Yea I played FFXI, and one of the draw backs was, yea there were a lot of players, but it was still very time consuming finding a group, especially as a SMN. I ended up just starting over as a BLM and had more success, but still could be tiresom at times. And in a game where grouping is almost needed to level up, this was hard. I played WoW to get to end game and experience raiding. I wasn't all that impressed with FFXI's raiding aspect... Ok, Sky was alright, but the whole Dynamis thing didn't appeal to me. Seemed like an easy way out for raiding. Didn't seem all too much thought was put into it. When the latest expansion came out and the town invasions sounded kinda promising. But it seemd there wasn't enough support player support to fight them off. Oh well, I think I might just wait for CoA and the likes to come out.
The most "baffling" thing to me, is how everyone seems to find a way to turn a simple comment into some kind of an attack at another, and thus turning another board into a flame war. Give me a break, he was trying to give his opinion not make a personal attack on anyone.
Compare to Wow, VG is very complicated and very group oriented. The problem is you can't find people to grouping because too few people play this game (the world size also very big). So, you can't do tons of quest which need grouping. Crafting also very complicated and time consuming. However, the character creation and tons of class is superior compare to most game.
If you want something more casual, LOTRO is better. It's like Wow lite+Guild Wars(for instance story line) and monster play is something like you play 2 MMO at the same time. Though it's lag of many great feature from Wow (like flying mount, deep swimming), I still give the "fun" point to 9 equal to WoW.
VG may be a good choice if you are really hardcore and willing to spend most of your life in it. However, I bought this game and use trial key then never use the real key :P) . I may play it again if this game can survived for 1-2 year, improve performance, tune to more solo friendly and grab more people. Right now, I haste to be the only one in the area like playing offline game.
I'm interested in buying and trying out Vanguard. My comp specs aren't top notch, but they aren't bottom of the barrel either. If I run at low specs, is this game still worth getting for the gameplay, I heard it had many bugs, is this improving. I recently quit WoW, and played EQ, FFXI, and Guild Wars before it.
In all honesty does anyone think I would enjoy this game if I'm looking for a fantasy sword/shield/magic type game. (I say sword/shield/magic becuase I'm not into space like machine games).
Please help.
Edit: One reason for my consideration of this game is the proclaimed importance of diplomacy and crafting. Is this overhyped?
I tried staying out of this whole vanguard thingy simply because of the reason it stirs up to much dust here on these forums. Never said one thing about this game untill now so... here goes.
About a week ago, despite all of the negative talk here, i decided to buy vanguard annyway. Got home, installed it on my pc and got started. The first few hours of gameplay were absolutely enjoyable, never seen such beautifull landscapes in a game before and my fps was at a steady 40 frames out in the open. Loved doing the quests, loved how my character looked (a Raki hunter) and i never felt this game was lacking annything. I was thrilled by the thoughts of all things that were still ahead of me... a house, a boat, a nice guild, etc etc.
All of that changed when i started to play in the more "crowded" areas such as khal. My pfs dropped to about 5 - 15, turned the game literally into a slideshow at times. On top of that... this game is still riddled with bugs.
Unfortunatly I stopped playing Vanguard today, not because it's a bad game... the game itself has plenty to offer and i would have been playing a looong time if it wasnt for that horrible performace. If Sigil would just fix it already...
I'm not saying you should stay away from this game mate... just give this game a try and see if you like it. Since you seem to be a decent fella, i have a fresh buddy-key waiting for you. Let me know if you still want it okay?
The game runs spotty on anything not top notch. People that play and are subscribers will likely try to tell you it should be fine, but beleve me, it runs like crap unless you got high powered equipment.
I suggest you try out Lord of the Rings Online. Its in OB and free to download and play until release, at least there you dont have to buy anything to try it out and see if you like it. I do. www.lotro.com
I also liked this game as well, but I have become a bit sick of waiting for MMO's to patch just so I can play it like its supposed to be played. I suggest waiting to try this out for at least 6 months. If there is still even a player base by then.
Just one more question if someone wouldn't mind answering, is the player base big enough to find regular interaction. Will it be a struggle to find a group?
Ok so Ive had a few horrible things to say about the game BUT if you must try it out -
I never went short on being able to find a team when I wanted, 2 bits of advice
1) Find a decently active guild who are able to help you, the Vanguard Players website allows you to bring up individual guild information, including number of members and unique account members, plus the date they last logged on.
