I gotta agree with meridion here. Lotro is better than EQ2. Plus eq2 is entering the twilight of its life and is supported and developed by a bad company. Lotro is brand new and a shining example of good game design.
I see, well customization is important imo, so is movement and animation, ill give a try at EQ2 for sure at least the trial but im confident im gonna like it. LOTRO might be a good game too but not as complete as EQ2, i have to say that i prefer the idea of conventional weapons instead of a lot of magic and colored animations, i dont like cartoonish style like WoW, but EQ2 has housing that LOTRO lacks , better player driven economy, more complex crafting system, more races and professions, PVE and PVP that LOTRO lacks as well. . What about the new skill system in LOTRO? They say it gives inumerous possibilities and u can equip and combine some called traits as u wish, looks like very interesting. Ah sound is one thing i have only heard good things about LOTRO, might be really good. What about mounts and transports, variety of weapons and armor, do u know which is best? Thats important too. So looks like EQ2 is more polished and complete atm, LOTRO has potential but needs some work still. Dunno any of them actualy just impression from all i have seen. And like i said ill give EQ2 a try fore sure. Cheers!
Aye, EQ2 is more complete right now, its had 2 years to reach that point, Lotro has only been out for a short time and will more than likely move to the points you're looking for such as player housing within the next year. They're already adding another Zone within 2 months of launch so its a pretty good bet they have more planned. They'll keep rolling out new content as the game moves along. But if you want those things now, EQ2 is for you.
Try to get a hold of a buddy key for Lotro and the free trial for EQ2 and just try them out yourself. We can only give you as much input as our own personal tastes/wants allow, only you can really choose what you enjoy.
I played EQ2 trail about a year ago and I spent about 3 hours before I uninstalled the game, after playing WoW the graphics were just to horrible to play with. Also it seems that the EQ2 fans assume that more is always better, I'd prefer fewer and better developed races vs lots of crappy once.
Also the other thing with Everquest is that they mass produce expansions hardly worth the name. You say you’re getting a new race and a city for what 30$? Blizzard gave WoW two races, a whole new world, new crafting skills, flying mounts, increased level cap from 60 to 70 and much much more, this would take Sony about 3-4 expansions to add the same amount of content. One thing EQ series does better then any other game series is taking your money.
I played EQ2 trail about a year ago and I spent about 3 hours before I uninstalled the game, after playing WoW the graphics were just to horrible to play with. Also it seems that the EQ2 fans assume that more is always better, I'd prefer fewer and better developed races vs lots of crappy once.
Also the other thing with Everquest is that they mass produce expansions hardly worth the name. You say you’re getting a new race and a city for what 30$? Blizzard gave WoW two races, a whole new world, new crafting skills, flying mounts, increased level cap from 60 to 70 and much much more, this would take Sony about 3-4 expansions to add the same amount of content. One thing EQ series does better then any other game series is taking your money.
The extra race, zone and city are completely free. The new expansion is set to bring another new race, starter zone and then a number of additional 65-80 zones. I'm sure there will be other stuff not yet announced.
EQ2 is very polished, complex and deep right now. The population seems to have been growing recently, and all levels have plenty of solo and group content available across many zones. The graphics, especially in the new zones, are great, the character models are nice and the animations are superb.
I've never played LotRO, but I have no desire to, simply because EQ2 is more than enough right now, and has been for some time. It's some of the best money you'll spend.
LotRO is the more polished game. You can argue about whatever you like, but polish goes to LotRO.
- 50 people in one spot - no lag, no performance issues at high gfx settings. No way EQ2 can compete with this
- Interface is responsive, intuitive and generally clean
- Skills kick in the milisecond the castbar's done. Lags only at extremely massive fights (like 250 people fighting at yesterday's event)
- Almost no gfx chops, music and effects fade out and fade in, vary and always stay "on-scene"
- Sunrise, Sunset, birds, animals, falling leaves, haze, atmospheric color filter - it's all there, in EQ2, its not. Period.
That doesn't say a bit about the quality of mechanics or gameplay or quests, classes, races (said something about this above) encounters, raid, PvP, crafting, noding, whatever, but polish - on any scale you can pull - goes to LotRO.
