Wait, did the media blackout drop and I missed it?
I canceled my WoW account ages ago, but this has completely re-hooked me. Completely. It's not brilliantly original, but so far I find it better in 100 ways. Most importantly, the story (through the mid teens at least) has been interesting, even the little moron quests have had twists and turns that actually make me feel like I'm getting to know the people and an area.
Color me sold. I'm seriously considering the lifetime membership.
Maybe I should look at this again. The beta (playing a human.. um.. champion?) was so remarkably uninteresting. The UI felt cluttered and annoying, and combat was only mildly interesting. I didn't get far past level 7.
I am interested in hearing more recent impressions.
I found human through about 12 to be not super entertaining, but then I found the first 20 levels of any race in WoW to be blindingly dull too. Dwarf has been just awesome for me though, really interesting.
I haven't found the UI all that cluttered, it is different, but it seems pretty customizable and skinable as well, so I expect there will be mods.
I think it's very different from other MMOs in a few ways, which would be bad or good depending on your perspective. It will be more structured, some would say simpler, than wide open IP like WoW, where they can simply smack the world around to meet gameplay objectives. LOTRO will stick close to the lore, and will err on the side of preserving it at the expense of other things like making massive hobbit on hobbit wars or something.
I haven't played enough to get anywhere near end game content, so I can't comment on its legs, but for now, i'm finding it intriguing and fun.
Is it true that you can play monsters again other players? How does that dynamic work?
It's kind of their answer to PVP, since you can only play "good" races in the usual PVE game. Once you hit level 10, you can start a monster class, which can access a certain area of the game, in there you can fight players using their regular characters. That's the gist of it, I think.
Are you waiting for some inspiring questions, or just a free moment to write more?
Things I guess I'd like to know: where in Middle Earth can you explore? How about locations beyond the boundaries of the books? Angmar? South of Mordor? East of Mordor? The Grey Havens?
Where do you start?
Do you meet anyone from the Fellowship?
Having the movies so recently, the visuals have a lot to live up to. Do the locations ring true to your feelings from the novels? What is the Shire like? Rivendel? Weathertop? etc, etc.
Have you seen any cool moments from the novels that the game brought to life in an interesting way?
Does this game do to LOTR what Galaxies did to Star Wars?
Either way, I'll probably play this game just to soak in the license. Moooooo, moo I say! I'm a barnyard animal, herd me where you will!
We shall grapple with the ineffable, and see if we may not eff it after all.
I would say this isn't a game that's going to win you over in the first five levels, they keep it very simple to ease you in, which is typically as it should be. You do see glimpses though, the stories and their use of small, single player instances sprinkled through the usual open-world exploration and fighting strikes a fine balance. I won't say the combat is a huge change over the usual MMOG style, or that the classes are wildly divergent, but the world building and storytelling within the universe is very fun and interesting to be in and explore.
You have a quest to go to Bree and meet up with this mysterious guy named Strider after you get out of the newbie area, just to give you an idea
OK, I think I have put the most time into LOTRO of anyone here and will give my off the cuff impressions
Character creation and class options:
You can play as a human, dwarf, elf or hobbit. At first glance character customization appears to be limited in regards to skin and hair color, until you discover that your character's ethnic background changes the options. For a human, the customization options for a character from Gondor are different from someone from Rohan, etc.
Classes available are Champion, Captain, Minstrel, Lore Master, Burglar, Guardian and Hunter. While some of the classes are pretty similar to other games classes such as a Guardian being your standard tank class, others are somewhat different. Hunters for instance are not WoW like in the sense that they do not get a pet, they are primarily a ranged based dps class, with movement buffs and teleports, tracking abilities and the ability to create campfires which boost regen rates out of combat.
Minstrels are a Bard/Healer class, Lore Masters are the Mez/Magic class and Captains are probably the most unique class being a hybrid class with pets, healing, dps and some ability to tank.
