I don't see why more people who are looking for a game don't try Lineage 2.

A question for people who have played the game a long time.....

Whats wrong with it?

Honestly I've only played it to lvl 20, but so far it seems to be one of the best MMORPG's I'v played.  And I'v played, well at least tried, almost all of them.

Someone who has played till Endgame and can tell me why more people don't like this game, please, enlighten me.

*The graphics are amazing.  The best I'v seen on any MMO I'v played.  The fighting isn't that boring, I mean it doesn't compare to the fast paced fighting of WAR or anything but it works.  The community ain't that bad if you get into a good clan.  Yea there are a lot of bots I guess people call them, but they don't really bother me that much.  Idk I just find the game fun and I don't understand why more people arn't playing this game.  I just want to know if there is some big secret glitch to the game when you get to higher levels or something.  I don't want to put all my time into a game that I'm not going to play endgame. 

And plus I'm trying to decide whether to keep my FFXI account or switch to Linege 2.

More people don't play it because its too much of a grind. There really isn't much to do until endgame, and getting there is a massive time sink. Times have changed, people are no longer into mindless grind. The endgame pvp is great fun, but the journey there, not so much. Hence why NCsoft took such a different design approach to Aion.

As for whether to keep your FFXI account active. Lineage 2 endgame is all about massive pvp sieges. FFXI endgame is about pve raiding (dynamis, limbus, sky etc). So it depends if you like pvp or pve better.

I have heard that they changed L2 to be less grindy. Would like to know from people that are playing now if thats true.

Originally posted by robbykl1415

I don't see why more people who are looking for a game don't try Lineage 2.

A question for people who have played the game a long time.....

Whats wrong with it?

Honestly I've only played it to lvl 20, but so far it seems to be one of the best MMORPG's I'v played.  And I'v played, well at least tried, almost all of them.

Someone who has played till Endgame and can tell me why more people don't like this game, please, enlighten me.

*The graphics are amazing.  The best I'v seen on any MMO I'v played.  The fighting isn't that boring, I mean it doesn't compare to the fast paced fighting of WAR or anything but it works.  The community ain't that bad if you get into a good clan.  Yea there are a lot of bots I guess people call them, but they don't really bother me that much.  Idk I just find the game fun and I don't understand why more people arn't playing this game.  I just want to know if there is some big secret glitch to the game when you get to higher levels or something.  I don't want to put all my time into a game that I'm not going to play endgame. 

And plus I'm trying to decide whether to keep my FFXI account or switch to Linege 2.

If you can, wait for Aion. I'm playing on the korean retail and its far above all the other mmo's as it stands now.

Hi first I'll say that the best info on this game is in MMOrpg.com's forums and not leaving out L2's own archive, but in short, yes it's an active game with an active community, the game has been updated and made tobe less of a grind, with plenty of bonuses for new players to get you on the way, wouldn't know about the end game for L2 as I'm still trying to get there , you wouldn't go wrong, if you put this on your list of games owned, i've been coming back to it on and off over the last two years and is one of the few games I don't feel regret for buying it, unlike some other games.

Unfortunetly I don't have any buddy keys left to hand out, for other's try the game with, but I'm sure someone on the mmorpg.com has a spare trial key.

Lineage 2 is a great game and the grind is nowhere near as bad as it used to be. The only thing that keeps everyone and myself away are bots. It is an accepted way of leveling and getting to higher levels in L2. Also dont forget how the bots rule the market, you either need a second character for crafting to make money or you buy it to stay competetive in pvp. I made it to 61 without botting then i quit when i found out everyone i knew botted, and they thought it was ok.

Both the Grind and the stupidly high number of Bots are what kills this game for me

I been a L2 player for about 4 years and its still the best MMO on the market to me. Its the most difficult and hardcore mmo out but its also the most rewarding. If you are the type that likes quest based MMOs that make you follow the crumb trail then stay away. If you are looking for a game thats gives you freedom with meaningful open pvp then try it out.