Roll a wizzy on lotr, Oh wait u can't, Tired of battle than lets craft oh wait crafting is worhless in lotr, how about a epic raid those are always fun, oh wait no epic raids in lotr, lets see tired of playing your class lets reroll i know eq2 has 24 classes so if u get bored of one you can roll another one how about lotr? it has 7 and most are melee classes. You can keep your dumbed down game, i will stick with eq2.
Roll a wizzy on lotr, Oh wait u can't, Tired of battle than lets craft oh wait crafting is worhless in lotr, how about a epic raid those are always fun, oh wait no epic raids in lotr, lets see tired of playing your class lets reroll i know eq2 has 24 classes so if u get bored of one you can roll another one how about lotr? it has 7 and most are melee classes. You can keep your dumbed down game, i will stick with eq2.
Theres only something like 6 wizards in the whole of middle earth thats why! I made lots of money crafting in LOTRO wheni played it and when i left at level 23 i had 2 gold! (1 gold is 1000 silver ). The class thing i played a few and they were all totally different, ive never played a game where i have made one of every class and race combo.
Minstrel isnt melee, lore master isnt melee, ranger isnt melee. so most are Melee but only by 1 class 3 out of the 7 arent melee classes. that leaves 3 ranged/magic/music based classes and 4 melee ones, one of which is a buffer with a pet and one is a stealth type guy, that leaves only 2 actual melee classes.
There is no proper raiding yet because not enough people are a high enough level. There is a free content expansion out next month too.
@theice: that's the problem with EQ2. It's wohooow, 16 classes, all generic. In my last EQ2 days I tried to level up another char, so I created a wizard, and hell, he was all like my nekro, my swashbuckler was all like my monk, yay.
But when I wanted to play something original, like a healing melee WITHOUT magic (like a field medic, or a NORMAL medic, what happened to regular healing, bandages and herbs n stuff?), or a rogue that can do more than stand there and support damage, hell, no way. EQ2 tells you it has endless classes and many races. But they lie, they are nowhere near original.
The races have no homecities, no kingdoms, no culture, ogres are brutes, trolls are brutes, barbarians are brutes, they live in "generic slum XY", they have no leader, they have no identity, it's like playing an caucasian-negride kid in the slums of sao paolo making his way through live... superb SOE...
The classes are either magic damage, melee magic, melee, heal magic or range damage. That's actually 5 classes. But what if I don't want f***ing whirly sparkly magic, oh darn, it wateres down to archer, tank or support damage. WTF???? Same generic crap every other game and their mother presents.
I don't say the Necromancer wasn't fun. I've played EQ2 for months, I know the game can be fun. But LotRO does the only right thing classwise, generate few classes, make them authentic, give them room to individually develop so that people have plenty or possibilities with their class.
With my traits I can make my minstrel a decent melee encounter, I can slot medium armor, improved strike, fast cast time and be a tough fight solo. Or I can choose soft voice, light armor, serenades, and be a fragile group healer. I can boost my range warsongs or my melee abilities - which gives me the possibilities to play differently, completely, like converting from a kiting caster to a buffing melee char...
And YOU tell ME that lotro has few boring generic classes. I call BS...
LotRO is the more polished game. You can argue about whatever you like, but polish goes to LotRO.
- 50 people in one spot - no lag, no performance issues at high gfx settings. No way EQ2 can compete with this
- Interface is responsive, intuitive and generally clean
- Skills kick in the milisecond the castbar's done. Lags only at extremely massive fights (like 250 people fighting at yesterday's event)
- Almost no gfx chops, music and effects fade out and fade in, vary and always stay "on-scene"
- Sunrise, Sunset, birds, animals, falling leaves, haze, atmospheric color filter - it's all there, in EQ2, its not. Period.
That doesn't say a bit about the quality of mechanics or gameplay or quests, classes, races (said something about this above) encounters, raid, PvP, crafting, noding, whatever, but polish - on any scale you can pull - goes to LotRO.
Meridion
Uh... your LotRO game performance in all aspects is simply related to your computer hardware, and your connection.
LotRO isn't more polished.. that's pure fallacy.
You've never experienced EQ2, except the 7 day free trial, obviously.
You're not believable, but you are certainly a fan... boy, are you a fan. Boy oh boy.
