With the exception of them both being by Turbine, you can't compare them.  Now if you had said "Open world vs Instanced" without any games attached .....

As it is, I'd have to answer BOTH.  Just depends on what I want to do that night.  Fast and quick - DDO.  More lore with plenty of time to play - LotRO.

Originally posted by quasar941

 

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Originally posted by elocke

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Originally posted by Davirok

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Originally posted by Thunderous

Nice promotional ad...
How much did Funcom pay you to write and post that?  Funcom took a great IP and made about the most pathetic adaptation of it humanly possible.  The only redeeming quality to Age of Conan are the graphics.  Once you leave Tortage (starter level) the game turns craptastic QUICKLY.
Viral advertising at it's finest. 

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You know where the door is dont ya

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Thanks for the shining example of the "community" in this game.  I'm sorry, OP but the community in this game is among the worst I have ever experienced.  I see nothing but crass, rude statements in that horrid grey chat.  I never see helpful comments, or positive comments.  I only ever see the kind of conversations you would hear on a back alley streetcorner in the worst places of the world(real life that is).

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^^ this

I've been playing online games since the release of Ultima Online and I have yet to encounter a game with a worst community than AoC. What's sad is I'm talking about PVE servers such as Set. I can only imagine that the PVP servers are like.

I think it's more the channel you listen to.  I'm on Set and hang on the trial / help channel and all I ever see is questions asked and answered in the nicest manner possible.  

There are those that don't play by the standard Global Chat rules that seem to apply in all games.  That's always the first thing I disable in every game I play.

Originally posted by Axehilt

Originally posted by wormywyrm
 What a great setting to develop our own characters and get to know each other and grow together in.  A MMO should not be about the main characters of its IP, it should be about the universe and the stories we make for ourselves.

MMORPGs aren't really capable of providing those elements though.  A tabletop RPG might come closer, but still -- as witty as my friends are there's no way our sessions would quite compare to an average Firefly episode.

 

I don't know Axe, back in pre-everything SWG there were characters and their stories known to different segments of the pop.  So based on that, I think an MMO could provide a vehicle for player stories / backgrounds.

Considering our current choices of space games (Eve = seems like too much work, STO = really just a space shooter, Vendetta Online = good game but too alien) I'd welcome a sandbox style game with a familiar background, be it Firefly or Babylon 5.  Something I could identify with.

As far as it being fan driven; PotBS was indepently developed, fans of that style of game, or even Vendetta Online, just a very small group developing and running it or B5: I've Found Her (a SPG) done by B5 fans.

Originally posted by VicDonnegan

 I'm GLAD that Turbine is expanding into Forgotten Realms, but like a few others have mentioned, I wish that they had just started DDO there from the get-go.

Everyone seems to forget that Eberron wasn't Turbines decision.  WoTC picked it to market thier new product.

Originally posted by Kenze

and yet its amazing how the "look" of things  like starships, droids etc havent changed in all those years. like in the smuggler cutscenes at the very begining looks exactly like the Milenium Falcon etc

The answer to that was in one of the early Dev interviews (before they stopped letting just anyone talk) how to gear up and get in the mood they watched the original movies over and over and wanted to bring the "iconic" moments & sounds to the player base.

I don't play, don't know jack about the Old Republic, nor do I care but even I know none of the main SW guys were even glints in their Great-Great-Great ...... Grandpappy's eye's.

Thread below this one: Going F2p Mini-Review is what you want.

Originally posted by Silverdagger

So, by all means, do download the game and enjoy F2P, but don't waste a dime in the cshop. 

