Casual Play

Diazo1

Hey Guys n Gals

 

Simple question, is it possible for me to totally enjoy this game as a casual gamer, I have lots of real life commitments such as my daughter and a long hours full time job which takes up my time but i can spare the odd few hours here and there each week. I briefly played the game a long time ago and loved the feel, atmosphere look etc. The game was for me what MMOs where all about. I have noticed they have made things easier now leveling wise.

So i guess will it be possible for me to enjoy this game as a casual player or will i really have to go some, i dont intend to be hte highest level in the game i know thatll never be possible. But i just wanna get into something i can enjoy again. WoW never really did it for me, before this i played Legend of mir2 for years and really loved the feel of the community!!

Panther2103

Well you might find fun in that. If you don't mind knowing you won't get a very high of a level at all. But if you get into a clan of very nice people, I'm sure you can find people to level with and have a lot of fun doing it. There's always a lot of people on around every level now that they merged the servers. I see groups in the group finder looking for people all the time, usually high levels but sometimes I see low levels.

jellcr

Yeah you should be fine. I went from playing 30-40 hours a week to maybe 5-10 and was fine when RL picked up. It's a good game to clear some stress on and relax for a bit. Have fun

Blupp

Personally I wouldnt recommend this game to casual players. We are all different, some may manage it some wont. I wasnt able to keep it on a casual basis, I got addicted and some of my IRL suffered a bit. It all about what person you are. But I think its wise to raise a warning. Before you know it the world of Lineage might be more real to you than the real world. Ive hopefully quit for good this time. Without family, much friends this is a real sweet game. Try it and quit if you feel you cant handle it.

 

Good luck!

GoldenDog

The game does require a large commitment if you're competitive and plan on becomming a substantial benefit to your clan/alliance.

 

The game also promotes a competitive nature.  

 

It's highly gear driven and obtaining the gear can be costly and time-consuming.  Without the gear you will feel inadequate towards pvp.

 

I gave up Lineage 2 (as a casual player) to play games more driven by skill.  I simply felt like the time spent within the world (while enjoyable) was too consuming for the payoff.  I decided to spend more time with my family and moved on to ... well at the moment only single-player games with a multiplayer element.  Like Portal 2, Starcraft 2.

 

I am looking forward to Star Wars the Old Republic because it would appear to be like a Single-player RPG with the added option of using your character to run group content with friends.  But hopefully the race to the top won't be so engrossing because there's so much focus on story.

 

In lineage 2, it felt like the only driving factor was that race to the top where you wanted to be one-shotting all of the other players and literally the hero of Aden.  When I played it there was little story and it was all social funtion.  In such a social environment, you want to be useful and feel like you have an impact on the battlefield.  Against high level characters, you won't have an impact until you yourself are that high.  The level gap makes a huge difference in effectiveness.  Getting through that gap takes a lot of gear.  Getting the gear takes a lot of farming (for either adena or materials).

 

If you get into a great clan / alliance, they will give you the gear to power level yourself.  Though gaining levels quickly will mean you are short on cash when you get to the point you need to purchase your own gear as you didn't spend the expected amount of time to obtain those levels through farming.  You'll be farming difficult monsters for more XP which will level more quickly with fewer drops.

 

My suggestion for a first character would be one to either spoil materials or be able to farm AoE.  That way you can farm effectively when you do get the levels.  The main points here are:

1. The right clan is everything.  You cannot solo the game in any adeqate time frame.  

2. Playiing for an hour here and there will not farm you the stuff you need to advance without a lot of weeks / months.  Most farming parties last hours of killing the same area repeatedly.  Vent and entertaining friends is all that gets you through it.  Seiges are the payoff for your time investment, but you won't be effective for a long time.  You'll hit the high level players for almost no damage and none of your skills will land.

 

The music and artwork are great though.

Lyngton

I played it back when I didn't have any commitments and so was able to spend all the time I wanted playing the game. Only when the game became sort of a lifestyle (5-10hrs a day) did I feel the game opened up to me.

In regards to the community, I have no idea where it's at nowadays. Back in 08 and earlier it was all right, I guess. Massive amounts of bots and drama was the baseline, then anything noteworthy beyond that stemmed from interaction with friends and clannies. Overall it wasn't bad, but it's the most drama-filled game (apart from EVE) I've ever played. So if drama is your thing, you'll probably find it in heaps in L2!

It's really a shame that it's so grindy -- as the game, though dated, has very memorable visuals and atmosphere. It's one of those games that I'll remember when I'm 90 years old because of all the nostalgia

I heard it's being transformed in the next update. I don't know how extensive the changes are, but it's possible the "L2 feeling" will be compromized. I'm just talking out of my a** in regards to this, though. So you'll just have to figure that one out yourself