Wow is on the decline and LotRO is just beginning. LotRO is very noob friendly. LotRO is a PVE quest driven game that does not require grouping till much later in the game.
I would preorder LotRO and get in on the founders deal so you only have to pay $9.99 a month. Thats a good deal.
WoW on the decline? In which world? Because not in this one.
For new MMORPG players, WoW, definitly.How old is WoW? How many people are posting on these very forums that they are bored of Wow? It happens in every game. Do not be shocked. People get bored and move on. You don't need to get defensive about it.Shall we look at the facts?
Blizzard GAINED 500k subscribers in just 2 months. Despite popular belief on anti - WoW forums such as this one, WoW is not declining. WoW is growing. in fact, WoW is growing faster then ever. If you count all the "I'm quiting!" posts on this forum, then you still won't even have 1000 posters.
I'm not defensive, I'm simply tired of people making things up and spreading silly rumors instead of looking at the facts.
They haven't released any updated NA numbers though.
So for NA players the population could possibly be declining. We don't know. But it definitely is funny that more and more people are saying that people are leaving the game. It doesn't seem to be just a few anti-WoW people or sites either. You see the posts everywhere about servers wanting transfers due to their population being low, players posting that they got burnt out and have quit, people posting that their guild has left the game, people posting that a lot of players have left the game, etc.
So while we do know that the overall population of WoW is still growing, we do not know if the population in NA is growing or Declining.
Currently playing: LOTRO & WoW (not much WoW though because Mines of Moria rocks!!!!)
Looking Foward too: Bioware games (Dragon Age & Star Wars The Old Republic)
Oh and to answer the OP. Try out the free Trial of World of Warcraft, but make sure you choose a newer server as the older servers are impossible to enjoy (as there are established raiding guilds who don't let new players in and would rather recruit transfers who have gear already). Then make sure you try the open beta of Lord of The Rings online as well. You can get a key from numerous places. Then make an informed decision based on your own opinions.
Some of my personal opinons:
LOTRO - is more casual in the endgame, WoW still has an extremely time intensive endgame. Even with their new expansion you must devote a ton of time to doing instances to get keyed for the following instances to do heroic modes to get keyed for the next instance to finally get to the final instance.
WoW - is easier to pick up and learn.
LOTRO - is newer and has more hype currently since it is new.
WoW - has the larger population, but currently that is a moot point since LOTRO is still in beta and we have no idea what the retail population will be.
WoW will run on older systems as well, so if your PC isn't very good WoW is the better choice.
Finally I think LOTRO's Player Vs Monster PVP system is better balanced then World of Warcraft's PVP system. In WoW if you do not have the best gear then forget beating some one who does. The difference in ability is massive depending on gear. A player in the best raid gear can kill multiple players in average gear.
Currently playing: LOTRO & WoW (not much WoW though because Mines of Moria rocks!!!!)
Looking Foward too: Bioware games (Dragon Age & Star Wars The Old Republic)
OP: Since you are from UK (or at least wrote so to your location info), If you want to test WoW you can find WoW trial from teaser.wow-europe.com (EU version), and EU version doesn't seem to have any real problems about population decreasing atm.
I would personnally go with LoTR'sO, for reasons of it being a fun game and new (and take it from me mmo's are alot more fun when they first come out everyone is around the same lv noone knows whats going on ect.), do what others have said though check out the trials/betas
Daoc is very fun also but the new games are all coping its style so probably just better to get a newer one expeshally considering that daoc has been going forever now and would be hard to find lower lv groups and its a group game btw
as far as free mmo's go non are that good, if you are to get into free ones go with a UO emulator those are fun sence its more of a pay to play game thats been converted to a free one, to do that goto the uo site and download the free trial then search for UOGateway that program will let you connect to free servers and not OSI's pay to play ones... UO is my personnal favorite mmorpg of all time, although its not newbie friendly at all it has a very high learning curve and can be downright frustrating at times but when you start to really get into it, it can and is the best imo...
"Sticking with what works doesn't make good games, it remakes them, I quit playing that a while ago. After all, no artist got anywhere from repainting the Mona Lisa as a black women in a white dress...
It's about the paintin man, it's about the paintin..." -Goply
Finally I think LOTRO's Player Vs Monster PVP system is better balanced then World of Warcraft's PVP system. In WoW if you do not have the best gear then forget beating some one who does. The difference in ability is massive depending on gear. A player in the best raid gear can kill multiple players in average gear.
After the release of Burning Crusade the diffirence between equipments was redused, so even tough the fights are still far from being equal, the situation isn't that bad any more. Plus one can get a gear wich should be equal to best raid gear from just doing PvP (in arena team).
If you want to PvP I'd suggest WoW over Lotro, because altough neither is good game for one who wants to PvP, Lotro is focusing even more heavily on PvE than WoW is. E: Actually, if you want to play mostly against other players, not computer controlled enemies, don't choose either of them. If you want to PvP you could test Guild Wars, it's more PvP centered and there are no monthly fees.
Finally I think LOTRO's Player Vs Monster PVP system is better balanced then World of Warcraft's PVP system. In WoW if you do not have the best gear then forget beating some one who does. The difference in ability is massive depending on gear. A player in the best raid gear can kill multiple players in average gear.