I'll agree with this Silverdagger; although I will say I did spend the points I got from the box / beta on Mirror Universe stuff to enhance my own RPG experience.  Once all my points are gone I can't see any reason to buy more.  So if you see an original Connie, Type F shuttle and MU dressed up crew that's me, playing my own game in my own little mind :)

Szasz:

I too was totally disappointed in how the game turned out.  I can remember original Dev idea's where the Neutral Zone was full of resource rich stuff AND the open Pvp area.  Seperate quests and play area's for the Fed and Kligon's etc.....  OK maybe it would have been too lore restrictive but a heck of a lot better than what we got or the 1 ship (server) for all idea that was kicked around by the player base (my opinion only).  (Next week I get to play the 3rd shift replacement transporter officer!  ..... What about you ..... Sewage detail :(  Bummer dude! )

Just a quick follow up:

If you wish to play this totally free then doing the normal "grab all the quests at the quest hub" mindset is out.  While I was able to do this at the starter hub, the next hub will suck your energy down and you won't be able to fight etc....  While your energy does recharge it does so at a much slower pace than your health. 

So plan on taking 1 mission at a time and go out to do it.  If you can keep from getting attacked every 5 sec your energy should be back up by the time you turn in the mission and you can then go do it again.

As it is, it looks like this may be the type of game to play for an hour and then go do something else.  It's going to be hard to play this as a straight F2p model game which is too bad as it has some nice points going for it.

Way back when I saw an ad for Nadirim and liked the fact that it was something different in the story department.  Stygia in AoC was always my favorite area and here was another game that wasn't your typical elf land fantasy game so I signed up for it.

Well the very old school hex attack movement, the point and click traveling and the starter zone really turned me off so I played a bit, gave my feedback and then dropped it. 

Kept getting e-mails from them and then the  article here showed up so I thought I'd give it another go.

- Brand new starter zone which captures the Middle Eastern flavor much nicer.

- A 3rd class now.  2 more on the way, but they've been saying that from the very first day.

- Same movement and hex style as before but I've played other games now and it kind of takes me back to my old wargame boardgaming roots so I'm not so picky anymore.

-  Music.  Kind of a let down.  From the write up's I expected more a la AoC's Stygia in town music.  Very period.  Might have to go searching on the net for some to download and play while I play for mood music.

-  With the exception of a weird round about method, I can't find the way to log out.  Right now I have to stop playing, so to the sign in page and then hit log out.  Got to figure that one out.

Since there's nothing to download, you can be playing within 5 min's or so, so it's worth a look if you want to play 1001 Arabian Nights.

I'll keep it in my favorites and play it from time to time.  Make's a nice change of pace.

I got to do the closed & open Beta's prior to the games start and just didn't find it playable / worth it to pay a sub for it.  I always thought it had things lacking and would have made a better F2p game.

Once I found out it was going to go F2p I picked up a couple of cheap  boxes for my son and I and we both played through the 30 day free time and then stopped to wait for the F2p to kick in.  It came as a nice surprise to get early access to the F2p and we've both been playing off and on.  Here's my views on the current state of affairs in no particular order.

-  UI stayed the same, just had to slide a couple of things back to where I had them.

-  Skill tree.  Had a total point reset here and the old skills were cut way back and there are now fewer choices.  All in all the new is simpler, but I kind of liked the old version better.

-  Hailing Starfleet (getting missions).  Here's one area where they really did it up nice.  You now get 3 boxes across the popup's top (episodes, PvE, PvP and one big rolling banner across the bottom).  The Episode one lists all the missions in a nice top to bottom order.  The PvE (for me so far) is linked to some of the scroller missions and I couldn't say about the Pvp one.  The rolling banner shows the various events going on throughout the day and at what times.  So far I done the Fed Mirror PvE fight a couple of times.  When you click on it you get a popup that tells you about it and directs you to sign up for it via the PvE box.  When all requirements are met you'll get a little box that will allow you to go right to the mission to play shoot 'em up.  I tried the Academy mission but couldn't get the hang of it.  All total there'll be 5 or so events listed that will rotate throughout the day to match everyone's playtime.  Like I said = a big thumb's up for this feature.

-  Both the space and ground missions play out pretty much the same as they did before, so not much new there (this is why running it as a F2p model works vice having to pay for it).