2) Pick the right class. My main was a cleric, and was sent regular tells asking if she wanted to team, even when she was already teamed. I also noticed a lot of shouts in region when playing on Gelenia for Cleric/Psi to join teams. I would also add Clerics solo brilliantly till around lvl 18 and at lvl 15+ Pallys really come into their own both teamed and solo.
OP there is no way to find out until you tried it yourself. As you can see there are a lot of haters and a lot of fans. Thats excatly how the game is It has a lot of this and a lot of that. I played th game and i dont hate it. Its was just 49% like and 51% dislike. You should give it a try up to level 20. Either you delete it afterwards or you are very happy that you gave it a try.
Over all i would say that this game offers everything a serious gamer would want.
Do you have that "elitest bull crap" in a size large ?
What the hell is a "serious gamer" That is the biggest contradiction I've ever heard.
Thought serious game mean't someone who played everything from pong to now.
I'm baffled at how people are able to twist a pile of shit to make it smell good, must be something they teach in marketing .Its sad that in some people's mind "serious gamer" means "Elite bull crasp" now thats sad
i highly recommend trying LOTRO. Vanguard is a bit of a disaster from start to finish. LOTRO is good fun and works best of luck
You forgot to add LoTR is linear and small and has no replay value wouldnt play it if it was free
He is saying its linear because LOTRO actually has a story, unlike other MMO's I have played. There are scripted events where you get to see some of the greats from the novels do some pretty cool things. Even vids that keep the story going. So that makes players feel its linear, but honestly, an MMO with a main quest storyline is great, and its easy to understand whats going on. In this game, they will be adding tons of quests, instead of just adding patches here and there, it apears that the LOTRO team intends to change the age of which we are playing in semi frequently. If you try out a hobbit youll find we are at the point when the black riders are still looking for baggins. Anyways, I see a huge potential for build-up in this game. It actuall feels polished unlike the game we are in the forums of, or any other mmo that comes out. It also feels like it has reason to add new quests, and new events to further the story. And just because he said its linear doesnt mean there isnt a huge amount of side quests to do.
Look, I like the game, and I did like the books, I however and not a fanboy. I just like the game, it is good. I am sure many that have played it will tell you that to.
And back to the originall poster: In LOTRO they have so many setting features you would be hard pressed not to be able to run LOTRO on your computer, though by the way, "The game is georgeous on Ultra High".
But I do love diplomacy. I'm a 231 skill level and could spend all my time on diplomacy. Deep, rich, complex and it's been patched up and received additional content since launch. What is yet to be seen is the intersection of diplomacy with player controlled cities and opening up adventuring possibilities. I'm either unaware of it, or they simply haven't implented it.
The only ones able to give an unbiased reply are people who has never heard the name Vanguard, and it is doubtfull their opinion would help you.
I will give it a go though, just know that personally I found the game fun at start but looking back I realise the thing is horrible, Havent played for about 7 weeks as well and thing can and probably have changed.
As to specs it seems they have little to do with it.
I have a real highend machine now and when I started I had a really aged one.
The highend could run the thing fairly well but nowhere near what I would have expected.
The 8800 cards do not seem to agree with VG and allthough the new machine could run it, it crashed a lot.
Old machine had trouble playing it, but on the upside I rarely krashed, least not due to machine errors.
So you cna be lucky and run it on a lwend, or unlucky and have terrible performance with a real monster, only way to know is to try.
I found crafting an exercise in self punishment but there is no denying if you can stomach it you will be able to make really nice items, when I left the nerf bat had started swinging towards crafted gear and I do not know how it is now but back then rare crafted armor and weapons, preferable with "imbues" was really top notch.
Diplomacy had its uses and allthough not all that fun could be very helpful, the process is long and comlicated but it was posssible to start area and city wide buffs with diplo, the +25 to a given craft skill sure was helpful, the combat buffs less so as they only lasted an hour. ( as do craft buffs but as you are in the city crafting it gets refreshed all the time )
Being pure diplo and/or crafter though I imagine is very hard in this game, you wll probably need a decent adventure level to back it up if that was your aim.
In all honesty there is no way for me, or anyone here, to say wether or not you will like it, i advice you to give it a try at least.
If you are able to run it well on your machine I am sure you will get at least some fun out of it, if it has staying power for you then all the better.
