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Things only LOTRO has...
Lord.Bachus
Member RarePosts: 9,686
they got the best mounted combat system in MMORPG land
They have the best legendary mount system in the world with fully customisable mounts
They got legendary weapons that you can level and customize
They got the greatest and largest dungeon of them all
They have some of the hardest dungeons
They have the best stories
They have a dark deep fantasy world... withouth all the flash and bang.
They have musical instruments that playrs actually can play
They have pipes you can actually smoke
They have the shire
They have big eppic PvE battles
They have Players vs Monster PvP play
And there are many things ik keep forgetting about... Its the best MMO ever.. if you dont mind linear stories..
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
Comments
Legendary items is easily the worst AA system out there. It relies on random selection of legacies upon creation. You can customize it further through the shop if you dare to pay 200-1000 Turbine Points for each legacy switch/upgrade (100 TP = 1$) In the end you might spend thousands of TPs just for your legendary weapon, which becomes obsolete every year after each expansion. Legendary items serve to fill Turbine's pockets, since top players will shamelessly purchase all the upgrades to get tier 8 legacies they want, consuming at least 5000 TPs in the end.
They definetly do not have the largest and/or greatest dungeons. Dungeons in LOTRO are extremely linear (excluding initial dungeons, like Urugarth or Carn Dum but those are just a few). Skirmishes are usually defend a spot or progress through some randomized events in a limited area. And they are definetly not the hardest, LOTRO is easy MODE, even on hardest difficulties it's nothing special.
Big epic PvE battles is quite a joke. The Helm's Deep so-called Epic Battles is just another form of a skirmish.
Dark Deep fantasy world. I agree that Tolkien has created a fantastic and deep world, however, it's definetly not dark, and Turbine's incorporation of the lore into the game is everything but deep.
I agree, mounted combat is fairly good, except of the ridiculous lag while riding, since the engine isn't capable of handling certain high movement speeds, and you will rubberband often, which has nothing to do with the connection and it's the number one target of criticism on the official forums (right along with the ridiculous legendary item system).
REALITY CHECK
Mounted combat in LOTRO is.... bad.. it is really bad.. .i want to use the word Shitty.
For ranged char, mounted combat may be good, but for melee char, it is so awsomly bad, it's hard to describe.
For a guardian char.... dont even start on it.
You can kill the mobs, but it's just so boring and takes so much time, that it's a pain to do.
The rest seems ok.
About legendary weapons, unless you are part of a raiding guild and you can get the first age stuff, it aint that much to glorify, tbh.
Have not played this game that much, but which dungeon are you referring to?
I haven't experienced much (if any) lag while in mounted combat. I'd like to see that combat system become available sooner so it could drive new players to try this game out.
I agree that the legendary weapons could become a cash sink to get the legacies desired. As a lifetime subscriber, I'm able to just accumulate my monthly TP allowance and get what I want without real world money. That's an exception rather than the norm. It won't happen, but I'd like to see a crafting system be added that lets people build their weapon mods.
Helm's Deep is more than a skirmish, but you can see similarities without being wrong. I find that there is much more to do in a Helm's Deep battle: decisions to make, skills to acquire, etc. My gripe is that to "skill up", it seems to require many runs of the same content, over and over. By the time I get to the skills I want, I'm going to be sick of these battles.
As MMOs go, I still enjoy this one more than almost all others.
EDIT: Response to the poster above who said "About legendary weapons, unless you are part of a raiding guild and you can get the first age stuff, it aint that much to glorify, tbh."
Probably true. But I'd like to stress that if you are not part of a raiding guild, you don't need first age weapons. Second age is even more than enough for just about every non-raid encounter.
Na. TSW has those
By far.
The quality of writing between those two games is incomparable. It's like comparing Fellini with Shyamalan or Tarkowski with Michael Bay.
REALITY CHECK
That is true, a non raider dont need first age weapons, but as OP just said the legendary weapons were Awesoooome, I just had to write my opinion.
