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i played it in beta and it was fun. Thinking of making a Hobbit Burglar. How many of the old Lanys folks are planning to try it out?

played it, hated it, enjoying wow instead.

It will enjoy a better launch than Vanguard no doubt. How many subs they keep after trial month will be interesting to note.

The $9.99 / mo deal also is enticing if you need a 2nd game to play and fuck around with. Note that if you cancel you forefit that deal. The 200 buck lifetime thing is also pretty good, if again you play it as a 2nd goof off game.

The game promises nothing and offers you nothing you can't get elsewhere. It is WoW Lite if anything. Honestly, that just might be its saving grace. They are using tried and true popular formulas, and not fucking with the flow.

The Bros are watching it. But making no plans around it, other than laughing as we take all the variations of LotR characters names and save them to our accounts, never to play so dumbasses can't run around in game with that praticular variation or Leeeegooolaaaaaaaaaaassssssssssss.

The game so far seems pretty well thought out. The dwarven land (Thorin's Gate) is awesome. I'll try out the shire later tonight/tomorrow. Land doesn't seem small at all, the zones are pretty large and room for hundreds upon hundreds. So far the low-level quests have enough mobs that people don't wait around for spawns. The lore hints at many names that are in the appendixes of the books, which is cool for those of us who read the Appendix =P.

The shire is pretty awesome, I think this is going to be my next addiction. I really dont have anything bad to say about this other than its pretty crowded in the newbie areas.

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I'm enjoying it!

It's blurry, i set all the options to maximum but man it's still very blurry... hopefully the textures in this test are just the low resolutions textures for a smaller download.

The DDO engine had a high resolution textures options anyway and this is obvious that this game is just a total convertion of DDO. The combat is a bit different tho, you cant just click click clik to attack, kind of a blend between the old MMO combat and DDO movement. Not too bad. The interface is also very small in 1600x1200 I tought it would scale better but it's ok i guess can open a lot of windows and still see what happen.

I'd like an option to set the chat window background solid black tho...

I'm still a skeptic.

I'd originally tried LOTRO back in the early stages when it was still Middle Earth Online. At the time, it was a horrible pile of retard monkey fish frog waste. In fact, MEO looks and played quite a bit like Vanguard did in its 2nd stage beta. Anyway....before it was nearly unplayable. And not just because it was in early beta stages. It was quite literally unplayable.

Now, a little more then a year later, the game is MUCH different. From the start, you get the feeling that its a LOTR game (mainly because the LOTR logo and the "One Ring" logo are plastered on every splash/loading screen. The character creation system is, at the very least, on par with that of EQ2. Not quite as customizable, but nice never the less. I do like how they added little lore bits and pieces (like when naming your character, a window gives you some examples of how names are formed depending on what race/which region you hail from).

But then, you log in...to an instance. That's right kids, we're dropping you into an instance quest to help familiarize you with the basic controls of the game. Also, we run you through a newbie quest to show you how that works. LOTRO's quest system is straight from WoW, and it doesn't hide that fact. However, instead of a quest giver having the ! above their head they have a little gold ring (again, MORE RINGS!!!!)

Well, once I got out of the SECOND newbie instance (you'll see....lol) I set out on a journey. I was headed to Mordor. Well, I was going to go as far as it would let me go before I ran into some artificial cockblock preventing me from getting there. After 3 hours of running, I made it to Rivendell. I decided to try a new tactic, but before hand I wondered around and took some screenshots of famous people.........................

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b319/ ... t00004.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b319/ ... t00003.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b319/ ... t00002.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b319/ ... t00001.jpg

All in all, like Givin said...it's WoW Lite. As a game to toss a few extra bucks at, it's not that bad. But I would need to see some of the high end content before making any real decisions on it.

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WoW meet DDO. I still like DDO more tho. If only my friends would play DDO... I'm not crazy about the "big town" with full of quests central area but the multiple instance quest lines are like the best use of instances I have seen. It's the only good instances in any game.

Bro group + DDO = Ice Cream + Banana

I have tried the beta some for this one, and it makes me cry. I never thought I'd see a game more "simple" than WoW with the lack of class choices.

Shame vanguard launch went so horribly, i was having a lot of fun until everyone disappeared from the game.

Graphically its not bad, gameplay i personally don't enjoy. It might be because i don't really like the class choices and their individual designs. Who knows, that might change as they allow higher levels.

As others said, I'll probably just watch this one from afar but I'm not planning any gaming. Not that I've managed to follow many of the old Lanys people after the initial jump to SWG.

What better high-end content than to fight the Ring Wraiths!

A 30 minute run speed buff would've been nice on my run from Combre to Rivendell...at least that would've made the run like 2 and a half hours instead of 3......lol

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It's the deeds and the titles that are surprisingly motivating to me.

