I never held the game in disdain. I tried in beta, and wasn't impressed. Figured since it was beta and the game had over a year to polish up, as well as the new expansion coupled with the positive feedback on this forum (my mistake..) i figured I'd give it another try. Like another poster pointed it out it was a mistake to follow the forum as an indicator for what I might enjoy. I wont make that mistake again.

Oh, and my survey says your a half-wit.

See how cool that makes you look? Nice try though.

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Originally posted by Slampig
It is obvious from the very beginning of the OPs post that this game wouldn't be for him/her.
 
Why even bother trying the game when you already held it in disdain?
 
"and a tiny bit of WOW(wasn't for me)."
(Wouldn't want to be one of them.)
 
For my two cents, the survey says....
 

---

I wouldn't call the OP a troll, you notice how no one here but yourself did?

He gave viable reasons and we tried to give him advice, the game just isn't for him and that is fine.

Good luck finding your MMO.

Graphics poor, music crappy?

Hmm then idk what kind of mmo your looking for, the only one with better music, graphics, battle animation, combat diversity..

wait, that'd be real life, have fun playing it kauz there isnt any mmo that is gonna be up to your standards

Btw if you have lotro on fully maxed graphics you pc must be a beast because 4gigs of ram, a 9800gt and p9400 doesnt allow me to max it. and raid peacefully

OP go back to Vanguard.       They need you for the one group the entire server is able to put together during Prime Time any day of the week.

LOTRO is the best MMO out right now and will be for several more years.    AOC/WAR both crashing and burning, just as I predicted.

Now LOTRO may not be for everyone.   For those who don't like LOTRO there are plenty of other mindless grind MMOs with big hair and cartoon graphics.   Also one with boobies where you can run around ganking newbs.   Also one where you can become an MMO vampire and spend your entire life looking for a sword of a thousand truths, but never find it.

Basically if you don't like LOTRO, fine.   Some people don't recognize quality.   For them there are plenty of cans of Spam available at the Supermarket.

I just started playing this weekend and am still early in the game. However with a simularly equipped rig and all gfx details turned on the game looks amazing. I've seen better characters models but think these are the worst I've seen.

Graphics aside the game is fun!. My friend and I are both really enjoying the immersion of the quest and world. Already I feel as if there is purpose for being there. IMO the OP should just keep looking for his perfect game. However seeing as how games are NOT a substitute for RL I doubt he'll ever find what he's looking for.

Originally posted by claudiofm

lotro is horrible grafic

 

remove, reflex water, the grafic lotro is POOR, very very poor

 

 

 

 

vanguard, and AOc very best

 

vanguard dx9 very  very best

 

 

 

 

 

So let me get this straight:

You past a screenshot of LOTRO in lowest possible settings and DX9.

And then start compairing them with Vanguard (who doesnt have DX10, nor does AoC still either) at highest graphic settings?

one word: LOL!

Originally posted by reborngamer

I never held the game in disdain. I tried in beta, and wasn't impressed. Figured since it was beta and the game had over a year to polish up, as well as the new expansion coupled with the positive feedback on this forum (my mistake..) i figured I'd give it another try. Like another poster pointed it out it was a mistake to follow the forum as an indicator for what I might enjoy. I wont make that mistake again.

Oh, and my survey says your a half-wit.

See how cool that makes you look? Nice try though.

You should try to level up a bit further past level20. Try finish the first book of Epic storyline quests.

Then when you end up in Lonelands and start doing the questline from the ranger NPC North West of Weathertop wich gives you the instanced EPIC endquest "Retake Weathertop".

When you have done that EPIC quest with a balanced group (you really need that), then you will be hooked to this game.

The endpart of that instance on top of Weathertop is one big scripted awesomeness I have yet to see in any other MMO!

As that's where the true strength of this game lies.

Cheers

if you don't like the graphics then this game has nothing for you other then a boring solo alt/quest grind, i made the mistake buying lifetime for this MSORPG.

i should have never left FFXI lol

Trainedmonkey ... nah, you are in wrong topic. This is not Guild Wars ;).

More fun with kinship. But even pugs are not so bad.

Originally posted by Mentor73

Trainedmonkey ... nah, you are in wrong topic. This is not Guild Wars ;).

More fun with kinship. But even pugs are not so bad.

