Then you sir, are blind... and deaf at that, I wouldn't doubt you have brain condition as well.
The differences are CLEARLY visible, from start to finish. Next time, play than post. Otherwise, go back to WoW or whatever you would prefer to play, and leave people alone.
The above quoted poster, the one listing LOTRO's differences and WoW seemed to... take inspirartion from, has a point. WoW does take pretty much any succesful feature and toss it in their game. It does fit nicely, yes, but they always get the credit. Until now. When the game that many things in the few newest patches have been taken from (mainly Achievements and Barber shops) is finally being recognized. Not to mention to begin WoW simply took a few doses of EQ, FFXI, and a few others, threw them together quite nicely and sold it. I see no originality in the game.
Granted LOTROs not perfect, and the combat system is similar to many games the questing is very different, having cutscenes and a very well crafted storyline. As well as having quite a few of the Book (Or story) quests instanced. Mainly those ones where you will run into people like Skorgrim. It really helps not having to sit around and wait for a respawn, trying to get it. It also helps it feel a bit more epic. Although it's not Guild Wars, don't get confused.
And I would have to say is that next expansion WoW will probably add housing (albeit making you pay 29.99USD to get it) and a dye system will probably be coming in the next big patch. The outfit system is obvious for it, although it doesn't seem as close as some other systems.
____________________________ Telthalion Rohircil - Guardian - Elemandir - Lord of The Rings Online --- == RIP == Torey - Commando - Orion - Tabula Rasa == RIP == --- Jordaniel Torey - Navy Megathron, Active Armor Tank - Tranquility - EVE Online --- Torey Scott - Rifleman - Fallen Earth ____________________________
"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but I know World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." - Albert Einstein
Lotro cloned World of Warcraft, but because Lotro isn't as mainstream it isn't hated by the "I'm different if I hate the game everyone else is playing" that WoW suffers from. Hence, Lotro won.
That's not true, LOTRO is an ac2 clone, like wow copy cat ac2.
LOTRO did in game voice chat WOW copy cat that.
LOTRO did deed's and titles, WOW copy cat that.
LOTRO has barber shops WOW copy cat that.
many other things WOW didn't had time to clone yet like:
Housing.
Dye system
Music
Legendary Items.
Outfit system.
Moria
Aside from all of these things were already in MMO's well before Lotro came around.
Also, Asherons Call focus was having player having minimal interaction with NPC's, while WoW is the other way around. WoW was one of the first MMORPG's to truly nail a casual MMORPG gaming experience which is nearly 100% directed by quests, and it's that aspect that other mmorpg's such as Lotro try to copy.
World of Warcraft was one of the first mmorpg's where the game directs the player nearly every step of the way. It's this core mechanic that WoW Nailed and Lotro imitates.
Originally posted by Papadam
Originally posted by Gameloading
Lotro cloned World of Warcraft, but because Lotro isn't as mainstream it isn't hated by the "I'm different if I hate the game everyone else is playing" that WoW suffers from.
Hence, Lotro won.
If LotrO was indeed a "WoW clone" wouldnt people hate it even more than the original?
Scary to see someone so bitter about another game winning a readers vote...
Uhm..No? The reason why people hate WoW so much is because it's so popular. There is always a huge amount of hate for something that's popular. WoW is no different
Because its based on a classic book series and it was written by J.R.R. Tolkien. One of the best fantasy writers, hes up their with C.S. Lewis. Talking about C.S. Lewis I hope theirs a The Chronicles of Narnia MMORPG someday. Other MMORPGs are nothing but hack clone stories of The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Nanrnia. You just can't compete with good literature and yes I'm looking at you Warcraft, Warhammer, and Dugeons and Dragons. So yes in the end LOTRO wins solely because of its story and lore.
Have you actually read any D&D fiction? - I'd take the Dragonlance series (for one) over Lord of the Rings any day. Lord of the Rings is a great world, it makes for a great game and good movies, but it's one hell of a tedious read...And many readers would take exception to your description of Tolkien as 'one of the best fantasy writers'.