After the release of Burning Crusade the diffirence between equipments was redused, so even tough the fights are still far from being equal, the situation isn't that bad any more. Plus one can get a gear wich should be equal to best raid gear from just doing PvP (in arena team).
If you want to PvP I'd suggest WoW over Lotro, because altough neither is good game for one who wants to PvP, Lotro is focusing even more heavily on PvE than WoW is. E: Actually, if you want to play mostly against other players, not computer controlled enemies, don't choose either of them. If you want to PvP you could test Guild Wars, it's more PvP centered and there are no monthly fees.
The disparity hasn't been fixed. The only way it can be fixed is if they do gear matching in the BGs. Since they haven't implemented this there is still a great disparity in the gear and gear is king in PVP in WoW.
Currently playing: LOTRO & WoW (not much WoW though because Mines of Moria rocks!!!!)
Looking Foward too: Bioware games (Dragon Age & Star Wars The Old Republic)
Originally posted by Cabe2323 The disparity hasn't been fixed. The only way it can be fixed is if they do gear matching in the BGs. Since they haven't implemented this there is still a great disparity in the gear and gear is king in PVP in WoW.
They are adding gear-matching in the BGs. It's also becoming increasingly easier to get a set of "OMG EPIXX" that people keep complaining about.
Just don't run headlong into a group of 6 and wonder why nobody tried to help, and you'll be okay.
Wow is on the decline and LotRO is just beginning. LotRO is very noob friendly. LotRO is a PVE quest driven game that does not require grouping till much later in the game.
I would preorder LotRO and get in on the founders deal so you only have to pay $9.99 a month. Thats a good deal.
WoW on the decline? In which world? Because not in this one.
For new MMORPG players, WoW, definitly.How old is WoW? How many people are posting on these very forums that they are bored of Wow? It happens in every game. Do not be shocked. People get bored and move on. You don't need to get defensive about it.Shall we look at the facts?
Blizzard GAINED 500k subscribers in just 2 months. Despite popular belief on anti - WoW forums such as this one, WoW is not declining. WoW is growing. in fact, WoW is growing faster then ever. If you count all the "I'm quiting!" posts on this forum, then you still won't even have 1000 posters.
I'm not defensive, I'm simply tired of people making things up and spreading silly rumors instead of looking at the facts.
They haven't released any updated NA numbers though.
So for NA players the population could possibly be declining. We don't know. But it definitely is funny that more and more people are saying that people are leaving the game. It doesn't seem to be just a few anti-WoW people or sites either. You see the posts everywhere about servers wanting transfers due to their population being low, players posting that they got burnt out and have quit, people posting that their guild has left the game, people posting that a lot of players have left the game, etc.
So while we do know that the overall population of WoW is still growing, we do not know if the population in NA is growing or Declining.
Very unlikely. World of Warcraft has grown in NA over the past 2 years non-stop, there is no slightl hint that the game is declining. The fact that the game sold 3,5 expansions in the NA and EU regions alone in the first month is evidence enough WoW is anything but declining. The first press release states the game has 1.5 million subscribers in Europe. the second press release states that the Burning Crusade sold 1.6 million copies. thats copies in the first month, not subscribers. so the actual number of players in europe is much higher and is in fact, growing, not declining. EU and NA have always been 2 very similar markets in the mmorpg genre, there is no reason to believe the NA version is declining.
The game has 2,5 million subscribers in NA alone, ofcourse your going to see a lot "I'm quitting!" posts. People come and people leave. But as I said before, if you try really hard and count all the "I'm quitting!" posts you can find, you will barely reach 0,1% of the total playerbase.
I would try and get into the LOTR beta and play that it really is a fun game to play if you read the books or watched the movie, WoW gets old fast plus it's going to die by the end of the year when AoC and WAR come out. Go for LORT.
Wow is on the decline and LotRO is just beginning. LotRO is very noob friendly. LotRO is a PVE quest driven game that does not require grouping till much later in the game.
I would preorder LotRO and get in on the founders deal so you only have to pay $9.99 a month. Thats a good deal.
WoW on the decline? In which world? Because not in this one.
For new MMORPG players, WoW, definitly.How old is WoW? How many people are posting on these very forums that they are bored of Wow? It happens in every game. Do not be shocked. People get bored and move on. You don't need to get defensive about it.Shall we look at the facts?
Blizzard GAINED 500k subscribers in just 2 months. Despite popular belief on anti - WoW forums such as this one, WoW is not declining. WoW is growing. in fact, WoW is growing faster then ever. If you count all the "I'm quiting!" posts on this forum, then you still won't even have 1000 posters.
I'm not defensive, I'm simply tired of people making things up and spreading silly rumors instead of looking at the facts.
They haven't released any updated NA numbers though.
So for NA players the population could possibly be declining. We don't know. But it definitely is funny that more and more people are saying that people are leaving the game. It doesn't seem to be just a few anti-WoW people or sites either. You see the posts everywhere about servers wanting transfers due to their population being low, players posting that they got burnt out and have quit, people posting that their guild has left the game, people posting that a lot of players have left the game, etc.
So while we do know that the overall population of WoW is still growing, we do not know if the population in NA is growing or Declining.