You rabidly post here over and over foaming at the mouth in your attempt to convince anyone that you're knowledge of LotRO vs EQ2 is pertinent. It's not. You know nothing of EQ2 "crafting" or PvP, or raids, or polish or clsses or quests or gameplay or mechanics. You may have had fun with your first 30 days of LotRO, but you shouldn't make comparisons to things you have no experience with.
First let me say I really enjoyed my time in LOTRO, turbine didn't promise the moon and delivered a quality MMO.
That being said comparing LOTRO to EQII at this point in time is silly. EQII is still arguably the best fantasy MMO on the market . Keep in mind when posting these X vs Y debates you must to take into account the total package. (if you're going to be taken seriously)
Factors like game mechanics, UI, character customization, classes, animations, AI, content, sound & graphics must be factored in.
Still I would suggest trying both before deciding since no MMO on the market appeals to everyone.
I recently wanted to play a fantasy MMORPG again but wasn´t sure which game to pick up. Started with WoW got bored again in few days, LOTRO is ok game I guess but certainly ain´t for me mainly because it´s basicly WoW in Middle Earth with worse combat and graphics(this is a personal thing though but I absolutely hate the player race models and animations Turbine does and have since DDO)
Anyway I finally resubscribed to EQ2 after a long break and was very happy to see it has improved tremendously and is at least in my opinion by far the best fantasy MMORPG out there right now.
Jaymenicus: If you had read all my posts or if you had taken the effort to actually look at my sig you would find out very quickly, that I have playerd EQ2 for more than eight months and I have leveled my maincharacter to level 70, also, I never doubted the "flaws" of LotRO (broken crafting, no housing, no actual player versus player)...
So if I'm a foam-spitting, rabid LotRO Fanboy I'm pretty much messing up my job. I AM stating that, after going through numerous MMOs (and actually PLAYING them) and concepts, LotROs package is tighter, more polished and and definitely more seamless than EQ2s. Not only that I have PLAYED EQ2 for a longer period of time, I also played it with my current rig. Which runs LotRO in High Quality at 40-60 fps at any time (even with 50 people around) while EQ2 was a staggering, struggling loading scene orgy every time a large amount of renderable characters came in while presenting a much inferior world design and view than LotRO.
Besides, viewing the "package" is a wonderful modern marketing term. But the core virtue of objectivity is to extract ONE aspect, analyze it, and THEN set it into perspective without losing touch to its inherent qualities or flaws.
In my book, EQ2 is the inferior game - why? because polish and performance is on #1 on my list (subjective) and LotRO reigns supreme in this category (objective)...
And oh, you're freeing yourself of any believablity by implicating that I am judging a game by its trial without even knowing ANYTHING about my EQ2 experience or my gaming habits in general...
Run... run away from LOTRO.... i'm kidding, i started to like it... but... just a few things... missing...
it needs another few months where new content is added, and they finally fix the annoying bugs (bolger anyone still isn't fixed yet and you still get episodes where you can get stuck in the ground for no reason) and the truly awful crafting balance.
Classes are okayish, some issues... the heralds stupidity that the captain has to put up with, for one.
Nice graphics, good starting zones, awesome music, nicely done cut-scenes in between chapters.... and finally the truly awesome music system (playing the FFVII victory song as the chapter boss dies is funny)
but EQ2 wins, mostly because you can pick it up for cheaper, and with 3 expansions.... included are pets galore and more vetern bonuses than you can shake a stick at. Plus the fact that neriak has just been added as well as the Emo fae race as free content.
Makes it fun to go back as a previous player or a new one. I'd seriously get it before LOTRO. Some LOTOR content between 25-40 quests tend to be missing, you'll have to grind in a system that grinding wasn't meant for (XP wise you'll see) as for the deed system it's basically kill 100 and you get it. I liked the movement away from grinding but without enough quests to make up for it with XP, you tend to rely on using destiny points for the double XP.
Bolger is about the only gameplay affecting bug I have encountered in all my journeys. Oh yea, the instance not enterable problem, but this has been fixed. So it's "the annoying bugs" because of ONE bugging NPC for a level 8 quest?
Besides, 25-40 can be completely reached through quesing. You might have missed out quest hubs (?) in north-downs or trollshaws?