The reason it won is because the game went from an OK game at release to a well polished, MUCH added content(free mind you)game a year later. Basically, that's it. No other company has matched Turbine on its content updates and improvements to the game in a little over a year, top it off with an incredible expansion, I can't wait to see what this game will look like, going at this same pace, in another year.
If WoW had published free content like LOTRO, it probably would be voted the better game, but we all know Blizzard has a horrible content delivery track record.
Personally, I'm enjoying LOTRO and FFXI more now than I ever have. Here's to the older games making some waves!
The reason it won is because the game went from an OK game at release to a well polished, MUCH added content(free mind you)game a year later. Basically, that's it. No other company has matched Turbine on its content updates and improvements to the game in a little over a year, top it off with an incredible expansion, I can't wait to see what this game will look like, going at this same pace, in another year. If WoW had published free content like LOTRO, it probably would be voted the better game, but we all know Blizzard has a horrible content delivery track record. Personally, I'm enjoying LOTRO and FFXI more now than I ever have. Here's to the older games making some waves!
Exactly,
Blizzard has turned itself into nothing more then a greedy company.
They earn billions of dollars a year on WoW alone. They have all the resources many a studio could wish for and dream about.
Yet it takes them 2 years to come up with an expansion. And it contains what? A new continent and a ONE SINGLE Hero class. LOL!
How come Turbine only needed a year to develop and launch an excellent expansion pack like Mines of Moria. Contains just as much content, maybe more even (as Moria IS HUGE), A legendary weapon system and TWO NEW classes!
Seriously... it just takes a gamer with actual brains to figure out why LOTRO won the best game overal of 2008.
Every gamer with a brain knows by now that Blizzard is just ripping you off with WoW and just delivers the bare minimum possible for maximum profit!
Every gamer with a brain knows that Blizzard can do so much better when it comes to Free content updates and expansion packs!
Blizzard, especially since it became part of Vivendi, is nothing more then a mere shadow of what it once was.
So many MMO players hate MMO's. I think they've played them too long, and now have unrealistic expectations of what an MMO can or should do. If you want more detailed, involved quests to play through with friends, get NWN. If you want some MMO flavor, but primarily want to do instances get DDO or GW. PvP? a lot of games offer that in different incarnations. If none of these things interest you then just get single player games like Morrowind or Oblivion. If you are still bitching, it means you just like to bitch and don't even really enjoy video games.
Theres limited grouping, Most of the time theres no reason to group, all gear is craftable. It maybe have a good story but thats about it. It falls into the norm, how the hell did it win best game?
Fail.
1) Not all gear is crafted.
2) Grouping is now the basis of determining whether an mmo is good or not?
Bye. That's all the time I feel I want to waste in this thread.
The reason it won is because the game went from an OK game at release to a well polished, MUCH added content(free mind you)game a year later. Basically, that's it. No other company has matched Turbine on its content updates and improvements to the game in a little over a year, top it off with an incredible expansion, I can't wait to see what this game will look like, going at this same pace, in another year. If WoW had published free content like LOTRO, it probably would be voted the better game, but we all know Blizzard has a horrible content delivery track record. Personally, I'm enjoying LOTRO and FFXI more now than I ever have. Here's to the older games making some waves!
Exactly,
Blizzard has turned itself into nothing more then a greedy company.
They earn billions of dollars a year on WoW alone. They have all the resources many a studio could wish for and dream about.
Yet it takes them 2 years to come up with an expansion. And it contains what? A new continent and a ONE SINGLE Hero class. LOL!
How come Turbine only needed a year to develop and launch an excellent expansion pack like Mines of Moria. Contains just as much content, maybe more even (as Moria IS HUGE), A legendary weapon system and TWO NEW classes!
Seriously... it just takes a gamer with actual brains to figure out why LOTRO won the best game overal of 2008.
