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andystyle
14th-May-2007, 11:49 AM
OK, I thought I'd start this thread (and not hijack the WoW one!). Has anyone been playing Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO)?

I'm a long-time WoW fan, having started playing when it was released and I absolutely loved it (and still do). I was quite skeptical with LOTRO, especially as Turbine's 1st offering of Dungeons and Dragons Online was quite grim, IMHO. I gave LOTRO a shot against my better judgement. I took me about a day to get used to the way it does things, and to stop going 'WoW did this thing that way' in my head, but I'm completely immersed now. Once you get over the first hump in the learning curve, it gets to be a very rewarding game!

I'm interested in what other folk think of it, especially those that play/have played other MMOs, particularly WoW. I reckon Blizzard may have their first serious bit of competition here.

Dreadful Scathe
14th-May-2007, 12:36 PM
i mentioned it in the WoW thread - i played the beta and thought it was almost identical to WoW. It doesnt seem to have any original ideas and i didnt want to waste time playing any further. I only played for about 2hrs all in. I think it will die a death, as it has nothing new to offer. Its also re-writing an already established mythical world - at least WoW created something unique!!

andystyle
14th-May-2007, 12:52 PM
i mentioned it in the WoW thread - i played the beta and thought it was almost identical to WoW. It doesnt seem to have any original ideas and i didnt want to waste time playing any further. I only played for about 2hrs all in. I think it will die a death, as it has nothing new to offer. Its also re-writing an already established mythical world - at least WoW created something unique!!

True, it doesn't break any new ground which is a pity. It does take a bit of time to get into - it'll be interesting to see how it does over time. To be fair, LOTRO is faithful to the original world, with the game taking place alongside the events in the books - its not really re-writing anything. :nice:

At any rate, WoW ultimately got very same-y. I'm looking forward to see how LOTRO does with content and storyline.

Dreadful Scathe
14th-May-2007, 01:36 PM
To be fair, LOTRO is faithful to the original world, with the game taking place alongside the events in the books - its not really re-writing anything. :nice:

It does if suddenly hundreds of hobbits are suddenly fighting orcs across middle earth, which they are. Its not a LOTR game; its WoW in Middle Earth - a very different thing and one that is certainly not allowed for in the books.


At any rate, WoW ultimately got very same-y. I'm looking forward to see how LOTRO does with content and storyline.

Ill be interested to hear how the arc-story of the fellowship helps the game and how it is handled.

andystyle
14th-May-2007, 04:34 PM
It does if suddenly hundreds of hobbits are suddenly fighting orcs across middle earth, which they are. Its not a LOTR game; its WoW in Middle Earth - a very different thing and one that is certainly not allowed for in the books.

The books make it clear that there are battles being fought all over Middle-Earth at the time the fellowship sets off to Mordor, which is what LOTRO captures. Granted, having hundreds of hobbits fighting may not be 100% accurate, but neither is having gnomes fighting mobs a la WoW. Anyway, calling LOTRO WoW in Middle-Earth is no different than calling WoW EQ2 in Azeroth - all MMOs will have similarities in terms of grind-quest-instance.


Ill be interested to hear how the arc-story of the fellowship helps the game and how it is handled.

Likewise. I'm curious as to what happens when they reach the end of the third book. Will the servers close with a 'thank you very much for your time' message? Or will they be brave enough to start writing new material...they'll have to be careful at that point. A 60-man raid against Sauron's Eye may be a little silly...

Dreadful Scathe
14th-May-2007, 05:13 PM
Granted, having hundreds of hobbits fighting may not be 100% accurate, but neither is having gnomes fighting mobs a la WoW.

Yes it is. WoW is a world created where gnomes do that but LOTR is not a place where you have warrior hobbits at all. Its all down to the fact that LOTR the game is based on an already VERY established world.



Anyway, calling LOTRO WoW in Middle-Earth is no different than calling WoW EQ2 in Azeroth

Its very , very different. Its the interface Im talking about, not fantasy aspects that can be traced back to Gary Gygax and the Ultima Games. Having played both games; the LOTR interface is nearly identical to WoW - compare that to other online role playing games like EQ, GuildWars, DiabloII - all have their own unique look and feel. LOTRs designers clearly saved money on an interface by not designing one and copying someone elses :).

andystyle
14th-May-2007, 07:14 PM
Yes it is. WoW is a world created where gnomes do that but LOTR is not a place where you have warrior hobbits at all. Its all down to the fact that LOTR the game is based on an already VERY established world.

Tolkien lore does speak of hobbits being capable of fighting if pushed to it. LOTRO reflects this by restricting the class hobbits can play as. The only 'warrior' class open to them allows them to tank, but they aren't powerful DPS warriors (tanks are treated differently in LOTRO...the warrior class is effectively split into two). Gnomes in WoW are permitted to play as warriors, which isn't truly reflective of their place in the Warcraft lore, as established by the previous games (AFAIK). In both cases, it's a compromise to allow players the maximum choice while at the same time keeping as close to the established lore as possible. In both cases, it's not 100% accurate.