Early game experience:
First time characters begin with a brief tutorial instance which will level you up to lvl 2 or so, and then you are teleported to a public instance with other newbie characters running around. In my oppinion the Dwarf/Elf Lowbie area is better than the Human/Hobbit area but the latter is not bad. Around level 6 you will finish with an instanced quest to join the regular game, one neat element for the humans is that the story presented in the instance is reflected in the open game world environment that you move into.
For anyone who has gotten to level 6/7 and had a blah reaction, try rolling a hobbit or just moving your character to the shire to spend levels 7-15. The Shire in my opinion is the best early example of the games ability to capture the feel of middle earth.
From your Mid Teens on, one of the game's big hooks really takes off and that is the story based quest. As Certis has mentioned, you begin by talking to Strider, and over the course of the rest of the game you will encounter other main characters from the books. These quest are a mix of open world and instance, solo and group and are generally brilliantly done. Of course, if you want to skip the main story line quest their are a ton of other quest available both solo and group. Right now there are very few lull periods in the game where there is not an abundance of solo quest available, in beta 1 I made it up to lvl 35 and never came close to running out of solo quest, especially considering that some quest which are rated as group quest can be soloed if approached cautiously.
Game polish. The game right now is very smooth, and could probably be rushed out the door successfully, and with each patch the game keeps getting more polished.
Potential negatives:
The world size is not huge, and as you level everyone tends to adventure in the same general areas. The individual zones are quite large but I believe there are only going to be 8 or so zones at the time of launch. Though Turbine has promised regular (monthly, bi-monthly?) content pushes.
Class/Character diversity. This is not Vanguard so if having 12 alts with 12 different race/class combos is your thing you might be disappointed. Also, everyone's character is going to be pretty much the same at each level outside of equipment, there are subtle "build" options but nothing like WoW's Fire or Ice Mages for example.
Is the game to easy? The game's death penalty is pretty tame, consisting of a 10 minute graphical effect and slightly decreased stats. Furthermore, mobs are pretty easy to run past and out run. If you stick to the game's major roadways it is possible to run to the higher level city with little fear of death, though it becomes more problematic if you venture off the roads.
All in all, I am having a blast, the game really does a great job of capturing the feel of middle earth, with great music, great landscapes and graphics (Weathertop is a particular favorite) and great moments from the books (glimpses of the Nazgul).
I haven't made it past level 35, and so am largely ignorant of the late game, and have only dabbled with Monster play (5 evil classes that start as lvl 50 mobs, ie much weaker than PCs, but that can quest and gain notoriety and become a legitimate threat to a PC one on one) but it seems like a fun idea for those into PvP. Monster Play is only allowable in one zone right now, so a level 8 hobbit has nothing to fear.
Does Blizzard need to be concerned? I don't think they are shaking in their boots, but I do imagine that if someone is tired of Azeroth, or have a particular love for Middle Earth then they could find a comfortable home in LOTRO.
If anyone has any specific questions, fire away and I will do my best to answer them.
Posting on the boards is easy. The trick is to kick someone's ass the first day, or become someone's bitch. Chiggie Von Richthofen on how to transition from lurker to poster.
I posted some thoughts under Certis's article as well, but I'd like to add that this game makes me want to drink a pint of beer, eat some cheese and build a fireplace next to my computer. And no, not so I can throw it in the fire.
Rat Boy on Newlywed Ackbar wrote:
"We'll last longer than we will against that mother-in-law, and we might just take a few of them with us!"
Location: I turn once more to those who/ sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer...
Tuesday, February 13th, 2007 - 4:38pm
Those of you that think playing a human champion is boring... what did you expect for taking the most bland character type available?
The democratization of the web ... has installed an illusion of a digital first amendment that protects speech no matter how poorly spelled or stupid. - Elysium
Wordsmythe is my hero. - rabbit
XBL: E Munnie
With the NDA lifted we now can plan group activity and play times here.
The later chapters of Book 1 are group affairs and I would much rather do them with you guys than with pugs, in addition there are some Barrows/Great Barrows group quest that would be fun Kinship activities.
Any particular night, time of day work for a majority?