-  Duty Officers.  Not sure the reasoning why, but as a method of getting some stuff without working for it........  So you have a bunch of names and little pictures of  various crewmembers.  And you'll see a list of missions the ship can send people to.  We'll say one of you're pictures is of your transporter chief and the list of missions are: cook a special meal for an ambassador, get training on upgrading transporters and do a ground survey.  Well when you look at the cook they want a chef so no go there, transporter upgrade is a big YES and the ground survey is one of those 50/50 doable ones.  So you pick the transporter mission, your guy flys off for X time and does his own thing and when the times up he comes back and you see how he did and if he brought you any goodie's for doing a super good job.  Along with that you get some XP, skill points, points to make that guy better and purple rocks (yes I know it's di..... but I can't spell it as well as purple rocks).  Like I said a method of getting some stuff without working for it.  As the clock on these work's no matter if you're logged on or off and in no way affects your game play, I generally review, pick new missions at the start of my playtime and then do the same at the end prior to logging off.  Some are short (30min) and some long (2days).

-  This leads me in to leveling.  I don't know but it seems like I'm going up in levels really fast now.  My beta guy (he was still there) was a LT and at the end of this last 30 day free time was still a LT.  But now I've zipped through the ranks and picked up CDR.  If anything I've played less missions since starting the early F2p start but have going up quicker.  Maybe it was always like this, I don't know.

Well that's it in a nut shell.  As a space shooter with a story line, it's well worth the download and Free Play come the 17th.

I play PotBS and while there is variety in the quests, there is of course only so much you can do.  Kill things, run escort missions, boarding / capture targets and land missions (weakest part of the game).

The biggest draw is the PvE ship to ship combat.  This isn't whack a mole and you can't just lay alongside and trade broadsides.  The combat here is more of the chess situation.  Plan out your attacks and get into position to dominate the fight.  More so when you are fighting 2v1 or even 3v1.

It's also the only F2p game I've never ever put any real money into.  Just not needed.

While I can see that Drakensang Online is from the same tree as the text based game by TDE you can find and play here on the internet and the Drakensang SPG's available (The Dark Eye, River of Time & P's Quest), I too was disappointed in Bigpoints Online version.

The first 2 (#1 free & #2 $) text based modules set the stage for the original Drakensang SPG (The Dark Eye) and while it's possible one of the other text based modules have something to do with Dragon's (not having played them all I couldn't say) I'm thinking that it's totally stand alone - which isn't a bad thing for a MMO, but as mentioned it came as a disappointment to me too.

Yes SBFord sometimes PnP games just don't make a successful translation to online games.  Yet there are parts that could have come over.  The PnP  version (Germany's answer to D&D) used the pick and choose skill tree's just like pre-NGE SWG did.  That allowed you to create a totally unique character.  No templates, no Alpha class, Want a gimp - go for it.  So why couldn't that have come over?  Instead you get the very standard - fighter goes up a level and learns mighty smack 2.  Ho hum.  You can't even use the excuse that Bigpoint wanted to make it easy since as you point out, when you get a quest you have to figure out what it means and go find it.

There were parts that I liked; you could upgrade your weapon to your level making it do more damage.  The challenge of finding stuff, The quick travel stones that came in while I was in OB and the story.

I also liked how the F2P / Store set up was along the same lines as LotRO's.  You could either just throw cash at the system to buy the ingame currency or you could gather it via game play.

I wasn't a fan of the way the hotbar or mouse keys would lock onto the latest attack move you just learned and you couldn't swap them out for some lower level one's (can you say OVER KILL at times).  From the fourms I gather that was a bigger problem for the MU's as attacks used up Rage (fighers) or Mana (MU) and they wished for a way to do low level attacks.

All in all it's an OK hack & slash with a story line.  I just didn't find it as good as the text or SPG versions.

Yea that's the one.  There's a girl standing outside that gives the quest and is the first one that has you meeting the main badguy (he's running the gate).

Used to be more spiders and when you broke the crypts you got skeletons.  It's so easy mode now it's ridicules.

