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What is it about this game?

JackdogJackdog Member UncommonPosts: 6,321

one would think that after playing since early beta I would get tired of playing LoTRO and believe me I have tried. Every now and then I get the urge for a new experience and try some new or even some old MMO that I have not looked at in awhile yet within a week or so I always end up right back here. That darn lifetime sub was the best 200 bucks I ever spent. Anyway after a short revisit to AoC and even shorter second look at VGSoH, now it looks like I am once again back to LoTRO.

Can't put my finger on it because while the game is not perfect by any means and Turbine sometimes gets their head up their butts, they do mange to extricate it fairly quickly and correct their oops. I am still half pissed over the initial condition of minnies with the Moria release, even though they are in the process of fixing their oops. Graphics are good, but not as good as AoC's. World is nice, but not as big as Vanguards. Quests are excellent and very polished but EQII has great quests also. The gear overall is great looking but the headgear on average about as ugly as a bag full of butt holes. Thank god having it displayed is a option. Performance is great overall but I still get those occasional hitches in town areas. About the only thing that is darn near perfect is the community, in all the time I have put in this game I can count the buttheads I have ran across on one hand and have a finger or two left over.

Anyway just felt the need to vent a bit because once again I had a classic SOE sucks experiance last evening and once again SOE's CS managed to piss off another customer, this time for life.

I miss DAoC

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Comments

  • MaendauronMaendauron Member Posts: 118

    I think LOTRO is a very good game and probably the most polished game I've played.

    However I got sick of the lack of people wanting to group (Elendilmir), the lack of people wanting to complete epic quests.  The shallowness of people demanding to know your trait levels before you can do a high level instance with them.

    The crafting is incredibly basic and there aren't a lot of options, I felt the game became more shallow that WoW at times.  The community is very mature and I have to agree that there's something about the game that makes it different.

    Still it didin't capture my imagination and that's why I'm playing a deeper game experience in Vanguard and am still looking for that better game.  I have deleted my WoW characters and won't go back to it, I felt it was missing something and not just the lack of players willing to group.

    I can remember one time I was running throug the entire game, literally every region with my level 50 LM and not one person at any level in any region wanted to group with me.  No, it wasn't me.........but I really think there are to many people flying solo in that game.

  • JeroKaneJeroKane Member EpicPosts: 6,959
    Originally posted by Maendauron


    I think LOTRO is a very good game and probably the most polished game I've played.
    However I got sick of the lack of people wanting to group (Elendilmir), the lack of people wanting to complete epic quests.  The shallowness of people demanding to know your trait levels before you can do a high level instance with them.
    The crafting is incredibly basic and there aren't a lot of options, I felt the game became more shallow that WoW at times.  The community is very mature and I have to agree that there's something about the game that makes it different.
    Still it didin't capture my imagination and that's why I'm playing a deeper game experience in Vanguard and am still looking for that better game.  I have deleted my WoW characters and won't go back to it, I felt it was missing something and not just the lack of players willing to group.
    I can remember one time I was running throug the entire game, literally every region with my level 50 LM and not one person at any level in any region wanted to group with me.  No, it wasn't me.........but I really think there are to many people flying solo in that game.

     

    I know people don't like things being forced upon them.

    But the biggest failure from Turbine's part is that you can skip the entire Volume 1 books and directly start on Volume 2 Mines of Moria.

    So all the vets that roll alts lately just skip the entire Volume 1, solo level their character up and start directly on Volume 2.

    Making finishing the entire volume 1 epic book quests a pre-requisite would have kept a steady flow of people looking for groups in the game. So that new players joining the game right now would have had it much easier to find a group for their first Epic quests experience.

    The introduction of the barter items a while back was a nice idea, but with the new radiance gear system, they basically killed that off and made it obsolete as people are now busy farming Radiance gear and can't be bothered to rerun old Epic quest instances for a barter item they will never use.

  • MaendauronMaendauron Member Posts: 118

     

    I should clarify that I played the game from Beta (with short breaks along the way).  I couldn't get past epic quest 6 as much as I wanted to. I could never find people who wanted to do it when I was playing.

