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- HardSide, on 10/12/2007, -4/+25Ha! I'd never play another Turbine game if they paid me to. They killed Asheron Call 2...their mod team are a bunch of kids who ban people because you piss them off in the mmoprg world. And then they charged my credit card for a year for an account I cancelled 2 years ago, and I even had proof and I had to call BBB to get involved and get my money back.
Turbine...***** you. - bigp3rm, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16I was in the closed beta for this. The game engine itself looks great. The human and elf models could use some work. As for the game play it's just your typical go here shoot X collect X for quests. Overall the world map isn't very large and you spend a lot of time running around Bree Town (about 20 levels). Maybe I am just getting bored with MMOs but this one really didn't excite me that much. I mean come on it's LOTR knock my socks off!
- johnbr, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14@spyrochaete:
Well, in my experience with LoTRO and CoV/CoH, you target an enemy, and then run a dance across your keyboard, casting your attacks and defenses, waiting for the cooldown timers, casting again, etc.
In DDO, if there's a mob in front of you when you click the attack button, you have a chance to hit it. If you're wielding a two-hander, you can hit multiple opponents at once. Deosn't matter if you have them targetted or not. You can jump over the mobs in front (or run through them) to get to the caster in back, and trip him, to keep him from casting spells. Meanwhile, because your back is turned, the other mobs start attacking you from behind, and nailing you (Because your armor class is lower when attacked from behind) .
So your friend uses his "intimidate" skill and that draws the aggro off of you, for most of the monsters, but not all (they each get saving throws). And then a big old minotaur comes charging up, and you spend an agonizing second and 1/2 getting your shield up and going into shield-block mode, so the minotaur doesn't paste your guts all over the floor. And the bard steps in and casts 'Otto's Resistable Dance' on the mino, and he starts doing the riverdance. And last, but not least, the Paladin runs up and uses his 2x/day "Smite Evil" ability to do 3-5x normal damage.
You have to use resources intelligently. You use aggro and crowd control to keep groups of mobs in disarray. You set up missile kill zones for enemies that don't have good ranged response. You charge towards the casters, because their crowd control will leave your party in disarray. You have "X use per day" abilities, that you can't just spam during combat - you have to rest at a special location when you've used up your daily allotment. Your casters will hypnotize the enemies, and you use the in-game voice chat to agree on which mob of the group to go after, because if you hit a hypnotized creature, it wakes up and starts attacking. Be careful how you use that two-hander!
And that's just the early/mid game. In the later game (higher level mobs, etc), you stop worrying so much about armor, because you get hit all the time, and are hitting all the time. Instead, you use spells for displacement, or to kill from a distance. You use traps to kill the mobs for you. Hit point damage isn't as dangerous as stat damage (con/str). You use resist spells and potions to limit damage, and solid fog spells to slow the enemy down so you can kill them off one at a time, haste to turn your fighters into whirlwinds of carnage. The enemies will rain death and destruction down upon you from a distance, and you collect weapons and armor and robes and clickies (spell-casting items) to deal with the myriad threats that you might encounter.
It totally rocks. - fyrehart, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15Direct link: http://www.lotro.com/openbeta
Got mine. thanks! - cassusfett, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12Actually, the LotRO UI looks like the AC2 UI. If any thing it's Blizzard that stole from Turbine (AC2 coming out before WoW and all).
- ChumpChief, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11I was extremely addicted to Asheron's Call back in the day, I hope Turbine makes this one just as fun to play (and codes it better this time!)
- bobothn, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13$200 for a lifetime member ship that is fing awesome. cant tell you how much i paid for UO over the years.
- siriusgraphics, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11The Closed Beta a few months back was cool. I've seen WOW, and this is not a knock-off. WOW itself was built on MMORPG conventions created in games like turbine's Asheron's Call, EverQuest, etc. I think they adapted the world of LotR to the genre pretty well, at least for the few levels I've seen.
- Yazilliclick, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10it's not a rip off. WoW interface was hardly ground breaking and there have similar ones around for quite some time. Heck practically all the fantasy, hack & slash mmos keep a very similar type of interface because it's been determined to be one of the better starting points as far as interfaces go.
- tizz66, on 10/12/2007, -6/+14Less pretty than WoW? How is that possible? WoW is comparatively an ancient game now.
- Yazilliclick, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12agreed. LotRO is less appealing visually. The animations are largely piss poor and none of the graphics seem to fit together (ie. trees, water, plants all look great, character models, buildings less so and other terrain features like cliffs just look plain bad). WoW on the other hand has pretty well done animations and the graphics for the entire world are cohesive. Due to this WoW pulls off a much better looking world, with good unique style and an immersing feeling. While LotRO leaves my eye twitching every time I rotate my character and he shuffles around like he has a broom up his ass.
