The Shrine

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ZOMG! Boobies! That must mean that the game is AWESOME!!!!

Seriously, I hear that it's a good game, but I'm playing LOTRO right now.

I've heard good things about it... but will only pull the bored-WoW players. I would have expected more advancements, but really it seems like it's just a slightly better game than Wow.

so in other words it's about at par with LOTRO

Bah! ...that was safe for work...

And having played both LotRO and AoC, I can easily say AoC is a far more enjoyable game...so far at least.

The system reqs are pretty damn steep though....I wouldn't even bother if you are near the min specs.

kali o. wrote:
And having played both LotRO and AoC, I can easily say AoC is a far more enjoyable game...so far at least.

Care to elaborate? I'm actually quite curious as to what you mean by this.

Tessian wrote:

kali o. wrote:
And having played both LotRO and AoC, I can easily say AoC is a far more enjoyable game...so far at least.

Care to elaborate? I'm actually quite curious as to what you mean by this.

Sure (keep in mind, I only played AoC up to 20).

Maybe you could be more specific on what you want to know though (because really, I could type tons at this point)?

So far, combat is waaaaay more enjoyable (still not as good as DDO, but close).

You can level on the quests alone - almost ZERO grind in this game (except crafting, which is apparently all broken anyway).

Every quest so far is thoughtful and not just 'kill X amount' or 'fetch X amount of random drop'.

No redundant and unfun travel time sinks (there is a world to explore, sure, but every area is crammed with content).

Characters feel unique and not cookie-cutter (alot of variability in where you progress in your class trees).

The other aspects I haven't gotten into yet, as I am too low level, but sound awesome on paper - city building and pvp.

And of course, let's face it, the world of Conan has a far higher "cool" factor than hobbits....

kali o. wrote:

Tessian wrote:

kali o. wrote:
And having played both LotRO and AoC, I can easily say AoC is a far more enjoyable game...so far at least.

Care to elaborate? I'm actually quite curious as to what you mean by this.

Sure (keep in mind, I only played AoC up to 20).

Maybe you could be more specific on what you want to know though (because really, I could type tons at this point)?

So far, combat is waaaaay more enjoyable (still not as good as DDO, but close).

You can level on the quests alone - almost ZERO grind in this game (except crafting, which is apparently all broken anyway).

Every quest so far is thoughtful and not just 'kill X amount' or 'fetch X amount of random drop'.

No redundant and unfun travel time sinks (there is a world to explore, sure, but every area is crammed with content).

Characters feel unique and not cookie-cutter (alot of variability in where you progress in your class trees).

The other aspects I haven't gotten into yet, as I am too low level, but sound awesome on paper - city building and pvp.

And of course, let's face it, the world of Conan has a far higher "cool" factor than hobbits....

I dunno if I'd call it a "cooler" world... but that's a matter of opinion.

The only thing I've heard better, even after all that, is the combat. City building has been done (SWG had it... I never found it that great) and frankly I don't see it necessary. LOTRO does housing well enough.

How long ago did you play LOTRO, or for how long? Because grinding to level KILLED my interest in WoW, but it's non existant in LOTRO. I have 1 lvl 50 character right now and he's still got way too many quests to do. I never had to grind.

What are some examples of quests? Because I do get annoyed at times of the repetitive questing goals although LOTRO does a good job of masking that.

Tessian wrote: I dunno if I'd call it a "cooler" world... but that's a matter of opinion.

The only thing I've heard better, even after all that, is the combat. City building has been done (SWG had it... I never found it that great) and frankly I don't see it necessary. LOTRO does housing well enough.

How long ago did you play LOTRO, or for how long? Because grinding to level KILLED my interest in WoW, but it's non existant in LOTRO. I have 1 lvl 50 character right now and he's still got way too many quests to do. I never had to grind.

What are some examples of quests? Because I do get annoyed at times of the repetitive questing goals although LOTRO does a good job of masking that.

- fine, let's call it "more mature" then. The fatalities, blood and adult content add a lot to the atmosphere.

- it's nothing like SWG towns...so I have no idea why you'd compare the two. Read up on it if you want to make a judgement call there.

- Throughout beta and a month of retail. The majority of LotRO's quests were fetch and kill, and generally mind-numbingly boring (exception maybe the fellowship ones). A grind is a grind, even if it's just slapping a quest on repetative kill/fetch tasks. What I'm saying is that AoC has NONE of that so far. I feel none of the usual grind/work I feel in MMO's.

- I didn't think LotRO masked it very well, but maybe it's a matter of opinion.

- My female barb had to sleep with a problematic drunk soldier, who was so sloshed he couldn't get it up...at which point I blackmailed him into cleaning up his act. That's just a random wacky quest, the majority of them are involved storyline quests and if you really want examples, check out the AoC page.