 

guess i should have pointed out the bad AI, bad mob pathing, and weak endgame raiding in hele and the rift...it's just to easy nothing epic about a boss that gets bugged out because turbine is busy trying to make that boss anti-hardcore (here you go carebear you can do it too!)

Originally posted by Servase

Simple as this. I've played WoW, WAR, EVE, EQ,EQ2, Vanguard... pretty much all games out there. I will tell you that LOTRO has some of the best graphics out there. Definitely a HUGE improvement over WoW.

The only issues with LOTRO is the lack of content (I.e raid dungeons and limited PVP) and the lack of items(very few).

Otherwise, the storyline is epic. If you can't see tha, then Hello kitty action adventure island for the extreme autistic kids (WoW) is the game for you

I wouldn't say that there is lack of content.

LOTRO is not a raiding game nor is it a pvp game. It does have raiding and it does have pvp.

It is a complete pve game. I have had so many quests that I've not really done all of them. To that point, there is a whole new area (the Ice area.. Forochel I think?) Which I have only seen and done nothing in because I didn't want to do quests without the xp bonus (as I was at 50 and could no longer earn xp).

So I concentrated on Traits, some of the book quests and earning money.

I would say that LOTRO does have a more laid back play requirment. If peple are looking for heart pumping action they are not going to find it all the time.

I would say there is some lackluster content that "should" have been better. In the expansion, the session play with the discovery of the Balrog was lackluster for me. Same with my encounter with the watcher in the water (after my legendary sword was made "up to snuff").

It's like the developers are in love with the game world but not in love with the encounters that make up the game world. At least those which carry some of the original story weight.

Come on this is just silly.

Yeah sure LOTRO models are a bit stiff and the hair graphics are crappy.  The rest of the game is one of the best looking MMOs around.

Trying to say that two minor flaws make the art/graphics complete trash is beyond hyperbole.  It just makes people role their eyes.  Pointing to a face that you probably never even looking at I mean come on. 

And the models and animation are NOT worse than VG.  Gimme a break. 

It amazes me how many people try to write a review, nitpick a small army of things and then say a whole game sucks without ever commenting or analyzing the important aspects of the game.  These people are usually immediate obvious as they show no blance in their perspective.  They decided not to like something, throw tantrum and like anyone throwing a tantrum they lash out at everything they think seems weak and then explode out to a completely overly dramatic conclusion that is obviously silly in the face of something that has strong features.

Of course the flip side of that is that its amazing how many people ignore major problems in design in games and act like its the players such as what goes in with WAR right now.

Originally posted by claudiofm

lotro is horrible grafic

 

remove, reflex water, the grafic lotro is POOR, very very poor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LOL what kind of computer you have?

Has any of the original combat mechanics changed in the expansion.

My only complaint was the rate of atk. coming from eq2 I supose I should have expected it. In Lotro it always felt as though I was swinging threw water when fighting.

Anyways hope you guys have a blast in the xp pack.

Originally posted by gestalt11

Come on this is just silly.

 

Yeah sure LOTRO models are a bit stiff and the hair graphics are crappy.  The rest of the game is one of the best looking MMOs around.

 

Trying to say that two minor flaws make the art/graphics complete trash is beyond hyperbole.  It just makes people role their eyes.  Pointing to a face that you probably never even looking at I mean come on. 

 

And the models and animation are NOT worse than VG.  Gimme a break. 

 

It amazes me how many people try to write a review, nitpick a small army of things and then say a whole game sucks without ever commenting or analyzing the important aspects of the game.  These people are usually immediate obvious as they show no blance in their perspective.  They decided not to like something, throw tantrum and like anyone throwing a tantrum they lash out at everything they think seems weak and then explode out to a completely overly dramatic conclusion that is obviously silly in the face of something that has strong features.

 

Of course the flip side of that is that its amazing how many people ignore major problems in design in games and act like its the players such as what goes in with WAR right now.

And what exactly did you just bring into the discussion other than your unproofed opinion that LOTRO animations are equal to Vanguard and some whining about people that talk about flaws but not about (industry standards) things that are ok?

Who cares if the graphics are amazing or the Lore is the best on the planet if the gameplay is boring to tears? Why praise the fascination that you can have so much fun in the right kinship when that fun is created by the kinship, not the game you play and with that can be found in any good kinship in any MMO out there?