Very unlikely. World of Warcraft has grown in NA over the past 2 years non-stop, there is no slightl hint that the game is declining. The fact that the game sold 3,5 expansions in the NA and EU regions alone in the first month is evidence enough WoW is anything but declining. The first press release states the game has 1.5 million subscribers in Europe. the second press release states that the Burning Crusade sold 1.6 million copies. thats copies in the first month, not subscribers. so the actual number of players in europe is much higher and is in fact, growing, not declining. EU and NA have always been 2 very similar markets in the mmorpg genre, there is no reason to believe the NA version is declining.
The game has 2,5 million subscribers in NA alone, ofcourse your going to see a lot "I'm quitting!" posts. People come and people leave. But as I said before, if you try really hard and count all the "I'm quitting!" posts you can find, you will barely reach 0,1% of the total playerbase.
All I am saying is until Blizzard releases updated NA numbers we have no idea.
An Educated guess though would say that they haven't increased their numbers in NA or that the numbers have decreased though. Since they have released updated EU numbers showing an increase, but have not released any updated NA numbers. Usually no news is bad news when it comes to advertising.
****Also there is no reason for this to become another back and forth. Like I said all I am saying is that we don't know how the population of the NA servers are doing. Until an Official Release comes from Blizzard saying what their current numbers are, all we have is guesses.****
Currently playing: LOTRO & WoW (not much WoW though because Mines of Moria rocks!!!!)
Looking Foward too: Bioware games (Dragon Age & Star Wars The Old Republic)
just found out MMOs are quite nice but cant figure out which one to play coz I just got internet recently. My fellows told me bout WoW or Eve online but I am not sure it is easy to start with. Any suggestions?
Definately don't start with EvE. It's really a very complex MMO even for people with MMO experience.
And WoW is definately one of the easier MMO's to play, but there is still a lot of complexity to it as well. If you really want something simple to just get an idea of what an MMO is like, I would suggest you try City of Heroes/City of Villains. It strips MMO's down to the bare basics and it's still a lot of fun. No crafting. No equipment. No inventory. But you still have combat, group dynamics, quests, level progression, chat screens, navigation and so on which are the basic building blocks of all other MMO's.
You'll get a good feel for what an MMO is like without ever having to consult a strategy guide or an online resource to figure out where to go or what to do next. It's so simple my 6 year old grandson can play.
To the OP, could you list the type of single player games you commonly like? Do you prefer the slower methodical gameplay that comes with rpgs and turnbased strategy games or the faster more reactive gameplay of fps, fighting and adventure games?
If you prefer slower gameplay then to a degree "World of Warcraft" and "LoTR Online" are acceptable. They can be played slowly since they sort of follow rpg mechanics but in reality they are far more reactive in general if you try to maximize your game play.
If you prefer faster games period then look into "Gods and Heroes" or "The Chronicles of Spellborn". Gods and Heros is a squad based game and if you played games like Mechcommander or Star Wars Republic Commandos you'll know how engrossing managing multiple units can be. Spellborn itself is an fps game with a sword and sorcery bent.
Are you a graphics whore and if so what are you system specs?
If you love graphics TCoS is the best followed by LOTRO, GnH and dead last WoW.
But from my observations LOTRO is dead last when you consider other things that enhance graphics such as sound and animations. The atmospheric effects in WoW are pretty cool while I find LOTRO to be quaint but fitting with the backgroun material. The animations in Gods and Heros simply blows away all the other games but TCoS offsets that with better special effects and better sound (which you can sample). WoW is an older game so by default it has weaker graphics but the art direction is very nice. You said you like bright colors and WoW and Gods and Heros fits this requirement the best.
Originally posted by gpett Wow is on the decline and LotRO is just beginning. .
Maybe wow is on a decline or not but you have no proof. Only two months ago I thought wow would actually start losing subscribers after tbc has been played for a couple of months and I never thought before the expansion came out it would grow beyond its 8 million mark in any significant way. They proved me wrong when they announced reaching 8.5 million active accounts and it might prove us wrong with tbc.
FYI LOTRO aquired its noobfriendly reputation because of stres test beta. Mobs at that time were very easy. They cranked up the difficulty by a lot. It's no more different than wow interms
[edit]
The disparity hasn't been fixed. The only way it can be fixed is if they do gear matching in the BGs. Since they haven't implemented this there is still a great disparity in the gear and gear is king in PVP in WoW.
The disparity has been fixed. Gear matching is being implemented because of twinks steamrolling players who are new to a server or the game and only for that reason.
To the OP, could you list the type of single player games you commonly like? Do you prefer the slower methodical gameplay that comes with rpgs and turnbased strategy games or the faster more reactive gameplay of fps, fighting and adventure games? If you prefer slower gameplay then to a degree "World of Warcraft" and "LoTR Online" are acceptable. They can be played slowly since they sort of follow rpg mechanics but in reality they are far more reactive in general if you try to maximize your game play. If you prefer faster games period then look into "Gods and Heroes" or "The Chronicles of Spellborn". Gods and Heros is a squad based game and if you played games like Mechcommander or Star Wars Republic Commandos you'll know how engrossing managing multiple units can be. Spellborn itself is an fps game with a sword and sorcery bent.
Are you a graphics whore and if so what are you system specs? If you love graphics TCoS is the best followed by LOTRO, GnH and dead last WoW. But from my observations LOTRO is dead last when you consider other things that enhance graphics such as sound and animations. The atmospheric effects in WoW are pretty cool while I find LOTRO to be quaint but fitting with the backgroun material. The animations in Gods and Heros simply blows away all the other games but TCoS offsets that with better special effects and better sound (which you can sample). WoW is an older game so by default it has weaker graphics but the art direction is very nice. You said you like bright colors and WoW and Gods and Heros fits this requirement the best.
