How is this game compared to lotro?

Jigsawz

 Seems both are pve centric.  Wondering if anyone here plays both and could tell me how they compare.

 

Thanks in advance

dodsfall

 I've played both a couple of times and think both are good games.

The crafting is a bit better in EQ2, but it's close.

The PVE is pretty close in both games. LOTRO still had some issues with mobs running off when they lost their pathing last I played. The difficulty level was similar.

I didn't delve very deeply into the PVP of either game. It's definitely secondary to the PVE in these games.

The worlds are quite large in both games and there is a lot of content.

I liked the art style in both games but personally preferred LOTRO. There are some great sites to see.

The housing is better fleshed out in EQ2.

 Edit: I enjoyed the market system in EQ2 better of the two.

Siyah

i tried both and settled for Lotro. Here's my (MY) opinion:

- Graphix quality: Lotro

- Classes: EQII (Lotro catching up by adding 2 new classes in Moria: Warden and Rune Keeper)

- Diversity in equipment: Lotro (a lot of armors and swords in EQII look the same but with a slightly different texture, it got boring)

- Quests and Lore: even. I am not a big fan of Tolkien so I wasn't biased in judging both games

- Sound environments (music, ...): Lotro

- Crafting: Lotro (not a huge crafter but Lotro is simple, to the point, and varied enough)

- Size of the world: EQII seemed bigger, but Lotro is adding new areas every expansion

- Character Animations: EQII (the running and fighting felts smoother with EQII by a small margin, but still noticeable)

- Extra stuff (housing, ...): very close one. Both have housing, fishing, many professions, .... I however tend to favor Lotro but can't justify why in detail (probably because of the graphix and overall integration of this stuff).

 

So... Lotro it is for me. It is a beautiful game with graphix maxed up (could not do it on EQII even with the game so old and my PC so new 4GB RAM/GTX285/OC 3.5GHz Core II). You will have depth and fun with both, but the attention to detail and overall integrated package felt more polished in Lotro.

nakuma

over the long term and content wise, Eq2 is far better, and the graphics have lasted far longer despite being released in 2004. Long with monumental graphics engine overhauls to bring it to more modern requirements regarding multi core suport and more GPU oriented shaders, lighting, and shadows, id say EQ2 has far more lasting appeal. ive been playing off and on since release as well as LOTRO during its rlease and including beta. Not to say LOTRO aint fun, but its way to group oriented, and has dropped more players than id like, but then again I got a lvl 38 elf hunter, despite being a good character and haveing pretty decent gear, i find I have far more difficulty grabbing groups in LOTRO than i did in EQ2, even with my mid 50 characters in EQ2. Id either get powerleveld or id have enough options of players to roll around my lvl 50-60 characters to have fun in the lower end content vs using my lvl 80 paladin ( which is a blast, though still gotta get my epic truth of marr sword almost there which sucks lol)

 

here a short run, given both depending on the server you may or may not run into popuilation issues, but LOTRO seems to be more pronounced in this issue than EQ2.

both hve good PVE there is no denying that, but EQ2 has far more, also has a better Achievement system to differentiate your character depending on the focus u wanna go, LOTRO tends to be a bit more cryptic but not horribly so.

Graphics engine in EQ2 has stood up well, though some people would tend to whine the player models look a bit plastic, but im not sweating that, thats more shader value oriented such as the "gloss" or "specularity" in using normalmaps etc. as the shader goes up so will the quality of the player models. however player models look horrible in LOTRO. LOTRO has better environments though especially with the lighting in DX 10.(but dont forget it came out in 2007/8 if i remember correctly)

Performance wise, EQ2 has a bit more meat to it than LOTRO. So expect to have a somewhat beefier system to play EQ2.

LOTRO is more zoneless, though there are zones in the city. EQ2 because of the zones has more poly count, so you end up with more richer more organic models. but Im a firm believer that texture art quality also plays an equal role.

animations are smoother and better in EQ2, and particle system is also better.

EQ2 has a RMT shop, and legends of norrath TCG but Neither agree with its existence, as well as I never use it, and frankly do see a reason to given i got more than enough veteran xp pots lol. but you can sell the TCG cards for a buttload of plat to players who play it. almost everything is complete Fluff items,the advantage is almost negliable if at non existent which is a good thing.