    I quit the game about a month after Mines of Moria was released ( yes I bought that).  I do understand that people couldn't be bothered with the first book anymore which was a great disappointment to me, especially considering I was in a pretty high level guild.

    So I chose to leave, not because I didn't like that game but more because it no longer offered me anything.  The overall grouping culture of the game didn't change with the expansion.

    It's a real shame. 

  • JackdogJackdog Member UncommonPosts: 6,321

    you know oddly enough I have never had a problem finding a group for a quest. Of course most of my grouping is withing my kinship and my main is a minstrel. I can imagine if you are a hunter it might be a problem finding a group, but that is just because there are so darn many people playing hunters.

    Checking traits? You sure you are not confusing this with WoW Never have checked anyone traits for any group and can't say as I know of anyone ever checking mine, thank god because I am not a trait grinder LOL. This is a new one onme as I have never even heard this complaint before,

    radiance gear vs barter gear? Radiance gear is end game gear and the only really good barter is mid 40's. All my stuff is crafted anyway which I prefer over pretty much any other gear. Anyway so far my neither my lvl 59 or my lvl 56 have a single piece of radiance and it does not seem to be affecting their play a bit.

    Anyway good luck with your game of choice which from your posts sounds like it might be WoW.

    I miss DAoC

  • MaendauronMaendauron Member Posts: 118
    Originally posted by Jackdog


    you know oddly enough I have never had a problem finding a group for a quest. Of course most of my grouping is withing my kinship and my main is a minstrel. I can imagine if you are a hunter it might be a problem finding a group, but that is just because there are so darn many people playing hunters.
    Checking traits? You sure you are not confusing this with WoW Never have checked anyone traits for any group and can't say as I know of anyone ever checking mine, thank god because I am not a trait grinder LOL. This is a new one onme as I have never even heard this complaint before,
    radiance gear vs barter gear? Radiance gear is end game gear and the only really good barter is mid 40's. All my stuff is crafted anyway which I prefer over pretty much any other gear. Anyway so far my neither my lvl 59 or my lvl 56 have a single piece of radiance and it does not seem to be affecting their play a bit.
    Anyway good luck with your game of choice which from your posts sounds like it might be WoW.



     

    Nice one, no I haven't played WoW in over 2 years.

    My game of choice is Vanguard followed at the moment by Conan.  I won't play WoW or LOTRO ever again.

  • JeroKaneJeroKane Member EpicPosts: 6,959
    Originally posted by Jackdog


    you know oddly enough I have never had a problem finding a group for a quest. Of course most of my grouping is withing my kinship and my main is a minstrel. I can imagine if you are a hunter it might be a problem finding a group, but that is just because there are so darn many people playing hunters.
    Checking traits? You sure you are not confusing this with WoW Never have checked anyone traits for any group and can't say as I know of anyone ever checking mine, thank god because I am not a trait grinder LOL. This is a new one onme as I have never even heard this complaint before,
    radiance gear vs barter gear? Radiance gear is end game gear and the only really good barter is mid 40's. All my stuff is crafted anyway which I prefer over pretty much any other gear. Anyway so far my neither my lvl 59 or my lvl 56 have a single piece of radiance and it does not seem to be affecting their play a bit.
    Anyway good luck with your game of choice which from your posts sounds like it might be WoW.

     

    People don't have to go to WoW as Turbine is turning LOTRO more and more into WoW with the gear grind  they are now introduced and continue to be using and build on.

    Radiance gear and legendary items are going to be the norm.

    As die hard crafter (and one of the prime reasons I liked LOTRO) I can tell you that they basically killed crafting with the introduction of Legendary Items and the Radiance System, including their statement that crafters will never be able to craft anything beyond Third Age nor any piece of Radiance gear ever!

    So except scholars and cooks, Metalworking (my profession) is done for. And so basically is weaponcrafting (except for some classes that dualwield). Tailoring still has some purpose as it can still craft some nice cloaks.

    The Crafting Guild system is a joke too. A boring long grind and it takes you more then a month to craft a single armor set. While you can farm a whole set of Radiance gear in just a fraction of the time.