Every gamer with a brain knows by now that Blizzard is just ripping you off with WoW and just delivers the bare minimum possible for maximum profit!
Every gamer with a brain knows that Blizzard can do so much better when it comes to Free content updates and expansion packs!
Blizzard, especially since it became part of Vivendi, is nothing more then a mere shadow of what it once was.
Cheers
Have you actually compared the two directly?
It's very easy to say:
"Well XX game has added one continent and two new classes while the other game add XX and XX" when you don't have any actual hard numbers.
Do you have hard numbers on the exact amount of terrain added? Amount of skills added, both in terms of class skills and profession? The amount of items added in each expansion? The amount of quests? Text?
Cause this site is full of people who hate WoW, otherwise WoW woulda won.
We have a winner among the "may be right" guy/chick.
Hell i'm surprised WoW's votes being number 2.... Either it means not many on the site are active or that, some people actually aren't that spiteful as you might have thought, obviously when you look at the grand picture, it's still THE site to be on if you got mocked and bullied by blizzard people in your school days.
In the end, it doesn't matter who made the first milkshake, what matters is whose milkshake tastes better.
Cause this site is full of people who hate WoW, otherwise WoW woulda won.
You keep thinking that. I am sure it makes you feel better.
---------- "Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
1. LOTRO is qualified to win such award, especially, when most of other mmorpg does not perform so well. It's a well polishing game.
2. The graphics effect in LOTRO really caught something.
3. Turbine credibility is okay on the market. Not to mention Acheron's Call 1 or 2.
I think many people thought the best game should go to WOW instead. But you see, WOW do not need any award to make them even better because WOW is already the best of best.
Some people might think LOTRO lacks of contents, that's right, the content is really limited but the point is, there are many lifetime subscribers to play the game for free. Calculate the money you spent to play, one day, you will play LOTRO completely FREE. So the only way to make money from you again is next expansion pack. It's like member club, it's basic facility and free to use, if there is any new facility adds in the club, you gotta pay. If you are not a lifetime member then you may think you paid too much to use the Basic facility.
Conclusion, LOTRO is a quality game with very limited contents. The contents quanatity does not means repeatitive. It means how much playing hours for one character. Although you can create 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th characters, the point is all other characters still play on exact contents. Although there are difference race starting from different zone, but it don't matter because no matter where your starting point is but you still need to do all zones.
Different from WOW, you can fully develop your character at your starting point, but in LOTRO, you have to do everything, because that is the path of character buildup.
You don't obtain level point to put on the skill tree to buildup your capable character, the only way to buildup in LOTRO is complete quests and more quests, explore every inch on the map, explore hidden NPC to unlock next quest, kill numerous mobs, nearly every type of mobs in the game to gain trait so you can use it.
And, that is your character path. In the end, everyone turn out to have exactly the same stats, same armors, same weapons, same skills, even same face but the character name is yours.
To be honest i really don't pay attention to gamer polls on "Best game of <whatever>" i feel that most of them are largely inaccurate and consist of people with multiple accounts voting for whatever game they like the best.
Lotro won because it is the best relevant game of 2008. I voted for DAoC. With WAR out and the DAoC population dropping to almost nothing because of it, DAoC doesn't really have much relevance anymore (still the best game on the game list). I've renewed my subscription for DAoC and love playing. Even with the little population, Realm vs Realm is the best pvp in any game ever. Instead of the massive 100+ vs 100+ vs 50+(sorry Midgard), you now have 10 vs 10 vs 5 battles. This doesn't really take away from the game, just the feeling of you're in a massive war. DAoC is the best MMO of all time, always will be! Gamers have just dismissed it because it's considered old.
I stopped my subscription awhile back, but just realized why the heck am I running around game to game trying to look for something new, when what I've always wanted I had been playing for years. Finally I realized that fact and I'm back in DAoC
Originally posted by Sneakers05 Theres limited grouping, Most of the time theres no reason to group, all gear is craftable. It maybe have a good story but thats about it. It falls into the norm, how the hell did it win best game?
