Profile: Vantras
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• • I think it's safe to say that the detractors of this game have lost

  • I had no intention of playing this game. I was very annoyed that many in my LOTRO guild were moving here for a try out.  I grudgingly bought it, complained about my first 5 levels, complained about the graphics, the linear nature of the starter area etc.

    I logged back in the night of release, rolled a dwarf, did some pvp instances, a few more PQ's, cashed in some influence, got a few more skills in my book and viola! I was suddently having a FANTASTIC time. 

    Just plain fun, interesting, creative gameplay.  I cant tell you how many "ah ha" type moments or small grin/smile "oh isnt that neat" type moments Ive had over the past week or so.  The game is interesting, its creative, it provides a neat variety of things to do.  The community is suprisingly mature and fun.

    The game is almost bug free, runs smooth, and seems polished.

     

    I am a huge supporter of WAR and as I say i had ZERO plans to even look at this thing.

  • Posted: 9/26/08 12:08 PM
    WAR (Warhammer Online)
• • looking for non-grindage game!

  • Lord of the Rings Online. 

    Probably the least grind necessary game of the major titles.  You can easily obtain VERY solid gear, and max level w/out grinding at all.

    If you want to "maximize" your character-you will discover that there is a solid amoung 40 hours or so of grinding to maximize your traits/deeds to ranks between 6 and 9.  And like most MMO's if you want a full raid set of gear or a full pvp set of gear there is a fair bit of pvp grinding or Raid grinding in terms of running the same raid over and over.

    That said you can build a very solid level 50, with solid purple gear with some very good teals mixed in w/out ever grinding.  You would be about 90% as strong as the guy that grinded all his traits to max...and probably about 85% as strong as a guy that grinded all his traits and all his raid gear.

  • Posted: 7/16/08 11:03 AM
    General Discussion
• • DDO vs LOTRO vs Vanguard

  • You cant go wrong with DDO if you are looking for a roughly two month experience.  If you are looking for the traditional 6 month ++ build a character for long term type MMO then DDO will leave you wanting.  DDO probably has the best dungeon crawls, grouping, combat system available in gaming today-the HUGE HUGE problem is it just ends to quickly.  DDO doesnt have much of a community beyond the traditional guild-centric type enviornment-just not a lot of inter-guild interaction/chat in public channels etc.  Its a great choice though if you are looking for a few months worth of diversion or really dig leveling a half dozen alts...

    Vanguard would be a fine choice if LOTRO didnt exist.  That said there is nothing Vanguard offers that LOTRO doesnt offer with about 10 times the performance and 20 times the polish.  There just really is no comparison in terms of how "finished" the two games are-with LOTRO being the overwhelming winner.  I cant see anything that Vanguard actually offers that is better then LOTRO and see tons of things that LOTRO offer that are better then Vanguard.

    I think LOTRO is quite simply the best choice for a traditional fantasy MMO.  It offers a totally polished experience.  The best graphics in MMO's, the best performance in an MMO of like quality.  The community is mature and pretty interactive.  The is great growth (at least on Landroval) with tons of new players coming to the game and lots of folks returning.

    LOTRO continues to add content- book 14 has tons of neat enhancements coming with an expansion and level cap extension from 50-60 coming this Fall.  In LOTRO you can solo to 50 with ease, group for quests and instances and basically chart your own course in terms of play style.  I never felt as though i was being forced to group, or forced to solo or forced to do a particular dungeon.  MY only complaint would be that it is a tad linear in the 17th-30th levels with most folks funneling through LoneLands and North Downs-it opens up a good bit from 30ish to 50.

    Raiding in LOTRO is solid and getting better with new loot tables coming for the 24 man raid.  Group dynamics are solid and interesting.  Heck even combat requires some thought as you figure out what the best attack/defend patterns are-Virtues/traits/deeds make character development different and interesting.

    So in summary. I have always been a huge fan of DDO-think they do tons of things REALLY REALLY well..i just think its far to small and ends far to quickly for those of us that really like sticking with one character for a long time.

    Vanguard would be good if it was 5 years ago-as it stands now-i can see no reason for Vanguard to exist.  It doesnt advance the genre and virtually all of its major competitors do 95% of what Vanguard does better.

    Lotro imho is the current standout fantasy based MMO for the modern gamer.

  • Posted: 7/16/08 10:57 AM
    General Discussion
• • I hate these forums.

  • Originally posted by Backwash
    Over the last few days, the cesspit that is these forums has been clogged with so much nerd rage and bullshit its just astounded me, all over a $50 game... When my house got robbed and a shit load of my things stolen, I got over it in like a couple of days. Flaming on forums is just a pass time for losers, seriously if you dont like it get over it, no need to go on a crusade and spam all the forums cos the game isnt perfect. I dont know what you guys expected... so its missing some features... end of the world? No! Its still fun, possibly more fun then any other MMO (it is for me), and unfortunately it is a bit buggy, and unpolished, but you cant justify giving funcom and their fans this much slag... even if you dont like it at all... god. This happens with every game, even WoW had squillions of nerds saying it was doomed, you say all this stuff and thousands of like minded forum trolls will back you up, but we'll see how this game pans out and if its a success I hope you learn your lessons and stfu. Or is it the other way round? Maybe I need to see the light and realise forums are just for the kiddies who cant afford the game or are evil fanbois of other games... sigh.

    This entire post wins the Irony award for the month.  A true classic in every way.

    My favorite line of course being "Flaming on forums is just a pass time for losers..."

    How perfect :)

  • Posted: 6/09/08 7:39 AM
    Age of Conan
• • deed system

  • As I have leveled the skillbased traits have more or less leveled with me w/out any effort.  I am 48 now and have all my skill traits with three exceptions-not a single one did i actually "work " on.  Seems pretty well balanced to me.

    The Kill "x" or "y" traits are just perfect.  Certainly you can level naturally to 50 w/out them and get many/most to rank 3 or even 4, but for those folks that want to perfect thier character and get them to max its just awesome!  It also brings you to areas you wouldnt otherwise go.  I really think its good-provides some char customization and open-endedness to the game w/out it being required.

  • Posted: 6/08/08 2:54 PM
    Lord of the Rings Online