LOTRO and EQ2 are very different. LOTRO is very much as WoW. If you liked WoW you will probably like LOTRO. EQ2 is more oriented to hardcore players. It has way better contents, quests, crafting, etc than LOTRO. I personally preffer EQ2, but I didnt like WoW too much.
Define hard core please. What specificly makes EQII more hard core than LoTRO.
You want to talk crafting ok , what item can a crafter in EQII make that is superior to any drop or quest item and I include the raid drops here.
You mean aside from ALL the food, drink, potions, poisons, adornments, house items and ammo?
There's a few. Not to mention Wurmslayer, Tinkerer's Bag, and ALL the tinkered items. As well as all the imbued rare rings which are still the best in the game. Seriously dude, you played EQ2? This is a small list of some of the most coveted items in the game, period, ALL crafted.
This stuff is better than raid items if you are hard core enough to craft it or buy it ( about 20 to 30 gold for a complete set on the auction house if you can find it and gold is a hell of a lot harder to come by in LoTRO than in EQII. My level 45 has a whopping 6 gold right now and his only major expense was a horse for 4.5 gold.
That may be, but consider this. The crafted fabled items in EQ2 can only be acquired by 2 or 3 guilds per server among hundreds of guilds. They are NOT for sale, believe me, you won't find these on a broker and they are fully tradable.
Sorry but the LoTRO is only for casual gamers is just another myth perpetuated by people who have not played it. Just the hours iinvolved to max level are roughly the same or about 400 played hours to max level in adventuring.
Or, as PROVEN by an earlier post in General, 3 weeks and less than 200 hours. Although now, to 50 is about the same in EQ2 any more.
"Granted thinking for yourself could be considered a timesink of shorter or longer duration depending on how smart..or how dumb you are."
To the OP: the games are pretty much equal when every thing is added up and what it ends up being is a matter of personal preference. Each game has it's pluses and minuses. You really cannot go wrong either way you go.
I lmao There equal? Yea OK
Far be the truth of that. Lotr as I have mentioned many times only has one..ONE thing going for it.....The Story. Besides that, it's simple a lame WoW rip off. All you do is grind quests running back and forth from npc to npc.And in EQII you grind quests and run back and forth between NPC'sOK let's be lazy and use colour when replying to posts too! You never have played EQ2 have you? Yes there are quests but you don't grind them.You get to decide who you wish to talk to and when! LotR Every NpC has5 -10 things for you to do if not more! Aswell your pretty much directed to talk to many npcs during quests which lead you to doing a chain of quests.It is the same damn system dude, the exact saem damn syste in WoW,LoTRO and EQII.Crafting..sucks. I wouldn't say it sucksit is not as refined as EQII's but it is better than WoWs Innovation? where? Player generated music system, PvMp, Session play. Name me any othe MMORPG with any of the three. I'm fairly sure there are other games out there that have this. Name one.The only other thing remotely good is the the player vs player-monster. You want to talk about avatars looking bland and the same, LotR has that mastered! Nothing like forming a group and 4 of you look EXCATLY alike.A false statement False statement? LOL Have you even played Lotr past lvl 10???level 45 minstrel that took about since release to get to 45, betaed from November to release and took a half dozen or more toons to various levels up to around 35.If the game did'nt have the Lotr title/story, it would never have gotten as popular as it has. Personally I'd rather play WoW and it's Disney rip off graphics.
IF you want to play a REAL mmorpg, Play EQ2 or better yet play Oblivion. ROFL whatever, EQII, WoW and LoTRO are all graphical diku muds, I know the truth hurts but that is the bottom line. All three are polished and fun but they are no more different than a Chevrolet is different from a Pontiac or a Buick. A bit different body styles but that is about it. Yep the truth hurts, you still don't know what your talking about.Sorry dude but you are talking with emotions again , not facts.
Aswell try doing a search, this topic has been done many times.
That's ok litttle friend if you want to think your game is vastly superior, and it helps you sleep at night then more power to you. Little friend eh? Did I say EQ2 is vastly superior? No I did not. I stated that it is better then Lotr and mentioned the reasons. I can see why people on here enjoy your superiority complex, it makes for a great laugh. Just looking at you signature shows exactly how objective you are. LoTRO is a good game, all the reviews back me up here. People are playing and enjoying, approximatly 80% of my old EQII guild that tryed LoTRO stayed with LoTRO. Not because LoTRO was better or EQII was a bad game, just because it was a good game and we had become tired of EQII.
