I want to start with a new f2p MMORPG, so if you played both LOTRO and DDO, which one did you enjoy more, and why?

I play LOTRO. I tried DDO when it was P2P and the game lacked exploration and seemed very repetitive.

I've played both... a lot, but will no longer take part in any Everquest 2 clone, so no Lotro for me. I just got worn out with them, and have found myself enjoying DDO even more lately (Played since european closed beta.)

It all comes down to what you are looking for and want from your MMO. Lotro is certainly a good themepark ride, but that's all it offers for me.

ddo wins for me. there is no such deep character custumisation and interesting gear selection like in ddo's.

lotro is good game, but offers too standart themepark experience imo.

Ive played both. DDO is quite unique but the super instanced feel of it kind of turned me off. seems for the first 13 levels you are trapped in a small city going into sewers. I think its a good game but not really to my tastes.

I personally prefered LOTRO. Its quite fun and well made. The biggest thing id have to say is, Read the quest text. the game is extremely lore heavy and it will feel like any other mmo unless you read the quest text and get into the story. This point is really important.

The community in LOTRO is pretty mature which is a great point. You find some rude people but its really uncommon. Many older people play. On my server I was in the largest Kinship on the server (guild). I was the youngest member at 21 haha.

The F2p portion of the game is nicely setup as well. You can grind small tasks (deeds) to earn the cash shop currency which you can then spend in the shop to unlock area/traits/horses etc. It takes longer to unlock everything going the F2p route then paying monthly but its actually Free so its well worth the effort. 

If you do play LOTRO it may be a good idea to pay for 1 month of the game as it unlocks many things for the characters you log into. It saves you quite a bit of grinding for the smaller things. for example it unlocks all the bag slots and traits which can be time consuming to farm the points for. Its all optional but its something id recomend. after the one month you can go back to f2p and have some nice perks because you put a bit of money into the game. more character slots. higher gold limit etc.

If you do go p2p for a month. make a character of each class class that you would want and log into each of them once. It will unlock a bunch of things for each character and will save you many thousand turbine points which you can then spend to unlock areas or expansion packs :)

Sorry for the wall of text. I try to be helpful lol.

Best wishes 

Saint

I'd say LotRO by a good measure.  For the game as a whole, AND for what you get for free.

DDO, as a free game, has you grinding the same quests over and over pretty early on.  Even as a subbed player, you'll probably be repeating content.

LotRO will get you to your early 20's before quests start drying up, after which you'll have accumulated some points and can decide whether you want to buy content or not.  And as a subbed player(or by buying all the zones as a free player) with all the Xpacs, there's more than enough content to level without repeating a thing.

However, DDO is more "action-oriented".  You don't have to tab target for melee.  Movement and position matter more than with most MMOs.  And most importantly, combat is less predictable.  While most games, in rolling damage, have a bottom damage of about 50% of maximum, being hit in DDO could do next to nothing, or take a good third or more of your lifebar.  For example, at 1st level and, say 14 hit points, a kobold could hit you with a club and do 6 damage.  Compare that to being first level in WoW and fighting a gnoll in Elwynn forest.  I'm not sure it could take you out if you just stood there.

So, both have their appeals.

Originally posted by Robsolf

I'd say LotRO by a good measure.  For the game as a whole, AND for what you get for free.

DDO, as a free game, has you grinding the same quests over and over pretty early on.  Even as a subbed player, you'll probably be repeating content.

 

Ok, Thanks for the input, I don't like repeating missions, so I'm downloading LOTRO now, on my way to Mordor :)

Originally posted by Mushi-shi

Originally posted by Robsolf

I'd say LotRO by a good measure.  For the game as a whole, AND for what you get for free.

DDO, as a free game, has you grinding the same quests over and over pretty early on.  Even as a subbed player, you'll probably be repeating content.

 

Ok, Thanks for the input, I don't like repeating missions, so I'm downloading LOTRO now, on my way to Mordor :)

Hope you enjoy it!

DDO, if you play it right.

DDO is a great game to play with a few friends, it is not really a MMO and closer to GW than Wow but it have a really fun group mechanic and it is great that at least one game remembers that the true challenges of dungeons are traps, not monsters.

If you plan to PUG then LOTRO is a lot better game though, or for that matter if you like to solo.

Originally posted by Loke666

If you plan to PUG then LOTRO is a lot better game though, or for that matter if you like to solo.

Uhm... what does PUG mean?

They are very different games so can't compare much. I like LOTRO lore best and also it's a newer game so the graphics look better too.

I found LOTRO much more fun to play although I played for just awhile. DDO didn't work for me at all.

I prefer DDO. Great dungeons, excellent character building, great combat system, etc. LotRO is boring and too slow.

Originally posted by Mushi-shi

Originally posted by Loke666

If you plan to PUG then LOTRO is a lot better game though, or for that matter if you like to solo.

Uhm... what does PUG mean?

