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free LotR Vs EQ2 Extended
L0C0Man
Member UncommonPosts: 1,065
Didn't see any thread about this but if there's any, I'd like to know as well.
Ok, first a little intro.
I used to play WoW for a time, basically stopped because there was not much to do (no time to do raids, not helped by the fact that I was in Venezuela playing on euro servers so the time difference didn't help) and most friends had left already.
Fast forward to now, because of some changes in venezuelan currency laws, I can't buy anything online for the time being (until this year the credit card activation for buying on the internet was done all online and renewed automatically every year, now I have to do the paperwork physically and go to the bank to do it, which would mean 1 or 2 days lost, which I haven't come around to do), so I'm getting my MMOs fix with free games lately, first with runes of magic until they banned latinamerican accounts, then dungeons and dragons online, which was good but a bit too different to what I was used to (reasons deserve a post of its own) and now I'm playing both LotR and EQ2 Extended.
Now, here's the question... I'm enjoying both of them, but as I said I can't really buy anything on either one, at least for now... so, which one, if any, do you think has more long term enjoyment without having to spend money? They both claim that buying is only optional and that you can have tons of gameplay with them without having to buy, but I know that is marketspeak at best.
Here are some thoughs on them so far (about level 10 on each).
- EQ2 so far feels more varied than LotR, specially in how much you can customize your character and feels like there's lot more to do
- EQ2 feels much more lonely than LotR, though, mainly because there's no area chat options for free players. I do see other players running around, but might as well be NPCs since there has been really no interaction or sense that I'm playing with other people so far. For some it can be a blessing but chatting while I play has always been one big thing for me when playing MMOs, so this one is my main gripe with EQ2. I've heard it's much better once you join a guild, though.
- EQ2 feels (also so far) much more "in your face" when it comes to selling stuff than LotR.
- Enemies seem more interesting in EQ2 so far, I guess the setting in LotR is both its strenght (all the lore and the like) and at the same time weakness (it's constrained at what it can do)
- Free account limitations seem better in LotR for now, haven't really had a problem with EQ2 limitations other than the chat ones but the others (like the 2 bags only rule) seem like they're the kind that will hurt much more later in the game.
So... any thoughs?
TLDR version: In your opinion which one can be enjoyed longer without paying, LotR or EQ2 extended?
What can men do against such reckless hate?
Comments
Lord of the Rings Online without a doubt.
You can actually earn points just by playing the game and then buy things in the cash store with it. It is a much more open model than that of EQ2. EQ2 is more like an extended free trial of the game that will require a subscription fee at some point. Lotro can be played by subscription, ala carte or free as the players sees fit.
This isn't even close. LOTRO is hot right now. That is where a lot of people are.
EQ2 has been dead for years in my eyes.
EQ2 Extended is the best
LOTRO requires massive endless grind of several characters if you even want to get close to being near equal to P2P players. There are so many restrictions with LOTRO that you can not ever buy out of unless you go subscribe. Will have to pay real money or level 4+ characters and grind out every deed and rep possible if you want to reach level cap (depends on what you buy with your TPs).
EQ2 Extended is a terrible version of F2P.
I don't like LotRO F2P very much, but it is worlds better than EQ2.
i can't really speak in detail to the free versions, but i do know that eq2 will have TONS more content - as in zones, quests, etc. this not out of goodness of SOE's heart, but simply because that's how the game is, EQ2 probably has more content than any game on the market. the F2P doesn't really limit content, it limits the rewards you get for doing it and the ability to get to the endgame. If all you care about is running around, roleplaying and questing, then EQ2 will be just fine. If you care about getting rewards, you'll probably get frustrated. Also, EQ2 lore is terrible, especially compared to LoTRO. But most people don't care.
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO
Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall
Currently Playing: ESO
Oh really? You can get a lot further in LOTRO without paying a dime then you can in EQ2.
The Sony fanboi is strong with you, young padawan.
On eq2's free service you can go 1-80 and have access to most of the game there in. In lotro you have to pay for quest packs post 20 unless you bought expansions. Exacty how are you able to go further in lotro than eq2 without spending a dime?
1. In EQ2 you can actually spend real life money for items and armor. A big no/no for the most of us. LOTRO does have a few stat tomes but it is very limited, and they made it that way for a reason.
2, You do not have to PAY for quest packs after level 20 in LOTRO. It is pretty darn easy to unlock the remaining zones through quests.
3. In EQ2, free players are on their own server, seperate from subscribers. So basically the whole extended server becomes a battle for who has "daddy's" credit card. Plus good luck adventuring with your friend who pays for his subscription.