EQ2 has more depth than any of the other games released in past 3 years.
LoTRO is WoW all over again but with one faction, no mounts, half the classes, afterthought..unfun pvp, less races...only reason why people play it is because it's LoTR....you could poo in a few buckets and call it hobbit poop and as long as the buckets have LoTR logo on it, you'll have atleast million willing buyers.
LotR is fun but is shallow in gameplay. EQ2 has more dept BUT has one big problem, the community is aged. The only way to have fun in EQ2 is when they open a new server where everybody has to make a new toon. VG is much like EQ2 but is a fresh new game. Problem with VG is, is the negative hype. It had much bugs, but most of them have been repaired. It is a fun game to play now if you like a game with more dept.
Get Vanguard, really. LotR is fun but is shallow in gameplay. EQ2 has more dept BUT has one big problem, the community is aged. The only way to have fun in EQ2 is when they open a new server where everybody has to make a new toon. VG is much like EQ2 but is a fresh new game. Problem with VG is, is the negative hype. It had much bugs, but most of them have been repaired. It is a fun game to play now if you like a game with more dept.
EQ2
had new race and new starting areas for 1-20 just released...so theres absolutely no shortage of groups for low levels.
I know many people who boycot companies for certain reasons (supporting war investments, polluting rivers or simple dislike for one product).
SOE has destroyed Star Wars Galaxies. Childish would be to emotionally rant all over it time and again (which is what many SWG vets do). Mature is, getting emotionally involved, getting over it and actually DRAW consequences. Leaving it all being happy again is again ... childish. No emotional involvement here, it's just a credo that evolved out of the SWG execution - Not to support SOE where possible.
Bolger is about the only gameplay affecting bug I have encountered in all my journeys. Oh yea, the instance not enterable problem, but this has been fixed. So it's "the annoying bugs" because of ONE bugging NPC for a level 8 quest?
Besides, 25-40 can be completely reached through quesing. You might have missed out quest hubs (?) in north-downs or trollshaws?
Meridion
Bolger the only bug; please at least 8 quests for me wouldn't work properly; especially the guardian level 15 and the champion class quests.
not the terrain bug? or the huge number of crafting issues, pathing issues, respawn times etc etc
North-downs is disapointing in the number of quests, i much preffered lone-lands and then the centre Ost something. even then i was doing quests 2 or 4 levels above me.
I got to 30, and it wasn't enjoyable... i think i was half way through the second book.
didn't take long, i got the early-access (10 days retail before release) being europe pre-order... i still have my unused founders key somewhere .
the crafting is a painful joke, especially the professions... rather than mix and match... you're pretty much stuck with one you like, one to gather, and one that needs someone else or the AH and is mostly useless.
To be honest stick with quest items and save yourself 6 hours of barrow-iron hunting.
and remember it costs 12 silver to get 200 yards in the elf starting area to the next town, but only 6silver to go from bree to lone-lands....... travelling costs are the biggest joke aside from repair bills
don't even get me started on the localisations, thanks to that the US will always get content 2-4 weeks sooner than the europeans, we're still weeks behind.... painfully, behind
remember the only difference between the male dwarf and the female dwarf.. is one has 2 beards
but again pluses, are graphics - music - cut scenes - lore.
that's enough for most people, but i do like playabilty in there.... class differences apart from the obvious are mute... it's basically click which skills turn red first until dead. Another reason why PvP wouldn't work...... even if you know helms deep, there wasn't someone yelling "Heal plz"
many people miss out the quests in the southern elven city of north downs because its pretty much off track and theres no stable there. Well, I have to actually force myself to do quests only, and they still drop until they are green... Doing all Agamaur quests gave me 2 levels I think, and this rolls on and on...
Well, honestly, I have not experienced any terrain bugs, well, I don't have a pet class but I remember pets in EQ2 and WoW getting stuck all the time, so I think this is a common issue.
Well, after all. Listing no housing and no real pvp as a - ... Well, the point is, this all depends on what you expect. To judge an MMO by the features it hasn't is like judging a minivan by the lack of speed and throttle. If I try to look at a game objectively, like EQ2 or LotRO, I would not judge it by the lack of exploration content - still I'd like to have it. But in both games, it was never announced, never planned and will never be in it. Both games feature open, but limited worlds to explore. If I want to explore, I'd be rolling with SWG or DnL.
