Good (and bad) sides of LOTRO explained

Rattrap

I am playing LOTRO beta for few weeks now , and i am growing to love this game more and more every time i log on.

But as for every MMORPG - it is not for everybody. Many people will hate it - and with good reason. I feel it is perhaps a good

thing to explain what are these good things about LOTRO , and what are the bad sides...

Well let start with good

1. The game has most amazing graphic. And truly it is a miracle of modern coding and shows that game devs are simply
   
   ingenius! Let me explain. LOTRO is one of the best looking games to hit my PC. Easily comparable with OBLIVION
   
   but it PERFORMS like WOW !?! Yes. Even on most crappy PC this game is flying high octane! How is this possible ?
   
   The game uses some more primitive graphic systems. It doesnt use SPEEDTREE , which you can say is disapointing.
   
   But the art team worked so hard to bring the game that have low POLYGON count , but looks like most modern graphic game out there. But it doesnt stop at that
   
   It is just plainly beautful . Lush forests , villages, towns , elven runis..everything is simply top notch. And water...Oh the water looks. Well I could bet it was DX10..heh. And as for animation , and character design. It is among the best , again ...
2. Quest play. People said LOTRO doesnt bring nothing new to the table. Wrong. LOTRO changes the old view of MMORPG
   
   and BRINGS BACK RPG in mmorpg. Game is so focused on quests, that are interesting and have great storylines, that it reminds me more of single player RPGs (like baldurs gate..etc) than any other MMO. And not only that. LOTRO turns the table on EXP - quests bring 90% of exp , making grind pointless
3. It was said over and over again. LOTRO is most ready for release MMO in long time. So finally you will be buying a finished product and not "cat in the sack"
4. Diferent. Classes in LOTRO are quite diferent. The world is much less magical and more real. When you kill wild boar it doesnt drop two habnd +5 sword of dragon slaying.
5. Lessons learned. Turbine did lot of shit (namely DDO) - But now they return with penetance. LOTRO has learned a lesson from DDO. And brings the best what DDO had to offer to normal MMO world. Game has perfect balance of Instance to normal content. And group to solo content

And now for the bad

1. Small. Yes the game is quite small. I think that power gamer will reach end game in mather of weeks tops.
2. Combat is quite bland.And although classes are unique , i simply dont feel some great dynamics
3. PvP. Although you have monster play , that is interesting game in its on right - PvP players will feel left out by great deal

 

And now for conclusion

LOTRO is a small heaven for PVE player. 

If you enjoy excelent stoy based RPG , good graphic , relaxed atmosphere , roleplay - than this is handcrafted GEM for you.

on other hand Power players, PvP masters ... etc - Will probably not find to much interest in LOTRO

 

CleffyII

There is a difference between the requirements of the game:

Required	World of Warcraft	Lord of the Rings
Processor	800 mhz	1800 mhz
Graphics Card	32 MB GeForce 2 or Equivalant	64 MB GeForce 3 or Equivalant
Memory	512 MB	512 MB
Internet Connection	56k	56k
Recommended
Processor	1500 mhz	2800 mhz
Graphics Card	64 MB GeForce 5 or Equivalant	128 MB GeForce 6 or Equivalant
Memory	1024 MB	1024 MB
Internet Connection	Broadband	Broadband

There is a strikingly larger amount of processing power needed, also it needs 1 generation better Graphics Card.  Its still average by today's standards though so no biggy.  However, you have to keep in mind that the graphics card requirement needs twice the memory as WoW.  Depending how they use it could mean a major difference in detail.  They have the ability to double the texture size within the same area, or increase the density of objects, or a combination of both.  Also the increased amount of processor means more draw calls or advanced algorythms.

Still they did a great job on the graphics, aside from that lack of color scheme originality thing.

Also they did a good job on gameplay.  They actually have an epic type quest in the first 10 levels.

However, the game just doesn't fit my tastes at all.  Kinda slow combat, animations look wierd too.

