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94 Comments
- plizard, on 02/28/2008, -11/+61aren't all mmo players virgins?
- Lutremi, on 02/28/2008, -2/+37God I hate reading 133tsp33k. It's like my optical nerves get pinched with a nail cutter everytime I do.
- Ventolin, on 02/28/2008, -3/+31In my experience, these days no one actually replaces letters with numbers, save for the occasional 2 in place of too or 4 - for. If anything, you see tons of abbreviations. If someone writes "LF1M DPS GTG", it simply means they did not feel like taking the time to write "Looking for one more class, preferably a damage class, and then we're good to go." L33t speak only exists these days in the form of mockery.
- shcforward, on 02/28/2008, -0/+20I have played both of the games. In my opinion, they are both great, but for very different reasons. First thing you have to understand about comparing them is that their User Interfaces look very similar. This leads many former WoW players to believe that the game is "ripped off" of WoW. The User Interface is actually more derivative from Asheron's Call 2, a previous MMO that was made by the same company that made Lord of the Rings online. Another similarity is the leveling structure - you do lots of quests.
After you get past the initial cosmetic similarities, you will start to see the differences. The art style in WoW is loyal to its origins and similar to the original games. The art style in Lotro is based on a realism approach - everything is meant to look realistic. This means that your armor / weapons won't look as "leet" as they do in WoW, that you need a slightly higher end machine to play Lotro, and that you are going to deal with a lot more bland sepias than bright circuses of color.
The gameplay is standard fare for an MMO. People who have only played WoW have accused Lotro of stealing gameplay from WoW, but anyone who has played MMOs for a while knows that none of them have vastly original gameplay. Lotro did come out a bit afterwards, so it does have some nice little polish type things, but nothing that is a sure-fire improvement.
PvP was designed to be a main part of WoW from the ground up, and it isn't as important in Lotro. If all you care about is PvP, you might be disappointed in Lotro. However, Lotro does have some interesting ideas. Its monster play system is a good scheme whereby they can adjust the monster classes for balancing without affecting the PvM experience - which is nice.
Lotro's UI isn't as customizable as WoWs. The system is set up so that running a bot is probably not so easy, and running a buffbot is not so useful. Most good buffs in Lotro only last for 10 to 15 seconds, you just cast them over and over. The rare buffs that do last longer are not strong enough to warrant the use of a buffbot. Lotro does have a nice deed / accomplishment system, so if you are the kind of person who likes to just complete things, that's nice.
Lotro has player housing. It has a few raids that are pretty fun. The main area in which I would say that Lotro is better than WoW is in terms of storyline. If you don't like to read, don't even bother with Lotro. It's fun, but its gameplay is similar enough to most other things on the market that you might as well play a game that suits your niche better. But there is no MMO (in my opinion, and I have played most of them) that comes close to being as good at story-telling as Lotro. Even many of the normal quests are well written and engaging - but where the game really shines is in the epic quests. Just some really cool stuff - especially if you are a fan of the books.
If you are a fan of the books, you probably won't be disappointed in the game. The lore of Tolkien is all over the game. If you read the quest dialogue, there is all sorts of stuff to learn about the characters and lands that you thought you knew everything about.
In terms of time investment, I think it takes up less time than WoW. It is not as addicting. If you are the obsessive type game, this is probably a positive, because you need to stay healthy. You can solo your way up to the maximum level, but there are plenty of group quests as well - quests are marked with an icon if they are designed for solo, small group, or full group play. There are neat little things like chicken play and the music system. Turbine, the company that makes Lotro has a reputation for providing frequent free content updates - they give one out in Lotro every couple of months or so (the most recent being a couple of weeks ago). These updates do contain a lot, and I think that right now the game is pretty polished and has plenty to do.
So yeah, that's my assessment. The short version is...if you want something simple and fun, stick with WoW. If you are into something slightly more intellectual (but maybe not quite as pure fun), give Lotro a shot. It's not a WoW-killer or anything like that, and I think it is pretty clear to anyone who has played it for more than 2 hours that its intended audience is a little bit older than WoW's. But yeah, it's not a game for everybody, but I do like it. I think that this is probably a more informed assessment than you'll get from some people - fanboys of anything are usually incorrect about something. - and303, on 02/28/2008, -1/+17MMO virgin = real life non-virgin.
Pick your destiny. - fezzler, on 02/28/2008, -5/+17Why does everyone always ask that? Is it really that baffling?
- Artemisian, on 02/28/2008, -2/+12As a recent MMO virgin myself, I can sympathise with this. I've had mostly good luck, but ended up in PvP with an aggressive male. Had to give a beatdown. Made me feel very feminist.
- BenKenobi88, on 02/28/2008, -0/+9Roll to see if you have friends.
You have no friends. - anditsamber, on 02/28/2008, -5/+12Haha I met my boyfriend off ventrilo while playing WoW. We've been living together for a year now in California, I came from Georgia. It's pretty cool that you can meet all sorts of new people in this virtual world but I often wonder how many of these people are just telling me made-up stories.
- inactive, on 02/28/2008, -15/+22kek
- curtisag, on 02/28/2008, -0/+6This is quite true. The leet speaker is so 1997. Abbreviations are not leet speak.
- remyz16, on 02/28/2008, -3/+9The article was written by a FEMALE, you stupid CHUDs!
- Skanadian, on 02/28/2008, -2/+7Calling MMORPGers virgins. Very clever, original, and witty.
- Karai, on 02/28/2008, -3/+8Hey, I'm 14/f/Ohio, wanna be friends?
- Sixcolors, on 02/28/2008, -1/+5Holy crap! A comment that has something to do with the article! I've been there. You pick up these things pretty quickly. Loot whores are my least favorite because they always manage to show up only when I need something really badly.
- TheMidnight, on 02/28/2008, -1/+5Why would you put such a comprehensive, useful summary in a Digg comment?
1. Move comment to blog.
2. Open Adsense account.
3. Submit to Digg.
4. ???
5. Profit!!
I'm assuming the ??? has something to do with shouts, handjobbing MrBabyMan and posting lolcats in-line with your text. - curtisag, on 02/28/2008, -0/+3I probably couldn't find a better balanced summary of the differences between the games anywhere. You make me want to give LOTRO a try.
- mindsnare, on 02/28/2008, -0/+3urban terror? kickin it oldschool
- Sixcolors, on 02/28/2008, -3/+6HAHAHAHA! Oh wait, three people beat you to that tired joke.
- TheMidnight, on 02/28/2008, -0/+3Chris Hansen?
- kenok, on 02/28/2008, -0/+2Please, tell that to people who writes in forums with SMS speak.
- TecK415, on 02/28/2008, -0/+2Really though, I get the urge to glove slap anyone who types like that.
- Dunkelzahn, on 02/28/2008, -0/+2He's right. Anyone should be able to roll greed according to my kinship's standard loot rules. You roll need when something is for your profession or class or an item you actually *NEED* for another reason, and greed for everything else. Sorry you got dug down by the ignorant...and I was gonna post the same thing. People who haven't played the game shouldn't moderate something down because it seems to contradict the article. :p
- wrenchone, on 02/28/2008, -3/+5No, you didn't GET a *****.
- StinkBait, on 02/28/2008, -0/+2What?
- Couchy, on 02/28/2008, -2/+4""Yes, we are all familiar with the Loot Whore – the one who always chooses GREED OR NEED on every item roll. ""
Uh, ok, you dont understand l33t speak we gather that. But you dont understand the english word Greed either?? Which means to want without needing. IE. If you see an item that you cant use, you hit greed so everyone in the group who hits Greed (which is everyone who understands what "greed" means) gets an equal chance to sell/auction the item for gold.
A lootwhore is someone who rolls need for everything, even if they cant use it. - Chicken, on 02/28/2008, -0/+1I choose the former!
- Caviarmy, on 02/28/2008, -0/+1I loved the music system, I arranged a bunch of pieces for it when I was on my 30 day trial--my favorite were duets and trios once the sync system was in. bard4liiifee
- thanakar, on 02/28/2008, -0/+1Yes
- Shippwreck87, on 02/28/2008, -5/+6After looking at that picture, I'm pretty sure that kid will need a new pair of pants... and therapy.
- Daggerfall, on 02/28/2008, -0/+1"you would like nothing more than to beat him to the point of paralysis with an etiquette book and your computer mouse." I've been there...
- pdarg, on 02/28/2008, -3/+4because it has virgin in the title
- Sixcolors, on 02/28/2008, -2/+3Irony? Nope, just coincidence.
- actionscripted, on 02/28/2008, -2/+3Can I roll for the outcome?
- Melenor, on 02/28/2008, -2/+3"ss L t A A F" on Alliance shows Horde "M Y NI GG A," but why you'd ever say it isn't my business.
- Zaggynl, on 02/28/2008, -0/+1BLOODY ALGORITHMS!
- toasterweasel, on 02/28/2008, -0/+1I don't get it, how many people tried this joke already and got dugg down? Why is this one dug up? Oh thats right..."It's herd behavior...." Digg on sheeple!!!!
- BearinG, on 03/03/2008, -0/+1I didn't care for the article.. but the picture was kind of funny..
- bbardlbradd, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1Mmm. Well, for one, I am more bothered by the fact that you don't communicate with the outside world when you play. I usually sit less than 4 feet from you, when I talk, you don't hear me.... even when I'm bitching about you not listening, you don't hear me. You're like my little brother. I could be like "WE HAVE TO GO, WE ARE LATE" and he'll sit there like "But wait, I just have to..." and I'll rip him out of the chair.
It's good to know that you are aware of them flirting with you, now you cannot tell me that I'm over reacting by mentioning anything about it. You will be punished.
(I dugg you up only b/c you're my woman, if you weren't I would have buried you for flaunting your ability to attract other men on digg.)
btw UrT FTW circa 1999. I love that game. - Xondar, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1To the author of this blog: you are playing the WRONG MMO. I recomend you pick up City of Heroes/Villains. There is pretty much none of that crap (and even more crap MMO players put up with) in that game.
- m1zl3d, on 02/29/2008, -0/+1As someone who has met two girlfriends from MMOs. Let me be the first to tell you how lucky you are to meet a decent person. Meeting girls on MMOs is a BAD, BAD, BAD idea. My last girlfriend turned out to be a psycho bitch and she still won't leave me alone.
- phronko, on 02/28/2008, -0/+1It's just you.
- Cerialthriller, on 02/28/2008, -1/+2im so sorry your first MMO had to be LotRO...
- toasterweasel, on 02/28/2008, -0/+1You like to dress up as an Uruk-Hai and scare little children?
- darkism, on 02/28/2008, -0/+1And true.
- elenadragon, on 02/28/2008, -0/+1Great analysis. I have played both games, and your points are very valid. I think WoW has faster, and in some ways easier, game play, while Lotro is very big on storyline. I played Lotro for a few months, but it didn't keep my interest, so now I'm playing WoW again. EQ2 is another great game, very similar to both.
- kuhlmeye, on 02/28/2008, -0/+1While grinding my second character to 70, ive found the most effective way to deal with the people discussed in the article. I never group with anyone unless its personal friends, or if we are both standing looking at the enemy we both have to kill for a quest. Gets rid of a lot of the ***** in games like that
- Slade605, on 02/28/2008, -0/+1I think the real questions is, why is it on filefront?
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