I played this in the open stress test and then for a while on a friend's beta account and was so impressed with it that I pre-ordered and now I'm in open beta. The level of polish and performance this game has in beta is mind blowing IMO. I think the game world looks really great and it runs exceptionally well with very few bugs that I have noticed. I also like the multi use instances and think it's an effective compromise to either wide open world that might not perform as well and a closed off instanced world that removes an element of community.

The crafting also seems like it was pretty well thought out and though I haven't done a whole lot of it what I have done was pretty fun. A little more involved than WoW I think but not as deep as VG. It also seems to put an emphasis on each profession being somewhat reliant on another profession to promote trading and community. I guess it remains to be seen how well that will work. :p

The game really takes away a lot of things directly from WoW without even trying to make it their own. Just an exact copy. Some might see that as a drawback but I really don't think it is. WoW got a lot of things right so if there was no improvement to be made why wouldn't they use what works? They also have plenty of their own unique stuff and the game world looks so much better than WoW that there shouldn't really be an issue with people thinking it's just a WoW clone (although I can certainly see why that would be the initial reaction to seeing/playing it).

My only real concerns are the number and type of classes, the raid content and the world size. I realize they are trying their best to remain as true to the LOTR lore as they can so, for instance there are no wizard/mage classes. I'm also a little concerned with the healing classes. No priests or clerics for direct healing..only minstrels. I will give them bonus points for trying to preserve the lore the best they can and being original in that department. I don't think it will be a huge issue for leveling or groups but I'm not sure how the current class setup would work for raid content (and maybe it will work fine, I don't know). In any event, it would also be nice if there were a few more classes/races to choose from.

The game world doesn't seem all that big to start with but what is there is extremely well done. If they can have a smooth launch (which it seems they will) and come out with timely content patches/expansions then it shouldn't be an issue. They have plenty of lore and pre-conceived content to draw from if they can churn it out fast enough.

I really don't know anything about the high end content or raids. The little I have heard from people that got to fairly high level before the open beta wipe had pretty positive stuff to say but I haven't heard a whole lot so that may or may not be meaningful.

All in all it seems like a very solid game that looks and runs great. The pre-order incentives are also very nice. If you liked WoW but are looking for something new and you were disappointed in VG this is a good bet, especially if you get the pre-order deal. I still think AoC will be better but I think this game will at the very least be an interesting diversion until October when that comes out.

What servers are people playing on? I'm on Brandywine but it's pretty crowded so I'm considering a new server.

Playing on Firefoot and its somewhat crowded in the starting cities, but as soon as you leave those and move to the next one up or whatever its pretty empty. Played a human and a hobbit so far, human cities seem way more crowded than the hobbit cities.

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'm on vilya and the server has a perfect amount of people (not too hard to find a group, and quest areas are not crowded at all). I'm already lv13, just trying to get some more titles/traits before I go to the shire. Still debating on getting it or not, that 9.99 offer is sweet. BTW Frys has the game for 39.99 while all others have it for 49.99.

I tried running the post-pies but always was caught by those Nosey Hobbits! Sounds like fun tho, I'll keep trying...

Ahh, never noticed that on the minimap, good info =P.

Sorry fin but DDO was about as fun as a thorny cathoder.

I just never got into LOTR books or movies for some reason and the thought of playing a game that is based off that but will eventually be forced to create its own content just doesn't sound appealing to me.

Fuck sigil for having an amazing game but still managing to turn everyone off....way to go. Best thing they could do now is merge the damn servers so there are more players in the huge world so it might actually be explored.....that and fucking give us about 4X travel speed because after those poor unguilded bastards sit lfg for 4 hrs then they finally get a tell for a group but its an hour run away.

I'm sorry Turb but the first 2 districts in DDO do not represent what the game has to offer. When you begin to do Houses quests is where the game take off.

I can't believe i'm going this low, but....



Fixed

Givin, jumper of rivers! =P What opinion version is this? Givin_Sigil_2.15?

Just joking....

What about the game has made you decide that it wasn't any fun anymore and that it was a piece of shit? I don't completely disagree, but it's less about where the game is now and more about where it is headed (for me).

I got my cleric to level 9 in that game. I think that's the only reason I got groups. It had it's moments but it's a pretty repetitive game. I'd rather play a single player like NWN2.

DDO is good if you have a dedicated bro-team to play with.

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World of Warcraft: Kallaystra, Gweila, Steakumn, Tarathia [ Feathermoon/Horde ]

My love/hate relationship of Vanguard has been well documented over several threads. My hatred for it in its current form is more than justified.

The direction it is heading is the same destination as Everquest 2. It will be stable, it will be decent. But it will also be too little too late. I am not loyal enough to stand around waiting for that to happen.