Well, what do you think should have won this year? What was your vote for?
I wouldn't say this site is full of WoW hates, but it most definately is full of people who have experienced more MMOs than just WoW, which isn't something most WoW players can say.
Add to the fact that WoW has had two major 'jump the shark' moments now (Arenas in TBC, easy PvE in WoTLK) that have annoyed lots of people into qutiting, and you can see why, here, on this site, it might not be seen as 'the best'.
The awards here boil down to which MMO has the happiest fans, and reflect little else, in all honesty.
I am a bit surprised it won since its a game that is targeted exclusively towards a limited section of the mmo player base, the casual roleplayers.
On the other hand it does its job extremely well. You can customize your appearance and clothing as much as you want, you can learn to play instruments and really play music in the game, you see house decoration contest bestween players and it got lots of story. Its also becomming big so explorers can have a merry time.
Its a good example of the way MMOs should go. Find a target audience and make a game that is perfect for that section of all MMO players so they become happy and loyal instead of making a general game that can only give a watered down experience for everyone. Darkfall (if it will work) belongs to this type of games too, limited target audience and then give them 100% what they want.
"You are the hero our legends have foretold will save our tribe, therefore please go kill 10 pigs."
LOTRO launched and FAILED to achieve any decent long term subscription rates (meaning above 200K subs these days).
I think LOTRO has more than 200k subs worldwide, nobody knows the number for sure. The game is a success in Turbine's eyes, they obviously have long-term plans for it.
Theres limited grouping, Most of the time theres no reason to group, all gear is craftable. It maybe have a good story but thats about it. It falls into the norm, how the hell did it win best game?
Lot of people would like to see more games that do not force you to group or raid.
LOTRO launched and FAILED to achieve any decent long term subscription rates (meaning above 200K subs these days).
I think LOTRO has more than 200k subs worldwide, nobody knows the number for sure. The game is a success in Turbine's eyes, they obviously have long-term plans for it.
Figures for Apr 2008. Subs were estimated for LOTRO on 170 K.
Since that point it slipped even further away in the summer on number of Xfire players. The expansion hardy brought 5% more Xfire players to the game.
The number of Xfire players shows it stays around 2400 to 2800 Xfire players, that's about 30 - 40 % less than War, which seems to level out at 250 K these days (other factor can be calculated like server numbers).
For LOTRO it is very simple: the same 11 EU servers as launch (only 5 English ones) and not fully populated for all.
Xfire gives not exact figures but used with the above study and ...
the fact it doesn't score in sales figures at all (see amazon PC sales), it is EXCLUDED the game reaches substantial subscriptions above 200K.
Servers based on fantasy games hold a maximum of 10 K sub players (not all logged in at once of course). So it all fits together.
-----
The game won because of 600 votes and Wow hate among the 5000 regular visitors on mmorpg.com. Nothing more - nothing less. But is a very bland PVE only game to base the future of MMO's on.
I am pretty sure his numbers are wrong for LOTRO and while Xfire is ok for seeing population trends to some degree but it is simply not usuable for esitmating population.
As for whether or not it copied WoW. It did exactly what what WoW did to EQ1. It made a game that is mostly similar and then refined a number of features. For example the raiding and gear progression of LOTRO was purposely tuned so that loot whores don't mess with the fanbase which among other things has lead to a happier fanbase. Same thing with crafting, they made it less of a joke as far as product is concerned. They altered how travel works. The flight from Moonglade to the Tauren captial was retardedly long towards no purpose. Turbine never inflicts 10 minute rides on people they added fast travel. Yet they also enforce normal "immersive" rides for many things and an unlock mechanism to negate the teleport all over the place at will problem.
Secondly anyone who believes that LOTRO has not added a number of features that other games did not or still do not have are being willfully blind. Just the ability to create outfits is a huge thing that WoW has not had for years. Add in housing and various other things. Turbine's games look much better than the other DIKU MMOs and they are the only DIKU MMO that supports DX10 having done so well before AoC.