Edit: And btw, LotRO is a WoW clone, completely uninspired and me-too, which is one of the reasons I couldn't get into it. AoC is nothing like either...so I'm not sure where you got that.

Woah, seriously? I...kinda wanna try Age of Conan...

NO! NO! MMO's are bad! BAD I SAY!

RentCavalier wrote:Woah, seriously? I...kinda wanna try Age of Conan...

NO! NO! MMO's are bad! BAD I SAY!

Sorry, the game is rated Mature.

kali o. wrote:

RentCavalier wrote:Woah, seriously? I...kinda wanna try Age of Conan...

NO! NO! MMO's are bad! BAD I SAY!

Sorry, the game is rated Mature.

Beat me to it.

Black Lotus wrote:

kali o. wrote:

RentCavalier wrote:Woah, seriously? I...kinda wanna try Age of Conan...

NO! NO! MMO's are bad! BAD I SAY!

Sorry, the game is rated Mature.

Beat me to it.

As always, you guys can go fuck yourselves.

I like how everyone on this board eventually settles into just one so perfectly fitting insult.

It's a game I wouldnt mind trying, but I dont want to buy the game to try it out.

Well, you could say every MMO is a EQ (or UO) clone. Comparing LOTRO to WoW is a bit unfair. I'll admit that some of the fetch/kill quests are a bit boring, but it nowhere near to the level of grinding as many other MMOs. The story behind the quests are still interesting, and grouping with people in instances adds a level of challenge and fun to the game. Also, putting in a built-in TeamSpeak function was the best fucking improvement that any MMO has done.

In comparison with WoW, you aren't dealing with a bunch of impatient retards, either. People who play LOTRO are pretty friendly and know what the hell they are doing (most of the time).

Plus, it's Lord of the Rings, so it's cool when you get to actually meet characters like Frodo and Gandalf, or fight Nazgul during the book quests.

Here are some example quests in Conan:

Time to Pay: Collect 3 Pirate's Coin Pouches
Feathers for Quills: Gather 3 Eagle Feathers
The Legendary Turach: Give the note to Captain Redrik
Junia's Revenge: Kill 3 Violent Pirates in the Noble district

So, how is this so different then quests in LOTRO? The objectives are the same fetch/kill stuff here.

Look, I'm not saying that AoC isn't probably a great game. However, besides the combat (which I will wait until balance issues come into play) and adult content, there isn't some sort of revolution in MMOs here.

SineSwiper wrote:Comparing LOTRO to WoW is a bit unfair.

No it isn't - that's exactly what it felt like when I played it...WoW with a face lift. I was a hardcore WoW player for a long time, so it simply wasn't what I was looking for.

SineSwiper wrote:Also, putting in a built-in TeamSpeak function was the best fucking improvement that any MMO has done.

Well, sorta right and sorta wrong. DDO already did that...and I agree, it is impossible to go back to a voiceless MMO after that (AoC's biggest flaw, imo).

SineSwiper wrote: Here are some example quests in Conan:

Time to Pay: Collect 3 Pirate's Coin Pouches
Feathers for Quills: Gather 3 Eagle Feathers
The Legendary Turach: Give the note to Captain Redrik
Junia's Revenge: Kill 3 Violent Pirates in the Noble district/

Way to pick em...well, most of em...

Time to Pay is just a chance to beat up a few ruffians just a step away in the alley. They stiffed one of the girls. It is like probably the first real combat anyone will have, outside of the initial shipwreck stage.

Junia's revenge is another early in-town combat quest (one of 3 really). Slightly higher spawn level, 10 seconds away from Time to Pay. I'm mean, these are all literally like 10 seconds from each other, quest giver to spawn point...lol.

Feather for quills is a stupid slightly hidden quest you can stop at in White Sands. The only purpose this quest really has is to teach you to put points into your climb skill (or exploit terrain, as I found another way up).

Ah, here's a better one. Passing the letter on to the Captain (to King Conan) is simply the ending part of a quest that just had you entering a volcano base, fighting your way to the top, swapping the virgins blood for the blood of a whore you saved earlier (which disrupts the sorceress' appeasement ritual) and fleeing for your life while the volcano erupts and destroys the army of 'soul-corrupted slaves'.

As I play more of AoC, I'll edit my thoughts slightly:

It has to be the MOST half finished MMO ever released. What's there, is awesome...but man is there soooo much missing (the first 20 levels has 90% of the polish...talk about suckering you in). Bugs galore, missing voice clips, lack of quests after a certain level.

Do NOT buy this game unless you are willing to make a bunch of alts and wait for content/polish.

kali o. wrote:

SineSwiper wrote:Comparing LOTRO to WoW is a bit unfair.

No it isn't - that's exactly what it felt like when I played it...WoW with a face lift. I was a hardcore WoW player for a long time, so it simply wasn't what I was looking for.