So what you basically do is, critizise LotRO for not being something it never intended to be while not demanding this from EQ2. This is essenially biased and probably you have every right to be so (since you obviously like EQ2 better). But, well, I think you should be aware of it -
"Housing" for example is no objective quality criterium for an MMO, its a feature some games offer and some don't. Most people like game where housing is and ither games where housing is not implemented. Which leads to the distinction between "core criteria" and "feature criteria"...
Core criteria like server performance or bug density apply to all games and are universal values of a good game
While feature criteria like diplomacy, housing or crafting are optional and can only be judged while comparing (to what was announced, to what other games offer, to what works in context and what doesn't)
So what you guys mostly do is you shift all the features you like into the core section and say "dude, a game that doesn't offer XY is a total letdown, how can you even look at it"... Which is unfair, not only towards LotRO but towards any game thats not checking the features you want to have.
Another (final, I promise) example: EvE Online. The game doesn't offer numerous features I REALLY like to have, like true quests/missions or real ship steering or landing on planets. Still, I don't judge this game by not having what I'd like to have, I judge it by what it has and what it is. And the things EvE Online offers are done tight, clean and polished. So it is a good game, not for me, not for many people, but it is a good game.
So when I judge EQ2 and LotRO, and I think they ARE comparable, I take into account the things they have in common and the things that are core values for any MMO. And in this race, which I try to keep as objective as possible (which doesn't always work, I KNOW), LotRO wins. EQ2 MIGHT still be the better game for many many people, because EQ2 offers some things LotRO doesn't and the other way around... But this is finally all a matter of taste and no longer of objective review...
Personally Id go EQ2. Played Lotro for like a week and couldnt take the lack of classes/customizability. EQ2 has way more depth in almost every scope and to me that makes all the difference in the world when you're paying to play a game. I guess if you really really like lotr then you can prolly overlook the lack of depth. But then again you play CoV, which has no depth at all...lol. So maybe lotro is for you. Actually you should just go WoW, it really is the most polished and fun mmo out there.
Comments
----ITS A TRAP!!!----
Aye, EQ2 is more complete right now, its had 2 years to reach that point, Lotro has only been out for a short time and will more than likely move to the points you're looking for such as player housing within the next year. They're already adding another Zone within 2 months of launch so its a pretty good bet they have more planned. They'll keep rolling out new content as the game moves along. But if you want those things now, EQ2 is for you.
Try to get a hold of a buddy key for Lotro and the free trial for EQ2 and just try them out yourself. We can only give you as much input as our own personal tastes/wants allow, only you can really choose what you enjoy.
I played EQ2 trail about a year ago and I spent about 3 hours before I uninstalled the game, after playing WoW the graphics were just to horrible to play with. Also it seems that the EQ2 fans assume that more is always better, I'd prefer fewer and better developed races vs lots of crappy once.
Also the other thing with Everquest is that they mass produce expansions hardly worth the name. You say you’re getting a new race and a city for what 30$? Blizzard gave WoW two races, a whole new world, new crafting skills, flying mounts, increased level cap from 60 to 70 and much much more, this would take Sony about 3-4 expansions to add the same amount of content. One thing EQ series does better then any other game series is taking your money.
EQ2 is very polished, complex and deep right now. The population seems to have been growing recently, and all levels have plenty of solo and group content available across many zones. The graphics, especially in the new zones, are great, the character models are nice and the animations are superb.
I've never played LotRO, but I have no desire to, simply because EQ2 is more than enough right now, and has been for some time. It's some of the best money you'll spend.
- 50 people in one spot - no lag, no performance issues at high gfx settings. No way EQ2 can compete with this
- Interface is responsive, intuitive and generally clean
- Skills kick in the milisecond the castbar's done. Lags only at extremely massive fights (like 250 people fighting at yesterday's event)
- Almost no gfx chops, music and effects fade out and fade in, vary and always stay "on-scene"
- Sunrise, Sunset, birds, animals, falling leaves, haze, atmospheric color filter - it's all there, in EQ2, its not. Period.