All of which make the player base happy. They don't satisfy loot whores but things like the look of your character are extremely important to a lot of people. Take it from me I don't care much so I make sure I pay attention to other people's reactions to it. Its a big thing .
LOTRO are has clearly done a better job than WoW. And as far as what they did to make their game they did eactly what Blizzard did. Anyone calling them a WoW clone and then ignoring EQ1 is a dumbass. Anyone ignoring the fairly large number of features they have that other similar games have either declined to do or done not as well is being willfully blind. Yeah EQ2 has housing, but LOTRO's is better. WoW does not have housing. etc etc.
Comments
Then you sir, are blind... and deaf at that, I wouldn't doubt you have brain condition as well.
The differences are CLEARLY visible, from start to finish. Next time, play than post. Otherwise, go back to WoW or whatever you would prefer to play, and leave people alone.
The above quoted poster, the one listing LOTRO's differences and WoW seemed to... take inspirartion from, has a point. WoW does take pretty much any succesful feature and toss it in their game. It does fit nicely, yes, but they always get the credit. Until now. When the game that many things in the few newest patches have been taken from (mainly Achievements and Barber shops) is finally being recognized. Not to mention to begin WoW simply took a few doses of EQ, FFXI, and a few others, threw them together quite nicely and sold it. I see no originality in the game.
Granted LOTROs not perfect, and the combat system is similar to many games the questing is very different, having cutscenes and a very well crafted storyline. As well as having quite a few of the Book (Or story) quests instanced. Mainly those ones where you will run into people like Skorgrim. It really helps not having to sit around and wait for a respawn, trying to get it. It also helps it feel a bit more epic. Although it's not Guild Wars, don't get confused.
And I would have to say is that next expansion WoW will probably add housing (albeit making you pay 29.99USD to get it) and a dye system will probably be coming in the next big patch. The outfit system is obvious for it, although it doesn't seem as close as some other systems.
____________________________
Telthalion Rohircil - Guardian - Elemandir - Lord of The Rings Online
---
== RIP == Torey - Commando - Orion - Tabula Rasa == RIP ==
---
Jordaniel Torey - Navy Megathron, Active Armor Tank - Tranquility - EVE Online
---
Torey Scott - Rifleman - Fallen Earth
____________________________
"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but I know World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." - Albert Einstein
Because it is a pretty good game and it seems the expansion made the game more fun for people.
That's not true, LOTRO is an ac2 clone, like wow copy cat ac2.
LOTRO did in game voice chat WOW copy cat that.
LOTRO did deed's and titles, WOW copy cat that.
LOTRO has barber shops WOW copy cat that.
many other things WOW didn't had time to clone yet like:
Housing.
Dye system
Music
Legendary Items.
Outfit system.
Moria
Aside from all of these things were already in MMO's well before Lotro came around.
Also, Asherons Call focus was having player having minimal interaction with NPC's, while WoW is the other way around. WoW was one of the first MMORPG's to truly nail a casual MMORPG gaming experience which is nearly 100% directed by quests, and it's that aspect that other mmorpg's such as Lotro try to copy.
World of Warcraft was one of the first mmorpg's where the game directs the player nearly every step of the way. It's this core mechanic that WoW Nailed and Lotro imitates.
Originally posted by Papadam
Originally posted by Gameloading
Lotro cloned World of Warcraft, but because Lotro isn't as mainstream it isn't hated by the "I'm different if I hate the game everyone else is playing" that WoW suffers from.
Hence, Lotro won.
If LotrO was indeed a "WoW clone" wouldnt people hate it even more than the original?
Scary to see someone so bitter about another game winning a readers vote...
Uhm..No? The reason why people hate WoW so much is because it's so popular. There is always a huge amount of hate for something that's popular. WoW is no different
Have you actually read any D&D fiction? - I'd take the Dragonlance series (for one) over Lord of the Rings any day. Lord of the Rings is a great world, it makes for a great game and good movies, but it's one hell of a tedious read...And many readers would take exception to your description of Tolkien as 'one of the best fantasy writers'.