LOTRO is not for everyone and some of the reasons for the OP he adressed quite fair.

So stop the "oh-my-god-he-hates-what-i-love-he-must-be-an-idiot" mantra and log into the game you enjoy so much.

I didn't like the game in beta either, tried it later and really enjoyed it. I'm not playing atm since I am busy with other things. I found the graphics pretty good, although the char models are a bit bleh. They did look better than the pics posted though.

My only complaint really about the game was the melee. The way the cooldowns and skills were set up mechanically made it feel a little sluggish to me.

Originally posted by gestalt11

Come on this is just silly.

 

Yeah sure LOTRO models are a bit stiff and the hair graphics are crappy.  The rest of the game is one of the best looking MMOs around.

 

Trying to say that two minor flaws make the art/graphics complete trash is beyond hyperbole.  It just makes people role their eyes.  Pointing to a face that you probably never even looking at I mean come on. 

 

And the models and animation are NOT worse than VG.  Gimme a break. 

 

It amazes me how many people try to write a review, nitpick a small army of things and then say a whole game sucks without ever commenting or analyzing the important aspects of the game.  These people are usually immediate obvious as they show no blance in their perspective.  They decided not to like something, throw tantrum and like anyone throwing a tantrum they lash out at everything they think seems weak and then explode out to a completely overly dramatic conclusion that is obviously silly in the face of something that has strong features.

 

Of course the flip side of that is that its amazing how many people ignore major problems in design in games and act like its the players such as what goes in with WAR right now.

The graphics are not a game breaker for me but boring and none-engaging gameplay is. I never once said Vanguard had better animations and characters. In fact I think they had some of the worst character models of recent mmo's, the whole game was a disaster at launch but was clearly rushed. I can't speak for it now since I haven't gone back since.

I have to wonder how many MMO's some here have played. I'll use EQ2 as an example again because I think it outshines LOTR in almost every aspect unless you have some sort of nostalgic attachment to LOTR lore(which is fine).

I suppose seeing how this is a newer mmorpg I thought perhaps it might be on par or better.

There are clearly folks(like yourself) who enjoy LOTR and thats fine. I am not trying to say you should hate the game and stop playing. Keep playing and I'll keep looking. Its all just my opinion, don't attack me because you dont agree. Lets keep it chill.

You actually like that turd EQ1? Obviously LotRO is not for you or those who pine for Vanguard and its ilk. Stupidly sitting there and killing the same mobs over and over is EQ1, you aren't ready for LotRO or WoW obviously. You probably played a Dr00d in EQ or some pet caster, that I easily "AFK" leveled! Heck all these EQ1 nerds claim how "hard" the game is, then played a class that any idiot could get to high level with junk on!  

Now for your next laugh target: BLITZBERG Tunare Warrior-636 days 1 hour 1 minute played!

That is the idiocy of EQ1, lifeless raiders, I so love being away from them!

EQ2 can be a fine game nowdays afther a few years, but i realy did not like EQ2 when it lanched, and thats a gamebreaker for me sadly, nothing aiganst the people who play it nowdays, it probbly much updated now.

this game offer something that other games dont...and that is tolkien world...so...if u wanna play a game of lord of the rings...well...here u go

and if not...go play other game...that simple...this is not a special game...is the same pattern as wow, war, etc etc...but...is tolkien men...that enought for me

---

Originally posted by reborngamer
Maybe this game isn't for me, or maybe I am missing something here...

---

MMO players are a subset of society in general. No everyone likes fine wine or reading a well written book.

Feel free to go back to your Budweiser and comic books (ie. WoW). :D

Oh and anyone who thinkgs LOTRO has terrible graphics just doesn't have the rig to run it....which is about a $1000 machine these days.   It's absolutely stunning cranked up.

Originally posted by Thradar

 

---

Originally posted by reborngamer
Maybe this game isn't for me, or maybe I am missing something here...

---

 

MMO players are a subset of society in general. No everyone likes fine wine or reading a well written book.

Feel free to go back to your Budweiser and comic books (ie. WoW). :D

 

Oh and anyone who thinkgs LOTRO has terrible graphics just doesn't have the rig to run it....which is about a $1000 machine these days.   It's absolutely stunning cranked up.

Your bird intelligence is showing. Read the post next time before commenting.