That doesn't say a bit about the quality of mechanics or gameplay or quests, classes, races (said something about this above) encounters, raid, PvP, crafting, noding, whatever, but polish - on any scale you can pull - goes to LotRO.
Meridion
Minstrel isnt melee, lore master isnt melee, ranger isnt melee. so most are Melee but only by 1 class 3 out of the 7 arent melee classes. that leaves 3 ranged/magic/music based classes and 4 melee ones, one of which is a buffer with a pet and one is a stealth type guy, that leaves only 2 actual melee classes.
There is no proper raiding yet because not enough people are a high enough level. There is a free content expansion out next month too.
But when I wanted to play something original, like a healing melee WITHOUT magic (like a field medic, or a NORMAL medic, what happened to regular healing, bandages and herbs n stuff?), or a rogue that can do more than stand there and support damage, hell, no way. EQ2 tells you it has endless classes and many races. But they lie, they are nowhere near original.
The races have no homecities, no kingdoms, no culture, ogres are brutes, trolls are brutes, barbarians are brutes, they live in "generic slum XY", they have no leader, they have no identity, it's like playing an caucasian-negride kid in the slums of sao paolo making his way through live... superb SOE...
The classes are either magic damage, melee magic, melee, heal magic or range damage. That's actually 5 classes. But what if I don't want f***ing whirly sparkly magic, oh darn, it wateres down to archer, tank or support damage. WTF???? Same generic crap every other game and their mother presents.
I don't say the Necromancer wasn't fun. I've played EQ2 for months, I know the game can be fun. But LotRO does the only right thing classwise, generate few classes, make them authentic, give them room to individually develop so that people have plenty or possibilities with their class.
With my traits I can make my minstrel a decent melee encounter, I can slot medium armor, improved strike, fast cast time and be a tough fight solo. Or I can choose soft voice, light armor, serenades, and be a fragile group healer. I can boost my range warsongs or my melee abilities - which gives me the possibilities to play differently, completely, like converting from a kiting caster to a buffing melee char...
And YOU tell ME that lotro has few boring generic classes. I call BS...
Meridion
_________________________________________________________________________
Currently playing Shot Online: Marlonn - lvl 52 Zygmunt.
"Argueing online is like running in the special Olympics... even if you win your still a retard."
Uh... your LotRO game performance in all aspects is simply related to your computer hardware, and your connection.
LotRO isn't more polished.. that's pure fallacy.
You've never experienced EQ2, except the 7 day free trial, obviously.
You're not believable, but you are certainly a fan... boy, are you a fan. Boy oh boy.
You rabidly post here over and over foaming at the mouth in your attempt to convince anyone that you're knowledge of LotRO vs EQ2 is pertinent. It's not. You know nothing of EQ2 "crafting" or PvP, or raids, or polish or clsses or quests or gameplay or mechanics. You may have had fun with your first 30 days of LotRO, but you shouldn't make comparisons to things you have no experience with.
--
Delanor
First let me say I really enjoyed my time in LOTRO, turbine didn't promise the moon and delivered a quality MMO.
That being said comparing LOTRO to EQII at this point in time is silly. EQII is still arguably the best fantasy MMO on the market . Keep in mind when posting these X vs Y debates you must to take into account the total package. (if you're going to be taken seriously)
Factors like game mechanics, UI, character customization, classes, animations, AI, content, sound & graphics must be factored in.
Still I would suggest trying both before deciding since no MMO on the market appeals to everyone.
Dutchess Zarraa Voltayre
Reborn/Zero Sum/Ancient Legacy/Jagged Legion/Feared/Nuke & Pave.
Anyway I finally resubscribed to EQ2 after a long break and was very happy to see it has improved tremendously and is at least in my opinion by far the best fantasy MMORPG out there right now.
So if I'm a foam-spitting, rabid LotRO Fanboy I'm pretty much messing up my job. I AM stating that, after going through numerous MMOs (and actually PLAYING them) and concepts, LotROs package is tighter, more polished and and definitely more seamless than EQ2s. Not only that I have PLAYED EQ2 for a longer period of time, I also played it with my current rig. Which runs LotRO in High Quality at 40-60 fps at any time (even with 50 people around) while EQ2 was a staggering, struggling loading scene orgy every time a large amount of renderable characters came in while presenting a much inferior world design and view than LotRO.