3rd age weapons are good, better then the non 3rd age (if you get your weapons, class item setup right) but it aint that special.
2nd, and 1st age weapons have more points to use, and i think can have more "ability's" on it. Cant remember the exact name, sorry.
If lotro had guild vs. guild PvP in the open world it would be (even more) the roleplayer heaven we've all missed since UO.
Oh my... I love LotRO, still playing it regularly, but I think there are a few exaggerations here
(many was noted already in the comments as I see)
best mounted combat system - Yep, it's fun, but on the other hand it has its issues... Auto Assault had the best mounted combat. Just kidding
but really, AA was great.
legendary weapons, legendary mount - LI system is the part I'd erase from the game the first time if I had the chance. It's only a huge grindfest without any reason. The idea was nice back then at Moria, the introduction and getting your first 3rd ager is still cool, but the rest is just a boring and tedious grind.
the greatest and largest dungeons, some of the hardest dungeons - maybe the largest (but other games have big instances as well). I'm on the fence with hardest, and as for greatest... nope. AoC has the coolest and most fun dungeons, with TSW on the second. FC is great with dungeons. But yep, GA is amazing, CD / Uru and Helegrod likewise.
best stories - As others said, TSW is (at least) on par with LotRO, if not better in writing. LotRO's book quest line is cool, the idea of supporting the Fellowship in the background is great. But TSW had Ragnar. He's the best.
Players vs Monster PvP play - I agree, at launch it was great (the only pvp I've played in mmo's for more than a few minutes
) But after a few months folks get bored with it, and all what's left in there was the usual lowlife pvp crowd, with every great strategic aspect of it was bashed into the ground and only the "kill'em all" mentality lived on. I agree, PvMP was awesome until it lasted.
Agree with the rest, the .abc system is awesome, growing and smoking your own pipeweed is fun, and, before all else, the Shire
the Shire alone justifies any amount of time /played in LotRO. At least for me.
Sadly I have no clue what Lotro has to offer for real since it has such a nice pay to play system.
But all that didn't matter anymore since you could buy endgame gear in the auction house. Not sure wether it's still the case but any game which offers best loot for sale is not worth the effort in my eyes.
One of the biggest assets of the game is the world Map by far.
Explore it again, like you hadn't been there before. From the many ruins of Evindim to Forochel, Giant strong holds in Mist Mountain to spider caves in the Trollshaws. Sarnur to Moria, Goldenwood to Mirkwood. The size of this world is unmatched.
tip: Do it on foot.
One of the things about most Online games, you never have a reason to go back to the beginning. Each time you do that here, open your deeds log, see all the things you never completed. Some exploration, some slayer. All the quests now turned gray that you never took. You will be surprised how much you missed.
For story, it might be in how it's presented between LOTRO and TSW. The Secret World - in my opinion - presents the story better. Cut scenes, voice acting, interesting camera angles and more. LOTRO's stories are mostly just reading through some paragraphs and the occasional simple NPC emotes and talking.
That said, I find that LOTRO stories develop the NPCs, from character relationships to back stories and even death. It's linear, sure, but it's a story development. When set against the backdrop of the interesting places in Middle Earth, it's actually pretty well done despite the dated appearance of the graphics. TSW does this to a degree, too.
All things being equal, it's more enjoyable to watch the TSW scenes than LOTRO, but from just a "story" point of view, I don't think one is objectively superior over the other.
Just my opinion
Things to add to the list:
- Poor animations: Characters don't have any sense of weight. The walk and run cycles look like they are made by first year animation students.
- Poor art design: It's a combination of their low poly count models and just over all asthetics. The environments are nice, but their characters just look kind of,.....off? I just really can't stand their armor design. No I don't want WoW's magical football shoulder pads either.
Don't get me wrong. Lotro is a solid PVE MMO with plenty of mechanics and systems to rival most if not all other MMOs. That being said, the one thing that has always bugged me about the game is how wrong my characters looked and moved. The clothing tabs help to give you a custom look, but I would rather show off what I'm actually wearing and not be afraid that I would be mistaken for a clown or circus juggler.