Posting on the boards is easy. The trick is to kick someone's ass the first day, or become someone's bitch. Chiggie Von Richthofen on how to transition from lurker to poster.
Location: I turn once more to those who/ sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer...
Tuesday, February 13th, 2007 - 6:12pm
Tyrian wrote:
wordsmythe wrote:
Those of you that think playing a human champion is boring... what did you expect for taking the most bland character type available?
It sounded more interesting than it turned out to be. I didn't want to play an elf, hobbit, or dwarf.
Do you ever order a bologna sandwich on white bread and say that afterwards?
The democratization of the web ... has installed an illusion of a digital first amendment that protects speech no matter how poorly spelled or stupid. - Elysium
Wordsmythe is my hero. - rabbit
XBL: E Munnie
I am on TheWalt's vent server from time to time, but personally for normal play and regular grouping I often like to type chat only. For more challenging content I am mic'd up and ready to hop on Vent.
Also, I haven't tried it but the game supports voice chat.
Posting on the boards is easy. The trick is to kick someone's ass the first day, or become someone's bitch. Chiggie Von Richthofen on how to transition from lurker to poster.
Location: Coming to you from an undisclosed location.
Tuesday, February 13th, 2007 - 7:07pm
Tyrian wrote:
wordsmythe wrote:
Those of you that think playing a human champion is boring... what did you expect for taking the most bland character type available?
It sounded more interesting than it turned out to be. I didn't want to play an elf, hobbit, or dwarf.
I thought champion was not really that boring but then again I also played a gaurdian to have as a comparison. With the way champions do aoe damage I loved to get into fights with multiples with my champion but each his own.
Those of you that think playing a human champion is boring... what did you expect for taking the most bland character type available?
It sounded more interesting than it turned out to be. I didn't want to play an elf, hobbit, or dwarf.
Do you ever order a bologna sandwich on white bread and say that afterwards?
Well, no. Once, I did order a parmesean crusted swordfish filet, topped with roasted red peppers, jumbo lump crab meat, and a garlic cream pesto sauce... but I thought the plate was too cluttered, and that it sounded like it would taste more interesting than it turned out.
Very interesting stuff. After burning out on WoW (finally cancelled my account yesterday, several months after I was basically "done"), I'm interested to try something else.
Quote:
Would be a good idea. I plan to have Logan sit in for me when I am on my honeymoon.
- Legion, taking "keeping it in the family" to a whole new level.
From an outsider's perspective, it sounds to me like the game's relying too much on the license. Sure, seeing a Nazgul is cool the first time, but what about the 800th time as you kill yet another Worg or whatever it is you grind? Sure, it's neat running into the characters from the books and movie, but what if you were unfamiliar with the lore? What does the game offer that's new and different, other than getting to be a tricksy, thiefsy hobbit?
I haven't heard anyone mention what was to me the most innovative and interesting feature of LOTRO and that was the fact that doing certain quests would actually change your view of the world permanently. From what I read on the beta boards apparently this was only done in the lowbie areas as they didn't want to mess up grouping in the later levels, but I remember in the elven area I started in there was some bandit camp and once you killed the bandits when you went back there were just a bunch of bears munching on the corpses. A very cool feature that if they could figure out how to take further would greatly enhance the genre.
Location: Coming to you from an undisclosed location.
Thursday, February 15th, 2007 - 4:03pm
LobsterMobster wrote:
From an outsider's perspective, it sounds to me like the game's relying too much on the license. Sure, seeing a Nazgul is cool the first time, but what about the 800th time as you kill yet another Worg or whatever it is you grind? Sure, it's neat running into the characters from the books and movie, but what if you were unfamiliar with the lore? What does the game offer that's new and different, other than getting to be a tricksy, thiefsy hobbit?
It is a valid point but at the same time what did WoW offer that made killing the 800th Orc interesting?
The real point is none of these games since basically UO has added much if anything new. Almost every feature in these games today was in UO and still UO had more features then any of todays games for the most part.