Besides, viewing the "package" is a wonderful modern marketing term. But the core virtue of objectivity is to extract ONE aspect, analyze it, and THEN set it into perspective without losing touch to its inherent qualities or flaws.
In my book, EQ2 is the inferior game - why? because polish and performance is on #1 on my list (subjective) and LotRO reigns supreme in this category (objective)...
And oh, you're freeing yourself of any believablity by implicating that I am judging a game by its trial without even knowing ANYTHING about my EQ2 experience or my gaming habits in general...
Meridion
Run... run away from LOTRO.... i'm kidding, i started to like it... but... just a few things... missing...
it needs another few months where new content is added, and they finally fix the annoying bugs (bolger anyone still isn't fixed yet and you still get episodes where you can get stuck in the ground for no reason) and the truly awful crafting balance.
Classes are okayish, some issues... the heralds stupidity that the captain has to put up with, for one.
Nice graphics, good starting zones, awesome music, nicely done cut-scenes in between chapters.... and finally the truly awesome music system (playing the FFVII victory song as the chapter boss dies is funny)
but EQ2 wins, mostly because you can pick it up for cheaper, and with 3 expansions.... included are pets galore and more vetern bonuses than you can shake a stick at. Plus the fact that neriak has just been added as well as the Emo fae race as free content.
Makes it fun to go back as a previous player or a new one. I'd seriously get it before LOTRO. Some LOTOR content between 25-40 quests tend to be missing, you'll have to grind in a system that grinding wasn't meant for (XP wise you'll see) as for the deed system it's basically kill 100 and you get it. I liked the movement away from grinding but without enough quests to make up for it with XP, you tend to rely on using destiny points for the double XP.
Besides, 25-40 can be completely reached through quesing. You might have missed out quest hubs (?) in north-downs or trollshaws?
Meridion
LoTRO is WoW all over again but with one faction, no mounts, half the classes, afterthought..unfun pvp, less races...only reason why people play it is because it's LoTR....you could poo in a few buckets and call it hobbit poop and as long as the buckets have LoTR logo on it, you'll have atleast million willing buyers.
Get Vanguard, really.
LotR is fun but is shallow in gameplay. EQ2 has more dept BUT has one big problem, the community is aged. The only way to have fun in EQ2 is when they open a new server where everybody has to make a new toon. VG is much like EQ2 but is a fresh new game. Problem with VG is, is the negative hype. It had much bugs, but most of them have been repaired. It is a fun game to play now if you like a game with more dept.
EQ2
had new race and new starting areas for 1-20 just released...so theres absolutely no shortage of groups for low levels.
SOE has destroyed Star Wars Galaxies. Childish would be to emotionally rant all over it time and again (which is what many SWG vets do). Mature is, getting emotionally involved, getting over it and actually DRAW consequences. Leaving it all being happy again is again ... childish. No emotional involvement here, it's just a credo that evolved out of the SWG execution - Not to support SOE where possible.
Meridion
+Tons of crafting
+Tons of quest lines with story to it
+Alot of places to explore, content to try out
+Housing
+Mounts
+Open pvp on pvp servers.
+Alot of feature rich classes
+Alot of unique races
+Mature but fun community (No chuck norris jokes!!!!)
-Needs GOOD computer to actually look nice.
-Some older lower level instances deserted
-You need to be a cookie cutter to love the all advancement paths and spec possibilities
-Very heavy inflation on most servers.
LoTRo:
+Nice graphics even with an average computer
+/- One awesome quest line rest just random fed.ex.
+It's LoTR
-It's LoTR
-Very little content
-Few races
-Few classes
-just few crafting abilities
-no mounts or housing
-Only one instance for the monster play "pvp"
-Wowish preteen community
I play both LOTRO and EQ2 and i really think there is no way to compare
LOTRO is a simple game for people wich like "WoW type of games" its fun, but way weaker than EQ2 in contents and crafting.
I think EQ2 is more oriented for hardcore players wich like spending lot of time playing and like never ending contents and possibilities
LOTRO is for people wich like to play few hours a week and have fun easily and with no effort.
having said that. I like them both. When i have time enought i play EQ2, and when i do not have time for it, i enjoy playing LOTRO for a while.