Oh and the three weeks and 200 hour is proved by a post in general by one person? I don't exactly call that proof. I would say might be ones persons experience, assuming they were not just trolling. Can it be done, apparently so . Will the average person do it, not a chance. I am not going to count days but less than 1/5 th of our guild has hit 50 since release. All of those are either retired, disabled and do not work, or stay at home Moms who play 8 hours a day plus. I have a little over 400 hours just guessing in my lvl 45 minstrel so far, which has been played pretty much like like any normal player would play. I find the leveling curve faster in the first 20 levels than EQII, about the same to 40, and slower between 40 and 50. Never played WoW past 25 so I cannnot really say there.
Oh and I never said you cannot craft good items in EQII, my point was you can also craft good items in LoTRO also. So why get all upset. I like both games and think either one is a good choice. Why does that bother people so damn much?
Umm....comparing loot or items between two different games is the most utterly ridiculous thing I have seen you fanbois do. Shame... just play your game and be happy. They are all the same.
Although I am going back to EQ2 because I don't feel like doing all the leveling and questing again.
Cool thing about LoTRO is the storyline quests. If all MMORPG's did that to add/develop the story of the game it would help a lot. EQ2 and WoW did not have much apparent story, I always felt I had to dig for it. I would suggest EQ2 if you have at least 2hrs to dedicate when you sit down. LoTRO you can get stuff done in an hour and feel accomplished...at least until level 20, I didn't get above that.
Umm....comparing loot or items between two different games is the most utterly ridiculous thing I have seen you fanbois do. Shame... just play your game and be happy. They are all the same.
[quote] Jackdog "Oh and I never said you cannot craft good items in EQII, my point was you can also craft good items in LoTRO also. So why get all upset. I like both games and think either one is a good choice. Why does that bother people so damn much?" [/quote]
Because you asked, and I quote:
Jackdog says, "You want to talk crafting ok , what item can a crafter in EQII make that is superior to any drop or quest item and I include the raid drops here."
So I posted what you asked for, then you two bitch about it? Sorry proof makes you so upset...
"Granted thinking for yourself could be considered a timesink of shorter or longer duration depending on how smart..or how dumb you are."
Umm....comparing loot or items between two different games is the most utterly ridiculous thing I have seen you fanbois do. Shame... just play your game and be happy. They are all the same.
[quote] Jackdog "Oh and I never said you cannot craft good items in EQII, my point was you can also craft good items in LoTRO also. So why get all upset. I like both games and think either one is a good choice. Why does that bother people so damn much?" [/quote]
Because you asked, and I quote:
Jackdog says, "You want to talk crafting ok , what item can a crafter in EQII make that is superior to any drop or quest item and I include the raid drops here."
So I posted what you asked for, then you two bitch about it? Sorry proof makes you so upset...
sorry but you can get better gear than what you posted by raiding . Find something better than say the "Circle of Unity " for example that is made by crafter and not a raid drop. Also attunable gear is not tradeable once it is attuned for use, LoTRO calls it bind on equip gear. It has to be attuned to be used and once attuned it never can be used by another character.
Like I keep saying EQII is a good game, no doubt about it . SOE got almost 3 years worth of subscriptions out of me for it. But take off the blinders, LoTRO is just as good and in some aspects better, other areas EQI has had three years to add content etc, Turbine is progressing just fine. EQII was only "ok" on the content at release also, and I am sure the 3 free months offer might entice a few people back at least for a look see at the new areas. If I find one in my mailbox , I will drop back in to say hi to some old guild mates, and scope out the new starting areas. That is another nice thing about a lifetime sub to LoTRO, I don't feel like I have to play or I am wasting money like I did when I had a Station Pass.
Ok to clear a few things up. I have played WoW to 60 and raided with a guild on Elune (up through BWL and then quit) I have played LOTRO up until level 43 and I have played EQ2 up to about 20.
EQ2 is more solo friendly then LOTRO and the NPC Voices make the quests seem more alive compared to the regular LOTRO quests. But so far both games have been very quest grindy with EQ2 having more options to get XP, such as finding random things to give you quests and mob XP being higher. Compared to the Epic quest line in LOTRO though I haven't found anything as good in EQ2 so far. EQ2 quests do send you to NPCs though and have chain quests.
