hi,

I am seeking to play one of these games

my question is ,how is the population on these game ?

any good crafting?

housing ,who is the best?

and graphics?

feel free to reply :P

population wise, you want to go with LOTRO or EQ2, and just for the record, I will never refer anyone to any sony game ever again, cash shops are for asian mmo's, and need to stay with them.  cash shops also need to stay in free to play games. 

now that the cash shop rant is over, graphically lotro wins hands down, with vanguard coming in second place.  vanguards world wins, but the graphics need tweaking.  they have volumetric clouds, but even with them they don't beat lotro's sky system. 

vanguard has a big diversity in mounts, which is a big plus for me, and flying mounts to boot.. but still mounts do not make up for crappy gameplay.  the dungeons in lotro feel like dungeon crawls, while dungeons in vanguard feel like work. 

it's 100% easier to get a group in lotro than it is in either of the sony games you mentioned.  I actually quit everquest 2 for that very reason, I don't want to log into a game and wait 2 hours spamming the lfg channel.

crafting is a tough choice, vanguard is more in depth, but all 3 of them are grinds and not fun, at all.  the only crafting i ever enjoyed was the original ultima online before all the runic stuff.

i could really go on forever, but i will just cut to the chase and refer you to lotro lol.

I gotta say LOTRO. Excellent game. Graphics are phenomenal, attention to detail is staggering. I especially love the use of blur shaders to impart a feeling of "dread" or "hope", and to enhance other effects.

The first time a bear stands up and roars in your face, you'll shit yourself.

Quests are plentiful...no lack of content, and no real feeling of "grind" at all.

Really can't recommend it enough. The only reason I'm not still playing it is because of lack of time for a real MMO these days.

LOTRO's Brandywine server has too many players... everywhere it seems.  Generally you have to really move to less known / used places to get away from people.  Periodically you do have trouble finding groups for certain quests because the vets on their alts already know how to do them with small groups or a high level friend.

Vanguard crafting is the best.  Hands down in my opinion.

Crafting is nice in LOTR, but the reality is that you are better off just being an explorer and selling resources if it is your first character.  Yeah, everyone is doing that with their newbs now, but demand is so high for resources on the high population servers you can't go wrong.  Crafting competition is stiff and there are a lot of professional AH players that merely play the market on supply and demand.  When resource prices are low, I just store it on an alt and wait.

Housing, EQ2 or Vanguard, but EQ2 is much more accessable from day one.  LOTRO housing is "okay", but lacking what you can do in EQ2 or VG.

Graphics wise, all three are good.  They all excell in different areas, but overall I do not feel any one of those three stands out as significantly "better".  I guess if you have a high-end machine, VG can be better, but really nothing spectacular IMO.

I say Vanguard but ... me i dont like SOE

you know AoC ?lol :) For graphic ...but no housing yet and crafting need update

Originally posted by dunerai

hi,

 

I am seeking to play one of these games

 

my question is ,how is the population on these game ?

any good crafting?

housing ,who is the best?

and graphics?

 

feel free to reply :P

 

LoTRO best population

LoTRO and EQII best crafting in my opinion

housing none of the above really when compared to SWG.  LOTRO as far as neighborhoods, EQII as far as decorating.

graphics  LoTRO has the edge in my opinion, EQII and Vanguards are also pretty good and EQII's animation is the best.

between LoTRO and EQII I don't think you could go wrong with either and best bet is try and get a free trial of each. Vanguard I have not played since closed/open beta so my opinion really does not count for much there but really see no reason to even try it again when I have LoTRO and EQII to play.

AoC is a grade B MMO compared to any of the three. All it has is good graphics, about everything else in the game is early EQ1 quality.

You lost all credibility with me when you inquired about eye candy.  I don't care for eye candy whores....not that you are. 

Lotro is overall a superior game to the other choices you listed.

Lotro is a good game I left EQ2 to play something that felt actually fun to play the grinding is less a grind and the story line cant be beat.

Graphic wise all three are good EQ2 has real nice spell effects and take full advantage of nvidia graphic cards. Vangaurd has some nice graphics as well if your machine can run the game. Lotro has good grahpics as well.

Crafting is one of your main sources of the weapons and armor in lotro as well as EQ2 lotro it does seem like a bit of a chore to gather the resources but no such a big deal.
The community it is what makes up these 3 games.

Vanguard barely enough people to form a solid group.

EQ2 hard to get groups even if their are people playing the game (two boxing and loot camping and tuns of farmers help ruin this game)

Lotro the people are there and most of them are well worth playing with.

EQ2 is superior in my opinion.

You're asking this in the LotRO section, so unsurprisingly, most of the responses you get will claim LotRO is the better game.

I've been playing EQ2 for 4 years, I played Vanguard for a year, and LotRO for about a month. Take from that what you will.

Looks wise, yes LotRO is the nicest, but that's as far as it goes.

In terms of population, community, crafting, and content, then EQ2 trounces the other two.

Having said that, all 3 are offering trials, so why take our word for it? Try them for yourself!

all 3 games have free trials -- even Vanguard

best to try for self regarding the gameplay / graphics

Originally posted by Nadia

all 3 games have free trials -- even Vanguard

 

best to try for self regarding the gameplay / graphics

Agreed. It's also good to know if a game runs on your computer well or not!

However, I would steer people away from Vanguard. The game has been losing subs pretty quickly, and I can't see it lasting as long as EQ2 or LOTRO. You'd be better off, if you plan on investing in your character, by picking EQ2 or LOTRO. (Of those two I'd recommend LOTRO of course - much more accessible and plain fun :P... but both are very good.)

They are three very different games, and I would distinguish them based upon factors different than what the OP  asked.

LOTRO is lore based, simple and accessible (many compare it to WoW, which I think is not a good comparison, but I can see why).  Server populations are high.  Crafting is simple...load the materials, stand next to crafting station, select number of items to make, and crank away.  For crafting you do need to do simple quests to get to higher level, which could be a problem for crafting alts that don't adventure without protection from members of your kinship (guild).  Housing is expensive, and limited in what you can place and where.  There are no shared banks for alts, so you may wind up using the house for that.  Auctions are time limited.  Background graphics are great, but I crash in Moria unless I turn them down.  I am less satisfied with the character models.  This is where I play now.

EQ2 has a lot of accessible content.  Some servers have acceptable populations, but most of the community have numerous high level alts, and so it is moving into the more raid-oriented end game for lots of folk.  I like the graphics, others don't.  Crafting is tedious grinding, although it gets easier with every revision of the game. 

I hear that Vanguard has lots of content, but I haven't been bored enough to take the time to play to find it.  This game was intended to be more hard core, and even though it continually gets watered down, it is less accessible than the others.  It had a horrible launch which scared away players, and never recovered (to be honest, if it were in the present state, many/most would have stayed).  Even the updates are more bug fixes than content upgrades.  Character models went from terrible to bleh.  Backgrounds are beautiful.  Crafting is very complex, and is a mini-game in itself.  Populations are the lowest of the three listed games.  To me, this game is a tease...such potential, but never fulfilled.  Others disagree.

Really, do the trials and see for yourself.