I don't even know what "boting" is honestly.  But everyone talks about it on Lineage 2 like its some great pluage that was swept over the lands.

Idk, I don't see the grind in Lineage 2 being any worse than any game I'v played so far.

I just can't choose which to put my time and the monthly fee into.....Lineage 2 or FFXI.

Originally posted by robbykl1415

I don't even know what "boting" is honestly.  But everyone talks about it on Lineage 2 like its some great pluage that was swept over the lands.

Idk, I don't see the grind in Lineage 2 being any worse than any game I'v played so far.

I just can't choose which to put my time and the monthly fee into.....Lineage 2 or FFXI.

I played both games when they were new, and both for a pretty long time.  What game you ultimately end up playing is really up to your own tastes.  It's like what leinad312 said above, the endgame for FFXI is pve, and L2 is pvp. 

However, worrying about the grind in L2 when comparing it to FFXI is a bit off, as I have yet to find a game with a harder grind as FFXI.  It's a really good game, don't get me wrong, but advancement is rather difficult at times.

It seems like L2 still has a horrible bot population though.  I would have thought this problem would have been cleaned up a little by now.  When I was playing it was sometimes hard to find a group of mobs to fight that didn't already have bots on them.

A bot is a character that is being controlled by an illegal program that scripts it on what to do. They mostly run around in a certain area killing mobs. People use these programs because its an easy way for them to level, gather money or materials. BTW, what server are you on? I am on Phoenix.

Originally posted by Korvenus

I been a L2 player for about 4 years and its still the best MMO on the market to me. Its the most difficult and hardcore mmo out but its also the most rewarding. If you are the type that likes quest based MMOs that make you follow the crumb trail then stay away. If you are looking for a game thats gives you freedom with meaningful open pvp then try it out.

I agree, it's one of the best games out there.

There is still a heavy grind (not so much at the starter levels if you do all the quests in the starter areas) but it is no where near when I started in Prelude.

It's not a game for everyone and there is still a hard economic grind, though the additon of common items has helped that a bit.

Originally posted by leinad312

More people don't play it because its too much of a grind. There really isn't much to do until endgame, and getting there is a massive time sink. Times have changed, people are no longer into mindless grind. The endgame pvp is great fun, but the journey there, not so much. Hence why NCsoft took such a different design approach to Aion.

As for whether to keep your FFXI account active. Lineage 2 endgame is all about massive pvp sieges. FFXI endgame is about pve raiding (dynamis, limbus, sky etc). So it depends if you like pvp or pve better.

Sorry, but I have to disagree with you... I agree that L2 has a huge grind, even with the vitality system (though it does ligthen the grind buren a bit ).
But that there isn't much to do till endgame (I guess you mean 76+/s-grade) is plain BS... If you have a good clan, you can do lots of stuff when you hit a-grade (lvl 61+), and in some even in b-grade (lvl 52+). It mostly depends on the class you choose, as well as the individual player...
 

With my warsmith and shillien elder, I've participated in a huge numebr of sieges from level 55+. Also, PvP in the catacombs is good as well (as long as you're in a party...). And if you like PvE, just yell in your clan and you end up in the Imperial Tomb AoEing, or big parties in the Tower of Insulence on level 58 or so...
As long as you keep an eye on the max 19 levels difference, you'll even gain XP as well (and on those spots the XP is realy worth it!)

I think the reason that there are no more requests for trial keys lays in the fact of the bad name that NCsoft West has gained when if comes to customer support... You can report bots all the time, but nothing happens. They say that bots are banned, but less is true... With that, how does it feel if you want to party somewhere and before you can actually XP, you have to PK 6 bots (and thus gain major karma) before you can start killing your first mob...?

Like OP said, IMO L2 is one of the best MMOs around, but thanks fo the investment of bots and the lame support from NCsoft, the game is slowly dying 
...yup, I've given up on L2 as wel...

I think its a grind if thats the way you approach the game. It was a grind to me when I was in a rush to get high level but when I stoped playing like that and just started to enjoy each play session no matter what I did thats when the grind went away. I am closing in on S Grade and I remember back when I was saying if I make to A Grade I would be satisfied.