What each game I find brings is a slightly different presentation of the material. So if you are tired of killing Orcs in a glorified chat room this game is not going to fix that but if you think killing orcs is like killing Nazi in FPS games in that it never gets old then you may like this game.
Quote:
I haven't heard anyone mention what was to me the most innovative and interesting feature of LOTRO and that was the fact that doing certain quests would actually change your view of the world permanently.
I mentioned it in my long post under Certis front page article.
The real point is none of these games since basically UO has added much if anything new. Almost every feature in these games today was in UO and still UO had more features then any of todays games for the most part.
Yeah but...
UO was like the Sims of MMO's. It had everything because there was no thought or depth to everything implemented. So what the successors of UO have done is taken a subset of UO's features that they liked or feel needed addressing with further depth and balance and done them progressively better.
EQ focused on grouping and combat and ramped the difficulty curve in almost a complete 180. But, they also introduced the monotony of long distance travel and downtime. They made crafting impossible and a time and money sink and the only way to solo was to twink.
DAoC cut the downtime to 1/3. They superceded PvP with RvR and seiges. They addressed long distance travel issues and gave some customization to cookie cutter class roles. Not to mention that they practically have exhausted every possible class idea. (not necessarily well implemented but implemented) They also made crafting support near mandatory.
AC2 gave us story based instances, repreatable quests, mount quests and buff quests. They also put crafting in its place where it adds a useful boon but isnt mandatory.
WoW has taken all of the good ideas and implemented 90% of the features full functionality and made them work in a convenient and fun manner. Some ideas they have now superceded such as flying mounts.
Being fangoriously devoured by a gelatinous monster.
Wait, did the media blackout drop and I missed it?
I canceled my WoW account ages ago, but this has completely re-hooked me. Completely. It's not brilliantly original, but so far I find it better in 100 ways. Most importantly, the story (through the mid teens at least) has been interesting, even the little moron quests have had twists and turns that actually make me feel like I'm getting to know the people and an area.
Color me sold. I'm seriously considering the lifetime membership.
Gamertag: GWJ Rabbit | Last.fm | Twitter
"Think of it as 'grinding SO rep in the Kitchen instance.' " - Montalban
Better than WoW? Interesting...
XBox Live|Tshirts|My Music|GameFly|xfire
Maybe I should look at this again. The beta (playing a human.. um.. champion?) was so remarkably uninteresting. The UI felt cluttered and annoying, and combat was only mildly interesting. I didn't get far past level 7.
I am interested in hearing more recent impressions.
Skriss: lvl 70 undead mage - Bloodhoof
Kyrator: lvl 63 night elf rogue - Blackhand
Thadryn: lvl 70 draenei mage - Blackhand
I found human through about 12 to be not super entertaining, but then I found the first 20 levels of any race in WoW to be blindingly dull too. Dwarf has been just awesome for me though, really interesting.
I haven't found the UI all that cluttered, it is different, but it seems pretty customizable and skinable as well, so I expect there will be mods.
I think it's very different from other MMOs in a few ways, which would be bad or good depending on your perspective. It will be more structured, some would say simpler, than wide open IP like WoW, where they can simply smack the world around to meet gameplay objectives. LOTRO will stick close to the lore, and will err on the side of preserving it at the expense of other things like making massive hobbit on hobbit wars or something.
I haven't played enough to get anywhere near end game content, so I can't comment on its legs, but for now, i'm finding it intriguing and fun.
Gamertag: GWJ Rabbit | Last.fm | Twitter
"Think of it as 'grinding SO rep in the Kitchen instance.' " - Montalban
Well, it was said by a guy tenuously into WoW at best. I've toyed with LOTRO, but it hasn't actually caught me yet.
NDA dropped today.
"I think Elysium has the right of it" - Certis
Is it true that you can play monsters again other players? How does that dynamic work?
We shall grapple with the ineffable, and see if we may not eff it after all.
It's kind of their answer to PVP, since you can only play "good" races in the usual PVE game. Once you hit level 10, you can start a monster class, which can access a certain area of the game, in there you can fight players using their regular characters. That's the gist of it, I think.