But, if you are weighing this thing against others and can only afford one I will not give you the advice to try it.
It is worth a try, it is not however worth your ONLY try.
The chances you wont like it is far higher in this thing then in most other options you have, i would take a "safer" bet in that case.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Originally posted by Jerek_
I wonder if you honestly even believe what you type, or if you live in a made up world of facts. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm interested in buying and trying out Vanguard. My comp specs aren't top notch, but they aren't bottom of the barrel either. If I run at low specs, is this game still worth getting for the gameplay, I heard it had many bugs, is this improving. I recently quit WoW, and played EQ, FFXI, and Guild Wars before it.
In all honesty does anyone think I would enjoy this game if I'm looking for a fantasy sword/shield/magic type game. (I say sword/shield/magic becuase I'm not into space like machine games).
Please help.
Edit: One reason for my consideration of this game is the proclaimed importance of diplomacy and crafting. Is this overhyped?
1. Im not sure about your performance issue unless you provide more info about your computer specs. Generally speaking, many people play exclusively at the higher performance settings and are happy with it. I think it looks a little weak at the highest performance setting.
2. The genre sounds like what you a looking for. Its very traditional fantasy. There isn't even a steam punk element as with WoW and FFXI. Its very much like EQ.
I'm interested in buying and trying out Vanguard. My comp specs aren't top notch, but they aren't bottom of the barrel either. If I run at low specs, is this game still worth getting for the gameplay, I heard it had many bugs, is this improving. I recently quit WoW, and played EQ, FFXI, and Guild Wars before it.
In all honesty does anyone think I would enjoy this game if I'm looking for a fantasy sword/shield/magic type game. (I say sword/shield/magic becuase I'm not into space like machine games).
Please help.
Edit: One reason for my consideration of this game is the proclaimed importance of diplomacy and crafting. Is this overhyped?
It is impossible to get an " unbiased" replyl. I'm playing Vanguard so naturaly I'm going to say I like the game. I like the same type of games you seem to like. Based on that...I say you should play Vanguard.
I play on a 2 year old computor with only the ram upgraded to 3 gb and run the game well..20-30 fps, rarely crash out of game..ect. I love the game now and love even more the potential. All aspects of gameplay are fun for me ...adventure, craft, harvesting, diplomacy..ect.
Is the game a hardware hog? Yes (but its slowly getting better)
Is Vanguard as bad as some of the people on here would like you to beleive? No
Is Vanguard as good as some of the fanatic players would lead you to beleive? No
If you wanted me to rank this game I would have to give it a 6/10 score. To me its still fun but can be frustrating sometimes due to some bugs and performance issues, but Sigil has been releasing patches on a regular basis, so things are getting fixed at a pretty good rate. But they still have a ways to go...
I havent tried Diplomcey yet, I've been more concentrated on adventuring and crafting. Crafting is a very tedious grind, but if you can get yourself above lvl 20 in crafting it becomes a lot of fun IMO, mostly because at lvl 21 you can start to make usable stuff in the game and make money selling it. I like the depth of crafting, in the sense that you can improve the items you make by finding enhancements and when you explore new areas you can find NPC's who will give you quests to earn new recipes instead of them just being given to you when you level.
Adventuring is about the same as any other MMO now a days. So there's really nothing new here, but the balance among the various profession is pretty good. I know some people will say its not, but most of these people want a toon that can do everything and unless it can then in there mind its broken...
I highly recommend that you join a Guild with active players in it, makes the game 100x's more fun, especially since grouping can be difficult sometimes..
But in the end if your a player that has to hit the level cap before he can enjoy a game, then you will probably not like this game... This game was not designed for the hardcore grinder who wants to hit the lvl cap in two weeks, especially in crafting.... For those type of players your better off with WOW or the upcoming LOTRO, although I have hard time recommending a game that has not even come out yet, but there seems to be a lot of people on here raving about how good it is in beta...
Just one more question if someone wouldn't mind answering, is the player base big enough to find regular interaction. Will it be a struggle to find a group?
I've heard people complain about this. I personally have not had this problem.
But I would point out that if you are planning on raiding you probably need to find a guild in any case.
