?)
Is it Fun?
I love Tolkein's books and even the movies, does it really take alot from it?
( Do the Devs do a good job bringing the pages to life?)
Is it Fun?
So i will be heading to the store in a few hours and will pick this up if the answers to my questions spark my will to buy it.
If not i beleive i will buy EQ2's newer expansion with full game and pick back up from where i left off when it was released.
Any comments would be great! Whats your take on the game!
Good,Bad, I'm the guy with the gun!-Ash
Comments
i love the traits/virtues system its almost like a game in itself, which is very good as it rewards you for doing what you already are doing, exploring new areas, defeating enemies, killing mobs. these traits range from specific exploring/qeusting/killing traits, which effect your class, your race and lengendary status which improve your character. lot of depth to thsi system. ive already collcted like 8 virtues, and 2 race traits. e.g these ranged froim barbed fury which improves the dmg by2% and ranged melee resistance etc from barbed arrow.(this rewards you foir using specific skills continuiously) dmg resistance, ranged vulnerability, poison resistance, melee resistance, stealth shadows, 2% increase of morale, or power, the list goes on. I am a elf hunter :P.
here is an example of grouping doing "epic-prologue quests called Chapters this one is at chapter 11 via lost forest past bree town, between bucklands, and barrows down.
www.youtube.com/watch
3.4ghz Phenom II X4 965, 8GB PC12800 DDR3 GSKILL, EVGA 560GTX 2GB OC, 640GB HD SATA II, BFG 1000WATT PSU. MSI NF980-G65 TRI-SLI MOBO.
GET IT! it is the best MMO i have ever played and I have played them all!
it is visually stunning, the quests are interesting (except for a few go out and kill a dozen pigs quests) they make scence in a long story aproach, it isnt buggy, it feels like a finished product, soloing is doable for a majority of the quests but some do require a group and while it is easyer to group to lvl i dont very often, FREE EXPANSION COMMING NEXT WEEK, kool player music update included in expansion (not that people didnt waiste hours playing music before the expansion), many people compair gameplay to wow BUT i say they have similarities and do everything beter, with more style and better game play and art, OH AND IT IS VISUALLY STUNNING!
to answer questions
soloable - yes
grind - who grinds? i just follow the storylines and lvl anyways
quests are not the same... many new types of quests and very interesting quests too.
if you read the books and love fantacy THIS GAME IS FOR YOU! game is taken directly from the book not the movies!
if you wanna be a battle mage - go play something else - but if you read the books you know there are few wirards in middle earth.
the world is the MOSY LUXURIUS, REALISTIC< HAS LIFE TO IT of anny mmo ever... the book do truely live in this game
never mind my xfire stats i been playing ALOT! just joined xfire
3.4ghz Phenom II X4 965, 8GB PC12800 DDR3 GSKILL, EVGA 560GTX 2GB OC, 640GB HD SATA II, BFG 1000WATT PSU. MSI NF980-G65 TRI-SLI MOBO.
I've played EQ2 since launch and played LOTRO through open beta. My advice is to get the EQ2 package if you want anything more than an easy, casual game.
EQ2 Pros:
LOTRO Pros:
3.4ghz Phenom II X4 965, 8GB PC12800 DDR3 GSKILL, EVGA 560GTX 2GB OC, 640GB HD SATA II, BFG 1000WATT PSU. MSI NF980-G65 TRI-SLI MOBO.
I think I would have to agree here but it depends on what you want.
I have had an EQ2 sub since release, but am currently playing LOTRO.
But probably not for much longer.
LOTRO has some nice features, and a few neat innovations and new ways to do things. The scenery is very good (the character graphics are not so good).
However, there is also a lot missing and a lot of things "not quite right" with the game. (And the tons of leet-speak people in LOTRO might drive you nuts also, I don't think 3/4 of the people there know that "wot" is not a word).
1. Crafting for many classes is basically broken and/or useless.
2. itemization is just "bleh". There are hundreds of items in the game, but many are just the same item, same stats, with different names. There are almost no "must have" items.
3. The limited itemization and the extreme unavailibility of most crafting rares means that LOTRO is a world of clones. There is pretty much only one "best" item for every class at any level. At level 50 pretty much every Minstrel, every Hunter, every other class will all be wearing exactly the same things.