Bolger the only bug; please at least 8 quests for me wouldn't work properly; especially the guardian level 15 and the champion class quests.
not the terrain bug? or the huge number of crafting issues, pathing issues, respawn times etc etc
North-downs is disapointing in the number of quests, i much preffered lone-lands and then the centre Ost something. even then i was doing quests 2 or 4 levels above me.
I got to 30, and it wasn't enjoyable... i think i was half way through the second book.
didn't take long, i got the early-access (10 days retail before release) being europe pre-order... i still have my unused founders key somewhere .
the crafting is a painful joke, especially the professions... rather than mix and match... you're pretty much stuck with one you like, one to gather, and one that needs someone else or the AH and is mostly useless.
To be honest stick with quest items and save yourself 6 hours of barrow-iron hunting.
and remember it costs 12 silver to get 200 yards in the elf starting area to the next town, but only 6silver to go from bree to lone-lands....... travelling costs are the biggest joke aside from repair bills
don't even get me started on the localisations, thanks to that the US will always get content 2-4 weeks sooner than the europeans, we're still weeks behind.... painfully, behind
remember the only difference between the male dwarf and the female dwarf.. is one has 2 beards
but again pluses, are graphics - music - cut scenes - lore.
that's enough for most people, but i do like playabilty in there.... class differences apart from the obvious are mute... it's basically click which skills turn red first until dead. Another reason why PvP wouldn't work......
even if you know helms deep, there wasn't someone yelling "Heal plz"
Well, honestly, I have not experienced any terrain bugs, well, I don't have a pet class but I remember pets in EQ2 and WoW getting stuck all the time, so I think this is a common issue.
Well, after all. Listing no housing and no real pvp as a - ... Well, the point is, this all depends on what you expect. To judge an MMO by the features it hasn't is like judging a minivan by the lack of speed and throttle. If I try to look at a game objectively, like EQ2 or LotRO, I would not judge it by the lack of exploration content - still I'd like to have it. But in both games, it was never announced, never planned and will never be in it. Both games feature open, but limited worlds to explore. If I want to explore, I'd be rolling with SWG or DnL.
So what you basically do is, critizise LotRO for not being something it never intended to be while not demanding this from EQ2. This is essenially biased and probably you have every right to be so (since you obviously like EQ2 better). But, well, I think you should be aware of it -
"Housing" for example is no objective quality criterium for an MMO, its a feature some games offer and some don't. Most people like game where housing is and ither games where housing is not implemented. Which leads to the distinction between "core criteria" and "feature criteria"...
Core criteria like server performance or bug density apply to all games and are universal values of a good game
While feature criteria like diplomacy, housing or crafting are optional and can only be judged while comparing (to what was announced, to what other games offer, to what works in context and what doesn't)
So what you guys mostly do is you shift all the features you like into the core section and say "dude, a game that doesn't offer XY is a total letdown, how can you even look at it"... Which is unfair, not only towards LotRO but towards any game thats not checking the features you want to have.
Another (final, I promise) example: EvE Online. The game doesn't offer numerous features I REALLY like to have, like true quests/missions or real ship steering or landing on planets. Still, I don't judge this game by not having what I'd like to have, I judge it by what it has and what it is. And the things EvE Online offers are done tight, clean and polished. So it is a good game, not for me, not for many people, but it is a good game.
So when I judge EQ2 and LotRO, and I think they ARE comparable, I take into account the things they have in common and the things that are core values for any MMO. And in this race, which I try to keep as objective as possible (which doesn't always work, I KNOW), LotRO wins. EQ2 MIGHT still be the better game for many many people, because EQ2 offers some things LotRO doesn't and the other way around... But this is finally all a matter of taste and no longer of objective review...
Meridion
Personally Id go EQ2. Played Lotro for like a week and couldnt take the lack of classes/customizability. EQ2 has way more depth in almost every scope and to me that makes all the difference in the world when you're paying to play a game. I guess if you really really like lotr then you can prolly overlook the lack of depth. But then again you play CoV, which has no depth at all...lol. So maybe lotro is for you. Actually you should just go WoW, it really is the most polished and fun mmo out there.