Originally posted by gpett
Wow is on the decline and LotRO is just beginning. .
Maybe wow is on a decline or not but you have no proof. Only two months ago I thought wow would actually start losing subscribers after tbc has been played for a couple of months and I never thought before the expansion came out it would grow beyond its 8 million mark in any significant way. They proved me wrong when they announced reaching 8.5 million active accounts and it might prove us wrong with tbc.
FYI LOTRO aquired its noobfriendly reputation because of stres test beta. Mobs at that time were very easy. They cranked up the difficulty by a lot. It's no more different than wow interms
[edit]
The disparity hasn't been fixed. The only way it can be fixed is if they do gear matching in the BGs. Since they haven't implemented this there is still a great disparity in the gear and gear is king in PVP in WoW.
The disparity has been fixed. Gear matching is being implemented because of twinks steamrolling players who are new to a server or the game and only for that reason.
Until you can get equivalent gear from doing the first 5 man dungeons and from the normal quests then no the disparity hasn't been fixed.
And has Blizzard put out an official word on gear matching? If not then it is still a rumor.
Currently playing: LOTRO & WoW (not much WoW though because Mines of Moria rocks!!!!)
Looking Foward too: Bioware games (Dragon Age & Star Wars The Old Republic)
Some 5 man gear already matches raid gear. Not much but it exists. Blizzard has said certain mistakes were made in that regard so we'll see later on how that pans out. Regardless pvp rewards are comparable to raiding rewards which was what the more vocal players were demanding for to begin with.
Originally posted by Antipathy Originally posted by xpowderx Beginner MMO, WOW is by far the most noobish of MMOs. My 5 year old son can play my hunter for me. Really easy game if you are new. For us who have played various mmos WOW is the E-Z mode mmo of all time.
Yep - it's easy to play a bad hunter in easy mode. Any hunter can chain pull green mobs and let the pet do most of the work as the XP rolls in. But there's more to playing a hunter than that.
Just out of curiosity, which of the following hunter roles has your five year old mastered:
- Safely pulling enemies in dangerous territory using tracking skills and feign death whilst minimising risk to fellow party members
- Protecting weakly armoured fellow party members (such as healers) from mobs when the tank loses aggro
- Chain trapping in order to crowd control elite opponents.
- Successfully killing high level elite opponents by means of kiting
- Killing experienced PvP melee opponents such as warriors and paladins 1 v 1 by means of kiting.
- Executing a jump-shot (allows shooting backwards on the run if done right).
- Defending a flag single handed in WSG against repeated capture attempts by enemy rogues (without time to fully recover from one fight before the next rogue turns up)
Playing a poor hunter is easy. There are an awful lot of them around. However playing a good hunter is just as challenging, if not more so, than any other class.
I have to agree. Then again the hunter class tends to attract the crappiest players in WoW. I've only meet a few hunters who I respect and who seem to know the game. Of course I've meet a ton more of crappy hunters who don't know their class and how to control their pets.
I'd like to see this guy do a 2 fire lord pull in MC using the feign death technique and only have one come.
Games I've played/tried out:WAR, LOTRO, Tabula Rasa, AoC, EQ1, EQ2, WoW, Vangaurd, FFXI, D&DO, Lineage 2, Saga Of Ryzom, EvE Online, DAoC, Guild Wars,Star Wars Galaxies, Hell Gate London, Auto Assault, Grando Espada ( AKA SoTNW ), Archlord, CoV/H, Star Trek Online, APB, Champions Online, FFXIV, Rift Online, GW2.
I recently tried EvE online and I can honestly say as an MMO veteran, this game is NOT IN THE SLIGHTEST BIT noob friendly. I gave up because it was just overwhelming, endless and complicated tutorials. Yeah, do not start with EVE, you may just ruin your MMO life forever by starting with it.
I would recommend LOTRO at this point over WoW, it is very new-comer friendly and quite fun. It is a great looking game that's well polished and garnering a lot of positive buzz. And it also has the benefit of being new andfresh. Trust me, this is the way to go.
But, I also HIGHLY recommend WoW. It's a couple years old but it's the current king, over 8.5 million subscriptions. Definitely built for new-comers and MMO vets alike.
Definitely do not go for EVE. It is not noob friendly. Most players are not noob friendly either, and will try any possible way to kill a noob. EVE has the potential to ruin your MMO agme experience for life. I have seen this happen to experienced MMO players, not just MMO noobs.
Secondly if you are not into PvP then do not consider it. EVE is a PvP game with some PvE components. PvP is not consentual, meaning any other player can attack and kill you on a whim, and take your stuff.
However I am not putting the game down - it is one of the better MMO available. I am putting down their induction and treatment of new players. EVE needs a lot of work in this area.
I recently tried EvE online and I can honestly say as an MMO veteran, this game is NOT IN THE SLIGHTEST BIT noob friendly. I gave up because it was just overwhelming, endless and complicated tutorials. Yeah, do not start with EVE, you may just ruin your MMO life forever by starting with it. I would recommend LOTRO at this point over WoW, it is very new-comer friendly and quite fun. It is a great looking game that's well polished and garnering a lot of positive buzz. And it also has the benefit of being new andfresh. Trust me, this is the way to go. But, I also HIGHLY recommend WoW. It's a couple years old but it's the current king, over 8.5 million subscriptions. Definitely built for new-comers and MMO vets alike.