     

    The only thing people are going to be interested in from now on are Legendary Items and Radiance gear. As it's going to be pre-requesits for the progression through the game from now on.

     

    So yeah. I love the game. But I am dissapointed in the direction Turbine is going with the game right now and their sudden disregard towards crafting.

  • LobotomistLobotomist Member EpicPosts: 5,963

    What is it with LOTRO?

     

    Why I that played all the MMOs out there , played LOTRO the most. And why is the only MMO that i resubscribed 4 times?

    I have figured it out

    LOTRO is the closest MMO to a true old school D&D - Baldurs gate RPG experience.

    And will probably remain so until Bioware releases MMO themself....



  • DottoreDottore Member Posts: 8

    What keeps me in lotro is the quality of the content and the player base. The content just feel so much more polished and feels like it was made with love. I also run a hardcore raiding kinship filled with the best on the server not only on a skill level but also personalities. I believe that is what keeps me there. Not to mention all the free content that is constantly released + the very high quality patches and bug fixes, and the dev's ability to respond to the player base and give them things that they want to see in the game. Its all the little things.

     

    If i wasn't in such a good kin or the content was not as polished I would be out of there in a instant. Its just something feels right about LOTRO I just cant place my finger on it.

    image <-- Click to see profile

  • JackdogJackdog Member UncommonPosts: 6,321
    Originally posted by Guillermo197

     

    People don't have to go to WoW as Turbine is turning LOTRO more and more into WoW with the gear grind  they are now introduced and continue to be using and build on.

    Radiance gear and legendary items are going to be the norm.

    For lvl 50 and above legendary weapons are the norm. Each class also has a secondary piece of legendary gear. That still leaves something like 7 or 8 pieces of gear on each toon that cannobe legendary.

    As die hard crafter (and one of the prime reasons I liked LOTRO) I can tell you that they basically killed crafting with the introduction of Legendary Items and the Radiance System, including their statement that crafters will never be able to craft anything beyond Third Age nor any piece of Radiance gear ever!

    radiance gear is not the end all be all. 70 or 80% of my gear on all my toons is crafted gear. Good crafted of all levels still sells at AH for good prices.

    So except scholars and cooks, Metalworking (my profession) is done for. And so basically is weaponcrafting (except for some classes that dualwield). Tailoring still has some purpose as it can still craft some nice cloaks.

    There is no legendary light or medium items. I am striving right now to find enough shards to make 2 sets of lvl 58 critted light and one set of critted medium armor for my main and secondary characters.

    The Crafting Guild system is a joke too. A boring long grind and it takes you more then a month to craft a single armor set. While you can farm a whole set of Radiance gear in just a fraction of the time.

    heh the guild recipes just give you a 100% guranteed crit chance. I can make the exact exact same items 3 out of 5 times by farming shards which come from my normal prospecting anyway.

     

    The only thing people are going to be interested in from now on are Legendary Items and Radiance gear. As it's going to be pre-requesits for the progression through the game from now on.

    as I said each toon has only 2 slots that can be filled by legendary gear which are only lvl 50 and above anyway. Also I don't have a single piece of radiance on my two  post 50's and I am not in a hurry to get any of them any time soon. It is ok gear but the only thing it is really needed for is the final Watcher quest which I may or may not ever do, no biggie either way.

     

    So yeah. I love the game. But I am dissapointed in the direction Turbine is going with the game right now and their sudden disregard towards crafting.

    so why do you make posts such as this, where absolutly nothing was accurate and everything was misrepresented?

     

    I miss DAoC

  • JeroKaneJeroKane Member EpicPosts: 6,959
    Originally posted by Jackdog

     For lvl 50 and above legendary weapons are the norm. Each class also has a secondary piece of legendary gear. That still leaves something like 7 or 8 pieces of gear on each toon that cannobe legendary.as I said each toon has only 2 slots that can be filled by legendary gear which are only lvl 50 and above anyway. Also I don't have a single piece of radiance on my two  post 50's and I am not in a hurry to get any of them any time soon. It is ok gear but the only thing it is really needed for is the final Watcher quest which I may or may not ever do, no biggie either way.