The reason it won is because the game went from an OK game at release to a well polished, MUCH added content(free mind you)game a year later. Basically, that's it. No other company has matched Turbine on its content updates and improvements to the game in a little over a year, top it off with an incredible expansion, I can't wait to see what this game will look like, going at this same pace, in another year.
If WoW had published free content like LOTRO, it probably would be voted the better game, but we all know Blizzard has a horrible content delivery track record.
Personally, I'm enjoying LOTRO and FFXI more now than I ever have. Here's to the older games making some waves!
Exactly,
Blizzard has turned itself into nothing more then a greedy company.
They earn billions of dollars a year on WoW alone. They have all the resources many a studio could wish for and dream about.
Yet it takes them 2 years to come up with an expansion. And it contains what? A new continent and a ONE SINGLE Hero class. LOL!
How come Turbine only needed a year to develop and launch an excellent expansion pack like Mines of Moria. Contains just as much content, maybe more even (as Moria IS HUGE), A legendary weapon system and TWO NEW classes!
Seriously... it just takes a gamer with actual brains to figure out why LOTRO won the best game overal of 2008.
Every gamer with a brain knows by now that Blizzard is just ripping you off with WoW and just delivers the bare minimum possible for maximum profit!
Every gamer with a brain knows that Blizzard can do so much better when it comes to Free content updates and expansion packs!
Blizzard, especially since it became part of Vivendi, is nothing more then a mere shadow of what it once was.
Cheers
So many MMO players hate MMO's. I think they've played them too long, and now have unrealistic expectations of what an MMO can or should do. If you want more detailed, involved quests to play through with friends, get NWN. If you want some MMO flavor, but primarily want to do instances get DDO or GW. PvP? a lot of games offer that in different incarnations. If none of these things interest you then just get single player games like Morrowind or Oblivion. If you are still bitching, it means you just like to bitch and don't even really enjoy video games.
A/V Nerd-
Onkyo TX-SR706b receiver
(2)Klipsch RF-35
(1)Klipsch RC-35
(2)Klipsch RS-42
(2)Polk R15
(1)Premier Acoustic PA-10 sub
Agreed.
Fail.
1) Not all gear is crafted.
2) Grouping is now the basis of determining whether an mmo is good or not?
Bye. That's all the time I feel I want to waste in this thread.
Exactly,
Blizzard has turned itself into nothing more then a greedy company.
They earn billions of dollars a year on WoW alone. They have all the resources many a studio could wish for and dream about.
Yet it takes them 2 years to come up with an expansion. And it contains what? A new continent and a ONE SINGLE Hero class. LOL!
How come Turbine only needed a year to develop and launch an excellent expansion pack like Mines of Moria. Contains just as much content, maybe more even (as Moria IS HUGE), A legendary weapon system and TWO NEW classes!
Seriously... it just takes a gamer with actual brains to figure out why LOTRO won the best game overal of 2008.
Every gamer with a brain knows by now that Blizzard is just ripping you off with WoW and just delivers the bare minimum possible for maximum profit!
Every gamer with a brain knows that Blizzard can do so much better when it comes to Free content updates and expansion packs!
Blizzard, especially since it became part of Vivendi, is nothing more then a mere shadow of what it once was.
Cheers
Have you actually compared the two directly?
It's very easy to say:
"Well XX game has added one continent and two new classes while the other game add XX and XX" when you don't have any actual hard numbers.
Do you have hard numbers on the exact amount of terrain added? Amount of skills added, both in terms of class skills and profession? The amount of items added in each expansion? The amount of quests? Text?
We have a winner among the "may be right" guy/chick.
Hell i'm surprised WoW's votes being number 2.... Either it means not many on the site are active or that, some people actually aren't that spiteful as you might have thought, obviously when you look at the grand picture, it's still THE site to be on if you got mocked and bullied by blizzard people in your school days.