I disagree-- I played WoW for about 6-7 months before grinding destroyed ALL interest I had in the game. Two (or 3?) years later I tried LOTRO and I found it a big step up.

kali o. wrote: It has to be the MOST half finished MMO ever released. What's there, is awesome...but man is there soooo much missing (the first 20 levels has 90% of the polish...talk about suckering you in). Bugs galore, missing voice clips, lack of quests after a certain level.

Do NOT buy this game unless you are willing to make a bunch of alts and wait for content/polish.

Hey, at least the post/pre launch development teams didn't have totally different ideas of how the game should be and ended up destroying it within 4 months (AC2 ). Gotta love it when the post launch dev team decides to revamp all the classes because they just don't like them.

kali o. wrote:

SineSwiper wrote:Comparing LOTRO to WoW is a bit unfair.

No it isn't - that's exactly what it felt like when I played it...WoW with a face lift. I was a hardcore WoW player for a long time, so it simply wasn't what I was looking for.

All of the "hardcore" WoW players I know didn't like LOTRO either. I like that it's a more casual game. And there is a lot more content now for more hardcore players, raiding, etc. And I also consider the PVP to be geared towards more hardcore players as well.

I like that I can log on and do more of my book quests, or run some small instances, or if I have the time and feel like it, I can go on a big raid. Or I can run around with my creep (monster play) and kill some of my kin members that are playing freeps (free peoples). I can also join the raids in the pvp areas and storm fortresses as a freep or a creep.

kali o. wrote:

SineSwiper wrote:Also, putting in a built-in TeamSpeak function was the best fucking improvement that any MMO has done.

Well, sorta right and sorta wrong. DDO already did that...and I agree, it is impossible to go back to a voiceless MMO after that (AoC's biggest flaw, imo).

Well, DDO was also made by Turbine, so I feel it falls under the same umbrella of awesomeness

kali o. wrote:

SineSwiper wrote: Here are some example quests in Conan:

Time to Pay: Collect 3 Pirate's Coin Pouches
Feathers for Quills: Gather 3 Eagle Feathers
The Legendary Turach: Give the note to Captain Redrik
Junia's Revenge: Kill 3 Violent Pirates in the Noble district/

Way to pick em...well, most of em...

All MMOs have lame quests, and they all should have some really neat ones. I really like the story lines with a lot of the LOTRO quests. Granted, the Shire quests suck lol Hobbitses cant do anything for themselves! The book(main storyline) quests got really interesting with plot twists, etc. Even had a creepy funeral you attended and took part in a ceremony.

kali o. wrote:As I play more of AoC, I'll edit my thoughts slightly:

It has to be the MOST half finished MMO ever released. What's there, is awesome...but man is there soooo much missing (the first 20 levels has 90% of the polish...talk about suckering you in). Bugs galore, missing voice clips, lack of quests after a certain level.

Do NOT buy this game unless you are willing to make a bunch of alts and wait for content/polish.

LOTRO had one of the best launches Ive seen, which can make or break an MMO (AO anyone?). It was full of content from the start. As Tessian said in another thread, Ive already hit the level cap, but my quest log is still full. I cant wait till the expansion comes out.

The main thing I love about LOTRO is, it's a Turbine game. Ive been an avid supporter of them since AC (AC2 doesn't count!), and I see bits and pieces of the Turbine sense of humor in LOTRO. Of course, they cant take as many liberties in the LOTR world as they could in AC. No police boxes randomly appearing in Middle Earth!

But really, it's all about your play style. I like that the player base in LOTRO is more mature and very friendly. All the kids are playing WOW

There are a lot of neat things on the horizon with LOTRO and I plan to stick around for some time.

I'm waiting for Sauron to rain cows down from the sky in Aughaire... and maybe someone will offer Saruman a twinkie


One thing I just realized I haven't seen much of yet in LOTRO that I LOVED in AC was user involvement in the story. It's a shame that LOTRO is a predefined story but there are plenty of offshoots they've done that are on their own. I'd love to see something akin to the Soul Shard month in AC where players were given the option of either a) destroying the last shard and releasing a great evil or b) defending it from people in group a. Also the big battles that took place above cities was quite awesome too.

Tessian wrote:I'm waiting for Sauron to rain cows down from the sky in Aughaire... and maybe someone will offer Saruman a twinkie

YES! lol I was excited when I saw that you can make a Hoary Auroch Robe That is my goal!

Tessian wrote: One thing I just realized I haven't seen much of yet in LOTRO that I LOVED in AC was user involvement in the story. It's a shame that LOTRO is a predefined story but there are plenty of offshoots they've done that are on their own. I'd love to see something akin to the Soul Shard month in AC where players were given the option of either a) destroying the last shard and releasing a great evil or b) defending it from people in group a. Also the big battles that took place above cities was quite awesome too.

I still have pangs for AC..I looked up my monarchy name on google and found a couple old posts and stuff from back in the day *sigh*