In the end if I were to pick one, EQ2 would be my choice.

Jigsawz

 Thanks guys for the info!

Dionysus187

If you raid EQ2 beats Lotro no contest in terms of quantity and from the sounds of it quality, and personally i think it beats all other MMO's raiding content in general. PvP in EQ2 is piss-poor in my opinion, an afterthought, definitely heavily PvE driven.

I could elaborate more if you could provide some specifics of what you are looking for.

nakuma

i agree the pvp is atrocious, so stay away from it, as but the PVE is phenomonal, so if you want just ask around which servers have the most density in population. Im on blackburrow currently though I may see if i can move all my chars to another server if i am able but hopefully I wont have to. but otheriwisethis is correct, EQ2 has some of the best Raid content in MMO;s. I am going back to Eq2 soon when i get paid so I gotta just buy SO expansion.

Jackdog

Played EQII from beta till mid 2007, and LoTRO from beta and still play it. You can't really go wrong with either game if you find a good guild that suits your playing style. Above posters pretty much covered it as far as the details and on some issues I would agree and others disagree but then a lot of that is just subjective opinions. And ogf course there are always trade offs such as the housing.  For example I like LoTRO's neighborhood idea because I can decorate the yard but EQII has far the better system as far as the interior decorating.

 

Solude

Really comes down to flavour.

EQ2 has a lot of very different zone types.   LotRO has many as well but they are more "realistic", less fantasy like.

NPCs look better in EQ2 no question.

PC variety EQ2 has and it has many many classes.

Sounds like a land slide but... EQ2 lacks focus in classes with level 80 toon easily having 5+ bars of unique USED skills.  Many of the zones in EQ2 are very small or on rails.

AA in EQ2 is awesome... assuming your class has good AA choices.  But AA is based on active play not leveling so once capped expect to grind out AA to reach the other cap

Content wise with this many expansions and rested xp, pots and more getting to cap in EQ2 is easy enough which is nice because it is a trip you will make alone.  The problem is once capped you want to get on the instance/raid progression but because EQ2 is fairly demanding the player base is raiding where you can't go.  That's pretty much why I left.  The end game is hardcore heavy with ~90% of the content closed off from non T2+ toons.  I can only run the same 2 instances so many times in the hope that the other 20+ open up.

That and its a pig.  Five years on, running on the best gear AMD has to offer and the performance is garbage.  AoC, which looks better, isn't terribly effective at using multicore cranks out much higher FPS especially when grouped.  Not uncommon for my FPS in EQ2 to drop below 10 in raids... on a Phenom II... at 3.8GHz!  That's bad.  Meanwhile AoC hums at 70+ and LotRO at 110+.

And that's what LotRO has going for it.  Focused classes, wide expansive environments, great environmental graphics, good PC models, ok NPC models and an engine that can push it out on even minimal PCs.  Much less hardcore oriented too, with end game available to groups of 3-12.  Still a top heavy game but accessible once there.  And hey only 2-3 bars which is nice change

Either game will entertain for months though and can be had for dirt, free in the case of EQ2 through invite a friend promo.

Me, I'll be resubbing to LotRO later this month for SoM and probably not return to EQ2 until the next expansion, not SF... seriously Odus? ugh.

Mikeha

Everquest 2 hands down. I played Lotro for 2 months and quit. Lotro is just a solo quest based game with the worst combat of any mmo on the market. Nobody ever groups just to be social and enjoy doing stuff with other people. People will only group for the few minutes it takes to do one of the group quest and then just drop and leave afther its done. 99% of the time you will be alone and bored to death playing Lotro. The music and graphics are not better than Everquest 2 either. The clsses in Lotro are also boring. I cant think of one thing thats better in Lotro.

ElendilasX

Hmm.. Doesnt both game have free trial? Just go ahead and try. I would like to give you unbiased opinion but it is impossible as I am fed up with tolkien ( read each book 20x and you will get what I say) so I obviously say EQ2.  Main reason is that it is unexplored world, not like lotr universe.

delete5230

Originally posted by Mannish


Everquest 2 hands down. I played Lotro for 2 months and quit. Lotro is just a solo quest based game with the worst combat of any mmo on the market. Nobody ever groups just to be social and enjoy doing stuff with other people. People will only group for the few minutes it takes to do one of the group quest and then just drop and leave afther its done. 99% of the time you will be alone and bored to death playing Lotro. The music and graphics are not better than Everquest 2 either. The clsses in Lotro are also boring. I cant think of one thing thats better in Lotro.