EQ2 has a lot better spell animations and also voice emotes. LOTRO has much better music system and better facial emotes. EQ2 is more colorful while still being pretty realistic in graphics, LOTRO is more gritty and realistic. LOTRO does have numerous different looking armor systems my 43 captain doesn't look anything like a 43 Minstril or a 43 loremaster or a 43 Burglar. The problem in LOTRO that you run into is that a 43 Captain might look a lot like a 43 Champion or a 43 Guardian since there aren't a ton of choices yet for Heavy Armor (most I ran into were wearing some combination of Heavy Elven armor).
The Music system in LOTRO is awesome. Not only can you play songs by hand, but for the Musically challenged (me) you can upload the songs into the system using abc notation and then play the song by loading it. Which is quite awesome.
My problem with LOTRO (and this comes from a huge LOTRO fan at first) is I lost some motivation to play when my playing partners went on Vacation. AT 43 I have very minimal quests that I can solo. And most of the ones I can solo are pretty annoying. This wouldn't be a problem, but I am going to need leg surgery and I my semester has started for college so I don't have the play time I did a month or two ago.
I would highly recommend either game to anyone starting out. If you like magic users though I would recommend EQ2. If you love the lore and story of LOTR then I would highly recommend LOTRO. If you are a super hardcore gamer (IE play 4+ hours per day) and do not enjoy RPing or helping lowbies out then I would recommend EQ2 over LOTRO. I hit 43 about 4 weeks after the game went live or so. I spent the rest of the time helping my wife.
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)
LOTRO has some major problems with questing. The quests are amazingly interesting in terms of storyline, but it's either long strings o linear quest instances or mind numbing soloing. The problem is that helping people in the game gets you nowhere, even if you can do it.
Imagine being at Scarlet Monastery. You're a Priest looking for XP and not much more. But you see, you need to do the Library, then that opens up the armory, then that opens up the Cathedral. You are spamming for a group to heal for to do the Library. Next to you is a group all set to go looking for a Priest to do the Cathedral. You could heal them, but you haven't finished the other quests that lead to it. They could help you, but the amount of XP they'll get is like killing two mobs solo.
It's a recipe for frustration. All I wanted was to heal for a group and I sat there watching people spam for healers for their groups. But I didn't have the right quest that they were on. It was so insanely frustrating.
EQ2 is also just far more complex in the gameplay. You get more tools. You make choices. As a minstrel in LOTRO I had a dozen or so different tools, but everything but the Large Heal was pretty much useless. Tiny buffs that made no difference and miniscule attacks that were indistinguishable from each other.
I desperately wanted to like LOTRO. I wanted to get in on the ground floor of a game and play it through. But I just don't think it's a very good game.
EQ2 100%. After playing lotro for a couple weeks i would never go back ever.
1. Eq2 has way more content, there is really no comparison. Eq2 has tons of quests, tons of zones, instances, dungeons, you CAN'T experience all of it without out leveling it. In lotro you are pretty much on the verge of running out of quests almost constantly(at least up till about 30ish when i stopped playing).
2. Grouping... this is killer in lotro for me. There is almost no reason to group with anyone outside of quests. I found myself broadcasting for a group for every single little group quest, and it became tedious. Especially when i tried to get a great barrows group... This sucked. Hard. It takes ages to get a functional group, oftentimes group leaders just invited whoever to fill up the team. Overall i found it to just be too much work for too little reward. In eq2, you can solo quests, find a couple people to do group quests, and have people actually willing to help you.(rather then the guilds in lotro which will purposefully ignore your request for help, went through 4 guilds and nobody ever wanted to group for anything). In eq2, i can find people to do quests, do dungeons, and get appropriate rewards, and a higher exp gain. People group regardless of quests, because grouping has real rewards.
3. Crafting, i grew tired of lotros, "get to a tier, master the tier, and then hope you crit otherwise items are worthless". In eq2 at least i can get to a level and then create items for that level right away. With some input, and WITHOUT interdependance.
In eq2 at least i can get to a level and then create items for that level right away. With some input, and WITHOUT interdependance.
Ironic that at EQII's release every single item you made was interdependent on another trade skill. That was one thing I raised hell about in beta but was shouted down by the fan boy testers.
