LOTRO NDA has been lifted.

[Endie]

Look, I flushed out a fanboy!

Don't be a dick.  It's fun, I'll play it, then I'll play something else whenI get bored.  I'm not playing Falconeer* or Geldonyetich here.

Blah blah blah, shit that's supposed to be patched in post-release.  Seriously, it's WoW or EQ2 + Hobbits(tm).  If you didn't like WoW or EQ2 that much, I don't know what the fuck you expect to find here.

What do you mean "expect"?  I played in beta for a bit, tried stuff out, thought it was fun and decided not to play again until release.  I'm not expecting to enjoy it: I already know it because I tried it.  I'm not painting it as the Next Big Thing, just as my next fun thing.  but you don't really care about that, because you're just playing at being WUA, which has nothing to do with discussion, learning, or seeing other peoples' viewpoints: it's the same, monotonous, semi-comedy flame routine in every other post.

Edit: Apologies to Falconeer: but you did get drawn into a long Stalingrad of the soul on VG.

[Nyght]

It is kind of interesting that the game, if you look through the forum posts, seems to have attracted an older demographic. Not sure if they predicted or aimed at this market but it seems to be there in any case.

I do believe that some good portion of these folks are like me, and skipped over WoW for the most part. For those of us that didn't WoW, it does seem like a very simple, easy, straight ahead game but not another trip through the same territory.

The one real strength to this game I see is the strong and complete narrative. Something that would be difficult to achieve without the huge literary license behind it. Like the gamers who grew up with WoW franchise, a lot of the older general public grew up reading this literature. This isn't a segment of gamers. With the movies added on it's a segment of the entire populace who happens to also be  gamers or people willing to come into MMO gaming.

No need to be a homicidal killer in this world. No in game characters or quests are required to teach me to hate the other side. I understand perfectly well already the premise to the war and the battles before I ever kill a single orc.

I can happily accept what many here have stated in one way or another; This isn't a big game for gamers. How much the license intersects with gamers.. well, that is what we and Turbine will soon discover.

[Azazel]

Halo, HL, Doom, Quake, CS etc etc...  They're all just the same game with tweaking that certainly doesn't change the basic game you're playing.

You guys just reminded me that I still have Halo and VietCong sitting unplayed in the shelf behind me. I just bought Project: Snowblind and Quake 4 last week, too. And was going to buy Riddick tomorrow.
OH CHEAPLY-PRICED PC SHOOTERS! WHY DO YOU HAUNT ME SO?

[Sky]

SimBeru means that people are going to go into a LOTR game thinking that they will be the ones on the quest. They will be part of the fellowship.

That's not what SimBeru meant.

How long do you think "Holy crap I'm in MIDDLE EARTH bro!" is going to last?  A week?  Two weeks?  A month?  By the time summer rolls around, you're gonna be LFG so you can team up with LeGoLaZz and SirPwnsaLot to run the barrow dens for your 2% chance at a new shield, or whatever, and it's gonna be every shitty MMOG you've ever played all over again.

Did a hobbit piss in your cereal? Shouldn't you be at 10-yr-old britain bank with LeGoLaZz (since UO one of the only mmo that allows alt caps) the elven ninja and SirPwnsaLot the tamer?

Seriously, why do you give a fuck if other folks enjoy a game? That whole 'lookee I flushed out a fanboi!' (to mock) routine is tired. And you bruced him on top of that. Nuh-nuh-nuh-nutsack! :P

Also, I like both EQ2 and WoW.

It is kind of interesting that the game, if you look through the forum posts, seems to have attracted an older demographic. Not sure if they predicted or aimed at this market but it seems to be there in any case.

Looks that way, from the general drift here. Woohoo!

[Ixxit]

It is kind of interesting that the game, if you look through the forum posts, seems to have attracted an older demographic. Not sure if they predicted or aimed at this market but it seems to be there in any case.

Looks that way, from the general drift here. Woohoo!