Shall we go on?:
How about epic items? In EQ2 they are called Legendary or Fabled items. Guess what, when you subscribe and then go back to Free these items are automatically removed from your character and placed in your inventory when you downgrade from Gold. You can use them again when you renew your Gold membership. This does not happen in LOTRO. You keep and can use all of your gear.
Annoying in game pop-up advertising? EQ2 Extended has it. LOTRO does not.
EQ2 Extended quest limit? 20. LOTRO quest limit? None, same as VIP members.
EQ2 has limited spell tiers. In LOTRO you can learn all of your spells as a free player
How about this one. Purchase the EQ Expansion to get the new classes. But let your account revert back to free. Guess what? You no longer have access to those characters. In LOTRO if your subscription elapses you still get to keep and use any "expansion" related lasses.
In EQ2 when you downgrade back to free you lose bag slots. In LOTRO when you have a VIP membership and revert back to free you keep all of your bags.
You might want to ask around there Turbine fanboy cause when you downgrade you lose access to a lot of the stuff you had as a subscriber.
Every pannel that has some thing store related has a store sign on it. Every time you gain any TPs in-game you get a store sign pop up telling you to visit the store. The login screen has a giant button for the store. The tool bar always has a store button on it. If you enter a zone you do not have the "quest pack" for all of the quest giver NPCs have a store icon above there head telling you to buy it.
Quest limit um how about you can't do any past the 3 starter zones unless you buy them.
As a F2P player you have to buy the rest of the virtue, race, class, and legendary class slots for each character if you want them all.
Lotro has a lot of P2W items and looking at what DDO has benn getting in there store weapons and other items they said they would never add will be coming to lotro soon.
http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro/features/lotro-store
Psst... Don't tell anyone else. This is between me and all you guys.
Both games arent really free.
Just wanted to let you guys know.
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
You can go farther for free with Lotro than you can in EQ2.
I think you can get almost everything in lotro for free if you work hard enough for it. I'm not level 20 yet, but people in game say there are free quests post 20 to level up on making quest packs optional.
There is a lot in eq2 that can never be achieved without subscribing and continuing to pay. The restrictions on armor and spells alone pretty much ensure that free players will be nearly unable to enjoy the harder parts of the game and even if they do they won't be able to use the items they win. It really is just a bigger free trial of the game.
I think its a pretty decent comparison the only thing I would add is that as far as mobs, LOTRO does not get more interesting mechanics until later and that EQ2 has much more of a reliance on tied together groups.
Later on EQ2 and LOTRO are in parity as far as interesting fights. In some ways LOTRO has some better AI IMO.
As for the tied together mob groups I don't really like EQ2's reliance on this. It limits your tactics as far as pulling. I prefer LOTRO's method where they put patrols and clutter things up but if you pull one while the other guy's are away or have a back turned you can improve your chances.
I am not a fan I of the whole 4 guys sit there not doing anything and you always are forced to fight 4 guys type of mob layout EQ2 often has. It just seems really boring and uninspired and is clearly meant to basically force you to get someone help not force you to use good tactics.
In general it always easier to get someone help. So that method really adds nothing.
TomGorbin,
I compared both games. I love it how your post is only attacking LOTRO but you fail to defend EQ2 on any of the points I made. Congrats, Mr. Spin..lol
You might want to ask around there Turbine fanboy cause when you downgrade you lose access to a lot of the stuff you had as a subscriber.
Actually Mr Sony Fanboy you are WRONG. In fact, people in the game talk about the best way is to sign up for one month VIP, THEN downgrade because just that one month of VIP gives you access to a lot of things for the REST OF THE LIFE OF YOUR ACCOUNT, unlike EQ2.
Every pannel that has some thing store related has a store sign on it. Every time you gain any TPs in-game you get a store sign pop up telling you to visit the store.
Another lie. It is not a popup. You get a VERY tiny icon on the bottom right corner of the screen. It is actually a great way to track what you earn if you are a free player. It is reminding you of a goal to earn points to unlock free things.
The login screen has a giant button for the store. The tool bar always has a store button on it. If you enter a zone you do not have the "quest pack" for all of the quest giver NPCs have a store icon above there head telling you to buy it.
So the store is prominet throughout the game. Big deal. Anything beats an automatic pop up in my face. The store icon above quest NPCs is barely noticeable, any more than regular quest rings.
Quest limit um how about you can't do any past the 3 starter zones unless you buy them.
Again another lie. You can easily earn enough points in game to unlock a zone. Total misinformaiton. Not to mention you can do skirmishes and level up that way.
As a F2P player you have to buy the rest of the virtue, race, class, and legendary class slots for each character if you want them all.