     

    radiance gear is not the end all be all. 70 or 80% of my gear on all my toons is crafted gear. Good crafted of all levels still sells at AH for good prices.

     

    There is no legendary light or medium items. I am striving right now to find enough shards to make 2 sets of lvl 58 critted light and one set of critted medium armor for my main and secondary characters.

     

    heh the guild recipes just give you a 100% guranteed crit chance. I can make the exact exact same items 3 out of 5 times by farming shards which come from my normal prospecting anyway.

     

    so why do you make posts such as this, where absolutly nothing was accurate and everything was misrepresented?

     

     

    You don't get it do you?

    Radiance gear is going to play a primary role from now on. Every new content in form of dungeons and Raids that are going to be added will be part of the Radiance progression system.

    The producer also said that Radiance gear will never be craftable nor will you ever be able to craft anything beyond Third Age level.

    Tiered progression is what Turbine is now going for from now on.

    With total disregard about the effect this will have on sertain crafting professions. Especially Metalworkers and Weaponsmiths.

    Why would I bother with level 1 to 50 as crafter? Your end goal is eventually what counts and what you striving for.

    Why would I put myself through the horrific grind to maximise my crafting skills, while in the end hardly anyone will be interested in crafted gear anymore? If grinding Radiance gear is going to be the norm for progression!

    You should pay more attention to the Producer's letter and interviews before flaming me.

    I am not just talking about the now, I am more talking about what is coming and where the game is heading at.

     

    And to further comment on the Crafting guilds. The current cooldown timers are just ridiculous. Especially for the lower Tier sets.

    By the time I have crafted a whole set of level 47 Mirrored gear (wich will take me around a month due cooldown timers) I will be deep inside Moria and outleveled it by far.

    It's just stupid and shows they rushed crafting guilds in the game with little thought.

    It's one of the major complaints crafters have atm, next to what I have already mentioned surrounding Radiance and LI's.

  • niteflynitefly Member Posts: 340

    Well, I'm not feeling the same as JackDog. At all. But I'm not a Lifetime Subscriber either, so I can more easily turn my back and walk away.

    When Mines of Moria came out last year I actually restarted my subscription after a fourteen month break. In the meantime I had played City of Heroes, World of Warcraft, and Age of Conan primarily.

    From a sort of introductionary point of view I will say that Lord of the Rings: Online is slow. Combat moves are slow, character specialization (and actual player influence with your Class build) is slow, crafting is slow, and zone progress is slow if you follow the quests in the area you start out in.

    Slow will for some mean that they have time to see the sights and have time to find out what they want to do in battle and so on. So "slow" is not necessarily bad it is just the opposite of "fast".

    If you have a steady guild in the game with several players on your level you might enjoy progressing, if not, the game becomes extremely lonesome quickly since there is no real community of players, there are segregated small pockets of isolation within which a sense of community is felt. Being in a Kinship is nice and there are very good tools in the game for making this seem nice including guild halls and other services.

    But the core game is a Quest grind. There are some well written quests in this game (just like EQ2 or WoW) but there are more of the average kind (fetch/kill/collect/find/follow) which again is like EQ2 or any other generic Fantasy MMO. I don't hold fault with that, quests are part and parcel of the genre and no MMO can be made up entirely of interesting quests.

    Recently I have been playing WAR (very different game) but it struck me that if the same attention to areas had been apparent in Lord of the Rings: Online it might have some atmosphere that is now so severely lacking. Forests for instance, is done very well in WAR or WoW and very badly in LotRO.

    WoW has a strange sort of pop-culture McDonalds kind of ambience to it, their animation is the best in the industry and whether you love it or hate it, their art direction is very tight and recognizable. Lord of the Rings: Online is bland, many poorly implemented landscape rises resulting in invisible walls, areas dominated by featureless planes of green and no real distinction. Characters (player as well as NPC) also look strange, their animation is often totally weird which makes them look sort of eerie or not part of the world. To sort of balance the blandness of the wilderness setting, I actually find the Mines (of Moria) to be rather new and refreshing, they look decent and they look as if they were made with care and consideration. They also at least partially attempt to capture the scope of Tolkien's original books, which the original game never aspired to or even seemed to attempt to aspire to. Original game was left as a small, cardboard box type theme park with various mega bugs and other strange creatures never before seen in Middle Earth. So there is at least a good development.