I guess it was foolish to ask for an unbiased reply, but honestly, these are some of the most helpful and (most importantly to me) calm reviews I've seen. Appreciate the help, I thikn I'll just go ahead and try both. I played some open beta LOTR... but hard to tell it's potential without the full game release. Appreciate the help guys. Thanks
i highly recommend trying LOTRO. Vanguard is a bit of a disaster from start to finish. LOTRO is good fun and works best of luck
You forgot to add LoTR is linear and small and has no replay value wouldnt play it if it was free
He is saying its linear because LOTRO actually has a story, unlike other MMO's I have played. There are scripted events where you get to see some of the greats from the novels do some pretty cool things. Even vids that keep the story going. So that makes players feel its linear, but honestly, an MMO with a main quest storyline is great, and its easy to understand whats going on. In this game, they will be adding tons of quests, instead of just adding patches here and there, it apears that the LOTRO team intends to change the age of which we are playing in semi frequently. If you try out a hobbit youll find we are at the point when the black riders are still looking for baggins. Anyways, I see a huge potential for build-up in this game. It actuall feels polished unlike the game we are in the forums of, or any other mmo that comes out. It also feels like it has reason to add new quests, and new events to further the story. And just because he said its linear doesnt mean there isnt a huge amount of side quests to do.
Look, I like the game, and I did like the books, I however and not a fanboy. I just like the game, it is good. I am sure many that have played it will tell you that to.
And back to the originall poster: In LOTRO they have so many setting features you would be hard pressed not to be able to run LOTRO on your computer, though by the way, "The game is georgeous on Ultra High".
I'm think LOTRO is less linear than WoW (I have 70 priest and many 60 on WoW). Only Dwarf area that's quest is straight like WoW, but on Shire and Bree you can do just some of them (because your level too high already). I'm do every quest in WoW but not in LOTRO because you need not to do it, just select what's part you want to do.
And for the story line quest, it's just for fulfill the LOTR story and add more fun. LOTRO still the MMORPG even no this line of quest.
For VG, my machine spec is Intel Core2Duo 3Ghz, 2GB ram, 7950GT 512MB ram. Can run only on balance but still lagging out many times when run too fast. Skills using seem like a bit delay cause some lag. Dont know what's would happen when go to major town cause still too low level when I'm quit.
Comments
I will try my best with my poor English.
Compare to Wow, VG is very complicated and very group oriented. The problem is you can't find people to grouping because too few people play this game (the world size also very big). So, you can't do tons of quest which need grouping. Crafting also very complicated and time consuming. However, the character creation and tons of class is superior compare to most game.
If you want something more casual, LOTRO is better. It's like Wow lite+Guild Wars(for instance story line) and monster play is something like you play 2 MMO at the same time. Though it's lag of many great feature from Wow (like flying mount, deep swimming), I still give the "fun" point to 9 equal to WoW.
VG may be a good choice if you are really hardcore and willing to spend most of your life in it. However, I bought this game and use trial key then never use the real key :P) . I may play it again if this game can survived for 1-2 year, improve performance, tune to more solo friendly and grab more people. Right now, I haste to be the only one in the area like playing offline game.
About a week ago, despite all of the negative talk here, i decided to buy vanguard annyway. Got home, installed it on my pc and got started. The first few hours of gameplay were absolutely enjoyable, never seen such beautifull landscapes in a game before and my fps was at a steady 40 frames out in the open. Loved doing the quests, loved how my character looked (a Raki hunter) and i never felt this game was lacking annything. I was thrilled by the thoughts of all things that were still ahead of me... a house, a boat, a nice guild, etc etc.
All of that changed when i started to play in the more "crowded" areas such as khal. My pfs dropped to about 5 - 15, turned the game literally into a slideshow at times. On top of that... this game is still riddled with bugs.
Unfortunatly I stopped playing Vanguard today, not because it's a bad game... the game itself has plenty to offer and i would have been playing a looong time if it wasnt for that horrible performace. If Sigil would just fix it already...
I'm not saying you should stay away from this game mate... just give this game a try and see if you like it. Since you seem to be a decent fella, i have a fresh buddy-key waiting for you. Let me know if you still want it okay?
have fun
The game runs spotty on anything not top notch. People that play and are subscribers will likely try to tell you it should be fine, but beleve me, it runs like crap unless you got high powered equipment.
I suggest you try out Lord of the Rings Online. Its in OB and free to download and play until release, at least there you dont have to buy anything to try it out and see if you like it. I do. www.lotro.com
I also liked this game as well, but I have become a bit sick of waiting for MMO's to patch just so I can play it like its supposed to be played. I suggest waiting to try this out for at least 6 months. If there is still even a player base by then.