Rattrap

Originally posted by CleffyII


There is a difference between the requirements of the game:




Required
World of Warcraft
Lord of the Rings


Processor
800 mhz
1800 mhz


Graphics Card
32 MB GeForce 2 or Equivalant
64 MB GeForce 3 or Equivalant


Memory
512 MB
512 MB


Internet Connection
56k
56k


Recommended
 
 


Processor
1500 mhz
2800 mhz


Graphics Card
64 MB GeForce 5 or Equivalant
128 MB GeForce 6 or Equivalant


Memory
1024 MB
1024 MB


Internet Connection
Broadband
Broadband




There is a strikingly larger amount of processing power needed, also it needs 1 generation better Graphics Card.  Its still average by today's standards though so no biggy.  However, you have to keep in mind that the graphics card requirement needs twice the memory as WoW.  Depending how they use it could mean a major difference in detail.  They have the ability to double the texture size within the same area, or increase the density of objects, or a combination of both.  Also the increased amount of processor means more draw calls or advanced algorythms.
Ok. To have graphic that stands shoulder to shoulder with best of 2007 , and same requirements as game from 2004.

That would be bit to much , dont you think. But it is safe to say that the game performs excelent even on mid low range PC
Still they did a great job on the graphics, aside from that lack of color scheme originality thing.
I dont know what you mean? You wanted something special ? Like manga anime style , or perhaps halfling being mecha robots instead ?

LOTRO captures medieval , fantasy european style - as good as it is possible. And it is also realistic withouth going into Uncanny Valley effect. What more can you ask ?
Also they did a good job on gameplay.  They actually have an epic type quest in the first 10 levels.
However, the game just doesn't fit my tastes at all.  Kinda slow combat, animations look wierd too.
Possible. The game will probably not fit everyone. Although animations look akward because they are diferent.

More realistic than in other games. They also go for more unique body movements. Not generic as in most games.

Also hobbits animation is wierd, but realistic. They indeed move as a midget would move...



I think you should give a game some more time...it certanly is hard to adapt to, but it grows on you quickly

BizkitNL

Weird animations? Mwahaha. Try Vanguard and come back saying that again.

Seriously. I'm loving this game.

 

"Belomir, Spider-Foe"

andyjd

This game is like a diamond. Small, but perfectly formed.  It doesn't have the same scope and depth of Vangaurd, but it more than makes up for it in sheer fun, variety and charm. I love the quests (playing as a hobbit at the moment, and it's just great).

If you ain't a powergamer, looking for a great world to play in with tons of things to do, this is the game for you.

therain93

Originally posted by CleffyII


There is a difference between the requirements of the game:




Required
World of Warcraft
Lord of the Rings


Processor
800 mhz
1800 mhz


Graphics Card
32 MB GeForce 2 or Equivalant
64 MB GeForce 3 or Equivalant


Memory
512 MB
512 MB


Internet Connection
56k
56k


Recommended
 
 


Processor
1500 mhz
2800 mhz


Graphics Card
64 MB GeForce 5 or Equivalant
128 MB GeForce 6 or Equivalant


Memory
1024 MB
1024 MB


Internet Connection
Broadband
Broadband




There is a strikingly larger amount of processing power needed, also it needs 1 generation better Graphics Card.  Its still average by today's standards though so no biggy.  However, you have to keep in mind that the graphics card requirement needs twice the memory as WoW.  Depending how they use it could mean a major difference in detail.  They have the ability to double the texture size within the same area, or increase the density of objects, or a combination of both.  Also the increased amount of processor means more draw calls or advanced algorythms.

WoW was released in 2004 with the goal of being playable on machines from...2002.  LotRO released in 2007 will be playable on rigs from 2004/5.   As of today, $510 gets you a Dell Dimension dual core system (2.8ghz) with 1 gig of ram and a 256mb Geforce 7300 which is the superior to the recommended specs--that's pretty good.  I don't think the comparing specs is even worthwhile unless someone was like me and gamed on an athlon 1200 from July 2000 until Nov 2006 and no one should be using a rig that old these days....

Knightblast

My issue is that I like high magic.  In fantasy games I tend to play caster classes and I like a lot of magic.  I know that the LOTR lore is low magic, with magic being very rare, and so I can understand why the game is made that way, but I don't find that as a playstyle something that is very interesting to me.

CleffyII

"PERFORMS like WOW"

Its funny how fanboys attack anything that isn't stunning we like the game comments.  Wow performs better because of the generation before system specs.  Was just pointing that out.  The specs are good for todays standards.  However, I wouldn't give them the boobie prize for most optimal use of performance and quality.  They definetly did a good job, but not the best.