Ever since I read the  Tolkien's books in the 80's and started playing crpgs like Wizardry and Bard's Tale  I've been waiting for an rpg (online or not) based in Middle Earth.  I think Sierra develped a  single player rpg, albeit a really  lame one (can't remember the name), in the early 90's, but all  we've  had is side scrollers and rts until now, unless I am forgetting something.

I think  LoTRo will fill this void quite nicely for gamers of any age and the good news is that it is a well crafted game that is immersive and enjoyable.  What Lotro represents, although I can't speak for all older gamers,  is that 'It's Finally Here', no, not the spaceship trailing Hale Bop    but the game I have been wanting to play since forever ago. 

[Nija]

There was a couple LOTR single player RPGs in the mid 90s that were decent. They had an engine comparable to Ultima 6, and a lot of the game, when you talked to an NPC, it would have a few lines of dialog and then say "flip to p. 632 section H of your manual" - it had a huge manual, and it had a lot of text for NPC conversations and stuff.

I can't really remember too much about the game beyond that I played it and enjoyed it.

[Nyght]

Short update:

Seven servers came up about 1sh EST today. Some experienced wait times on and off during the day. My understanding was the waits were pretty short although I did not experience any myself on my server.

Noober instances were slightly crowded, some more then others I take it from OOC chat. For me the experience was better then when I entered Closed Beta a bit over a month ago.

So.. very smooth launch. Also it is hard for me to believe any significant portion of the magic 600k preorders was on these few servers unless Turbine has some magic server code.

More as the weekend progresses....

[Triforcer]

Short update:

Seven servers came up about 1sh EST today. Some experienced wait times on and off during the day. My understanding was the waits were pretty short although I did not experience any myself on my server.

Noober instances were slightly crowded, some more then others I take it from OOC chat. For me the experience was better then when I entered Closed Beta a bit over a month ago.

So.. very smooth launch. Also it is hard for me to believe any significant portion of the magic 600k preorders was on these few servers unless Turbine has some magic server code.

More as the weekend progresses....

600k preorders?  What cracksmokin' mid level executive implied that?

EDIT:  Just saw this gem in the official FAQ:

Is there PvP in LOTRO?
While there is some (but very little) precedent for PvP in the lore...

 

[Xerapis]

Annoying restrictions on international shipping appears to be my own personal cockblock to gaming. :(

Amazon.com, I'm glaring at you.

[Nyght]

600k preorders?  What cracksmokin' mid level executive implied that?

EDIT:  Just saw this gem in the official FAQ:

Is there PvP in LOTRO?
While there is some (but very little) precedent for PvP in the lore...

 

Oh Lord, here we go...

Anyways.. read page 9.

[WindupAtheist]

The penalty-free system in WoW finally fixed the terrible reputation PVP was given by the assraping system in UO.  A Diku without a PVP system today is just a Diku that's missing a feature.

[Nyght]

The penalty-free system in WoW finally fixed the terrible reputation PVP was given by the assraping system in UO.  A Diku without a PVP system today is just a Diku that's missing a feature.

Well, since this game has a PvP system, I guess its not missing then huh?

[Triforcer]

I wasn't mocking the decision not to have pvp outside of monster play- thats a dev decision that can go either way.  But if you aren't going to have PvP, be honest about it.  Claiming that PvP isn't in the lore is a monkeyfucking mockery of the lore.  Once a dev says something like that, whose to say they haven't gotten the lore horribly wrong in other aspects of the game?

[Nyght]

I wasn't mocking the decision not to have pvp outside of monster play- thats a dev decision that can go either way.  But if you aren't going to have PvP, be honest about it.  Claiming that PvP isn't in the lore is a monkeyfucking mockery of the lore.  Once a dev says something like that, whose to say they haven't gotten the lore horribly wrong in other aspects of the game?

To my knowledge, the literature and the lore never mentions players in any context what so ever. So their statement that the lore doesn't imply PvP is just as absurd as your statement that it does. The lore implies nothing about a game at all.

