General Discussion

Originally posted by glord

If I ever get ingame, I'll be going a goblin shaman. I don't think I'll be getting a buddy key from any buddy key threads though.

 Hi glord, ive also send you a trail key, enjoy!

Wow dude thanks!

Originally posted by Daffid011

Both look to be good games, but I would easily give the nod to LOTRO over Vanguard.

I personally wouldn't invest time in the game until it was clear that expansions are a certain future for the game.  I wouldn't invest my own time in a game where it looks like the credits start scrolling before I am ready to move to a new game.  If you came from SWG I'm sure you know what I am talking about.

 

LOTRO does a great job of building a world that feels alive and not filled with wooden quest dispensers like many other MMOs. 

I recently loaded VG to see how much it has improved since I left in may of last year, the game does seem to run more stable than it did, one reason I have upgraded my computer. But I can still feel and see the bugs that had plagued this one since its released.

I now play LOTRO because of it depth, story and the future of this one.

amd 6400(3.2) dual quad

nvidia 8800GT512

8 gigs pc6400 800

ga-m55sli-s4 MB

WIN XP 64 EDITION

Originally posted by Duilyon

Lord of the Rings Online

 

Pros:

1. Huge updates every  2 months

2. Awesome art design

3. Classes are very balenced in both PVE and PVP

4. PVP is very fun

5. Clothing system is very fun

6. The main storyline is very well constructed.

7. graphics.

8. housing

9. You are not forced to do anything. You can do whatever you want. If you want to craft you can craft, if you want to raid you can raid. You can get the best gear through many different outlets.

 

Cons:

1. Decorating your house can be restricting

2.  raids can be boring to some

3. Crafting is cookie cutter and nothing new

4) Linear / directed gameplay

5) Very limited and bland class selection  

6) combat centric, very little in terms of alternate gameplay. Crafting mimics WoW and is tied to combat levels. Either kill 10 rats or do the books in LotR or just shut the game off.

7) many animations are bland, look awkward and not realistic.

8) Many Instance's

9) Cramped, linear gameworld

10) Graphics and areas not really interesting at all.

11) the few racial choices you have all look the same.

 

Vanguard:

 

Pros:

1. Huge open world

2. Boats!

3. Customizable houses!

4. Lots of classes / races to choose from!

5. Quests are sometimes funny and well written

6. Crafting is very complicated and fun

7. flying mounts that you can use anywhere

8. awesome dungeon design

9) alternitive activities aside from combat that are not tied to combat.

10) Now I'm going to throw this out as a pro...VG has a lot more room to grow creatively then LotRs. LotR is saddled by an IP and linear / combat centric design.

11) you can play Orcs and Goblins and such in a non-PvP style.

12) Revamped racial faction system that can be built on.

Cons:

1. Performance issues - Not really an issue anymore

2. many of the races look the same and have the same body models.

3. Many animations are awkward and are not realistic

4. Graphics and areas are not interesting at all

5. It has a huge world but much of it is empty and without content - depends on how you mean by that. VG is a lot less structured then LotR and you can explore and do what you want. You are not limited to playing the role of an NPC deployed drone. But I haven't encountered this "big emply" yet. /shrug. If you are just looking to be lead around by the nose from NPC to NPC, then yeah, LotR is definately a better choice.

6) game currently has an unfinished feel to it at higher levels

It is very hard to choose one because they are both amazing games but if I had to choose I would probably choose LOTRO. To me LOTRO just has more of a future then Vanguard because of the dedicated team and the huge updates every 2 months. Though vanguard has awesome things like Boats you do not really need them at all and are pretty pointless.

LotR is definately the more successful of the two and as such has proportionately more resources. I don't see how that makes it more of a future. LotR will die off like all other MMOs eventually. Does LotR still have tons more lore to draw on?? Sure does, the problem with it all is the way they chose to design it all...linear.

    Also Vanguard is much more hardcore in the sense that you are forced to raid end game to get certain items like flying mounts and the best gear end game.

Not necessarily, you don't "need" the best gear to do anything. Both are PvE games and neither "requires" you to have the best raid gear.

But in LOTRO you can do what you want! You can craft the best gear in game, though it'll take you some time!, or you can just RP and decorate your house. LOTRO has the best RP community I have ever seen. You can do all of that in VG also.

No, in LotR, you can't do what you want. Its linear, directed and all tired to combat leveling.

I'm curious as to why you only asked about those 2 games?  A couple other good choices come to mind like WoW and Conan for instance. 

If you have already played WoW I understand, but WoW is similar to LOTRO in a lot of ways.  It has a similar graphics/gameplay feel to it as that of LOTRO, but it has a better PvP system in my opinion plus it has more variety in the fact that you can play from 2 opposing factions, whereas LOTRO only allows you to play from 1 side like has already been mentioned.

If you don't like the graphics style of WoW/LOTRO and your PC can handle Vanguard, then it might be able to handle Conan and Conan is newer.  The sticking point I have with Conan is the instanced/linear nature of it which Vanguard in that regard is more open like WoW and LOTRO.  So if you don't like the instancing in Conan, then I would go with Vanguard, but if that doesn't bother you than you might give Conan a try.  If you are worried about the bugs in Conan since it is a fairly new release, Vanguard isn't exactly bug free either and Conan seems to be addressing the issues more quickly than Vanguard has so it has the potential to be the better game in the long run in my opinion.

All of them have some merits, just trying to give you some other suggestions.

i just quit LOTRO for vanguard... its much better go VG!

Actually, EQ2 on one of the RP servers would be a much better choice than either LoTRO or V:SoH, if you are not a big LoTR fan.  Be sure to start in Timorous Deep; awesome loot and armor for newbies there.

I have played EQ2, Lotro, VG, and AoC. My personal preference is Vanguard.