Considering you think of stylized as cartoony and "anime" I don't really think you are too in tune with basics of art.  What I don't like about the simple color schemes is how overused they are.  Every western mmo uses the same basic color scheme as in LotRO  Split Complimentary.  Its just getting old, especially when most fantasy art uses an analgous scheme.

Gameloading

I miss many things in Lord of the rings online. quest grinding is nothing new, and has already been done before by WoW and Everquest 2, heck, even Guild Wars had quest grinding and its not even an MMO. The animations really aren't that impressive. while they look good and fluid, they are another generation behind by ZerA, Granado Espada and perfect World.



The graphics in Lotro look excellent, but I miss the world design I find in WoW. I miss the detail of WoW, which I can not find in Lotro.



Lord of the rings online is a good and decent game, but it will always remain in the shadow of big brother World of Warcraft, both in subscriber base and quality.

Hadesprime

Originally posted by Rattrap


I am playing LOTRO beta for few weeks now , and i am growing to love this game more and more every time i log on.
But as for every MMORPG - it is not for everybody. Many people will hate it - and with good reason. I feel it is perhaps a good

thing to explain what are these good things about LOTRO , and what are the bad sides...
Well let start with good

The game has most amazing graphic. And truly it is a miracle of modern coding and shows that game devs are simply

ingenius! Let me explain. LOTRO is one of the best looking games to hit my PC. Easily comparable with OBLIVION

but it PERFORMS like WOW !?! Yes. Even on most crappy PC this game is flying high octane! How is this possible ?

The game uses some more primitive graphic systems. It doesnt use SPEEDTREE , which you can say is disapointing.

But the art team worked so hard to bring the game that have low POLYGON count , but looks like most modern graphic game out there. But it doesnt stop at that

It is just plainly beautful . Lush forests , villages, towns , elven runis..everything is simply top notch. And water...Oh the water looks. Well I could bet it was DX10..heh. And as for animation , and character design. It is among the best , again ...



and so ? Yes its GREAT but if had better be with a system that is in fact 5 years in the making and was used in Both DDO and AC2. No other MMO has had the time in development that this one has had.  No the game does not perform well on every system not even close. No matter how long Turbine has had to tweak polygon counts they still CANNOT circumvent the laws of hardware phyics of the PC. A low end system that plays WoW fine WILL NOT run LOTRO fine period end of debate.


Quest play. People said LOTRO doesnt bring nothing new to the table. Wrong. LOTRO changes the old view of MMORPG

and BRINGS BACK RPG in mmorpg. Game is so focused on quests, that are interesting and have great storylines, that it reminds me more of single player RPGs (like baldurs gate..etc) than any other MMO. And not only that. LOTRO turns the table on EXP - quests bring 90% of exp , making grind pointless

umm how is this different than WoW ? In TBC I leveled from 60 yo 70 just on quests never did I once have to grind. I leveled that character from 1 to 60 just on quests. The Only time Ihad to grind was when I was getting my first mount and needed the 100 gold. I then needed to do it for a few hours total to buy my epic mount. But if you are talking pure leveling no even in WoW LONG before LOTRO you could level just fine on quests and only quests. LOTRO is the same and kudos to Turbine for COPYING a system that works.


It was said over and over again. LOTRO is most ready for release MMO in long time. So finally you will be buying a finished product and not "cat in the sack"

and again. LOTRO has effectively been in development for over 5 years. They have had two games to beta test LOTRO on in AC2 and DDO. You will find MANY art assets copied directly from DDO , AC2 and its expansion. The underlying engine and support systems have as well had 5 years plus of development since they are EXACTLY the same as AC2 and DDO. But hey once again why reinvent the wheel right ? I mention this because no OTHER MMO has had previous titles that were used to test and tweak said underlying systems which take a lot of development time and resources. That being said I was disappointed by how little of Middle earth is actually going to make it to release given how little to NO work Turbine had to to on supporting assets.

Diferent. Classes in LOTRO are quite diferent. The world is much less magical and more real. When you kill wild boar it doesnt drop two habnd +5 sword of dragon slaying.



Classes in LOTRO are no different they just have different names. You have your tank(Guardian), you have your ranged DPS(Hunter) you have your Healers(Minstrel) , you have your Melee DPS(Champion) and then you have auxillary support classes that engage in CC and DD abilities(LoreMaster and Captain). They all follow the same templates from games like WoW and EQ. This is a feature that should neither be promoted nor bashed really. As far as Loot types other MMO's have used mob loot type before its nothing new. But it is yes a nice feature. I always thought it silly that a bear could drop a rare or epic item.