- anodos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Yes, AC was awesome. I played it for about 4 years (on a casual basis). I can still remember getting my first house. It was quite a rush, because there were only a couple houses left in the game world that month, and I was racing at least 10 other players to acquire it.
On the other hand, WOW lasted one year for me.
The difference? In AC you felt like you could actually change "history", affect the world, leave your mark. They had new monthly content, and would often craft the content based on what players were able to accomplish the month before. Sometimes, if a player or group of players made some great achievement, Turbine would immortalize it via some in game content: a statue with their names, a quest, or some such thing. - strictnein, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Asheron's Call was a great game. Took up about a year of my life too. Which just happened to coincide with my sophomore year of college, so that kind of sucked.
When Everquest still had zones and loading screens and whatever, Asheron's Call had a wide open world where you could run from one end to another. Great fun.
Leafcull ftw! - Junkyarddawg, on 10/12/2007, -9/+14_Less_ pretty than WoW? Are you sure you've played LOTR?
*OR* WoW? - aceman118, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6oh god, don't get me started on AC... took up a good 4 years of my life.
- drmangrum, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6MMO's makes a lot of money through expansions. They have to string you along so you'll keep paying your monthly fee. It's nothing new, and that business model isn't going anywhere.
- youngandwise, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Umm, I think BC only counts as one (1) expansion pack..
- HardSide, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6If I had it I'd give it to you. I could care less, after the whole credit card incident, they had the balls to send me an email giving me a free invitation for I forget what game...like i said its in the past. I just would never deal with those people again.
- bigp3rm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I did all that and more. The main focus is still around Bree Town. I leveled 2 toons to 25, Dwarf and Human. All the quests have you running back and forth to the same area half a dozen times or more. Barrow Downs is a good example.
- graphmac1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I've played them all (remember The Realm?)...WoW still taking my money now...
- Yazilliclick, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5@bobothn
It's awesome provided the game is good enough to keep you playing long enough for it to pay for itself.
It's bad because it's an obvious grab at quick cash by the developer, along with their "preorder and pay a smaller monthly fee" deal, which makes you wonder whether even they see this as a long term project with a good future or whether they're just trying to make sure they at least cover their loans from development. - tolbs, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8Here here! Turbine really took a turn for the worse when it released Asheron's Call 2 1-2 years early thanks to the folks at Microsoft Games.
Asheron's Call 2 had tons of potential, and when it had initially failed and Turbine bought the complete game rights from Microsoft, I thought it'd be moving in the right direction, but it just got worse. The folks at the top of Turbine really have no clue what it takes to run a successful game. You can tell the guys doing the actual work on the games really do a good job and put their best foot forward, but when it comes down to it, I just don't think the management is willing to put the money and the resources needed into putting out a game that thrives 6 months past release. I guess I can only hope that it changes ths time around, but I have my doubts. - pig13, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Gandalf is one of only five wizards in the entire world. They were beings from another dimension who took on human form to help fight Sauron. That's why there aren't any that are playable. I think the lore-master is just like a general 'magic-user' character.
Nerds FTW! - tavisjohn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2No mag purchase needed! Just go to:
http://www.gamespot.com/
And click on the LOTR Online link: http://tinyurl.com/2xt74q (Made tiny for ease of use)
ANd fillout a form, BAM you get a KEY Fill out the form on http://www.lotro.com/openbeta and download the LEGAL TORRENT and you will be playing!
I got mine, so you all get to fight over what is left. - Yazilliclick, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3You're not strictly following the story of the quest to destroy the ring from the books. You're taking on the dark forces in other regions while that's all supposedly going on. MMOs are generally pretty bad for story telling though so it's hard to fault any for not managing a great portrayal of some vastly overlapping world wide story that should be affecting everybody.
- fyrehart, on 10/12/2007, -5/+7Clicking on a few links, I came across this...
http://www.lotro-europe.com/beta-signup.php - johnbr, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6Bah. It doesn't compare well to D&D Online. The only MMO I've found that actually makes combat feel like combat, and not inane button-pushing.
- dcherryholmes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I am running the installer under Wine and so far it is going fine. I don't really expect the game to run, but figured I'd give it a shot. I'll post a reply of the results when it's finished.
- blanktarget, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I played the closed beta of this and it's not worth it even for free. Save your download time and play something else.
- Yazilliclick, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3While I agree with some of your points, I do believe you must have a played a fairly early copy.
The interface, at least to a degree, is customizable (at least in being able to move any part around).
Only the very first intro sequence is scripted that heavily that I've run into at least.
Every single MMO relies on grinds to keep players playing. - twtmc, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6Hence why you pre-order and pay $10 a month.
