I see that this game is getting tons of awards on mmorpg.com... this could be due to all the fanboys for Lotro, or just alot of people that didn't want WoW to win. I play both WoW and Lotro. I love the lore and storylines in Lotro, it definitely is alot better than WoW. However, there is one thing that makes it harder and harder by the day for me to keep my subscription in Lotro.

The combat. It feels severely dated even compared to EQ2's combat. There, I said it. At least when I try to heal on EQ2 my heal cast starts immediately. In Lotro, I have to wait for that invisible server tick to start my cast to heal somebody.

Same thing goes with melee combat. EVERY ability is on next attack, or whenever that server tick happens anyway. I get tired of queue'ing two abilities at a time. I'd rather see the abilities go off whenever I push the button, or at least start a cast bar for it or something.

Just seems like the people who voted for Lotro are severely overlooking how awful the combat in the game is.

I'm probably going to be playing age of conan over this. At least it has nice combat.

I'm just saying that the game is a really good game.. and I'd love to get as far as I can in it.

It just makes me cringe though whenever I start fighting mobs and seeing how sluggish the combat is. Even if the combat was like eq2 with a cast bar for everything that wouldn't bother me. I just hate not being able to start abilities right away.

Considering you spend the majority of your time fighting... that is one thing I think Turbine really overlooked.... how fun they can make the combat.

Congratulations on having an opinion? Umm... I disagree.

      Yeah the combat was a problem and I didnt like the little amount of XP you got at later levels for killing mobs.....There were times where I was just bored to death of questing and wanted a nice place to just camp and kill a few mobs......Unfortunately the XP was so bad and the combat is so boring that it just isnt a viable option for very long....... LoTRO has some nice features but the combat/animations were not very good.

Yeah.. like honestly I'd LOVE to get really far into the game.. All the things in Moria are really appealing to me since I love PvE content and dungeons/raids. I just find myself logging on for 20-30 minutes each day before getting bored of questing due to the cruddy combat. I had more fun playing EQ2 just because the combat was better.

Anthony, I've seen you post this on a few places now, but I just have no idea where you are coming from. I've played most of the MMOs out there, and LOTRO has practically the same combat as every other MMO. If I had to compare the combat, I'd even say it is closer to EQ2's combat rather than WoW's.

I'm curious as to what class you have played.. I can tell you that I have never had to "wait for invisible server times" to let me use my abilities... I play a Lore-master though. My friend plays a RK, and when he wants to heal me... well... he heals me. He doesn't need to wait for any invisible line to let him cast his spell.

So, what exactly are you complaining about? I see nothing in your post that makes any sense with the version of LOTRO that I am currently playing.

When you click your ability or push the button, you get the yellow border around it, and whenever the ability actually fires it turns green. Notice how you can have two abilities queue'd at once. When one ability's icon turns green you can queue up the next ability. Have you noticed this?

It makes the game feel much less responsive compared to other MMOs where whenever you hit your ability it starts right away.. or at least starts a cast bar or something. I'd rather Lotro just be setup to where you have a global cooldown after you use an ability... and make it where the ability starts right whenever you click it instead of queue'ing it up and turning the icon green once it actually fires

I wasn't the biggest fan of the way the combat queue system is either. I disliked how so many abilities were "on next attack" instead of instant, it does -feel- a bit unresponsive even though its not. The combat animations were my biggest gripe though, they always just felt really stiff and uninspired to me. Everything else in the game I enjoyed but I just couldn't get into the combat. On the other hand, I'm sure there are people who love it though.

Yea te combat is a bit more clunky than WoW but I like the combat in LotrO better with the que. It makes the combat feel more relaxed and tactical instead of just mashing buttons. We all have different opinion when it comes to how we want combat to feel and the Lotro combat is deisgned the way it is for a reason.

If you want a little faster combat I can recomend the Warden class that have more "snap" when fighting compared to the old classes.