Originally posted by reborngamer

I played LOTR for the first time when it was still in beta. My first impression of beta was "complete trash". Of course the game was in beta, but I was not impressed to purchase it on initial release.

Now here we are with a brand new expansion. I got a little desperate looking for a game to play, I haven't played an mmorpg since the disappointment that we all know of as Vanguard. Thought about WAR, read the forums and saw a lot of negative posts so decided to pass, then I thought about age of conan, same result. I had previously played, UO, EQ, Lineage2, AO, EQ2, Vanguard, SWG(first few months of release, one of the best mmorpg experiences ever...), Guild Wars, DAOC and a tiny bit of WOW(wasn't for me). Out of those I enjoyed EQ2, SWG and the original EQ the most.

Anyway, back to the point. I came to the LOTR forums (i knew the new expo just released) and even though I wasn't impressed initially I decided based on the forum feedback here that the game was decent and worth a try. I went of and bought the complete edition pack, I was impressed with the price of only $39(CND) for both original and expansion. Rushed home to install it and just as soon as the install was complete the disappointment kicked in.

First, the graphics... I have high end system so I maxed everything out and yes the game ran smoothly but the graphics are POOR, even maxed out. The animations are completely terrible. Characters are just not what I expected from a newer MMORPG. Its probably near the bottom of the barrel from every single game I played if you consider the time of release as a factor. The only thing I liked about the graphics where the shadows from the trees... but this was hardly enough and completely offset by the rest of the game.

The battle animations felt awkward at best and the beginning spell/combat effects left A LOT to be desired. The very first few NPCs I interacted with had maybe what felt like 3 polygons for a face with a terribly mapped texture to match.

I did manage to create a character I liked. There was enough customization options for hair, beard and the face that you will likely find a reasonable end result. However, after completing a few quests and getting new armour I found myself wearing orange "leather" armour and green pants, with some brown coloured shoulder pads... It was a complete disaster and broke immersion immediately.
I understand graphics aren't a big indicator of quality and we can easily point to graphically advanced games that failed (vanguard comes to mind) but the rest of my first few hours (and probably last) did little to convince me to continue playing.

The interface is the worst I have seen of any game. It just looks ugly, the mini map is not very friendly and all the menus seemed off putting. The quest log is acceptable but I definitely found it difficult finding locations of my next quest and I don't mind exploring but when the quest is kill "x number of monsters" then the last thing I want to do is spend 15 minutes trying to find the location for a boring generic quest.
Game play wise it just did not seem fun. It’s your typical hit your 1, 2,3 ,4 till enemy dies with absolutely nothing there to spice things up. Usually I would be fine with this if it was at least fast paced but it wasn't. It was slow.

Sounds/Music are mediocre. The music didn't draw me in, didn't add to any form of immersion. The combat sounds are sometimes too echoey... sounds like your in an empty underground tunnel with some of the skills I was using. The NPCs only have partial voice overs, and I suppose it’s better than none at all but if you even played EQ2 for 5 minutes and then played this you would quickly know what difference better voice overs can make.

After a few hours I just felt bored and was forcing myself to play longer to hopefully uncover some hidden qualities that I missed initially. Quickly I realized I can't force myself to play this any longer, at least not in one sitting. Felt inclined to warn new comers that may have played some of the games I have that are just looking for a new game. The whole first impression experience can be summed up into one word "terrible".

Again, this is a FIRST impression. Don't flame me for not playing this longer and giving it more of a chance. I have the whole month left so I will log at least a few more hours in and try a few other starter areas at the very least.

Maybe this game isn't for me, or maybe I am missing something here...

 

And what was the first MMO you ever played?

For the love of pete let this thread die.  Personally i like the graphics of LOTRO but then again im not trying to bait players of the game.

Originally posted by reborngamer

I played LOTR for the first time when it was still in beta. My first impression of beta was "complete trash". Of course the game was in beta, but I was not impressed to purchase it on initial release.

Now here we are with a brand new expansion. I got a little desperate looking for a game to play, I haven't played an mmorpg since the disappointment that we all know of as Vanguard. Thought about WAR, read the forums and saw a lot of negative posts so decided to pass, then I thought about age of conan, same result. I had previously played, UO, EQ, Lineage2, AO, EQ2, Vanguard, SWG(first few months of release, one of the best mmorpg experiences ever...), Guild Wars, DAOC and a tiny bit of WOW(wasn't for me). Out of those I enjoyed EQ2, SWG and the original EQ the most.

