Originally posted by Phasma

 

 

Hey guys, about to try this trial for LOTRO, it looks promising, but as I'm downloading I wanted some info from the veterans and current players before I myself test it.

A few basic things first...  Currency farmers, botters?  Are there many of them?  Are they handled  proffessionally the staff of LOTRO?

How linear/grind tough is the game?  I don't mind grinding, I just want to know the extent of it.

How's the community?  Accepting, elitist jerks, mix of both, etc.

I think that just about covers what I want some basic info on, thanks!

 

have to agree with what has been said. I have a lifetime sub and quit a while back, then returned a few months ago.

and what makes me play less and less is the repetitiveness of many quests for such a modern mmo - kill this, bring me that. and to make it more extreme, killing say boars you can't just kill any, it is those in a certain area.

and because, as in many established mmos, the low-to-mid level ranges are not so populated anymore, it is tough to get groups for instances such as the main-story line, which really sucks since the epic quests are one of the best in the game.

the community is otherwise one of the best, the occasionaly jerk or elitist you will o/c always find., it is just to ignore.

well, saying they listen to their players is only partially true. In beta the grind was pointed out, but as so often in betas, the "hardcore" players who can spend more time just say "suck it up" or "go back to wow" - so I guess the devs did listen and kept it.... now that poentially subs are going down, they have to listen to the ones not willing to pay....

Better late than never I guess. Then again, just taking AoC as one of many examples, the changes from "listening to players" did come/are coming, but too late for a larger player base. Business rulings in MMOs are sad reality where devs have to bow to deadlines of the moneygivers who want fast cash return :(

I agree to a certain extend with the Thillian, as well as Zymurgeist. Guess it lays somewhere there in the middle.

One positive thing about the quest chains is, that you get quest updates often on the spot, don't have to run back to original quest-give just to return to the same point again (those exist as well, but far less than in WoW or LOTRO).

With regards to customization of skills - I always did wonder how different one would be from others - you read all the tips from chat, and since there is no respec (yet), you probably read forum so you don't waste your points, hence you end up like most others.

Some of the reviews about FE also write about the great char customization in the creator screen. To be honest, they all look alike to me. the biggest difference will be if you do an extreme hair-do (say punk) and maybe an extreme colour such as bright green or pink, otherwise you won't see a difference to someone else. The tatoos - yes, in the face area one sees them, but who cares about body tatoo if you wear armour all the time (and not many RP).

Ah heck, I still like the game, although I am starting to get bored of the post-apocalyptic look. That is the advantage of a fantasy or SciFi game, you can (often) do whatever you want and have a good mix of nice, ugly, horrible, etc.

why don't you post this on the FE forum instead of here? i doubt the devs have at this current point in time much time over to search other forums for ideas and criticism.

I am happy to see that you choose to do a first impression and not already a review.

This game certainly isn't for everyone who wants to jump and casually play without thinking. I can agree that I feel a bit uncertain about the skill distribution, but there are some helpful hints ingame describing possible templates for possible "classes".

And yes, as you wrote, crafting has a mayor impact on the game, since you basically loot very little weapons/armor. So you either buy them from others or make them. And that which NPCs offer, is useful and not just a fasade for a shop as in some MMOs for dumping junk loot. I find it very satisfying to have crafting my own armor and wearing it afterwards. Also the fact that you can queue your crafting items and they will continue to be made when offline and give you (small) XP!

Closest I ever felt to SWG preCU/NGE. People complain about cookie cutter MMOs, well, here is one that isn't (all the way at least). Not saying it is perfect, but it certainly is different.

Ultima IV

SW-KotoR

there are two things about the article I want to point out/ask:

a) many (past) MMOs are made by (ex)gamers or non-MMO experience.

b) interesting that Blizzard would shred player content for legal content. all you need is a decent contract. but i guess they are afraid of the buddy's buddy's friend to get pissed off and sue. sad world for us gamers then.

How can dying or lost inventory not be a risk?

Permadeath is a risk, definetly. No one stops you from not role-playing this, there are some guilds in L2 or DDO (and others I guess) that play this way.

If you have a lot of time and simply don't mind,then yes, it isn't a risk to loose your stuff. For me, with limited time, if I need to invest a week or more to replace my stuff, now that would be a great "risk". Wouldn't have time, nor nerves to do that.

Dying is the same. Loosing XP which has to be replaced e.g., again a time-factor only, but if you don't have it... You might think the death-run in WoW is carebear, but running for 5 or 10 minutes to your corpse isn't my idea of fun really. Sure, it's not like UO where you have to corpse run, and you need to get your gear back. WoW is more hardcore than Warhammer in that aspect, no corpse run, only little gear damage.

You want sandbox and pvp? go to Mortal Online. but if it is enough for the OP, I wonder....

Originally posted by Stradden

Originally posted by MMO_Doubter

Well, read it again. She was practically gushing. Not very professional, IMO.