The fiction is certainly about war. Does all war in a game have to be PvP? Those are all just design decisions. And in this case it would seem to me that budget had far more to do with it then anything else.

[WindupAtheist]

"Monster play" is some ghey PVP.  I eventually got fed up with the Dikuness of WoW, but the system on the PVP servers there was near-perfect and should be emulated by everyone.

[Nyght]

I really don't think monster play was ever intended to attract many PvP players.  More of a cache basin at 50 for those that level ahead of the content. Hence, the statements from Turbine about PvP's place in the game. I believe they have made some pretty straight forward statements about this, but I am not gonna go hunt them down.

[Falconeer]

Speaking of innovation, SimBeru, lifetime account, and twitch combat, why is no one playing Roma Victor (hint: you can't say "because it sucks")?
The feature list smells of the usual mmo vaporware flavour, but apparently they went live a few months ago. Quietly I'd say.

A snippet about combat:

Features

* Real-time 'twitch' combat balanced with character skills

All too often we've seen MMORPG combat consisting of toggling combat status and sitting back to watch the fight, occasionally hitting a key to throw in the odd special move. That's why we think the combat in Roma Victor is pretty special. Combat is real-time, often very fast-paced. Sometimes it's quite frenetic and sometimes less so - imagine two experienced gladiators slowly circling around each other between frenzied attacks, for example. Players can aim for specific body parts, alter their style of attack and time their moves just as one might in a real life melee. It's very difficult to describe all the nuances of combat in a couple of paragraphs but if opponents' character skills and equipment are matched then it's all about timing and stamina - if you frantically slash and stab while energetically dancing around your opponent you'll probably find that you get so tired that it makes your opponent's life really easy and they can just step in with one or two well-timed and well-placed attacks that'll take you straight down. Wounds and injuries differ according to the clothing and armour worn, the type of weapon and attack, the strength, constitution and skill of the combatants etc. For example, if you hit someone over the head with a spear it's unlikely to break the skin but it'll still hurt. Thrust your spear at them or hit them over the head with a sword however and it's a very different story.

EDIT: I was invited to beta but was never able to get the client patched right so I gave up. It would be nice to try it but I am not shelling out 20 of any kind of money without a trial. Anyone rich enough out there with a passion for suckers willing to take this one for the team?

[Sky]

Nutsack, quit shitting up the thread, ffs. Monster play IS "pvp" from the lore. Bilbo didn't hang out at the Shire fighting Aragorn and Gandalf.

I saw some queues on three servers when I first got home last night. I was able to jump on a server (Landroval) and do the newbie thing without any issues. It was pretty crowded, but the spawn rates were tuned perfectly, nobody was getting shut out of quests whatsoever. I doubt people will stay as nice and helpful as they were, but it was a good first experience.

My first take: it's an extremely WoW-like experience. Coming from EQ2 and not having played WoW for over a year, that was my overwhelming feeling. The graphics are decent, though the hardware surround is a bit wonky at times (overly loud noises in the surround speakers). But only decent. After playing EQ2 with it's very nice lighting, shadow, and all the other graphical tricks it throws at you, it wasn't impressive. But the graphics are ok for the job (I was able to play with everything cranked, though for some reason the anisotropic filter slider gets reset every time I enter the game). No lag at all, though some complained of it. I also missed some of the little touches of EQ2, I found myself searching bookshelves and weapons racks hoping to initiate a quest, for instance.

But it also has nice touches, the Deed system in particular is a nice idea. Map system kinda sucks, hopefully 3rd parties will be allowed to mod? I'm spoiled by EQ2Map!

And I think people are underplaying the lore aspect. My girlfriend came over as I was doing the newbie area and was drawn in by the graphics (some areas look nice, I was in a field of flowers at the time with bloom cranked...where's my HDR :P), but especially by the lore. She saw a Sackville-Baggins and started making Baggins jokes, she liked that she knew where I was in the gameworld (Bree). ANd she's not a big Tolkein fan (neither am I though I enjoy it well enough). My supervisor, on the other hand...he's the guy that owns fifteen different versions of the books...