Yes, Eve is a more intense game. But, it is still a very good game.
If you want a simple game check out Dungeon Runners.
Yes, Eve is a more intense game. But, it is still a very good game.
If you want a simple game check out Dungeon Runners.
If you want a trendy game check out Wow.
If you want a new game check out LotRO.
If you want a good new game wait 6 months.
I could NOT have put it any better. I am very excited to play both Pirates of the Burning Sea and WAR. I am currently playing LOTRO. I find it hard to justify a lot of time spending in LOTRO because PotBS and WAR are just around the corner. If WAR lives up to all its hype, then I doubt I will have time for anything else. Get my fix for my addiction.
Wow is on the decline and LotRO is just beginning. LotRO is very noob friendly. LotRO is a PVE quest driven game that does not require grouping till much later in the game.
I would preorder LotRO and get in on the founders deal so you only have to pay $9.99 a month. Thats a good deal.
WoW on the decline? In which world? Because not in this one.
For new MMORPG players, WoW, definitly.How old is WoW? How many people are posting on these very forums that they are bored of Wow? It happens in every game. Do not be shocked. People get bored and move on. You don't need to get defensive about it.Shall we look at the facts?
Blizzard GAINED 500k subscribers in just 2 months. Despite popular belief on anti - WoW forums such as this one, WoW is not declining. WoW is growing. in fact, WoW is growing faster then ever. If you count all the "I'm quiting!" posts on this forum, then you still won't even have 1000 posters.
I'm not defensive, I'm simply tired of people making things up and spreading silly rumors instead of looking at the facts.
They haven't released any updated NA numbers though.
So for NA players the population could possibly be declining. We don't know. But it definitely is funny that more and more people are saying that people are leaving the game. It doesn't seem to be just a few anti-WoW people or sites either. You see the posts everywhere about servers wanting transfers due to their population being low, players posting that they got burnt out and have quit, people posting that their guild has left the game, people posting that a lot of players have left the game, etc.
So while we do know that the overall population of WoW is still growing, we do not know if the population in NA is growing or Declining.
I was one of the more hardcore WOW players, and I quit. Guys I know who play all day everyday and do nothing else are quitting.
Yea, I know a lot of people who do nothing but play WOW 24/7 and have no jobs.
Comments
For new MMORPG players, WoW, definitly.How old is WoW? How many people are posting on these very forums that they are bored of Wow? It happens in every game. Do not be shocked. People get bored and move on. You don't need to get defensive about it.Shall we look at the facts?
http://www.blizzard.com/press/070111.shtml
http://www.blizzard.com/press/070307.shtml
Blizzard GAINED 500k subscribers in just 2 months. Despite popular belief on anti - WoW forums such as this one, WoW is not declining. WoW is growing. in fact, WoW is growing faster then ever. If you count all the "I'm quiting!" posts on this forum, then you still won't even have 1000 posters.
I'm not defensive, I'm simply tired of people making things up and spreading silly rumors instead of looking at the facts.
They haven't released any updated NA numbers though.
So for NA players the population could possibly be declining. We don't know. But it definitely is funny that more and more people are saying that people are leaving the game. It doesn't seem to be just a few anti-WoW people or sites either. You see the posts everywhere about servers wanting transfers due to their population being low, players posting that they got burnt out and have quit, people posting that their guild has left the game, people posting that a lot of players have left the game, etc.
So while we do know that the overall population of WoW is still growing, we do not know if the population in NA is growing or Declining.
Currently playing:
LOTRO & WoW (not much WoW though because Mines of Moria rocks!!!!)
Looking Foward too:
Bioware games (Dragon Age & Star Wars The Old Republic)
Oh and to answer the OP. Try out the free Trial of World of Warcraft, but make sure you choose a newer server as the older servers are impossible to enjoy (as there are established raiding guilds who don't let new players in and would rather recruit transfers who have gear already). Then make sure you try the open beta of Lord of The Rings online as well. You can get a key from numerous places. Then make an informed decision based on your own opinions.
Some of my personal opinons:
LOTRO - is more casual in the endgame, WoW still has an extremely time intensive endgame. Even with their new expansion you must devote a ton of time to doing instances to get keyed for the following instances to do heroic modes to get keyed for the next instance to finally get to the final instance.
WoW - is easier to pick up and learn.
LOTRO - is newer and has more hype currently since it is new.
WoW - has the larger population, but currently that is a moot point since LOTRO is still in beta and we have no idea what the retail population will be.
WoW will run on older systems as well, so if your PC isn't very good WoW is the better choice.
Finally I think LOTRO's Player Vs Monster PVP system is better balanced then World of Warcraft's PVP system. In WoW if you do not have the best gear then forget beating some one who does. The difference in ability is massive depending on gear. A player in the best raid gear can kill multiple players in average gear.
Currently playing:
LOTRO & WoW (not much WoW though because Mines of Moria rocks!!!!)