Also what you stated is a half truth. 2 of the three skills in a LoTRO vocation are complimentary, only the third is interdependent. For example the Armourer vocation contains the trade skills Metalsmith, Prospector, and Tailor. The prospector skill provide metal for thhe metalsmith who can then make metal armor ( heavy armor) , however the tailor needs hides from a forester to make the medium and light armor. Or you can be of the explorer vocation which consists of prospector, tailor and forseter and make medium and light armor and suppies metal to vocations that use it. Not a perfect system I agree but then MMORPGs are supposed to be social games after all.
Ironic that the same ones whining about LOTRO's lack of grouping *and* forced grouping are the same ones whining about interdependent crafting professions. They cry "MMOs are social, you're supposed to group and be social" yet when it comes to crafting it's "wait a damn minute, you mean I have to work with other players to craft? wtf? I should be able to do it all, I'm just gonna roll alts, screw other players."
Interdependent crafting is a good concept. So is the concept of social gaming. Reality, however, often paints a different picture. More people solo than group. More people roll alts and do their own crafting/farming than working with others. LOTRO's crafting could be ok someday even, the main issues are it becomes interdependent right off the bat. It should probably ease the player into that, not breaking your bank right away buying materials. Also, and practically every MMO on the market is guilty of this one, crafting is often just a diversion, something to spend time on when you're not in the mood to play whack-a-mole, because drops and quest rewards are often superior to anything you can make.
I hear good things about EQ2 crafting, but I haven't been in-game long enough to even meet a trainer yet.
I´ve read the servers in eq2 are low-mid populated but with a mature community, and lotro is a "clon of wow" but easy to play.
Heresy !! For god's sake if you say something like this make a proper research or you look like an idiot. Lotro is a clone of Asheron's call 2 with its gameplay and interface which is a game from the same company that uses the same engine. AC2 released in 2001 had most of the features that WoW """brought into genre""" like dressing rooms, simple interface (same layout as in WoW), i could continue with a long list of features wow copied from AC2.
Hi, I´m a wow player and i like to play it, but sometimes i would like to enjoy other games and i´m thinking about everquest 2 and lord of the rings online. I´ve read the servers in eq2 are low-mid populated but with a mature community, and lotro is a "clon of wow" but easy to play. I´m a casual gamer (2 hours /day), and i would like that recommend me one of these games to play. thank you in advance
with all them replies already here i give you a tip:
if you loooove lord of the rings, then play that. it is absolutely not raid-oriented as wow (yet....). and it's good for the casual player. probably 8 months with 1 toon as very casual. crafting is less deep. items are useful. community is split between US and EU
EQ2: more matured game, lots of contents. raids not a must. interesting and deep crafting system. nice community. no separation of EU versus US. as casual player you will need at least a year or more to go through most of the stuff with one or two toons.
it's a hard choice, I know. I (have) play(ed) them both.
Comments
Define hard core please. What specificly makes EQII more hard core than LoTRO.
You want to talk crafting ok , what item can a crafter in EQII make that is superior to any drop or quest item and I include the raid drops here.
You mean aside from ALL the food, drink, potions, poisons, adornments, house items and ammo?
There's a few. Not to mention Wurmslayer, Tinkerer's Bag, and ALL the tinkered items. As well as all the imbued rare rings which are still the best in the game. Seriously dude, you played EQ2? This is a small list of some of the most coveted items in the game, period, ALL crafted.
This stuff is better than raid items if you are hard core enough to craft it or buy it ( about 20 to 30 gold for a complete set on the auction house if you can find it and gold is a hell of a lot harder to come by in LoTRO than in EQII. My level 45 has a whopping 6 gold right now and his only major expense was a horse for 4.5 gold.
That may be, but consider this. The crafted fabled items in EQ2 can only be acquired by 2 or 3 guilds per server among hundreds of guilds. They are NOT for sale, believe me, you won't find these on a broker and they are fully tradable.
Sorry but the LoTRO is only for casual gamers is just another myth perpetuated by people who have not played it. Just the hours iinvolved to max level are roughly the same or about 400 played hours to max level in adventuring.
Or, as PROVEN by an earlier post in General, 3 weeks and less than 200 hours. Although now, to 50 is about the same in EQ2 any more.
"Granted thinking for yourself could be considered a timesink of shorter or longer duration depending on how smart..or how dumb you are."