Certis beat me to it. - Elysium
It was so fun that I went out and spent money on EVE Online and the WoW expansion instead of playing LotRO for free.
WoW Blackhand Alliance
70s: Nukanatrix (M), Braun (P), Boreali (War), Heckfire (Lock), Jergen (Pal), Erissar (D)
Grumbar - 65 Hunter
Are you waiting for some inspiring questions, or just a free moment to write more?
Things I guess I'd like to know: where in Middle Earth can you explore? How about locations beyond the boundaries of the books? Angmar? South of Mordor? East of Mordor? The Grey Havens?
Where do you start?
Do you meet anyone from the Fellowship?
Having the movies so recently, the visuals have a lot to live up to. Do the locations ring true to your feelings from the novels? What is the Shire like? Rivendel? Weathertop? etc, etc.
Have you seen any cool moments from the novels that the game brought to life in an interesting way?
Does this game do to LOTR what Galaxies did to Star Wars?
Either way, I'll probably play this game just to soak in the license. Moooooo, moo I say! I'm a barnyard animal, herd me where you will!
We shall grapple with the ineffable, and see if we may not eff it after all.
Ouch. Very divergent opinions here.
I threw my name into the Beta-O-Matic (R). We'll see if anything comes my way.
Your Quote Here!
I would say this isn't a game that's going to win you over in the first five levels, they keep it very simple to ease you in, which is typically as it should be. You do see glimpses though, the stories and their use of small, single player instances sprinkled through the usual open-world exploration and fighting strikes a fine balance. I won't say the combat is a huge change over the usual MMOG style, or that the classes are wildly divergent, but the world building and storytelling within the universe is very fun and interesting to be in and explore.
You have a quest to go to Bree and meet up with this mysterious guy named Strider after you get out of the newbie area, just to give you an idea
Certis beat me to it. - Elysium
Rabbit wrote:
Wow, this thing better be more than bipedal for me to consider a lifetime membership. But i've treated WoW like a cheap hooker, so who knows?
You beta fellowes have now intrigued me. Curse you!
XBox Live / PSN: jonnypolite | WoW: Cait (Warlock) on Blackhand | Twitter
OK, I think I have put the most time into LOTRO of anyone here and will give my off the cuff impressions
Character creation and class options:
You can play as a human, dwarf, elf or hobbit. At first glance character customization appears to be limited in regards to skin and hair color, until you discover that your character's ethnic background changes the options. For a human, the customization options for a character from Gondor are different from someone from Rohan, etc.
Classes available are Champion, Captain, Minstrel, Lore Master, Burglar, Guardian and Hunter. While some of the classes are pretty similar to other games classes such as a Guardian being your standard tank class, others are somewhat different. Hunters for instance are not WoW like in the sense that they do not get a pet, they are primarily a ranged based dps class, with movement buffs and teleports, tracking abilities and the ability to create campfires which boost regen rates out of combat.
Minstrels are a Bard/Healer class, Lore Masters are the Mez/Magic class and Captains are probably the most unique class being a hybrid class with pets, healing, dps and some ability to tank.
Early game experience:
First time characters begin with a brief tutorial instance which will level you up to lvl 2 or so, and then you are teleported to a public instance with other newbie characters running around. In my oppinion the Dwarf/Elf Lowbie area is better than the Human/Hobbit area but the latter is not bad. Around level 6 you will finish with an instanced quest to join the regular game, one neat element for the humans is that the story presented in the instance is reflected in the open game world environment that you move into.
For anyone who has gotten to level 6/7 and had a blah reaction, try rolling a hobbit or just moving your character to the shire to spend levels 7-15. The Shire in my opinion is the best early example of the games ability to capture the feel of middle earth.