    As for their new plans for itemization I have the strange feeling of yet another game desperately trying to be more like WoW which propably won't make them stand out enough to attract enough new and paying players. It didn't work for WAR to become more like WoW and I doubt that LotRO will fare any better but that's just speculation.

    So completely unlike JackDog, Lord of the Rings: Online is the game I once in a while start up again only to find that it still doesn't have any truly endearing or special characteristics and so I will unsubscribe again. This time the Mines (of Moria) had my interest as well as the alleged new Character customization (my number one point of interest in any MMO) but neither could hold me beyond a two week period. I'll propably be back next expansion time.

  • JackdogJackdog Member UncommonPosts: 6,321
    Originally posted by nitefly


    Well, I'm not feeling the same as JackDog. At all. But I'm not a Lifetime Subscriber either, so I can more easily turn my back and walk away.


     

    Nit uou have neer made a positive post about LoTRO in your entire posting history so why would you een consider a lifetime sub? Why would you even consider a monthly sub? Why did you even waste your money on a expansion of a game which you have never had a positive word for?

    You obviously understand nothing about the game. Rift gear made no huge difference, why would radiance?

    I miss DAoC

  • CartographyCartography Member UncommonPosts: 331
    Originally posted by Jackdog

    Originally posted by nitefly


    Well, I'm not feeling the same as JackDog. At all. But I'm not a Lifetime Subscriber either, so I can more easily turn my back and walk away.


     

    Nit uou have neer made a positive post about LoTRO in your entire posting history so why would you een consider a lifetime sub? Why would you even consider a monthly sub? Why did you even waste your money on a expansion of a game which you have never had a positive word for?

    You obviously understand nothing about the game. Rift gear made no huge difference, why would radiance?

    Are you saying Radiance makes no huge difference? Are you sure you play the game?

  • penandpaperpenandpaper Member UncommonPosts: 174

    I don't know anything about the gear or the Mines of Moria (left long before that), but this is a great post.  Thank you OP.  It lets us recognize that often times there is something about a game that catches us in the beginning, and despite time away and an urge to try new things, it keeps us on the line.  We're hooked.  I was that way with Vanguard and actually pulled a character to level 40 (my highest ever in any MMO).  It's hard to pin it, be it community, graphics, loot, speed, etc.  But it would be nice if people on this particualr thread took notice and pointed things out about a game that "hooked" them and made them keep coming back.  We can always debate about loot and how companies ruin games in another thread.  Thanks again OP. 

  • blindside044blindside044 Member Posts: 250

    I pretty much agree with the OP.. the game is fantastic. I have tried multiple MMOs within the past 2 months just for the sake of wanting a slight change of pace to LoTRO... and it just doesnt do much for me. Everytime I play another MMO, it just want to play more LoTRO  :P

    Maendauron, as someone that plays on Elendilmir, I can't say I have the same issues as you. Find a good kin (the most important advice), use the GLFF channel, and expect it too be hard to find a group when you are looking for one at midnight, on a weekday. Not to sound rude, but those pieces of advice are not that hard to do.  :)

     

  • APRAuroreAPRAurore Member Posts: 330

    The thing that has me hooked now to LotRO is the fact that it reminds me in some ways of DAoC atmosphere-wise. I love the game world and how they fashioned it. Contrary to what another poster said, I think that Turbine lovingly moulded the classic areas at the very least. I haven't been to Moria yet so can't say for that. Gameplay-wise ofc LotRO doesn't have that much in common with DAoC except what most fantasy MMOs have in common.

     

    I haven't encountered grouping problems yet as a lore master. I hope I don't because it will drive me from the game. I want to see the epic quests because I like them.

    Back in EvE. Started with BatMUD. Main MMOs have been EvE and DAoC.