Looking Foward too:
Bioware games (Dragon Age & Star Wars The Old Republic)
OP: Since you are from UK (or at least wrote so to your location info), If you want to test WoW you can find WoW trial from teaser.wow-europe.com (EU version), and EU version doesn't seem to have any real problems about population decreasing atm.
Daoc is very fun also but the new games are all coping its style so probably just better to get a newer one expeshally considering that daoc has been going forever now and would be hard to find lower lv groups and its a group game btw
as far as free mmo's go non are that good, if you are to get into free ones go with a UO emulator those are fun sence its more of a pay to play game thats been converted to a free one, to do that goto the uo site and download the free trial then search for UOGateway that program will let you connect to free servers and not OSI's pay to play ones... UO is my personnal favorite mmorpg of all time, although its not newbie friendly at all it has a very high learning curve and can be downright frustrating at times but when you start to really get into it, it can and is the best imo...
"Sticking with what works doesn't make good games, it remakes them, I quit playing that a while ago.
After all, no artist got anywhere from repainting the Mona Lisa as a black women in a white dress...
It's about the paintin man, it's about the paintin..." -Goply
After the release of Burning Crusade the diffirence between equipments was redused, so even tough the fights are still far from being equal, the situation isn't that bad any more. Plus one can get a gear wich should be equal to best raid gear from just doing PvP (in arena team).
If you want to PvP I'd suggest WoW over Lotro, because altough neither is good game for one who wants to PvP, Lotro is focusing even more heavily on PvE than WoW is. E: Actually, if you want to play mostly against other players, not computer controlled enemies, don't choose either of them. If you want to PvP you could test Guild Wars, it's more PvP centered and there are no monthly fees.
After the release of Burning Crusade the diffirence between equipments was redused, so even tough the fights are still far from being equal, the situation isn't that bad any more. Plus one can get a gear wich should be equal to best raid gear from just doing PvP (in arena team).
If you want to PvP I'd suggest WoW over Lotro, because altough neither is good game for one who wants to PvP, Lotro is focusing even more heavily on PvE than WoW is. E: Actually, if you want to play mostly against other players, not computer controlled enemies, don't choose either of them. If you want to PvP you could test Guild Wars, it's more PvP centered and there are no monthly fees.
The disparity hasn't been fixed. The only way it can be fixed is if they do gear matching in the BGs. Since they haven't implemented this there is still a great disparity in the gear and gear is king in PVP in WoW.
Currently playing:
LOTRO & WoW (not much WoW though because Mines of Moria rocks!!!!)
Looking Foward too:
Bioware games (Dragon Age & Star Wars The Old Republic)
They are adding gear-matching in the BGs. It's also becoming increasingly easier to get a set of "OMG EPIXX" that people keep complaining about.
Just don't run headlong into a group of 6 and wonder why nobody tried to help, and you'll be okay.
For new MMORPG players, WoW, definitly.How old is WoW? How many people are posting on these very forums that they are bored of Wow? It happens in every game. Do not be shocked. People get bored and move on. You don't need to get defensive about it.Shall we look at the facts?
http://www.blizzard.com/press/070111.shtml
http://www.blizzard.com/press/070307.shtml
Blizzard GAINED 500k subscribers in just 2 months. Despite popular belief on anti - WoW forums such as this one, WoW is not declining. WoW is growing. in fact, WoW is growing faster then ever. If you count all the "I'm quiting!" posts on this forum, then you still won't even have 1000 posters.
I'm not defensive, I'm simply tired of people making things up and spreading silly rumors instead of looking at the facts.
They haven't released any updated NA numbers though.
So for NA players the population could possibly be declining. We don't know. But it definitely is funny that more and more people are saying that people are leaving the game. It doesn't seem to be just a few anti-WoW people or sites either. You see the posts everywhere about servers wanting transfers due to their population being low, players posting that they got burnt out and have quit, people posting that their guild has left the game, people posting that a lot of players have left the game, etc.
So while we do know that the overall population of WoW is still growing, we do not know if the population in NA is growing or Declining.
Very unlikely. World of Warcraft has grown in NA over the past 2 years non-stop, there is no slightl hint that the game is declining. The fact that the game sold 3,5 expansions in the NA and EU regions alone in the first month is evidence enough WoW is anything but declining. The first press release states the game has 1.5 million subscribers in Europe. the second press release states that the Burning Crusade sold 1.6 million copies. thats copies in the first month, not subscribers. so the actual number of players in europe is much higher and is in fact, growing, not declining. EU and NA have always been 2 very similar markets in the mmorpg genre, there is no reason to believe the NA version is declining.The game has 2,5 million subscribers in NA alone, ofcourse your going to see a lot "I'm quitting!" posts. People come and people leave. But as I said before, if you try really hard and count all the "I'm quitting!" posts you can find, you will barely reach 0,1% of the total playerbase.
For new MMORPG players, WoW, definitly.How old is WoW? How many people are posting on these very forums that they are bored of Wow? It happens in every game. Do not be shocked. People get bored and move on. You don't need to get defensive about it.Shall we look at the facts?
http://www.blizzard.com/press/070111.shtml
http://www.blizzard.com/press/070307.shtml
Blizzard GAINED 500k subscribers in just 2 months. Despite popular belief on anti - WoW forums such as this one, WoW is not declining. WoW is growing. in fact, WoW is growing faster then ever. If you count all the "I'm quiting!" posts on this forum, then you still won't even have 1000 posters.
