I disagree with a few of the points laid out here (for both lotro and wow. I am a lotro fan but do not think it is the greatest game ever). However, there are two points to me that make lotro shine: the community and the shire.

The comunity is the number one reason I left wow, and the shire is at times just jaw-droppingly beautiful to me. I am, of course, a lord of the rings nerd from way back, and I think Turbine did an inspired job on the shire. The rest of the areas in the game, maybe not so much, but to me, the shire is extremly important and I think Turbine realy nailed it.

I am extremely uncompetitive...so, not at all important is my answere. I have an odd code I live by, but I won't share it here cause...well, cause I don't want to. But being uncompetitive is a big part of it..

hehe....love this pov...never thought of it that way.

No. There is not a game on this planet now or ever that would make me feel that upset.

Originally posted by gauge2k3

Originally posted by Denambren

I rarely make any posts on this site, but had to log in to say this is one of the most silly spotlights I've read.

I agree with the first comment made - using the word "hater" will ensure that no one takes your article seriously.

Furthermore, this article trivializes the fact that MMOs have been terrible for a long, long time. Not since early Ultima Online or early Star Wars Galaxies have we seen anything truly successful as a Massively Multiplayer game that isn't a clone of Everquest.

There are a lot of people who dislike the MMOs of today because they are pretty much Everquest all over again. Until this changes, the "haters" are going to continue disliking MMOs. It's not because they're retarded or unreasonable - it's because the games need to develop beyond Everquest clones.

At this point I would settle for a true EQ or pre CU/NGE SWG.  Guys want us to shut up, someone make that game.  Heck I would settle for vanilla WoW.

Now lets be honest. Even if they made exactly that game you want, there would still be haters. No one would "shut up," as you say.

Kyleran, you are one of my favorite posters here on these boards. However, at least in my opinion (and I could, and probably am, wrong, based on the number of responses) this is pretty common sense stuff.

Originally posted by popsideath

Vanguard was destroyed by not being technically playable...

 

And they didn't 'fire' anyone, as far as we know.  There's a HUGE difference between laying employees off and firing them.  Firing them implies there was misconduct on the employees parts that got them canned, which doesn't seem to be the case.

 

And yeah, these events have everything to do with WoW.  Where's the damn eyeroll emoticon?

I would suggest layoffs bode darker things for the company.

Originally posted by Czanrei

This is a great article the OP wrote and I couldn't agree more. The problem is that there are just too many immature gamers(age doesn't matter) that like to hide behind the anonymity of the internet. Those same gamers will always be there to whine, flame, troll and try to stop any progress in the evolution of mmo's. A perfect example is the Blizzard Real ID incident recently.

Yes, it was done wrong by Blizzard, but brilliant in it's concept. The majorly sad thing about the incident was that the trolls and griefers of the net whined in unison until they got their way to shut it down without working with Blizzard to instead offer a better solution. Obviously, the whiners got their way and proved that unless devs take a stand and hold their ground, this same event will always prevail. 

of all else posted so far this.

I personaly do not want politics in my game. But like others have said, their can be many different games for different tastes, but could you imagine a mmo with politics similiar to our own? The game would simply implode! If you have ever read any of the comments below news articles posted online you would know this already. "Grown-ups" are bad enough.

I like how the LOTRO dev is quoted in this article. I am a big LOTRO fan, but lets call a spade a spade. Lotro seems to have purposley built grind into their game.

kill 300 spiders. great! you did it...now kill 600 spiders!

use x skill 250 times. great! you did it...now do it 500 more times!

you realize your going to be flamed to no end, called a care bear, a wow baby, and you have no clue as to what a REAL mmo is, right?

But I agree with you. And now, I'm running to hide.

Originally posted by Doktorian

Just as the title says, why criticize a game that isn't even out yet. All over the place I'm seeing people say things like the event system doesn't work and that the personal story system ruins it and a metric butt ton of other things. How can you say that when you haven't even tried it yet. The way those people say things is as if they had played the game already and are writing reviews of it. I just don't get why people are criticizing a game that almost no one as played yet. All we've gotten is little bits of info, where's all this new bad info coming from? Or are people making it up?

Your serisou? You must be new here...

Originally posted by Buttermilch

I don't think there is a "should study".

If there were... well. Most developers would come up with pretty much the same concepts because they all had the same influence?

Developers should just play as much as they can and while doing it, analyze what makes the game good or bad. =)

this dude wins

Originally posted by mmosnark

...No one is saying that cool games are better than hot games...

hehe...tell that to the UO guys.

Originally posted by MMO_Doubter

Aside from performance and stabilty - the most important design aspect is interaction with other players.

 

It's pretty damned obvious, frankly.

 

You can have a good MMORPG without any combat.

this is my vote

Originally posted by arcanist

okay, im telling you now i dont have much experience with older mmo's, but from what ive heard daoc, swg and uo to nambe a small few older does USSUALLY seem better.

i didnt notice this from mmo's but when i thought about it it seemed to apply to them.

what do you think.

no

Most folks I know got tired of the game much earlier than that. I myself thought I'd quit at around level 15 (this was when the game first came out), but I powered through and haven't been bored with the game since (even when rolling new toons)

Originally posted by SgtFrog

Originally posted by Crosswire

I would re-sub today if they fixed the horrible character animation and done something with the stupid hair styles.  Honestly the way it is now is disgusting.

 

what is horrible about the animation?

I agree. This is one of the most-heard gripes about the game, but I never understood it. Yeah sure, the animations aren't gonna win any awards, but I don't think they are horrible (and certianly not enough for me to quit playing).

I honestly find most of the guilds I've been in completely useless. However, I am a very casual player (yeah all you hard core folks can start hating on me now) so I don't really mind. I like to see guild chat, and every once in a while contribute. I guess that says more about me being alone in a world than anything, but that is really all I need. I can figure everything else out on my own. And if I group up with some of my guild members, even better.

Originally posted by mckimmins

This game is alot of fun. Although I am only level 20 or so myself and have lots left to check out. The combat system is what really makes this game great though. Pairing this up with a typical p2p game and you got yourself a really nice and free side game I think.

I agree 100%! The combat is fun and is the thing that I liked right off the get-go. It's not a main mmo, but it is something to play around with for a change of pace.

why not? the more types of mmo's the better! and yes, that does sound like an interesting concept.