  • JackdogJackdog Member UncommonPosts: 6,321
    Originally posted by logicbox9
    Are you saying Radiance makes no huge difference? Are you sure you play the game?

    whayt I am saying is that I have 2 high lvl toons and neither have a single piece of radiance gear and I do not feel gimped. Would like a full set of radiance ? You bet your ass I would but not having it does not cripple ny character other than if I were to try the final watcher quest. I will probably get around to getting a set eventually but I am in no rush to do so. Right now I have a self imposed quest to make myself 2 sets of lvl 58 light and one set of lvl 58 crafted armor. Once I have that I may start pursuing the radiance stuff, maybe.

    The worst minstrel in the game that I have ever grouped with (he is in my kin) is obsessed with getting the radiance but I can still out heal him in group and out solo him even though he is a level or so higher than me.

    I guess if you are of the mentality of ohmygawd I gotta have the most leet toon in the game not having it would be a disaster of immense porportions. But then players with that mindset will probably be happier  more gear centric games.

    I miss DAoC

  • niteflynitefly Member Posts: 340


    Originally posted by Jackdog
    Originally posted by nitefly Well, I'm not feeling the same as JackDog. At all. But I'm not a Lifetime Subscriber either, so I can more easily turn my back and walk away.
     
    Nit uou have neer made a positive post about LoTRO in your entire posting history so why would you een consider a lifetime sub? Why would you even consider a monthly sub? Why did you even waste your money on a expansion of a game which you have never had a positive word for?
    You obviously understand nothing about the game. Rift gear made no huge difference, why would radiance?

    First of, I have an interest in MMOs and in order to know them you have to try them. To not buy and play the expansion (Mines of Moria) while still writing about it would be pathetic.

    The reason why I wanted to resub was (as I stated) the expansion and the apparent promise of improved character customization (you know, the part where you as a player decides how to best focus your Character and therefore take charge of the only real element you have any influence over, ie your Character).

    Like I wrote, Mines of Moria introduced a nice game world in this otherwise claustrophobic and enclosed game. Which I applaud. It did not, however, introduce anything worth mentioning in the Character Customization department unless you have a high level character. The customizations available at lower levels are so minor as to have little relevance, again maintaining the status quo that the players are carbon copies of eachother. A new chosen direction of having one specific avenue open in the future for the BEST loot (tm) instead of the differentiated options available previously will enforce this feeling of no unique-ness. At least I would expect that since it's what is happening in all other MMOs where a specific route is obviously designated as best and even backed up by the official statements from the Development team.

    I have a friend who is also a Lifetime Subscriber to Lord of the Rings: Online. He states that he can't really get into other MMOs since he knows he could play Lord of the Rings: Online for free, so it nags at him. Whether that is true for other people as well I cannot say, but it could be.

    In closing I will allow myself to wonder at your implied notion that anyone with a negative opinion isn't allowed to write it. Does that apply to positive opinions as well? And if so, why have a forum where discussion is open and free to participate in? If you only want to preach to the converted, couldn't you just make your post on your Kinship's forum?

  • JackdogJackdog Member UncommonPosts: 6,321
    Originally posted by nitefly


     


    Like I wrote, Mines of Moria introduced a nice game world in this otherwise claustrophobic and enclosed game. Which I applaud. It did not, however, introduce anything worth mentioning in the Character Customization department unless you have a high level character. The customizations available at lower levels are so minor as to have little relevance, again maintaining the status quo that the players are carbon copies of eachother. A new chosen direction of having one specific avenue open in the future for the BEST loot (tm) instead of the differentiated options available previously will enforce this feeling of no unique-ness. At least I would expect that since it's what is happening in all other MMOs where a specific route is obviously designated as best and even backed up by the official statements from the Development team.
    not even close to true, examine any two minnies at lvl 20 or lvl 40 and I will guarantee that each will be unique and tailored to his or her gameplay syle, have different equipment, different cosmetic clothing, and different traits. Mine is more of a smite cleric most of the time but if I was decided I wanted to farm the  "radience gear" a trip to the bard and I can retrait into a heal specific minnie. Then drop my medium armor and don my light stuff for power and health regen. I don't even trait the same all the time and yet you want everyone to think that every minnie is the same, get a clue dude.