4. The "replay" factor is the absolute pits at this point. If you are thinking of making any alts, then prepare to do exactly the same quests, for the same items, in the same zones all over again. The next expansion will help a little, but since it is aimed mainly at 30+, prepare to be bored out your mind if you make an alt, for example to do another tradeskill.
5. Shallow. That is the best I can say for LOTRO. While there are hundreds of quests (BTW, EQ2 has over 5000), many are just "whack-a-mole', and many themes are repeated again at each level. I have had the same or very similar "kill xx wargs/wolves" quest at 1-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, and now again at 41+.
6. Some classes are just absolutely boring, at least for me. Minstrel (healer) comes to mind. I gave up on mine at level 17, when I realized that I was pushing the same 4-5 buttons that I was at level 5. Hunter is one of the most fun classes to play, so of course there are 4x as many Hunters as there are healers.
7. The economy is pretty messy, as in brken. And the very poor implementation of the Auction Hall adds to that. Basically, except for crafting items, there is almost NOTHING to buy. So there is a lot of money chasing after far too few goods. Since there is so little of any value to spend money on, the few items that ARE in demand have had their prices driven up tremendously. 99% of all crafted items for level 30+ are worthless, but on the few occasions that an actual good rare item (crafted or dropped) shows up for sale, the price goes through the roof. I have seen as much as a 2000%++ difference between common and rare items of the same type.
LOTRO is a great game for the first time MMO player. It is not so great for the experienced MMO player, who will soon see the many things that are NOT there in more "grown up" MMO's that have had time to mature. I mean, there is not even an in game clock so you can see what game time is...
Some might wonder why I have played LOTRO up to a fairly high level considering what I think of it.. Well, I kept hoping it would get better. But at this point I doubt if I will ever hit 50 before I reach total burnout on it.
However, there is also a lot missing and a lot of things "not quite right" with the game. (And the tons of leet-speak people in LOTRO might drive you nuts also, I don't think 3/4 of the people there know that "wot" is not a word).
1. Crafting for many classes is basically broken and/or useless.
2. itemization is just "bleh". There are hundreds of items in the game, but many are just the same item, same stats, with different names. There are almost no "must have" items.
3. The limited itemization and the extreme unavailibility of most crafting rares means that LOTRO is a world of clones. There is pretty much only one "best" item for every class at any level. At level 50 pretty much every Minstrel, every Hunter, every other class will all be wearing exactly the same things.
4. The "replay" factor is the absolute pits at this point. If you are thinking of making any alts, then prepare to do exactly the same quests, for the same items, in the same zones all over again. The next expansion will help a little, but since it is aimed mainly at 30+, prepare to be bored out your mind if you make an alt, for example to do another tradeskill.
5. Shallow. That is the best I can say for LOTRO. While there are hundreds of quests (BTW, EQ2 has over 5000), many are just "whack-a-mole', and many themes are repeated again at each level. I have had the same or very similar "kill xx wargs/wolves" quest at 1-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, and now again at 41+.
6. Some classes are just absolutely boring, at least for me. Minstrel (healer) comes to mind. I gave up on mine at level 17, when I realized that I was pushing the same 4-5 buttons that I was at level 5. Hunter is one of the most fun classes to play, so of course there are 4x as many Hunters as there are healers.
7. The economy is pretty messy, as in brken. And the very poor implementation of the Auction Hall adds to that. Basically, except for crafting items, there is almost NOTHING to buy. So there is a lot of money chasing after far too few goods. Since there is so little of any value to spend money on, the few items that ARE in demand have had their prices driven up tremendously. 99% of all crafted items for level 30+ are worthless, but on the few occasions that an actual good rare item (crafted or dropped) shows up for sale, the price goes through the roof. I have seen as much as a 2000%++ difference between common and rare items of the same type.
LOTRO is a great game for the first time MMO player. It is not so great for the experienced MMO player, who will soon see the many things that are NOT there in more "grown up" MMO's that have had time to mature. I mean, there is not even an in game clock so you can see what game time is...
Some might wonder why I have played LOTRO up to a fairly high level considering what I think of it.. Well, I kept hoping it would get better. But at this point I doubt if I will ever hit 50 before I reach total burnout on it.