In the end, it doesn't matter who made the first milkshake, what matters is whose milkshake tastes better.
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
You keep thinking that. I am sure it makes you feel better.
----------
"Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"No, your wrong.." - Random user #123
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
How are you?" -Me
My opinions about the subject are:
1. LOTRO is qualified to win such award, especially, when most of other mmorpg does not perform so well. It's a well polishing game.
2. The graphics effect in LOTRO really caught something.
3. Turbine credibility is okay on the market. Not to mention Acheron's Call 1 or 2.
I think many people thought the best game should go to WOW instead. But you see, WOW do not need any award to make them even better because WOW is already the best of best.
Some people might think LOTRO lacks of contents, that's right, the content is really limited but the point is, there are many lifetime subscribers to play the game for free. Calculate the money you spent to play, one day, you will play LOTRO completely FREE. So the only way to make money from you again is next expansion pack. It's like member club, it's basic facility and free to use, if there is any new facility adds in the club, you gotta pay. If you are not a lifetime member then you may think you paid too much to use the Basic facility.
Conclusion, LOTRO is a quality game with very limited contents. The contents quanatity does not means repeatitive. It means how much playing hours for one character. Although you can create 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th characters, the point is all other characters still play on exact contents. Although there are difference race starting from different zone, but it don't matter because no matter where your starting point is but you still need to do all zones.
Different from WOW, you can fully develop your character at your starting point, but in LOTRO, you have to do everything, because that is the path of character buildup.
You don't obtain level point to put on the skill tree to buildup your capable character, the only way to buildup in LOTRO is complete quests and more quests, explore every inch on the map, explore hidden NPC to unlock next quest, kill numerous mobs, nearly every type of mobs in the game to gain trait so you can use it.
And, that is your character path. In the end, everyone turn out to have exactly the same stats, same armors, same weapons, same skills, even same face but the character name is yours.
All and all, it's just another brick on the wall.
To be honest i really don't pay attention to gamer polls on "Best game of <whatever>" i feel that most of them are largely inaccurate and consist of people with multiple accounts voting for whatever game they like the best.
And yes, my tin-foil hat is on nice and snug.
I play what i like, you know?
in the end, it doesn't matter who made the first milkshake, what matters is whose milkshake tastes better.
someone has the right idea here.
amongst mmos fans who have played a number of mmos, they just like LOTRO more is all. Can't say I'm a fan of it tho.
Lotro won because it is the best relevant game of 2008. I voted for DAoC. With WAR out and the DAoC population dropping to almost nothing because of it, DAoC doesn't really have much relevance anymore (still the best game on the game list). I've renewed my subscription for DAoC and love playing. Even with the little population, Realm vs Realm is the best pvp in any game ever. Instead of the massive 100+ vs 100+ vs 50+(sorry Midgard), you now have 10 vs 10 vs 5 battles. This doesn't really take away from the game, just the feeling of you're in a massive war. DAoC is the best MMO of all time, always will be! Gamers have just dismissed it because it's considered old.
I stopped my subscription awhile back, but just realized why the heck am I running around game to game trying to look for something new, when what I've always wanted I had been playing for years. Finally I realized that fact and I'm back in DAoC
Well, what do you think should have won this year? What was your vote for?
"TO MICHAEL!"
I'm not surprised WoW didn't win.
I wouldn't say this site is full of WoW hates, but it most definately is full of people who have experienced more MMOs than just WoW, which isn't something most WoW players can say.
Add to the fact that WoW has had two major 'jump the shark' moments now (Arenas in TBC, easy PvE in WoTLK) that have annoyed lots of people into qutiting, and you can see why, here, on this site, it might not be seen as 'the best'.
The awards here boil down to which MMO has the happiest fans, and reflect little else, in all honesty.
I think its probably second best, so its winning is OK with me.
Grymm
MMO addict in recovery!