    In closing I will allow myself to wonder at your implied notion that anyone with a negative opinion isn't allowed to write it. Does that apply to positive opinions as well? And if so, why have a forum where discussion is open and free to participate in? If you only want to preach to the converted, couldn't you just make your post on your Kinship's forum?

     from the vanguard forums

    www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/1254357#1254357

    post 19

    Originally posted by nitefly

    Don't confuse the die-hard whiners with facts, Acephalia. And use terms like "lame ass game", "sucks", "horrible", and other meaningless (and to other people, pointless) phrases like that.



    Coming up with relevant argumentation will only get you to be targeted by their (granted, sad and misguided) wrath.



    I look forward to the post with real, useful and negative content about Vanguard. Sort of like: I do not like Vanguard since the Race and Class selection is too narrow, in game X there was more Classes and they were more different. In Vanguard Class X and Class Y only becomes different past level Z which is too late for me since I'm an Altoholic. Since I like to make new Characters all the time, the whole three spheres is not for me either.



    That would be meaningful to other people who like to create a lot of different Characters. Instead we get pointless posts about performance issues with THEIR system (which is then not propably detailed so again, they fail at providing substance) or the ever-popular "this game will fail".



    There should be posting guidelines on this website concerning valid argumentation, how to differentiate issues only concerning yourself, bland generalisation being the ammunition of the blind, and similar standard techniques used in written communication.





     

    you should practice what you preach instead of coming over here to derail threads with misinformation and misleading generalizations.

    I miss DAoC

  • niteflynitefly Member Posts: 340

    Even though you prefer Lord of the Rings: Online, JackDog, I would assume you were aware that there are others on the market. Also please note that I could care less about looks for your Character. Especially in Lord of the Rings: Online where the character models and their animation looks extremely awkward and sometimes downright scary (remember the twisted spine elves?)

    What I care about is how the Character plays. If you are into looks I think it was a good enough move to simply copy EQ2's method of having a set of clothing you wore visually and another you wore for stats. That way they could also get away with a very limited selection of graphics so good choice. In Lord of the Rings: Online your Traits offer minimal changes and your abilities will always be the same as the next player with the same Class at the same Level. You don't excel at specific areas, sacrificing others, you tweak certain narrow areas to a minuscule degree.

    Take City of Heroes for instance. You have a Primary Power Set, a Secondary Power Set and from level 6 (of 50 levels, so it's VERY early) you can choose Auxillary Power Sets. There are five Archetypes that each must choose a Primary and a Secondary Power Set (from a list of variable length, none have less than 8 different sets in each of their Selections). This causes HUGE differences already at Level 1. Every even level you get one more Power to choose from either your Secondary or Primary Power Sets (or from Level 6, Auxillary Power Sets).

    Every odd Level you get to Slot your Powers (two Slots every odd Level), which opens up options in the Relevant Power. Each Power can take a maximum of 6 Slots and in these Slots you can insert Enhancements. Every Power will take various Enhancements that can range from Increased Accuracy, Better Recharge Time, Longer Range, Higher Damage, Better Damage Resistance, Better ToHit Buffs (or Debuffs), Better Heal, and so on. If you later on decide you want to have different Enhancements, you just put in new ones. You can also find Recipees and craft your own that will give you cross bonuses and set bonuses (one Enhancement that has both Accurary and Damage for instance and when Slotted along with similar Enhancements, they will all Recharge Faster or something). From Level 4 there are about 20.480 different combinations of viable, different Character Builds, more than 4.000 for each Archetype.

    Character Customization. Player choices that impact performance and playstyle. That matters. Seems like you're the upset fanboi, JackDog.

  • rturjarturja Member Posts: 199
    Originally posted by nitefly


    What I care about is how the Character plays. If you are into looks I think it was a good enough move to simply copy EQ2's method of having a set of clothing you wore visually and another you wore for stats. That way they could also get away with a very limited selection of graphics so good choice. In Lord of the Rings: Online your Traits offer minimal changes and your abilities will always be the same as the next player with the same Class at the same Level. You don't excel at specific areas, sacrificing others, you tweak certain narrow areas to a minuscule degree.