OMG! i didnt see you were thinking of picking up the new EQ2 expansion if you didnt get LOTRO!
i hope this doesnt come off a an attack on anyones opionions but I played EQ2 for a few years... LOTRO has only been out a few months.... don't waiste your time paying for EQ2 i'll give you my account lol (or i would if Vanguard wasnt tied to it and they MIGHT fix it someday and i may want to see it)... after playing a stylish and modern game like LOTRO i'll never play EQ2 again
BUT the previous post miss informed you of several things posted.. in fact several posters had misleading info on why lotro wasnt a good buy
1. Crafting for many classes is basically broken and/or useless. WELL SOME PEOPLE DONT CARE FOR FARMING OR COOKING, BUT THEY ALL WORK>>>> AND MANY PEOPLE PREFER THE CRAFTING IN LOTRO OVER OTHER GAMES
2. itemization is just "bleh". There are hundreds of items in the game, but many are just the same item, same stats, with different names. There are almost no "must have" items. THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF UNIQUE ITEMS INGAME, THEY LOOK DIFF, HAVE DIFF STATS, NO ITEMS HAVE THE SAME STATS WITH DIFF NAMES
3. The limited itemization and the extreme unavailibility of most crafting rares means that LOTRO is a world of clones. There is pretty much only one "best" item for every class at any level. At level 50 pretty much every Minstrel, every Hunter, every other class will all be wearing exactly the same things. NOBODY LOOKS THE SAME... THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF DIFF LOOKING COMBINATIONS OF CLOTHING AND HATS AND WEAPONS, YOU ONLY LOOK LIKE OTHER PEOPLE AT LOW LEVELS WHEN YOU ARE WEARING THE BASIC STUFF. MAYBE HE MEENS THERE IS NOT AS MUCH CHAR DIFF IN FACE AS SAY SWG BUT WHEN YOU ARE RUNNING PAST THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE I NEVER NOTICE THAT THE FACES LOOK THE SAME BUT INSTEAD I LOOK AT THE CLOTHING THAT CAN BE DYED FOR DIFF LOOKS ALSO. AS FAR AS THERE BEING NO AVAILABILITY OF RARE CRAFTING ITEMS JUST BUY THE "LOTRO PLAYERS GUIDE" OR USE ONE OF MANY WEBSITES TO FIND OUT WHERE TO HARVEST THEM YOURSELF (IT IS TRUE THAT CRAFTING ITEMS ON THE AUCTION HOUSE ARE USUALLY BOUGHT BY THE FIRST PERSON TO SEE THEM.
4. The "replay" factor is the absolute pits at this point. If you are thinking of making any alts, then prepare to do exactly the same quests, for the same items, in the same zones all over again. The next expansion will help a little, but since it is aimed mainly at 30+, prepare to be bored out your mind if you make an alt, for example to do another tradeskill. MANY MANY MANY PEOPLE TRY A DIFF CLASS ON EACH ALT BECAUSE THE GAMEPLAY IS FRESH AND ORRIGINAL IN EACH CLASS... THIS IS NO COOKIE CUTTER MMO WHERE YOU HAVE STANDARD MAGES, AND OTHER CLASSES YOU FIND IN DOZENS OF MMO'S OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN.... THEY ARE ALL FROM ARCHTYPES IN THE BOOK THAT ALL FANTACY GAMES ARE BASTARD CHILDREN OF TOLKINS WORKS
5. Shallow. That is the best I can say for LOTRO. While there are hundreds of quests (BTW, EQ2 has over 5000), many are just "whack-a-mole', and many themes are repeated again at each level. I have had the same or very similar "kill xx wargs/wolves" quest at 1-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, and now again at 41+. THERE WERE OVER 1500 INDIVIDUAL QUESTS IN LOTRO AT LAUNCH, EQ2 HAS HAD LONG BORRING YEARS TO ADD LAME QUESTS THAT ALL SEEM THE SAME AND ARE VERY LIMITED IN DEPTH WHILE LOTRO QUESTS ALL INVOLVE PLOT AND STORY ARC'S THAT MOVE YOU THRU THE WORLD OF MIDDLE EARTH AND BIND YOU TO THE EVENTS OF THE BOOKS. THIS IS THE FIRST GAME THAT HAS MADE QUESTING HAVE MEANING AND INVOLVE YOU IN THE UNIVERSE. I HAVE FRIENDS WHO PLAY 80 HRS A WEEK AND THEY TELL ME THE UPPER LVL QUESTS CAN TAKE 6 HRS AND ARE SO AWESOMELY HARD THAT IT BRINGS NEW MEANING TO THE WORD MMO