From your Mid Teens on, one of the game's big hooks really takes off and that is the story based quest. As Certis has mentioned, you begin by talking to Strider, and over the course of the rest of the game you will encounter other main characters from the books. These quest are a mix of open world and instance, solo and group and are generally brilliantly done. Of course, if you want to skip the main story line quest their are a ton of other quest available both solo and group. Right now there are very few lull periods in the game where there is not an abundance of solo quest available, in beta 1 I made it up to lvl 35 and never came close to running out of solo quest, especially considering that some quest which are rated as group quest can be soloed if approached cautiously.
Game polish. The game right now is very smooth, and could probably be rushed out the door successfully, and with each patch the game keeps getting more polished.
Potential negatives:
The world size is not huge, and as you level everyone tends to adventure in the same general areas. The individual zones are quite large but I believe there are only going to be 8 or so zones at the time of launch. Though Turbine has promised regular (monthly, bi-monthly?) content pushes.
Class/Character diversity. This is not Vanguard so if having 12 alts with 12 different race/class combos is your thing you might be disappointed. Also, everyone's character is going to be pretty much the same at each level outside of equipment, there are subtle "build" options but nothing like WoW's Fire or Ice Mages for example.
Is the game to easy? The game's death penalty is pretty tame, consisting of a 10 minute graphical effect and slightly decreased stats. Furthermore, mobs are pretty easy to run past and out run. If you stick to the game's major roadways it is possible to run to the higher level city with little fear of death, though it becomes more problematic if you venture off the roads.
All in all, I am having a blast, the game really does a great job of capturing the feel of middle earth, with great music, great landscapes and graphics (Weathertop is a particular favorite) and great moments from the books (glimpses of the Nazgul).
I haven't made it past level 35, and so am largely ignorant of the late game, and have only dabbled with Monster play (5 evil classes that start as lvl 50 mobs, ie much weaker than PCs, but that can quest and gain notoriety and become a legitimate threat to a PC one on one) but it seems like a fun idea for those into PvP. Monster Play is only allowable in one zone right now, so a level 8 hobbit has nothing to fear.
Does Blizzard need to be concerned? I don't think they are shaking in their boots, but I do imagine that if someone is tired of Azeroth, or have a particular love for Middle Earth then they could find a comfortable home in LOTRO.
If anyone has any specific questions, fire away and I will do my best to answer them.
Posting on the boards is easy. The trick is to kick someone's ass the first day, or become someone's bitch. Chiggie Von Richthofen on how to transition from lurker to poster.
Excellent write-up! You can find my thoughts here.
Certis beat me to it. - Elysium
I posted some thoughts under Certis's article as well, but I'd like to add that this game makes me want to drink a pint of beer, eat some cheese and build a fireplace next to my computer. And no, not so I can throw it in the fire.
Rat Boy on Newlywed Ackbar wrote:
Those of you that think playing a human champion is boring... what did you expect for taking the most bland character type available?
The democratization of the web ... has installed an illusion of a digital first amendment that protects speech no matter how poorly spelled or stupid. - Elysium
Wordsmythe is my hero. - rabbit
XBL: E Munnie
With the NDA lifted we now can plan group activity and play times here.
The later chapters of Book 1 are group affairs and I would much rather do them with you guys than with pugs, in addition there are some Barrows/Great Barrows group quest that would be fun Kinship activities.
Any particular night, time of day work for a majority?
Posting on the boards is easy. The trick is to kick someone's ass the first day, or become someone's bitch. Chiggie Von Richthofen on how to transition from lurker to poster.
I posted my long comments under Certis thread hope that was ok.
If not please do not kick me from the Kinship.
It sounded more interesting than it turned out to be. I didn't want to play an elf, hobbit, or dwarf.
Skriss: lvl 70 undead mage - Bloodhoof
Kyrator: lvl 63 night elf rogue - Blackhand
Thadryn: lvl 70 draenei mage - Blackhand
Do you ever order a bologna sandwich on white bread and say that afterwards?
The democratization of the web ... has installed an illusion of a digital first amendment that protects speech no matter how poorly spelled or stupid. - Elysium
Wordsmythe is my hero. - rabbit
XBL: E Munnie
Do we have a Kinship set up? Also, is anyone using voice chat on Brandywine? Might I suggest TheWalt's Ventrilo server?