Gimmick

And I'll give you some reason's why;

- Just like when I read a book, I make up in my own mind how the hero will sound.  If it isn't even close it's a big kill-joy.  For those that might have read the Dirk Pitt books, just look at Matthew M (Dirk) and his side kick Al G. plus all the rest.  Nothing like you'd expect from the books.

- While no-name actors might be cheap, if you spinkle in any stars the cost goes way up.  A number of actors have said they actually prefer phoning in work for commerials (especially Japanese ones) instead of doing movies since they pay better in time spent.

- If you pick the wrong actor it bites you in the behind.  STO used the new Spock and the yells of outrage where such they redid the work with Leonard Nimoy.  In this case my first point also comes into play, Spock should sound like Spock.

- For a game without a voice back story be it SWToR or even Freelancer who you pick doesn't mean quite as much, unless my first point comes into play.  A dork still sounds like a dork.  How many of you would be saying VO's are great if your hero sounded like he'd been sucking helium?

Wall's of text a la LotRO - No.  Short and sweet like AoC - much better.  Ya VO's might be nice in a game but not; from a business point of view, if it ties up production time and a good chunk of your budget.

Originally posted by Sonictempal

I just started as well....what server do you suggest?

PVE

Hardcore RP - then go for Wic, middle of the road Tyr server

PVP

Probably Cim as it's the official PVP-RP server.  If you do any PVP then guild up, otherwise you're just fresh meat for the gankers that will one shot you for (their) fun.

Riotgirl:

Yea the PVPer's are still getting the short end of the stick.  Funcom might as well just come out and say as LotRO does "This is a PVE game.  Any PVP you experience is just an after thought and unintentional".

On the starter island - Heyton's Rest.  When did they change it and why?  From the O-boards it sounds like they did it for PC purposes. 

Just played through K Island last night and noticed it had a new DM and look.

I'll chime in on your above question first.  If you wish to play the end game; raids etc.... you'll need to sub as those aren't avalible to the F2p players.  Although up until recently the low level dungeons weren't either and now they are so who knows what the future holds.

Is it fun to play?  YES and no.  Once you get everything set right it's an amazing looking game and has  one of the best turtorial's (with VO) around.  It's not just a button masher but makes you think about where your target is blocking and where to hit him at (hint - not where he's blocking! LOL!). 

The story lines are fun and well written without being low winded.  You can answer all sweety pie or be down right rude and will get some different results from it.  I found this was one of the few games I actually enjoyed talking to the NPC quest givers. 

It's also one of the few games (I think) that when it say's for mature audiences it means it.  From the dialoge to the fatalities it pushes the envelope.

Also on the tutorial island each/most of the professions has it's own version of the storyliine - fighter is a different view of the story, same for ranger, I think all the MU's use the same story but as I don't play them couldn't say for sure.

Now to the no part - If you're really hung up on playing X nation and leveling inside that nation (I was and went with Stgyian) you'll quickly finish all that nations quests and end up having to level in the other nations area's to get to the max F2p level.  I didn't want to play in the snow and ice and disliked having to.  The Greek/Roman area wasn't so bad but no Cim land for me!

Other than that, you'll find the normal F2p restrictions but I never saw any as a big game breaker.  I don't like not being able to mail items, but can live with it.

While there are just a few servers now, picking the right one is important. 

Have fun in the game.

LotRO meets most of your requirements, although I think most players would rate the Pvp (Monster play) as weak.

Might I suggest you also look into Pirates of the Burning Sea.  Graphics can be as outstanding as you want them to be, PvE and quests (missions) are well done and there's plenty of Pvp.

- On the downside most call it a slow combat game, although the truth is it's a thinking man's game not just a button masher.  There's only 2 servers (one US and one EU) but that allows you to have a character on both.  Replay value is weak as all the nations missions are pretty much the same, just with different names and national targets.

-  Also it's a time hog as one mission or port battle can eat up a lot of time between getting there, fighting and then going back to get your reward.

End raids (Port Battles) are dependent on how much work you put into causing that fight. 

Not a lot of players but enough not to lag out the system or make you feel as if you're playing a Single player game.

Never mind - Mod's please delete