I'm not defensive, I'm simply tired of people making things up and spreading silly rumors instead of looking at the facts.
They haven't released any updated NA numbers though.
So for NA players the population could possibly be declining. We don't know. But it definitely is funny that more and more people are saying that people are leaving the game. It doesn't seem to be just a few anti-WoW people or sites either. You see the posts everywhere about servers wanting transfers due to their population being low, players posting that they got burnt out and have quit, people posting that their guild has left the game, people posting that a lot of players have left the game, etc.
So while we do know that the overall population of WoW is still growing, we do not know if the population in NA is growing or Declining.
Very unlikely. World of Warcraft has grown in NA over the past 2 years non-stop, there is no slightl hint that the game is declining. The fact that the game sold 3,5 expansions in the NA and EU regions alone in the first month is evidence enough WoW is anything but declining. The first press release states the game has 1.5 million subscribers in Europe. the second press release states that the Burning Crusade sold 1.6 million copies. thats copies in the first month, not subscribers. so the actual number of players in europe is much higher and is in fact, growing, not declining. EU and NA have always been 2 very similar markets in the mmorpg genre, there is no reason to believe the NA version is declining.The game has 2,5 million subscribers in NA alone, ofcourse your going to see a lot "I'm quitting!" posts. People come and people leave. But as I said before, if you try really hard and count all the "I'm quitting!" posts you can find, you will barely reach 0,1% of the total playerbase.
All I am saying is until Blizzard releases updated NA numbers we have no idea.
An Educated guess though would say that they haven't increased their numbers in NA or that the numbers have decreased though. Since they have released updated EU numbers showing an increase, but have not released any updated NA numbers. Usually no news is bad news when it comes to advertising.
****Also there is no reason for this to become another back and forth. Like I said all I am saying is that we don't know how the population of the NA servers are doing. Until an Official Release comes from Blizzard saying what their current numbers are, all we have is guesses.****
Currently playing:
LOTRO & WoW (not much WoW though because Mines of Moria rocks!!!!)
Looking Foward too:
Bioware games (Dragon Age & Star Wars The Old Republic)
Definately don't start with EvE. It's really a very complex MMO even for people with MMO experience.
And WoW is definately one of the easier MMO's to play, but there is still a lot of complexity to it as well. If you really want something simple to just get an idea of what an MMO is like, I would suggest you try City of Heroes/City of Villains. It strips MMO's down to the bare basics and it's still a lot of fun. No crafting. No equipment. No inventory. But you still have combat, group dynamics, quests, level progression, chat screens, navigation and so on which are the basic building blocks of all other MMO's.
You'll get a good feel for what an MMO is like without ever having to consult a strategy guide or an online resource to figure out where to go or what to do next. It's so simple my 6 year old grandson can play.
To the OP, could you list the type of single player games you commonly like? Do you prefer the slower methodical gameplay that comes with rpgs and turnbased strategy games or the faster more reactive gameplay of fps, fighting and adventure games?
If you prefer slower gameplay then to a degree "World of Warcraft" and "LoTR Online" are acceptable. They can be played slowly since they sort of follow rpg mechanics but in reality they are far more reactive in general if you try to maximize your game play.
If you prefer faster games period then look into "Gods and Heroes" or "The Chronicles of Spellborn". Gods and Heros is a squad based game and if you played games like Mechcommander or Star Wars Republic Commandos you'll know how engrossing managing multiple units can be. Spellborn itself is an fps game with a sword and sorcery bent.
Are you a graphics whore and if so what are you system specs?
If you love graphics TCoS is the best followed by LOTRO, GnH and dead last WoW.
But from my observations LOTRO is dead last when you consider other things that enhance graphics such as sound and animations. The atmospheric effects in WoW are pretty cool while I find LOTRO to be quaint but fitting with the backgroun material. The animations in Gods and Heros simply blows away all the other games but TCoS offsets that with better special effects and better sound (which you can sample). WoW is an older game so by default it has weaker graphics but the art direction is very nice. You said you like bright colors and WoW and Gods and Heros fits this requirement the best.
Maybe wow is on a decline or not but you have no proof. Only two months ago I thought wow would actually start losing subscribers after tbc has been played for a couple of months and I never thought before the expansion came out it would grow beyond its 8 million mark in any significant way. They proved me wrong when they announced reaching 8.5 million active accounts and it might prove us wrong with tbc.
FYI LOTRO aquired its noobfriendly reputation because of stres test beta. Mobs at that time were very easy. They cranked up the difficulty by a lot. It's no more different than wow interms
[edit]
The disparity has been fixed. Gear matching is being implemented because of twinks steamrolling players who are new to a server or the game and only for that reason.
Maybe wow is on a decline or not but you have no proof. Only two months ago I thought wow would actually start losing subscribers after tbc has been played for a couple of months and I never thought before the expansion came out it would grow beyond its 8 million mark in any significant way. They proved me wrong when they announced reaching 8.5 million active accounts and it might prove us wrong with tbc.
FYI LOTRO aquired its noobfriendly reputation because of stres test beta. Mobs at that time were very easy. They cranked up the difficulty by a lot. It's no more different than wow interms
[edit]
The disparity has been fixed. Gear matching is being implemented because of twinks steamrolling players who are new to a server or the game and only for that reason.