Baba Ganoush1
Baba, clan info is here: http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/30039
I am on TheWalt's vent server from time to time, but personally for normal play and regular grouping I often like to type chat only. For more challenging content I am mic'd up and ready to hop on Vent.
Also, I haven't tried it but the game supports voice chat.
Posting on the boards is easy. The trick is to kick someone's ass the first day, or become someone's bitch. Chiggie Von Richthofen on how to transition from lurker to poster.
I thought champion was not really that boring but then again I also played a gaurdian to have as a comparison. With the way champions do aoe damage I loved to get into fights with multiples with my champion but each his own.
Well, no. Once, I did order a parmesean crusted swordfish filet, topped with roasted red peppers, jumbo lump crab meat, and a garlic cream pesto sauce... but I thought the plate was too cluttered, and that it sounded like it would taste more interesting than it turned out.
[edit]
Ok, I lied. The swordfish was really good.
Skriss: lvl 70 undead mage - Bloodhoof
Kyrator: lvl 63 night elf rogue - Blackhand
Thadryn: lvl 70 draenei mage - Blackhand
Very interesting stuff. After burning out on WoW (finally cancelled my account yesterday, several months after I was basically "done"), I'm interested to try something else.
Quote:
- Legion, taking "keeping it in the family" to a whole new level.
Xbox Live: Fedaykin98
From an outsider's perspective, it sounds to me like the game's relying too much on the license. Sure, seeing a Nazgul is cool the first time, but what about the 800th time as you kill yet another Worg or whatever it is you grind? Sure, it's neat running into the characters from the books and movie, but what if you were unfamiliar with the lore? What does the game offer that's new and different, other than getting to be a tricksy, thiefsy hobbit?
NOTE: This is not a doodle bug.
BF2142 Stats
Not much.
Certis beat me to it. - Elysium
I haven't heard anyone mention what was to me the most innovative and interesting feature of LOTRO and that was the fact that doing certain quests would actually change your view of the world permanently. From what I read on the beta boards apparently this was only done in the lowbie areas as they didn't want to mess up grouping in the later levels, but I remember in the elven area I started in there was some bandit camp and once you killed the bandits when you went back there were just a bunch of bears munching on the corpses. A very cool feature that if they could figure out how to take further would greatly enhance the genre.
PSN ID: Stric9
It is a valid point but at the same time what did WoW offer that made killing the 800th Orc interesting?
The real point is none of these games since basically UO has added much if anything new. Almost every feature in these games today was in UO and still UO had more features then any of todays games for the most part.
What each game I find brings is a slightly different presentation of the material. So if you are tired of killing Orcs in a glorified chat room this game is not going to fix that but if you think killing orcs is like killing Nazi in FPS games in that it never gets old then you may like this game.
I mentioned it in my long post under Certis front page article.
Yeah but...
UO was like the Sims of MMO's. It had everything because there was no thought or depth to everything implemented. So what the successors of UO have done is taken a subset of UO's features that they liked or feel needed addressing with further depth and balance and done them progressively better.
EQ focused on grouping and combat and ramped the difficulty curve in almost a complete 180. But, they also introduced the monotony of long distance travel and downtime. They made crafting impossible and a time and money sink and the only way to solo was to twink.
DAoC cut the downtime to 1/3. They superceded PvP with RvR and seiges. They addressed long distance travel issues and gave some customization to cookie cutter class roles. Not to mention that they practically have exhausted every possible class idea. (not necessarily well implemented but implemented) They also made crafting support near mandatory.
AC2 gave us story based instances, repreatable quests, mount quests and buff quests. They also put crafting in its place where it adds a useful boon but isnt mandatory.
WoW has taken all of the good ideas and implemented 90% of the features full functionality and made them work in a convenient and fun manner. Some ideas they have now superceded such as flying mounts.
Being fangoriously devoured by a gelatinous monster.