Lessons learned. Turbine did lot of shit (namely DDO) - But now they return with penetance. LOTRO has learned a lesson from DDO. And brings the best what DDO had to offer to normal MMO world. Game has perfect balance of Instance to normal content. And group to solo content

yes and no. Game is still entirely instance based with one aspect missing from DDO. That travel between cities and areas is supported and is NOT instanced. That being said LOTRO is a game that Turbine hopes will draw the wow casual crowd and make them some $$$. As far as perfect balance that remains to be seen and they have said what you see now in beta is what will be in at release. That being said they should offer a max level char something else to do other than start a new toon cause right now that is your only option. Turbine needs to address max level game play and hopefully learn from the mistakes Blizzard made and continues to make there. Though Im not really sure what else you can do with the max level game other than offer viable AA paths for a character like EQ did.
And now for the bad

Small. Yes the game is quite small. I think that power gamer will reach end game in mather of weeks tops.
Combat is quite bland.And although classes are unique , i simply dont feel some great dynamics
PvP. Although you have monster play , that is interesting game in its on right - PvP players will feel left out by great deal

 
And now for conclusion
LOTRO is a small heaven for PVE player. 

If you enjoy excelent stoy based RPG , good graphic , relaxed atmosphere , roleplay - than this is handcrafted GEM for you.
on other hand Power players, PvP masters ... etc - Will probably not find to much interest in LOTRO




 

this being all said LOTR will be a solid title. But lets make absolutely sure that its understood LOTRO brings absolutely NOTHING new to the genre. It is a well polished game that copies the WoW model with a few improvements but improvements on the same old concepts. It is in NO way original in its concept or design.



It will make a nice alternative for those who are tired of WoW's PVE experience. But will not really offer anything new and above it other than you are just tired of WoW. It will also make a viable first MMO for any new MMO player to the scene something other than WOW to cut their teeth on.

andyjd

No, it probably won't get WoW's sub. The sheer amount of content and playability of WoW is over that of Lotro. However, there is a lot of players out there which have got burned out on WoW, either those which were at lvl 60 before BC came out, and didn't want to raid,  or those which have got bored with raiding full stop.

cupertino

On a performance note, I have two desktops and on my older system, Radeon 9600, 64'3200 (2gig) cpu, 1.5gig ram, XP:SP2 I can run LOTRO with Tweaked (upwards) Low settings at a good 15-30 fps.  Heres some pics I just snapped, even on low>medum they look great (FPS in top left corner).



All resized from 1028x768 (can post originals if you wish) ... I hate having to scroll across the big pics, AA was on (x2) if i took it off i get a good 15-20% increase.





Inside the prancing pony @ 25-30 FPS.





Out in the (at night) @ 17-22 FPS





In Bree (at night) @ 17-25 FPS.





Stats from dxdiag.



All this on a Radeon 9600 128mb card, and an athlon 64'3200 (2gig).  My only complaint is a bit of stuttering of the graphics as they are loaded in real-time,  I would guess more system ram or video ram would fix that.

andyjd

Yeah, I have the same card as you (9600 Raedon), and the game flows very well indeed. I am however getting an upgrade to a 8800 card (+ Dual Core Processor etc) in the next few weeks which should boost the performance massively....

Samuraisword

OP you are overhyping LOTRO. There isn't anything really special about it.

I beta tested this game and was bored. Specifically you are wrong on points 2 and 4.

The quest system is mostly fetch this, go here, types of quests and with icons over the questgivers and minimaps showing you where to go, it's just a dummied down task system. Compared to quests in old school EQ1 where you had to engage NPCs and use your mind to figure things out, LOTRO fails.

The class system is the same as other fantasy MMOGs, nothing new here.

xAlrythx

Originally posted by Hadesprime

Game is still entirely instance based with one aspect missing from DDO. That travel between cities and areas is supported and is NOT instanced.

this being all said LOTR will be a solid title. But lets make absolutely sure that its understood LOTRO brings absolutely NOTHING new to the genre. It is a well polished game that copies the WoW model with a few improvements but improvements on the same old concepts. It is in NO way original in its concept or design.