I think common items was the best thing to happen to Lineage 2. Now when I level a character I use common all the way up to A Grade.

The botting and the amount of hackers. I got sick of them, when there's more hackers than normal players it's time to go.

I guess all the stuff if higher level gripes because I don't really see any of it.

Granted I am only lvl 25 but still.

All I see if the stuff cost a lot of money and thats about it.

I'm on the the Phonix server too, I'll send you a PM.

Idk, I think seince I'v already played FFXI for awhile I'm going to try Lineage 2 and see what its all about.

Plus I just can't get over the graphics.....

Originally posted by Korvenus

A bot is a character that is being controlled by an illegal program that scripts it on what to do. They mostly run around in a certain area killing mobs. People use these programs because its an easy way for them to level, gather money or materials. BTW, what server are you on? I am on Phoenix.

My name is Helliuas.  Send me a PM.

Originally posted by Reizla

Originally posted by leinad312

More people don't play it because its too much of a grind. There really isn't much to do until endgame, and getting there is a massive time sink. Times have changed, people are no longer into mindless grind. The endgame pvp is great fun, but the journey there, not so much. Hence why NCsoft took such a different design approach to Aion.

As for whether to keep your FFXI account active. Lineage 2 endgame is all about massive pvp sieges. FFXI endgame is about pve raiding (dynamis, limbus, sky etc). So it depends if you like pvp or pve better.

Sorry, but I have to disagree with you... I agree that L2 has a huge grind, even with the vitality system (though it does ligthen the grind buren a bit ).
But that there isn't much to do till endgame (I guess you mean 76+/s-grade) is plain BS... If you have a good clan, you can do lots of stuff when you hit a-grade (lvl 61+), and in some even in b-grade (lvl 52+). It mostly depends on the class you choose, as well as the individual player...
 

With my warsmith and shillien elder, I've participated in a huge numebr of sieges from level 55+. Also, PvP in the catacombs is good as well (as long as you're in a party...). And if you like PvE, just yell in your clan and you end up in the Imperial Tomb AoEing, or big parties in the Tower of Insulence on level 58 or so...
As long as you keep an eye on the max 19 levels difference, you'll even gain XP as well (and on those spots the XP is realy worth it!)

I think the reason that there are no more requests for trial keys lays in the fact of the bad name that NCsoft West has gained when if comes to customer support... You can report bots all the time, but nothing happens. They say that bots are banned, but less is true... With that, how does it feel if you want to party somewhere and before you can actually XP, you have to PK 6 bots (and thus gain major karma) before you can start killing your first mob...?

Like OP said, IMO L2 is one of the best MMOs around, but thanks fo the investment of bots and the lame support from NCsoft, the game is slowly dying 
...yup, I've given up on L2 as wel...

Well as you said, it depends on the class. So aside from healer/support classes, you wouldn't be too useful in a siege at 55. The S grades would just roll right over you. So yeah you could do sieges earlier, but you'd most likely just end up being cannon fodder.

Also most people just craft/buy the lower grade gear, instead of downing the lower level raid bosses. Not to mention you have to be within a certain level range of the raid boss to even get any drops, and most people level right pass the acceptable range. If there was some kind of level syncing feature, the lower level raid bosses would receive more airtime. And yes you're right, I neglected to mention group grinding via places such as IT / ToI.

However, in comparison to FFXI, that still isn't much lower level content. FFXI has a ton of story-driven missions to do which are level-capped, meaning you don't have to be at endgame max level to participate effectively (keyword here). Also any higher levels will sync down to the cap, so you don't run into the problems that arise with L2's raiding system (not being able to find enough people at the right level range). FFXI is also pretty grindy though, but atleast there isn't an infestation of bots.

I don't want to sound like I'm hating on L2, as I did like the game. It's just the OP was asking for a comparison of L2 and FFXI.

I was playing Lineage 2 since the open beta till one year ago with some back and forth. I don’t have any problem to recognize that bots and RMT have a significant impact on gameplay. That’s true and you need to learn how to live with it to enjoy the game.