Too early to call for me, but it looks like a decent game.

[Nija]

Speaking of innovation, SimBeru, lifetime account, and twitch combat, why is no one playing Roma Victor (hint: you can't say "because it sucks")?
The feature list smells of the usual mmo vaporware flavour, but apparently they went live a few months ago. Quietly I'd say.

"because it sucks"

From:Roma Victor GOCaT programme <gocat@redbedlam.com>
To: nijasan@
Subject: Welcome to the Roma Victor GOCaT Team, Nijasan!
Date: 9/3/05
Body:
Welcome to the Roma Victor Commercial Test!

Your Community Profile has had its status upgraded to that of a full GOCaT/CT team member.  There is no longer a requirement for applicants to complete and return a signed NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement), but we would ask that participants please refrain from discussing the test outside the GOCaT forums until RedBedlam officially announces that the NDA restrictions have been lifted.

In order to get started please visit:
http://www.roma-victor.com/community/gocat/rvwiki/

Please also be sure to visit the GOCaT Focus Test forums, where you'll find the latest feedback thread for discussing the current client version as well as links to the RV Wiki documentation and the all-important account page and GOCaT files page, where you can download the latest version of the RedBedlam Patch Utility.  After installing and running this Patch Utility, the full Roma Victor client will be downloaded automatically.  Then you can use your profile name along with the password provided at the account page to launch the game.

[Falconeer]

I preordered it today but I really don't know why. Vanguard killed the last inch of the dikulover in me, so I am not even sure I'll register right away. I could keep it shrinkwrapped on a shelf waiting for a better time to use the free 30 days. Anyway, I am european enough, so Endie, which server are you/do you plan to spawn yourself? Fear not, I am not planning to pester you with Vanguard trivia, I am over it *sniff*

[Hound]

I am having fun and to me that is all that matters right now for me at least. I could give a shit about new features or a meaningful death penalty or any of that other stuff. I just spent an hour running around "prospecting" for copper and iron and enjoying the guild chat and the pretty eye candy, to me that is what a MMORPG is all about. By the way please do not pre order till they open more servers, it is too damn crowded in the 1 - 15 areas as it is now in my opinion.

[Nyght]

This morning (Sunday) the loads are beginning to show a little. Motion freeze ups in the busy areas.. particularly around the human starter areas and Bree.

Time to crack a few more servers I think.

[Falconeer]

I preordered but I don't think I'll jump in anyway: too busy at the moment with Pangya, Audition and Test Drive Unlimited.
Plus I didn't received any early invitation yet anyway.

[Sky]

I think I'll retract my statement about server loads. While I haven't seen any lag due to it, the sheer amount of people is a bit ridiculous. Doing one quest, there were literally a dozen people running each way down the road to the quest house, about a half-dozen at the qest giver. Spawns are hideously overcamped, and the fast spawn rate makes it almost impossible for solo players in place where aggro is an issue, because it backfills way too fast.

Still a fun game, but some issues are popping up (inevitable imo).

Played around with the music thing. I want to try it again when the loads are lower, because there definitely was a latency when using the keyboard to play music, I wasn't able to play anything very good.

[Endie]

Anyway, I am european enough, so Endie, which server are you/do you plan to spawn yourself?

I dunno about which server to use yet.  Whichever of us summons the enthusiasm to create a character first can choose.  I imagine that will be me, as my wife is pretty keen to make Arnor safe for democracy.

Re your later post, I think we have to wait over a week yet before we can play in Europe.   I got sent another open beta key, which I don't think I'll use, but the Euro pre-order keys are due out 10 days or so before launch, which is later than in the US.  The 24th?  Which would mean the 14th or so for pre-order play.