Far be the truth of that. Lotr as I have mentioned many times only has one..ONE thing going for it.....The Story. Besides that, it's simple a lame WoW rip off. All you do is grind quests running back and forth from npc to npc.And in EQII you grind quests and run back and forth between NPC'sOK let's be lazy and use colour when replying to posts too! You never have played EQ2 have you? Yes there are quests but you don't grind them.You get to decide who you wish to talk to and when! LotR Every NpC has5 -10 things for you to do if not more! Aswell your pretty much directed to talk to many npcs during quests which lead you to doing a chain of quests.It is the same damn system dude, the exact saem damn syste in WoW,LoTRO and EQII. Crafting..sucks. I wouldn't say it sucks it is not as refined as EQII's but it is better than WoWs Innovation? where? Player generated music system, PvMp, Session play. Name me any othe MMORPG with any of the three. I'm fairly sure there are other games out there that have this. Name one. The only other thing remotely good is the the player vs player-monster. You want to talk about avatars looking bland and the same, LotR has that mastered! Nothing like forming a group and 4 of you look EXCATLY alike.A false statement False statement? LOL Have you even played Lotr past lvl 10??? level 45 minstrel that took about since release to get to 45, betaed from November to release and took a half dozen or more toons to various levels up to around 35.If the game did'nt have the Lotr title/story, it would never have gotten as popular as it has. Personally I'd rather play WoW and it's Disney rip off graphics.
IF you want to play a REAL mmorpg, Play EQ2 or better yet play Oblivion. ROFL whatever, EQII, WoW and LoTRO are all graphical diku muds, I know the truth hurts but that is the bottom line. All three are polished and fun but they are no more different than a Chevrolet is different from a Pontiac or a Buick. A bit different body styles but that is about it. Yep the truth hurts, you still don't know what your talking about.Sorry dude but you are talking with emotions again , not facts.
Aswell try doing a search, this topic has been done many times.
That's ok litttle friend if you want to think your game is vastly superior, and it helps you sleep at night then more power to you. Little friend eh? Did I say EQ2 is vastly superior? No I did not. I stated that it is better then Lotr and mentioned the reasons. I can see why people on here enjoy your superiority complex, it makes for a great laugh. Just looking at you signature shows exactly how objective you are. LoTRO is a good game, all the reviews back me up here. People are playing and enjoying, approximatly 80% of my old EQII guild that tryed LoTRO stayed with LoTRO. Not because LoTRO was better or EQII was a bad game, just because it was a good game and we had become tired of EQII.
Oh and the three weeks and 200 hour is proved by a post in general by one person? I don't exactly call that proof. I would say might be ones persons experience, assuming they were not just trolling. Can it be done, apparently so . Will the average person do it, not a chance. I am not going to count days but less than 1/5 th of our guild has hit 50 since release. All of those are either retired, disabled and do not work, or stay at home Moms who play 8 hours a day plus. I have a little over 400 hours just guessing in my lvl 45 minstrel so far, which has been played pretty much like like any normal player would play. I find the leveling curve faster in the first 20 levels than EQII, about the same to 40, and slower between 40 and 50. Never played WoW past 25 so I cannnot really say there.
Oh and I never said you cannot craft good items in EQII, my point was you can also craft good items in LoTRO also. So why get all upset. I like both games and think either one is a good choice. Why does that bother people so damn much?
I miss DAoC
Can i please play the "lets quote really long posts and use a funky new color each time" game.
Yes.
Umm....comparing loot or items between two different games is the most utterly ridiculous thing I have seen you fanbois do. Shame... just play your game and be happy. They are all the same.
Although I am going back to EQ2 because I don't feel like doing all the leveling and questing again.
Cool thing about LoTRO is the storyline quests. If all MMORPG's did that to add/develop the story of the game it would help a lot. EQ2 and WoW did not have much apparent story, I always felt I had to dig for it. I would suggest EQ2 if you have at least 2hrs to dedicate when you sit down. LoTRO you can get stuff done in an hour and feel accomplished...at least until level 20, I didn't get above that.
"Just hate to see misinformation spread as fact is all. Seems to be a lot of BS being spread about LoTRO as fact."
LMAO and from reading your past posts on the Lotr forums, YOUR the one that is doing it!
Back on topic, just play the trials,
In Eq2 you will find mature helpful community. In Lotr you'll find people like Jackdog.
Because you asked, and I quote:
Jackdog says, "You want to talk crafting ok , what item can a crafter in EQII make that is superior to any drop or quest item and I include the raid drops here."