Its very , very different. Its the interface Im talking about, not fantasy aspects that can be traced back to Gary Gygax and the Ultima Games. Having played both games; the LOTR interface is nearly identical to WoW - compare that to other online role playing games like EQ, GuildWars, DiabloII - all have their own unique look and feel. LOTRs designers clearly saved money on an interface by not designing one and copying someone elses :).

Ah. Your post didn't make it clear you were talking about interface. I agree - LOTRO has an interface that is pretty much a carbon copy of WoW's. It certainly helped me get to grips with LOTRO far quicker!

Anyway. Has anyone other than DS played LOTRO yet?

Dreadful Scathe
14th-May-2007, 08:53 PM
Gnomes in WoW are permitted to play as warriors, which isn't truly reflective of their place in the Warcraft lore, as established by the previous games (AFAIK).

Fair enough, but the WoW universe is an historically collaborative effort being tweaked to fit whats needed for an MMORPG . Middle Earth is a fully realised fantasy world in books that set the tone for all fantasy in the last 70 years (including WoW), so forgive me if I set a bit more store on its "established lore" :)



Ah. Your post didn't make it clear you were talking about interface. I agree - LOTRO has an interface that is pretty much a carbon copy of WoW's. It certainly helped me get to grips with LOTRO far quicker!

Which is a poor show in my opinion, I think the interface could have been original and befitting LOTR (elven, dwarven themed ?) - but its just WoW. Even the shop interfaces, the marks over peoples heads etc... all WoW. The game itself could be great, it really depends on the story arc but there was nothing initially to make me want to continue. Really , if it looks like WoW and acts like WoW you may as well play WoW. Theres nothing to keep you playing and draw you into the unique content.

andystyle
15th-May-2007, 07:31 AM
Fair enough, but the WoW universe is an historically collaborative effort being tweaked to fit whats needed for an MMORPG . Middle Earth is a fully realised fantasy world in books that set the tone for all fantasy in the last 70 years (including WoW), so forgive me if I set a bit more store on its "established lore" :)

From the lore point-of-view, both WoW and LOTRO have made compromises for the MMO games - hobbits, for instance, would not have been as fun to play if they didn't have a decent selection of classes. Maybe Turbine should have been more strict with this - overall, the general feeling is that LOTRO doesn't abuse Tolkien's world but instead compliments it.


Which is a poor show in my opinion, I think the interface could have been original and befitting LOTR (elven, dwarven themed ?) - but its just WoW. Even the shop interfaces, the marks over peoples heads etc... all WoW. The game itself could be great, it really depends on the story arc but there was nothing initially to make me want to continue. Really , if it looks like WoW and acts like WoW you may as well play WoW. Theres nothing to keep you playing and draw you into the unique content.

Aye. It's almost like a total conversion in that respect. There are a few things that LOTRO brings to the party that improves upon the interface of the game, but nothing major. In some ways, I think Turbine have been very clever - LOTRO will be easier for WoW players to use. Like I said earlier, LOTRO does take a bit of effort to get into - probably about a day - and after that, it get's very engrossing. From my own experience, I'd say WoW was easier to get into but LOTRO provides a deeper MMO experience...at least, so far. But then again, I've played WoW to saturation point and my opinion is skewed by this. The levelling in LOTRO is a far more pleasurable experience and way less of a grind-fest...probably about half to a third the number of 'kill X of Y monsters' etc quests. I'm looking forward to seeing what end-game is like.

If you were to give it another try, DS, I'd be more than happy to meet up online and play for a while. LFG for a staring match with Sauron's eye?

Dreadful Scathe
15th-May-2007, 08:35 AM
its tempting - in fact i was realy tempted by the lifetime membership for £100, but i dont have the spare time really - Ill carry on playing WoW for a while I expect but that takes enough of my time already :)

I beta tested EVE but new i would be way too addicted to put it down. Interesting that EVE was the victim of coporate piracy big time (somone brought down a whole croporation in-game) that could have been me - it was my plan to Role Play a con artist :)

andystyle
15th-May-2007, 11:46 AM
its tempting - in fact i was realy tempted by the lifetime membership for £100, but i dont have the spare time really - Ill carry on playing WoW for a while I expect but that takes enough of my time already :)

I beta tested EVE but new i would be way too addicted to put it down. Interesting that EVE was the victim of coporate piracy big time (somone brought down a whole croporation in-game) that could have been me - it was my plan to Role Play a con artist :)

Yeah, I heard about that too late to do anything about it. Oh well! Let me know if you change your mind, I'll roll a new character. :nice:

I tried EVE, but wasn't taken with it...I've never been a fan of the corporate-building games (X-series etc. etc.) I like the idea of industrial calamity though...Beo, I think, used to play it. I love the way there is only one server, too...something which would be excellent for WoW etc. Although having 7 million players on one server would be interesting!