And anybody else going to try to get it working on linux? - drmangrum, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Well by customizable interface, I mean something more WoW like. You can do more than just move it around, you can totally change how it looks and functions, and it's rather easy to do so.
There are many levels of grinding, I'm more refering to things like the the old EXP grind, Rep grinds, honor grinds, etc. I kinda like the idea that DDO had with exp being given on a per quest basis instead of a monster slaughter. The diplomacy stuff that Vanguard is doing sounds like a nice add-on to the rep grind.
I guess the short version of my complaint against grinds is there could be several ways to achieve the same goal, not all of them should involve mindless combat all in the name of a time sink. - spyrochaete, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2That's an intriguing claim. Can you elaborate? I'm bored with LOTRO after playing the closed beta for a couple of months and I'm looking for a better game.
- abuse, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1lore master is the wizard
minstrel is the healer and rez
more at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings_Online:_Shadows_of_Angmar#Playable_classes - Fipxop, on 04/27/2009, -0/+1Ditto. 10Kbps on bittorrent, 142Kbps on the NVidia downloader.
- kempers, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Actually if you would read you would see that LOTR said they are giving a lifetime of FREE expansions, you do not have to pay for them ever...Read and know what you are talking about...
- AntBing, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6I played the closed beta, It's a fun game, but not worth the $15 a month subscription once the free trial runs out.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3This was a pretty bold move by Turbine, but also a pretty smart move. I'm not a MMORPG guy, tell you the truth, and I can't really comment on games that they've screwed up in the past. What's bold is getting an open beta for 1,000,000 people. Why? Because they must really have faith in their product. People could easily abuse the free portion of beta, say that they hated it, and not buy the product. A lifetime membership too? I know there are a few people that buying that would save them money.
- centerblack, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Maybe if you're a carebear.
- Junkyarddawg, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Oh man... If that is true, that's... harsh. WoW had retro graphics the day it was released, and by now it's, what, three years old?
MMORPG's have been known to start out with ***** graphics then update, compare these pre-release graphics:
http://www.rpgamer.com/games/other/pc/guildwars/screens/guildwars020.jpg
with the release-version graphics:
http://www.eerden.org/screenshots/gw/misc/DynastyWarriors.jpg
...but LOTR should be within a year of release, right? - spyrochaete, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5I was actually considering preordering this game since it's only $9.99/mo if you buy it during the beta, but then I watched the PC Gamer video podcast on the game and it totally changed my mind:
http://www.pcgamerpodcast.com/video/?p=35
What changed my mind? The fact that you won't get to Mordor without buying multiple expansion packs. I'm concerned there won't be enough content in the original package. It's insulting enough that you have to buy a worthless box for an online-only game, but to have to buy expansion packs as well was the last straw for me. Turbine says they're doing it this way because they want to have a few very intricate areas instead of many bland areas, but it still feels like a cash grab to me. - p0ss, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Where are the magic classes?
how did gandalf get to be gandalf if there is no wizard class?
The closest this has is a healer guy, not the same! - Soldan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2turbine licks ballz sadly...
all the real talent left....while Asherons Call lacked a more modern graphics engine it did have the goods where it counted...and fostered a very close community even from the very early levels...via the vassal/patron system - Yazilliclick, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@anodos
WoW allows you to order 1, 3, 6 or 12(?) months of play time at a time. The more you order the lower the price. This is ordering play time though so it's still a subscription, it's a much better scaled price reduction and has nothing to do with purchasing the game.
LotRO is offering life time reduction in fees for pre-ordering the game. - cresswga, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2If you spent 20 levels running around Bree you should have explored more. I played the closed beta up to level 20 and explored all of Ered Luin, the Shire and Bree and the area was huge.
I hadn't played WOW so I didnt have a point of reference but I enjoted LOTRO a lot. Plenty of quests and no grinding for levels. I also really enjoyed the Epic quest storyline that followed the books.
If I had a complaint it was that a lot of quests would make you cross halfway across a zone, make you report back and then make you cross back again for the next part of the quest. - lordgreg, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2that's just great :S
"world tour" and no EU anywhere. eu players will get access only 10 days before the game is released. ain't that just great :S - insovietrussia, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1In addition to the above link, you firstly have to register at Gamespot to receive a product key:
http://www.gamespot.com/betas/lord-of-the-rings-online/index.php - xkrwlng, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2will the Green Ghost Army From Hell that we saw in the LotR movies (and that fscking ruined RotK) show up in this game?
- kanadani, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I hear it's launching for the preorder people today! I think it's a pretty fun game. I'm going to try to get in to reserve my name.
- anodos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@yazilliclick, WOW allows you to preorder to get a reduced monthly rate as well (at least, it did when I was still playing). So, the developer wants to make money. No surprise there. I don't think such tactics say anything about the game itself.
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