Ok so Ive had a few horrible things to say about the game BUT if you must try it out -
I never went short on being able to find a team when I wanted, 2 bits of advice
1) Find a decently active guild who are able to help you, the Vanguard Players website allows you to bring up individual guild information, including number of members and unique account members, plus the date they last logged on.
2) Pick the right class. My main was a cleric, and was sent regular tells asking if she wanted to team, even when she was already teamed. I also noticed a lot of shouts in region when playing on Gelenia for Cleric/Psi to join teams. I would also add Clerics solo brilliantly till around lvl 18 and at lvl 15+ Pallys really come into their own both teamed and solo.
Good luck....
What the hell is a "serious gamer" That is the biggest contradiction I've ever heard.
Thought serious game mean't someone who played everything from pong to now.
I'm baffled at how people are able to twist a pile of shit to make it smell good, must be something they teach in marketing .Its sad that in some people's mind "serious gamer" means "Elite bull crasp" now thats sad
He is saying its linear because LOTRO actually has a story, unlike other MMO's I have played. There are scripted events where you get to see some of the greats from the novels do some pretty cool things. Even vids that keep the story going. So that makes players feel its linear, but honestly, an MMO with a main quest storyline is great, and its easy to understand whats going on. In this game, they will be adding tons of quests, instead of just adding patches here and there, it apears that the LOTRO team intends to change the age of which we are playing in semi frequently. If you try out a hobbit youll find we are at the point when the black riders are still looking for baggins. Anyways, I see a huge potential for build-up in this game. It actuall feels polished unlike the game we are in the forums of, or any other mmo that comes out. It also feels like it has reason to add new quests, and new events to further the story. And just because he said its linear doesnt mean there isnt a huge amount of side quests to do.
Look, I like the game, and I did like the books, I however and not a fanboy. I just like the game, it is good. I am sure many that have played it will tell you that to.
And back to the originall poster: In LOTRO they have so many setting features you would be hard pressed not to be able to run LOTRO on your computer, though by the way, "The game is georgeous on Ultra High".
Can't speak to crafting.
But I do love diplomacy. I'm a 231 skill level and could spend all my time on diplomacy. Deep, rich, complex and it's been patched up and received additional content since launch. What is yet to be seen is the intersection of diplomacy with player controlled cities and opening up adventuring possibilities. I'm either unaware of it, or they simply haven't implented it.
The only ones able to give an unbiased reply are people who has never heard the name Vanguard, and it is doubtfull their opinion would help you.
I will give it a go though, just know that personally I found the game fun at start but looking back I realise the thing is horrible, Havent played for about 7 weeks as well and thing can and probably have changed.
As to specs it seems they have little to do with it.
I have a real highend machine now and when I started I had a really aged one.
The highend could run the thing fairly well but nowhere near what I would have expected.
The 8800 cards do not seem to agree with VG and allthough the new machine could run it, it crashed a lot.
Old machine had trouble playing it, but on the upside I rarely krashed, least not due to machine errors.
So you cna be lucky and run it on a lwend, or unlucky and have terrible performance with a real monster, only way to know is to try.
I found crafting an exercise in self punishment but there is no denying if you can stomach it you will be able to make really nice items, when I left the nerf bat had started swinging towards crafted gear and I do not know how it is now but back then rare crafted armor and weapons, preferable with "imbues" was really top notch.
Diplomacy had its uses and allthough not all that fun could be very helpful, the process is long and comlicated but it was posssible to start area and city wide buffs with diplo, the +25 to a given craft skill sure was helpful, the combat buffs less so as they only lasted an hour. ( as do craft buffs but as you are in the city crafting it gets refreshed all the time )
Being pure diplo and/or crafter though I imagine is very hard in this game, you wll probably need a decent adventure level to back it up if that was your aim.
In all honesty there is no way for me, or anyone here, to say wether or not you will like it, i advice you to give it a try at least.
If you are able to run it well on your machine I am sure you will get at least some fun out of it, if it has staying power for you then all the better.
But, if you are weighing this thing against others and can only afford one I will not give you the advice to try it.
It is worth a try, it is not however worth your ONLY try.
The chances you wont like it is far higher in this thing then in most other options you have, i would take a "safer" bet in that case.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Jerek_
I wonder if you honestly even believe what you type, or if you live in a made up world of facts.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Im not sure about your performance issue unless you provide more info about your computer specs. Generally speaking, many people play exclusively at the higher performance settings and are happy with it. I think it looks a little weak at the highest performance setting.