EQ,SWG preCU,L2,EQ2,GW,CoH/CoV,V:SOH,
Aion,AoC,TR,WAR,EVE,BP,RIFT,WoW and others... no more!
I am a bit surprised it won since its a game that is targeted exclusively towards a limited section of the mmo player base, the casual roleplayers.
On the other hand it does its job extremely well. You can customize your appearance and clothing as much as you want, you can learn to play instruments and really play music in the game, you see house decoration contest bestween players and it got lots of story. Its also becomming big so explorers can have a merry time.
Its a good example of the way MMOs should go. Find a target audience and make a game that is perfect for that section of all MMO players so they become happy and loyal instead of making a general game that can only give a watered down experience for everyone. Darkfall (if it will work) belongs to this type of games too, limited target audience and then give them 100% what they want.
"You are the hero our legends have foretold will save our tribe, therefore please go kill 10 pigs."
I think LOTRO has more than 200k subs worldwide, nobody knows the number for sure. The game is a success in Turbine's eyes, they obviously have long-term plans for it.
I tried this game out twice. I thought it was a pure POS.
It ran like complete crap even on my high end system... and the graphics are HIGHLY overrated
Lot of people would like to see more games that do not force you to group or raid.
I think LOTRO has more than 200k subs worldwide, nobody knows the number for sure. The game is a success in Turbine's eyes, they obviously have long-term plans for it.
http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart7.html
Figures for Apr 2008. Subs were estimated for LOTRO on 170 K.
Since that point it slipped even further away in the summer on number of Xfire players. The expansion hardy brought 5% more Xfire players to the game.
The number of Xfire players shows it stays around 2400 to 2800 Xfire players, that's about 30 - 40 % less than War, which seems to level out at 250 K these days (other factor can be calculated like server numbers).
For LOTRO it is very simple: the same 11 EU servers as launch (only 5 English ones) and not fully populated for all.
Xfire gives not exact figures but used with the above study and ...
the fact it doesn't score in sales figures at all (see amazon PC sales), it is EXCLUDED the game reaches substantial subscriptions above 200K.
Servers based on fantasy games hold a maximum of 10 K sub players (not all logged in at once of course). So it all fits together.
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The game won because of 600 votes and Wow hate among the 5000 regular visitors on mmorpg.com. Nothing more - nothing less. But is a very bland PVE only game to base the future of MMO's on.
I am pretty sure his numbers are wrong for LOTRO and while Xfire is ok for seeing population trends to some degree but it is simply not usuable for esitmating population.
As for whether or not it copied WoW. It did exactly what what WoW did to EQ1. It made a game that is mostly similar and then refined a number of features. For example the raiding and gear progression of LOTRO was purposely tuned so that loot whores don't mess with the fanbase which among other things has lead to a happier fanbase. Same thing with crafting, they made it less of a joke as far as product is concerned. They altered how travel works. The flight from Moonglade to the Tauren captial was retardedly long towards no purpose. Turbine never inflicts 10 minute rides on people they added fast travel. Yet they also enforce normal "immersive" rides for many things and an unlock mechanism to negate the teleport all over the place at will problem.
Secondly anyone who believes that LOTRO has not added a number of features that other games did not or still do not have are being willfully blind. Just the ability to create outfits is a huge thing that WoW has not had for years. Add in housing and various other things. Turbine's games look much better than the other DIKU MMOs and they are the only DIKU MMO that supports DX10 having done so well before AoC.
All of which make the player base happy. They don't satisfy loot whores but things like the look of your character are extremely important to a lot of people. Take it from me I don't care much so I make sure I pay attention to other people's reactions to it. Its a big thing .
LOTRO are has clearly done a better job than WoW. And as far as what they did to make their game they did eactly what Blizzard did. Anyone calling them a WoW clone and then ignoring EQ1 is a dumbass. Anyone ignoring the fairly large number of features they have that other similar games have either declined to do or done not as well is being willfully blind. Yeah EQ2 has housing, but LOTRO's is better. WoW does not have housing. etc etc.