It’s not a game for everyone; I think is a game for few to enjoy.
The grind to the high levels last long (I heard they softened the start) and risk is present always.

Death penalty is harsh, you loose experience the most valuable thing in the Lands of Aden because is hard and long to get it, and you can de-level. I can’t avoid a smile when I see people talking about risk and rewards when they are talking about to loose crap you can get back in short in other games (hope no followers of Darkfall around, I know I will be flamed and named as an official troll) .

I always doubt about to recommend it to people if they have no friends in game to help to get started.

There is no end game in the meaning this words have in WoW. There are big bosses but you aren’t able to go raid each day, because respawns, number of players available and the competition with other clans, especially farmer clans. Anyway PvE is just a tool to advance in game, its fun if you like classic group play.
But Lineage 2 is totally oriented to open PvP game and to the clans/alliances competition, the end game, the fun comes from the politics, clan wars, sieges, the spontaneous PvP that is always ready to start just for a raid boss or a grinding zone competition or few bad words or anything. That not minds you are PvPing all the time (if not in clan war), due to death penalty, politics and the karma/pk system people will consider carefully before starting a fight. This makes in my view for the best PvP around (I haven’t played EVE, may be that one is equal or better I can’t judge it).

Economy is the other big thing in Lineage 2, you will need to farm money and materials and trade a lot. Almost no full item drops from mobs (2 weapons I couldn’t use and few armour items in almost 4 years) but from raid bosses that require a lot more people than drops they give. Almost all usable items are crafted, dwarves controls the economy (spoilers and artisans). Its frequent people have two accounts to play the game (main/dwarf or main/buffer) or three (main/buffer/dwarf).

All of this said, no other game gives me the fun and the immersion of Lineage 2 by far. If you like the cooperative game (not only party/raid combat) if you like group PvP (from 2 till 300 or more against 300 till 2, no expect a balanced, instanced or any other similar thing). If you don’t mind slow levelling (probably not if you are playing FFXI), give it a try, find a good clan and experience what is a game like this. Nothing to do with all other games I have played. But it’s just my taste.

Lineage 2 is an amazing game, the PvP, the guild system, raids, everything was pretty close to perfect for me, the only thing that killed it was the grind which in turn definitely took the community down a whole notch (botters, ebayers, etc.).

Originally posted by Greatness

Lineage 2 is an amazing game, the PvP, the guild system, raids, everything was pretty close to perfect for me, the only thing that killed it was the grind which in turn definitely took the community down a whole notch (botters, ebayers, etc.).

I take it ebayers are where you buy stuff for you toon on ebay?

Ebayers are the people who buy adena from gold selling sites. Ebay use to be the prime place to buy adena thus where the name comes from. btw I tried to pm you but you was not on. I will try again.

It's probably the only MMO that I still enjoy. However, it's run by NCSoft(who enjoy to keep a game well-made for 6 months, then completely fergot about it because they are making a new one)

Levelling is extremely easy mode now.  I returned a few weeks back and picked up my level 19 palus knight.  With vitality I was able to level once every hour hunting whites and yellows.  I was 32 within a week.

one thing that detracts people is the inflated economy and lack of quests.  There are quests you can repeat, but this equates to grinding in most peoples opinion.  So its basically pick up a quest or two and repeat them until you out grow the quest and pick up another.  To sell anything, you have to keep your toon logged in and parked in Giran and hope you make a sale.  There is no auction house. 

Originally posted by Thenarius

It's probably the only MMO that I still enjoy. However, it's run by NCSoft(who enjoy to keep a game well-made for 6 months, then completely fergot about it because they are making a new one)

I could understand you blame NCSoft for the bots and RMT but forgetting the game?.

You got a free expansion more or less each half a year with no fail. Some were bigger than others but allways significant in terms of game play. Nothing to do the game when i left with the game at launch.

If you are talking about marketing and so, really they did almost nothing in the western market but it has been that way since the launch.