So I posted what you asked for, then you two bitch about it? Sorry proof makes you so upset...
"Granted thinking for yourself could be considered a timesink of shorter or longer duration depending on how smart..or how dumb you are."
Because you asked, and I quote:
Jackdog says, "You want to talk crafting ok , what item can a crafter in EQII make that is superior to any drop or quest item and I include the raid drops here."
So I posted what you asked for, then you two bitch about it? Sorry proof makes you so upset...
sorry but you can get better gear than what you posted by raiding . Find something better than say the "Circle of Unity " for example that is made by crafter and not a raid drop. Also attunable gear is not tradeable once it is attuned for use, LoTRO calls it bind on equip gear. It has to be attuned to be used and once attuned it never can be used by another character.
Like I keep saying EQII is a good game, no doubt about it . SOE got almost 3 years worth of subscriptions out of me for it. But take off the blinders, LoTRO is just as good and in some aspects better, other areas EQI has had three years to add content etc, Turbine is progressing just fine. EQII was only "ok" on the content at release also, and I am sure the 3 free months offer might entice a few people back at least for a look see at the new areas. If I find one in my mailbox , I will drop back in to say hi to some old guild mates, and scope out the new starting areas. That is another nice thing about a lifetime sub to LoTRO, I don't feel like I have to play or I am wasting money like I did when I had a Station Pass.
I miss DAoC
Ok to clear a few things up. I have played WoW to 60 and raided with a guild on Elune (up through BWL and then quit) I have played LOTRO up until level 43 and I have played EQ2 up to about 20.
EQ2 is more solo friendly then LOTRO and the NPC Voices make the quests seem more alive compared to the regular LOTRO quests. But so far both games have been very quest grindy with EQ2 having more options to get XP, such as finding random things to give you quests and mob XP being higher. Compared to the Epic quest line in LOTRO though I haven't found anything as good in EQ2 so far. EQ2 quests do send you to NPCs though and have chain quests.
EQ2 has a lot better spell animations and also voice emotes. LOTRO has much better music system and better facial emotes. EQ2 is more colorful while still being pretty realistic in graphics, LOTRO is more gritty and realistic. LOTRO does have numerous different looking armor systems my 43 captain doesn't look anything like a 43 Minstril or a 43 loremaster or a 43 Burglar. The problem in LOTRO that you run into is that a 43 Captain might look a lot like a 43 Champion or a 43 Guardian since there aren't a ton of choices yet for Heavy Armor (most I ran into were wearing some combination of Heavy Elven armor).
The Music system in LOTRO is awesome. Not only can you play songs by hand, but for the Musically challenged (me) you can upload the songs into the system using abc notation and then play the song by loading it. Which is quite awesome.
My problem with LOTRO (and this comes from a huge LOTRO fan at first) is I lost some motivation to play when my playing partners went on Vacation. AT 43 I have very minimal quests that I can solo. And most of the ones I can solo are pretty annoying. This wouldn't be a problem, but I am going to need leg surgery and I my semester has started for college so I don't have the play time I did a month or two ago.
I would highly recommend either game to anyone starting out. If you like magic users though I would recommend EQ2. If you love the lore and story of LOTR then I would highly recommend LOTRO. If you are a super hardcore gamer (IE play 4+ hours per day) and do not enjoy RPing or helping lowbies out then I would recommend EQ2 over LOTRO. I hit 43 about 4 weeks after the game went live or so. I spent the rest of the time helping my wife.
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)
EQ2, all the way. EQ2 has WAAAAAYYYYYY more content then LOTRO. EQ2 even have more content then WoW.
eqnext.wikia.com
LOTRO has some major problems with questing. The quests are amazingly interesting in terms of storyline, but it's either long strings o linear quest instances or mind numbing soloing. The problem is that helping people in the game gets you nowhere, even if you can do it.
Imagine being at Scarlet Monastery. You're a Priest looking for XP and not much more. But you see, you need to do the Library, then that opens up the armory, then that opens up the Cathedral. You are spamming for a group to heal for to do the Library. Next to you is a group all set to go looking for a Priest to do the Cathedral. You could heal them, but you haven't finished the other quests that lead to it. They could help you, but the amount of XP they'll get is like killing two mobs solo.