I agree there are some limits here. But no where near the list I made about EQ2.
Lotro has a lot of P2W items and looking at what DDO has benn getting in there store weapons and other items they said they would never add will be coming to lotro soon.
Another lie based on specualtion. LOTRO has stat tomes for each of the main stats which are I believe 5 or 6 total. THAT IS IT! And they are very minor. No weapons, items or anything else to give an unfair advantage. LOTRO was doing good. DDO was dying. They will not have the same selling strategy.
One more thing, are you going to comment about my list a couple posts back about EQ2?
Whats this?
Sillence...
Read the comments below the article. Public opinion shows nothing but hatred for the new EQ2EX model.
http://www.massively.com/2010/09/14/the-daily-grind-eq2x-or-lotro/
EQ2X will give you more for free, if you just want to have fun and not stat-grind all day. I have played both extensively.
So much hatred towards EQ2X. I used to be a long-time EQ2 subscriber, raider, etc, mind you not with the whole "constantly aware of all item stats, spell tiers, abbreviations, etc" that the 'hardcore' players of any MMO have, but I got around pretty good and managed some raids and plenty of dungeons.
When eq2x rolled out, I was actually very happy with the idea. It didn't throttle the current p2p servers, it gave people a taste of a great game, and it allowed you to have an impressive amount of fun for free.
The OP can't buy anything, and I'm aware of how Venezuela is handling credit card fraud and problems online, so it really just kinda stinks to be in his position. As such, I'm going to recommend EQ2X.
Here are a few misconceptions that can be explained easily:
- "OMG YOU CAN BUY GEAR IN THE CS, THAT'S AWFUL"
This is true, you can buy some gear in the CS. Most of it is appearance-only and offers no stat buffs. The gear that DOES offer stat buffs is usually replaced by something you get in-world two or three levels later. It is just slightly above average (read: common / grey) gear level. It is not comparable to some "pay to win" games, and anyone who thinks that it's possible to do this in EQ2 doesn't know the game.
- "YOU ARE RESTRICTED TO LOWER SPELL TIERS. THIS SUCKS"
Yes, you can only go up to a certain level of each spell, but the fact is that the spells still evolve with your character as you level, and you learn new spells along the way. I completed level 80 raids a few months ago on the Live servers and only had one or two spells above "adept". It -really- doesn't matter that much.
- "THEY FORCE YOU TO BUY THINGS. YOU HAVE TO PAY TO USE THE AH"
This is a point of contention right now within the EQ2X community. Broker tokens were a quick fix for the community saying "we want to use the AH", and they're sort of serving the purpose. Otherwise, you'll find a much more EQ1-like environment where people gather in cities to sell things. Players are trying to organize bazaars last I saw. This defeats the broker problem and also builds a better community.
- "YOU CAN'T TALK IN WORLD CHAT. LOTRO LETS YOU DO THAT FOR FREE"
I actually had a better time playing EQ2X before I upgraded to Silver membership and got world chat channels. The chat there is only slightly better than WoW. Just join a guild by asking someone running around in a town, and you'll find better people than the world chat.
- "YOU ARE RESTRICTED TO GEAR THAT IS INFERIOR"
This is ALSO a point of contention within the community, and whereas it is annoying at times, it's not nearly as bad as everyone says it is. SOE is looking at lifting the restrictions.
- "THEY SAY THAT 'MOST' OF THE WORLD IS ACCESSIBLE! YOU HAVE TO BUY OTHER STUFF TO KEEP GOING"
Yeah, the 'other' stuff is the latest expansion pack. When I checked Lotro, they still made you buy the Mirkwood and Moria expansion packs on top of the quest packs. From the amount of time I've sunk into EQ2X, I've paid exactly 17.50$ because I wanted to be a Ratonga (race packs are 7.50$) and I wanted silver membership. Two months of gaming and I've spent just barely over one month's membership, and the only thing I'd want to buy anymore would be an armor appearance pack because they look cool.
FINAL VERDICT
Lotro is a fun game, but in terms of value for your money, EQ2X blows it clean out of the water with it's huge amount of free content, streaming download system, and world access.
Sorry Turbine Fanbois. LotRo is a great game and it shouldn't be missed, but when you're trying to go as far as you can for free, Everquest 2 Extended wins in every aspect.
Its feasible to get to max level non expansion level in LOTRO but it involves grinding deeds and using the TP you get from that to selectively get certain things.
I personally did not like the deed grind in LOTRO even before F2P.
On the other hand deed grinds were fairly common before F2P and doing them in group makes them much better. So perhaps in general there will be more people grouping up for them and it will be an overall good thing as deeds gives traits and free TP and maybe it will add more socialization.