 

I agree with most of what Mannish has to say.  Lotro is 100% solo play, you HAVE TO PLAY YOURSELF.  Because of the book, and chain quest you will almost never find a group to do your part of the chain quest.  Dungeons are short and few.  Lotro has a large following however they could be wayyyy larger if they would fix the game,maybe even give WoW a run for their money, but like all mmo's they don't ever fix content they just add expansions.  Graphics are great, and could be easy on older computers, but thats all I'll give this game credit for.

Now I'm not totally sticking up for EQ2,

As I say, no games fix the old content, EQ2 is an old game, Graphics are triable.  People will argue that their better than WoW, but this is crap.  Buildings, rocks and water don't really fit into the train very well.  The world looks like a big green flat mat, trees are spaced far apart, and nothing is lush. The ROK expansion looks better but that will only be in the starter zone. 1-20 then your playing the old content.

I kind of like EQ2 now because I played it on and off for years.  Graphics are nothing to me, I'm in it for the game play, and EQ2 has tons of stuff to do.  Maybe as much as WoW, but it's not kid content, like jewel crafting, and Death Knights, but good solid mature content, such as very fun quest and deep dungeons.

Now here is why NO ONE NEW EVER STAYS WITH EQ2 !

The learning curve is very very bad, And for no reason.  The interface is very old and too far complicated that you will be asking basic questions in chat for months.  Way too many drop down boxes to learn, Chat is a royal pain, with 1-10 chat only, then 1-20 chat.  Maps are worthless, as they reveal nothing but a basic topo look down of the area, making travel very hard and AGGRAVATING. This type of stuff is why people say that the community sucks  Their sick of answering basic questions that should be fixed by the devs. ( I find the community is vary good, but you better know what your doing)   Instead of adding pay expansions they should be trying to fix the basics of the game.  People say EQ2 is hard core, I say it's AGGRAVATING to learn the game.

I could come back and enjoy EQ2 because I've put in my hours of AGGRAVATION, and know my way around the boat load of garbage that needs to be fixed.

For every ten people that start EQ2,nine of them quit soon after. Because they will not fix this game !  Come on SOE make another expansion that should do it right ?........Wrong !

Moirae

Simple, this game is infinitely better than LOTRO. I've played both. In fact, I've beta'd LOTRO and my husband recently had an account (which he cancelled out of boredom).

Rayx0r

The only issue I ever had with LoTRO is the linear story arch and that the character role you played wasnt "dark" enough.  Not saying they should have allowed players to play for Sauron, the game is what it is and I dont think they could have accomplished what they have by allowing this.  For me, however, I like playing a character with a more dynamic feeling to it.  Something a bit more flexible and gritty which is why I play games that allow more player flexibility for roleplay.

This one reason is a big turn off for me, and kept me from levelling any of my characters past 25.

On the flipside, the one main gripe I have with EQ2 is micro management.  This spans across many aspects of the game, AA's, buffs, spamming countless skills, quests (heritage, collection, lore, city tasks) and especially inventory management of the bajillion different items you can pick up at any given time. 

My second gripe is that many of the lengthy quests such as heritage quests are nearly impossible to do alone.  By just saying and reading this you think Im asking to be able to just solo these, this isnt what I mean.  If you start a heritage quest, you should start it with someone else at the same time.  You'll eventually get to a point where you need to go deep into a dungeon where a group is necessary.  Many times, its hard to convince others who are not on this heritage quest to go with you if theyre not on the same exact stage of the quest.  It helps to be in a guild that doesnt mind going out of their way for no other reason than to blow a couple hours and help someone complete a heritage quest.  Almost all the heritage quests Ive completed were run throughs from higher levels because its practically impossible to find another person, much less a group of people, to join you in completing it your level.

Unknown

My suggestion, play both.  When you're bored with one the other usually has new stuff ready:)

Played EQ2 at launch and for a while afterwards.  Played LOTRO from a month after launch.  Recently got bored with LOTRO so have been playing EQ2 it's nice and fresh again for me.

Both games are good.