7. The economy is pretty messy, as in brken. And the very poor implementation of the Auction Hall adds to that. Basically, except for crafting items, there is almost NOTHING to buy. So there is a lot of money chasing after far too few goods. Since there is so little of any value to spend money on, the few items that ARE in demand have had their prices driven up tremendously. 99% of all crafted items for level 30+ are worthless, but on the few occasions that an actual good rare item (crafted or dropped) shows up for sale, the price goes through the roof. I have seen as much as a 2000%++ difference between common and rare items of the same type. THE ECONOMY IS NOT "BROKE" THERE IS THOUSANDS OF ITEMS TO BUY CRAFTED AND LOOT FROM DROPS, ALTHO MANY PEOPLE DO NOT USE THE AUCTION HOUSE TO SELL AND JUST SELL TO THE MANY VENDERS SPREAD THRUOUT THE LANDS BUT THE GAME IS A BABY... IN SWG IT TOOK FOREVER FOR A NEW ECONOMY TO ESTABLISH... OMG HOW FREAKING LONG DID IT TAKE IN EQ2 FOR A ECONOMY TO ESTABLISH
with the developers adding player housing soon and massive expansions on a nearly monthly timeline and the sheer awesomeness of a game being released not broken go buy this game at one of the stores that droped the price to $39.99 and try it. There is a reason its #1 in sales and on the game of the year lists of MANY websites
also the game has a more mature and helpfull population of anygame to come out in years.. i never see the suposed leet speak... maybe the other poster picked a bad server or something.
also i may take lower graphic to play the game at min spec's but if you have the top of the line card turn up your graphics options.... many people only tried beta and never got to experiance the High Res Graphics released with the retail version, Just because you can play a fairy in EQ2 doesnt meen its fun or rewarding... in fact its pritty lame and flat experiance compared to the full bodied experiance LOTRO has to offer
you wont be able to solo from around 34-35+ so much as its mainly group quests. The dungeons are pretty good. The traits system is very handy but can be a bit of a grind.
The itemisation,as someone said,is very lacking atm.The june update which hits the euro servers on thursday has new armor sets added for various levels,but im not sure if this means just 1 set for level 20-30,another for 40 etc or several from different sources. I hope it doesnt end up like WoWs epic sets where everyone looks the same. oh and 90% of the low level armor is butt ugly too
.
yes its fun,though if youre a long term MMOer youll find it similar to every other 'quest' game youve played. theres some really good fun stuff in there,but unfortunately some areas pack crap around it (im looking at you,north downs). Theres no grinding as such apart from some traits and titles stuff,the rest is quest based. You could grind if you wanted too though,the mobs dont give as little XP as some people think. Theres some stuff thats really irratating in PVE,such as the debuff you get from falling short distances,that slows your speed and takes away all your passive defense.
The mob models are limited so you see the same creatures with different skins/size that you saw somewhere else 10 levels ago. Some new ones coming in the update (possibly moving them into all areas?) . Needs more mob types;and some mobs are plain annoying. The bird types which include bats,crows and hawks get aggro from about 50,000 miles away and can interrupt your heals. The best mobs are at high levels such as the various troll types,giants and earthkin,shame they didnt add some of these earlier on.
Class wise,shy away from champions and hunters as theres literally thousands of them. The least played classes seem to be loremasters,followed by burglars and then minstrels/captains. The minstrel can be a little tedious to play as you dont have as much interactivity as other classes,but youll have NO trouble finding groups(people even whisper you to ask you to join) and some of the best survivability in the game.
Its a good game but not ground breaking,but seeing as theres nothing else worth playing which isnt a few years old now,its worth giving a try until stuff like war/AoC/gods and heroes etc come out.
being a long time vetern 3+ years with SWG and 2+ years eq2 as well
. i have to side with xaphod. he made some strong points, and I have to agree with him on those points he has given. although everyone gave rather strong arguments. but xaphod made a stronger case, and i think anyone who has played SWG and EQ2 on a continous basis will agree with him on this. because I myself have come across these same issues in both of these games and LOTRO.