Anyway, back to the point. I came to the LOTR forums (i knew the new expo just released) and even though I wasn't impressed initially I decided based on the forum feedback here that the game was decent and worth a try. I went of and bought the complete edition pack, I was impressed with the price of only $39(CND) for both original and expansion. Rushed home to install it and just as soon as the install was complete the disappointment kicked in.

First, the graphics... I have high end system so I maxed everything out and yes the game ran smoothly but the graphics are POOR, even maxed out. The animations are completely terrible. Characters are just not what I expected from a newer MMORPG. Its probably near the bottom of the barrel from every single game I played if you consider the time of release as a factor. The only thing I liked about the graphics where the shadows from the trees... but this was hardly enough and completely offset by the rest of the game.

The battle animations felt awkward at best and the beginning spell/combat effects left A LOT to be desired. The very first few NPCs I interacted with had maybe what felt like 3 polygons for a face with a terribly mapped texture to match.

I did manage to create a character I liked. There was enough customization options for hair, beard and the face that you will likely find a reasonable end result. However, after completing a few quests and getting new armour I found myself wearing orange "leather" armour and green pants, with some brown coloured shoulder pads... It was a complete disaster and broke immersion immediately.
I understand graphics aren't a big indicator of quality and we can easily point to graphically advanced games that failed (vanguard comes to mind) but the rest of my first few hours (and probably last) did little to convince me to continue playing.

The interface is the worst I have seen of any game. It just looks ugly, the mini map is not very friendly and all the menus seemed off putting. The quest log is acceptable but I definitely found it difficult finding locations of my next quest and I don't mind exploring but when the quest is kill "x number of monsters" then the last thing I want to do is spend 15 minutes trying to find the location for a boring generic quest.
Game play wise it just did not seem fun. It’s your typical hit your 1, 2,3 ,4 till enemy dies with absolutely nothing there to spice things up. Usually I would be fine with this if it was at least fast paced but it wasn't. It was slow.

Sounds/Music are mediocre. The music didn't draw me in, didn't add to any form of immersion. The combat sounds are sometimes too echoey... sounds like your in an empty underground tunnel with some of the skills I was using. The NPCs only have partial voice overs, and I suppose it’s better than none at all but if you even played EQ2 for 5 minutes and then played this you would quickly know what difference better voice overs can make.

After a few hours I just felt bored and was forcing myself to play longer to hopefully uncover some hidden qualities that I missed initially. Quickly I realized I can't force myself to play this any longer, at least not in one sitting. Felt inclined to warn new comers that may have played some of the games I have that are just looking for a new game. The whole first impression experience can be summed up into one word "terrible".

Again, this is a FIRST impression. Don't flame me for not playing this longer and giving it more of a chance. I have the whole month left so I will log at least a few more hours in and try a few other starter areas at the very least.

Maybe this game isn't for me, or maybe I am missing something here...

 

 I certainly wont flame you. ;)  But I disagree. Partially. Yes, the characters dont look very inspiring, but then, in most MMOs these days it doesnt. At least to me. One of the very few decend character generators in terms of look is still SWG, after all those years.
 

As to the gear: you have TWO entire free setups for appearance gear. (Dunno how its called in the English version.) So its easy to make something up to match the colours.

Personally I still find the landscape fantastic. Its second only to the gorgeous landscape of AoC, and the LOTRO world feels much larger and deeper than that of AoC. The flowers in the wind, the rivers, the forests... never seen a game world so rich with atmosphere.

The greatest bonus however is story. Thats what sets apart LOTRO from the other Fedex-Games. Sure it also has the "fetch me 20 of this" part, but if you follow the Books, and many of the small stories, you get such a big, rich carpet of stories and tales, its just epic! I just finished Book 12 today, I dont spoil, but the last two books were really epic tales my character was involved. It wasnt a story merely told by some NPC in a mute chat box, it actually HAPPEND around me! I havent seen anything like that in ANY MMO, and when I put my trust in SWTOR I hope they take this kind of story-events to the next level based on this. Its what gives my character in LOTRO meaning, purpose, as opposed to the borefests most other MMOs are.

LOTRO is far from being perfect, but as I see it from the newer MMOs its by and large the best one.