Add to that, Brad is a complete and total idiot when it comes to the mmo scene, and the worst possible choice to do public relations. You do NOT argue point/counterpoint with your playerbase when they know, as well as you do that your product has issues. You do not tell people that they should have spent $4,000 on a bleeding edge system, and the $2,000 Dual Core system with 8800s they just built isn't sufficient to run the game. Throwing a hissy fit on the FoH boards because people call you on your constant stream of promotion bullshit instead of acknowledging issues is a bonus.

Ya, my opinion of Brad has changed drastically from 1 year ago that is for sure.

And at the time fin we were already damn near level cap on DDO! It just seemed so...lack luster, then again I was a caster and got ass raped and didn't do hardly any damage so

VG is still the best game on the market for those looking for the "other white meat", but like in bball, having the most talented athletes doesn't mean you are a good team. I'm extremely busy IRL atm so I haven't had time to grind the last levels to lvl cap but I won't lie I lost alot of interest of being "the first" when I realized A) no content past 40 was there and/or if it was its so poorly itemized/tuned that I will just be wasting my time and B) so many of the original hard core players on the server have quit.

I am really suprised that the hardcore fanbase turnover rate is as high as it is , that was suposed to be the staple group of players. The early release and last minute mechanics that went into the game really gave it a black eye to the mmo community and as far as ingame community goes you would fucking think Brad would take a look at what made EQ have such a great community. That is what is going to keep his players playing not all the stupid gimmicks or tricks in the world.

First thing he could do is fucking raise raid numbers from 24.....having a shit ton of guilds running around to the point no one cares doesn't exactly help community building. I know alot will argue having larger groups of people in raids makes it hard for casuals etc but /shrug play wow? Even 40 man raids just seemed abit small for my likings. But i guess they want to appeal to the masses so my opinion doesn't mean jack shit

The biggest issue right now is guilds need to be pretty large as guild groups are far and large your only source of grouping in VG but with a 24 raid lvl cap.....just a mixture for trouble. And I know alot of people quiting or taking breaks etc because there just isn't any damn groups for people and unfortunately some people are to lazy or just don't have the time to be assertive and make their own. Sigil really needs to address this issue (faster travel + higher population density would be a good start) or else it doesn't matter how amazing there game is, they are going to be losing subs at numbers far exceeding what I know they used in their economic models.

Did you ever actually play D&D? The damage levels scaled up appropriately to the pencil and paper game. =p

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World of Warcraft: Kallaystra, Gweila, Steakumn, Tarathia [ Feathermoon/Horde ]

I don't think it's possible to build a community similar to what Everquest had due to the fact that the things that made it what it was were largely negative in and of themselves; forced grouping, significant downtime while grouping, zero instanced content, etc.

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Kuwen Furyblades
Hunter of Memento Reejeryn
Champion of Faydark

the lotronline isnt too bad .... yet im only level 7 though =P heh

I agree that they were viewed as negative; but I think in a game that is based on the idea of many people playing together, they are actually positives.

I don't recall any significant downtime during groups (the only item that *I* consider to be a negative) unless it was because we were bullshitting instead of pulling or our tank was just not as well geared as he should have been to be tanking where we were.

Never sat in a SolB or Guk group waiting on spawns to pull, or in Karnor's Castle for that matter? Sure if you had an ideal group you could often go to places in a zone too tough for a typical PUG or even to Charasis and have most of the zone to yourself but those were the exception and not the norm. Even when you did have a good group, in the early days of Everquest (before there was any volume of quality gear) you still had to wait on mana often times.

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Kuwen Furyblades
Hunter of Memento Reejeryn
Champion of Faydark

Man, that shit used to take SO long. "OOM, med break" = cig / bathroom time

Between going outside to smoke, emptying my bladder from nonstop Mountain Dew intake, smut talk and general bullshitting with my guildies and friends, downtime never seemed that excessive for me.

Downtime in EQ never bothered me.

Any other game, and i'm ripping hair out in boredom.

BTW is it just me or is every game after EQ slow-moving? Meaning that characters are clumsy and heavy to move/run with. They just don't seem as "free" as in EQ (non-luclin characters).

That's the only bad (if it can be called that) thing I see in LotRO and in every other game out there.

small race in EQ makes it seem like you were going so much faster...

I never liked playing tall races for that very reason, lol.

Oh, I'm not talking about running speed, but just movement in general, when moving around a mob, or around walls, when jumping, when swimming, the movement just seemed more free. I don't know how to explain it...

I know what you mean Bigteeth. I dont know if its because eq was more of a first person thing and like every game I play now is 3rd person, but things definitely seem more clunky and slow...of course I played a halffer in EQ so I ran at 95 MPH.

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Yeah, I know what you mean. I had the same feeling going from Quake 2 to Quake 3. Movement just felt different and squishier somehow.

Sarissa Candyangel

I tried doing the Aragorn Chapter quests, but they were hard to solo =P So I need to find 2 more people.

I like it.. its nothing ground breaking.. but its fun.. i might buy this one.