I am one of those of actually like the combat in lotro. The thing you are talking about is, in lotro, if you push a certain skill in middle of an auto attack (or another skill), the avatar will finish the auto attack and then execute the set skill. This is has nothing to do with the combat system being non-responsive, because if you push the skill it will immediately go in queue, but rather an attempt to create an combat with a natural flow, and not a combat where you break off attack-swings in middle of the air.

In essence; the combat system works just like its intended to.

I do not find the combat clunky at all and like it very much. As said previously i find that preparing your next attack befor the first is finished adds a tactical feel to the combat vs mindless button mashing.

PLaying a 60 minstrel I've definately seen what the OP is talking however, it's not clunky combat -- it's lag.   LOTRO actually consumes a lot of ram on your computer and different systems even good ones seem to have more issues with lag than others.   I can assure you that most of the time when I cast bolster courage -- it's immediate.    However there are times when I wait for that invisible servor tick (LAG) the only way to get two skills in queue is to lag -- it's not a characteristic of the game.

Originally posted by musicman2000

PLaying a 60 minstrel I've definately seen what the OP is talking however, it's not clunky combat -- it's lag.   LOTRO actually consumes a lot of ram on your computer and different systems even good ones seem to have more issues with lag than others.   I can assure you that most of the time when I cast bolster courage -- it's immediate.    However there are times when I wait for that invisible servor tick (LAG) the only way to get two skills in queue is to lag -- it's not a characteristic of the game.

 

Not true. Hes talking about the combat queues and attack timers. There is an amount of time that needs to pass after each attack before the next will begin. Your lag is your problem. Most people dont have this issue.

I for one dont want the clasic "spam of attacks" that other games let you do. Its just not realistic.

                   I believe Lotro wins many awards since it satisfies players in a number of aspects.

                   Each aspect is assessed on the basis of certain criteria

                   Among the pile of awards, none of them is entitled '' Most Combat Evolution ''

                   So aye, I agree Lotro combat is unexpectedly clumsy and awkward itself

                   They need some tweak, I know It won't take a tea break to fix all these

                   Anyway, congrats on elsethings.

 This is the reason I didnt like LOTRO either, since I love to grind, I kinda like a fast paced combat to keep me into it, listening to fast paced music etc, but LOTRO, it was just something stuck out, I didnt know what was 'wrong' with the combat till now. Though nothing is 'wrong' with it, I just dont like it too much. WoW has spoiled me.

Originally posted by Anthony3187

I see that this game is getting tons of awards on mmorpg.com... this could be due to all the fanboys for Lotro, or just alot of people that didn't want WoW to win. I play both WoW and Lotro. I love the lore and storylines in Lotro, it definitely is alot better than WoW. However, there is one thing that makes it harder and harder by the day for me to keep my subscription in Lotro.

The combat. It feels severely dated even compared to EQ2's combat. There, I said it. At least when I try to heal on EQ2 my heal cast starts immediately. In Lotro, I have to wait for that invisible server tick to start my cast to heal somebody.

Same thing goes with melee combat. EVERY ability is on next attack, or whenever that server tick happens anyway. I get tired of queue'ing two abilities at a time. I'd rather see the abilities go off whenever I push the button, or at least start a cast bar for it or something.

 

Just seems like the people who voted for Lotro are severely overlooking how awful the combat in the game is.

I'm probably going to be playing age of conan over this. At least it has nice combat.

I'm not sure what to say because you are not understanding LOTRO combat.

It IS slower, I'll give you that but this seems to be a design desicion, not a flaw. You have to be thinking about a second or two ahead. I have no lag (well, except for running through the 21st hall in moria) and run most everything at max with the highly detailed textures and I have always gotten this second or two delay. Even if I put the game on lowest.

As others have said, there is a sort of skill queue that needs to be gotten used to. It works great for my Guardian and I really like it.

The part in yellow. This could also be becuse people actually like the game and the studio and the expansion. Just because people disagree with you what you would pick doesn't mean they are wrong. Just different. If you prefer WoW combat, more power to you. I thik WoW is a fine game in its own right. Just doesn't really do anything for me for the most part.

But you know what, in thinking about it I can see where the slight delay might drive someone nuts.