"If I offended you, you needed it" -Corey Taylor
Just to mark my opinion
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
I totally disagree, annimations have vastly improved since initial release... And espescially my warden annimations or very immersive and have a natural flow....
and their art style is the single one thing that makes the game feel timeless... Great choice, immersive and naturally flowing environments and gear... Poly count has nothing to do with art style... For a 7 year old game the graphics still shine to me... Just take a ride on horseback trough rohan ....
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
.abc system is far from a minigame, it's a music making "modul" inside the game which has no use besides entertaining other players and roleplay. And in this meaning it's unique (yep, you can do music in ArcheAge as well, but I bet most of the players will use it for the buffs they get from it. In LotRO it's only for the fun).
Last time I was at the Yule concert of the Shades, trust me, you can't entertain this many folks (http://postimg.org/image/t9dfu34ax/) for 2 hours with some lame minigame
Smoking (is a bad habit in reality...) indeed is a "mentionable feature". Pipeweeds have a significant purpose in Tolkien's work as well, in the game it's only cosmetic (*), but still is a part of your character. My hobbits are usually smoking Old Toby or Galenas (I love the ship). And you'd be surprised how well the pipeweed is selling on AH.
Here's an old video about the early weeds, since then there are many more in-game, but I stick to my Sweet Galenas
(at around 3:10) http://youtu.be/v9p5TwcEy2w
* = I don't play LM often, I think they use one of the pipeweeds for rezzing the fallen fellows.
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
One thing Lotro has is a pricing out of donkeys a** - I quit the game around 2010-2011 and coming back right now would cost me - guess how much? 10$ for Rise of Isengard expansion + 19 $ for Riders of Rohan expansion another 19$ for Helm's Deep (and that with 50% Christmas discount!) +15$ for monthly sub. About 65$ to come back to 6 years old game to do more "kill 20 wolfs" type quest. But this time on a horseback! Not bad for a F2P game
)))
Normally I don't respond in this fashion but saying that "only" LOTRO has these features is blatantly untrue. As well as the majority of you list being purely subjective. I feel it's best to let the facts speak for themselves.
Just to question the philosophy. Army of Socrates.
Lol, guess what if you didn't quit - $30 for the RoI base pack, $40 for RoR (or even $70 if you wanted the Legendary pack with the 6th bag and the exclusive session play), and $40 for the base pack of HD...
See how much you kept in the wallet with quitting?
I can only wish for that, but I've missed both windows... so I had to buy those packs (the middle one for RoI and the legendary for RoR), while the lucky lifers got them for free.
I appreciate your stance (as I prefer gwg pvp) but that really doesn't belong. It would be more faction vs faction and only in certain areas.
edit:
as for as the OP's statements:
they got the best mounted combat system in MMORPG land
The feel is good but it's technically horrible. I can't even control my mount sometimes as I find myself sliding all over the place.
They have the best legendary mount system in the world with fully customisable mounts
Needs more customization options and better art design in some places but it's pretty good.
They got legendary weapons that you can level and customize
These suck and I've always hated this system. you do realize that the person who created the system was working on another system, he found he couldn't make it work so he created this system in two weeks? Yup, two weeks. It's just ridiculous finding "legendary items" and destroying them.
They got the greatest and largest dungeon of them all
It's pretty great though I don't like the premise that the dwarves came back as that doesn't happen until much better. Would have been a better "giant dungeon crawl".
They have some of the hardest dungeons
I can't speak to this but I've found some of them difficult.
They have the best stories
It has some of the best stories. The Secret World is also a contender as others have noted.
They have a dark deep fantasy world... withouth all the flash and bang.
True and that is a plus.
They have musical instruments that playrs actually can play
Again a plus. I just wished minstrels carried their instruments on their back instead of them magically appearing.
They have Players vs Monster PvP play
This could be better.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo