Lineage II

I think the amount of subscribers to Lineage 2 will be picking up in the near future for a number of reasons:

The first reason would have to be NCSoft Designers and their graphics.  If you compare NCSoft MMOs to other games, such as those listed here, you will see how the quality of their gaming graphics is far superior to other games.  With their sucesses, (City Of Heroes/Villians being their top game), Guild Wars, Tabula Rasa, and soon to be Aion and Guild Wars 2), their reputation is quite high in gaming MMO quality.

On a personally note, I love the characters and the way they look in Lineage 2, incredibly sexy and very fantasy oriented, AND they can still make more classes, hint...hint.  They are not anime and they are not Goshi.  They are something you could classify, as well somewhere in between with a touch of both but with their own style and originality.  (This comes from a person who has never owned a console btw).

The second reason is that the current times are hard. 3rd and 4th quarter 2008.  Without going into too much boring detail, the US economy is not so good at the moment and people are, to say the least, being cautious and tightening their belts.  Though the average PC is not as high priced as it used to be, that does not mean that people will not "cut back" and try to get as much use out of their current PC as possible.  L2 does not require the higher end 'very expensive' graphics card.  Nor does it require gobs and gobs of dual processors.  (Over time, if the game continues its success I am sure the graphics video will change, but not to the extent where buying a PC every 2 years is necessary.  This of course brings to mind where will the PC gaming be at the end of the year. Example:  Blizzard is releasing Starcraft II for Vista 'AND' XP.  And most probably Diablo 3 will work on XP.  That should tell you something right there.

MMOs need a broader range of processing and video capability in order to succeed.

Thirdly the game play itself.  I think with the release of Gracia Part One And Two more and more people will start to see Lineage 2 for what it is.

According to what I have been reading on the forums and gaming reviews the game play needs work.  But the L2 people are doing just that.  The competitive market of MMOs also includes in the game making, the "Hey I Can Do That With Our Game".  I have already seen some of this on the forums with the way people compare one game to another.  An example of this pertaining to NCSoft is what I noticed in their MMO City of Heroes a year after it was out.  Around that time Half Life 2 was released with Ragdoll effects.  Oddly enough with a new patch the creeps or villians started to crumble in the same sort of fashion.  I know for a fact that the gaming industry works together so they can make their game, whichever type it is, more appealing to their buyers or subscribers.  I think that will be the case with Lineage 2.  Not that designs themselves are copied but lets say as another example, World Of Warcraft adds First person seige engines to their game.  L2 people say "Hey that sounds like a good idea!" And a type of gameplay like that may be added to Lineage 2.  The forums are another source of new ideas for a game designer. 

The possibilities are really endless on what can be added to an MMO.  (My disappointment has always been with the space games but then again I am a Star Trek fan and used to beaming anywhere you want to go.  To me that means alot of content to keep me happy and I am just not seeing it).

Fourthly and this is for the people that appreciate good role playing games, Lineage 2 overall is a very good RPG.  I am sure that I am not the only one who appreciates a good RPG, and as word gets around just how good looking and fun the game is to play their will be more subscribers.

Some of the people reading this have probably played some of the D&D series of games, or perhaps the Might And Magic series and Dungeon Seige to name a few.  Lineage 2 is a good traditional fantasy oriented Role Playing game based on some of the initial standards and rules started by the genre of Gary Gygax years ago. 

My first experience with the game was laughable.  As a matter of fact when I finally got my subscription I met a person who named a character "Youhavegottobekidding".  When I first tried the game it was with a trial account and I started in the human area.  The first thing I disliked was the click to move.  I was just not used to using it for a battle.  The second thing was the plain-ness of the game.  It seemed to me to lack quality.  I do not know if the trial was released with the Alt P key off but I remember it being very plain with hardly any foilage.  In a nutshell it turned me off.  My trial ended but something did not feel right.  I felt as if something was missing.  I tried the game again with another trial and felt more comfortable.  The music, the movements and the overall feel of the human town suddenly seemed very down to earth to me.  And I knew there was more to L2 then this.  I just felt it.  I then decided after reveiwng other MMOs to settle on Lineage 2.  Something felt right to me about the game.

To my surprise, the more I played it, the more I really enjoyed it.  It is more real to life than any other game I have played.  (If you play it for a while and  you will see what I mean).  I decided that it was a must to have on my PC even if I didn't always keep the subscription going.  It is on my desktop right next to my D&D online icon.  :-D

Lineage 2 is probably one of the most under-rated games online.  I am sure a good majority of people are waiting for Aion, Warhammer Online, and Guild Wars 2 or Diablo 3 to come out for online play.   But if more people take a good look at what this game has to offer as I have done they will be interested in playing it for years to come.  This game is a fantasy golden opportunity that has much to offer and I think it would be foolish to overlook it, especially if you like Role Playing Games.

Talk to anyone who has played it for a while and I am sure they will agree with me on just how good Lineage 2 really is.  As word gets around I am sure the number of subscribers will increase, Though I would think that 1 million is already alot.  Lol!

You can read about Gracia Part One and Two at the Gracia preview site.  www.lineage2.com/gracia

Well since hearing about the Gracia release I am interested in Lineage 2 and will be signing up and I have never played the game

From the UK any suggestions what the best server to join would be?

Originally posted by Lonewolf

Well since hearing about the Gracia release I am interested in Lineage 2 and will be signing up and I have never played the game

 

From the UK any suggestions what the best server to join would be?

Luna is kinda new, only Giran castle has been conquered thus far afaik, then Teon is packed with Euros, it's the most popular one, Franz is boring imho :P

omfg, even L2 is raising exp rates :)

I might go back if it is made less like a job and more like a damn game.

Though the interface is clunky as hell (and yes I've tried the new interface, and it is just fancier borders and thats about it), and the pve is still boring as hell (it is basdically built like today's f2p games with no good quests and just millions of monsters to kill)

I might try it but I doubt I would spend the money on this game again.

So true, my computer from 6 years ago, ya crazy! Geforce 4 MX could run Lineage 2 !  Although the game's specs are increasing I definitely could still use the Geforce 4 MX everywhere except at very big sieges, the new graphics card that come with regular computers could run it even better now.

on second thought I might give it a try, looked at the new update site, and I'm a bit impressed (though the UI still looks like shit :/ )

What's so bad about the interface? :o

I find it easy to use, all you need is f1-f12 and tab key, alt+m, alt+k and alt+x

Good read. Hm CoH and CoV isn't their top games, Lineage franchise is .Lineage and Lineage 2 has each 1mln active suscribers. At best time Lineage had 3,2mln ant Lineage 2  2mln active suscribers. So they made best money of them.

Main market for NCsoft is Korea aren't hyping Lineage very much here. Whats a problem  a think. If they would make less grind to L2 and hype it people would try it. Now people or don't know L2 or think its girindfest and change that will be hard.

Myself i love L2 my best played mmorpg, now waiting Aion. I wish ncsoft would take cear more eu/us market.