Anyone with open eyes can see Cryptic isn't being true to the IP. There is no teamwork. Trek isn't populated with captains and faceless technicians.

I can see both sides to the story. As a long-time Trek fan, I don't really get how you get to dictate to me or anyone else what the IP was about.

You're pissed cause you wanted player crews and the lot. The thing is, there's still plenty of teamwork, it's just not in the form you wanted. Starfleet is FULL of Captains... One for each ship, by my count and player crews aren't going to be faceless. Just because they're NPCs, doesn't make them meaningless.

Look, I'm not asking you to change your mind. You have valid concerns and obviously this game isn't going to be what you wanted. So I suggest that you don't play it. All I'm asking you to do is have some level of respect for people who don't share your opinions. Disagree, fine. Make wild, baseless, trolling accusations... Less fine. Common courtesy.

nicely written Stradden. could use similar comments in many other threads of similar or even worse "complaining" nature.

try Mortal Online (still in beta). 0 quests. all skills.

I played with Vista 32 and 64, never had problems really.

Have now Win7, and everything runs smoother. Can only say what has been said and mentioned in reviews:

better memory management, better gfx-interface management (you don't have the application lock-up as under Vista), and Dx11 (although, one doesn't really need that....). Plus, it will be cheaper than Vista at release....

gosh, what is wrong with microsoft???

err, never mind, stupid question ......

ye, I am with you on the business part.

I was just ranting a bit from the practical consumer perspective.

try contacting support. they are quite helpful, believe it or not.

Still considering the lifetime sub, now that the offer is back. But what I think is crazy is, that you can order that now, in your account, but you still have to buy the client separately. I mean, what is gonna happen? I will get an illegal copy or so?? Doh.

For that price, the game could be included. Alternatively, if they are calculating with margins, charge 220 or 240$.

i have preordered the game from a "normal" webshop, and will receive my copy I guess on or just before launch day. Now, I am not desparate for early launch, or else i could cancel the preorder and get a d2d download, but wtf, if I were to pay now for a lifetime sub, i would expect to get into the game without buying it from somehwere else.

Yet another alternative could be to just sell the activation key in your account without all this buying from a retailer.

*shrugs*

just my 5 cents worth.

interesting. thanks!

I guess it should be possible to play DDO Unlimted from the EU (or elsewhere) via the US side. Myself I have a client, but never played for more than the free months, since Turbine wouldn't accept a non-US credit card.

So what about the shop then? Sounds like the same thing there - most likely "one can play, but not pay"? Buying game time cards via ebay or so wouldn't work in this case either (unless for VIP I guess).

Any info on this?

I understand the dislike of Gameguard. But to cancel a game for that.....

WoW has a similar system, as do others (Eve has been mentioned, and other games using Punkbuster).

What i don't understand is why they can't just install whatever anti- hacking system in their game code.

in the end it is all the same, as separate application, or if build in.

btw OP - did you error report ? that is part of a beta, no?

Originally posted by Dana

In this week's column, Dana Massey looks at regional services in MMOs. If it's so unpopular, why do they do it? What approaches would make more truly global games work? To find out, he spoke to veteran online game executive Scott Hartsman.

Read it all here.

I've said it before and I say it again - even if you hate $OE, one has to admit they don't make a fuss about servers. Live in EU and want to play on US server, or vice versa? No problem. Why not play on both?

Not that many other MMOs, especially newer ones have this, probably for taxation, support, latency, etc. etc. Worse is, imho, if there is another company operating in other regions, e.g. Codemaster for Turbine, GOA for Mythic, etc. Sucks, because one is then not even in direct contact with developers, always only indirectly, plus one can be behind with patches, etc. I remember in LOTRO EU beta, there were some really nice folks, who got in the end fed up for whatever reason and went to US side, accepting all disadvantages regarding payment options etc. And there went again some nice people with whom contact is "impossible"

It's like region coding of DVDs - who cares, one can circumvent anyway if one wants.

Well, I have to say that the article is provocatively enough to stimulate discussion, as can be seen by the amount of answers.

What I wonder though, is why the bashing on RPers - if RP could be done one a "regular" server, were all respect each other, then it wouldn't be a "problem". But there are too many who are on the extreme non-rp and on the extreme rp side who just can't get along.

Ultima Online is a place where I meet RPers without the RP server. There still is e.g. a guild where you have guard duty and a strict hierachy in the guild to fit the RP needs.

In AoC at launch on a RP-PVP server there were folks "ganking" at bridges in terms of "pay or die", so if you payed the waylayers, you could pass. This is such a small thing without taking it to the extreme, I wish there was more of that on any type of server.

RP servers exist, and WoW had a large impact there, but as stated, how many do actually RP there?

Grind is what destroyed RP. And that is equally WoWs fault as many other MMOs who work with time sinks for money (read monthly fee).