[Sky]

Hit a couple 'Fellowship' quests, but was able to solo them. That's a good start. Still have to test out how I stack up against an Elite mob (&#@% group-intended mobs). If I can solo them at a reasonable level, I'll definitely stick with LotRO for a while. If groups are required...we'll see. Jagger Jack is up next, and a lvl 9 spider quest I think they're both Elite, haven't tried them yet but I hear people asking for Jagger Jack groups all the time.

Believe it or not, I started about five groups over the weekend! Any time people were standing around trying to tap a quest mob spawn, fighting over it and whatnot...I'd just roll up and invite everyone. BAM, quests done, everyone lives happily ever after, dogs and cats make out in the corner.

Playing a Champion, they're pretty cool once I get mana use under control. Or whatever they call mana...it's mana, fer crissakes :) It's my own personal mmogtardation!

[UnwashedMasses]

This is a fun game.

  90%+ of experience points come from quests and exploration, so that is the heart of the gameplay.  Quests are easy to find and vary in challenge appropriately.  Right now some signature mobs are camped, but that would be par for the course for a new MMO.  Quests are usually well thought out, with a few exceptions, e.g., collecting journal pages from wolves.  Quests also vary appropriately by location.  In the Shire, there are a gob of non-violent quests, mostly delivery.  If you don't like them, you can go to Ered Luin for a more dark and violent "newbie" zone.

  Exploration counts for something if you have a familiarity with the game world.  Searching out Tom Bombadil's house in the Old Forest is satisfying, and not just because of the ding.

  It's still an MMO.  It has grinding, and you have to deal with other people.  However, I have joined a small kinship (guild) and everybody is over 25, so the eye bleeding is kept down to a minimum.

  I would never tell anybody they have to go buy an MMO, and I won't for this game either.  However, I am enjoying it right now.

  Preordering is a good deal if you plan to stay on for more than a couple months: subscription cost goes from $15 to $10 per month for a $10 upfront fee.

[Nija]

Thanks for the update! Let us know when the honeymoon is over!

[Nija]

Tangent idea. Might not end up funny, but we'll see.

HONEYMOON PHASES OF MMO GAMES

Phase 1 - New Moon



Phase 2 - Waxing Crescent <-- YOU ARE HERE



Phase 3 - Waxing Gibbous



Phase 4 - Waning Gibbous



Phase 5 - Waning Crescent (6 weeks after launch)

[Nebu]

What I wouldn't give for a Samprimary review of LotRO. 

[Rasix]

OK. 

That'll be enough of the predictable tard-tot slap fight. I swear, you're all getting Pavlovian in your reactions. Quitting fucking up threads with this regurgitated nonsense. 

I'll leave the other thread open for a few minutes so you can make out in peace. It'll be thrown into the Den soon enough.  I wouldn't be surprised if another mod beat me to the punch.

[Azazel]

I'd probably go for the LOTRO thing if you could get on the $10 train and then upgrade to the $200 later on. I simply don't have AU$700 spare for a MMOG right now, and liklely never will in one chunk. (2 boxes at approx AU$100, plus 2x US$200 plus exchange rate.)

[Tale]

I tried three times in different years to get into DAoC, which most of my MMOG-playing friends were into. It just wasn't for me. I didn't like the look and feel of playing it.

I tried LOTRO for a few hours and felt the same way. It's obviously not a disaster, but it doesn't hook me at all.

[Slayerik]

I tried three times in different years to get into DAoC, which most of my MMOG-playing friends were into. It just wasn't for me. I didn't like the look and feel of playing it.

I tried LOTRO for a few hours and felt the same way. It's obviously not a disaster, but it doesn't hook me at all.

Felt the same way in beta a couple months ago...nothing they could have done in that amount of time would have changed my overall dislike of the game.

[Xanthippe]

Tangent idea. Might not end up funny, but we'll see.

HONEYMOON PHASES OF MMO GAMES

Very nice, spot on description.  Maybe this is why I like MMO launches so much.  I'm a natural disaster buff.