3.4ghz Phenom II X4 965, 8GB PC12800 DDR3 GSKILL, EVGA 560GTX 2GB OC, 640GB HD SATA II, BFG 1000WATT PSU. MSI NF980-G65 TRI-SLI MOBO.
It has its strong points, but don't let anyone tell you that you can easily solo to 50.
The Evendim content patch in a few days will help with the lack of quests in the 30-40 level.
If you want to enjoy the game, get in a good kinship (guild) and group as much as you can.
If you try to solo, you might end up bored after a month or two.
They will continue to add content and add new gameplay. The Evendim update will add an updated music system.
They will also add player housing later in the year.
See you in Middle Earth!
Good,Bad, I'm the guy with the gun!-Ash
Now this could be because most quest rewards are more than adequate to use as weapons but still, it shows how messed up crafting is and that when people reach master status, they just give up crafting anything, because it seems to be pointless.
I would say that if you love Tolkien lore then you'll like LOTR, its not a bad game but its just not the game for some of us. I was never a big fan of it personally so I didnt really "relate" to any of the characters, background stories, etc. But if you do, Im quite sure you will love it.
The story arc quests and world help bring the books alive. I have really enjoyed that aspect of it.
my pros for LOTR
Cons would include
Triston Master Carbine/Master Swords (SWG Eclipse)
Triston 29 Warden (EQ2 Permafrost)
Weland 70 Hunter (WoW Hellscream)
Suidan 36 Cleric (Vanguard Flamehammer)
Suidan 50 Champion (LOTR Gladden)
I've played many MMORPGs and right now, LOTRO is my favorite for many of the reasons the others have stated. Primary among them are: awesome graphics, sticks with the lore, higher number of interesting quests than other games, Epic Quests!, and LOTRO is very casual-friendly. I'm fresh off a 2yr hardcore WoW burnout, and I have no desire to get hardcore (or at least hardcore in terms of playtime, not playstyle) again anytime soon. LOTRO is satisfying enough that you can play, logout, and not feel that burning desire to have to live 24/7 in Middle Earth, while you waste away at your 'puter calling your mom to make Hot Pockets.
Now, since you also mentioned EQ2, I'd take a good look at what type of player you are (or what you plan to be in either game). If you plan on putting major hours and hours right away into your gaming, I'd go with EQ2 because it's been out for 2 years and has tons of content now with all the expansions and content updates. LOTRO has only been out for not quite two months, and we're getting the first content update soon. So if you're a power-leveller, stay away from new games, you'll just burn through everything and get bored fast.
Thats a good take on it. Although i have to disagree with being a power leveler and burning through a new game with nothing to do. Lotro needs to reduce xp gain in my opinion. I've never played a game where i abandoned so many quests because they became trivial. Heh, i AM a rather avid leveler though. I think the game is just too casual and easy for me at the moment. And I'm a rather die hard pvper. I only picked it up to pass some time.
Note to anyone reading this and deciding whether or not to get it. Dont listen to me, others has described the pros and cons much better. I'm rather one sided since I'm canceling at the end of the month
Denial makes one look a lot dumber than he/she actually is.
And Turbine is offering tons of FREE content upgrades, unlike SOE who charges you for any content upgrades available (even for dungeon access SOE makes you pay money).
So with FREE content upgrades in LOTRO vs. having to pay money for most content upgrades with EQ2 (right down to paying for access to a dungeon!!), you are getting a better deal with LOTRO.
There's no sense whatsoever in comparing LOTRO now to EQ2 at launch in the context of the OP's question. This isn't a "how was each game at launch" topic. If he buys LOTRO, he gets the launch + Evendim update content. If he buys EQ2 (let's just assume he buys the box with all the expansions) he has access to two years of additional content right out of the box, not just the EQ2 launch content.
I would strongly disagree with your first statement there. While you can level up pretty good only solo from 1-30, once past that you will be forced to group for the majority of quests, and at around 34+ you will have to group for nearly ALL.
In EQ2 you can (in theory) go from 1 to 70 all solo, even though it is probably a lot faster to group at the higher levels.
One big difference in LOTRO is that mob XP is basically total crap, so you HAVE to get levels from quests - that is the only practicle way to do it.