Until you can get equivalent gear from doing the first 5 man dungeons and from the normal quests then no the disparity hasn't been fixed.And has Blizzard put out an official word on gear matching? If not then it is still a rumor.
Currently playing:
LOTRO & WoW (not much WoW though because Mines of Moria rocks!!!!)
Looking Foward too:
Bioware games (Dragon Age & Star Wars The Old Republic)
Some 5 man gear already matches raid gear. Not much but it exists. Blizzard has said certain mistakes were made in that regard so we'll see later on how that pans out. Regardless pvp rewards are comparable to raiding rewards which was what the more vocal players were demanding for to begin with.
As for gear matching they mentioned it three times in their forums. After trying to find the last post they made on this I can see why you would have trouble seeing information like this easily. Geeze the wow forums have issues.
Just out of curiosity, which of the following hunter roles has your five year old mastered:
- Safely pulling enemies in dangerous territory using tracking skills and feign death whilst minimising risk to fellow party members
- Protecting weakly armoured fellow party members (such as healers) from mobs when the tank loses aggro
- Chain trapping in order to crowd control elite opponents.
- Successfully killing high level elite opponents by means of kiting
- Killing experienced PvP melee opponents such as warriors and paladins 1 v 1 by means of kiting.
- Executing a jump-shot (allows shooting backwards on the run if done right).
- Defending a flag single handed in WSG against repeated capture attempts by enemy rogues (without time to fully recover from one fight before the next rogue turns up)
Playing a poor hunter is easy. There are an awful lot of them around. However playing a good hunter is just as challenging, if not more so, than any other class.
I have to agree. Then again the hunter class tends to attract the crappiest players in WoW. I've only meet a few hunters who I respect and who seem to know the game. Of course I've meet a ton more of crappy hunters who don't know their class and how to control their pets.
I'd like to see this guy do a 2 fire lord pull in MC using the feign death technique and only have one come.
Games I've played/tried out:WAR, LOTRO, Tabula Rasa, AoC, EQ1, EQ2, WoW, Vangaurd, FFXI, D&DO, Lineage 2, Saga Of Ryzom, EvE Online, DAoC, Guild Wars,Star Wars Galaxies, Hell Gate London, Auto Assault, Grando Espada ( AKA SoTNW ), Archlord, CoV/H, Star Trek Online, APB, Champions Online, FFXIV, Rift Online, GW2.
Game(s) I Am Currently Playing:
GW2 (+LoL and BF3)
I recently tried EvE online and I can honestly say as an MMO veteran, this game is NOT IN THE SLIGHTEST BIT noob friendly. I gave up because it was just overwhelming, endless and complicated tutorials. Yeah, do not start with EVE, you may just ruin your MMO life forever by starting with it.
I would recommend LOTRO at this point over WoW, it is very new-comer friendly and quite fun. It is a great looking game that's well polished and garnering a lot of positive buzz. And it also has the benefit of being new andfresh. Trust me, this is the way to go.
But, I also HIGHLY recommend WoW. It's a couple years old but it's the current king, over 8.5 million subscriptions. Definitely built for new-comers and MMO vets alike.
Secondly if you are not into PvP then do not consider it. EVE is a PvP game with some PvE components. PvP is not consentual, meaning any other player can attack and kill you on a whim, and take your stuff.
However I am not putting the game down - it is one of the better MMO available. I am putting down their induction and treatment of new players. EVE needs a lot of work in this area.
If you want a simple game check out Dungeon Runners.
If you want a trendy game check out Wow.
If you want a new game check out LotRO.
If you want a good new game wait 6 months.
Dark Age of Camelot!
6 months ??
have you heard of a new one ??
worldofwarcraft - its one of the most easy mmorpgs and perfect for beginners
if you dont care about pvp and dont miss it, try lords of the rings...currently in open beta
Thats it, i found exactly what i was lookin for : Dofus.. a friend show me an ad in edge magazine
dyu know it ?
www.dofus.co.uk
For new MMORPG players, WoW, definitly.How old is WoW? How many people are posting on these very forums that they are bored of Wow? It happens in every game. Do not be shocked. People get bored and move on. You don't need to get defensive about it.Shall we look at the facts?
http://www.blizzard.com/press/070111.shtml
http://www.blizzard.com/press/070307.shtml
Blizzard GAINED 500k subscribers in just 2 months. Despite popular belief on anti - WoW forums such as this one, WoW is not declining. WoW is growing. in fact, WoW is growing faster then ever. If you count all the "I'm quiting!" posts on this forum, then you still won't even have 1000 posters.
I'm not defensive, I'm simply tired of people making things up and spreading silly rumors instead of looking at the facts.
They haven't released any updated NA numbers though.
So for NA players the population could possibly be declining. We don't know. But it definitely is funny that more and more people are saying that people are leaving the game. It doesn't seem to be just a few anti-WoW people or sites either. You see the posts everywhere about servers wanting transfers due to their population being low, players posting that they got burnt out and have quit, people posting that their guild has left the game, people posting that a lot of players have left the game, etc.
So while we do know that the overall population of WoW is still growing, we do not know if the population in NA is growing or Declining.
I was one of the more hardcore WOW players, and I quit. Guys I know who play all day everyday and do nothing else are quitting.
Yea, I know a lot of people who do nothing but play WOW 24/7 and have no jobs.