Pick Up Group. Basically a group you form in an MMO from random people you usually don't know, either using the looking for group tools the MMO has or by answering random "going to XXX, need (healer/tank/dps/all of the above)" on the chat.

Originally posted by Robsolf

Originally posted by Mushi-shi

Originally posted by Robsolf

I'd say LotRO by a good measure.  For the game as a whole, AND for what you get for free.

DDO, as a free game, has you grinding the same quests over and over pretty early on.  Even as a subbed player, you'll probably be repeating content.

 

Ok, Thanks for the input, I don't like repeating missions, so I'm downloading LOTRO now, on my way to Mordor :)

Hope you enjoy it!

As do I. I've played both games, extensively, and at the end of the day, I preffer LOTRO quite a bit over DDO. A lot of people, here, have branded LOTRO a themepark, and it really is, BUT it seems like a much larger, much bigger world than the one of DDO. Again, this is just personal prefference, but DDO seems to become more of a repetetive grind sooner, than does LOTRO. Both games have good gameplay and game mechanics, but in the end LOTRO > DDO for me.

Why not play both?, both can compliment each other pretty nicely and it can help out of burning out too fast.

DDO is a lot more action oriented, with each quest actually taking place in it's own, separate "dungeon", this may turn off some people for the very same reason some don't like Guild Wars (wich I love too), the game may feel way too instanced, so it's much more enjoyable to play with a friend or two, rather than playing alone, athough the game is quite good for a solo player too, but it's way more fun with people. It also has explorable areas, but like in GW, they're instanced too, wether it's a good or bad thing, it's completely up to you.

LOTRO is much like a proper MMO that's heavily influenced by WoW, but it still remains to have it's own identity with it's lovely environments and it's undeniably charm (who doesn't love to do those silly Shire quests?). The game is definitively not for power levelers, this game was meant to actually stop and smell the roses, read every single bit of text that quest givers give you, this game is about the journey, not the destination. Also, before SWTOR, this game was one of the best in actually having a storyline you could follow and a pretty good one at that, some would even consider it the Baldur's Gate of MMOs in story telling.

Both games have entirely different philosophies about pretty much every aspect, from gameplay, to sound, to graphics, even if both share the same graphical engine, both are entirely different looking from each other.

In my opinion, both compliment from each other and I enjoy both of them, these are, along with Guild Wars, the only MMOs I keep returning to and belive me, I've played many.

LoTRO is a complete MMORPG. Housing, crafting, dungeons, mini-dungeons, raids, socializing, explorable, large world - It practically features all you could want from an MMO. If you like the style. If you don't well that's a matter of taste.

DDO is an expanded arena game. Hubs, dungeons, dungeons, dungeons. Granted, there are certain outdoor areas to explore, but they are far from being an actual world and are fully instanced. Crafting is barely there, Housing isn't, no socializing hubs, no actuall PvP beyone mini arenas.

So if you like Turbine character and art-style, LoTRO is a full fletched MMORPG while DDO lacks in many ways, they can or can't be important to you, still they're not there.

M

Originally posted by Loke666

DDO, if you play it right.

DDO is a great game to play with a few friends, it is not really a MMO and closer to GW than Wow but it have a really fun group mechanic and it is great that at least one game remembers that the true challenges of dungeons are traps, not monsters.

If you plan to PUG then LOTRO is a lot better game though, or for that matter if you like to solo.

 

I agree, dungeon crawls in DDO with two or three friends are some of the best times i've had in games, especially if you take it slow and let everyone (rogues, clerics, fighters) do their job.

DDO has the best FTP model out of the two IMO. You can cover a lot of ground without paying a thing or grinding for points to buy more content in DDO. With LOTRO you will hit level 20 in a day or two and either need to grind relentlessly for points or pay ... or have no quests between, i think, level 20-50 other than the main storyline quests after which you would have to spend grinded points or pay for the moria expansion anyway... because without legendary weapons you will be getting nowhere in LORTO.

In DDO I got max level, always had new dungeons to do and had a good time without spending a penny. You repeat content in DDO, but thats just the nature of the game even if you've subbed.. you repeat the different difficulty levels and repeat for loot.

In LOTRO, no matter what you do you will have to spend money or grind for weeks/months to get to the endgame.. because you HAVE to get the expansions.

If you havn't already tried it, EQ2 has the best FTP if you truely want to play for the longest possible time without spending anything. As long as you are happy with the free race and class options that is.

I think LOTRO is the best game out of all three though, but you will probably be parting with some cash to get that 'best game' experience.. because if you choose the grinding option it'll stop being fun very quickly. Anyone that chooses to grind that much must be out of their mind, they could have done an few extra hours at work or skipped a couple takeaways a month instead and saved themselves well over 200 hours of grinding.

I think they are both good games, but I prefer LOTRO because it is a full MMO.  While DDO can be entertaining, it's a very limited hub game, in my opinion, and therefore not what I'm looking for in an MMO.

Personally, I still think LOTRO is one of the best themepark games out there.