     

    Actually this does not hold water anymore, as traits do these days have pretty significant effect how character plays. And in addition to traiting you have still the old way of making characters different, by choosing the equipment you use. And of course traits have changed skills from the start, so even if the name is the same, the end effect for 2 different characters using the same skill can vary.

    As it is LotRO actually offers these days pretty good mix of player skill tempered with class abilities - there are no killer builds as the thing which seems mostly matter is how you play in your preferred style.

    Is LotRO a perfect game then - No, it's just at the moment the most polished and best executed DIKU out there. Of course Turbine had it easy lorewise, as there is a huge background to draw upon but also boundaries that give limits to the world. And as someone with bacground in arts, those limits are actually needed in any project that needs to stay a coherent whole, you can't add things just because.

    Character Customization. Player choices that impact performance and playstyle. That matters. Seems like you're the upset fanboi of another game, Nitefly.

    Playing: AC2
    Played: UO, DaoC, Horizons, Ryzom, WAR, LotRO, Eve, VG...

  • APRAuroreAPRAurore Member Posts: 330
    Originally posted by nitefly


    What I care about is how the Character plays. If you are into looks I think it was a good enough move to simply copy EQ2's method of having a set of clothing you wore visually and another you wore for stats. That way they could also get away with a very limited selection of graphics so good choice. In Lord of the Rings: Online your Traits offer minimal changes and your abilities will always be the same as the next player with the same Class at the same Level. You don't excel at specific areas, sacrificing others, you tweak certain narrow areas to a minuscule degree.
    Character Customization. Player choices that impact performance and playstyle. That matters. Seems like you're the upset fanboi, JackDog.

     

    I just can't agree with Nitefly about this.

     

    As a first point, looks are important to the point where people's characters should look different. With appearance slots it helps. It matters perhaps not to you, but it matters to a lot of people. How many times have you come across complaints in forums like these from players that everyone looks the same? I only have low level toons right now, and they all look very different from each other and look different from other peoples' characters because I've made good use of the appearance slot.

     

    As a second point, the traits make a huuuuuge difference, even at low level. Sure, I don't have much choice yet since I'm still working on getting traits, but I have already changed my traits based on whether I want to solo or fellow. I've chosen slow character progression for being thorough and I'm getting my traits leveled up. My character already has much better stats than many of the characters the same level I've fellowed up with and who have raced through the low level areas.

    Back in EvE. Started with BatMUD. Main MMOs have been EvE and DAoC.

  • JackdogJackdog Member UncommonPosts: 6,321
    Originally posted by nitefly


    In Lord of the Rings: Online your Traits offer minimal changes and your abilities will always be the same as the next player with the same Class at the same Level. You don't excel at specific areas, sacrificing others, you tweak certain narrow areas to a minuscule degree.


    so you are saying that traits do not  matter Are you sure you have even played the game? I can make a dramatic difference in my characters attributes simply by visiting a bard a bard. With my minstrel I can change his focus from solo oriented "smite cleric" to group oriented wimpy healer using either trait changes or gear changes or a combination of the two.

    And would not call changing my max power 20 or 30% minuscule, or increasing my armor 10% minuscule, or increasing my damage by double digits miuscule. Sorry to derail your derail but you just are dead wrong here.

    I miss DAoC

  • Death1942Death1942 Member UncommonPosts: 2,587

    that $200 was easily the best i ever spent.

     

    bored of all the current P2P MMO's?  load up LOTRO for a week or 2.  I ususally end up finding something new to play after 2-4 weeks and LOTRO is perfect to fill that gap

    MMO wish list:

    -Changeable worlds
    -Solid non level based game
    -Sharks with lasers attached to their heads

  • MaendauronMaendauron Member Posts: 118

     

    I agree that Traits make a difference, more so at higher levels but a small difference at lower levels.  It becomes really important in the 40's.  Yes it makes a difference at lower levels but nothing like the difference it makes at higher levels.  And I was asked a number of times by people what traits I had before they invited me into groups. 

    The grind that is required in the game for traits does put me off but it's a great game overall.  I will miss it but not enough to go back to it.  If there are people who haven't tried it they really should give it a go, it's not a bad game at all.

     

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