It's a recipe for frustration. All I wanted was to heal for a group and I sat there watching people spam for healers for their groups. But I didn't have the right quest that they were on. It was so insanely frustrating.
EQ2 is also just far more complex in the gameplay. You get more tools. You make choices. As a minstrel in LOTRO I had a dozen or so different tools, but everything but the Large Heal was pretty much useless. Tiny buffs that made no difference and miniscule attacks that were indistinguishable from each other.
I desperately wanted to like LOTRO. I wanted to get in on the ground floor of a game and play it through. But I just don't think it's a very good game.
Don't both of them have free trials?
EQ2 100%. After playing lotro for a couple weeks i would never go back ever.
1. Eq2 has way more content, there is really no comparison. Eq2 has tons of quests, tons of zones, instances, dungeons, you CAN'T experience all of it without out leveling it. In lotro you are pretty much on the verge of running out of quests almost constantly(at least up till about 30ish when i stopped playing).
2. Grouping... this is killer in lotro for me. There is almost no reason to group with anyone outside of quests. I found myself broadcasting for a group for every single little group quest, and it became tedious. Especially when i tried to get a great barrows group... This sucked. Hard. It takes ages to get a functional group, oftentimes group leaders just invited whoever to fill up the team. Overall i found it to just be too much work for too little reward. In eq2, you can solo quests, find a couple people to do group quests, and have people actually willing to help you.(rather then the guilds in lotro which will purposefully ignore your request for help, went through 4 guilds and nobody ever wanted to group for anything). In eq2, i can find people to do quests, do dungeons, and get appropriate rewards, and a higher exp gain. People group regardless of quests, because grouping has real rewards.
3. Crafting, i grew tired of lotros, "get to a tier, master the tier, and then hope you crit otherwise items are worthless". In eq2 at least i can get to a level and then create items for that level right away. With some input, and WITHOUT interdependance.
Ironic that at EQII's release every single item you made was interdependent on another trade skill. That was one thing I raised hell about in beta but was shouted down by the fan boy testers.Also what you stated is a half truth. 2 of the three skills in a LoTRO vocation are complimentary, only the third is interdependent. For example the Armourer vocation contains the trade skills Metalsmith, Prospector, and Tailor. The prospector skill provide metal for thhe metalsmith who can then make metal armor ( heavy armor) , however the tailor needs hides from a forester to make the medium and light armor. Or you can be of the explorer vocation which consists of prospector, tailor and forseter and make medium and light armor and suppies metal to vocations that use it. Not a perfect system I agree but then MMORPGs are supposed to be social games after all.
I miss DAoC
Ironic that the same ones whining about LOTRO's lack of grouping *and* forced grouping are the same ones whining about interdependent crafting professions. They cry "MMOs are social, you're supposed to group and be social" yet when it comes to crafting it's "wait a damn minute, you mean I have to work with other players to craft? wtf? I should be able to do it all, I'm just gonna roll alts, screw other players."
Interdependent crafting is a good concept. So is the concept of social gaming. Reality, however, often paints a different picture. More people solo than group. More people roll alts and do their own crafting/farming than working with others. LOTRO's crafting could be ok someday even, the main issues are it becomes interdependent right off the bat. It should probably ease the player into that, not breaking your bank right away buying materials. Also, and practically every MMO on the market is guilty of this one, crafting is often just a diversion, something to spend time on when you're not in the mood to play whack-a-mole, because drops and quest rewards are often superior to anything you can make.
I hear good things about EQ2 crafting, but I haven't been in-game long enough to even meet a trainer yet.
Heresy !! For god's sake if you say something like this make a proper research or you look like an idiot. Lotro is a clone of Asheron's call 2 with its gameplay and interface which is a game from the same company that uses the same engine. AC2 released in 2001 had most of the features that WoW """brought into genre""" like dressing rooms, simple interface (same layout as in WoW), i could continue with a long list of features wow copied from AC2.
REALITY CHECK
if you loooove lord of the rings, then play that. it is absolutely not raid-oriented as wow (yet....). and it's good for the casual player. probably 8 months with 1 toon as very casual. crafting is less deep. items are useful. community is split between US and EU
EQ2: more matured game, lots of contents. raids not a must. interesting and deep crafting system. nice community. no separation of EU versus US. as casual player you will need at least a year or more to go through most of the stuff with one or two toons.
it's a hard choice, I know. I (have) play(ed) them both.
good luck.