2. The genre sounds like what you a looking for. Its very traditional fantasy. There isn't even a steam punk element as with WoW and FFXI. Its very much like EQ.
It is impossible to get an " unbiased" replyl. I'm playing Vanguard so naturaly I'm going to say I like the game. I like the same type of games you seem to like. Based on that...I say you should play Vanguard.
I play on a 2 year old computor with only the ram upgraded to 3 gb and run the game well..20-30 fps, rarely crash out of game..ect. I love the game now and love even more the potential. All aspects of gameplay are fun for me ...adventure, craft, harvesting, diplomacy..ect.
Was the game overhyped by Sigil? Yes
Was the game released to early? Yes
Is the game a hardware hog? Yes (but its slowly getting better)
Is Vanguard as bad as some of the people on here would like you to beleive? No
Is Vanguard as good as some of the fanatic players would lead you to beleive? No
If you wanted me to rank this game I would have to give it a 6/10 score. To me its still fun but can be frustrating sometimes due to some bugs and performance issues, but Sigil has been releasing patches on a regular basis, so things are getting fixed at a pretty good rate. But they still have a ways to go...
I havent tried Diplomcey yet, I've been more concentrated on adventuring and crafting. Crafting is a very tedious grind, but if you can get yourself above lvl 20 in crafting it becomes a lot of fun IMO, mostly because at lvl 21 you can start to make usable stuff in the game and make money selling it. I like the depth of crafting, in the sense that you can improve the items you make by finding enhancements and when you explore new areas you can find NPC's who will give you quests to earn new recipes instead of them just being given to you when you level.
Adventuring is about the same as any other MMO now a days. So there's really nothing new here, but the balance among the various profession is pretty good. I know some people will say its not, but most of these people want a toon that can do everything and unless it can then in there mind its broken...
I highly recommend that you join a Guild with active players in it, makes the game 100x's more fun, especially since grouping can be difficult sometimes..
But in the end if your a player that has to hit the level cap before he can enjoy a game, then you will probably not like this game... This game was not designed for the hardcore grinder who wants to hit the lvl cap in two weeks, especially in crafting.... For those type of players your better off with WOW or the upcoming LOTRO, although I have hard time recommending a game that has not even come out yet, but there seems to be a lot of people on here raving about how good it is in beta...
I've heard people complain about this. I personally have not had this problem.
But I would point out that if you are planning on raiding you probably need to find a guild in any case.
He is saying its linear because LOTRO actually has a story, unlike other MMO's I have played. There are scripted events where you get to see some of the greats from the novels do some pretty cool things. Even vids that keep the story going. So that makes players feel its linear, but honestly, an MMO with a main quest storyline is great, and its easy to understand whats going on. In this game, they will be adding tons of quests, instead of just adding patches here and there, it apears that the LOTRO team intends to change the age of which we are playing in semi frequently. If you try out a hobbit youll find we are at the point when the black riders are still looking for baggins. Anyways, I see a huge potential for build-up in this game. It actuall feels polished unlike the game we are in the forums of, or any other mmo that comes out. It also feels like it has reason to add new quests, and new events to further the story. And just because he said its linear doesnt mean there isnt a huge amount of side quests to do.
Look, I like the game, and I did like the books, I however and not a fanboy. I just like the game, it is good. I am sure many that have played it will tell you that to.
And back to the originall poster: In LOTRO they have so many setting features you would be hard pressed not to be able to run LOTRO on your computer, though by the way, "The game is georgeous on Ultra High".
I'm think LOTRO is less linear than WoW (I have 70 priest and many 60 on WoW). Only Dwarf area that's quest is straight like WoW, but on Shire and Bree you can do just some of them (because your level too high already). I'm do every quest in WoW but not in LOTRO because you need not to do it, just select what's part you want to do.
And for the story line quest, it's just for fulfill the LOTR story and add more fun. LOTRO still the MMORPG even no this line of quest.
For VG, my machine spec is Intel Core2Duo 3Ghz, 2GB ram, 7950GT 512MB ram. Can run only on balance but still lagging out many times when run too fast. Skills using seem like a bit delay cause some lag. Dont know what's would happen when go to major town cause still too low level when I'm quit.