It will make a nice alternative for those who are tired of WoW's PVE experience. But will not really offer anything new and above it other than you are just tired of WoW. It will also make a viable first MMO for any new MMO player to the scene something other than WOW to cut their teeth on.

Last time I logged in the game was NOT entirely instanced based, the only things instanced in the game are the main story quests you get every now and then, and the PvMP from what I was told (can someone clarify if the PvMP is instanced who has played as their hero? I have only participated in it as a monster in which case I get teleported to the area).

Also you may be right about LOTR not being original, but the ability to play music with your keyboard, the traits system and the conjunctions, are revamped/changed features but still new feature of mmorpgs. The PvMP is also a slightly different take on PvP, it may not seem like much but it is enjoyable thus far.

I don't think LOTR will apeal to me over some of the newer games to come out, but then again....

GE has no chance of taking my interest, nothing much new there, unless you feel that having a 3-man self controlled group is innovative.

AoC still has to prove it's worth, and I am doubting that the control system will be the "twitch" style control some people seem to hype it up to be, however it is coming along very nicely from what I have read and has a very big chance to take hold of the genre.

WAR is looking great and we all know the PvP won't let us down. But if I wanted to play mmos to PvP all day I wouldn't be playing them at all.

Don't write LOTR off so soon, it has the potential (not Vanguard potential, which is a cover over a poorly designed game) but the potential to improve from an already polished surface and a playerbase.

Zarraa

 

As a fan of MMO's in genearal I find LOTRO a solid little title. Granted it doesn't bring anything new to the genre but then again neither does WOW. 

Except for being graphicaly superior it plays & feels allot like WOW. Both are solid games.

Kudos to Turbine for doing a fine job.

iddmitri

The only bad side I see in LOTRO is that it is the same as all older games like EQ2/WoW/GW with very minor improvements.

Ciredric

Cleffy, I don't know where you got your numbers, but they are wrong.

Ran fine on an old Geforce 2 graphics card with 32mb and on medium settings.  Noticed no lag at all accept for a slight bit in large cities.

Runs the game as well if not better than wow and it is much prettier.

Rattrap

Lotro does not brings nothing new. We will have to wait some more for titles that do. And i am in it with you.



What LOTRO does well, is taking the old PVE formula and making it simply enjoyable to the point that it really resembles games like Oblivion or Baldurs Gate.



It will not bring the most innovative MMO of the year award , but it might just as well bring best PVE MMO.





But again. I understand that many of us are so sick of old school that they will skip this one alltogether. Perhaps good choice aswell.



As for me , i simply waited for a good new MMO for to long. And now i dont have to wait any longer

Riho06

Originally posted by Samuraisword


OP you are overhyping LOTRO. There isn't anything really special about it.
I beta tested this game and was bored. Specifically you are wrong on points 2 and 4.
The quest system is mostly fetch this, go here, types of quests and with icons over the questgivers and minimaps showing you where to go, it's just a dummied down task system. Compared to quests in old school EQ1 where you had to engage NPCs and use your mind to figure things out, LOTRO fails.
The class system is the same as other fantasy MMOGs, nothing new here.

While I don't agree with you on all points, the one thing that people will find out about quite a few 'new' games is that they will be taking things from WoW simply because of its success. That doesn't mean that's great for the MMO types who like difficult things such as quests that don't have a '!' or a '?' over there heads that scream at you to come talk with them. Unfortunately due to the 'user friendly' WoW that's what we have to expect for awhile.

Ruthgar

I think LOTRO will slowly replace WoW as a starter MMO.



Didn't beta WoW, but I did beta LOTRO and when I first logged on in Sept, it was more stable and had fewer bugs than WoW

at release.



I was hoping that they would have pushed back release until June and added more content.

If players biggest gripe is that it is boring and doesn't have enough content, it will move itself ahead of the other big

MMO released this year.

CleffyII

Originally posted by Ciredric


Cleffy, I don't know where you got your numbers, but they are wrong.
Ran fine on an old Geforce 2 graphics card with 32mb and on medium settings.  Noticed no lag at all accept for a slight bit in large cities.
Runs the game as well if not better than wow and it is much prettier.

Lord of the Rings Official FAQ.  I couldn't actually test to see if it worked on older systems since mine met and exceeded the recommended requirements.