Originally posted by Anthony3187

I see that this game is getting tons of awards on mmorpg.com... this could be due to all the fanboys for Lotro, or just alot of people that didn't want WoW to win. I play both WoW and Lotro. I love the lore and storylines in Lotro, it definitely is alot better than WoW. However, there is one thing that makes it harder and harder by the day for me to keep my subscription in Lotro.

The combat. It feels severely dated even compared to EQ2's combat. There, I said it. At least when I try to heal on EQ2 my heal cast starts immediately. In Lotro, I have to wait for that invisible server tick to start my cast to heal somebody.

Same thing goes with melee combat. EVERY ability is on next attack, or whenever that server tick happens anyway. I get tired of queue'ing two abilities at a time. I'd rather see the abilities go off whenever I push the button, or at least start a cast bar for it or something.

 

Just seems like the people who voted for Lotro are severely overlooking how awful the combat in the game is.

I'm probably going to be playing age of conan over this. At least it has nice combat.

That combat system was slowing me down, so i quite this game as well.

TBH out of 3, the first book holded the least intrest for me. So, i'll probably come back to experience the Battle of the Hornburg (Helm's Deep), and to see there version of Osgiliath City.

I actually enjoy the combat, especially with the Warden.  It feels very strategic, you have to plan ahead for your next few actions so that you will get the Gambit you want when you need it.

But thats just for the Warden.

I really like LoTROs combat myself. I like having to think about what I am doing and what I want to do next not just spamming buttons like in some games. I just finished playing a couple of hours of AoC and restarted on a new server and my low level PoM felt like I was riding a bike with training wheels so I would not bum my head. Didn't help that all I was doing was spamming my one damage spell over and over for 5 levels and could not find a weapon I could use other than the starter "broken bottle'

i never really noticed it all that much to tell the truth but i dont play it currently so i cant go back on and check it out. i think lotro has found its niche and is filling it quite nicely

I never noticed the "clunky" combat either. Perhaps its because I just came from FFXI, where the combat system is the complete opposite of button mashing. It's also been a long time since I played WoW.

WHAT??? what "clunky" combat?? LOTRO combat is fast, furious, smooth and fun....I've never experienced this "clunkiness" before.

If you compared the combat style with WOW, I may agreed with you but definitely not EQ2. EQ2 sux in every aspects imo. 

I think WOW's combat become superior because of various skills make it better. Turbine's combat engine still the same since Acheron's Call. If you used to play other games then you will found it is difficult to play LOTRO. And that is true.

I think some of this feeling about combat has to do with the way auto-attack and hotbar based attack interact.  Especially if you use a slow weapon

Try playing a Warden with a spear (fast weapon), Wardens were specifically coded to have a different auto-attack interaction.  This also means that if you are not careful you can cut into your auto attack damage since Warden Gambits will override the AA swings.

Basically LOTRO is a game that does enforce timing and changes in timing.  You do not precisely control every thing.  Auto attack really is on auto (and is signficnat amount of damage).

I personally dislike the way WoW works.  Not because it feels bad, but because its full of crap.  Its auto-attack is fake.  I would prefer they just did it the way CoH does.  If you want super responisve combat then make a CoH type system which has no auto attack. 

Athough I do have to say the LOTRO is slightly off in its timing as I do have to wait about half a second after I stop miving to cast a spell or else it tells me I can't even though I am not moving.

What some people call clunky, I find to be more rhythmic. Having almost predominantly played a captain throughout the lifetime of LOTRO, I've found a rhythm with that class's combat. The timing and queuing of skills contributes to that rhythm. LOTRO's combat is more tactical, requiring thinking through the skill progression both in terms of what skills you want to use, but also when to hit the button. This does make it feel slower, but in actuality the combat isn't any slower than a skill that immediately fires. For most people, this is probably a problem. In general, we're a culture that prefers instant gratification, especially amongst the younger generations. In the game, we feel less empowered by skills that don't immediately respond. If you play LOTRO, you have to get used to the rhythm of the combat. If you do, you'll be fine. If it's not your cup of tea, well, I guess that's just the way it is. There's enough games out there to satisfy everybody methinks.