Pre-F2P there are tons of deeds many people just never finished or bothered even looking at. I generally refrained from the kill 100 of mob x in zone y, unless that was a good race trait like the Man heal. But many deeds are of that type.
to donjn:
yes, eq2x is pretty much universally hated. it's f***ing terrible design compared to LoTRO or DDO.
however, the fact is that you do get an absolute TON of content with EQ2, just due to the nature of the game. Not having the gear or spells doesn't preclude you from doing it. adept spells and crap gear is actually the same gear that the majority of the EQ2 population did all that content in when it was introduced. doing it with master spells and fabled gear makes it trivial anyway.
no, you can't do ALL of eq2 free and you can't do the endgame, but what you can do - purely from a content perspective - is a lot more than LoTRO. but content - i mean quests, dungeons, etc. - isn't everything. loot and character customization are a big part of the game too.
I do agree with you that LoTRO has a better system, but eq2 gives you a lot to do. I'm a 6 year (and current) EQ2 subscriber. I'll never play eq2x. But i'm dowloading LoTRO F2P as we speak
"Id rather work on something with great potential than on fulfilling a promise of mediocrity."
- Raph Koster
Tried: AO,EQ,EQ2,DAoC,SWG,AA,SB,HZ,CoX,PS,GA,TR,IV,GnH,EVE, PP,DnL,WAR,MxO,SWG,FE,VG,AoC,DDO,LoTRO,Rift,TOR,Aion,Tera,TSW,GW2,DCUO,CO,STO
Favourites: AO,SWG,EVE,TR,LoTRO,TSW,EQ2, Firefall
Currently Playing: ESO
I played both LOTRO and EQ2 for a over a year and have started playing on EQ2 extended when it launched. I have to say i am enjoying the the game quite a bit but the F2P model is flawed. Like all things sony it will take time for them to adjust it to what it needs to be. There model is to basically try and force you into a subscription to get access to most things in the game except the zones. Most F2P models i am aware of usually do not do that; they let you buy access to everything in the game in some way.
Not being able to buy extra races was a dumb, and now corrected move on SOE's part. The current token system is a bandaid and maybe they will stick with that. I absolutely hate that I can't use legendary or fabled gear; it makes names in some zones unappealing to target at times. Again, I hope they address this. But there is a TON to do and they are banking on content to bring people in, which for right now seems to work. Only time will tell if it will last.
LOTRO started to get bored with after over a year of playing so I haven't tried the F2P version.
Both games play so different to me that i find them hard to compare. To me EQ2 has more to offer me in gameplay; but the F2P model is poor. LOTRO needs to add something to the gameplay for me, but the F2P (from what i have read and heard from friends) is better. Just wish Sony would adjust the model. I am only playing F2P right now while i wait for another game that peaks my interest so we shall see how it goes.
"Because we all know the miracle patch fairy shows up the night before release and sprinkles magic dust on the server to make it allllll better." parrotpholk
Nice response! Good points about content. I have read that there is a lot you can do in EQ2. The thing is, I never enjoyed the games artwork at all. I always thought the color palette was bland like it had a grey filter over it. And the male humans' eyes are too close togetehr and look cross eyed. Stuff like that really bugs me.
I was a little too agressive so I will tone it down.
Sadly EQ2ex completly misses the point of F2P and most feedback have on their forum was saying they should do it like Turbine in LotrO/DDO instead.
Its practicly a nerfed version of the free trial that leads to a nerfed version of monthly subscription. If you want it all you will have to pay $200 / year in EQ2ex. Thats what a lifeitme sub for LotrO cost for founders...
EQ2ex is still in beta (or "sofft release" like they sometimes call it) so maybe SOE will realize how stupid it is and make some big changes.
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
First, I love both of the subscription version of these games.
As far as the free to play goes, I haven't played EQ2X nearly as much or really at all and I have to say its primairly due to finding out that you reach a point around level 10 where you can no longer use your quest rewards. If that's wrong please correct me, but at low levels especially in the absense of AH accessiblity, I feel like that could really hinder my game.
I have played DDO and I trust Turbines free to play model. With a little grinding like others have said you can pretty much do everything you could want to do in the game. The way I understand it really only the mid game is affected.
If I had to pick one to play free forever...I'd have to go Lotro.
QFT.
SOE, as per the usual routine, dropped the ball yet again. They really should bow out of the online gaming marketplace, the only thing they manage to get right is how to screw things up. Its beyond obscene.
I respect soe because without EQ there would be no market for the current games.
i tried EQ2X and didn't like it, i would go with LOTRO.